First Families - Hall

Mattie Lou Teague Crowe says in her "History of St. Clair County (Alabama)" that the first settlers of what is today Steele were the "Halls, Logans, Jourdans, Tramels, Smiths, Beasons, and Chandlers."  She gives credit to Mrs. Vivian Qualls' book on Steele history for her information about Steele.  I thought it might be fun to look back at the earliest pioneers together so let's just start with the Hall family.

David Hall (1795-1868) and his wife, Sarah (1798-1870), moved to the area about 1850 from Murray County, Georgia where he owned about 160 acres.  He had been born in South Carolina.  Looking at the basic facts about him, I'm struck by the fact that he was not a particularly young man, being about 55 when he moved.  I admire the spirit of someone who left to settle in a fairly uninhabited place at an age when most of us are pretty firmly rooted.  Some of his children were already married, and since the census didn't list names of wives and children before 1850 it's really hard to find out exactly how many there might have been.  Some might have remained in Georgia, but a few children are known so we can look at their descendants, at least.

Frances Melissa Hall was born in 1821 in South Carolina and married on 10/6/1835 in Lumpkin County, Georgia to Jesse L. Baggett.  They moved to the Steele area around the same time as her parents.  They had two sons and three daughters that I know about.  Two sons fought for the Union during the civil war, enlisting in Company K of the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry.  She died in 1912 in Blount County, aged 90 years.

James Elsberry Hall was born in 1823 and married 1/24/1872 in St. Clair County, Alabama to Annis N. Jordan (or Jourdan).  She was the widow of James Franklin Trammel who died in Chattanooga during the Civil War.  To my knowledge, James E. Hall had not been married before.  James and Annis had two children, along with her 9 year old son from the first marriage.  During the civil war, James was not able to fight, due to a severe limp but he did blacksmith work for the confederate army, however he was also charged at one point with being a union sympathizer.  He died in 1917 and was buried at Deerman's Chapel Cemetery.

Cynthia M. Hall was born in 1825 and married John G. Wilson.  The 1860 census lists them in Ashville, but the 1870 census shows Cynthia with two children and without John.  It's possible that he died during the civil war.  She later lived in Steele with her daughter's family, but I have not found where she was buried when she died in 1907.

I'm trying to keep things rather short, but some of the descendants of this family remain in Steele even now and the list would be extensive!