From family records we know Seaborn Rountree was born in South Carolina on 13 August 1792.¹  How he acquired his given name is an interesting question (to me, at least).  There were people with surnames of both Seaborn and Jones in the vicinity at the time he was born, but it is tempting to think he may have been named after a Seaborn Jones.  Although no one named Seaborn Jones appears in the 1790 census, the earliest known person of that name was prominent at the time in Georgia, whose 1790 census is lost.  A Seaborn Jones (1759-1815) had been a Revolutionary soldier, clerk of the executive council of Georgia in 1782, and speaker of the Georgia House in 1789.  He operated a prominent teaching law office, drawing students from all over the south, and it is conceivable that Seaborn Rountree’s father, William Rountree, had studied law there.

Seaborn was a teenager when his father moved, by 1808, into the part of Bedford County that became Lincoln County, Tennessee.  He first appears in the records of Lincoln County, Tennessee in August 1815, when a sale of the estate of one John Lackey lists Seaborn Rountree as one of the buyers.²   We know that his father had moved into adjoining Madison County, in what was then Mississippi Territory, in 1812.  It seems Seaborn went with him, for records show he served as a first sergeant in the War of 1812 from what was then the Mississippi Territory.³   His unit, the 7^th Regiment of Mississippi Militia, was active in the defense of Madison County.

Alabama became a separate territory in 1817 and achieved statehood in 1819.  Seaborn, who consistently appears in the records as Seaborn J. Rountree, was appointed the first treasurer of Lauderdale County, for which he posted a performance bond on 24 January 1820.⁴   He was also one of its first justices, serving from 1820 through at least 1823.⁵   He registered his stock mark in Lauderdale County on 26 September 1822⁶ and performed at least three marriages 1821-23 as a JP.⁷

Although he was living in Lauderdale County through at least 1823, Seaborn apparently joined his father in  Madison County sometime in the 1820s.  He appears in the 1830 census of Madison County, Alabama, listed one name away from his father, as head of a household of ten whites and three slaves.⁸  His first wife was evidently still alive, for the household included a female aged 30-40.

Seaborn Rountree’s first wife, according to the statement of his son (see below) was “Docia Gray.”  However, her name may actually have been Sally Gray.  When his father William Rountree bought his land in Laurens District, South Carolina in 1790, an adjoining landowner was Isaac Gray, and William Rountree and Isaac Gray later appear in several records together.  Isaac Gray’s will, dated 26 March 1829 and proved in Laurens County on 1 March 1830, gives $100 “unto my daughter Salley Roundtree.”⁹   It is not clear whether this Sally Rountree was Seaborn Rountree’s wife or his mother.  For more detail on this question, see the separate paper.

One of his children, Wiley B. Rountree provided information for a lengthy sketch in a 1914 book, which reads in part:¹⁰

Wiley’s memory is slightly flawed with respect to his grandfather (who died before Wiley was born), but the portion of the statement dealing with his father is surprisingly accurate.  Seaborn’s first wife was evidently still alive in 1830, presumably the female aged 30-40 in his 1830 household.  However, Seaborn did marry Adaline Flippin in Madison County on 15 November 1832.¹¹   She must have died soon thereafter, as he married Elizabeth B. Rogers less than eighteen months later, on 6 June 1834.¹²   Elizabeth B. Rogers, as Wiley stated, was the daughter of William Rogers of Madison County, being named in his will and prominent in his estate records.¹³  While living in Cass County, Texas in 1860, Elizabeth Rountree gave a power of attorney to Mary Evans to receive her legacy from the estate of her father.¹⁴

As mentioned earlier, on 2 May 1834 William Rountree deeded his homestead land to his son Seaborn J. Rountree, with possession contingent upon his death.¹⁵   Seaborn and Elizabeth Rountree deeded that land, plus an additional parcel they owned, back to William Rountree on 10 January 1835 for the sum of $2,000.¹⁶   This suggests he was preparing to moved out of the county, though his father’s death may have delayed this move.  He was named an executor of his father’s will, dated 22 February 1836 and recorded in the Madison County court on 3 January 1837.¹⁷   Seaborn apparently resided in Madison County while administering the estate, but moved into Jackson County in 1839 or 1840.  On 10 September 1838 “Seaborn Jones Rountree” of Madison County received a grant of 40 acres in Jackson County.¹⁸   This, by the way, is the only record of his full middle name that I’ve found.  He acquired another 350 acres in Jackson County, but I have not checked the relatively sparse deed records to determine when or how.¹⁹

The 1840 Jackson County census shows him as head of a household of thirteen whites and ten blacks.²⁰  They were apparently living in Woodville, as Seaborn J. Rountree was the postmaster there in 1842.²¹   The 1850 census lists Seaborn Rountree and his wife Elizabeth with his daughter Harriet and the seven youngest children still in the household.  Next door was his son Chesley B. Rountree, apparently farming on land owned by his father.  The 1850 agricultural census lists Seaborn J. Rountree with 400 acres, worth $3,000.  The slave schedule shows Seaborn owning 14 slaves, and Chesley B. Rountree owning 4 slaves.

