Duncan TERRY Joseph William TERRY George Walter TERRY Martha L TERRY Mary E TERRY Louis A TERRY Louis Alexander TERRY Donnie Lee TERRY Hettie Maye TERRY William Lafayette TERRY Ola D TERRY Harriet SLIGER Ina ADAMS Mollie B WALTON Wysetta NOLASTNAME Mini tree diagram
Duncan Lafayette TERRY

Duncan Lafayette TERRY1,3,4,7,9,6,5,11,5

about 18556 - after 191010,9

Life History

about 1855

Born in Murray County, Georgia.1,2,3,4,5

(most likely)

1856

Born in Georgia.9

(less likely)

1857

Born in Georgia.6

(less likely)

between 1860 and 1870

Resident in Georgia Militia District 1013, Murray, Georgia.1,6

1879

Married Harriet SLIGER in Scott County, Arkansas.2,7

about 1879

Married in Harriet Sliger, Scott County, Arkansas.2

1880

Residence2 in Lafayette, Scott, Arkansas.7

9th Jan 1880

Birth of son Louis Alexander TERRY in Scott County, Arkansas.2,12,13,14,15,16,17

29th Feb 1884

Birth of daughter Donnie Lee TERRY in Spiro, Leflore County, Choctaw Nation.18,19,14,20

12th Dec 1886

Birth of daughter Hettie Maye TERRY in Indian Territory.21,22,11,23,24,25,26,3,3

21st Jul 1889

Birth of son William Lafayette TERRY in Oaklodge, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory.27,28,5

1894

Birth of daughter Ola D TERRY in Indian Territory.5,21,29

1894

Death of Harriet SLIGER in Scott County, Arkansas.2

19th Sep 1896

Married in Ina Adams, Waldron, Scott County, Arkansas

Sep 1896

Residence3 in Oak Lodge, Indian Territory, residence on marriage certificate.2

19th Sep 1896

Married Ina ADAMS in Sebastian County, Arkansas.3,5

before Nov 1905

Death of Ina ADAMS in Oklahoma.8

Nov 1905

Residence4 in Spiro, Central District, Indian Territory, Residence on marriage license.8

9th Nov 1905

Married Mollie B WALTON in Spiro, Central District, Indian Territory.4,8

9th Nov 1905

Married in To Mollie Gaddy, Spiro, Central District, Indian Territory.8

1910

Residence5 in Prices Chapel, Sequoyah, Oklahoma.9

after 1910

Died in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma.10,9

Notes

  • The Terry Family History reconstructed much of Duncan Lafayette Terry's life.  This was the starting point of my investigation into his life, as a cousin of my great-grandfather Thomas Duncan Terry.  That research reports limited details of the last few years of his life.

    He was known by the nickname Fait/Fate.

    The will of Duncan Terry refers to Duncan L Terry as the youngest child of Duncan Terry.  He is willed a slave family, named as "Dennis my Negro man 42 years old, Edna his wife 29 years old, Harriet a girl a year old, Sally 4 years old and John one year old and the home place known as part of a lot of land No. two hundred and ninety-nine and a portion of lot to this hundred which fill ... to my part of my father's estate in  this divide of his land."  These are willed to his wife till Duncan is 21 years old.  Duncan, born in 1855, would have been 7 years old when his father died.  I do not have the exact month of Duncan Lafayette's birth.

    1860 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia, 26 July, Georgia Militia District 1013, PO Hoplers Mills, page 92-93, Hse #653, Fam #624
    Duncan Terry 47 M Georgia  Former Baptist Preacher 4000 3000 South Carolina
    Wyzitta Terry 43 F South Carolina
    Duncan L 3 M Georgia

    In 1870 Duncan Lafayette is in the home of his widowed mother Wysetty Terry.

