Samuel Wilson Hilton, Jr. was born in Hiltons, Scott County, VA, because that's where his parents were living at his birth in 1845. Father, Samuel Wilson Hilton, Sr. was granted his own 199 acres of land on the north side of the Holston River in 1849, n. of the Peters lands. The 1860 census shows Samuel W. Hilton, Jr., age 15, farm hand, living with his parents and ten other siblings.
His granddaughter, my Aunt Addie Baxter Eskridge, never knew him, but her Ma (Samuel's daughter, Stella) said they had a general store and gristmill in VA. Maybe he ran the one whose remnants we saw this year in 2010, in Hiltons on the N. Fork Holston River, the one known as Lunsford's Mill. The family story Aunt Addie told was that Sam Hilton met his future wife, Rosanna Helton, on the street; she told him her troubles, and they decided right then and there to marry.
By the records, Samuel W. Hilton, Jr. served in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy in 1864. He must have been one of the Clinch Mountain Boomers, just like his three brothers, since they were all in Co. H. The Clinch Mountains are a range behind the Hilton lands. In his family history book, Hiltons of Scott Co, VA, Jim Hilton lists the three brothers, but leaves out Sam. Oh, now I see. I just received more official records from the National Archives. It appears that Sam enlisted on April 16, 1864, to Company H, 6 Battalion Reserves, VA, but never showed up for duty! Now I believe that his record is listed as Samuel Helton, that he's the one who served and was captured in Mississippi, then transported to MD.
He had three brothers who served together: Jonathan Wesley, William T, & Enos Bird were among the Clinch Mountain Boomers. Their father had died the previous year (1863), leaving his widow with six children younger than Sam Jr. She probably needed help at home, so convinced him to stay at home instead of serving another time (my current theory).
On July 9, 1867, Sam married Rosanna; he was 22; she was 21. Three years later, the 1870 census shows them living in District 3, War Gap, Hancock County, TN, where her family lived. They have one child, Mary E, age 1. Rosanne cannot read or write, but he can. Their personal value is $150, and it looks like they don't own their land. They are living a few doors away from Rosanna's widowed grandmother--Juda Helton, whose real estate is valued at $200, personal property at $300. Juda cannot read or write, and has daughter, Annis living in, with Annis's children: Madison, & Rufus. This is after the Civil War, so I'm betting Annis' husband was a casualty. Two families of Fords live between Samuel & Rosanna & Juda Helton. It seems I remember some of Rosanna's sisters marrying into the Fords, so they were probably all living on their grandparents' land in War Gap, TN--that of Aaron & Juda Helton (Aaron was son of Rev. Samuel Hilton of Scott Co, VA). Rosanna's half-sister, Martha, age 15, lives in with the Gillem family--Jesse & Nancy Gillem, and works as a domestic servant for them. She did attend school that year, though. Martha would marry Peter Lawson in 1874.
Now I see why the Fords live nearby! I just found in someone else's tree on Ancestry.com that Annis Helton was married to John Ford! He must have been a casualty! Yes, here is their marriage record of 1856 TN! No earlier records show up for him in Hancock County, TN.
The 1880 census has Samuel & Rosanna Hilton living in Fulkerson, Scott Co, VA, where he is a farmer. This census doesn't reveal whether or not he owned the land. Surely this was a piece of his father's 190 acres! There are five children now: Mary E; William E., 9; Esther D, 7; Charrisy B, 4; & Luther O, 1.They live next door to Edmund & Mary A. Hart. Mary A. Hart was Samuel's sister! Mary & Edmund have eight children. Also living in with them, is Sam & Mary's sister, Eliza J. Hilton, age 23! The Hiltons can all read & write. The interesting thing is that Samuel & his sister Mary Hilton Hart both list their mother as born in TN--that would be Grace Bailie. Other records show her as born in VA.
