SIXTH GENERATION

40. John Cloud ⁽¹⁾ was born on 5 Feb 1740 in Cumberland KY. He died on 1 Feb 1840 in Winn Parish, LA. He has reference number F003. Cloud, John F003

1740: Born in Edinburgh, Scotland (or New Light Creek, N.C.) on February 5. Came to America with his parents; landed at Jamestown, Va., and settled on Cherokee Strip (or Pond), N.C. (He later attested that he was born on New Light Creek, N.C.)

1776: Volunteered in Militia of South Carolina under General Williams. At this time he resided in what was then called Wilkes County, State of Georgia. The tour of duty lasted about one month. Then he went on another tour of duty from White Hall in S.C. to Rayborn's Creek. Colonel Thompson and Col. Richardson served in this unit. In the same winter or early next spring he enlisted under Capt. Lenn Marbary for 18 months. He was living in Ga. when he enlisted this time. The Lieutenant of this Company was Hatton Middleton. He served out this enlistment and received a discharge from Capt. Marbary, which he left in his father's house in Ga. and the house was burned by the Tories. During this tour he was stationed in a Fort on Ogechee? River. After discharge he returned home where all were warned to protect themselves from Tories and Indians.

1777: Drafted in the Militia of Georgia and served under Capt. Duley. Tour lasted two weeks. During this tour he marched from Wilkes County, Ga. to the Cherokee towns. The party killed some Indians and burned two Indian towns. After this tour he enlisted under Capt. John Steward of Calvary to scout against Indians in the upper part of Georgia. He served 18 months under this enlistment. He believed Capt. Steward was commissioned by Congress or Gen. Washington. He was stationed during this tour on Broad River in Ga. for nearly the whole time but was sent to FT. Barrington on the Uttanabald River, at 'Cat Head' about 3 miles from Ft. Barrington, Colonel Scriven joined the command and they marched up the Uttanabald? River on a scout against the Tories. He was discharged and this paper burned with the other one at his father's house.

1778: He then went over into S.C. and volunteered under Capt.Wilson. Gen Williamson was the Commander. This tour lasted the whole summer or 6 months. The command marched to St. Mary's to attack St. Augustin. They lay for sometime and returned and were dismissed. His next tour was in the Militia of Georgia as a volunteer under Gen. Clark He marched from S.C. to Carr's Fort in Wilkes County, Ga. The troups had to run off in the night and come back in the night. The tour lasted a few days. His next tour was under Gen. Clark also. He marched from Wilkes County to Auyes? County. Tour lasted one week, when a Colonel Cruger of the British Army came with a regiment? and drove off the Americans. On his next tour he engaged in no civil occupations or pursuits until after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. He served as a Private the whole time and in no other rank.
(This information is from a sworn affidavit on Aug. 27, 1833, in Natchitoches Parish, La. when he was applying for a veteran's pension. He said he was "93 years old on the 5th of Feb. 1833." He also swore that the time period was"more than two years and that during this time he was not employed in any other civil pursuit," and that he was born "in North Carolina on a creek called New Light Creek and in the year 1740." Also, "I have lived since the War of the Revolution in the states of Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Louisiana." These affidavits are all signed with "His X" by his name, indicating either that John Cloud did not write, or, perhaps, that at age 93, he no longer was able to see to write. However, if the tradition which holds that he could still shoot squirrels at age 100 is correct, then he should also be able to write his name.

His sworn statements were attested to by G.B. Blanc, a clergyman, and Henry Levornworth, both residing in Natchitoches Parish at that time. Records then show that on a Certificate of Pension issued Nov. 15, 1833, he received $240.

According to family tradition, John Cloud also fought as an English soldier under General Wolfe at the siege of Quebec, and kept as a souvenir a piece of the rock on which the general died after his victory over the French. They also say that he fought at Bunker Hill and that his commission was signed by General George Washington. After his death the commission passed into the hands of his son Noah, who eventually gave it to the heirs of his sister, Annie Cloud Villars, then living in Robeline, La.

