Phillip Pipes

This article assembles all of the known facts and makes some reasonable assumptions concerning the connections to Phillip Pipes, son of John Pipes Sr. and Susannah Hathaway and brother to Windsor, John, Sylvanus, Abner and Susannah.

Article last updated: 11/22/09 (added photo of John Pipes and his wife Vianna Haynes)

I will try to be specific about where facts were used and where assumptions based on logical conclusions were applied. I use the term “we” in several places because this has been a collaborative effort. The input from others has been considerable and includes John Hawkins, Jonnie Maynard Jarrett, Bettye Chumney, Delores Parks, Bill Meyer and several others.

”This man certainly left light footprints…” John Hawkins

The first mention anywhere of Phillip Pipes is in the 1772 Tax lists of Surry Co., North Carolina where he appears with one poll. If he was on a tax list we can assume that he was a property owner or at least an owner of personal property such as horses or cows and this would imply that he was near 20 years old and probably somewhat older.

The mention of Phillip in N. Carolina may be attributed to the fact that 1771 and 1772 are the first years that persons named Pipes appear in tax, land or court records outside of Morris Co., New Jersey and these records appear to be the first published for Surry Co., which was established in April of 1771 from Rowan County.

We assume that Phillip left New Jersey with his father and several of his brothers sometime after 1760, as that is the last date of any record of John Sr. in Morris Co., leaving only sons John Pipes Jr. and Windsor in Morris County. John Jr. had married Jemima Harriman about that time (1760) and may have been influenced to stay by her or her family. He may also have been strongly connected to his maternal grandparents, the Hathaway family and his uncles and cousins from that family. Many of the Harriman and Hathaway family served with John in the revolution and served in the militia from Morris County during the colonial wars.

The son named Windsor appears in Morris Co. Court records in 1765 and then in S.W Pennsylvania in 1771, so we assume that he too had married and not remained with the family. This would leave Abner, Phillip, Susannah and Sylvanus with John Senior in North Carolina.

The exodus of John Pipes Sr. and his family from Morris Co. may have been precipitated by his involvement in a well-documented counterfeiting scheme in Morris Co., in 1750 or possibly it was the death of his wife Susannah. We have no record of her existence after their marriage in 1736 except for the fact that children were born through possibly 1755 –1760 (one of the children was named Susannah). His remarriage to Priscilla Bolling in Surry Co. before 1783 would indicate that Susannah had passed on between 1760 and 1780. He may also have moved south to pursue land or other opportunities, but appears in dire poverty in 1771 if the accounts of Brother Soelle, a Moravian Missionary can be relied on. Soelle writes that John Pipes was “ in Allen’s settlement, on South Deep Creek, a group of Irish people, a robbed and plundered people, where poverty made itself at home.” Of course John had some resources at his disposal as he eventually owned 200 acres or more on the Yadkin River and was the source of the name “Pipes Creek” for a small stream that flowed through the property. But in 1771, he was near destitute. The 200 acres was gained as part of a land grant from the state.

We should assume that whatever the date for leaving New Jersey, the Pipes family probably traveled the “Great Wagon Road” south through Maryland and Virginia. It passes east of the Yadkin River and east of the area of Surry Co., N. Carolina where they remained through the mid 1790s. We do not know if that was the original destination or just happenstance. Perhaps a record could be found in New Jersey of the leaving of the group known as the “Allen Settlement” as the Pipes and Allen family had ties in New Jersey and the Allen family was known to be “Iron Mongers” in both places. We have to assume that they may have spent time in Virginia on the way south as the length of the trip is not documented. It may have been six months or six years.

Migrations Paths	Migration Map
1775 Territory	1775 Territory Map
1790 Territory	1790 Territory Map
1800 Territory	1800 Territory Map

Table 1 - Some Important Map Links

Jumping ahead, the last record we find for Phillip is in the 1830 Federal Census for Limestone Co. Alabama, where he is listed as 70 to 80 years old. He does not appear in the 1840 census so I set his death as circa 1835. We will document his travels from New Jersey to Alabama further on in the article.

In attempting to arrive at his birth date we used his probable death date of 1835 and the dates for his children and his siblings and it seems reasonable to set the year of 1745 for his birth although as late as 1755 may be feasible.

His mother and father were married in 1736, so their childbearing years would have been 1737 to 1760. We know several of the birth and death dates for his siblings: The table gives dates in Red that are based on records, those in black are assumed or calculated based on other facts.

NAME	BIRTH	DEATH	AGE	Comments
John Sr.	1712	1804	92	His wife’s birth is documented as 1710, (Hathaway Family Records, family of Abraham Hathaway) His marriage in 1736 would place his age at 24. His will was written in November 1804 in S. Carolina.
John Jr.	1739	1821	82	His grave marker gives birth & death dates. His first marriage in 1760. His 2^nd wife’s pension statement. His will was written in 1821 in Kentucky.
Windsor	1740	1806	66	Family writings consistently give his birth date as September 1740 and his will was written in 1806 in Mississippi.
Abner	1742	1804	62	His will was written in 1804 in Mississippi.
Phillip	1745	ca.1835	90	His last census record shows his death occurred between 1830 and 1840. His son John gives his own birth year as 1765 to 1775 in census records.
Susannah	1747	ca.1817	70	Her husband died in1815 and she is mentioned in the will, but is not in the 1820 census of N. Carolina.
Sylvanus	1750	ca.1835	85	Tax records of 1770 to 1800, marriage of children in 1798 to 1810. He appears in Missouri as an old man in 1830 Census, listed as over 90. He is not in the 1840 census records.

Table 2 - The Children of John Pipes Senior

You may deduct from the table that the birth dates for the last four children may be switched around. They are placed as such based on other records such as birth of children, census or appearance in civil or vital records.

Phillip moved from place to place over the years and we continue to find his name on tax lists and census records in many places. He first appears in a 1772 Tax List of Surry Co., N. Carolina next appears in a 1782 Tax list in Montgomery Co., Virginia, and then in 1784 he is back in Surry County with one Poll. The last record in N. Carolina is in 1786 with one Poll and 50 acres. He next appears in a 1790 Henry Co., Virginia tax list with two horses.

