Nathan Byars, Jr.

Male 1776 - 1860  (84 years)


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  • Name Nathan Byars 
    Suffix Jr. 
    Birth 1776  (Caswell County) North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Residence Spartanburg County, South Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Residence Madison County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Military 1812-1813  [2
    Death 1860  (Lawrence County) Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Burial Bald Knob Cemetery, Five Points, Lawrence County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    • Inscription: One of the 1st settlers
    Person ID I28798  The Hennessee Family
    Last Modified 11 Oct 2018 

    Father Nathan Byars,   b. 1749, Granville County, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 15 Aug 1846, Spartanburg County, South Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 97 years) 
    Mother Drucilla Harrelson,   b. 1744, (New Hanover County, North Carolina) Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1816 (Age 72 years) 
    Marriage 1770-1772  (Orange County, North Carolina) Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 4
    Separated 11 Oct 1808  Rutherford County, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location  [5
    Divorce 24 Nov 1808  (Rutherford County, North Carolina) Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Family ID F414  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Elizabeth Blassingame,   b. 1800, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1862, Lawrence County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 62 years) 
    Marriage 15 Nov 1810  Warren County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  [6, 7
    Residence (Family) 1850  Lawrence County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Children 
     1. Harrel Byars,   b. 22 Mar 1814, Lawrence County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Oct 1862, Randolph, Fannin County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 48 years)
     2. Robert Byars,   b. 29 Jan 1819, Lawrence County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 Mar 1882 (Age 63 years)
     3. Levi B. Byars,   b. 1822, Lawrence County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 May 1894, (Lawrence County, Alabama) Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 72 years)
     4. Thomas B. Byars,   b. 1837, Lawrence County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location
     5. Sarah Byars,   b. Lawrence County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location
     6. George W. Byars,   b. 1839, Lawrence County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Dec 1861, Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 22 years)
     7. Elizabeth Byars,   b. Lawrence County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location
    Family ID F10407  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 30 Apr 2023 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 1776 - (Caswell County) North Carolina Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - - Spartanburg County, South Carolina Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - - Madison County, Alabama Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 15 Nov 1810 - Warren County, Kentucky Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence (Family) - 1850 - Lawrence County, Alabama Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 1860 - (Lawrence County) Alabama Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - Bald Knob Cemetery, Five Points, Lawrence County, Alabama Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • Posted By: Clovis Byars Herring
      Email: clovisherring@yahoo.com
      Subject: I WAS WRONG about Nathan Byars Jr. See the real one
      Post Date: October 24, 2009 at 12:24:00
      Message URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/byars/messages/1054.html
      Forum: Byars Family Genealogy Forum
      Forum URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/byars/


      I was WRONG. When I published the Byars-Byers Family Enquirer, I thought the Nathan Byars Jr.son of Nathan Byars and Drucilla Harrelson, was the man by that name that married Emily Turner. I was WRONG. When my dear friend and fellow researcher Marjorie Stewart Tucker wrote her last paper, she reported that the Nathan Byars that married Emily Turner as Nathan Byars Jr. who went to Butts County Georgia. I do not know who his father was but I know he was NOT the son of Old Nathan and Drucilla.

      The real Nathan Byars Jr. is shown on the 1850 Lawrence Co.Ala, with an Elizabeth (shown in the place we always give to the wife) and with two sons, Thomas and George W Byars. Years ago I found this census on microfilm and made a copy of it. My great great grandfather Harrell Byars md Nancy Tackett was also listed on that census. There was just one Nathan Byars on this census, and no one can tell what his age was. There is a smear over his age. Some say he was 55, some say he was 65, in fact he was 74.

