Lee-Russell-Mobile County AlArchives Biographies.....Fair, Sophia November 29, 1813 - July 1883 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Charles Blankenship PylesSRP@aol.com October 1, 2005, 6:49 pm Author: Charles Blankenship Sophia A. Fair was born in downtown Charleston, SC at her father's residence and place of business. He purchased their house at 337-339 King St. the same year that Sophia was born. Her parent's, Richard Fair (1782-1817) and Elizabeth Harrison (1787-1845) had immigrated from Inneskeen, Cavan County, Ireland around 1794. Elizabeth arrived with her mother, Ann (?) and father, John Harrison and two brothers (Robert and Joseph) while Richard arrived with two brothers (Robert and John). Shortly after arriving, her father died and she and her siblings spent some time in the Charleston Orphanage until her mother remarried one Robert Galbraith, a carpenter who helped get the children back and indentured her brothers into carpentry. In 1804, Elizabeth married Richard Fair who was by then a boot and shoemaker. Over time, the family included: Mary Ann, Robert Richard Harrison, Elizabeth Jane, Sophia, Joseph and Frances Fair. Robert died at age 22 and thereafter his brother assumed the maternal surname Harrison as his middle name. Elizabeth Jane was the first to marry and her husband, a bookbinder was named Richard Van Brunt. Around 1832, Mary Ann married James Russell (Isaac McKeen) Greene and her sister married James Rinaldo Nicks. Joseph H. married in 1839 to the sister of J. R. Greene, Martha Mariah Greene. Sophia did not marry until 1842, when she married Allen Burr of CT who was living in Jefferson Co., FL. In October of 1817, Sophia's father died in Charleston. A year later, her mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Fair remarried to Joseph DeWitt Nicks (presumed to be the half-brother of J. R. Nicks). That marriage in December of 1818 was made only after a Marriage Settlement was made to safe keep the named children of Richard and Elizabeth Fair. The new family continued to live in Charleston and added three more children: Sarah Ann, Martha and James W. Nicks to the extended family. James W. died in infancy, but the two Nicks girls would later on live in Opelika, Alabama near to Sophia and Mary Ann. After the death of James DeWitt Nicks, the family began a migration out of Charleston into central and southwest Georgia. The widow, Elizabeth Nicks made an alliance with James R. Nicks' mother, Mrs. Eleanor Nicks who has been a widow of Rev. War Veteran, Benjamin Greene and brother to Martha Mariah and J. R. Greene's father, McKeen Greene. Mary Ann lived for a short time in Hebron, Washington Co., GA and Frances and J. R. Nicks lived in downtown Thomasville, Thomas Co., GA. In 1833, Eleanor made a Deed of Gift to about 200 acres of land just inside the Florida line at the northeastern edge of Lake Iamonia, Leon Co., FL. That same year, in Charleston, an Indenture naming all the children and those girls' husbands and their residence. By 1835, according to the 1845 obituary of Elizabeth Nicks, she had moved to Florida too. Evidence of their living in Leon Co., FL exists in several Deed Book entries, Including Frances. Elizabeth Jane, Mary Ann, Sophia, Martha and Sarah Ann. In 1840, the U. S. Census for Leon Co., FL lists the three families of Nicks, Greene, Van Brunt and J. R. Greene's half-sister, Celete (Greene) Sauls. Sarah Ann Nicks was to marry Celete's son, James D. Sauls and live in Columbus, Ga and by 1850 in Opelika. After 1840, all except J. R. Nicks and Richard Van Brunt began to migrate once again, first to Columbus, GA and later on to Opelika which was then in Russell Co., GA. Joseph, Sarah and Sarah Ann were married and later on Martha married first a Mizzel and second a Durr. They too would live in Opelika. Sophia would witness a Leon Co. Deed in 1841 as did her future husband, Allen Burr who had several deeds with his mother-in-law and brother-in-law, Richard Van Brunt. In October of 1845, Sophia's mother, Elizabeth Nicks died in Girard, Russell Co., GA. Her sister, Frances had a poem written in her Day Book that began in June 1831 to after July 1864, entitled "The Mother's Grave." Perhaps the family gathered from Florida, Georgia and Alabama for her funeral. The newspaper, Southern Christian Advocate noted her passing with an obituary. By 1850, those siblings who had migrated north from Florida were enumerated in Russell Co., AL. Every census thereafter with the exception of 1890 through 1920, the Burr family was represented in Opelika. Sophia and Allen's children were: Albert, Allen, Anna, Almyra and Amanda. The last two were twin sisters. Allen Burr died in 1853 and Sophia continued to live and provide for her family. On the 1880 Census record, Sophia's occupation is listed as "Sewing." After her death in 1883, the twins known as Myra and Amanda (or Mandy) were known as "Seamstress." Anna Burr married her first cousin, Richard McKeen Fair (1843-1912) who was born in Florida. Richard McK. Fair was the son of Joseph H. Fair. Anna and Richard had two children: Ella and Joseph Allen Fair. Anna died before 1880 and Richard remarried. The descendants of Ella (mar. a Harris) and Joseph H. (mar. a Bell) have left many lines for Sophia A. Fair. When Sophia died in 1883, she was buried in the J. R. Greene plot of the Rosewood Cemetery, in Opelika, AL. She is near her sister, Mary Ann and a daughter, Alice. Martha moved to Texas, Joseph to Arkansas and Sarah Ann finally back to Florida. Her sister, Elizabeth Jane remained at Lake Iamonia and Frances moved to Hernando Co., FL by 1853 where she died in 1864. Mary Ann remained in Opelika where she died in 1886. Frances' "family lore" had it that she came from Opelika, Alabama in 1859 to Brooksville, Florida. Actually, she was probably just visiting in 1859 and her youngest son who was seven at the time remembered arriving in Brooksville. The 1850 to 1880 Census records revealed the South Carolina birth state. Many descendants of the "Fair and Nicks" family still live in Alabama, Florida and a great number of the same live in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma area. A grandson of Joseph, Charles E. Fair wrote two books on his research of the "western" Fair-Greene-Burr lines. Frank H. Hawthorne of Montgomery, picked up on those and wrote his "Kissin Kin & Lost Cousins" in 1989. One more book by Jacqueline Holt Wright of CA along with research by this author revealed the actual parents of Sophia and the other Fair and Nicks' children in 1990. Descendants of these lines would do well to go back to Charleston, SC "for the rest of the story." Additional Comments: Charleston, SC Mesne Conveyance Records and Marriage Settlements. U. S. Census records:SC, FL, AL, TX, AR and OK 1820-1920. Charles E. Fair: Greene-Dubose, A Supplement to John Fair [see text above). Frank H. Hawthorne: Kissin Kin & Lost Cousins. Jacqueline H. Wright: Meet Your Ancestors. Newspapers of Charleston, Southern Christian Advocate. Rosewood Cemetery, Opelika, AL. Deed Records of Leon Co., FL, Thomasville, GA and Columbus, GA. Frances Fair's 1831 Daybook. Research from 1985-2005 by Charles Blankenship. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/lee/bios/fair715gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 7.6 Kb