John Pipes Jr. moved from Morris County, New Jersey to Surry County, North Carolina about 1780 as mentioned in Mary Morris’ widow’s pension application many years later. She states “ …we moved to North Carolina to be near his father.” What she didn’t mention is that her own father also moved to Surry County. It is not clear if he did so before John and Mary or if he came with them. He purchased a piece of land east of John Pipes Sr. on the south bank of the Yadkin where he remained until his death.

We would be remiss in not mentioning the Surry County connection of brothers John Pipes Jr., Phillip Pipes and Sylvanus Pipes to a man named Mason Combs and a man named William Ridge. The Combs and Ridge families were noted for their support of the Tory cause in the Revolution and both families suffered the consequences of their beliefs. In 1780 the Combs family was facing confiscation of their property as punishment for their political leanings and as a result, Mason Combs quickly sold his property and John Pipes Jr. was the person doing the buying. The family quickly left N. Carolina and headed north to Virginia, where they stopped in Montgomery County. And where do we find Phillip Pipes in 1782? In Montgomery County. The question arises as to Phillip’s connection. Was he a wilderness guide or was he supporting Loyalist families? Or, was it just circumstance? Or was he married to a member of the Combs or Ridge Family?

The connection to the Ridge family is spelled out in Surry County court records. William Ridge was killed in action at the battle of Hanging Rock in 1780 while supporting the Loyalists. His several minor children were made orphans and were placed under guardianship, with Sylvanus and John Jr. and several others bonding themselves as security for the children’s well being. William Ridge’s wife, Winifred Combs Ridge, had married Nathan Allan and Sylvanus was the Bondsman for the marriage. John and Sylvanus were in and out of court records several times in the affairs of the children from 1780 to 1790. It seems Nathan Allan and Winifred disappeared after about two years and the children were left as orphans.

The point in the above connections is that it seems somewhat strange that of the five brothers, only John Jr. overtly supported the revolutionary cause. The others moved south and west during the period of the colonial and revolutionary wars and may not have held the same convictions. Pure speculation on our part, but it does seem that this family of brothers and their father were not especially close, each man heading off in his own direction and with the exception of Windsor and Abner, who moved to Mississippi together, they did not remain close for any length of time. Perhaps it was politics that kept them from each other, perhaps it was a strong dose of pioneer independence, and perhaps it was pure survival. Families in those times seemed closer, but they also had to be opportunists and would move when it was to the benefit of their families. New areas opened up and presented great opportunity to acquire land, which was the driving force for an agricultural based society.

We assume that Phillip left N. Carolina sometime around 1786, and joined his brother Sylvanus in Kentucky after spending time in Virginia as mentioned above. He does not appear in Kentucky until an 1800 Tax List of Washington County, so he could have been anywhere during those ten years. We do know that Sylvanus last appears in N. Carolina in 1784 and first appears in Kentucky in 1787 and that brother John Jr. moved to Kentucky in 1795. In any case, by 1795 they were all gone from North Carolina except Hiram Pipes, but that’s another story.

Another aspect of Phillip's travels concerns the birth of his son John. John is the only male child who remains with Phillip in his travels, and is with him in Alabama at the end of his life. John gives his birth date and place as 1765 in Kentucky in his 1850 census record, but this is open to speculation, what did he mean by "Kentucky"?  Even Daniel Boone was not living in Kentucky at that early date. Possibly he meant Kentucky County, Virginia, which it was called until 1792 when Kentucky, the state, was formed. Son John was married to a woman listed as Winny or Wina in the census records and she also lists her birthplace as “Kentucky”, except in her last census, the 1860, when she was living with a daughter and gives her birthplace as Virginia. John’s birth date, in my opinion, was more likely to be 1775 in N. Carolina or Virginia. As you will see in table 3 below, John gave his age as 50 to 60 in 1830 and 1840, which could mean 1775 as a birth year. I also suppose that the blame for the numbers could go to the census taker who might have made a mistake.

The formation of Kentucky follows this historical outline:

1. The area now known as Kentucky was originally a part of Augusta Co., Virginia, by claim.

2. In 1769, Daniel Boone made his first trip into Kentucky County from Surry County, N.C. with John Finley. (Note that Kentucky County then, is almost the same area as the State of Kentucky as it exists now.)

3. In 1773 Daniel Boone had some semi-resident hunting parties in Kentucky County and suffered attacks by the Indians. Those attacks include one in which he lost his son James. In 1774 he made his now famous trip to the area to warn everyone to clear out because of imminent Indian attacks.

4. In 1774, James Harrod brings families from “down the Ohio” to settle at Fort Harrod.

5. In 1777, Fincastle County Virginia's General Assembly divided Fincastle County into three parts and created Washington, Montgomery, and Kentucky Counties. The act creating these counties described Kentucky County as being "to the south and westward of a line beginning on the Ohio at the mouth of Great Sandy creek and running up the same and the main, or northeasterly, branch thereof to the Great Laurel Ridge of Cumberland Mountain, then south westerly along the said mountain to the line of North Carolina."

6. In 1780, Kentucky Co., Virginia was divided into 3 counties, i.e. Fayette, Jefferson and Lincoln.

7. The 3 counties listed above were divided into 9 counties before 1790.

8. In 1786 Mercer County was formed from Lincoln Co. [Washington and Mercer Counties were the original homes for the Pipes families.]

9. In 1792, Kentucky was made a state and constant immigration from Pennsylvania and North Carolina begins.

In 1774 the English government declared that all persons had to swear an oath of allegiance and all persons owning land had to come forward to declare such. Many persons, fearing the requirement to pay back rent and taxes on land where they had been simply squatters, packed up and moved to the frontier to escape the decree. This was not necessarily the case with the people who settled Fort Harrod, or our Pipes ancestors, but it certainly drove many people to the wilderness.

The other twist to this part of the story is Phillip's brother Windsor. Was Phillip with Windsor after Windsor left S.W. Pennsylvania about 1771? Windsor’s last record in Morris County was a court record in 1765 where he sued a member of the Allin (Allen) family over payment of a debt. In 1769 there is a land warrant in Tryon County N. Carolina that has Windsor’s name on it.

