Lindley Couch
By Mike Landwehr
Copyright 2010
NOTE: The following biography of Lindley Couch is an excerpt from a book I authored in 2010, entitled "Moses Couch and William Stogsdill Families". Since that book is still unpublished, I am posting this excerpt to make the information more readily available to others who share my interest in this family.
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Lindley Couch was born in South Carolina on February 7, 1893. He was probably the first child born to Moses and Elizabeth Couch, and was undoubtedly named after the family of his mother, Elizabeth (Lindley) Couch. As a child, Lindley lived in Greenville County, South Carolina, possibly in Tennessee, and certainly in Christian County, Kentucky, before his parents settled in Pulaski County, Kentucky.
Lindley was married in Pulaski County, in 1812, to Susannah Atnip. Their marriage bond, filed in Pulaski County on October 6 of that year, was signed by Lindley Couch, Moses Couch, and Joseph Atnip. We believe that Lindley was 19 years old, and Susannah was 20. This marriage doesn’t seem to square with the note in Sarah Literal’s notebook indicating that “Linley Couch” was married to “Susie Evans” (see Figure 18 on page 225). Was Sarah mistaken about the maiden name of Lindley’s wife? Lindley and Susannah (Atnip) Couch did have a daughter, Angelina Couch, who married a William Evans. Perhaps Sarah Literal mixed up the first name of Lindley’s wife (Susannah) and the married name of Lindley’s daughter, Angelina (Couch) Evans.
Elizabeth Marcello and Ann Jobe Brown have done a wonderful job of researching the Atnip/Inabnit family. It is from Elizabeth that I originally learned that Susannah Atnip was the second of five children, and the eldest daughter, of Jacob Inabnit and Mary Parkerson. Susannah was born in Virginia on November 10, 1791, and was the first of Jacob Inabnit’s children to marry. Susannah’s grandfather, Hildebrand InAebnit, came to America from the German-speaking area of Switzerland about 1744. There are many variations in the spelling of the family name, but it was apparently spelled InAebnit (or similar) in Switzerland, and later changed to Inabnit, and then to Atnip by some branches of the family.
Celebrating his 19th birthday in February of 1812, Lindley Couch would have been a prime candidate to volunteer for service in the War of 1812. However, in searching indexes to War of 1812 service records, I have not found anything to suggest that Lindley served in that war.
The tax lists for Pulaski County go back to 1799. Surprisingly, the earliest Couch entry that I could find in these tax lists was in 1814, when the name of “Linley Couch” first appeared, about two years after his marriage to Susannah. It was the same year that Lindley turned 21. Lindley was listed as white, and over 21 years of age. He owned no land, but owned four “horses, mares, mules, and jennies”, with a “total value except stud” of $50.
Lindley’s name appeared again on the 1815 tax list. Lindley apparently owned no land, but owned one “horses, mares, mules, and jennies” with total value of $30. In 1817, the Pulaski County tax list contains an entry for Lindley Couch, indicating that he owned six “horses, mares, mules, and jennies”, with total value of $159. And in 1818, Lindley’s name again appeared on the tax list, when he reported owning six “horses, mares, mules, and jennies”, with a total value of $300.
We know that Lindley and Susannah were married in October of 1812. Yet their eldest child whom we can identify was reportedly born in January of 1819. It seems likely that Lindley and Susannah lost their first two or three children in infancy or childhood.
The eldest identified child of Lindley and Susannah Couch was Simpson Couch. Other Couch family researchers report that Simpson Couch was born on January 15, 1819, in Pulaski County, Kentucky. If this information is accurate, this would seem to place Lindley and Susannah in Pulaski County as late as that date. But Lindley’s name does not appear in the 1819 Pulaski County tax lists. I believe that these tax lists were usually prepared during the summer months, suggesting that Lindley may not have been in Pulaski County that summer. As discussed earlier, the "Memorial to The Secretary of War From the Cherokee Country" provides evidence that Lindley was living in Cherokee country, in the northeast corner of the Alabama Territory, during the summer of 1819.
Perhaps it is just a coincidence, but Susannah’s father, Jacob Inabnit, died in Pulaski County some time between October of 1818, when he wrote his last will, and March of 1819, when his will was probated. Within a period of a few months, it appears that Simpson Couch was born to Lindley and Susannah, that Susannah’s father died, and that Lindley (and Susannah?) briefly joined Moses Couch in the Alabama Territory.
Lindley didn’t remain long in the Alabama Territory. In 1820, Lindley’s family was enumerated in the 1820 census of Pulaski County, Kentucky. The Lindley Couch household in 1820 consisted of one male 26-44 years of age (probably Lindley), one female 26-44 years of age (probably Susannah), one female 16-25 years of age (probably Susannah’s 16-year-old sister, Sarah Inabnit?), one male 10-15 years of age (possibly Susannah’s youngest brother, John Inabnit?), one male under 10 years of age (probably Simpson), and one female under 10 years of age (an unidentified daughter, or possibly Lindley’s younger sister, Delila?).
In 1821, the Pulaski County tax list once again contained the name of Lindley Couch. Lindley was assessed taxes on 140 acres of land on Buck Creek, originally patented by J. Inabnet. Because Lindley paid the taxes on the land, we assume that he and Susannah were living on that 140 acres. However, I don’t believe that Lindley owned the land. In the years prior to his death, Susannah’s father, Jacob Inabnit, paid the taxes on his 140-acre farm on the waters of Buck Creek—land that he originally patented in 1798. In 1819, following Jacob’s death, his widow, Mary Inabnit, paid the taxes on the 140-acre Inabnit farm. In 1820, the taxes on the Jacob Inabnit farm were paid by Jacob’s son, Joseph Inabnit. By 1821, when the taxes on the farm were assessed to Lindley, I suspect that Lindley and Susannah were living on the Jacob Inabnit farm, even though the farm was still a part of Jacob’s estate. The 1821 tax list indicated that Lindley owned two horses, valued the farm on which he paid taxes at $4.28 per acre, and was assessed a total taxable value of $700.
Perlina Couch, the eldest identified daughter of Lindley and Susannah Couch, was probably born in Kentucky in 1821 or 1822. And, in 1822, Lindley Couch again appeared on the Pulaski County tax list. The records indicate that Lindley was again assessed taxes on land located on the waters of Buck Creek, as well as two horses. He listed the total value of his assets for tax purposes to be $665. The number of acres for which Lindley was assessed is nearly indecipherable on the tax roll, but I believe that he was assessed taxes on 70 acres. If this figure is correct, I suspect that Lindley and Susannah may have been sharing the Jacob Inabnit farm with one of Susannah’s siblings, and that the two families were splitting the taxes on the farm.
