Saffold Roots

Rhoda H. Saffold (1792-After 1855), daughter of Reuben Saffold married Robert Cade (C. 1762-1826) on May 11, 1820 in Wilkes County, Georgia.

Cade had moved to Wilkes County, Georgia from North Carolina where he was born before 1790 the son of Robert (?) Cade.  Rhoda moved to Kemper County, Mississippi after Robert’s death in 1826.

She died after 1854. Robert’s will is found in the “Early Records of Georgia, Volume II, Wilkes County” compiled by Grace Gilliam Davidson, 1933, and published at Macon, GA, as is as follows:” Estate to be equally divided between wife Rhoda H., and my four children; Louisa, Reuben S., Anderson J., and Wm. R., to be kept together until children reach majority. Wife Rhoda H., and Marshall Martin, Exrs. Signed April 13, 1826; Probated January 1, 1827. Jas. Cade, Jr., Jos A. Green, Henderson G. Wade, Test.” In the same volume, dated January 1st, 1827, Rhoda appears as follows: “Robert Cade, dec’d. Will probated. Rhoda H. Cade qualifies as executrix.” (The following information about Rhoda’s descendents was kindly supplied by Dede Stafford who is the person referred to when there are references to documents “in my possession” and to “me.”  )

First Generation

The children of Rhoda and Robert, all born in Wilkes County between 1820 and 1826 were:

(1) Louisa Cade

(2) Reuben S. Cade

(3) Anderson J. Cade

(4) William Robert Cade

Between 1827 and 1837, Rhoda and her children and relocated to Kemper County, Mississippi. She appears on the 1837 Kemper County, MS state census record as having in her household 3 males under 18, one female over 16, one female under 16, 10 male slaves, and 24 female slaves. In the 1850 MS state census record for Kemper County, she is listed as being 58 years old, born in Georgia. The only other person listed in her household is a Jesse E. Stovall, overseer. Rhoda also appears in the 1850 MS slave schedule as having 21 slaves; 10 females, 11 males, 7 adults, 14 under the age of 17. In 1854 she appears on the 1854 land roll for Kemper County, MS as having 480 taxable acres. Her date of death, and place of burial is unknown, although it is assumed that she died in Kemper County, MS.

2nd Generation

William Robert Cade

Born: December 12, 1825 at Wilkes County, GA Died: January 1, 1875 at Carroll County, MS Buried: Cade/Smith Family cemetery, Emory, MS Parents: Robert Cade and Rhoda H. Saffold

Louisa Judith Watson (Married in Sumpter County, Alabama on February 12, 1857)

Born: August 20, 1839 at Sumpter County, AL Died: January 27, 1905 at Carroll County, MS Buried: Cade/Smith Cemetery, Emory, MS Parents: Jared Watson and Judith Holt

The Children of Robert and Louisa (Watson) Cade:

1) T.W. Cade (male). B: 1858 at Sumpter County, AL D: Between 1860-1870 in AL or MS (appears with parents in 1860 Carroll County, MS census, but not in 1870 census. It is assumed he died young.)

2) Allen Bird Cade. B: May 29, 1859 at Kemper County, MS D: November 15, 1923 at Carroll County, MS Married: December 13th, 1878 at Carroll County, MS to Martha “Mattie” Pollard (1855-1880). Notes: Mattie Pollard Cade died in childbirth according to the 1880 MS mortality schedule. Allen never remarried. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1923. (copy of death certificate in my possession) Both are buried in the Cade/Smith Cemetery in Emory, MS.

3) Jared Watson Cade. (my great-great grandfather; see 3rd generation)

4) William B. Cade. B: 1865 at Carroll County, MS D: After 1905 in MS (?) Married on July 4th, 1905 in Carroll County, MS to Susie Ricketts.

5) Robert S. Cade. B: October 7, 1866 at Carroll County, MS D: February 15, 1947 at Carroll County, MS Buried: Cade/Smith cemetery in Emory, MS.

6) Drew Edward. Cade B: July 1, 1867 at Carroll County, MS D: December 19, 1929 at Lexington, Holmes County, MS Married on October 22, 1900 at Vaiden, Carroll County, MS to Edna Hunter. Note: Drew also died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Copy of death certificate in my possession.