Tryon Co., NC, Land Warrants 1768-74 abstracted by Miles Philbeck:

Windsor Pipes claims "...150 acres on Little Braod River beginning at Roaring Shaol, running up river, and lying between Fisher's and Lusk's land. Warrant 458, 15 December 1769."

The completion or disposition of this land has not been traced, but it would seem to indicate that Windsor was in N.C., or at least had planned to move here before going to Pennsylvania. He may have had someone else lay claim to the land for him. (John Hawkins suspects the Pipes’ were squatting in Surry Co., N.C., before 1771... and Windsor may have been with them.)

Windsor was located in S.W. Pennsylvania in 1771 in the area now known as Greene and Washington County, where he sold land on the Ten Mile Creek near Fort Jackson. Also in this area of Pennsylvania were the Harrod family and the McAfee family and many others of the families who very early on migrated to Kentucky via the Ohio River to the place called Harrodsburg. Pipes Family legend has it that Windsor went to "the Illinois Country" after leaving Pennsylvania in 1771. Did that mean to Kentucky? One fact to back up that possibility is that one of Windsor's sons, (Abner) many years later, said that he was born in Kentucky in 1773 and that he left there with his family when he was about 7 years old (about 1780) at which time they moved to Mississippi. Is it possible that this is true and that Phillip was also in Kentucky with his family? The only corroborating evidence to any of this is one record found from the early times in Kentucky:

General George Rogers Clark was in command of Fort Jefferson near present day Louisville, Kentucky. In September of 1780, the following receipt was written at the fort. "Windsor Pipes, 9-27-80, Paid twelve yards white linen, two gallons tafia, two check handkerchiefs and 27 yards osnaburgs for 50 bushels Indian corn per receipt" (Virginia State Library Archives Box 48 of Papers of G.R. Clark) Published in a book titled "The Personnel of George Rogers Clark's Fort Jefferson", edited by Kenneth Charles Carstens, Heritage Books, Bowie Md. 1999. The next piece of evidence to support the Kentucky theory is the speculation by McAfee researchers that Windsor's wife, Jane McAfee, was a daughter of James McAfee of S.W. Pennsylvania and one of the very earliest pioneers in Kentucky. Windsor’s family suggests that he was married once before his marriage to Jane McAfee and he certainly had time from about 1760 in Morris County to 1769 when his oldest child with Jane McAfee, Jeanette, is born. No mention of earlier children has been found, and Jeanette’s birthplace is not known but could have been Morris County, New Jersey or S.W. Pennsylvania, Kentucky, or any place in between. In fact, six of Windsor’s eight children have birth dates given as being between 1769 and 1780. It seems strange that none of them or their descendants, except Abner, the oldest son, ever mentions the fact that they were born in Kentucky.

All of this makes me wonder if Phillip was what was called at the time a "Long Hunter". Daniel Boone was from the same part of N. Carolina, (the Yadkin Valley), and while I have looked and searched for a Pipes name in the known lists of long hunters and Kentucky frontiersmen, no such entries have been found. The Long Hunters would often make extended hunting trips into unknown western territory. These trips often started along the Yadkin and went north into Virginia and then west into Kentucky and Tennessee and through the Cumberland Gap to avoid difficult mountainous terrain west of the Yadkin Valley. Both Montgomery County and Henry County, Virginia were on that path. These men also very often served as guides for others into that territory. Another point to support this idea is that Phillip never seems to have owned land or settled down to farming or business, at least not in recorded deeds researched to date. That is, with the exception of the listed 50 acres in North Carolina in 1786. No land deeds have been found for those 50 acres.

So, perhaps it is all fanciful speculation and Phillip was none of these things, but it seems one thing is sure; all of the brothers were lured to Central Kentucky at one time or another and we tend to forget that from 1770 to 1790 the territory of Kentucky was extreme frontier and very dangerous and hostile to anyone brave enough to face it. For those interested, I would suggest reading the books written by Allan Eckart about Simon Kenton and the Kentucky Frontier, or the books written about Daniel Boone’s travels in that state. The Wise County Virginia web site also has many great stories of the early frontier.

In 1798 there was a marriage in Kentucky between George Pipes, son of Sylvanus and a Gemima Pipes. (She is also listed as Emma or Mima in various versions of that record.) Analysis of this record would indicate that Gemima, if she was truly a Pipes and not a mistake of the person recording the event, had to be a daughter of Phillip Pipes or remotely, a daughter of John Pipes Jr. from his first marriage to Jemima Harriman, as the Bondsman on this record is John Pipes. This Gemima died before 1808 as George remarries in 1808 to Polly Jackman before moving on to Missouri. I have not seen the actual marriage bond for this union, so I do not know if further evidence is available. The question is: which John Pipes signed the bond? Was it John Pipes Jr. or John Pipes the son of Phillip Pipes, who may have been Gemima’s brother?

On January 31st, 1800, Phillip signs a Mercer County, Kentucky marriage bond for his daughter Sarah (Sally) to marry her cousin William Pipes, a son of Sylvanus. In 1810, William and Sarah become pioneers in the Missouri country, leaving Kentucky with some of the first settlers to head for Missouri. William and Sarah have many descendants in Missouri and when you read of the harrowing times that these first Missouri settlers survived it makes you marvel at their courage and tenacity.  In that same year of 1800, Phillip is on a Tax list with Sylvanus and Sylvanus’ son George in Washington County.

Phillip disappears from any further tax lists or census records until 1830 in Alabama. However, his family suddenly re-appears in Wayne County, Kentucky with the Shores family in 1806. The Shores family has deep connections to the Pipes family and we are still working on that part of the story. With the family in Wayne Co. are the newlyweds Sarah and William, mentioned above, who suddenly return to Mercer County and then start off to Missouri. They are mentioned in the 1804 tax lists as being from, and returning to, Washington County, although this has been interpreted by some as Washington City. The record is quite clear in listing William’s name and then states “ returning Washington Cty”. 