There were no Couch entries in the 1823 Pulaski County tax list. However, Floyd Couch provided me with a copy of a deed made in Pulaski County on March 1, 1823. This deed documents the sale of property by three daughters of Jacob Inabnit, deceased, and their husbands. The three women, and their husbands, were Lindley and Susannah (Inabnit) Couch; Jesse and Sarah (Inabnit) Pointer; and Isaac and Rebecca (Inabnit) Sewell. It appears that Jacob Inabnit’s eldest son, Joseph Inabnit, paid his three sisters “the sum of Three hundred dollars current money of Kentucky” for their interest in the land inherited from their father. Lindley signed the deed, and Susannah made her mark. Shadrach Stogsdill was one of the three witnesses to the deed.
To date, I have not located any other deeds reflecting the purchase, or sale, of land in Pulaski County by Lindley Couch. I suspect that Lindley never owned a farm in Pulaski County. Instead, I suspect that he and Susannah farmed some of her father’s land after his death, and that Susannah and her sisters gave up their interest in that land to their brother by the 1823 deed of sale. Lindley’s name appeared in the Pulaski County tax lists for the last time in 1824. Lindley’s 1824 tax assessment did not include taxes on any land.
There is evidence that Lindley and Susannah Couch may have moved from Pulaski County to Whitley County, Kentucky, in 1824 or 1825. The 1825 tax list for Whitley County contains the name of “Linley Couch”. Lindley was not assessed taxes for any land that year, and 1825 was the only year in which Lindley’s name appeared on the Whitley County tax lists. And, Lindley was the only member of the Moses Couch family listed in the 1825 Whitley County tax list. We don’t know what connection Lindley Couch may have had with other families in Whitley County, but note that Lindley’s father, Moses Couch, would appear in Whitley County four years later.
A second daughter, Angelina, was reportedly born to Lindley and Susannah in Kentucky on September 20, 1825. But, I have not been able to find any trace of Lindley and Susannah between 1825 and 1840. In particular, I have not been able to locate the Lindley Couch family in the 1830 census. Oft-repeated tradition suggests that the Lindley Couch family moved to an area in Ripley County, Missouri, which would later be a part of Oregon County, and settled on Frederick Creek in the early 1800's. The only question seems to be the date when Lindley Couch arrived in Ripley County. I suspect that most, or all, of the stories about the arrival of the Lindley Couch family in Ripley County can be traced back to a biography of Alfred Perry Couch, which appeared in Reminiscent History Of The Ozark Region, a county history published by Goodspeed Brothers in 1894.
Alfred Perry Couch was a son of Simpson Couch, and grandson of Lindley and Susannah Couch. The introductory material in Alfred’s biography includes the following:
“It is thought that the father came originally from Virginia, but the family lived in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois, and long years ago, in the thirties, came to Fulton County, Arkansas. Soon after this family moved to what is now Oregon County, Missouri, and made the journey in a truck wagon, with wheels sawed from the end of a log, and oxen for motive power. On coming to Missouri the family located on Town Fork of Frederick River, and here the grandfather of our subject put up a little store that gave the creek the name of Town Fork. The grandfather, Lindley Couch, afterward went to Dade County and located in Rock Prairie, where he died soon after the war, when sixty years of age.”
The historical information in these biographies was provided by the individuals featured in the biographies, or by their families, and contain more than their share of factual errors. Nevertheless, they are often the best sources of information we have. In this case, I suspect that the information about the arrival of the Lindley Couch family in what would later be Oregon County, Missouri, is essentially correct.
It should be noted that Izard County, Arkansas, was organized in 1825, and was originally a part of the Arkansas Territory. Arkansas became a state in 1836. Fulton County, Arkansas, was created from part of Izard County in 1842. Today, Fulton County is located immediately south of the Arkansas-Missouri state line, and not far west of the area where the Lindley Couch family eventually settled in Missouri.
That part of Oregon County, Missouri, where we believe Lindley Couch settled was taken from Ripley County in 1845. Ripley County, in turn, was taken from Wayne County in 1833. So, if Lindley Couch came from Arkansas and settled on the Frederick River in the 1830’s, his migration would have been from Izard County, in either the Arkansas Territory or in Arkansas (depending on whether he migrated before or after 1836) to either Wayne County or Ripley County, Missouri (depending on whether he migrated before or after 1833). I have seen a number of reports that Lindley migrated to Oregon County from Fulton County, Arkansas, in 1830, but the information provided by Alfred Perry Couch’s biography is the only real evidence I am aware of, and it is possible that all the references to Lindley’s migration in 1830 stem from the biography’s statement that Lindley moved to Fulton County “in the thirties”. Lindley’s name does not appear in the 1830 census records of either Izard County, Arkansas Territory, or Wayne County, Missouri.
If Lindley Couch did settle on the Frederick River in the 1830’s, and built a store, it appears likely that he remained in that immediate area for several years. We know that the Lindley and Susannah Couch family was listed in the 1840 census of Ripley County, Missouri. Lindley’s household consisted of one male 40-50 years old (probably Lindley), one female 40-50 (probably Susannah), one male 20-30 (probably Simpson), one female 15-20 (probably Perlina), and one female 10-15 (probably Angelina).
Also listed in the 1840 census of Ripley County were the families of two of Lindley’s younger brothers, Avery Couch and Benjamin Couch. The Benjamin Couch family was listed “next door” to the Lindley Couch family in the 1840 census, while the Avery Couch family was separated from Benjamin and Lindley Couch by seven pages in the census records. In 1840, the Couch families were undoubtedly living as “squatters” on public lands.
The marriages of Lindley’s three children suggest that Lindley and Susannah remained in the area until 1846 or later. Lindley’s son, Simpson, was married in Ripley County in December of 1841. Lindley’s daughter, Perlina, was married in Ripley County in August of 1842. And Lindley’s daughter, Angelina, was married in Oregon County in December of 1845.
Available evidence suggests that all of the children of Moses Couch who lived in the Oregon County area during the early 1840’s left the area in the late 1840’s. As mentioned earlier, the marriage of Angelina Couch suggests that Lindley and Susannah Couch was still living in Oregon County in December of 1845. But in October of 1850, Lindley and Susannah were listed in the census of Dade County, Missouri. The family of Lindley Couch’s sister, Malinda (Couch) Stogsdill, joined Lindley and Susannah in Ripley County in 1840 or 1841. The marriage of one of her sons in Randolph County, Arkansas, suggests that Malinda was still in the Oregon County area in November of 1845. But by October of 1850, all but the youngest of Malinda’s children had moved to Dade County.
