Bolling Hall Jr.

b. 8 May 1813, d. 5 March 1897
  • Bolling Hall Jr. was born on 8 May 1813 in Baldwin County, Georgia.
  • He married Mary Louisa Crenshaw, daughter of Abner Crenshaw and Charlotte Perry Elmore, on 22 December 1836 in Autauga County, Alabama.
  • Bolling Hall Jr. and Absalom Jackson were executors of the estate of Bolling Hall.
  • Bolling Hall Jr. and Mary Louisa Crenshaw appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Coosada, Autauga (later Elmore) County, Alabama. Other members of the household included Bolling Hall III, Crenshaw Hall, James Abercrombie Hall, John Elmore Hall, Mary Louisa Hall, Thomas Brown Hall, Hines Holt Hall and Laura Jane Hall.
  • He was a farmer, according to the 1850 census.
  • On Thursday, 6 February 1851, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "By mail Thursday wrote to Bolling Hall, to receive $250, to be sent by E. Allen of Georgia. Wrote E. Allen to send the $250 he had for me to B. Hall."
  • Green Wood wrote to Bolling Hall Jr.:
         Near Danville, June 18th 1852
    Dear Bolling
         Your kind letter of the 22nd last month was receved in due time and I should have writen in answer to it soon but from your saying you were about starting North with Margarete Baley which I think is a good arrangement. with regard to Mr Myers note I am glad you commenced suit against him. Myers did not express any doubts about the corn holding out measure untill two days before I started to move & I told him I would have it measured, & offered to pay him hier for his hands & get Mr George Noble to attend to it for me, I fully believed the corn would measure out more than I had charged him with, & I told him I would not like for him to belive there was less, and prefered to measure it. that night he wrote me a note & sent it over to Mrs Brown,s, declining to have it measured, & expressed himself satisfied. I belive I mentioned it to Mr Noble, would be glad you would ask Mr Noble. I shall leave nothing to arbitration with Mr Myers, if he or the Doctor (Myers) are allowed to Swear I should stand no chance. Mr Myers refused to settle with me after geting possession unless I made a reduction from the sale of articles of near four hundred Dollars & to get a settlement & his notes & around a lawsuit, I gave it to him, when he knew that agreable to our writen contract that it was as much my due as any of the balance & he quibled in everything to annoy me, & from that cause I do not look on him as an honest man & would not have any confidence in his measurement of corn or any thing else or belive him when any money was at stake. I proposed to him to have some person to see the corn measured in the fall and he refused, said he would be satisfied with my measuring, and I intended to make it good measure & believed I threw in several hundred bushels. he refused to measure when I proposed to get Mr Noble to see it done & then says he measured it. I again say I have no confidence in his statement about measuring & will leave nothing to arbitration with him. I am very glad to hear that the notes I left have been so generally paid and I feel under great obligations to you for your kind attention to my business.
         Our crops are forward and at present promising, we had full roasting ears the 30th May & cotton blooms 31st. I think my fodder will do to pull by Monday week. I have 300 Acres in cotton all clean & looks promising & if the seasons are at all favourable think I shall make 250 bales.
         I am very much pleased to hear that John Brown is so much improved & have great hopes he will recover entirely. we were pleased to hear that Mrs Brown was recovering. hope she will soon be free from lameness and that John will be restored to her in sound mind and health. tell Mr Jackson that I am very willing to apologise. I did not intend any improper illusions or insinuations and hope it will be satisfactory & would be pleased to have a letter from him.
