Alfred Bunn Joyner and Nancy Ross Joyner in the upper left
In this photo, l to r: Elvira Lyson, (next to tree) who was raised by Joe and Sarah Joyner Chambers (she married Owen Thweat, brother of Ada Thweat), Joe Chambers and Sarah Joyner Chambers, Jesse and Sally Joyner with Jesse’s son, Herman, Alfred Bunn Joyner holding Howell, and Nancy Ross Joyner (child standing died as a small child). The family to the far right is Nancy “Nannie” Williamson standing in the back row, Janie Williamson Williams standing in the front row, Jessie E. Williamson standing in the back row, far right, Mai Edith Williamson Shelton is the baby and Joe and Mary Elizabeth Joyner Williamson are the parents. Their youngest daughter, Jo Williamson Reid, was not yet born. Janie Williamson Williams is my great grandmother.
Nancy Ross Joyner
Nancy Ross Joyner, my 3rd great-grandmother, (April 22, 1825 in Madison County, Tennessee to June 25, 1906 in Madison County) had quite an interesting history that I stumbled upon while updating the Joyner family page of my website.
Nancy was married to Alfred Bunn Joyner. They were the parents of Mary Elizabeth Joyner Williamson, who was the mother of Janie Williamson Williams, who was the mother of my paternal grandfather, Lloyd “Bo” Williams.
Looking backward, Nancy Ross Joyner was a daughter of Hezekiah H. Ross (Oct. 9, 1801 in Anson County, North Carolina to March 8, 1854 in Madison County, Tennessee), who was a son of Donald Ross (May 1, 1765 in Edinburgh, Scotland to Dec. 3, 1823 in Anson County, North Carolina), who was a son of Hugh Ross (1750 in Edinburgh, Scotland to March 3, 1798 in Anson County, North Carolina).
Hugh and Mary McDonald Ross
According to research (that I have not substantiated) done by the late Sam Ross and compiled in “The Ross Family,” Nancy’s paternal great-grandfather (and my 6th great-grandfather), Hugh, was orphaned at a very young age in Scotland. However, knowing he was ill, his father had made arrangements for his son to be put in the care of a nobleman. When the nobleman became ill, he apprenticed Hugh to a tailor and eventually Hugh became well known for his craftsmanship in Edinburgh. He married Margaret McDonald and they migrated to America in 1771 and settled in Anson County, North Carolina. Much of his family would continue to reside there for several generations. In addition to their oldest son (Nancy’s grandfather and my 5th great-grandfather Donald), they had another son, Hugh Jr., and three daughters: Margaret, Jane and Katherine.
Interestingly, three of Donald’s siblings married into the Lacy family of Anson County. Hugh Jr. was married to Lucretia Lacy, Jane to Thomas Lacy, and Katherine to Stephen Lacy. That means all those cousins had the exact same maternal and paternal grandparents. I’m not sure how many lived to adulthood, but after a rough count, it appears there were more than 30 children out of these three Ross/Lacy marriages.
Hugh Ross died March 3, 1798 in Anson County. You can read his will here.
Donald and Nancy Hough Ross
Nancy’s grandfather (my 5th great-grandfather), Donald Ross, married Nancy Hough (March 8, 1775 in Anson County to July 15, 1842 in Anson County) on Aug. 28, 1800 in Anson County. It appears she was a widow of a man with the surname of DeFarnette. Nancy Hough’s maternal grandfather (my 6th great-grandfather) Hezekiah Hough (April 4, 1743 to Oct. 12, 1877 in Anson County) was a justice of the peace and was said to be a “patriotic supporter.” His son John Hough fought in the Revolutionary War but, according to family history, Hezekiah actually had two sons who fought in the Revolutionary War. The name of the second son is unknown.
Donald and Nancy Hough Ross had three sons: Hezekiah (my 4th great-grandfather), Hugh and William, and one daughter, also named Nancy. According to Sam Ross, Donald was elected seven times to the legislature of North Carolina and was known as a talented orator. More research is needed to confirm that.