There is a marriage record that suggests that the family of Lindley Couch’s brother, Avery Couch, may have been in Oregon County as late as April of 1846. But Avery and his family had moved to Monroe County, Illinois, by August of 1849. The family of Lindley Couch’s sister, Delila (Couch) Literal, joined Lindley and Susannah in Ripley County about 1841. Delila’s husband, in his position as Acting Justice of the Peace, performed a marriage in Oregon County in May of 1846. But Delila’s husband reportedly died in Greene County, Missouri, about 1849. We don’t know how long Benjamin Couch and his family remained in the Oregon County area after the 1840 census, but we believe that Benjamin and his family were living in Greene County, Missouri, when one of his daughters was born in November of 1849. The only two descendants of Moses Couch left in Oregon County in 1850 were Lindley Couch’s son, Simpson, and Malinda (Couch) Stogsdill’s youngest daughter, Mary (Stogsdill) Lasley.
We don’t know why so many members of the Moses Couch family moved to Dade County in the late 1840’s. During the 19th century, families usually moved west, and almost always moved to an area where some relative had already settled. In this instance, it is interesting to note that the Lindley family records referenced earlier in this chapter indicate that Jonathan Lindley, a younger brother of Elizabeth (Lindley) Couch, and uncle to the children of Moses Couch, died in Dade County, Missouri, about 1843. So there was a family connection before the children and grandchildren of Moses Couch ever arrived in Dade County.
Most of Lindley Couch’s family, all but one of Malinda (Couch) Stogsdill’s children, and Delila (Couch) Literal were all listed in the 1850 census of Dade County, enumerated in October of that year. The 1850 Dade County census includes this cluster of Moses Couch descendants:
Family #420 – Josiah Stogsdill [Lindley’s nephew]
Family #421 – Archibald and Perlina (Couch) Stogsdill [Lindley’s nephew and daughter]
Family #422 – Lindley and Susannah Couch
Family #423 – Angelina (Couch) Evans [Lindley’s daughter]
Family #424 – Daniel Stogsdill [Lindley’s nephew]
Family #425 – Elizabeth (Stogsdill) Bennett [Lindley’s niece]
Family #426 – Delila (Couch) Literal [Lindley’s sister]
Family #431 – William Stogsdill [Lindley’s nephew]
Lindley’s brother, Benjamin Couch, was living nearby, in Greene County.
In the fall of 1850, Lindley and Susannah were “empty nesters”. Their son, Simpson, remained in Oregon County with his family. Lindley’s two daughters, Perlina and Angelina, were listed in the Dade County census records with their respective families in the two households immediately “next door” to the Lindley Couch household. Curiously, the 1850 census records include agricultural schedules describing the farm of Archibald and Perlina (Couch) Stogsdill, and the farm of William and Angelina (Couch) Evans, but no agricultural schedule for Lindley and Susannah Couch. The census records suggest to me that Lindley and Susannah did not have a farm of their own, but were assisting either Archibald and Perlina Stogsdill or William and Angelina Evans with their farm.
We presume that Lindley Couch, and his extended family, continued to live as squatters on public land the first several years they spent in Dade County. Then, on November 14, 1854, Lindley Couch paid cash for two 40-acre tracts of public land in southeast Dade County. One of these two 40-acre tracts[1] was located about one-half mile south and one-quarter mile west of the present site of Everton, Missouri, and about one and one-quarter miles west of the Sinking Creek Cemetery. The second 40-acre tract[2] was located one mile south of the Sinking Creek Cemetery. For a diagram depicting the locations of these two tracts of land, see #1 and #2 on page 231.
I make reference to “the present site of Everton”, because the village of Everton did not exist when Lindley and Susannah Couch lived in Dade County. Arthur Paul Moser, the compiler of A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets Past and Present of Dade County, Missouri, provides some history about Everton. Arthur Moser wrote that the birth of Everton dates back to the building of the K. C. Ft. S. & M. railroad in 1881. There was an early post-office in the area, called Rock Prairie, which dates back to 1850. The post-office was moved from house to house and accommodated only a sparsely settled community. Sometime in the 1850’s, a man named Sammy Jones had a little store at Cross Roads, located about one mile northeast of the present site of Everton, at a point where the Springfield and Ft. Scott wagon road was crossed by the Boonville and Sarcoxie wagon road. The Civil War for a time destroyed the aspirations of Cross Roads ever becoming a city. At the close of the hostilities, Calvin Wheeler petitioned Congress for a re-establishment of the Rock Prairie post-office, and he was appointed postmaster in 1868, and located the office at Cross Roads, at which point he was conducting a small country store.
So, it would appear that Rock Prairie served as the post office for Lindley Couch and his neighbors from 1850 until the beginning of the Civil War. That same time period also appears to have been a decade of prosperity and relative calm for the Couch families in Dade County. In June of 1860, Lindley and Susannah Couch were listed in the census of Polk Township of Dade County. Lindley valued his personal property at $1000, and his real estate at $1000. Among their neighbors were his daughter, Angelina (Couch) Evans, and her family; Lindley’s sister, Delila (Couch) Literal Harrell, with her second husband and her four children; and Lindley’s brother, Benjamin Couch, and his family, including Benjamin’s married daughter, Sarah, and her husband and daughter. Other neighbors included the families of Josiah Stogsdill and William Stogsdill, both nephews of Lindley Couch.
The two households listed immediately after the Lindley Couch household in the census records are worthy of comment. The occupants of the first household were Moses and Elizabeth Arthur, both age 30. Moses was born in Georgia, and Elizabeth in Tennessee. I suspect that this couple was living on the Lindley Couch farm, but know of no family relationship between Lindley or Susannah and this couple. Lindley and Susannah were 67 and 68 years old, with no children living at home, so I suspect that Moses and Elizabeth Arthur may have been hired help. The next household was that of Avery Couch’s second wife (Lindley’s sister-in-law), Martha Couch, and her six children from her marriage to James Hall. I suspect that Martha and her children were also living on the Lindley Couch farm. Avery Couch’s whereabouts in 1860 are unknown. Lindley may have supplied Martha and her children with a place to live in return for the labor of Martha’s three teen-aged sons.
The 1860 census records include a description of Lindley Couch’s farm (see Figure 1 on page 28). Note that Lindley described his farm as consisting of 120 acres of land. The two 40-acre tracts of public land that Lindley purchased in 1854 account for 80 of the 120 acres. Some time between 1850 and 1860, Lindley also purchased an additional 40 acres[3] which abutted one of the 40-acre tracts he purchased in 1854 (see tract #3 on page 231). I suspect that Lindley purchased the additional 40 acres of land from the U. S. Government, using a bounty land warrant as payment, but have no direct evidence that this was the case.