1779: After the war the three brothers went to South Carolina and separated. Mollie Cloud Elkins said, "when they got to the line of Tennessee they separated. William and Noah went to N.C. while John went to S.C." She also said he "entered 400 acres of land on Brier Creek, what is known as Cherokee Pond, S.C." He married Elizabeth (Betsy) Lacy, a Cherokee Indian, by the Cumberland River in Kentucky. Their first son, William, was born in S.C. (William married twice; first, to Rebecca Roe, and then to Betsey Johnson. U.S. Land records show that he was granted a land patent in Sec. 1, T13N, R4W, East of Dugdemona Bayou in 1839. He had a daughter named Melissa Cloud who was the great, great, grandmother of Elgie Rogers, husband of Barbara Evans. William died during the Civil War from typhoid fever.)

1794: A John Cloud is listed as a first settler in Monroe, La. with "4460 A. League and Labor," also with 2200 A. west of Monroe (Flat Creek) 20 miles south of Monroe.

1800: Noah, their second son, Jeremiah, their third, and Ann, were born in Kentucky.

1808: William, Noah, Jeremiah, and Ann Cloud were living in Livingston County, KY. According to an affidavit in Natchitoches Parish in 1854, "John lived in Livingston County, Kentucky with his wife Betsy and children, William, Noah, Jeremiah, and Ann." According to Delilah Cloud they "lived on the Cumberland Mts., came by river to Vixburg, did not like there, came on to Natches, from there to Alexandria, La., did not like there, on to Texas, did not like there, on to Ark did not like, down to Monroe, La., lived there a no of years." She also wrote, "there were 4 boys and 4 girls of the Clouds, vast heards of cattle all over the woods, made a cheese each day the Negro Cris would hitch a wagon and go to Alexandria to sell cheese, hides, etc."

1824: Daughter, Annie, was born Feb. 7. Apparently her mother, Betsy died at this time. An affidavit in Natchitoches Parish in 1854 states that they knew "John about 30 years ago living in Parish of Ouachita, La., that wife was dead at that time. Their other children, after Noah, were:
Frank.
Lee, who died of pneumonia, unmarried.
Jeremiah, (Jerry) who is said to have fought with his father at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, then moved to Calcasieu Parish, La.
Ruben.
Minerva; married a Cummings.
Annie; married Valentine McDaniel, a U.S. soldier stationed at Ft. Natchitoches; then later married John Anders; later married Marshall Villars. They lived in Robeline, La.; died 3 Aug. 1899.

The family moved to Gansville, La. in Winn Parish to what is known as the Clifton Place across Saline Bayou. They "had many sheep and cattle."

1830: La. Census lists: "Cloud, John; Natchitoches Parish." The age bracket is "90-100."

1833: John, aged 93, applied for a veteran's pension in Natchitoches Parish (File No. S-30935, V.A. Bureau, Washington, D.C.). The Certificate of Pension was issued 15 Nov. 1833, and sent to Gen. H. Leavenworth, Ft. Jessup, La. The pension was for "$80/annum." He received $240 at that time, "arrears to 4th of Sept. $200, Semi-annual allow. $40."

1835: Davy Crockett from Tennessee and Ben Milam of Ky. heard the call of Sam Houston for troops to defend the Alamo against Mexican General Santa Anna, and set out to meet Houston at the Prothro Mansion near St. Maurice in Winn Parish. According to family tradition, the two fighters stopped off to visit with their friend John Cloud, for a week of hunting raccoons, to be used for, among other things, coon skin caps. A young relative, Daniel Cloud who was a lawyer practicing in Natchitoches took a rifle inherited from his father and is believed to have died with Crockett, Jim Bowie, Milam, William B. Travis, and others who perished at the Alamo on March 6, 1836. The last contact between John Cloud and his friend Davy Crockett was a letter mailed by Crockett from St. Augustine, Texas, dated January 9, 1836.

