Jannette's Hembrey-Thornton Family Home Page:Information about Enoch Green Strother, Sr.
Enoch Green Strother, Sr. (b. February 14, 1827, d. May 19, 1908)
Notes for Enoch Green Strother, Sr.:According to Enoch's pension records he was born 2/14/1827 in Jones Co., GA, and died 5/19/1908 in Independence Co., AR.
Married Elizabeth Gothard, daughter of George and Martha Gothard, on 12/28/1854 in Randolph Co., AL.Elizabeth born May 1840 in GA, died 1902 Independence Co., AR.
Enoch and Elizabeth are buried at Palestine Cem. on Hutchinson Mountain in Independence Co., AR.Enoch made Elizabeth's and his tombstones out of fieldstone.(picture in file)Susan Martin Mosier obtained a military tombstone for Enoch about 1995 and a nice stone for Elizabeth about 1996.
Enoch enlisted in the service of the Confederate States sometime prior to 2/28/1863 at Talladega, AL.He was a Private in Co. F, 25 Reg't Alabama Infantry.His name appears on a list of members of his Regiment of Alabama Volunteers who obligated themselves to re-enlist in the service of the Confederate States for the War at the expiration of their present term of service.The list ws dated near Dalton, GA, March 14, 1864.(military record in file)
From the book Major Battles of the Civil War:"In the spring of 1864, Gen. William T. Sherman and the North's Western Army (composed of the Army of the Tennessee, the Army of Ohio, and the Army of the Cumberland) began its "March to the Sea" that would take it through the heartland of the South.Starting from Chattanooga with 99,000 men, Sherman was faced by General Joseph E. Johnston's army numbering 70,000.In the first engagement at Dalton (the Confederate Army's winter headquarters) Johnston held an impregnable position but was forced to withdraw to Resaca to prevent its capture and being cut off from his supply lines by the large Union force.On May 14, the Union forces attacked the entrenched Confederates at Resaca and through two days of heavy fighting, each side lost nearly 3,000 men.After this battle, Johnston again faced being cut off by encircling Union forces and abandoned Resaca on the evening of May 16.Sherman's continued attempts to engage and surround the Confederate forces and Johnston's successful series of retreats would continue to Atlanta with the loss of precious factories and supplies to the torch of Sherman's men.
Enoch was captured at Resaca, GA, on May 14, 1864, by the Army of the Cumberland.His name appears on a Roll of Prisoners of War at Nashville, TN, captured by forces under Maj. Gen. Geo. H. Thomas, commanding Dept. of the Cumberland.Enoch was received at Military Prison, Louisville, KY, May 18, 1864.He was on a Roll of Prisoners of War transferred to Camp Morton, IN, from Louisville Military Prison, May 21, 1864.On May 30, 1864, he was sent to Rock Island Barracks, IL, where he was received on June 1, 1864.Enoch appears on a Roll of Prisoners of War at Rock Island Barracks, IL, enlisted in U. S. Navy and transferred June 10, 1864.(records in file)
According to Enoch's pension records, he enlisted as a Landsman on the Ohio June 10, 1864, and served thereon to August 25, 1864; on the Massasoit to November 20, 1864; on the Western World to May 20, 1865; on the Macedonian to June 9, 1865; on the Marion to October 23, 1865; on the Stonewall to November 30, 1865; on the Vermont to December 21, 1865; and the Washington Navy Yard to January 10, 1866, when discharged.
Enoch applied for a military pension on December 7, 1895.On his pension application he stated that he married Elizabeth Gothard on December 28, 1854, in Randolph Co., AL; they were married by John "Tailler," and the marriage was recorded at Wedowee, AL.He stated he had not been previously married.He lived at Wesobulga, AL, until Dec 1878; then moved to Salado, AR; then to McHue, AR; and finally to Hutchison, AR.He was a farmer.He had blue eyes, brown hair and was 5'6" tall.Weighed 105 pounds in September 1907.Enoch's application was approved and he received a pension until his death on 5/19/1908. (Grandmother Leona Strother Hembrey had a note in herfamily record that Enoch Jr. was born in Eva, Morgan Co, AL, in 1877.Perhaps Enoch Sr's memory failed him re the year they left Wesobulga.) (pension application in file)
Note:Wesobulga was made part of the newly formed Clay Co (December 6 & 7, 1866).According to a Clay County history, the area now covered by Clay County was not a slave holding region because of its topography, small sized farms, and large farm families who tended their own crops.In July 1984 I visited Clay Co., AL, in search of Wesobulga only to find that the town no longer exists, and that the area is now called Cragford; however, there is a Wesobulga school.I located an old cemetery called Ebenezer out in the middle of some woods, not far from the school.Although most of the graves did not have markers with writing on them, there was one for M. A. Strother, wife of George Strother, born Aug. 30, 1825, died Aug. 3, 1887.(pictures in file) The county is mountainous and reminded me of the terrain on Hutchinson Mountain in Arkansas where Enoch died.We now know George was a brother of Enoch Sr.The unmarked graves probably belong to William George and Rachel Green Strother and other Strother family.
Note re Clay Co court houses extracted from one of the Clay Co histories in file: "Early in 1867 construction was begun on a one-story frame court house at the new county seat.This first court house of Clay County served the seat of justice only a few years when it was destroyed by fire on December 18 1875.In this conflagration, books, papers, files, and other records belonging to the several county agencies were destroyed."
Additional information in file:maps and various histories of Clay and Randolph Counties.
Great Aunt Ellen (who is 92 years old) told me on 4/24/1997 that she had been told Enoch Sr. came from Germany to Alabama, met Elizabeth Gothard there, moved to AR to "homestead" the farm. (Was he trying to cover his tracks because of his "colorful" military career or his Indian blood?Were the Gothard's of German descent?)She also said Enoch Sr blazed the road going down the mountain to McHue.At the time, it was on the property he was homesteading and he needed a way to get to his fields in the "bottom lands" of the homestead.
Grandmother Leona Strother Hembrey told me in the early 1980's that there weren't any pictures of Enoch Sr, that he did not allow his picture to be taken, and he had instructed all his children and grandchildren to that effect.
Searched on April 19, 1997, at Arkansas History Commission:
1890 Personal Property Tax Records of Independence Co., AR, showthat E. G. Strother lived in School District 16--Mineral Springs--ReliefTwp with assessed value of $196.
Arkansas Gazette for E. G. Strother obit from May 19, 1908, throughMay 27, 1908.
Need to locate Enoch & William in AL 1850, look Randolph Co reel 14 beat 13 pg 383 dwlg # 134 per Dovie Youngblood.
Need to locate William/Rachel in AL 1880, look Clay Co.
Need to locate William in GA 1840, look Talbot Co reel 17 pg 218 line 22 per Dovie.
Notes as of:May 30, 1997
Arlene Jannette Hembrey Lovell
343 Cedar Grove Road
Sulphur Rock, AR 72579-9613
870-793-9593.
More About Enoch Green Strother, Sr.:
Occupation: Farming.
More About Enoch Green Strother, Sr. and Elizabeth Gothard:
Marriage: December 28, 1854, Randolph Co., AL.64
Children of Enoch Green Strother, Sr. and Elizabeth Gothard are:
- +Enoch Green Strother, Jr., b. July 2, 1877, Eva, Morgan Co, AL64, d. February 22, 1930, Ind. Co, AR.