Joseph Millsaps1,2

M, (circa 1820 - )

Father*Andrew Jackson Millsaps (c 1798 - Sep 1858); Relationship is based on Joseph Millsap when counted twice once showing up with Andrew (presumed father) once with Washington (presumed brother), birthplace is same as Washington.2
Mother*Mary O. Gross2 (c 1796 - 25 Jan 1886)
Joseph Millsaps|b. c 1820|p2513.htm|Andrew Jackson Millsaps|b. c 1798\nd. Sep 1858|p2507.htm|Mary O. Gross|b. c 1796\nd. 25 Jan 1886|p2508.htm|Joseph Millsaps Jr.|b. 27 Jan 1771\nd. c 1820|p2526.htm||||||||||

Relationship 2nd great-granduncle of James Jay McKinney.
Last Edited 23 Feb 2000
Reference MMMFMFC.2
Researcher 0
Unrelated 0

Note* TRAVEL TO AND LIFE IN CALIFORNIA
THE SCOUTING JOURNEY
Some say he was a "forty-niner" and he may have been, but we know for a fact that Joe Millsaps, Sr. came across the plains to California on muleback and probably leading pack mules with bed and food, in 1852. It was a hard trip-the best trails had not been found, and of the three men in the party only two reached California, and the names of both the others are lost to remembrance to this day.
WAGON TRAIN ACROSS THE PLAINS
In 1853 Joe Sr. returned east, and having "studied it out", along with his father and brothers, got up a wagon train which left Missouri for California on April 18,1854. Some say Joe Sr. acted as guide or "wagon master" for the wagon train which included several Millsaps families.
MEMBERS OF THE PARTY
Those in the party which traveled with covered wagons and ox teams included Hiram Millsaps and wife Ann Montgomery Millsaps, George Washington Millsaps, Sr. and wife Elizabeth Dunn Millsaps, Dick (Andrew Jackson Jr.) Millsaps, a single man, and Elizabeth Millsaps, who later married Norval Biswell, and Joseph Sr., and wife Louiza Laney Millsaps. (we believe Louisa was a sister to the wife of Davis Mendenhall). [JM: No mention of Andrew Sr. though above said he studied it out] Some of the others in the ox-drawn wagon train were Tom and Mellissa Perry, and Tom and Jane Cooper and sons Walter and Jim who first settled near Napa, California and later in the Chrome valley. Tom Perry was uncle to Elbert Perry of Artois. Mellissa was the widow Bunch when the journey began, but wedding bells rang during the journey. Where a minister was found to perform the ceremony has been lost in the sands of time-or was that Methodist circuit rider that legend has it was among the Millsaps' ancestors pressed into service?
INDIAN ATTACK
Early in the journey the wagon train was attacked by Indians, but escaped without harm or loss of cattle when at the first sign of danger the cattle were driven into the hollow circle formed by the quick thinking of the men in the lead, one being Tom Cooper, and of course, Joe Millsaps.
CROSSING RIVERS
Many rivers and creeks had to be crossed and bridges were mostly non existent. Some times it was many miles up or down stream to a place where a river could be forded. Often it was necessary to cut trees and brush to build temporary bridges to be able to cross them at all. Men on horses were sent across first, and as long as the horses had footing the wagons could be pulled across, though when as sometimes happened the wagon floated it became a feat of horsemanship and sheer luck. At times ropes were used to draw wagons up steep inclines. These tales were told and retold by Tom Cooper. Joe Millsaps Sr. and Jr., Jim Ellis, Eva Cooper, and others, unto the second and third generation.
SOME STAYED BEHIND
Another son, Isaac Millsaps and wife Jane Montgomery, did not start for California until 1862 when Isaac and his entire family of four children except one son, Joseph, left Macon County for California, where his father and brothers had gone in 1854. Jane was the daughter William Montgomery and Elizabeth Millsaps, sister of Andrew Jackson Millsaps. Her sister Ann was the wife of Hiram Millsaps, above named as a member of the covered wagon party. The Montgomery family also came from Wayne county and Jane's father, William, served as administrator of his father-in-law's estate in Howard County, (1820-1838) Missouri. Isaac was bitten by a rattle snake and died in Paradise Valley along the Humbolt River in Nevada, and the rest of his family continued on to California the following spring. Hearsay has it that George Wash. and/or Uncle Dick went to Nevada after Jane and the four children. Widowed Jane later became Mrs. Martin.
WOMENS VANITY
Getting back to the wagon train, it seems that even then the young girls were fussy about their appearance, for we were told that some of the girls would rather walk a good distance away from the dusty track that the wagons followed across the endless plains, even at the risk of Indians, than let their clothes and hair be soiled by all the dust that was raised by an ox drawn wagon train.
THE LOST WAGON TRAIN
Later on, probably after the Rocky Mts. were crossed, the wagon train came to a parting of the ways-some wanting to take one route, some another as some were bound for Oregon and thought to avoid another Indian attack by taking what was known as the northern route. The trains divided one morning after a night spent in singing hymns and saying fond and tearful farewells. No one in the train that took the northern route has ever been heard from again, and have been presumed lost on the unmarked trails or captured by Indians.
ARRIVAL IN CALIFORNIA AND SCATTERING ABOUT
The Millsaps train spent four months on the road, arriving at the place where Roseville, California, now stands, on August 14, 1854, where most of them remained for about a year. They then moved to Sacramento for a couple of years, though it is known that Andrew and Mary owned property in Auburn in 1854, and that Geo. W. paid taxes in Placer county in I 855. Jim Ellis also mentioned some who settled on the Hagginwood Grant, north of Sacramento, across the American river. The younger Millsaps men were disillusioned with digging for gold. and now were ready to look into the possibilities for farming that Joe Sr. had seen in this rich land all along.

