James Castleberry of Tishomingo County,
Mississippi and
Some Related Kin – Carroll,
Coleman, Randle, King, Whitehead,Olliphant,
and Montgomery
E-Mail:jkharrison2@comcast.net
25 November 2007
"Better to present something which is not
complete now (at any time), than the same thing complete,
never". Max Jakob, Preface to "Heat Transfer", Vol II, 1957
When I was growing up in the
Mississippi Delta in the 1940s I occasionally heard
radio people talking about their Italian or Irish
ancestors. This made me wonder who my own ancestors were
and where they came from. I know now why I had no
knowledge about my ancestors. The radio people were
talking about relatives who had only recently
arrived in America, for example their parents or
grandparents. My immigrant ancestors arrived eight or
nine generations (about 250 years) before I was born and
most records of their lives have long since vanished.
No relative that I knew had any
knowledge about any of our ancestors other than their
own parents and grandparents. Actually, I never heard my
grandmother Castleberry mention her paternal
grandparents----William King who died in 1859, 24 years
before my grandmother was born or his wife, Eliza
Shipp, who died in 1883, the same year my grandmother
was born. The same is true about my grandfather
Castleberry----his grandfather was James Castleberry who
died in 1859, 19 years before my grandfather was born.
And, James Castleberry’s wife, Elizabeth Carroll, died
in 1879, when my grandfather was only one year old.
However, even had my grandparents know their
grandparents (which they did not) they still apparently
had no idea about what country from which their
immigrant ancestors came.
The original Castleberry in
America arrived in Pennsylvania from Germany around
1683, eight generations (250 years) before I was born in
1935. Francis King (my grandmother's paternal ancestor)
was born around 1740 (seven generations before I was
born) and he was not the original King in America
(I don’t know who was).
Probably all of my immigrant
ancestors arrived eight or more generations before I was
born. Going back eight generations, on my mother’s side
alone, there are 128 grandparent ancestors! No wonder I
had no clue in the 1940s about the country from which
they came!
Sadly, even now after years of
research, I still know not the country from which many
of my ancestors came.
"There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such
a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest
exterior, there is a drama, a comedy, and a
tragedy." Mark Twain
How true and what a shame how little
I known about the lives of the people from whom I
descend. Only a few facts exist about their lives. Where
and when they were born and died, who they married, who
their children were, the land they possessed----that’s
about it. And often not even all of that. I know of
nothing that they wrote—indeed some were illiterate. The
milestones in their mostly hidden lives were certainly
their birth and death, marriage, migration to new
frontiers, Indian attacks and wars including finally the
Civil War.
The Linage Chart below is a summary of
the material to follow. Hopefully it will aid the
reader in keeping track of the many twist and turns
in the chapters to follow.
Genealogy often lacks the smooth flow of
a story line. The story line here starts with my
gg-grandfather James Castleberry (Chapter 5) and branches
off of him. His wife was Elizabeth Carroll. Her family is
presented beginning with Chapter 17. William Castleberry,
the sixth child of James and Elizabeth, from whom I descend,
is discussed in Chapter 10. His wife, Annie Rosa Coleman, is
discussed in Chapter 11. Her ancestors are the next family
line presented starting in Chapter 24. The next two families
are ancestors of my Grandmother Eliza King Castleberry
(Granny). Her paternal King ancestors are discussed
beginning with Chapter 29 and her maternal Montgomery
ancestors begin with Chapter 43.
Linage and Relationships of Key
Families |
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1650- |
1661-1735 |
1705-1780 |
1734-1791 |
1770-1826 |
1790-1879 |
1835-1890 |
1878-1965 |
1900-1970 |
1935- |
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GENERATION |
X |
IX |
VIII |
VII |
VI |
V |
IV |
III |
II |
I |
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HARRISON: |
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? |
John |
Thomas |
John |
Robert |
George |
John |
Vardaman |
James |
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?-? |
1740-1810 |
1770-1836 |
1790-1853 |
1838-1892 |
1877-1963 |
1904-1938 |
1935- |
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m 1933 |
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CASTLEBERRY: |
Henry |
William |
William |
Thomas |
James |
William |
Charles |
Annie F |
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1661-1729 |
1705-1785 |
1734-1791 |
1770-1826 |
1793-1859 |
1830-1882 |
1878-1963 |
1909-1969 |
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m 1942 |
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BOWMAN: |
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? |
? |
? |
? |
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Henry |
Curtis |
Roy |
Roy |
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m 1816 |
1820-? |
1854-? |
1896-1961 |
1943- |
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CARROLL: |
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John |
Joseph |
John |
James |
Elizabeth |
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1664-1735 |
1699-1784 |
1732-1781 |
1768-1813 |
1801-1879 |
m 1862 |
m 1905 |
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KING: |
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? |
Francis |
Azariah |
Meshack |
William |
Tom |
Eliza |
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1740-1816 |
1760-1816 |
1799-1837 |
1818-1859 |
1850-1935 |
1883-1959 |
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m 1817 |
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WHITEHEAD: |
Arthur |
William |
Lazarus |
William |
Lovisa |
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1650-? |
1685-? |
1726-? |
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1797-1865 |
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m 1876 |
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MONTGOMERY: |
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? |
? |
? |
James |
John |
Annie |
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1804-1865 |
1835-1926 |
1859-1898 |
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COLEMAN: |
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? |
? |
Daniel |
Eden |
Daniel T |
Annie R |
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1720-1777 |
1770-1817 |
1800-1873 |
1840-1925 |
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m 1792 |
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DANIEL: |
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? |
William |
Thomas |
Nancy |
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1740-1813 |
?-1828 |
m 1824 |
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RANDLE: |
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? |
James |
William |
Clarinda A |
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1745-? |
1778-1830 |
1804-1885 |
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Key Event |
Immigrants |
Migration South |
Revolution-ary War |
American Gov
Formed |
War 1812
Move to MS |
Civil War |
WWI |
WWII |
Korea
Viet Nam
Iraq |
Chapter 1 – Introduction to James
Castleberry
"They are not dead who live in lives they leave behind.
In those whom they have blessed they live a life again", "No
Ordinary Time" by Doris Kerns Goodwin, 633
James Castleberry (1793 –
1859) is my most distant Castleberry ancestor about whom
the linage is indisputable. He is on my mother’s side. James
Castleberry migrated from DeKalb County, Georgia, to
Tishomingo County, Mississippi, in 1840 when he was 47 years
old bringing with him his wife and thirteen children. Why he
chose to settle in Tishomingo County is unknown but quite
likely he was influenced by relatives living nearby in
McNairy County, Tennessee (Selmer is the county seat).
My relationship to James Castleberry is
as follows: My mother was Annie Frances Castleberry (1909 -
1969); her father was Charles Rufus Castleberry (1878-1963);
his father was William Castleberry (1830 - 1882); and his
father was James Castleberry (1793 - 1859).
James Castleberry’s father is thought
to be Thomas Castleberry (ca 1770 - 1826). Thomas’
father was William Castleberry (ca 1734 - 1791) and his
father was another William Castleberry (ca 1705 - 178?).
This last William’s father was Henry Castleberry (1661-1729)
who came to Pennsylvania around 1683 from Germany. His name
was Heinrich Kesselberg before he changed it after arriving
in America.
The extensive research of other
Castleberry descendants (Dr. Jesse Castleberry1,
Dr. Henry Brackin, Jr.2, and George Blau3)
has been elsewhere reported and gives an interesting and
detailed account of the relationships and wonderings of
numerous early Castleberry families in America. The sketches
here are primarily about the relationships of one line of
Mississippi Castleberry’s, especially the ones from whom I
descend. James Castleberry of Tishomingo County,
Mississippi, was the patriarch of this line.
James Castleberry was born on the 23
December 1793 probably in Wilkes County, Georgia, and he
died on 13 July 1859 in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. Who
his father was has not been determined for certain. The
records indicate that James Castleberry very likely
descended from Heinrich Kesselberg, a Mennonite, who
immigrated to Germantown, Pennsylvania, from Baakendorff,
Germany, arriving in America around 1683.4 The
English spelling of Heinrich’s name later became Henry
Casselberry or Castleberry. Henry married Catherine Levering
probably in Germany. He died in March 1729 and she died in
1767 or 1768, both in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Henry and
Catherine Castleberry are nine generations earlier than
myself.
According to most accounts Henry and
Catherine had eight children.5 One was William
(ca 1705 – 178?) who married Margaret Davis and migrated
south living in Virginia, North Carolina, and winding up in
Georgia in 1769. One of William and Margaret’s children was
also a William (William, Jr.) who married Sarah Martin. One
of his children was Thomas, born about 1770, probably in
Orange County, North Carolina. Thomas grew up during the
Revolutionary War in Richmond County, Georgia. One of
Thomas’ children (James Castleberry) was my great-great
grandfather.
James Castleberry grew up in Wilkes
County, Georgia.6 He was in the 1820 census in
Gwinnett County, Georgia, which was formed in 1818 from
Jackson County. He married Elizabeth Carroll their around
1816 after she arrived in Jackson County around 1812 from
the York District, South Carolina (now York County). Her
father was James Carroll and her mother was Sarah Miller.
The 1830 and 1840 Georgia census lists James Castleberry in
DeKalb County adjacent to Gwinnett County. According to a
Gwinnett County notice in an Athens, Georgia, newspaper in
January 1837, a letter for James Castleberry in the
Lawrenceville Post Office had not been picked-up.
James and Elizabeth Castleberry had at
least seventeen children born to them during their married
life in Georgia and Mississippi.
In 1840 James and Elizabeth Castleberry
moved to Tishomingo County, Mississippi. The family members
and their approximate ages in 1840 were as follows:
FAMILY
MEMBER |
AGE
IN
1840 |
James
(Father) |
47 |
Elizabeth
(Mother) |
39 |
James,
Jr. |
23 |
Sarah |
22 |
John
Thomas |
20 |
J. Eulla |
15 |
Cenith
(?) |
10 |
Nancy B. |
10 |
William
(my great grandfather) |
10 |
Thomas C. |
9 |
Elizabeth |
8 |
Rufus |
7 |
Nina
(Permilliua) |
4 |
Winchester |
2 |
Riley |
2 |
In Mississippi, James Castleberry settled
about five miles south of the bustling little town of
Eastport on the Tennessee River in the extreme northeast
part of the state. He and his son-in-law, Jackson Akers (the
husband of Sarah Castleberry) were listed on the Tishomingo
County records as new residents in 1840. They do not,
however, show up in the 1840 Federal census. The official
enumeration day of the census was 1 June 1840. Perhaps they
were in-transit during this time.
On 13 November 1840, James Castleberry
bought 480 acres of land from Wade Blasingame for $800.00.
He continued to buy and sell land in the vicinity of
Eastport for the next eleven years. Two significant
transactions are mentioned later in Chapter 8.
Three more children were born to James
and Elizabeth after their arrival in Mississippi. They were:
NAME |
YEAR
BORN |
Charles C. |
1841 |
John W. |
1846 |
Georgia A. |
1846 |
On 1 September 1851 James Castleberry
deeded what apparently was all of his property to his wife.
This amounted to 800 acres of land valued at $4000.00.
James Castleberry died on 13 July 1859.
He is buried in Mt. Evergreen Cemetery (also called Mt.
Pleasant and Toenail) on County Road No. 956 between Iuka
and Eastport, Mississippi. Elizabeth Carroll Castleberry
died in July 1879 and she is buried beside her husband.
Chapter 2 - William and Lucretia
Castleberry
(ca 1772 - 1813)
and (1775 - after 1850)
A man finds room in the few square inches
of his face for the traits of all his ancestors; for the
expression of all his history, and his wants.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
In 1840 when James Castleberry moved
to Tishomingo County, Mississippi, living nearby in
McNairy County, Tennessee, were Lucretia Castleberry and the
families of several of her grown children. This group of
Castleberry’s was undoubtedly close kin to James Castleberry
and most certainly had a great influence on his decision to
move his large family from north Georgia to northeast
Mississippi. Exactly what kin they were I do not know.
William Castleberry (husband of Lucretia)
was born around 1772, probably in Orange County, North
Carolina. Who his father was is not known with a great deal
of certainty. Brackin1 has concluded that
William’s father was probably John Castleberry who was
killed by the Tories during the Revolutionary War. William’s
will in 1813 was witnessed by his sons, Odom (or Adam) and
Mark and probated in Jackson County, Georgia, before Justice
of the Peace William Nesbit, the half-brother of
Elizabeth Carroll and later wife of James Castleberry.
William Castleberry’s wife was Lucretia
Castleberry. Her maiden name is unknown. From census records
we know that she was born in 1775 and died after 1850 in
McNairy County, Tennessee. Lucretia married William
Castleberry probably around 1795. He died in Jackson County,
Georgia, in 1813 at about the age of 41.
After his death Lucretia and her children
migrated to Lawrence County in north Alabama. The county was
created in 1818 from land ceded by the Indians around 1816.
Exactly when she arrived is not know, perhaps in 1818 or
1819. In any case she had arrived by 1820 when the census
was taken since she is listed with six children in her
household, four males and two females. Four of these were:
Odom (ca 1800 - ca 1838), Mark (1803 - ca 1870), Lucretia
(1808 - ? ?), and Issac (1815 - ca 1885). Isaac is perhaps
her grandson, if his 1815 birth date is correct, since this
date is a couple of years after Lucretia’s husband died.
Living near Lucretia and her family in
1820 was William Castleberry with a wife and three children,
two males and one female. According to Brackin2 and Blau3 this may be Lucretia’s eldest son. He
undoubtedly had quite a lot to do with Lucretia’s move to
Lawrence County, Alabama. Perhaps he arrived earlier or
migrated from Georgia to Alabama with her. This same William
is in the McNairy County, Tennessee, census in 1830 with
three sons and four daughters. He supposedly was in
Tishomingo County, Mississippi, in 1850 but I have been
unable to find him in the census.
I have found no Castleberry land records
for this time period (1818 - 1830) in Lawrence County,
Alabama (the courthouse burned in 1859).
Lucretia and her family left Alabama
sometime after 1825 and moved to McNairy County, Tennessee,
where she shows up in the 1830 census. Lucretia was last
listed in the McNairy County census in 1850 at the age of
75. The children of William and Lucretia4 were:
1. William: born around 1795. He is
found in Lawerence County, Alabama, in 1820 and later in
1830 in McNairy County, Tennessee.3 His full name
may have been William Washington Castleberry since in the
1850’s there are several land transactions in McNairy County
under that name.
On 21 December 1851 in McNairy County
William Washington Castleberry bought 112 acres (civil
district no. 9) from William Stephenson for $150.00.5
On 1 January 1852 William Washington
Castleberry bought 295 acres of land in McNairy County,
Tennessee, (T? R5 S1) from Eli T. Walker and his wife
Elizabeth Lucretia (?) and John H. Walker and his wife Mary
Jane.6
On 4 October 1852 William Washington
Castleberry sold 112 acres (civil district no. 9) to Allen
Kendrick in McNairy County for $125.00.7 He had
bought this land about ten months earlier for $150.00.
2. John: was born 11 April 1797
probably in South Carolina. He married Rebecca Osborn in
Lawrence County, Alabama, on 4 December 1823.8 They moved to Maury County, Tennesssee. All of their
children were born in Tennessee. They were: Eleanor,
Lucretia, William W., Sarah, Odom N., and Rebecca. Most of
them married and moved to Texas. In 1836 John and Rebecca
moved back to Lawrence County, Alabama, and in 1852 Rebecca
died. That same year John was remarried to Susanah Mackey in
Lawrence County. They had two sons, John and James, who
later moved to Texas.
3. Odom (or Adam): was born about
1800 and died in 1838. He married Jane Henry in Lawrence
County, Alabama, on 12 Aug 1823.9,10 They later
moved to McNairy County, Tennessee, where at least two sons
and four daughters were born before 1840. Odom died in
McNairy County before 1840. He is in the 1830 McNairy County
census. Jane is listed in the 1840 census but not in the
1850 census.
4. Mark: was born around 1803. He
was probably living in Lawrence County, Alabama, in 1820
with his mother. He is in the McNairy County, Tennessee,
census in 1830 and 1840 and in Tishomingo County,
Mississippi, in the 1850 census. He had four sons and four
daughters born between 1825 and 1840. Some of them were:
Thomas, Sarah, Lucretia, Jane, Nancy, Joseph, and Mark. William, age 20 in the 1850 Tishomingo County,
Mississippi, census, may be an older son.11
Mark’s first wife, Jane ____,12 died and he
apparently moved to Tishomingo County, Mississippi, soon
afterwards since he was elected constable there on 8
November 1847.13 Two years later, in 1849, he was
elected a Justice of the Peace for Tishomingo County
(District No. 2). He married Rhoda Smith in Tishomingo
County on 10 March 1850.14 Her brother, John S.
Smith, married Nancy B. Castleberry (Mark’s daughter) in
Tishomingo County on 25 July 1849.15 The children
of Mark and Rhoda were: Virginia, Adolphus (he moved to Des
Arc, Arkansas), and Prudy Angelina.16 Mark moved
to Polk County, Arkansas, around 1860 and died there after
1870.17
5. Lucretia: was born 22 Nov 1808.18
She married Joseph Burks in Lawrence County, Alabama, on 22
Nov 1825.19 He was a Methodist minister.18
They moved to McNairy County, Tennessee, soon thereafter
where he died around 1865. She was still living there in
1870 when she and her son, Joseph G. Burks, bought back 150
acres of land for $500.00 from her relative Isaac
Castleberry.20
6. Isaac: was born 5 May 1815 and
died 26 July 1877 according to his tombstone.21
He may be Lucretia’s grandson (apparently not her son since
Lucretia’s husband, William Castleberry, died in 1813).
Isaac’s father was maybe William, Lucretia Castleberry’s
eldest son. Isaac was also undoubtedly in Lawrence County,
Alabama, in 1820 with Lucretia Castleberry. He migrated to
McNairy County, Tennessee, with her around 1828. Isaac is
not listed separately in the 1830 McNairy County census
meaning that he was perhaps still in her household. He was
probably married around 1840 in McNairy County, Tennessee.
Isaac was listed in the 1840 census and
had his wife, Elizabeth House (or maybe Pratt),22
two unknown females (maybe sisters of his wife), and
Lucretia (his mother--or grandmother) living with him.
On 9 March 1844 Isaac Castleberry gave P.
P. Adams of McNairy County 30 hogs, 2 steers (two years
old), 1 clock, and 1 desk as payment for a $21.00 debt that
was due on 1 January 1844.23
The 1850 census list Isaac 36, his wife,
Elizabeth 26 (12 Jan 1821 - 26 Nov 1893), his mother (or
grandmother), Lucretia 75, and his children, Tennessee A. 9,
William W. 8, Samuel M. 6, Sarah M. 3, and Riley Jefferson
Castleberry 9 months. Caroline House 15 (maybe his wife’s
sister) was also living with Isaac’s family in 1850.
In the 1860 census Lucretia Castleberry’s
name does not show, so she apparently died sometime after
1850. She would have been about 85 years old in 1860.
On 16 January 1866 Isaac Castleberry paid
$300.00 to his sister (or was she his aunt ?), Lucretia
Burks, to purchase from her 150 acres of land24
in McNairy County, Tennessee. This was one-half of
Lucretia’s land (the east one-half). This sale was brought
on by the death of her husband, Joseph Burks. Five years
later Isaac sold this track to Lucretia’s son, Joseph Burks,
Jr. for $500.00.
On 20 March 1869 five tracks of land (386
acres) in McNairy County25 were sold to A. G.
Hurley for $2500.00 by Isaac Castleberry, the appointed
administrator. This land had belonged to John Smith,
deceased. John Smith was the husband of Nancy B. Castleberry
(Mark Castleberry’s daughter) and the brother of Rhoda Smith
(the second wife of Mark Castleberry).
On 4 March 1870 Isaac Castleberry sold
150 acres to Joseph G. Burks, Jr. for $500.00.26 This was land in McNairy County that Isaac bought for
$300.00 from his sister, Lucretia Burks, five years earlier.
In the 1870 census Isaac’s occupation is
given as physician. Additional children in 1870 were: Leona
Alice 16, Mary B. 14, George C. 8. Other Castleberry
relatives residing with Isaac in 1870 were: John H. 12, John
D. 15, and James J. 12.
People in McNairy County have told Dr.
Brackin27 that Isaac Castleberry was a physician
(he is so listed in the 1870 census) and that during the
Civil War he lived near the western edge of the Shiloh,
Tennessee, battlefield. After the battle he treated a
considerable number of wounded soldiers, both Union and
Confederate, at his home that he turned into a hospital. It
was necessary for him to amputate so many legs and arms that
he was known thereafter as "Sawbones" Castleberry.
Isaac died on 26 July 1877 according to
his tombstone. He and his wife and three of his children,
Leona Alice (26 Feb 1854 - 14 May 1911); Riley J. (27 June
1849 - 22 Oct 1850); and Tennessee (30 Apr 1841 - 2 Nov
1918) are buried in the Tulu Cemetery near Acton, Tennessee.
Acton is in the southeast corner of McNairy County on
Tennessee Highway 22 about a mile north of the
Mississippi-Tennessee state line and northeast of Corinth,
Mississippi, by about 8 miles.
Chapter 3 -
Castleberry's in Alabama and Tennessee
"Begin doing what you want to do now. We
are not living in eternity. We have only this moment,
sparkling like a star in our hand--and melting like a
snowflake."
----Marie Beyon Ray
In 1820 Lucretia Castleberry and her
family were residents of Lawrence County, Alabama, according
to the census. She moved from Gwinnett County, Georgia,
where she had been married to William Castleberry who died
in 1813. Sometime after 1813 she and her three children,
Odom, Mark, Lucretia, and perhaps Isaac (her grandson) moved
west to the newly created state of Alabama. Living close to
Lucretia in 1820 was a William Castleberry who was
undoubtedly a relative, perhaps a son. He had a wife and
three children. Later, in 1830, this William was living in
McNairy County, Tennessee, near Lucretia and her family. No
trace of him has been discovered after 1830.
The Castleberry migration from north
Georgia to north Alabama was apparently rather common. In
the 1820 Conecuh County, Alabama, census there is a Job
Castleberry listed. And there were others, as well.
In the 1820 Tennessee census there were a
Joseph Caselberry family and a John Caselberry family in
Robertson County (on the Kentucky line almost due north of
Nashville).
In the 1830 Tennessee census Lucretia and
William, who is mentioned above as perhaps being her son,
were listed in McNairy County. Also listed was Odum (or
Odom) and his family, Odum being Lucretia’s oldest son; Mark
and his family, Mark being another son; and Joseph Burks who
married Lucretia’s daughter, Lucretia, in Lawrence County,
Alabama, in 1825. In nearby Maury County, Tennessee, there
was a John Castleberry family listed. That must have been
John (son of Lucretia) and his wife Rebecca.
In the 1840 Tennessee census Lucretia had
moved into the household of her youngest son (or grandson),
Isaac and his wife Elizabeth. Odum had died and his wife
Jane was the head of that household. Mark and his family and
Joseph and Lucretia Burks were also listed. They all resided
in McNairy County. In Tishomingo County, Mississippi, just a
few miles south, James Castleberry and his family were new
homesteaders. James Castleberry relationship to Lucretia is
not known. Whatever the connection, it quite likely
contributed to James Castleberry’s decision to move to
Tishomingo County. Making the move with him was his wife and
thirteen children, plus a son-in-law. About 65 miles due
west of McNairy County in Giles County, Tennessee, two
Castleberry families were listed in the 1840 census. They
were J. Castleberry and Susan Castleberry.
In the 1850 Tennessee census the Joseph
Burks and Isaac Castleberry families were listed in McNairy
County. Lucretia was 75 years old and still living with
Isaac. Mark had moved to Tishomingo County, Mississippi. His
wife, Jane, died and he married Rhoda Smith there on 10
March 1850. A new family in McNairy County was that of
William Castleberry, age 26 and born in Alabama. In Giles
County were Susan Castleberry, age 53 and born in Alabama,
and a W. Castleberry, age 26 and born in Tennessee. This may
be George Washington Castleberry1 who married
Mary Jane Beal (1830 - 1910). George Washington Castleberry
died in 1857.2 In St. Clair County was Franklin
Castleberry, age 31, and born on 26 June 1826 near
Nashville. His parents were Joseph and Mary Castleberry.3
Several Castleberry marriages occurred in
Lawrence County, Alabama, in the early 1800s. Armon
Castleberry married Parlesea E. Wells on 24 May 18384
and Odum M. Casselberry married Nancy Jane McCluskey there
on 20 December 1848.5 That same year William W.
Casselberry married Nancy E. McGaughey on 25 October 18486
and John Castleberry married Susannah Mackey in Lawrence
County on 13 July 1852.7
Most of the Lawrence County, Alabama,
Castleberry clan moved west to Mississippi, Tennessee,
Texas, etc., but not all. According to a 15 October 1875
newspaper article in the Moulton Advertiser (Moulton,
Alabama) a Mrs. R. Castleberry, age 71, was still living in
Lawrence County, Alabama.8
Chapter 4
- Thomas Castleberry (ca 1770 - 1826)
Keep away from people who belittle your
ambitions.
Mark Twain
Thomas Castleberry was probably the
father of James Castleberry.1 Thomas was born
around 1770, maybe in Orange County, North Carolina. He grew
up in Richmond County, Georgia, during the Revolutionary
War. In 1805 he was in the Jackson County, Georgia, land
lottery. He was in Clarke County, Georgia, in 1808 and in
Gwinnett County, Georgia, in 1820. He later moved to DeKalb
County, Georgia, and died there in 1826 according to a
notice2 in the September 12, 1826, issue of the
Milledgeville, Georgia, newspaper as follows: DeKalb
County, Georgia; Whereas Silas McGrady applies for letters
of administration on the estate of Thomas Castleberry, late
of said county, deceased --- given under my hand this day of
August 1826. (Signed) Charles Murphey, C.C.O.
Thomas’s father was very likely William
Castleberry, Jr. who married Sarah Martin. William
Castleberry, Jr.’s father was the William who married
Margaret Davis and came south. And this last William’s
father was the immigrant, Henry Castleberry (or Heinrich
Kesselberg).3
Chapter 5
- James Castleberry (1793 - 1859)
"No one is useless in this world who
lightens the burdens of another."
Charles Dickens
James Castleberry, my great-great
grandfather, was born on the 23 Dec 1793 in or near Wilkes
County, Georgia,1 and died on 13 July 1859 in
Tishomingo County, Mississippi.
His father is thought to have been Thomas
Castleberry, although no proof of this has been found.2
The reasons for this belief are Thomas Castleberry’s
age, his residency in Jackson County in 1805, and supposedly
before then as well, and the fact that James named two of
his sons Thomas.
The only record so far found about James
Castleberry’s life as a young man in Jackson County is the
following copy of a bounty land claim that he had prepared
in 1851:
State of Mississippi
County of Tishomingo
On this 25th day of January 1851
personally appeared before me an acting Justice of the Peace
in and for the said county James Castleberry who
being duly sworn according to law declares that he is aged
57 years, a resident of Tishomingo, Mississippi -- that he
is the identical individual who was a private in the
company of Captain Joseph Horton’s Georgia foot volunteers
-- (that the service was on the frontier, Captain Horton’s
company never mustering with any other company -- no Colonel
ever visiting them therefore he thinks that there was none
-- if there was one it might be Colonel Key) -- In the War
with Great Britain declared by the United States on June 18,
1812 -- That he volunteered at Jackson County, Georgia, and
was mustered in service at Fort Daniel, Jackson County,
Georgia, on or about the 1st of January 1815 for three
months and continued in active service (stationed at Fort
Daniel) about 60 days and was honorable discharged at Fort
Daniel, Georgia, on or about the 1st of March 1815 -- that
he has not seen his discharge for over 30 years -- that he
left it with his father -- that his father is dead and his
papers are destroyed, and he has no reason to think it in
existence.
He makes this declaration for the purpose
of obtaining the benefit of the "Act of September 28, 1850".
He request his said warrant when issued
to be sent to Reynolds and Kinyon, Jacinto, Tishomingo
County, Mississippi.
James Castleberry
I do not know the outcome of James
Castleberry’s claim. The two men, Reynolds and Kinyon, were
lawyers in Jacinto, the Tishomingo County seat in 1851.
Jackson Akers, the Justice of the Peace, was James
Castleberry’s son-in-law. Fort Daniel was located at Hog
Mountain on State Route 124 between Braselton and
Lawrenceville, Georgia. A marker has been erected to show
its location (this part of Jackson County became Gwinnett
County in 1818). The fort was constructed in 1813 by Major
Tandy Key (later Colonel Key and probably the Colonel Key
mentioned by James Castleberry) and Captain Nehemiah
Garrison. Captain Garrison first commanded the fort. A later
commander was Captain Joseph Wharton, probably the Captain
Joseph Horton referred to by James Castleberry.3
Chapter 6
- Elizabeth Carroll (1801 - 1879)
By the yard life is hard--By the inch
life's a cinch
James Castleberry married Elizabeth
Carroll around 1816 in Jackson County, Georgia. She was born
in 1801 in York District, South Carolina and died in July
1879 in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. More information is
given about her in Chapter 22, page 60.
Chapter 7
- Eastport, Mississippi
The best way up (from depression) is to
help someone else up
In 1840 James Castleberry moved his
family from DeKalb County, Georgia, to Tishomingo County,
Mississippi. He settled near the bustling little town of
Eastport which was on the banks of the Tennessee River.
Eastport was created, along with the rest of Tishomingo
County, in 1836 and incorporated in 1838. It was the eastern
terminal of much Tennessee River traffic in those days since
the treacherous muscle shoals were just a little further
east near Florence, Alabama. Passage over these shallow
rocky spots was often difficult and sometimes dangerous,
especially during dry spells when the river was low. So,
much steamboat traffic from Louisville and other points
north and west began and ended at Eastport. Five or six
steamboats at a time were often seen loading cotton and
other farm crops and unloading manufactured goods for
Eastport and the northeast region of Mississippi.
When Tishomingo County was created in
1836 the county seat was located at Jacinto. Stagecoach
lines ran from Eastport to Pontotoc, Columbus, Tupelo, and
Ripley. The seventy-five mile trip to Tupelo took about
three days and nights from Eastport.1
By 1849 Eastport had two churches, two
schools, law offices, wholesale houses, grocery and dry
goods stores, a drug store, cotton brokers, a livery stable,
warehouses, two inns (or taverns), a newspaper, carriage
shops, and many homes.
The population of Tishomingo County during these early
years was as follows:
Year White Slave
1840 6681 828
1850 13528 1961
1860 19159 4990
Also in business in Eastport in 1849 were
Castleberry and Vaughn (which Castleberry is not known) who
operated a wharf boat on the Tennessee River used to
receive, store, and freight cotton.2
Two educational institutions existed -
the Eastport Female Institute and the Male Eastport Academy.
Eastport newspapers included the weekly
North Mississippi Union published from 1850 to 1854 by Mr.
M. G. Lewis. Other papers were the Eastport Herald (1849)
and the Jacinto Reporter (1849) published by Dr. M. A.
Simmons, a Whig. When this paper was moved to Eastport in
1850 its name was changed to the New Eleven and Mr. B. S.
Kenyou became the editor. Still later this paper was bought
by Dr. J. S. Davis in 1857 (or 1858) and had its name
changed to the Iuka Gazette. Other Eastport newspapers
existing during the early 1850’s were the Eastport
Republican and the Eastport Gazette.
Eastport reached the peak of its
prosperity and population about 1854. At that time there
were at least four physicians, several attorneys, a sign
painter, a New York tailor, a cabinet maker, several real
estate and insurance salesmen, and numerous grocery, dry
goods, cotton brokers, and clothing merchants. There were
also three hotels - one called the Mansion House - a
telegraph office, the post office, a Baptist and a Methodist
church and Masonic Lodge No. 94.
Finally, there were numerous saloons,
some owned by three sons of James Castleberry. James, Jr.,
was issued a saloon license in 1843 (he was twenty years
old), then John in 1845, and later in 1850 William (age
twenty) followed in his brother’s footsteps. In 1854 William
was still in the saloon business according to county
records.
In 1857 the Memphis and Charleston
Railroad (now the Norfolk and Southern) was completed
linking the Mississippi River with the Atlantic Ocean.
During the construction phase the railroad officials offered
the prosperous citizens of Eastport the chance to have the
railroad pass through their thriving town for a price of
$20,000.00.3 The citizens declined and the
railroad passed about fifteen miles south of Eastport
through Iuka. This ill-fated decision was the beginning of
the end for Eastport and soon the majority of the merchants
and citizens moved to Iuka to take advantage of this new
form of transportation.
Much of the original town of Eastport was
flooded in 1938 when the Tennessee Valley Authority built
Pickwick Dam. All that is left today of Eastport is a
boating marina on Pickwick Lake with few visible signs
remaining of its former days of glory as a bustling
riverboat town and trade center.
A letter written in 1874 that mentions Mrs. Castleberry,
no doubt Elizabeth Carroll Castleberry who would have been
73 years old at the time, is enclosed below:4
"For two long years we had been
expecting a trip to Eastport. At last the time arrived much
to our satisfaction; for a week before we started we talked
about nothing but Eastport. It rained a great deal during
the week and we feared very much that it would rain on
Saturday. On Friday we made our arrangements to leave early
next morning. Mrs. Price, Mrs. Nance, Messrs. Johnnie,
Tommie, and Jimmie Price, Lu Lee Bowdre, cousin Bettie and
myself constituted our party on the occasion. We were
sadly disappointed in not having my dear friend Rosa with
her bright smiles to go with us. We missed her merry voice
in our round and the wind blew very cold, but we wrapped up
warmly in our shawls and cousin Bettie with her sunbonnet
comfortably pinned on, but Lu Lee and I preferred to wear
our hats thinking it world not do to wear a sunbonnet to
Eastport. So being ready, we started to our friend’s where
we found the wagon waiting, jumped in and off we started
with many a merry laugh. Mrs. Price and Mrs. Nance only
accompained us a few miles to spend the day with Mrs.
Castleberry. Soon the sun shone out brilliantly and the
beautiful hills rose one above the other, with the
breastworks stretching over them. Below the silvery water
made sweet music in rippling over the pretty little rocks.
This beautiful stream flows from the foot of the hills over
a rocky bed until sufficiently large to turn an over-shot
wheel of a grist mill, which presents quite a picturesque
scene, with the rugged background and the deserted village
nearer the border of the Tennessee River. In bygone days
Eastport was the abiding place for many happy families, but
time and the ravages of war have dealt unkindly with its
prosperity. Yet by nature it is still beautiful and pleasant
associations cluster around the glory of the past with many
former residents. We saw from the wharf-boat on the deep,
smooth water of the Tennessee a table rock overlooking a
deep precipice called "Lovers Leap". From this elevated
romantic eminence a wide scope of country can be viewed,
representing an unbroken chain of rounded hills through
which the waters of the Tennessee triumphantly flow. After
feasting our eyes upon the beauties of nature, we enjoyed a
sumptuous basket-dinner and rambled over the fields to the
mouth of the creek, amusing ourselves in various ways until
it was time to homeward bound. On our return, we paused at
the foot of one of the loftiest hills, ascended it, viewed
the landscape over, gathered souvenirs, and resumed our
journey to Mrs. Castleberry’s where we found Mrs.
Price and Mrs. Nance had spent a delightful day. Having then
our complement of passengers on board the wagon, we joyously
quickened our movement and soon found ourselves admiring a
bird’s eye view of Iuka again. All agreed that it was a
lovely village, the railroad, with neat homesteads nestled
among the evergreens. A soft hazy atmosphere seemed to
envelop the whole village, the most conspicuous and
beautiful part to which was our noble seat of learning, the
Iuka Female Institute. We reached home about 5 o’clock p.
m., feeling greatly refreshed mentally and physically. Lu
Lee and I had come to regret only one thing---the wearing of
our hats---for our faces were nearly blistered from contact
with the wind."