When the Civil War erupted in April of 1861, I believe that Lindley Couch and all the members of his extended family then living in Dade County were sympathetic to the cause of the Confederacy. In fact, I believe that most of Lindley’s neighbors were also sympathetic to the Confederate cause. But, the majority of Dade County residents were supporters of the Union cause.
At 68 years of age when the war commenced, Lindley Couch was certainly too old to join the fight on the battlefield. However, in late 1862, Lindley’s support of the Confederate cause got him into some trouble with the Union Provost Marshal. The records of the Union Provost Marshal indicate that Lindley Couch, of Dade County, posted a bond of $2000 on December 27, 1862, charged with giving aid and comfort to the enemy. W. B. Logan and Charles Hughes, of Greene County, served as sureties for Lindley.
After describing the surety bond, the standard one-page Provost Marshal’s form went on to state:
"The condition of the above obligation is such that whereas the above bounden Lindley Couch has been arrested on the charge of having given aid & Comfort to the enemies of the United States and has been discharged from imprisonment upon his Parole and this Bond. NOW, if the said Lindley Couch shall carefully and truly abstain from all words or deeds tending to aid, encourage or promote the existing rebellion against the authority of the United States or to disturb the existing Government of the State of Missouri, and shall not, directly or indirectly, furnish information, arms, money, provisions or any other commodity whatever to, or hold communication with, any person or persons engaged in hostilities against the Government of the United States or the State of Missouri, then this obligation is to be void. It is else to be in full force."
The form was signed by Lindley Couch, and by both his sureties. It is worth noting that the charge of giving aid and comfort to the enemy was not a common occurrence. The charge against Lindley Couch is contained in an index to some of the Union Provost Marshal records for Dade County. There are 136 Dade County entries in that index, and the charge against Lindley is the only charge of giving aid and comfort to the enemy contained in the index. For more information about life in Dade County during the Civil War, and about the role of the Provost Marshal, see “Josiah Stogsdill” on page 133.
It is impossible to know whether the strife of the Civil War was connected in any way to Lindley’s death. But we do know that Lindley Couch died in Dade County, Missouri, on March 9, 1863, less than three months after posting bond on the charges against him. Lindley was 70 years of age when he died. He was buried in the Sinking Creek Cemetery near Everton. We assume that Susannah remained in Dade County after Lindley’s death, and that she died there on November 26, 1866, about 18 months after the end of the Civil War. Susannah was 75 years of age when she died, and she was buried beside her husband in the Sinking Creek Cemetery.
Since Lindley Couch was a resident of Dade County, and most of his real estate was located in Dade County, we would expect his estate to be probated in Dade County. But there are no probate records for his estate in Dade County. Instead, it appears that his estate was probated in Oregon County. We can only speculate as to the reason for this, but the circumstances of the Civil War were probably the central reason. And the Oregon County probate records for Lindley’s estate may be incomplete. The Oregon County courthouse records were hidden in a cave on Piney Creek for safe-keeping during the Civil War, so it is not surprising that the Probate Court Minutes from February 13, 1862 until August 28, 1866, are missing.
Since Lindley apparently died without leaving a will, his estate was inherited equally by his three children: Simpson Couch, Perlina (Couch) Stogsdill, and Angelina (Couch) Evans. Perlina, however, died before her parents, so her share of her father’s estate would have been inherited by her children. Perlina’s husband was Archibald Stogsdill, son of William and Malinda (Couch) Stogsdill, and Perlina’s first cousin. On December 17, 1866, three weeks after the death of Susannah Couch, Archibald Stogsdill appeared in the Oregon County Probate Court at Alton. The court indicated its satisfaction that Archibald’s three minor children were entitled to a legacy in the estate of Lindley Couch, recognized Archibald Stogsdill as the natural guardian of his three minor children, and appointed Archibald as the Curator of the estate of those three minors. Archibald was ordered to give bond of $1000, and his bond was approved.
The Probate Court then authorized Archibald, as Curator of his three minor children, to sell land in Dade and Lawrence Counties “upon the best terms he can obtain”, and to “apply the proceeds to the education of the said minors”. The land to be sold was real estate that Archibald’s children inherited from their grandfather, Lindley Couch, through their deceased mother, Perlina (Couch) Stogsdill. As this action on the part of Archibald and the Oregon County Probate Court did not occur until three weeks after the death of Lindley’s widow, I suspect that Susannah Couch continued to live on the Lindley Couch farm after Lindley’s death, and that there was no distribution of Lindley’s real estate to his heirs until Susannah’s death.
The Lindley Couch estate consisted of land in Dade and Lawrence Counties. The Dade County land consisted of the two 40-acre parcels that Lindley purchased in 1854, as well as the adjoining 40-acre parcel that Lindley acquired some time in the 1850’s. The Lawrence County parcel[4] consisted of 113.59 acres of land that Lindley’s brother, Benjamin Couch, originally purchased as public land in the mid-1850’s. Apparently, Benjamin conveyed the land to Lindley at some point in time. This land was located immediately south of the Lawrence and Dade County line, and approximately two miles west and four miles south of Everton.
In 1867, when Lindley Couch’s heirs disposed of his estate, Simpson Couch was a resident of Oregon County, and I suspect that Lindley’s son-in-law, Archibald Stogsdill, was also a resident of Oregon County. Lindley’s only heir living in Dade County was his daughter, Angelina (Couch) Evans. So, it is not surprising that Simpson Couch and Archibald Stogsdill (on behalf of his children) sold their interests in Lindley Couch’s estate to Angelina’s husband, William C. Evans. On July 6, 1867, Simpson and Rebecca Couch, sold their one-third interest in the Lindley Couch estate to William C. Evans. About the same time, Archibald Stogsdill sold the one-third interest inherited by his children to William C. Evans for $450. Since Angelina inherited a one-third interest in the estate from her father, these two conveyances provided William and Angelina (Couch) Evans undivided ownership of all the land owned by Lindley Couch at his death.
[1] The Northeast 1/4 of the Southwest 1/4 of Section 17 in Township 30 North of Range 25 West.
[2] The Southeast ¼ of the Southeast ¼ of Section 21 in Township 30 North of Range 25 West.
[3] Described as the Southwest ¼ of the Southeast ¼ of Section 21 in Township 30 North of Range 25 West.
[4] Lot #8 of the Northwest 1/4 of Section 1 in Township 29 North of Range 26 West.
