Fort Alford John and Hansford Alford Wiley Walton Alford Jackson ...

March 1992 AAFAACTION Page 21By Gil Alford, Executive DirectorAlford history in Florida runs almost200 years behind that of Virginia andNew England, 100 years behind that ofNorth Carolina, 60 years behindGeorgia, and about 20 years behindMississippi. The reason Alford activityin Florida lagged behind other states inthe area is that it took so long to get thearea away from the Spaniards. Floridawas established as a territory in 1822and as the 27th state in 1845. LeonCounty, which is the location ofTallahassee, the state capitol, wascreated in 1824. Not long after the flagwas up, an Alford was there.Fort AlfordIn the 1830 census of Florida, FortAlford was enumerated in Leon county,and he is the first Alford recorded thereas far as the Association knows. It isnot known why he was there, but heapparently was not "pennanent." He isprobably the same Fort Alford who wasborn in North Carolina, married aSouth Carolina lady, and moved toMississippi. Since he has been identifiedwith the military on at least oneoccasion, the anny may have accountedfor his presence in Leon county. Hewas in Mississippi before and after theFlorida appearance. So far no otherFlorida activity on his part has beennoted.John and Hansford AlfordThe real Alford pioneers in Florida areJohn Alford and his son Hansford(Hance), who moved to HamiltonCounty, Florida about 1837, when heowned land there. The family "originated"in Spartanburg, South Carolina.but stopped for a while in GeorgiaprobablyAppling County (which in1820 covered a big part of the state).One report says he held several localofflces, including Justice of the Peacein 1841, and was a member of theFlorida House from Columbia Countyin 1856. By 1850 Hansford was thehead of the family. He was a preacher,and John. his father, was a schoolteacher. Hansford and his two wiveshad eight children. Descendants of theJohn/Hansford branch of the familystill reside in Florida, and several aremembers of AAFA. The Associationneeds more infonnation on John ,.", (.Alford's origin.Wiley Walton AlfordAnother Alford pioneer of Florida wasWiley Walton Alford. born about 1812in Georgia., He and his wife, SusanDavis, lived for a short while inGeorgia, where their first child wasborn. They then moved to Jackson,County, Florida, where their secondwas born in early 1850. Wiley's firstwife died in the first half of the 1860's,and he married a second time in 1867.With his two wives Wiley had a dozenchildren. Most, if not all of them,livedto adulthood. Descendants of thisfamily have continued in JacksonCounty until recent times. It was thebirthplace of Roberta Sue Alford Foldswho, with h~r husband, Milton, werethe most gracious hosts of the very firstAAFA annual meeting in 1987 atAtlanta, GA. There is at least one othermember of the Association who comesfrom this branch. They would appreciateyour help in learning more aboutWiley Alford and his parents.Jackson Co. John AlfordsIn Jackson County in 1850 were alsotwo other Alford families. Althoughthey were in the same district, theywere not particularly close to Wiley,and no connection between the familieshas been found. John Alford. bornabout 1770 in South Carolina. with hiswife Nancy Ann (almost certainly hissecond wife), were enumerated withseven children. Living next door wasanother son, John B. Alford, with hiswife Elizabeth and two children born inAlabama. We have been able to trackthis family to 1910 but do not knowany present day descendants nor do wehave any information on their ancestry.Help!Other AlfordsThere was another South Carolinafamily in neighboring WashingtonCounty who was of an age to have fitwith the Jackson County family fromSouth Carolina. This was Henry. bornabout 1815 in South Carolina, and hiswife Mary. Like John B. Alford in thepreceding paragraph. Henry had youngchildren born in Alabama.It seems that there was a requirementfor every state in 1850 tohave an Alford family from NorthCarolina. Florida was no exception.Handa Alford, born about 1794 inNorth Carolina, along with his Georgiawife Dicy. were in Wakulla Countywith five older children-all born inGeorgia. Our Georgia records tell usthat Handy Alford married DiceyFleming on November 13, 1823, inColumbia County, Georgia. EarlyGeorgia census records also tell us thatHandy Alford was in Houston County,GA, in 1830 and in adjoining DooleyCounty in 1840. Who knows somethingabout the origin of these folks?There were several other Alford"households" in Florida in 1850. Therewas a English seaman named Alford inHillsborough County (Tampa area)who undoubtedly was not permanent.We need your help in learning moreabout James W. Allford age 43 fromGeorgia, his wife Matildia J. age 28(Continued on p. 41)

March 1992 AAFAACTION Page 41 Imember of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Jefferson County.Survivors include her husband, Henry; a son, Ronnie Alford,Milton; a daughter, Wanda Faye Watts, Lamont; abrother,E.H. Jenkins, Valley, Ala.; a sister, Gloria Martin, Houston;and 10 grandchildren. Services will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow atEbenezer Baptist Church with burial in Ebenezer Cemetery,Jefferson Conty. The visitation will be from 7 to 9 tonight atBeggs-Wilkins Funeral Home, Monticello.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••The following obituary mentions Alford, but the deceasedperson is not an Alford.SARAH DOGAN (Alford Ce~etery)Sent by Member #134 Katherine BlackNo source---23 January 1907"Mrs. Sarah Dogan died at the home of her daughter,Mrs. C. W. Manley, on the 20th inst., age 76 years, she wasburied next day at the ALFORD Cemetery two milessoutheast of town. She leaves three sons and two daughters,as well as a large number of relatives and friends to mournher loss."Note by Katherine Black: The town is Charleston,county seat of Tallahatehie County, Mississippi. The paperwas printed in Charleston•.•. The cemetery is probably onCade Alford's 9riginalland or his son's land Hudson orJames and all ofCade Alford's descendants, are probably allburied there as none moved from the county but two of hisgrandsons and I have their records in Mississippi.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••In MemoriamJACK F. EISENLAUERs (Ellen4, Millard 3 ,RusselP, William l ) AAFA Member #9Jack was one of AAFA's earliest members. He and GilAlford had corresponded for almost ten years, since late1982. We will miss him.A Native ofIn Loving Memory OfJACK F. EISENLAUERHanford. CaliforniaDate of Birth June 26. 1916Entered Into RestJanuary 22, 1992Memorial Services atSt. Michael's Episcopal ChurchCarmichael. CaliforniaJanuary 27. 1992. at I :00 P.M.OfficiantOrganistFr. Dennis OdekirkMs. Constance WeichertA - Affectionate'L - LaughterF - Funo - OutstandingR - RelativesD - DelightfulTogether they spellALFORD, a word thatmeans FAMILY to me.Mary AKord Helms, Member '407Little Rock, AR(Florida Alfords. cont.from p. 21)from Tennessee, their son Francis M.age 9 from Tennessee, and daughterMartha age 4 born in Florida. Last butnot least of the 1850 Florida Alfordswere Peachman Alford and his wifeElizabeth. Peachman is the elusiveancestor of AAFA Texas GenealogistLucille Mehrkam. Although he was inEscambia County (pensacola), he wasnot there for long.A number of the 1850 Alford familieswere still in Florida in the 1860s, butthe family that really made the Alfordsflourish in Florida didn't get there untillate in the 1860's and appeared first inthe 1870 census. They were, and are, inWalton County, next to OkaloosaCounty, where we will be meeting inOctober. We are looking forward tomeeting some of these Alfords al thalmeeting. This branch, which is closerkin to many members than mostsuspect, will be introduced in the nextissue. You can learn more about theseAlford families by reviewing theFlorida census data published in theDecember 1991 issue of this quarterly. +