On July 6, 1806, in Wayne County, William Shores Jr. and Rhoda (or Roda) Pipes were subjects of a bond to marry by N. Lloyd and Phillip Pipes. William Shores Sr. was the Bondsman. We are assuming this Rhoda was a daughter of Phillip Pipes. Her name is also given as Mary Rhoda by researchers of the Shores family. After Williams’s death, she remarried a man named Birk and moved to Illinois where she died about 1825.

On 31st December 1806, William Shores Sr. and Abigail Pipes were given a bond to marry. The Bondsman was Reuben Shores. We are also assuming this Abigail was a daughter of Phillip Pipes. She was born about 1783 in N. Carolina, verified by her census record in Limestone Co., Alabama in 1850, where she is listed as age 67.

On March 5, 1807, a marriage was performed by Rev Nicholas Lloyd Esq., between Phoebe Pipes and Solomon McGowan. Phillip Pipes provided surety for the marriage bond. The record is endorsed on the bond by the words “Parents present and consented” indicating one or both of the participants were under aged. Phoebe is assumed to be a daughter of Phillip Pipes.

Another child who has been identified is Joseph Pipes. There is only one record of him as a living person and that occurred in Wayne Co., Ky., in 1808. He was called to testify and was paid in a matter involving a stabbing of John Shores. The only other mention of his life are in the last will & testament of Jean (Jane) Pipes in September of 1824 in Limestone Co., Ala., in the appraisement of her estate, and in the guardianship papers of her child Samuel Pipes. (Note that Samuel has been identified as Lemuel in some papers). In her will, her first name is spelled J-e-a-n in the introduction and the signing. When it is recorded in December of 1824 the clerk records the name as J-a-n-e. The will mentions her two children (which might suggest she was young.) She names them as Samuel and Elizabeth Jean, both identified as minors. From the other papers found it appears that Samuel was born between 1807 and 1814 and Elizabeth, who married William Hogan in 1834, was probably born about 1807. This could mean that Joseph and Jean were married about 1806 and born about 1786.

The persons who witness these papers shed some light on the origins of Jean and Joseph. Levi and Reuben Shores and Phillip Pipes witness the will of Jean. (Is this the old man Phillip or his mysterious grandson?) William Shores, whom she refers to as “My Cozen”, was the executor of her will and later became the guardian in 1828 of her son Samuel. John Pipes witnessed the appraisal of her estate, done in December of 1824. The fact that Elizabeth was not seeking a guardian in 1828 may indicate she was of age by that time. From all of this we can assume that Jean was a Shores.

One other interesting record appears in Wayne County records and points to another lost Pipes descendant: A child is born there in 1803 and is mentioned in the court records. The info on the child in Wayne Co. is thus: From the book "Wayne County, Kentucky Marriages and Vital Records 1801-1860 Volume 2, marriages "K-Z", by June Bork.

"Bunch, Lidea, a single woman. On 29 July 1803, a male bastard was born at the house of Cornelious McCowley (McConley?) and she charges John Pipes as the father of said child. Court set for 16 April 1804. The child likely to be a charge of the county." [Note: The item “(McConley?)” was inserted into the extracted record by the recorder, not by myself, indicating the spelling was not clear on the original record.] RJP

The deed books (A, B and C, 1800 to 1829) were searched in Wayne County and no Pipes records were found. Perhaps they were all living on land owned in the name of the Shores or McGowan families. William and Reuben Shores were both on the 1801 Tax List for Wayne Co., each man had about 200 acres of land so perhaps they were all together on that land.

The Move to Alabama….

“The Spanish explorers, Panfilo de Narvaez and Cabeza de Vaca, were among the first white men to pass through this area in 1528. The first white settlers were Spanish and French, perhaps as early as 1699. The first community founded was Mobile in 1702, which was settled by the French. France governed the area from 1710 to 1763 when England gained control. Settlers during this period came from South Carolina and Georgia, as well as England, France, and Spain.

To avoid participation in the Revolutionary War, many British sympathizers left Georgia in 1775 to settle in the Alabama area. Planters from Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas followed in 1783. That same year, Britain ceded the Mobile area to Spain. The remainder of present-day Alabama was claimed by Georgia. Three years after setting the southern boundary at the 31st parallel in 1795, the Alabama region was made part of the Territory of Mississippi.

The rich Tennessee Valley district in the northern part of Alabama was settled in 1809 by Scotch-Irish from Tennessee. In the early 1800's emigrants from the Carolinas and Virginia came to the central and western parts of Alabama, especially along the Tombigbee and Black Warrior Rivers. During the War of 1812, American forces captured Mobile from the Spanish and defeated the Creek Indians. This led to the removal of the Creeks and other Indian tribes and opened the area to settlement. The influx of settlers, most of whom brought black slaves with them, resulted in the formation of the Alabama Territory in 181 7. Seven counties were formed with St. Stephens becoming the capital. In November 1818, Cahaba, which existed only on paper, was made the capital, although Huntsville was used until Cahaba was built in 1820. Tuscaloosa became the capital in 1826, followed by Montgomery, the present capital, in 1846.

A convention held in Huntsville in 1819 met to prepare a state constitution. Representatives of all 22 of Alabama's counties participated in the convention. On December 14, 1819, Alabama became the 22nd state.“ The above description was taken from the book “The Handybook for Genealogists” Published by Everton Publishers Inc.

There is no trace of the Pipes and Shores families in Wayne County, Kentucky after 1808 and the names of men who married Pipes daughters, except for Solomon McGowan, are gone from there as well. (Note: Solomon McGowan is not in Wayne County in 1810 either, but he does show up in 1820, So either he was missed in 1810 or he left and returned.) The Shores, McGowan and Pipes families from Wayne Co. all relocate to Alabama eventually. The question remains as to their location from 1808 to 1824. John Pipes, (Phillip₁’s son) makes a claim for 80 acres in Limestone County near the Elk River in 1824. The Pipes family lives near and around this location for many years. It is near the present city of Athens, Alabama. Not surprisingly, records for Alabama land ownership have never been found for Phillip₁. In the 1830 Census we find Phillip₁ Pipes, 70 to 80 years old, with a wife of the same age living in Limestone Co., Alabama. If the ages were correct then this Phillip and his wife would have been born about 1750. This appears to be the only record and last record of Phillip₁ in Alabama, as he does not appear in the 1840 record.

