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Absalom and Elizabeth Autrey and Their Descendants, With a Section on Thomas Norrisby Jeanne McDuff Murphy and Jo Lyon Autrey CHAPTER I The Early Autrey Family The Autreys were French Huguenots. According to family tradition, they left France in the 1500's and moved to Holland. They later migrated to New Amsterdam (New York) with the Dutch, then to Pennsylvania and to North Carolina. A Cornelius Autrey had moved to Edgecombe County, North Carolina by 1740. He acquired through Granville Land Grants a total of three thousand four hundred ninety-four acres of land by 1762. Part of the land included 376 acres joining Awtrey's Creek and Crowsway Branch; 700 acres joining Autrey's old corner and Autrey's old line and 687 acres on both sides of Autrey's Creek joining Harren Branch. This writer believes that Cornelius Autrey was the great grandfather of our subject but there is no proof in the court records of North Carolina. This Cornelius Autrey and his wife had nine children, all born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina: Absalom, born 1740; John, born 1741; James, born 1742, William, born 1745; Cornelius, born 1747; Drury, born 1749; Isam, born in 1750; Martha, born 1753 and Sarah, born 1755. Absalom Autrey, the oldest child of Cornelius Autrey, was the grandfather of our subject. Absalom Autrey married Mary Lucy Naomi Camp before 1770. There were three Absalom Autreys in the American Revolution from North Carolina. One Absalom Autrey, born in 1750, was in the American Army. He entered the Army in the spring of 1782 in North Carolina and served under Captain McClain. He served three months defending the frontier of North Carolina. He was drafted again and hired a man to take his place for $75.00. He then moved to Sparta, South Carolina and was drafted again. He lived in Henry County, Tennessee in 1832 when he applied for a pension. In 1793 and 1794 another Absalom Autrey served as a scout and spy in the Wilkes County Militia under Brigadier General John Clark. The third Absalom Autrey served as a First Lieutenant in the British Army in Colonel David Fannings Regiment from March 1, 1781 to 30 September 1782. This regiment was determined to be sent to St. Augustine, Florida. The military records indicate the third Absalom Autrey is our ancestor. By family tradition, Absalom had brothers who served as officers in the American Army. He was reported to have been wealthy before the war and lost his property because he was a Tory. This author found no records in North Carolina to support these claims. Absalom Autrey and family were living in Moore County, North Carolina by 1790. According to the U.S. Census he had five sons and one daughter. He lived in Buncombe and Rutherford Counties, North Carolina before migrating to the Mississippi Territory. After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Georgia gave up the claims of her western lands and this land became the Mississippi Territory. When Mississippi became a state in 1817, the eastern half of the territory became the Alabama Territory. Alabama became a state in 1819. In 1806 or 1807, Absalom Autrey and his family joined thousands of settlers from eastern and northern states migrating to the part of the country that is now Alabama. He settled in the section that is now St. Clair County. Several of Absalom Autrey's sons and their families moved with him. They lived in a two story hand hewn log house that they built near the foot of Blout Mountain. This house stood for more than one hundred years. Although there were undoubtedly daughters, only sons of Absalom and Lucy Autrey are known: Alexander, Cornelius (born in 1770), Hiram (born about 1771), Elijah, Isaac, William, James, John, George and Enoch. The court records of Benton and St. Clair Counties show that Cornelius Autrey, Elijah Autrey, James Autrey, George Autrey and Enoch Autrey were living near their father. Absalom Autrey owned 152 acres of land by the Coosa River at Greensport, Alabama. On 26 May, 1824 he deeded this land to three of his sons: James Enoch and George. Also, he gave these same three sons his furniture, rifles and livestock. Absalom Autrey and his wife are listed in the 1830 St. Clair County U.S. Census as being between the ages of 80 and 90 years. Their sons, George and James, were living in the next households. From the story passed down in the family, Absalom Autrey died at the age of 98, the night the "stars fell in Alabama". On 13 November, 1833, there was a large meteor shower that could be seen from all parts of eastern North America. If this was the date of Absalom Autrey's death, he was 93 years old at the time. Absalom Autrey was buried near Greensport, Alabama. Greensport is within two or three miles of the land that Absalom had willed to his sons. Cornelius Autrey, a son of the above Absalom and the father of our subject, was born about 1770 in North Carolina. He and his family migrated to the Mississippi Territory with his father in the early 1800's. By the early 1820's, Cornelius Autrey was living in Perry County, Alabama. According to one source, his youngest son, James Henry Autrey, was born in Perry County in 1820. On 23 February 1824 Cornelius Autrey gave his daughter, Alsira, permission to marry Bird Griffin in that county. On 1 December 1826 Cornelius, along with Jesse Green, Ezekial Pricert and John Wiley were appointed by the court to inventory and appraise the property of Thomas Norris. Thomas Norris was the father-in-law of Cornelius' son, Absalom. Cornelius Autrey and his family had moved back to Benton County, Alabama by 1832. Charity, one of his daughters, married Thomas Jefferson Downing on 8 November 1832 in Benton, County. On 2 August 1833, Cornelius Autrey bought 152.36 acres of land in St. Clair County from his brothers for $300.00. This land was in Section 13, Township 14, Range 5 West, the property that Enoch, James and George Autrey had inherited from their father in 1824. he sold 80 acres of land in Section 25, Township 14, Range East to Thomas J. McGehee for $250.00 on 25 May 1846. This land was in St. Clair County. Cornelius and _____ Powers (?) Autrey had sixteen children. Fifteen of them are known: Absalom Autrey, born 11 August 1802, married Elizabeth Norris 22 February 1826 and died 14 February 1885; Polly Autrey born ca. 1804, married James Maharg 23 December 1821; George W. Autrey born ca. 1805, married Mary Ann _____; Alsira Autrey born 1808, married Bird Griffin 23 February 1824; Alexander Autrey born ca. 1809; ____ Autrey born ca. 1811, married _____ Yeager; Elijah Autrey born ca. 1813; John Autrey born ca. 1814; Enoch Autrey born ca. 1815; Charity M. Autrey born ca. 1816, married Thomas Jefferson Downing 18 November 1832, died after 1865 in Van Zandt County, Texas; William Autrey born ca. 1816; Jacob Autrey born ca. 1817; Micajah "Mike" Autrey born ca. 1818; Thomas Autrey born ca. 1819; and James Henry Autrey born 2 November 1820, married Fransina m. Morris 7 June 1845, died 30 November, 1902. In 1847 Cornelius Autrey went to Perry County, Alabama to see his children. While on the visit he died. It is not known whether he was buried in Perry County or St. Clair County, Alabama. There are conflicting stories. References/Contacts for The Early Autrey Family American Militia in the Frontier Wars 1790-1796, Murtie June
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