BACON COUNTY, GA - BIOS Andrew Benjamin Riddles/Byrd Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: GREY FOX" Table of Contents page: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/bacon.htm Georgia Table of Contents: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm Family information on Andrew B. Riddles [aka Andrew Riddles Byrd......] Subject: Andrew Benjamin Riddles, born Apr 6, 1829 (From the book "Heart and History of Holmes County" by Anna Paget Wells (publisher, Sue Riddle McDearman) Andrew Benjamin Riddles, born Apr 6, 1829, came to Holmes County from Baxley, Georgia. He married Harriett Viola Missouri Collins, who was born in the Collins settlement around Bethlehem Baptist Church near Malvern, then in Dale County, but later in Geneva County, Alabama. They lived in Campbellton, Florida before moving to New Hope Community in north Holmes County. They homesteaded near a fine spring of water as all early settlers usually did. Rev A B Riddle performed the marriage ceremony for my parents, John Dancy and Georgia Carroll, in 1888. He taught and preached all over the county. Information on the Riddles family was obtained from the 1900 US Census of Holmes County. Rev and Mrs Andrew Benjamin Riddles were the parents of ten children. They were: 1. Lelia, who married Joseph Franklin Patton, had two children, Joe and Mary, and died when they were very young; 2. Joe, born December 1879, married Edna Neffah of New Orleans, went to Oklahoma and reared a family there; 3. Charles Dawson, born December 1881, married Chloe Toole from Two Egg. They settled in Pensacola and reared a family there; 4. Albert Curry, born Apr 5, 1883; first married Ola Langford in Oklahoma and they had two daughters and a son, Jack. He (Albert Curry) later returned to New Hope, married Cora Lee Collins, his cousin, and they lived in New Hope their remaining years; 5. Ada Cleveland, born September 1885, never married; 6. Simon Benjamin, born Mar 10, 1887; married Etta Eudora Mims. They also settled in the New Hope community and had three children. Ben was a veteran of World War I; 7. Raymond Osborne, born May 1, 1890; was married first to Georgia Annie Pearl Pope, and they had five children. Annie died at the birth of their fifth child, Raymond Jennings, and later Raymond married her sister, Sarah Pope Garrett, who had two children, Floyd Garrett and Lois Garrett Cawthon. Raymond and his family also lived at New Hope; 8. Ina Mae, born Apr 19, 1892; married Cecil Roy Vickers, and they reared a family in Wewahitchka; 9. Edwin Bert, born Sept 17, 1893, married Ethel Padgett and they had nine children. Bert taught, sang and wrote songs, preached, and served in the state legislature as a senator and as a representative; 10. Agnes Ruth, born Mar 9, 1896, never married. Ruth started out as a teacher, but later became a registered nurse, working in hospitals in Florida, Alabama, and Washington, DC, and in her later years, came back home to Holmes County and served as a private duty nurse to many people in the county. The father and mother and five family members are buried in the New Hope Cemetery. None of the 10 children and Andrew Benjamin and Viola Riddles were living in 1982, but many of their grandchildren live in Holmes County and in other towns and communities in Florida and Alabama. Background Information of Andrew Riddle(s) BYRD aka Andrew Benjamin RIDDLE(S)... Andrew was Ordinary in Alma, Bacon County, Ga. and later became a teacher and a Methodist Circuit Rider. All of his children by his first wife, Rebecca Holland, were born between 1851 and 1871. Sometime after 1871, but before 1875, Andrew left his family under circumstances that no one would talk about and that would not come to light until years later. It was thought that he had alienated some carpetbaggers and left in fear of losing his life. Another story is that he had an affair with a choir member in one of the churches he visited on his circuit. Research by Andrew's great-great-grandson, David Riddle, in the summer of 1995, shows that he had an affair and was seen publicly drunk, according to Methodist Church records. He was removed from his pulpit about 1872 which is when he disappeared. In a story told to Evelyn Tippet Sims by her mother, Ruby Elnita Tippet Sims, her uncle, Andrew Flournoy Byrd (Andrew Byrd's only living son by his first marriage), met one of Andrew's sons from the second marriage on a train in the early 1890's. It is believed to have been John Madison Byrd-Riddle.. During this chance encounter they became acquainted and discovered their common ancestry and the fact that Andrew had switched his middle and last names to become known as Andrew B. Riddle, and, changed his middle name from Byrd to Benjamin. After this chance encounter, Andrew Flournoy began writing to his father and his father responded. In a letter, Evelyn found in her mother's things, written to "My own sweet precious boy" dated Saturday, July 13th, 1895 from Bonifay, Holmes County, Florida, Andrew Riddle Byrd (or as he had changed his name, Andrew B. Riddle) asks his son for forgiveness and tells that his first wife had accused him unjustly. In his own words he wrote, "I loved you and it nearly killed me to have to leave you, yet it seemed to me that I had to leave you. I fell into a trap, did wrong, was disgraced, badly treated, persecuted, publicly disgraced and my life threatened. Worst of all, I lost the love and affection of the only woman who ever loved me and whom I believe to be one of the best women in the world. She accused me of something of which I was not guilty and treated me coldly in my own home." As further proof that this was the same man, he asks his son how two of his daughters by his first marriage, Sarah Emily and Alice Cary died. Sarah died at the age of 26 and Alice at age 23. Andrew relates that he had joined the Missionary Baptist Church in 1880 while he had been teaching school in Geneva, Geneva County, Alabama. He goes on to tell that he became an ordained minister and had as many as five churches where he was the pastor. When he wrote the letter he had been teaching school about 20 years which means that he left his first wife and family sometime after 1871, but certainly before 1875, because that is when he married Viola Collins. Viola Collins was the daughter of Florida Governor LeRoy Collins. [MY NOTES: Viola could not have been Senator Collins's daughter because of the age factors involved.] Andrew apparently did not divorce Rebecca Holland because he asks in this letter "Let me know if your mother has been divorced or married again". He asks his son not to tell anyone where he is. He closes by asking his son to write him as before to: Prof. Riddle, Bonifay, Holmes County, Florida and signs the letter A.B.R. This letter from Andrew Riddle Byrd [Andrew B. Riddle] to his son was in the possession of Ruby Elnita Tippet and remained undiscovered until her death in 1996 and is now in the possession of Evelyn Sims Stubbs. Evelyn Sims Stubbs is Andrew F. Byrd'Riddle's great- great-grandaughter. Her great-great-grandmother was Rebecca Holland, Byrd/Riddle's first wife....