Best Family Narrative

 

The surname Best is derived from the Old English/Old French word "beste", or the Latin "bestia", meaning beast. It may be a metonym referring to one employed as a herdsman. The first recording of the name was found in Kent; they held a family seat from ancient times, long before the Norman Conquest of 1066. 

 

My first ancestor to America was a Thomas Best. He was born to William Rufus Beste and Chusiane Miller. They were married May 4, 1589 in Worth, Sussex, England. Thomas was baptized there on October 10, 1602. He was one of seven known children. 

 

Between the years of 1624 and 1640, he traveled back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean on what is known as the “Bristol Ships”, bringing supplies and families to the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. In the year of 1630, Thomas married a Mary Lott at the St. Ann Blackfriars’ Church in London, England. Mary and Thomas had three sons: John, born in 1631; Richard born in 1634, and Thomas Jr. born in 1638. 

 

They traveled to Virginia from England in 1640, with two of their sons, aboard “The George”. Richard died in 1640 prior to this voyage, and perhaps this death is what prompted Mary to finally leave England and settle with her husband in the New World. By this time it was also safe to live in the Virginia Colonies, and the economy was flourishing because of the Tobacco trade.

* *Jamestown History* *

Jamestown was founded in 1607 as part of a British Colony of England. The King was encouraging his people to settle there. The leaders of the Virginia Company were members of the Church of England and brought the established religion with them to Jamestown. Men leaving for Virginia had to take an oath acknowledging the supremacy of the King, and the lack of power or authority over him by the Pope, before they could set sail to Virginia. The Church of England religion was central to the lives of the early Jamestown settlers. The Virginia colony was served by ministers appointed by the Bishop of London, under whose jurisdiction the parishes within the colony were laid out. Each minister was dispatched with a role as spiritual leader to the colonists and as Anglican missionaries of the Church of England toward the Indians. Their missionary work was largely unsuccessful, as they were preoccupied with the spiritual needs of the distressed colonists.
 

At first, the natives had been more than happy to trade provisions to the colonists for metal tools, but by 1609 the English governor, John Smith, had begun to send in raiding parties to demand food. This earned the colonists a bad reputation among the Native Americans and precipitated conflict. They isolated the Native Americans, burned down houses, and stole their food supplies. The English violence merely served to alienate the natives further. Besieged within the Jamestown Fort for several months, and unable to secure more food supplies, many colonists died during the "starving time" in 1609 to 1610.
 

On Friday, March 22 1622, the braves of the Powhatan Confederacy came unarmed into the colonists’ houses with deer, turkeys, fish, fruits, and other provisions to sell. The Powhatan, however, suddenly grabbed any tool or weapon available to them and killed any English settlers who were in sight, including women and children of all ages. Chief Opechancanough led a coordinated series of surprise attacks by the Powhatan Confederacy that killed 347 people; a quarter of the English population of Jamestown. This 1622 massacre was used as a justification for ongoing seizure of the Powhatan land by the colonists for the next ten years.
 

It was a man named John Rolfe that introduced a new type of Tobacco to the Jamestown colony by bringing seed from Trinidad. Rolfe then improved upon their current method of curing the leaves. This new kind of Tobacco flourished in the rich soil and was sweeter than the native Virginia plant. The settlers soon found a ready market for it in Europe, and the economy began to flourish.

* * * * *

Thomas acquired a land grant from England, for the Lower Parish of The Isle of Wight, which was thousands of acres of land (later this county became known as Nansemond, Virginia). 

 

They had two more sons, Peter born in 1640 (perhaps she was pregnant with him on her voyage over), and Henry born in 1642. The family raised hogs, and farmed sweet corn and Tobacco. Thomas died in 1658, and his wife, Mary, died in 1670. 

 

Their eldest son, John, who was born in England in 1631, married a lady named Mary (last name unknown) in 1654. Their first child, John Jr., was born later in that same year. His baptism, although performed in Virginia on November 30, 1654, was recorded through the Church of Chilham, Kent, England. John Sr. died in 1710, his wife Mary died 1724.

John Jr. married three times. With his first wife, Susanna (last name unknown), my ancestor, Henry, was born. His birth most likely occurred towards the end of the year 1670, because his baptism was recorded through Saint James Church of London, England, on January 26, 1671. 

 

Henry married a Hannah Lou McCombs around 1700 and they had Henry Jr. in 1702, the third generation to be born on the Isle of Wight in the Virginia Colonies. However, in 1732, Henry Jr. decided to move on into North Carolina where he came to own over 2325 acres of land. He married Mary Barnes, the daughter of the Governor. 

