Maroon Family Story

One of the family stories that has been going around for generations is that the Maroon family is a fairly recent import. We had always been taught and I had always believed that we came over from Ireland during the potato famine of the 1850s. Actually, we have been here much longer than that.

One of the blessings of the Maroon name is that it is rare enough that when you find someone in the census records, there is a good chance they are kin, especially pre-1900. It was very easy to trace the family back by just checking the census indexes for the various years, especially after my uncle Richard Houston Maroon told me we came from Arkansas, and before that from Tennessee. I was then able to confirm the family line by other documents such as deeds and marriage records. All of the information in this article has been confirmed unless otherwise stated.

The earliest Maroon from my direct line that I have found so far who I know is a direct ancestor is Jacob Maroon. There is a Gabriel Maroon who appears on a passenger list in Maryland in 1680, but there is no indication he is any relation. Jacob was listed in the 1755 taxables of Granville county, North Carolina with his two sons, John and Peter, along with three unnamed females. The two boys are listed in the Granville militia in 1774, so they were at least 16 years of age by this time. John was listed as a witness for Samuel Reed in 1765 in neighboring Orange county, and Peter was again named in the 1772 North Carolina militia, no county given. At some point Peter married and we believe was the father Gavin, Jacob, John, and Elizabeth Maroon (there may have been others). Young John, according to the 1880 census record of his son Samuel, was born in Holland,and from other records although family historian Carla Machate seriously doubts Holland as a place of birth. I am inclined to agree with her. John Maroon was probably born some time prior to 1755 in Orange or Granville county. However, since that is about the time we begin to see the Maroon family in America, I can't rule out an overseas birth.

At some point, Peter and children moved to Rutherford county, NC. John and Peter live side by side there in 1782, and Peter's father Jacob and brother John remained in the north central area of North Carolina in Orange and Warren counties. Peter's son Jacob Maroon lives next to John by 1800, and we believe Peter is enumerated with his son Jacob in that year.

John married his wife Frances, in some records called Frankey (we don't know her maiden name), between 1770 and 1772. John served in the 8th Virginia Continental Line in the Revolutionary War. One record from that war indicates that he deserted in May, 1776. That meant something other than what it does today. After all, it wasn't quite a real country yet, and there were crops to plant or get in, whether there was trouble brewing or not. There is also a chance the Maroons were loyalists, as well. Anyway, he survived the war because he and Frankey settled down and had a number of children. Their children were Peter (1786), Sarah (1788), Susannah (1790), Elizabeth (1792), John (1797), Jane (1800), and Charlotte (1808, although records show her married by 1818, which is young for a marriage even in those days). John built quite a land holding, building a plantation of some 200 acres by the time of his death in 1812.

The Will of John Maroon

Rutherford county will book B, Page 267.
1 Nov. 1811. Proved Oct. term 1812.

I, John Marrune, being weak in body but of sound memory. I give unto my wife Frankey Marrune the plantation whereon I now live, containing 200 acres during her life time and to be divided among three sons, John Marrune, Peter Marrune, and Samuel Marrune. I give my moveable property as follows. My household furniture, stock, and horses to be equally divided among my chn. Charlett Marrune, Elizabeth Marrune, Sarah Marrune, Susanna Marrune, and Jane Marrune, I give unto my dtr. Susanna one bed and furniture and one cow as part of her share. I leave to my wife to divide the said property among the named chn. I appoint my wife executrix and Gavin Marrune as executor. Wit: W. Roberts, (jurat) John Squire.
Signed: John (X) Marrune

Gavin above was his second brother, the other being Jacob. Samuel above is my direct ancestor. The three sons were listed as selling property in Rutherford county in 1832, so we know that Frankey was gone
by then. That could be when she died. Samuel was only 4 or 5 years old when his father died, and John jr. was about 16. The "X" would mean he could not sign his name, and made his mark instead.

