Finding Your Folks: Joel Jasper and Elizabeth Kempson Herndon

The third son of Edward and Nancy Brown Herndon was Joel Jasper Herndon, born 18 Oct 1829 in Elbert County, Ga. Joel is the only child of Edward and Nancy to have a biography included in "Georgia Memoirs," a book published in 1895. I ran an excerpt from the Memoirs story in an earlier column as it gave much of Joel's life history and some of his heritage. The book may be found at the Coweta Genealogy Library in Grantville as well as at the Georgia Archives. I found one conflict in that Joel's marriage date in the story disagreed with the marriage date in the original marriage book in Meriwether County.

Joel came to Meriwether County with his parents, grew up in the Alvaton-Haralson area and married Elizabeth Kempson, daughter of Benjamin Kempson and Elizabeth Long, on 12 March 1852. Shortly after his marriage, in 1854, Joel made his first land purchase of 101.25 acres in Land Lot 271 in the First District of Coweta County from Ethelbert Carlton. This land is northeast of Haralson and adjoins the northeast corner of the Haralson city limits. Joel continued purchasing adjoining land in this same area, purchasing parcels or entire land lots in lots 298, 270, 299 and 269, until he acquired a sizable plantation. Strangely, none of the land was filed or recorded with the court until after his death. He sold a portion of Land Lot 269 in the First District to his son, W.J.L. Herndon in 1901. This lot is inside the Haralson city limits and portions of it were owned by several people, including W.O. Herndon, Joel's nephew. (See previous story on Marshall and Anna Kempson Herndon.)

On this land Joel and Elizabeth would raise their family and remain until their deaths - Joel's in 1907 and Elizabeth's in 1919. Both died on March 9 and both are buried at Haralson Baptist Church.

Their children included Amanda Frances Herndon (1854-1930) who married James Wilson Moody, Nancy Elizabeth Herndon (1857-1886) who married Benjamin F. Moody (both Moody boys were sons of John Simmons Moody and Nancy E. Spence), Preston M. Herndon (1860-1861) who died as an infant, Laura A. Herndon (1862-1904) who died unmarried, an unnamed infant who was born and died 4 June 1869 (buried at Mt. Carmel Methodist Church in Meriwether County), William Joel Lee Herndon (1871-1950) who married (1) Mollie Culpepper and (2) Lula Hand, and Ella A. Herndon (1874-1950) who died unmarried. There also is a child named Benjamin Herndon, son of J. & E. Herndon, buried at Mt. Carmel but there are no dates on his grave. Most of Joel and Elizabeth's children are buried in the same area in which they grew up, Haralson, Alvaton, Mt. Carmel, and the Herndon-Moody girls are buried at County Line church in Fayette County in the same general area.

Joel died March 9, 1907 after a lengthy illness and his obit ran in several newspapers. Few people are aware of the fact that, although no record of a will appears in the probate index, Joel did make a will sometime before 1871 naming his wife, Elizabeth, as executor. Elizabeth, as would be expected, took the will to the courthouse in May to begin probate and things went well until her son, W.J.L. (Will) Herndon, took a second look at it. Court papers show that Will filed a caveat with the court, claiming that the will should be revoked for two main reasons: first, it was made before two of the children were born, and second, it made no provisions for children born after the will was made. In other words, Will and his younger sister, Ella, were not provided for.

The court sustained the caveat and revoked the will in June 1907. Will applied to be the administrator and letters of administration were granted to him in July 1907. He posted a $6,000 bond with G.D. Culpepper and Lon Gray as sureties. The court appointed S.F. Johnson, C.S. Fowler, J.G. Nixon, M.J. Stewart and L.O. Hutchinson as appraisers.

The same appraisers were appointed to set aside a year's worth of supplies and support for Elizabeth which they did in August 1907. Their selection was approved in October 1907. Elizabeth received: "All of the house hole (sic) & kitchen furniture, the sixty five dollar mule and like horse, 3 hogs of her own selection, 1 cow & calf of her own selection, two horse wagon & harness, the buggy & harness, and four hundred dollars in money."

The estate sale took place in May 1908 (Sales Bills Book D, page 11) and took in a total of $489.62, not including the sale of land. Inventory estimate including 300 acres of land was $5990.90. Purchasers included the widow, L.Z. Swygert, S.T. Johnson, W.H. Hubbard, W.D. Wood, Will White, Lon Gray and W.T. Callahan, Joel's son-in-law.

Over the next few years, Will dutifully filed his annual returns and, by the time his mother died in 1919, there were only five distributees to inherit what was left: Mrs. Lula (Moody) Crook and Mrs. Mattie L.M. (Moody) Digby, daughters of Nancy Elizabeth Herndon Moody, deceased; Mrs. J.W. (Amanda) Moody; John H. Callahan, A.H. Callahan (sons of Mary A. Herndon Callahan, deceased) and W.J. Callahan (power of attorney); W.J.L. Herndon; and Miss Ella Herndon.

Shortly after Christmas of 1919, all received a parcel of land as their inheritance. A flurry of deed activity at that time shows Will, Amanda and Ella selling, re-selling and dividing the land so as to parcel it out in equal portions. By February of 1920, Will's job was completed and he was dismissed from his duties as administrator.

More Herndon stories next week.

Stories and family histories about your ancestors who lived on Atlanta's south side are always welcome. Send them to jkilgore@thecitizen.com or JodieK444@aol.com. Mail to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214. All letters and e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.