FLORINDA JEAN ATKINSON-Billington -Dee Billington's mom

Florinda 1837-1904

For years we have wondered about Florinda Jean Atkinson.  We had her picture, her marriage certificate,  her newspaper obituary and where she is buried.  We know where she lived and the number of children she had.   We even have a copy of her will, which is written in her own hand. Out of seven children, four grew to adulthood.  We know who her grandchildren are.  We just didn't know who her parents were.  Well, now we know!

  Florinda's parents were:
  Sarah Hill Drake (1810-1838) ,William Creed Atkinson (1804-1900)
  both from Adair County, Kentucky.  Florinda's siblings are:

  Frances Hill (1830-1914), Quintus C. (1833-1909) Joshua(1836-).

 Sarah may have died between 1836-1838  because no further records have been located for her.  William married again on Dec 30, 1839 to Martha Winfrey Jones (1814-1870). They had 9 children, the first five were born in Adair County. They appear on the 1850 census record of Adair County along with Joshua (14) and Florinda (12), but Frances was married in 1847, so she is not listed with he family.  This census was taken in August. Quintus was married in 1851 in Carrol Co. MO.

Florinda lived with her Grandmother Elizabeth Drake as recorded on the 1850 Census of Adair County, Kentucky. This census was taken in September, so it is difficult to tell if Florinda was visiting with her grandmother at that time or if she moved in to stay. Florinda's Uncle, William Jackson Drake (1815-1866) owned the property next to Elizabeth. He moved his family to Cotton Gin, Freestone Co, Texas about 1851-1852. Elizabeth and Florinda probably moved with them.

Florinda must have met James A. Billington somewhere in the same area.  The Billington family moved from Tennessee to Texas and settled in the Springfield area, Limestone Co.  Cotton Gin is only 10 miles from Springfield.  Florinda was 16 years old when they married on November 17, 1853. I wish we had the story of how they met.

Elizabeth Drake lived with her son William Jackson Drake according to the 1860 census in Cotton Gin. Elizabeth died there shortly after 1860. William Jackson lived there until his death in 1866.

Florinda and James are found on the 1860 census of Limestone County, (Springfield Post Office) with their first three children listed by initials only; D.S., R.E., Q.S.  James is referred to as J. A.  and Florinda as C. J.   For some unknown reason, she preferred to be called Clarenda, which appears on several resources after that time. (or...Perhaps it was misspelled on the  census record)  During this era that James most likely raised thoroughbred horses to sell as well as maintaining his farm. More on Springfield:
 https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvsaz
http://www.forttumbleweed.net/springfield.html

Florinda and James' children:

* born in Limestone County, Texas:
Demetrious Seldon, July 6, 1855

Roberta E.,  April 6, 1856

Quintus Sebastian, Dec. 1858

*Children born in Tyler, Texas

Meriot Ciscilian, October 12, 1861

Corintha Aldonia, November 4, 1862

James William, April 14, 1865

*child born in Limestone Co.

Thomas Jefferson, April 13, 1867

Their new location, about 105 miles away, was a necessary move. I am not sure if they had a ranch there because James was drafted into the Confederate Army and stationed at the Gun Factory.  His drafting officer noticed that he had two pearl handled pistols when he signed up for the draft.  When James said he made them himself, the officer assigned him to make guns for the south, but the factory was in Tyler.  For more on Tyler's gun factory: 

https://www.jamespdouglas.com/tyler-smith-co-history

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8kyVEPU5ye_MS1PME0xUlRxUW8/edit?resourcekey=0-fzlfooa9U7xNKY0AF-X41w

About  1850, William Creed and family, along with his daughter Frances, her husband, James Austin Banks and family, moved to Missouri and set up ranching there. Two more children were born to the Banks family and four more to the W.C. Atkinson family in Missouri.  More about Carroll County:  https://thelibrary.org/lochist/moser/carrollco.html
http://genealogytrails.com/mo/carroll/hist_county.html

It is possible that her father, William Creed, and her sister Frances Banks, and brother Quintus encouraged Florinda to bring her family to Carroll County.

James might have acquired his herd of thoroughbred horses during his time in Tyler. Another mystery.  Was he raising them on the side even though he worked long hours at the gun factory, or did he get them from family members that had already moved north? Or did he keep them back in Limestone County?

During the year 1864 two of Florinda's children died.  We don't have record of the cause of death, but because their deaths were only 2 months apart,  perhaps it was a contagious childhood disease.  Corintha died in October and Quintus died in December. Perhaps there were many reason to leave Texas that year.  The reconstruction era for the south was beginning and many Texans had no way to support their families.  Prices were high everywhere in the south, especially Texas. 

So Florinda and James most likely traveled back to their homestead in Limestone County, where Thomas Jefferson was born.  James, Florinda,  Dee, Roberta, Mariot, and J.W. worked together to raise thoroughbred horses and some cattle at this time. They made plans to move north in 1867 and settled in the Grand River Township area near the Atkinson and Banks families that were already there.

The adventures of that long trek is another story but in the end, the horses were not in good shape and some were lost crossing the river. Although James set up the ranch and began selling his herd of horses, he died in 1868 at the age of 40. No record has yet been found about how he died, but we know the boys were left to take care of the ranch and sell the horses.  A previous blogpost about D.S., written by his daughter, Estelle, describes that time:

"By age thirteen Dad was already "The Man of the House." His father, James, died in Carrollton in 1868. Since Dee was the oldest and knowledgeable about horses, so his mother depended on him being there when anyone came to buy a horse. That was good excuse to be out of school and Dad used it to the limit. He finally dropped out of school. That ended his education as far as school was concerned. But as he grew he became an avid reader and had a great curiosity about people and things and was considered a well-educated man."