There is a 20 yr gap between the 1880-1900 censuses. I need to research the land records for Scott Co, VA, to see if Sam & Rosanna sold out before moving to Sullivan Co, TN. That's where Sam & Rosanna could be found in the 1900 census, in the 11th Civil District; He is a farmer who rents his farm. Their son Luther stated on his military reg. card that he was born in Rogersville, TN in 1878. Was he mistaken, or did they go from Hancock Co, TN in 1870 to Rogersville, Hawkins Co, TN in 1878? Fannie was born in VA in 1884. So they must have moved around even in TN before moving back to VA by 1880. A Presley cousin indicated that they might have gone to Rogersville for Sam to work on the RR.
Sometime between the 1900 & 1910 censuses, they moved to Brookville, Franklin Co, Indiana. It appears they were tenant farmers there, since it looks like the census taker in 1910 crossed over R (for rent) & wrote T. Cousin Rita Zimmerman said her mother told her that Sam & Rosanna were in Indiana by 1903, because that's when they wrote to Rita's grandparents, Walter & Charissa Presley, to tell them there was work in Indiana. She said Sam & Rosanna rode the train to move up there from TN. Then the Presleys followed by train in the summer of 1903.
Sam's younger brother, John S. Hilton, whose Confederate unit he joined in the Civil War, had moved to Indiana by 1900, where he appears on the census for Liberty, Grant Co, Indiana. That was further north than Brookville, though. Sam's youngest daughter, Fanny, died in 1905 while visiting her sister (my Grandma) Stella Hilton Baxter in Clinton, TN. Did she just stay with her rather than move to Indiana? Her grave is beside Stella's husband, George "Pap" Baxter, in Taylor Cemetery. Aunt Addie said Fanny & Stella used to play banjoes and sing together. Their brother, Bud, played guitar (Wm. E.). There was a strong folk music tradition in Scott Co, VA; Hiltons is near the Carter family fold.
Sam & Rosanna were in their 50's when they moved to Indiana. Most of their grown children moved with them: William E. "Bud", who lived in Brookville in 1910, Charris who married Walter Presley in TN, & Luther. William would die in 1914, a year before his father. He was only 44 yrs old. William, nicknamed "Bud" was married while in Scott Co, VA to my Grandpap George Baxter's sister, Hannah Eliza Baxter. Aunt Mallie had a photo of William & Eliza's son, John Hilton. I've tracked him a little; John married a woman named Amanda Rose, who had been married before. John's Uncle Luther Hilton married Estella Rose, and I’ve discovered they were kin. They did live near some Roses in Brookville. Now I've discovered that Amanda Rose was a Martin. Her sister, Alice, was married to my Uncle Jim Baxter, and they had one son named Paul before divorcing. So, our Hiltons and Baxters were all intertwined.
After Samuel W. Hilton, Jr. died from bronchitis in 1915, by the 1920 census, his widow, Rosanna, had moved to Bath, Franklin Co, Indiana. Son Luther & Estella lived in, as well as her granddaughter, Hattie Baxter Wallace. Hattie’s husband and son, Jack, were living with Rosanna too, maybe to help her out. Hattie was my Dad's older sister.
Aunt Addie remembers that Rosanna lived on a big farm. She said she only visited up there a few times. My dad was 12 yrs old & Addie was 15 when their Grandma Rosanna Hilton died in 1933. The person who signed her death certificate in Fayette Co, IND was Mrs. Charrisa Bell of Bentonville, IND. This was Rosanna's daughter, Charrisa Bell Presley, whose husband had died in 1915 too! I can't find her in a 1930 census.
In 2010, my husband, Robert and I traveled to Brookville, Indiana, to attend a ceremony to have a new Veterans Administration gravestone placed on Samuel W. Wilson, Jr's grave. I had the stone delivered up there, and cemetery treasurer, Jim Thackrey, handled all the details. We had Sam's old stone engraved on the back for Rosanna, who had no stone at all before. Meeting us there for the ceremony were cousins Rita Zimmerman, her sister, Janice Linville, George Grieswell, and his daughter, Melinda Schmidbauer. Mr. Thackrey had alerted the local newspaper, so our little entourage was featured in their Brookville newspaper!