Samuel moved to Blount County in the great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee and married Elizabeth Hannah on June 28, 1824. Their first son was James Asbury Maroon, my great-great grandfather, born in 1828. Samuel and Hannah had 10 children: Peter Green (1829), Frances (1831), Hugh Hannah (1833, died 1838), Ann (1835, died 1836), Thomas Carter (1837), Samuel Wallace (1839), Elizabeth (1841), John Allen (1843), and Silas Wright (1846).

In the midst of having all of these children, Samuel and Elizabeth didn't stay in Blount County for very long. In 1830, the US government made an agreement with the Cherokee to move them off their ancestral lands by 1840 and promised what they called adequate compensation. It is little wonder we wanted the land, because the Cherokee had cleared off brush throughout their lands, leaving trees and grass (for hunting, I have been told), and creating a beautiful park-like atmosphere. Settlers were not to move in before 1840, but a number of them did anyway, including Samuel and his family, who moved there sometime between 1830 and 40. This influx of settlers was illegal, but was unenforced. Because of it the Cherokee were prematurely forced off their land and made the infamous trek, the Trail of Tears, to what is now Oklahoma.

It would appear the Maroon family did pretty well and prospered on their little farm in the now Bradly County, fairly close to today's Cleveland (there is a school where their farm used to be appropriately named Maroon School) and Chattanooga, because they pretty much stayed there for years and years. In fact, you can still find decendants in that area. So all stayed. Except James and Thomas. James Asbury married Elizabeth Webb, my great-great grandmother, in 1848, and they had a son, William Trousdale Maroon, my great grandfather, the folowing year. William was apparently named for William Trousdale, a governor of Tennessee from that period, but it isn't yet clear why. One of the things I am researching is a possible connection between the two families, although I have so far found no connection other than the name. It could well be that he was named for the governor just because the Maroons admired him. Anyway, William's siblings were Vester Tennessee Maroon born in 1851, Samuel A. in 1853, and John A. in 1855. James Asbury's brother Thomas married Eliza (don't know her last name) and moved along with James to Hempstead County, Arkansas where they bought 120 acres of land on July 2, 1860 and settled in. Then the Civil War broke out.

This must have been a hard time for Samuel senior and Elizabeth back in Tennesee. All of their remaining sons (John died when he was 8) joined to fight in the war. Two of them never came home. Thomas and James in Arkansas both joined the Confederate army, signing up with the 19th Arkansas Infantry. Back home in Tennessee, youngest brother Silas also joined the Confederacy, fighting with the 28th Tennessee Confederate Infantry, where he saw more action than all the brothers combined. Samuel W. and Peter G. both joined to fight for the Union, Peter with A Company, 1st Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, and Samuel as an officer with the 1st Light Artillery Battallion (he also apparently served in an infantry unit at the beginning, but I don't know where). Sammuel Jr. was wounded at some point, but survived the war fine, although his wounds were the cause of his death some years later, when he was in his 70s. Brother Peter's unit was sent to hold territory up in Kentucky. The problem was, there were 3,000 men and only 900 muskets. Peter was killed there, ironically one of the few to die in that unit during that period. Silas made it through the war unhurt.

Meanwhile, the Maroon brothers in Arkansas, James and Thomas, signed up with the Arkansas 19th in November of 1862 and went to defend Arkansas Post, a fort on the Arkansas river, in December of that year. Along with 3,000 troops commanded by General T.J. Churchill, their job was to hold that area. On January 8, 1863, there were reports of gunboats and transports coming up the river. The next morning, daylight showed 20,000 union troops around the fort. Commanded by Gen. John A. McClernand, they attacked the outpost that morning. They were repulsed. Later in the day, the gunboats opened fire on the fort for the rest of the day and night. A second attack was mounted by the North on the 10th, and they were again repulsed. There was a third try, and again they were driven back. Finally, on the 11th, the fort surrendered (rumor has it that it was a Texan who waved the white flag, but that cannot be confirmed). Our James Asbury Maroon and brother Thomas were captured with the rest of the Arkansas 19th along with the other confederate soldiers. They almost made it out unscathed, since Confederate troops could take the loyalty oath and be released. However, the release point was to be near Vicksburg, and General Sherman didn't like the idea of setting free a bunch of prisoners into a town against which he was mounting an attack. So, in spite of the cold weather in the dead of winter, the Confederate prisonsers were moved hundreds of miles up to a POW camp in Chicago, IL, where conditions were atrocious. The guards were extremely cruel, the living quarters filthy, and the weather bitterly cold. There, James Asbury Maroon, my great great grandfather, died of small pox and was buried in a mass grave called the Confederate Mound in Oak Woods Cemetary, Chicago, Ill. At least 5,600 men lost their lives at this prison camp. Brother Thomas survived and was paroled the following month when he was apparently allowed to take the loyalty oath. It seems he then went home to Tennessee with his family, although there are unconfirmed stories that he joined up with another unit.