Photo: Julious
Headstone of Nancy Hough Ross
Donald died in 1823 when he 58 and was buried in the Ross-Allen-Flake Cemetery in Wadesboro, Anson County, North Carolina. Nancy died in 1842 and was buried there with her husband. The cemetery located off Highway 109, between Wadesboro and Dumas Ferry Bridge on the Pee Dee River.
Hezekiah H. and Ede Henry Ross
Donald and Nancy’s son Hezekiah H. Ross, my 4th great-grandfather, married Edith Rogers “Ede” Henry (Dec. 5, 1803 in Anson, North Carolina to Feb. 17, 1861 in Prairie County, Arkansas) around 1818 and they migrated from North Carolina to Madison County, Tennessee to farm around 1826. Goodpseeds notes that Hezekiah was “an active member of the Whig party.”
In the census of 1830 in Madison County, Tennessee, Hezekiah is listed as having two slaves and, in 1839, he had purchased “320 acres on Cypress Creek” in Madison County for $210.
Hezekiah died in 1854 at the age of 52 and Ede moved with some of her children to Arkansas where she died in 1861 at the age of 65. She is buried in the New Hope Cemetery in Lonoke County, Arkansas. The inscription on her headstone reads “Wife of Col. H. H. Ross.”
Alfred Bunn and Nancy H. Ross Joyner
When Ede migrated to Arkansas, she left behind her daughter, my 3rd great-grandmother Nancy H. Ross.
Around 1858, 33-year-old Nancy married 48-year-old widower Alfred Bunn Joyner whose family was among the original settlers of the Madison and Haywood Counties. Alfred had two teenage children from the marriage to his late wife, Mary Francis Stanfield: Littleton T. Joyner (June 6, 1839 in Haywood County to June 28, 1862 in Vicksburg, Mississippi) and Sarah P. Joyner Chambers (Feb. 14, 1840 in Haywood County to Sept. 7, 1912 in Madison County). Littleton was studying to become a doctor but signed up to fight in the Confederate Army early in the Civil War and died of “sickness” June 28, 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
Joyner Hill Farm
Purchasing 160 acres located in the northeastern corner of Haywood County, Alfred B. Joyner had established Joyner’s Hill Farm in 1838. He cultivated fields of cotton, corn, hay and small grains. His son Bob Joyner would inherit the entire farm in 1904. A charter member of the Farm Bureau, Bob “was a progressive, substantial farmer interested in new ideas and methods.” He expanded his property to 423 acres and raised diversified products such as corn, cotton, soybeans, sorghum, wheat, strawberries and livestock. His wife Ada Thweatt was the mother of six children. Today the farm is designated a Tennessee Century Farm. Interesting video about Century Farms during the Civil War
Nancy and Alfred went on to have five children together, including my 2nd great-grandmother Mary Elizabeth Joyner (1862 in Haywood County to Jan. 16, 1898 in Haywood County).
Alfred Joyner’s obituary includes a little more about the couple:
…Mr. Joyner, after some years, married Miss Nancy Ross, of Madison County a most practical, level-headed, considerate Christian lady; dear aunt Nan, as she was familiarly called, who, with three sons, survive their noble father. Mr. Joyner was from his youth a consistent member of the M.E. church, South, of unswerving faith to his God and Savior; his faith in himself sometimes weak. His strong temperance sentiments were conspicuous in life, and in the hour of death, when his physician gave him, toddy, he said, “I want pure water to drink.”
Uncle Alfred Joyner was blessed with an active, vigorous old age; though in his ninetieth year could walk or ride horseback; his mind was clear, and he was happy in society, or with his paper or his books. The whole community sorrow with Aunt Nan and the children and grand-children of this good old man., who went peacefully to reap his reward – the reward of the faithful, on August – His remains were interred at Providence cemetery; funeral by Rev. B.F. Poebles Commenting the bereaved to the God of ——— in love and sympathy.
Courtesy the Elma Ross Public Library, Brownsville, Tennessee
Many of the descendants of Alfred and Nancy Ross Joyner are also buried in the Providence Methodist Church Cemetery in Madison County.
You can find out more about the Joyner Family on their page of my website, my other family lines at HaywoodCountyLine.com, or read more blogs posts about the history of West Tennessee on my blog page.
Sources include Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs, 1889 (although some of it was incorrect) and The Ross Family.