WILSON OXENDINE Lumbee American Indians

Born: 1818, Overton City, TN
Died: Apr 21, 1862 in St Louis, MO

Wilson Oxendine was born 1818 in Overton City, Tennessee. Wilson's family traces to the Lumbee Indians through his father David Oxendine AND mother Naomi Jackson Oxendine. Note that Wilson was partially raised by "the brother of William Rogers", according to Chancery Court records.

Wilson is also listed as Hilson in various legal documents, but is definitely the same person. From a contemporary report - "Yes, I knew Hilson. His skin was yellow and his hair kinky. He had the appearance of being mix-blooded" From the army's Discriptive Roll on 06 Oct 1861 - "a private of Company C, 13th Regt KY Vol Inft, Age 47 years, 6 feet 1 inch high, dark complexion, blue eyes, black hair, born in Overton County Tennessee, and by occupation where enlisted as a farmer ..."

Wilson and his siblings are:
Jonathan Oxendine, b1807, TN (subject of the Chancery records)
Polly Oxendine, b 1809 Jackson Co TN
Wilson Oxendine, b1810 Jackson Co TN; D 4/21/1862 St Louis MO
Amanda / Mandy Oxendine, b 1823 Jackson Co TN

Wilson's children are:
Ailsey Jane Oxendine (b 1835 TN)
Elizabeth Oxendine (b 1840 TN) (my line)
Margaret Oxendine (b 1841 TN)
Julian Oxendine (b 1845 TN)

Wilson, his brother Jonathan and their parents are mentioned quite explicitly in a set of Chancery Court Records, tracing back to a maybe-legal marriage Jonathan was involved in -

Chancery Court Records of Jonathan Oxendine and his family

Wilson's granddaughter, TJ Walker, wrote my great-grandmother Ora Belle on Apr 21 1963. She says: "I really don't know as much as you do, all I know about the Oxendine Family, my grandmother and aunt Liz. I never knew who Uncle Bill Hunter's first wife was. Grand father Oxendine [Wilson] was quite a bully (so I was told) he was in trouble a lot due to being in fights. He left home, said he was going to KY to fight someone up there, and never was heard of since. It seems that he was something like our prize fighters of today. ... I never did know the names of the Oxendine parents - never heard about the mother. And all I know about the father was that he left and never was heard of after that. "

1840 CENSUS
Tennessee, WHITE County, District 10 - Roll 536 Book 1, Page 38a

Hilson is of course the male that is 30-40 in 1840 although actually if he was born in 1818 he should be 22. There are 3 females listed - under 5, 5-10 and 20-30. Aisley was born in 1835 so she would be 5 here. If we say Elizabeth was born in 1838, she would be the under-5 child (assuming we go with her census date of birth and not her gravestone date of birth). That still leaves a mysterious woman who is 20-30.

There's another page to the right but neither the Oxendines nor the Jacksons beneath them had any entries there. The total family members for the Oxendines were 4 - total for Jacksons were 5. Note interestingly that they're listed as "white" here.

Also note that only a few pages later is the apparent parent of Hilson - Naomi Oxendine.

1850 CENSUS
Wilson Oxendine with 3 daughters: Ailsey, Margaret and Julian Oxendine. Nothing is known of Wilson's first wife / lover. In 1850, Wilson and his 3 daughters (but no mother) were together. The claim of Hilson being Wilson seems to be a pretty good one. Here is a record of Hilson where the kids seem to match rather closely ...

Oxendine, Hilson TN Jackson County 9th Civil District 1850 885 185

In this 1850 record, "Hilson" Oxendine is a mulatto blacksmith who cannot read or write. He is 40, born in 1810. The female in the house is Nancy Burton, 24, maybe from SC? Three female children are Alsey aged 14 (1835), Margaret aged 9 (1841), and Julia aged 5 (1845). All kids were born in Tennessee. It seems unlikely that Nancy is all of the kids' mom as she would be aged 10 when Alsey was born.

Elizabeth is already in another household at this point. She's in:
Jackson County Tennessee 1850
District 11, Family 1177
Pershing McCarvey 41 M
Leonara 37 M
(lots of kids)
Elizabeth Oxendine 11 F (i.e. born in 1838/9)

On December 1, 1851, Wilson Oxendine was in Kentucky and marrying Nancy Finn. They had 2 kids - Bird W Oxendine in 1852 and George W Oxendine in 1859.

1860 CENSUS
By 1860, the 4 girls were each in other households, working as servants probably. The family story is that Wilson was a prize fighter, ran off to Kentucky and never came back. In reality, apparently he ran off to Kentucky shortly after the 1850 census, married a woman (Nancy Finn) and had two more children. He went into the Civil War in the 1860s and died during the war. His widow made vet claims in the 1890s.

OXENDINE, Wilson 42 M Farmer 50 (value of personal estate) TN (born 1818)
OXENDINE, Nancy 35 F TN (born 1825 as Nancy Finn)
WILSON, Bird 8 M KY
WILSON, George W. 2 M KY
STATE: KY
COUNTY: Green
DIVISION: 2nd District, Greensburg P.O.
FILM #: M653-370, Part 1
PAGE #: 620
HH #: 570/566
Enumerated 21 Aug, 1860

So while the father, Wilson, was off with a new family, the 4 Oxendine daughters were each in separate households. Look at the pages on Elizabeth or Margaret to see more details.

Unfortunately for Wilson, he didn't last long after that 1860 census. He married Nancy Finn and had 2 kids, then enlisted. Here are Wilson Oxendine's Civil War records. He served in the 13th Kentucky Regiment and was wounded in the leg at the battle of Shiloh, Tennessee on 4/7/1862. Wilson died of "Icterus" (jaundice) on Apr 21, 1862 in St Louis, Missouri. Learn about the Battle of Shiloh.

Summary: Wilson Oxendine first had 4 children, all daughters. We have NO idea who the mother of these girls was. There are no birth certificates for these girls. Then he moved to Kentucky and had 2 more children. The New Protestants of the south - the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, didn't keep records. Death certificates only began in the 1900s.

We have done DNA testing to match my father (of the Elizabeth Oxendine line, we figured) with Presley Gallagher (definitely of the Ailsey Oxendine line, Elizabeth's sister). You can Read about the mtDNA results - it pretty much shows that we ARE of the Elizabeth Oxendine line and that Elizabeth and Ailsey had a common mother. Not only that - but it says that the mother was a European/Irish woman! Just who was she???

daughter - Elizabeth Oxendine (b 1840 TN) (my line)

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