After the war, by the 1870 census, Thomas, Silas, and Samuel W. and their families lived side by side with their father and mother, Samuel Senior and Elizabeth Hannah-Maroon, in Bradley County, Tennessee. They had returned home. Two confederates and one yankee. It would appear that any ill feelings were healed, and this durable family conitnued on together in spite of the tragedy and trauma it must have endured. Thomas was killed by consumption in 1875. Samuel senior died in 1885 at the ripe old age of 78. Samuel junior died in 1895, apparently from the effects of war wounds suffered during the Civil War. Before his death, he cosigned on a loan for a friend and lost all he had. James Asbury Maroon's family, great-great grandma Elizabeth Webb-Maroon and her children, remained in Arkansas where they were joined by Elizabeth's parents Allen and Rebecca Webb, both in their 60s by then. Christopher Collumbus Webb, Elizabeth's younger brother who had also moved out from Tennessee, lived nearby and was the closest thing to a father the Maroon children knew, and in fact helped raise them. There are family stories that had it not been for him, times would have been much more difficult for the family. He came to be affectionately remembered as "Uncle Lum."

By the end of the 1860s, the Maroon children were old enough to help get by or get out on ther own. Vester Tennessee Maroon married Joseph Litchford on September 14, 1869. William Trousdale Maroon, my great grandfather, married my great grandma and Joseph's sister, Rebecca Ann Litchford, on February 25, 1870. They bore several children, Elizabeth (1871), James Henry (1879), Malinda Willie (1882), David Archie (?), John (?), and Samuel. James Henry Maroon was my grandfather. William Trousdale Maroon died young in 1898, and Elizabeth moved much of her family, along with Rebecca and her children, to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) by 1900. Some family history has it that William was still alive and moved with the family to Ravia, OK, but I haven't been able to confirm that.

James Henry Maroon grew up around Ravia in Johnston county, Oklahoma, where he met Sarah Anna Bloxham, my grandma. At the age of 27 in 1910, he was working as a cowboy on a large farm in Pittsburgh county, according to the census records, when he married Annie, Sarah Bloxham's preferred name. It isn't clear whether it was before or after they were married, but a number of Bloxhams and Maroons moved up to Pittsburg county to the town of Ti (it no longer exists, but was near Hartshorne). The newlyweds moved off the large farm, James gave up the life of a cowboy and started sharecropping. James and Anna lived a hard life together as sharecrop farmers, picking up and moving from farm to farm and doing the best they could. They had six sons and one daughter: Jennie Louetta (Jean) (1911), William Thomas (1913), John Lloyd (1917), Samuel (1920), Richard Houston (1928), and James Archie Maroon, my dad (1924).

James Archie Maroon, called Archie or Arch his whole life, was born in Higgins, Oklahoma on May 5, 1924. By all accounts, he was a hard-working, quiet boy. Being right on the cusp among them, he always sort of had to work harder than his younger brother, and almost as hard as his older brothers but still too hard for his age. Seems all his life he worked too hard and got too little for it.

