Florey Family of Shelby, AL

Dead ends while researching family in early Alabama and the Antebellum South are common. Burned records can leave gaps that are impossible to bridge. But, sometimes all it takes a family story to help set you down the right path. 

When using family history stories all facts should be suspect until proven through records. This sometimes means you have to bend the story a bit and ignore claims on the internet to find the true facts. While tracking down ancestors in Alabama from the 1830's I had to rely on a few the these techniques that I will share in this post.

Edward Florey

I first identified Edward Florey as a direct ancestor in the 1850 US census in Shelby County, Alabama. He and his wife, Susan, were both born in Maryland. There children: John, Henry, Adaline, and Catharine, were all born in Virginia. He is also listed in the slave schedules that year, with five people enslaved, no names given.

In 1860, Edward is listed in the Harpersville, Shelby, Alabama census with his wife, Susan. They are living with a man named William Harmon whose occupation is listed as overseer. Edward has eight people on the slave schedule for this year. Both census records indicate he was born in 1795.

Edward is again listed in the 1866 Alabama state census with a woman aged 70-80 and another aged 30-40, who's likely their daughter Adaline.

A memorial on findagrave.com places Edward's death at the same year, 1866, and believes he is buried in an unmarked grave with his wife and daughter, Adaline. It also references an bio of his grandson, Carroll Henderson Florey, in the book "Notable Men of Alabama" as the source of this date. The book lists his age at death as 64, making 1802 his likely birth year. 

Property

While searching for records I typically start with property to see when they may have moved to the area. In this case the bio of CH Florey mentions that he came to Alabama in 1836 from Sussex, Virginia. A search of early land records reveals that in February of 1838 Edward and Benedict Florey sold land in Shelby County, AL to Gustavus Florey. There is no record of the land being sold to Edward but the property was originally purchased by Edward Bloxton. Edward Florey purchased land in the same county in October of that same year from Elijah Burchfield.

There are numerous additional property records for Edward Florey in 1843, 1847, 1849, 1851, 1859, 1861, and 1863, all in Shelby County, AL. 

Probate

Given the likely date of death being 1866, I searched the probate records in Shelby, AL and found not just a will but also all of this probate files. In his will, dated November 1860, he leaves his belongs to his wife and names his son Henry E Florey as his executor. 

Sussex, VA

Based on the suggestion that Edward's son Henry was from Sussex, VA, I performed a search through the Property, Tax, and other documents of Sussex County, VA did not yield any results for the name Florey or any other variations of spelling for that name.

Maryland

Using the birth state from the two census entries I performed a search through various record collections from Maryland. This resulted in a hit for Gustavus Florey in two records in Charles County, MD, but nothing for Edward.

Susan Florey

Susan's maiden name is listed as Maddox in the biography of her grandson, CH Florey. It also lists her death year as 1880 at the age of 101. She appears in the US census of Shelby, AL from 1850 through 1880 with various dates of birth and her birth location between Maryland and Virginia. 

There are no records of her death in any county probate articles I can find in Shelby, but I did find an obituary in The Shelby Sentinel on 15 July 1880. It states she died the previous day at the age of 92, making her likely birth year as 1788. It also mentions that she was the mother of 12! There are only four children directly connected to her through the census records, indicating there are eight more children to track down. She was living with her daughter, Adaline, at the time of her death.

The earliest record of Susan Florey in Shelby, AL is an 1851 deed record with her husband, Edward. Her son J. W. Florey is a witness to the contract. There is also a court record where she and Edward are accused of slander. The court finds in favor of them but without any indication to what the purported slanderous statement was.

Gustavus Florey

Based on the connection between Edward and Gustavus in the 1838 property record I decided to research Gustavus to identify any deeper relationship between the two. Given Florey was a very uncommon name in Shelby County I made the assumption that the Edward and Gustavus from this document were the same Edward and Gustavus in the 1850 census. 

I was able to find Gustavus' probate records and will, along with a very interesting series of court cases regarding his heirs in Shelby County. He died somewhere around October 1850 based on the administrator records. In these probate documents, Edward Florey is named his brother and Edward Gustavus Florey is declared an illegitimate son of Gustavus. In these probate files is also a record of Gustavus purchasing slaves in Charles County, MD. 

