Son of Willis and R. Jane Headley

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Martha Ann and Caleb Nelson Headley were bound out to James Huckabee.

Mary J. was bound out to Philip Coker.

From Will Book K (1849-1854) (as written on document contained in Hazel and Woodrow Headley's books): On November 15, 1854, the Judge of Probate of Shelby County signed a document that bound Martha Ann Headley (about 11 years old) and Caleb Nelson Headley, not quite 8 years old, to James Huckabee, to feed, clothe, treat with humanity, to teach to read, write and cypher to the rule of 3, the girl to be housekeeping, the boy to be farming, Martha Ann until 16, Caleb to age 21, then bond to be void. Document was signed James Huckabee and Phelise Coker. Judge J. M. McClanahan, Probate Court.

On the same document, Mary J. Headley (not quite 6 or 7 years old was bound out to Philip Coker under the same conditions to be taught housekeeping. Bond to be void at age 16. This bond was also signed by Phelise Coker.

Philip's name is signed as Felise and again as Phelis Coker on the legal court documents.

The Philip Coker families, of which there are several generations in Alabama, were very wealthy and such court actions of then orphaned children was nothing short of white slavery because the girls were used in their kitchens/washing clothes/caring for their babies etc. and boys were used to care for their farm animals on their very large farms. Did Mary Jane die or did she find a way to escape possible mistreatment? No marriage records have been found after this 1860 census. She would have been 21 or 22 in 1870.

Above per alagenealogy.com/Patriarchs

Per William H. Parker on Roots Web re Caleb Nelson Headley and his mother, R. Jane Belle, he said that Jane married James Huckabee in 1856 and showed up on the 1860 Shelby Co. Census. Hopefully, that made life easier for Caleb and Martha Ann. But what about little Mary Jane?.