    1870 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia, 21 July, Militia District 1013, PO Spring Place, page 2 (scan p544), Hse/Fam #11
    Terry, Wysetty  55 F W Keeping House South Carolina
    Terry, Duncan L 15 M W Farm Laborer Georgia

    They sold the land and moved west before his mother's death.  They moved to Scott County, Arkansas, near Waldron, east of Little Rock.  Wysetta lived to be 104 years old, surviving an Indian attack on their Arkansas homestead, and suffering a scalping that left her injured and living with a metal plate in her head for the rest of her life.

    Duncan Lafayette later moved west near Fort Smith, then finally into eastern Indian Territory, while cousins were in northern Texas and southern Indian Territory.  In 1880, he was enumerated in the U S Census with his wife Harriet Sliger.  Note that her nephew's family name is spelled Sligo by the enumerator.

    1880 Federal Census, Scott County, Arkansas, 5 June, Lafayette, District 172, page 10B, Hse/Fam # 89
    Terry, Delayafette W M 26 Head  Farmer Born in Georgia, parents born in South Carolina
    Terry, Harriet W F 21 Wife  Keeping House Born in Louisiana, parents born in Tennessee.
    Terry, Louis W M 5mos born Feb 1880  Son At Home AR GA LA
    Sligo, James W M 5 Wife's brother's orphan  At Home AR TX TN

    Their daughter Donnie Lee was born in 1884.

    U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
    Donnie Lee Dugan [Donnie Lee Terry]
    Birth 29 Feb 1884 Spiro, Leflore County, Oklahoma
    Father Duncan L Terry
    Mother Harriet Sliger
    SSN 444269226
    Nov 1944 Name listed as DONNIE LEE DUGAN

    In May 1889, Lafayette was charged with selling liquor in Indian Territory.

    Fort Smith, Arkansas, Criminal Case Files, 1866-1900
    summons Material Witness Newton High, to testify in the case of Lafayette Terry
    Charge Introducing Spirit Liquor into Indian Territory
    Document date 29 May (based on testimony affidavit in this case file)
    Court Date 8 July 1889
    Jacket Number 188

    Fort Smith, Arkansas, Criminal Case Files, 1866-1900
    United States vs Lafayette Terry
    Testimony 29 May 1889 of Newton High, resident of Choctaw Nation
    testimony in the case of Lafayette Terry on the Charge of Introducing Spirit Liquor into Indian Territory
    "He had his saddle riders full about two gallons It was two or three months ago:  he saw it:  I bought a quart from him paid him $2.00.  Have seen him sell plenty of it:  have seen him off & on return three years with as much as five gallons:  his business then was selling whiskey."

    On 29 July 1889 Duncan Lafayette Terry was tried and convicted, and sentenced to serve 2 years in the Ohio State Penitentiary.

    --------------------------------
    Great Grandpa Was a Convict

    If you get involved in genealogy or the study of your family history, you can learn a lot of interesting things. I think I'm interested because I want to know where I come from, why I am like I am. I don't have time to do a lot of research now, but a few years ago I did a bit, and put up a family history Website. Through that site I came in contact with a number of relatives who now supply me with research.

    My cousin Ann, who is devoting her winter to researching the Terry line has come up with some interesting info. First she found the court records showing that in July of 1889 my Great Grandpa, Duncan Lafayette Terry, or "Fate" for short, was convicted on 4 counts of "Introducing and Selling Liquor in the Indian Country," and was sentenced to serve 2 years in the Ohio Penintentiary. Bummer.

    Penitentiary records describe him physically as a man of 5'10 3/4" height, greenish blue eyes, light brown hair and fair skin. They also cataloged his scars and marks, and gave a more detailed description, but I'll save that for the Website. Another page describes his habits as "intemperate." So he was a drinker. ...

    Next up, Uncle Louis "Luke" Terry: Arkansas Deputy Sheriff convicted of manslaughter and tried for murder (after he got out of jail for the first crime). I have the transcript for the preliminary hearing of the latter trial. Interesting stuff.
    --  Terry Family History and Genealogy Blog, Tuesday, November 15, 2005, accessed 15 January 2019
    --------------------------------

    In 1894 he was nback in the docks for theft.

