Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

“I would like for you to know about the man who surveyed the Three Notch Road, and chose the name “Troy” for the new county seat.”

That is how William Max Todd began his story and that, he said, is how stories of families and communities are passed down through the generations – through the oral tradition.

This is what he would like others to know …

“Luke Russell Simmons Sr, my great-great-grandfather was born in Columbus County, North Carolina, 20 May, 1790,” Todd said. “He first married Priscilla Hargette, and after her death, married Priscilla Soles, January 24, 1811, the mother of Nancy Simmons Todd, mother of William Henry Todd, and Patience Simmons Floyd, twins born January 2, 1821.

Nancy told her family that Luke Sr. surveyed Three Notch Road, a military supply route from Fort Davis, Alabama, through the present-day city of Troy to Fort Barrancas, Florida, marking the route with three notches cut in trees.

He served in the North Carolina House of Representatives, and later the Senate. Sometime after 1832 he settled on a farm near the Union Springs Primitive Baptist Church, west of Brundidge. He was a Corporal in a Cavalry unit during the Indian War of 1836, and elected to the Alabama House of Representative in 1837. He helped move the Court House from Monticello to Deer Stand Hill, the site chosen for the new county seat. Simmons moved his family to a site on the Brundidge Road, where they did their laundry at a spring on what is now the campus of Troy University. He opened a store, and, at one time, was said to be a “serving partner” for Soles and McInnis, attorneys.

Simmons Sr. was described, politically, as a Whig, rather quiet, but could express views quite well. He was a charter member of Troy Masonic Lodge #56, and served as its first Junior Warden. He and his wife attended Buelah Primitive Baptist Church.

Simmon’s daughter Nancy told her son, William Henry Todd, my grandfather, that her daddy lost his bid to serve another term by two votes, which nobody had expected. After the third count, Simmons and his opponent stood, with the fronts of their shirts wet, and shook hands. His opponent said, “I will serve, but you will have the privilege of selecting the name for the new county seat.” He chose the name “Troy,” in honor of Alexander Troy, a long-time friend in North Carolina.

From information in the family, Priscilla Soles Simmons died about 1842, and was buried in the cemetery of Buelah Primitive Baptist Church. Luke R. Simmons Sr. died August 11, 1844, according to the Masonic Lodge records, and was also buried in the Buelah Baptist Cemetery.

– Compiled and edited by Jaine Treadwell

Editor’s  Note: Others who have someone they “Would Like You to Know” call The Messenger at 670-6302