Descendants

Peggy & William Redd on Mission at Hole in the Rock

BY WILLIAM H REDD

I am the great great grandson of Lemuel Hardison Redd Sr. I was born and raised in Southern Alberta where Lemuel’s third son William Alexander Redd settled in 1904.

In the spring of 2022, my wife, Peggy, and I embarked on a mission to the Bluff Fort Historic Site where the San Juan Pioneers settled after their incredible journey through the Hole in the Rock. Actually, their six week ordeal building a passageway down the Hole was just the beginning of their hardships on the way to the San Juan. As we have ridden the trails that they built and followed their route, our appreciation for their faith, perseverance and “sticki-ta-tudy” has increased.

Lemuel accompanied his son Lemuel Jr. and his wife and baby to assist them and also scout out the prospects for ranching in the San Juan. He caught up with the main body of pioneers on about December 16th, 1879. The next day he left on a scouting party with three other men to find a route to Montezuma Creek, even though two prior parties had concluded that the route would be impassible for wagons. One of them wrote that the terrain was so rough that even a bird could not fly over it. Lemuel was chosen probably for his maturity, the fact that he did not have a family to care for on the mission and his desire to scope out the San Juan country.

They carried enough food for eight days, the expected duration of their journey. The eighth day found them lost in a blizzard far to the north of their intended route because of the impossibility of crossing the Grand Gulch. On the evening of December 24th they built four huge fires to warm the ground below their bedrolls and ate the last of their rations, uncertain if they would survive the journey. That night in a dream Lemuel saw himself on top of a small knoll where he was able to get his bearings. The following morning he told his companions, “Come with me to the top of yonder knoll and I will show you the San Juan River.” As the storm broke they were able to see the Blue Mountains to the north and the San Juan River valley to the south and get their bearings. Three days later they arrived at the future site of Bluff City where they providentially encountered a traveling family who gave them a warm meal before they headed on to Montezuma Creek.

We have hiked down the Hole in the Rock and found it utterly impossible to go down or up in any kind of a modern vehicle or even on horseback. We have climbed what Lemuel and the other scouts named Salvation Knoll, and wondered how they could possibly have summited its steep slopes in 18 inches of snow. We have hiked down the trail where a mountain sheep led them after they had given up all hope of finding a way down the slick rocks. We have travelled much of the trail which they blazed for the main body to follow, and again wondering how they ever managed to cross, with horses and wagons, terrain so steep and broken up that it was eighty years and a lot of blasting and excavating before even the most robust Jeep could traverse the trail, we have been amazed and reverenced to witness what they accomplished with sheer will power and undauntedness as they fulfilled the mission given them by their prophet.

Ancestor's & Their Households

BY TONYA REITER      

Members of John Hardison Redd’s family know quite a bit about his descendants who joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and subsequently settled in the West and Mexico. One of the research goals of the John Hardison Redd Family Organization is to discover more about the Redd or Rudd family origins in Britain. Another of our goals is to learn more about the lives of Elizabeth Hancock Redd’s siblings and parents and the enslaved members of their households. John and Elizabeth Redd brought Venus and Chaney, as slaves, with them to Utah Territory, but these two women left behind a mother, a brother and sisters who had been bequeathed to Elizabeth’s two brothers, William and Anson. As a member of the Redd family organization’s research committee, I am endeavoring to trace the destinies of the bonded family who began as Zebedee Hancock’s slaves and eventually travelled great distances from Onslow County, North Carolina where they were born. 

To understand what happened to the enslaved men, women, and children who were related to Venus and Chaney, I have to trace the lives of their owners—William Hancock, Anson Hancock and their heirs. Researching probate records and knowing where the Hancock families lived throughout the nineteenth century allows me to make good guesses about where to look for the formerly enslaved after 1865. The 1870 census was the first opportunity for newly emancipated people to answer the census questions for themselves and, by and large, it was one of the first documents that recorded surnames for those who had lived in slavery.  Last names get tricky because there was no rule for deciding upon a surname. When freed, some people adopted their slaveholders’ names, but many others chose to be called by some other name. It can be difficult to identify the people I’m looking for in the 1870 census without knowing quite a few other facts them.

What I have learned, so far, is a fascinating story that places the children and grandchildren of Zebedee Hancock all over the United States. William Hancock, Elizabeth’s oldest brother never left Onslow County, North Carolina, but his children did. He and his wife, Helen, lived and farmed next door to John Hardison and Elizabeth Redd in 1830. Only four years later, in 1834, William died near the age of forty, leaving his widow to raise three young children. By 1850, William’s family had relocated to Leon County, Florida, taking Hancock slaves with them. Ten years later, the William Hancock descendants had taken up ranching in Texas where their family’s cowboy history is well documented.  

Elizabeth’s second brother, Anson, left North Carolina and moved to a busy Florida cotton port named Apalachicola located on the Gulf of Mexico. He married a woman from Connecticut, Susan Brainard, and raised a family with her. Anson inherited several of Venus and Chaney’s siblings from his father, but by 1850, he had acquired enough additional slaves to make a total of sixteen. He owned several businesses in Florida, among them, the largest hotel in Apalachicola, and must have used the labor of his bondsmen in his enterprises. 

This is just a glimpse into the lives of John Hardison Redd’s brothers-in-law and their families. We know that John corresponded with former North Carolina neighbors and it would be wonderful if we discovered letters between the Redds and Elizabeth’s Hancock relatives, but at this point, we don’t know if the Hancocks were able to stay in touch after they left North Carolina and went their separate ways. From our vantage point, however, we are able to document the histories of William and Anson and learn what happened to their descendants. We will be sharing those histories with the Redd family in up-coming newsletters. Stay tuned!