The Ryall Family¶

The Ryall family’s connection to the country around Barney begins with Isaiah Ryall and his wife, Rachel Ann Folsom, daughter of William and Elizabeth Folsom. Their sons William Raiford and Charles Wesley appear in the family’s early census households and later handled the Folsom estates. By 1900, their descendants occupied several Barney households. Marriages connected the family to the Vickers, Alderman, and Jones families, and to the Moodys in 1906.

Isaiah Ryall and Rachel Ann Folsom¶

The 1850 Lowndes County census places Isaiah B. Ryall and Rachel Ann in the same household with the young William and Charles. The 1860 Brooks County household continues that family, although its indexed surname and initials appear as J. B. Ryals. William’s later death certificate names his parents as Isaiah Ryall and Rachel Anne Folsom. The agreement between the household records and the certificate supports the connection; the certificate’s parent information was supplied many years after his birth. [1–3]

Mrs. D. H. Purvis’s history of Barney says that Isaiah married one of William Folsom’s daughters and settled on adjoining land. That account places the family near the Folsom homeplace before Barney existed. It does not supply a deed or surveyed boundary for Isaiah’s own property. [4]

Elizabeth Folsom’s will provides the clearest family statement. Dated January 28, 1876, and recorded August 13, 1877, it calls W. R., C. W., A. C., and Ruth Ann Ryall her grandchildren and identifies them as Rachel Ann Ryall’s children. The will, the census households, and the published Folsom genealogy together give strong support for Rachel’s place in William and Elizabeth’s family. [1,5]

The four Ryall children¶

The four children named in Elizabeth’s will provide the starting point for the branches below. The will uses initials for the three men; their expanded names come from the later household records and compiled family history. [1,5,11,12]

William and Edna’s Barney family¶

William Raiford Ryall and Edna Vickers raised their family in Brooks County. Their 1880 Morven household includes John H., Annie E., Hardy V., and Minnie Lee, along with other children. The 1900 Barney household contains younger children, including Sarah, later Sarah Viola Moody. Edna’s death certificate names Henry Vickers and Linnie Bradford as her parents. [2,6]

• Hardy Vickers Ryall appears as a three-year-old son in the 1880 household and as a young farmer heading his own Barney household in 1900.
• John H. Ryall married Libbie Alderman on October 22, 1899. Their marriage adds another Ryall–Alderman connection, separate from Charles Wesley’s marriages. [7]
• Annie Elizabeth “Lizzie” Ryall married Edgar Jelks Jones. Her childhood census placement and her later obituary’s identification of Hardy as her brother connect the Jones household to William and Edna’s family. [6]
• Sarah Viola Ryall married Allen Turner Moody on October 27, 1906. This connects the Ryalls to the man named as Barney’s marshal in the 1911 election report. [8]

These are distinct households within one documented branch. William was Charles Wesley’s brother; William’s children were therefore Charles’s nieces and nephews. The Vickers and Alderman marriages should be followed individually rather than treated as proof that everyone bearing either surname belonged to the same immediate family.

Charles Wesley and the Alderman marriages¶

Charles Wesley Ryall married Ruth G. Alderman on January 25, 1876. The 1880 census shows them in Morven with young children. On February 25, 1886, he married Mary W. Alderman. The marriage returns establish those dates; they take precedence over differing dates in later family compilations. [9]

Ruth and Mary belonged to the William and Catharine Alderman family. Ruth appears there in the 1860 and 1870 census sequence; in 1880 Mary is explicitly listed as a sister of James C. Alderman, with Catharine listed as his mother. The combined records support the conclusion that Charles married two Alderman sisters. [9]

Charles and Mary’s 1900 household was in Barney. By 1910 the family was in Saint Lucie County, Florida, and a May 1913 estate notice identifies Mary as administratrix at Sebastian. That notice establishes that Charles had died before its publication without fixing an exact death date. [9,10]

The Arkansas and Hahira branches¶

Compiled genealogy expands the will’s A. C. Ryall to Asbury Crawford Ryall. The probable later household appears as Asberry C. Ryal or Ryall with wife Virginia in Cane Creek, Lincoln County, Arkansas, in 1900 and 1910. This is a stronger continuation than the older family-history statement that he went to Texas and left no further record, although the full-name identification still relies partly on compiled genealogy. [1,11]

The same genealogy identifies Ruth Ann’s husband as William M. Vickers. The 1900 Hahira household of William and Ruthann Vickers and the 1910 household of William M. and Ann, with overlapping children, support that continuation. The precise marriage date and Ruth’s connection to other Vickers branches require further documentation. [1,12]