His granddaughter, my Aunt Addie Baxter Eskridge, never knew him, but her Ma (Samuel's daughter, Stella) said they had a general store and gristmill in VA. Maybe he ran the one whose remnants we saw this year in 2010, in Hiltons on the N. Fork Holston River, the one known as Lunsford's Mill. The family story Aunt Addie told was that Sam Hilton met his future wife, Rosanna Helton, on the street; she told him her troubles, and they decided right then and there to marry.
By the records, Samuel W. Hilton, Jr. served in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy in 1864. He must have been one of the Clinch Mountain Boomers, just like his three brothers, since they were all in Co. H. The Clinch Mountains are a range behind the Hilton lands. In his family history book, Hiltons of Scott Co, VA, Jim Hilton lists the three brothers, but leaves out Sam. Oh, now I see. I just received more official records from the National Archives. It appears that Sam enlisted on April 16, 1864, to Company H, 6 Battalion Reserves, VA, but never showed up for duty! Now I believe that his record is listed as Samuel Helton, that he's the one who served and was captured in Mississippi, then transported to MD.
He had three brothers who served together: Jonathan Wesley, William T, & Enos Bird were among the Clinch Mountain Boomers. Their father had died the previous year (1863), leaving his widow with six children younger than Sam Jr. She probably needed help at home, so convinced him to stay at home instead of serving another time (my current theory).
On July 9, 1867, Sam married Rosanna; he was 22; she was 21. Three years later, the 1870 census shows them living in District 3, War Gap, Hancock County, TN, where her family lived. They have one child, Mary E, age 1. Rosanne cannot read or write, but he can. Their personal value is $150, and it looks like they don't own their land. They are living a few doors away from Rosanna's widowed grandmother--Juda Helton, whose real estate is valued at $200, personal property at $300. Juda cannot read or write, and has daughter, Annis living in, with Annis's children: Madison, & Rufus. This is after the Civil War, so I'm betting Annis' husband was a casualty. Two families of Fords live between Samuel & Rosanna & Juda Helton. It seems I remember some of Rosanna's sisters marrying into the Fords, so they were probably all living on their grandparents' land in War Gap, TN--that of Aaron & Juda Helton (Aaron was son of Rev. Samuel Hilton of Scott Co, VA). Rosanna's half-sister, Martha, age 15, lives in with the Gillem family--Jesse & Nancy Gillem, and works as a domestic servant for them. She did attend school that year, though. Martha would marry Peter Lawson in 1874.
Now I see why the Fords live nearby! I just found in someone else's tree on Ancestry.com that Annis Helton was married to John Ford! He must have been a casualty! Yes, here is their marriage record of 1856 TN! No earlier records show up for him in Hancock County, TN.
The 1880 census has Samuel & Rosanna Hilton living in Fulkerson, Scott Co, VA, where he is a farmer. This census doesn't reveal whether or not he owned the land. Surely this was a piece of his father's 190 acres! There are five children now: Mary E; William E., 9; Esther D, 7; Charrisy B, 4; & Luther O, 1.They live next door to Edmund & Mary A. Hart. Mary A. Hart was Samuel's sister! Mary & Edmund have eight children. Also living in with them, is Sam & Mary's sister, Eliza J. Hilton, age 23! The Hiltons can all read & write. The interesting thing is that Samuel & his sister Mary Hilton Hart both list their mother as born in TN--that would be Grace Bailie. Other records show her as born in VA.