Maryland and Virginia

Based on this confirmed connection to Charles County, MD, I widened my search. Through my continued searches of Charles County records and neighboring Maryland counties I did not find any records of Edward. There is a site with information on the Florey family of Charles County but it stops about a generation before the connection I was looking for.

I searched through Sussex County once again to no avail. Then, on a whim, extended my search to counties in Virginia directly across the Potomac River. This included Prince William, Stafford, and King George counties.

The first records I found were Personal Property Tax records for Edward Flourey in Stafford County, VA, directly across the Potomac from Charles County, MD. The earliest tax entry was in 1814 and the latest was 1835. He was never noted in the Land Tax records nor were there any property or deed records of him. The last tax record date of 1835 would align with Edward being in Shelby, AL by 1836.

A closer look at the court records from that period and there was an 1819 record of Edward and his wife, Benedicta regarding property owned by Benedicta's late former husband, Samuel Bloxton. I have found additional indexes to two other court cases but have not officially requested copies from the archive.  “Harrison et al vs Bloxom et al" (LC-H/143-002/1835) and “Bloxam vs Flewry” (LC-H/017-009/1836). A fourth suit, “Jane L. Green & Elizabeth Green vs Edward Fleury and others” seems to have been heard in Stafford (papers now lost), but was mentioned in “Flowry vs Hewitt.”'

In speaking with Jerrilynn MacGregor of the Stafford County Historical Society, she provided this further information:

I’m working on a re-publication of a book on county officials that I did 11 or 12 years ago.  Included in this are lists of business licenses, post offices, post masters, etc.  In 1818 your family tried to corner the market on tavern/ordinary licenses here.  Benedicta Bloxton, Henry Floury, and Margaret Maddox all had licenses to operate them that year.  Margaret’s was in the lower part of Stafford near Ferry Farm.  I don’t know where the other two were running their businesses.  Our records are sketchy as you’re well aware.  Margaret Maddox held licenses from 1815 through 1818.  In 1816 Samuel Bloxton (c.1783-1817) had one. 

Benedicta

From the lawsuit we know that Benedicta was married to Edward Florey in 1819 and was previously married to Samuel Bloxton. Based on descriptions in Samuel's findagrave.com memorial, Benedicta's maiden name was Maddox. The memorial also note's Samuel's probate files identify his children Nancy, Polly, Edward, Beverly, Lucinda, and Margaret, all under age.

There are no other records of Benedicta outside the three court documents that I could find. The "heirs of Samuel Bloxton" are noted in the Stafford County Land Tax documents from 1819 through 1836.

Given that Edward never owned land in Stafford, VA and that he moved to Shelby, AL in 1836, it is my assumption that Edward and Benedicta lived in the home raising the Bloxton and Florey children until the youngest Bloxton came of age, they sold the house and shared the rest of the inheritance.

There are quite a few different mentions of Benedicta's death being in Stafford at various dates but none of them provide any records or sources for this information. It's possible that she could have moved from Alabama back to Virginia, but I believe that to be unlikely.

Bloxton and Florey's in Shelby, AL

While searching for the Bloxton children I have found records of some of them in Shelby, AL. 

Edward Bloxton

Edward seems to be the first of the family to move to Shelby, AL. He acquired at least 14 different tracts of land south of Harpersville, AL. There are records of him selling three of them to Edward Florey in 1840 in addition to the land granted to him by the state that ended up being sold by Edward Florey to Gustavus Florey. 

He appears in both the 1840 and 1850 US census in Shelby, AL. The 1850 census indicates his birth year as 1812. Is tombstone confirms this and lists his birth month as April.

Edward died in 1856 and left his estate to his wife, Lucinda. There are no connections or references to his parents in any of his extensive probate files. There is a continued Bloxton-Florey connection in the memorial on findagrave.com for his wife. Here we also see a reference back to Stafford County, VA.