Chapter 8 – Two Mississippi Land
Transactions by
James Castleberry
"Twenty years from now, you will be more
disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones
you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the
safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover."
---- Mark Twain
The first land transaction1 by
James Castleberry in Mississippi occurred in November 1840,
probably not long after his arrival in Tishomingo County.
This was the purchase of 480 acres from Wade and Margaret
Blassingame for $800.00 and was witnessed by James Moore and
Jackson Akers, his son-in-law. This land in Tishomingo
County was described as follows: E1/2 S6 and NE ¼ S7, all at
R11E, T3
A much later land transaction on 1
September 18512 is particularly interesting. It
describes the sale for $4000.00 of presumably all of James
Castleberry’s property (800 acres) to his wife eight years
before his death! Perhaps he did so expecting to soon die?
The deed states that Elizabeth received about a dozen Negro
slaves that were originally from the proceeds of her
father’s estate. NOTE: Her father, James Carroll, died
almost forty years earlier in Jackson County, Georgia,
around 1813. Other belongings were listed as: two mules,
three horses, four yoke of oxen, one crib of corn, eight
beds, furniture, and bedsteads, one bureau, one safe, eleven
cows, and two wagons.
The names of the Negro slaves were:
Hardy, Alexander, Delphia and her children, Jerry and
Echlip, Cherry and her two children, Harriet and Stepheson,
and Susan.
Chapter 9 -
Children
of James and
Elizabeth Castleberry
"When we do the best that we can, we never
know what
miracle is wrought in our life, or in the
life of another."
----Helen Keller
1. James Castleberry, Jr., was
born in Jackson County, Georgia, on 5 May 1817 and he died
around 1895. He was elected constable of Eastport,
Mississippi, on 5 August 18431 and was a member
of the Tishomingo County Board of Police. James, Jr. married
Elizabeth Tuberville around 1848 in Tishomingo County,
Mississippi. She was born in Alabama about 1825. According
to Federal census records they had the following
children:
a) Thomas J. (ca 1849 - ?)
b) Martha A. (ca 1849 - ?)
c) Sarah or Sallie (ca 1853 - ?)
d) Sidney J. (ca 1854 - ?)
e) J. Eulla (20 March 1861 - ?)
Eulla was married around 1879 to the Rev. James
Howard Blythe and moved in 1882
to Drew County, Arkansas, near Monticello,
where she died after raising a
large family
f) William H. (ca 1862 - ?)
g) Jamie Ann (ca 1862 - ?)
h) Edwin (ca 1869 - ?)
James Castleberry, Jr. was in the 22nd
Mississippi Infantry during the Civil War.2 He
and some of his family were still residing in Tishomingo
County in 1880 (Federal census). According to Wiltshire3
he died in 1895 and is buried in Yalobusha County,
Mississippi.
2. Sarah Castleberry was born in
Gwinnett County, Georgia, on 24 Oct 1818 and she died in
Tishomingo County, Mississippi, on 11 May 1861. She is
buried near Iuka, Mississippi. Her husband was Jackson Akers
who she married in Gwinnett County, Georgia, in 1837. They
moved to Mississippi in 1840 with her parents. In 1849
Jackson Akers was elected a Justice of the Peace in
Tishomingo County (District No. 9). He married Mary Barnett
on 12 June 1862 after Sarah died on 11 May1861. In the 1870
census Jackson Akers occupation is given as steam mill
proprietor. He was living next to his ex-mother-in-law,
Elizabeth Castleberry. Living near by was his 29 year old
son, John Jefferson, and his family. John Jefferson Akers
was born near Iuka, Mississippi, and married Mildred Ann
McDaniel.4
3. John Thomas was born in
Gwinnett County, Georgia, in 1820 and died on 21 January
1871 in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. He married Frances
Marion Lee on 10 June 1849. She was born on 18 February 1831
in Alabama and died in Tishomingo County on 27 June 1904.
Her father was Nathan Lee and her mother was Catherine
Corbin. In the 1860 Federal census John Thomas’s occupation
was given as miller but by 1870 he had taken up farming
according to the census records. In the 1880 census his
widow, Frances, was living with her nineteen year old son,
John, and gave her occupation as farmer. Their children
were:
Rufus (30 Oct. 1868 -
18 Mar 1917). He did not marry.
Flossey Kate (4 Mar
1870 - 11 Apr. 1952). Flossey Kate
married James Hubbard on 12 January
1922.
Rutie (ca 1874 -
after 1910)
As stated above, John Thomas' son, Robert
E. Castleberry, married Ophelia Archer. They had a son, John
Felix (1884 - 1973), who married Cara Blanche Edwards (1891
- 1958). Their children were: Mary Mayedele, Edward Thurman,
John Ted, Gene Neil and James Lynn. John Ted married Billeye
Sue Cutshall and they had a son John Ted, Jr.5
4. Cenith (Acena) was born in
DeKalb County, Georgia, in 1830. She did not marry. She was
living with her mother according to the 1860 and 1870
Federal census and with her brother Charlie in 1880. She
does not appear in the 1900 census.
5. Nancy was born in DeKalb County, Georgia, in
1830.
6. William (my great grandfather) was born in
DeKalb County, Georgia, in 1830 and died in Pontotoc,
Mississippi, in July 1882. He married Annie Rosa Coleman in
Pontotoc County, Mississippi, on 27 Jan 1862. More about him
in Chapter 10.
7. Thomas C. was born in DeKalb
County, Georgia, in 1831. He was most likely named after his
mother’s younger brother, Thomas Carroll. He married Sarah
Alabama Long on 20 April 1858 in what is now Alcorn County,
Mississippi. She was born around 1840. According to Edwyna
Wackrow6 her parents were probably Henry
Dickerson Long and Margaret Counts. Their children were:
Oscar, Agnes Mae, Hal, Blanche, Zana,Tom and Earl.7
In the 1860 census Thomas gave his occupation to be
lumber trader (the same was given by his younger brother,
Winchester, who was living in his household). Thomas was in
the Civil War and served in P.D. Roddey's 4th Alabama
cavalry. In 1870 he was a steam mill proprietor, according
to the census records. Thomas died around 1890.
8. Rufus was born in DeKalb
County, Georgia, on 24 March 1832 and died 31 December 1906
in Iuka, Mississippi, where he is buried (Oak Grove
Cemetery). Rufus served in the 11th Alabama Cavalry during
the Civil War. In 1870 he was farming and living with his
mother, according to the census. In 1875 when he was 43
years old he married M. Florrie Matthews. Her father was A.
T. Matthews. She was born 8 March 1853 and died 20 October
1878, two days after giving birth to their second child,
Hattie. She died on 18 October 1878. Florrie is buried in
Iuka at Oak Grove Cemetery beside her parents. Rufus and
Florrie’s first child (James A.) was born around 1876. In
the 1880 census Rufus was listed as a resident of Iuka and
as a store clerk. According to Coker8 he was the
Iuka town marshal from 1894 to 1896. In the 1900 census his
occupation was given as the Iuka town marshal.
9. Elizabeth was born in DeKalb
County, Georgia, in 1832. She married William Maddox on 6
Apr 1859. Surety for their marriage bond was William D.
Castleberry, probably her older brother. NOTE: If so it is
the only record I have found giving his middle initial.
10. Mary C. was born in DeKalb County, Georgia,
about 1834. She was living with her brother, Charles, and
sisters, Cenith and Nina, in 1880 in Tishomingo County,
Mississippi.
11. Nina (also called Permilia)
was born in DeKalb County, Georgia, in December 1836. She
died in Iuka, Mississippi, in 1909. She never married.
12. Winchester was born in DeKalb
County, Georgia, about 1838. He was in the lumber business
before the Civil War. He died on 14 Oct 1864 in a Richmond,
Virginia, hospital from wounds received during fighting near
Petersburg, Virginia. I do not know where he is buried.
13. Riley was born in DeKalb
County, Georgia, in October 1838. He was killed when thrown
from a horse on 19 April 1852 and is buried beside his
parents in Mt. Evergreen Cemetery near Iuka, Mississippi.
14. Charles C. was born in
Tishomingo County, Mississippi, in March 1841. He served in
Roddey’s Cavalry during the Civil War and was elected First
Sergeant. He was twice elected Sheriff (1874 and again on 6
November 1877) of Tishomingo County.9 According
to the Confederate Magazine10 he served under
Colonel W. A. Johnson and surrendered with General Forrest
at Gainesville, Alabama. After the war he married Henrietta
M. Hyndman (30 March 1849 - 30 March 1877) of Corinth,
Mississippi. They had at least two children, Robbie (19
April 1872 - 24 October 1875) and Henrietta, born around
1877. Henrietta married J. P. Houk about 1899 and was living
in Aberdeen, Mississippi, in 1909. Both Robbie and Henrietta
are buried in Iuka, Mississippi. In the 1900 census Charles
C. Castleberry was living with his sister, Nina, in Iuka. He
filed a Civil War pension application in 1907. Charles died
"suddenly" in New Albany, Mississippi, on 16 September 1909.11
His obituary in the Iuka, Mississippi, newspaper, the
Vidette, concluded with the following sentences:
The coffin arrived on the train at 1:17
p.m. and was carried to the Castleberry home. Rev. O.L.
Savage conducted funeral. At grave a talk was made by G.P.
HAMMERY, who was a war comrade. Thus was laid to rest a man
with a checkered career - a man who had his faults and his
virtues. Let us remember his virtues.
15. Georgia A. was born in
Tishomingo County, Mississippi, on 10 February 1846 and died
in Iuka, Mississippi, on 24 May 1882. She married James
Walmsley (14 February 1830 - 9 December 1885). They are both
buried in Iuka, Mississippi. The Walmsley children, John
Walmsley , James Walmsley, William Walmsley , and Mary
Walmsley were living in Iuka, Mississippi, with their aunt
Nina in 1900, according to the census.
16. John W. was born in Tishomingo
County, Mississippi, on 20 August 1846 and died there on 15
October 1846. He is buried in Mt. Evergreen Cemetery near
Iuka, Mississippi. NOTE: John W. Castleberry was born six
months after his sister Georgia! Obviously some birth dates
are incorrect.
Chapter 10 -
William Castleberry (The
Honest Merchant of Pontotoc)
(1830 -
1882)
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing
is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less
because of that missing drop."
----Mother Teresa
William Castleberry, my great
grandfather, was ten years old when he arrived in Tishomingo
County, Mississippi, in 1840 with his parents (James and
Elizabeth Castleberry) and his twelve brothers and sisters
from DeKalb County, Georgia. He was born in 1830 (his
military service record gave his age as 35 in June 1865 when
he was released from the Camp Chase Civil War prison in
Columbus, Ohio). He died on 15 July 1882 in Pontotoc,
Mississippi, at the age of 52. His name appears in several
Tishomingo County land deeds in the 1850’s and he was also
in the saloon business for a time in Eastport, Mississippi.1
He evidently moved to Pontotoc,
Mississippi, in the early 1860’s since it was there that he
met and soon married Annie Rosa Coleman on 27 Jan 1862,
according to their marriage bond. However, in her last Civil
War pension application in 1923 (when she was 82 years old
and living with her daughter in Lafayette County,
Mississippi) she stated that she was married in Lafayette
County, Mississippi.
One year later, in February 1863,
William, along with two of his brothers, Charles C. and
Thomas, enlisted in Company B of the 11th Alabama Cavalry.
William rose through the ranks to become a Sergeant by the
time he was captured by Union forces in 1864.
His military service record states that
he was captured near Huntsville, Alabama, on 23 December
1864, by forces under the command of Major General Thomas,
Department of the Cumberland. In Charles Rice’s paperback
book2 about the Civil War in North Alabama there
is a brief account of a skirmish near Huntsville on Indian
Creek on 23 December 1864, where 48 Confederates were
captured. Undoubtedly William Castleberry was one of the
captured Confederates. Rice’s book says, "The wounded men
were badly cut up with saber cuts, as it was a hand-to-hand
fight, and the enemy says the young Rebels fought bravely".
He was first sent to a Civil War prison
in Louisville, Kentucky, and then in March 1865 to Camp
Chase, Ohio (Columbus). He was paroled on 13 June 1865 after
taking an oath of allegiance to the United States.
According to information in William’s
1865 military service record he had blue eyes, dark hair,
fair complexion, and was 5 feet, 9 and 3/4 inches tall.
After the war William returned to
Pontotoc, Mississippi, and opened a dry goods store where he
and his father-in-law, Daniel T. Coleman, were partners.
In the 1870 and 1880 census for Pontotoc,
Mississippi, William Castleberry’s occupation was given as
merchant (dry goods). In 1880 his seventy-five year-old
mother-in-law (Clarinda Ann Coleman) was living with the
family, according to the census.
William Castleberry joined the Baptist Church of Pontotoc
on 12 July 1879 (a Saturday) according to the church
minutes.3
The minutes say "after sermon by Eld
Lewis Ball (of Blue Mountain, Mississippi) Wm Castlebury (spelling used by the church clerk)
and Miss Sue Allen
presented themselves as converts and after relating their
change of heart and desires to unite with us were
unanimously rec’d into our Christian fellowship as fit
subjects for baptism". Four days later Pastor A. J. Seal
baptized them at 4 p.m. on 16 July 1879 (a Wednesday).
From the church minutes it is plain that
meetings usually took place on Saturday (Sunday is rarely
mentioned as a meeting day—I don’t know why) and revivals
(referred to as a series of meetings) lasted for at least a
week and sometimes longer. Each day during a revival held in
July 18794 there was a prayer meeting at 10 a.m.
and preaching at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.! Quite different from
today.
By 1879, when William joined the church,
he had been living in Pontotoc for fourteen years (since his
1865 return from Camp Chase--the Civil War prison in
Columbus, Ohio) and it is odd that during all this time he
apparently felt no need or desire to join. His wife
(baptized in 1865 along with two of her sisters, Emma F.
Weatherall and Nettie M. Coleman)5 and her family
were long-time members. Also, William’s father-in-law
(Daniel T. Coleman) was a "pillow" of the church. But
William Castleberry did not cast his lot with the church
until he was 49 years old.
After becoming a member William took an
active role in the affairs of the church. He was frequently
appointed to committees to attend to various church
activities. On 14 December 1879 he was appointed to a
committee to notify the colored church [members] that it was
not convenient to rent them the church for 1880.6 From time-to-time he also made financial contributions to
special church needs.
The children of William and Annie
Castleberry were probably all born in Pontotoc, Mississippi.
Seven of the eight (one died very young) are listed below:
Clara (b Apr. 1866)
Mary L. (b Mar 1871)
Ann E. (b ca 1871)
William C. (b Mar 1873)
Robert L. (b Sept. 1874)
Florence (b Mar 1875)
Charles Rufus (b 24 Oct. 1878, d 21 July
1963--my grandfather)
William Castleberry’s will is dated 15
July 1882.7 In it he names his wife (Anna R.
Castleberry) as the executrix and to her he wills all of his
real estate, household and kitchen furniture and all stock
and cattle. Finally he asks that she secure the assistance
of W. R. Peguis (fellow church member who was
"excommunicated" in 1883)8 in the management of
his estate. William’s brother (Rufus) from Tishomingo
County, Mississippi, was a witness.
William died on the same day that his
will was written (15 July 1882), according to the Proof of
Will court records dated 5 Sept 1882. The estimated value of
his store merchandise was $10,000 and his debts were
estimated to be between $4,000 and $5,000. His widow
petitioned the court to allow her to set apart a sufficient
sum of money from the estate to support herself and her
children for one year.
William Castleberry is buried in the city
cemetery in Pontotoc, Mississippi. His tombstone inscription
incorrectly says that he died in 1885. It also has the
inscription: "THE HONEST MERCHANT OF PONTOTOC".
Chapter 11 -
Annie Rosa Coleman Castleberry
(1840 - ca 1925)
(Wife of
William Castleberry)
"The job of passing civilization along from one
generation to the next ought to be the highest honor anyone
could have" – "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" by Lee
Iacocca, 2007, p. 217
Annie Rosa Coleman Castleberry’s (1840 -
ca 1925) family came to Mississippi from Coweta County,
Georgia. She states in her Civil War pension applications
that she "has lived in Mississippi all her life". The
Coleman family apparently arrived in Mississippi around
1842, assuming "all her life" did not actually include being
born in Mississippi. In 1852 her family moved to Pontotoc,
Mississippi, and it was there that the Coleman children grew
to adulthood. She had four older brothers and five sisters,
two older than herself. In Mississippi Annie Rosa Coleman
probably first lived in Chickasaw County and then in
Pontotoc County. In 1862 she married William Castleberry.
She died around 1925 in Lafayette County, Mississippi.
Her father, Daniel T. Coleman (ca 1800 -
7 Jul 1873), was a farmer, merchant, and in the 1830’s while
living in Morgan County, Georgia, a justice of the peace.
His wife, Clarinda Ann Randle (1804 - ca 1885), was also
from Georgia.
Annie Coleman’s oldest sister was Emma F.
who first married R. A. Weatherall on 8 March 1859 and
later, after he died about 1874, she married Major Henry C.
Medford of Tupelo, Mississippi (a lawyer and the town’s
first mayor). Emma had two daughters by both husbands.
Annie Coleman’s youngest sister, Mary
Adeline (Mary Lina) married Memory Gordon Leake 3 September
1871. Adeline and Memory both died during the yellow fever
epidemic in the summer of 1877 leaving a three-year-old son,
Memory E. Leake, who was adopted and raised by Emma and
Major Medford. An interesting account of Memory E. Leake’s
long and useful life has been recorded by Julius Garnett
Berry.1 In this biography mention2 is
made of Memory riding all the way from Tupelo to Pontotoc on
a new pony named Minnie that he received from his
stepfather, Major Medford, to visit his Aunt Annie
Castleberry and her family. He was only six or seven years
old at the time and did this to please his stepfather who
rewarded him by giving him the pony.
Emma Medford died in 1885 when Memory was
only eleven years old. At the insistence of his lawyer
stepfather Memory enrolled at the University of Mississippi
where he completed his law degree in 1895. The legal
profession did not suit him and he soon got into the
hardware and lumber business where he succeeded handsomely
eventually becoming a prosperous and prominent citizen in
his hometown of Tupelo. He was a life long member of the
Baptist Church in that city.
Memory was the first cousin of my
grandfather, Charles Rufus Castleberry. They were
born four years apart and grew up in towns twenty miles
apart. Stories have been handed down about how Memory was
partly raised by my great grandmother, Annie Coleman
Castleberry, after his Aunt Emma died in 1885 when he was
eleven years old.
Annie Coleman was married to William
Castleberry in Lafayette County, Mississippi, according to
her last Civil War pension application that she filed in
1923. However, it is more likely that she was married in
Pontotoc County since her marriage bond was issued there on
27 Jan 1862. During her marriage she resided in Pontotoc,
Mississippi, with her husband who was a merchant. When he
died in July 1882 she was left with seven children, the
youngest, Charles Rufus (my grandfather) was
only three years old.
According to the minutes3 of
the First Baptist Church of Pontotoc Annie R. Castleberry,
Nettie M. Coleman, and Emma F. Weatherall were received for
baptism in 1865. Also that year a colored man and two
colored women (Willie Barr, Lucinda Wilson, and Ann Conkey)
were received for baptism. Mrs. Mary Lina Leake, formerly
Mary Lina Coleman, was dismissed from the church by letter
in January 1872.
Thirty-one years later on 14 June 1896
the Pontotoc church minutes further state that the following
Castleberry’s were granted letters of removal: Mrs. A. R.
Castleberry, Mary Castleberry, Florence Castleberry, Robert
Castleberry, and Charlie Castleberry (my
grandfather). They moved from Pontotoc to Aberdeen,
Mississippi a few months earlier since according to records
at the First Baptist Church of Aberdeen, Mississippi [e-mail
on 16 May 2007 from Judy Jones—jjones7487@hotmail.com] Annie
Castleberry and her family (Florence, Robert E. Charles R.
and Mary) joined the Aberdeen church by letter on 29 March
1896. Some of their names appear on the Aberdeen church
records until 1918 (records not found for 1919 through
1921). By 1922 no Castleberry names were appearing on the
Aberdeen church records. Actually, three of these four
Castleberry children had moved and were married by 1909
(Charles in 1905, Florence in 1907, and Robert in 1909). I
do not know who or when Mary was married. Three Castleberry
children were missing from the Aberdeen church records. They
were: Clara, William, and Annie.
This move to Aberdeen, Mississippi was
made 14 years after the death of Annie Castleberry’s
husband, William. Why she picked Aberdeen is not known.
Probably it was mainly in search of a place with a more
thriving economy.
In 1896, on arriving in Aberdeen, Annie
Castleberry opened a boarding house on Washington Street. In
the 1900 census she is listed as head-of-the-household with
nine boarders, six of them being her own children (missing
was Ann or Annie, the third oldest daughter). Also under her
roof were her three granddaughters, the children of Clara
Roberts, the oldest daughter, who was a widow. William, the
oldest son, was an insurance agent, Robert was a dry goods
salesman, and Charles Rufus, my grandfather, was a
grocery salesman, according to the census
records.
In 1900, at the age of 59, Annie
Castleberry filed the first of four Civil War pension
applications for service by her husband, William
Castleberry. By 1912, when she was 70 years old, Annie
Castleberry had moved to Lafayette County, Mississippi,
evidently near Water Valley (she moved before 1907) and was
living with her daughter, Florence Anderson, and her family.
She filed a second Civil War pension application on 15
August 1912. She gave the value of her property as $500.00.
On the 9 August 1916 when she was 75 years old she filed a
third pension application giving the value of her property
as $150.00. Finally, on 27 June 1923, she filed her fourth
and last Civil War pension application when she was 82 years
old. She stated that she was an invalid and was residing in
Lafayette County, Mississippi, Route 1. Her post office was
given as Water Valley, Mississippi. All four pension
applications were approved.
I do not know when she died or where she
is buried.
Chapter
12 - Children of William and Annie Castleberry
"Without enthusiasm you are doomed to a
life of mediocrity, but with it you can accomplish
miracles." --- Og Mandino
According to the Federal census records of 1880 William
and Annie Castleberry had eight children. All were
apparently born in Pontotoc, Mississippi. One died as an
infant. The seven other children were:
1. Clara (April 1866 - ___?) married
W. W. Roberts on Wednesday, the 30th of April 1890 in
Pontotoc County.1 He died before 1900 and Clara
and her three daughters lived in Aberdeen, Mississippi, with
Annie Castleberry for some time afterwards. The three
daughters were:
Julian Maude (July 1891 - ?)
Anna L. (October 1892 - ?)
Mary W. (January 1894 - ?)
By 1910 Clara Roberts and her three
daughters had moved to Webster County (Eupora, Mississippi)
and were renting a house on Durrar (?) Street. Clara was a
"keeper" at the Eupora Hotel. A John Kolb (or Kobb) was a
boarder in the household with Clara and her daughters. He
was a divorced 48-year-old dentist. Clara was 44 years old
and her daughters were teenagers. No trace of Clara Roberts
has been found in the 1920 census (she would have been 54
years old). Perhaps she married the dentist and moved to
another state.
2. Mary Lina (Mar 1871 - __?__) was named after her
mother’s sister. Mary Lina joined the Aberdeen Baptist
church on 29 March 1896 [16 May 2007 e-mail from Judy Jones]
and she was granted a letter of removal from the Pontotoc
Baptist Church on 14 June 1896.2
3. Annie E. (ca 1871- __?___) was
baptized at the Pontotoc Baptist Church on 11 December 1886.3
Her name does not appear in the 1900 Federal census, so
perhaps she was married by then.
4. William C. (Mar 1873 - ___? __)
was a member of the Pontotoc Baptist Church until he was
expelled on 10 November 1895 due to his deportment.4
By 1900 he was living in Aberdeen, Mississippi, in his
mother’s boarding house and his occupation was given as
insurance agent. He evidently moved to Durant, Mississippi,
around 1901 since he was married there in May 1901.
William’s wife was Mary Cora Reed. The Rev. J. H. Smith
married them on Wednesday, the 29th of May 1901 in Durant.
She was born in Mississippi in 1885 and was the stepdaughter
of Edward C. Shive, a farmer and head of the household.
Edward’s wife was Celia Ann. They were both born in South
Carolina.
In the 1910 census William was living on
Madison Street with his in-laws in Durant, Mississippi, and
gave his occupation as a grocery store merchant. He had a
seven-year-old daughter named Celia L. In the 1920 census
William and Mary were still living in Durant, Mississippi.
He was the head of a household that included his wife,
daughter, and mother-in-law (Celia Ann Shive who was 72
years old). According to the 1930 census William owned a dry
goods store and a house valued at $3500.00. The
mother-in-law was still in their household in 1930. She was
83 years old and her father was born in Northern Ireland.
The daughter was also still living at home and her age was
given as 25 years old.
5. Robert L. (Sept. 1874 - ___?__) He
joined the Aberdeen, Mississippi Baptist church on 29 March
1896, along with the rest of his family [16 May 2007 e-mail
from Judy Jones]. He was married to Cora Rose on Wednesday,
the 15th of September 1909 in Yalobusha County. The minister
was Alfred D. Castleberry (relationship unknown). No trace
of Robert has been found in the 1910 census. Maybe he was
out of the state. Apparently Cora Rose died after 1910 since
in 1920 and 1930 Robert was living with his sister,
Florence, in Lafayette County, Mississippi, according to the
census.
6. Florence (May 1875 - ?) was
baptized at the Pontotoc Baptist Church with her sister
(Annie E.) on 11 December 1886.5 She joined the
Aberdeen Baptist Church on 29 March 1896 [16 May 2007 e-mail
from Judy Jones] and it was at that time that she moved with
her widowed mother and siblings to Aberdeen, Mississippi. On
14 June 1896 she was given a letter of removable from the
Pontotoc Baptist church.6 That same year she was
teaching school in Smithville near Aberdeen. In 1907 she
married Tom M. Anderson (1869 - 1915) from Lafayette County,
Mississippi. Tom and Florence were teachers at a "literary
school". They taught and lived in Lafayette County,
Mississippi, apparently near Water Valley. They had two
sons. Robert Howard (1909 - __?__) and Elna Thomas (1914 -
__?__). According to the 1910 census Tom and Florence owned
and lived in a farmhouse in Lafayette County that was
mortgaged. Tom was 41 years old in 1910. He was born in
Lafayette, Mississippi, on 15 August 1869 and died on 10
April 1915 (Mississippi death certificate No. 6824). His
parents were J. M. Anderson and Ella Wells. According to his
death certificate he was buried in the Shipp Cemetery in
Lafayette County, Mississippi. Unfortunately a record for
this cemetery, compiled in 1978 by the Skipwith Historical
and Genealogical Society,7 does not list him even
though his parents are listed. So, perhaps his gravestone is
missing.
In the 1920 census Florence was 43 years
old and was listed as head of the household. She was still
living in Lafayette County and in her household were her two
sons, Robert and Thomas, her mother Annie Coleman
Castleberry (age 79) and her brother Robert L. Castleberry
(age 41). Both Florence and her brother listed farming as
their primary occupation. Annie Coleman Castleberry
(mistakenly, I think) listed her parents as born in South
Carolina (they moved to Mississippi from Georgia around
1842). In the 1930 census the only change was the absence of
Annie Coleman Castleberry so she evidently died between 1923
and 1930.
7. Charles Rufus (24 Oct. 1878 - 21 July
1963) was my grandfather (see Chapter 13). He married
Eliza King in Durant, Mississippi, on 25 Jan 1905 (a
Wednesday).8 The minister was J. P. Hickman. She
was born in Holmes County, Mississippi, on 24 May 1883 and
died 7 Nov. 1959 in Moorhead, Mississippi. Her father was
Tom King (10 Jan 1850 - 31 Dec 1935) and her mother was
Annie Montgomery (11 Sept. 1859 - 16 Nov. 1898). They were
both born in Holmes County. In the 1910 census Charles Rufus
Castleberry was living in Durant, Mississippi, with his wife and two children (Charles King, age 2 and a
daughter Annie Frances, age 10 months--my mother). Also
living with him were his wife’s sisters, Annie King, age 20,
and Ellen King, age 14. Charles Rufus’ profession was given
as manager of an ice plant. The family was renting a house
on Mulberry Street. In the 1920 census he was still living
in Durant. He had a third child, Thomas Coleman, who was 6
years old. His sister-in-law, Ellen King, was still under
his roof. In 1922 Charles Rufus Castleberry moved his family
to the bustling little town of Moorhead in the Mississippi
Delta. He actually arrived in Moorhead in 1919 and commuted
home on weekends on the train between Durant and Moorhead
until 1922. The first year in Moorhead they all lived in the
Phoenix Hotel while the Castleberry house was being built on
the northwest corner of East Cherry and Walnut streets (in
the early 1960’s it was sold, demolished and replaced by
another house). All of the Castleberry children grew to
adulthood in Moorhead. Eliza died in Moorhead in 1959 and
Charles Rufus died there in 1963. Both are buried in Durant,
Mississippi (Mizpah Cemetery).
Their children were:
a) Charles King (28 Oct 1907 - 31 Aug
1986). He is buried in Vicksburg, Mississippi (Green Acres
Memorial Park).
b) Annie Frances (12 Jul 1909 - 6 Oct
1969). (my mother). She is buried in Vicksburg, Mississippi
(Green Acres Memorial Park).
c) Thomas Coleman (8 Dec 1913 - 9 July
1989). He is buried in Moorhead, Mississippi.
Chapter
13 - Charles Rufus Castleberry
(1878 - 1963)
"Get your facts first, then you can
distort them as you please."
--- Mark Twain
My maternal grandfather was Charles
Rufus Castleberry (24 Oct. 1878 - 21 July 1963). He
was a deacon in the Moorhead, Mississippi, Baptist Church
although he never attended Sunday School since he thought of
that as an activity for children. In politics he was
conservative however I suspect he voted for Franklin
Roosevelt like just about everybody else. He was a good
businessman. He loved to play practical jokes on his
children and on us grandchildren. Big Daddy, which we
shortened to "Bick" was an early riser, never needing an
alarm clock. The morning light and the birds singing woke
him, he would say.
Charles Rufus Castleberry was born in
Pontotoc, Mississippi, on 24 October 1878. NOTE: A birth
date of 6 October 1878 is on his tombstone, however, his
1918 WWI draft record and his Social Security application,
which he signed on 9 March 1937, both give his birth date as
24 October 1878. I think the October 24 date is more
likely correct.
In Pontotoc, Mississippi, the Castleberry
clan belonged to the Pontotoc Baptist Church where Charles
Rufus was baptized (Friday -- 23 June 1893) when he was 14
years old.1 His father, William Castleberry, who
died in 1882 when Charles Rufus was only three years old,
was a merchant in Pontotoc in business with his
father-in-law, Daniel T. Coleman (1800 – 1873).
Charles Rufus had two brothers and two
sisters, all older than him. He never completed more than
about six years of schooling. After my Big Daddy’s father
died, his mother, Annie Coleman Castleberry, with five young
children ranging in age from 3 to 16 years old, continued to
farm and run the family store for another fourteen years.
In 1896 (when my Big Daddy was 18 years
old) Annie Castleberry sold the store and moved to Aberdeen,
Mississippi. She probably moved there because her eldest
daughter (Florence) had secured a teaching job in
Smithville, a community near Aberdeen and too Aberdeen was a
very bustling place around this time. From 1861 to 1891
Aberdeen was the largest town (population) in Mississippi.
In 1896 it was a place enjoying great prosperity and much
commerce. A 1900 street scene in Aberdeen that was surely
familiar to Charles Rufus Castleberry and his family is
shown below.
The deed to the Aberdeen boarding house
the family lived in was not in Annie Castleberry’s name but
rather in the name of two of her daughters, Florence and
Mary. So, Annie Castleberry was running a boarding house on
Washington Street in Aberdeen in 1900.
During the last part of Bick’s growing up
years (from age 18 to about age 24) he lived in Aberdeen,
Mississippi. According to the 1900 census, he was 22 years
old, working in a grocery store in Aberdeen, and living at
his mother’s boarding house on Washington Street with his
siblings.
Not long afterwards he went to work for
the United States Post Office Department as a railway mail
clerk on a run from Memphis to Vicksburg. His home base was
Memphis, Tennessee and when in Vicksburg, Mississippi he
sometimes spent the night in the old railroad depot, which
was still standing in 2002 on Levee Street next to the sea
wall that protects the city during periods of high water on
the Yazoo and Mississippi Rivers. Among Bick’s fondest
memories and oft repeated stories were the ones about the
times the train would have to stop until the bears could be
chased off the track. His days as a railway mail clerk left
him with a lifelong love for railroading. I remember the
times in the 1940’s when my brother (Tomberry) and I would
listen to him talk in the most fascinating way about the
speed and splendor of the crack passenger trains of the day
like the Panama Limited (first run in 1942) and the City of
New Orleans that passed through Mississippi on their way
north and south between Chicago and New Orleans. In his mind
they were the quintessential example of the country’s
progress in commerce and transportation. Like the steamboats
in earlier days, the railroads captivated the spirit of
adventure and romance in his mind. My grandfather’s life
coincided with this exciting railroad era.
Around 1903 Bick left the railroad and
took a job as a post office clerk in Durant, Mississippi.
John W. Lockhart was the postmaster. His future
brother-in-law, John M. King, was probably another postal
employee since John became the Durant postmaster in 1913.
Very likely John introduced Charlie to his sister, Eliza. In
any event while working at the post office Charlie (Bick)
met and later married Eliza King. Their wedding took place
on a Wednesday, the 25th of January 1905, the coldest
January day my grandmother ever knew -- so she often said.
After the wedding and the customary festivities the new
bride and groom retired, each to their respective domiciles.
They could not yet afford a place of their own, so Granny
said.
On 25 June 1907 Bick presented himself
for membership at the Durant First Baptist Church (this was
two and ½ years after his marriage to Eliza King in that
church). His church letter arrived on 26 July 1907 probably
from the Baptist Church in Aberdeen, Mississippi. [Rev
Matt Brady e-Mail on 14 Aug ’06---Records of Durant First
Baptist Church]
My Big Daddy left the postal service
around 1907 and went into the coal and ice business in
Durant. He was in that business in 1910, according to the
census. My mother often talked about the pleasure she got
from eating ice cream at her daddy’s ice plant when she was
a small girl in Durant.
My mother always said that Bick and
Granny were given a house as a wedding present by Granny’s
father (Tom King). But, according to the Federal census Bick
and Granny were renting a house in Durant in 1910. However,
ten years later (according to the 1920 census) they were
owners of a house in Durant that was mortgage free. Maybe
Tom King’s generous gift did not occur until after 1910.
In 1919, after his Durant coal and ice
plant was destroyed by fire, Bick decided to move to
Moorhead, Mississippi, where he established himself in the
same business (in Moorhead his ice plant was located behind
the Baptist church and near the railroad tracks).
Temporarily leaving his family behind in Durant, he commuted
on the railroad for a couple of years until his wife and
three children joined him at the local hotel (The Phoenix)
where they all lived for about a year (until about 1922)
while the family home was being completed on the northwest
corner of E. Cherry and Walnut Streets (the front faced
south toward the Junior College).
The records of the First Baptist Church
of Durant, Mississippi, show that the Castleberry Family
moved their membership in November 1922. The family members
were: C. R. Castleberry, Mrs. C. R. Castleberry, C. K.
Castleberry, and Annie F. Castleberry (my mother who was 13
years old at that time). [Rev Matt Brady e-Mail on 14 Aug
’06---Records of Durant First Baptist Church]
Another fire destroyed Bick’s ice and
coal business in Moorhead several years later. By 1930
(according to the Federal census) he was in the oil and
gasoline business where he became the distributor in
Moorhead for the Gulf Oil Company. Later, around 1935, he
became the distributor for the Lion Oil Company and was the
owner of a Lion Oil Service Station (located on south side
of W. Washington Street and the east bank of the Moorhead
Bayou).