    Fort Smith, Arkansas, Criminal Case Files Index, 1866-1900
    Fayette Terry
    Control number NRFF-21-3W51-44423
    Series ID 3W51
    Unit ID 44423
    Criminal Defendant Case File for Fayette Terry
    Textual Records
    Start Date 1894, Larceny
    Jacket #450
    National Archives--Southwest Region

    "Duncan Lafayette Terry: I'm noticing on several family trees regarding Duncan Terry and Harriet Sliger that they are missing my grandmother.  My grandmother is Hettie Maye Terry Mosley Trotter [daughter of Duncan Lafayette Terry and Harriet Sliger].  Her siblings were Ola, Donnie, Louis Alexander and William Lafayette.  She was born Dec 12, 1886 in Indian Territory, Oklahoma and died April 15, 1969 in Los Angeles, Calif.  She had 3 children, Olive Mosley, Maggie Mosley and Woodrow L Mosley (my father).
    --  pjsj1970juno.com, Anonymous comment on genealogy

    After Harriet's death, Duncan married Ina Adams.

    Arkansas, County Marriages Index, 1837-1957
    Duncan Lafayette Terry
    Age 41, Birth Year abt 1855
    Residence Skullyville, Oak Lodge, Indian Territory
    Spouse's Name Ira Adams
    Spouse's Age 18 [b abt 1878]
    Spouse's Residence Oak Lodge, Indian Territory
    Marriage 15 Sep 1896 Sebastian County
    Marriage License Date 11 Sep 1896

    Ina died in 1905.  Soon after Ina's death that same year D L married Mollie Walton Gaddy.  The ceremony was performed by the Mayor of Spiro, Indian Territory.

    Choctaw Nation Marriage
    DL Terry, Age 50, of Spiro, Oklahoma
    Mrs Mollie Gaddy, Age 32, of Spiro, Oklahoma
    License #issued 6 Nov 1905
    Married by J Wesley Smith , Mayor of Spiro 09 Nov 1905 Spiro, Central District, Indian Territory
    Certificate #2695 Filed 10 Nov 1905
    Marriage Records, LeFlore County. Oklahoma, Bk C, Pg 130

    The 1910 census reported Lafayette and his third wife Mollie Gaddy, with a grandson Rosco Grant (or some similar name, hard to read in the census).  They were in Prices Chapel, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma.  This is consistent with our earlier information of him in Choctaw Nation, out of which was created LeFlore County, Oklahoma, bordering Arkansas, where he had lived earlier after migrating west after 1870 with his mother.

    1910 Federal Census, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, 2 May, Prices Chapel, District 206, page 7A, Hse#103, Fam #105
    Terry, Duncan L  Head M W 54 2nd Marriage married 4 years  GA SC SC Farmer
    Terry, Mollie  Wife F W 35 2nd Marriage married 4 years  AR AR AR
    Grant [?], Rosco grandson M W 1 yr 5 mos OK AR OK

    Mollie had several children with her first husband Stephen Gaddy.  She and Duncan had no children.

    " I found a letter that Terry wrote to one of his daughters and it was written on Christmas Eve in [1910]. He says that Steve, Roscoe and Ethel [and Elmer] are coming for Christmas. Duncan and Mollie are living with a grandchild in 1910 and it is hard to read the name. It looks like Roscoe Gunt....probably is Grant. Roscoe served 7 years in a Huntville prison for being in on a robbery that ended in a killing of a constable. He didn't fire the gun. They were off their military base at the time."
    --  "dferg1200," Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 08 September 2016

    "Dont guess we will have any Turkey they cost to mutch and Im a Bout out of money and there is steve rosko [Roscoe] Ethel and Elmer all here [for Christmas dinner]"
    --  Duncan L Terry, letter to daughter Hattie Mosley, 14 December 1910, page 2; scan of the letter courtesy of "dferg," accessed 9 September 2016

    No specific death date has been found for Lafayette.
    --  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~troy/terry/terry_family_history.html

Sources

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