Also in the 1830 Limestone County Census are John Pipes, his wife Winny and 6 small children. They are another important clue that links this Pipes family to the Kentucky Pipes families. The names of the children living with John and Winny Pipes are: Phillip, John, Mary, Pleasant and Dianna. All of these are Pipes family names except Dianna, with the unusual name of Pleasant standing out, because Sylvanus Pipes also had a son and a grandson named Pleasant.

At first glance this family seemed to be a regular family with 6 children, but after further investigation they turned out to be the solution to a puzzling mystery concerning the descendants of Phillip₁ Pipes.

John Pipes appears to have died after 1850 and before 1860, as his wife Winny appears alone with only the young woman named Dianna and two smaller children in her household in the 1860 census.

This concludes the first part of our story, focused mostly on the Pipes family and their travels through early America. The second part of the story addresses the children of Phillip₁ Pipes.

“Some Important background information”

Several years ago I made the decision to focus my efforts in genealogy research and instead of working on all of the branches of my family, I determined to specialize on the Pipes family and in that effort I decided that it would not be too difficult to document all of the persons named Pipes who were born before 1900 and to also connect all of them to their proper families. This effort has required me to examine census and civil records in each area where the Pipes family has settled.

When I first came across the records for Limestone County Alabama I thought it would not be a problem to determine where the generations fit in, then document it and move on to other areas. I was wrong. It has been very difficult to put this family in order. The problem is that this branch appears in very few civil records. They either did not record deeds or did not own a great deal of property, and the government entities in Limestone county either failed to record some civil events or the family just did not bother to notify of those events. We have yet to find a will from any of this family. To make matters worse, several of the family members moved from Limestone, north, to Hardin County, Tennessee.

The move north occurred during or shortly after the Civil War and then some of those who moved there, remained and some moved west into Arkansas. Several people again have contributed to documenting this family. We started with census records of 1830 to 1880 in Limestone Co. and 1870 to 1900 in Hardin County. We also found a record of the burials of many persons named Pipes in the cemeteries of Hardin County. The remaining important records were the list of marriages from Limestone and one very revealing item in a book entitled ”The Lure and Lore Of Limestone County”. Marriage, death and census records from Poinsett County, Arkansas were also contributed to round out the story of the descendants. Possibly the most important contributions, however, were the short family stories gathered and forwarded by Bettye Chumney and Delores Parks from very old family members who remembered what they had been told by older members of their families. Several of these stories cemented the facts together so that we could arrive at reasonable conclusions.

It is probably necessary at this point to state that in my personal experience, genealogy comes down to two levels of certainty. Some things can be documented for certain in civil and written records and other things have to be put together based on circumstantial evidence. When it is reasonable to do so, I believe we have to draw conclusions that make sense and then we are obligated to state that the conclusions are not based on fact but are reasonable and that we intend to pursue further proof or leave it for others to prove or disprove. We have had to apply both levels here for reasons stated above.

“Where do all of these children fit in…?”

Name	Spouse	Facts	Comments
John	Winny	b. 1775 d.1855 Ala.	Birth date in doubt
Abigail	William Shores Sr.	b.1783 N.C. d. 1855 Ala. m. 1806	Census & Wayne Co Books
Mary Rhoda	William Shores Jr.	m. 1806 d. 1825	She died in Illinois
Phoebe	Solomon McGowan	m. 1807	Remained in Wayne Co., Ky
Sarah	William Pipes	m. 1800 Ky.	They went to Missouri
Gemima	George Pipes	m. 1798 Ky.	She died before 1808
Joseph	Jean Shores	d. Before 1824	b. ca 1785, m.ca 1806

Table 3 The Children of Phillip Pipes

The most puzzling part of this story was the data surrounding John Pipes and his wife Winny. We assume that because he was with Phillip₁ Pipes that he was a son of Phillip₁ but we have nothing to prove that one way or the other, except for the fact that he was the only other Pipes male present with Phillip and also the short article in the book “The Lure and Lore of Limestone” states that he was a son. At this point we do not know who authored the article in that book. The article in the book also states that John and Winny had a son named Phillip. We will call him Phillip₂ from this point forward as the old man Phillip will still be Phillip₁.

The article states that Phillip₂ had several children and gives their names. The problem is that there is not a single trace of this Phillip₂ . In the 1830 Census of Alabama, all of his children are living with John and Winny. For several years we assumed that these children were children of John and Winny but the ages never seemed right. The children were born from 1818 to 1829 and in 1818 John and Winny would have been in their early 40s and by 1829 they would have been in their 50s. Those ages are based on the census records from 1830 to 1860. Phillip₂ would have been born about 1795 and married at 22 in 1817. (Phillip₂ ages are assumptions on my part)

Census Year	Name	Reported Age	Birth Place	Birth Date Range
1830	John	50-60	Not asked	1770 - 1780
1830	Winny	40-50	Not asked	1780 - 1790
1840	John	50-60	“	1770 - 1780
1840	Winny	40-50	“	1780 - 1790
1850	John	85	Kentucky	1765
1850	Winny	78	Kentucky	1772
1860	Winny	85	Virginia	1775

Table 4 - The Census Records for John & Winny Pipes

At this writing, we have not identified any other children from the marriage of John and Winny, although there must be some.

The names for the grandchildren were Mary b. 1818, Diana b. 1823, Phillip₃ b. 1825, John b. 1827, Pleasant b. 1829 and Angelina b. 1830. We will detail the marriages and/or children of each of these children in the rest of this article but first we should focus on the two children who caused the most confusion, namely John and Pleasant.

First, John Pipes b.1827 married on November 4, 1844 in Limestone Co., Alabama, a woman who has been reported in many civil and census documents from 1844 to 1900. Her maiden name was Adams and she was probably born in Hardin County, Tennessee where many Adams families resided. Through the years her name was variously listed as Delilah Emaline Adams, D.E. Pipes, Mila, Milly, Emaline, and probably others as well. There are at least 4 families from the Hardin County 1840 census, who may have been hers, but the name given in her marriage record is Mila Emaline and her birthplace is consistently given as Tennessee. Her heritage has been a constant theme through the generations of her descendants and the story related to me by several of her descendants has been that she was somehow part Indian. I will relate some of those stories further on in the article and they do seem to have truth to them. These stories have a way of becoming family myth and this one even carried over to her son William “Billy” Pipes who was said by some of his descendants to have been full-blooded Indian when they first contacted me. We need to at least attempt to verify that a marriage of her parents may have been between a man named Adams and an Indian woman.

