BLUFFTON, AL HISTORY PRAIRIE CO, AR HISTORY CHEROKEE CO, AL
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Silvanus Minton, the earliest authenticated progenitor of the Mintons of Alabama, grew up in a Quaker family on a farm located on Padgett's Creek in the southern part of Union Co., SC. Evidence shows that he was born to Rebeccah Minton and that his grandfather Thomas Minton (Rebeccah's father) raised him. He attended the Padgett's Creek Quaker Meeting House until it was abandoned in 1802. The Meeting House was located about 14 miles southwest of Union Co., SC, on state road 18. About 3 1/2 miles farther east on state road 18 is the junction of the road (not numbered) leading to the old Quaker cemetery, about a half mile off to the right. After services were discontinued at the Quaker Meeting House, Silvanus attended the Padgett's Creek Baptist Church.
In 1815 Silvanus and his wife, Mary Morris, with their first-born child (Reuben) moved west about 60 miles to Pendleton Dist., SC. On Milwee Creek he purchased a farm from Simon Doyle of White Co., TN, about 1816. Silvanus joined Old Lebanon Baptist Church located about 3 miles southeast of the present town of Pendleton, SC, where he was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1834. In 1827, his wife, Mary, died with the birth of twins and Silvanus married his second wife, Janie Qualls, in 1828.
Because of their belief in abolishing black slavery, South Carolina Quakers suffered persecution and weekly harassment from local "rednecks" who would yell, "Protestant Jesuits" at the Quakers when they went to Market Day to buy and sell. For this reason and to take advantage of "free land" that the Federal government was giving away due to the treaty of Echota in 1835 (by the treaty the Cherokee Indians relinquished their claim to all lands east of the Mississippi River), Silvanus left Pendleton Dist., SC, with his second wife (Janie Qualls) and his children. The "free land" was located at what is now known as Cedartown, Georgia. Silvanus and his family walked from South Carolina to Cedartown, Georgia.
Silvanus and his family relocated a second time. Silvanus settled on Creek Indian lands West of the Georgia state line on Terrapin and Hurricane Creek known now as the area of Pleasant Gap, Cherokee Co., Alabama. The Creek Indian land "land rush" involved 35,000 South Carolinians in the early 1830s. Silvanus bought sections 10 and 15, Township 12, Range 11, from the state of Alabama. In 1840, Silvanus along with his sons, Reuben and John, are listed in Benton Co., AL (Benton Co. was renamed Calhoun Co. in 1868), but the northern part of the county was added to Cherokee Co. in 1843. In 1841 Silvanus was appointed Justice of the Peace in Benton Co., AL. Until the Government Land Office was moved into the area, Silvanus and his family lived for several years as squatters on Indian lands and did not buy their lands from the state until after 1840.
In 1860 evidence indicates that all the Mintons in Cherokee and Calhoun Counties were blood kin.
Silvanus founded several Baptist churches in old Benton County (now Calhoun County), Alabama from the mid 1830s until his sudden departure in October, 1860. Some of these Baptist churches are: Mount Zion, Zion Hill, Walnut Springs, Salem Baptist, New Hopewell, Cedron, Lebanon, Cane Creek, Yellow Creek, Jacksonville and Bethlehem. He also established the Tallassehatchie Baptist Association in 1834 in the Pleasant Gap, Cherokee Co., Alabama area.
In the Summer and Fall of 1860, the early formations of the Confederate Militia marched over the countryside of Alabama recruiting for the upcoming war between the states (1861-1865) in which some 50,000 Alabama troops lost their lives. The Confederates camped across the road from Salem Baptist Church on Saturday afternoon and leisurely listened to Silvanus' sermon on Sunday morning, the last Sunday in October, 1860. The senior officers approached Silvanus after he left the church and told him,
"Preacher, if you feel the way you sounded in that sermon, then it's best you leave Alabama. We'll give you to Monday nightfall to be gone!"Silvanus faced either a "burn-out" or a "get-out". His sermons dwelling on "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and "Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself" were putting a severe dent in the Militia's recruitment in northeast Benton County. According to the younger children of Silvanus, who lived to old age into the early 1900s, Silvanus and his boys stayed up all night packing and loading wagons for the trip into Georgia and the railroad which headed North to Chattanooga, Tennessee. On Monday morning Silvanus summoned all his children to a large oak tree at his home. He read from the Bible and told his children,
"It is now time to cross the big river sister Rebeccah Hendrix crossed in 1850. We must depart today for Arkansas which will hopefully be a peaceful place for us to abide."Children in attendance later wrote the first dissent came from the oldest brother, Reuben Minton (b. 1814-d. 1894). He spoke,
"Now look here Pap, I followed you here, me and my new wife, Sarah, from South Carolina, but I have to say here and now Pap I ain't going to Arkansas. I have a grist mill here at Pleasant Gap and a four year old son, John Minton (b. 1856-d. 1934), so my livlihood and family roots are here in Alabama. I wish you God's blessing on your long trip to Arkansas. At least, it will be by railroad and riverboat and not by oxen and cart like from South Carolina to Cedartown in 1832. May God bless you Pap!"Silvanus spoke,
"I appreciate your concern son and may God bless and keep you safe here in Alabama. Does anyone else desire to speak his mind?"Brother, Thomas Allen (b. 1836-d. 1863) said,
"Pap, you know how I feel about being separated from you and Ma; but, me and Lucy here been talking marriage for some time now and I just can't leave her. I was thinking someone needs to stay here and mind the farm, and all, and maybe that could be me?"Thomas Allen did stay in Alabama where he was conscripted into the Confederate Army. His body was found on the battle field at Chickamauga, Georgia in 1863.
So, Silvanus departed East into Georgia to the railway at Rome on Monday evening. Silvanus, his wife Janie, and approximately ten of their children went North to Chattanooga, West to Nashville, and then to Memphis on the railroad. There they boarded a river boat down the Mississippi River to the junction with the Arkansas River - eventually overland to Lonoak County to Silvanus' daughter, Rebeccah Hendrix, in Arkansas. Silvanus had been talking of going to Arkansas for six months before he left. The young children who made the trip often quoted when together,
"It was just like Pap to put the trip off until the cold weather of Fall!"Of course, the Militia ultimately made his mind up for him.
Original Spelling of Our Minton Surname
Myndton
The name Minton appears to have its origin in the county of Shropshire, England, and records of the churches there show that it was a very common name. The village of "Minton", not far from Shropshire, has records that show the Minton family dates back to 1060 in England. The surname Myndton is associated with the Welsh, meaning "an English village on a Welsh hill". Mynd means "a Welsh hill" and ton is a Scandinavian word derived from tun meaning "a village".
Minton Immigrants to America
Richard Minton and his son, Thomas Minton, Sr. are probably the original immigrants of our Minton lineage to America from the Welsh border country interfacing with Shropshire County, England to Chester County, Pennsylvania - then migrated to South Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas.