         That young Daughter of ours grows finely & I think is about as nigh perfect in beauty as it is possible to be. Regret that you can' all see her, it is worth a trip across the Gulf. I wish you would persuade Mr & Mrs E A Holt to come out and spend the Summer with us instead of going North. it much more healthy here & we would be very much pleased to have them with us. Willis received a letter from his Wife about the time yours was received & started by the next boat to see her. you will perhaps see him. Abercrombie has a fine crop and is in fine spirits thinks he will make 100 Bales cotton they are all in good health. Mrs A. has improved in health very much, weighs 40 lb more than when she came to Texas notwithstanding she nursing one of the finest children she ever had. The Mr's Lewis, Elmore and Scott & Scott are out looking at the big Thicket between Abercrombie,s & Green Wood,s place & some other Alabamans. remember us kindly to your Wife & Children. you have my best wishes for your prosperity & hapiness
         Yours Truly, Green Wood
         I shall be pleased to hear from you on your return & again here from John Brown
    Minimal punctuation added by the transcriber to enhance readability.
  • In a letter dated 15 August 1853 to Bolling Hall Jr., James L. Mitchell wrote from Grimes County, Texas:
    My Dear friend,
         On our arriving in Texas last winter as you have learned I have no doubt, long before this, that we had much suffering, from deep and distressing affliction; and lost my Son Bolling, and fourteen negroes. Causes unavoidable, under the most inclement season that ever occured, produced the distressing calamity. my family all were sick except myself and son Douglass, And they all became discont[ent]ed with the Country, and unhappy and I had come to the conclusion and decission for their satisfaction, that I would move back and return, even to the old worn hills of Alabama. I am now happy in saying to you, that the scene has changed, that we are all hearty, and enjoying good health, and perfectly reconciled to make Texas our permanent, and lasting home -- with the fair prospect of good prosperity in the future -- Could I have but kept my son Bolling, the ballance of loss, which I estimate at $10,000 would have been considered as nothing; for in the purchase of one single tract of land of 2250 acres, I consider I have made more than double that amount. I am now on the land preparing to move to it in the winter, after saveing my crop on the Trinity, it is the most splendid tract of land that I ever looked at, and I will be the best settled man in Texas, or any where else when I get on it. I shall be fifty miles from Houston and three miles from the line of rail road that is now in execution and 17 miles of it graded and 80 hands at work upon it. I have no doubt, but that I shall freight my first crop of cotton made on my new place by the rail roads. the country around me is splendid altogether healthy and the garden spot of the world that I have yet seen. we are just starting a school village in a quarter of a mile of my house that will be of the first order in any country, and should you think that it might be to your interest to move, this is the section of the world for you to come to, you can get the best of land improved in the neighborhood at Ten dollars per acre with more advantage, than any portion of the world that I have ever seen, give us a flying visit and take a look, and should you make the visit, land at Houston take the stage to Montgomery, and call on Mr Willis, Merchant of that place, and he will procure you a conveyance to Major Woods, J Abercrombies, by whom you pass, to my house. the Catterpillar has made its appearance, and we dread the consequences to the cotton crop. should they not damage to any extent, the crop will be good, many plantations now have a Bale to Acre, the corn crop is good. present me affectionately to your kind lady and family and accept,
         Truly yrs, Jas Mitchell.
         Address me at Cold Springs, Polk County.
    Minimal punctuation added by the transcriber to enhance readability.
  • Green Wood wrote to Bolling Hall Jr.:
         Near Danville Texas - August 26th 1855
    Dear Bolling
         I have received your two letters of the 3rd & 13th Inst. the last acknowledging the receipt of $1000. check which you say you will credit on the $5000. note. I have sent to Market 16 Bales of cotton and have 42 ready to send off & will make further payment on the same note soon. I am much obliged to you for the present of the Coat, but it is too small for me. will give it to Billy & it is full small for him. he is still growing, is larger than when you saw him,
         I am very glad to hear you have fine crops of corn & hope your cotton will turn out well. I am sorry to hear that T. Brown has paid so high for my old place, fear he cant make the interest on the purchaise money. fortunately he is not dependant on making it on the place. think he might have done better to have sent his hands out to Texas on a healthy place and lived in Ala. himself as Goldthwaite has done,
         I knew you would be pleased with Western Texas, but do not think you can leave Ala. your plantation is not convenient to your residence but that is made up by convenience of shiping your crop. I cannot give you any information about a choice place but think if you were in earnest about buying a place you could make a selection by coming out yourself in a week or two
         I was very glad to hear that Ala. has done so well and that the Know Nothing party are so unpopular which I think is proven by the defeat of Watts. I hope it will die out in the South. there is no hope for that at the North. think they will force a separation of the Union in the next four years. Texas has gone against Know Nothings with all Sam Houston,s influ[en]ce in their favour. do not think he could get the vote of Texas if he was nominated for President. I have never seen as much interest taken in an Election here before. the Know Nothings began to withdraw very fast two or three weeks before the election.