Copyright 2010
NOTE: The following biography of Lindley Couch is an excerpt from a book I authored in 2010, entitled "Moses Couch and William Stogsdill Families". Since that book is still unpublished, I am posting this excerpt to make the information more readily available to others who share my interest in this family.
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Lindley Couch was born in South Carolina on February 7, 1893. He was probably the first child born to Moses and Elizabeth Couch, and was undoubtedly named after the family of his mother, Elizabeth (Lindley) Couch. As a child, Lindley lived in Greenville County, South Carolina, possibly in Tennessee, and certainly in Christian County, Kentucky, before his parents settled in Pulaski County, Kentucky.
Lindley was married in Pulaski County, in 1812, to Susannah Atnip. Their marriage bond, filed in Pulaski County on October 6 of that year, was signed by Lindley Couch, Moses Couch, and Joseph Atnip. We believe that Lindley was 19 years old, and Susannah was 20. This marriage doesn’t seem to square with the note in Sarah Literal’s notebook indicating that “Linley Couch” was married to “Susie Evans” (see Figure 18 on page 225). Was Sarah mistaken about the maiden name of Lindley’s wife? Lindley and Susannah (Atnip) Couch did have a daughter, Angelina Couch, who married a William Evans. Perhaps Sarah Literal mixed up the first name of Lindley’s wife (Susannah) and the married name of Lindley’s daughter, Angelina (Couch) Evans.
Elizabeth Marcello and Ann Jobe Brown have done a wonderful job of researching the Atnip/Inabnit family. It is from Elizabeth that I originally learned that Susannah Atnip was the second of five children, and the eldest daughter, of Jacob Inabnit and Mary Parkerson. Susannah was born in Virginia on November 10, 1791, and was the first of Jacob Inabnit’s children to marry. Susannah’s grandfather, Hildebrand InAebnit, came to America from the German-speaking area of Switzerland about 1744. There are many variations in the spelling of the family name, but it was apparently spelled InAebnit (or similar) in Switzerland, and later changed to Inabnit, and then to Atnip by some branches of the family.
Celebrating his 19th birthday in February of 1812, Lindley Couch would have been a prime candidate to volunteer for service in the War of 1812. However, in searching indexes to War of 1812 service records, I have not found anything to suggest that Lindley served in that war.
The tax lists for Pulaski County go back to 1799. Surprisingly, the earliest Couch entry that I could find in these tax lists was in 1814, when the name of “Linley Couch” first appeared, about two years after his marriage to Susannah. It was the same year that Lindley turned 21. Lindley was listed as white, and over 21 years of age. He owned no land, but owned four “horses, mares, mules, and jennies”, with a “total value except stud” of $50.
Lindley’s name appeared again on the 1815 tax list. Lindley apparently owned no land, but owned one “horses, mares, mules, and jennies” with total value of $30. In 1817, the Pulaski County tax list contains an entry for Lindley Couch, indicating that he owned six “horses, mares, mules, and jennies”, with total value of $159. And in 1818, Lindley’s name again appeared on the tax list, when he reported owning six “horses, mares, mules, and jennies”, with a total value of $300.
We know that Lindley and Susannah were married in October of 1812. Yet their eldest child whom we can identify was reportedly born in January of 1819. It seems likely that Lindley and Susannah lost their first two or three children in infancy or childhood.
The eldest identified child of Lindley and Susannah Couch was Simpson Couch. Other Couch family researchers report that Simpson Couch was born on January 15, 1819, in Pulaski County, Kentucky. If this information is accurate, this would seem to place Lindley and Susannah in Pulaski County as late as that date. But Lindley’s name does not appear in the 1819 Pulaski County tax lists. I believe that these tax lists were usually prepared during the summer months, suggesting that Lindley may not have been in Pulaski County that summer. As discussed earlier, the "Memorial to The Secretary of War From the Cherokee Country" provides evidence that Lindley was living in Cherokee country, in the northeast corner of the Alabama Territory, during the summer of 1819.
Perhaps it is just a coincidence, but Susannah’s father, Jacob Inabnit, died in Pulaski County some time between October of 1818, when he wrote his last will, and March of 1819, when his will was probated. Within a period of a few months, it appears that Simpson Couch was born to Lindley and Susannah, that Susannah’s father died, and that Lindley (and Susannah?) briefly joined Moses Couch in the Alabama Territory.
Lindley didn’t remain long in the Alabama Territory. In 1820, Lindley’s family was enumerated in the 1820 census of Pulaski County, Kentucky. The Lindley Couch household in 1820 consisted of one male 26-44 years of age (probably Lindley), one female 26-44 years of age (probably Susannah), one female 16-25 years of age (probably Susannah’s 16-year-old sister, Sarah Inabnit?), one male 10-15 years of age (possibly Susannah’s youngest brother, John Inabnit?), one male under 10 years of age (probably Simpson), and one female under 10 years of age (an unidentified daughter, or possibly Lindley’s younger sister, Delila?).
In 1821, the Pulaski County tax list once again contained the name of Lindley Couch. Lindley was assessed taxes on 140 acres of land on Buck Creek, originally patented by J. Inabnet. Because Lindley paid the taxes on the land, we assume that he and Susannah were living on that 140 acres. However, I don’t believe that Lindley owned the land. In the years prior to his death, Susannah’s father, Jacob Inabnit, paid the taxes on his 140-acre farm on the waters of Buck Creek—land that he originally patented in 1798. In 1819, following Jacob’s death, his widow, Mary Inabnit, paid the taxes on the 140-acre Inabnit farm. In 1820, the taxes on the Jacob Inabnit farm were paid by Jacob’s son, Joseph Inabnit. By 1821, when the taxes on the farm were assessed to Lindley, I suspect that Lindley and Susannah were living on the Jacob Inabnit farm, even though the farm was still a part of Jacob’s estate. The 1821 tax list indicated that Lindley owned two horses, valued the farm on which he paid taxes at $4.28 per acre, and was assessed a total taxable value of $700.
Perlina Couch, the eldest identified daughter of Lindley and Susannah Couch, was probably born in Kentucky in 1821 or 1822. And, in 1822, Lindley Couch again appeared on the Pulaski County tax list. The records indicate that Lindley was again assessed taxes on land located on the waters of Buck Creek, as well as two horses. He listed the total value of his assets for tax purposes to be $665. The number of acres for which Lindley was assessed is nearly indecipherable on the tax roll, but I believe that he was assessed taxes on 70 acres. If this figure is correct, I suspect that Lindley and Susannah may have been sharing the Jacob Inabnit farm with one of Susannah’s siblings, and that the two families were splitting the taxes on the farm.
