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Sparks, William Henry, 1800-1882

"The Memories of Fifty Years Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent i"


"After four months of arduous travel he found his way to Leaf River,
and there built his cabin; and with my grandmother, and my father, who
was born on the trip in the heart of the Creek Nation, commenced to
make a fortune. He found on a small creek of beautiful water a little
bay land, and made his little field for corn and pumpkins upon that
spot: all around was poor, barren pine woods, but he said it was a good
range for stock; but he had not an ox or cow on the face of the earth.
The truth is, it looked like Emanuel County. The turpentine smell, the
moan of the winds through the pine-trees, and nobody within fifty miles
of him, was too captivating a concatenation to be resisted, and he
rested here.
"About five years after he came, a man from Pearl River was driving
some cattle by to Mobile, and gave my grandfather two cows to help him
drive his cattle. It was over one hundred miles, and you would have
supposed it a dear bargain; but it turned out well, for the old man in
about six weeks got back with six other head of cattle. How or where,
or from whom he got them is not one of the traditions of the family.


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