 

The Barnes family came to the Virginia Colonies from Carshalton, Surrey, England, around the same time as Thomas Best, and they had also lived on the Isle of Wight before migrating to North Carolina.

During his life, Henry Jr. built two houses, one in 1733 near Bullhead Township (present day Greene County) where he reared his family, and the other called the “White House”, which he began in 1735. It took 5 years to complete. It had hand carved railing made of imported Mahogany Wood from England. The windows were also imported from England, and the bricks used were crafted there on the plantation. This home became the unofficial gathering place for political officials of the day, for business and entertaining. It still exists today, located in the Jerusalem section of Greene County, North Carolina.

Actually built by Henry Best II

Henry Jr. and Mary sired seven known children before her passing in 1750. Henry Jr. remarried in 1755, a widow named Elizabeth Godwin. She brought many acres of her own inherited land into the marriage. Henry Jr. died that same year. 

 

Benjamin W. Best, born in 1740, inherited the “White House” from his father. (Benjamin's brother was Henry III. There is a lot of confusion between these 3 generations of Henry's, but our ancestor is Benjamin). His first marriage in 1758 was to Celia Hood. She died in 1760, most likely during child birth. He then married a Margaret Williams. He sired at least fifteen children with her. 

 

Alongside his brothers, he fought in the Revolutionary War as part of the North Carolina Militia. Benjamin is recognized by the “National Society of Sons of the Revolution” as a Patriot of the American Revolution. On the 1790 Census, aside from all of his children, his household consisted of 18 slaves helping tend to his estate. By this time, the amount of land Benjamin owned was so vast, that traditions say:

“He could leave home on his buggy on Monday morning,
and not see all of his property by Saturday.”

Margaret passed away in 1804. On the 12th of February in 1805, Benjamin died from a fall off his buggy while inspecting his land. 

 

Benjamin’s son, William Best, was born in 1765. William bought and sold lands from North Carolina through South Carolina into Georgia. There he met and married a Mary (last name unknown). They had four sons, all born in Lloyd’s Creek, Wilkes County, Georgia. Wilkes County is located on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a part of the Appalachian Mountains chain. William died between September and October of 1823. His Will was probated on 3 November, 1823 in Lincoln County. 

His youngest son was Thomas, born in 1797. He married a Nancy (last name unknown). They had eight children. In the years between 1840 and 1850, they moved from Newton, Georgia to Macon County, Alabama where Nancy died in 1862. Thomas moved on to Arkansas around 1870. He died there April 5, 1880, and is buried in the Hopewell Cemetery.

John Sanford Best, Thomas’s son, was born 1832 while the family was in Newton, Georgia. He was a farmer like his father and grandfathers before him. He married Lydia R. Clay, around 1862, right about the time he went off to serve in the Civil War. 

 

He was a Corporal when he enlisted. During the Civil War, John S. belonged to Company A, Phillip's Legion GA Infantry Battalion, Hampton's Brigade, Longstreet's Division. The unit was organized on June 11, 1861 in and around South Georgia. John S. joined the unit in July at Camp McDonald. The unit served under Robert E. Lee in the Army of Northern Virginia. 

 

John S. Best appears on a roll of “prisoners of war” at De Camp General Hospital, David's Island, New York Harbor in the summer of 1863. He was captured at the Battle of Gettysburg, but paroled sometime later, as he appears again on a muster roll for Philips' Legion in 1864. 

 

Lydia R. Clay was born in Washington County, Georgia to a William Monroe Clay and Mary “Polly” Hardin. William was a large land owner of Washington County. Lydia was the youngest of thirteen children. 

 

William’s grandfather, Percival Clay, came over from Hull, Yorkshire, England in the summer 1745. Interesting to note, he was “sentenced” to transportation to the English Colonies for the crime of stealing at Kirk Ella (a small area of the community Kingston-Upon-Hull in Yorkshire). 

 

He was working as a Blacksmith while in his servitude to Francis Brown. In July of 1746, Francis Brown of Northumberland County, Virginia, reported that he ran away, and placed a reward out for his return. By 1751 records show he is living in Duplin County, North Carolina, apparently by then a free man. April of 1757 shows a transfer of land in his name, and by 1766 he received a land grant for up to 300 acres. Obviously he was able to make a good ending out of poor beginnings. 

 

John Best and Lydia had two sons, born in Washington County, Georgia: Napoleon born in December of 1863, and Charles Thomas born in February of 1866. John and family moved from Georgia to Arkansas between the years 1870 to 1880. Both Napoleon and Charles met their future wives there in Arkansas. Their mother, Lydia, passed away in 1880 while visiting her siblings in Hunt, Texas.

