Heathcock Genealogy Database - Person Sheet
Heathcock Genealogy Database - Person Sheet
NameMargaret Shackelford , GGG Grandmother
Birthca 1783, NC (probably)
Deathaft 1860 Age: 77
FatherRichard Nunn Shackelford (1750-1824)
MotherMary Ann Roberts (1748-1832)
Spouses
1Major John Cook , GGG Grandfather
Birthca 1774
Death8 Jul 1822, Madison Co AL111 Age: 48
FatherJames Cook (<1749-1816)
MotherUrsula Mitchell (ca1758-<1824)
Marriage20 Mar 1804, Laurens Co SC111
ChildrenIsaac (1808-1888)
 Mary Ann (ca1810-)
 Emily (ca1812-)
 Clayton (ca1813->1860)
 Elizabeth (1816-?)
 John B. (ca1820-)
2James Harrison , Step GGG Grandfather
Marriage1 Mar 1824, Madison Co AL113
3John Hathcock Sr. , GGG Grandfather
Birthca 1774, North Carolina
Deathca 1865, New Market, Madison Co AL Age: 91
FatherHosea Hathcock (ca1752-<1836)
Marriage22 Sep 1826, Madison Co AL85,86
ChildrenHulda (1831-1859)
Notes for Margaret Shackelford
On 22 September 1826 John Heathcock married Margaret (Peggy) Harrison, the widow of James Harrison, whom she had married in 1824. John Hathcock was Margaret's third husband. Born Margaret Shackelford, her first husband was Major John Cook.

Margaret Shackelford Hathcock is last found in the 1860 census of Madison Co NC, age 70 (16 Jun 1860). She reported her state of birth as North Carolina. John (age 85) and Margaret were living next door to the family of John Heathcock Jr. and his children Dodson (male age 21), Hulda (female age 18), Caladonia (female age 16) and Nelson (male age 14).

****************
From Shackelford Clan Magazine:68

Richard and Mary Ann Roberts-Shackelford had another daughter named in his will as Margaret, wife of John Cook. And we have very little information of the Cook family, therefore would be grateful for anything additional.

John Cook was known as Major John Cook, and records of Madison County, Alabama, show that he died July 8, 1822. And from the deeds and settlement of his estate we find that John and Margaret Shackelford-Cook had the following children:

Emily----------(married Calvin Shackelford (cousins))
Margaret-------(married James Harrison ??)
Isaac----------(married Mary Ann ??)
Clayton--------(married Telitha or Tabitha)
Mary Ann-------(married ??)
John B.---------(married ??)
Elizabeth-------(married Alfred Hathcock)

Our records show that John and Margaret Cook had a daughter Margaret that married James Harrison, but this is questionable, as she does not show up in the division of John's estate.

Margaret Shackelford-Cook married for her second husband -- John Hathcock. We have no record of any children being born to that union.
Notes for John (Spouse 1)
John Cook, the first husband of Margaret Hathcock and father of Alfred Hathcock's wife Elizabeth, was the son of James Cook, of Laurens Co SC.

John R. Cook appears on a Madison Co, Mississippi Territory land list with a date of 31 Jan 1809:112
Cook, John R. 63 Flint River 2E/1 12 160 31 Jan 1809

Madison County records show that John Cook died in 1822 leaving heirs Clayton Cook, Mary Ann Cook, John Cook, Jr., Emily Shackelford Cook, Elizabeth Cook Hathcock, Isaac Cook, and Margaret Cook (widow).
Notes for John (Spouse 3)
By the late 1700s, Hathcock families had established themselves in the Hillsboro District of central North Carolina. Sometime between 1790 and 1800 a part of the family migrated to Northeast Georgia and settled in Elbert and Franklin Counties. Early Elbert County land lotteries show that there were several Hathcocks there as early as 1800, including Hosiah (Hosea) Hathcock87 and his son John Hathcock, Sr., who was born in North Carolina in about 1774.88 A 1795 voters list of Elbert County shows that John Hathcock was there as early as 1795. The approximate time of the move is shown by the fact that many of the Hathcocks who appeared in Elbert County around 1800 had been enumerated in Chatham County, North Carolina in the 1790 census.89 Hosea Hathcock lived in Elbert County until at least 1840.90 He is thought to be a brother of James Hathcock, born in Northampton County, North Carolina in 1743, also a Revolutionary War veteran.

