James Franklin Willoughby was third son of James Willoughby and Sarah Chapman. James was born June 8, 1856 In Newnan, Coweta County, Georgia. In the 1860 U. S. Census [1] the family was still in Newnan. James' father was a farmer, age 34, with an personal estate valued at $360. His mother was 33 years old. The children included William age 9, John age 7, James F. age 4 and Lowella age 8 months.
In 1866, the family appears in the Randolph County, Alabama. [2] The record seems to show one too few sons and an extra daughter. I assume it is probably an error with the census takers.
In the 1870 U. S. Census taken on June 22, 1870 [3] the family was in Bellville, Austin, Texas. Both James M, the father, and James F., age 14, were listed as farm laborers. The family also included Sarah Ann, and two children, Lewellen age 11, and a son McKnight, age 3.
William, who would have been a teen when the family left for Texas, reportedly left the train and returned to Chambers County. He reportedly stayed with family friends - Taylors and Sorrells during that period of time. In the 1870 census he was nineteen and living with the family of West Goodrich Smith working as a farm hand.[4] He married Josephine Parra Lee Smith in 1875.
Sarah Ann Chapman Willoughby and daughter and youngest son reportedly died in Bellville about 1876. James M. and James Franklin returned to Alabama. On December 26, 1876, James M. married Elizabeth Tucker in Chambers County, Alabama. I don't know if she was a member of the same family that William reportedly lived with when the family was in Texas. James Franklin married seventeen year old Emma Elizabeth Sorrell on November 22, 1877 in Chambers County. [5] Emma's family is another family that William Willoughby reportedly stayed with in the absence of his family.
In the 1880 U. S. Census taken July 3, 1880 [6] the James Franklin Willoughby family lived in Ripville, Chambers County. James Franklin is listed as Wm but the remainder of the information in the listing was correct for the family of James Franklin so I believe it was recorded incorrectly. James was farming. Their next door neighbor's were Emma's parents, Greenberry and Minerva Sorrell. They had a one year old son, Walter.
In the U. S. Census of 1900 taken on June 22, 1900 [7] the family was in Milltown, Chambers County. The home was owned and James was still farming. They had three daughters: Lilian (Lillian), Ota (Otie) and Louisa (Laisie). Walter was living in Dadeville, Tallapoosa County with Green Jefferson Sorrell - his uncle, the brother of Emma Elizabeth Sorrell Willoughby.
Their daughter Lillian was married on September 18, 1904 in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. The family must have moved to Lanett, Chambers County, Alabama about that time. James operated a grocery store that is mentioned in a book about Lanett. "On South 8th Street, the Willoughby Grocery was in business from 1904-1912."[8] l had been told by a cousin that James had a store on the street behind the Baptist Church and this would confirm that location. He also said the family lived next to the store.
In the U. S. Census of 1910 taken on April 23, 1910 [9] the family was in Lanett, Chambers County, AL. Otie, age 23, and Laisie, age 20, still lived at home. Lillian had moved to Greenwood County, South Carolina with her new husband.
James Franklin Willoughby died at 56 years of age in Lanett on May 9, 1913. [10] He was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery, Lanett. [11]
Information needed
This is a transcription the information about early 1900 grocery stores. [8] No Modern Conveniences
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W > Willoughby > James Franklin Willoughby
Categories: Oakwood Cemetery, Lanett, Alabama