Pioneers of Madison County: Richard Johnson Mays 1808 – 1864

Richard Johnson Mays migrated to Madison County with four of his brothers from South in the 1830’s and 1840’s. Other Mays brothers who came to the county in the 1830’s were Dennett Hill Mays, James Butler Mays and Enock Grigsby Mays; in the 1840’s, Rhydon Grigsby Mays moved in with his family. James Butler, born 1798, died in 1836 in Madison County, and is buried in the Old Oakland Cemetery in Madison. By 1860, Enock and his family had moved to Grimes County, Texas, and by 1870, the family had moved to Dallas, Texas. Rhydon Grigsby Mays and his family moved to St. Johns and then Putnam County, Florida. Dennet Hill Mays raised his family in Madison County and died May 10, 1861, in Madison County. Parents of the five brothers who migrated to Madison County were General Samuel and Nancy Grigsby Mays. Richard Johnson, was born January 8, 1808 in South Carolina. He married Elizabeth Ann Williams on October 19, 1830, according to Edgefield, South Carolina marriage records. Elizabeth was born December 1812, in South Carolina. Elizabeth, or Eliza, was the daughter of Dr. Thomas B. Williams, of Greenville, S.C., and Elizabeth Maxwell. Eliza’s maternal great grandfather was Col. Robert Anderson, Revolutionary War Soldier, according to the National Sons of the American Revolution application of Dannitte Hill Mays. Richard Johnson and Eliza first moved to the Lake Sampala area of southern Madison County; mosquitoes and malaria resulted in the death of their daughter Elizabeth, born around 1833, shortly after the family arrived in the county. In 1833, they settled in the northern part of the county, near Hamburg, and built the ten bedroom Clifton Mansion on their plantation. Between 1833 and 1864, the plantation grew to include thousands of acres and produced cotton, timber and livestock. Richard Johnson was quite involved in the settlement and governance of the Madison County territory. In 1838, he was a delegate to a constitution convention that later resulted in the Florida territory becoming a state in 1845. He was a postmaster from 1835 to 1838; in 1837, he was justice of the peace. And as a loyal Southerner, he supplied food and several sons to fight in the Civil War. Richard Johnson was also a deeply spiritual man, who was a founding member of the Hickstown Baptist Church, which was the forerunner to the current First Baptist Church of Madison. In 1841, he, along with the McCall and Johnson families established the Concord Baptist Church, near his plantation. He gave 20 acres of land and helped construct the original church with hand-hewn logs. Soon after, he was licensed to preach, and served as minister to the church from 1843 to 1846 and from 1857 to 1860. In 1854, Richard Johnson felt the need to form a Florida Baptist Association, and delegates to the first Florida Baptist Convention met in his home and drew up the constitution for the Florida Baptist State Convention. Richard died at age 56 on July 8, 1864 and is buried in Lovett at the Concord Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery. (Excerpts are taken from an article by Don Hepburn in February 2004.) Eliza Ann Williams Mays, wife of Richard Johnson, was an admirable person in her own right. She was 14 when she married; not long afterwards, she left her home and set out for the undeveloped Madison Territory. She grew bounteous gardens, kept chickens, had a large smokehouse and preserved large amounts of vegetables and jellies. She sold wagons full of her produce in town, adding to the family coffers with her hard work and thriftiness. She sewed and knitted, was known for her cooking and baking and loved her flower garden, where she planted flowers collected from all around. In many ways opposite from Richard Johnson, Eliza Ann was fair, blue-eyed, plump and talkative. Richard Johnson was slender, serious and dark complexioned with a Roman nose. (Excerpts taken from an article written by Patti Mays, August 7, 1941.) Life was not easy for Eliza after the death of her husband Richard in 1864. The Civil War had just ended, most of her sons had served and come home to their own families and farms, and Eliza was lost without Richard’s management skills. In 1870, she lived with her two youngest children, Dennett H. and Mary Caroline. In 1880, she lived with her son, Richard Johnson, II, and his family in Hamburg. Later, she moved to South Carolina, to live with her youngest daughter, Mary Caroline. Eliza died on April 3, 1890, and is also buried in the Concord Cemetery. Richard and Eliza had 11 children, seven who grew to adulthood: 1. Elizabeth Williams, born 1833, died 1834. 