Hosea Hathcock's entire family is not known, but there were several Georgia Hathcocks who may have been his sons (William, Isaac, James). He also may have been the father of several other Hathcocks who lived in Elbert County in the early nineteenth century and who migrated shortly thereafter into northern Alabama (Denson, Dancy, Asboth, John, Sr.). One of these men, John Hathcock, Sr., was born in North Carolina in about 1774, and moved to Elbert County by at least 1795, when he voted in an election for a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Georgia.91 In 1800, John Hathcock married Sarah Jones, the daughter of Nathan Jones and Courtney Bell.92

The Mississippi Territory was first established May 7, 1798, was enlarged on March 27, 1804 after the Louisiana Purchase, was enlarged again on May 14, 1812 when a part of Spanish Florida was added, and was divided into the new state of Mississippi and the Alabama Territory on December 10, 1817 (Alabama became a state on December 14, 1819). Here is a map showing the extent of Mississippi on these dates: http://heathcock.org/genealogy/ms-terr.pdf

In 1815-17 there was a fairly large migration from Elbert County to the area that soon became Madison County, Alabama. Madison County lies in the northeastern part of the state, between the Tennessee River and the border with the state of Tennessee. Until Alabama became a state in 1817, it was part of the Mississippi Territory. Madison County was formed in 1808 from lands gained in the Cherokee and Chickasaw Cession of 1806-07. Settlement was exceedingly rapid. The first white settler was John Hunt, who built a cabin on a bluff overlooking Big Spring in 1804. By 1808 the population of the new county was 5000! A number of these new settlers appear to have come from northeastern Georgia, including Elbert County. It is reported that "...these parties came to the new settlement from Petersburg, Elbert County, Georgia, and it would seem, in coming, stripped that town of its vital forces, rendering it stagnant, for it ceased to exist for a number of years".93

Among the new arrivals in Madison County were John Hathcock, Denson Hathcock, Dancy Hathcock, and Asboth Hathcock. Asboth Hathcock is recorded in the 1815 Madison County census, but his name does not appear elsewhere in the records. Denson Hathcock was born in North Carolina in about 1788 and married Mary Jones, another daughter of Nathan Jones, in Elbert County in 1806.94 Dancy Hathcock was also born in North Carolina in about 1795 and married Lucinda Lansen in Madison County in 1816;95 he moved to St. Clair County, Alabama in 1820 and lived there until about 1870. Dancy may have been a son, rather than a brother of John Hathcock, Sr.

The migration of John Hathcock Sr. and his sons from Elbert Co GA to the Huntsville area of Alabama was part of a large migration that occurred in the early 1800s. The likely route followed in these population shifts was the Old Federal Road. The following account is abstracted from an excellent online source:96

With construction at last beginning in 1811, the “Old Federal Road,” was built from west to east connecting Fort Stoddert, Alabama, to Fort Wilkinson, Georgia. (Several spelling variations include Stoddert, Stoddart, etc.). Constructed in 1799, Fort Stoddert was named for the Acting Secretary of War Benjamin Stoddert. Fort Stoddert was located at the Mount Vernon Landing on the Mobile River in Mobile County east of current day Mount Vernon. Located at the Federal Road's other end, Fort Wilkinson was near Milledgeville on the Oconee River in Baldwin County, Georgia. At that time, Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia.

The Old Federal Road successfully connected Fort Stoddert to the Chattahoochee River. At that point, the Federal Road merged with the earlier postal riders’ horse path that linked Athens, Georgia, to New Orleans, Louisiana. Unlike the old horse path, the Federal Road went eastward making a connection with lands ripe for the recruitment of soldiers and obtaining supplies for the military. This path quickly became a major travel route for pioneers to the area once known as the Old Southwest.

From its start as a narrow horse path used to carry the mails, the Old Federal Road underwent great development and became a major military road connecting early American forts in the Creek Lands and the Mississippi Territory. Acting as the interstate highway of its day, when “Alabama Fever” raged through the Carolinas and Georgia, the Old Federal Road carried thousands of pioneers to the Old Southwest. As such, the Federal Road directly contributed to the dramatic increase in Alabama’s population between 1810 and 1820 – with Alabama’s population growing far faster than that of either Mississippi or Louisiana during this time. Alabama continued out-distancing both Mississippi and Louisiana in population growth through 1850.

