The stresses of the War between the states were beginning to be felt by many families. Tennessee had a mixture of families who

The Bobbitt Family In America

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The stresses of the War between the states were beginning to be felt by many families. Tennessee had a mixture of families who were sympathetic to the south and several families who hoped to avoid the war by moving into the north. Industrial areas of Illinois offered jobs and high pay to those who were willing to help make the implements of war for the Union armies.

By 1860 1 know of only two Isaac Bobbitt families. One in Tennessee and one in Indiana. The name was not common among the Bobbitt families and is of course Biblical origin. In the 1860 census records of Madison County, Tennessee is the following record. I am sure this is the family of Isaac Bobbitt and his wife, Hasty Bobbitt, and their son, Benjamin Bobbitt are missing from this record. Either they were visiting with relatives in Gibson County or were absent for some other reasons. The woman in this family is Jane Bobbitt, a sister of Isaac Bobbitt.

Family # 1232: 1860

Isaac Bobbitt 36 (1824) South Carolina

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Jane Bobbitt 30 (1830) Tennessee

Mary Bobbitt 12 (1848) Tennessee

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Henry Bobbitt 9 (1851) Tennessee

Robert Bobbitt 7 (1853) Tennessee

Isaac Bobbitt 5 (1855) Tennessee

Ben Bobbitt of Des Plaines, Illinois, a descendant gives us this account of the family of Isaac and Hasty Bobbitt.

"Great grandfather's name was Isaac Bobbitt and he died in 1861 or 1862. 1 remember hearing that he only lived six months after they moved to Illinois.

"What my great-grandfather's financial worth was when he left Tennessee, I do not know. They did leave behind a man, a woman, and two children who were slaves."

There are today numerous black Bobbitt families in Jackson, Tennessee. Many are descended from Carter Bobbitt, a loyal slave who fought with Lieutenant John Richard Bobbitt for the confederate cause. Both were later pensioned by the state of Tennessee.

"I am sure that great grandfather was a farmer. It is said that he got tired of the civil war being faught on his land. My grandfather could remember the southern cavalry come through the area exchanging their tired horses for fresh ones.

"When I was young we returned to the area to see what we could find out about the family. No one seemed to know much and there still seemed some resentment over the civil war."

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