Next, we need to relate the fate of this John Pipes b. 1827. He is mentioned in the “Lure and Lore of Limestone” article as having built a house in Limestone County in 1855 –1856 and a picture of the house is shown. (The picture is also on the web page.) John purchased this land in 1856 and the record is in the Alabama land database. The spot is noted on the Limestone county map above by the lower of the two asterisks. John is listed in the 1860 census in Limestone with wife and children and then is not seen again. His wife and children suddenly appear with out him in the 1870 Census of Hardin Co., Tennessee and this is part of what created such a mystery for those of us trying to complete the picture of this family. What happened to John? Well it seems that the Civil War had something to do with it. One story, passed down by his son, says he was involved with the Confederate Army early in the war and contracted pneumonia and died, probably about 1862. Another version says he was taken sick and died but does not mention the military. He would have been about 34 years old at the start of the war and it is hard to believe that he would not have been forced into service in some role. He is not listed as a member of any organized unit as were two of his nephews, John and George, who were in the 50^th Alabama Infantry from Limestone Co.

We assume that Mila Emaline moved her children to Hardin Co. to be closer to the comforts and support of her own family and possibly more familiar surroundings, although Limestone Co. and Hardin County are not that far apart. Their 7 children were born between 1848 and 1861: Louisa b.1848, Lydia b. 1852, Diana b. 1854, William b. 1856, Twins John and Sallie b.1859 and Mary Jane b. 1861.

At this point we need to delve into the other very confusing but important part of this story. If you will remember, John Pipes had two brothers, Phillip₃ and Pleasant. Phillip₃ married Margaret (Peggy) Hill in 1839 and Pleasant married Catherine Moss in 1850. Catherine Moss’s name has variously been listed as Druenna K, Drucena, Druenna, Druseane and various forms of Katherine. I tend to believe the census listing that gives her name as Druenna K. and I assume the K stood for Katherine. The children of Pleasant and Druenna are the key to the other mystery in this family.

Phillip₃ had several children and his family is fairly well documented. His wife Margaret (age 35) and his son William R. (age 17) both died in January of 1860 of Typhoid Fever. His other children were John b. 1840, George b. 1844 and Samuel b. 1848. Phillip₃ re-married to a woman identified as Fanny, age 37 in the 1880 Census. I am not sure of the marriage date.

Pleasant and Druenna married in 1850, just before the census was taken, so they show up as a pair of newlyweds in the home of Phillip₃. The first part of the mystery is their children between 1850 and the 1860 census. They had several children, but in the 1860 census they are listed in their own residence with no children. They do not appear in the 1870 and Druenna appears in the 1880 with two daughters: Nancy age 20 and Amanda age 13.What happened to Pleasant may again be connected to the war, but we have no clues. Where were the children in 1860? Where was the whole family in 1870? What happened to Pleasant? If the child Amanda is his child then he must have been alive until 1866. The second part of the mystery is that in the 1880 census of Hardin County, Tennessee, there suddenly appears four children who were previously unknown: Abner Pipes b. 1856, his brother Alexander b. 1864, William b. 1854 and Sarah b. 1865. All of the children were born in Alabama. When we examine the possibilities for who could have been the parents of these children, it comes down to one answer. It had to be Pleasant and Druenna. Every other family is known and children accounted for, except them.

The last part of this confusion lies with the man named William “Billy” Pipes. His marriage, children and time and place of death are well documented but there was never any way to determine which family he was connected to. His descendants sent me a great deal of info about him and his family along with the stories that he might have been Indian or part Indian. He may have had Indian features as some others in his family are reported to have had also. I looked for several years trying to determine if he was the William now known as the son of Pleasant or was he the William who was a son of John Pipes and Delilah Adams. Or, was he another person of Indian heritage who was adopted by the Pipes family? Both of these Williams were born about the same time, married in the same place (Hardin Co.) and the Indian story certainly confused the issue. The census records also confused the issue by not reporting Billy in the 1850 census when he was almost certainly born in 1847. This was a tough issue to resolve and we probably would never have come to any conclusion except for the input of some family stories. What we looked for were stories that would connect Billy to one family or the other and I think we have that now. But first it may help to have a table with the pertinent information on this family, all in one place.

Name	Spouse	Marriage Date	Children	Comments
Mary b. 1818	David McGowan	01\16\1848	Malissa, *Leroy, Frank	David in 1880 Census
Dianna b. 1823	No spouse found			Poss child Rebecca, 1860 Census, 1 yo
Phillip b. 1825	Margaret Hill	07\05\1839	John, William, George, Samuel	Wife died 1860, he re-marr to Fanny?
John b. 1827	Delilah Adams	11\4\1844	Louisa, Lydia, *Diana, William, John, Sarah, Mary Jane	He died 1862
Pleasant b. 1829	Druenna Moss	09\22\1850	Abner, Nancy, Amanda, William, Alexander, Sarah	He died ca 1867
Angelina b. 1830	No spouse found			She is named in “Lure & Lore” Book

Table 5 - The children of Phillip2

* Believe it or not, these two cousins, Leroy McGowan and Diana Pipes married in 1873. Were they planning to confuse us?

“except for the input of some family stories…”

The following short memories are excerpted from many E-mail messages sent to me by Bettye Chumney and Delores Parks. They were handed down to them from older generations and they shed a great deal of light on the family.

Delores Parks and Bettye Chumney are both descendants of John Pipes and Delilah Adams through two of John and Delilah’s children. In 1859 twins were born to them, a boy named John (Johnny) and a girl named Sarah (Sallie). Johnny married Vianna Haynes and stayed in Hardin Co., Sallie married Wesley A. Mills after her family moved to Poinsett Co., Arkansas.