      In November 1850 Nathan Byars went before a Justice of the Peace and applied for bounty land for fighting in the Creek Indian War, 1812/1813. He gave his age as 74. In fact he applied for two parcels of land for fighting in that war, for again he went before Philip Tackett (his son Harrell's brother-in-law) and again said he was 74 years old. We have copies of his service. He joined in Sparta TN and was discharged there. We do have documents showing that this Nathan was Nathan Jr. In 1819, he owned land in Warren Co. TN but was living in Madison Co. Ala (Miss Territory) He gave a Power of Attorney to Harrell Byars who lived in Warren Co. TN to sell his land. A very good indication that Harrell Byars in Warren Co. TN was his brother, also a son of Nathan Byars Sr. and his first wife Drucilla Harrelson.
      A time line following the Nathan Byars who married Emily Turner has been prepared by Martha Byars, (whose husband is a descendant of the Warren Co. TN Harrell Byars) showing when and where each of these men were on the census records and it is very easy to see that they were two different men.

      So I say to all the Nathanites (coined for descendants of Nathan Byars Sr. in the Byars-Byers Family Enquirer) I WAS WRONG to assume that the man that married Emily Turner was Nathan Jr. I know there will be some that will never accept this. But we cannot change history. When we find evidence we must go where it leads us.

      In Marjorie's paper she showed two prospects for sons of the Nathan Byars in Butts Co. GA in 1850, but said there was no proof. I say to those who descend from those two men to find a male descendant and get him to do DNA test. There are four different men that descend from Old Nathan (my name for him because he is the oldest Nathan Byars I have found) So far the three tests that are back show they are related as they show on the paper trails. One is a descendant of Robert Byars who left TN and is found on the 1850 Claibrone Pr. LA census as Robert Byas. The other is my second cousin. Our grandfathers were brothers. He shows back on the paper trail to Nathan Byars Jr. in Lawrence Co. AL. Soon DNA tests results will be back for a descendant of Harrell Byars of Warren Co. TN.

      We have not been able to prove that the Elizabeth on the 1850 Lawrence Co AL census was a Womack. We have found a marriage record that indicates she may have been Elizabeth Blansengame. If the woman on the census is a Womack then she was either a second wife or her age on the census is Wrong.

      DNA testing will put us on the right trail. So please go the Byars/Byers DNA site and sign up. It's painless, and will help put our extended families in the right place.


      Posted By: Clovis Byars Herring
      Email:
      Subject: Proof : Nathan Byars, married Elizabeth Blassingame
      Post Date: December 16, 2009 at 17:22:26
      Message URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/byars/messages/1066.html
      Forum: Byars Family Genealogy Forum
      Forum URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/byars/


      For years people have used a book written by Ura McWhorter Byars in the late 1970s. She was married to a Byars descendant. Her book was called "Exits & Entrants" The information in her book called the man listed on the 1850 Lawrence Co. Ala census as Nathan Byars is called L. Nathan Byars born 1795 and his wife as Elizabeth Womack. His wife was NOT Elizabeth Womack. Her maiden name was Blassingame. She was the daughter of Thomas Blassingame and Molly Roundtree. The will of Molly's father, Turner Roundtree was written in 1797 in Union Co. SC. In his will he LOANED his daughter several slaves and said at her death the slaves and their increase should be sold and the money divided between her children.
      Thomas Blassingame died and Molly married Larkin Venable. They were in Lawrence Co. Ala. by 1820. A copy of Turner Roundtree's will is in the Lawrence Co. Ala Archives in Moulton, Ala. The copy was there because in 1846 a man in Miss. had sued Molly Roundtree Blassingame Venable and got a large amount of money. In 1849 Another daughter of Thomas and Molly sued her mother and her brother Robert because some of the slaves had been sold. In the Chancery Court Records the names of all of Thomas and Molly Blassingame's children, was given including the husbands name. "Nathan Byars and his wife Elizabeth, formerly Elizabeth Blassingame" was part of that law suite. So there it is. Proof that Nathan Byars born 1776 in NC was the same Nathan Byars that married Elizabeth Blassingame in 1810 in Warren Co. Kentucky. They were the parents of my direct Byars line, Harrell Byars who married Nancy Tackett. I received a copy of their marriage license years ago. But now on file in the loose papers at the Lawrence Co. Ala Archives is also a copy of the original marriage license for Harrell Byars and Nancy Tackett. Attached to that license is a paper giving permission for "my son Harrell Byars to marry Nancy Tackett" and it is signed Nathan Byars. You can't have better documentation than that. Now how to you get people to accept the truth when there is a modern grave marker in Bald Knob Cemetery, in Lawrence Co. Ala with false information on it. If you are a descendant of Nathan Byars and Drucilla Harrelson this should interest you. I believe that this man is Nathan Jr. but I have no proof. As a matter of fact before we start putting markers on unmarked graves we need to have proof positive that we have the right names and dates before it is carved in stone.

