Jeremiah Jeffrey was in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Territory before 1818. There he was one of the organizing members of the Bethel Baptist Church, which was organized on 31 January 1818 in Jeremiah's home "on the side of the Black Warrier River near the falls". Jeremiah's children are reported to have been born in Tennessee. That puts the family in Tennessee from 1795 through at least 1816. The families of Jesse and John B. Jeffrey were apparently in Alabama from 1831 through 1842 and in Mississippi by 1842.
Jeremiah Jeffrey's wife was named Sarah. Her date of birth is unknown. She died in April 1850. Judging from the name given her third daughter, she may have been from the Bishop family.
Jeremiah Jeffrey's wife was probably a widow when they married. When Jeremiah's son Matthew died, his estate was divided among many heirs. In the Caldwell County Probate Book G, page 143, J. W. Jeffrey as administrator "alleges that Matthew Jeffrey died intestate on April 29, 1881, in Caldwell County, Texas, without issue or surviving wife, father or mother, leaving as his heirs-at-law his brothers and sisters and their descendants, to wit: 1st John B. Jeffrey, a brother of the deceased, a resident of Williamson County, Texas" and a list of over one hundred other heirs. At the end, "administrator further states that Stephen, John and Jesse Russell [previously named] are children of Lydia Russell, deceased, a half sister to intestate. That he thinks said Lydia had other children, whose names and the number of the same are unknown to administrator. Nor does he know whether they are living or dead."
C. Judson Shook cites a letter from Lula (Mrs. C. B.) Jeffrey Box 596, Devers, Texas, 77538, which says that Jeremiah Jeffrey married "Sarah Bishop, a widow with two small daughters". One of those small daughters could have been Lydia who married Henry Russell and left children named Stephen, John and Jesse Russell. Before James Jeffrey moved to Arkansas, he sold his land in Alabama to Stephen B. Russell.
The same letter says Sarah Bishop was a sister to Abigail Bishop who married Nathan Roberts, [Nathan and Abigail were the grandparents of] Brother Bruce Roberts. Nathan Roberts was one of the minister founders of the Baptist Church of Bethel at Jeremiah Jeffrey's house in Alabama in 1818. Several Jeffrey descendants have been named Nathan Roberts.
In 1850, Jeremiah was living in Tippah County, Mississippi, with his son Matthew. Nearby were the families of his children John B. Jeffrey, Jesse Jeffrey, and Sarah Jeffrey Cole with her husband, Richard Cole.
The Autobiography of Richard Cole reports that
In the fall of 1851, my brother-in-law, Matthew Jeffrey, left Tippah County, Mississippi, and started to Texas with his helpless father and three negro women and their children, himself and his father being the only whites of the family, his mother having died in April, 1850. His youngest brother, John, and family and another man named White and his family traveled in company with him.Three of Jeremiah and Sarah Jeffrey's children were already in Caldwell County, Texas, in 1850, with their extended families. James and Mary Ann Jeffrey were there with eleven children. They are family #43 in the census. Their eldest daughter, Margaret Cynthia, and her husband Daniel Reed are next door with their three oldest children (#42). Daughter Catherine and her husband Warren Jowers are in the Jeffrey household (#43). Judging from the birthplaces of their children, James and Mary Ann lived in Alabama from 1822 to 1840. They were in Arkansas from 1842 until about 1845, and in Texas about 1847.
The old man Jeffrey was very anxious to come to Texas. If he could get to Texas and his sons that were with him, then all his living children would be in Texas near together except one and he expected him soon to follow. But he was not suffered to realize his hope and great desire of meeting his children in Texas, some of whom he had not seen for many years. Somewhere in Arkansas, I don't recollect what county, he said to his son Matthew, that he felt tired and desired him to stop and let him rest till the next day, which was done. They stopped near a house on the road where they could get forage for their teams, but before the next day had dawned the old man had gone to his long rest. I suppose that he was just worn out and died of old age, as he complained not of sickness or pain. This I learned from his son, Matthew, together with all that I know of their travels on the road.
The man White that was with them was a workman and had his tools with him and made the old gentleman's coffin where they were stopped. The man where they were stopped made his servant assist in digging the grave in his own garden where lay some of his own near relatives, and where he said he expected to be laid himself.
I don't know that anything more out of the common course of travel occured with them on their way. Matthew and John and family got to my house in Cherokee County, I reckon, about the 1st day of November. White had parted from them before they got to my house and turned his course to some other county.
With the proceeds of my little crop in Cherokee County and the work I had done, I was enabled to get my wagon back and buy a yoke of oxen and I managed matters and got ready as quick as I could, then we all moved on to Caldwell County. Got to Abram Roberts, on the west side of Tinney's Creek December 13th, 1851.
Also in Caldwell County in 1850 was Jeremiah Jeffrey's daughter, Abigail and her husband John McWhirter Fleming with their children (#47). The Flemings' eldest son, William, and his wife Perlina [Paulina?] are there(#41) with their two eldest children. John and Abigail's daughter, Mariah Catherine, and her husband Oliver Bishop are still in the John Fleming household (#47). Son Jeremiah W. Fleming is living with his sister, Cynthia C. Fleming and her husband Benjamin Shipp and infant daughter Sarah F. (#49).
