Owen and Gandy Families 1870 Butler County, Alabama

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Butler, Alabama, United States
Surname/tag: Slavery black_heritage

This set of research notes focuses on the Owen and Gandy families of Butler County, as shown in the 1870 census below.

Line #	Dwelling #	Family #	Surname	Name	Age	Birth Yr	Gender	Race	Occupation	BP	Notes
19	155	170	Owen	Robert	50	1820	Male	White	Farmer	GA	Nephew to Robert Owen
20	155	170	Owen	Caroline	48	1822	Female	White	Keeping House	GA
21	155	170	Owen	Cincinnatu			Male	White	At Home	AL
22	155	170	Owen	Roan	18	1852	Female	White	At Home	AL
23	155	170	Owen	Ada	16	1854	Female	White	At Home	AL
24	155	170	Owen	Zuline	14	1856	Female	White	At Home	AL
25	155	170	Owen	John	10	1860	Male	White	At Home	AL
26	155	170	Owen	Emma	8	1862	Female	White	At Home	AL
27	155	170	Owen	Mary	6	1864	Female	White	At Home	AL
2	267	271	Hicks	William	65	1805	Male	White	Farmer	NC	FIL to Robert Owen's son Thomas
3	267	271	Hicks	Joseph	28	1842	Male	White	Farmer	NC	BIL to Robert Owen's son Thomas
4	267	271	Hicks	Charlotte	23	1847	Female	White	Keeping House	AL
5	267	271	Hicks	Thomas	12	1858	Male	White	At Home	AL
6	267	271	Hicks	Enmett	9	1861	Male	White	At Home	AL
7	267	271	Hicks	Edwin	7	1863	Male	White	At Home	AL
8	267	271	Hicks	Mary	4	1866	Female	White	At Home	AL
9	267	271	Hicks	Martha	2	1868	Female	White	At Home	AL
10	267	271	Hicks	George			Male	White	At Home	AL
11	267	271	Hicks	Charles	15	1855	Male	White	Farm Laborer	AL
12	268	272	Owen	Maria	34	1836	Female	White	Keeping House	NC	widow of Robert Owen's son Thomas
13	268	272	Owen	Robert	15	1855	Male	White	At Home	AL
33	280	285	Gandy	Allison	45	1825	Male	Black	Farm Laborer	AL	Anderson Gandy
34	280	285	Gandy	Hanah	40	1830	Female	Black	Keeping House	AL
35	280	285	Gandy	Cecero	18	1852	Male	Black	Farm Laborer	AL
36	280	285	Gandy	Dick	16	1854	Male	Black	Farm Laborer	AL
37	280	285	Gandy	Henry	8	1862	Male	Black	Farm Laborer	AL
38	280	285	Gandy	Dock	6	1864	Male	Black	Farm Laborer	AL
39	280	285	Gandy	Aleck	4	1866	Male	Black	Farm Laborer	AL
40	280	285	Gandy	Anderson	2	1868	Male	Black	Farm Laborer	AL
8	269	299	Gandy	Dock	60	1810	Male	Black	At Home	AL	Father of Anderson Gandy
9	269	299	Gandy	Aleck	4	1866	Male	Black	At Home	AL	recorded twice
10	269	299	Gandy	Anderson	2	1868	Male	Black	At Home	AL	recorded twice
23	273	303	Owen	Lizzie	40	1830	Female	White	Keeping House	AL	widow of Robert Owen's son Littleberry
24	273	303	Owen	Mollie	18	1852	Female	White	At Home	AL
25	273	303	Owen	Thomas	16	1854	Female	White	At Home	AL
26	273	303	Owen	Charles	13	1857	Male	White	At Home	AL
27	273	303	Owen	Missie	12	1858	Female	White	At Home	AL
28	273	303	Owen	Augustus	10	1860	Male	White	At Home	AL
37	275	305	Owen	Nelson	38	1832	Male	Black	Farmer	VA	Enslaved by Robert Owen willed to Phil
38	275	305	Owen	Jane	35	1835	Female	Black	Keeping House	VA
39	275	305	Owen	Albert	13	1857	Male	Black	At Home	AL
40	275	305	Owen	York	9	1861	Male	Black	At Home	AL
1	275	305	Owen	Becky	6	1864	Female	Black	At Home	AL

There are lots of documents tying Alford Gandy to Robert Owen, and those he enslaved.

