|
|
KEARNS-CRABTREE and HENNESY-SIMMONS
BIOGRAPHICAL AND FAMILY GENEALOGICAL
RESOURCE MATERIAL
|
|
Simmons Lang History
on Simmons
Supplied by Bob Ann Breland
"William Simmons, thought to be William Seldon Simmons, although we have found no records to verify it, had at least two sons. Robert 'Reuben' Simmons and 'Jim' Simmons and probably several (maybe three) daughters.
"William apparently died before Robert 'Reuben' and his wife, Frances Smith Simmons, came to the Mississippi Territory via Alabama from North or South Carolina.
"My father, Seldon Albert Lang, was supposed to be named for his Grandfather Simmons. He was supposed to be William Seldon Lang, but through error, he was named Seldon Albert, after the grandfather and his own father, Albert Winston Lang. Whoever registered the birth made the mistake, and he was stuck with it. His mother told him about the mistake, and Seldon Albert named his first son William Seldon Lang for his mother's Grandfather, William Seldon Simmons. That's why we assume that was his name.
"The Langs and Simmons have always been great story tellers, and my father remembers this tale about Grandpa William Simmons and his son, Jim, which was told and re-told in the family many, many times as he was growing up, along with other tales of the past.
"It seems Grandpa William Simmons had bought three slaves from another plantation and shortly after arriving at his home with them they ran away, and it was assumed they had returned to the plantation where they were purchased.
"My father doesn't remember where this plantation was, presumably in Alabama, only that it was far enough away that when William and his son went to retrieve their slaves they had to spend the night.
"At the end of a meal there, they were all served coffee. Jim hastily drank his, while his father was taking his time, waiting for his to cool.
"All of a sudden, Jim grabbed his chest with both hands and started screaming that a burning pain was searing his insides. He fell to the floor dead.
"Although it is possible Jim died with a heart attack, the family story goes that it was planned for the two men to be poisoned to keep them from retrieving the slaves, as they were very valuable and worth killing for. William didn't drink his coffee and Jim did. It was assumed that the poison was in the coffee. With no help to return the slaves, William returned home without them. It isn't known if he ever went back for them.
"The only other story my father remembers being told about William and his son, Jim, was a deer hunting story that stayed in his mind because he is also a deer hunter.
"It was not a memorable story except to a deer hunter, of a hunt in the snow, when Jim came across a huge buck standing in the snow. His father, William, gave him specific instructions on how to shoot the deer from the distance they were away--where to aim for a correct shot. They only gone one shot as their gun was a muzzle loader. Jim dropped the deer in the snow with one shot."
Page updated: Sunday, 06-Apr-2003 15:13:28 MDT
|
|
|
To email comments, notification of broken links or possible errors:
place stamp here |
|
|
