Richard Simmons (1770 - 1814)

Born 4 Jul 1770 in Orangeburg District, South Carolina

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 30 Aug 1814 at age 44 in at or near Fort Claiborne, Mississippi Territory, United States

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Richard Simmons served in the 13th Regiment, Mississippi Militia in the War of 1812
Service started:
Unit(s):
Service ended:

• A digital copy of Bala Chitto Simmons family: descendants of Richard and Ann Tyler Simmons by Hansford L. Simmons
• Simmons' of Pike County MS
• Silver Creek Baptist Church

Biography

The first mention I've found of Richard is in Orangeburg County, S.C. at the Willow Swamp Church. It is interesting to note that several members of Willow Creek would play an important part in the future of Richards family.

Orangeburg County, S.C. Willow Swamp Church

The Constitution of the Willow Swamp Church August 10th day, 1805. Met in conference at William Tyler's on Willow Swamp on the 10th day of August 1805. We, the dismissed members from Dean Swamp Church being in number thirty-six, and by the help of God and our Beloved Brethren James Sweat and Isaac Dubosque being the Presbytery chosen to constitute us into a church, we were legally then constituted and our Beloved Brethren Richard Simmons and Charles Felder were unanimously chosen Deacons to act in the Deaconship and govern said Church and were ordained by the said Presbytery and Brother Adrial Mixon chosen clerk of the church. ^[1]

The first two deacons were the brethren, Richard Simons and Charles Felder and also the first preacher being listed as being Brother Charles Felder.^[2]

Daniel McDaniel was born about 1775 in the Barnwell, South Carolina area. He was also a founding member of the Willow Swamp Baptist Church of Norway, S.C., in 1805. His property in Pike County, Mississippi was located north of Stallings Bridge on the west side of the Bogue Chitto River adjacent to Valentine Brock and Lt Col. John Bond]]

The Willow Swamp Baptist Church had its beginning in the year 1805, when on June 1st, thirty-six members of good standing received their dismissal, at their own request, from the Dean Swamp Baptist Church near Springfield, SC. They were dismissed for the purpose of organizing a church on Willow Swamp Creek. It was on August 10th of the same year that these members met at the home of William Tyler on Willow Swamp Creek and with the help of the brethren, James Sweat and Isaac Duabosque, the Presbytery chosen to constitute them into a church, they drew up a constitution for "the Church of Christ" and were organized into what is now known as the Willow Swamp Baptist Church. The first two deacons were the brethren, Richard Simons and Charles Felder and also the first preacher being listed as being Brother Charles Felder.^[3]

Richard and Nancy Ann Simmons carved a farm out of the wilderness in Pike County Mississippi near Osyka and the Mississippi/Louisiana state-line. Many of his descendants drifted over that line into Washington, Tangipahoa and Saint Helena Parishes. After Richard's death in 1814, his widow raised their children on this farm. Her family was instrumental in organizing Mt. Zion Baptist Church and all but two of her children raised large families in the immediate area of her farm.

Children:

1. Rebecca Sandifer Simmons, born January 26, 1799, in South Carolina, died December 2, 1883, married Hiram Addison in 1821, buried Near Tangipahoa River, Louisiana
2. Elizabeth Simmons, born January 2, 1801, in South Carolina, died January 27, 1881, married William Y. Sandifer in 1821, buried near Mt. Zion Church, Pike County, Mississippi
3. William Simmons, born April 7, 1802, in South Carolina, died in 1867, married Nancy Hope October 1824, buried in William Simmons Cemetery, near Mt. Zion Church, Pike County, Mississippi
4. John Simmons, born September 18, 1803, in South Carolina, died June 29, 1881, married Mary Hope, Clarenda McElveen, and Mary Tisdale
5. Henry Simmons, born March 8, 1805, Barnwell District, South Carolina, died March 20, 1865, Sabine Parish, Louisiana, married Louisa Bond
6. Thomas Simmons, born September 10, 1828, South Carolina, died August 9, 1880, married Barcenia Hope September 10, 1828, and lived near Wesson, Copiah County, Mississippi, buried Providence Campground Methodist Church, Rockport, Mississippi
7. George Simmons, born February 3, 1808, in South Carolina, died April 25, 1862, of pneumonia, married Mary Ann Sibley and lived near Mt. Zion Church, buried George Simmons Cemetery, Pike County, Mississippi
8. Nancy Simmons, born December 1809, in South Carolina, died after 1880, married John Strickland in 1825 and lived in Pike County, Mississippi and Washington Parish, Louisiana
9. Martha Simmons, born July 4, 1811, in South Carolina, died unknown, married William Sandifer in 1830
10. Sarah Simmons, born January 4, 1814, in Mississippi, died June 23, 1885, married Emanuel Varnado January 10, 1828, and lived near the Mississippi-Louisiana state line.

Route to Pike County, MS to Bala Chitto Creek, near Osyka

Hansford Simmons wrote in his introduction to Bala Chitto Simmons family: descendants of Richard and Ann Tyler Simmons "Much of the information and inspiration for this book was furnished by my Father, Robert L. Simmons who wrote about the people in these pages, and often in the field and by the fireside related incidents about them."

