There are a few early records of Clements settlers in Alabama - dating back to 1822. Benjamin Clements bought land in 1822 and Culliver Clements bought land in 1824: These men are probably the brothers of James and the same men that can be found in Pendleton District, SC and Jackson County, GA. There are a few other Clements' that arrived around this time but it is not known if these Clements families were related. For example, in 1824 there is a record for a Jesse Clements; In 1825 there are records for a Reuben Clements, a Jacob Clements, an Israel Clements and an Elijah Clements; and in 1823 there is a record for a Hardy Clements. In 1826 there is a record for a Charles Clements.
It is worth noting that in 1823, my 5th great grandfather (Prosser Horton) owned an apple orchard in what is now downtown Tuscaloosa. Prosser's daughter Winifred married William Clements, the son of James. The state of Alabama was formed in December of 1819.
But it appears that my direct Clements ancestors (James and his children) did not live in Alabama (Randolph County) until the mid 1830s. James and his son William and William's sons James M. and Prosser L. were in Randolph County Alabama by 1835. Most likely many of James' other children were in the area as well.
There are numerous land records for James, William, James M. and Prosser L. in Randolph. (Note that James M. and James are likely the same person - By the 1830s, James Sr. would have been in his 80s and not likely to have owned land.) By far, William was the largest land owner with well over 1500 acres.
There are later records for numerous Clements' including Benjamin A. Clements (1850s) and Lovick P. Clements (1845).
|
Name William " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " James M. " " " James " " Prosser L. |
Section 21 12 19 30 31 31 12 2 28 1 13 36 3 1 7 1 11 1 18 31 31 8 2 6 11 21 |
Range 21S 21 20S 20S 20S 20S 21S 22S 20S 21S 22S 20S 21S 21S 21S 21S 21S 21S 21S 20S 20S 22S 21S 21S 21S 19S |
Township 13E 11E 11E 12E 12E 12E 11E 13E 10E 11E 13E 11E 11E 11E 11E 11E 11E 11E 13E 12E 12E 13E 11E 12E 11E 11E |
Acres 160.2 160 79.81 78.99 79.04 79.04 80 80.04 35 160 37.21 79.5 80.01 80 40.02 80 40.02 80 80 39.52 39.52 79.9 40.03 40.05 40.03 56.2 |
Note: I also found a land document for Prosser dated 1860 for Section 19, Township 20, Range 9 (40 acres). The document does not indicated N-S-E-W on the range and township so I was not able to plot this on a map.
Thus William (son of James) owned in excess of 1500 acres. The largest contiguous block of land was located NW of the present day town of Roanoke with its extreme NE border including a portion of Highway 431.