Archie pretty much grew up around that general area, moving from time to time to various farms around Hartshorn, Wilburton, etc. there where Latimer and Pittsburgh counties meet. He had 4 brothers and one sister: William Thomas (Tom), born June 26, 1913, John Lloyd, born August 21, 1917, Samuel, born July 22, 1920, Richard Houston, born August 24, 1928, and Jennie Louetta (Jean), eldest born October 22, 1911. It almost seems as though there were two generations of siblings, since he mostly grew up with Sam and Houston.

The first home I have heard mention of was down by Gaines Creek, where it branches to become Buffalo Creek, just off of the bridge about 6 miles east of Hartshorn. This is bottom land, where the family grew cotton and corn. They lived here in the years between 1931 through 1935. Archie and the other older brothers worked in the fields during the summers and afternoons during the school year while his younger brother Houston worked up at the house with his mother, Anna, mainly because he was too young to work in the fields. Once, when he was about 4, Houston was helping his mother with the family wash. There was no well of any sort, so they had to hand carry water from the creek. On this day, that was Houston's job. He would go down to the creek with two one gallon buckets (quite a load for a 4 year old), and when he would return with them filled with water, Anna would say, "Go get some more. This might be the last trip if you hurry." She did that about 4 times straight, and Houston finally figured out that it was a ruse to just get him to work harder, so on that fourth trip, he cussed her all the way to the creek. He was filling the buckets, still cussing, when he noticed a shaddow over him. He looked up, and there was his mother, standing on the ridge right above him, arms crossed. He shut up. Without a word, Anna took the buckets from him and walked back up to the house. That was the last trip he had to make that day. She never punished him and never said a word about it, but he never cussed his mother again all the same. Archie worked in the fields, though, and that was often long days, beginning at 4:00 in the morning.

They had no electricity, no lamps or lanterns or even candles. They were too expensive. When the sun went down, they pretty much went to bed. The three youngest boys shared one bed in their tiny house. Anna would often sing gospel songs until the boys fell asleep, and that was pretty much it for entertainment at night. I can imagine those dark nights. No light except that which might come from the stars and moon on a clear evening. Perhaps some fireflies here and there. Night noises in the spring must have been wonderful, there near that creek.

When 4:00 AM would role around, father James would stir one of the boys to make the fire. They took turns. From his bed, father would say, "Sam. Get out of bed and make a fire." A few moments might pass. "Sam! You'd better get up and make that fire!" "It ain't my turn. It's Archie's turn." "Archie! Get up and make the fire." And that is how the day would start.

They had no car, obviously. Didn't even see one for many years. They got around by wagon drawn by horse or mule. Never saw a movie, at least in these early years. The main form of enteratinment was the creek there where the dirt road passed over a low bridge. This was where all of the adventures happened, and with no other form of entertainment, it is easy to see its appeal. It is a pretty little creek, with plenty of places for wild boys to swim and wade and catch frogs and have other fun. Beautiful trees line the banks, and it is cool even on the hottest of days. Even though they worked hard and had little, they were very happy children.

Houston liked to irritate his brothers, as all little brothers do. Sam was a year older than Arch and Houston 4 years younger. When Arch had enough of Houston's nonsense, he would just give him a certain look, and that told Houston it was time to shut up. For Sam, though, either Houston didn't know when to quit, or Sam had a shorter fuse. In any case, he'd light into old Houston. Arch would see what was going on and head into the fray. When Sam saw Archie coming, he figured it was time to quit, and would take off running, with Arch chasing him and little Houston tagging after.

School was a small rock building across the creek and up about a mile toward the south. It still stands as of today, but it is now used as a place to keep hay and feed for the cattle of the farm that is now there. They would walk up there every day during the school year. One room, with all grades through 6th tought there. This is where Daddy began his formal education. I remember he loved going to school, and was always proud especially of his math scores. It was a big deal to make that one trip into town in August before school started. They each received one pair of shoes at the beginning of the school year, along with two pair of pants. If their clothes wore out during the year, they just wore out. You wore them anyway. When summer hit, the shoes went off the feet, at least for the littlest boys.

