William G and Rhoda Streetman

William Geter & Rhoda Wilson Streetman
So this brings us to William Geter Streetman, my Grandfather's Grandfather, a boat sinking on the Mississippi, and the story begins...

Until around 1869, Our branch of the Streetmans can be found in various counties in Georgia including, but not limited to, Madison, Jackson, and Forsyth County. Just prior to the Civil War, they were residing in Forsyth County. However my GGGrandfather enlisted in the CSA in Milton County, Georgia. The ever present changing of the boundaries and forming new counties contributed a great deal to the difficulty in tracing them. Also the spelling of names of residents was left entirely to the census taker, and many mistakes were made adding more to the difficulty. I believe the following is the last record of them residing in Georgia. This census begins the mystery and confusion of the spelling of ou GGrandfather's name. Here he is listed as "Lovick P.". Later in Grandma Streetman's Bible he is listed as "Lovette P. and Lovette T." Also this "Tolbert" is a mystery. Here he is shown as 5 years old, and the only place he is listed as one of their children. The name "Tolbert" shows up again in Grandpa's family on a census in 1920, Tolbert is listed as a boarder. Is this the same man, and who is he?
1860 Cumming, Forsyth County, Georgia census
STREETMAN, Wm. G.       46      m       farm.   Ga.
Roda                                     57       f        wife      Ga.
(Rhoda Wilson Streetman)
Children
    1. William W. STREETMAN b: 28 JUN 1840 in Jackson Co., GA
    2. Thomas Jefferson STREETMAN b: 22 SEP 1842 in Jackson Co., GA
    3. Joseph Harrison STREETMAN b: 3 MAY 1844 in Jackson Co., GA
    4. Alsey J. STREETMAN b: 10 JUL 1846 in Jackson Co., GA
    5. Margaret STREETMAN b: 28 FEB 1848 in Madison Co., GA
   6. Lovick P. STREETMAN b: 14 SEP 1849 in Madison Co., GA
    7. Frances Anna STREETMAN b: 14 JAN 1853 in Madison Co., GA
    8. Michael Marion STREETMAN b: 13 NOV 1855 in Madison or Forsyth Co., GA
        Tolbot S.                     5       male                     Ga.
(Pg. 58-426 #397-397)

Leaving Georgia..1869

Rhoda Wilson Streetman
In 1869, following the end of the *Civil War, William Geter Streetman, his wife, Rhoda, and 5 of their children; Joseph, Alsey, Margarett, France Anna, and Michael left Georgia traveling by boat to Texas. At the time the family left for Texas, one son, Thomas Jefferson Streetman migrated to Tennessee with the Hammons'., the family of Amanda Hammons, the girl he later married. Another son, Lovic T. Streetman, our Great-Grandfather remained in Georgia moving to Gwinnett County. One son, William Wilson Streetman was killed in the war. Our Grandpa, Jesse Harrison Streetman, son of Lovic P. Streetman was not yet born. As they reached the port of Grand Lake the boat they were on sank. Everything was lost, including all their money. They homesteaded land 9 miles from Grand Lake in Chicot County, Arkansas, near Eudora. To better understand their plight, you have to understand the course of The Mississippi and it's importance to the people living in The Delta.
Location map of Grand Lake in 1869 Chicot County, the tenth county formed, was established October 25th, 1823, out of territory taken from Arkansas county. Its name comes from Point Chicot, a point on the Mississippi, known from early times.Chicot county is situated in the extreme southeastern corner of the State, bounded east by the Mississippi river, which lies along its entire eastern point, south by the Louisiana line; west, by Ashley and Drew counties; north, by
Desha county.
Grand Lake, Arkansas

