The Whittingtons, Part 6: Cason Coley, James Henderson, Quintillian, and Frances Ann

This is the final post in the series on the thirteen children of James and Frankie Whittington of North Carolina and Tennessee in the 19th Century.

Part 1: The James and Frankie Whittington Family
Part 2: William and Richard
Part 3: Agatha and Telitha
Part 4: Gibson and Weston
Part 5: George, Solomon, and Othaneil

Cason Coley Whittenton

Cason Coley Whittenton was born in North Carolina on February 18, 1818, the tenth child of James and Frankie Whittington. When he was born, his older siblings were William, Richard, Agatha, Telitha, Gibson, Weston, George, Solomon, and Othaneil.  He grew up in North Carolina and was counted with his family on the 1820 and 1830 Census records. He went with his father’s family to Tennessee as a teenager or young man in the 1830s. 

It seems that he must have gone to Texas very early, because he is not accounted for on the 1840 Census. If it weren’t for the fact that his eldest brother William was alone when he died in 1849, we might suppose that Cason had gone to Texas with him. It’s possible that he did go with him and that then Cason was gone somewhere else—perhaps he caught “gold fever” and went to California with the ‘49ers, or he may have been trying his hand at getting established in Bell County, since he had property there later. He is also missing from the 1850 Census. 

At any rate, Cason Coley moved to Texas, and on November 9, 1856, he married Sarah Malinda Henry in Bell County.  He was about 38 years old; Sarah was about 23 (the marriage record says she was born in 1833). The next year he was assessed taxes in Bell County, not for any real or personal property, but simply 1c poll tax, 50c state tax and 25c county tax.

In 1860 the Agricultural Schedule of the census showed that Cason Coley Whittington had 160 acres of land in Victoria County, Texas, valued at $800. He was farming 15 acres of it in cotton and had produced two bales. His farm implements and machinery were worth $50. He had three horses and two milk cows valued at $180. On the population schedule his personal estate is valued at $100, making his total worth that year about $1130. It may look like he was doing pretty well for himself, but the comparison of the total number of acres he owned to what he was able to work shows that he was working very hard but unable to do as much as his brothers were doing by this time. He did have a 20-year-old man living with his family, named Benj. StCarry (or something like that), who may have been a hired man helping on the farm. If so, one wonders why they didn’t have more land under cultivation.

The 1860 population schedule of the census shows that CC and Sarah had two children: Isabella J, age 3, and James, age 4 months. Whoever reported to the census taker was quite careless about all the ages, reporting that CC was 35 (he should really have been 42), and Sarah was 22 (she would actually have been about 27); Isabella was really 2. Perhaps for some reason they were a little embarrassed about their true ages. The census was taken the 19^th of June, which gives baby James a birth of about February 1860, but he might have been born the previous late summer or early fall.

CC Whittington enlisted in the Texas Infantry at the age of 43 in 1861 and served a short time. He was drafted at the age of 45 on August 18, 1863 at Jackson, Texas. His commanding officer was Captain Sextus Garrett, Company B, Cavalry 24^th Brigade, TST. His rank & file number was 46; he brought with him a rifle and ammunition.

While he was fighting for Texas in the Civil War, he was assessed taxes for property he still held in Madison County, Tennessee. Perhaps his father had deeded him some land there and he had not yet sold it. He had 50 acres valued at $300. He was assessed $1.05 taxes, which was paid within 60 days. Even so, he was assessed a 53¢ penalty and the next column in the record showed $13.81 was unpaid. The final column shows the assessment was “pd. Mar 8^th 1866.”

In 1864 his Bell County, Texas, property “agent” was assessed taxes for “Whittington” properties valued at $3000 and $925, for taxes due of $17.30 and $22.35 respectively. Why the amount of taxes is less for the greater-valued property is a mystery.

On July 2, 1867, C.C. Whitenton registered to vote in Precinct 1, Victoria County, Texas. He was voter number 442.

The 1870 Census found the family of C.C. Whitenton in Belton, Bell County, and missing its mother. Cason Coley’s wife, Sarah, must have died after giving birth to their fourth child. Maybe her death prompted him to move away from Victoria County. The children were:

• Isabella Jennie, born in 1858.
• James Edward, born in 1859–1860.
• Frances Eugenie, born March 11, 1862.
• William Maynard, born September 22, 1867.

In 1870, “Jennie,” as she was known from then on, was 12; “Edward” as he was known, was 9; “Fannie” as she was known, was 6, and William was 2. Cason Coley’s occupation is listed as “carpenter” and his personal wealth was listed at $1250.

Apparently he needed help with the children, which is not surprising. Earlier in July 1870 than the census record showing C.C. with his children, Eddie and Willie were boarded out to a Mr. W.R. Armstrong and his wife. The Armstrongs had a year-old child of their own and another boy, age 11, living with them as well as the Whitenton boys. Perhaps the wife took in children to make a little extra money for the family, and maybe she was a relative of Sarah M. Henry, Cason Coley’s late wife.

In 1871 his Bell County tax assessment showed that the only taxable property he had consisted of the three horses, valued at $120. Yet the taxes piled up: 60¢ state tax, $1.00 poll tax, 60¢ for a frontier bond, 30¢ county tax, $1.15 hospital tax, $1.00 road tax, 25¢ judicial fee, 11¼¢ justice commission. In 1872 his Bell County tax assessment showed that he had only two horses left, and in 1874, he had no horses left. His total worth shrank to just $20 in that county, but the 1875 assessment showed that he still had 830 acres of land in Victoria County valued at $800, so his income on that property provided him and his children a living, however tight. He paid $8 tax on his Victoria County property, and $1.50 in taxes in Bell County, which included his state poll tax of $1.00 as he had changed his voter registration location.