There is a 20 yr gap between the 1880-1900 censuses. I need to research the land records for Scott Co, VA, to see if Sam & Rosanna sold out before moving to Sullivan Co, TN. That's where Sam & Rosanna could be found in the 1900 census, in the 11th Civil District; He is a farmer who rents his farm. Their son Luther stated on his military reg. card that he was born in Rogersville, TN in 1878. Was he mistaken, or did they go from Hancock Co, TN in 1870 to Rogersville, Hawkins Co, TN in 1878? Fannie was born in VA in 1884. So they must have moved around even in TN before moving back to VA by 1880. A Presley cousin indicated that they might have gone to Rogersville for Sam to work on the RR.
Sometime between the 1900 & 1910 censuses, they moved to Brookville, Franklin Co, Indiana. It appears they were tenant farmers there, since it looks like the census taker in 1910 crossed over R (for rent) & wrote T. Cousin Rita Zimmerman said her mother told her that Sam & Rosanna were in Indiana by 1903, because that's when they wrote to Rita's grandparents, Walter & Charissa Presley, to tell them there was work in Indiana. She said Sam & Rosanna rode the train to move up there from TN. Then the Presleys followed by train in the summer of 1903.
Sam's younger brother, John S. Hilton, whose Confederate unit he joined in the Civil War, had moved to Indiana by 1900, where he appears on the census for Liberty, Grant Co, Indiana. That was further north than Brookville, though. Sam's youngest daughter, Fanny, died in 1905 while visiting her sister (my Grandma) Stella Hilton Baxter in Clinton, TN. Did she just stay with her rather than move to Indiana? Her grave is beside Stella's husband, George "Pap" Baxter, in Taylor Cemetery. Aunt Addie said Fanny & Stella used to play banjoes and sing together. Their brother, Bud, played guitar (Wm. E.). There was a strong folk music tradition in Scott Co, VA; Hiltons is near the Carter family fold.
Sam & Rosanna were in their 50's when they moved to Indiana. Most of their grown children moved with them: William E. "Bud", who lived in Brookville in 1910, Charris who married Walter Presley in TN, & Luther. William would die in 1914, a year before his father. He was only 44 yrs old. William, nicknamed "Bud" was married while in Scott Co, VA to my Grandpap George Baxter's sister, Hannah Eliza Baxter. Aunt Mallie had a photo of William & Eliza's son, John Hilton. I've tracked him a little; John married a woman named Amanda Rose, who had been married before. John's Uncle Luther Hilton married Estella Rose, and I’ve discovered they were kin. They did live near some Roses in Brookville. Now I've discovered that Amanda Rose was a Martin. Her sister, Alice, was married to my Uncle Jim Baxter, and they had one son named Paul before divorcing. So, our Hiltons and Baxters were all intertwined.
After Samuel W. Hilton, Jr. died from bronchitis in 1915, by the 1920 census, his widow, Rosanna, had moved to Bath, Franklin Co, Indiana. Son Luther & Estella lived in, as well as her granddaughter, Hattie Baxter Wallace. Hattie’s husband and son, Jack, were living with Rosanna too, maybe to help her out. Hattie was my Dad's older sister.
Aunt Addie remembers that Rosanna lived on a big farm. She said she only visited up there a few times. My dad was 12 yrs old & Addie was 15 when their Grandma Rosanna Hilton died in 1933. The person who signed her death certificate in Fayette Co, IND was Mrs. Charrisa Bell of Bentonville, IND. This was Rosanna's daughter, Charrisa Bell Presley, whose husband had died in 1915 too! I can't find her in a 1930 census.
In 2010, my husband, Robert and I traveled to Brookville, Indiana, to attend a ceremony to have a new Veterans Administration gravestone placed on Samuel W. Wilson, Jr's grave. I had the stone delivered up there, and cemetery treasurer, Jim Thackrey, handled all the details. We had Sam's old stone engraved on the back for Rosanna, who had no stone at all before. Meeting us there for the ceremony were cousins Rita Zimmerman, her sister, Janice Linville, George Grieswell, and his daughter, Melinda Schmidbauer. Mr. Thackrey had alerted the local newspaper, so our little entourage was featured in their Brookville newspaper!
