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Elijah Did What?
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Since the early 1840s, Union
County, Arkansas, has been a home to the Cabaniss surname.
The name was brought to Union County by Elijah Cabaniss, born
1794, a son of George Cabaniss of Jones County, Georgia. After
their service in the War of 1812, two soldiers that had enlisted
from Georgia, Elijah Cabaniss and Hezekiah Bussey, pioneered
into southern Alabama in 1818. It was there, in Clarke County,
Alabama, that Elijah married his first wife, Joicy Cole (or Cola)
sometime before 1830. In the late 1830s, Elijah, Hezekiah, and
Hezekiah's son-in-law, John Hearin packed up their families and
headed for the virgin forests and fertile soil of Union County,
Arkansas, arriving sometime in the early 1840s. According to
writings by one of John Hearin's descendants (Emmette Hearin,
d. 1932), they "traveled by boat to New Orleans, and
from New Orleans to Union County in wagons. They traveled over
the old Choctaw trail which had been opened by the government
in 1836 and used to transfer the Choctaw Indians to Indian Territory,"
and "landed at Champagnolle, Ark., the only settlement and
post office in Union County...." (Note: Champagnolle is
the present day site of Calion, AR.)
Elijah is on the 1830 census of
Clarke County, Alabama (one male and one female, each between
30 and 40 years-old) along with six slaves. Elijah is listed
as an appraiser in a 1835 estate matter in Clarke County. In
the 1840 census of Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, Elijah and one
female (each between 40 and 50 years-old) can be found with 17
slaves. Caldwell Parish is about 250 miles southeast of Union
County, Arkansas. Also, that 1840 census reflects Elijah's traveling
companion families: John Hearin, six whites and 21 slaves; and
Hezekiah Bussey, nine whites and 18 slaves. Based on the increase
in Elijah's regrettable slave holdings, it appears that the time
spent in Alabama was financially rewarding. (Of all the things
I've learned of my ancestors, their participation in slavery
is the most disturbing and troubling. How could anybody
think they could own another person?)
On March 5, 1845, Elijah's
wife Joicy died.
By December 14, 1845, Elijah remarried. Elijah married
Harriet Anne Bussey, a daughter of his friend Hezekiah, and on
July 2, 1847, Harriet Anne gave birth to a son they named Hezekiah
Bailey Cabaniss. Hezekiah
Bailey died December 23, 1847.
Elijah went on to father seven
more children, two of them girls. One of the boys turned out
to be my great grandfather, Henry Elijah Cabaniss.
In Henry Cabaniss and His Descendants,
a 1956 compilation, John Plath Green writes Elijah "died
in Arkansas," with no mention of his wives or children.
I've read others that have written that Elijah "went to
Arkansas and died." Allen Cabaniss got it right in his 1971
work, Cabaniss Through Four Generations: Some Descendants
of Matthew and George, but, alas, since Green's work had
been out so long, it had gained acceptance. One of the reasons
that I decided to create this site is to (hopefully) help straighten
out the record.
So, for all those readers of
John Plath Green: Yes, Elijah did go to Arkansas, and yes,
he did die there. But, he died after fathering eight children.
For more narrative, maps, Elijah's trip, Union County, and
his home, click here.
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