There was one other time during the year when they would sometimes go into town, and that was for the 4th of July Rodeo and Picnic. The rodeo is still held in the same place there in Hartshorn, on the south end of town, up a bit of a hill. The big deal was to buy each of the children an icecream. They say that almost proved fatal for Archie. When he was about 12, Archie caught Typhoid fever when they went to the rodeo, followed by a bout with malaria. He nearly died then. Nobody thought he would make it, including the town doctor, to whom Father James took him in the family wagon. Obviously he pulled through, or I wouldn't be writing this. It seems he spent his life proving doctors wrong.

After living on this farm for 4 years, they moved out in the hills, north of Hartshorn and due west of Wilburton. As you come to where 260 curves southeast, you go straight on the road that intersects and for about 4 or 5 miles till it almost deadends, and you look to your left just after you cross a tiny creek Houston calls a ditch. There is no house standing, but when you look at the clearing where it once stood, you can see where it fit snuggled amongst the trees there in the woods. The road looks pretty much as it did then, gravel and dirt. There down the road about 40 yards or so where another road intersects was where they grew the family garden. Again, that job fell to Grandma Anna and the youngest boy Houston, although by now he was old enough to help in the fields, as well. You make a turn south up that next dirt road from where the house stood, and about an eighth of a mile on the left are the fields where they sharecropped, growing corn and cotton. Corn was for the livestock, such as chickens and hogs and cattle, and the cotton was the cash crop. You went into town and sold the cotton for what you could get each year. The land belonged to a Choctaw family, the parents of the boy who would become Archie's best friend. The deal was a quarter and a third. The Maroon's gave their landlords a quarter of the corn, and a third of the cash crop, in liu of money, for the use of the land.

The woods grow up all around that area and come right up to where the house used to be. There is an old tree where they used to have an old rope they swung from for fun that is still standing. When they had some spare time, the boys would go down to Gaines creek to play, winter or summer. Once it froze up solid enough that they were able to skate for miles on it. In their shoes, of course. Skates were a luxury they couldn't afford.

The boys used to hunt down there at the creek, as well. They had no rifles, and even if they did, they didn't have any money with which to buy shells. They would hunt by chasing rabbits and such with their dogs, and when they would tree them in a hole or in an old log, they'd reach in there with sticks to get them out. And this wasn't hunting for the sport. This was hunting for the practical purpose of sustenance.

You did have to be careful where you went in those woods, though. If you came to a place in the middle of nowhere to find a cabin, you just turned around and got out of there as quick as you could, if you valued your life. Bootleggers. Their places were always hard to get to or find. You could tell who they were when you ran into them in town, though. If somebody looked like they were prosperous, they were probably bootleggers, because nobody who made an honest living had any money around there in those days.

The school the children attended while they lived here was many miles down the road, toward Wilburton, just almost where this tiny road runs into 260. They usually got a ride on the wagon that belonged to the Chotaw family, although the Choctaw children weren't allowed to go to this school. They had to continue on about 10 more miles to a seperate school for Indians. The school the Maroon kids went to was an old one room wood frame builing, no longer standing. Houston remembers playing marbles there in the yard, and they had a basketball hoop nailed to a board, and that passed for a playground. Archie went to school there for about 2 years, then went off to high school. He would ride the bus from the small school into town and the high school in Wilburton. The bus let him off at the foot of the hill and he walked up to the steps. The old steps are still there, the high school long since burned to the ground. Houston now (1997) owns a home at the foot of those steps, and one of my favorite things to do when I head over to Wilburton is sit at the foot of those steps and imagine my dad climbing those stairs every day for school.

Archie only went to school there for one year, the 9th grade. I remember that he loved school, and was always disappointed that he was unable to finish high school, but one must keep in mind that this was the late 1930s, the height of the Dust bowl and the Depression. People did what they had to do, and Archie always wanted to make life better for the family. He dropped out and went to work for the WPA at a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) Camp. He signed up and was shipped up to a site north of Oklahoma City. His sister Jean had married Marvin Talburt (Uncle Mike) by then and they were living in Oklahoma City. Wilburton was way too far to travel, so on many of his weekends off, Archie hitchiked down to the City to visit his older sister.