Samuel Wilson Hilton, Jr. was born in Hiltons, Scott County, VA, because that's where his parents were living at his birth in 1845. Father, Samuel Wilson Hilton, Sr. was granted his own 199 acres of land on the north side of the Holston River in 1849, n. of the Peters lands. The 1860 census shows Samuel W. Hilton, Jr., age 15, farm hand, living with his parents and ten other siblings.
His granddaughter, my Aunt Addie Baxter Eskridge, never knew him, but her Ma (Samuel's daughter, Stella) said they had a general store and gristmill in VA. Maybe he ran the one whose remnants we saw this year in 2010, in Hiltons on the N. Fork Holston River, the one known as Lunsford's Mill. The family story Aunt Addie told was that Sam Hilton met his future wife, Rosanna Helton, on the street; she told him her troubles, and they decided right then and there to marry.
By the records, Samuel W. Hilton, Jr. served in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy in 1864. He must have been one of the Clinch Mountain Boomers, just like his three brothers, since they were all in Co. H. The Clinch Mountains are a range behind the Hilton lands. In his family history book, Hiltons of Scott Co, VA, Jim Hilton lists the three brothers, but leaves out Sam. Oh, now I see. I just received more official records from the National Archives. It appears that Sam enlisted on April 16, 1864, to Company H, 6 Battalion Reserves, VA, but never showed up for duty! Now I believe that his record is listed as Samuel Helton, that he's the one who served and was captured in Mississippi, then transported to MD.
He had three brothers who served together: Jonathan Wesley, William T, & Enos Bird were among the Clinch Mountain Boomers. Their father had died the previous year (1863), leaving his widow with six children younger than Sam Jr. She probably needed help at home, so convinced him to stay at home instead of serving another time (my current theory).
On July 9, 1867, Sam married Rosanna; he was 22; she was 21. Three years later, the 1870 census shows them living in District 3, War Gap, Hancock County, TN, where her family lived. They have one child, Mary E, age 1. Rosanne cannot read or write, but he can. Their personal value is $150, and it looks like they don't own their land. They are living a few doors away from Rosanna's widowed grandmother--Juda Helton, whose real estate is valued at $200, personal property at $300. Juda cannot read or write, and has daughter, Annis living in, with Annis's children: Madison, & Rufus. This is after the Civil War, so I'm betting Annis' husband was a casualty. Two families of Fords live between Samuel & Rosanna & Juda Helton. It seems I remember some of Rosanna's sisters marrying into the Fords, so they were probably all living on their grandparents' land in War Gap, TN--that of Aaron & Juda Helton (Aaron was son of Rev. Samuel Hilton of Scott Co, VA). Rosanna's half-sister, Martha, age 15, lives in with the Gillem family--Jesse & Nancy Gillem, and works as a domestic servant for them. She did attend school that year, though. Martha would marry Peter Lawson in 1874.
Now I see why the Fords live nearby! I just found in someone else's tree on Ancestry.com that Annis Helton was married to John Ford! He must have been a casualty! Yes, here is their marriage record of 1856 TN! No earlier records show up for him in Hancock County, TN.
The 1880 census has Samuel & Rosanna Hilton living in Fulkerson, Scott Co, VA, where he is a farmer. This census doesn't reveal whether or not he owned the land. Surely this was a piece of his father's 190 acres! There are five children now: Mary E; William E., 9; Esther D, 7; Charrisy B, 4; & Luther O, 1.They live next door to Edmund & Mary A. Hart. Mary A. Hart was Samuel's sister! Mary & Edmund have eight children. Also living in with them, is Sam & Mary's sister, Eliza J. Hilton, age 23! The Hiltons can all read & write. The interesting thing is that Samuel & his sister Mary Hilton Hart both list their mother as born in TN--that would be Grace Bailie. Other records show her as born in VA.
