The Loveall Family...​

 

​(Printed in THE MILLER COUNTY AUTOGRAM-SENTINEL in the column, 'WINDOW TO THE PAST', April 28, 2011)

Rev. Henry Loveall came to America from Cambridge, England in the early 1700's as an endentured servant of a sea captain, Daniel Sears, where he was to work for his ship’s passage for seven years. He lived many places as a young man after arriving in his new homeland including Long Island, New York; Hebron, Conn.; Newport, Rhode Island; onward to the “Jersies”; Baltimore County, Maryland; and Frederick County, Virginia. He and his wife, Martha, had several children born in different places in Colonial America. In 1730 he was called to preach to the General Baptists at Piscataway, New Jersey. He spent his lifetime as a Baptist preacher but had to live down a terrible reputation that was given him by other sects of his chosen religion. He was called “unworthy, lustful, lewd, seeking worldly pleasures, adulterer, bigamist and escaped convict!” BUT HE KEPT ON PREACHING AND DARING THESE OTHER CHURCH OFFICIALS TO STOP HIM!! ...we live in an enlightened world today where knowledge has increased so drastically and modern man can better understand the biblical prophesies from the books of Daniel and Revelations…..if those church fathers had understood the meaning, they would have probably leveled the charges of being the Anti-Christ at him in that era of time. They tried to destroy his reputation and scoffed at his accomplishments but he kept spreading the Word until his death in the late 1700s……..Rev. Henry Loveall was my 7th great grandfather…..from his generation to mine numbers ten………. With my great grandchildren, the generations can be enumerated to 13 ! ! ! !

Some of the later generations of Lovealls moved west to Wayne County, Kentucky; onward to Miller County, Dade County, and Newton County in Missouri, and some continued moving on to California and the Pacific Northwest-- so they are scattered all over America today. When I was a child I remember visiting Loveall kinfolks near Ft. Smith , Arkansas and Sand Springs, Oklahoma .

The Miller County Lovealls were descendants of Zebulon Loveall, son of Rev. Henry and Martha. Zebulon was born in 1728 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Zebulon married Mary West in Maryland and they were parents of nine children. Zebulon died in Baltimore County, Maryland before 1786 according to D.A.R. records. They had a son, Henry (named for his grandfather), born 1741 in Maryland. He married Mary Eva Miles in 1765 in Baltimore and they were parents of 12 children including Zebulon Loveall II (1780-1845) who was born in Maryland and married Jane Lane c/1798 in Virginia .

One of the sons of Zebulon and Jane (Lane) Loveall was Jonathan who was a great, great grandson of Rev. Henry. He was born in Wayne Co., Kentucky in 1814. Jonathan was a farmer and furniture maker by profession. He married Nancy Sorter, a native of South Carolina, circa 1835. Some researchers say they married in Ozark County , MO and moved to Miller County later. Nancy’s family, the Sorters, were early settlers in Miller County and Jonathan and Nancy may have come to Miller County to be near her family. Jonathan and Nancy were parents of 9 children and she may have died at the birth of her last child about 1854. Later, Jonathan married Letha Booth and they had 9 children so he was the father of many children. He and Letha and most of their family moved to the area of Ft. Smith, Arkansas and it was there he died.

One of the children of Jonathan and Nancy Jane (Sorter) Loveall was Silas Marion Loveall, my great, great grandfather. He was born in Miller County in 1842 and married Amanda Colvin, native of Grainger County, Tennessee . She was a daughter of James Hamilton Colvin and Barbara Phipps of East Tennessee. Silas and Amanda were parents of 8 children. After her death, Silas married Elizabeth J. Loveall (it is not known exactly who she was---a cousin? widow of another Loveall? Or who?) Later Silas and Elizabeth moved to Newton County, Missouri where he died.

Leatha Jane Loveall (her real name was Mary Martha Vina Temperance Roseanne Elizabeth Lorraine Leatha Jane---given the names of her aunts ! !) was my great grandmother, born in 1864. She married Josephus Whittle in 1878 at the age of 14 years. Josephus was a son of John Levi and Nancy Jane (Keeth) Whittle of Edmonson County, Kentucky.

Their children included: Silas Levi (1880-1881); James A. (1882-1882); Lallah Brooks b. (1883) m. Frank V. Andrews; Carrie Gertrude (1886) m. Perry Tolbert Wyrick; Olia Rayford (1888) m. Fannie Jane Luttrell; Arlie Everett (1891) m. Ida Johnson; Bertha Irene (1894) m. Nicholas Shelton; Amanda Elizabeth (1896) m. Chesley S. Wyrick; Otto E. (1900) m. Sarah Ann Stone; Sylvia Alice (1904) m. Ransome Alexander; and John Wilburn (1907) m. Lois Stites………..MY GRANDPARENTS WERE AMANDA ELIZABETH WHITTLE AND CHESLEY SYLVESTER WYRICK who both were born and died in Miller County. Chesley was a son of John Henry Wyrick and Rachel Elizabeth Kinder of Miller County.

Following this generation of my grandparents, there are five more generations that have been added to the Loveall family over the past 100 years including my mother, myself, my children, grandchildren and my great grandchildren...included in that number are my brother, his children, grandchildren, and great children as well !! Time just keeps marching on ~ ~ ~