         I believe I wrote you about my crop before. I have been complaining for want of rain all summer untill the 3rd of August, and since then we have had very frequent rains which is injuring my cotton very much. it is nearly all open in many parts of my crop and hulls of the first bols rot & come with the cotton, can,t pick it clean. yesterday & day before raney days. packed cotton on Friday 20 Bales. we had just got out the 20th Bale when some cotton fell on my Brush cillinder & caugh fire & was cared to the lint Room and set it in a blaze. there was only about two bales of cotton on the floor and with the exception of a little just gined was hard trod by working over it, and we succeed in puting it out. there was a puddle of water near and we had two or three buckets threw in. water deadened the fire & all hands & myself Jumped in and tramped it down. the roof had caught fire but did not blaze out & we soon got that off and I have escaped with the loss of not over one bale. we had gined over four bales a day. I have picked out 114,441 lbs and if the weather had been dry could have done much more. we have with 41 hands picked last week over 10,000 lbs a day. My highest hand 440 lbs and lowest 140 lbs. Billy,s hands have Beat mine. a Boy, the son of Gracy, picked two days last week 882 lbs, two Girls over 1,000 lbs each in three days, one of them the Daughter of Gracy & about 14 years old, the other about the same age. it is sprinkling rain again today. I have my room covered and ready to start my Gin tomorrow & will try to have my Gin stop often & examine the Gin. Doctor Scott & Lady & part of the children came up yesterday. the Doctor Preaches to day. Evelina & Mrs Scott have gone to Church. Mr S will stay several days. Billy has gone to Church, Josey & Mary Jane are with Lizzie. she has mended considerably but requires a good deal of attention. John Abercrombie & his oldest Daughter & Son have gone to Sour Lake [and also] Judge Elmore & Family & several others in the thickett, in all 32 persons, a great watering place if was more convenient to get to, would no doubt have crowds there, cures Rheumatism, Dropsey, all eruptions of the skin & almost all diseases,
         Every Boddy healthy so far as I Know, have not had a sick negro up to this time, which is very different from what I could say in Ala. at this time of year. we have had thousands of Water mellons. the negros hawled up five waggon loads last sunday & have been hawling all this morning. my patch is in new ground a mile & they can't go at night & hawl for the week.
         Doctor Scott has a fine corn crop. John Abercrombie thinks it will make 80 Bushels to the acre on the best of it. he says the wet weather is injuring his cotton very much,
         all wish to be remembered to your Familey and yourself except my best wishes
         Very Truly, Green Wood
    Minimal punctuation added by the transcriber to enhance readability.