John Heathcock patented the NE1/4 of the NW1/4 (40 acres) in Township 2-S, Range 2-E, of the Huntsville Meridian in Madison Co AL. The patent was issued on 9/4/1835. This land was sold by Peyton Hathcock in 1844: “...the North East quarter of the North West quarter of Section Number 19 of Township Number 2 of Range Number 2 East containing forty acres and 50/100 of an acre more or less” (see notes under Peyton Hathcock), and this has been taken as an indication that Peyton was a son of John Hathcock Sr.

John Hathcock, Sr. was a Captain in the Madison County Militia97 and was proprietor of the Buckhorn Tavern, near New Market, just north of Huntsville, Alabama.98 He applied for land in Madison County through the Nashville Land Office in 1813,99 but it appears that he did not actually emigrate from Elbert County to Alabama until 1816. John Hathcock and his wife Sarah had several children who were born in Elbert County (including Peyton Hathcock, b 1802; Alfred Hathcock, b about 1814; John Hathcock, Jr., b about 1815) and at least one who was born after they settled in Alabama (Asa Hathcock, b about 1817).100

The early court records of Madison County contain many references to John Hathcock, including numerous records of his having been sued for non-payment of debts.101 His plantation was situated on the Hurricane Fork of Indian Creek, near New Market.102

John and Margaret Hathcock lived in Madison County until their deaths sometime in the 1860s.
Notes for John (Spouse 3)
Hathcocks in Madison Co AL in 1830:

The 1830 census shows

Alfred Hathcock: 1 male <5, 1 male 20-30; 1 female 20-30.
John Hathcock: 1 male 5-10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 15-20, 1 male 40-50; 1 female <5, 1 female 5-10, 1 female 10-15, 1 female 40-50. [One male and two female slaves were also listed] The 10-15 male is probably Asa, who was 13. The 15-20 male may be John Jr., who would have been about 15. The 10-15 female could possibly have been Mary, who should have been 18. It is not known who the young children would have been.
Peyton Hathcock: 1 male <5, 1 male 5-10, 1 male 20-30; 1 female <5, 1 female 20-30.

Hathcocks in Madison Co AL in 1840:


The 1840 census shows five Hathcock heads-of-household in Madison Co AL:

p 45 A. Hathcock: males 20-30 and <5; female 20-30 (Probably Asa, who was ca 23. He and Sarah Robertson had married in 1839 and their son Andrew J. Hathcock was born in February 1840)
p 31 Alfred Hathcock: males 20-30, 5-10 and <5; female 20-30 (Alfred was ca 30. The sons are John, age 7, and Asa, age 3.)
p 31 Cherry Hathcock: males 15-20, 10-15, 5-10; females 30-40, 10-15, two <5 [Cherry Morris, wife of Peyton Hathcock, who is listed in Haywood Co TN with another family in 1840.]
p 27 John Hathcock: male 20-29; females 20-29, 50-59 (John Hathcock Jr. who was 25); the older woman may have been Margaret Shackelford Cook, John’s mother-in-law, who would have been 62). There were also 3 males under 10.
p 43 John Hathcock: male 60-70; females 60-70, 10-15 (John Hathcock Sr. was 66) and Margaret was 57. The young female could be Hulda Hathcock, who appears as a daughter of John Hathcock on a number of online trees. She is said to have been born 11 Jul 1831, which would have been five years after John and Margaret married and when Margaret would have been 48. There are not any other obvious candidates for this young female.

Hathcocks in Madison Co AL in 1850:

Family 128:
Heathcock, Asa 33 m AL
---, Sarah 26 f AL
---, Andrew 12 m AL
---, Mary M. 7 f AL
---, Richard 7 m AL
---, Louiza 3 f AL

Family 297:
Heathcock, John 76 m NC
---, Margaret 73 f NC. (cannot read or write)
Shackelford, Leland 17 m AL (idiotic)
---, Damascus 16 m AL
---, Elizabeth 13 f AL
---, Margaret 7 f AL

Family 295:
Shackelford, Emily 45 f SC

Family 311:
Heathcock, John 35 m unknown
---, Nancy 15 f AL
---, Ferdinand 13 m AL
---, Margaret 10 f AL
---, Sarah 7 f AL
---, Nelson 5 m AL

