From the files of Legacy Keeper Donna Thompson.
CHILDREN:
1. Thomas J. Springfield (b. 26 January 1849 at Vernon, AL; d. 3 November 1926 in Ensley, AL) m. Susan L. Stewart (b. 25 September 1850 in Columbus, GA; d. 6 January 1891 in Ensley, AL – she is the mother of his children)/m. Georgia E. Hendon (b. 1907; d. 1862) /m. Eunice Lee Hughes (d. 1910) /m. Mrs. Mary E. Watt. Dr. Thomas J. Springfield and his first two wives, Susie and Georgia, are buried at Oakland Cemetery, Ensley, AL.
Thomas J. Springfield attended school at Franklin College in Columbus, MS. Afterwards, he taught school while studying medicine for three years under Dr. A. C. Molloy, of Caledonia, MS. He was ordained as a Freewill Baptist Minister on 16 July 1871, by Elders T. W. Springfield and Thomas Molloy. (Thomas J. Springfield was a Methodist Minister, also.) In 1872 he entered medical college at Mobile, AL, and graduated in 1874. His first year of active practice was spent at Moscow, in Lamar County, AL; the next 14 years at Detroit, AL, followed by shorter periods at Townley, AL and Guin, AL. While at Guin, he was president of the Board of Censors, County Health Officer, and president of the Public School Board.
Early in 1900, he moved to Ensley, AL, where he practiced medicine and was active (an Elder) in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a member of the Odd Fellows, the Junior Order of United Mechanics, and was quite prominent in Masonry, being a member of the blue lodge and lecturer of the tenth Masonic district. (In 1904, Dr. Thomas J. Springfield was written up by the Hon. Joel G. Dubose for “Notable Men of Alabama.”) He and Susan had six children.
2. Martha Susan Springfield (b. 24 September 1850 in Lamar County, AL; d. 19 July 1926 in Lamar County, AL) m. Rev. George Bennett Taylor (b. 7 July 1850, Fayette County, AL; d. 13 January 1929 in Pickens County, AL). As a young man George was a dry goods clerk who later became a Baptist minister. They are both buried at Asbury Church near Vernon, AL. They had five children.
3.William James “Jim/Jimmy” Springfield (b. 15 September 1852 near Columbus, MS; d. 6 July 1883, Lamar County, AL) m. Lola Montez “Tessie” Denman (b. 23 May 1858; d. 8 May 1891) in Monroe County, MS. He was a Freewill Baptist Minister, and is buried in the City Cemetery, Vernon, AL. Lola is buried at Old Nebo Cemetery, Lamar County, AL. They had four children.
4.Wood Springfield (b. 11 March 1858; d. 25 August 1922, Ethelsville, AL) m. Amanda Catherine Guin (b. 23 May 1857; d. 25 January 1941). Wood Springfield was a Freewill Baptist Minister. He moved to Pickens County, AL from Lamar County, AL about 1883 when he was called to pastor the Mt. Moriah Freewill Baptist Church. He organized several churches in Pickens and Lamar Counties, and was the moderator of the FBC Association from 1885 until his death in 1922. In an association report in 1891, he stated that he had traveled by horse and buggy 880 miles to preach God’s word and 520 miles to conduct music schools. Wood and Amanda are buried in the Ethelsville, AL cemetery. His tombstone is inscribed, Erected by his Churches, He Served 46 Years. Eight children.
5.Green Bulger Springfield (b. 15 January 1856; d. 13 March 1926 in Birmingham, AL) m. Carrie Huntly Stalans (d. 1900 at Poteau, OK)/m. Allie Logan in 1902. He was a medical doctor (GPN), and is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Ensley, AL. A 1879 newspaper clipping reads: Item in Vernon newspaper: Rev. T.W. and E.C. Springfield have an invalid daughter [Hattie]. They went to Dr. Green Springfield in Townley, Alabama. He had six – five with Carrie, and one with Allie.
6.Elizabeth Frances Springfield (b. 14 April 1858; d. at Moscow, AL, one year later, at the beginning of the Civil War).
7.Hattie Flemming Springfield (b. 18 June 1860; d. 24 September 1888 at Vernon, AL). She never married, and is thought to have gone blind. She is buried in the Vernon Cemetery, Vernon, AL.
8.Mary Alice Springfield (b. 10 December 1862; d. 28 June 1933 in Rosebud, Texas) m. James N. McNeil (b. 4 December 1884 in Lamar County, AL)/m. Dr. Frank Buggins (b. 23 December 1888 in Canada). Dr. Buggins was a dentist. We believe he drowned in Rosebud, TX. Mary Alice and Frank Buggins had one daughter.
9.Emma Springfield (b. 28 December 1866 in Lamar County, AL; d. 5 o’clock a.m. 27 October 1947 at her home near Vernon, AL) m. James Marshall Sanders on 23 December 1888. Emma, the ninth child of Thomas W. and Emily C. Woods Springfield, is our ancestor. She was a school teacher; she received a third grade Teachers Certificate in 1887 and taught school for a while in an old one-room house called the “Sealy” house, which was located in front of the house George Harrison Sanders built, now called the Asa McCarver house (now owned by Dan and Linda Pennington). Emma’s husband, James Marshall Sanders, built small wooden benches for the children to sit on. She also taught some in her home. Some of her students (ca. 1900-1910) were: Ora Cook (Jordan), Wilma Cook (Davis), Jeff Finch, Audie Finch, Donie(?) Williams, and of course, some of her own children. She taught her husband to read and write after they married. She was a community news correspondent to the local newspaper in Vernon, The Courier. She wrote poems; one of which was set to music and published. Emma was a very religious person with strong convictions. See section on James Marshall Sanders for information on her children.
10.Beulah Springfield (b. 11 June 1870; d. 11 August 1945 in Birmingham, AL) m. John Tate Huffstutler at Vernon. John and Beulah were school teachers. They are buried in the Huffstutler lot, block 14, of Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham, AL. They had five children.
11.Lula Springfield (b. 11 June 1870; d. 17 August 1954 in Birmingham, AL). Lula and Beulah were identical twins. They were born near Columbus, MS, or between Vernon, AL and Columbus, MS. Lula never married. She lived in Birmingham and worked as a milliner (ladies hat maker). She is buried in the Huffstutler lot in Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham, AL, near her twin sister, Beulah Springfield Huffstutler.
12.George Walter Springfield (b. 20 February 1873; d. 3 November 1954 in Alvin, TX) m. Willie Evelyn Dunn (b. 16 January 1881 in Samantha, AL; d. September 1958 in Houston, TX) on 20 February 1895 in Samantha,AL. (Walter was born at what is now referred to as the old Strawbridge place, just north of Vernon, AL. The family had moved there in the summer or fall of 1872, when Walter’s father, Thomas Walker Springfield, received the place through a government grant. The place was later purchased by S. R. Strawbridge, and one of his descendants, Ricky Strawbridge, lives there now.) Walter was a minister; his picture hangs in a church at Beeville, TX (located 26 miles from Refugio, TX). Walter and Willie are buried in South Park Cemetery, located between Alvin and Houston, TX. They had four children.