FINDING LAND AND BUILDING HOUSES
Joe Sr., Hiram, and Geo. Washington Millsaps had came north on horseback early in the year. They left Sacramento looking for good range, water, and to get away from the river and the Malarial mosquitos. Climbing the hill south of the present Grindstone Indian Rancheria, they came upon a panorama of three green valleys extending northward before their eyes. Joe Sr. claimed the two most easterly ones, Hi saying the third would be enough for him. Hiram built a cabin on the site of the old Charlie Ellis place, which was located on the east side of the road a bit north of the site of the Edison school. His old place has been owned by Worthhiemer's of San Francisco since about 1894, and was rented to Jim and John Ellis, then later to Charlie Ellis, and more recently (195 l) to Bernie Lee Millsaps.

JOE MILLSAPS SR., OUR ANCESTOR, HIS FIRST CABIN
Joe Millsaps Sr. in August of 1858 built a cabin at a spot near the southeast corner of the present Helen Holmes place under a large oak tree which has been cut down for many years. His first two California born children, Andrew (Coon) b. 1855, and Joe Jr. b. 1856, (and is my grandfather), were born near Sacramento. Mary J. "Polly” was born in 1857/8 at the Davis Mendenhall place, and we believe that her mother, Louisa, was Mrs. Mendenhall's sister. Tradition has it that the Mendenhall place was abandoned by the previous owner, a man named Hunter, who had finally given up his idea of raising hogs there when the bears became overwhelmingly fond of pork. Later it was owned by N.B. Vanderford and still later sold to Jim Drew, the present owner, by one of the Vanderford daughters. As soon as the cabin was finished Polly was taken home to it shortly after her birth on September 7, 1857/8. Polly must have been disgusted that every one claimed to be so busy that the year of her birth was never recorded and no one knows to this day whether it was 1857 or I 858. (l would assume it was 1858, as the family was still in Sacramento in 1857.) This cabin may have been the Joe Sr's "house" that tradition says burned long ago, including most of the early pictures of the family, and the family bible.
JOSEPH SR.S HOUSE
One picture of the house Joe Sr. built in 1877 (perhaps after the fire) has survived, so that we can see that it seems to be a mirror image of the Geo. Wash, house. Whether it ever had the dogtrot I don't know, though there is one picture that would indicate it did. He had a family of seven children and could have used the room. His house was located near the fig trees on the north side of the road going into Helen Holmes place, and at one time there was a spring tank of mortared fieldstone and watering trough used to water the sheep located there, built by Joe Millsaps, Jr. during his time of owning the ranch. I arrived there one day just in time to see Dick Holmes, (Helen Ellis Millsaps' second husband), bulldozing it to pieces. He claimed the spring was no longer flowing and he needed the space to grow more grass for the cows. What sacrilege this seemed to me, the granddaughter of a successful sheep raiser, and grain farmer. Later this house was torn down and the lumber used to build a kitchen and pantry on the John Ellis place which burned down about 1930. Ike Luce built another house on the same site, and the Luces live there to the present day. (Bernie Lee Millsaps later bought it)3 
Birth*circa 1820 KY2 
Census4 October 1850 District No. 52 Being, Macon Co., MO, Joseph Millsap, Age 30 Male Miller Worth $750 Born:Kentucky4 
Census*4 November 1850 District No. 52 Being, Macon Co., MO, Joseph Millsap Age:30 Male Miller Born:Kentucky2 
Marriage*20 March 1854 Macon Co., MO, Marriage Records B004., Principal=Louiza Laney5,6 
Emigration*18 April 1854 Macon Co., MO, Wagon Train left for California. See full narrative under Joe Millsaps., Principal=Louiza Laney, Witness=George Washington Millsaps, Witness=Hiram Millsaps, Witness=Richard Millsaps, Witness=Elizabeth Millsaps5 

Family

Louiza Laney
Marriage*20 March 1854 Macon Co., MO, Marriage Records B004., Principal=Louiza Laney5,6 
Children

Citations

  1. AKA Joe.
  2. [S119] 1850 US Federal Census: MO, Macon Co., District No. 52 Being, 4 November 1850 Dwelling 720 Family 731.
  3. [S63] Unpublished: Written around 1956 by a Carolynn Busse Cafaude. Copy E-mailed to Jim McKinney byBob Penland of Macon Co. February 2000. He said he obtained it from Pat Zumwalt, e-mail address, whose husband is a descendant.
  4. [S119] 1850 US Federal Census: MO, Macon Co., District No. 52 Being, 4 November 1850 Dwelling 421 Family 429.
  5. [S63] Unpublished: Written around 1956 by a Carolynn Busse Cafaude 2nd Great Granddaughter of Andrew Jackson Millsaps. Copy E-mailed to Jim McKinney by Bob Penland of Macon Co. February 2000.
  6. [S19] Unknown volume, Macon County Marriage Records 1837-1856, unknown repository, unknown repository address.