Folsom estates and the Rountree connection¶

William R. and Charles W. Ryall administered William Folsom’s estate. Their administration bond was executed July 7, 1873. West Rountree, Green Lawson, and Nicholas M. Reddick were sureties. Those offices and signatures establish estate responsibilities; Elizabeth’s will supplies the separate kinship evidence. [13]

On November 3, 1874, the administrators conveyed Charles W. Ryall all of Land Lot 519 and 120 acres in the southeast corner of Land Lot 491, both in the Ninth District, for $640. The deed was not recorded until June 5, 1891. [14]

Charles also acted as executor of Elizabeth Folsom’s will. On February 5, 1878, he conveyed her Land Lots 493 and 520 in the Ninth District to her daughter Edith Rountree for $1,200. This transaction links the Ryall and Rountree families through the Folsom estate. [15]

Family connections and open questions¶

The central connections are Rachel’s Folsom ancestry, William’s marriage into the Vickers family, Charles’s and John’s Alderman marriages, and the Jones and Moody marriages among William and Edna’s children. The linked household dossiers follow those branches in more detail.

An original marriage record for Isaiah and Rachel, a secure birth order for William Folsom’s daughters, and the title to Isaiah’s adjoining property would strengthen the earliest generation. Compiled birth dates conflict, so no exact chronology of the daughters’ births is asserted here. The Arkansas and Hahira branches also need fuller record-by-record work before every descendant can be joined with equal confidence.

Sources¶

1. Elizabeth Knowles Folsom, Genealogy of the Folsom Family, revised 1938, volume 2, pages 867–869, digitized volume; compiled Ryall family group. These are genealogical compilations, not original marriage or birth records.
2. 1850 U.S. census, Lowndes County, Isaiah B. Ryall household, dwelling and family 837; 1860 U.S. census, Brooks County, household indexed as J. B. Ryals and Rachel; 1880 U.S. census, Morven, William and Edna Ryall household. Record summaries and distinctions appear in the William Ryall household dossier.
3. Georgia death certificate, W. R. Ryall, November 11, 1933, naming Isaiah Ryall and Rachel Anne Folsom, Ancestry record 817638. The certificate’s date is November 11, not the earlier transcription of April 11.
4. Mrs. D. H. Purvis, “Barney,” in Folks Huxford, The History of Brooks County, Georgia, 1858–1948, page 388, catalogued volume.
5. Elizabeth Folsom’s will, January 28, 1876, recorded August 13, 1877, Brooks County Record of Wills, Book 1, pages 126–128: FamilySearch image; Ancestry probate record.
6. 1900 U.S. census, Barney, William R. Ryall household, Ancestry record 52873044; Edna Ryall’s 1938 death certificate and the family records cited in the William and Edna dossier; Annie’s 1955 obituary, cited in the Edgar and Annie Jones dossier.
7. Brooks County marriage record, J. H. Ryall and Libbie Alderman, October 22, 1899, Ancestry record 126051.
8. Brooks County marriage record, Allen T. Moody and Sarah Ryall, October 27, 1906, Ancestry record 126585; census and municipal sources in the Moody dossier.
9. Brooks County marriage returns, Charles W. Ryall and Ruth G. Alderman, January 25, 1876, and C. W. Ryal and Mary W. Alderman, February 25, 1886; Alderman census households, 1860–1880, cited in the Charles Wesley dossier; 1880 Ryall census; 1900 Ryall census.
10. 1910 U.S. census, Saint Lucie County, Florida, Ancestry record 3094839; Fort Pierce Tribune, May 30, 1913, page 7, estate notice, original newspaper page.
11. Arkansas census households of Asberry C. Ryal/Ryall: 1900 and 1910.
12. Hahira-area Vickers households: 1900 William and Ruthann and 1910 William M. and Ann.
13. William Folsom estate administration bond, July 7, 1873, recorded August 12, Ancestry probate record; September 13, 1873 estate-land notice.
14. Brooks County Deed Book K, pages 268–269, William R. and Charles W. Ryall, administrators, to Charles W. Ryall, November 3, 1874, recorded June 5, 1891, FamilySearch film, image 143.
15. Brooks County Deed Book E, pages 469–470, Charles W. Ryall, executor, to Edith Rountree, February 5, 1878, recorded April 14, 1880, FamilySearch film, image 274.