I am a member of the Alford American Family Association which is the source of virtually all the information on this family. I did provide information on some of the more recent members of the family and some information on the places where these people lived. Since I grew up in Meriwether county, GA it was easy for me to go to the courthouses in the primary counties of Fayette, Pike, Upson, and Meriwether to find source information on many of these Alfords.
Isham Alford was born in 1755 in NC. He is living among several Alfords but we have not been able to connect him to any of these Alfords nor to the VA Alfords. This is our primary problem facing all the descendants of Isham.
Isham had four children: Brittain, Baldy, Bynum, and Anna. Anna married Elijah Davidson. They traveled thrugh GA with Isham. They wound up in Troup County, GA where Isham died and was buried there, but the grave has never been located. Anna and family continued westward to Louisana. Bynum came down what is now Interstate 20 and wound up in DeKalb County, GA. He had children there, farmed, and died there. There is a private Alford cemetery in DeKalb county that has the graves of many of his family. I have been there and walked through the cemetery which is now located in a large housing project. But the cemetery is fenced in and has easy access.
Baldy did not spend much time in GA. There are very few references to places where he stopped. Most just say GA with no indication of county. He went to AL and settled down as a farmer. He died and is buried in AL. Most of his family continued to the west.
Brittain took a more southerly route winding up in Pike county which was a part of Upson when he got there. But he settled down as a farmer near the Flint River. He died there and is buried near the Flint River on the Old Melton farm which bordered on the Flint River. Their land was near the present town of Molena, GA. His family wound up in counties close by; Meriwether, Upson, Fayette. The Brassells who were mostly in Fayette became a big part of his family marrying several of the children.
Brittain Jr. is my great grandfather. He married LaDicey Brassell in Fayette county, bought some land on the Old Greenville Road which is near Starrs Mill on GA Highway 85. He built a small house there which was still standing, though barely, in 1968 when I first found out about the land. My cousin inherited part of the land, including the old home place. He turned the land into a subdivision which now has houses on it with one of the streets named "Alford Drive." My brother and I inherited another part of the land which we still hold in the way it was left by the last living owners.
Julius Ceasar, my grandfather lived on this land, married a Hewell, and eventually wound up at Union City, GA as a telegraph operator for the Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast RR.
Ryburn Orie Alford, my father lived on this land for a short time then lived in Union City where he probably learned the telegraph trade. He became the telegraph operator for the AB&C RR in the town of Gay, GA which is in Meriwether county. He died in 1941.
Cecil Warick Alford, my uncle was about six years younger than Ryburn. He too learned the telegraph trade and became the telegraph operator in Manchester, GA, in Meriwether county. This was a major point of operations for the RR. He remained in this city and kept the same job until he died. It was his son Huey who developed the land of our ancestors.
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