Cason Coley Whittenton died probably at the end of 1875 or the beginning of 1876, and probably in Bell County.

His eldest daughter, Jennie, married Willis Nathan Rogers, a doctor, and probably had her younger siblings living with her at first. Fannie got married soon, and Edward’s life is murky. William was living with Jennie and Willis when the 1880 Census was taken in Bell County. Jennie and Willis had the following children: Fern Rogers, born in 1879; and Ghent Whitenton Rogers, born May 23, 1883.

Although we have not located Jennie’s third child, it must have been a girl born between the first two, and she was probably married by the time the 1900 Census was taken. That census stated that Jennie had borne three children and all were still alive, but only the two named above lived with her. Jennie was a widow by then; Willis had died in April 1900. Jennie died August 29, 1908 in Waco, Texas.

James Edward disappeared from all records after the 1870 Census; it is quite possible that he did not live to grow up.

Fannie Whittenton (Frances Eugenia) married Wesley Perry Powell, a lumber merchant, in 1881. They had seven children:

• Elbert Homer Powell, 1882–1931
• Currie Coleman Powell, 1883–1965
• William Perry Powell,1886–1963
• Joseph Yancy Powell, 1888–1965
•  Helen Powell, 1895–1973
• Jennie Dale Powell, 1897–1950
• Robert E Powell, 1899–1944

Fannie died July 16, 1939 in Houston, Texas.

William Maynard Whitenton married Annie May Winslow in 1887. They had no children. William was the vice president of a railroad company based in Dallas. William died December 10, 1929, and curiously, Annie reported him on the 1930 Census a few months later, but she listed him as having no occupation, and herself, a widow, as being the “President” of a “Building.” She was living with her sister Ree’s family.

James Henderson Whittington

James Henderson Whittington, according to family records, was born in Wake County, North Carolina on June 8, 1820. He was the 11^th child and the 9^th son of James and Frankie Whittington. He died in May 1821 at the age of about 11 months.

It is quite remarkable for the times in which they lived that the Whittington family did not suffer the deaths of more children than James, and that Frankie bore twelve living children without interruption from 1799–1822. It must have hit the family with a shock to have lost this child after so much good fortune.

Quintillian Whittington

Quintillian or Quince Tilian, the youngest brother in the James and Frankie Whittington family, was born 16 July 1822 in North Carolina. The family had suffered its first death the year before his birth, when baby James died in May 1821. The siblings when Quince was born were William (age 23), Richard (age 21), Agatha (age 19), Telitha (age 17), Gibson (age 15), Weston (age 13), George (age 11), Solomon (age 9), Othaneil (age 7), and Cason Coley (age 4).

Quince was counted with the family on the 1830 Census in Wake County, Tennessee. He was a young teenager when his family moved to Tennessee in the 1830s, and his mother died soon after their move. He was again counted with his father’s family on the 1840 Census, and in 1850 the Census showed that he was learning to be a farmer, as did all his older brothers. In 1850 he was said to be 23, but he was actually 28 years old.

Quince was not listed in the 1860 Census, but no doubt he was living on or near his brother Othnell’s farm, which had been their father’s property. 

When the Civil War started, Quince served in the 6^th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, Company B. He enlisted as a private in 1861 under Captains John J. Brooks, George G. Person, and R.M. Sharp—“The Golden Zouaves”—men from Madison County. They fought in a number of places, most notably at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. In February 1864 he became a corporal in the 19^th/20^th Consolidated Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry, under General Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was in Company B, under Captain J. A. Shane, fighting in Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, and Tennessee. 

During the war while he was between enlistments, he married Delilah Owen on October 11, 1862. The couple had no children.

Although his brother Othnell had deeded him and their sister Telitha a joint piece of property of 50 acres out of the 110 Othnell had received from their father, apparently Quince did not want to stay in Tennessee. After the war he and Delilah joined his brothers in Texas. Quince and Delilah made their home in Fairfield, Freestone County. He died there before April 1878, when he would have been only in his mid-50s.

Frances Ann Whittington Harris

Frances Ann, the youngest child of James and Frankie Whittington, was born in North Carolina on 14 January 1829. She was recorded on the 1830 Census with her family, consisting of siblings William, Richard, Agatha, Telitha, Gibson, Weston, George, Solomon, Othnell, Cason, and Quince. The three eldest children probably did not live at home when she was born. Richard was married; Agatha had perhaps been married and maybe was still; and William is a mystery. Her older sister Telitha was at home, but we wonder if she was capable of taking care of an infant. There was a female slave who probably worked in the house who might have taken care of little Frances Ann. When she was around two or three years old, another older brother, Weston, got married.

When Frances Ann was less than ten years old, her family moved to Tennessee, and then her mother died. She was likely taken care of by one of the family slaves after that, and perhaps partly by her sister Telitha. Her father married again a few weeks after Frances Ann turned 15 years old. Who knows how she got along with her new stepmother, but they were together just three years.

Frances Ann married Christopher C. Harris on February 14, 1848, when she was just eighteen years old. They were married in Madison County, Tennessee by the Justice of the Peace, John Irvin. Reportedly the Harrises moved back to North Carolina and then to either Arkansas or Alabama, where she is said to have died.

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