When Charles turned 18, in 1884, he married Laura Orena Baker. She was the eldest of thirteen children. 

 

Her mother was Martha J. McDonald. The McDonalds (MacDonnells) came to America around 1690 from Wicklow, Ireland.

 

They are descendants of Domhnall "Lord of the Isles" Mac Raghnall. (Mac means "son of") who died in 1247. His son Aonghus Mor (Mor means the elder) became chief of Clann Domhnall (Donald) in his father's name. He died in 1293. Our ancestor was his son, Alasdair Óg. He served as a young hostage in 1264, which suggests that he would have been in his thirties when he succeeded to Chief of Clann Domhnall in 1293. However, Robert de Bruce deposed him in favor of his brother, Aonghus Óg (Og means the younger), so Alaisdair Óg and his sons fled to Ireland.

His son, Somairle "Somerled of Connaught" Mac Alaisdair died in 1387 (his descendants are not shown in this chart) is our ancestor; followed by Marcus of Connaught Mac Domhnall.(He kept the identity of the Clann Mac Domhnall). In Ireland he became known as Mac Donnell. His son, Turloug Mor of Connaught died in 1435 in Leinster, Ireland. His son, John Carrach Lord of Tynekill died in 1466. 

 

We remained the Lords of Tynekill until our ancestor Bryan MacDonnell - who was not the eldest son and did not inherit the title, moved to Wicklow, Ireland from Leinster. He died 1635.

 

Laura O.Baker's father was Erasmus F. Baker. He was 18 when he entered the Civil War in 1865. He concluded his service as a Sergeant, having belonged to the Witt’s Cavalry, Buster’s Battalion, and in Company E of the 45th Regiment, Arkansas Cavalry. 

 

His father (Laura’s grandfather), Peter K. Baker, and his brother, also participated in the Civil War. Peter was appointed the Postmaster of Arkansas in September of 1880. 

 

Peter’s wife (Laura’s grandmother) was Elizabeth Browning. Elizabeth’s paternal family, the Browning's, came over from Gloucestershire, England in 1665. (see here for information on Royal lineage: https://ancestraltides.blogspot.com/2019/07/royal-ties-pt-2-paternal.html) 

 

Elizabeth’s maternal family, the Alexander's, came over from Argyll, Scotland around 1680. The Alexander's are also descendants from Alaisdair Og: Aonghus Mac Alaisdair, brother of Somerled of Connaught. 

 

His descendant, Donald 1st Laird of Tarbert Mac Alister died in 1546. Alaisdair and Alister are a form of the name Alexander. Tarbert is a village in the west of Scotland, in the Argyll and Bute council area. It is built around East Loch Tarbert, an inlet of Loch Fyne, and extends over the isthmus which links the peninsula of Kintyre. 

Archibald 4th Laird of Tarbert is the father of John of Eridy Alexander, who left Scotland to rent lands from Sir James Cunningham of Glengarnock (Ayrshire). He acquired the lands in 1610 as part of the settlement of Ulster. (Eridy, Raphoe, County Donegal, Ulster, Ireland). 

His son, William of Raphoe Alexander is the immigrant who arrived in Virginia around 1670, and later settled in Maryland.

Elizabeth died in 1878. Peter died in 1896. They are buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Sulphur Rock Arkansas. Freemason symbols are carved into their tombstones.

Around the year 1888, Charles Best moved Laura and their two sons from Arkansas to Texas. Laura’s parents, Erasmus Baker and Martha McDonald, were living there. Charles’ brother, Napoleon, was also there. Martha passed away in November of 1889. Perhaps this is why they moved Texas, to be near her parents and to care for her during an illness? 

 

Charles and Laura sired three more boys while in Texas before moving again around 1895 to Oklahoma, where their last two children were born. They had reared a total of seven children before Charles passed away on the 10th of November, 1901 in Dill City, Oklahoma.

Charles’ father, John S. Best, was living with Napoleon, during this time, in Wise County, Texas. He suffered from deafness and blindness and was eventually admitted to the Confederate Men's Home in Travis County, Texas on August 8, 1899. He died there November 7, 1909. He is buried in the Texas State Cemetery, Section: Confederate Field, Section 1. He had been a member of the Methodist Church. 

 

Laura Baker passed away in 1924. She and Charles are buried in the Dugford Cemetery in Washita County, Oklahoma. A Freemason symbol is carved into their tombstone. Erasmus F. Baker, Laura’s father, was laid to rest on the 26th of December 1928 in the Sulphur Rock Cemetery, Independence County, Arkansas. A Freemason symbol is carved into his headstone as well.