Starting in 1925 and continuing through
1941 Bick served several times on the Moorhead Board of
Alderman.2
In 1951 at the age of seventy-three he
went into the mercantile business (country store) in Blaine,
Mississippi. He commuted from Moorhead each day about 20
miles round trip six days a week! This final venture ended
in failure after about five years forcing Bick to retire. He
lived another seven years departing this world on 21 July
1963 at the age of eighty-four. Charles Rufus Castleberry is
buried beside his wife in the Mizpah Cemetery in Durant,
Mississippi.
The children (seven generations after
the German immigrant Henry Castleberry) of Charles
Castleberry and Eliza King were:
Chapter 14 - Eliza King Castleberry
(1883 - 1959)
"Imagination is more important than
knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the
world."----- Albert Einstein, 1879-1955
My grandmother (or Granny), Eliza King
Castleberry, was born in Holmes County, Mississippi, on 24
May 1883 (at Blue Mountain College she gave her age in the
June 1900 Federal census for Tippah County, Mississippi, as
17 making the 1882 date on her tombstone in error). She was
undoubtedly named after her father’s mother, Eliza Shipp
King, who died in 1883. Eliza King Castleberry had two
sisters and four brothers. Her two sisters, Annie and Ellen,
I knew from frequent family visits. I never knew her
brothers. According to a family story, one brother, I
believe Thomas, killed a man during a dispute in a poker
game and escaped to South America to avoid prosecution. Very
little was ever said about this. In fact not much was ever
said about any of Granny’s brothers. It was always regarded
as too sensitive a subject for discussion.
Granny’s mother, Annie Montgomery King,
died in 1898 at age 39 leaving seven children ranging in age
from four to twenty. Granny was fifteen years old and the
oldest daughter, therefore on her shoulders fell much of the
burden of caring for the family. She often said that she
raised her younger brothers and sisters, her own three
children, and two of her grandsons (me and Tomberry).
Granny’s father, Thomas Rhorea King, was
born in 1850 in Holmes County, Mississippi, and died at the
age of 85 on New Years Eve 1935. He married Annie Montgomery
in Holmes County, Mississippi, on 21 December 1876 (after
she died in 1898 he was remarried to Elma Merritt in 1902).
The King family home was outside Durant and was owned by the
Howard family after my great-grandfather died. It burned to
the ground around 1970. A local artist using photographs of
the house did a portrait in 1989.
Granny was baptized in June 1899 at
Durant’s First Baptist Church. She was 16 years old. Six
years later she was married in the same church. [Rev Matt
Brady e-Mail on 14 Aug ’06---Records of Durant First Baptist
Church]
Granny attended Blue Mountain Female
College in Blue Mountain, Mississippi, (Tippah County). She
was enrolled there in June 1900.1 She may have
graduated in 1901. She was fond of recalling how when she
went to college the students arrived on the train in the
fall and remained there until Christmas vacation. Then, on
returning after the Christmas break, they remained until the
school year was completed.
Around 1904 Eliza King met Charlie
Castleberry. He worked at the post office with Eliza’s older
brother, John. Charlie and Eliza were married at the First
Baptist Church in Durant on a Wednesday, the 25th of January
1905, the coldest January day my grandmother ever knew---so
she often said. In South Africa on this date the worlds
largest gem diamond, later named Cullinan (3106 carets), was
found. I doubt that this discovery was of much interest to
the newly weds. After the wedding and the customary
festivities the new bride and groom retired, each to their
respective domiciles. They could not yet afford a place of
their own, so Granny said.
Granny was a strict disciplinarian and
frugal to a degree that is scarcely conceivable today. She
would bleach the large cloth signs advertising Pennzoil
motor oil (which she got from Bick’s service station) and
make underwear for Tomberry (my brother) and me. Tomberry
laughingly told this story years later to a group of fellow
students in a dormitory room one cold winter night at
Mississippi Delta Community College adding that when he
would turn his underpants inside-out the picture of oil cans
could still be plainly seen!
Granny’s moral habits were Victorian. She
was an extremely domineering person and was fairly
intolerant of those whose morals did not conform to a
straight and honest pattern of living.
She always spoke of her ancestors in
glowing terms, especially her father, Tom King. She had a
tremendous amount of pride in her family heritage and
generally thought that the flat landed Mississippi Delta
where she lived the last 40 years of her life was a
backwater region of the state compared to her beloved Holmes
County in the Mississippi hill country.
I never heard her utter a profane word or
knew her to partake of any alcoholic beverages except once
when on the advice of the Moorhead physician, Dr. Lynch, she
drank a glass of beer nightly just before retiring to
increase her weight and provide a more restful sleep. This
she did for several months quitting when the desired results
did not occur. She had several odd remedies for her medical
problems. For example, she always slept with an old high
heel shoe pushed against her side at night to prevent "gas
pains." Many times I have seen her gag herself with her
fingers to force herself to throw-up to get relief when she
had an upset stomach. She often used a muster plaster on her
chest for exactly what ailment I don’t remember. She and
Bick always took a pinch of senna leaves at night before
retiring.
She always referred to her husband and my
grandfather (Bick) as "Mr. Castleberry", even when speaking
with him face to face.
She was a staunch member of the Moorhead
Baptist Church. The Women’s Missionary Union was her special
interest. She made a remark a few years before she died that
I have always thought curious in view of her many years of
devotion to church work. Some one brought up the subject of
the life hereafter. To this Granny remarked that "she had
done all that she could for the Lord and if that was not
enough she guessed she would just have to go the bad place".
Granny had a very keen intellect. She
loved to read and received many hours of pleasure playing
the card game solitaire. She was an expert seamstress. In my
early years most of my clothes were made by her. She had a
Singer sewing machine that was powered with a foot petal.
She took a lot of pride in the fact that she not only raised
three children of her own but two grandchildren (my brother,
Tomberry and me) as well. The two of us lived with Granny
and Bick from 1938 to 1946 (from the time she was 55 to 63
years old and I was 3 to 11 years old).
Granny died in her sleep in November 1959
after suffering for several years from Parkinson disease.
She is buried beside her husband in Durant, Mississippi, in
the Mizpah Cemetery.
Chapter 15 - James C. Castleberry of Yalobusha County,
Mississippi (1819 – 1885)
"The great use of a life is to spend it
for something that will outlast it."
----- William James
James C. Castleberry was a fifth
generation Castleberry, the same as my gg-grandfather, James
Castleberry, who came to Tishomingo County, Mississippi, in
1840 from DeKalb County, Georgia. I do not know if these two
James Castleberry’s were acquainted. They shared a common
ancestor several generations back in William Castleberry,
Sr. whose wife was Margaret Davis. Apparently James C.
Castleberry arrived in Monroe County, Mississippi, in the
1840s since he first appears in the Mississippi census in
1850.
James C. Castleberry was born in Warren
County, Georgia, on 18 November 1819 and died in Yalobusha
County, Mississippi, on 19 July 1885.1 His
parents were Solomon Castleberry and Rebecca Lovett
Castleberry. Solomon’s father was Paul Castleberry (his wife
was Susannah Beyer). Paul Castleberry was the son of William
Castleberry, Sr. whose wife was Margaret Davis. William
Castleberry, Sr. was the son of Henry Castleberry the
immigrant who arrived in America around 1683.
James C. Castleberry had a sister,
Mahala, who married John Jackson Jeffreys in Morgan County,
Alabama, on 28 September 1826. James also had a brother,
William, who married Eliza Lavinia Nix on 20 January 1847 in
Monroe County, Mississippi. William was a sergeant in the
Civil War and died in July 1862. His fellow soldiers buried
him beside the road between Grenada and Water Valley,
Mississippi. William was born in either Morgan or Walker
County, Alabama. He lived in Monroe and Calhoun Counties,
Mississippi.2
James first married Louisa Jane Johnson
on 14 October 1847. She apparently soon died for on 10
January 1850 he married Mary Maria Nolen. Sometime before
1860 he was married for the third time to Martha Seleta
Mattox. To this marriage was born around 1862 a daughter,
Mary Sarena. Martha died 12 January 1863 and around 1869
James Castleberry was married for the fourth and last time
to Sarah Marshall, a widower who was born in South Carolina
in 1829, with a daughter Virginia (1852 - ???) and a son,
Thomas (1854 - ??). In 1870 James and Sarah had a daughter
of their own named Jessica.3
James lived in Walker County, Alabama,
and sometime before 1850 he migrated to Mississippi. He is
listed in the 1850 Monroe County, Mississippi, Federal
census as a wagon maker and in the 1860, 1870 and 1880
Mississippi Federal census as a farmer. He was also somewhat
of a blacksmith according to stories handed down. He was a
Baptist minister and is listed as such on numerous Yalobusha
County marriage records from 1873 to 1883. According to Fox
and Stidham4 he was a school teacher and a cotton
ginner. He organized a country school near Water Valley,
Mississippi. One of the first, it was called the Castleberry
School for several years. James donated the land, built the
school and taught the classes. The land was still in the
family in 1972, belonging to his grandson, Roy Fly.5
In 1860 and 1870 he lived in Calhoun County, Mississippi,
before moving to Yalobusha County in the early 1870s. He
bought and sold numerous tracts of land in Yalobusha County
beginning in 1873 and continued to do so until around 1884.
In August 1877 he bought a section of land (640 acres) from
R. H. Johnson in Yalobusha County, Mississippi, located
three miles west of Water Valley on the Coldwater Road (now
State Hwy 32).
James Castleberry gave 160 acres of his
land to his oldest daughter, Sarena (also referred to as
Rena) when she married J. D. Gordon on 4 January 1883. They
lived in a white house trimmed in green. A long porch went
across the front of the house and the kitchen was separated
from the main house but connected by a covered porch. In the
summer when the weather was hot the family ate on this
porch.6
James Castleberry died on 19 July 1885
and he is buried in Shiloh Cemetery7 (presumably
the one near Water Valley in Yalobusha County).
His will was filed for probate on 31 July
1885 in Yalobusha County.8 In it he left
one-third of his estate to his wife, Sarah, and one-third
each to his daughters, Sarena Gordan, and Jessica
Castleberry. The executor of his will was his esteemed
friend, David B. Hervey.
Jessica married Lucius Rawles Fly (1861 -
1931) in Yalobusha County on 30 October 1889. They had a
son, Roy, who died in 1977. Jessica died in ??? and Rawles
later married Prudence E. Clowney.
Virginia (called Miss Jennie), James
Castleberry's stepdaughter, married Jonathan Carr Burns
(1849 - ???) in 1880. Jonathan's first wife, Lucy Jane Fly,
had died in childbirth in 1876. James Castleberry gave
Virginia and Jonathan 160 acres of his land. They had two
sons and two daughters. One daughter was born in Oxford,
Mississippi, in 1914. Her name was Kelby or "Kate". She
moved from Oxford to the Castleberry Farm near Water Valley
when she was not quite three years old. She married John
Stanley Tyler and today (1998) lives in Arlington, Virginia.
She is the author of "The Boy Across the River", a novel
about a journey from Virginia to Mississippi in the
nineteenth century. She, along with her two brothers, grew
up on the 160 acres of land in Yalobusha County given to her
father and mother by James Castleberry. She heard her father
speak of Mr. Castleberry hundreds of times when she was
growing up. Kate goes on to say more about James C.
Castleberry: "he loved trees and tried to have at least
one of each specie on his farm; he was a friend to the
Indians and, being a blacksmith, would take the metal part
off the butt of their guns and (for payment) would put their
gold in the hollow of the butt."
Chapter
16 - Castleberry’s in the Civil War
"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go
instead where there is no path and leave a trail."-----
Ralph Waldo Emerson
William Castleberry, my great
grandfather, enlisted in the Confederate Army in February
1863, when he was 32 years old. He was discharged in June
1865. He ended up in Company B of the 11th Alabama Cavalry
(sometimes also called Burtwell’s 10th Cavalry Regiment).
The 11th was with General
Forrest in the attack on Athens and Sulphur Trestle, and in
the fight at Pulaski, losing very severely in casualties on
the expedition. The regiment rendered effective service to
General Hood. It was also part of General Roddey’s force at
Montevallo, and was in front of Wilson’s column to Selma. At
the assault there the 11th was in the trenches
and nearly all its men retired there from, as the part of
the line held by them was not attacked.
The 11th was reorganized in June 1864 by
consolidating Forrest’s Alabama Cavalry Regiment, Warren’s
and Williams’s Cavalry Battalions, and newly recruited
companies. In early 1865 the 11th was assigned to the
District of North Alabama, and to Forrest’s Cavalry Corps
(Roddey’s Brigade).1 The regimental officers were
Colonel John R. B. Burtwell, Captain John F. Doan and Major
Melville W. Sale. William Castleberry rose through the ranks
to become a sergeant.
Why did William wait until 1863 to
enlist? Although I have found no record he may have served
earlier than 1863 and been captured and paroled. Another
possible reason for his late enlistment was his romance and
marriage in 1862 to Anna R. Coleman.
He was captured near Huntsville, Alabama,
on 23 December 1864, by forces under the command of Maj.
General Thomas, Department of the Cumberland. In Charles
Rice’s paperback book "Hard Times" about the Civil War in
North Alabama there is a brief account of a skirmish near
Huntsville on Indian Creek on 23 December 1864, where 48
Confederates were captured.2 Most likely William
Castleberry was one of the captured 48. Charles Rice says,
quoting Mrs. W.D. Chadick’s diary, "the wounded men were
badly cut up with saber cuts, as it was a hand-to-hand
fight, and the enemy says the young Rebels fought bravely".
3
More complete details of this 1864
skirmish were given by two Union Cavalry Officers from east
Tennessee, Lt. John W. Andes and Major Will A. McTeer, in
their reminiscences of the war4 written some 15
years later. Lt. Andes’ account is as follows:
On the 23rd day of December 1864, at
Huntsville, AL, about 10 o’clock at night some colored
people came into camp and informed Col Prosser that there
was a force of Confederate cavalry at Indian Creek, seven
miles away. [Authors Note: The Confederate camp was west
of Huntsville at the intersection of Madison Pike and Indian
Creek which now (1999) is in the Huntsville city limits.
This particular spot is probably not much changed from the
way it was in 1864 except of course Madison Pike is now
paved and there is a bridge across Indian Creek.] It was
also understood that they intended to attack us the next
morning. The colonel had his sergeant major to go around and
notify each company commander to have his command in
readiness to move at precisely 3 o’clock the next morning.
The night was a very cold one, but the orders given were
faithfully executed. The ground was frozen hard, and the
roads were rough, but daylight found us at Indian Creek.
The enemy’s pickets were found posted on
a high hill, overlooking the country all around. As we
struck the vedettes we charged upon them, and by the time
they reached their camps we were there also, and found a
regiment about 390 strong, our strength at the time being
exactly 200 men. We found most of them in line of battle,
but some were not yet mounted, while the officers were doing
all in their power to rally their men. Their force was on
the opposite side of the creek from ours, and the creek was
very boggy. The only chance to ford was at the ford, and it
was pretty well frozen over. On we pushed, across the creek
the Confederates attempted to charge us, but some went one
way and some another. We pursued them for miles, using out
sabers, carbines, and pistols with great effect. The only
man hurt on our side was Lt. A.S. Prosser (Co H), who was
wounded in the foot.
James A. Smiddy, of Company K, dashed up
to a large man weighing 200 pounds, perhaps, mounted on a
large horse. Smiddy was only a lad of seventeen years and
mounted on a small horse. He ordered the large man to
surrender, who turned around and, surveying his youthful
adversary, commenced to draw down his gun, replying, "d--n
you, I will see you in h---l first". Smiddy was quick enough
for him, however, and, leveling a seven-shooter which he
held in his hand, shot the man through the head. The large
man appeared to leap two feet from his saddle and fell to
the ground a dead man. When he fell to the ground he
straightened himself upon his back and, after one or two
struggles, was gone, and the fighting column passed on
without giving him any attention.
I witnessed during the day quite a number
of similar cases. We followed the retreating Confederates to
Mooresville, [about 15 miles west of Indian Creek]
and then returned to Huntsville. The loss to the
Confederates was fifty prisoners, fifteen killed, and
fifteen mortally wounded. Of the prisoners taken to
Huntsville, most of them had been wounded. The citizens of
Mooresville told us that about one hundred wounded men had
come in there.
Quite a number of those taken back to
Huntsville, were private citizens who resided there but who
had gone out with the Confederates to induce them to attack
us there. The troops were cursing the citizens for getting
them into trouble and then running when the heat came. When
we returned there was great excitement among the citizens
whose friends had been engaged in the fight. The news spread
to every part of the city, and on every street women and
children could be seen coming to see if any of their
husbands had been killed or captured. Our prisoners were
marched to the public square, where a guard was placed over
them, and in a short time hundreds of women and children had
gathered at the scene. Wives were recognizing bleeding
husbands, and the sight was anything but pleasant. Their
tears and cries furnished a sad picture of real war. Wives
were interceding for husbands, and mothers for sons. In some
cases their intercessions resulted in the release of their
friends, and in others they failed, owing to facts and
circumstances.
The Tennessee Union soldiers felt that
the Southern people looked upon them with something akin to
contempt, and it was no wonder they fought with desperation.
Some of the women in Huntsville would stand on the street
and say all manner of hard things of us in our presence,
knowing that we would not resent it, coming from their sex.
Union Major McTeer’s account of the same
incident is as follows:
While at Huntsville, we were threatened
constantly. A brigade of Rebel cavalry was in the vicinity
and frequently made feints at our pickets. On the morning of
December 23, 1864, our command was aroused long before day,
a hasty breakfast eaten, and the horses fed and groomed.
Then, mounting, we started on the Decatur road. The Tenth
Indiana Cavalry was in advance, and Captain Mitchell, a
dashing and brave young officer, was in command of the
advance guard. Lieut. A.S. Prosser went forward with Capt.
Mitchell. We had not proceeded far when the advance struck
the Confederate vedettes. The skirmishing was kept up warm
and pressed rapidly back, growing stronger at each
successive post, until a hot skirmish followed one after
another. The main column was kept moving at a trot until
about the time day was fairly opened, when the Rebels made
such a stand that it was evident they were in force. The
morning was excessively cold and piercing, while the roads
were frozen hard. Moving at a fast trot, Col. Prossser
turned to George House, the bugler, and in his keen, shrill
voice, commanded, "Blow the charge, George!" At the same
time, he put spurs to his horse and started forward. The
bugle did not sound, so the Colonel turned upon his horse
and, with an oath, asked, "Why don’t you blow the charge,
George?" House had the bugle to his lips, and replied from
the side of his mouth, "I will, Colonel, as soon as the
bugle thaws!" The mouthpiece was actually frozen to his
lips! At length the charge was blown; the Second Cavalry was
in the rear; they heard the bugle and knew it. They answered
with a yell and started forward past the other commands. We
came to the ford at Indian Creek, which was a narrow passage
and would admit only a column of fours to pass at a time.
The brave Mitchell and A.S. Prosser dashed over the stream
with their advance. For some distance in front there was a
level plateau, which was half circled by a ridge. On this
ridge the Rebel command, some eight hundred strong, took
their position, dismounted and armed with long guns. It was
a strong place. Our only chance was to make quick work of
it. We did not have exceeding two hundred effective men and
had to attack their own chosen position. The Indianans had
never been fully armed---but [a] few of them had sabers.
Major Williamson, who was in command of the Tenth Indiana
Cavalry, was a brave man and a good soldier, but he had been
an officer in the infantry during the war, up to the time
this new regiment was raised, so, crossing the creek, he
attempted to form his men in line of battle and stand or
advance in order. This would have been suicidal. The
Tennesseeans had had more experience, so on they came,
screaming and yelling, with drawn sabers, and as they passed
the Colonel, almost every man cried out: "Let the Second at
them!" At them they went, too. The Indianans caught the
spirit, and on they went, clubbing their carbines and using
them for sabers. There was not exceeding one hundred shots
fired on our side. On went the charge. The Rebels at first
kept their line and were stubborn. Our forces rushed up on
them with sabers and their line was compelled to give way,
and when once broken they became badly demoralized. The
strokes with sabers and clubbed carbines went on at a rapid
rate for a time. The Rebels retreated in disorder, then
followed an exciting chase for several miles. They were
crowded and pressing on, trying to get away, yet they kept
their colors up. Lieut. John C. Hale, Lieut. John W. Andes,
and a few others attempted to capture it, and at one time
Lieut. Hale got hold of it, but his horse’s feet, chancing
to strike in a mud hole, threw him forward off his balance;
the bearer took advantage of it and wrenched the staff from
Hale’s hands and succeeded in getting away with it. A fine
horse of Lieut. Frank Lythe’s was shot, which dismounted him
and made him so angry that he went to using his saber on
foot. Lieut. A.S. Prosser, at the first part of the charge,
selected him a large, fat Rebel and undertook to saber him.
The latter was dismounted, and, seeing Prosser making at
him, resisted the attack with a pistol, giving the
Lieutenant a painful wound in the foot. It was not enough to
stop the fighting Lieutenant. He continued in the saddle
and, using his weapon for some time, he became so sick he
was compelled to stop.
This was a sweeping charge and a grand
victory. We lost one man killed and Lieut. Prosser wounded,
while several horses were shot. Their dead was here and
there over the ground and along the road for some distance.
We captured fifty-four prisoners, and they were the
bloodiest men I ever saw. Only three of them were unhurt.
They seemed to think a saber would not hurt a man and would
not surrender until they had received a blow.
Capt. Mitchell broke or lost his saber
and, discharging the loads from his pistol, went on in the
chase using the pistol instead of a saber and broke it in
two. He put the pieces in his pocket, capturing another, and
broke it. So, when he came out of the fight he had a large
pocket in his overcoat filled with pieces of pistols.
Capt. T.E. Wallace, the left-handed
pistol marksman, brought three of the enemy to the ground.
It appeared that he could not point his pistol toward a man
without killing him. The Rebels occasionally took to
themselves an immense amount of dignity(?) They assumed that
it was dishonorable to surrender to one of an inferior rank
to themselves. There was a youth in the Second Tennessee
Cavalry, James Smiddy by name. He came up with a large man
who was a Confederate Captain; seeing that Smiddy was a
Private and of youthful appearances, [he] refused to
surrender, and attempted to get rid of Smiddy by fight.
Smiddy was the wrong man for that. Quick as thought, he drew
his pistol and shot the Captain, killing him almost
instantly.
After the fight was over, Colonel Prosser
and the writer were riding back over the grounds, examining
the situation and gathering the scattered forces together.
Coming near the ground on which the charge began, a raw
soldier of the Indiana command came riding toward us and
said he had a prisoner up there, that he was hurt, and he
wanted us to tell him whether to take him in. We followed
him. Presently coming up to a double log cabin, which was
situated at the end of where their line had been on making
their stand; on their extreme left, an old woman came
running out and, meeting us, exclaimed: "Oh! Colonel!
Colonel! I do wish you would kill them; see, they came here
and camped, burned all my rails, and left everything exposed
to stock." By this time we could hear deep groans coming
from the house. The Colonel replied with bitterness: "D____d
you, don’t come to me talking about rails when that man is
dying in your house! Go and attend to him." He then directed
me to follow our Indiana man and see his prisoner. He
conducted me to the rugged house, and there was a
Confederate soldier, prostrate on the floor with both thighs
broken by a mini ball. He was struggling in pain, while
death was clearly close at hand. We directed the old lady to
wait on him, and left him there. He died the next morning,
as we afterwards learned.
Colonel Prosser was very highly
complimented on this charge. General Granger declared that
he ought to be made a Brigadier General as a reward for it,
and the command thought so, too.
The command rested the balance of the day
and that night preparatory to further operations.
On the 24th of December, 1864, we moved
out from Huntsville, on the Decatur road, stopping for the
night on part of the ground over which we had fought in the
morning before, near Indian Creek ford.
Author’s Note: Imagine my amazement when
I learned that my great grandfather (William Castleberry)
was captured in Huntsville in 1864 where I have lived for
the past 40 years! The actual skirmish that led to his
capture is only a few miles from the Marshall Space Flight
Center where I worked all those years! In fact Indian Creek
flows along the western part of the Marshall Space Flight
Center property on its way to the Tennessee River.
So, on Christmas Day 1864 William found
himself a prisoner of war in Huntsville, but very fortunate
to be alive. He was probably held in the Memphis and
Charleston train depot (still standing) since it was used
during the war as a temporary holding place for captured
Confederate prisoners. His military record shows that he was
first sent to a military prison in Louisville, Kentucky, and
then in March 1865 to Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio. He was
paroled at Camp Chase on 13 June 1865 after taking an oath
of allegiance to the United States.
According to information in William’s
1865 military service record he had blue eyes, dark hair,
fair complexion, and was 5 feet, 9 and 3/4 inches tall. When
he was paroled on 13 June 1865 his age was listed as 35.
William died at the age of 52 in July
1882. His widow, Annie R. Castleberry, filed Civil War
pension applications in September 1900, 15 August 1912, 9
August 1916, and finally on 3 June 1923.
Winchester D. Castleberry enlisted at
Iuka, Mississippi, on 6 Apr 1861 when he was 23 years old as
a private in Captain J. M. Stone’s Company K (Iuka Rifles),
2nd Regiment, Mississippi Volunteers, Mott's Brigade. NOTE:
Mott’s name is in Winchester’s service record but it does
not appear in the Compendium of the Confederate Armies for
Mississippi.5 The 2nd Regiment’s original
commander was Colonel William C. Falkner. Later Colonel John
M. Stone became the regimental commander and was in command
at the end of the war.
The 2nd was organized in Corinth,
Mississippi, on 3 May 1861 and reorganized on 16 April 1862.6
It surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on 9
April 1865. It was involved in most of the major battles in
and near northern Virginia including 1st Bull Run (21 July
1861), 2nd Bull Run (28 - 30 Aug 1862), Antietam (17 Sept
1862), Gettysburg 1 -3 July 1863), The Wilderness (5 - 6 May
1864), Cold Harbor (1 - 3 June 1864), the Petersburg Siege
(June 1864 - April 1865), and finally Appomattox Court House
(9 April 1865).7 The 2nd was initially a part of
Bee’s Brigade, then Bee’s-Whiting’s Brigade (2nd Corps),
then Whiting’s Brigade (2nd Corps), and later
Whiting’s-Law’s Brigade (1st Corps), and finally Davis’
Brigade (3rd Corps).8 Winchester was wounded (and
died two weeks later) on 1 October 1864 near Petersburg,
Virginia. During that time period the 2nd Mississippi
Regiment was a part of Davis’ Brigade, Heth’s Division, 3rd
Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.9
Winchester was enlisted in Iuka,
Mississippi, by W. M. Inge for 12 months on 6 April 1861. By
10 May 1861 he was at Lynchburg, Virginia. The Regiment
traveled by train from Corinth, Mississippi, to Lynchburg,
Virginia, according to John Buchanan’s Diary10
and from there by train to Strasbury, Virginia, via
Charlottesville and Manassas. They then marched 18 miles to
Winchester, Virginia, and boarded a train to Harpers Ferry.
Harpers Ferry was soon abandoned and by 4 July 1861 the 2nd
Mississippi, which was now a part of General Benard Bee’s
3rd Brigade, was in Darksville, Virginia, awaiting an attack
by General Patterson of the Union Army which never came
about.11 Buchanan’s Diary (page 5) goes on to say
that "an Inspector General’s report stated that the 2nd was
badly clothed and very careless in its appointments. The
officers are entirely without military knowledge of any
description, and the men have a slovenly and unsolder-like
appearance".
Later that year Winchester was issued one
pair of shoes that cost him $2.80. He was appointed a 2nd
sergeant on 1 Feb 1862 and a 1st sergeant on 11 June 1862.
According to the muster roll for Jun/Jul and for Sept/Oct
1862 he was absent because he was wounded. He was admitted
to the Culpepper, Virginia, Confederate Hospital on 29 Sept
1862 complaining of V. Sclopeticum (? Latin for gunshot
wound, maybe), apparently a back problem or wound to the
back. He was present for roll call on Nov/Dec 1862. The
records show that by Mar/Apr 1863 he has been promoted to
2nd Lieutenant and was still in company K. The captain of
the company was H. C. Terry. On the May/Jun 1863 muster roll
his company is given as company E. His regimental commander
was Colonel John M. Stone from Tishomingo County who was
later governor of Mississippi and president of Mississippi
State University. Winchester was most likely in the battle
of Gettysburg on July 3 since his regiment sustained major
losses (about 80 percent killed, wounded and captured
according to Michael Brasher’s not yet published history of
the 2nd Mississippi Regiment). On 3 November 1863 2nd Lt.
Castleberry was ordered to go to Mississippi and round-up
and arrest deserters and conscripts from the Confederate
Army in the vicinity of Iuka, Mississippi. Apparently there
was some confusion about the length of time this was to take
since he was reported absent without cause in the fall and
winter of 1863. To avoid discharge from the Army several
letters were written justifying his long absence. One was
written by Colonel John M. Stone on 30 April 1864 saying
that 2nd Lt. Castleberry "returned as soon as ordered to do
so and is a good officer and a gallant solder and his place
cannot be supplied with as good a man". He does not appear
on the muster role until Mar/Apr 1864 returning 23 Apr 1864
according to the records.
So, Winchester returned in late April
1864. A number of major battles involving his Regiment took
place in the next several months in which he most likely
participated. They were: The Wilderness ( May 5 - 6),
Spotsylvania Court House (May 8 - 21), North Anna (May 23 -
26), Cold Harbor (June 1 - 3), Weldon Railroad (August 18 -
21), and the Petersburg Siege (June 1864 - April 1865).12
He obviously participated in the
Petersburg Siege since the Sept/Oct 1864 muster roll reports
that 2nd Lt. Winchester Castleberry died 14 October 1864 in
General Hospital No. 4 in Richmond, Virginia, from wounds
(Vuluus ? Sclopeticum -- Latin for gunshot wound) received 1
October in a battle near Petersburg, Virginia, after being
admitted to the hospital on 2 October.13,14 I do
not know where he is buried.
Charles C. Castleberry enlisted "about May 1862" according to his Civil War pension
application which he filed on 9 Sept 1907 when he was 64
years old and living in Iuka, Mississippi. He also states in
his application that his company commander was Captain John
F. Doan and that he was in Philip Dale Roddey’s 4th Alabama
Cavalry, Company I. Charles’ rank is given as sergeant in
his 1863 military service record.
Philip Dale Roddey was from Moulton,
Alabama. His regiment was officially organized at Tuscumbia,
Alabama, in October 1862. The regiment spent the winter of
1862 in middle Tennessee. In the spring of 1863 it moved to
North Alabama where it took an active part in raiding and
attacking the Union forces. It also took an active part in
contesting Streight’s Raid and fought with General Forrest
in the victory of Brice’s Crossroads and at Harrisburg
(Tupelo), Mississippi. The 4th regiment also fought with
General Forrest at Athens, Alabama, and at Pulaski,
Tennessee.
Charles was captured by Federal forces
and paroled on 26 Jan 1863 at Alton, Illinois, by the post
commander, J. Hilderbrand, after taking an oath of
allegiance to the Federal government and swearing not to
take up arms again during the rebellion.
According to Charles’ military service
record he enlisted (or reenlisted) in February 1863 in
Company B of the Alabama 11th Cavalry (also called
Burtwell’s 10th Regiment). The enlistment officer was the
same Captain John F. Doan from Roddey’s 4th Alabama Cavalry.
Charles was the 1st Sergeant of Company B.
The 11th Alabama Cavalry was part of
Roddey’s command. Charles’ brothers William, Thomas, and
probably Rufus, were also in Company B enlisting at about
the same time. Also, his first cousins, J.J. Akers and
Thomas Akers, and William R. Coleman and Daniel E. Coleman
were members of Company B. In fact, J.J. Akers was the
company commander!
In his pension application Charles states
that he surrendered at Pond Springs, Alabama, (General Joe
Wheeler’s home on U. S. Hwy 72 near Town Creek) at the end
of the war.
Two confusing and contradictory accounts
are that he served under Colonel W.A. Johnson and
surrendered with General Forest at Gainesville, Alabama15
and an enumeration in 1908 that says that Charles C.
Castleberry was in Company K of the 4th Mississippi
Regiment.16
Charles died in 1909.
Thomas C. Castleberry was in Company
A of Roddey’s 4th Cavalry Regiment. His service record does
not give an enlistment date. It does say that he was
captured by Captain Harrison on 15 Feb 1863 at Big Springs,
Mississippi, (apparently in Tishomingo County) and shipped
off to Gratiot Street Military Prison in St. Louis and,
after only a few days, from there to the civil war prison in
Alton, Illinois. In early April 1863 he was paroled and sent
to City Point, Virginia, for exchange. He was soon back in
the Confederate Army, reenlisting in July 1863, this time in
Company B of the 11th Alabama Cavalry Regiment. He began as
a private but was later promoted. Thomas died around 1890.
James Castleberry, Jr. was in the 22
Mississippi Infantry.17 He was born in 1817 and
died around 1895.
Rufus Castleberry was in the 11th
Alabama Cavalry.18 Rufus was born in 1832 and
died in 1906. He is buried in Iuka, Mississippi.
J. J. Akers (this is probably Jackson
J. Akers although it could be his son John Jefferson Akers)
enlisted in Company B of the 11th Alabama Cavalry Regiment.
Colonel John R. Burtwell from Lauderdale, Alabama, and Lt.
Colonel John Doan from Mississippi were the regimental
commanders. J. J. Akers enlisted on 1 February 1863 at
Tishomingo, Mississippi, for a period of three years
according to his service record. The 11th Alabama
Cavalry spent a large amount of time during the war in North
Alabama and for some engagements was a part of the cavalry
corps commanded by the famous General Nathan Bedford
Forrest. J.J. Akers was a 1st Lieutenant and by August 1864
was the commander of Company B according to a service record
found in his brother’s (Thomas Akers) file. Other family
members in this company at one time or another were: Thomas
Akers, William Castleberry (my great-grandfather), Charles
C. Castleberry, Thomas C. Castleberry, and probably Rufus
Castleberry.
Chapter 17 - Ancestors of
Elizabeth Carroll
"Trust your hunches . . . Hunches are
usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious
level."----- Dr. Joyce Brothers
Around 1816 in Jackson County, Georgia,
Elizabeth Carroll married James Castleberry. The following
Carroll’s are her paternal ancestors starting with her most
distant American ancestor (John Carroll – born 1699, died
1784) and ending with her father (James Carroll – born 1768,
died 1813). Elizabeth Carroll was my gg-grandmother.
The Carroll’s were Scotch-Irish
Presbyterians who left Scotland around 1690 and settled in
Northern Ireland (Ulster). From there in 1732 they emigrated to America (probably to Chester County,
Pennsylvania). Around 1755 some of them moved south from
Pennsylvania to York District, South Carolina. Still later
they migrated (around 1800) to Jackson County, Georgia, and
finally in 1840 one of them (Elizabeth Carroll) moved with
her family (James Castleberry was her husband) to Tishomingo
County, Mississippi, where she died in 1879. Elizabeth
Carroll is buried beside her husband in Mt. Evergreen
Cemetery near Iuka, Mississippi, in Tishomingo County.
Most of the following material has been
taken from the Carroll family research of Dr. Henry B.
Brackin, Jr. of Nashville, Tennessee.1 I have
adopted the identification scheme used by Dr. Brackin. For
example on the following page, for John Carroll, (23-1) is
his identification number in the material researched and
written by Dr. Brackin.
