| SPOUSE | CHILDREN | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Dean Calvit (widow) m. 1762? Johnson City NC b. 1723 PA d. 1807 Washington, Miss. Terr. |
Jeptha b. 1763? Johnston Co. NC d. by 1809 Adams Co. Miss. Terr. |
Louisa b. 1764? ?Johnston Co. NC d. between 1820/1830 ?Rapides Parish LA |
Daniel b. ?NC d. ?MS |
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Charles b. d. |
?John b. d. |
b. d. |
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Daniel married Mary Dean Calvit, daughter of William Dean who died in Natchez on
Mar 6, 1791. She was the widow of Anthony Calvit and they had four sons, Joseph,
William, Frederick and Thomas Calvit. |
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According to Calvit family history, twelve families started together down the
turbulent Tennessee River. Among them were Daniel and Mary Dean Calvit Higdon,
their son Jeptha, and two of her other sons-and Joseph's brothers-Frederick and
Thomas Calvit, from her first marriage to Antoine (Anthony) Calvet.
With Frederick were his wife and several young children. The trip was dangerous,
especially at the rapids at Muscle Shoals. On the rafts travelling with the
Calvit's and Higdon's were the Green, West, Smith, and White families, and their
heads became some of the most important men in early Mississippi.
[given as ref: McBee, David Smith, 22-23; Harmon, Good Inheritance, 176-77].
A total of
13 families
were recorded by Spanish authorities as arriving in May 1782, and the record was
signed by Grand-Pré on Jul 6, 1782. No Calvit or Higdon names were recorded.
It is possible they arrived later or were included in the 11 members of the
James White family. |
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No Calvits or Higdons were on the
list of flotilla captains
recorded by Col. John Donelson as
being with his flotilla expedition to the Cumberland Settlement in Washington Co.
NC (now middle TN) which lasted several months into the spring of 1780 and
travelled through Muscle Shoals mentioned in the Calvit history. There was a
boat in the Donelson expedition captained by "Daniel Dunham" which could be a
mispelling of the last name of Daniel Higdon. Daniel Dunham Sr. was killed by
Indians at Dunham Station in 1787 or 1787.John Dunham signed the Cumberland
Compact in May 1780 and received 640 acres of land for defending the settlement,
and Daniel Dunham (Jr.) was listed as a War of 1812 soldier from there.
[ancestry.com, Whitley, pp. 8, 20]. |
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Photo of a Map showing
the Route of the Donelson Expedition on display at the Tennessee State Museum. |
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Daniel and two of his Calvit stepsons were in Natchez by Jul 17, 1783 when
William Dewitt and a William Rawlings gave a
declaration that a horse race was fixed, that is, "two of the Calvits Sons in Law
to Higdon Did Bett on Cobbs horse which horse Higdon who was Father in Law to the
two Calvitts & one of the Judge's gave the race in favour of Cobb's horse"
[MDAH Microfilm roll no. 5618, p. 3.65]. A Russell Jones also filed a suit against
the same Arthur Cobb, objecting to the judges
of the race who were "Messr. Brocus and Higdon" [McBee, p. 309-10]. The "son-in-laws"
would be possibly Joseph and Frederick Calvit
who lived in the St. Catherine's Creek area about that time. Daniel Higdon died
in Mar 1785. |
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On Jun 21, 1784, stepson William Calvit sued
Daniel for $922 owed on a bond [McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book G,
p. 323]. |
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On Aug 18, 1788 son Jeptha, aged about 25, bought a "new negro" from Thomas
Irwin for $500, $100 Jan 1789 and $400 Jan 1790. He signed with an X [McBee,
Book B, p. 57]. |
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Daniel had died by Jan 5, 1787 when "Mary Higdon, widow ... mortgages her whole
estate" to pay for 35 year old negro Rosa, native of America [McBee, Book D, p. 37]. |
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Son Jeptha had a son Jeptha who may have married Nancy Ford, daughter of
John Ford (1766?-1844?), in Franklin Co. MS. |
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Daughter Louisa married John Wylie after he
came to the Natchez District from Kentucky about 1788. |
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Wife Mary made a will on Aug 3, 1805 in Jefferson Co. MS and named living sons
Thomas and Joseph Calvit and Jeptha Higdon. Thomas and Joseph were named executors.
Frederick Calvit had died by Jan 1791 and
William Calvit had died by Mar 1799. |
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SOURCES: Adams Co. Mississippi Genealogy & History Network, "1792 Census for Natchez District (under Spanish Government control)", 2009, 1792 Census. American State Papers, Documents, ... of the Congress of the Unitied States, ... 1789-1809, vol. 1, Gales and Seaton, Washington DC, 1832, reg. B, p. 895. Franklin Co. Genealogy & Hustory Network, Franklin Co. Mississippi Marriages, website. "John Holloway, 1851", File H-3, on p. 208 of "The MS Cains", website. MS Dept. of Arch. & Hist. (MDAH), microfilm no. 5618, roll 3, various doc. MDAH, Franklin Co. 1816 Census in "Territorial Censuses", website. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Greenwood MS, 1953, v. 2, Book B, p. 57, Book D, pp. 36-7, 51, 288, 400, Book G, p. 323. Rowland, Dunbar, "1816 Census for Franklin Co. Miss.", taken from The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi,Centennial Edition, 1917, rootsweb website. USGenWeb, Franklin Co. Mississippi, "Franklin County Mississippi Early Settlers", website. Veach, Damon, "Louisiana Ancestors", article in Sunday Advocate Magazine, Baton Rouge LA, Feb 21, 1982. White, Gifford, James Taylor White of Virginia and some of his descendants into Texas, Austin, TX, 1982. Whitley, Edythe Rucker, comp., Pioneers of Davidson Co., Tennessee, Clearfield Publ., 2009, pp. 4, 8, 20. Unknown author, "...to John ..." [illegible], correspondence detailing discovery of baptismal records of Stillee children in Cathedral Archives, no date but possibly mid 1900's. |
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