  • In a letter dated 25 September 1855 to Bolling Hall Jr. in Alabama, James L. Mitchell wrote from Plantersville, Grimes County, Texas:
    Dear Sir,
              I received a letter from Major Wood a few days since informing me that you had requested him to pick you out a place and that he had enclosed you one from me to him on the subject of adviseing him to sell his place and buy Col Bakers adjoining mine. that letter will give you what I think of his tract of land. the price is high and I have no idea that he can get it, yet forty dollars per acre would be no inducement to me for mine adjoining. you can get good tract of improved land in my region of Country for Ten dollars per acre good land, in the woods for much less, say one half. I am told there is a fine tract of 3000 acres in three miles of Anderson our County seat that could be purchased on fair terms. there is likewise fine land in Wallace, Prararie adjoining the brassoz river bottom that could be had, a part of the Prararie you must have traveled through from my house to Washington. If you will take a flying visit to my house I can show you in three days as much as you may desire in regard to lands and you can return and get home in Ten days after. the region of Country around where I am I prefer to any I have seen in Texas. the lands are fine the health is good and the most convenient point to the market. this winter will complete the railroad twenty five miles from Houston in this direction, and yet this section of the Country could do very well without it, as it is a mere nothing to get our production hauled fifty miles. I will just say one word in favor of the Texas soil that it is capable of producing any amount of corn and cotton, that any reasonable man could desire. my own plantation is very good for two heavy bales of cotton to the acre and sixty bushels of corn, any average season. my Corn has produced sixty bushels to the acre this year and with but one plowing. the Cotton crop has been destroyed by the rains of July and August, and yet those that got their Cotton up in April will make a bale to the acre. I shall make 200 bales from 300 acres of new ground that came up the 20th of May. As regards the Climate of Texas I have never seen any to half equal the spring, summer and fall seasons. A little portion of the winter is disagreeable. Corn is plenty in my neighborhood. my best respect to your good family, Yrs,
              Jas Mitchel
    Minimal punctuation added by the transcriber to enhance readability.
  • Green Wood wrote to Bolling Hall Jr.:                Texas Near Danville Texas August 24th 1856
    Major Bolling Hall
         Montgomery Ala.
              Dear Sir,
                   It has been a long time since I had the pleasure of a letter from you. Hope you are all well and that you have been favoured with good and seasonable rains. We have had the worst crop year that I ever saw, long spells of wet and cold during the winter and spring too wet to plant corn untill the 22nd March and no rain then to the 28th April, and rained for two weeks. No rain since the 13th May to make our corn, one shower the 18th July done very little good to our cotton. My cotton crop is very poor I have packed 31 Bales cotton and think I have out half my crop. Every thing shows the want of rain. My earliest peaches were tolerable good, those now on the trees are very much wilted and unless it rains soon will never ripen. I think I have made corn enough to do me and think I shall raise my meat. I believe I will average 30 Bushels corn to the acre and think I can pick acres that will make 40 to 50 Bushels, without rain after 13th May.
         I fear I shall not be able to pay any thing on my debt from this crop. I have some hope of collecting part if not all of a debt due me in Galveston, about $3000, but it is entirely uncertain. If I do will send it to you.
         I heard from Mr McGar that I had got Judgment against Myers, or that was his understanding from a conversation with Mr S. Robinson. Would like to hear if it is so.
         It is very healthy generally, not a case of sickness in any of our Famileys during the summer, have not lost a days work from sickness among my negros.
         Remember us Kindly to all your Familey and except my best wishes,
              Yours Truly
              Green Wood
    Minimal punctuation added by the transcriber to enhance readability.
  • Bolling Hall Jr. became a widower at the 2 August 1858 death of his wife Mary Louisa Crenshaw.
  • On 3 October 1859, Thomas S. Kirkbride wrote Bolling Hall Jr.
              Penna Hospital for the Insane
                   October 3rd 1859
    My Dear Sir
         My last letter to you must have prepared you for the intelligence that Miss Margaret Baily died on Sunday afternoon, after gradually sinking for some days. Her disease was Pulmonary Consumption, and her mind continued without material change to the last. In the absence of special instructions from you, I have had the remains placed in a lead coffin, and deposited in the receiving vault at Laurel Hill Cemetery, so that it can be sent to the South, or interred in the Cemetery as her friends may desire. Will you have the goodness to let me hear from you at your earliest convenience and oblige,
              Yours very respectfully
              Thomas S. Kirkbride
    Col. Bolling Hall
         Montgomery
              Alabama
    Minimal punctuation added by the transcriber to enhance readability.