Florinda suffered through another child's death in 1869 when little 2 year old Thomas Jefferson passed on. Relatives have related that Florinda was often depressed and from that time forward developed a negative attitude about her life circumstances.  

October 9, 1978, Florinda's only daughter was married to Thomas Hardwick, a local man who had been away in the frontier for several years and wanted to live in Deadwood, South Dakota where he had a cattle enterprise. The Hardwick family lived down the road from the Billingtons and had known each other well for years. Florinda was most likely not pleased that her daughter would be so far away from her.  To add to her sadness, a year later, Roberta died giving birth and their baby boy did not survive.  

When Dee was about 19 years old, a new opportunity arose for him. He headed north, working on the Steamship, St. Louis.  Meriot was left to help Florinda with the  Grand River Ranch, and selling the horses, along with James William who was 14 at the time.  

Most likely it was Tom and Roberta Hardwick that encouraged Dee to quit the steamship work and come on up to Deadwood to see if it was to his liking. He was hired right away as a Deputy Sheriff / jailor and had many adventures with this hazardous duty.  

Later Dee married  Estella in March of 1884  and settled in the Belle Fourche area.  James and Meriot were also there at this time.  James was looking for a place to start a cattle ranch in the Red Water area.   Meriot became a stagecoach driver for the McClintock Stage in Deadwood.  A September 13, 1884 Wentworth Hotel notice in the local newspaper announced the brothers checked in as J.W.,  D.S.,  and Burt (Meriot) Billington.  There must have been something special going on that day in Deadwood.

Florinda visited her sons in Deadwood sometime in early 1885 and shared an apartment with Mariot during her 2 year long stay.  This was probably the time the only photo of her was taken.  During this time Florinda would have enjoyed spending time with her sons, daughters -in-law and her first living grandchild.  Leo, Dee and Estella's  baby boy,  was born August of 1887.   Hopefully this visit brought Florinda some much needed happiness.

Leo Sheldon Billington

Florinda's concluded trip to Deadwood was reported in a local newspaper on November 1, 1887.  She left by stagecoach headed back to Kansas City, MO 

Meriot worked in the Deadwood area until about 1890 when he moved back to the Kansas City, Kansas area and married a local girl, Cora Eddy. The census record of 1900 shows Florinda living with Meriot's family at 1123 Boulevard Avenue.    

James William arrived in South Dakota about 1884.  He found his future bride, Adelaide Beuter, there in Deadwood, and they were married by November of 1886. Adelaide Beuter was a talented local gal who came from Nebraska with her parents sometime between 1880 and 1884. Her father John, born in Germany, became a merchant. Her mother, Margarett Kraft, was also in immigrant from Germany.  Adelaide's first child, a boy born in 1887, did not survive. The couple moved to Dallas, Texas, began ranching and then were  blessed with two girls;  Wanda, born 1893, and Francelia, born 1895.  Francelia was named after Adelaide's two sisters, Frances and Celia. In just a few short years on the ranch, J. W. came down with tuberculosis and the ranch had to be sold. He passed away in September of 1897, leaving Addie to raise the girls as best she could.  Fortunately she had been educated as a music teacher and got a job right away teaching music in Louisiana.  She also taught her girls to dance, sing, and act. Francelia was interested in acting from a young age and when Addie moved the family to Los Angeles county, around 1910, Francelia was 17 and ready to try an acting career.  By 1920 she was a silent move star, still living at home. Wanda and her husband, Donald Webb, were also living with Adelaide.  More about this family in a future blogpost. 

Addie, Wanda, Francelia

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0082537/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Florinda most likely busied her golden years with Meriot's family. This family will be featured in a future blogpost. She lived with them from 1888 to 1904 when she passed away at home on December 30 at age 68. In her will, as she bequeathed the balance of her estate to her son, Meriot, she wrote, .."in recognition of his care and kindness during the years in which I have made my home with him." She is at rest in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Carrollton, MO along with many of her loved ones. 

Meriot Billington

The children of James A. Billington and Florinda Atkinson were all born in Texas

Demetrious Seldon- July 6, 1855 - July 5, 1944: 89 years
Roberta E.- April 6, 1856 - October 8, 1879: 23 years

Quintus Sebastian- December 1858 - December 10, 1864: 6 years
Meriot Ciscillian- October 12, 1860 - January 9, 1940: 80 years

Corintha Aldonia- November 4, 1862 - October 4, 1864: almost 2 years
James William- Apri114, 1865 - September 19, 1897: 32 years

Thomas Jefferson- April 13, 1867 - August 9, 1869: 2 years

As you can see from the list of seven children born to James and Florinda that several did not live to adulthood.  Our great grandfather Demetrious (Dee) lived the longest.  Florinda was a widow for 36 years and outlived all of her children except 2: D.S. and Meriot.

Marriage record for Florinda (name misspelled) and James

Florinda's will in her own hand writing

Newspaper clipping .Deadwood 

Newspaper article has several mistakes:
J.A. not J.W.,  birth date 1837; marriage date 1853; death date Dec 30; & 7 children