7) Lee Holt Cade. B: February 1, 1872 at Carroll County, MS D: June 12, 1938 at Lexington, Holmes County, MS Married on June 10, 1899 at Carroll County, MS to Connie E. Downer (1880-1967)

8) Louise Cade. B: 1875 at Carroll County, MS D: After 1928 in Florida (?) Married to Albert S. Finch Note: Mentioned in brother Jared Cade’s obituary (1928) as Mrs. Albert S. Finch of Century, Fla.

Notes on W.R. Cade and Louisa J. Watson. Marriage of William and Louisa Watson taken from ” Alabama Marriages; 1809-1920″ Jordan R. Dodd, Compiler. Provo, Utah. W.R. appears on the 1860 MS (Carroll County) census record as a well-to-do “farmer”, also appears on the 1860 Carroll County Slave Schedule as owning 15 slaves. W.R. was a Confederate Soldier, having joined 4th MS. Infantry, Company “C”, “Red’s Invincible’s”, under the command of Capt. W.O. Red. He served in the capacity of Sgt. he was captured on February 16th, 1862 at Fort Davidson, Indiana, and held prisoner at Camp Morton, in Indianapolis, IN. He would spend over six months there before his release. He appears in the 1870 Carroll County, MS census with his family, his fortunes at that time having been drastically reduced after the Civil War. W.R. wrote his will on December 3rd, 1874, and was dead less then one month later on January 1st, 1875. (Copy of Will in my posession) He is buried in the Cade/Smith Cemetery, beside wife Louisa, in Emory, MS. Judith did not re-marry after the death of W.R., but raised her children alone, and managed their farm. She appears in the 1880 Carroll County, MS census as a “farmer”, head of household, with children Allen, Jared, William, Robert, Drew, Holt and “Lou” (Louise). She died on January 27th, 1905, as is buried in the Cade/Smith cemetery.

3rd Generation

Jared (“Jack”) Watson Cade

B: February 8th, 1862 at Carroll County, MS D: May 8th, 1928 at Meridian, Lauderdale County, MS Buried: Rose Hill Cemetery, Meridian, Lauderdale County, MS Parents: W.R. Cade and Louisa J. Watson

Sarah Estelle Short (Married at Meridian, Lauderdale County, MS on May 24, 1893)

B: February 15, 1868 at Pickens County, AL D: June 20, 1932 at Meridian, Lauderdale County, AL Buried: Rose Hill Cemetery, Meridian, Lauderdale County, MS Parents: James Lowe Short, Mary Frances Dodson

Notes on Jack Cade and Estelle Short. Jack was a carpenter for the railroad for over 35 years at the time of his death in 1928, according to his obituary (copy in my possession). Appears with family in the 1900, 1910 census for Lauderdale Co., MS. Wife Estelle outlived Jack by four years, dying in 1932. She is buried beside him in Rose Hill Cemetery in Meridian.

The Children of Jared and Sarah (Short) Cade

1) Watson Lloyd Cade. (my Great-Grandfather; see generation 4)

2) Jessie F. Cade. B: January, 1899 at Meridian, Lauderdale County, MS D: After 1970, East Point, Fulton County, GA Married in 1924 at Meridian, Lauderdale Co., MS- Leon Moore

3) Infant Cade (male). B: 1903 at Meridian, Lauderdale Co., MS D: 1904 at Meridian, Lauderdale Co., MS Buried: Rose Hill Cemetery, Meridian, Lauderdale Co., MS

4) Louise E. Cade. B: 1905 at Lauderdale Co., MS D: After 1969 at Meridian, Lauderdale Co., MS (?) Married: 1925 at Meridian, Lauderdale Co., MS- Robert Lewis Connell (1904-1969)

4th Generation

Watson Lloyd Cade

B: October 11th, 1894 at Meridian, Lauderdale Co., MS D: July 14, 1955 at Jacksonville, Duval Co., Fla. Buried: Antioch Baptist Cemetery, Lacrosse, Fla. Parents: Jared W. Cade and Sarah E. Short

Mary Alfred Curtis (Married (1st) at Meridian, Lauderdale Co., MS on July 13, 1914)

B: March 4th, 1894 at Wills Point, Van Zandt Co., Texas D: November 25, 1977 at Birmingham, Jefferson Co., AL Buried: Jefferson Memorial Gardens, Trussville, AL Parents: Rev. Alfred Nash Curtis and Sallie Ford Cagle Children born to Watson Lloyd and Mary (Curtis) Cade.