  • On 20 February 1860, Absalom Jackson wrote to Bolling Hall Jr.:
              Mayhew, 20 Feb 1860
    Dear Sir,
         Sometime ago I informed you that I felt it due to the memory of your late sister and the interest of her and my children to ascertain what might be their legal right if any to a distributive share in the Estate of their cousin Margaret Baily dec'd. I have confered with Judge Goldthwaite one of the Codifiers of the laws of Alabama and lately one of the Judges of the Supreme Court on the subject and he is of the opinion that they have no legal right to any part of said Estate. Whatever equitable and just right I may have supposed them to have I at once yield to the law; and with the assurance that all I have done in the matter was the result of the performance of conscientious duty and not with the view of throwing obstacles in the way of a settlement and distribution of the Estate
              I am yours Truly
                   Absalom Jackson
    Maj. Bolling Hall
         Administrator of Estate of Margaret Baily deceased
    Minimal punctuation added by the transcriber to enhance readability.
  • Bolling Hall Jr. appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Robinson Springs, Autauga County, Alabama. Other members of the household included Bolling Hall III, Crenshaw Hall, James Abercrombie Hall, John Elmore Hall, Mary Louisa Hall, Thomas Brown Hall, Hines Holt Hall, Laura Jane Hall, Franklin Abner Hall, Joseph Eugene Hall, Charles Edward Hall and Caroline Sophia Hall. Also in the household was a male school teacher, age 25.
  • He was a planter, according to the 1860 census.
  • On 30 August 1861, William Douglass Mitchell wrote to Bolling Hall Jr.:
         Cold Springs, Aug 30th /61.
    My Dear Uncle,
         As I have an opportunity of sending a letter directly to you by Mr Clepper who is en route for the seat of War in Virginia, as a volunteer in Col Terries regiment of mounted rangers, I will drop you a line. The war feeling engrosses the attention of all here, we hear of nothing but war and rumours of wars. Our county has sent two hundred men to Virginia and have two companies, one of Artilery and one of Cavalry, in the state, for confederate Service, so you see although we are in the back woods, we know our duties as patriotic citizens and members of the Southern Confedracy. Leroy left for virginia a week ago in Mr Powels Company, which is one of the twenty companies called for from this State by the President. My Father is now living in Robertson County on the Brazos. He was well when I heard from him. Charlie is married and living near me, he is doing well. Brother James is living in Grimes County in the Mill business, he is doing only tolerably well. Our Crops of corn were never better than they are this year. The Cotton crop will not be a good average crop owing to dry weather, from ten to twelve hundred per acre will be an average of this county. I received a letter from Josephine a few days ago, she states that all were well but that they had had a great deal of sickness in their family. Major Wood is suffering a great deal with inflamation of the eyes it is thought he will loose his sight. I have intended for some time to write to you on the subject of Margret Bailies Estate, have the heirs of my Mother any interest in that Estate, if not please let me know, by what act they have been debarred I would be glad to hear from you occasionally, and from my other relatives in Alabama. My warmest regards to all of my friends and believe me ever yours, Affectionately
              W. D. Mitchell
    Minimal punctuation added by the transcriber to enhance readability.
  • Bolling Hall Jr. died on 5 March 1897 at age 83 in Coosada, Elmore County, Alabama.
  • He was interred at Hall-Rawlinson Cemetery, Millbrook, Autauga (later Elmore) County, Alabama.
  • The following appeared on March 1897 in the Wetumpka Reform Advocate:
         At his home near Coosada, on last Saturday, Major Bolling Hall, passed over the River. For a long time he had stood in the presence of the dread messenger of Death with the resignation and a calm trust in the wisdom of the Almighty. When the summons came, quietly and peacefully he heeded the call, and surrounded by weeping relatives and friends, passed into the great beyond.