I was fortunate enough in the mid-1970s to correspond with a lady named Ruby Penton, a great-great-granddaughter of Seaborn Rountree, who knew some of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Cass and Morris counties.²²   She reported on several family stories of the family’s early days in Texas, most of which have the ring of truth.  According to these stories, as well as Wiley’s statement above, Seaborn and the sons of his third marriage arrived in Titus County, Texas in 1855, bringing with them several slaves.  [The date may be correct, though he may have still been in Jackson County on 8 March 1855, when his daughter Harriet was married.]  His wife and the daughters of that marriage, including one married daughter, arrived a year later, and by 1858 they were acquiring property in eastern Cass County about seven miles northeast of Daingerfield (which was then in Titus, now in Morris County.)  Besides providing a good deal of family stories of their early days in Texas, these Rountrees also had family records with birth dates for the second set of Seaborn Rountree’s children.

Despite his advancing age, Seaborn Rountree served as a justice in Cass County as he had back in Alabama.  According to his son Wiley B. Rountree, Seaborn was “a man of excellent education with a splendid legal knowledge, and his fellow townsmen showed their appreciation of his talent by electing him justice of the peace time and time again.  He served once as county commissioner, giving a peculiarly efficient service in the office, and his political support was ever given to the Democratic party.”

Seaborn Rountree appears in the 1860 census of Cass County, Texas, age 68, with Elizabeth and three of the four youngest children – Reuben, Seaborn Jr., and Joseph.  His son Wiley Rountree, by now married, is listed as a separate household, but living in the same house.  His daughter Rebecca Ledbetter and her family are in the adjoining household.  His son Thomas is in neighboring Titus County, serving as the Titus County clerk.  In the 1870 census of Cass County — which was temporarily called Davis County from 1861 through 1871 — Seaborn is enumerated consecutively with his son Reuben, with Thomas now living nearby.  His third wife, Elizabeth Rogers had died in 1864 according to Wiley, and Seaborn Rountree was listed, his age given as 77, as head of a household consisting of his son Joseph and his widowed daughter Rebecca and her two children.  The economic effect of the Civil War is dramatically illustrated by these two censuses.  Seaborn had been listed in 1860 with $12,390 in real estate and $13,500 in personal property (presumably the value of the twelve slaves he owned on the slave schedule that year).  Ten years later, his real estate was worth only $1,000 and his personal property only $500.

Although Wiley B. Rountree wrote that his father died in 1885, a date with which Ruby Penton agreed, I did not find him anywhere in the 1880 census.  I suspect that he actually died prior to the 1880 census.  His children Joseph Rountree and Rebecca Ledbetter are listed together, apparently living on the homeplace in Cass County.  All of the other children were living outside Cass County.  Seaborn was not in any of the children’s households, nor was he enumerated separately.  Since he would have been 82 by the time the census was taken, I suspect he was already dead.  Cass County’s court and probate records are preserved, and finding a record of Seaborn Rountree’s death is a worthwhile exercise for interested descendants.  According to several great-grandchildren, he and his wife Elizabeth were both buried at his home in Cass County, northeast of Daingerfield, their gravesites now destroyed.  Their sons Seaborn Jr., Thomas, and Joseph Rountree are all supposedly buried with their parents, although Seaborn Jr. had left the area before his death.  The property which included the gravesites was owned by Fletcher Lee in the early 1970s, and the only evidence of graves was a disorganized jumble of stones and rocks.

Seaborn Rountree, according to Wiley B. Rountree’s memory, had eleven children by Docia Gray, none by Adaline Flippin, and seven by Elizabeth Rogers.  While his memory was imperfect, it is encouraging that he had the last seven children are listed in birth order.  The list below assumes that he also listed the first eleven children in birth order as well.

