24 comments

  1. Wonderful article on my historic and beautiful county. Thank you from a life-long resident.

    1. Thank you. I enjoyed learning more about Clarke County while I wrote it. I appreciate your comment.
      Donna

  2. I believe I could live in this house. I like that old rustic look.

  3. I am from Marengo county. I would love any thing on Marengo County.

  4. Wonder if Bill Mathews was kin to them.

  5. Dianne Hornsby Roberts — I lived in Grove Hill before we moved to Ozark – 8th grade ! thx for posting

  6. […] all sat round until night, people coming in continually, for this part of Clarke was thickly settled, I went to Mother and told her I was tired and sleepy, she untied her apron and […]

  7. I believe the home listed as Vickers, Chapman, Gordon home is mislabeled, perhaps by The Library of Congress. It appears to be the York Home which was on Hwy 69, in Coffeeville, AL.

    1. I agree. The house pictured surely seems identical to the York house in Coffeeville.

  8. This is a nice article about Clarke County. I grew up just north of Grove Hill in the Greenwood Community…across Hwy 43 from the Bassetts Creek Community. The history of Clarke County, predominantly around Grove Hill, has been an interest of mine for years. While doing family research, I found that I am one of the 6th-great grandchildren of Caleb and Tillisha Moncrief. It’s been a great experience and one that led me to becoming a member of the Clan Moncreiffe Society. Moncrief, of course, is a US variation of the Scottish Moncreiffe family name, taken from the lands of Moncreiffe three miles south of Perth, Scotland. I wish I had become more interested while growing up there.

  9. Three of my ancestors named in the article: John Smith, John Loftin, and William Walker.

  10. Are there records (names) of the 90 persons from South Carolina who settled Clarke in 1820?

  11. Are the names of the 90 Clarke County Settlers who came from south carolina in 1820 known?

  12. The Chickasabogue Park featured in the YouTube video is very near Mobile and nowhere near Marengo County.

  13. check out early tax records for Mississippi Territory, Washington County-that later became Clarke County.

    These early tax records from 1802 – 1817 (not every year) include names of many of the early and longstanding family surnames in Clarke county history, and are probably the earliest records of these folks in the area. At the time much of the settlement was up on the west bank of the Tombigby river. In some of the records, some description of land location can be found.

    My earliest Clarke county ancestors, John Dean and William Hamilton, are there. They ended up living closer to the Alabama River in the Bassett Creek/Suggsville area, but this clearly shows when they start appearing in the records.

    I also found a reference to John Deane’s passport through the Creek Settlements to the Tom or Don Bigby River in the book: Passports of Southeastern Pioneers 1770-1823 by Dorothy William Potter. Other records to search for early mention of people in the area are the American State Papers–many volumes but may yield good info establishing when some of these families first appeared in the area that became Clarke County and are petitioning for various things.

    —back to the Washington County tax records: old families listed in these early records include:
    Coleman, Caller, Myrick, Walker, Wilson, Mims, Rivers, Creighton, Dees, Bettis, Whatley, Gaines, Odum, Wood(y)ard, Bassett, Landrum, Jones, Barnes, McCrory, Rankin, Allen, Sinquefield, Moselely, Robinson/Robertson and others.

  14. My great grandmother swept her front yard every morning. Keeps the grass from growing

  15. Yes! It’s beautiful now. Mr Glenn and I have roots in Clarke Co that go back before 1810 if I get a “scratch” we bleed pine sap & red clay!

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