Chapter
18 - John Carroll (1664 – 1735)
The Carroll’s were Presbyterians and
Scotch-Irish. Like many other Scotch-Irish they left Ulster
(northern Ireland) during the eighteenth century mainly for
economic reasons (repressive trade laws imposed on them by
the English and unfair and large increases in the land
rents). Political and religious considerations also played a
part.1 Bad crops caused much famine leading to
even more emigrants leaving for America (mostly to
Pennsylvania) during the eighteenth century.
John Carroll (23-1) was born in Scotland
(probably) and he fought in 1689 at the Battle of River
Boyne for William of Orange against King James II. He
received three square miles of land in America for his
service. This land he passed to Joseph, the eldest of his
three sons. John probably came to America (Chester County,
Pennsylvania) in 1732 where he died not long afterwards. His
sons were: Joseph, Samuel, and James. Thomas was maybe
another son. Thomas Carroll had a deed recorded in Chester
County, Pennsylvania, in 1733.2
Chapter
19 - Joseph Carroll (1699 – 1784)
"You have to live the life you were born
to live"-----Mother Superior to Julie Andrews in the movie,
"The Sound of Music," 1965
Joseph Carroll (23-2)1 was the
son of John Carroll (23-1) above. Joseph2 was
born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1699 and died in York
District, South Carolina, in 1784 (between January and
March). He married Jennet (or Jane) Swance probably in
Ireland in ??????. She was born in ?????? and
died before May 1796. Joseph was the eldest son (of John
Carroll) according to Thomas M. Carroll in his 1879 book, The History of the Carroll Family.
Joseph Carroll came to America in 1728
and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania. In 1748, 1753,
and 1754 he was in West Nantmeal Township of Chester County,
Pennsylvania (West Nantmeal Township is in the northwest
corner of Chester County and near the intersection of
Chester, Berks, and Lancaster counties). By 1755 he had
moved to Carolina according to the records of the Brandywine
Manor Presbyterian Church in Chester County.3
According to Thomas M. Carroll’s book, in
1751 Joseph took the land grant in York District, South
Carolina, given to his father John by the King of England
for military services rendered by John Carroll.
In 1753 Gov. Glenn of South Carolina
obtained land in the Catawba River Valley through a treaty
with the Indians. Even so, much of the land in York County,
South Carolina was still Indian land.
Brackin says that Joseph Carroll and his
family were among the earliest Scotch-Irish settlers to
arrive in the York District, South Carolina (they were
probably there by 1755). They came seeking fertile soil and
religious freedom. From Pennsylvania they traveled down the
"Great Road", which followed the Shenandoah Valley, crossed
the Blue Ridge Mountains through a gap at Roanoke, Virginia,
then traveled south to Salisbury, North Carolina, where they
followed the ancient "Catawba Trading Path" to the "Garden
of the Waxhaws" as the Catawba River Valley was called. By
1757 more than 300 people lived on Rocky and Fishing Creeks.
Those in the first wave used packhorses, not wagons. They
would leave in the fall after the crops were gathered and
travel south during the winter (it took about 20 weeks)
arriving in the spring in time to plant a new crop in fresh
soil.
John H. Logan4 in his history
of the upper South Carolina country has this to say about
the Carroll family:---
The Carrolls settled first on Allison’s
Creek. There were three brothers who took a part in the
Revolution ,--Thomas, John and Joseph. Old Joseph Carroll
was the father. They came from Pennsylvania. John and Thomas
C. afterwards lived near Ebenezer. There were three families
connected who came the same time form Pennsylvania, and
settled on Fishing and Allison’s Creek, York Dist.,--they
were the Hatchfords [probably Ratchfords], Carrolls and
Hendersons. They were all true Whigs, and staunch
Presbyterians; it is said that these families contributed 16
strong men to the cause of Liberty, all of whom saw active
service, and came off without a scratch, except John
Hatchford, who was shot at Hanging Rock. He was however,
fortunate enough to recover.5
So far no records have been found for the
land passed to Joseph Carroll by his father, John (the land
in America granted to John Carroll for services rendered to
the King of England). In 1754 Joseph purchased 354 acres of
land from Samuel Young in the County of Anson, North
Carolina, on the south side or the Catawba River and on the
north side of Crowder Creek below John Little’s survey.
Also, in 1755 Joseph purchased 478 acres from James
Armstrong and Samuel Young on the Little Catawba Creek.
These are probably the tracks that were willed to Joseph’s
son Thomas in the first will of 1777. Today this land is
probably in Gaston County, North Carolina. Later Joseph
bought 600 acres of land on Allison Creek of the Catawba
River (1763 deed in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina) and
354 acres on Crowder Creek (1763 deed in Mecklenburg County,
North Carolina). In his first will in 1777 Joseph was living
on Allison Creek, probably near present day Bethany, South
Carolina, in York County. In his second will in 1784 Joseph
was living in the Camden District of York County.
The children of Joseph and Jennet Carroll were:
Mary (23-5) who was born ca 1728 and died ????. She
married William Ratchford (ca 1724 – 13 November 1804)
before 1753, apparently in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Elizabeth (23-7) was born ca 1732 and died before
1784. She married Nathaniel Henderson (ca 1729 – 20 February
1794).
John (H?) (23-6) was born ca 1732 and died before
1784. He married Mary Kuykendall. More about John (H?) in
Chapter 20.
Thomas (23-8) was born in 1736 in Chester County,
Pennsylvania, and died in 1829 in York County, South
Carolina. He married Esther Armstrong. He along with his
brothers, John, Joseph, and Samuel, were in the
Revolutionary War.
Jane (23-9) was born around 1740 and died in 1832.
She married John M. Gallagher.
Ann (23-10) was born around 1743 and died ????. She
married James Alexander.
Joseph (23-11) was born in 1746 and died in 1803. He
married Martha Swansey (1752 - 1849). He was a quartermaster
sergeant in the Revolutionary War.
Samuel (23-12) was born around 1748 and died in 1783.
He married Margaret Leslie. Samuel was a Revolutionary War
soldier.
Hannah (23-13) was born around 1750 and died in 1801.
She married Richard Venable.
Chapter
20 - John (H?) Carroll (ca 1732 – ca 1781)
"When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you
are slamming the door in the face of God"---- Charles L.
Allen
John (H?) Carroll (23-6) was the son of
Joseph Carroll (23-2) above. John was born around 1732 and
died before 1784.1 In 1753 he was listed in the
tax records of West Nantmeal Township in Chester County,
Pennsylvania, as a freeman (unmarried and over 21).2
John Carroll married Mary Kuykendall in
1767 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. She was the
daughter of James Kuykendall and Sarah Coburn. John and Mary
Carroll lived on Fishing Creek (between the Main Fork and
Stoney Fork) which is now in York County, South Carolina,
but was in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 1767. Some
of the land on Fishing Creek John’s wife, Mary, inherited
from her father, James Kuykendall, when he died around 1765.
In 1769 John became the guardian of his
orphaned brother-in-law, Jonathan Kuykendall. In the July
1769 Tyron County, North Carolina Court of Pleas papers John
is referred to as John Jr. (an uncle was probably John Sr.).
John was in the Revolutionary War and
fought bravely throughout the War---according to one report:
he was in a variety of engagements and always acquitted
himself as a brave and daring soldier. His most epic
achievement seems to have been the slaying of the monster
Huck on 12 July 1780.
The monster Huck was Captain Christian
Huck, formerly a prominent lawyer in Philadelphia and during
the Revolutionary War a British loyalist (Tory) fighting for
the Crown. He had an intense hatred for the Scotch-Irish
Presbyterians (like the Carroll’s) and in the South Carolina
backcountry he found a great opportunity for carrying out
his kind of war. The brief battle that resulted in Captain
Huck’s death and defeat occurred on 12 July 1780 in York
County, South Carolina.3
Draper4 says this about the
defeat of Captain Huck:
[the] Americans hitched their
horses half a mile off, surprising Huck & [his]
party. Huck in his shirt & drawers, mounted his
horse & road around trying to rally his men [to]
make a stand -- but they fled. John Carroll (brother
of Thos. & Joe Carroll – Thomas C. [was] informants
grandfather) had two balls in his gun, shot Huck in
the back of his neck, where the balls were found as
Carroll said -- & in his death struggle holding to
his saddle, he fell off carrying the saddle &
holster with him.
John H. Logan says in his book5
that -- John Carroll killed Huck from a clump of plum
trees.
Draper6 says: John Carroll
was the one who killed Capt. Huck, who had mounted his
horse, close at hand, while the other British Tories’ horses
were hitched some little distance off. Carroll said, "If you
find two rifle balls passed into his face close together,
then I killed him, for I loaded with two balls." Two such
ball holes were found in subsequent years. Dr. Simpson took
up Huck’s skeleton and preserved it and there were two ball
holes in it and the skeleton was taken first to Alabama and
then subsequently to California.
Huck’s defeat, where about 500 Whigs
defeated 150 British soldiers and Tories on 12 July 1780,
led to a turn around in the fortunes of the Americans in
this part of South Carolina (the up-country or back-country
as it was then called). Charleston had fallen to the British
earlier in May 1780. The victory against Huck and his forces
boosted American morale and led to successful engagements
for them at other near-by places like Hanging Rock, King’s
Mountain, Cowpens, and Eutaw Springs.7
Draper says:
John Carroll shot Capt Huck and near the
close of the [Rev] War went into a cabin to light his pipe,
when a concealed Tory within shot and killed him as he
entered the cabin–left wife and three children who early
went to Georgia. A grandson John Carroll, was not long since
residing 3 miles from Village Springs, Blount County,
Alabama (about 20 miles northeast of downtown Birmingham
on Hwy 75 and on the county line between Jefferson and
Blount Counties).
Many land deeds involving the relatives
and heirs of John Carroll were written between 1793 and 1825
in York County, South Carolina. Most of these transactions
involved land on Fishing Creek. One tract in 1793 was
described as the South side of the North Fork of Fishing
Creek and another in 1800 says land was on South side of the
Main Branch of Fishing Creek.
John Carroll’s widow, Mary (Kuykenhall)
Carroll, moved to Jackson County, Georgia, probably around
1806 where she died in 1808 (according to internet sources).
John Carroll and Mary Kuykenhall had the
following children:
1. James Carroll (23-14) (1768
- 1813). More about him in Chapter 21.
2. Jane Carroll (23-16) (ca
1770 - ????)
3. Thomas Carroll (23-17) (ca
1775 - 1840). Thomas seems to be in the 1790 and 1800 census
living with his mother, Mary Kuykenhall Carroll. The Thomas
Carroll in the 1820 census for Gwinnett County, Georgia, is
probably this Thomas. Also listed on the same page are
William Nesbit (Chapter 23), the stepson of James Carroll
(23-17), and Thomas Castleberry (probably the father of
James Castleberry who married Elizabeth Carroll around
1816). James Castleberry was also listed in the 1820
Gwinnett County census.
Thomas married Delila (or Dilla Y.)
probably after 1800. She died before him.
In 1809 Thomas (along with brother,
James) is on a tax list in Wilkinson County, Georgia, and in
1820 he was probably the Thomas Carroll in the Gwinnett
County, Georgia, census. In 1824 he was on the Fayette
County, Georgia, tax list with a total of 1950.5 acres of
Georgia land located in Fayette, Coweta, Wilkinson, and
DeKalb Counties. He was still on the Fayette County tax list
in 1825, 1830 and 1840. And in 1840 he left a will in
Fayette County, Georgia.
According to Thomas Carroll’s will (11
November 1840) their ten children were: Polly, Sally, John,
Malinda, James, Thomas, Elizabeth, Marcus Lafayette, Francis
Marion, and Emily Jane.
For more info see:
http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=327485088
Chapter 21 – James Carroll (1768 - 1813)
"Why should you be content with so little? Why shouldn't
you reach out for something big?"--- Charles L. Allen
James Carroll (23-14), the father of
Elizabeth Carroll (23-20), was born in York District, South
Carolina, around 1768 and he died in Jackson County,
Georgia, in 1813 (his will was written 9 March 1813 and
probated on 6 July 1813). I do not know where he is buried.
He married Sarah Miller Nesbit in 1795(?). She was the widow
of Joseph Nesbit who died around 1789.
James Carroll was still in York District,
South Carolina in 1793 and in 1800. However, by October 1802
he had moved to Jackson County, Georgia. His mother, Mary
Kuykendall, apparently moved to Jackson County around 1806
since in 1808 James was given power of attorney status to
carry out some business for her in York County, South
Carolina (she sold 77 acres on Fishing Creek to her brother,
Samuel Kuykendall, in 1806). In 1808 both James and his
mother (if indeed this Mary is his mother) were residing in
Jackson County. According to his will he owned land in
Wilkerson County, Georgia, (with Thomas Carroll), and in
York County, South Carolina, but strangely enough none in
Jackson County, Georgia.1 According to his will
James Carroll had five children (names not given – other
sources relied on) living in 1813:
1. Daughter (23-18) maybe born ca
1796 and died before 1813. According to the 1800 census
James had three daughters, this "unknown" daughter, Mary,
and Elizabeth. Rachel MAY not have been included
since she may have been born after the 1800 census. If
Rachel was born before the 1800 census then this first
daughter goes away.
2. Mary (Polly) (23-19) was born ca
1797 and died in 1860. She is buried in the Nancy Creek
Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery beside her mother Sarah
Miller Carroll. She married John Blake (brother of Rhoda
Blake who married Thomas Carroll) in ????. John Blake was
born 1 January 1798 and died 14 June 1854. He also is buried
in the Nancy Creek Cemetery. In John Blake’s 1854 will he
left part of his estate (after the death of his wife) to
James Castleberry, his brother-in-law, who was residing in
Tishomingo County, Mississippi. He also mentions numerous
other relatives.
3. Elizabeth (23-20) was born in 1800
and died in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, in 1879. She
married James Castleberry around 1816 and moved to
Mississippi in 1840. More about her in Chapter 20.
4. Rachel (23-21) was born ca 1800 in
South Carolina and died 27 Aug 1832 in Fayette County,
Georgia. She was married in Gwinnett County, Georgia, on 24
Nov 1822 to John Dennis Stell. He was an Inferior Court
Justice in Fayette County, a State Senator, President of the
State Senate, Delegate to the First and Second Southern
Conventions and served in the 53rd Regiment of the Georgia
Militia in the Mexican War. He later moved to Tyler, Texas.
5. John (23-22) was born 3 Sept 1803
in South Carolina and died on 10 Feb 1876 in ??????. He
married Elizabeth Maloney in 1823. She was born 25 Oct 1808
and died 31 May 1858. He appears as executor of the estate
of his uncle Thomas Carroll and of his brother-in-law John
Blake. He bought property in Fayette County, Georgia, on 8
Jan 1824 next to Thomas Carroll that he later sold to Thomas
Carroll on 2 Dec 1832. He apparently remained in Gwinnett
County, Georgia.
6. Thomas (23-23) was born around 1805 in Georgia and
died 3 Oct 1849 in Gwinnett County, Georgia. He married
Rhoda Blake in ?????. She was born around 1809 and died in
1879 (same year as her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Carroll
Castleberry).
Chapter 22 - Elizabeth Carroll (1801 - 1879)
"He who feels no pride in his ancestors is
unworthy to be remembered by his descendents,"----Major
David F. Boyd, CSA
Elizabeth Carroll married James
Castleberry around 1816 in Jackson County, Georgia. She was
born in 1801 in York District, South Carolina, and died July
1879 in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. Her mother was Sarah
Miller of Charleston, South Carolina, and her father was
James Carroll (1768 – 1813) of York District, South
Carolina.
Sarah, whose father was Andrew Miller,
first married Joshua Nesbit who came to America in 1780 from
County Town, Ireland, and settled in York District, South
Carolina. They had one son, William Nesbit (Chapter 23).
Joshua lived only a short time after arriving in South
Carolina.
After his death Sarah Miller Nesbit
married James Carroll, also from York District, South
Carolina. Sarah Carroll died 6 April 1843 and is buried
beside her daughter, Polly Carroll Blake, in an unmarked
grave in the cemetery of the Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist
Church in Chamblee, Georgia.1
In 1878 Elizabeth Carroll Castleberry
filled a claim with the Federal government to recover losses
that she incurred during the Civil War.2 The
claim for $8688.00 was for the loss of horses, mules, sheep,
houses, produce, and provisions. The Claims Commission
disallowed her claim.
Elizabeth Carroll died in July 1879 and
is buried beside her husband in Mt. Evergreen Cemetery near
Iuka in Tishomingo County, Mississippi.
Chapter
23 - William Nesbit (1788 - 1863)
(Half-brother of Elizabeth Carroll)
William Nesbit (20 Oct. 1788 - 27 June
1863) was the half-brother of Elizabeth Carroll. He moved to
the Hog Mountain Community in Jackson County, Georgia, (now
Gwinnett County) as a young man from York District, South
Carolina.1 He married Mary Lollis of Virginia (27
Nov. 1789 - 3 Jan 1849). In 1813 he assisted in constructing
a road from Hog Mountain to Fort Gilmer at the Standing
Peachtree thirty miles west of Hog Mountain. It was called
the Peachtree Road and eventually, after being extended to
Marthasville (Atlanta), became the famous Peachtree Street.2
In December 1818, when Gwinnett County was created, partly
out of Jackson County, his home was made a part of the new
county. He was a Justice of the Peace and the second (some
say the first) sheriff of Gwinnett County serving off-and-on
from 1820 to 1830. His farm was near the Gwinnett-DeKalb
county line on the Lawrenceville-Atlanta highway (Hwy 29).
He, his wife, and several members of his family are buried
in the family graveyard which is located in Lilburn,
Georgia, at the southwest corner of the intersection of Hwy
29 and Jimmy Carter Blvd.
An extremely glowing account of William
Nesbit is given in James C. Flanagan’ s book3 and
is reproduced below:
William Nesbit was the first sheriff
[some sources say the second] of Gwinnett County and held
the office consecutively as sheriff and deputy sheriff for
fourteen years. It has been said, and it was universally
conceded by the old citizens, that he was the most efficient
sheriff the county ever had. As an arresting officer
especially, he has had no equal with my knowledge so far as
this county is concerned.
In his day as sheriff, the county was
new, the population to a great extent wild and lawless, and
it had within its limits many desperadoes as is common in
all new countries. It was once said by William Brogdon that
North and South Carolina had boiled over and the scum had
run over into the new part of Georgia. Many of these
desperate men had at various times resisted successfully the
constables, but when Nesbit got after them, if they could
not outrun him, they were sure to be taken.
I still remember his clear shrill voice
in calling parties and witnesses into court. That clarion
voice is still upon my ear as he would open court with with
his "Oyes! Oyes! Oyes! The Superior Court of Gwinnett County
is now opened according to adjournment. God save the state
and the honorable court." It was said with as much grace and
dignity as it is said in England by one of the high sheriffs
of the realm.
Those were my Robin Hood days, the days
of the log cabin and the sanded floor, of pewter plates and
basins displayed in the sun and to passers-by on a shelf at
the front door and to visitors in the cupboard in the
principal room in the house; of tinkers with packs on their
backs to mend such wares as might be broken, or to mould new
ones from the old for the thrifty housewives. Those were the
days when the land was fresh from the hand of God. No sedge
or old pine fields; and the country was covered with
magnificent forests, and the streams were full of fish. If a
young man wished to marry, he went on the other side of the
spring, or to the other side of his father’s virgin soil,
built his log cabin, cleared a turnip patch and cow pen,
married and went to multiplying and replenishing the earth
according to law. Since then, alas! The country is scarred
with red gullies and old worn out fields, the forests are
gone , and if a young man marries, there is little assurance
but that he will become a profligate and a debaucher, and
procuring an emigrant ticket, elope with another woman to
the distant West, leaving his wife in wretchedness and his
children in want.
Mr. Nesbit served two sessions in the
state senate, first in 1829 and again in 1833. He was born
in York District, South Carolina, and in early life came to
Jackson County and afterwards moved to this county and died
June 27, 1863, at the age of 76. He lived for many years
near the DeKalb County line on the Hightower trail, the
dividing line between the counties of Gwinnett and DeKalb.
He was a man of striking appearance, full six feet high, of
well-rounded proportions, evincing strength and activity, a
remarkable walk indicating independence and resolution. His
face was of the finest type, bespeaking manliness but
kindness and benevolence.
Upon a recent visit by the writer to his
son, Hon. John Nesbit, of Milton County, he showed me a
photograph of his father. It was a perfect facsimile of
William Nesbit, with his peculiar form, handsome face and
determined contour of the mouth that had so often excited my
admiration of the original when in life.
It was in his domestic life that the
nobler and kinder traits of the man were displayed. When his
married daughter would reach that point in married life,
woman’s greatest extremity, when all the affections of the
father are drawn out and his keenest solicitude aroused for
the safe passage through the dreaded ordeal, he would be
there at her bedside to administer comfort and assurance;
and amid all his noble traits of character, this was the
noblest and kindest, the best of them all.
Of all the men of whom I have or may
write, the subject of this sketch has claims upon me hardly
equaled by any. He was for a long series of years the fast
friend and companion of my father and the devoted friend of
his family, agreeing in all their views, especially in
politics in which they were in harmony through a long life
with uninterrupted friendship and cordiality. Being of the
first settlers of the new county, they went, shoulder to
shoulder, in efforts to suppress crime and rascality,
thereby contracting an intimacy that terminated only with
their lives.
I would that I was competent to pronounce
a suitable eulogy of his private life and public services. I
feel my inability for the task.
He, with his associates and compeers of
early times and history "wrapped the drapery of their couch
about them and laid down to pleasant dreams." It is left to
me, in a feeble way, to call-up their memories. This task is
agreeable but the service is lame.
"I name them over one by one And weep
o’er days forever gone
O’er friends whose suns of life have set
And voices thrilling memory yet.
"They vanished like a morning beam Of
sunlight on the rippling stream;
And gloom lurks in the web of years And
hope of youth all disappears.
"Now when the moon her chariot drives And
night, the jeweled maid,
arrives, I think upon departed hours With hush of moon
and blush of flowers."
Chapter 24 - Introduction -- Daniel Thomas
Coleman
"Hain’t we got all the fools in town on our side? And
hain’t that a big enough majority in any town"---------Mark
Twain, Huckleberry Finn
Annie Rosa Coleman
(1840 – ca 1925) married my g-grandfather
William Castleberry (1835 –
1882) in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, on 27
January 1862. Her father was Daniel Thomas
Coleman (1800 – 1873). William Castleberry was
the son of James Castleberry (1793 – 1859) and Elizabeth
Carroll (1801 – 1879).
The ancestors of Daniel Thomas Coleman
moved from Brunswick County, Virginia to Halifax County,
North Carolina (around 1766) and from there (around 1790) to
Greene County, Georgia. Daniel’s father was Eden Coleman
(1764 – 1816) and his mother was Nancy Ann Daniel (ca
1772 – 1828). Both are buried in Greene County, Georgia.
Eden’s parents were Daniel Coleman (1720 – 1777) and
Unity Carroll (1720 – 1800). Nancy
Ann’s father was Thomas Daniel (ca 1740 – 1813) and
her mother was Sarah Burney (? – 1815).
Eden Coleman was born in Virginia in
February 1864 and he died in 1816 in Greene County, Georgia.
His wife (Nancy Ann Daniel) was born ca 1772 and she died in
1828 in Greene County, Georgia.
Daniel Thomas Coleman’s wife was Clarinda Ann R. Randle (ca 1804 – ca 1885). Her father
was William Randle (ca 1778 – 1830) who was born in
Brunswick County, Virginia, and her mother was Susan
Robinson Rives (ca 1783 - ??) who was born in Maryland.
They are both buried in Morgan County, Georgia.
Intermarriages between the Coleman,
Daniel, and Randle families took place before their move
to Georgia ca 1790. For example Daniel Coleman and his wife
(Clarinda Ann Randle) were reputed to be cousins. Also, the
first wife of Thomas Daniel (mentioned above) was Sarah
Randle.
Chapter 25 - Daniel Coleman
(1720 - 1777)
This Daniel Coleman was the father of Eden Coleman and
the grandfather of Daniel T. Coleman. He was born in
Virginia ca 1720 [1] and he married Unity Carrell (or
Carroll) (1720 – 1800) probably around 1740. Unity’s father
was John Carrell and her mother was Unity Fox. Nothing is
know about the parents of this "older" Daniel Coleman.
I do not know where Daniel Coleman was born (maybe in
Brunswick County, Virginia). I assume that he was born
around 1720 and married Unity Carrell around 1740 since his
eldest child (Daniel Coleman, Jr.) was born in 1741.
From land records and internet sources some information
can be gained about Daniel Coleman’s life. The first record
I have found for him is a 1755 deed [2] in Brunswick County
in southern Virginia near the North Carolina border. In this
1755 deed he bought 350 acres of land from his
father-in-law, John Carrell of Northampton County, North
Carolina who was deceased by 1766 [3]. A witness to this
1755 deed was John Coleman. What kin was he?
By 1755 Daniel had been married for about fifteen years
and he was approximately 35 years old. Since no earlier
Brunswick County records have been found for him I am led to
believe that perhaps he resided elsewhere before 1755. Five
years later in 1760 he bought 40 acres from Andrew Beck [4]
near the earlier land purchase. Andrew Beck’s will was
written in 1760 [5] and he was deceased by 1761.
In 1766 Daniel Coleman sold his Brunswick County land
(located on the west side of Lizard Creek) and moved to
nearby Halafax County in North Carolina [6]. The total
amount of Brunswick County land involved was 400 acres and
150 acres of this he gave to his eldest son, Daniel Coleman,
Jr.
In Halifax County Daniel Coleman bought 800 acres of land
on 25 September 1766. This property was on Great Creek at
the mouth of Watery Branch, according to several deeds [7].
In a short time Daniel and Unity Coleman were on the move
again. In 1768 and 1769 they sold their Halifax County land
and moved to adjacent Bute (now Warren) County, North
Carolina. There he bought 640 acres located on both sides of
Ready Branch and there he lived until his death at age 57 in
1777.
The final record for Daniel Coleman was his will [8]
which was written on 17 July 1777 and recorded later that
year after he died. From his will it can be seen that at his
death Daniel Coleman was a plantation owner with 14 slaves
and land (in addition to his plantation) on the east and
west side of Ready Branch in Warren County, North Carolina.
In addition to his widow, Unity Carrell Coleman, he left
twelve mostly young children. They ranged in age from 36
years old (Daniel, Jr.) to less than a year old (Davis).
Among the twelve children only five were of lawful age (Mary
Ann was one of the five and she was 18 years old and
unmarried). Two of his daughters were married (Sarah and
Frances) and probably so were his two oldest sons (Daniel,
Jr. and James). His will does not mention any grandchildren.
Unity died in 1800. Probably she and her husband are
buried in Warren County, North Carolina---but I know not
where.
The children of Daniel and Unity Coleman according to his
will and borrowing from internet source (Ancestry.com) are
given below.
Daniel, Jr. (1741 – 1785) was born in
Virginia. In 1769 he sold 150 acres to Edward
Carlos. This property was on the west side of Lizard
Creek in Brunswick County, Virginia [9]. It was near
land owned by William Mosely and William Huff. It
was very likely land his father had given him when
his father moved to Halifax County, North Carolina
around 1766. Daniel Coleman, Jr. died in Brunswick
County, Virginia in 1785. No mention was made of his
wife in his 1781 will [10] so apparently she was
deceased. His children were: Elizabeth Coleman (she
received a gray horse, feather bed and furniture),
Harriss Coleman (he received a horse and 300 acres
on Long Creek in Wilkes County, Georgia), John
Coleman (he received 450 acres in Wilkes County,
Georgia where Daniel Coleman, Jr. formerly lived),
Catharine Coleman (she received a feather bed and
furniture), and Polly Coleman (she, too, received a
feather bed and furniture). The executors of his
estate were Howell Harriss and Harriss Coleman.
Sarah (?? - ??) was married by 1777 to a
Wright
James (?? – 1796)
Frances (?? - ??) was married by 1777 to a
Hicks
Mary Ann (1759 - ??) married Thomas Thweatt
on 30 May 1810 in Brunswick County, Virginia [11].
The minister was Peter Wynne and consent was given
by Richard Coleman [NOTE: Is this the "right" Mary
Ann Coleman?]
6. Samuel (1762 – 1838) was born 24 August
1762 in Brunswick County, Virginia and he died 11
May 1838 in Meriwether County, Georgia. On 30
December 1784 he married Martha Patsy Holliman of
Warren County, North Carolina. Internet source:
http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/person.aspx?pid=-1990256457&tid=1134280
John (1764 – 1823) was born in Virginia,
probably Brunswick County and he died in Madison
County, Georgia. On 29 April 1785 he married Frances
Harris (1765 – 1819). She was from Warren County,
North Carolina. Internet source:
http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/person.aspx?pid=-1990256599&tid=1134280
Eden (1764 – 1816) Eden was only 13 years old
when his father died. (More about him in Chapter 25)
Rachel (1766 – 1860) was born in North
Carolina, probably Warren County. She was 11 years
old when her father died.
Jacob (1770 – 1818) was born in North
Carolina, probably in Warren County where he died in
1818. He was married in Warren County to Mary D.
Cheek (1779 - ??) on 12 December 1794. He inherited
his father’s plantation and land on the east side of
Ready Branch. He was only 7 years old when his
father died. [Internet source:
http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/person.aspx?pid=-1990256460&tid=1134280]
Martha (or Patty) ( 1776 – 1837) was
born 21 August 1776
Davis (1777 – 1795) did not live long enough
to reach the lawful age to receive the inheritance
from his father.
Eden
Coleman (father of Daniel T. Coleman) was born February 1764
in Virginia (probably in Brunswick County since that is
where land records indicate his parents lived at that time).1
His parents were Daniel Coleman (1720 – 1777) and Unity
Carroll (or Carrell) (1720 – 1800).
Eden was only thirteen years old in 1777
when his father died in Warren County, North Carolina.
Previous to that time he had moved in 1766 with his parents
from Brunswick County, Virginia to Halifax County, North
Carolina and then in 1769 to Warren County, North Carolina.
Based on the 1793 birth of his daughter,
Sally Coleman (assuming she was the first child), Eden
probably married Nancy Ann Daniel (ca 1772 – 1828) around
1792. Her father was Thomas Daniel (ca 1740 – 1813) and her
mother was Sarah Burney (? – 1815).
It appears that Eden Coleman arrived in
Greene County, Georgia, around 1790 (perhaps later if his
daughter Sally was born in 1793 in Maryland as some sources
indicate). Greene County, Georgia was established from the
northern part of Washington County in 1786. It was named for
the Revolutionary War hero, General Nathaniel Greene. The
county seat is Greensboro.
When he arrived he was about twenty-five
years old. His father-in-law (Thomas Daniel) was selling
land in Greene County as early as 1792.2 My
speculation is that the Coleman’s, Daniel’s, and Randle’s
arrived in Greene County together around 1790 and settled on
the waters of Richland Creek. Judging from the given names
of some family members it appears that intermarriages
between these three families began before their arrival in
Georgia.
Eden was buying land in Greene County,
Georgia, as early as 1790.3 In 1795 he was a
witness for land sold by Samuel Thorton.4 Another
land transaction in Greene County occurred seventeen years
later in 1812 when he bought an alley (located fifty feet
north of Broad Street) in the town of Greensboro5
(the county seat). In 1815, one year before he died (at age
52), he bought land on the waters of Richland Creek6
in Greene County. In 1821 (Eden died in 1816) Eden’s wife
(Nancy) sold 574 acres to James G. Randle, her son-in-law
(husband of Sally, the eldest child).7 This land
was on Richland Creek.
Eden Coleman was a Justice of the Peace
in Greene County, Georgia, at some point in time between
1813 – 1816.
Eden Coleman’s will8 is dated
10 September 1816. In his will he appoints his wife (Nancy)
the sole executor of his estate. In Nancy’s will9
(29 March 1825) she appoints her son (Daniel T. Coleman) and
her son-in-law (Samuel Greene) executors of her estate. She
also names Sally Randle, Cynthia Ralls, Eliza Greene, David
Coleman, Daniel Coleman, and the heirs of Allen Coleman to
receive a portion of her estate.
Eden died in 1816 and Nancy died in 1828
in Greene County where they are probably buried.
1. Sarah C. (Sally) was born about
1793 in Maryland and died 22 February 1845 in Penfield
(Greene County) Georgia. She married John Graves Randle (ca
1790 – 1863) on 26 January 1808 in Greene County. Her
husband was an uncle to the younger John Graves Randle (1810
– 1895) mentioned later on page 8. This younger John Graves
was a brother to Clarinda Ann Randle who married Daniel T.
Coleman on 7 January 1824.
2. Eliza was born about 1797.
She first married Lemuel (or Samuel) Greene (he was
later a Justice of the Peace) and after his death she
married Landon Palmer.
3. David was mentioned in his mother’s will.
4. Daniel Thomas was born around 1800
probably in Greene County, Georgia. (more about him in
Chapter 28) and he died in 1873 in Pontotoc, Mississippi. He
married his cousin, Clarinda Ann Randle, in Greene County in
1824.
5. Allen. W. married Nancy Ward. He
died before 1821.10
6. Cynthia married James Ralls.
Chapter
27 - Thomas Coleman Daniel (ca 1740 – 1813)
Thomas Coleman Daniel was the father of
Nancy Ann Daniel who married Eden Coleman around 1792.
Thomas Daniel was born about 1740 in Virginia. His father
was Captain William Daniel and his mother was Elizabeth
Coleman (her relationship to Eden Coleman is unknown).
According to an Internet source1
Elizabeth Coleman’s linage was as follows: She was born in
1715 and her father was Robert Coleman III (1680 – 1748) who
was born in New Kent County, Virginia and died in Caroline
County, Virginia. Her mother was Mary Clayton (1683 - ?) who
was born in Abingdon Parish, Essex County, Virginia. Robert
Coleman III’s father was Robert Coleman II (1656 – 13 August
1713), and his father was Robert Coleman (ca 1620 – 1680)
who was born in Suffolk County, England and died in
Gloucester County, Virginia. So, Robert Coleman was the
immigrant ancestor in this family probably arriving in
America around 1645 (speculation). He married Elizabeth
Grizzel about 1650 in Rappahannock, Essex, Virginia. Other
direct ancestors were Robert’s father, John Coleman, who was
born in Braxton, Mango, Essex, England and John’s father who
was Sir James Coleman who married Mary Spencer. Both Sir
James and Mary were born in England.
Thomas Coleman Daniel first married Sarah
Randle and after she died he married Sarah Burney.2
Thomas Daniel was in the Revolutionary War.3 He
had at least five older brothers (Samuel Coleman—the
oldest—was born about 1728).
On 6 January 1787 Thomas Daniel was
granted 460 acres of land in Greene County, Georgia.4
As early as 1792 he was selling and buying land in Greene
County5. So he apparently arrived there around
1790. Based on deeds around 18006 his land was on
Richland Creek. He also owned land in Madison County,
Kentucky7 which he willed to his daughter, Nancy
Coleman.
The children of Thomas Daniel and Sarah
Burney were:
1. Nancy Ann (ca 1772 –
1828) married Eden Coleman around 1792. She died in 1828 in
Greene County, Georgia.
2. Mary (?? - ??) No
information on Mary.
3.Sarah (? – 1804) was sometimes
called Sally. She married E. L. W. Fitzsimmons who died in
1799.8 In her 1804 will9 she directed
that "her body be embalmed and a vault to be built 12
feet by 20 feet on my father’s burying ground. My
coffin is to be made as neat as possible and lined with
cambrick". Her will mentions her sisters (Nancy Coleman
and Betsy Cooper), her niece (Sally Coleman), and her
brother (William), but no children or husband. She left the
residue of her estate to her mother including all her
wearing apparel.