Family 435:
Heathcock, Wm. D. 17 m AL (laborer in family of John & Mary Wright)

The 1860 census records John and Margaret with last name indexed as Heathtock:

District 1, Madison County, AL, Post Office Hayes Store

Family 308:

Name Age
John Heatcock 85 NC, Farmer, Value of real estate, $3,500. Value of personal property, $10,500 (presumably mostly slaves)
Margaret Heathcock 70 NC

John Heathcock is recorded in the 1860 Census of Dist 1, Madison Co AL as having two slave houses with the following slaves:

Age Gender Race
70 Female Black
38 Female Black
18 Male Mulatto
17 Female Mulatto
12 Female Mulatto
9 Female Black
7 Female Black
7 Female Mulatto
5 Female Black
2 Female Mulatto

Next door is listed John Heathcock (Jr.) with his four children (see listing on Note for John Hathcock Jr.)
Notes for John (Spouse 3)
John HEATHCOCK Land Records, BLM Alabama

The following records of land purchases was extracted from the Bureau of Land Management online records on 27 December 2009 by Clayton Heathcock. For meridian definitions, see the Cadastral Survey (http://www.blm.gov/cadastral/meridians/missalalou.htm):

The first five transactions are all in 21S, 3W, which was Bibb County. These were lands of the John Hathcock who lived in Bibb County.

The last transaction, 2S,2E was in Madison County. In addition, there are three transactions recording sales to a John (E.) Heathcock, for lands described relative to the St. Stephens Meridian.

Name: John Heathcock
Land Office: TUSCALOOSA
Document Number: 816
Total Acres: 80.16
Signature: Yes
Canceled Document: No
Issue Date: 2 Jun 1823
Mineral Rights Reserved: No
Metes and Bounds: No
Statutory Reference: 3 Stat. 566
Multiple Warantee Names: No
Act or Treaty: April 24, 1820
Multiple Patentee Names: No
Entry Classification: Sale-Cash Entries
Remarks: ASSIGNEE OF JOHN THRASHER
Land Description: E½NE HUNTSVILLE 21S 6W 27

Name: John Heathcock
Land Office: TUSCALOOSA
Document Number: 1798
Total Acres: 80.16
Signature: Yes
Canceled Document: No
Issue Date: 5 Apr 1824
Mineral Rights Reserved: No
Metes and Bounds: No
Statutory Reference: 3 Stat. 566
Multiple Warantee Names: No
Act or Treaty: April 24, 1820
Multiple Patentee Names: No
Entry Classification: Sale-Cash Entries
Land Description: E½NW HUNTSVILLE 21S 6W 27

Name: John Heathcock
Land Office: TUSCALOOSA
Document Number: 6096
Total Acres: 82.85
Signature: Yes
Canceled Document: No
Issue Date: 3 Jul 1827
Mineral Rights Reserved: No
Metes and Bounds: No
Statutory Reference: 3 Stat. 566
Multiple Warantee Names: No
Act or Treaty: April 24, 1820
Multiple Patentee Names: No
Entry Classification: Sale-Cash Entries
Land Description: E½NE HUNTSVILLE 21S 6W 3

Name: John Heathcock
Land Office: TUSCALOOSA
Document Number: 954
Total Acres: 39.81
Signature: Yes
Canceled Document: No
Issue Date: 21 Oct 1834
Mineral Rights Reserved: No
Metes and Bounds: No
Statutory Reference: 3 Stat. 566
Multiple Warantee Names: No
Act or Treaty: April 24, 1820
Multiple Patentee Names: No
Entry Classification: Sale-Cash Entries
Land Description: NWNW HUNTSVILLE 21S 6W 29

Name: John Heathcock
Land Office: TUSCALOOSA
Document Number: 10191
Total Acres: 41.42
Signature: Yes
Canceled Document: No
Issue Date: 1 Oct 1835
Mineral Rights Reserved: No
Metes and Bounds: No
Statutory Reference: 3 Stat. 566
Multiple Warantee Names: No
Act or Treaty: April 24, 1820
Multiple Patentee Names: No
Entry Classification: Sale-Cash Entries
Land Description: NESE HUNTSVILLE 21S 6W 3