      Please let us all leave no stone unturned to find proof. It has taken me 30 years to find these documents. My thanks goes to Linda Eddy, a great Byars researcher. If Linda tells you something about your Byars family you can bet she had the documentation to back her up. She has a great Byars data base and a desire that every thing is proved. We are so fortunate to have someone like her on our Forum.

      end of message












      [8]
    • The man called L. Nathan Byars on this grave marker was my 3rd great grand father. He was born about 1774 in North Carolina. He never signed his name as L. Nathan Byars. He always signed Nathan Byars. He lived in Spartanburg Dist SC for a time, then went to Kentucky, where he married Elizabeth Blassingame in Warren Co. on Nov. 15, 1810. He spent time in Warren Co. TN where several of his siblings lived. At one time he was in Madison Co AL, when he gave a Power of Attorney to his brother Harrell Byars to sell some land he had in Warren Co. TN. This family was in Lawrence Co. AL very early.

      Nathan Byars and Elizabeth are found on the 1850 Lawrence Co.AL census. There was just two children still at home, Thomas and George. Also in 1850 Nathan Byars went to a justice of the peace and filed for land for fighting in the Creek Indian War 1812/1813. He stated he was 74 years old. There is a smear on his age on the 1850 census and it is impossible to read. He was the only Nathan Byars in Lawrence Co. AL when the census was taken in 1850 and he signed his name as Nathan (NO L) Byars when he applied for the bounty land.

      The children were; Harrel Byars that married Nancy Tackett in Lawrence Co AL they are my 2nd great grandparents, Robert, Sarah, Levi B.Byars who married Sarah Livingston, Elizabeth, Thomas and George.

      While it is difficult to correct errors made long ago we must attempt to set them straight, even though they are carved in stone.

      While it may appear that Nathan Byars wife was very young to marry, it is very possible she did not give her correct age. Many women now and in the past did not like to tell people how old they were.

      cbh

      Family links:
      Spouse:
      Elizabeth Blasengame Byars (1800 - 1862)

      Inscription:
      One of the 1st settlers

      Note: Nathan Byars year of birth abt. 1774 NC One of the first Settlers in Lawrence Co. AL

      Clovis Byars Herring

      end of commentary [2]

  • Sources 
    1. [S1806] "United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MH5S-DJT : accessed.

    2. [S12268] "Nathan Byars", Biography, Profile & Registry, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=byars&GSbyrel=all&G.

    3. [S855] Marjorie Stewart Tucker (1932-2000) Historian & genealogist for many Warren, DeKalb and White County families. Authored (Reliability: 3).

    4. [S13319] "Nathan Byars (1749 - 1846)", Biography, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Byars-135, abstracted by David A. Hennessee, info.

    5. [S855] Marjorie Stewart Tucker (1932-2000) Historian & genealogist for many Warren, DeKalb and White County families. Authored.

    6. [S45052] http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?byars::blassingame::341.html.

    7. [S1804] http://genforum.genealogy.com/blassingame/messages/341.html.

    8. [S586] http://genforum.genealogy.com/byars/messages/1054.html.