Archie sent almost all of his money home, but on one of his first pay days, and the first time he got a chance to go home, he bought a combination shotgun/22 for himself, and a bolt action 22 rifle for his younger brother Houston. Now they didn'a have to rely on just dogs and sticks anymore, but could instead hunt for food and game in the woods of Oklahoma in style! Archie's rifle is long gone today, but Houston still has that old 22.

Archie continue on in the CCC, earning money and working hard, developing the work ethic that would help him so much ater in life, for several years. One might say it served as his high school education. He lived in a barracks, Army style, alongside dozens of his CC comrades. Then, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Japan had managed to draw the United States into World War II. The next morning, Archie woke up to an empty barracks. Still too young to serve, Archie was not in iminent danger of being drafted, but many of his comrades were. When they heard the news of the bombing, everyone could see the handwriting on the wall. These were young men, and it was before patriotic ferver had hit its height. They wanted no part of the draft, and, assuming they would be easier to find in the CCC camp, they deserted en mass, almost all of them heading for home.

Not Archie, though. He did continue with the WPA for several years, until he was finally drafted and entered service into the United States Army on May 4, 1943, one day before his 19th birthday. His training was at an army recruit depot in San Diego, right next to the USMC boot camp where I trained. After graduation, he was shipped out to Hawaii, where he waited command. One would think such an assignment would be ideal, on the beautiful islands, but it is important to keep in mind that he was there with 6,000 other young men, with nothing to do with their time, and nowhere to go if they had money to go there. All they could do was wait for orders.

Then, orders came. They were to head for the Ryukyus islands, principally, Iwo Jima. Thousands of green young soldiers were loaded onto transport ships and headed for war. This was a far more pleasant experience for Archie than sitting and waiting for months and months at the army base. This young man had never been so much as 200 miles from his home in Oklahoma, and here he was heading thousands of miles across the sea to exotic lands to fight in a war he barely understood. The trip was uneventful and it was during this time that he learned to love the sea. The sunsets and dawns on the quiet water, the playful dolphins swimming alongside in the water below, the cool breeze off the sea. Although he rarely admitted it later, Archie found himself regretting during this period not having joined the Navy.

They expected action when they arrived at Iwo Jima, but there was little. Archie and the other soldiers landed on the 25th day after the invasion, 3 days before it was officially declared completely secured. The Marines had already won the island, and the Army was there merely to mop up. An antiaircraft artillery man, Archie did see duty. He took his shift on the gun and watched the skies for the enemy. Because the battle had been so effective, there was little of note that happened. One evening, a plane was heard heading in from the direction of the sunset. It was difficult to make out, and as trained, the gun crew trained the cannon on the plane and prepared to fire as it entered their range. At the last second, one of the crewmen recognized it as an American fighter bomber and sounded the warning. Archie and the rest of the gun crew eased up and let it pass, relieved they hadn't fired on one of their own. The pilot flew in low over their heads, and then proceded to strafe and bomb his own troops! Somehow he had become confused or had failed to recognize these as Americans, and fired on and killed a number of his allies. The gunners fired up, but by now it was too late. The plane was by and out of range, and soon gone entirely. That incident would stay with Archie ever after that, occasionally haunting him with regret at their failure to fire, but how could they know? This was a friendly plane from their own country. To have fired on it would have been illegal and wrong. But that didn't stop his regret. He always felt that they could have saved those men. He never heard what happened to the pilot, or even if the pilot ever knew of his mistake.

Other than this one incident, Archie's participation in one of the great battles of the war in the Pacific was fairly uneventful. Once he and some comrades saw a Japanese soldier sneeking through the bushes to a latrine, where he releived himself, but Arch and his buddies didn't have the heart to disturb him and allowed him his moment of peace. They figured he was just a young soldier, much like them, far from home and scared out of his wits. Besides, they knew the Jarheads, as Archie loved to call Marines, would find him out sooner or later. They did eventually and he was captured unharmed sometime later.