Ziba Hardee daughter Sarah Jane Hardee Wood

Ziba and Tabitha Brooks Hardee’s daughter

 Sarah Jane Hardee Wood

Today I will tell you about Sarah Jane Hardee. She was the second child of Ziba and Tabitha Hardee.

Sarah Hardee was born about 1831 in Alabama. She married Green A. Wood on January 16, 1849 in Coosa County Alabama.

In the 1850 U.S. Census they are listed living next to her parents in Hatchet Creek District, Coosa County, Alabama with their one year old daughter Mary.

Green is listed as a farmer and on the 1850 agricultural census he lists: 18 improved and 20 unimproved acres of land, cash value of farm $100, value of farming implements and machinery $10, 1 horse, 7 milch cows, 21 other cattle, 12 swines, value of livestock $245, bushels of Indian Corn 200. [Next page] 6 400lbs bales of ginned cotton, 40 bushels of sweet potatoes, 150 lbs of butter, 3 tons of hay, value of homemade manufactures $100, value of animals slaughtered $100.

Like her parents, Ziba and Tabitha, her family is not listed on the 1860 census. The 1860 census took place June 1, 1860 so I can only guess the family along with her parents and siblings were traveling to Texas. I know both families arrived in Texas by 1861 as they are both listed on the 1861 tax rolls.
Green and Sarah Wood are listed on the 1870 U.S. Census living in Van Zandt County, Texas. Green is listed as a farmer with a personal value of $300. Their five children are all living with them.

Green and Sarah's children are:
Mary Frances Wood b. about 1849 Alabama

Matthew Wood b. Feb. 21, 1851 Alabama d. April 15, 1934 Wylie, Collin Co., Texas

David Griffith Wood b. Mar 29, 1854 Alabama d. Nov. 13, Rockwall, Rockwall Co., Texas (he had 15 children!)

Sammie A. Wood b. about 1864 Van Zandt Co., Texas

Ida Wood b. about 1869 Van Zandt Co., Texas

Green Wood died in 1878 and I am unsure of Sarah's date of death. I have not been able to find her after the 1860 census. They are both buried in the Frontier/Red Hill Cemetery in Van Zandt Co., Texas. No birth or death date is listed in the index.

 

Ziba and Tabitha Hardee's son, William Thomas Hardee

Hardee Travels

Hardee Travels

If you could only see me now! I am doing the happy dance!

After writing my other post about not finding Ziba in the 1860 census and not knowing when Ziba and family moved to Texas, it got me thinking and I did some searching.

I had previously searched the unindexed tax records for Van Zandt Co., Texas and I did not find Ziba in the 1860 tax records but I did find him in the 1861 tax records. So I searched those records again to see if Green Wood, Ziba's son-in-law was also in those records since the newspaper article stated they traveled from Alabama to Texas in 1861.

Green Wood was in the 1861 Van Zandt Co., Texas tax record.But not 1860 tax record.

Which leads me to believe, that Ziba and Tabitha Hardee and their children along with the family of their daughter Sarah Green and her husband moved together to Texas by oxen train.

Since Ziba Hardee and Green Wood are not in the 1860 tax list but both are in the 1861 tax list, I think this is a sound hypothesis!

Ziba Hardee in 1861 Van Zandt County, Texas tax records.

Green A. Wood in 1861 Van Zandt County, Texas tax records.

Now I know to search again in Coosa County, Alabama for Ziba Hardee. Will have to go page by page again, but maybe I will find them.

Ziba Hardee's Birth Date

Ziba Hardee in 1860 Census

Ziba Hardee in the 1860 Census
or Not

Sometimes, no matter how much you search you can't find something. That is what happened for the 1860 Census. I have searched all the indexed sites for Ziba Hardee and all the spelling variants, I have searched just by first names, I have searched for neighbors from the 1850 census and I have searched page by page in locations I thought he might be. But, alas, Ziba and family elude me.

I know in 1854 he bought more land in Coosa County, Alabama and in 1862 he paid taxes on land in Van Zandt County, Texas and died in 1862 in Van Zandt Co., Texas. So I would estimate Ziba and the family came to Texas between 1854 and 1861.

In 1860 his son James and his wife who lived near him in 1850 still lived in Coosa Co., Alabama. But, in 1870 James and wife are living in Van Zandt Co., Texas. At some point James returned to Alabama as that is where he died.

Ziba's daughter Sarah and her husband Green Wood who lived next door in 1850 cannot be found in any 1860 census. But, the family is buried in Van Zandt Co., Texas.

I found a newspaper article about David Wood, son of Green and Sarah Hardee Wood. It states about David Wood: "Born in Chambers County, Alabama, in 1854 to Mr. and Mrs. Green Anderson Wood (she was a Hardee) Dave with his family and the other small children traveled to Van Zandt County, Texas just before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 by way of a covered wagon oxen train. Both Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Wood are buried in the Red Hill Cemetery in Van Zandt County. "

There is a chance that Green and Sarah Wood traveled with her father's family to Texas. This is just a guess. Ziba and the family may have come to Texas first, but usually families traveled together.
So, I continue my search.

Ziba Hardee and Traveling