1840: Census of Louisiana lists: "John and Noah Cloud, Natchitoches Parish." According to family tradition, John Cloud was 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighed 200 pounds, and had one black and one blue eye. He "never wore glasses, could see to shoot a single ball rifle and kill a squirrel out of the tops of those long leaf pines when he was nearly 100 years old." He lived with his son, Noah, near Cloud Crossing on Saline Creek and died four days before his 100th birthday. He is buried south of Gansville, La. on the Cloud homesite (Sec. 10, T13N, R4), owned in 1970 by John M. Maxwell. Maxwell purchased the land from Cornelius Rushing, a great-grandson of the original owner, who boutht the site from the mcGinty family. John Cloud was the only Revolutionary War Veteran known to be buried in Winn Parish. The D.A.R. erected a monument at his grave. The tombstone is inscribed: John Cloud, N.Carolina Pvt., Ga. Troup; Feb 5, 1740, Feb 1, 1840. There are seven grave markers in this small cemetery, including another monument to Dr. T.A. Wilkinson (1886) and Elisha O. McGinty (1884).

1854: His four children: William lived in Bienville Parish; Noah, Jeremiah, and Ann lived in Natchitoches Parish.

"It is positively asserted in the family that John Cloud's commission as a soldier of the Revolution was signed by George Washington, himself. This commission, after the death of John Cloud, the soldier of the Revolution, passed into the hands of his son Noah Cloud, who eventually gave it to heirs of his sister Annie Cloud Villars, daughter of the deceased soldier, then living in Robeline, Louisiana....According to a tradition piously preserved in the Cloud family in Louisiana, John Cloud, the Revolutionary soldier, was six feet, two inched tall, weighted two hundred pounds and had one of his eyes blue and the other eye black. The family also asserts the fact that he had fought as an English soldier under General Wolfe, at the siege of Quebec and kept as a souvenir a piece of the rock on which General Wolfe died, after his victory over the French. It is also asserted that he fought at Bunker Hill and that after the Revolution he came to South Carolina and entered 400 acres on Brier Creek, at what is now known as Cherokee Pond, SC. It is said that his son Noah Cloud was born there. The family traditions assert that John Cloud, the Revolutionary soldier married Elizabeth "Betsy" Lacy, the Cherokee Indian girl, near the Cumberland River in Kentucky, and later moved with her and family to Vicksburg, Miss. And Natchez, Miss., then to Alexandria, Louisiana, then to Texas, then to Arkansas, then to West Monroe, Louisiana where he lived for a number of years - then to Gaineville, Louisiana where he had many sheep and cattle - then to what is known as Clifton Place, across Saline Bayou, near the Cloud Crossing, in Winn Parish, Louisiana, and eventually to Natchitoches Parish where he died in 1840." (Source: John Cloud, Calvin, La (Winn Parish Historical Coll) 10/76 by John Price)

In documents filed in Natchitoches Parish on March 20, 1854, Clerk of Court, William P. Morrow attested "that satisfactory evidence has been exhibited to me...that John Cloud was a Pensioner of the Unites States at the rate of Eight dollars per month; was a resident of the Parish of Natchitoches...and died in the year 1840 between the 25th of January and the 1st of February; that he left no widow, but children, whose names are William Cloud, Noah Cloud, Jeremiah Cloud and Ann Cloud.

Samuel Williams, a resident of Bienville Parish, aged fifty six years, appeared before Frederick Williams, Justice of the Peace in Natchitoches, and attested "that he first became acquainted with John Cloud, deceased, the father of William Cloud, Noah Cloud, Jeremiah Cloud and Ann Cloud in Livingston County, in the State of Kentucky, in the year 1808, became personally acquainted with him, his wife Betsy Cloud, all of their children above named, and was intimately acquainted with the deceased John Cloud and his wife Betsy Cloud from that time up to the time of their deaths. He always understood and considered them man and wife...that they always recognized and called the persons named before...children of theirs, and the children called them Father and Mother. He further states that during the life time of the parents...he was in the habit of spending a good deal of his time at their house. Witness further swears that he is neither directly or indirectly interested in whatever may be received from Government by the applicants."