Johnny and Vianna's first child, Betty Pipes, was Delores’ grandmother. Betty married Robert Arthur Haynes from Waterloo, Alabama. He was related to Henry Haynes, father of Vianna Haynes Pipes.

Delores relates these items as related by her grandmother, Betty Haynes:

1.”What happened to John Pipes born 1827 in Limestone Co. Alabama?

Johnny Pipes told his daughter, Betty that his father died from Pneumonia when Johnny was 3 years old and Mary was a year old. Betty retold this to all her children but where he died and was buried was not passed on to Betty's children that are still alive. I called my Aunt Velma, who is 91 years old & 2nd oldest daughter of Betty, this morning and she confirmed this with me along with the other information.”

2. William Pipes: (one was a brother to Johnny and the other was his son)

“This is factual: Johnny Pipes' older brother's name was William but they all called him Billy. Aunt Velma said he was about 9 years older than Johnny. She also said that her mother, Betty Pipes, had returned home to visit her parents after she had married and moved out of area, and she said ‘Uncle Billy’ had come in from Arkansas to visit Johnny, his brother. My aunt was not sure where Billy lived in Arkansas but thought it might have been around Jonesboro, AR. The children living now do not remember whom Billy was married to.” [Note: There was a third William also, a son of Pleasant and a cousin of Johnny and ‘Billy.’ This item proves the relationship of Johnny and ‘Billy’, as ‘Billy’ was the only one living in Arkansas. If Johnny and Billy are brothers, then John Pipes and Delilah Adams were their parents.] RJP

3. William Pipes (son of Johnny and Vianna Pipes)

“This is factual: William was epileptic. He never married. He had seizures and was taken care of by the family. He was still living when his parents, Johnny and Vianna, passed away in 1931. He lived into his late 40's or 50's. There was some arrangement made where he was taken care of I think, by Aunt Artie and Uncle Porter. The brother my grandmother referred to as Jap died when he was thrown from a horse. William Pipes is buried next to Johnny and Vianna. I have pictures of these tombstones.” [The person referred to as “Jap” is Jasper Pipes, also known as “Jappie”]RJP

4. Deliah Emaline Adams Pipes - 1/2 Indian?

“Johnny Pipes told his daughter, Betty, that his mother was half Indian and Vianna Pipes told her daughter the same. Since Betty was the oldest child and passed this information on down thru her children, I believe it to be true. Perhaps he told Betty because her first son and one of her daughters looked so much like Johnny's mother. They had no reason to make it up and most likely in the timeframe that Delilah Emaline Adams Pipes lived there was a stigma attached to being what they would have called half-breed. Unfortunately, many times back then Indians would have been buried in a separate area. We may eventually find this and we might not.”

5. “My aunt told me that her grandfather, John (Johnny) Pipes walked all day to catch a train to go to Arkansas as he had received word that his brother Billy was dying. When he finally got there, Billy had died and one of the children had gone to town to get a coffin and burial clothes. During that time, Billy's wife died and they had to send another one of the children to town to let the first one know he should buy 2 coffins. If this is true, then Billy's wife's death date should be the same.” [Note: This also proves the connection of ‘Billy’ and Johnny. Billy died in Arkansas at the same time as his wife Doshia. They succumbed to a flu epidemic in 1919.] RJP

6. [Delores also sent this E Mail to me in May of 2001 in which she relates family Information. Her great grandparents were Johnny Pipes and Vianna Haynes, The person referred to as Mary Adam Pipes was the person we have been referring to as Delilah Emaline Adams. The aunt is the Velma referred to above and is her mother’s sister.] RJP

“My great grandparents had a farm in Hardin County, Tennessee, about 9 miles from Savannah. We had always been told that my great grandfather's mother was an American Indian and no one could remember names. Recently, I talked with my Aunt who is in her late 80's and she told me when she was in high school she had to do a report on her family and she

wrote her grandmother (Mary Adam Pipes), who lived in Hardin County, and asked her for family information. Her grandmother wrote back that her [Velma’s] grandfather's father [John Pipes] had come from Ireland and that her grandfather's mother [Delilah E. Pipes] was an Indian. My mother, who is now 85, inherited all of the Indian looks. She has the black hair, brown eyes, olive complexion, and high cheekbones. She remembers her grandfather, Johnny, sitting her on his knee and telling her mother, his oldest daughter, Betty: ‘she looks just like my mother…’ ”

7. [This was also in the E mail of May 2001] RJP

“My great grandfather was a farmer, blacksmith, sheriff and deacon of the Christian Church in Nixon, Tenn. He played the fiddle, was artistic and a very good man. Forgot to mention my aunt was told that Johnny pipes was 3 years old and his sister, Mary, was a year old when their father died. Johnny Pipes told his children he was just a young kid when Union Troops stopped at their farm and asked his mother for food. She informed them she only had a small amount of corn meal but she would fix that for him and all the livestock had been taken by other Union troops. The officer thanked her, went on to another farm and found some type of livestock and sent it back to her to have something for the children to eat.”

Bettye Chumney is related to the family as a descendant of Sally Pipes, a twin sister to Johnny Pipes. She sent the following items handed down by Sallie Pipes Mills:

1. “The story told by Johnny Pipes to his children about his father John was: John was in the Civil War. He was sick but was sent ahead of the soldiers to put up a front (?) in cold rain. He got pneumonia and died. This was between 1861-65. His youngest child Mary Jane was born 1861. This would explain why he was not with Delilah in TN in 1870, and would not be the one in Limestone Co. in 1889.” [The “one in 1889” is John Pipes b. 1840, a son of Phillip.] RJP

2. “About the Indian story: Johnny Pipes’ grandchildren think Delilah's mother was an Indian princess and married an Adams. I have been told there were no Indian Princesses, only chief’s daughters.”