There is a 20 yr gap between the 1880-1900 censuses. I need to research the land records for Scott Co, VA, to see if Sam & Rosanna sold out before moving to Sullivan Co, TN. That's where Sam & Rosanna could be found in the 1900 census, in the 11th Civil District; He is a farmer who rents his farm. Their son Luther stated on his military reg. card that he was born in Rogersville, TN in 1878. Was he mistaken, or did they go from Hancock Co, TN in 1870 to Rogersville, Hawkins Co, TN in 1878? Fannie was born in VA in 1884. So they must have moved around even in TN before moving back to VA by 1880. A Presley cousin indicated that they might have gone to Rogersville for Sam to work on the RR.
Sometime between the 1900 & 1910 censuses, they moved to Brookville, Franklin Co, Indiana. It appears they were tenant farmers there, since it looks like the census taker in 1910 crossed over R (for rent) & wrote T. Cousin Rita Zimmerman said her mother told her that Sam & Rosanna were in Indiana by 1903, because that's when they wrote to Rita's grandparents, Walter & Charissa Presley, to tell them there was work in Indiana. She said Sam & Rosanna rode the train to move up there from TN. Then the Presleys followed by train in the summer of 1903.
Sam's younger brother, John S. Hilton, whose Confederate unit he joined in the Civil War, had moved to Indiana by 1900, where he appears on the census for Liberty, Grant Co, Indiana. That was further north than Brookville, though. Sam's youngest daughter, Fanny, died in 1905 while visiting her sister (my Grandma) Stella Hilton Baxter in Clinton, TN. Did she just stay with her rather than move to Indiana? Her grave is beside Stella's husband, George "Pap" Baxter, in Taylor Cemetery. Aunt Addie said Fanny & Stella used to play banjoes and sing together. Their brother, Bud, played guitar (Wm. E.). There was a strong folk music tradition in Scott Co, VA; Hiltons is near the Carter family fold.
Sam & Rosanna were in their 50's when they moved to Indiana. Most of their grown children moved with them: William E. "Bud", who lived in Brookville in 1910, Charris who married Walter Presley in TN, & Luther. William would die in 1914, a year before his father. He was only 44 yrs old. William, nicknamed "Bud" was married while in Scott Co, VA to my Grandpap George Baxter's sister, Hannah Eliza Baxter. Aunt Mallie had a photo of William & Eliza's son, John Hilton. I've tracked him a little; John married a woman named Amanda Rose, who had been married before. John's Uncle Luther Hilton married Estella Rose, and I’ve discovered they were kin. They did live near some Roses in Brookville. Now I've discovered that Amanda Rose was a Martin. Her sister, Alice, was married to my Uncle Jim Baxter, and they had one son named Paul before divorcing. So, our Hiltons and Baxters were all intertwined.
After Samuel W. Hilton, Jr. died from bronchitis in 1915, by the 1920 census, his widow, Rosanna, had moved to Bath, Franklin Co, Indiana. Son Luther & Estella lived in, as well as her granddaughter, Hattie Baxter Wallace. Hattie’s husband and son, Jack, were living with Rosanna too, maybe to help her out. Hattie was my Dad's older sister.
Aunt Addie remembers that Rosanna lived on a big farm. She said she only visited up there a few times. My dad was 12 yrs old & Addie was 15 when their Grandma Rosanna Hilton died in 1933. The person who signed her death certificate in Fayette Co, IND was Mrs. Charrisa Bell of Bentonville, IND. This was Rosanna's daughter, Charrisa Bell Presley, whose husband had died in 1915 too! I can't find her in a 1930 census.
In 2010, my husband, Robert and I traveled to Brookville, Indiana, to attend a ceremony to have a new Veterans Administration gravestone placed on Samuel W. Wilson, Jr's grave. I had the stone delivered up there, and cemetery treasurer, Jim Thackrey, handled all the details. We had Sam's old stone engraved on the back for Rosanna, who had no stone at all before. Meeting us there for the ceremony were cousins Rita Zimmerman, her sister, Janice Linville, George Grieswell, and his daughter, Melinda Schmidbauer. Mr. Thackrey had alerted the local newspaper, so our little entourage was featured in their Brookville newspaper!
