Rachel McNiece Dulaney, wife of Alfred Dulaney, and sister-in-law of John Dulaney (left). The Alfred Dulaney pioneer log home near the John Dulaney homestead (right).When the Federal government surveyed the Chickasaw lands acquired by the Treaty of Pontotoc (1832), only two roads were mentioned in the survey field notes in what later became Itawamba County. They were listed as the Old Natchez Road (Natchez Trace) and the Wagon Road. The Wagon Road entered what is now Itawamba County near the site of the State Highway 25 running north out of eastern Monroe County into present-day eastern Itawamba County. From reading the survey field notes from 1833, it is evident the road ran northward basically along present-day State Highway 25, the veering basically onto present-day Clay-Tilden Road running northward into the Clay community (nearly 13 miles).
The surveyors documented four white families in the area along this old road. The Benjamin Wise, Eliba Allen and Walter Maxey families were discussed in previous posts.
About four miles north of the Maxey and Allen settlements at the end of the wagon road, the surveyors encountered the John Delaney (Dulaney) settlement, northwest of present-day Clay community.John Dulaney, the son of Thomas Dulaney and Rhoda Thrasher (the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Thrasher), was born July 11, 1803 in Pendleton District, South Carolina. After the death of Thomas, Rhoda and her family moved to Tennessee and then to Alabama. By 1823 the Dulaneys were in Jefferson County, Alabama, where Rhoda was a member of Cahawba Baptist Church (now Trussville First Baptist Church), and still there when John married Margaret Martin on March 16, 1826. By the 1830 census, his family was living in Marion County, Alabama. John Dulaney’s siblings were Alfred, Gilbert, Elizabeth and Nancy.
John moved his family to the Chickasaw Nation across the state line into Mississippi before the 1833 cession survey. John’s brother Alfred soon followed him in 1836 when Itawamba County was organized. John and Margaret’s children were Elizabeth, Thomas, Mary, James M., Emily, Mary, Linnet, Margart, and Sarah.
Later in life, John Dulaney had moved to Baldwyn in Lee County and is buried in the Baldwyn Cemetery.
After the formation of the county, John Dulaney received a patent for the land where his homestead had been located since at least 1833. The Dulaney homestead of pre-county days continued to be held by the family for generations. Today, the creek running through the nearby valley is known as Dulaney Branch.
4 comments:
All four of these articles are excellent. Martha
Thanks for the comment Martha. I enjoyed writing this series. I find it interesting that the earliest roads in Itawamba County came straight out of Monroe County.
Mr. Franks
Do you have a picture of the old John Dulaney Homestead or any pictures related to the John line at all. It would be greatly appreciated if you do?
Let me check my files Don. The Dulaney family is one of the older families of the county having been documented here well before the county was organized.
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