1) Sarah Evelyn Cade (see 5th generation)

2) Lloyd Curtis Cade B: December 15th, 1923 at Ensley, Jefferson Co., AL D: July 3rd, 1990 at Birmingham, Jefferson Co., AL Buried: Highland Memorial Gardens, Bessemer, AL Married at Ensley, Alabama on August 11th, 1948- Evelyn Marie Kirkpatrick (still living)

Watson Lloyd Cade and Mary Alfred Curtis divorced in 1935.

Lola Dampier. (Watson Lloyd Cade married 2nd in Jacksonville, Duval Co., Fla. in 1936)

B: April 22nd, 1900 at Alachua Co., Fla (?) D: August 31st, 1947 at Jacksonville, Duval Co., Fla. Buried: Antioch Baptist Cemetery, Lacrosse, Fla.

No children born to the union of W. Lloyd Cade and Lola Dampier

5th Generation

Sarah Evelyn Cade

B: July 18th, 1915 at Meridian, Lauderdale Co., MS D: August 3rd, 1965 at Alhambra, Los Angles Co., CA Buried: San Gabriel Cemetery, San Gabriel, CA Parents: Watson Lloyd Cade, Mary Alfred Curtis.

Benny H. Padilla (Married at Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona on March 7, 1946)

B: October 28th, 1909 at San Gabriel, Los Angeles Co., CA D: September 4th, 1982 at Boise, Ada County, Idaho Buried: San Gabriel Cemetery, San Gabriel, CA Parents: Jose H.M. Padilla and Leonides Grijalva.

Notes on Evelyn Cade and Benny Padilla. Evelyn was a Yeoman 3rd Class, Navy “WAVE” during WWII, and while stationed in Coral Gables, Fla., met her future husband, Benny Padilla, who was a Sgt. in the Army Air Corps. (medical division). They married in 1946, and would live in California until Evelyn’s death from cancer in 1965. Benny was an employee for the San Gabriel Parks Dept., where he would retire.

Children born to this union:

1) Mary Evelyn Padilla (see 6th generation)

6th generation

Mary Evelyn Padilla

B: June 19th, 1947 at San Gabriel, Los Angeles, CA **STILL LIVING** Parents: Benny H. Padilla and Sarah Evelyn Cade.

Clair Clifford Freece, Jr. (Married at Alhambra, Los Angeles California on March 13, 1976)

B: July 27, 1934 at Auburn, Cayuga Co., N.Y. D: January 31st, 2008 at Bessemer, Jefferson Co., AL Burial: Cremation; ashes in possession of family Parents: Clair Clifford Freece, Sr. and Minnie Ethel Robbins Children born to this union.

1) Dolores Marie “Dede” Freece (me!!)

Born: November 5, 1977 at Pasadena, Los Angeles Co., CA. Married on September 25th, 1999 at Fairview, Buncombe Co., N.C. to Stephen G. Stafford, a native of Jacksonville, Fla.

2) Benjamin Curtis Freece

B: January 26th, 1983 at Boise, Ada County, Idaho.

Bird Saffold was the son of Reuben I and Sarah (Bird) Saffold. Bird was a stockman, born December 19, 1796 in Wilkes Country, Ga. He resided in Dallas Country and Newton County, a man of large means. In 1853 he moved to Guadalupe County, Texas. On December 19, 1820 he married Matilida Cade. Their children were: (1) Robert Cade Saffold, a student at the University of Alabama, 1835-36, legislator, lumberman and planter, Confederate soldier, unmarried; (2) Sarah D. Saffold, married ______ Herring of Mississippi; (3) William Saffold , attended the University of Alabama, 1845-48, gradauting with the degree of A.B., lawyer and planter who moved to Guadalupe County, Texas, and resided near Seguin, was adjutant general, Texas State Troops, 1860-61, serving in the Confederate Army, died of accident, August 6, 1896, and interred in Newton County, Mississippi.

Source: Dictionary of Alabama Biography

Son of Reuben and Sarah (Bird) Saffold; nephew of William Saffold and Elizabeth Saffold. Lawyer and Chief Justice Alabama Supreme Court, was born September 4, 1788, in Wilkes County, Georgia and died in Dallas County, Alabama.