Jeremiah Jeffrey's daughter Cynthia and her family are also found within nine consecutive households in the 1850 census of Caldwell County (#48). Cynthia married Abraham Roberts in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama on 3 September 1828. Abraham Roberts was one of 13 siblings who came to Texas. Their son Caldwell is reported to have been the first child born in the newly formed county of Caldwell. Cynthia was dead by 1853. Abraham Roberts married second Lucinda Powers Ellison. She died 16 January 1866. He then married Mrs. Delores Beason on 30 April 1867. They moved to Kimble County.
| in 1850 they lived in | |||
| James JEFFREY | (1795-1860) | m Mary Ann Hellums | Caldwell County, Texas |
| Abigail JEFFREY | (1798-abt 1862) | m John McWhirter Fleming | Caldwell County, Texas |
| Matthew JEFFREY | (1800-1881) | Tippah County, Miss. | |
| Jesse JEFFREY | (1806-bef 1870) | m Annie Hellums | Caldwell County, Texas |
| Cynthia JEFFREY | (1809-1849) | m Abraham Roberts | Caldwell County, Texas |
| Sarah Bishop JEFFREY | (1814-1869) | m Richard Cole | Tippah County, Miss. |
| John B. JEFFREY | (1815-1897) | m Eleanor Davis | Tippah County, Miss. |
| John Helm [Hellums] JEFFREY | (1822-1884) | m Harriet Rachel Fleming |
| Jeremiah C. JEFFREY | (1826-1870/1880) | m Manerva Franks |
| Margaret Cynthia JEFFREY | (1828-1899) | m Daniel Reed 1845 |
| William H. JEFFREY | (1829-) | |
| Melinda Catherine JEFFREY | (1831-1871) | m Warren Jowers 1849 |
| James M. JEFFREY | (1833-1862) | m Caroline May |
| Sarah M. JEFFREY | (1835-1913) | m John Thomas Stoker |
| Mary Adaline JEFFREY | (1838-1930) | |
| Joseph Baker JEFFREY | (1840-1910) | |
| Jesse White JEFFREY | (1842-1919) | |
| Isaac Perkins JEFFREY | (1843-1864) | |
| Nathaniel R. JEFFREY | (1846-1926) | |
| Jacob Franklin JEFFREY | (1848-1885) | |
| Martha Elizabeth JEFFREY | (1851-1924) |
| William Jeb FLEMING | (b 1824) |
| Sarah J FLEMING | (b 1825) |
| Mary A FLEMING | (b 1827) |
| Jeremiah W FLEMING | (b 1828) |
| Cyntha C FLEMING | (b 1829) |
| Mariah Catherine FLEMING | (b 1831) |
| John McWhirter FLEMING JR. | (b 1833) |
| Martha E. FLEMING | (b 1835) |
| Robert Franklin FLEMING | (b 1836) |
Matthew Jeffrey died without issue. The probation of his estate named over 100 heirs.
| Lucinda JEFFREY | (b 1829) |
| John Rufus JEFFREY | (b 1831) |
| Jeremiah F. JEFFREY | (b 1833) |
| Matthew B. JEFFREY | (b 1835) |
| William H. JEFFREY | (b 1838) |
| Jesse Thomas JEFFREY | (b 1840) |
| James Pruett JEFFREY | (b 1843) |
| Mary Ann JEFFREY | (b 1845) |
| Abigail JEFFREY | (b 1848) |
| Egbert Meadows JEFFREY | (b 1849) |
| Sarah Margaret JEFFREY | (b 1851) |
| Aaron Burleson JEFFREY | (b 1854) |
| Julia Ann JEFFREY | (b 1857) |
| Sarah ROBERTS | (b 1830) |
| Perlina ROBERTS | (b 1833) |
| Martha J ROBERTS | (b 1835) |
| Mary C. ROBERTS | (b 1837) |
| James ROBERTS | (b 1838) |
| William ROBERTS | (b 1840) |
| Daniel ROBERTS | (b 1842) |
| Thomas ROBERTS | (b 1843) |
| Caldwell ROBERTS | (b 1848) |
| Sarah Malissa COLE | (b 1831) |
| Cynthia Caroline COLE | (b 1833) |
| Mary Frances COLE | (b 1836) |
| George Washington COLE | (b 1838) |
| Richard COLE | (b 1841) |
| John Bishop COLE | (b 1843) |
| Lucinda Katharine COLE | (b 1845) |
| Eliza Ann COLE | (b 1848) |
| Jeremiah Jeffrey COLE | (b 1851) |
| James Buchanan COLE | (b 1857) |
| John J. JEFFREY | (b 1838) |
| Serena JEFFREY | (b 1839) |
| Sarah F. JEFFREY | (b 1841) |
| Martha JEFFREY | (b 1843) |
| Cynthia C. JEFFREY | (b 1845) |
| James K. P. JEFFREY | (b 1847) |
| Mary M. JEFFREY | (b 1848) |
| Benjamin E. JEFFREY | (b 1852) |
| Ellen Jeffrey | (b 1854) |
| Annie Jeffrey | 16 September 1868 - 14 September 1892 |
| Elizabeth Jeffrey | 9 February 1870 - 26 May 1932 |
| Margaret May Jeffrey | 9 August 1872 - ?? |