JOHN & ADELINE BIRDWELL

The following bio was taken from page 112 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

George Birdwell, was born in 1721 in Stafford County, Virginia and died in 1781-1782 in Bedford County, Virginia. By his first wife he had a son, Robert. By his second wife, Mary Looney, he had thirteen other children. There is evidence that his father Benjamin Birdwell was from England.

John Birdwell was born September 24, 1770 in Botetourt County, Virginia. He died in April 1854, in Rusk County, Texas. "Old-great-grandpap," the son of George and Mary Birdwell married Mary Allen in Sullivan County, Tennessee. He organized Birdwell Spring Baptist Church, Moulton, Alabama. He came to Texas with some of his children in 1838, settled at Old North Church in Nacogdoches County and resided there for two years before moving to Mt. Enterprise. His children were Nancy, Elizabeth, Sarah, Jane, Susan B., Allen, Ann Lucinda, John Jr., and Tabathia.

Colonel Allen Birdwell, who was born March 22, 1802 in Tennessee died in March 1893 at Mt. Enterprise. He married Luinda Ross of Tennessee, who died about 1844. On July 29, 1845 he married Sarah Jane Vannoy. He served seven terms in the Texas Legislature. His home removed and restored at Monti Verdi plantation, and his portrait hangs there.

John Calhoun Birdwell was born April 7, 1829. He died January 6, 1869 in Nacogdoches County. He married Adeline Burney Cunningham, daughter of Reverend Jeremiah and Polly Cunningham, on June 14, 1849, in Rusk County. He was the first child of Colonel Allen and Luinda Ross Birdwell. He moved his family from Mt. Enterprise to Flatswood in Nacogdoches County and built his home before going to the Civil War, where he died soon after returning. His children were: James Pinkney, Jeremiah Cunningham, Lourinda Ross, Pauline Jane, Joseph Allen, Addie Ann, and John C., Jr.

When John Calhoun Birdwell died in 1869, he had lived in Nacogdoches County only a few years and was carried back about twelve miles, to Mt. Enterprise for burial in the Birdwell graveyard on the Birdwell farm, now a pasture. John Birdwell, "old great-grandpap," John C., his grandson, and John Birdwell, (Old Uncle John) are all three buried in a row side by side, John C. in the middle, Grandpap on the south side, and Uncle John on the north side. Luinda Ross Birdwell was most likely the first buried there.

James Pinkney Birdwell was born October 4, 1850 at Mt. Enterprise, and died August 18, 1915, in Flatswood. He married Elzira Ophelia Adeline Bates on October 12, 1879. She was the daughter of David Evans and Elizabeth Jane Bullock. Their daughter, Jessie Aslee, married James Walton Mitchell. Their daughter, Linnie E., died young. James Eulon’s first wife was Clara McCulston. His second wife was Clara Dean. James David married Arthur McFarland. George Preston married Bertie Branch. Matthew Madison married Willie Acrey. Myrtle Maggie married Floyd Bone, Lurlie married R. W. Thackston, Jerry Herbert married Edwina Ridley. Eunice married Hubert R. Stewart, and Bernie Vesta married Roy M. Wedgeworth.

Michelle Catherine Prichard is the daughter of Camee Cameron Foley, a great-great-granddaughter of Jessie Birdwell Mitchell, and the eleventh generation descendant of Benjamin Birdwell.

Submitted by Gwenneth Aenone Marshall Mitchell