Dear Mr. Rountree - My father, Victor Atkins of Selma, Alabama, asked me to tell you "hello" from him the next time I ran across one of your posts. Hope you are doing well. Fredreica Atkins Speyer wilrou@bellsouth.net wrote: > I have been interested in the discussion of Portland. I am sure I have > been there and I recall a very old house called the Boykin Place. It > seems to me a Selma family moved to that area in recent times and > restored an old place- the Frank Cothrans. I may be confused as to the > location. > If you want a 1860 picture of Portland look at Mary Boykin Miller > Chestnut's Civil War-the Woodward edition of "Mary Chestnuts Civil > War." > She was in Montgomery during the Secession Convention and made a > steamboat trip from there to Portland to see her younger sister who had > married a cousin, Thomas Edward Boykin, Physician and Planter. They > were indeed from Camden,South Carolina-- the Boykins were originally > from Virginia. The footnotes in the Woodward edition mention other > Camden (Kershaw County)families. (Hunters, Ancrums and others). > I do remember a lovely lady in Selma who lived on Alabama Avenue- she > was known to me as Scotta Boykin Powell. I believe she was from > Portland. I believe Starke Hunter was an ancestor of Hunter Kendall who > had a plantation near Sardis and above Portland. > I also remember a Miss May Kyser who lived on the road to Camden and > somehow was connected to that area. > I am interested in this because my wife was related to Mary Boykin > Miller Chestnut.she is descended from the Whitakers who were Mary's > mothers family-she was related to James Chestnut through the Canteys. > It seems that the Portland area as well as the Carlowville and Pleasant > Hill areas were settled by South Carolinians. Many came from the Camden > area. > Wish I could help more. I would be interested in any further > information about the settlers in that area. > > I am a native of Selma born at the Baptist Hospital in 1925 with a good > view of the Alabama River. > > Tarver Rountree > 10100 Hillview Rd. Apt. 110 > Pensacola, Fl. 32514 > > ==== ALDALLAS Mailing List ==== > Transcribe something TODAY! Contribute to the store of FREE online > information. Post your wills, bible, census, tax, pension, and land > records, cemetery listings, bios, obits, and slave inventories.

Dear Fredreica: Thank you for your greeting. Your Dad and I grew up together on Lapsley Street. I think Victor was in the class after me but it was a great neighborhood for all. I believe the Smiths who lived next door were your grandmother's kin as well as the Creaghs. Your uncle Julien had a pony named Peggy with a buggy that took us through every alley in west Selma. We played tennis in the middle of the street and the only car belonged to the Halls who lived over on Pettus Street. I have the fondest memories of your grandmother- we called her Miss Kate. Those were the days. I am glad that you are interested in genealogy and history. I have to ask you about an Atkins who married a Hart from Uniontown.Their son was Dan Hart. Dan's sister was the first wife of Bernard Reynolds. She died in that terrible fire at the County Club in the 1930's. Dan Hart's widow lives in this retirement community. She is a lovely native of Pensacola but remembers visiting the Todd (Sp) Atkins in Selma. I am related to A.J.Atkins through his mother who was descended from the Minters and Rutherfords. Lets keep in touch. Tarver Rountree