There were no Couch entries in the 1823 Pulaski County tax list. However, Floyd Couch provided me with a copy of a deed made in Pulaski County on March 1, 1823. This deed documents the sale of property by three daughters of Jacob Inabnit, deceased, and their husbands. The three women, and their husbands, were Lindley and Susannah (Inabnit) Couch; Jesse and Sarah (Inabnit) Pointer; and Isaac and Rebecca (Inabnit) Sewell. It appears that Jacob Inabnit’s eldest son, Joseph Inabnit, paid his three sisters “the sum of Three hundred dollars current money of Kentucky” for their interest in the land inherited from their father. Lindley signed the deed, and Susannah made her mark. Shadrach Stogsdill was one of the three witnesses to the deed.
To date, I have not located any other deeds reflecting the purchase, or sale, of land in Pulaski County by Lindley Couch. I suspect that Lindley never owned a farm in Pulaski County. Instead, I suspect that he and Susannah farmed some of her father’s land after his death, and that Susannah and her sisters gave up their interest in that land to their brother by the 1823 deed of sale. Lindley’s name appeared in the Pulaski County tax lists for the last time in 1824. Lindley’s 1824 tax assessment did not include taxes on any land.
There is evidence that Lindley and Susannah Couch may have moved from Pulaski County to Whitley County, Kentucky, in 1824 or 1825. The 1825 tax list for Whitley County contains the name of “Linley Couch”. Lindley was not assessed taxes for any land that year, and 1825 was the only year in which Lindley’s name appeared on the Whitley County tax lists. And, Lindley was the only member of the Moses Couch family listed in the 1825 Whitley County tax list. We don’t know what connection Lindley Couch may have had with other families in Whitley County, but note that Lindley’s father, Moses Couch, would appear in Whitley County four years later.
A second daughter, Angelina, was reportedly born to Lindley and Susannah in Kentucky on September 20, 1825. But, I have not been able to find any trace of Lindley and Susannah between 1825 and 1840. In particular, I have not been able to locate the Lindley Couch family in the 1830 census. Oft-repeated tradition suggests that the Lindley Couch family moved to an area in Ripley County, Missouri, which would later be a part of Oregon County, and settled on Frederick Creek in the early 1800's. The only question seems to be the date when Lindley Couch arrived in Ripley County. I suspect that most, or all, of the stories about the arrival of the Lindley Couch family in Ripley County can be traced back to a biography of Alfred Perry Couch, which appeared in Reminiscent History Of The Ozark Region, a county history published by Goodspeed Brothers in 1894.
Alfred Perry Couch was a son of Simpson Couch, and grandson of Lindley and Susannah Couch. The introductory material in Alfred’s biography includes the following:
“It is thought that the father came originally from Virginia, but the family lived in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois, and long years ago, in the thirties, came to Fulton County, Arkansas. Soon after this family moved to what is now Oregon County, Missouri, and made the journey in a truck wagon, with wheels sawed from the end of a log, and oxen for motive power. On coming to Missouri the family located on Town Fork of Frederick River, and here the grandfather of our subject put up a little store that gave the creek the name of Town Fork. The grandfather, Lindley Couch, afterward went to Dade County and located in Rock Prairie, where he died soon after the war, when sixty years of age.”
The historical information in these biographies was provided by the individuals featured in the biographies, or by their families, and contain more than their share of factual errors. Nevertheless, they are often the best sources of information we have. In this case, I suspect that the information about the arrival of the Lindley Couch family in what would later be Oregon County, Missouri, is essentially correct.
It should be noted that Izard County, Arkansas, was organized in 1825, and was originally a part of the Arkansas Territory. Arkansas became a state in 1836. Fulton County, Arkansas, was created from part of Izard County in 1842. Today, Fulton County is located immediately south of the Arkansas-Missouri state line, and not far west of the area where the Lindley Couch family eventually settled in Missouri.
That part of Oregon County, Missouri, where we believe Lindley Couch settled was taken from Ripley County in 1845. Ripley County, in turn, was taken from Wayne County in 1833. So, if Lindley Couch came from Arkansas and settled on the Frederick River in the 1830’s, his migration would have been from Izard County, in either the Arkansas Territory or in Arkansas (depending on whether he migrated before or after 1836) to either Wayne County or Ripley County, Missouri (depending on whether he migrated before or after 1833). I have seen a number of reports that Lindley migrated to Oregon County from Fulton County, Arkansas, in 1830, but the information provided by Alfred Perry Couch’s biography is the only real evidence I am aware of, and it is possible that all the references to Lindley’s migration in 1830 stem from the biography’s statement that Lindley moved to Fulton County “in the thirties”. Lindley’s name does not appear in the 1830 census records of either Izard County, Arkansas Territory, or Wayne County, Missouri.
If Lindley Couch did settle on the Frederick River in the 1830’s, and built a store, it appears likely that he remained in that immediate area for several years. We know that the Lindley and Susannah Couch family was listed in the 1840 census of Ripley County, Missouri. Lindley’s household consisted of one male 40-50 years old (probably Lindley), one female 40-50 (probably Susannah), one male 20-30 (probably Simpson), one female 15-20 (probably Perlina), and one female 10-15 (probably Angelina).
Also listed in the 1840 census of Ripley County were the families of two of Lindley’s younger brothers, Avery Couch and Benjamin Couch. The Benjamin Couch family was listed “next door” to the Lindley Couch family in the 1840 census, while the Avery Couch family was separated from Benjamin and Lindley Couch by seven pages in the census records. In 1840, the Couch families were undoubtedly living as “squatters” on public lands.
The marriages of Lindley’s three children suggest that Lindley and Susannah remained in the area until 1846 or later. Lindley’s son, Simpson, was married in Ripley County in December of 1841. Lindley’s daughter, Perlina, was married in Ripley County in August of 1842. And Lindley’s daughter, Angelina, was married in Oregon County in December of 1845.
Available evidence suggests that all of the children of Moses Couch who lived in the Oregon County area during the early 1840’s left the area in the late 1840’s. As mentioned earlier, the marriage of Angelina Couch suggests that Lindley and Susannah Couch was still living in Oregon County in December of 1845. But in October of 1850, Lindley and Susannah were listed in the census of Dade County, Missouri. The family of Lindley Couch’s sister, Malinda (Couch) Stogsdill, joined Lindley and Susannah in Ripley County in 1840 or 1841. The marriage of one of her sons in Randolph County, Arkansas, suggests that Malinda was still in the Oregon County area in November of 1845. But by October of 1850, all but the youngest of Malinda’s children had moved to Dade County.