The first eleven children were by “Docia” Gray, six of whom apparently died in childhood:

1. Patsy Rountree  (? – by1830)  Wiley B. Rountree mentions her (see above) in a way that implies she died as a child.  There was no female in Seaborn Rountree’s 1830 household who might have been her.
2. Alvatine Rountree (c1816 – aft1880)  She married a “Mr. Colbert” according to Wiley Rountree’s statement.  Her husband’s name actually appears to have been “Colburn”.  Alvatine apparently married someone named Colburn, probably after the 1840 census, had three children, then was widowed and married again to John P. Smith.  She appears to have still been in her father’s household in 1840.  The Jackson County 1850 census shows John P. Smith with his wife Alvatine (age 31), three teenaged Smith children, and three children named William J. Colburn (c1843), Franklin M. Colburn (c1844) who was later called Francis, and Chesley B. Colburn (c1846).  (The “married within the year” column is not checked, so they must have married before mid-1849.)  John P. Smith and Alvatine are subsequently in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses of Marshall County, Alabama.  These censuses appear to show that Alvatine had one more child by Smith, William Smith (c1856), who appears in the 1860 household, but not in 1870.  Although her age was given as 31 in 1850, she was apparently older, for her age was 44, 54, and 64 in the three subsequent censuses.

3. William Rountree (17 February 1818 – 26 May 1872)  His middle name is uncertain, but is thought by descendants to have been “Gray”, thus he might have been named after both of his grandfathers.  He was evidently the eldest son, who married Martha Rogers on 4 July 1839 in Madison County.²³  Martha Rogers was a niece of his father’s third wife,  the daughter of Benjamin B. Rogers, the brother of Elizabeth Rogers Rountree, and his wife Oney.  He was listed in the 1850 census of Madison County, next door to his father-in-law, as a 32-year old schoolteacher with $1,500 of real estate.  This was apparently land he had bought in 1842 on the northern fringes of modern Huntsville.²⁴   In 1860 and 1870 he is listed as a farmer in Madison County.  His father-in-law deeded him 480 acres in 1860, perhaps accounting for the change in occupation.²⁵   He is buried in the “Old Riddick Place” with a stone marking his birth and death dates.²⁶   He was deceased by 1880, when Martha Rountree appeared as a widow in the Madison County census, with three of the children and two grandchildren.  The children, from the censuses and other records, were:  Henry S. Rountree (c1840), Seaborn Leonidas Rountree (30 December 1841 – 17 November 1907), Oney Martitia Rountree (1843-1862), Benjamin Rogers Rountree (1845-1886), Mary Rountree (c1845), Harriet Rountree (c1847), William Rountree (February 1850) perhaps actually named “Wiley”, Chesley Franklin Rountree (June 1851),  Martha/Mattie Rountree (c1856), Charles Allen Rountree (c1857), John G. Rountree (c1860), and Ann Eliza Rountree (c1862).

   A biographical sketch of a grandson appears in a 1923 book.²⁷   J. G. Rountree’s 1959 family history also mentions William Rountree, though the information provided is somewhat confused in that it mixed up William and his father Seaborn, and names only three children of William.²⁸  His information came from two sources, both great-grandchildren of William Rountree: a grandson of Charles Allen Rountree and Mary Calvin, and two brothers who were grandchildren of Seaborn Lee Rountree and Mildred Parr.

4. John Rountree  (? – 1820s)  According to Wiley B. Rountree’s statement, he died in Alabama.  He surely died in childhood.  If Wiley B. Rountree listed the children in birth order, as seems likely, then John must have died before the 1830 census.

5. Chesley B. Rountree  (1821 – 1880)  Wiley Rountree’s statement called him “Charles”.  [I would note, though, that several of the “Chesleys” in the family were sometimes recorded as “Charles” and may have used that name.]  This son was surely the Chesley B. Rountree listed next door to Seaborn Rountree in the 1850 census, shown as age 30 with a wife named Eliza (age 19) and no children.  He was still in Jackson County in 1860, listed as a 39-year old merchant with four children, but must have owned land in Madison County.  He and his wife Eliza sold land in Madison County on 22 December 1863, apparently to move to Nashville.²⁹   He must have moved at about that time, for a child was born in Tennessee about 1863.  In 1870 and 1880 he is listed as “C. B. Rountree”  in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee (age 49 and 59) with his wife Eliza F. Rountree and his children.   According to Wiley Rountree’s statement, he died in Tennessee.  He died intestate in Davidson County, apparently in 1880, with the final settlement of his estate recorded on 23 January 1882. ³⁰  Chesley (1821-1880) and his wife Eliza (1832-1881) are both buried in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery. (Her stone gives her death date as 1882, but it must have been 1881.)