Name: John Heathcock
Land Office: HUNTSVILLE
Document Number: 6288
Total Acres: 40.5
Signature: Yes
Canceled Document: No
Issue Date: 4 Sep 1835
Mineral Rights Reserved: No
Metes and Bounds: No
Statutory Reference: 3 Stat. 566
Multiple Warantee Names: No
Act or Treaty: April 24, 1820
Multiple Patentee Names: No
Entry Classification: Sale-Cash Entries
Land Description: NENW HUNTSVILLE 2S 2E 19

SUMMARY:

E½NE HUNTSVILLE 21S 6W 27 80.16 2 Jun 1823
E½NW HUNTSVILLE 21S 6W 27 80.16 5 Apr 1824
E½NE HUNTSVILLE 21S 6W 3 82.85 3 Jul 1827
NWNW HUNTSVILLE 21S 6W 29 39.81 21 Oct 1834
NESE HUNTSVILLE 21S 6W 3 41.42 1 Oct 1835
NENW HUNTSVILLE 2S 2E 19 40.5 4 Sep 1835 (later sold by Peyton Hathcock)

There was also a transaction for Alfred Heathcock in Bibb Co AL:
NESW HUNSVILLE 21S 6W 29 39.82 20 Sep 1839
Notes for John (Spouse 3)
The following Genforum post indicates that John Hathcock Sr. probably had a daughter named Elizabeth.

John Hathcock-Sarah Jones-Elizabeth Hathcock-William Lindsay, NC, GA, AL
Posted by: Diane Kuras (ID *****3723)
Date: August 02, 2008 at 15:36:00

If there is someone who could help me with this lineage, I would truly appreciate your generosity.

RE John Hathcock and Sarah Jones, daughter of Nathan Jones
Elizabeth Hathcock and William “Bill” Lindsay

Through DAR records and Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers in Georgia, there is proof that Nathan Jones served in the Revolution as a soldier in Georgia. Nathan’s daughter Sarah’s husband is named as John Hathcock in this book. Nathan died in 1808 in Elbert Co., GA.

There is a John Hathcock in Chatham Co., NC from 1790 thru 1810; in Elbert Co., GA from 1820 thru 1840; and in Madison Co., AL in 1850. His death was probably about 1865 in Madison Co., AL.

Elizabeth Hathcock was born in between 1811 and 1817 in Georgia or Alabama, according to census records on the family of William Lindsay of Madison Co., AL and Lincoln Co., TN. This appears to be the same family, although the dates are a little off. I believe Elizabeth Hathcock was the wife of William Lindsay, although I have not found marriage documentation. Some years ago, before I was working on this lineage, an elderly cousin told me that Bill Lindsay (her grandfather) had married a Miss Hathcock in Alabama. Census records showed that the Hathcock and Lindsay families lived side by side in Madison Co., AL.

This Elizabeth Hathcock is my “brick wall”. I cannot find primary documentation that Elizabeth Hathcock was the daughter of John Hathcock or the wife of William Lindsay.

1850 Census District 34, County of Madison, State of Alabama
327/327 William Lindsay, 44, M, Farmer, Born in Tennessee (1806)
Elizabeth Lindsay, 33, F, born in Alabama (abt 1817)
Margaret, 17, F, born in Alabama (abt 1833)
Elizabeth, 15, F, born in Alabama (abt 1835)
William, 13, M, born in Alabama (abt 1837)
Thomas, 11, M, born in Alabama (abt 1839)
Martha, 9, F, born in Alabama (abt 1841)
John, 7, M, born in Alabama (abt 1843)
Caldonia, 5, F, born in Alabama (abt 1845)
George, 1/12, M, born in Alabama (1850)
SOURCE: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dcglover/1850.txt

1860 Census, County of Lincoln, State of Tennessee
1179/1149 William Linsey, 49, Farmer, Born in Tennessee (1811)
       Elizabeth, 49, Spinner, born in Georgia (abt 1811)
       Martha, 15, born in AL (1845)
       John, 12, born in Alabama (1848)
       Caldonia, 10, born in Alabama (1850)
       George, 6, born in Alabama (1854)
       Frances, 4, born in Alabama (1856)
Last Modified 15 Sep 2020Created 21 Apr 2022 using Reunion for Macintosh
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