My gg grandfather was a man named William Monroe Banks. Legend has it that he killed a man, or thought he killed a man, and fled to Walker County, Alabama. Legend connected him to Carroll County or other areas, but Tax records connected him to Forsythe County, GA.
The time that he arrived in Walker County was between 1850 and 1853. The incident was said to have taken place in a gold mine. Some variations say a logging camp or such. The 1850 census for Forsyth does list a William Banks twice, once in the household of David Taylor and once in the household of Debora Banks. (Have not figured out the exact location yet - Looks to me like he was in the household of David Taylor for Harvest and back with his mother for winter.)
Legend has it that he moved to Walker County, Alabama with the Campbell's and Brown's. The man who is listed as moving to Walker County is Adam Campbell. This appears to be the same man that Mr. Shadburn lists as having a gold mine in the area.I don't think the Banks family was in that area that long. I think the legend has some bits of truth to it. He appeared in the area penniless, but acquired lots of land, etc. He had stone mason skills and blacksmith skills. Nathan Barlow barlow1@tds.net Elementary librarian. Library Director for the Prison System, Arkansas 20 years. Genealogy and Historical research - 25 years. Historical researcher for Arkansas National Guard (and Army Reserve) - 10 years. Helped publish the Arkansas Military Journal.
Notedp: The Ad Campbell Mine was in the Sheltonville (Shakerag) section of Forsyth County - part of which was cut off into Milton County.
Here are some of my favorite websites:
Forsyth County Georgia History and Records (http://www.rootsweb.com/~gaforsyt/)
Donna Parrish dot com (http://donnaparrish.com )
Pages by Donna ( http://members.aol.com/mflp/)