Aub Hood was born in Itawamba County, Mississippi about 1859, a few years before the start of the Civil War, or the War of Northern Aggression if you are a Southerner. The Civil War most likely played a huge role in Aub’s formative years.  His father was Joshua Hood and his mother was Margaret Johnson Hood. Both were born in Alabama and moved to Itawamba County sometime in the mid-1850s. He came from a large family. Aub had ten brothers and two sisters. He was one of the middle children.

When Aub was about four or five, his father Joshua enlisted for six months in 2nd Regiment of the Mississippi Calvary, Company E of the Confederate Army. Joshua’s absence was felt by the family. He enlisted about the time the crops were ready for harvest. The oldest son, James, was only about twelve at the time so Joshua’s brothers probably helped with the harvest.

A marriage record from Itawamba County, dated 5 June 1878, was located for A. Hood and M. I. Pennington, which I believe is the marriage record for Aub and Amanda Bell Pennington. Aub and Amanda were not found in the 1880 US Census, but were living close to Aub’s family based upon tax records and a deed where the older Hood children deeded land to their mother and younger siblings.

By 1900, Aub, Amanda, and their six children had moved one hundred and ninety-five miles north to Lake County, Tennessee. Lake County sits across the Mississippi River from Pemiscot County which is located in the Bootheel of Missouri. The land is part of the upper Mississippi Delta and suitable for farming.

Auburn was about forty* and Amanda was thirty-four in 1900. They were married twenty-one years. Amanda had birthed six children, two of whom had died. Their four older children, Margaret, William Jesse, Prentis E., and Ruberta were all born in Mississippi. The two younger children, Silas and Mary Denny were born in Tennessee. So it appears the family arrived in Tennessee sometime prior to 1895.

The Civil War ended large commercial farming in Lake County and for thirty-years families were forced to live by subsistence farming. Between 1890 and 1900 things began to change. The boll weevil was devastating cotton crops in southern states, the demand for cotton was on the increase, and the climate was beginning to warm enough to grow cotton as far north as Illinois. Aub and family arrived around the time this switch to cotton was taking place.[1]

The family lived in a rented home which meant they were renting land on which to farm. A search for land records for Aub came up empty, which supports the fact that they were too poor to own land. They eked out a living from the soil. Margaret, age nineteen, helped Amanda with chores and looking after the younger children. William, who was fourteen, helped Aub with the farming.

In 1905 Bossie was born and Georgie followed in 1908. By 1910, Amanda was a widow. Aub had died sometime after 1908 when Georgie was born and before 1910 when the census was taken. At this time it’s unknown where Aub is buried.

This family of Hood’s managed to survive the aftermath of deprivation that followed the Civil War in north east Mississippi. They made their way to Tennessee where farming was as difficult as it was in Mississippi. Aub died around the age of forty. Life and farming took their toll on him.

*The 1900 census showed that Auburn Hood was fifty-six years old. This is in conflict with the 1860 and 1870 census records. Despite the fact that the ages between the documents are in conflict, I believe that this is the same person based upon the date of the marriage record and the number of years Auburn and Amanda were married.

[1]David Donahue and Brenda Fiddler, Lake County Agriculture,http://www.tnyesterday.com/wtf/wtf-02.html : accessed 11 Mar 2016, Citing Marvin Downing, Editor, Published by the University of Tennessee, Martin, 1979.