Baldwin County GaArchives History .....History of Baldwin County - Stovall Biography 1925
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 7, 2004, 7:18 pm

p. 449-454

THE STOVALL FAMILY

    The Stovalls were of French descent and went to England with William the
Conqueror, drifted into Wales, whence they came to America and settled on the
Eastern shore of Virginia, in Henrico County. The first Stovall, to whom we can
trace directly, is George Stovall, of Amherst County, Virginia, on the Fluvanna
River, who married Polly Cooper, the daughter of George Cooper, who was the son
of Sir Ashley Anthony Cooper, first Earl of Shaftsbury.

    The Bolling and Pleasant families intermarried with the Stovalls, and
Pleasant and Bolling continue as Christian names. Joseph Stovall, one of the
subjects of our sketch, was the great grandson of Joseph Anthony, who married
Elizabeth Clarke, the daughter of Christopher Clarke, ("First Merchant of Louisa
County, Virginia," born 1680) and Penelope Boiling. Penelope Boiling was the
daughter of Col, John Boiling, a direct descendant of Pocahontas and John Rolfe.
Sarah Anthony married Capt. Thomas Cooper, Feb. 6th, 1742, and had nine
children, among whom was Elizabeth, born Sept. 28th, 1762, and married to Thomas
Stovall, of Henry County, Virginia, November 25th, 1781. They were the
progenitors of the Stovall family in Georgia.

    Captain Thomas Cooper served in the Colonial War of 1758, and the
Revolutionary War of 1776. He was a member of the Virginia Convention of 1788,
which ratified the first Constitution of the United States of America. Thomas
Stovall served in the war of the Revolution under General George Rogers Clark.

    Thomas Stovall and Elizabeth Cooper had six children, all born in Henry
County, Virginia: George, born 1783, married Elizabeth Jeter; Joseph, born June
19th, 1787, died in Milledgeville, Georgia, Feb. 4th, 1848, he married Mary
Pleasant Bonner in 1815; Pleasant, born in 1793, married three times: 1st, Miss
Lucas; 2nd, Miss Trippe; 3rd, Mrs. Hill; Sallie, born about 1795, married
Benjamin Simmons of Sparta, Georgia; Ruth, born 1797, married Mr. Hunt; Polly,
no record. Thomas Stovall and his wife moved to Georgia and he died in Hancock
County, September, 1806. His wife, Elizabeth, married John Weeks, she died in
1843, and is buried on the lot of her son, Pleasant Stovall, in the cemetery on
Sand Hills, Augusta, Georgia.

    Joseph Stovall accompanied his parents to Georgia, and in 1815, he fell in
love with a Virginia girl, Mary Pleasant Bonner, and the twain were made one.
Mary Pleasant Bonner, the daughter of Chappell and Priscilla Bonner, was born in
Dinwiddie County, Virginia, October, 1797. The Bonners are of English descent
and their Coat of Arms bears the motto, "Semper Fidelis." Richard Bonner sailed
from England on the "Friendship," arriving at James City, Virginia, in March,
1636. They were staunch patriots and served the Colony against the common foe.
The Bonners are descended from Ann Gate, the great-great-granddaughter of Haute
Wyatt, minister of the Church of England, and in charge of the Church at
Jamestown, 1621-1626, when his brother, Sir Francis Wyatt, was Governor of the
Colony of Virginia.

    In 1802, Mary Pleasant Bonner's parents moved to Georgia, which seemed to be
then, as it is now, "The Land of Promise," and located among the "Old Red Hills
of Georgia," near Milledgeville. Joseph Stovell and his bride displayed their
wisdom in selecting Milledgeville as their "Paradise on Earth." Fortune smiled
on "The Young Virginians," as shown from an inventory of their estates, now in
possession of their granddaughter, Mrs. Asenath Jackson Whitehead. He owned a
large plantation about three miles north of Milledgeville, on the waters of
Tabier Creek, which was well stocked with everything necessary for successful
operation of same, including the names of thirty-nine (39) slaves; also a
smaller farm, in Wilkinson County, and the "Springfield house and lot No. 191,
containing nine acres, more or less, and other lots, all situated and lying on
the North Common of the City of Milledgeville, and supposed to be in all about
forty-five (45) acres, more or less." The Stovall residence was near the
Governor's Mansion and is now owned, and occupied, by Mr. Conn, The silver
candelabra, coffee and tea urns, mahogany sofas, divans, tables and chairs, now
in possession of the StovalFs grandchildren, testify to the beautiful
furnishings of the typical old Southern home.