His granddaughter, my Aunt Addie Baxter Eskridge, never knew him, but her Ma (Samuel's daughter, Stella) said they had a general store and gristmill in VA. Maybe he ran the one whose remnants we saw this year in 2010, in Hiltons on the N. Fork Holston River, the one known as Lunsford's Mill. The family story Aunt Addie told was that Sam Hilton met his future wife, Rosanna Helton, on the street; she told him her troubles, and they decided right then and there to marry.
By the records, Samuel W. Hilton, Jr. served in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy in 1864. He must have been one of the Clinch Mountain Boomers, just like his three brothers, since they were all in Co. H. The Clinch Mountains are a range behind the Hilton lands. In his family history book, Hiltons of Scott Co, VA, Jim Hilton lists the three brothers, but leaves out Sam. Oh, now I see. I just received more official records from the National Archives. It appears that Sam enlisted on April 16, 1864, to Company H, 6 Battalion Reserves, VA, but never showed up for duty! Now I believe that his record is listed as Samuel Helton, that he's the one who served and was captured in Mississippi, then transported to MD.
He had three brothers who served together: Jonathan Wesley, William T, & Enos Bird were among the Clinch Mountain Boomers. Their father had died the previous year (1863), leaving his widow with six children younger than Sam Jr. She probably needed help at home, so convinced him to stay at home instead of serving another time (my current theory).
On July 9, 1867, Sam married Rosanna; he was 22; she was 21. Three years later, the 1870 census shows them living in District 3, War Gap, Hancock County, TN, where her family lived. They have one child, Mary E, age 1. Rosanne cannot read or write, but he can. Their personal value is $150, and it looks like they don't own their land. They are living a few doors away from Rosanna's widowed grandmother--Juda Helton, whose real estate is valued at $200, personal property at $300. Juda cannot read or write, and has daughter, Annis living in, with Annis's children: Madison, & Rufus. This is after the Civil War, so I'm betting Annis' husband was a casualty. Two families of Fords live between Samuel & Rosanna & Juda Helton. It seems I remember some of Rosanna's sisters marrying into the Fords, so they were probably all living on their grandparents' land in War Gap, TN--that of Aaron & Juda Helton (Aaron was son of Rev. Samuel Hilton of Scott Co, VA). Rosanna's half-sister, Martha, age 15, lives in with the Gillem family--Jesse & Nancy Gillem, and works as a domestic servant for them. She did attend school that year, though. Martha would marry Peter Lawson in 1874.
Now I see why the Fords live nearby! I just found in someone else's tree on Ancestry.com that Annis Helton was married to John Ford! He must have been a casualty! Yes, here is their marriage record of 1856 TN! No earlier records show up for him in Hancock County, TN.
The 1880 census has Samuel & Rosanna Hilton living in Fulkerson, Scott Co, VA, where he is a farmer. This census doesn't reveal whether or not he owned the land. Surely this was a piece of his father's 190 acres! There are five children now: Mary E; William E., 9; Esther D, 7; Charrisy B, 4; & Luther O, 1.They live next door to Edmund & Mary A. Hart. Mary A. Hart was Samuel's sister! Mary & Edmund have eight children. Also living in with them, is Sam & Mary's sister, Eliza J. Hilton, age 23! The Hiltons can all read & write. The interesting thing is that Samuel & his sister Mary Hilton Hart both list their mother as born in TN--that would be Grace Bailie. Other records show her as born in VA.
