My guess is around the Sylacauga area. That's where our family farm was. My grandmother (Kat's mom) was a Kendrick and grew up around the K Springs (Kendrick Springs) area which is near present day Chelsea, Alabama. I have at least 4 Civil War veterans on the Blackerby and Kendrick side of my family.

The lady on the left is my other great grandmother. Her name is Stacy Blackerby Kendrick. She is holding Kat's twin brother James. Her husband and my great grandfather was Samuel A. Kendrick. Samuel A. Kendrick's dad was Samuel F. Kendrick.

Samuel F. Kendrick (who the grandson on the right is named after) fought with the 31st Alabama infantry during the Civil War.

Below is from my genealogical research book portion on Samuel F. Kendrick I'm working on for the family... Notice that he also married a Blackerby gal, and yes her daughter in law Stacy is also her second cousin. Alabama... Probably what's the matter with me now... Too much inbreeding.

1861 Oct 03 Samuel F. Kendrick, [age 24], married Mary E. Blackerby, [age 24], in Shelby Co., Ala., performed by James Baxley, Justice of the Peace.

1862 Mar 20 Samuel F. Kendrick, age 24, enlisted as a private with Co. K, 31st Ala. Inf. In Wilsonville, Ala., for 3 years or the war by D.R. Hundley. He joined a company of Shelby Co. troops.

1863 Jul 04 S.F. Kendrick was on a prisoner of war roll at Vicksburg, Miss., after the surrender of Vicksburg.

1864 Jun 15 S.F. Kendrick was captured at Big Shanty, Ga., sent to, and imprisoned at Rock Island, Ill.

1865 Historical Context: With the defeat of the Confederate Armies and dissolution of the Confederate government, the war ended. The former Confederacy was left with worthless money, a collapsed economy, extreme poverty, disillusioned men, four years of war torn destruction, with much its younger male population killed or wounded in war or dead from disease, hatred generated by hundreds of thousands of deaths, an unwanted Federal military occupation over a conquered land and people, and a new need to integrate freed slaves into the social fabric of the state.

1865 Jun 18 Samuel F. Kendrick was released from Rock Island, Ill., prison after signing an oath of allegiance to the United States. His residence was given as Columbiana, Shelby Co., Ala. He was described as dark complected, dark hair, hazel eyes, 5’-9 ½” tall, and 28 years old. He returned home.

1865 Historical Context: Reconstruction began in Alabama as the U.S. Government attempted to create social realignment between freed slaves and the general population using the Federal army, as the army oversaw emancipation through the Bureau of Refugees, Freemen, and Abandoned lands, the Freedman’s Bureau. In 1867 the U.S. Congress took control of the process. It became the age of mistrust, unrest, and instability as carpetbaggers, scalawags, and freedmen in Alabama ran the government at the exclusion of ex-Confederate soldiers, anyone who held a political office before the war, and anyone engaged in the rebellion. These groups were banned from holding political office by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.


Samuel surrendered at Vicksburg, released after signing papers that he wouldn't take up arms against the Union again, but either he volunteered to go back and fight or he was "persuaded" by Regulators and/or Bushwackers to go back and fight, and when he was captured again in Big Shanty, the Feds already had his name on the rolls and had enough of that shit, and shipped his ass off to Rock Island for the duration. I can only imagine the shit he must have gone through...

i have records where Samuel applied for his Confederate pension in Shelby County. It was something like $2 a month, but he had to list everything he owned of value. What was interesting is that he listed as owning 40 acres, a clock and a mule. I think the land was valued at $40, the clock at $15 (clocks were very valuable back then) and, get this, the mule was valued at $42. More valuable than the land! The reason for this was without the mule to work the land, the land wasn't all that valuable.