CONFIRMATION OF LUCINDA JANE PEYTON's MARRIAGE TO EDWARD BLOXTON:
In a letter from W. H. Rollins to Louisa Jane Bloxton's husband, Don Alonzo Sanford, dated Oct 11, 1897, from Monteithville near Glenmore Farm: "Mr. (Arba) Packard said you wished to know something of Edward Bloxton. If you will write to Henry (Henry Edward?) Florry (Florey? Fleury?), Hopesville (Harpersville?), Shelby County, Alabama, you could find some of his family. (NOTE: Edward Florey & Susan Maddox Florey were parents of John M. Morgan's wife, Catherine, where O.P. & William Bloxton were living when W.A. Morgan was pregnant with Annie E. Bloxton.)
Mr. Bloxton married Mr. Simeon Conway Peyton's sister of this (Stafford) County."

OP and William were both sons of Edward Bloxton and Henry Florey was the son of Edward Florey. The letter came from Don Alonzo Sanford's personal files located at Arizona University, whose wife was a Bloxton, however, not directly related to this branch of the family.

Beverly Bloxton

Beverly married Eruby Crump in Jefferson County, AL, the county just northwest of Shelby. There is a court case against James P Crump in Shelby in 1838. Beverly died in Shelby County in 1843, leaving his wife and daughter, Mary. No references to his other family indicated in his probate files. His memorial on findagrave.com lists his birth year as 1814, but I have not seen this date indicated anywhere else. I have not found him listed in the 1840 census either.

Other Bloxtons

I have not found any records for three of Benedicta's daughters, Nancy, Mary, and Margaret. Lucinda Bloxton married John Boyd Kirk in Jefferson County, KY in 1839 and moved to Indiana and then Iowa. In her marriage license it mentions here deceased father, Samuel, and is confirmed by her brother Charles. I have not found any other records for Charles.

The Floreys

John William Florey first appears in the 1850 census in Shelby, AL listing his birth year as about1823 and place as Virginia. There are other court records regarding John that I will share in another post.

Adaline Florey, also in the 1850 census was born about 1822 in Virginia. It appears that she never married.

Henry Edward Florey also appears in the 1850 census in Shelby, AL listing his birth year as about 1825 and place as Virginia.

Catherine Florey, 1850 census, born about 1831 in Virginia. She married John M Morgan in 1853. Died in Winters, Runnels County, Texas in 1910.

There is also a marriage record from 16 January 1845 where Sarah Ann Florey married John Hillsman Borum. Additional records show her birthday as 17 January 1819, in Virginia as well. There is an 1861 record in the Shelby County Deed book where Edward Florey gifts Sarah Ann Borum a slave woman named Adelia "Delia", age 25. He also gifts S Catherine Morgan, wife of John M Morgan, a slave girl named Hannah, age 11. Based on this record I am confidant that Sarah is also Edward's daughter.

Making Assumptions

Based on the following facts, I am assuming that the Edward Florey of Stafford County, VA is the same Edward Florey found in Shelby, AL.

1. His first appearance in the tax documents in Stafford indicate his birth year to be about 1793 if he was 21 in 1814 or 1796 if he was 18. His birth year based on census records was about 1795.
2. All records of Edward in Stafford cease in 1835 and start in Shelby in 1838 but as early as 1836 based on his grandson's bio.
3. His wife's name, Benedicta, which is unique, is in documents with his in both locations.
4. All of his children listed in Alabama were born in Virginia.
5. His brother, Gustavus, was directly tied to Charles County, MD, across the Potomac River from Stafford, VA. Both the 1850 and 1860 census list Maryland as Edward's birthplace.

I also believe the Benedicta is the same woman as Susan Florey for the following reasons:

1. There is no death record of Benedicta that I've located in Alabama or Virginia
2. Susan's obituary states she had twelve children. Only five children of Edward have been identified. Seven children of Samuel have been identified, adding to twelve.
3. The eldest of Edward's children was born in 1819, the same year of the court case against Edward and Benedicta in Stafford, VA indicating they were married at that time.
4. The youngest of the Bloxton children may have turned 18 in 1836, when Samuel's inheritance was given to all his heirs and everyone moved from Stafford. This would indicate they were born in about 1818. Samuel Bloxton died about 1817. This is well within a plausible margin of time to be true.
5. Both Benedicta and Susan have been said to have the last name Maddox.
6. If Benedicta died after 1838 and Edward remarried to Susan, then Susan would likely not be considered CH Florey's grandmother or been said to have moved to Shelby in 1836. Nor is it likely that Benedicta's daughter, Adaline, would be living with Susan at her death in 1880.