Naming Allen Waits' Father and Half-brother

By Wally Waits

©2016

There is no known documentation that directly ties Allen Waits with his father.  The previous blog article http://www.waitsfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ identifies two brothers.  This article identifies a half-brother and establishes a link with a proposed father.

Allen lived in close proximity with another Waits between 1830 and 1832.  This was after Allen migrated into Jackson County, Alabama where Allen purchased 153 acres of land from the federal government on 10 May 1831.  This was a pre-emption purchase.

The land office in Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama was only open about once every ten days or so.  During the time Allen purchased his land, deeds were issued on May 2^nd, May 10^th, May 20^th, June 1^st and June 15^th.  Allen purchased his land on May 10^th and a James Waits acquired 80 acres on 1 Jun 1831.  That delay allowed Allen to definitely acquire his property.  Then James was able to identify property near Allen’s land.  The land James chose was adjacent to Allen’s southern boundary.  It seems likely the purchasing of adjacent property implies that a relationship existed between the two.

Just a year earlier, James was a 30 to 40 year old resident of Conecuh County, Alabama in southern Alabama.  He was living in the vicinity where Allen’s presumed brother, Joseph, resided.  James left south Alabama where he was living about July, 1830 and traveled to northeast Alabama where he purchased land adjacent to Allen less than a year later.  If Allen had a strong bond with James, one strong enough to prompt James to migrate 200 miles in order to live close to Allen, this relationship has to be important.

I believe that Allen and James Waits were half-brothers.  They could not be full brothers because James, but not Allen, is listed on an 1855 application for pension benefits filed by descendants of Samuel Waits, a Revolutionary War veteran.  James was listed as the eldest of eight children by the veteran’s wife. 

This list in the pension application mentions no children born before 1796.  Yet, the 1790 and 1800 Newberry County, South Carolina census clearly lists earlier children in Samuel’s household.

Since Allen was born about 1790, he has to be a child of the first marriage.  Therefore, Allen and James have to be half-brothers.  This logic would make the Samuel Waits, the Revolutionary War veteran, Allen’s father.