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THE SEEDS SCATTERED
Richard Jeffcoat disappeared from Lexington and Orangeburg Co. Census after 1810, Daniel after 1820, as stated earlier in this book, I have no knowledge of where they relocated, or of their descendants. Samuel Jeffcoat, Jr., his son Elijah, Jr.; Rev. John Jeffcoat, his son Jacob, Jr., plus other members of their respective families migrated to Alabama after the 1820 S. C. Census; thereafter many Jeffcoats continued to move into new territories, including Georgia, Mississippi and Texas. In 1845, Elijah Gains (photo linked here), 20 years old son of Elijah Jeffcoat, Sr., rode his horse by the cabin where 14 year old Jane Jackson lived. She climbed through a small top window, onto his horse and went with him to the new Alabama Territory. Jane never to see her family again. They settled in south Alabama, or Pike Co. and reared a large family. (This was told to Victoria Wilson when she was a small child, by her mother who was the granddaughter of Elijah Gains and Jane). Thomas D. Jeffcoat and other children of Elijah, Sr. went along or followed shortly thereafter. They were in the 1850 Alabama Census. Elijah and Elisabeth, his wife and younger children went after 1850. Mrs. Victoria Wilson Taylor of Columbus, G., formerly of Alabama, said "The great highway from Virginia to Alabama during 1818 and 1819, was more like the route of an army of occupation than an ordinary public highway. Those who came into South Alabama came by the Federal Road. Settlers came from all parts of the country but most of them came from the old South (Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas). The Alabama fever was like the California fever of 1849. Planters bought the lowlands along the rivers, while the smaller farmers and squatters moved back into the hill country. Most of the small farmers never expected to become large planters. They were only looking for a piece of ground on which they could make a living.
The method of travel of the migrates to Alabama depended on their financial status. The journey at best was irksome, at worst almost un-bearable. Some had a cart but no horse. The man and his son pulled, the son's wife rode, the old woman carried the rifle and drove the family cow. Road were mostly mere trails. Those who had a pony or an ox came in better style. Their goods were packed into a hogshead with trunions put into the ends and shafts attached. The pony or ox was harnessed in the shafts and the journey was begun. Many brought their goods on the back of ponies. The pack horse was very important to the early settlers. Families of better parts came in covered wagons. Sometimes one member of a planters family carried the slaves and the other members made a separate troop. An interesting note passed on by Mrs. Taylor. She said, Mrs. Donnie Strickland was visiting her mother, Corneilia Jeffcoat Wilson in July, 1964. Mrs. Strickland was 94 years old, and said she remembered Mrs. Taylor's grandmother, and her Aunt Salley Patterson washing in the river in the coldest weather she had ever seen, getting ready for the double wedding of her Grandma and Grandpa Jeffcoat, and Grandma's sister, Mandy Patterson, and Grandpa's cousin Elisha Jeffcoat. Mrs. Taylor said it must have been in the winter of 1886, her mother was born September 5, 1887. (And that's the way it was a 100 years ago. . .) *Excerpts taken from Dee S. Jeffcoat's book, "Seeds of Jacob">
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