Skip to content

James McLeod

Back to the Early History Profiles index

Evidence assessment

Supplemental early Lowndes settler, census-index anchored by 1830; future-Brooks institutional placement secondary-supported. The reported 1826 arrival remains unverified.

Evidence

The prior roster audit reported no census household for James McLeod. A fresh Ancestry search located an indexed James McLeod household in Lowndes County in 1830. This corrects the earlier search gap, but the original schedule has not yet been opened and transcribed. The index establishes a usable locator, not a complete identity chain.

Folks Huxford's Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church narrative identifies James and Jemima McLeod in the charter-member group, reports that James was commissioned a lieutenant in the 659th District in 1827, and says he was licensed to preach in 1836. These claims place him in institutions associated with the future-Brooks area, but the underlying commission and original church minutes remain uninspected.

No secure marriage, deed, probate, later census, or death record was located that identifies Jemima's maiden name, names children, or distinguishes this James from other McLeods. The Lowndes 1830 index and the Huxford institutional narrative are mutually compatible, but they do not by themselves prove that every claim concerns one man.

Family and identity controls

  • Jemima as wife: secondary-supported by the church narrative.
  • 1830 household head and the church/militia figure: strong possible same man, pending the original census and another dated identity bridge.
  • No parents or children are established.

Barney relevance

The reported 659th District commission and Bethlehem affiliation provide a secondary-supported future-Brooks connection. No Barney-townsite residence or descendant bridge is proved.

Remaining targets

Inspect the 1830 schedule; locate the 1827 commission; seek original Bethlehem minutes, Lowndes deeds and tax digests, marriage and probate records, and later residence or death evidence.

Sources

  1. Ancestry, 1830 United States Federal Census index, James McLeod, Lowndes County, Georgia, accessed October 4, 2026.
  2. Folks Huxford, History of Brooks County, Georgia (1948), pp. 29–34, 56, 309–311.
  3. Early-settler master audit, ES-041, preserved local research.