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The name Aman is not a familiar one for families in Covington County, Ala., but some ancestors had descendants that eventually settled in the county. In particular, they married into the Galloway, Murphy and Dykes families which have been featured in past weeks in this column.

While the following early generations are not documented, they are being offered as they have been reported on family trees on Ancestry.com. According to those and other records, the earliest ancestor found by this writer is Phillip Aman who was born in 1685 and who was married to Ann Shubridge, who was also born in 1685 and died in 1704. Their son, Phillip Nathan Alman Jr., was born in 1710 in Beaufort County, N.C., and he died in Onslow County, N.C. in 1791. He was married in 1742 to Isabella Shubridge (1714-1791). They became the parents of Phillip Nathan Aman III who was born in 1750 in Onslow County and died there in 1828. He was married first in 1770 to Margaretha Bromm (1748-1847) and second, in 1775 to Mary Sarah Shubridge (1760-1819). (This writer questions that three generations of the Aman men married Shubridge wives while two of the men were reported as sons of Shubridge mothers.)

Phillip and his second wife, Sarah, appear to be the parents of another Phillip Nathan Aman IV who was born in 1775 and died in 1845, both in Onslow County, N.C. In 1817 in North Carolina, he was married to Mary Ann Gray (1802-1875), daughter of Nathan Gray (1730-1802) and Nancy Kinchelow. Mary Ann died in Dale County, Ala., and was buried in the Old Salem Church Cemetery.

Phillip IV and Mary Ann Aman were the parents of the following children: Mary, b. 1822; Phillip Thomas, b. 1824, d. ca 1867, m. Catherine ?; Silvia Ann, b. 1825, d. 1885; Nathan, b. 1828, d. 1853; Andrew Jackson Sr., b. 1831, d. 1912, m. Virginia Frances Williams; John, b. 1838, d. 1887, m. Malinda E. ?; and William Bryant, b. 1844, d. 1923, m. 1866 Permelia Melinda Galloway. Some family trees also include additional children: Wylie, b. 1833, d. 1860s, m. Sarah ?; and Jack, b. 1835, m. Elizabeth ?.

Four of the siblings: Silvia Ann, Andrew Jackson Sr., John and William Bryant Aman had all moved to Alabama by 1855. Nathan Aman had died in 1853, and Phillip Thomas Aman showed up in Newton’s Post, Dale County, in 1860. At least three of the brothers rendered service in the Confederate Army: Andrew Jackson Aman Sr. enlisted in July 1862 and was assigned to Company C, 5^th Alabama Infantry Regiment. He was captured at Petersburg and imprisoned at Point Lookout, Md. John Aman appears to be the A.J. Aman Sr. who enlisted in July 1862 and was assigned to Company K, Alabama Infantry, Barbour Grays. William Bryant Aman enlisted in March 1862 and was assigned to Company A, 37^th Alabama Infantry Regiment. He was captured in 1864 and imprisoned at Rock Island, Ill.

No record was found for the oldest son, Phillip Thomas Aman, having served during the war, but he may have. He was a farmer in Dale County by 1860 and married to Catherine. They were the parents of the following children: Mary Anne E., b. ca 1849; Phillip D., b. ca 1851; James N., b. ca 1853; Sylvia C., b. ca 1855; Nancy J., b. ca 1857; Martha A, b. ca 1859; A.J., b. ca 1861; J.T., b. ca 1863; and G.W., b. ca 1867.

The third son, Andrew Jackson Aman Sr., settled in Dale County, where he died at a fairly young age circa 1867. He was married to Virginia Frances Williams (1840-1921) who was born in Macon County, Ala. They were the parents of the following children: Nathaniel Ward, b. 1861, d. 1932; Mary F., b. 1867; Robert, b. 1869; Georgiann, b. 1871; Comeler, b. 1873; Ellen Camilla, b. 1873, d. 1907; Britton, b. 1874, d. 1906; Lula J., b. 1878, d. 1879; and Andrew Jackson Jr., b. 1879, d. 1931, m. Lula Jane Brannon (1879-1970).

