|
Lebbeus
Aaron Pindall was born on January 14, 1834 in Monongalia
County, Virginia (now West Virginia, bordering SW
Pennsylvania). He was the oldest child of Evan
"Shelby" Pindall and Drucilla Morgan Barker. His
siblings were Xenophon Jacob (X.J.), Addeliza Rachel, Sarah
Rebecca, Shelby Ethelbert (who died from scarlet fever in
1844, at the age of 2), and Hannah Emily.
Lebbeus' father, Shelby, owned a plantation in what was then
Virginia. He had not only inherited the land, but also a
black man named Charles, from his father, Jacob Pindall.
Shelby served in the Virginia Militia achieving the rank of
Brigadier General and was second in command in seniority
after General Winfield Scott at the time of the Mexican War.
Lebbeus
was educated in the local schools in Monongalia County, but
it's unclear whether this included Laurel Point School on
his father's plantation where his brother, Xenophon Jacob,
(a year and a half younger) attended. In 1850, Lebbeus'
mother died. His paternal grandmother, who then came to live
with the family and care for the childen, died of typhoid
fever the following year. In 1851, Lebbeus entered
Washington University in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The
remainder of his family moved near Santa Fe, Monroe County,
Missouri in 1852.
Lebbeus
graduated from law school in Lexington, Virginia in 1854,
and entered law practice in Paris, the county seat of Monroe
County. His brother, Xenophen Jacob Pindall, was admitted to
the bar in Mexico, Mo in 1858 and also practiced in Monroe
County until 1859. Lebbeus practiced law in Paris until
early in 1861 when he enlisted in the Missouri State Guard.
Lebbeus
initially served as Provost Marshal in the Second Division
of the MSG. During the Battle of the Hemp Bales in
Lexington, Missouri, (September 18-20, 1861), a stray
Confederate cannonball knocked Lebbeus from his horse, but
he managed to return to duty. At the time of the Battle of
Pea Ridge, (Elkhorn Tavern, March 6-8, 1862), Lebbeus was
with the Third Division of the MSG. He successfully
recruited in Missouri during the summer of 1862 and was
rewarded by being appointed to command the 9th
Missouri
Battalion of Sharpshooters, C.S.A. on December 2, 1862, at
the age of 28.
Major
L.A. Pindall and Companies A-C of the sharpshooters fought
at Reed's Mountain (December 6, 1862) and Prairie Grove
(December 7, 1862). They were joined by Company D on June 7,
1863, before the Battle of Helena (July 4, 1863). It's not
known when Company E was added, but this company was with
Pindall at Pleasant Hill on April 9, 1864 and Jenkins' Ferry
on April 30, 1864. Company F was formed shortly after
November 30, 1864. At that time, the battalion was put in
charge of Shreveport. They built railroads and made
breastworks until the time of their surrender in that city
in 1865.
X.J entered the Confederate Army as a private in May 1861 by
joining the Missouri Militia in Poindexter’s Company of
Clark’s Division under General Sterling Price. He was
later elected lieutenant of that company and served in the
Battle of Oak Hills and to the time that Gen. Price invaded
Lexington. He was then elected Lt. Col. in Bevier’s
Regiment of Gen John B Clark’s Div. of Missouri Troops and
served until the regiment was mustered out in 1862. He then
went into the Confederate Service and was appointed Major
and quartermaster of Marmaduke’s Brigade and served in
that and Parson’s Brigade until the surrender in 1865.
After the war, the Drake Constitution prevented Lebbeus from
practicing law in Missouri, so he went to Arkansas with his
brother, X.J., and established a practice in Napoleon,
Arkansas in 1865. He became both a prominent lawyer and
politician in the state, serving as a member of the Arkansas
Legislatures of 1879 and 1881.
Lebbeus
married Elenorah Jane ("Nora") Snell on September
15, 1868. An article from the Paris Mercury in 1897
recites their love story:
“Col.
Pindall came to Monroe county from Virginia, and was a
typical Southerner in every respect; frank, openhearted,
gallant and hospitable, and a natural born soldier. He too,
left a sweet heart behind and tradition still tells of the
sweet young lady, Nora, they call her yet – for old people
are ever young in a memory – Nora Snell, who kept her long
troth until the young Virginian again rode up to the gate of
her father’s home and dismounted, war-worn and weary, to
claim his promise. She was the daughter of Ashby Snell, of
Middle Grove, one of the most extensive slave owners in
Monroe county at that time, and loved the Virginian from the
time she met him as a guest under her father’s roof until
he came again when the negro cabins had been emptied and the
tide of war, sweeping over the land, had changed the old
order to the new.”
Lebbeus and Nora had four children, Evan Shelby (born
January 1870 - lived less than a month), Lebbeus Ashby (born
August 11, 1871 - died at the age of 16), Xenophon Overton
(born August 21, 1873 – died January 2, 1935), and
Gustavus Cresap (born July 1876 - died when 5 months old).
Lebbeus died on July 10, 1885 at the home of his sister,
Sarah, in Audrain County while visiting relatives in
Missouri, including his father. He was buried in Elmwood
Cemetery, Mexico, Missouri with Masonic honors. The Pindall
brothers are buried side by side.
Lebbeus' son, X.O., carried on the family tradition of
leadership. He was a practicing attorney in Arkansas City
with his cousin, Lebbeus Aaron, son of X.J. Pindall. His law
office is now on the National Register of Historic Places,
although as of the summer of 2000, it was still being
renovated and not open to the public. X.O. was a member of
both the Arkansas House of Representatives and the State
Senate where he was elected president of that body. X.O.
Pindall served as Arkansas Governor from May 1907 to January
1909, after Gov. John S. Little became too ill to serve. The
town of Pindall, Arkansas was named for X.O. Apparently,
when the train conductor called out the town name of
"Kilburn" people often mistook it for
"Gilbert," so the name was changed to Pindall, who
was acting governor at the time.
Although
X.O. married Mae Ruth Quilling on September 15, 1902, it's
not known whether he had any children. Lebbeus did have
collateral descendants bearing his name, including a niece
born in 1863, (while Lebbeus was in Helena, Arkansas), named
Lebbia
Helena
("Dixie") Ball.
Sources:
Frank Wilfley (fwilfley@mexicomo.net), author of
“Wilfley-Pindall and Related Families”; Ingrid Jones;
Kathy Frazier; and a newspaper article titled “Some
Unwritten History” from the Paris Mercury, Vol. 60,
No. 41, on October 8, 1897 (from the files of Neil Block,
Commander, William T. Anderson Camp #1743 SCV, Huntsville,
Mo). |
