Till Photos
The Till's and Majors I also got interested in genealogy because I was curious about my father's family - the Till's of Alabama - since I never knew them very well. My great grandparents, Samuel Artemus Till and Rachel Nancy Majors, died of a fever after drinking water from a tainted stream while on a wagon trip to visit relatives. They died 8 days apart. Samuel was only 35 and Rachel was 37. They left nine sons; my grandfather, Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Till, was the oldest at age 13. When I heard this story, I was afraid there was little hope of finding the nine boys. I figured they had been separated. Fortunately, I found out that the nine sons had been raised by two sets of aunts and uncles - Samuel's brother, Andrew Allen Till who had married Rachel's sister, Martha Jane Majors, and Samuel's sister Martha Jane Till who had married Rachel's brother, James Andrew Jackson Majors. I was so happy that they had not been separated. Through my own research and that of other Internet researchers, much has been learned about the Till family. To find out more about this family before they came to Alabama, see My German-Swiss Ancestors: Migration to Orangeburgh, South Carolina. I owe much gratitude to other researchers who assisted me in my search: Elaine Hendricks, Jean Styles, Jeanette Howell, Mauriece Hinson, and John Till of South Carolina, who let me borrow Faust's book on the history of Orangeburgh's German-Swiss settlers. Nine sons of Samuel Artemus TILL and Rachel Nancy MAJORS Oldest to youngest (L) to (R): Frank (my grandfather),
Charles, Jess,
Back Row: Robert David (Rob), George, Samuel Thomas
(Sam),
Nine sons of Samuel Artemus Till & Rachel Nancy MAJORS & their wiaves
Oldest to youngest (L) to (R): Frank (my grandfather), Charles, Jess, Rob, Sam, (Twin) Oliver "Mage", (Twin) William "Till", Clarence, and George StoriesGood Clean Fun (Dad is 85 now and the "boys" were men when he knew of them.) These were orphans. Dad didn't know how old the boys were or when they went to live with Mr Majors. Neither does he know if they were related. Dad could only remember four of the names - Frank, Rob, Jess, and George. One of these boys became a minister, Dad thinks it was Frank, but is not sure. These "boys" loved to sing and used to sing together a lot at "singings" at the Friendship Church. Dad said they also really liked to tease one another. He remembered once at a singing, after finishing a hymn, they asked if the folks would like to hear them sing that same song backwards. You may be sure that everyone did. So they immediately turned their backs on the audience and sang it again. Of course everybody got a good laugh out of it. Must have been wonderful when most folks really enjoyed good clean fun. Can't You See? I was so thrilled to see pictures of my grandfather, brother to your grandfather. My grandfather was George, the youngest. I loved the stories. What a wonderful spiritual heritage we have. I have another story about the Till humor. It seems Papa (my grandfather) was driving an old Dodge truck, and he had cataracts, so he couldn't see very well. He almost ran over a policeman who was directing traffic. The policeman said, "Can't you see? You almost ran over me!" Papa replied, "Can't you see? This truck says DODGE." The policeman laughed and let him go on.
My paternal grandfather, Frank, was a minister. He died in 1945 before I was born so I never knew him. A few years ago, my mother's sister told me that she used to live across the street from my grandparents. She said that my grandparents were outside doing some chore (feeding chickens or something) and that my grandfather said he was going to go in and pray for the children (all grown). She said that he died on his knees praying for his children. This really touched me. --Barbara Picture of Samuel Artemus Till courtesy of Christine Till Garland Pictures of nine Till brothers courtesy of Holmes Jackson Till, son of Clarence (C.B.) Till and Minnie (Knowles) Till.
Updated on 04/17/2006 |
