Posted by David W. Morgan
on Fri, 18 Sep 1998
Surnames: Posey, Wallace, Berryhill, Barber, Riggs, Smith, Robertson,
Hopwood
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William Andrew Jackson Posey was born 16 June 1846 in Alabama, died as
an outlaw on his 31st birthday in the Creek Nation, Indian Territory. Bill Posey was the youngest son of Benjamin Posey and his wife Eliza Berryhill. Benjamin and Eliza were first cousins and members of the Creek Nation in Georgia. They married in 1824 in Pike County. Their oldest son, Thomas B, born in 1826, was born in Troup County. The Creeks were forced out of Georgia and most relocated to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. But a few of the Creeks managed to stay in Alabama, and were given allotments of 320 acres each. Benjamin and Eliza Posey's land was near present day Fredonia in Chambers County, according to the 1832 census of the Creeks. After a serious clash in 1836, most of the Indians were forcibly removed from Alabama, those that could be caught. Benjamin Posey and his family managed to hang on in Alabama, either in Tallapoosa or Talladega counties, until 1846, when Bill Posey was born. The family was most likely in Nacogdoches County, Texas shortly after his birth, as the oldest daughter of Benjamin and Eliza Posey, Sarah Ann Posey, married Silas H. Barber in Nacogdoches County in December of 1846. The Posey family moved to Limestone County by 1858. Bill Posey married Elizabeth Wallace July 18, 1865. To this union three sons were born, Matthew Andrew Posey, born 11 September 1866, Waco, Texas; Albert Washington Posey, born 7 February 1869, Waco; and Robert A. Posey, born 21 June 1871, Waco. Times were pretty hard during the days of Reconstruction and the era of the carpetbaggers after the Civil War. For whatever reason, Bill Posey turned to a life of crime. He was even accused of hanging his wife's brother, Matthew Alexander Wallace, although he was not brought to trial. And he always denied the hanging to his sons. The Posey gang was mostly involved in stealing horses and mules. The hanging and the stealing took place in 1873 to 1874, when Bill Posey was convicted of stealing two mules and sentenced to five years in prison. He entered prison on July 11, 1874 and escaped from Painters Camp on March 4, 1876. The governor of Texas put a bounty on his head of $500 and requested that he be brought in. A Creek Indian posse finally caught up with him near Eufaula, Indian Territory. Posey was killed in the shootout that occured. His first wife had died by this time, and his three boys were living with him in the I.T. along with his second wife, Susan Riggs. Posey had a son by Susan, Henry A. Posey, born in 1877 near Concharte Town, I.T. After his death the three oldest boys went to live with Lucy Hopwood Smith, a relative through the Posey and Berryhill families. They left after awhile and lived with a Robertson family, missionaries. The Robertson's daughter, Alice, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1920 from Oklahoma, the second woman ever elected to Congress. All four of Bill Posey's sons are on the Final Rolls of Creeks, known as the Dawes Rolls. They are listed as 1/4 Creek Indian. |