         Maj. Hall was a man of strong conviction, resolute of purpose and always earnest in his devotion to the Christian religion. Originally intensely opposed to secession, as soon as the war cloud burst over the South there was none more devoted than he in aiding and assisting the state in the four years of terrific strife which followed.
         Five of his sons were shot down on the field of battle and wherever known the name of HALL was the synonym for cool bravery and intrepid daring. In this death the state loses a note and able citizen, a great and good man.
  • Was administrator of the estate of Hines Holt Hall Bolling Hall Jr.
  • A biographical sketch appears in Alabama, Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men, from 1540 to 1872 :
         Bolling Hall of [Elmore] county was born in Hancock county, Georgia, in 1813, and came to Alabama with his parents in 1818. His father, of the same name, was a member of congress while in Georgia, but held no public trusts in this State, where he died in 1836. The mother of Mr. Hall was a sister of Hon. James Abercrombie of Russell. Educated at the University of Georgia, he read law under Mr. John H. Thorington of Montgomery, but became a planter. He represented Autauga in the legislature from 1849 to 1855. His reputation for integrity sound judgment, and public spirit is deservedly high. His wife was a grand-daughter of Genh. John A. Elmore of Autauga, and his son, Bolling Hall, was the heoric colonel of the 59th Alabama regiment at the early age of twenty-five years, and died January 1866 of the effects of woulds received at Chicamauga and Drury's Bluff. Another son was adjutant of the same regiment.
  • A biographical sketch appears in the History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography (1920):
         Bolling Hall, jr., planter and lawyer, was born May 8, 1813, in Baldwin County, Ga., and died March 5, 1897, in Coosada, Elmore County; son of Bolling and Jane (Abercrombie) Hall (q. v.) He attended the pioneer country schools of Autauga County, and graduated from the University of Georgia in 1831, when eighteen years of age. He read law in the office of Thorington and Pickett, in Montgomery; was admitted to the bar in 1834, but preferring the independent life of the planter he devoted himself largely to agriculture. He was a member of the Alabama legislature for three sessions, 1849-50, 1851-52, and 1853-54; and was nominated as an elector on the Douglas ticket in 1860, but resigned and voted for Breckenridge. He was inspector general of militia with the rank of major in 1835 and adjutant of the 1st Alabama regiment under Capt. Jack Shackleford in the Creek War of 1836. He took an active part in promoting the interests of the State; was a director in the Eufaula railroad until that line was purchased by the Georgia central railway; was one of the promoters of the South and North Alabama railroad, and a director of the same until his death. He was one of the organizers of the Elyton land company formed for the purpose of promoting Birmingham, and was a member of its directorate. He was a Democrat; and a Methodist. Married: December 22, 1836, near Coosada, to Mary Louisa, daughter of Dr. Abner and Charles P)erry (Elmore) Crenshaw of Wetumpka; granddaughter of Gen. John Archer Elmore (q. v.) and of Charles Crenshaw, of Newberry, S. C. Children: 1. Bolling, jr., unmarried, colonel, 59th Alabama infantry regiment, died in January, 1866, from the effects of wounds received at Chickamauga while leading a desperate charge; 2. Crenshaw, d. unmarried; adjutant 59th Alabama infantry regiment; 3. James A. d. unmarried; captain, Co. B., 59th Alabama infantry regiment; 6. Mary Louisa; 6. Thomas B., captain, Co. K, 24th Alabama infantry regiment, killed at Chickamauga, aged eighteen, and unmarried; 7. Hines Holt, Coosada; 8. Laura June; 9. Frank A., Millbrook; 10. Joseph E. m. Mary Stokes, of Mississippi; 11. Charles E., deceased; 12. Caroline S., m. Rev. Thomas R. Handy, a Methodist minister at Emory, Va. Last residence: Coosada.
  • Last Edited: 25 Aug 2014

Family: Mary Louisa Crenshaw b. 14 February 1819, d. 2 August 1858