There is a 20 yr gap between the 1880-1900 censuses. I need to research the land records for Scott Co, VA, to see if Sam & Rosanna sold out before moving to Sullivan Co, TN. That's where Sam & Rosanna could be found in the 1900 census, in the 11th Civil District; He is a farmer who rents his farm. Their son Luther stated on his military reg. card that he was born in Rogersville, TN in 1878. Was he mistaken, or did they go from Hancock Co, TN in 1870 to Rogersville, Hawkins Co, TN in 1878? Fannie was born in VA in 1884. So they must have moved around even in TN before moving back to VA by 1880. A Presley cousin indicated that they might have gone to Rogersville for Sam to work on the RR.
Sometime between the 1900 & 1910 censuses, they moved to Brookville, Franklin Co, Indiana. It appears they were tenant farmers there, since it looks like the census taker in 1910 crossed over R (for rent) & wrote T. Cousin Rita Zimmerman said her mother told her that Sam & Rosanna were in Indiana by 1903, because that's when they wrote to Rita's grandparents, Walter & Charissa Presley, to tell them there was work in Indiana. She said Sam & Rosanna rode the train to move up there from TN. Then the Presleys followed by train in the summer of 1903.
Sam's younger brother, John S. Hilton, whose Confederate unit he joined in the Civil War, had moved to Indiana by 1900, where he appears on the census for Liberty, Grant Co, Indiana. That was further north than Brookville, though. Sam's youngest daughter, Fanny, died in 1905 while visiting her sister (my Grandma) Stella Hilton Baxter in Clinton, TN. Did she just stay with her rather than move to Indiana? Her grave is beside Stella's husband, George "Pap" Baxter, in Taylor Cemetery. Aunt Addie said Fanny & Stella used to play banjoes and sing together. Their brother, Bud, played guitar (Wm. E.). There was a strong folk music tradition in Scott Co, VA; Hiltons is near the Carter family fold.
Sam & Rosanna were in their 50's when they moved to Indiana. Most of their grown children moved with them: William E. "Bud", who lived in Brookville in 1910, Charris who married Walter Presley in TN, & Luther. William would die in 1914, a year before his father. He was only 44 yrs old. William, nicknamed "Bud" was married while in Scott Co, VA to my Grandpap George Baxter's sister, Hannah Eliza Baxter. Aunt Mallie had a photo of William & Eliza's son, John Hilton. I've tracked him a little; John married a woman named Amanda Rose, who had been married before. John's Uncle Luther Hilton married Estella Rose, and I’ve discovered they were kin. They did live near some Roses in Brookville. Now I've discovered that Amanda Rose was a Martin. Her sister, Alice, was married to my Uncle Jim Baxter, and they had one son named Paul before divorcing. So, our Hiltons and Baxters were all intertwined.
After Samuel W. Hilton, Jr. died from bronchitis in 1915, by the 1920 census, his widow, Rosanna, had moved to Bath, Franklin Co, Indiana. Son Luther & Estella lived in, as well as her granddaughter, Hattie Baxter Wallace. Hattie’s husband and son, Jack, were living with Rosanna too, maybe to help her out. Hattie was my Dad's older sister.
Aunt Addie remembers that Rosanna lived on a big farm. She said she only visited up there a few times. My dad was 12 yrs old & Addie was 15 when their Grandma Rosanna Hilton died in 1933. The person who signed her death certificate in Fayette Co, IND was Mrs. Charrisa Bell of Bentonville, IND. This was Rosanna's daughter, Charrisa Bell Presley, whose husband had died in 1915 too! I can't find her in a 1930 census.
In 2010, my husband, Robert and I traveled to Brookville, Indiana, to attend a ceremony to have a new Veterans Administration gravestone placed on Samuel W. Wilson, Jr's grave. I had the stone delivered up there, and cemetery treasurer, Jim Thackrey, handled all the details. We had Sam's old stone engraved on the back for Rosanna, who had no stone at all before. Meeting us there for the ceremony were cousins Rita Zimmerman, her sister, Janice Linville, George Grieswell, and his daughter, Melinda Schmidbauer. Mr. Thackrey had alerted the local newspaper, so our little entourage was featured in their Brookville newspaper!
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