Cyrena Ann (Sallee) Huff (1815 - 1910)

Born May 1815 in Kentucky, United States

Wife of John Huff — married about 1850 in Tennessee, United States

Died 1910 at about age 94 in Texas, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Barbara Bartlett Huff [send private message]

Biography

Cyrena was born in May 1815 in Kentucky. She passed away in 1910 and is buried in May Cemetery, May, Brown County, Texas. In records, her first name may appear in quite a variety of variant spellings, Serena being the most prevalent (misspelled) variant form.

Cyrena's second husband was John Huff of the Wolf River area, Fentress County, Tennessee. John and Cyrena (Sallee) Elliott Huff had children, likely born in or near the Huff home place in the Pall Mall, Fentress County, Tennessee area:

• Thomas Branchford Huff, commonly known by his nickname, "Branch" (7 Jul 1852 Fentress County, Tennessee - 28 Apr 1908 Los Angeles County, California), and apparently his remains were shipped back to be buried in the Sipe Springs Cemetery, Sipe Springs, Comanche County, Texas.
• Florence Columbia Huff (13 Nov 1855 - 16 Oct 1948 Alva, Woods County, Oklahoma). Florence married Rev. John Wicker English.
• Diane (or Dian) A. Huff (c 1859 - apparently died young, before 1870).

Cyrena had been previously married to and divorced from Milton Barnes Elliott (c 1815 - unknown), son of Dr. Galen Round Elliott (c 1786 Virginia - 30 Oct 1837 Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky). A date of divorce of 3 Apr 1845 was noted in The history of the French Huguenot Abraham Salle and his Sallé and his descendants, by Jack Dalton Bailey.^[1] Some oral history sources indicate or conjecture that Milton abandoned Cyrena. That may well have been the case, after which Cyrena divorced him.

It seems that Cyrena's first husband, Milton Barnes Elliott, had financial problems, including all the household furnishings being put up for auction due to debts. He was also possibly a bigamist. Ashbrook family searcher Debbie Briggs found in Pulaski County, Kentucky, a marriage bond for Matilda Ashbrook and John Elliot(t) dated May 9, 1839 and subsequently found a marriage bond for Matilda and Milton B. Elliott in Casey County, also dated May 9, 1839. While many family tree writers assume that Milton died, there was also a rumor that he abandoned Cyrena and ran off to California, never to be heard from again. If such a marriage, which would be invalid, to Matilda actually occurred, apparently she was left as well, since the 1850 Russell County census listed a Matilda Ashbrook as head of household with son William Ashbrook, age 10, and twins Nancy and John, age one month.

Merely conjecture, but one Milton Elliott plausibly fits in with this scenario. There was a Milton Elliott who was a lawyer in Oregon and who took an oath of office as a prosecuting attorney 5 Jan 1848. He was born 23 Mar 1815 in Virginia with both parents born in Virginia. According to the Oregon, Biographical and Other Index Card File, he came to Oregon in the 1840s, locating first in Oregon City. He died 21 Oct 1900 and was buried in Astoria, Clatsop County, Oregon (Find A Grave Memorial ID 20887074). That Milton had sisters including Olivia Elliott and Susan L. Shively (Mrs. John M. Shively).

Cyrena's marriage to Milton Elliott produced children including:

• Sophia Mills Elliott
• Harriett Elliott, who died young
• Galen Round Elliott
• John C Elliott

Notes: John C Elliott (17 Kentucky) and Galen R Elliott (20 Kentucky) were enumerated in the Henry W Sublett household in Clinton County, Kentucky, in the 1860 census.^[2] Listed as Gelan (1840 TN - ), Galen Elliott was enumerated with Cyrena (who was recorded as Louisa) Huff, in the 1870 census in Yell Co, AR. While misspelled and listed under Huff, this was actually Galen Round Elliott, a son from Cyrena's prior marriage to Milton Elliott. Galen Elliott and John Elliott appear to have served in the Civil War in the Confederate Army.

According to the 1900 census, Cyrena had one more child (eight children, three living). It seems another child died young but who the father was is not known.

Cyrena's husband, John Huff, died in or prior to 1866 (will proved, etc. in court) and the children by that marriage were still young. By the 1870 census, Cyrena (oddly, however, recorded as Louisa) was in Galley Rock Twp. [known as Galla Rock Twp.], Yell County, Arkansas, with three of her children in the household: son Galen, from her first marriage, and Branchford and Florence from her second marriage. By 1880, Cyrena was in Sipe Springs, Comanche County, Texas, with Branch and three grandchildren in her household. In 1900, Cyrena was living in the household of her granddaughter, Lola Montez (Sublett) Plott. Cyrena died in 1910, at about 95 years old.

Sources

1. ↑ The family history of the French Huguenot Abraham Sallé and his descendants, by Jack Dalton Bailey. Harrodsburg, Ky. : J.D. Bailey, 1993. page 142. http://www.funknsmartgenealogy.com/Books/The%20Family%20History%20of%20the%20French%20Huguenot%20Abraham%20Salle%27.pdf
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZBR-PY7 : 18 February 2021), in entry for Henry W Sublett, 1860.

• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3LW-1X7 : accessed 19 March 2019), Cyrenia Huff in household of Lola M Platt, Justice Precinct 6, Comanche, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 35, sheet 19A, family 311, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,623.

Name Cyrenia [sic, Cyrena] Huff

Event Place Justice Precinct 6, Comanche, Texas

Age 85

Relationship to Head of Household Grandmother

Number of Living Children 3

Birth Date May 1815

Birthplace Kentucky

Father's Birthplace Kentucky

Mother's Birthplace Kentucky

Mother of how many children 8

Household

Lola M Platt Head F 41 Tennessee

Everett Platt Son M 20 Texas

Cyrenia Huff Grandmother F 85 Kentucky

• Find A Grave, database and images https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 19 March 2019), memorial page for Cyrena Ann Sallee Huff (May 1815–1910), Find A Grave Memorial no. 27212511, citing May Cemetery, May, Brown County, Texas, USA ; Maintained by W & L (contributor 47012727) .