JOSEPH WILSON STRICKLAND and wife, LOUISA SIMMONS were on the 1860 census in
Gordon Co., GA, with their children. She was a daughter of Dickson and Mary
Simmons of North Carolina. His parents were born in England; but had moved to
Nash Co., NC.
He filed a claim with the Southern Claims Commission from Howell's Cross
Roads, Cherokee Co., AL, to recover debt from property taken by the Union Army
during the Civil War.
He gave a deposition in May 1874, when he was 64 years old, born in Nash
County, NC, and a farmer. He stated:
"I was living in Gordon County, Georgia, when the war commenced and on account
of my union sentiments had to leave that county in October 1862. I then came
to Cherokee Co., AL, settled about ten miles from Centre and buying my own 80
acres, about 30 acres which was in cultivation, and farmed on as best I could
til the end of the war.
I left Gordon Co., GA, because I was required to take back what I had said in
favor of the union and to change my principles being notified by four extreme
rebels that I would be hung if I did not change or leave. I didn't know that
I was threatened after coming to this county (Cherokee Co., AL).
I had two sons at the time of the war, one of them went into the rbel army.
His name was Richard. He died during the war before any fighting was done.
The other never went in. I furnished him some clothes after he was in. He
went in against my will and I got him out, and the ill will of the rebels
about this matter forced me to leave Georgia. I did not aid him in any other
way. I know of no nephews in the rebel army."
Family bible records maintained by a grandaughter, plus census records show
that Joseph Wilson Strickland was born in Nash County, NC. He was a son of
Ephraim Strickland who went to that State from England.
Joseph was a brother to the much older James Strickland, who left Johnson Co.,
NC, in the late 1830's, and moved to Cherokee Co., AL, with his wife, Celah
Horn. When Joseph fled Gordon Co., GA, he joined his brother, James, also a
union supporter.
Joseph had living earlier in Roberson Co., GA, in 1840; then Rutherford Co.,
NC, in 1850, before moving to Gordon Co., GA, in 1860. Most all of his
children died young, with the exception of two daughters. They were
1. Mary Ann Strickland, b. 1836; d. 8 Nov 1854, Rutherford Co., NC.
2. John Henry Strickland, b. abt. 1838; d. 06 Jan 1840, Roberson Co., NC.
3. Charity Strickland, b. abt. 1841; Roberson Co., NC; d. 20 Oct 1864,
Cherokee Co., AL.
4. Ester Strickland, b. Oct 1843; d. 1918, Cooper, Hunt Co., TX. She never
married, but had one daughter, Josephine, by a local doctor in Cherokee Co.,
AL. This daughter was the source on dates of death.
5. Richard Dickson Strickland, b. abt. 1844, Roberson Co., NC; d. 15 Jul 1862,
Gordon Co., GA, after his father pulled him out of the Confederate Army.
6. Margaret Elizabeth Strickland, b. June 1845, Rutherford Co., NC; d. 27 Sep
1903, Crumley, DeKalb Co., AL. She married twice. She married firstly in Jul
1870 to W. A. Smith; and secondly to William K. Hurt.
7. Hickson Strickland, b. abt. 1848, Rutherford Co., GA; d. 30 Nov 1864,
Cherokee Co., AL.
Joseph Strickland was claimed by descendents to have received some land in
Texas as a result of a claim against the Wilson Strickland's estate who died
in that state without known heirs. Aparently there were many claimants, far
and wide, but Joseph had been one of those accepted. Josephine, his daughter,
later moved to Texas as a result of this inheritance, after her father died.