Barney Otto Best was born to Charles and Laura Baker in October of 1893 in Montague, Texas. He and two of his brothers were born in Texas during the brief time the family lived there. On the 1910 Census, Barney lived with six of his siblings and his widowed mother, Laura. He was age 16/17, and his occupation was listed as “Laborer” doing odd jobs. During WWI, June 5, 1917, he was drafted into the Army at the age of 23. His occupation at that time was Cook. It seems he is the first generation of the Best family to break away from farming. 

 

 

 

In the summer of 1918, at the age of 24, Barney was in Salt Lake City, Utah where he met and married a Swedish girl. Her name was Estella Irene Dahl, age 18. 

Her parents, Olaf Jönsson Löfdahl, born in 1863, and Kersji Pearson Jönsdotter, born in 1861, emigrated from Hyllie, Malmöhus, Sweden in June of 1892. 

 

They sailed aboard the Steamship Lord Gough that left from Liverpool, England to the Port of Philadelphia.

 

With them they brought thier other four children: one daughter Anna, and three sons Olaf, Albin, and John Oskar.  Kersji was pregnant with their fifth child. They settled in Sandy, Salt Lake, Utah when that 5th child, Arthur, was born in Nov. 1892. 

 

The spelling of their names Anglicized from Löfdahl to Lovedale, later to be shortened to Dahl or Dale; Kersji became Kersti or Kerstina, spelled as Christina. 

 

Frank Henry came along in 1895, followed by Estelle “Stella” Irene who was born in December of 1899. The final sibling of eight, Laura, came along in 1905. Being the youngest, and the only two girls left in the household, Stella and her sister were very close growing up. 

Olaf died in June of 1946, and Christina followed soon after him in August. They are buried together at the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

 

 

On the 1920 Census, Barney was listed as working as a Barber. Barney and Stella had a son, Gordon Barney Best, born on the 15th of March, 1920. He was their only child. 

 

From the photo of Stella playing the violin as a young girl, it seems she passed on her musical talents to Gordon, who went on to play saxophone.

My favorite photo shows Stella and Gordon with their dog howling, as Stella played on a harmonica and Gordon sang. 

By the time of the 1930 Census, Barney and his family had moved from Utah to Los Angeles, California where he became the owner of “The Trojan Barbershop” on the University Southern California Campus. 

 

Sadly Stella passed away in 1937 from Tuberculosis. Gordon was only 16. Her funeral services were held at the Roger Williams Baptist Church in Los Angeles put on by the Snyder’s & Southwest Funeral Home directors. I do not know where she is buried.

 

When the 1940 Census came around, Barney had remarried a woman named Wilma Edna Coleman from Sedgwick, Kansas. Gordon is listed on the Census living with them, and is working as a Barber in his father’s shop.

                                                

Between 1940 and 1941, Gordon met and fell in love with a girl named Betty Jane Gardner (their story and her family history: https://ancestraltides.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_3.html).

 

Gordon and Betty are shown here on the left.

 

Their first son, Ronald, was born in April of 1942. 

 

Gordon was drafted and went into the Army in August of 1942. He was part of Tec 4; Company B.  

 

 

There are several photos of Gordon as a young man practicing gymnastics; apparently he had the ability and the aspiration to compete in the Olympics. However, the 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, originally scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan from the 21st of September through the 6th of October of 1940, were cancelled due to the outbreak of the War. 

 

The Olympic Games were suspended indefinitely following the war, and did not resume again until 1948 in London. Gordon’s hopes of being an Olympian were shattered. 

He was released from service in October of 1945. Their second son, Gerald, was born in April of 1946. 

 

Gordon ended up taking over his father’s Barbershop on the U.S.C. Campus, and continued working as a Barber. 

 

Shown here on the left is Barney with grandson, Gerald (Jerry), Gordon, and brother-in-law, Robert Gardner.

 

 

Gordon’s father, Barney, left Los Angeles for Kansas with Wilma, sometime after 1952.

 

Wilma is shown here on the right with Ronnie and Jerry.

Wilma died in Los Angeles in 1963. The following year he married her sister, Beulah, also a widow. 

Barney died of Leukemia in July of 1977 in Sedgwick, Kansas. He is buried in the Mission Chapel Mausoleum: NE Gallery, Row F, Level 5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gordon and family ended up eventually selling the Barbershop, and made their way north to Santa Cruz, CA. 

 

Gordon died there on June 21, 1967, and was buried on July 6th at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California: Section P, Site 1309.