Andrew Jackson Aman’s son, Andrew Jackson Aman Jr., was married in Dale County in 1901 to Lula Jane Brannon, daughter of Curtis Brannon (1854-1896) and Elizabeth Enfinger (1853-1882). They resided in Dale County and reared the following children: Infant, b.&d. 1902; Annie Pearl, b. 1903, d. 1982, m. Josephus Samuel Blankenship (1889-1969); Infant, b.&d. 1907; Edna F., b. 1909, d. 2001; Auburn Kermit, b. 1916, d. 1973, m. Mabel Cameron (1915-2001); and a son listed as private.

The youngest son, William Bryant Aman, was born in North Carolina, as were his siblings, and he came to Alabama before 1855. In 1860, he was living in the household of John J. Stokes in Dale County. His brother, Phillip Thomas Aman, and family were residing next door. In March 1862, William B. enlisted in Company A, 37^th Alabama Infantry Regiment of the Confederate Army. In January 1864, he was captured and imprisoned at Rock Island, Ill. He returned from the war and married Permelia Malinda Galloway, daughter of Edward James Galloway and Elizabeth Woodham, in 1866 in Henry County. In 1870, the family was residing in Abbeville, and in 1880, they were in the Cureton’s Bridge community.

William Bryant and Permelia Aman were the parents of the following children: William Hubbard, b. 1866, d. 1919, m. 1888 Lillie Lawrence Alexander, daughter of James Irvin Alexander Jr. and Martha Ann Matilda Wiggins; Lucy J., b. ca 1870 m. ? Brackin; Gertrude Eliza, b. 1874, d. 1918, m. 1890 Oscar Milton Murphy; Mary, b. 1878, m. W.H. Alexander; Thomas H., b. 1882; and G.H., b. 1885.

To bring this family into Covington County, a review is made of the above daughter, Gertrude Eliza Calloway, who in 1890 married Oscar Milton Murphy, son of Milton Murphy and Meranda Kennedy. Oscar was born in 1869 in Dale County and moved with Gertrude to Henry County where he became a Methodist Preacher in the Taylor community. He was a 32^nd degree Mason, Master of Hartford Lodge, a Shriner and a member of the Alcazar Temple in Montgomery. When Gertrude Eliza died in 1918, she was buried in the Andilla Cemetery in Dothan. Oscar was then married in 1919 to Erin Elizabeth McCloud.

Gertrude and Oscar Murphy had one daughter, Annie Melinda, b. 1891, d. 1968, m. 1908 Wilson Hubbard Dykes, son of John Morgan Dykes (1862-1939) and Ida Alyne James (1871-1955). Annie and Hubbard moved to Andalusia, Ala., in 1924, and soon purchased a dairy. They were the parents of the following children: Earl Raymond, b. 1909, d. 2008, m. Marietta Lucille Hudson; Hazel Gertrude, b. 1911, d. 1995, m. Cecil Kinette Adams; John Morgan, b. 1915, d. 1980, m. Loyce Rice; Sannie Frances, b. 1917, d. 2011, m. Charles Judson Ward Jr.; James Bluford, b. 1919, d. 1014, m. Sarah Lee Talley; Amorette Alyne, b. 1922, d. 2020, m. 1943 Lenward James Reece; Oscar Milton, b. 1925, d. 2017, m. 1944 Mary Louise Spurlin; Wilson Hubbard Jr., b. 1926, d. 2015, m. 1945 Helen May Kotka; and Charles Emoral, b. 1928, m. (1) 1947 Julia Belle Summerlin (2) Margaret ?.

The many Aman/Galloway descendants in Covington County intermarried with local families to create new generations in this family line.

The source for this story included Ancestry.com, Gus and Ruby Bryan’s Covington County History, 1821-1976, and Mary Jane (Dykes) Weaver’s book, Dykes and Kin of Yesterday and Today.

Anyone finding an error in the above is requested to contact this writer, Curtis Thomasson, at 20357 Blake Pruitt Road, Andalusia, AL 36420; 334-804-1442; or Email: cthomasson@centurytel.net.