Benjamin Lloyd and His Primitive Hymnal and His Grandson's Writings

 

I do not know very much about my 4th Great Uncle, other than he was the 5th son and older brother to my Joseph Walter Lloyd. I will have to find out more about him. In reading the Lloyd history by Oliver Weaver, he mentioned this hymnal put together by Benjamin. I had no idea it would be identified over time as a piece of museum quality folk music history. 

This is an article from the Folklore section of the Encyclopedia of Alabama online - Click Here

Information from the article states, "Benjamin Lloyd, a successful businessman from Chambers County and later a public official in Greenville, was a prominent Primitive Baptist elder. He saw the need for a hymn book with selections that expressed—or at least did not conflict with—the beliefs of the new denomination. Thus he selected 535 hymns from other popular hymn books and published the words, without musical notation, in palm-sized books under the title The Primitive Hymns: Spiritual Songs and Sacred Poems, Regularly Selected, Classified and Set in Order and Adapted to Social Singing and All Occasions of Divine Worship."

Something else popped up in a search for Lloyd on this website, Benjamin's grandson, Francis Bartow Lloyd was a politician and author of published articles about life at that time. He wrote under a false name - Rufus Sanders. He was shot and murdered by a man who, after a judgement from the state supreme court was found not guilty! Whoa! 

"Francis Bartow Lloyd (1861-1897) is remembered primarily for Sketches of Country Life: Humor, Wisdom, and Pathos from the "Sage of Rocky Creek," a posthumous collection of his syndicated newspaper columns depicting rural life and featuring his alter-ego Rufus Sanders. Lloyd was a politician, a talented newspaperman, and an accomplished orator who spoke all over the South. Lloyd was murdered at age 36 in a case that drew media attention from across the state."

Through the efforts of his wife and others, his Rufus articles were published as a collection. Another book I need to add to my Family history library!  Here is the article on Francis - Click Here

Curious: Week 4 topic from 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (by Amy Johnson Crow)

 I think if you are a family historian or genealogist, you are naturally curious and, more than likely, your curiosity is never satisfied.  One found bit of information leads to another. One fact leads to needing to know about another fact. And on and on. 

In my research, I have a page that has a T chart down the entire page with headings: 

What I Know: | What I Want to Know:

I've used this chart over the past 25+ years and have kept most of them for that long.  As I started researching, I wrote down all of the facts I had, and what I needed to find out to answer questions or make connections.  I often wrote on my chart of curiosities as I found new information that prompted new questions.  It is really interesting and satisfying to see what I wrote about not knowing years ago just starting out, and the list of information found over time.  Genealogy is a slow but rewarding process that is as much or as little as you make it. 

Here is my Lloyd Family T chart, updated for 2022:

My great grandfather's name is H. Frazier -- What does that H mean??  Why is it there?

We have the ""Dear Jammy" letter that tells us how John Lloyd came to America after his wife and child both died.  Others have a case for John that claims he was sentenced to 14 years and transported. ------Why did John Lloyd come to America?  Was he truly indentured for stealing the ring and tools? or was it   something else that brought him to America?   Where was he prior to his marriage to Prudence?                 

The Lloyds lived in historical settings like the Shenandoah Valley, Baltimore, Henry, Pittsylvania and Orange Co. Virginia. One source says a relative sold land to G. Washington. --------------------------------Did our Lloyds cross paths with George Washington?  or any other Patriots?                                                  

We have some records from the Revolutionary War -- Can we establish verification to apply for the DAR? 

These are just a few things I am curious about right now.  I am ready to soak into the Revolutionary times and understand how my Lloyd family interacted, lived, worked, and survived during that time.  My dear 3rd Lloyd cousin helped me, and motivated me, to apply to the DAR under another relative on my Lloyd branch - Govin Gordon.  I do not know much about him either, other than the documentation that he is my ancestor and he served in the Revolution, but I am going to be making my chart of curiosities on him and the Gordon family in 2022 as well!  

God Bless America!

Laura

#52Ancestors2022

"Foundations"

 There is a great blog where you are given a prompt once a week for a year, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, by Amy Johnson Crow.  This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time, but never have. I am going to give it a good try this year to do at least half.  I have 4 family history blogs that I will be working on, so I may need some grace. 

The first prompt is "Foundations".  Aside from some hymns about the foundation of Jesus, I think of our 'founding fathers' of our family.  Our line of Lloyds is an interesting one and I can find inspiration in their life stories. A cousin of mine on the Lloyd side recently completed all of the paperwork for the DAR application, and was accepted, for an ancestor on the Gary branch of the Lloyd tree.  When I look at all of our ancestors, this distinction could really be applied to so many ancestors. I think it is cool that one of my 'lines' that have continued from pre-Revolutionary time to the present is represented.  I really appreciate my cousin for all her hard work and for tagging me in!  Now I can pay that forward to my nieces and others.