   On 3 November 1881 Eliza F. Rountree of Nashville, Tennessee sold the remaining land in Madison County.³¹   She left a will in Davidson County, Tennessee dated 27 September 1881 and probated a few months later in December 1881. ³².  She distributed her estate equally among “my six children” but named only three of them; an unmarried daughter named Lillie for whom $500 was set aside for her education, a son named William whose inheritance was left in trust, and Mrs. Mary R. Burns.  From censuses, the children were: Mary Rountree (c1851), William Rountree (c1854), Buchanan Rountree (16 November 1856 – 18 August 1861), Ettie B. Rountree (1859), Hugh H. Rountree (c1862), Eugenia Rountree (1865), and Eliza Rountree (c1867).  A history of Jackson County identifies him as one of its early merchants.³³   An infant daughter and the son Buchanan Rountree are buried in Byrd Hill cemetery in Jackson County.  The other six children were in Nashville when he died.

6. Susan Rountree (1820s – by1850?)  According to Wiley B. Rountree, “Susan became Mrs. Starnes and is no longer living.”  Susan was probably one of the unknown daughters in the 1830 census, and apparently out of the household by 1840.  There are four persons named Starnes in the 1840 Marshall County census, none of whom had a wife named Susan in 1850.  It seems likely that she died prior to the 1850 census.
7. Nancy Rountree  Wiley B. Rountree’s statement says she died in Alabama, and implies she died in childhood.  Susan was probably one of the unknown daughters in the 1830 census.
8. Wiley Rountree  (by1830 – by1838)  According to Wiley B. Rountree’s statement, he died in Alabama.  Assuming Wiley B. Rountree listed the children in birth order, then either this Wiley or Lee was the youngest of the males in the 1830 household, who was not in the 1840 household.  Whichever, this Wiley must have died before 1838, when the second Wiley Rountree was born.
9. Lee Rountree (by1830 – by 1840) According to Wiley B. Rountree’s statement, he died in Alabama – obviously in childhood.
10. Harriet Rountree (c1827 – by1880?)  According to Wiley B. Rountree, “Harriet became Mrs. McDaniel and died in Alabama.”  She is in her father’s household in 1850, age 22.  She married William McDaniel in Jackson County on 8 March 1855.³⁴   I did not find them in 1860, but in 1870 they are in Marshall County, Harriet age 41.  I did not find her in 1880.
11. Frances M. Rountree  (c1828? – bef1840) She was presumably the other child under 5 in the 1830 household, apparently deceased by 1840 when Harriet was the only child in that age range.

The next seven children were by Elizabeth Rogers.  The 1840 census suggests there might have been one more son (who was under 5 in 1840, thus a child of this marriage, but not present in 1850).