The following excerpt is historically significant because it relates the path this family took into Pike County (Marion County at this point in time). The ford mentioned was just below the confluence of Love's Creek and the Bogue Chitto River at present-day Walkers Bridge on Highway 48 in Walthall County. The ford was about one-quarter mile south of the bridge at the very location where William would perform baptisms for his congregation at Silver Creek Baptist Church.

In 1959 Hansford was "furnished with a photostat copy of a handwritten article, entitled "THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD". This was written about I878 by Rev. William Winans Simmons, a Methodist Minister, whose father, Rev. Thomas Simmons, was a Methodist Minister, and Rev.Thomas Simmons was a son of Richard Simmons." More than likely "The Providence of God" was the topic for one of Rev. William Winans Simmons sermons.

The Baptist Preacher is William Simmons. It would appear that while William fell under the mentor-ship of Willis Simmons, Thomas was influenced by the Methodist Minister Rev. Dr. Charles Felder

THE PROVIDENCE of GOD.

In the month of February AD 1812, there was a family moving from South Carolina to a point in the Mississippi Territory, near where Osyka now stands. They had to cross the Bogue Chitto about 8 miles below where Holmesville now stands at a ford near A W William Loves, the river being somewhat swollen, there was put in a large waggon, A white lady and five of her smallest children consisting of three little boys aged 6-5&4, and two little girls aged two and an infant, one girl of the age of fourteen, one negro woman, three little children of the driver of the waggon. A colored man happens to be in the company at the time, professed to be acquainted with the ford, by some mismanagement turned the horses too square across the stream. They soon turned down the river and away all went downstream for some distance when to the surprise of all present the waggon stopped. By this time the horses were beyond their dept and wer all frequently under water, when to the joy of all present the waggon stopped. Men Swam in and contrived to resque all the jeopardized and landed them back on the shore on the side they started from. No one injured except the driver badly Ducked and Strangled ln the water. In a few days, they reached the place of their destination, settled four miles east of where Osyka now stands.

"In the spring of 1814, the father was drafted in the array for six months and died before his time was out, leaving a wife and ten children, five sons and five daughters, the oldest of the children fifteen years. The British War was raging. The Indians by treaty were largely In the country, the new country largely filled with Renogades, the whole country much demoralized. No schools, but few churches, and they mostly of the Calvinistic Baptist. "Neither of these boys ever went to school more than fourteen months. In the Providence of God the oldest of those boys that were so near drowning became a Baptist preacher and lived to preach the Gospel for some thirty years and died in peace and now we hope Is reaping his reward in that brighter world above. The second little boy became a Methodist minister and has been preaching the everlasting Gospel about forty years; has a son, a very useful doctor now in Texas. A son now in the ministry in the Mississippi Annual Conference, Three other sons and two daughters living and doing good In the world. The Old Man and his wife are both still living. The Old Man and his Wife have lived together for over fifty years and are still useful. "

The Ancestors Of George & Hazel Mullins by Philip Mullins, Chapter 8 - The children of Richard and Ann Simmons 1810-1850. In this online epic, Philip Mullins presents an eloquent assessment of Richard and Anne Tyler Simmons early years in Pike County Mississippi.

The death of Richard Simmons by Phillip Mullins

A few days later, on April 10, 1814, Richard Simmons entered Captain William Spencer's Company of Lieutenant Colonel George H. Nixon's Regiment of the Mississippi Territorial Militia. Richard Simmons was 44 years old and had been drafted as a private for a period of six months. By July Nixon's regiment, including Richard Simmons and some of his neighbors from Marion County, Mississippi, had crossed the Alabama River. Accompanied by some regular troops, they began hunting Creek fugitives on the Escambia River north of Pensacola and in the swamps of the Perdido Bay on the Florida-Alabama border near Mobile. After killing or capturing any Creeks they found Nixon separated his militia from the 39th Regiment of the US Army. The 39th Regiment continued on to Lake Tensaw on the Tensaw River near Mobile and Colonel Nixon took his militia command in a northerly direction back to Fort Claiborne.

On the way to or while at Fort Claiborne, Richard Simmons became ill. Willis Simmons, from Silver Creek in eastern Pike County, was also serving in Nixon's regiment. Willis Simmons, who was not kin to Richard, was detailed to nurse Richard. Richard died on August 30, 1814, at Fort Claiborne and was probably buried nearby in an unmarked grave^[4]

Name

Name: Richard /Simmons/^[5]

Birth

Birth:

Date: July 4 1770

Place: Barnwell, Barnwell, South Carolina, USA^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ http://www.genealogytrails.com/scar/orangeburg/willow_swamp_ch.htm
2. ↑ http://willowswampbaptistchurch.weebly.com/history.html
3. ↑ http://willowswampbaptistchurch.weebly.com/history.html
4. ↑ http://www.georgemullins.com/chapter07.htm#3
5. ↑ Source: #S-1983902417 Note: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=usarmyenlistments&h=60291&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt Note: Data: Text: Birth date: Birth place: South Carolina, United States
6. ↑ Source: #S-1983902417 Note: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=usarmyenlistments&h=60291&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt Note: Data: Text: Birth date: Birth place: South Carolina, United States

• WikiTree profile Simmons-1133 created through the import of Lea and Randol and Ely and Si.ged on May 31, 2011 by Maude Randol. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Maude and others.

• Source: S-1983902417 Repository: #R-2029194478 Title: U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914 Author: Ancestry.com Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.Original data - Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M233, 81 rolls); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, Rec