“Some of the family moves to Arkansas…”

William Pipes and his wife Doshie Crittenden appear to be the last of the family to move to Arkansas. They married in 1882 in Hardin Co., Tennessee according to an entry in the LDS IGI records. The Arkansas census of 1900 validates the facts: it says they have been married for 18 years, have 5 children, and all of their children are living. The records I have (his Social Security application) report that their first son, Lee John Pipes, was born in Arkansas in 1889. They settle in Poinsett County, near Harrisburg. Two of William’s sisters move to the same area and his mother and brother John also live there and are listed in the census of 1880. I assume that Delilah had moved there between 1877 and 1880. The sisters were Sarah who married Wesley Mills and Mary Jane who married Milam Turner Guess. Mary Jane married after moving there and Sarah married in Hardin Co. in 1877. They all live in the area of Poinsett, Craighead and Crittenden Counties in Eastern Arkansas and live in Tyronza, Trumann, Jonesboro and surrounding areas. William and Doshie died in a flu epidemic in 1919 and are buried in Mt. Pisgah Cemetery in Poinsett County. We know that Mary Jane remarried before 1900 and I was told she moved back to Nixon in Hardin County, and that Delilah may have moved back there with her. At this writing we do not know the death date for Delilah or Mary Jane. Mary Jane’s last husband was named Eastep.

Name	Spouse	Marriage Date	Children	Comments
William	Dosha Crittenden	1882 Hardin Co.	Lee, Texarkana, James, Roberta, Romie, Thomas
Sarah	Wesley A. Mills	1877 Hardin Co.	Claude, Caldona, John Oliver, Gertrude E., Temon, Versie, Elnora, Tennessee
Mary Jane	Milam Guess,	1879 Poinsett Co.		Returned to Nixon,Tn

Table 6 - The children who stayed in Arkansas

“And some stayed in Hardin County…”

The Pipes children who stayed in Hardin County have left many descendants. Most of them live in and near Olive Hill, Savannah and Nixon, Tennessee.

Name	Spouse	Marriage Date	Children	Comments
Johnny	Vianna Haynes	August 21, 1887	Bettie, William H., Jasper, Artie, Claud, Delcie, Elsie, Ethel, Douglas	Also had twins Ollie & Wiley who died in infancy, 1899
Abner	Betty Durham	June 14, 1877	Lantie, Herman, Frances, Mandy, Tom

Table 7 - The Children who stayed in Hardin County

Sarah “Sally” (Pipes) Mills was a daughter of John Pipes and Delilah Emmaline Adams and her twin brother was John Pipes

A link to a picture of Sarah “Sally” Pipes Mills

A Link to a picture of John Pipes and his wife Vianna Haynes Many “Thanks” go to Cindy Pipes Johnson for this picture of John and Vianna

Texanna (Pipes) Foust was a daughter of William Pipes and Doshia Crittenden

A link to a picture of Texanna Pipes Foust

“And Others Moved On…”

Name	Spouse	Marriage Date	Children	Comments
Samuel	Sarah Elizabeth Gray	July 27 1870	Mary, Buford, John T., Cal, Ross, Etta Mae	Moved to Texas about 1895

Table 8 - The Children Who Moved ON

So, with some logical conclusions we have tied up almost all of the loose ends for this family in these two counties. There are still a few mysteries such as: who were the rest of the children (if any) of John Pipes and Winny?

Who were these persons and how do they tie into the family?

Name	Short description referring to this person
Sarah Pipes	She m. to David McGowan in 1840. He m. Mary Pipes in 1848. Who was Sarah?
John Pipes	1813 has child with Mary Simms in Surry Co. N.Carolina Who is John? Where is Child?
John Pipes	1803, Wayne Co., Ky., has child with Lidea Bunch. Who is John? Where is Child?
Rebecca Pipes	She is 1 year old – 1860 census, in home of Winna Pipes, Who is she? Where is she?
Abner Pipes	A black man born in 1856 in Ala. is in Kansas in 1900 Census (with family) Who is he?
Hattie, Fred Pipes	She remarried to Wm Bostick. 1900 census of Cross Co. Arkansas, Fred is 8, Hattie 26
Angelina Pipes	Mentioned as dau of Phillip2 b. 1830, not seen again. Wrong name? Using Middle name?
Isabella Pipes	m. record: June 14, 1876 LDS-IGI in Lauderdale Co, Tn. to James Scholding. Who is she?
Frances Pipes	m. J.A. Legg, Aug 27, 1884 Lawrence Co., Tn. Who is she.?
Nimrod Pipes	m. Mary Ridge 1816, Washington Co., Ky. This is Nimrod Piper, NOT Pipes
John & Matilda Pipes	Listed in 1810 & 1820 census in Montgomery Co., Ky with child b. about 1815, Who is this? What happened to the child? John is in 1810, not 1820

Table 9 - A List of Persons who need more work

“Sources used in this article…”

I recently checked all indexes to land records in Mercer County, Kentucky for the period up to 1810, hoping that I could find a record of Phillip being there or leaving there. I was unsuccessful. What I checked were the land record microfilms from the LDS Library. Film 0191809 "Grantee index V1-2 1786-1908"; Film 0191808 "Grantor Index 1786-1908" and Film 0551324 "Entry Book 1780-1840, Mercer Co., Ky."

Federal Census records for Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, N. Carolina from 1790 to 1900

Pension application of Mary Morris Pipes, 1841

LDS IGI extracted Marriage records

Death Certificates from the Mills family in Arkansas

Limestone Co., Alabama Marriage records, Land Deed Records

Surry Co., N.C. Tax records

Montgomery Co., and Henry Co., Virginia Tax records

Hardin Co., Tennessee Cemetery Records.

E-Mail from family members

The will and appraisement of Jane (Shores) Pipes, 1824

Wayne Co., Ky. Land records, Tax records

Tryon Co., NC, Land Warrants 1768-74 abstracted by Miles Philbeck,

Book: “The Lure and Lore of Limestone County” Christine Edwards, Portals Press, Tuscaloosa and New Orleans

Book: "The Personnel of George Rogers Clark's Fort Jefferson", edited by Kenneth Charles Carstens, Heritage Books, Bowie Md. 1999.

UsGenWeb sites for: Wayne Co., Ky, Surry Co. N.C., Limestone Co., Ala, Hardin Co., Tenn., Mercer Co., Ky.

Book: “The Plains and the People” By Virginia L. Jennings

Elizabeth Prather Ellsberry: John Pipes Jr., Gray, Pipes Harmon, Descendants of Windsor and Abner Pipes