Joshua Mullins 1756 - 1851

 

Joshua Mullins is my Great-great-great-great Grandfather. He was born May 10, 1756 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia to William and Mary Mullins. He was the great-grandson of William and Katherine Smith Mullins and the grandson of John H. and Susan Bly Morton Mullins.

Joshua served in the Revolutionary War for about 18 months. He served under General Nathaniel Greene during his southern campaign against Lord Earl Cornwallis.

Joshua married Bess Turley in 1786. There is a marriage bond for fifty pounds made by Joshua and his brother, James to Patrick Henry, Joshua and James Turley on March 7, 1786. He was friends with Edward Polly. They both migrated to Tennessee about the same time.

Betsy and Joshua had at least one child, William Mullins. Betsy died not long after they moved to Tennessee.

About 1798 Joshua married Annie Robinson, the daughter of John and Lydia Cole Robinson at the home of her parents.

By 1810 the family had moved to Floyd County, Kentucky. Next they were in Harlan County.

Joshua Mullins, Polly Mullins, Athaliah "Athy" Mullins Hayes, Jonathan Hayes and Freelove Mullins Bolling were all members of the Oven Fork Church, Oven Fork, Harlan County, Kentucky which was constituted into a church on October 21, 1820. Harlan county was formed from Knox County in 1819.

In 1828 Joshua applied for a pension application. He was 72 years old. He stated his wife was 44 and they had 12 children. Nine of them were living and 7 were still in his household. He said the oldest was 18 or 19 and was able to support himself and the youngest was 4 months old.

Their children were:

Mary was born 1799

Rachel was born in 1802.

Joshua Muriel Mullins, Jr. was born November 18, 1809 in Oven Fork, Kentucky. He married Mary B. Caudill.

Lydia Mullins was born about 1811 and died in 1926 in Oven Fork.

Twins Caleb and Joab Mullins were born in 1815. Caleb married Elizabeth "Betsy" Caudill, again .
Joab died in Indiana.

Elizabeth "Betsy" Mullins was born in 1819 and died in 1870. She married James W. "Limber Jim" Caudill.

Athalia Druscilla Mullins was born about 1820 and married John Hayes. These are my Great Great Great Grandparents. Athalia died on September 27, 1877 in Letcher County, Kentucky. They were the parents of Rebecca Hayes who married James Mullins.
Freelove Mullins was born in 1820. She married Jonathan Bowling. She died in Wise County, Virginia in 1892.

Nancy Mullins was born in 1823. She married Fleming T. Hodge. She died in Laurel County, Kentucky.

Uranea "Rana" (also listed as Louraney) on January 27, 1826 in Letcher County, Kentucky. She married Edward Ned Hodge. She died in November 1887 in Laurel County, Kentucky.

The four month old baby mentioned in the pension application was Sarah Mullins. She first married Stephen Teague, then Hugh Sturgill. She died January 6, 1898 in Laruel County, Kentucky.
Betsy, Joshua Jr., and Caleb married brother and sisters, James, Mary and Elizabeth Caudill who were children of William and Nancy Craft Caudill. So again, my Dad's side of the family was marrying into my mom's side a hundred and fifty years ago.

In the 1840 census Joshua was 82 and in Knox County.

In the 1850 census Joshua was listed as 90, born in Virginia with no occupation, a pauper. Anna was 68. Neither could read or write. They were living next door to their son, Caleb.

Joshua Mullins and his wife, Anna Robinson Mullins, are buried on a hillside at Lynn Camp Baptist Church in Corbin, Kentucky.