Ed Hunnicutt <shortcut@redriverok.com> Durant Ok in winter <Shortcut@traverse.com> ElkRapids Mi in summer, telephone 616-264-0630. When I tried these E-mail addresses they were not in use on June 3, 2000.

Ed reported that William married Martha Elizabeth (Patsy) Smith 2 Nov 1812.(Marriage Book A pp 70 Putnam Co Ga.) I don't know when they came to Alabama. We found several land transactions in the early 1820s around the Mulberry community in Bibb county. Both he and Patsy are named in some of the transactions. A William is listed in the 1830 Alabama index in Pike county. We find him in Bibb Co. in the 1840 Alabama index. I think the Pike County is in error for I found him in the 1830 Perry County census with three males, three females and five slaves. I believe this to be more correct because of finding Elizabeth marrying in that same county in 1831.

In the Alabama archives Land Index file we find where he applied for homestead on public lands;

1. NE/4 of SE/4 Sec 3 TWP 21N Range 13E 30 NOV 1832 warrant 13893.

2. SE/4 OF NW/4 Sec 3 TWP 21N Range 14E 14 July 1836 Warrant 30344.

3. NW/4 of NW/4 Sec 2 TWP 21N Range14E 2 Aug 1836 Warrant 30610.

These last two is where about half of down town Clanton is now. The earliest land transaction I have found is in Bibb Co. Deed Book A Page 41 7 Feb 1826 from Sally B. Stevens to William Honeycutt.

We received a return phone call from a young lady that worked in thr office of the Probate Court. Her maiden name was Honeycutt and she was so excited to hear from another Hunnicutt she was beside her self. That very night she was going to have her dad make a three way conference call to us. But in the mean time she was unauthorized to do any research. We would have to hire outside to do it. However she was mailing us a tidbit on a Joshua Marcus. As it turns out, this was Emily's grandfather.The young lady and her father called and we had a long discussion. We later met them on our next trip to Alabama. He thinks we are related through Randolph Hunnicutt, born 1757, father of the wrong Thomas Hunnucutt, who married Sarah Saxon. I think we are related but not through that family.

While researching in Bibb county we met a Mr. Cottingham who researches, within Bibb county for hire. A family of Price had contacted him inquiring information on William Honeycutt, but he was unable to help them. He thought that we might help as we were researching several counties. The Price's are descendants of a daughter of William.

John David Glasscock had sometime previously told us a story passed down through ages about the Honeycutts. It seems that a daughter to a Hunnicutt would not leave the ax outside over night. She would always bring it into the house for safe keeping.The story goes on that her father had been killed with an ax. John David had ask us to keep this story in mind while we were rooting through all the different counties records. He would like to have this tail confirmed or denied. Well this aroused my curiosity also.

We were looking in the Autauga Probate ledgers for the Marcus' when we stumbled upon the estate of William Honeycutt and some information on his and his wife's murder. There was another lady there researching, she exclaimed,  "that's what I'm looking for.".  As it turned out she was working for the same family of Prices that Mr. Cottingham had told us about. The lady ask if we would share with her what we had found, which of course we did.

The first thing we came across was in the August 1848 commissioners court minutes. That "James Lawhr, Coroner, be paid $24.00 for holding inquest over the dead bodies of Mr. and Mrs. William Honeycutt.

The custom of the day on estate settlement was for the husband of the daughter of the deceased to receive her money to manage for her. In Williams settlement we found that his married daughter Elmira Bagley, received her share directly, not through her husband. I thought this strange. Later we found in the February 1849 Commissioners court,  "paid Wiley Heath $4.00 for going to Centerville (Bibb county) after prisoner Bagley. In this same minutes was comments on the inspection of and paying a Mr. I. G. Graham for the building of an iron cage within the jail.

We went to the Criminal Court to see what might be found there. But the court clerk wouldn't permit us in the ledgers. On a visit to the Alabama archives I found a microfiche (SDMF 133 & SDM-246)Report of Inspection of Alabama Penitentiary. 1850-1851. On the fish was prisoner 145 Jacob Bagley age 33, 5'5" tall, a farmer born in N. C., received Dec 3, 1850. Convicted at Montgomery. On that trip to the archives we met a retired warden from the Alabama penal system. That person said they would see if more could be found on Bagley. Calls were made right from the archives but the administrative section of the Penal system was moving and nothing could be found at the moment, perhaps later. That's been eighteen months and nothing yet.

We have been in contact with the Prices once by letter and twice by phone.We went by their house in Mississippi once but they were on vacation at Gulf Shores. In our conversations, the Prices related that they had heard the old folks talk about cousin Riley Monroe Honeycutt visiting them there in Mississippi. This implies to me that they were 1st cousins. Also the Prices piece of the murder mystery fell into place with what we had found.

The story passed down with the generations is that some one killed grand father Honeycutt in the midst of trying to steal a trunk of gold they thought he had.The instrument used was the family ax from the yard. So thereafter the daughter would never leave the ax out over night. So from the paper trail we found, the family story is true and it was his son-in-law Jacob Bagley who did the dastardly deed.