Reuben Saffold

In June, 1813, he removed to Jackson, Clarke County, conducted thence by General Samuel Dale, the picturesque frontier guide and Indian fighter. Soon after the Creek Indian wars of 1813-14 broke out, Reuben at once became actively engaged in the protection of the frontier. Holding at that time the rank of colonel in the militia, he nevertheless raised a company of sixty volunteers, and, as their captain, scoured the thickets from the mouth to the head of the Perdido River, upon which occasion several Indians were killed, while others were driven to more remote parts of Florida. But before he made his tour he had been a participant, as a private, in the battle of Burnt Corn, and was one of those who fought bravely and retreated among the last.

After the establishment of peace, he resumed the practice of law in Jackson. In 1818 he was a member, from Clarke County, of the legislature of Mississippi Territory and of the convention in Huntsville, July 5, 1819, which framed the first constitution for the State of Alabama. He was elected as judge of a second circuit court, thereby being ex-officio a member of the state Supreme Court.

State House, Old Cahawba

In 1832, when a separate court of last resort was organized, he was chosen as one of the three members of the Supreme Court, and in 1835 he was appointed to the role of Chief Justice upon the resignation of his predecessor, Abner Lipscomb. Chief Justice Saffold resigned his position in 1836 and resumed the practice of law, first in Mobile and later in Dallas County. Preferring to remain in private practice, he declined a position as associate justice on the Supreme Court offered to him in 1843 by Governor Benjamin Fitzpatrick.

Reuben would have worked with the federal courts as well, and this map shows how the Federal Courts were structured in his day.

In the culture and economy of that day, owning slaves was common. Census records show that Reuben’s household included 17 slaves in 1820. His descendants today could wish this were not the case, but we cannot choose the history we would prefer. We must accept the history that is. Pickett’s History of Alabama records that “as a master, he was kind, merciful, and just.” One can hope this was so, but it was regardless of any measure of mercy an evil institution.

Ruins of Old Cahawba

In 1819 Reuben had moved to Dallas County, Cahawba being the state capital at the time, but after resigning as Chief Justice in 1836, he moved Mobile. A few years after he returned to “Belvoir” his former home, a few miles northward from, and there resumed the proactive of law, having an office on his own grounds. In 1843, Governor Fitzpatrick tendered him the position as Associate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but he declined the honor.

Colonel Albert James Pickett, author of the state’s early history, said of Judge Saffold, “The reports of the Supreme Court of Alabama are enduring memorials of his strength of mind, patient investigation, deep research, and profound learning.” He is remembered for being firm and dignified but not austere. Whenever he presided entire order and decorum prevailed, and he was admired and respected by both clients and attorneys. Such, indeed, was his reputation throughout the state that his retirement from the bench was a source of public regret.

Belvoir

On April 1, 1811, Reuben married, in Morgan County, Georgia, Mary Phillips, daughter of Colonel Joseph and Jane (Walker) Phillips, who lived in Morgan County, Georgia. Mary was the granddaughter of Joseph Phillips, a minute man in the Revolutionary command of Colonel Elijah Clarke, in Georgia, and who received in 1785, from the State of Georgia, a grant of 550 acres of land in Washington County for his services.

Judge Saffold’s political opinions, although he never sought political office and engaged but little in the contests of the time, were well known. He was a Democrat. He was warmly devoted to the interest of the South. The firm friend of Texan independence, he rejoiced in her annexation to the United States.

Reuben's Armchair

Reuben’s children were: (1) Joseph Phillips, (2) William Bird, lawyer and unmarried, (3) Addison Jackson, (4) Jane Elizabeth m. Dr. James Berney, (5) Mary Anne m. Colonel J. M. Bolling, (6) Reuben Washington, physician in the battle of Selma, April, 1865, died July, 1892 at Summerfield, Dallas County, m. Mary Pouncey, (7) Zeno Ray, (8) Sarah Caroline (or Caroline Sarah ?) (9) Benjamin Franklin m. Mary Ellen Brown, (10) Milton Jefferson , (11) Caroline Sarah, m. Dr. P. N. Cilley, and (2) Elizabeth Evelyn.

Judge Saffold died of a stroke on the 15th of February 1847. He is believed to be buried at Belvoir, which survives to this day. Mrs. Saffold is buried at Belvoir, a few miles Northward of Pleasant Hill, Alabama.

The following death notice came from THE WATCHMAN, a newspaper in Lowndes County, AL during the 1800′s.

(July 13, 1860): Died on the evening of the 25th ult., at her residence in Dallas County, MRS. MARY SAFFOLD, widow of the late HON. REUBEN SAFFOLD, in the 67th year of her age.