Andrew Jackson and the Manasco Families of Alabama

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There is a vein of political truth that begins in the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee and runs all the way down to Northern Alabama – specifically Walker, Winston, and Fayette Counties. This narrative is about the ideological connection between General Andrew Jackson and the Manasco families of Alabama and their sympathies during the Civil War. It is also about my journey of discovery in better understanding my ancestors and their relationship to history.

The answer to this 6 year old family history mystery finally came to me in December of 2018, it was the piece of the puzzle that I had been missing and it came from a random introductory video shown at the Hermitage Visitors Center outside of Nashville, Tennessee. I’ll get back to exactly what the answer was that finally made me see why the Manasco families of Alabama were connected so deeply to Andrew Jackson – it was a short, seemingly insignificant comment that the video narrator made. Back to that later on, but first some background.

My 4th great-grandfather is named David C. Manasco (1802-1894). He was the son of John Manasco, Sr (1778-1837) and Elizabeth “Vicy” Odom (1780-1872); David was also the brother of General John Manasco (1800-1895), all of whom settled and lived in Walker County, Alabama. This entire branch of the distinguished Manasco family are laid to rest at the family cem in Townley, Alabama. I visited this sacred family space in December 2018.

The first connection I discovered between the Manasco family and Andrew Jackson came during the War of 1812 where my 5th great-grandfather John Manasco Sr served with General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. According to “A History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Vol. IV” (1921) John Manasco “served throughout the War of 1812 as one of Jackson’s Tennessee riflemen, and took part in the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815” (p.152). This made my Manascos very patriotic in my eyes, especially since I have always been a fan of General/President Andrew Jackson.

John Manasco Sr’s father, Jeremiah Manasco (1745-1815), was a patriot in the American Revolutionary War according to “Manasco and Kindred Families” as well as “A History of Walker County, its Towns and People.” John’s father-in-law, Abraham Odom (1725-1812), is also documented as being a participant and hero in the Revolutionary War in “Manasco and Kindred Families” p.33-4.

So what buggered me, so to speak, was researching the Civil War records for my 4th great-grandfather David C. Manasco, son of John Manasco Sr, grandson of Jeremiah Manasco and Abraham Odom. What I found out was that David Manasco filed an application with the U.S. Southern Claims Commission. While this may seem insignificant to the passing reader and unsuspecting genealogist, if you are a Southern historian that statement will jump right off the page at you!

The U.S. Southern Claims Commission was a post-war office organized by the United States Government whose purpose was to process claims of UNION supporters in compensation of damages incurred during the Civil War and to either allow or disallow those claims. ONLY supporters of the Union could submit a claim; or conversely, no Confederate could submit such a claim as they were on the other side.

My first thoughts were of horror and dismay, if I’m honest. However, as I read through the over 40 pages of testimony I began to see a picture being sketched of a man who was thoroughly committed to his principles in the midst of incredibly severe antagonism. In the face of threats of physical harm to him, his property and his family David C. Manasco stood firm in his support of a Fedral Union, and although he respected ‘states rights’ he also could not see how a divided nation could survive after all his ancestors did to create it.

Read the short story: “A Rebel Amongst Rebels” about the life of David C. Manasco!

It was an interesting discovery for me having a Southern Union ancestor! It wouldn’t be the last, however. Most of my other ancestors were all Confederate, including David’s own sons. David’s brother General John Manasco served 14 sessions in the Alabama State Legislature between 1845 and 1876 with distinction – he also was a Unionist, although he served his Confederate State.

Where did David Manasco’s Union sympathies come from? Well, here’s where we now circle back to Andrew Jackson! Here’s where we also remember the video I mentioned earlier on that I watched while at the Hermitage in Tennessee. The Hermitage is the historical home of General/President Andrew Jackson and a must-see if you’re in Nashville.

There was a key bit of information regarding Andrew Jackson which caught my ear that finally allowed me to understand my Alabama ancestors, and that was that although Andrew Jackson was a Tennessee man who fought with distinction in the War of 1812 and was President of the United States from 1829-1837, he was also an OPPONENT of NULLIFICATION! Nullification was an issue brought forth by Southern planters to the United States Federal government claiming (and rightfully so) unfair tariffs leveraged against Southern-state farmers.

The “Nullification Crisis” of the 1830s led to some of the first talks of abandoning the Union, aka, Civil War! 30 plus years before the actual event there were already rumblings about unequal treatment of the planter states by their industrial northern counterparts. Regional or sectarian or not, President Andrew Jackson would not hear of DISUNION. While I believe he espoused the Southern view, he would not see the Union of the United States be trampled upon and dismembered, a country that many of our ancestors fought so hard to preserve and that the War of 1812 was designed to destroy – a war in which Andrew Jackson, and my ancestors, fought so bravely in.

Herein lies the connection. David C. Manasco’s Union sympathies were handed down from his father John Manasco Sr and his grandfather Jeremiah Manasco who all fought so bravely to form the Union in the first place. Having served along side Andrew Jackson, his viewpoints became that of David’s father and subsequently passed on to his sons! Andrew Jackson’s beliefs were also be the beliefs of my ancestors.

David C. Manasco was upholding his family honor and being 60 years old the year the Civil War started he must have been deeply entrenched in his belief system by then. David Manasco even moved his family up from Walker County to Winston County, which had a reputation as a “Linconite” county. According to “Alabama: The History of a Deep South State” Andrew Jackson owned property in Lauderdale County, Alabama and was very popular amongst the people of Alabama at the time.

This also means that being born in 1802, a young David Manasco would have been 10 years old at the time the War of 1812 was fought and would have heard directly from his father at this very tender age about the first-hand exploits of this great man named Andrew Jackson. His views on life, like that of his father’s, would have made a deep impression on David that he carried with him throughout the rest of his life. This impression was also not lost on David’s brother, General John Manasco who, in his obituary, in reference to Andrew Jackson is mentioned as having “adopted as a model and whose prototype he is in a marked degree” (source: F+H+F).

Not only did my 4th great-grandfather support and endorse the views of Andrew Jackson throughout his life, he also named his children after the 7th President of the United States. There are many Andrew Jackson Manascos in our family line, as there are in many Southern families; it’s a testament to the enduring power of how our nation was formed and the truculent and turbulent times in which our ancestors lived. I am proud to have Alabama heritage from Walker, Winston, and Fayette Counties and will always say I am “built by Bama.”

SOURCES CITED:

Owen, Thomas McAdory. 1921. “A History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Vol. IV.” Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing.
Guttery, Florence Knight. 1962. “Manasco and Kindred Families.” Jasper, AL: unknown publisher.
Dombhart, John Martin. 1937. “A History of Walker County, its Towns and People.” Walker, AL: Cayce Publishing.

Rogers, William Warren, Robert David Ward, Leah Rawls Atkins, and Wayne Flynt. 1994. “Alabama: The History of a Deep South State.” Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.