Tomfoolery: James & Pennie Carroll

"Major" James Carroll, Jr. (1805-1878) & Penelope "Pennie" Elizabeth Kennedy Carroll (1810-1865)

my ggg-grandparents

In 1828, James Carroll, Jr. and his brother John came to the Wiregrass without their families and visited in the vicinity of old Richmond. John proceeded to make a crop but James "ran a team" between Clayton and Montgomery-apparently hauling goods for hire. While he was at the warehouse in Montgomery, one of the warehouse-men showed him an old cannon laying on the ground (this was no doubt one of the old French cannons recovered from Fort Toulouse up near Wetumpka). The warehouse-man said that the strong young bucks always made a game of seeing if anyone could lift one end of it off the ground, but they had not yet found anyone who could lift it. James took the challenge, stooped down, bent his legs, and grasping the back end of the canon, lifted it off the ground. The warehouse-man was amazed and apparently told everyone about the teamster from North Carolina who had performed the feat. The next time James brought a wagon load to the Montgomery warehouse a big crowd of more than one hundred men gathered and asked him to lift the canon again. No doubt enjoying the attention to his prowess, James replied that he would be happy to "gratify your curiosity", and he again stooped down and lifted the end of the big cannon, amid the cheers and exclamations of his audience. - W.L. Andrews in the Alabama Historical Quarterly, 1948

James Carroll, Jr. settled a place on Panther Creek two miles east of Ozark on the Skipperville road, opened land and commenced farming. He had laid the foundation for his fortune amid the scenes of his childhood and brought with him to the new world a handsome amount of the world's goods. In 1840 he decided to enlarge his borders, and established a mercantile business and built a cotton gin at the place a mile above Ozark, afterwards owned by W. E. Matthews. About that time he was elected Major of the county militia, a position he held with credit to himself and honor to the cause he represented. - Forgotten Trails

He was elected Major of the Dale County militia in about 1840, and was often known as "Major" James Carroll. This was at the time of the Second Seminole War. - Per Dale Her. Bk, page 171. Article written by Kells C. Carroll.