There is a marriage record that suggests that the family of Lindley Couch’s brother, Avery Couch, may have been in Oregon County as late as April of 1846. But Avery and his family had moved to Monroe County, Illinois, by August of 1849. The family of Lindley Couch’s sister, Delila (Couch) Literal, joined Lindley and Susannah in Ripley County about 1841. Delila’s husband, in his position as Acting Justice of the Peace, performed a marriage in Oregon County in May of 1846. But Delila’s husband reportedly died in Greene County, Missouri, about 1849. We don’t know how long Benjamin Couch and his family remained in the Oregon County area after the 1840 census, but we believe that Benjamin and his family were living in Greene County, Missouri, when one of his daughters was born in November of 1849. The only two descendants of Moses Couch left in Oregon County in 1850 were Lindley Couch’s son, Simpson, and Malinda (Couch) Stogsdill’s youngest daughter, Mary (Stogsdill) Lasley.
We don’t know why so many members of the Moses Couch family moved to Dade County in the late 1840’s. During the 19th century, families usually moved west, and almost always moved to an area where some relative had already settled. In this instance, it is interesting to note that the Lindley family records referenced earlier in this chapter indicate that Jonathan Lindley, a younger brother of Elizabeth (Lindley) Couch, and uncle to the children of Moses Couch, died in Dade County, Missouri, about 1843. So there was a family connection before the children and grandchildren of Moses Couch ever arrived in Dade County.
Most of Lindley Couch’s family, all but one of Malinda (Couch) Stogsdill’s children, and Delila (Couch) Literal were all listed in the 1850 census of Dade County, enumerated in October of that year. The 1850 Dade County census includes this cluster of Moses Couch descendants:
Family #420 – Josiah Stogsdill [Lindley’s nephew]
Family #421 – Archibald and Perlina (Couch) Stogsdill [Lindley’s nephew and daughter]
Family #422 – Lindley and Susannah Couch
Family #423 – Angelina (Couch) Evans [Lindley’s daughter]
Family #424 – Daniel Stogsdill [Lindley’s nephew]
Family #425 – Elizabeth (Stogsdill) Bennett [Lindley’s niece]
Family #426 – Delila (Couch) Literal [Lindley’s sister]
Family #431 – William Stogsdill [Lindley’s nephew]
Lindley’s brother, Benjamin Couch, was living nearby, in Greene County.
In the fall of 1850, Lindley and Susannah were “empty nesters”. Their son, Simpson, remained in Oregon County with his family. Lindley’s two daughters, Perlina and Angelina, were listed in the Dade County census records with their respective families in the two households immediately “next door” to the Lindley Couch household. Curiously, the 1850 census records include agricultural schedules describing the farm of Archibald and Perlina (Couch) Stogsdill, and the farm of William and Angelina (Couch) Evans, but no agricultural schedule for Lindley and Susannah Couch. The census records suggest to me that Lindley and Susannah did not have a farm of their own, but were assisting either Archibald and Perlina Stogsdill or William and Angelina Evans with their farm.
We presume that Lindley Couch, and his extended family, continued to live as squatters on public land the first several years they spent in Dade County. Then, on November 14, 1854, Lindley Couch paid cash for two 40-acre tracts of public land in southeast Dade County. One of these two 40-acre tracts[1] was located about one-half mile south and one-quarter mile west of the present site of Everton, Missouri, and about one and one-quarter miles west of the Sinking Creek Cemetery. The second 40-acre tract[2] was located one mile south of the Sinking Creek Cemetery. For a diagram depicting the locations of these two tracts of land, see #1 and #2 on page 231.
I make reference to “the present site of Everton”, because the village of Everton did not exist when Lindley and Susannah Couch lived in Dade County. Arthur Paul Moser, the compiler of A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets Past and Present of Dade County, Missouri, provides some history about Everton. Arthur Moser wrote that the birth of Everton dates back to the building of the K. C. Ft. S. & M. railroad in 1881. There was an early post-office in the area, called Rock Prairie, which dates back to 1850. The post-office was moved from house to house and accommodated only a sparsely settled community. Sometime in the 1850’s, a man named Sammy Jones had a little store at Cross Roads, located about one mile northeast of the present site of Everton, at a point where the Springfield and Ft. Scott wagon road was crossed by the Boonville and Sarcoxie wagon road. The Civil War for a time destroyed the aspirations of Cross Roads ever becoming a city. At the close of the hostilities, Calvin Wheeler petitioned Congress for a re-establishment of the Rock Prairie post-office, and he was appointed postmaster in 1868, and located the office at Cross Roads, at which point he was conducting a small country store.
So, it would appear that Rock Prairie served as the post office for Lindley Couch and his neighbors from 1850 until the beginning of the Civil War. That same time period also appears to have been a decade of prosperity and relative calm for the Couch families in Dade County. In June of 1860, Lindley and Susannah Couch were listed in the census of Polk Township of Dade County. Lindley valued his personal property at $1000, and his real estate at $1000. Among their neighbors were his daughter, Angelina (Couch) Evans, and her family; Lindley’s sister, Delila (Couch) Literal Harrell, with her second husband and her four children; and Lindley’s brother, Benjamin Couch, and his family, including Benjamin’s married daughter, Sarah, and her husband and daughter. Other neighbors included the families of Josiah Stogsdill and William Stogsdill, both nephews of Lindley Couch.
The two households listed immediately after the Lindley Couch household in the census records are worthy of comment. The occupants of the first household were Moses and Elizabeth Arthur, both age 30. Moses was born in Georgia, and Elizabeth in Tennessee. I suspect that this couple was living on the Lindley Couch farm, but know of no family relationship between Lindley or Susannah and this couple. Lindley and Susannah were 67 and 68 years old, with no children living at home, so I suspect that Moses and Elizabeth Arthur may have been hired help. The next household was that of Avery Couch’s second wife (Lindley’s sister-in-law), Martha Couch, and her six children from her marriage to James Hall. I suspect that Martha and her children were also living on the Lindley Couch farm. Avery Couch’s whereabouts in 1860 are unknown. Lindley may have supplied Martha and her children with a place to live in return for the labor of Martha’s three teen-aged sons.
The 1860 census records include a description of Lindley Couch’s farm (see Figure 1 on page 28). Note that Lindley described his farm as consisting of 120 acres of land. The two 40-acre tracts of public land that Lindley purchased in 1854 account for 80 of the 120 acres. Some time between 1850 and 1860, Lindley also purchased an additional 40 acres[3] which abutted one of the 40-acre tracts he purchased in 1854 (see tract #3 on page 231). I suspect that Lindley purchased the additional 40 acres of land from the U. S. Government, using a bounty land warrant as payment, but have no direct evidence that this was the case.