2. Richard Johnson, II, born 1836 3. Dennett Hill I, born 1840, died 1851, buried at Concord Church Cemetery. 4. Thomas Williams, born 1841. 5. James Warren, born 1843, died in 1864, buried in Concord Church Cemetery; James Warren served in the 2nd Regiment of the Florida Cavalry mustering out as a Sergeant. 6. Samuel Pope, born 1846. 7. John the Baptist, born 1848; 8. Waddy Thompson, born 1849, died 1853. 9. Mary Caroline, born after 1850. 10. Sarah Caroline; born after 1850, died in childhood. 11. Dannette Hill II, born April 28, 1852. (In the Richard Johnson family, Dennett Hill continues to be a strong family name. After the death of the first Dennett Hill, born 1840, died 1851, Eliza and Richard Johnson named a second son named Dennett Hill II.) Generation Two Richard Johnson II, born 1836, served in the 1st Regiment, Florida Infantry, in the Civil War, also in the 5th Battalion, Florida Cavalry, and the 2nd Regiment, Florida Cavalry. He mustered out as a 2nd Lieutenant. He married Mary Finlayson, and the couple had two children that we could find. Richard Johnson II and his family lived in Jefferson County in 1870 and Hamburg in 1880. Thomas William, born 1842, enlisted as a private in Company C, Florida 4th Infantry Regiment in 1861. He mustered out in 1863 as Sergeant. He married Martha Patti Simpkins and had six children that we are aware of. Thomas William and his family lived in Greenville in 1880 and 1900. Samuel Pope, born June 10, 1846, enlisted in 1865 as a Sergeant in Company F, Florida 5th Cavalry Battalion. He married Ann Oregon? The family lived in Hamburg in 1880, and by 1900, the family had moved to Suwannee County. We know of six children of Samuel Pope and Ann Oregon. John the Baptist, born July 2, 1848, married Christine Bailey on December 9, 1869 in Madison County. A John R., which possible could be John B., served in the 5th Regiment of the Florida Infantry as a Private. In 1880 John and Christine lived in the Hamburg area, but by 1900 and 1910, they had moved a few miles west to live in the Ashville area of Jefferson County. Census records told of seven children. Dannitte Hill Mays, born April 28, 1852, married Emmala Parkhill, born March 20, 1861. The couple married on June 2, 1880, in Monticello. We found six children of Dannitte and Emmala listed on census records. The family lived in Monticello. Mary Caroline, born in 1857, married John Edgeworth Beattie, and she and her family moved back to Greenville, South Carolina. Generation Three Richard Johnson II and his wife, Mary Finlayson were in Hamburg in 1880, and had two children: John Finlayson, born 1869 and Richard, born 1872. John F. and his wife Lizzie were in Hamburg in 1900; by 1920, they were living in Thomasville. John F. was a bookkeeper; he died in Thomasville on May 22, 1927. John F. and Lizzie had six children. One of John F. and Lizzie’s sons, Richard J., was a bookkeeper in California and Arizona; and one was a bookkeeper in Thomasville. We don’t know where the rest of the family ended up, but we don’t find them in Madison County. Richard Johnson and Mary Finlayson’s other son, Richard married Minnie Batt and the couple raised their family in Jefferson and Leon County. Thomas William and Martha Patti Simpkins were in Greenville in 1900 and had five children: 1. Richard J., born 1866, died in 1946 in Corsicana Texas. 2. Sarah Josephine, born 1869, married Randolph Eppes. 3. Eva, born 1872, married P.E. Griffin, and later divorced. 