~A brief history of what it was like in the area where our Great Great Grandfather settled in 1869.
In 1869 or 1870 I. Drewfus and A. Meyer opened a partnership store at Grand Lake. It was the first store to open there since prior to the Civil War. There were only four white families in Grand Lake. The Mississippi River boat landing at Grand Lake was named Cariola, which was a combination of A. Meyer's wife and sister's names, (Carrie and Eola.)
( This is the family who owned the land where our Great Grandparents homesteaded. Records indicate that Joseph Streetman bought the land they had homesteaded from Carrie Meyer, owner, in 1885.)
About 1872 the Mississippi River formed a “land bar” in front of Grand Lake, making it impossible for the boats to bank at the usual landing. A new town was started about a mile north of Grand Lake, and it was known as Barnard. The merchants moved their stores to Barnard.
A few years later the River played the same havoc at Barnard. The caving and sluffing finally forced the business houses to seek new locations. So, in 1885, a store owned by H. Weis was moved west of Rush Bayou on the Eudora road. Eudora is where our Grandma and Grandpa later settled and all their children were born and raised there.
In a letter dated June 19, 1872, William Geter Streetman writes to his son Thomas Jefferson Streetman who was living in Tennessee:
"...you express a desire to know where we have settled and how far from the Red River. We live over two hundred miles above the mouth of the Red River. We live nine miles back of Grand Lake in Chicot County, Arkansas. Barnard is our shipping point just one mile above Grand Lake on the Mississippi River...."
It was a beautifully written, warm letter and included valuable information such as the birthdates of all his children, as well as a description of where they had settled.
There was also a letter from Margarett, Thomas's sister who mentions Grandpa's daddy,
Lovick/Lovette:
"...we haven't heard from Lovette in quite a while. We received a letter recently from Uncle Walter. They are well and are in Alabama. He spoke of coming out here to live and I hope he will..."

I think both letters reflect a love and concern for family which was deeply embedded in the Streetmans all through the years. Records indicate Lovette, our GGrandfather later came to
Chicot County via Clay County, Alabama and was living in Chicot County in 1887, but I do
not know what year he came. He was killed when thrown from a horse in 1899. It has become
a "front burner" project of my cousin Lois and me to find his burial place.

From the close of the Civil War up to the beginning of the 1900's Grand Lake and Helena were the largest shipping points in Arkansas, south of Memphis. All supplies came by boat and "back country" farmers, such as our ancestors purchased their personal supplies and hauled them to their homes. Numerous steamboats plied up and down the River carrying passengers and freight. Mail, including newspapers, also came to Grand Lake by boat. There were also two star mail routes leading out of Grand Lake after the Civil War, and continued until about 1873. One led through “Boueff Swamp Buckshop” to Hamburg, and the other to Delhi, La. It took the mail riders three days to make these trips.

From the 1973 edition of The Sesquicentennial:
Many families and some individual names definitely connected with the development of Eudora lived in outlying areas. This is especially true of the period from about 1885 on up to the present time. The people who lived in the outlying communities such as Readland, originally known as Peakeville, Sterling, Grand Lake, Barnard, Scaife, Harwood, Eula, Chicot and others families such as the Hilliards, Warfields, Scaifes, Halls, Moons, Meyers, Cracrafts, Peakes, Stephensons, Easterlings, Salters, Graves, Fords, Mathis, Sawyers, Ralphs, Harrimans, Worthingtons, Lees, Johnsons, Wilkersons, Allens, Streetmans, Griffins, Maulls, Crabtrees, Sigmonds, Haleys, Phillips, Byrds, Routtes, and many others must be given credit for their share of contribution to the growth of the town.

In 1873 Michael and Joseph (photo below) raised a cotton and corn crop. In 1885 Joseph bought the land from owner, Carrie Meyer. No date at this time of the death of William G. and Rhoda Streetman. Both are buried in the family cemetery on the land known as Streetman Plantation near Grand Lake in Chicot County, Arkansas. Where this is located, is unknown to me. My aunt Jewel and cousin Lois, have searched but cannot find a cemetery on land we believe to be the Streetman Plantation. This would lead us to believe that William Geter and his family settled at Grand Lake, and Lovette Streetman and family settled on Beouff River when he arrived in Chicot County sometime before 1887.

Joseph Harrison Streetman top left -Grandpa's uncle
Grandmother & Grandfather Streetman were married in
Uncle Joe's home.

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