Absalom and Elizabeth Autrey and Their Descendants, With a Section on Thomas Norris

by Jeanne McDuff Murphy and Jo Lyon Autrey

CHAPTER VI

Joseph N. and Harriett (Autrey) Wiley

Harriett Autrey, the fourth child of Absalom and Elizabeth (Norris) Autrey was born 6 December 1830 in Perry County, Alabama.  She married Joseph N. Wiley 22 December 1847 in Perry County, Alabama.  They were married by Reverend Robert Martin, Baptists Minister.  He was born about 1823 in Alabama.

They move from Alabama to Louisiana in the fall of 1848, with the Autrey and Norris family members.  Joseph N. Wiley purchased two hundred forty acres of land in Union parish, Louisiana.  He was farming this land when he died 9 July 1852.  He was buried in the Autrey Family Cemetery behind the Absalom Autrey home in an unmarked grave.  He was the first person to be buried there.

According to Joseph Wiley's estate papers in Union Parish, Louisiana, Volume A-3, page 327-332, Francis J. Wiley was the executor of his estate.  Silas Marion Fuller and John B. L. Mitchell were the sureties and were named to take inventory and appraisal of his property.  Harriett Wiley was appointed natural Tutrix to her minor children and John B. L. Mitchell was appointed to care for the finances of the minor children.  The personal property was sold 12 April 1853 and the land was sold 21 August 1854.

Joseph and Harriett (Autrey) Wiley had three children.

William Jackson and Harriett (Autrey) Field

Harriett (Autrey) Wiley married second William Jackson Field 4 November 1854 in Union Parish, Louisiana.  He was born 1 October 1828 in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, son of Lewis and Mary (Duty) Field, while his parents were visiting from Arkansas.  They moved from their home in Arkansas to Claiborne Parish, Louisiana in 1834.

He enlisted in the Confederate Army at Camp Monroe, Louisiana in July 1861.  He served as a private in Company 8 of the 12th  Louisiana Regiment.  After a year of active service, he went to work in a blacksmith shop in Arcadia, Louisiana.  This was his occupation for about ten years.

He was a farmer for the remainder of his life having acquired 640 acres of land in Claiborne Parish and 800 acres of land in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana.

Harriett died 18 February 1858 in Louisiana.  He died 3 March 1906 in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana and was buried in the Arcadia Cemetery, near Arcadia, Louisiana.  They had no children.  After Harriett's death, William Jackson Field married Harriett's sister, Celia Autrey.

References/Contacts for The Early Autrey Family

Absalom Autrey Bible (have a copy of Bible)
Farley, Willie (Huffman)
Norris Line - Mrs. Water Frank & Bettye Green
Perry County, Alabama Marriage #1881, Page 246
Union Parish, Louisiana 1850, 1860, 1870 U.S. Census
Union Parish, Louisiana Marriage Book E, Page 3
Union Parish, Louisiana Succession Records of Joseph Wiley, Volume A-III, Pages 317-332

REFERENCES FOR WILLIAM J. AND HARRIETT (AUTREY) FIELD

Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana - Southern Publishing Company, 1890
Daughdril, Elizabeth (Rogers)
Farley, Willie (Huffman)
Norris Line - Mrs. Walter Frank & Bettye Green
Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Commands - Andrew Booth
Skinner, Joycalya Ann (Beard)
Union Parish, Louisiana Marriage Book 2, Page 6