When the Civil War erupted in April of 1861, I believe that Lindley Couch and all the members of his extended family then living in Dade County were sympathetic to the cause of the Confederacy. In fact, I believe that most of Lindley’s neighbors were also sympathetic to the Confederate cause. But, the majority of Dade County residents were supporters of the Union cause.
At 68 years of age when the war commenced, Lindley Couch was certainly too old to join the fight on the battlefield. However, in late 1862, Lindley’s support of the Confederate cause got him into some trouble with the Union Provost Marshal. The records of the Union Provost Marshal indicate that Lindley Couch, of Dade County, posted a bond of $2000 on December 27, 1862, charged with giving aid and comfort to the enemy. W. B. Logan and Charles Hughes, of Greene County, served as sureties for Lindley.
After describing the surety bond, the standard one-page Provost Marshal’s form went on to state:
"The condition of the above obligation is such that whereas the above bounden Lindley Couch has been arrested on the charge of having given aid & Comfort to the enemies of the United States and has been discharged from imprisonment upon his Parole and this Bond. NOW, if the said Lindley Couch shall carefully and truly abstain from all words or deeds tending to aid, encourage or promote the existing rebellion against the authority of the United States or to disturb the existing Government of the State of Missouri, and shall not, directly or indirectly, furnish information, arms, money, provisions or any other commodity whatever to, or hold communication with, any person or persons engaged in hostilities against the Government of the United States or the State of Missouri, then this obligation is to be void. It is else to be in full force."
The form was signed by Lindley Couch, and by both his sureties. It is worth noting that the charge of giving aid and comfort to the enemy was not a common occurrence. The charge against Lindley Couch is contained in an index to some of the Union Provost Marshal records for Dade County. There are 136 Dade County entries in that index, and the charge against Lindley is the only charge of giving aid and comfort to the enemy contained in the index. For more information about life in Dade County during the Civil War, and about the role of the Provost Marshal, see “Josiah Stogsdill” on page 133.
It is impossible to know whether the strife of the Civil War was connected in any way to Lindley’s death. But we do know that Lindley Couch died in Dade County, Missouri, on March 9, 1863, less than three months after posting bond on the charges against him. Lindley was 70 years of age when he died. He was buried in the Sinking Creek Cemetery near Everton. We assume that Susannah remained in Dade County after Lindley’s death, and that she died there on November 26, 1866, about 18 months after the end of the Civil War. Susannah was 75 years of age when she died, and she was buried beside her husband in the Sinking Creek Cemetery.
Since Lindley Couch was a resident of Dade County, and most of his real estate was located in Dade County, we would expect his estate to be probated in Dade County. But there are no probate records for his estate in Dade County. Instead, it appears that his estate was probated in Oregon County. We can only speculate as to the reason for this, but the circumstances of the Civil War were probably the central reason. And the Oregon County probate records for Lindley’s estate may be incomplete. The Oregon County courthouse records were hidden in a cave on Piney Creek for safe-keeping during the Civil War, so it is not surprising that the Probate Court Minutes from February 13, 1862 until August 28, 1866, are missing.
Since Lindley apparently died without leaving a will, his estate was inherited equally by his three children: Simpson Couch, Perlina (Couch) Stogsdill, and Angelina (Couch) Evans. Perlina, however, died before her parents, so her share of her father’s estate would have been inherited by her children. Perlina’s husband was Archibald Stogsdill, son of William and Malinda (Couch) Stogsdill, and Perlina’s first cousin. On December 17, 1866, three weeks after the death of Susannah Couch, Archibald Stogsdill appeared in the Oregon County Probate Court at Alton. The court indicated its satisfaction that Archibald’s three minor children were entitled to a legacy in the estate of Lindley Couch, recognized Archibald Stogsdill as the natural guardian of his three minor children, and appointed Archibald as the Curator of the estate of those three minors. Archibald was ordered to give bond of $1000, and his bond was approved.
The Probate Court then authorized Archibald, as Curator of his three minor children, to sell land in Dade and Lawrence Counties “upon the best terms he can obtain”, and to “apply the proceeds to the education of the said minors”. The land to be sold was real estate that Archibald’s children inherited from their grandfather, Lindley Couch, through their deceased mother, Perlina (Couch) Stogsdill. As this action on the part of Archibald and the Oregon County Probate Court did not occur until three weeks after the death of Lindley’s widow, I suspect that Susannah Couch continued to live on the Lindley Couch farm after Lindley’s death, and that there was no distribution of Lindley’s real estate to his heirs until Susannah’s death.
The Lindley Couch estate consisted of land in Dade and Lawrence Counties. The Dade County land consisted of the two 40-acre parcels that Lindley purchased in 1854, as well as the adjoining 40-acre parcel that Lindley acquired some time in the 1850’s. The Lawrence County parcel[4] consisted of 113.59 acres of land that Lindley’s brother, Benjamin Couch, originally purchased as public land in the mid-1850’s. Apparently, Benjamin conveyed the land to Lindley at some point in time. This land was located immediately south of the Lawrence and Dade County line, and approximately two miles west and four miles south of Everton.
In 1867, when Lindley Couch’s heirs disposed of his estate, Simpson Couch was a resident of Oregon County, and I suspect that Lindley’s son-in-law, Archibald Stogsdill, was also a resident of Oregon County. Lindley’s only heir living in Dade County was his daughter, Angelina (Couch) Evans. So, it is not surprising that Simpson Couch and Archibald Stogsdill (on behalf of his children) sold their interests in Lindley Couch’s estate to Angelina’s husband, William C. Evans. On July 6, 1867, Simpson and Rebecca Couch, sold their one-third interest in the Lindley Couch estate to William C. Evans. About the same time, Archibald Stogsdill sold the one-third interest inherited by his children to William C. Evans for $450. Since Angelina inherited a one-third interest in the estate from her father, these two conveyances provided William and Angelina (Couch) Evans undivided ownership of all the land owned by Lindley Couch at his death.
[1] The Northeast 1/4 of the Southwest 1/4 of Section 17 in Township 30 North of Range 25 West.
[2] The Southeast ¼ of the Southeast ¼ of Section 21 in Township 30 North of Range 25 West.
[3] Described as the Southwest ¼ of the Southeast ¼ of Section 21 in Township 30 North of Range 25 West.
[4] Lot #8 of the Northwest 1/4 of Section 1 in Township 29 North of Range 26 West.