    Six children were born of this union: Mary Jane, married E. W. Randle, of
Erin, Louisiana, (died June 18th, 1848, buried in Milledgeville, Georgia);
Josephanna, married Green Williams of Mississippi; Camilla, married Thomas H.
Moughon, of Milledgeville, Ga., (died Nov. 26th, 1858, buried in Albany,
Georgia); Antoinette, married Joseph Powell, of Huntsville, Alabama; Adelaide
Eloise, born June 19th, 1826, married John Jackson of Albany, Georgia, November
1st, 1842, in Milledgeville, Georgia (married by Dr. Granby Hill-yer) She died
Jan. 21st, 1915; buried in Albany, Georgia; Joseph Marcellus Pleasant, born in
Mil-ledgville, 1828, died in Phoenix City, Alabama, Sept. 9th, 1892; buried in
Girard Cemetery, near Columbus, Georgia.

    Joseph Stovall, merchant and planter, was beloved by everyone with whom he
came in contact, and the following excerpt from his obituary proves the
character of the man: "An honest man is the noblest work of God;" this, as well
as that of a Christian, we think may, with all truth and propriety, be said of
Joseph Stovall. Mrs. Stovall was a leader in the religious and social life of
the Capital, where their home was noted for its gracious hospitality, which was
dispensed in true Virginia and Georgia style. Several years after Mr. Stovall's
death, Mrs. Stovall married Judge McNiel, and they were said to be "The
Handsomest Couple in Georgia." There were no children by this union.

    In May, 1854, Mrs. McNiel, her husband and maid visited Nashville,
Tennessee, where they contracted cholera—the three dying with the dread disease,
on their return to Milledgeville.

    Mrs. Mary Pleasant Bonner Stovall McNiel entered into Eternity, June 6th,
1854. She is buried by the side of her husband, Joseph Stovall, in cemetery at
Milledgeville, Georgia. Her portrait, painted, (in which she is robed in blue
velvet) with her beautiful hands crossed a la "Mona Lisa," now adorns the walls
of Iris Court, the ancestral home of her granddaughter, Mrs. John Randolph
Whitehead, of Albany, Georgia.

    Joseph Abner, born at Milledgeville, at Stovall House, Oct. 21, 1843; John
Israel, born in Milledgeville, Ga., at Stovall House, Sept. 23,1845; Mary
Pleasant, born in Albany, Ga., Oct. 9, 1848; Camilla, born in Albany, Ga.,
September 22,1850; Rosanna, or Rosa, born in Albany, Ga., June 7, 1857;
Antoinette, born in Albany, Ga., Sept. 9, 1860; Asenath, born in Albany, Ga.,
August 27, 1863.

    (Mrs. Rosa Jackson Hilman, 430 Third St., Albany, Georgia).

     At the root of a family tree, made from old family records, by a sister of
the late Hon. Mark A Cooper, of Georgia, now in possession of Judge Joel
Branham, of Rome, Ga., it is recorded that Mark Anthony was born in Holland and
was sent, in youth, to school in Italy. Becoming tired of school, and being of
an adventurous disposition, he ran away and embarked on a trading vessel, which
was afterward captured, with all on board, by Algerine pirates. He was sold by
the pirates, into slavery in "Algiers. His master sent him and another slave, in
chains, under a brutal overseer, into the forest to cut wood. Driven to
desperation by the cruelty of their merciless task-master they, taking him
unawares, knocked him in the head with an axe, and, concealing themselves in the
woods till night, they made their way under cover of darkness, to the beach,
where, finding a small boat, they rowed to a British vessel, lying at anchor,
and telling the story of their captivity and brutal treatment to the captain,
prevailed on him to take them on board. He concealed them in hogsheads and
sailed, with them thus hidden, to America, landing at a Virginia port. After
landing, they had to work in New Kent county, Virginia, for some time, to pay
for their passage. This was about the year 1698. Mark Anthony, soon after coming
to Virginia, married Judith Penelope Moorman, and settled on the James River,
near the present city of Lynchburg. He there established a great mill and
trading post of considerable importance, and amassed a considerable fortune. He
reared ten children, the youngest of whom, Christopher Anthony, married Judith
Moorman Clark, on the 27th of April, 1741. They reared fourteen children and,
back to them, no less than fourteen families, prominent in Georgia history, and
at least one Virginia family (that of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston) trace their
lineage, to-wit: the Anthonys, Branhams, Boykins, Candlers, Carters, Coopers,
Fews, Hamiltons, Johnstons, Jerdans, Nisbets, Popes, Stovalls, Terrells, and Wares.



Additional Comments:
From: 

Part V

HISTORY of BALDWIN COUNTY GEORGIA

BY MRS. ANNA MARIA GREEN COOK

ILLUSTRATED

ANDERSON. S. C.
Keys-Hearn Printing Co.
-1925—


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