CALVERT & GREENLEES FAMILIES

(of Ireland, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas & Mississippi & allied families.)

Hugh GREENLEES was born in Belfast or Lesbrum, County Down, Ireland¹ and married Isabel McGOWAN, who was also born there. They were the parents of several children, including John, Joseph and William GREENLEES² who came to America about 1827 and to Alabama by 1829. The GREENLEES, CALVERT and other Scots-Irish Presbyterian immigrant families settled near Boligee in Greene County, AL and later went to Sumter County when it opened for white settlers after 1830.³

John GREENLEES, son of Hugh, was born in County Down in May 1796/97. He landed in Charleston, SC and filed for naturalization in Greene County, AL in March 1830. Then the papers were transferred to Sumter County 7 November 1834. In 1837 he moved to Paynesville in Sumter County, where he was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church and were he died on 2 September 1855.⁴ John married in Ireland, 28 November 1819/20, Isabella DICKSON. She was born 21 July in County Down and died near Paynesville, Sumter Co, AL on 18 May 1859. She was the daughter of David and Margaret DICKSON. The children of John GREENLEES and Isabella were: 1) Jane b. 11 November 1820 Ireland, m. John CAMPBELL; 2) William b. 31 January 1822 Ireland, no issue; 3) Hugh b. 26 November 1826 Ireland, m. Mary Elizabeth HOPPER; 4) Isabella b. 19 May 1828 Where? m. Joseph EAKINS; 5) Margaret Ann b. 8 January 1830 Greene Co, AL, m. Absalom Farrar BURTON; 6) Mary b. 6 March 1832 Greene or Sumter Co, AL; m. George CALVERT (more on this family, later); 7) John b. 23 March 1833 Greene or Sumter Co, AL; m. Georgia APPLEBY; 8) David James b. January 1837 Sumter Co, AL; m. Sally HOPPER & was in the 43^rd MS Rgt, CSA & d. in Nashville; 9) Joseph Patterson b. 9 December 1838 Sumter Co, AL; m. Sallie L. MANNING; 10) Charles b. 9 September 1839 Sumter Co, AL, d. 28 July 1845.⁵

William GREENLEES, son of Hugh, was born July 1800 in Belfast, Ireland, died before 1868 in Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, AR. He m. Mary ALLEN b. 1816 NC d. 1898 Cleveland Co. AR. He came from Ireland before 1829 and lived in Sumter Co, AL prior to moving to Bradley Co, AR in 1851. Their children were: 1) Elizabeth b. 28 March 1834 Sumter Co, AL, m. a) James C. HARRISON, & b).John G. CULPEPPER; 2) Joseph b. 1837 Sumter Co, AL, d. 1878 AR, m. Elvira FOSTER; 3) Mary b. 1839 in Sumter Co, AL; 4) Nancy b. 1841 in Sumter Co, AL; 5) John b. 1843 in Sumter Co, AL; 6) James b. 1848 in Sumter Co, AL; 7) Bell b. 1850 in Sumter Co, AL, d. 1898, m. John DICKSON; 8) William Jacob b. 17 Jun 1851 AL/ AR, m. Samantha L. JOHN; 9) James b. 1852 Bradley Co, AR, m. Alice PRICKET; 10) Robert b. 14 Apr 1854 Bradley Co, AR, m. Margaret NORTON; 11) Jane b. aft 1855 in Bradley Co, AR, m. Dr. WENTZ; 12) Charles b. aft 1856 in Bradley Co, AR, d. young.

George CALVERT was the oldest child of William and Easter Calvert, both b. in Ireland about 1827.⁶ William was b. Ireland ca. 1785 and Easther was b. there ca. 1795. Their children were Thomas b. ca. 1828 in Walker Co, AL, David b. ca. 1832 in Greene Co, AL, Elizabeth b. ca. 1834 in Greene or Sumter Co, AL, and Robert b. ca 1839 in Kemper Co, MS. The birth places of the children suggest that they came to America about 1827. In the 1830 AL Census, they do not appear in Greene County with John, Joseph and William GREENLEE(S), ⁷ but a William CALVERT and a William P. CALVERT are in the Census of Walker County, page 269. The early Greene County Land Patents⁸ do not list any GREENLEES, but William CALVERT was listed on 29 April 1831. On 23 August 1835, among the new members who joined the Bethel Presbyterian Church ⁹ in Sumter County were William and Joseph GREENLEES, Mrs. Isabella GREENLEES and Mrs. E. CALVERT. And, on 22 August 1842, Hester A GREENLEES joined the church.

These families next appear in the records of the newly formed Union Presbyterian Church in Paynesville, Sumter County in the Spring of 1838.¹⁰ They were William CALVERT, John GREENLEES, Isabella GREENLEES, and William GREENLEES. John was a ruling elder. In August 1839, Hugh CALVERT joined the church. On 27 August 1841, Eliza CALVERT was baptized and joined the church on the same date; and children, John GREENLEES and Robert CALVERT¹¹ (Son of William and A. CALVERT¹² ) were baptized. Mary GREENLEES was received into membership on 27 September 1844. And, on 06 November 1859, the church was renamed Hadden Presbyterian.

In the 1850 Census of Sumter County (Family #300) William GREENLEES (age 51) appears with his wife, Mary, and five children. Also living with this family was bachelor James CALVERT (age 40) b. Ireland. A nearby family (#308) was headed by Reason POWELL. Reason’s granddaughter, Mary Florence POWELL, married James Elijah FORTSON about 1896. J. E. FORTSON’s daughter, Mattie, married Henry D. CALVERT, son of John Greenlees CALVERT and grandson of George and Mary CALVERT. George CALVERT married in Kemper County, MS about 1855, Mary GREENLEES¹³ b. ca. 1832 AL. Their children lived in Kemper and Lauderdale Counties, MS.

James Elijah FORTSON was a son of Joseph G. FORTSON b. 1834 Greene or Sumter County, AL and Sarah Ann Eliza RADFORD of Perry County, AL and a grandson of Samuel Higginbotham FORTSON of Elbert County, GA and Mary ALFORD of Franklin County, NC, who were married in Greene County, AL in January 1829.

(If you have any additions or corrections to this data, please contact Rod Bush: rodbush@earthlink.net)

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