James Alexander Geddie

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      Sex: M

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Individual Information

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     Birth Date: 9 Apr 1812 - North Carolina
    Christening: 
          Death: 
         Burial: 
 Cause of Death: 

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Parents

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         Father: Thomas Geddie 
         Mother: Marron Macdougal 

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Spouses and Children

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1. *Elizabeth Beggs
       Marriage: 30 Sep 1847
       Children:
                1. Asaleen Tarissa Geddie 
                2. Elizabeth Jane Geddie 
                3. Allen Thomas Geddie 
                4. James Robert Geddie 
                5. William Hiram Geddie 
                6. John Wesley Geddie 
                7. Henry Clay Geddie 

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Notes

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General:

[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 1, Ed. 1, Tree #1953, Date of Import: Feb 26, 2002] James didn't follow his father to Alabama until he had reached "age". He w as apprenticed to Thomas McPhail, to learn the cooper trade, and later sta yed with his Uncle "Big John" Geddie, from whom he got leather to make h is first pair of shoes. James lived with his Uncle "Big John" until around 1833. Later, on his way to join his father in Alabama, he stopped in sumter Coun ty, Alabama where he met and married Elizabeth Beggs, a Scotch-Irish woman . On June 02, 1846 he was mustered into service in Mobile, Alabama and serv ed in Company A, 1st Regiment, Alabama Infantry, commanded by Col. Jo hn R. Coffey, in the war with Mexico. He was discharged on October 29, 184 6, in Matamoras, Mexico. He described in detail to his son, Henry Clay Ged die, the ordeal of returning home aboard an unhealthy, unsanitary troop sh ip, and of the crowded and filthy conditions. In 1849, he raised a family, and then in 1869 he and his family left war r avaged Alabama, and went overland in covered wagons to Van Zandt County, T exas, near Owlet Green. He settled on a farm next to his first cousin by t he same name, James Alexander Geddie, son of "Big John." When gold was discovered in California, James was operating a wagon facto ry in Havana, Alabama. He was building wagons for those venturing we st to Texas, mainly, but one special job he was assigned to do in 1850 w as to build a conestoga wagon of special requirements to go all the w ay to Calivornia. He built the wagon in Sumter County. The wagon made it t hrough in good shape, and for twenty-five years kept going in all kin ds of service. Twenty-five years later, around January 01, 1875, the wag on was driven into a wagon repair shop which James operated in Garden Vall ey, on the line of Smith and Van Zandt Counties, Texas. The wagon needed o nlly minor repairs, and was identified by James by privatek marks he had p laced on it when he built it in Alabama.