12. Rebecca Martitia Rountree (5 May 1834 – Jan 1902)  She is enumerated as Rebecca M. in her father’s 1850 household, age 15.  She married Henry G. Ledbetter on 3 October 1854 in Jackson County, Alabama.³⁵   [Some descendants think his middle initial was “B” rather than “G” as in this record.  But note that Wiley Rountree also gives his name as H. G. Ledbetter.]  As Wiley Rountree suggested, they probably came to Cass County after her father, since censuses show the birth place of their eldest child (born in June 1855) as Alabama.  In 1860, “E. Ledbetter”, Rebecca, and their two children are enumerated next door to Seaborn Rountree in Cass County.  [The youngest child was born in Alabama in this record, but gives Texas as his birth place in all later censuses.]  Henry Ledbetter died of natural causes, according to a descendant, sometime during the Civil War and Rebecca never remarried.  In 1870, Rebecca Ledbetter and her two children are living with her father.  In 1880 she and he son Seaborn were living next door to her brother Joseph.  In the1900 census she is living with her daughter Lilly Robinson.  The Oak Ridge cemetery near Marietta in Cass County has a marker for her grave, with both the birth and death years.  According to the story passed on by Ruby Penton, Rebecca paid for her father’s coffin with a $20 gold piece he had brought from Alabama.  She had one child who died young (according to the 1900 census) plus the two who appeared in 1860 and later censuses:  Lilly Gray Ledbetter (22 June 1855 – 19 March 1916) and Seaborn Gardner Ledbetter (3 February 1860 – 25 March 1904).  Lilly is also buried in Oak Ridge cemetery and Seaborn Ledbetter is buried in Naples cemetery in Naples, Morris County, Texas.
13. Thomas H. Rountree (27 November 1836 – c1879)  He is in his father’s household in 1850, age 14.  He married Sally V. Hancock in Jackson County on 2 Oct 1855.³⁶   In 1860, he was enumerated in Titus County, Texas, his occupation listed as county clerk, with his wife and one son.  Several subsequent records identify him as the Titus County clerk in this timeframe.  He severed as both a captain and major of Company D of the 11^th Texas Infantry in the CSA, with his brother Reuben serving in the same unit.  Thomas was in the 1870 census of Cass (then called Davis) County with his wife Sarah and son Seaborn A. Rountree (c1857) and Charles Rountree (c1861).   He died sometime in the 1870s, as his wife remarried on 1 January 1880 to William C. Roberts.  In the 1880 census, Sally and William Roberts are in Marion County with Charles Rountree listed as a stepson.  Seaborn A. Rountree is listed as a 21-year old laborer in the Cass County household of Clay Fulcher.
14. Wiley Berry Rountree (13 February 1838 – 21 August 1918) He is in his father’s household in 1850, age 13.  His middle name was “Benjamin” according to the informant for J. G. Rountree’s book³⁷  but Ruby Penton reported his grandchildren remembered him as “Wiley Berry” Rountree.  This is perhaps significant, in that one of Seaborn’s aunts had married a man named Wiley Berry.  He was in the CSA, serving as a lieutenant of  both Company B and Company K of the 19^th Texas Infantry.   According to his statement above, he moved to Mt. Vernon, Titus County after the war, where he served as county sheriff from 1870-73.  Despite the implication of the biography, Mt. Vernon became part of Franklin County when it was carved out of Titus in 1875, where he became a successful peach farmer.  He was active in politics as a Democrat, and was elected county treasurer on the first of four occasions in 1898.   He stated he was married in Titus County to Elizabeth Holbrook (apparently not a sister of his brother’s wife), daughter of W. C.  Holbrook and Mary F. Jones, in August 1859.  The 1860 census of Cass County shows him and his wife living in his father’s household.   The 1870 census of Titus County shows Wiley and Elizabeth with their first five children below.   The 1880 census of Franklin County shows him and “Lizzie” with seven children, the daughter Mary apparently having died.  He is in the 1900 census of Franklin County with his wife listed as “A. E.” and a granddaughter Nettie.  According to his statement above, he had eight children: William Thomas Rountree (13 June 1860), Wiley C. Rountree (c1862), Benjamin F. Rountree (1 May 1866), Robert Lee Rountree (c1867), Mary E. Rountree (1870), Nina May Rountree (c1871),  Nona Rountree (c1873), and Seaborn Rogers Rountree (c1876).  A separate biography of the son Benjamin F. Rountree is in the same book as his father’s biography.³⁸
15. Reuben Rogers Rountree (25 December 1839 – aft1900)  Hi smother’s 1847 letter calls him “Berry Reuben” but he was clearly named after his uncle.  He first married Sarah (?) Floyd, then on 13 December 1877 married Ruth L. Moss in Parker County.  He served in the CSA in the same company commanded by his older brother Thomas.  He and Ruth were in the Wise County, Texas 1880 census with four children and a sister-in-law named Ferby J. Moss.  In 1900, Reuben was in Parker County next door to his son Reuben T. Rountree.  The children listed in 1880 and 1900 were:  Joseph A. Rountree (August 1866), Reuben T. Rountree (September 1868), Elizabeth B. Rountree (c1871), Nancy J. Rountree (November 1879) later called Nannie, Eva Rountree (December 1883), Bertha Rountree (April 1888), and Wiley Rountree (September 1893).
16. Sarah Gray Rountree(29 July 1841 – 14 March 1915) She married Andrew Barney Cook on 26 November 1856, and was the mother of Louisa Rebecca Cook Witt, my g-g-grandmother.
17. Seaborn Jones Rountree (1 December 1843 – ?)  He was in his father’s household in 1850 (age 7) and 1860 (age 17).  He served in a Titus County unit in the Civil War as a sergeant.  He married Mary C. Floyd 28 January 1868 in Cass County.³⁹  They were in the 1880 Wise County census a few doors from his brother Reuben with two children, Virginia L. Rountree (c1869) and Martha S. Rountree (c1863).
18. Joseph Rogers Rountree (29 May 1845 – by1900)  Named for another uncle, he is in his father’s household in 1850 (age 5) and 1860 (age 15) listed as “Joseph R.”  He may have been named after his mother’s grandfather.  In 1870 he was still in his father’s household, age 25.  He married Ellen Womack, according to descendants, and was in the 1880 census of Cass County with his wife Ellen and two children, Beula and Willie.  In 1900, Ellen is listed as a widow living with her son Will.  That census lists her as the mother of four children, three living.  They were:  Beula Rountree (c1874), William Rountree (February 1877), and Curtis Rountree (October 1881).