4.Elizabeth (? – 1809) was called
Betsy. She married James Cooper. In her will10
(17 October 1809) she mentions her daughter (Sophia Martin),
her late husband (James Cooper), her sister (Nancy Coleman)
and her brother (William). She appointed her father (Thomas
Daniel) and her friends (Elijah Cooper and James Randall) to
be the executors of her estate.
5.William (? – before 1813) married Mary ??
6.Charles (?? - ??) No information on Charles.
Thomas and Sarah Daniel outlived their
children (except Nancy Ann) so their heirs were mainly their
grandchildren. Thomas Daniel died in 1813 (his will is dated
7 April 1813)11 and his wife Sarah died in 1815
(her will is dated 3 July 1815).12 In his will he
mentioned the following grandchildren: Charles (land on
Greenbrier Creek to him), Polly Daniel, Sally B. Daniel (she
married a Lanford before 1815), Maria Daniel, Harriett Ann
Daniel, and Nancy Coleman. Thomas made his wife (Sarah) the
executrix of his estate.
Two years later when Sarah died her will
named the following grandchildren: John K. Daniel, Polly
Daniel, Sally B. Lanford (she was willed a "still" holding
180 gallons), Mariah Daniel, and Harriet Ann Daniel. She
made her son-in-law (Eden Coleman) the executor of her
estate.
Almost all of these grandchildren must
have been children of William and Charles since their last
name was Daniel. And, of course, the Nancy Coleman mentioned
above was Eden’s wife (Nancy Ann).
Chapter 28 - William Randle
(ca 1778 – 1830)
William Randle (ca 1778 – 19 October
1830) was the father of Clarinda Ann R. Randle (wife of
Daniel T. Coleman). William was born in Brunswick County,
Virginia, and he died at age 52 in Morgan County, Georgia.
He, and probably his wife, are buried in Morgan County,
Georgia, in a cemetery at the intersection of Clack and
Spears Roads (also known as the Old Oscar Fears place).1
This spot is about 4 miles south and west of the I-20 and
Hwy 83 intersection. William’s father was James Randle (born
about 1745 in Virginia) and his mother was Roseanna Graves
(born about 1754 in Virginia). William Randle had seven
brothers. One was James Graves Randle (ca 1790 – 1863) who
married Sarah (Sallie) Coleman (see p. 3) on 26 January 1808
in Greene County, Georgia.
On 24 September 1802 William Randle
married Susan Robinson Rives (ca 1783 – ca 1834) in
Greensville County, Virginia. Soon afterwards they moved to
Greene County, Georgia.
According to a Greene County deed William
Randle and his wife Susan sold land in Greene County to
George Irving on 4 November 1804.2 So, William
obviously moved from Virginia to Greene County, Georgia,
very soon after his 1802 marriage. His oldest child
(Clarinda Ann R. who married Daniel T. Coleman in 1824) was
born ca 1805, probably in Greene County.
By 1806 William was buying and selling
land in Morgan County, Georgia, so he evidently moved there
around that time. In 1808 he bought land in Morgan County on
Indian Creek from Abraham Heard. Deed records show that
other land transactions took place up until the time of
William Randle’s death in 1830. I do not know the exact
location of his land. The deeds say that some of it was on
Indian Creek, some on Little River, some at Heard’s Fork of
Indian Creek, some was near a road leading from Durden’s
bridge to Madison, Georgia. I believe that some of his land
was near the spot where William Randle and his wife (Susan
R. Randle) are buried. As already mentioned this spot is in
Morgan County, Georgia, in a cemetery at the intersection of
Clack and Spears Roads (also known as the Old Oscar Fears
place). It is about 4 miles south and west of the I-20 and
Hwy 83 intersection.
According to the Morgan County Federal
census for 1830 William Randle was the owner of 42 slaves.
William Randle died at age 52 on 19
October 1830 and was buried on his land in Morgan County.
His will3 is dated 2 October 1830. In it he
leaves his property to his unmarried children. They were
Mary and Lavenia and his seven sons (James G.,
William, Willis, Thomas, Irvin, Lackington, and Walton H.).
Therefore his married children in 1830 were Clarinda
Ann (married to Daniel T. Coleman), Lucy J., Elizabeth
Rebecca, and Susan. He wishes for his wife to be provided
for and his land to be equally divided between his seven
sons (son William also got his father’s gold watch).
Others got personal property
(Negroes---according to the 1830 census he had 42 slaves,
furniture, etc). When William Randle died in 1830 he had
thirteen children (assuming all were still living). Nine
were minors (one minor was Susan who was married). So, it is
no surprise that on 2 May 1831 the Morgan County, Georgia,
court appointed the son-in-law, Daniel T. Coleman,
administrator of William Randle’s estate.
William’s wife, Susan R. Randle, died
between 6 February 1834 and 2 March 1835. She was listed as
deceased in a Morgan County deed on 2 March 1835.4
William and Susan Randle had the following children:
1. Clarinda Ann R. (ca1805 - ca 1885) was
probably born in Greene County, Georgia, and she died in
Pontotoc, Mississippi. She married Daniel T. Coleman
(more about him in Chapter 28) in Greene County, Georgia, on
7 January 1824.
2. Lucy J. (ca 1806 - ?) was born probably in Morgan
County, Georgia.
3. Elizabeth Rebecca (25 December 1807, - ?) was born
probably in Morgan County, Georgia.
4. William (Buck) was born 25 December 1807, probably
in Morgan County, Georgia.
5. James Graves (ca 1810 – October
1895) was born in Morgan County, Georgia, and he died in
Aberdeen, Mississippi. He was named after his uncle
(father’s brother, John Graves Randle, mentioned earlier on
page 61) who married Sally Coleman in 1808 in Greene County,
Georgia. This younger John Graves married Emily F. Hearn in
Morgan County, Georgia, on 1 December 1831 (Rev. Thomas J.
Hand).
Several 1833 Morgan County deeds show
that he was an active land trader. His land appears to be in
the same general vicinity as his father’s land (on Indian
Creek and Little River). Two 1833 deeds list him as being
"of" Putnam County, Georgia (adjacent to Morgan County).5
His last Morgan County transaction was [maybe] in 1836 when
he sold 465 acres to William Moncrief.6 In this
deed a 20 foot square is reserved for the BURYING
ground which will be kept by the family unsold.
By 1840 he had moved to Aberdeen,
Mississippi (Monroe County). There he became quite wealthy.
His home in Aberdeen was on South Chestnut Street. His 1800
acre plantation (near present day Muldon – about 7 miles
southwest of Aberdeen, Mississippi, on state highway 25) was
called "Cotton Gardens" and was a showplace of the county.
He killed Judge Lee for "slandering the fame and virtue" of
his wife. He was tried for murder in October 1850 but was
found not guilty.7 On 21 December 1851 he sold
his home in Aberdeen and moved to his plantation. In 1860
his estate was valued at $276,000 and he owned 160 slaves.
Ten years later in 1870 the Federal census gave his estate
value to be only $4000 and his occupation was listed as
"clerk". The famous lawyer and writer from Aberdeen,
Mississippi (Reuben Davis) mentioned him in his 1889
autobiography.8 He says—"James G. Randall also
belongs to the early history of Aberdeen, though he still
lives, in his vigorous old age, to take part in the present.
He is a man of warm heart and kindly nature. If his temper
is impetuous and his speech sometimes bitter, those who have
known him longest and best can testify that beneath the
bitter outside shell the kernel is sweet and sound."
The children of James Graves Randle and
Emily F. Hearn were:
a) Willis (ca 1824 - ?) was born in Morgan County,
Georgia. In the 1840 Federal
census for Coweta County, Georgia there was a
"Willis" Randle (in the 15 –
19 age group) with two children and 14 slaves
living near Daniel T. Coleman
and his family.
b) Susan (ca 1832 - ?) was probably
born in Morgan County, Georgia.
c) Mary (ca 1835 - ?) was probably born in Morgan
County, Georgia.
d) Thomas G. (ca 1839 - ?) was probably born in
Monroe County, Mississippi
e) Irvin R. (ca 1841 - ?) was born probably in Monroe
County, Mississippi
f) Lackington C. (ca 1843 - ?) was probably born in
Monroe County, Mississippi
g) Walton H. (ca 1844 - ?) was born probably in
Monroe County, Mississippi
h) Lavenia (ca 1849 - ?) was born probably in Monroe
County, Mississippi
Chapter 29 - Daniel T. Coleman
(1800 - 1873)
(Father of Annie Coleman Castleberry)
"…..I believe that man will not merely endure; he will
prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among
creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a
soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and
endurance."----William Faulkner (1950)
Annie Coleman Castleberry’s father was
Daniel Thomas Coleman. He was probably born in Greene
County, Georgia, around 1800. His father was Eden Coleman
(ca 1770 – 1817) and his mother was Nancy Ann Daniel (? –
1825). Both died in Greene County, Georgia. 1
Daniel Thomas Coleman was undoubtedly
named after his grandfather (Thomas Daniel). Daniel Coleman
was seventeen years old when his father (Eden) died in 1817.
Daniel was married on 7 January 1824 to
Clarinda Ann R. Randle. The Rev. Adiel Sherwood in Greene
County performed the wedding.2 Clarinda Ann R.
Randle was supposedly a cousin of Daniel T. Coleman and
surely kin to the husband (John Graves Randle) of her
sister-in-law, Sally. John Graves Randle is mentioned above.
The Rev. Sherwood was the original pastor
of the Greensboro Baptist church (probably the church
attended by the Coleman family) and served until 1831. He
was also pastor of the Bethesda Baptist church in Union
Point and the New Hope Baptist church. All were located in
Greene County, Georgia.3
Clarinda Ann R. Randle’s (ca 1805 - ca
1885) father was William Randle (ca 1778 - 1830) of
Brunswick County, Virginia, and her mother was Susan
Robinson Rives (ca 1783 - ?) of Maryland.4
Daniel T. Coleman first resided in Greene
County, Georgia, where he was probably born, although in the
1920 Mississippi census his daughter (Annie Rosa Coleman
Castleberry) states (incorrectly, I think) that both of her
parents were born in South Carolina. Greene County deeds5
show transactions for him as early as 1821 when he bought
and sold land on Richland Creek. The Coleman family lived on
the south side of Richland Creek on land adjoining the
Fretland (or Fretwell) and Randle families.6
Richland Creek is about one mile north and west of
Greensboro, Georgia. Daniel sold more land on Richland Creek
in 1825.7
Two sons were born around this time in
Greene County or maybe in Morgan County—William R. in 1827
and Daniel E. in 1830.
By 1830 Daniel Coleman was living in
Morgan County, Georgia (with his wife and two male
children—Daniel E. and William R.--both less than five years
old). His name is mentioned in Morgan County deeds8
as early as 1827. His land was on Indian Creek adjoining the
land of his father-in-law (William Randle) who first arrived
in the county around 1806. It was during Daniel Coleman’s
stay in Morgan County that he served as a justice of the
peace.9
Also according to the 1830 census he was
the owner of 16 slaves (by 1840 he had acquired 25 and in
1860 he owned 20---seven were mulatto).
By 1840 he was a resident of Coweta
County, Georgia, (with his wife, three sons, three daughters
and 25 slaves) according to the Federal census. Records for
Coweta County show land transactions from 1835 to 1845 for
Daniel Coleman.10 In 1836 new merchants in the
county were Coleman and Huggins at Oak Lawn.11 So, evidently Daniel Coleman was both a farmer and a
merchant during his stay in Coweta County.
In 1838 a fracas in the Newnan Baptist
church resulted in a "church trial" (Newnan is the county
seat of Coweta County). Helping to settle the matter on
April 20 were Medows and Coleman from New Hope
Baptist. The trial results were excommunication of Brother
Wooten and the exclusion of Brother Bolton---but he was
later restored. 12
Around 184213 (as late as 1848
according to land records)14 Daniel T. Coleman
moved his family to Mississippi settling about 1 ½ miles
south of Egypt, Mississippi, in Chickasaw County. The records for 1848 (Sheriff’s book) and 1851 (county land
roll) list his name. From these records it
appears that his land was located about 9 miles south of
Okolona on present day Highway 45. His property appears to
have been on (or very near) the Chickasaw – Monroe County
line. His brother-in-law’s name (Willis Randle) also appears
in the 1848 records (Sheriff’s book).
Church and land records indicate that
Daniel Coleman later attended church and bought land in
Monroe County, Mississippi, where his wealthy brother-in-law
(James G. Randle) lived on a large plantation named Cotton
Gardens (near present day Muldon – about 7 miles southwest
of Aberdeen, Mississippi, on state Highway 25). A June 1850
Monroe County deed states that the Goosepond Baptist Church
deacons (Daniel Coleman, R. T. Harrison, Samuel Holloway)
bought a church building ($100) and four acres of land ($50)
from Charles McClendon.15 The land (to be used as
a burial ground) was near (probably on) the Aberdeen –
Houston Road (Old Houston Road on today’s maps) and about
seven miles west of Aberdeen. When traveling east on the Old
Houston Road it was only about 4 miles from the
Chickasaw-Monroe County line (where Daniel Coleman’s land
was located). The Coleman family apparently lived in this
area until 1852.
In early 1852 they moved to nearby
Pontotoc, Mississippi. According to the minutes16
of the Pontotoc Baptist Church, Daniel and his wife joined
the church on 6 March 1852 moving their letter from the
Graceland Baptist Church in Monroe County, Mississippi. Did
Goosepond Baptist change its name or did the Coleman family
move to another church before departing Chickasaw County?
In Pontotoc, Mississippi, the Daniel T.
Coleman family had at last come to their final abode, at
least for Daniel (he died in Pontotoc 21 years later in
1873) and Clarinda Ann (she died there 33 years later ca
1885). It was in Pontotoc that their children reached
maturity and married. Their eldest child (Albert) was
already 25 years old in 1852 and Gus was 23. Their youngest
daughter (Lina) was not yet born. Their youngest son
(William R.) later died in Pontotoc (before 1872) leaving a
wife and six children.
The long journey began fifty-two years
earlier in Greene County, Georgia, where Daniel Coleman was
born (ca 1800) and married (in 1824) and lived until about
1830 when he moved west (for the first time) to Morgan
County, Georgia. From Morgan County he moved around 1835 to
Coweta County, Georgia, where he lived for the next ten
years. Around 1842 he moved west for the third time, this
time to Chickasaw County, Mississippi (his land was about 1
½ miles south of Egypt). From there he moved in 1852 to the
town of Pontotoc in Pontotoc County, Mississippi,
approximately 350 miles west of Greene County, Georgia,
where his sojourn began twenty-five years earlier.
Daniel T. Coleman and his family were
active members of the Pontotoc Baptist church from 1852 to
1896. Their names appear frequently in the church minutes.
He was a deacon, church clerk (off and on from 1853 to
1866), treasurer (1856 to 18??), a delegate and messenger to
various church conferences and a frequent member of various
and sundry committees. He and his family often made generous
financial contributions to support the church and its
pastor. Daniel T. Coleman seems to have participated in
almost every church activity except preaching.
The Pontotoc Baptist church (where the
Coleman family were members) was formed in 1846 from the
Cherry Creek Baptist church. William L. Slack was the pastor
from 1853 to 1880. 17
He undoubtedly conducted the wedding ceremony for several of
Daniel Coleman’s children (i.e., Laura Coleman on new years
eve 1857) and the funeral service for Daniel Coleman when he
died in 1873. The Rev. Slack was apparently a well-educated
man since according to E. T. Winston18
he was president and professor of ancient languages,
chemistry, geology, astronomy and mathematics at Mary
Washington College in Pontotoc. His daughter (Sarah) taught
natural philosophy at the small college.
The minutes reveal several interesting
church customs when compared with today’s standards. It was
a small church with a fundamentalist bent. The pastor’s job
ran for twelve months with a vote taken each year to decide
who the pastor for the next twelve months would be. The
pastors were mostly selected from the church membership. One
church expense was the purchase of wine (apparently used in
the Lords supper ceremony). The church met twice a month
usually on Saturday, at least the church conference meetings
(which were the main subject of the church minutes) were
held on Saturday. The pastor usually preached at these
meetings, which were followed by the church business
session. The doors of the church were open for membership at
these Saturday meetings (regular Sunday services also
occurred but are not mentioned in the minutes perhaps
because no business matters were taken up on Sunday). Black
people were members of the church even after the Civil War
as late as 1872. In fact there was concern at times that the
number of black members would outstrip the white membership.
The expulsion of members for drinking, dancing, profanity
and other sins of the flesh was common. William C.
Castleberry (a grandson of Daniel T. Coleman) was expelled
on 10 November 1895 by the Pontotoc church after receiving a
report on his "deportment"!
19
Daniel T. Coleman made numerous land
transactions in Pontotoc County starting around 1850 and
continuing until his death in 1873. One interesting
transaction on 29 August 1854 was the gift of Lot 27 in the
town of Pontotoc to the Deacons of the Baptist Church20
(present day First Baptist Church). The church minutes for 4
March 1854 say, "D.T. Coleman appointed to buy the church
lot". 21
Apparently he later decided to make Lot 27 a gift to the
church. The church was soon built only to be destroyed by a
tornado on 24 March 1855. 22
One week after the tornado a committee was appointed (31
March 1855) to dispose of the church lot and on 14 April
1855 the lot was sold back to Daniel T. Coleman for $100.00.
23
Daniel T. Coleman is mentioned several
times by E.T. Winston in his 1931 account about the early
pioneers of Pontotoc, Mississippi.24 General
Thomas McMackin is given credit by E. T. Winston as
the founder of Pontotoc. When the General left Pontotoc some
of his property was bought by Daniel T. Coleman.25
Winston says -----
"Mr. D. T. Coleman bought his
(General McMackin) hotel property here and the stable
property across the street. Mr. Coleman built a
livery stable on the latter property that has lately been
remodeled for store and warehouse purposes by Messrs. R. L.
Lyon and sons."
Mr. Winston also writes about Mary
Washington College in Pontotoc.26 He says-
"Next to Chickasaw College in romantic
and general interest was Mary Washington College, which had
a brief career, but flourished in the antebellum period of
the "golden fifties" when old Chickasaw was like wise in the
fullness of its career. As Chickasaw was sponsored by the
Presbyterians, Mary Washington College was a product of the
Baptists of this section. The college property was on the
northern outskirts of Pontotoc, on land now owned by V. L.
Bigham. It was burned by Yankee vandals during the Civil
War, and was never restored. The institution was established
under the patronage of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Columbus and
Aberdeen Baptist Associations and incorporated in 1852. From
a correspondent, Rev. E. L. Shettles, of Austin, Tex.,
several years ago, we gleaned the following additional
information"-------The enrollment of this year was 94.
Ancient language 12, modern language 6, pupils in music 47.
Among the 94 enrolled, Pontotoc and Pontotoc County claimed
47, Chickasaw 9, -----The Rev. Martin Bell was sponsor for
more than any other parent. He had in school of his own
Sarah H., ----- Daniel T. Coleman had a like number of
daughters: Laura E., Emma F., Ann R., Antoinette, Adeline."
In the 1857
wedding announcement for Laura E. Coleman27
Daniel Coleman is referred to as "Judge" Daniel T. Coleman.
This came apparently from his service as a justice of the
peace in Morgan County, Georgia. 28
In Daniel Coleman’s will (13 Feb 1872) he
made his son, Daniel E. Coleman, and his son-in-law, William Castleberry,
the executors of his estate.29
He left his interest in the store in Pontotoc (run by
William Castleberry) to his wife. He left $100.00 to his
thirteen year old grandson, Howard C. Scott. He instructed
his executors to sell his property and to distribute the
proceeds (after expenses) equally among his wife, his living
son (Daniel E.), the six heirs of his deceased son (William
R.) and his five daughters. No mention is made of two of his
daughters: Antoinette and Sina. I assume they never married
and died before 1872. He leaves it up to his executors to
decide what to do with his farm equipment and his household
furniture.
Daniel T. Coleman died in Pontotoc,
Mississippi, on 7 July 1873. I do not know where he is
buried (probably in Pontotoc however no record or tombstone
has been found). 30
Chapter 30 – Children of Daniel
T. Coleman and Clarinda Ann R. Randle
The children of Daniel T. Coleman and Clarinda Ann R. Randle were:
1. William R. (1827 – 1869)
was born in Greene County or maybe Morgan County, Georgia.
He married Josephine B. Swanson on 23 April 1855. Her
parents were Richard Swanson, Sr. and Deborah Tarkington.
Josephine was born in Tennessee (probably in or near
Franklin) on 9 March 1832. After the death in 1869 of her
husband (William R. Coleman) she moved to Franklin,
Tennessee (probably to be near her parents and other
relatives). There she later married Dr. John Harvey of
Franklin, Tennessee on 15 February 1882. Josephine died on
22 January 1914 and is buried in Franklin, Tennessee (Mt.
Hope Cemetery).
In the 1860 Federal census William R.
Coleman was a merchant in Iuka, Mississippi. His younger
brother, Daniel E. Coleman, was a member of his household
and was also a merchant. They were partners, I suppose.
During the Civil War William served as a
private in Company B of the 11th Alabama Cavalry
Regiment. His brother, Daniel E., and his Castleberry and
Akers relatives were also in Company B. Company B consisted
primarily of men from Tishomingo County, Mississippi.
William died in 1869 and in the 1870
Federal census his widow, Josephine, and her six children
were living in Tupelo, Mississippi. Living next door was her
sister-in-law, Emma F. Weatherall, who was also a widow.
Emma later married Henry C. Medford and lived the
rest of her life in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Josephine later moved to Franklin,
Tennessee where she married Dr. John Harvey in 1882. He died
ca 1900. Josephine appears in the 1900 and 1910 census for
Williamson County, Tennessee. In 1910 she was living with
her son, Edward Randle Coleman.
The heirs of William R. Coleman were
mentioned (but not by name) in Daniel T. Coleman’s will in
1872.
The children of William R. Coleman and
Josephine Swanson were:
a) Julia A. (1856 - 1911) was born in
Iuka, Mississippi on 8 February 1856. She married John D.
Morton. He apparently died before 1910 since according to
the 1910 census for Williamson County, Tennessee she and her
sixteen year old daughter (Lera May) were living in the
household of her brother, Edward Randle Coleman. Julia died
on 31 May 1911 and she is buried in Franklin, Tennessee at
Mt. Hope Cemetery.
b) William Marcus (Squire) (1858 – 1941) was born in Iuka, Mississippi on 28 January
1858. He married Mary F. West. She was born 9 November 1854
and died on 30 October 1935. William died on 1 March 1941.
Both are buried in Franklin, Tennessee at Mt. Hope Cemetery.
His tombstone inscription reads: Esq W. M. Coleman.
c) Walter Samuel (1862 – 1955)
was born in Iuka, Mississippi on 4 May 1862. Around 1900 he
moved to the Oklahoma territory where he married Ida Mae
Yarborough on 18 May 1900. They had a large family. Walter
died in Cordell, Oklahoma on 23 September 1955 and is buried
in Dill City, Oklahoma.
One of his descendants, a grandson named
Dean Coleman, lives in Stockton, California and much of this
material about William R. Coleman I received from him in
2006 and 2007. 1
d) Allie (Abbie) D. (1866 –
1935) was born in Iuka, Mississippi in March 1866. She
married Edward M. Sparkman (1866 – 1929). Abbie died in 1935
and she and her husband are buried in Franklin, Tennessee at
Mt. Hope Cemetery.
e) Edward (Eddie) Randle (1868
– 1946) was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in March 1868. He
married Jessie Wilkins and after her death Valeria Hooper.
In 1900, according to the census, he was living in his
mother’s household. Ten years later, according to the census
for Williamson County, Tennessee, he was a widower with a
six year old son (Edger). Living with him in 1910 was his 79
year old mother, Josephine B. Harvey and his younger widowed
sister, Julia A. Morton. Eddie died in 1946 when he was 78
years old. He was buried on 21 June 1946 in Franklin,
Tennessee at Mt. Hope Cemetery. No tombstone exist for him.
f) Emma C. (1868 – 1946) was
born in March 1870 according to the census for 1900. In 1900
she was still living in her mother’s household. Her middle
initial was "J" according to the 1900 census but "C"
according to her tombstone. Also, she was born in 1868 (not
1870), according to her tombstone. She married Alonzo Nelson
after 1900. Emma died in1946 and she is buried in Franklin,
Tennessee at Mt. Hope Cemetery.
2. Daniel E. (1830 - ??) was
probably born in Morgan County, Georgia. He shows up in the
1860 Federal census in Tishomingo County in the household of
his older brother, William R. Coleman.
During the Civil War Daniel served as a 2nd
lieutenant in Company B of the 11th Alabama
Cavalry Regiment. His brother, William R, and his
Castleberry and Akers relatives were also in Company B.
Company B consisted primarily of men from Tishomingo County,
Mississippi.
Being the only living son, he inherited
most of his father’s land when his father died in 1873. He
was a member and master of Masonic Lodge No. 91, in Iuka,
Mississippi around 1875.2 In the 1870 and 1880
census he was still a resident of Iuka, Mississippi and a
retail merchant. Sometime before 1880 he was married since
he lists himself as a widower in the 1880 census. Also in
1880, he was living near Rufus Castleberry, the brother of
William Castleberry. William Castleberry married one of
Daniel’s younger sisters (Annie Rosa Coleman) in Pontotoc,
Mississippi in 1862.
Daniel E. Coleman is buried in Pontotoc,
Mississippi.
3. Laura E. (1835 – 1928) was born on
1 June 1835 in Morgan County, Georgia, and died in
Sweetwater, Texas, on 27 March 1928.3 When she
was seven years old in 1842 she moved with her family to
Mississippi. Laura married the Rev. William Thomas Howard
Scott (1830 – 1865) on Thursday, New Years Eve
1857.4 He was a graduate of Mercer University in
Macon, Georgia. The Rev. Scott died seven years later
leaving her with three small children. Their only son, Howard Coleman Scott (1859 – 1938) became a medical
doctor and lived in Sweetwater, Texas. Howard is buried in
Pontotoc, Mississippi. Laura also had two daughters: Mary
Dannie (she married Sheriff J.J. Donaldson) who died in 1913
and Nettie Lavia who died at 9 months of age. Laura Scott
was given a letter of "dismision" on 6 March 1858 from the
Baptist Church of Pontotoc, Mississippi (she joined on 2
April 1853). She and her husband rejoined the Pontotoc
church on 1 March 1862.5 According to Berry5
"at the age of 90 Laura took up the study of calculus to
keep herself occupied." Laura Scott lived with her
daughter (Mary Dannie) until her daughter died in 1913, then
she lived with her granddaughter (Clara Bell Parker) in
Dallas and Houston, Texas, and finally with her son (Howard
C. Scott) in Sweetwater, Texas, from 1921 to 1928. Laura
Scott died 27 March 1928.7
4. Emma F.(1837 – 1885) was
born in Georgia on 5 December 1837 and died in Tupelo,
Mississippi, on 18 March 1885. She first married R. A.
Weatherall on 8 March 1859 and had two daughters Georgia
(1868 - 1927) and Laura (1870 -
1925). According to the 1870 census Emma was a school
teacher and living in Tupelo, Mississippi with her two
daughters. Emma was baptized at the Pontotoc Baptist Church
in 1865.8 After her first husband died (before
1870) she was remarried in 1875 to Major Henry (Harvey)
Clay Medford (1830 - 1902) of Tupelo, Mississippi
(a lawyer and the first mayor of Tupelo). Although referred
to as "Major" Mr. Medford was in the Civil War and never
rose above the rank of private.9 They also had
two daughters, Eualia and Aurora. In 1878 they
adopted her four year-old nephew, Memory E. Leake,
after his parents died in a yellow fever epidemic. Julius
Garnett Berry10 has written a very moving account
of Memory E. Leake’s long and productive life.
Emma’s children were:
a) Georgia Weatherall (1868 - 1927) never married.
She moved to Birmingham, Alabama, and lived there with her
sister Laura.
b) Laura (1870 - 1925) moved to Birmingham, Alabama
and married Judge E. J. Robinson.11 They were
married ca 1900. Laura was his second wife. In 1900 the
judge was living in Ashville, Alabama. His children
still under his roof (and their ages in 1900) by his first
wife (Lulan) were:
i) Harold B.,16,
ii) Orleane,9,
iii) James L., 8,
iv) Gladis G., 5,
v) Mary O., 3.
By 1910 Judge E. J. Robinson had moved to Birmingham,
Alabama and was married to his second wife, Laura
Weatherall. He died on 20 March 1910 at age 64 years. In the
census for 1910, which was taken just a few weeks after his
death, the head of the family (his wife Laura) was listed as
Eliska J. Robinson. So, apparently the "E" in E. J. stood
for Eliska. The children were all listed as stepchildren,
except one---Memory L., age 8. This youngest child, Memory
Leake Robinson, age eight years old, was named after his
mother’s foster brother and first cousin, Memory E. Leake
(1874 – 1962) of Tupelo, Mississippi. At an early age Memory
Leake Robinson acquired the nickname, Toby. Maybe his Leake
relatives in Tupelo, Mississippi branded him with that name.
According to Julius G. Berry’s biography of Memory Leake (p.
77), "Toby Robinson and O. B. Sparks, Laura and Eulalis’s
boys, spent much of the long summers with them and kinda
grew up with Medford and Memory Hunter (two of Memory
Leake’s sons)."
Also listed in the 1910 Robinson household was Georgia
Weatherall. She was Laura’s older sister who never married.
By 1920 the Robinson household in Birmingham had dwindled
to three people. The three were: Laura (still listing
herself as E. J. Robinson), Tobe or Toby, the nickname for
Memory Leake Robinson who was 18 years old and Georgia
Weatherall, Laura’s old maid sister.
In the 1930 census both Laura and Georgia were missing.
So, apparently they died between 1920 and 1930. NOTE: I
think Laura died in July 1925 and Georgia died in March
1927. In the 1930 census Memory Leake Robinson listed
himself as Toby L. along with his 25 year old wife, Mary,
who was born in Ohio. They had been married for 5 years and
were listed as roomers in a boarding house in Birmingham,
Alabama. Memory Leake Robinson was born in 1901 and he died
in 1962.
Today (2007) the building that houses the Cumberland
School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama
is named the Memory Leake Robinson Hall. Apparently at some
point during the 20th century Mr. Memory Leake
(Toby) Robinson devoted a substantial amount of time to that
noted institution. A metal plaque inside the building has
the following inscription:
Dedicated to Memory Leake Robinson (1901
– 1962), Alumnus, Lawyer, Advocate, Gentleman and Chairman
Executive Committee. His Christian Leadership and Vision
helped establish the Law School at Howard College [now
Samford University]. His Zeal for Excellence in the Law is
expressed in high Standards of legal education at the
Cumberland School of Law
c) Eualia married a Mr. Sparks in
Birmingham, Alabama.
d) Aurora married a Mr. Shumate
in Birmingham, Alabama.12
e) Memory Leake was adopted in 1878
at age four by Emma and her second husband, Major
Henry C. Medford. Julius Garnett Berry10 has
written a very moving account of Memory E. Leake’s long and
productive life.
5. Mary A. married a Mitchell.
6. Annie Rosa (1840 – ca 1925)
(my great grandmother---see Chapter 11) was probably
born in Coweta County, Georgia, in October 1840 and died in
Lafayette County, Mississippi, around 1925. She married
William Castleberry on 27 January 1862 in Pontotoc County,
Mississippi. In her Civil War pension applications she
states, contrary to the above and erroneously, I think, that
she has lived in Mississippi all her life and also that she
was married in Lafayette County, Mississippi.
7. Antoinette (Nettie M.) (1845 - ??) was
born in Mississippi. She was baptized in 1865 at the
Pontotoc Baptist Church.13 Nettie married B. F.
Mitchell on 4 May 1868 [Pontotoc County , MS, Missing
Marriages (1867 – 1880), p. 17, Hazle Boss Neet]. She was
not mentioned in her father’s will.
8. Sina E.(1847 - ??) was born in Mississippi. She
was not mentioned in her father’s 1872 will.
9. Adeline E. (Lina) (1854 – 1877)
was born in Mississippi. She was baptized at the Pontotoc
Baptist Church in November 1865.14 She was only
seventeen years old when she married Marcus Memory Gordon
Leake on 3 September 1871 in Ackerman, Mississippi
(Choctaw County). He was born in Adairsville, Georgia, on 29
September 1845.15 They had two sons, Victor F.
(he apparently died soon after birth) and Memory E. Leake.
Lina Coleman died in a yellow fever epidemic in Holly
Springs, Mississippi, on 6 September 187716 and
her husband died on 13 September 1877 (also from yellow
fever) in Louisville, Kentucky. He had traveled north with
his young son trying to escape that raging disease.
Afterwards, her sister, Emma, and Emma’s second husband
(Major Medford) in Tupelo, Mississippi, adopted
four-year-old Memory E. Leake.17
Chapter 31 – Two
Servants of Daniel T. Coleman and Clarinda Ann R. Randle
Daniel T. Coleman had a rather large number of servants
considering the size of his land holdings and overall
prosperity. Also, Daniel seems to have been as much of a
merchant as a farmer and therefore would have had an even
lesser need for servants.
It is
quite likely that some of his servants were inherited by his
wife from her father, William Randle, who died in 1830. He
was a larger land holder and more prosperous than his
son-in-law, Daniel T. Coleman.
According to Federal census records we learn that Daniel had
16 slaves in 1830, 25 in 1840 and 20 in 1860. Of the 20 in
1860, 7 were listed as "mulatto", a rather large ratio
(about 35%).
In
1830 Daniel’s father-in-law (William Randle) was the owner
of 42 slaves according to the Federal census.
Two servants that apparently belonged to Daniel T.
Coleman were Albert and Gus Coleman. In the 1870 census they
were living next door to Daniel Coleman, and I therefore
initially assumed, incorrectly, that they were two of his
older sons. Later, however, a Coleman descendant in Georgia
(Patrick Coleman) pointed out to me that they were black
citizens and therefore perhaps not the children of Daniel T.
Coleman.
The two servants were:
1. Albert (1827 - ??) probably born in Greene
County, Georgia. He was married to Claris (1848 - ??). She
was born in South Carolina. In 1870 their children were: Gus
(15), Mary (11), Margaret (8), Henrietta (5), and Albert
(3).
2. Guss (1829 - 1876) also probably born in
Greene County, Georgia. He was married to Mary Ann (1828 –
1918). Their children in 1870 were: Edward (7) and Alice
(4). Phyllis Green (maybe a sister to Mary Ann) and her
three children were also in the household in 1870.
In the census records for 1870 and 1880 Albert and Gus
and their wives list themselves as black---with the
exception of Mary Ann who list her self in 1880 as mulatto.
Another mulatto hint for these former servants is the 1860
slave schedule for Daniel Coleman (mentioned above) where 7
of his 20 servants were listed as mulatto. Of these 7 only
two were males. Their ages were 35 and 20, not too far from
the ages (33 and 31) of Albert and Gus in 1860.
From the minutes of the Pontotoc, Mississippi Baptist
Church the following references are made to Gus and his
wife, Mary Ann Coleman.
On 26 May 1867 the Pontotoc Baptist Church met at water
and Baptized the following colored candidates: Mary Ann
Coleman [wife of Gus], Anna Coleman, and Tempe
Coleman, etc., etc.
Gus was baptized later at the Pontotoc Baptist Church on
22 September 1867. The church minutes say (p. 53) that "the colored part of the Baptist Church of Pontotoc,
Mississippi met at the water for Baptism." A few days
later on 12 October 1867 a petition from 29 colored members
was presented to form their own church. Mary A. Coleman and
Anna Coleman were two of the 29 colored members petitioning
for their own church.
These black church members with a Coleman surname were
surely former servants of Daniel T. Coleman and his wife.
