SOUTHARD

Gilliam Tolliver Southard

Born: 1787; Orange County, North Carolina

Died: 1883; Maries County, Missouri

Mother: Dorothy Gilliam

Gillam Tolliver Southard was the second eldest of nine children born unto John and Dorothy Gilliam Southard. Gillam was born about 1787 in Orange County, North Carolina, soon after his parents had relocated to the county from the State of Virginia.

Little is known about his childhood in the deep South as records are quite scarce. Other than his birth, the only information that we have on Gilliam is his participation in the War of 1812, where he served as a fife. He soon married a woman by the name of Rebecca and settled near Gilliam's childhood home where they gave birth to the first six of their eleven children.

About 1824 they moved south to the County of McMinn in Tennessee where their daughter Rebecca, named after her mother, was born in 1825. A few years earlier (circa 1820), Gilliam's brothers, Maclin and Charles, had also relocated to Tennessee to that of White County.

The Gilliam Southard family were very good friends with the Thomas Moreland family; so much so that Gillam's son, Edward, eventually would marry Thomas' daughter Sarah Elizabeth in the State of Missouri when he was twenty-three years of age.

In 1843, Gilliam, Maclin and Charles moved their families to Missouri. Gilliam was 56 years of age, when he, along with his children and grandchildren, set out for the adventure of heading West. Gilliam qualified for a land grant for his service in the War of 1812. The Thomas Moreland family joined them in the move as did the John, James and Robinson families.

Moving across the frontier does not come without sacrifice, however. Gilliam's fourth eldest child, Aaron, had recently married one Lydia John in March of that year but suffered death during the trip. Southard family legend believes that he died during the crossing of the Mississppi River, but no one knows for sure other that the fact that he left behind a new wife and an unborn son, Richard Tolliver Southard.

Gilliam settled in the western portion of Crawford County (modern-day Maries County) near Spanish Needle Prairie. All that remains of his log cabin (built circa 1843) is a pile of stones which originally formed the chimney to his home. His children also built homes on his land, thus keeping the acreage in the Southard family for several generations.

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The Southard family was instrumental in establishing the newly formed Stoney Point Baptist Church, and it was at the church's original location, just across the road from Gilliam's farm, that the family gave their son Edward away in marriage to Thomas Moreland's daughter Sarah Elizabeth in 1846. The Reverend John Avery presided.

Traveling across the country via horse or ox cart had to be a vigorous task, especially for someone in their latter fifties (in a time when very few individuals ever saw sixty). Gilliam was obviously unique and quite robust, which perhaps explains as to why he lived a life of 96 years. He lived to see his great-great grandchildren; which for the time, was a rarity.

He was laid to rest at what has become the Southard Cemetery in Maries County, Missouri. Originally, the cemetery was located on Southard property. Unfortunately, time and weather have taken their toll on his grave marker making it unreadable today, unlike the headstone of his brother Maclin. Legend has it that his place of rest is at the headstone located near the center of the cemetery as shown below. Towards the right of the stone would be the grave markers of his son William and his family.