At this same hearing, Zepheniah Liles, a resident of the Parish of Winn, State of Louisiana, aged fifty six years attested that he "first became acquainted with John Cloud, deceased, Father of William, Noah, Jeremiah, and Ann about 30 years ago, in the Parish of Ouchita, Louisiana; that the wife of John Cloud was dead at the time; that he also became acquainted with the children, William, Noah, Jeremiah, and Ann Cloud at the time; was intimately acquainted with the Father John Cloud up to the time of hid death in January 1840; that John Cloud in speaking of William, Noah, Jeremiah, and Ann Cloud, spoke of them as his children, and they spoke of him as their Father..."

41. Elizabeth (Betsy) Lacy ⁽¹⁾ has reference number F004. She was a Cherokee Indian from Kentucky. She married John Cloud and had eight children. Children were:

i. Jeremiah Cloud⁽¹⁾ was born in 1789. He has reference number E063. Some sources say that "Jeremiah Cloud, the oldest child of John Cloud went with his father and both fought in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. John went back to the Kentucky area and Jeremiah left New Orleans and settled in St. Landry Parish (Thus Jeremiah was in Louisiana before his father.) St. Landry would later be divided into Imperial Calcasieu and Allen Parishes...Descendants of Jeremiah Cloud now reside in Rapides, Allen, Vernon, Beuregard, and Calcasieu Parishes and in southeast Texas Counties. " The 1860 Rapides parish Census in household #224 lists Jeremiah Cloud, 71 years old. (Natchitoches Genealogist, October, 1998) He apparently died in Rapides Parish. (in F003)

Rapides Parish, Pensioners in War 1812: 17th, 18th, and 19th Regiment consolidated (Avoyelles, Rapides, natchitoches and Ouachita Parish, LA. Among the pensioners listed: Jeremiah Cloud.

"Jeremiah Cloud; Pvt. in Capt. Wood's La Militia; Bounty Land #84380-40-50 & 65886-120-55
He served in Capt. Wood's Co. from 14 Jan to 7 April 1815. In his first application for bounty land, dated 15 Dec., 1852, Jeremiah, aged about 60 years, and a resident of Natchitoches Parish, LA, states that he was drafted in Monroe, Ouchita Parish, LA 'sometime in the fall or winter of 1814 but does not recollect for what length of time, and continued in actual service in said war for about five or six months, and was honorably discharged at the town of Baton Rouge on or about the mongh of February or March, 1815.' He signs with his mark, declaring that he cannot write his name. This claim netted jeremiah 40 acres of bounty land.

"On 25 June 1855, Jeremiah applied to take advantage of more liberal allowances provided in a new Act of 3 March 1855 by Congress. At this time, he declares himself a resident of Rapides Parish LA and is getting younger, for his age is given here as 59 years of age. He says that the warrant for the 40 ares he was granted previously, he has legally transferred and it is therefore not within his power now to return it. Details of his military service are substantially the same as before the the mark of Jeremiah is witnessed by Joseph Chapman and Abraham Marler."

US Census 1860 Rapides Parish, LA House #224: Cloud, Jeremiah, White Male 71, born in LA.

(From Notes of James P. Brewton)
ii. Virginia Ann (Jennie) Cloud⁽¹⁾ was born on 7 Feb 1794 in KY. She died on 3 Aug 1860. She has reference number E019.
iii. Ruben Cloud⁽¹⁾ was born in 1798. He has reference number E017.
20 iv. Noah, Sr. Cloud.
v. William M. Cloud⁽¹⁾ was born in 1804. He died before Dec 1862 in Bienville Parish, LA. He was buried in Jackson Parish, LA. He has reference number E016.
1804: William Cloud, second son of John Cloud and Elizabeth Lacy, was born.

1828: He married Rebecca Jane Roe on Jan 11. Daughter, Malissa, was born in 1828.

1829: Son, Samuel Noah born May 8.

1830: Daughter, Mary Ann born.

1937: He married Elizabeth Johnson.

