Isabelle M. (Saunders) Byrd (1829 - 1905)

Born 1 Feb 1829 in near Nashville, Tennessee

Wife of Jesse Albert Byrd — married 16 Aug 1846 in Maury Co., TN

Descendants

Died 29 Jul 1905 at age 76 in Del Rey, Fresno, California

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Biography

Multiple sources, all undocumented, state middle initial stands for MEADE. One source, also undocumented states middle name is Marguerite. However, it appears her father, Robert M. Saunders, Jr. may have had middle name "Muse", if his grandmother was Elizabeth Muse, wife of Claiborne Saunders of VA. Isabella, herself, never wrote more than "M" in her Bible. Wallace Smith, in his book "Prodigal Sons" asserts that "Isabella was originally a McCullough (in fact her stepfather was McCullough) and her parents had come from the mountains of Tennessee." We know from her death certificate and her own Bible entries that her maiden name was Saunders, she was born in Nashville, TN and that she married Jesse Albert Byrd in Maury Co., TN, just south of Nashville; was she also born and raised in Maury Co? Today Maury County is included in the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Isabelle identified herself as being from near Nashville (on the Cumberland R., the major water route from NC into TN Territories) In 1805 Williamson Co. was carved out of Davidson Co. and Maury Co. out of Williamson and Cherokee, Chickasaw Indian lands. Before coming to the Nashville area, Isabella's parents were married in Jefferson Co. (Birmingham area), AL along the Cahaba R; father b. in NC and mother in TN.

Isabelle's father was R.M. Saunders, (we now know Robert M. Saunders, Jr.) born in NC, or possibly NC territory later becoming Tennessee, and mother, Sophia Josephine Phillips was listed on most census records as born in Tennessee but her son, Winfield gave Ireland as mother's birthplace on his sister, Isabella's death certificate, Robert M Saunders presumably died around or after 1846 when the last Saunders child was born, Madison Saunders. Sophie then remarried a (Henry) Matthew McCullough, originally from SC, who also had older children of his own. Together they made the trip with the older Saunders children and Byrd families to Amador and Tulare Counties in California. Isabella's maiden name is seen spelled both Sanders and Saunders. Isabella's brother, Winfield changed the spelling of the family name when he married. On her death certificate signed by her brother, W.S. Sanders (Winfield) he gives her maiden name as Sanders. But, on son, William Henry Byrd's death certificate "mother's maiden name" is given as Isabella Saunders, born in Nashville, TN. This was completed by Isabella's daughter, Dr. Sophie Byrd McClelland, maiden name of mother as Saunders also appears on the death certificate of Dr. Sophie as given by Sophie's daughter.

1900 Tulare Co., Visalia Census, N. West Ct: Byrd Isabelle landlady wid. b Feb 1829 age 71 12 children/8 living TN NC TN

As depicted in her granddaughter Eva Evan's words, as written by Wallace Smith in 'Prodigal Sons', Grandmother Byrd was firm, and could have a Tennessee Mountain temper. She was a devout Southerner, having lost family from the Byrd and Saunders sides of the family during the war. She was said to have not tolerated a blue jacket in her home, even if it was not a Yankee uniform. After the war a southern faction split from the main Methodist Church, so that there were two Methodist churches in Visalia. Grandmother Byrd required that her grandchildren cross to the other side of the street when passing the "northern" Methodist church. Eva says that once when Grandmother Byrd caught her reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, she burned the book without letting Eva finish it, saying that Harriet Beecher Stowe had been responsible for starting the Civil War.

From Eva's manuscript: "My mother's father was a Byrd from Virginia, and very handsome. I never heard my grandmother call him anything but "Mr. Byrd"; [sic] and from her lips, I never heard anything of the cruel treatment she had endured from him. They were separated, but he lived on a ranch with a son not far away, and Grannie, my mother's mother, lived next door to us on some land Dad had given her out of our block. Grannie was a Tennessee Mountain woman, and had had a very hard life. She had only been to school for three months, but she could read and write and spell better than any of us, because until she was a middle-aged woman she only had three books; a Bible, adictionary, and a 'Dr. King's "Doctor Book'.[sic] This had belonged to her mother, and had pictures of herbs in it . . . This great-grandmother McCullough was a remarkable woman. She was six feet tall, could ride and shoot, and was not afraid of anybody or anything. She came to California in 1852, with my grandparents and their two children, crossing the plains with a covered wagon caravan, and though they were not attacked by the Indians, they had several narrow escapes."

"Once they came upon a butchered train, the ruins of the wagons still smoking, and the mutilated bodies not yet cold. They washed them and gave them a Christian burial, expecting to be attacked any any moment. They went to the mines in Amador County, and during the seven years they lived there, Grannie cooked in a fireplace, in cabins with dirt floors, and had three more children. . . . There wasn't a doctor in the country, so Great-grandmother McCullough got out her 'Dr. King's' and started looking for herbs and making medicine. She knew how to set broken bones, so in a little while she was going miles to care for the sick. The Tule River Indians were on a rampage at this time; but she had some saddlebags, so she would put her medicine on one side and her gun on the other, and away she would go. What cared she for Indians!"

It could be that the legacy provided by the example of her mother and grandmother led to Sophia Josephine Byrd's (McClelland) interest in medicine which she pursued as a young woman, becoming the first or one of the first female MD's in California.

By 1881 Isabella "had separated from her hard-drinking and abusive husband, who was now living with one of their sons (William Henry Byrd) on a ranch not far away. Isabella never talked of the cruel treatment she had endured from Jesse Byrd." Jay O'Connell, from "The Train Robber's Daughter, chpt 2. Raven River Press, 3/2008

Eva Evans thought that Isabella was buried with her mother and stepfather, Henry's first wife and baby girl, Florence Barton Byrd and Bertha Byrd in Deep Creek Cemetery near Farmersville.

But, the Visalia District Cemetery shows otherwise, as they have her: BYRD I. M. Mrs. d. 24 July 1904, age 76. (Isabelle M.) And according to this she died a year before her death certificate indicates! Was she moved from Deep Creek to Visalia Cemetery at a later date? She is not near Jesse, from whom she was estranged for many years before his death.

Find A Grave Birth: Feb., 1829 Tennessee, USA Death: Jul. 24, 1904 Married in 1846 in Tennessee. Spouse:Jesse Albert Byrd (1819 - 1899) Burial: Visalia Public Cemetery, Visalia, Tulare County, California Plot: Sec. A, Block 23, Lot 13, N/W Grave

Maury Co. Marriages to 1824-1837 did not include Isabelle's parents who were married in Birmingham, AL. Moses M. Saunders Amanda Fossett 1/5/1826 (1/12/1826) D. L. Saunders Sally Spivey 7/14/1829 John S. Saunders Susannah Sissoms 12/16/1830 (12/16/1830) John Saunders Cynthia H. Pillow 10/30/1832 11/5/1832)

Sources

• US Census Data

Isabelle's family Bible and family notes CA death certificate