4. Martha Simpkins, or Patti, was born 1875; in 1935, Patti was living in Madison County; it seems likely that Patti is Isabel Simpkin Mays, who was in Madison County, in Greenville, teaching school in 1940; she died in Jacksonville in 1974. 5. Eldred Simpkin, born 1880, died in Tucson, Arizona. 6. James Warren, born 1884, farmed and taught school. He died in 1966 in West Palm Beach. None of Thomas William and Martha Patti’s sons remained in Madison County as far as we know. Samuel Pope and Ann Oregon were in Hamburg in 1880, but by 1900, the family had moved to Suwannee County. Their children were: 1. January, born 1868. 2. Eliza, born 1870. 3. Blythewood Joseph, born 1875, married Leila and wound up in Tampa and Daytona Beach. 4. Jane Champion, born 1880, married Mays Sandford. 5. Howard Jasper, born 1883, married Willie Mae had at least one daughter, Carolyn, and lived in Folkston and Waycross, Ga. 6. Isaac Hampton, born 1885, lived in Atlanta and Alabama and possibly had a wife named Grace. Again, none of Samuel Pope and Ann Oregon’s sons raised families in Madison County. John Baptist, (or John the Baptist, as his father referred to him in his will,) and Christine Bailey were in Asheville, Jefferson County, by 1900. The couple had seven children that we know of: 1. William Bailey, born 1872, married Louise Folsom, and died in 1925 in Valdosta; the couple had one daughter that we know of: Elizabeth, born 1922; in 1935, Louise, widowed, and Elizabeth were living in Madison County; by 1940, Elizabeth had moved to Levy County to live with her step-brother, W. Bartlett Folsom. 2. Mary C., born 1874. 3. Dennet Hill, born 1876, married Frances G., had two daughters, Christine and Louise that we are aware of. 4. Virginia was born in 1884; 5. Thomas Sumpter, born 1886, did not marry, we believe. 6. Christina was born in 1890. 7. Liza, born 1892. It doesn’t appear that any of John Baptist’s sons remained in the county. Dannitte Hill II, born 1852, son of Richard Johnson, and Emmala Parkhill, born 1861, raised their six children that we know of in Jefferson County. Their children follow: 1. Elizabeth B, born 1883. 2. Mary E. born 1884. 3. Sarah C., born 1887. 4. Emmala P., born 1889. 5. Dannitte H., Jr., born August 2, 1897. 6. Charles Park Hill, born 1903. In 1940, there were three Mays in the county: Mattie Mays, a widow, born in 1887, living in Macedonia. Her parents were both born in South Carolina; likely she was married to one of the Mays men. Isabel A. Mays, born in 1878, who we think possibly was Martha Patti Simpkin Mays. The third Mays was Dorothy Mays, who was born in 1937 and lived with her grandmother, Stella Woods in Madison. We don’t know who Dorothy belonged to. While Richard Johnson Mays did not leave any descendents in Madison County, that we are aware of, he did leave a rich legacy of community service. He also left us a few more Dannitte Hill Mays, to go with the five that his brother, Dennett Hill Mays, left. Richard had two sons named Dennett Hill Mays, and at least six grandsons and great grandsons followed. Interesting to note, an Allison M. May, born in 1858, lived in Hamburg in 1920. His parents were both born in South Carolina. His father was George May, of Jefferson County. We don’t know the relationship of George with Richard Johnson and his four pioneer brothers. However, Allison M. May also named one of his sons Dennet May. So, it appears that for the present, we in Madison County no longer have a Dennet Hill May, nor any other Mays descendant with us. We have lost a long and productive line, who for quite a few generations, contributed their talents, hard work and family values to our county. The Madison County Genealogy Society welcomes your input and invites you to join our organization. We meet on the second Thursday monthly, except during summer months, in the Madison Public Library from 6 to 7 p.m. Annual dues are $25. We offer apologies to families of descendants who find errors, and we welcome corrections. To add comments to our articles or to submit your own sketch of your ancestor, contact us at Madison County Genealogy Society, P.O. Box 136, Madison, Fl. 32341. Or contact us by email at mcgenealogysociety@live.com.