Now, we move on to the prodigal son we know as the 2nd Alexander, who is the alleged son of James Babbs & Rhoda Dixon. He was born in 1827 and is covered in Jean A. Sargent’s work Babb Families of America, pp 460-1. I’ve highlighted key portions from an excerpt of the book that I’ll speak to below:
As you can see, Jean listed a son Alexander for William [Lane] and Rhoda (Dixon) Babbs, who was born circa 1827. She lists a number of sources on the second page of the excerpt which account for everyone in the 3-2 lineage. We are viewing a fragment of that section of the tree, but to make sure we turn over every stone, we will review each item she lists as well as any we can find to compliment it.
In the context of William’s entry, she mentions the Portrait and Biographical Record of Effingham, Jasper & Richland Counties, IL; pp 473-4. So, we too will visit it first. The work was published in 1893, which means it is about 17 years after William Lane Babbs’ death. The person who is being featured in this listing is William Melville Babbs who is one of William Lane’s sons.
As with any of this type of books, the article gets some things right and some things wrong. They are told by the person who they are focusing on and are inherently biased and fickle at moments depending on the agenda of the person who is telling the story.
What the Story Gets Right & What it gets Wrong:
Wrong: William Melville Babbs‘ father is listed as William Babbs, Sr, is the person we know as William Lane Babbs. In this timeframe people listed people of similar names as Sr and Jr, but that doesn’t adhere to our modern standard that the two people have the same exact full name. Middle names were new in this timeframe and society had yet to coalesce around a standard.
Wrong: William Lane Babbs is listed as a native of the Buckeye State (Ohio). This is in contrast to our records which show him to having been born in Hampshire County, Virginia (Now West Virginia).
Wrongish: The record continues to say that William Lane moved from Ohio (the state) to Ohio (the county), IN. Our tree lists William Lane and Rhoda Dixon as having been married in Ohio Co, IN, but there is no source record on file. They would have been married about 1818 and Ohio County, IN wasn’t created until 1844. Prior to that it was part of Dearborn County, IN which did not keep such records until 1826. The couple does not appear in their records as such.
Rightish: The book goes on to claim that William Lane hewed out a farm from the forest, upon which he reared his family. A land patent is available that shows William selling the land that is being described in 1830. It is Northwest of Rising Sun, which is in modern day Ohio County, but was Dearborn County at the time of the sale. This is where a number of the members of the family are attributed to have been born and I view this as a confirmation of that family lore.
Note: This Dearborn/Ohio county conflict was my chief concern about William and his father being in two places at the same time. So, that is no longer a concern now that I have researched it.
As an aside, let’s talk about the location as specified in the Land Patent document regarding the Township, Range and Section, which was an early organizational system that helped facilitate land trades in the early United States.
First, we need to break down the Public Land Survey System (PLSS)—the old system used to divide and describe land in the United States—in simple terms for a layperson. A decisive guide to the system is included next:
- Township:
- Imagine a large square area of land, measuring 6 miles by 6 miles. This square is called a township.
- Each township contains 36 sections.
- Sections are numbered from 1 to 36.
- The northeast-most section is labeled as Section 1, and we proceed westward and then south along the west edge of the township.
- The southeast corner of the township contains Section 36.
- Range:
- The concept of range is related to the east-west position of a township.
- A township is assigned a range by measuring its position either east or west of a reference line called the Principal Meridian.
- The Principal Meridian serves as a baseline for measuring the east-west location of townships.
- Section:
- Each township is further divided into 36 equal sections.
- These sections are like smaller puzzle pieces within the larger township.
- Each section measures 1 square mile (640 acres).
- They are typically labeled as Section 1, Section 2, and so on, up to Section 36.
In summary, the PLSS helps us neatly divide and describe land, making it easier to buy, sell, and manage properties across the United States.
Source: Microsoft Copilot
Now, back to the actual Land Patent document from 1830 where we find William Babbs selling the land he owned in Southeast Indiana in what is now known as Ohio County, IN.
We can see from this land patent that the property William owned is located in Township 4, Range 2 West, Section 33, East Half of Southeast Quarter. While the pinpoint on this map is slightly off (it should be in Section 33), it gives a good idea of vicinity of Williams’ land patent.
As you can see the area is due West Northwest of the town known as Rising Sun. My best estimate is that it is roughly 8-10 miles away.
Returning to the Genealogy provided in the Portrait and Biographical Record of Effingham, Jasper & Richland Counties, IL; pp 473-4, we find:
Right: The story tells of William Melville Babbs heading to Jefferson County, IN to learn the Cooper’s trade (barrel making). This alleviates an earlier concern of mine regarding how his brother learned the trade himself. Noah is the older of the two, so perhaps he took the same route, or was actually the person who taught William Melville.
Are we nearing the end of this long post? That’s a good question that I can’t answer just yet. Bear with me, this is a difficult story to tell.
In other news, William appears in the 1830 Census of Dearborn County, IN (Now Ohio County). His father John appears in the 1820 Census of the same county, which confirms the relationship as we understand it. John is one of the top-level people in the Green Men of Maryland Tree. So, I’m going to say that this relationship is confirmed
While we learned a lot about the family in the previous Biographical sketch, we learned nothing of Alexander. That is our goal after all. So, let’s press on!
The remainder of her sources deal with other portions of the tree, so it is unknown where she got the name Alexander from. So, I consulted her collected papers and found this discussion that is surprisingly on topic.
It seems that Jean herself struggled with this conundrum and while we have pushed the story further, some things are still up for debate.
After all of this research, I have nothing additonal to share regarding the Alexander of 1827 that is part of this lineage. It is unclear where he came from, or what historical records there are for him. Given the 17-year birth gap between him and Alexander #1 and the complete lack of evidence afterwards it seems to be a red herring.
Rendering a Decision
It’s time to make a judgment call about this and I believe that I now know the correct response. From the available information it seems that Alexander #2 who is the son of James Babbs & Rhoda Dixon did not live long. In fact, the 1830 Census seems to bear out this truth.
In this 1830 Census, William Lane Babbs is only shown as having 1 son under the age of 5 years old. We know through other records that Alexander’s next oldest brother, Noah Burl Babbs would have been in this bracket as he was just 1 year older. Noah lived until 1898, but there is no other reference to Alexander.
Thus, I can only conclude that this Alexander didn’t live past infancy and that the Travis Theorem stands intact. It appears that Clay County, IL is indeed a crossroads for these two lines.
But are the two lines, in fact, related? For that I can’t speak. At least not at this juncture. There is still too much left to be discovered!
Only the Shadow knows what will happen next!