Gus’s wife, Mary A. Coleman, is listed as the head of the
family in the 1880 census so Gus Coleman apparently died
before 1880. In the Pontotoc, Mississippi city cemetery
there is a tombstone with the following inscription:
Augustus Coleman (husband of Mary A.), born in Greene
County, Georgia, on 29 August 1829 and died 15 September
1876.1 Is this perhaps the Gus Coleman above? It
surely must be one and the same! Also buried in the Pontotoc
city cemetery is a Mary Coleman (1828 – 1919). Is this Mary
A. Coleman, the wife of Gus Coleman? I think so.
The Pontotoc City Cemetery was given to
the City of Pontotoc by the Chickasaws and the U.S.
Government on June 22, 1852, because "many Chickasaws and
their white friends were buried there." Maj. Gen William
Colbert (son of James Logan1
Colbert) was buried there in 1835. The Rev. Thomas C.
Sturart, missionary to the Chickasaws, is also buried in the
City Cemetery. 2
Chapter 32 -
Introduction to King
Family of Lawrence,
Holmes, and Carroll Counties,
Mississippi
My grandmother was Eliza King of Holmes County,
Mississippi. Five generations earlier, her ancestor Francis
King moved (around 1790) from Maryland to Spotsylvania
County, Virginia. Later in 1814 one of his sons (Azariah)
moved to Mississippi and settled along the Pearl River near
Monticello in Lawrence County. One of Azariah sons was
Meshack King who was born around 1799 and who later married
Lovisa Whitehead. She was from a wealthy and prominent
family that had moved to Lawrence County, Mississippi, from
North Carolina around 1802. Meshack and Lovisa’s eldest
child was William A. King who was born in 1818. Around 1834
Meshack moved his family from Lawrence County to Holmes
County, Mississippi, where he died in 1837. His eldest son,
William King, married Eliza Shipp in Holmes County around
1849. One of there off springs was Thomas R. King who was
born in 1850. Thomas married Annie Montgomery in 1876. Their
children were: Pinckney, John, Eliza (my grandmother),
Thomas, Annie, Bayless, and Ellen.
Chapter
33 - Francis King
(ca 1740 - ca 1816)
Francis King was probably born in
Maryland around 1740 assuming that he was approximately
twenty years older than his son Azariah. His wife was Mary
and their known children were: James, Francis, Jr., Azariah,
Elijah, Susanna and maybe Eliza.1 The order
probably indicates their relative ages.
From Virginia land records it is clear
that Francis King first bought land in Spotsylvania County,
Virginia, in 1781. Two of his children (James and Azariah)
appear to have preceded him to Virginia since James shows up
in the tax records2 before Francis and Azariah
were married in Orange County, Virginia, in 1780.3
At any rate in 1781 Francis bought
approximately 700 acres of land in Spotsylvania County (in a
deed dated June 1781 he bought 290 acres of land for £1595
from James Head4 and in a second deed4
two months later he bought 400 acres from Thomas Lipscomb
for £4000). I believe this land was located near Waller’s
meeting house (to be mentioned later). Both deeds state that
Francis King was of the state of Maryland (unfortunately, no
county is mentioned).
The next deed for Francis King appears in
August 1787 when he (and his wife, Mary) sold 290 acres of
land to their son Azariah King (spelled Ezeriah in the deed)
for £95.5 Again the deed states that Francis King
is of the state of Maryland and Azariah is of the county of
Orange in Virginia. The land was adjacent to John Wheeler,
Joseph Fines, and Reuben Massey’s land and bounded by James
Wiglesworth’s old line. According to tax records6,
James Wiglesworth’s land was near Waller’s meeting house.
John Waller was a Baptist preacher and a
member of a prominent family. His plantation (Newport) was
located on the south side of the Mat River, one-half mile
south of Duerson’s store.7 Current maps of
Spotsylvania County show Waller’s Church in Berkeley
District (where Francis and some of his children lived,
including Azariah). This spot is in the southeast part of
the county and near the intersection of county roads 738 and
605 and approximately 35 miles due south of Fredericksburg.
Almost ten years later in January 1795
Francis King bought 100 acres of land from Thomas Lipscomb
for £74 (witnessed by Francis King’s son, John!) and 7 1/2
acres from William Estes paying him only £4. Both tracts
were located in Berkeley Parish of Spotsylvania County,
Virginia (on north side of road leading to the church?).8
In December 1798 Francis King and his
wife Mary sold 107 acres of Spotsylvania County land to
Ruben Moore 107.9
The most informative and puzzling deed
was written in December 1804 transferring 400 acres of land
owned by Francis King to his children but reserving for
himself the use of the land so long as he lived. The
children listed were: James, Francis, Jr., Azariah, Elijah,
and Susanna. The order probably indicates their relative
ages. I believe John King was another son, (not mentioned in
this 1804 deed but mentioned in an earlier one)10
who was living in North Carolina in 1787. A
second deed on the same date in 1804 appoints James King
(probably the eldest son) to be Francis’ lawful attorney.11
For some unknown reason five years later in an August 1809
deed12 Francis King revoked the two 1804 deeds,
took back his 400 acres of land and did away with the power
of attorney status delegated to his son James! He again
gives the names of his children, which are the same except
for Elijah (his name is missing) and Eliza (her name is
added). The similarity of these two names may mean that only
one person is involved, probably Elijah since an Elijah King
has been found in property deeds. Did Francis survive a near
death illness in 1804 and after a full recovery take back
his land? Or did he leave Virginia to take care of some
business in Maryland and then return five years later? At
least one of the children (Azariah) mentioned in these deeds
was no longer living in Spotsylvania County in 1804 for he
had moved in 1801 to Wilkes County, Georgia.
Mary, Francis’s wife, is not mentioned in
any deeds after December 1798 causing me to believe that she
died around 1800.
Francis King’s name appears in the
property tax records13 for Spotsylvania County
from 1791 to 1815. So, maybe his move to Virginia from
Maryland did not occur until around 1790 and he may have
died or moved away around 1815.
No records have so far been found for
Francis King in Maryland (I do not know the county of his
residence) and no record has been found for any service in
the Revolutionary War.
I have not found Francis King listed in
any Federal census records. In 1790 was he in Maryland or
Virginia? In 1800 and 1810 he was in Virginia but the census
has been lost for these years and in 1820 he is not listed
in Virginia (was he deceased or residing elsewhere, maybe in
Kentucky?).
I do not know when Francis King died or
where he is buried.
Chapter
34 - Azariah King
(ca 1760 - 1816)
Azariah King was probably born in
Maryland around 1760, assuming he was about 20 years old
when he married Mary Abell in Orange County, Virginia, on 2
December 1780.1 The marriage record states that
he was from Spotsylvania County, Virginia. I think his
parents were Francis and Mary King.
The father of Mary King (Azariah’s wife,
not his mother who was also named Mary) was Caleb Abell. In
some deeds Mary uses her nickname Polly.
The known children of Azariah and Mary
King (mentioned in Azariah’s will in 1816) were: George W.,
Nancy, Meshack, and Shadrack. However there surely must have
been more. In an Orange County, Virginia, land deed2
dated 27 September 1787 Azariah King (spelled Ezeriah)
bought 218 acres of land from John King of Pasquotank
County, North Carolina, for £150. The land was located on
the west side of the Mine Run in Orange County. It is quite
likely that John King was Azariah’s brother. This land,
less one quarter of an acre as buring ground, was
later sold by Azariah King to Jesse Tinder (he married
Alepear Abell in 17863, probably Azariah’s wife’s
sister) on 3 November 1792 for £1504. About six
months later on 28 May 1793 another deed5 was
needed to make stricter payment arrangements for the above
218 acres. In this second deed Azariah King was of the
County of Spotsylvania, Virginia, and witnesses were Caleb
Abell (Azariah’s father-in-law) and Elijah King (probably
Azariah’s brother). Azariah King is last mentioned in
Spotsylvania County in deeds in September and October 18006
so his move to Wilkes County, Georgia, evidently took place
soon after that time.
Azariah does not appear in the
Spotsylvania County property tax records until 17937
and his last listing is in 1801. So, I assume that he was
residing in Orange County, Virginia (west side of the Mine
Run in Gordon District) from 1780 to 1793 and in
Spotsylvania County, Virginia, (near Wallers’s Church in
Berkeley District) from 1793 to 1801 when he moved to Wilkes
County, Georgia.
He is listed as a voter8 in
1797 for Spotsylvania County delegates to the general
assembly.
Azariah King first appears in Wilkes
County, Georgia, records on 30 July 1801 when he acquired
500 acres of land from Jesse Thompson after paying $2000 for
land located in the fork of Clark Creek at the mouth of
Rocky Branch.9 Later on 8 April 1802 Azariah
bought more land on Clark Creek (216 acres for $1466 from
Benajah Smith).10 This land was next to the land
on which Azariah was living and contained a gristmill.
Originally the land was sold to Smith by the famous
Revolutionary War hero, General Elijah Clark. Azariah’s name
appears in the 1803 Georgia land lottery next to Wylie
Bohannon who married Azariah’s daughter, Nancy.11 The tax records in 1804 show Azariah owning 716 acres in
Captain Peter Stovall’s District. His land was on Clark’s
Creek adjoining land owned by Wooten. He also owned 24
slaves. In 1805 he owned 766 acres in the same location, however the record says his land adjoins land
owned by Mathews and his number of slaves was 21.12
Regarding slaves, on 29 April 1811
Azariah was a defendant at an inquest held by the state in
Wilkes County at his home upon a dead slave where numerous
witnesses testified to their belief that "a slave named John
came to death by blows given by his master".13 I
do not know the outcome of this inquest.
A less serious matter was brought up
before the August 1807 term of the Inferior Court of Wilkes
County where a case was heard involving Isaac Bolton vs
George King and Wylie Bohannon "for killing 17 of Bolton’s
hogs at the home of Aycriah King (Azariah King)".14
So, it appears that Azariah King was in
Wilkes County, Georgia, from about 1801 to 1811 and that he
resided on the fork of Clark Creek at the mouth of Rocky (or
Lick) Branch (I have not been able to pinpoint this spot on
current maps).
In 1807 when George W. King and Wylie
Bohannon were accused by Isaac Bolton of killing 17 of his
hogs (Inferior court case mentioned above) how old must they
have been? I assume that by 1807 Wylie was already
married to Nancy and that he therefore was at least 18 or 19
years old. If she were 17 her birth year would be 1790 and
she would have been born in Virginia before they arrived in
Georgia. And George W. King too must have been about 18 and
also born in Virginia. Unfortunately none of these people
lived long enough to be recorded in the 1850 census! If
Azariah was married in 1780 he must have been born around
1760 (assuming that he was about twenty years old when he
married, also his wife Mary was in the 45 plus age category
in the1820 Lawrence County, Mississippi, census). So, surely
all of his children were born in Virginia (his oldest
children should have been born starting around 1781). Was
Nancy King married to Wylie Bohannon in Wilkes County,
Georgia?
In a Wilkes County deed dated 24 May 1811
Azariah King of Adair County, Kentucky, late
of Wilkes County, Georgia, gave power of attorney rights to
his son, George W. King.15 So, evidently Azariah
and his family were residents of Kentucky for several years
(1811 - 1814) before moving in 1814 to Mississippi. However,
I have found no records for Azariah King in Adair County,
Kentucky.
Azariah’s brothers, Elijah King and James
King, bought land in Adair County, Kentucky, in 1813 and
1815 (more about this later). Also, the purchase of Kentucky
land was mentioned in Caleb Abell’s (Azariah’s
father-in-law) will in 1815.
Around 1814 Azariah King moved his family
(maybe from Adair County, Kentucky?) to Lawrence County,
Mississippi, (his name first appears on the Lawrence County
tax roll in 1814).
In 1814 some Lawrence County citizens
signed a petition that was sent to the Congress of the
United States (they called it a "Memorial") making a plea
for a post road through the center of the Mississippi
Territory linking Nashville and New Orleans.16
The proposed road would cut through Lawrence County and
shorten the distance between those two places (Nashville and
New Orleans) by about 150 miles, according to the
petitioners. Among the signers of this "memorial" (referred
December 6, 1814) were Wylie Bohannon (Nancy King Bohannon’s
husband), George W. King, S. King (Shadrack I would guess),
Zariah King (Azariah no doubt), and Meshack King.
Did these Lawrence County piney woods
citizens realize that they were up against stiff competition
from the affluent and landed aristocrats in Natchez just 50
miles to the west? They too had proposed a post road south
from Nashville, not however to New Orleans but to their up
and coming city. Years later this historic and infamous road
became known as the Natchez Trace.
At the time of his death in 1816 Azariah
had land holdings in Georgia (presumably in Wilkes County)
and in the Mississippi Territory. He was listed on the tax
rolls for Lawrence County, Mississippi, for 1814 and 1815
with 460 acres of land located on the Pearl River.17
In 1816, after Azariah’s death, his widow, Mary, was listed
on the Lawrence County tax rolls. George W. King, Azariah’s
son, was also listed for the 1814 - 1815 time period.
Azariah died between 25 January 1816
(date his will was written) and 9 February 1816 (power of
attorney deed from Mary King to her son George W. King
stated that Azariah was deceased).18
From Azariah’s will19 we learn
that his wife was Mary and that he had one daughter,
Nancy, and three sons: George W., Shadrack,
and Meshack. When Azariah died in 1816 Nancy
was married already to Wiley Bohannon originally of
Wilkes County, Georgia, and later of Lawrence County,
Mississippi, and only George W., the oldest son, was
"of age". This is an odd circumstance for a couple married
36 years earlier in 1780. Surely they had other older
children who perhaps by 1816 had moved to other parts of the
country or had died. Assuming the children mentioned in
Azariah’s will in 1816 were approximately twenty years old
they would have been born around 1796 when Azariah and Mary
were residing in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. By then they
had been married and living in Spotsylvania County (or next
door in Orange County) for sixteen years!
Also, from Azariah’s will it appears that
none of his sons were married. Each son received three Negro
slaves, cows and calves, two suits of clothes and a good
saddle horse and a silver watch. Nancy, Azariah’s married
daughter, was "loaned" two Negro slaves during her natural
life. Mary, his wife, received "all my Negroes not otherwise
disposed of" and the balance of Azariah’s property. His
"good friends" were Harmon and Howel W. Runnels and
Alexander Hall and the executor and executrix of his will
were George W. King (son) and Mary King (his wife).
Azariah and the children mentioned in his
will died young (as perhaps did some of his children whose
names do not appear in his will). Azariah died at about age
56 in 1816, George W. at about age 34 in 1824, Shadrack at
about age 29 in 1827, and Meshack at 38 in 1837. I don’t
know when Azariah’s wife (Mary) and daughter (Nancy) died.
Unfortunately no Federal census records
exist (to my knowledge) for Azariah King.
To summarize, Azariah King was in Orange
County, Virginia, (west side of Mine Run in Gordon District
near present day county road 692) from 1780 to 1793; in
Spotsylvania County, Virginia, (near Waller’s Church in
Berkeley District near the intersection of present day
county roads 738 and 605) from 1793 to 1801; in Wilkes
County, Georgia, from about 1801 to 1811 where he resided on
the fork of Clark Creek at the mouth of Rocky (or Lick)
Branch; in Adair County, Kentucky, from around 1811 to 1814;
and finally in Lawrence County, Mississippi, (near
Monticello and the Pearl River) from 1814 to his death in
1816 at about age 56 (assuming he was 20 years old when he
married in 1780).
Chapter
35 - James, Francis, Jr., Elijah, and John King
The children of Francis and Mary King
(other than Azariah) were James, Francis, Jr., Elijah, John,
Susanna and Eliza.1
James King was married to Susannah
(called Sucky in some deeds). His name shows up in
Spotsylvania County property tax records2 as
early as 1782 and as late as 1815. He appears to be the
original King family member in Spotsylvania County,
Virginia. His name is on a Spotsylvania County list3
as one who supplied corn to the Revolutionary War
effort. He voted for Spotsylvania County delegates to the
general assembly in 1797, 1800, and 1813.4,5,6 In
the 1798 Direct Tax list for Spotsylvania County7 his land is listed as being on Pike Run. In the tax records8
for 1812 and 1813 his name is listed as the Rev. James King!
By 1804 his son’s name (James, Jr.) was also listed in the
tax records. Both James and James, Jr. are listed in the
1810 federal census for Spotsylvania County and in the 1820
and 1830 census for Adair County, Kentucky. James was a
witness on deeds9 for his brother Azariah in 1792
and for John (another brother, I think) in 1800. Also in
1800 James bought 219 acres from Azariah10 (Caleb
Abell, Azariah’s father-in-law, was a witness) and sold 109
acres to brother John.11 In an 1804 deed he was
given power of attorney status for his father (Francis King)
until it was revoked in 1809.12,13 All of these
transactions were in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
In 1805 James King bought 100 acres
of land using a deed14 that was witnessed by
Azariah and Elijah (his brothers) and by John Abell
(Azariah’s brother-in-law). In 1809 James sold to brother
John 105 acres of land that was adjacent to land formerly
owned by Azariah King.15 Finally in 1812 James
bought land from Vass and Lansley16 in probably
his last land purchase in Spotslyvania County since he, his
son (James, Jr.), and his father do not appear in the tax
records after 1815. I believe they moved that year to Adair
County, Kentucky, to join Elijah (from Orange County)
and Azariah (from Wilkes County, Georgia) who had only
recently moved to Kentucky.
In October 1815 James King bought
approximately 300 acres of land in Adair County, Kentucky,
according to two deeds.17,18 The land was
situated on Harrods Fork and Croons(?) Creek.
These numerous deeds point toward a
definite family connection between James and his father,
Francis, and between himself and his brothers, Azariah,
Elijah, and John.
The only distinguishing Spotsylvania
County record found so far for Francis King, Jr.
(other than his father’s 1804 and 1808 deeds where he is
listed as a son) is a tax record19 for the year
1813 listing separately both himself and his father. Until I
found this record I was worried that some of the records
thought to be for Francis, Sr. might actually be for
Francis, Jr. Although this in fact may still be the case I
feel more confident that it is not.
Elijah King was a witness for his
brother James on a Spotsylvania County deed in 1805.20
Apparently Elijah lived only in Orange County (west side of
the Mine Run) which explains why his name does not appear in
the Spotsylvania County tax records. His name does however
appear frequently in the Orange County deed books beginning
in 1788 and lasting until 1813.
Elijah’s name also appears in deeds in
Adair County, Kentucky, in 1813 and 1814.21,22
Jerimiah Abell was a witness to the 1813 deed23
for land bought by Elijah in Adair County which was located
near Abell’s land and near the Upper Lick and Butter’s (or
Butler) Fork. Elijah’s name also appears in the 1820 and
1830 census for Adair County, Kentucky.
John King first appears in Orange
County, Virginia (west side of the Mine Run) in a 1783 deed.24
In 1787 he sold his brother Azariah 218 acres of land
in Orange County. In this deed25 John King is of
Pasquotank County, North Carolina, where he apparently lived
before moving to Virginia. John probably moved from Orange
County to Spotsylvania County around 1800 since he had land
transactions26 involving his brothers in
Spotsylvania County. In an 1808 transaction he sold land
that was adjacent to land owned by James King and Joseph
Duerson27 (Duerson’s land was near Newport28
which was near Waller’s Church in the southeast part of
Spotsylvania County). This transaction further confirms the
probable location of the King land in the Berkeley District
of Spotsylvania County as being near the intersection of
present day (2002) County Roads 738 and 605 and
approximately 35 miles due south of Fredericksburg. John
first appears in the Spotsylvania County tax records in 1800
and he is listed there each year until at least 1821.
Incidentally, John shows up in the tax records after 1815 so
apparently he did not make the move to Adair County,
Kentucky, with the rest of the King family.
I have no information on the two
daughters (Susanna and Eliza) mentioned in the 1804
and 1809 deeds by Francis King.
Chapter
36 - Mary Abell King
(ca 1760 – ca 1825)
Mary Abell was married in Orange County,
Virginia, to Azariah King on 2 December 1780.1
They had at least four children (probably more).
Her father was Caleb Abell who died in
Orange County, Virginia, in 1815 (his will2 was
written on 8 January 1815). The children named in his will
were: Caleb, Richard (married Ann), Susannah (married Joseph
Hilman on 11 Sept 1805), Elizabeth, John (married Margaret
Tinder on 5 Oct 1777 and later Sally King on 30 Jul 1805),
Nancy (married George Scott on 15 Oct 1807), Sally and Jose.
The order may indicate their age. Other possible
daughters not mentioned in the will were Alepear who married
Jesse Tinder on 11 Dec 1786 and Margaret who married John
Jones on 7 Sept 1783.1 Caleb Abell’s wife was not
mentioned in his will so she apparently died before 1815.
Caleb Abell willed that his property
(mansion house and 900 acres of land) be sold and the money
used to "lay out" land in Kentucky to be equally divided
among his children.
Mary Abell King (the widow of Azariah
King) was remarried to Samuel C. Alexander of
Lawrence County, Mississippi, according to a deed3
written on 5 February 1818. In the deed Alexander refers to
George W. King as his step-son and gives the land on which
he now lives (located in Lawrence County at S12 T7 R21W) and
five slaves to his step-son after Mary (his new wife)
dies. In another deed4 on 5 February 1818
Alexander refers to Mary as his "now" wife and includes the
words "in consideration of a marriage already solemnized"
which I take to mean a marriage that had only recently
occurred. So, Mary was remarried about two years after the
death of Azariah to a man much younger than herself (she was
in the 45 plus age category and Samuel was in the 18 - 25
age category in the 1820 Lawrence County census---at least a
25 year difference if the census information is correct!).
Samuel was a justice of the Lawrence
County court system around 1820 according to deeds recorded
in Deed Book A. In these deeds Mary signs her name with her
mark so apparently she was unable to read or write. So far I
have found no trace of Samuel and Mary Alexander in the
census records after 1820! What happened to them?
Chapter
37 - Nancy King
(ca 1790 – ca 18??)
Nancy King
married Wylie Bohannon probably in Wilkes County, Georgia.
Wylie Bohannon’s name appears in the Georgia tax records and
land records in close alliance with Azariah King. For
example their names appear together in the 1803 Georgia land
lottery with each having two draws.1 In the
minutes2 of the Wilkes County Inferior Court
(1811 - 1817) it says that Wylie Bohannon, 14 years old
and Buddy Bohannor 4 years old orphans of William Bohannon
dec’d bound to John D. Overstreet, farmer. The Bohannon
family settled on Newford Creek in Wilkes County.
I think Nancy was born before the family
moved to Georgia. I do not know when or where she died. In
fact I have found nothing about her or her husband after her
father died in 1816.
Chapter 38
- George W. King
(ca 1788 - 1824)
George W. King
(ca 1788 - 1824) married Sarah R. ?? (both were in
the 25 - 44 age group in the 1820 census). They evidently
had no children since none are mentioned in his Lawrence
County will1 which is dated 3 October 1824.
However he left land to a nephew, George W. King, his
namesake and the son of his brother Shadrack. He left his
wife, Sarah R., thirteen Negro slaves, three were "loaned"
to her until she remarried (which she soon did) or died
(which she also soon did), then they were to go to his
brother, Meshack King. Also to Meshack he willed two
Negro slaves, his horse (Sampson), saddle, watch, etc., and one-half of his library of books (the other half to
his wife). His "trusty friends" were Alexander Hall (also
mentioned by Azariah King in his 1816 will) and Joseph
Cooper. George W. King was a Chief Justice of the Quorum
(C.J.Q) (?) of Lawrence County according to deeds2
in 1818 and 1819. Brother George W. King preached the sermon
on at least two occasions (16 March 1822 and 18 May 1822) at
the Bethany Baptist Church (still standing in 1980 and
located just south of Prentiss, Mississippi, in Lawrence
County on Hwy 13 at junction of the old St. Stephen’s Road).3
George W. King’s widow, Sarah R.,
was remarried on 5 May 18254 to Zebulon E.
Pendleton and she died soon afterwards according to an
1828 Lawrence County land deed.5
Chapter 39 - Shadrack King
(ca 1798 - 1827)
In 1816 Shadrack King (ca 1798 -
1827) was a commissioner for the construction of a public
building in Lawrence County, Mississippi, according to
Strickland and Edwards.1 He also was the clerk of
the Pearl River Baptist Association upon its founding in
1820 and one of the first ministers of the association along
with William Whitehead (brother of Lovisa King).2
Shadrack married Belinda ?????
around 1818.
He was bonded for $6000 on 27 February
1823 along with the tax collector Samuel Stamps and David R.
Hubert. Apparently all three men were county officials.3
Shadrack King apparently died in 1826 at
age 28 (his Lawrence County will is dated 27 July 182?).4
By the time his will was probated on 3 March 1828 Belinda
(his widow) had remarried5 on 13 May 1827 to Richardson David Ransom!
Seven years later, according to a Probate
Court record dated April 1835 for Carroll County, Richardson
D. Ransom (Belinda’s second husband), was petitioning the
court to appoint a guardian for his step children, Carr A.
King, Addison M. King, George W. King, and Shadrack King,
all minors! What happened to Belinda? Did she die leaving
her second husband with four minor step children? Apparently
so!
Shadrack King, who was a minor in 1835,
was listed in the Probate Court record but he was not
mentioned in his father’s will (seven years earlier) except
to say that if his wife were pregnant (he undoubtedly
suspected that she was) the unborn child would share equally
with the other children. So this Shadrack King is obviously
the child born probably in 1827 after his father died in
1826.
Carr Able (about 22 years old) and his
wife are listed in the 1840 Carroll County Federal census in
the 20 to 30 year old age bracket. They had two sons under 6
years old and owned 13 slaves.
According to a Carroll County,
Mississippi, estate record6 dated 14 Oct 1841 the
guardian of Shadrack’s son, George W. King, was one A.M.
King (Addison M. King was George’s older brother). A sum of
money was divided between George W. King, A. M. King and S.
King (Shadrack King). The estate record goes on to say that
"said guardian (A. M. King) would further state that he has
advanced to George W. King, who is now studying medicine
in Philadelphia, the sum of five hundred and fifty
dollars, thereby leaving a balance due George W. King of one
thousand six hundred and sixty dollars and 30 cents". In
1841 George W. King would have been about 20 years old.
Nine years later, in 1850, Carr Able (the
oldest son) was living in Lafayette County, Mississippi,
with his wife, Margaret and children; Augusta A., 11,
Shadrack, 10, George W., 6, and Addison M. G. , 4. Carr
Able’s age is given as 32 and his occupation is physician.
In 1850 George W. and Shadrack (two
youngest sons) had married and were living in Carroll
County, Mississippi, where they were next door neighbors.
The 1850 Federal census shows that George W. was married to
Susan D. and had two sons: Azariah, age 3, and George W. age
1, and a 4 month old daughter named Elizabeth. Shadrack was
married to Sarah A. and had three daughters: Epharamian G.
age 4, Belinda M. age 3 and Lovisa A. age 1 month. He also
had a two year old son, William Cicero. Both list farming as
their occupation. What happened to George W. King’s medical
training in Philadelphia in 1841?
By 1860 Shadrack had moved to Scott
County, Mississippi. The number of family members was
unchanged.
NOTES: "A" Shadrack King (1840 - 1913)
and his wife Priscilla Ann (1841 - 1923) are buried in the
Salem Methodist Cemetery in Attala County, Mississippi.7
"A" Carr A. King (1856 - 1934) and wife Martha Ella are
buried in County Line Baptist Cemetery in Leake County,
Mississippi, near Attala County.8
Shadrack and Belinda King’s children
were:
Addison McGehee
George W. (mentioned in his uncle
George W. King’s 1824 will; according to the 1850 census his
wife was Susan D.)
Shadrack (born in 1827 after the
death of his father)
Chapter
40 - Meshack King
(1799 - 1837)
Meshack King ,
the fourth child of Azariah and Mary King, was born around
1799, most likely in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. In 1816
Meshack was apparently not yet 21 since his father’s will
states that he is to receive his portion "when they
(Shadrack and Meshack) become of age". On 13 May 1820
Meshack received four Negroes, ten cows and calves, one
saddle horse and saddle, one silver watch, two suites of
clothes, and all the property left him in his father’s will,
so he apparently turned 21 in 1820 making his birth date
1799.
Meshack married Lovisa Whitehead around
1817. He is listed in the 1820 census for Lawrence County,
Mississippi, with two sons less than 10 years old (one son
was William A. King, my gg-grandfather, who was born in
1818). Meshack was still residing in Lawrence County in 1830
with seven children (3 sons and 3 daughters under 10 and one
son 10 to 20). The one son 10 to 20 was William. The other
son apparently died, if the census is correct. Susan (born
in 1822) and Mary Ann (born ca 1826) are two of the three
daughters. So, there are 3 sons and 1 daughter that are
unaccounted for that were listed in the 1830 census. And
Meshack and Lovisa had other children after 1830! Two were
Laura Lovisa (born in 1833) and Meshack who was probably
born in 1838 (after his father died in 1837).
On 13 Aug 1827 Meshack’s name, along with
several others, including W. W. Whitehead, were on a
$10,000.00 bond for Augustus B. Saunders who was elected
sheriff of Lawrence County in an election on the 6th and 7th
of August 1827. Land records indicate that Meshack King was
still residing in Lawrence County in 1834 or at least he was
still selling land there as late as 1834. On 1 Jan 1834 he
sold 560 acres in Lawrence County (S14,T7,R21W) to Bryan G.
Whitehead for $4500.00. On 27 Feb 1834 Meshack King of
Lawrence County, MS, granted power of attorney to Mark
Noble, "my true and lawful attorney".1
Meshack King was a probate judge in
Lawrence County. Flora Blair Whitehead, the recently widowed
wife of William T. Whitehead (his relationship to the
Whitehead family has not been determined), appeared before
him on 27 January 1834 in Lawrence County to post a bond for
her children, now orphans.2
A year later on 26 May 1835 Meshack King
(the surviving partner of Samuel Hunter, deceased) of
Holmes County, Mississippi, sold to Neylans & Jelks of
Lawrence County, Mississippi, for $350.00 part of lot Number
6 fronting on the Public Square in Monticello, Mississippi.
Witnesses were John McGaha and B.G. Whitehead
(Meshack’s brother-in-law).3
So, apparently around 1835 Meshack moved
to Holmes County, Mississippi. Earlier, in 1820 when he was
21 years old, he purchased land in and around Holmes County.
Land patent records for 1820 show that Meshack bought 80
acres in Carroll County (East 1/2 of SE1/4 of S22,T16N,R5E)
and 90 acres in Holmes/Attala Counties (W1/2 of NW1/4 of S2,
T16N, R5E). In 1835 he is listed as the owner of 159 acres
of land in Carroll County4 (T16, R5E ). This land
is about a mile inside Carroll County and almost at the
point in the county where present day U.S. Hwy 51 first
enters Carroll County going north from Holmes County.
Around 1834 Meshack apparently owned a
considerable amount of property, judging from the number of
slaves in his possession. In a Holmes County deed5
in June 1834 the names of 29 slaves are listed and used as
security for a loan of $6000 from the Agricultural Bank of
Mississippi. Again in August 18346 he uses his
slaves as security for a loan of $27,000 with lending
institutions in Natchez and New Orleans. The names of 51
slaves are listed in this later deed. However, it appears
that some names are common to both list.
Meshack died in 1837 at the age of 38
leaving no will! Why would a former probate judge leave no
will? Probably because his death was rather sudden. The
probate of his property proved to be quite involved and
dragged on until about 1842. Initially, in August 1837,
Meshack’s wife, Lovisa, was appointed administrator of his
estate7 by the Carroll County Probate Court
but the following year the court replaced her and named
her brother, Bryan G. Whitehead, administrator. At the
October 1837 term of the Carroll County Court a notice was
given saying that the personal estate of Meshack King,
deceased, was not sufficient to pay his debts! The notice
also called for a citation to be published for 30 days in
the Free Trader Publication of the City of Natchez notifying
creditors with claims against the estate to come forward. A
newspaper notice in the Holmes County Lexington Union stated
that the land and plantation of Meshack King, deceased, was
to be sold on 17 December 1838 by B. G. Whitehead,
Administrator.8 Similar notices were also run in
the Carrollton, Mississippi, Enquirer. Commissioners of
Insolvency were appointed to examine and report to the court
on the claims which they determined came to $48,588.63 and
in the end were paid at only about 4 cents on the dollar!
Why would a resident of Holmes County have his property
probated in Carroll County? Perhaps Meshack’s principal land
holdings were in Carroll County. In any case it appears that
his wife, Lovisa, and his eight or so children were left
with very little.
According to the 1830 census Meshack and
Lovisa had eight children. By 1837, when he died, they had
at least two more.
Since Meshack left no will the 1850
census is one of the few records available to determine who
his children were. Unfortunately, in 1850 Meshack’s widow
(Lovisa) had an immediate family that consisted of only
herself and two children: Susan, age 28 and Meshack, age 9
(age 9 must be an error if his father died in 1837).
William A. King, who was living in Holmes
County in 1850, was a son of Meshack and Lovisa King
(probably the eldest child). William named one of his son’s
Meshack after his father and another one William Whitehead
after his mother’s father. William A. King gave 40 acres of
land in Holmes County to his mother in 1854 (Lovisa Morris
was her name after she was remarried in 1844). Two years
later in 1856 she gave over 1000 acres of Holmes County land
to him and in this deed9 she refers to
William as her son.
Chapter 41
Lovisa Whitehead King
(ca 1797 - ca
1865)
Meshack King’s wife was Lovisa Whitehead.
Her parents were Rev.
William Whitehead (ca 1767 - 1822) and Susannah Edmunds who
were married in North Carolina and moved (around 1806) to
the Natchez District in Mississippi (they appear in the 1810
census for the Natchez District.1 Later, in 1812,
Reverend William Whitehead (he was a Baptist minister)
bought a considerable amount of land near the Pearl River in
Lawrence County, Mississippi.
The Whiteheads were a prosperous family
in Lawrence County, Mississippi, in the early 1800’s and
later in Carroll County, Mississippi, as well. An excellent
book about this family has been written by Dr. E. Grey
Dimond.2 From his research and from William
Whitehead’s will3 in 1822 a considerable amount
of information is known about this prominent Mississippi
family.
The original family member on American
soil was Arthur Whitehead (born about 1650) who immigrated
with his mother to Virginia from England before 1659.4
He married Mary Goodwin (?) and one of their children was
William, born about 1685 in the Isle of Wight in Virginia.
William married Rachel (McKinney?) and one of their children
was Lazarus, born about 1726 in Halifax County, North
Carolina. Lazarus married Mary (Bryan?) and had the
following children: Lazarus, Jr., Isaac, William
(born about 1767 near Swift Creek in Nash County, North
Carolina), Mary, Nancy, Patsy, Betsy, and Sarah (or Sally).5
This William was the Reverend William
Whitehead who moved from Nash County, North Carolina, to
Lawrence County, Mississippi, around 1806.
The children of the Reverend William and
Susannah Whitehead were:
Lovisa (ca 1797 - ca 1865)
William W. (1799 - 1870)
Bryan G. (1803 – 1853)
Edmunds G. (1806 - 1884 )
John B. (ca 1808 - ??). John was
"afflicted in mind" according to the will.
Lovisa Whitehead married Meshack King
around 1817. William W. Whitehead married a relative of
Jefferson Davis, Elizabeth N. Davis (1810 - 1854) and after
she died he married Martha W. ???, Bryan G. Whitehead
married Mary P. Jenkins and Edmunds G. Whitehead married
Martha Jennett Scott (1818 - 1880). These families later
migrated to Holmes County and Carroll County, Mississippi,
where they had extensive land holdings and it is in Carroll
County that many of them are buried.
William W. Whitehead, who married
Elizabeth N. Davis, became a lawyer and later a judge.
