Feuding Families Won't Stop Love

Manlove Walls and Celia (Hazzard) Walls were born and raised in Sussex County, Delaware. They married in the same area. Manlove was named after his mother's maiden name. When Celia was a teenager, she molded bullets for the Revolutionary Soldiers. By 1797 the couple were living in Virginia. By the 1810 census, they were living in Breckinridge County, Kentucky. Around 1814 they moved to Indiana. Manlove had moved to a plot of 160 acres of land, granted to him through delayed payment from federal legislation. This land was in Greenfield Township, Orange County. They appeared in Orange County, Indiana on the 1820 census.  Per census and burial records, this is where they spent the remainder of their lives. The couple had at least four children: Levin Derby, Thomas, William Conway, and Jemima.

Their oldest child was Levin Derby Walls, named after his paternal grandfather. Levin was born October 19, 1795. As mentioned above, the family was living in Breckinridge County, Kentucky by 1810. Eighteen year old Levin met and fell in love with a sixteen year old girl, Margaret "Peggy" A. Sanders. Peggy was born August 20, 1797 in Breckinridge County. The story goes that the Walls and Sanders families had a hatred for each other that rivaled the infamous Hatfield and McCoy families. However, this did not stop the young couple. Perhaps driven by his parents' upcoming move to Indiana, Levin and Peggy hatched a plan to cross the nearby Ohio River to enter into Indiana to elope. Somewhere in their scheming, someone found out about their plan or maybe they were caught stealing the family horses. The couple fled on horseback with a posse of the Sanders family in pursuit. They reached the banks of the river and decided to continue. They swam across into Indiana. At this point, the pursuers decided to give up and turn back towards home. The couple made their way into Warrick County (this area is now Perry County today). They were married by Squire Tobin on January 1, 1814.

After the elopement, the couple returned to Kentucky. The couple had at least 10 children: Sanders, John S., Samuel, Elender, William Conway, Lydia, Lemuel, Lewis B., Nancy, and Thomas. All of the children were born in Breckinridge County except Samuel, born in Indiana (possibly while the family was visiting Manlove and Celia). Sadly, Levin died just fifteen years into the marriage on April 30, 1829 from a hemorrhage. He is buried in Breckinridge County, Kentucky. After Levin's death, the family moved to Indiana in 1830. Per family stories, the family came into Indiana with one old ox. The children took turns riding the ox for the journey.

One of the children was living with Manlove and Celia during the time of the 1830 census. We are unable to confirm which child because individual members of the household were not listed by name until the 1850 census. It is possible that the child was helping farm his aging grandparents land. It is also possible that the child was staying with his/her grandparents because that was one less mouth to feed for the newly widowed mother of 10. Either way, these records show that Manlove and Celia were a part of Levin and Peggy's lives despite not wanting them to get married all those years ago. Peggy applied to marry again on May 10, 1831. She married John Christopher on May 12, 1831 in Orange County, Indiana. They did not have any children. She died later in the same year. Her burial location is not confirmed.

At least seven of the ten Walls children survived to adulthood. While Levin and Peggy did not have many years together, their love story has been passed down for generations by the descendants of this strong-willed couple. Perhaps my grandma Peggy was subconsciously named after her 3x great grandma? Hopefully the story will continue to be told for many generations to come!