Alford Gandy was the administrator of the Robert Owen estate.

They bought east and west halfs of the same plot of land.

Accession NamesSorted Ascending Date Doc # State Meridian Twp - Rng Aliquots Sec. # County

AL5100__.285 Patentee GANDY, ALLFORD 2/14/1844 3605 AL St Stephens 020N - 024E W½ 36 Lee

AL5060__.481 PatenteeOWEN, ROBERT 5/18/1841 484 AL St Stephens 020N - 024E E½ 36 Lee

Alford Gandy became guardian to Robert and Mary Owen's minor children.

Alford Gandy appears on the same page of the 1850 Slave Schedule with Robert.

He also appears on the same 1860 census (two pages apart) with Robert's son Phil, and son in law William E Owen.

The following relationship has also been established:

Alford Gandy married Ann Kinnebrew

(his wife)→was the daughter of Littleberry Kinnebrew

(her father)→was the brother of Mary Kinnebrew

(his sister)→ was married to Robert Owen

Robert Owen passed away in 1850. Alford Gandy did not pass until 1878.

Many of those enslaved by Robert Owen married folks with the Gandy surname.

Examples: Ben Owens had been enslaved by Robert Owens, through Ben'a son Earnest, Ben had grandchildren Dempsey and Idell Owens. Anderson Gandy through his son Dock had a granddaughter Zula Gandy who married Dempsey, and a grandson Arthur Set Gandy who married Idell.

We don't have actual names from anything like a will or probate for Alford Gandy, but the circumstantial evidence that he had enslaved these people is pretty strong.

Example: Anderson Gandy

Anderson Gandy lived to be over 100 years old. (See newspaper article attached to his profile.) The following quotes from, Greenville Advocate, Greenville, Alabama;Wed, Jul 8, 1931; Page 1

Ex-slave, 100 Years Old, Visitor to City

Anderson Gandy, probably the oldest person in Butler county, visited Greenville last week. He lives ten miles west of Georgiana, and came here to see his, “young Marsters”, Messrs. W. J., R. A, and L. J. Beeland. Anderson was once owned, as a slave, by their grandfather, the late James Thomas, and worked later years for the late Jefferson Beeland.

...As a slave he was purchased in Mobile by Mr. James Thomas. He doesn't remember his purchase price, but remembers that when “Marse Jim's” estate was settled he was sold for $1,265.00. He is proud of the fact that he ‘brought such a good price. “I was a han’,” says Anderson, “They all knowed I was a extra han.”

From the above article, we can identify the three Beeman brothers. They were:

William Jefferson Beeland (1864–1954)

Robert Alpheus Beeland Sr (1869–1935)

Levi J. Beeland (1873–)

They were sons of Leah Francis Thomas (1844–1881) and grandsons of James T Thomas (1824–1860). Their father was Jefferson Beeland.

The question naturally arises, with Anderson carrying the surname of Gandy, could Beeman have been an overseer?

See attached image from the James T Thomas Probate file, Butler County, Alabama. Page 536 documents the sale of "1 Negro Man Named Anderson". The sale was dated 24 Jan 1861, The purchaser was C.P. Watt.

The sequence of events with Anderson's association with Alford Gandy is unclear. We can see that Alford Gandy was at the same estate sale and purchased other items.

We can see the following on the 1860 census. In the 1860 census A (Alford age 49), Farmer, was in Precinct 1, Butler, Alabama.^[1]

Name	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birth Place
A Gandy	M	49	Farmer	South Carolina
A E Gandy	F			Georgia
J Beeland	M	25	Overser

We can surmise for a time, Anderson Gandy had been enslaved by Alford Gandy.