Brayn G. and Mary P. Whitehead migrated
from Lawrence County to Holmes County, Mississippi, where
their names appear often in land records allied with his
sister’s husband, Meshack King. Bryan G. Whitehead was
probably residing in Holmes County in 1838 when he served as
the administrator for Meshack King’s estate. In 1850 Bryan
owned 13 slaves according to a slave schedule for that year
for Holmes County.6 No record has been found for
Mary P. Whitehead’s death date or her final resting place.
Their daughter and only child, Sarah Elizabeth, died in 1850
at the age of 20 and is buried in the Old Middleton
Cemetery, formerly in Carroll County but now in Montgomery
County, Mississippi.7 Bryan G. Whitehead died on
27 Oct 1853 and he is also buried in the Old Middleton
Cemetery.8
Lovisa Whitehead, the eldest child and
only daughter, was born in North Carolina around 1797 as
were her brothers; William W. in 1799, Bryan Goode in 1803,
Edmunds Grey in 1806 and John B. in 1808.
So, Lovisa was approximately nine years
old in 1806 when her family moved to Mississippi. Around
1817 she married Meshack King in Lawrence County. He was
about 18 years old and she was about 20.
By 1830, according to the Federal census,
they had eight children. After 1830 at least two more
children were born before Meshack King died in 1837. The
only children whose names are known are: William, Susan, Mary Ann, Laura Lovisa, and Meshack, Jr.. William
was born ca 1818, Susan was born in 1822, Mary Ann was born
ca 1826, Laura Lovisa was born in 1833, and Meshack, Jr. was
born in 1838.
William King married Eliza
Shipp around 1849 and they had four children. William
died in 1859. He and his wife are buried in the Wheeling
Cemetery in Holmes County.
Susan King never married and
died after 1850 (in the 1850 Carroll County census her age
is given as 28). She is buried in an unmarked grave beside
her sister, Laura Lovisa, in the Olliphant plot in the Odd
Fellows Cemetery in Enterprise, Mississippi.9
Mary Ann King was born ca 1826
(according to the 1850 census for Carroll County,
Mississippi) and she was married to William W. Wall
on 20 January 1843 in Carroll County.10 In 1850
William and Mary Ann were listed in the Carroll County
Federal census with four children. They were: Eleanor C., 7,
William W., 5, Robert E. 3, and Lovisa, 5 months. Mary Ann’s
husband, William, was a bricklayer and was born in Virginia
ca 1821. His brother, Alexander P. Wall, was living with the
family and he too was a bricklayer. On 16 March 1854 Lovisa
Morris, Mary Ann’s mother, deeded several slaves (Chloe,
Mary, Dennis, and Betsy) to Mary Ann.11 In this
deed she identifies Mary Ann as her daughter.
I have no information on Meshack, Jr.
other than his age that was given as nine years old in the
1850 Federal census for Carroll County, Mississippi. This
must be slightly off since his father died 13 years earlier
in 1837.
I have been unable to find Lovisa King in
the 1840 census. In the 1850 census for Carroll County she
is listed as Lovisa Morris having remarried in Carroll
County on 5 Sept 184412 to the Reverend Nathan
Morris of Holmes and Carroll Counties. He was a "hard-shell"
Baptist preacher according to Mr. Hamilton, the Carroll
County historian.13 Five years later in October
1849 when the Reverend died his will was probated in Holmes
County.14 He is buried in Holmes County beside
his first wife, Pentelope.
Lovisa Morris’ name does show-up in land
records for Clarke County, Mississippi, from 1855 to 1860.
She bought land15 from James M. Seals on 26 June
1855 (313 acres for $6,260.00 ) and a few months later on 24
November 1855 she paid Stephen Holingworth and his wife
$2,289.00 for 327 acres.16 This last deed
mentions that she is a resident of Holmes County. On 1
February 1856 she deeded the 313 acres (land on Shoebooty
Creek) that she bought from Mr. Seals to her daughter, Laura
Lovisa Olliphant.17 In the deed she states that
in the event of her daughter’s death the 313 acres were to
go to Laura’s husband, Dr. S. R. Olliphant. No need to worry
however since Laura sold the land in 1859 to Henry E.
Coleman for $6260.00 and used this money on 9 January 1860
to buy six slaves from her husband.18
Earlier, Lovisa Morris also had land
dealings with Mr. Coleman selling him on 20 December 1857
the 327 acres that she bought in 1855 from Stephen
Holingworth for $4087.50 (she paid $2,289.00).19
On 29 June 1859 Lovisa Morris paid Harvey Jones $2200.00 for
160 acres20 and then in less than a year (on 29
March 1860) she sold this land to her son-in-law, S. R.
Olliphant, for $2000.00 and at the same time sold him four
slaves for $5400.00.21 This is the last land
record found so far in Clarke County for Lovisa Morris.
According to an account written around
1940 by Etna Olliphant Moseley (a daughter of Dr. Samuel
Ruherford Olliphant, Sr. by his second wife) Lovisa Morris
moved to Enterprise, Mississippi, in 1863 to take care of
her grandchildren after her daughter, Laura Lovisa
Olliphant, died in January 1863.22 However, I
think Lovisa moved to Enterprise around 1855 judging from
land records for both Clarke and Holmes Counties. In an 1856
Holmes County deed23 she states that her
residence is Clarke County, Mississippi (Enterprise is in
Clarke County). Also, in the 1860 census for Clarke County,
Mississippi, living next door to Laura Lovisa and her
husband, Dr. S. R. Olliphant, is an L.C. Morrison, age 62. I
think that this is Lovisa C. Morris.
In a special census24 taken in
1866 for Clarke County, Mississippi, no trace of Lovisa was
found.
So, did Lovisa Morris die in Clarke
County and is that where she is buried? Or is she perhaps
buried in Montgomery, Holmes, or maybe even Carroll County,
like her brother, Bryan G. Whitehead, who died in 1853 and
is buried in the Old Middleton Cemetery which is now in
Montgomery County, Mississippi. Or is she maybe buried in
Holmes County like her son (my gg-grandfather), William A.
King, who died in 1859 and is buried in the Wheeling
Cemetery in Holmes County, Mississippi. I do not know where
her first husband (Meshack King) is buried but her second
husband (Nathan Morris) is buried in Holmes County.
About the death of Lovisa Morris a small
book written by Richard H. Whitehead and printed in 1903 had
this to say on page 11 about Lovisa: "The death reaper
has mowed down the dear and beloved parents and many of the
children, but several of us yet survive. Aunt Lovisa, my
father’s sister, was a woman of strong character and
intellect, and we all cherish her memory. She died at my
sister’s, Mrs. Martha Young, between whom there was the
strongest mutual attachment." NOTE: Martha Lovisa
Whitehead Young (1837 - 1881) was the wife of John O. Young
(1814 – 1866), the sheriff of Carroll County, Mississippi.
Martha Lovisa was obviously named after her Aunt Lovisa.
Richard H. Whitehead (1836 - 1912), the author of the small
book, was first a lawyer but soon became a Baptist minister.
He served Baptist churches in Mississippi, Texas, and
Florida. His father was Judge William Whitehead, the brother
of Lovisa Whitehead King-Morris. Richard H. Whitehead lived
the last 23 years of his life in Palmetto, Florida (Manatee
County), where he was pastor of the Baptist Church. [Dr. E.
Grey Dimond Book, p. 52]
The above remark by Richard H. Whitehead
in his small book leads me to believe that Lovisa Morris may
well be buried in Carroll County, probably in the Old
Middleton Cemetery which is now in Montgomery County,
Mississippi.
An interesting aside is given in Dr.
Dimond’s book25 about the grandson of Judge
William W. Whitehead (Judge Whitehead was the brother of
Lovisa King Morris). The grandson’s name was Joseph Brown
Whitehead (1864 – 1906) and he was born in Oxford,
Mississippi (his father was the Reverend Richard H.
Whitehead who graduated from the University of Mississippi
in 1855). Joseph Brown Whitehead (he was the first cousin of
William A. King, my gg-grandfather) was a lawyer and a
businessman of considerable success in Chattanooga,
Tennessee. In 1899 he and his law partner (Benjamin Franklin
Thomas) were able to contract with the Coca-Cola Company of
Atlanta for the sole rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola
throughout the United States. Seven years later Joseph Brown
Whitehead suddenly died at age 42 while vacationing with his
family in Virginia. His wife, Lettie Pate Whitehead (1872 -
1953), and two small sons inherited the perpetual bottling
contract. She was remarried in 1913 to a Colonel Arthur
Kelly Evans. The two sons died in their forties. The Joseph
B. Whitehead, Sr. Department of Surgery at Emory University
in Atlanta was endowed by her and her son (Joseph B.
Whitehead, Jr.) in the 1930’s. The Coca-Cola Company finally
bought back the bottling rights in 1975 for a reported 35
million dollars.
Chapter
42
Laura Lovisa King
and Samuel
Rutherford Olliphant
Laura Lovisa
King (daughter of Meshack and Lovisa King) and
Samuel Rutherford Olliphant were married in Holmes
County, Mississippi, on 26 July 1849.1 He was
born 28 August 1828 and was a prominent physician in
Enterprise, Mississippi, and later in Mobile, Alabama. She
was born in Holmes County on 25 August 1833. Some Clarke
County, Mississippi, deeds record her given name as Lovisa
Laura, which I think is an error since other records (her
daughter’s name and her wedding information) use Laura
Lovisa. Unfortunately, her tombstone just says L. L.
Their children were: William Davenport
(1851 - 1868), George Robert (1852 - 1934), Samuel
Rutherford, Jr. (1855 - 1921), Laura Lovisa (died as a
child), Horace King (Jack), Howard Sandford and Emily (died
when three months old).2
On 16 March 1854 Lovisa Morris, formerly
Lovisa King and Laura Lovisa’s mother, deeded several slaves
(Mariah, Martha, and Anderson) to Laura Lovisa.3
In this deed she identifies Laura Lovisa as her daughter.
Around 1855 Dr. Olliphant moved his
family to Enterprise, Mississippi, in Clarke County.
Laura Lovisa died on 7 January 1863
at the age of 30 (from complications during the birth of
Emily who died when three months old) and Dr. Olliphant died
36 years later on 3 March 1899 in Mobile, Alabama. He was
married three more times; to Mary Elizabeth Boothe on 14 Oct
1863, to Virginia J. Mayloe of Gallion, Alabama, and finally
to Orline Wilson in April 1896 in Meridian, Mississippi. He
survived all his wives save the last one.
Dr. Olliphant’s service in the Civil War
began in 1862 (one record says that his first assignment was
in August 21, 1862, with General Price). His service record
reveals that he was an assistant surgeon and was attached to
hospitals in Enterprise, Mississippi (Forney’s Division
Hospital), and Meridian, Mississippi (Way Hospital). For his
professional services he was paid $110 a month. The pay
allowance for forage for his horse was $8 a month, room
allowance was $15 a month per man and for a cord of wood the
allowance was $3 per month. Some of the men mentioned in the
military records who worked with him during the war were: S.
P. Moore (surgeon general), M. J. Moses (assistant surgeon),
Major M. F. Berry, Fran R. (a slave nurse who was paid 60
cents a day!), W. B. O’Grier (post surgeon), and Captains J.
M. Burris and W. C. Ford (quartermasters). Toward the end of
the war the records seem to indicate that his location was
mainly at the Way Hospital in Meridian. A record dated 5
February 1865 states that he was working at the Zumtard (?)
Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi, and that special order
number 41 had placed him under the jurisdiction of a
military district headed up by P. B. Scott. His last service
record (his parole) is dated 14 May 1865 at Meridian,
Mississippi. He was a prisoner of war and a part of the Army
of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East
Louisiana, surrendered by Lt. General R. Taylor, C. S. A.
During the war Dr. Olliphant was elected
president of the surgical board of the Confederate Army.4
Dr. Olliphant’s fourth wife, Orline
Wilson Olliphant, filed a Civil War pension application in
1922 in Newton, Mississippi, where she was living. In it she
states that her husband enlisted in the Confederate Army in
1862 in Clarke County, Mississippi, and though not belonging
to any unit he was attached to the 5th and 8th Mississippi
Regiments.
A special 1866 census5 for
Clarke County, Mississippi, shows seven males (Dr. Olliphant
and his five sons plus an unidentified male between the age
of 51 - 60!) in the Olliphant household and only one female
(his second wife, Mary Elizabeth). No blacks (former slaves)
are listed. Who is this older man?
Samuel and Laura Lovisa Olliphant are
buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Enterprise,
Mississippi.6
Chapter 43
- William A. King
(1818 - 1859)
William A. King
was born on 7 February 1818, probably in Lawrence County,
Mississippi, and he died at age 41 in Holmes County on 25
September 1859.1
His parents were Meshack and Lovisa
(Whitehead) King according to a Holmes County deed on 8
January 1856 where Lovisa refers to him as her son.2
William named his second son Meshack (after his father) and
his third son William Whitehead (after his mother’s father).
William married Eliza Shipp around 1849.
She was born in Mississippi on 1 February 1828 and died on
24 July 1883. Her parents were Thomas Shipp (? – 1856) and
Mariah ??.
On the 20 November 1854 William and Eliza
King gave 40 acres of land in Holmes County to William W.
Whitehead, Edmund G. Whitehead (William’s uncles), and
Lovisa C. Morris (William’s remarried mother).3
Two years later, on 8 December 1856, William and Eliza sold
160 acres of land for $2000.00 in Holmes County to James M.
Cross.4 And finally on 22 March 1858, William and
Eliza sold 480 acres of land in Holmes County to James M.
Hayes and Armistead G. Otey for $1120.00.5
William A. King’s father-in-law, Thomas
Shipp, died in 1856. His will6 was probated in
Holmes County in October 1856. According to his will he had
at least three sons; William W., Daniel, and John M. Other
than William A. King, Thomas Shipp had at least one other
son-in-law, C. S. Whitcomb. In Thomas Shipp’s will his wife
was mentioned but her name was not given (her name was
Mariah according to a Holmes County deed7 in
1854). Other Holmes County land deeds reveal that Thomas
Shipp had sons named Ira S. and Nathan S. and a daughter
named Mary Emily.
William A. King lived only three years
after the death of his father-in-law. William died on 25
September 1859 (typhoid fever was the cause of death
according to the 1860 Mississippi mortality schedule). His
will was recorded 18 October 1859.8 In it he
names his wife Eliza King and his four children.
Witnesses were: William A. Denton, William Melton, and
William W. Shipp, his brother-in-law.
In the 1870 Federal census Eliza King and
her three sons (Tom, Pinkney, and William) were living
together in Holmes County. Her daughter, Isabella, is not
listed so apparently she had married and moved away. Eliza
died on 24 July 1883. William and Eliza King are buried in
the Wheeling Cemetery in Holmes County.9
The children of William and Eliza King
were:
Thomas Rhorea, (10 Jan 1850 - 31 Dec 1935)
(my great grandfather). See more on him in Chapter 41.
Pinkney Meshack, (13 September 1851 -
28 Sept 1876). He is buried in the Wheeling Cemetery in
Holmes County (Holmes County RootsWeb Internet Information)
Isabella, (28 Sept 1853 - 31 Dec
1897). She married W. F. Gresham
William Whitehead, (1857 - ???).
Named after his mother’s father
William and Eliza are buried in the Wheeling Cemetery in
Holmes County.3
Chapter 44 -
Thomas Rhorea King
(1850 - 1935)
William A. King’s eldest child, Thomas
Rhorea King, was born on 10 January 1850 in Holmes
County, Mississippi, and died at the age of 85 on New Years
eve, 1935. He married Annie Montgomery in Holmes County,
Mississippi, on Thursday, the 21st of December 1876. Twelve
years later in September 1888 he and his wife, Annie, were
baptized in the Durant First Baptist Church. [Rev
Matt Brady e-Mail on 14 Aug ’06---Records of Durant First
Baptist Church] He was 38 yeas old and she was ??.
According to his granddaughter, Maybelle
St. Clair Hull (1918 - 2001) "Tom King was a very shrewd
man, especially when it came to managing his financial
matters. He sent most of his children to college and later
bought homes for several of them. He helped them out
financially in countless ways, even after they became
adults". Maybelle told me in 2000 that when she knew her
grandfather he had a white beard and would ride into Durant,
Mississippi, on his horse. He helped the St. Clair family
out a lot after her father (John Joseph St. Clair) died in
1918. Maybell was seventeen years old when her grandfather
(Tom King) died.
Tom and Annie King had the following
children:
Pinkney M., b Jan 1878; He was
married in 1914 to Georgia ???. They had no children.
Pinkney graduated in 1899 from the University of
Mississippi. While at the University, where he studied law,
he was a very active member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon
social fraternity. His senior photograph appears in the Ole
Miss Year Book for 1899.1 The picture caption
reads "A bold bad man"! Activities listed for him, other
than his social fraternity, were: Member of the Junior
Promenade Committee; Member and Vice-President of the German
Club; Gun Club; Jackson Hall Egg Club; Glee Club (Primus
Donnus); Blackstone Club; and Tennis Association.
He was single and living at home in
Durant, Mississippi, according to the 1910 census. His
occupation was given as lawyer. In the 1920 census he and
his wife were living in a boarding house in Laurel,
Mississippi. His occupation was given as railroad employee.
His wife’s name was not given (her name was Georgia
according to the 1930 census). She was 35 and was born in
Georgia. According to the 1930 census Pinkney owned his home
in Laurel, Mississippi, and his occupation was railway mail
clerk. His personal worth was given as $3500.00 and he owned
a radio. He married at age 36 (his wife was 24). Her age in
the 1930 census was 40 (she was 35 ten years earlier in the
1920 census?).
John M., b 22 March 1880; married
Pauline Weiner on 24 September 1902. She was born in 1886.
He was the Durant, Mississippi, postmaster from 1913 to
1923. John died on 13 September 1923 from malaria according
to his death certificate (No. 15626).
The day after he died his wife was
appointed the "acting" postmaster (she obviously was already
a post office employee). Pauline became the postmaster on 1
January 1924 and served until 1928.
According to Tom King’s will (written in
1931) he helped John’s family in many ways including giving
him a home and large sums of money, therefore nothing was
left to John’s heirs when Tom King died in 1935!
John and Pauline had two daughters listed
in their household in the 1920 census; Dorothy (age
16) and Meredith (age 14).
Dorothy moved to Memphis, Tennessee,
where she died in 19??. She was married but took back her
maiden name (Dorothy King) after her husband died. She left
all of her money (she had a considerable amount of IBM
stock) to Southwestern University in Memphis.
Meredith King married Tom Mason after Tom
was divorced from Ellen King (Ellen King was my
grandmother’s sister and Meredith King’s aunt). After Tom
Mason and Meredith King married they moved to Greenwood,
Mississippi.
Eliza (24 May 1883 - 7 Nov 1959) was
my grandmother (Granny). Her mother, Annie Montgomery
King, died in 1898 at age 39 leaving seven children ranging
in age from four to twenty. Granny at fifteen years old was
the eldest daughter; therefore on her shoulders fell much of
the burden of caring for the family, at least for the next
four years. Granny often said that she raised her four
younger brothers and sisters, her three children, and two of
her grandchildren (me and Tomberry). Granny attended Blue
Mountain College at Blue Mountain, Mississippi, in Tippah
County. She was a student there in June 1900 when she was 17
years old according to the Federal census for Tippah County.
Thomas R. (Dec 1885 - ?) No trace
of him was found in the 1920 census; he may have married
Helen Chattiams on 10 May 1905 in Carroll County?? No
mention is made of him in Tom King’s will written in 1931.
According to unsubstantiated family rumor Thomas shot a man
dead over a poker game dispute and fled to South America to
avoid prosecution. I have no proof that this is a true
story.
Annie (March 1888 - July 1980) was
living with the family of her older sister (Charles and
Eliza Castleberry) in 1910, according to the census. She
married John Joseph St. Clair (1877 - 1918) on 28 December
1911 in Holmes County, Mississippi. The St. Clair family
lived on Madison Street in Durant two or three houses from
the public school. They had two children; John Clifton (1915
- 1989) and Maybelle (1918 - 2001). John Clifton never
married. Maybelle married Donald T. Hull (1913 – 1993) and
moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where she died on 4 February
2001.
William Bayless (or Bailis) (26
May 1889 - 10 Apr 1954) was living at home and farming in
1910 and 1920 according to the census. As a young man he
attended several prepatory schools. The WWI records for
Holmes County (p. 161) show that he was a corporal in the
Engineering Corps (Company C, 526 Engineers and Company A,
501 Engineers) during World War I. He served oversees from
10 July 1918 to 16 June 1919 and was honorably discharged on
26 June 1919. Later on he developed a bad drinking problem
which caused a great deal of trouble and money for his
father, Tom King, who once remarked that "if he had all the
money back that he had spent keeping Bayless out of jail and
out of trouble he would be a very rich man". Bayless (or Bud
as he was known around Durant) married Eva Pritchard in
Holmes County according to the marriage license (Marriage
Book 3, p. 87) which is dated 4 March 1921. He died in
Holmes County in 1954 at the age of 64.
Ellen (3 Feb 1894 - Oct 1984) (SS
No. 426 07 9706) attended Belhaven College in Jackson,
Mississippi. According to the census, in 1910 and 1920 Ellen
was living with her older sister’s family (Charles and Eliza
Castleberry) in Durant. She later married Tom Mason but they
were divorced in 19??. Ellen did not remarry. Tom later
married Ellen’s niece, Meredith King, the youngest daughter
of John and Pauline King. Tom and Meredith moved to
Greenwood, Mississippi, where Tom was a pharmaceutical
salesman. Ellen Mason is buried in Moorhead, Mississippi.
Four years after Annie Montgomery King
died on 16 Nov 1898, Thomas King married his second wife,
Elma Merritt, on 25 March 1902 -- a Tuesday. He was 52 and
she had just turned 24 (the same age as Thomas King’s eldest
child!). The marriage, by the Reverend E. S. Lewis, occurred
in Holmes County. Elma was born on 17 March 1878 in Black
Hawk, Mississippi, in Carroll County and her parents were F.
M. Merritt and Laura Johnson according to her death
certificate (No. 2395) in 1942. No children were born from
this marriage.
In Elma Merritt King’s will2
she bequeathed and divided her Holmes County land, stock,
money and personal effects between her brother, W. T.
Merritt, her sisters, Lucile Merritt Gordon, and Louemma
Fondren (Mrs. R.J. Fondren), her brother-in-law, Alex
Gordon, her nephew, Alex Gordon, Jr. and her niece, Lemma
Lucile Gordon. It appears that they were all residents of
Jackson, Mississippi.
Elma Merritt King died at the Baptist
Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, on 26 February 1942 from
heart disease and pneumonia according to her death
certificate (No. 2395). She was 63 years old. Elma is buried
in Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Jackson, Mississippi.
Granny’s two sisters, Annie and Ellen, I
knew from frequent family visits. I never knew Granny’s
brothers. I don’t recall very much ever being said about
them. One of them, Thomas, killed a man over a poker game
dispute and escaped to South America to avoid prosecution,
according to family rumor.
According to the 1910 Federal census for
Holmes County, Mississippi, Pinkney was a lawyer and still
living at home with his father, stepmother, and brother,
Bayless. Bayless (or Bud) was a farmer, according to the
census.
In the 1920 census Pinkney and his wife
were living in Laurel, Mississippi. Bayless was still living
at home and was a farmer, like his father. Ludie Smith was
an adopted 18 year old daughter in the household.
Tom King died on 31 December 1935 just a
few days before his eighty-sixth birthday. According to his
death certificate (No. 18434) he was a patient in the Holmes
County Community Hospital in Lexington and had a foot
infection that resulted in amputation of his little toe on
his right foot on 29 December 1935. The cause of death was
given as pneumonia.
Tom King’s will3 is dated 23
July 1931. In it he left his wife, Elma, all his household
goods and livestock. Also, lots 3 and 4 in Durant,
Mississippi, plus 160 acres of land and another 6 1/2 acre
parcel near by, all in Holmes County.4
To his five living children (Eliza,
Annie, Ellen, Pinkney, and William Bayless) he left lots 1
and 2 in Durant plus 560 acres (to be divided equally) in
Holmes County.5 This land was located
approximately along and on both sides of U.S. Hwy 51 for
several miles and just northeast of the present day (2000)
Durant city limits. Interestingly, some of this land is
adjacent to 480 acres of land sold in 1858 by Tom Kings’s
father (William A. King) to Hays and Otey. Perhaps Tom King
inherited some of his land from his mother, Eliza. Tom King
was only nine years old when his father died in 1859.
To his daughters, Ellen and Annie, he
left $5000.00 and $2000.00, respectively. To Elma (his
wife), Eliza, and Annie (his daughters) he left all the
money in his bank account plus proceeds from any notes due
him, to be equally divided. To the heirs of his deceased son
John (he died in 1923 and was the postmaster in Durant) he
left nothing since "he already has given large sums of
money to him during his life time and he has given his heirs
a home".
No mention is made of his son Thomas, who
would have been 49 years old in 1935 if he were still alive.
According to some family reports he fled to South America to
avoid prosecution for murder.
The last King family home place was built
outside Durant around 1893. It was later owned by members of
the Howard’s family after Tom King’s second wife (Elma) died
in 1942. It burned to the ground around 1970. A local artist
using photographs of the house did a sketch in 1989.
Chapter
45 - Eliza
King Castleberry
(1883 - 1959)
My grandmother (Granny), Eliza King
Castleberry, was born in Holmes County, Mississippi, on 24
May 1883 (as a student at Blue Mountain College she gave her
age in the June 1900 Federal census for Tippah County,
Mississippi, as 17 which, if accurate, makes the 1882 date
on her tombstone incorrect). She was probably named after
her grandmother (Eliza Shipp King) who died on 24 July 1883.
Eliza King Castleberry had two sisters and four brothers.
Her two sisters, Annie and Ellen, I knew from frequent
family visits. I never knew her brothers. According to a
family story, one of them, Thomas, killed a man during a
dispute in a poker game and escaped to South America to
avoid prosecution. Very little was ever said about this. In
fact not much was ever said about any of Granny’s brothers.
It was always regarded as too sensitive a subject for
discussion.
Her mother, Annie Montgomery King, died
in 1898 at age 39 leaving seven children ranging in age from
four to twenty. Granny was fifteen years old and the eldest
daughter, therefore on her shoulders fell much of the burden
of caring for the family. She often said that she raised her
younger brothers and sisters. Her two sisters (Annie and
Ellen) even lived with Granny for several years after Granny
was married in 1905.
Granny’s father, Thomas Rhorea King, was
born in 1850 in Holmes County, Mississippi, and died at the
age of 85 on New Years eve 1935. He married Annie Montgomery
in Holmes County, Mississippi, on 21 December 1876 (after
she died in 1898 he was remarried to Elma Merritt in 1902).
The King family home was outside Durant and was owned by the
Howard family after my great-grandfather died. It burned to
the ground around 1970. A local artist using photographs of
the house did a portrait in 1989.
In 1900 my grandmother was a student at
Blue Mountain College in Blue Mountain, Mississippi, (Tippah
County). She was fond of recalling how when she went to
college the students arrived on the train in the fall and
remained there until Christmas vacation. Then, on returning
after the Christmas break, they remained until the school
year was completed.
Granny was married in the First Baptist
Church in Durant, Mississippi, to Charles Rufus Castleberry.
Their wedding took place on a Wednesday, the 25th of January
1905, the coldest January day my grandmother ever knew -- so
she often said. After the wedding and the customary
festivities the new bride and groom retired, each to their
respective domiciles. They could not yet afford a place of
their own, so Granny said.
Granny was a strict disciplinarian and
frugal to a degree that is scarcely conceivable today. She
would bleach the large cloth signs advertising Pennzoil
motor oil which she got from Bick’s service station and make
underwear for Tomberry (my brother) and me. Tomberry
laughingly told this story years later to a group of fellow
students in a dormitory room one cold winter night at
Mississippi Delta Community College adding that when he
would turn his underpants inside-out the oil cans could
still be plainly seen!
Granny’s moral habits were Victorian. She
was an extremely domineering person and was fairly
intolerant of those whose morals did not conform to a
straight and honest pattern of living.
She always spoke of her ancestors in
glowing terms, especially her father, Tom King. She had a
tremendous amount of pride in her family heritage and
generally thought that the flat landed Mississippi Delta
where she lived the last 40 years of her life was a
backwater region of the state compared to Holmes County in
the Mississippi hill country.
I never heard her utter a profane word or
ever knew her to partake of any alcoholic beverages except
once when on the advice of the Moorhead physician, Dr.
Lynch, she drank a glass of beer nightly just before
retiring to increase her weight and provide a more restful
sleep. This she did for several months quitting when the
desired results did not occur. She had several odd remedies
for her medical problems. For example, she always slept with
an old high heel shoe pushed against her side at night to
prevent "gas pains". Many times I have seen her gag herself
with her fingers to force herself to throw-up to get relief
when she had an upset stomach. She often used a muster
plaster on her chest for exactly what ailment I don’t
remember. She and Bick always took a pinch of senna leaves
right before retiring for bed.
She always referred to my grandfather
(Bick) as "Mr. Castleberry", even when speaking with him
face to face.
She was a staunch member of the Moorhead
Baptist Church. The Women’s Missionary Union was her special
interest. She made a remark a few years before she died that
I have always thought curious in view of her many years of
devotion to church work. Some one brought up the subject of
the life hereafter. To this Granny remarked that "she had
done all that she could for the Lord and if that was not
enough she guessed she would just have to go the bad place".
Granny had a very keen intellect. She
loved to read and in her old age received many hours of
pleasure playing the card game solitaire. She was an expert
seamstress. In my early years almost all of my clothes were
made by her. She had a Singer sewing machine that was
powered with a foot petal.
Granny took a lot of pride in the fact
that she not only raised three children of her own but two
grandchildren as well. Tomberry and I lived with Granny and
Bick from 1938 to 1946 (from the time she was 55 to 63 years
old and I was 3 to 11 years old). She also had every reason
to be proud for the home she provided her two younger
sisters, Annie and Ellen. According to the Federal census,
they were both living with Granny and Bick in Durant in
1910. Granny and Bick were married in 1905 – how long after
that did the sisters move in? I do not know. I assume that
Annie moved out when she married John Joseph St. Clair on 28
December 1911. But Ellen (Big Ellen we called her to
distinguish from my first cousin, Ellen King Castleberry
Ewing) was still living with Bick and Granny in 1920.
Probably Ellen moved out around 1922 when Bick and Granny
moved from Durant to Moorhead, Mississippi. According to the
Federal census their eldest son Charles King and his wife
Mary were living with Granny and Bick in 1930. For several
years right after World War II their youngest son, Thomas
Coleman and his wife Annie Laurie, and their daughter, Ellen
King, lived with Granny and Bick. To their credit I never
heard a negative remark from Bick or Granny about any of
these live-in relatives.
Granny died in her sleep in January 1959
after suffering for several years from Parkinson disease.
She is buried beside her husband in Durant, Mississippi, in
the Mizpah Cemetery.
Chapter 46 - Introduction --The
Montgomery Family
My grandmother (Eliza King Castleberry –
b.1883 – d.1959) often spoke of her Montgomery heritage and
was very proud to be a descendant of this prominent family.
She was well acquainted with her Montgomery grandparents
since her grandfather (John G. Montgomery) lived until 1926
and her grandmother (Sarah Elizabeth Montgomery) lived until
1906. Her paternal grandparents (William King and Eliza
Shipp King) died before my grandmother was born.
My grandmother’s mother was Annie
Montgomery (11 Sept 1859 - 16 Nov 1898) who was married on
21 December 1876 to Thomas R. King in Holmes County,
Mississippi.
Annie Montgomery’s father was John G.
Montgomery (1835 – 1926). His father was James D. Montgomery
(1809 - 1865) and his father was Charles P. Montgomery , Jr.
(1781 – 1851). And finally Charles, Jr.’s father was Charles
P. Montgomery, Sr. (1748 – 1820) who immigrated to America
from Ireland.1
The following men (Charles P. Montgomery,
Jr., James D. Montgomery and John G. Montgomery) are direct
ancestors of Annie Montgomery King.
Chapter 47 – Charles P. Montgomery,
Sr.
(1748 - 1820)
Both Charles P. Montgomery, Sr.
(1748 – 27 September 1820) and his wife Margaret Reynolds
(1752 – 16 August 1818) immigrated to America from Ireland
probably before their marriage in 1774.1 Their
twelve children were all born in South Carolina, most if not
all in the Fairfield District. Two of their sons were
Charles P. Montgomery, Jr. and Hugh Montgomery.
Charles P. Montgomery, Sr. served
in the South Carolina Militia during the Revolutionary War.2
He served under General Francis Marion in 1774. He
joined the 96th District Militia of South Carolina in 1774,
serving as a private, sergeant, and later Captain, until
1782. In 1782 he transferred to Sumter's Brigade, Camden
District Militia of South Carolina, serving until his
discharge in 1782. There is a plaque inscribed with his name
in the Duncan Presbyterian Church, Laurens County, South
Carolina. On this subject another researcher says: Although CHARLES
MONTGOMERY (1748-1820) did serve in the Revolution, his name
is not included on the DAR list on a plaque in the Duncan
Presbyterian Church, Laurens Co. SC. --- at least it is not
included in the list found on the Lauren County on-line
site.
Charles P. Montgomery, Sr. is buried in
the Old Brickyard Church in South Carolina.3
Chapter
48 – Charles P. Montgomery, Jr.
(1781 - 1851)
Charles P. Montgomery, Jr. was born
16 June 1781 in Fairfield District, South Carolina.1
He married Elizabeth Thompson (21 February 1790 – ?)
in South Carolina. His parents were Charles P. Montgomery,
Sr. (1748 – 1820) and Margaret Reynolds (1752 - 1818). Both
Charles, Sr. and Margaret immigrated to America from Ireland
probably before their marriage in 1774. Their twelve
children were all born in South Carolina, most if not all in
the Fairfield District. Two of their sons were Charles P.
Montgomery, Jr. and Hugh Montgomery.
Charles, Jr. and Elizabeth had nine
children. One son was James D. Montgomery, my direct
Montgomery ancestor.
Hugh Montgomery married Isabella Bell and
they had five children. One son was William Bell Montgomery
who was one of the founders of Mississippi State University
in Starkville.
James D. Montgomery and William Bell
Montgomery were first cousins.
Chapter 49 - James D. Montgomery
(1809 - 1865)
James D. Montgomery was born in 1809 in
Williamsburg District, South Carolina. He died in Oktibbeha
County, Mississippi, around 1865. His wife was Harriet Rabb
(1815 – ca 1855). James D. Montgomery’s parents were Charles
P. Montgomery, Jr. and Elizabeth Thompson.
James married Harriet Rabb in South
Carolina around 1834 and two years later, in 1836, they
migrated to Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, according to John
G. Montgomery’s Civil War pension application. They remained
in Oktibbeha County for the rest of their lives. Harriet
died around 1855 and James died ten years later.
James and Harriet Montgomery had the
following children:
John G., was born 27 May 1835 in
Williamsburg District, South Carolina and he died 29 October
1926 in Durant, Mississippi. He married Sarah Elizabeth ???
ca 1859. She was born 15 May 1842 and died 1 April 1906.
John and Elizabeth were my great great grandparents. John
enlisted in the Civil War in February 1862. At that time he
was living near Bowling Green, Mississippi, in Holmes
County. He was in the 28th Mississippi Regiment and rose
through the ranks to Captain.
William G., born in 1839 in
Oktibbeha County, Mississippi
Samuel A., born in 1841 in
Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. He married Virgina L. ??? in
1867. She was born in 1847. Their children were: Robert A.,
T.P., and Ella (married a Brister), Mary (married a Melton),
and David F. Samuel A. Montgomery died in Holmes County in
1924 (his will was written in 1906 and recorded in Will Book
No. 4, p. 111 in Holmes County on 27 January 1925).
Robert A. Montgomery married Anne ???.