1838: William Cloud and Noah Cloud are listed in EARLY LAND BUYERS IN WINN PARISH as among the "first land entries made in the eastern townships (Natchitoches District)" in 1838.

1841: Daughter Martha born.
1842: Son John born in Dec.
1843: Son Robert born.
1844: Son Newton born.
1848: Son James born.

1850: U.S. Census of Bienville Parish La, Western Dist. Sep 30, 1850:
Cloud, William W M 46 Ala Farmer
Elizabeth W F 25 Miss
Samuel W M 18 La
Martha W F 9 La
John W M 8 La
Robert W M 7 La
Newton W M 5 La
James W M 2 La

1851: Son Heuy C. born.
1852: Son Francis Marion born.
1853-60: Daughters Nancy J. and Elizabeth born.

1862: William died in Bienville Parish of typhoid fever during the Civil War, as did his second wife, Betsy Johnson, and other family members.

1863: Jan. 19; an appraisal of William Cloud's estate includes: 480 acres land in T15N, R6W : $2,400; 1 mare and colt: 100; 1 Brown Horse, 7 yrs old: 100; 1 pony 5 yrs: 75; 1filly 5 yrs: 50; 1 mare 15 yrs: 50; 1 brown colt 3 yrs: 20; (total $2,795.00) 45 head cattle: 450; 30 head pork hogs: 450; 70 head stock 210; cash in hand 505; 350 bushels corn 350; 1500 lbs fodder 15; 1 set smith tools 25; slot farming tools 25; 1 yoke oxen 60; 1 small wagon 20; 1 double barrel shot gun 25; 1 side leather 25; household & kitchen 50; Slaves: Sandford a man of dark complexion aged 28: 1500.00; Charles, age 26: 1200; Mariah a woman of yellow complexion, 35 years, her children Harris, 8, Lee 6, Jimmy 4, and Alfred 2, all of yellow complexion: 2400; Catharin a girl of yellow complexion 10 yrs: 600; Ann, a woman of dark complexion age 25, and her two children, Criss a boy of dark complexion 6 yrs old and Mise, a boy of dark complexion 2 yrs: 1800. Total estate: $12, 552.20

1864: Apparently Elizabeth died in 1863. A second appraisal was made by W.F. Gray on Feb 12 "of all the property both real and personal rights and credits composeing and belonging to the Estates and Successions of William Cloud and Elizabeth Cloud, his wife, late of said Parish, deceased...."

This appraisal lists: 400 acres of land: 1600; 1 slave a man named Charles , black complexion age 22 years: 1500; 1 slave a man name Sanfort, black complexion age 30: 2000; 1 lot cotton 250; 1 bay mare: 150; 1 bay horse 200; Recapitulation: Land: 1600; Negroes: 3500; Perishable Property: 600; Total estate: $5,700.00

Another document dated Feb 20, 1864 notes that R.F. Gray has been "appointed by the district court as administrator of the succession of William cloud and his wife Elizabeth Cloud deceased." W.F. Gray, F.C. Gray, and Henry Gray are his "securities." They acknowledge that they hold and owe $7,125 in Sparta Parish to the estate. The final appraisal was filed April 6, 1864 (see copy in file). In addition to the properties listed on Feb. 12, other property totaling 4,396.50 is listed.

On May 28, 1864, Samuel N. Cloud filed a document on "The Estate of Wm. and Elizabeth Cloud" showing charges beginning in Feb. 1863 of materials for clothing for the children, sewing charges, 100 bushels of corn ($200), charges for "my services from Feb 25, 1863 to March
24, 1864: $300. Total: $879.00. "received payment of the above account payment in full May 28, A.D. 1864." Signed: S.N. Cloud. (Apparently this is Samuel Noah Cloud, born 1829 -- D014)
vi. Minerva Cloud⁽¹⁾ was born in 1806. She has reference number E018.
vii. Frank Cloud⁽¹⁾ was born in 1806. He has reference number E013.
viii. Lee Cloud⁽¹⁾ was born in 1808. He has reference number E014. Lee never married, and died young of pneumonia.