They had two sons: Claude and Robert A., Jr. Robert A.
Montgomery died in Holmes County in 1929. His will was
written 15 November 1928 and recorded 28 June 1929 (Will
Book No. 4, p. 257). His brother, T.P., was a witness.
Renthia, b 1843 in Oktibbeha
County, Mississippi
Sarah E., b 1847 in Oktibbeha
County, Mississippi
James R., b 1851 in Oktibbeha
County, Mississippi
David G., b 1854 in Oktibbeha
County, Mississippi
Jane, b ????
Chapter 50 - John G. Montgomery
(1835 -
1926)
John Glazier Montgomery (27 March 1835 –
29 October 1926), the eldest child of James D. and Harriet
Montgomery, was born in the Williamsburg District of South
Carolina in 1835 and moved with his parents to Oktibbeha
County, Mississippi, one year later, according to his Civil
War pension application. That would put the family’s arrival
date in Oktibbeha County as 1836. John had six younger
brothers and sisters.
After Harriet died, around 1855, this
Montgomery family moved to Holmes County, Mississippi. There
John soon met and married Sarah Elizabeth ???? (15 May 1842
– 1 April 1906). Their first child, Annie – my great
grandmother, was born in 1859 in Holmes County,
Mississippi.
On 28 February 1862 John enlisted in the
Confederate Army in Grenada, Mississippi. He was 27 years
old and was living in Holmes County near Bowling Green,
Mississippi (about 10 miles northwest of Durant). He began
as a Private in Company A (Captain J. T. McBee’s company) of
the 28th Regiment, Mississippi Volunteers, Armstrong's
Brigade, Jackson's Division. In October 1862 he was promoted
to Corporal and his company became known as McAfee’s Hussars
with Captain McAfee replacing Captain McBee. One year later
in 1863 he was promoted to Sergeant. He continued to rise
through the ranks to become a Captain in 1864. Later that
year on Christmas Day he was wounded near Palaski,
Tennessee, during Hood’s retreat from Nashville. His right
arm was broken and eleven pieces of bone were later removed,
so he states in his 1922 pension application.
In August 1879 John G. Montgomery and his
wife (Sarah Elizabeth) joined the Durant First Baptist
Church. [Rev Matt Brady e-Mail on 14 Aug ’06---Records of
Durant First Baptist Church] John by this time was 44
years old. Was he just late joining the church or did he
maybe move from out in the county into town?
John G. Montgomery died in 1926 and is
buried beside his wife in the Mizpah Cemetery in Durant,
Mississippi.
The children born to John G. and
Elizabeth Montgomery were:
1. Annie, (11 Sept 1859 -
16 Nov 1898) (Eliza King’s mother and my great
grandmother). She married Thomas R. King in Holmes
County on Thursday -- 21 December 1876.
2. William A., (1864 - ??)
He is not listed in the 1920 census.
3. John Wallace, (17 Apr 1867
- 5 Dec 1928). He married Louise Johnson (17 March 1871 - 21
March 1951). John Wallace and Dona Montgomery joined the
Durant First Baptist Church by letter in 1895. [Rev Matt
Brady e-Mail on 14 Aug ’06---Records of Durant First Baptist
Church] I assume that Dona was his wife so apparently
Louise was also known as "Dona". In the 1920 Holmes County
census it says that John Wallace Montgomery was a farmer and
that he owned his home free from a mortgage. John Wallace’s
will (Will Book No. 4, p. 223) was written on 18 July 1928
six months before his death and recorded on 16 January 1929.
In it he willed his entire estate to his wife, then on her
death equally to his children. His wife lived another
twenty-three years dying in 1951 when she was 80 years old.
John Wallace and Dona had the following
children:
a) Charles McGee (born 17 October
1899), age 20 in 1920. According to the WWI records for
Holmes County (p. 195) Charles McGee Montgomery was a
private in WWI serving at least some of his enlistment time
at the Students Army Training Camp at the University of
Mississippi. He was honorably discharged on 11 December
1918. In 1920 Charles and John Wallace, Jr. were drug store
salesmen. Living with the family in 1920 was John G.
Montgomery who was 84 years old.
c) John Wallace, Jr., was 16 in 1920.
d) Annie Louise (she married a
Hudson);
4. Frances E., (Feb 1870 -
???)
5. Charles, ( 1874 – 13
September 1894) He was baptized at the Durant First Baptist
Church on 18 November 1886. [Rev Matt Brady e-Mail on 14
Aug ’06---Records of Durant First Baptist Church]
6. John Glazier , Jr., (3 Jan
1885 - ???) In the 1920 Holmes County census he has a 25
year old wife, Maxine (?), and a two year old son, William
G. According to the census John owned his home free of any
mortgage and was a farmer.
Chapter 51 - William Bell Montgomery
(1829 - 1904)
My Grandmother (Eliza King Castleberry)
often remarked that one of her Montgomery relatives played a
part in the early beginnings of Mississippi State University
and that Montgomery Hall at Mississippi State was named
after this relative. Montgomery Hall was named after William
Bell Montgomery (1829 - 1904) who was born in Fairfield,
South Carolina on 2 August 1829. His parents were Hugh and
Isabelle Montgomery. Hugh migrated to Oktibbeha County in
1834 when the white population of the county was only about
350. The following year he was joined by Isabelle and their
six year old son, William Bell.
Hugh Montgomery died in September 1849 in
Oktibbeha County at the age of 53 from "lungs disease"
according to the 1850 census Mortality Schedule.
At the age of twelve William Bell was
sent to a preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and
later to Erskine, a Presbyterian college in Due West, South
Carolina. From there he went to Princeton University where
he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1850. He returned
to Starkville, Mississippi, to read law in a private law
office. In 1852 he married Julia Gillespie, the daughter of
Dr. William Gage Gillespie. Five children were born.
Julia Gillespie Montgomery died of
pneumonia six days after her youngest child was born.
William Bell Montgomery later married Sarah Glenn.
William Bell Montgomery’s great-grandson,
Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery from Meridian, Mississippi,
served with great distinction in the U.S. Congress from 1966
to 1996 representing the 3rd Mississippi congressional
district. His autobiography was published in 2003.1
To recap, William Bell Montgomery was
born in Fairfield District, South Carolina in 1829 and John
G. Montgomery (my grandmother’s grandfather) was born in
Williamsburg District, South Carolina in 1835. William
Bell’s father was Hugh Montgomery (1796 – 1849). John G.
Montgomery’s father was James D. Montgomery (1809 - ca
1865). William Bell and John G. both arrived in Oktibbeha
County, Mississippi, as infants at about the same time (1835
and 1836) with their respective families. In the 1840
Mississippi census the two families were living next to each
other in Oktibbeha County. Hugh Montgomery was James D.
Montgomery’s uncle. Hugh’s brother Charles P. Montgomery,
Jr. was the father of James D. Montgomery. So, William Bell
Montgomery and James D. Montgomery were first cousins. My
grandmother was right. William Bell Montgomery was kin to
her, he was a distant cousin.
NOTE: Charles P. Montgomery, Sr. was the
father of Charles P. Montgomery, Jr. and Hugh Montgomery.
References and Notes
Chapter 1 – References and Notes
1. Castleberry and Allied Families, ed., Dr. Jesse
Wendell Castleberry, 1967, 12404 Summerport Lane,
Windermere, Florida, 34786. Also, Castleberry and Allied
Families, Volume II, 2003, ed., Dr. Jesse Wendell
Castleberry, 12404 Summerport Lane, Windermere, Florida,
34786, E-Mail:jcastleberry@cfl.rr.com
2. Castleberry Carroll and Kuykendall Families, 22 – The
Castleberry Family, p. 26, Henry B. Brackin, Jr., M. D.,
Apt. 419, 500 Elmington Ave., Nashville, Tennessee 37205,
Copyrighted and privately published in 2002. NOTE:
Dr. Brackin is a direct descendant of James Castleberry
through Sarah Castleberry and Jackson Akers. Many details
used here have come from his research.
3. Ancestors of Ola Castleberry
Blau, George Blau, 1118 Windridge Drive - Dunwoody, Atlanta,
Georgia, 1989, (Family Files, Georgia Archives, Atlanta)
4. Castleberry and Allied Families, ed., Dr. Jesse
Wendell Castleberry, 12404 Summerport Lane, Windermere,
Florida, 34786, 1967, p. 1
5. Ibid, p. 2 – 3
6. Castleberry Carroll and Kuykendall Families, 22 – The
Castleberry Family, p. 26, Henry B. Brackin, Jr., M. D.,
Apt. 419, 500 Elmington Ave., Nashville, Tennessee 37205,
Copyrighted and privately published in 2002
Chapter 2 – References and Notes
1. Castleberry Carroll and Kuykendall Families, Henry B.
Brackin, Jr., M. D.,Apt 419, 500 Elmington Ave., Nashville,
Tennessee 37205, p. 15 (copyright and privately published in
2002)
2. Ibid, p.12
3.Ancestors of Ola Castleberry Blau,
George Blau, 1118 Windridge Drive - Dunwoody, Atlanta,
Georgia, 1989, p. 27 (Family Files, Georgia Archives,
Atlanta)
4. Castleberry Carroll and Kuykendall Families, Henry B.
Brackin, Jr., M. D.,Apt 419, 500 Elmington Ave., Nashville,
Tennessee 37205, p. 16 (copyright and privately published in
2002)
5. McNairy County, Tennessee,
Tennessee, Deed Book E, p 102
6. McNairy County, Tennessee, Deed Book
D, p. 209
7. Ibid, p. 449
8. Lawrence County Alabama Early Records
(Marriages 1818 – 1827), Odalene Ponder,
p. 5
9. The Family of John Casselberry, John
Dixon, Memphis, Tennessee, 1993, p.1
(privately published material)
10.Lawrence County Alabama Early Records (Marriages 1818
– 1827), Odalene Ponder,
p. 1
11. Castleberry Carroll and Kuykendall Families, Henry B.
Brackin, Jr., M. D., Apt 419,
500 Elmington Ave., Nashville, Tennessee 37205, p. 18
(copyright and privately
published in 2002)
12. Jane, the given name for Mark’s wife may be
incorrect. I have misplaced the source.
Other Castleberry researchers do not accept Jane as being
accurate.
13.Official Bonds of Tishomingo County, Mississippi (1837
– 1848), also see Castleberry Genealogy Miscellaneous
Research Results (my unpublished personal material), p.
147.2
14. Marriages of Old Tishomingo County Mississippi, vol
I, (1837 – 1859, Mrs. Irene Barnes, 1978, Iuka, Mississippi,
p. 5
15. Ibid, p. 18
16. Castleberry Cousins, Family Journal published
quarterly and edited by Mrs. Juanita Connally and Mrs. Gwen
L. Salsig, vol I, Oct 1989, p. 11
17. Ibid, p. 39
18. Castleberry Cousins, Family Journal published
quarterly and edited by Mrs. Juanita
Connally and Mrs. Gwen L. Salsig, vol II, no. 2, May
1990, p. 6
19. Lawrence County Alabama Early Records (Marriages 1818
– 1827), Odalene Ponder,
p. 5
20. McNairy County, Tennessee, Deed Book
K, p. 561
21. McNairy County, Tennessee, Cemetery
Listings (1824 – 1984), Albert Brown, Bethel
Springs, TN
22. According to Pat Jones of McNairy County, Tennessee,
Isaac Castleberry wife's
maiden name was Pratt and not House. (E-mail
correspondence on 9 Nov 1998)
23. McNairy County, Tennessee, Deed Book
B, p. 484
24. McNairy County, Tennessee, Deed Book
I, p. 402, Land located in McNairy County at Range 5,
Section 2
25. McNairy County, Tennessee, Deed Book K, p. 561
(Location was Township ?, Range 5, Section 2)
26. McNairy County, Tennessee, Deed Book
K, p. 561, Land located in McNairy County at Range 5,
Section 2 and Range 5, Section 5
27. Castleberry Carroll and Kuykendall Families, Henry B.
Brackin, Jr., M. D., Apt 419, 500 Elmington Ave., Nashville,
Tennessee 37205 (copyright and privately published in 2002)
Chapter 3 – References and Notes
1.Castleberry Cousins, edited by Mrs.
Juanita Connally and Mrs. Gwen L. Salsig, vol I, Oct 1989,
p. 37
2.Ibid
3.E-mail message from Sherry Michels on 8
Aug 1998
4. Lawrence County Alabama Early Records
(Marriages 1825 – 1854), Odalene Ponder, p. 3
5. Lawrence County Alabama Early Records
(Marriages 1825 – 1854), Odalene Ponder, p. 19
6.Ibid
7. Ibid, p. 23
8.Footprints in Time, Abstracts from
Lawrence County, Alabama, Newspapers, 1855 – 1890, Myran
Thrasher Borden, p. 85
Chapter 4 – References and Notes
1. Castleberry Carroll and Kuykendall Families, Henry B.
Brackin, Jr., M. D.,Apt 419, 500 Elmington Ave., Nashville,
Tennessee 37205 (copyright and privately published in 2002),
p. 26
2.Genealogical Abstracts from the [Milledgeville] Georgia
Journal Newspaper, 1824 – 1828, vol 3, by Fred R. and Emile
K. Hartz, p. 515
3. Castleberry Carroll and Kuykendall Families, Henry B.
Brackin, Jr., M. D.,Apt 419, 500 Elmington Ave., Nashville,
Tennessee 37205, p. 8, p. 21, p. 25 (copyright and privately
published in 2002)
Chapter 5 – References and Notes
1. Castleberry Carroll and Kuykendall Families, Henry B.
Brackin, Jr., M. D.,Apt 419, 500 Elmington Ave., Nashville,
Tennessee 37205, p. 26 (copyright and privately published in
2002)
2. Ibid
3.Historical Notes on Jackson County, Georgia, Frary
Elrod, 1967, p. 83
4.History of Gwinnett County, Georgia, James C. Flanagan,
1818 – 1943, vol I, p. 167
5.Gwinnett County, Georgia Inferior Court Minutes for
Ordinary Purposes, 1819 – 1861, Alice Smythe McCabe, 1987,
p. 5
6.Early Gwinnett County Deeds, Gwinnett Historical
Society, Inc., Lawrenceville, Georgia (copied from records
of Mildred Carroll Martin on file at Gwinnett Historical
Society)
7.Gwinnett County Records as recorded in Athens, Georgia,
Newspapers, 1827 – 1849, p. 39
Chapter 6 causes a BLOW-UP
Chapter 7 -- References and Notes
1.Gunboats and Cavalry – A History of
Eastport, Mississippi, Ben Earl Kitchens, 1985, p. 40
2.Ibid, p.41
3.Ibid, p. 82
4.Ibid, p. 180
Chapter 8 – References and Notes
1.Tishomingo County, Mississippi, Deed
Book F, 1 November 1840, p.222 (Land description: E1/2 S6
and NE 1/4 S7 all T3 R11E)
2.Tishomingo County, Mississippi, Deed
Book O, p. 310 - 311
Chapter 9 - References and Notes
1.Official Bonds of Tishomingo County, Mississippi, 1837
– 1848 (Unpublished Personal Castleberry Genealogy
Miscellaneous Research Results and Notes, p. 147.2)
2.Mississippi Confederate Graves, Betty Couch Wiltshire,
vol 1, p. 68
3.Ibid, p. 683
4.Castleberry Genealogical (Unpublished material received
February 1991), Dr. Henry B. Brackin, Jr., Apt 419, 500
Elmington Ave., Nashville, Tennessee 37205, p. 11
5. Castleberry and Allied Families, Jesse Wendell
Castleberry, 12404 Summerport Lane, Windermere, Florida,
34786, 1967, p. 193 - 194
6.E-mail on 16 August 1999 from Edwyna Hale Wackrow of
Jacksonville, Florida. Edwyna Hale Wackrow is a descendant
of Agnes Mae Castleberry and James Newton Alexander
7.Ibid
8.Valley of Spring – The Story of Iuka, William L. Coker,
1975, p. 72
9.Eastport – Echoes of the Past, Mrs. Irene Barnes, Iuka,
Mississippi,1983, p. 91
10.Confederate Magazine, vol XVII, p. 609
11. Ibid
Chapter 10 – References and Notes
1.Gunboats and Cavalry – A History of Eastport,
Mississippi, Ben Earl Kitchens, 1985
2.Hard Times, The Civil War in Huntsville and North
Alabama (1861 – 1865), Charles Rice, 1994, p. 129
3.First Baptist Church Minute Book (1846 – 1902),
Pontotoc, Mississippi, p. 88, transcribed in 2001 by Mrs.
Hazel Boss Neet (professional genealogy researcher in
Pontotoc, Mississippi)
4. Ibid
5. Ibid, p. 45
6. Ibid, p. 91
7. Pontotoc County, Mississippi, Probate Record, 15 July
1882, v. 20, p. 567 – 569 (LDS Church Microfilm No. 089397)
8. First Baptist Church Minute Book (1846 – 1902),
Pontotoc, Mississippi, p. 95, p. 99, transcribed in 2001 by
Mrs. Hazel Boss Neet (professional genealogy researcher in
Pontotoc, Mississippi) NOTE: According to the church minutes
William R. Pegues joined the First Baptist Church by letter
on 11 September 1881 (p. 95) and was dropped from the church
rolls for un-Christian conduct on 10 November 1883 (p. 99)
Chapter 11 – References and Notes
1.The Life and Times of Memory E. Leake,
Julius Garnett Berry
2. Ibid, p. 16
3. .First Baptist Church Minute Book (1846 – 1902),
Pontotoc, Mississippi, p. 45, transcribed in 2001 by Mrs.
Hazel Boss Neet (professional genealogy researcher in
Pontotoc, Mississippi)
Chapter 12 - References and Notes
1.Pontotoc County Mississippi Marriages,
p. 22
2.Minutes of the First Baptist Church of Pontotoc,
Mississippi (1846 – 1902) p. 118 (transcribed by Mrs. Hazel
Boss Neet--professional genealogy researcher in Pontotoc,
Mississippi, 2001)
3. Ibid, p. 116
4. Ibid, p. 117
5. Ibid, p. 106
6. Ibid, p. 118
7.Lafayette County, Mississippi, Cemetery
Records, vol I, p. 105
8.Soundex to Mississippi Marriages,
Huntsville, Alabama, Public Library
Chapter 13 – References and Notes
1.Minutes of the First Baptist Church of Pontotoc,
Mississippi (1846 – 1902) p. 114 (transcribed by Mrs. Hazel
Boss Neet--professional genealogy researcher in Pontotoc,
Mississippi, 2001)
2.Fevers, Floods, and Faith, A History of
Sunflower County, Mississippi, 1844 – 1976, Marie M.
Hemphill, 1980, p. 266
Chapter 14 – References and Notes
1. Liza King appears in the June 1900
Federal Census for Tippah County, Mississippi as a 17 year
old boarder at Blue Mountain College. Her name is also
listed in the Twenty Seventh Annual Catalogue for Blue
Mountain Female College by Lowrey and Berry (page 13) for
the 1899 – 1900 Session.
Chapter 15 – References and Notes
1.Compendium of the Confederate Armies
(Alabama), Stewart Sifakis, 1992, p. 39
2.Hard Times, The Civil War in Huntsville
and North Alabama (1861 – 1865), Charles Rice, 1994, p. 129
3.Mrs. W. D. Chadick’s Civil War Diary,
Huntsville, Alabama, Public Library (Heritage Room)
4.Loyal Mountain Troopers, The Second and
Third Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry in the Civil War,
Reminiscences of Lieutenant John W. Andes and Major Will A.
McTeer by Charles S. McCammon (Huntsville, Alabama, Public
Library Heritage Room), p. 179 and p. 191
5.Compendium of the Confederate Armies
(Alabama), Stewart Sifakis, 1992, p. 71
6.John H. Buchanan’s Diary (4 July 1861 to 9 July 1862),
transcribed by Larry J. Mardis and Jo Anne Ketchum Mardis,
downloaded from the internet on 25 August 1999, Tippah
County, Mississippi,
RootsWeb(http://www.rootsweb.com/~mscivilw/buchanan.htm),
p.4
7.Compendium of the Confederate Armies
(Alabama), Stewart Sifakis, 1992, p. 71
8.Ibid, p. 72
9.Ibid
10.John H. Buchanan’s Diary (4 July 1861 to 9 July 1862),
transcribed by Larry J. Mardis and Jo Anne Ketchum Mardis,
p. 4, Downloaded from the Internet on 25 August 1999, Tippah
County, Mississippi, Rootsweb Web Site,
(http://www.rootsweb.com/~mscivilw/buchanan.htm)
11.Ibid, p. 5
12.Compendium of the Confederate Armies (Alabama),
Stewart Sifakis, 1992, p.72
13.Military History of Mississippi, p. 43
14.Civil War Confederate Service Records
for
Winchester D. Castleberry
15.Confederate Magazine, vol XVII, p. 609
16. Enumeration of Confederate Soldiers
and Widows – Tishomingo County, Mississippi, 1908 (Wallace
State Community College Pamphlet, Hanceville, Alabama)
17.Valley of Spring – The Story of Iuka
[Mississippi], William L. Coker, 1975, p. 68
18.Ibid
Chapter 16 – References and Notes
1. The Fox and Stidham Families by Berdie Steadmon Fox,
1987, p. 104, Publisher: The Gregath Company, P.O. Box 1045,
Cullman, AL 35056, Reference found at the Lawrence County,
Alabama, Historical Society, Moulton, Alabama
2. Ibid, p.105
3. Ibid, p.104
4. Ibid
5. Ibid, p.104
6. Letter to James K. Harrison from Kate Burns Tyler, 10
August 1996, 2121 Columbia Pike, #408, Arlington, VA 22204
7. The Fox and Stidham Families by Berdie Steadmon Fox,
1987, p. 104, Publisher: The Gregath Company, P.O. Box 1045,
Cullman, AL 35056, Reference found at the Lawrence County,
Alabama, Historical Society, Moulton, Alabama
8. Yalobusha County, MS, Wills of 2nd District,
1871-1911, page 45 and 46, LDS Microfilm No. 894515
17 (?). Yalobusha Bound in 1850 by Chris Borgan
Chapter 17 causes a BLOW-UP
Chapter 18 – References and Notes
1. The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania, Wayland F.
Dunnaway, 28 – 29 and 38
2. BRR, 11-12
Chapter 19 – References and Notes
1. This nomenclature I have adopted from Dr. Brackin for
identifying and keeping track of the Carroll family members.
Dr. Brackin’s research was copyrighted and privately
published in 2002. Title: Castleberry Carroll and Kuykendall
Families, Henry B. Brackin, Jr., M. D., Apt 419, 500
Elmington Ave., Nashville, Tennessee 37205
2.HBB, p. 24
3.HBB, p. 16-17
4.History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, vol 2,
John H. Logan, 1910 and 1956, p. 82 (Copy in Huntsville,
Alabama, Public Library – Heritage Room)
5. Apparently not all came off "without a scratch" since,
according to Lyman Draper, John (H?) Carroll was killed by a
Tory late in the Revolutionary War (see Chapter 20), (Draper
Papers, p. 73, 16VV72, Col. Sumter’s Papers)
Chapter 20– References and Notes
Rebellion and the Battle of Huck’s Defeat,
Draper Papers, (16VV72, Col. Sumter’s Papers), p.
72 - 73
5. History of the Upper Country of South
Carolina, John H. Logan, 1910 and 1956, p.
61 (Copy in Huntsville, Alabama, Public
Library – Heritage Room)
6. Draper Papers, (16VV72, Col. Sumter’s
Papers), p. 333
7. HBB, p. 27
8. See this Ancestry.com web site for
more John H. Carroll information
http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=32748508
Chapter 21– References and Notes
Chapter 22– References and Notes
History of Gwinnett County, Georgia, James C.
Flanagan, 1818-1943, vol I, p. 444;
Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church Records, 1685
8th Street, Chamblee, GA,
Correspondence with Reverent Harvey D. Fulmer, 18
March 1991
Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: The Southern
Claims Commission by Gary B.
Mills
Chapter 23– References and Notes
History of Gwinnett County, Georgia, James
C. Flanagan, 1818-1943, vol I, p. 568
Historical Notes on Jackson County, Georgia,
Frary Elrod, 1967, p. 847
History of Gwinnett County, Georgia, James C.
Flanagan, 1818-1943, vol I, p. 374
Chapter 25 – References and Notes
1.Internet
Source.(Ancestry.com---http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/person.aspx?pid=-1990256524&tid=1134280)
2. Brunswick County, Virginia
Deed Book, Volume 3, 1755 – 1764, p. 4, Abstracted
by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr.,1998, Date of deed
was 17 December 1755, Deed Bk 6, p. 37
3. Brunswick County, Virginia Deed Book,
Volume 4, 1765 – 1770, p. 24, Abstracted by Dr. Stephen E.
Bradley, Jr.,1998. Date of deed was 27 July 1766, Deed Bk 8,
p. 327
4. Brunswick County, Virginia
Deed Book, Volume 3, 1755 – 1764, p. 47, Abstracted
by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr.,1998. Date of deed
was 3 May 1760, Deed Bk 6, p. 540
5. Brunswick County, Virginia
Will Book, Volume 1, 1739 – 1769 and 1783 - 1785,
Abstracted by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr.,1998, p.
117. Date of will for Andrew Beck was 28 April 1760
6. Brunswick County, Virginia
Deed Book, Volume 4, 1765 – 1770, p. 24, Abstracted
by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr.,1998. Date of deed
was 8 July 1766, Deed Bk 8, p. 317
7. Halifax County, North Carolina
Deed Book, Volume 4, 1758 – 1771, Abstracted by Dr.
Stephen E. Bradley, Jr.,1989, p. 71, p. 82, p. 85,
p. 93; Deed Bk 9, p. 381, p. 396
8. Warren County, North Carolina
Records, Volume 1, 1764 – 1779, Compiled by Mary
Hinton (Duke) Kerr, 1983, p. 56, p. 60. Also see
Mormon Church Records: LDS Film 18348, Warren County
(Bute County), North Carolina, Wills & Inventories,
1760 - 1800
9. Brunswick County, Virginia
Deed Book, Volume 4, 1765 – 1770, p. 85, Abstracted
by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr.,1998. Date of deed
was 25 December 1769, Deed Bk 9, p. 583
10. Brunswick County, Virginia Will Book
5, Volume 3, 1780 – 1795, p. 133. Abstracted
by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr.,1998. Date
of will for Daniel Coleman, Jr. was 17
April 1781
11.Brunswick County Marriages, 1750 – 1853 by John Vogt
and T. William Kethley, Jr.,
p. 173
Chapter 26 – References and Notes
1. Internet Information – Ancestry.com. The birth/death
dates of Eden Coleman’s parents
are from Ancestry.com on 15 March 2007.
2. Greene County, Georgia Land Records Deeds
1785 – 1810, Abstracted by Freda R.
Turner, 1998, p. 110
3. Ibid, p. 183
4. Ibid, p. 169
5. Greene County, Georgia, Deed EE, p. 361
6. Ibid, p. 597
7. Greene County, Georgia, Deed HH, p. 38
8. Greene County, Georgia Wills (1786 – 1877), Abstracted
by Freda Reid Turner, 1998, p.119
9. Ibid, p. 175
10.Greene County, Georgia, Deed HH, p. 103
Chapter 27– References and Notes
1.Ancestry.com, Clayton and Allied Families
2.Ancestry.com, Thomas Daniel.
3. I have found no record that confirms that Thomas
Daniel was in the Revolutionary War.
4.Greene County, Georgia, Wills (1786 – 1877),
Abstracted by Freda Reid Turner, 1998, p.183
5. Ibid, p. 110 and p. 241
6. Ibid, p. 343
7. Greene County, Georgia, Deed Book EE, p. 317
8. Greene County, Georgia, Deed Book P, p. 258
9. Greene County, Georgia, Wills (1786 – 1877),
Abstracted by Freda Reid Turner, 1998,
p. 68. NOTE: Sally Fitzsimmons’ will is dated 22 November
1804.
10.Ibid, p. 103.
11. Ibid, p. 108
12. Ibid, p. 117
Chapter 28 - References and Notes
1. Ancestry.com Internet Information, see William Randle
2. Greene County, Georgia, Deed Book BB, p. 366
3.Ancestry.com Internet Information, Morgan County,
Georgia, Will of William Randle dated 2 October 1830
4. Morgan County, Georgia, Deed Book I, p. 571
5. Morgan County, Georgia, Deed Book I, p. 517
and p. 386
6. Morgan County, Georgia, Deed Book I, p. 664
7. A History of Monroe County, Mississippi Monroe
County Book Committee,
1988
8. Recollections of Mississippi and
Mississippians, Reuben Davis, Revised Edition,
University and College Press of Mississippi,
1972, p. 284
Chapter 29 – References and Notes
1.Ancestry.com Internet Information, 23
October 2002, see Lina Coleman or Daniel T. Coleman
2. History of Greene County Georgia,
(1786 – 1886), Rice and Williams, p. 519. The following
additional information I got from the Internet: The Rev.
Doctor Adiel Sherwood was born 3 October 1791 in Fort
Edward, New York, and he died 18 August 1879 in St. Louis,
Missouri. In 1821 he married Anne Adams Smith (widow of
Peter Early) probably in Greene County, Georgia. She died
two years later. He later married ???. Adiel’s
great-grandfather (Dr. Thomas Sherwood) came to America with
his brother (Andrew) from Nottinghamshire, England, and
settled in Connecticut. Adiel’s father was Major Adiel
Sherwood who served in the Revolutionary War under George
Washington and was with him at Valley Forge. Adiel’s son
(Thomas Adiel Sherwood) lived in Missouri where he practiced
law and later in 1876 became the Chief Justice of the
Missouri Supreme Court.
3. Internet Information, Greene County,
Georgia, churches
4. Ancestry.com Internet Information, 23
October 2002, see Clarinda Ann R. Randle
5.Greene County, Georgia, Deed Book HH,
p. 132 and p. 174
6.Greene County, Georgia, Deed Book KK,
p. 185
7.Greene County, Georgia, Deed Book KK,
p. 187
8. Morgan County, Georgia, Deed Book I,
p. 290
9. Ibid, p. 517
10.Coweta County, Georgia, Deed Book DD,
p. 126 and p. 226, Deed Book KK, p. 187
11. Coweta County Chronicles for One
Hundred Years, Mary G. Jones and Lily Reynolds, 1928, p. 78
12.Ibid, p. 79 – 81
13. Laura E. Coleman (1835 – 1928) was
seven years old when she moved to Mississippi. This
information from material copied 9 November 1991, p. 216, at
Pontotoc Library (same source as Ref 30). If correct, this
would mean the family moved to Mississippi in 1842.
14. According to a Chickasaw County, Mississippi, deed
the land was located in Section 12, Township14, Range 5E.
Also, Daniel Coleman was listed on an 1848 Land Roll for
Chickasaw County, Mississippi, The People (Book 1) and Land
Owners (Book 2), (1836 – 1852), Imogene Springer, p. 65, LDS
Church Microfiche No. 6101315
15. The four-acre lot was
located in the northeast ¼ of Section 15, Township 14, Range
6E. Information from: A Brief History of Aberdeen and Monroe
County, Mississippi (1821 – 1900), p. 57, LDS Church
Microfiche No. 6048070
16. First Baptist Church Pontotoc,
Mississippi, Minute Book (1846 – 1902), p.14 (transcribed by
Mrs. Hazel Boss Neet of Pontotoc, Mississippi, 2001)
17. Ibid, p. 19 and p. 93
18.Story of Pontotoc, Part I, The
Chickasaws, E. T. Winston, 1931, p. 125
19. First Baptist Church Pontotoc,
Mississippi, Minute Book (1846 – 1902), p. 117 (transcribed
by Mrs. Hazel Boss Neet of Pontotoc, Mississippi , 2001)
20.Pontotoc County, Mississippi, Deed Book 10, 1854 -
1856, p. 144 – 145, property location: Southwest 1/4 of
Section 33, Township 9S, Range 3E)
21.First Baptist Church Pontotoc,
Mississippi, Minute Book (1846 – 1902), p. 19 (transcribed
by Mrs. Hazel Boss Neet of Pontotoc, Mississippi , 2001)
22. Ibid, p. 23
23. Ibid, p. 23 – 24
24. Story of Pontotoc, Part I, The
Chickasaws, E. T. Winston, 1931
25. Ibid, p. 113
26. Ibid, p. 128
27. Marriages and Deaths, Mississippi
Newspapers, vol 1, 1837 – 1863, p. 71
28. Morgan County, Georgia, Deed Book I,
p. 517
29. Pontotoc County, Mississippi, Probate
Record 19, p. 77 – 80
30. The Pontotoc City Cemetery was given
to the City of Pontotoc by the Chickasaws and the U.S.
Government on June 22, 1852, because "many Chickasaws and
their white friends were buried there." Maj. Gen William
Colbert (son of James Logan1
Colbert) was buried there in 1835. The Rev. Thomas C.
Sturart, missionary to the Chickasaws, is also buried in the
City Cemetery. Taken from: http://www.pontotoc.net/tour.htm
on 10 May 2007
Chapter 30 – References and Notes
1. E-mail (cole-dean@softcom.net) from Dean Coleman of
Stockton, California on 25 January 2006. Dean Coleman is a
grandson of Walter Samuel Coleman.
2. Material copied at Pontotoc, Mississippi, Library on 9
Nov 1991 p. 164 (this material may be from the Pontotoc
County Pioneers Quarterly)
3. Ibid
4. Pontotoc County Mississippi Computer
Indexed Marriage Records, Hunting for Bears, Inc, Nicholas
Russell Murray NOTE: Some sources give Laura Coleman’s
wedding date as December 31, 1858. I believe it was December
31, 1857. In the Pontotoc Baptist Church Minutes (Ref 6
above) on page 30 it says: "A letter of dismision was
granted to Mrs. Laura Scott formally Laura Coleman."
The
date for this entry by the church clerk (Daniel T. Coleman)
was 6 March 1858. Furthermore, she was supposedly married on
a Thursday and 31 December 1858 was on Friday. So, I think
her wedding date was 31 December 1857, which was on a
Thursday.
5. First Baptist Church Pontotoc,
Mississippi Minute Book (1846 – 1902), p. 16 and p. 41,
(transcribed by Mrs. Hazel Boss Neet of Pontotoc,
Mississippi , 2001)
6. The Life and Times of Memory E. Leake, Julius Garnett
Berry, (privately published ca 1960), p. 77 NOTE: A copy of
this book is in the Tupelo, Mississippi Public Library.
7. From material copied at Pontotoc, Mississippi, Library
on 9 Nov 1991, p. 216 (this material may be from the
Pontotoc County Pioneers Quarterly)
8. First Baptist Church Pontotoc,
Mississippi Minute Book (1846 – 1902), p. 45, (transcribed
by Mrs. Hazel Boss Neet of Pontotoc, Mississippi , 2001)
9. Vaughn’s book about Tupelo history
10.The Life and Times of Memory E. Leake, Julius Garnett
Berry (privately published ca 1960)
11. Ibid, p. 44
12. Ibid, p. 82
13. First Baptist Church Pontotoc,
Mississippi Minute Book (1846 – 1902), p. 45, (transcribed
by Mrs. Hazel Boss Neet of Pontotoc, Mississippi , 2001)
14. Ibid, p. 44
15. Ancestry.com Internet Information, 15
March 2003, see Lina Coleman
16. Ibid
17. The Life and Times of Memory E. Leake, Julius Garnett
Berry (privately published
ca 1960), p. 4 – 8
Chapter 31 - References and Notes
1. From Augustus Coleman’s tombstone in city
cemetery of Pontotoc, Mississippi. Also,
from material copied at Pontotoc, Mississippi, Library on
9 Nov 1991, p. 216 (this
material may be from the Pontotoc County Pioneers
Quarterly)
2. Taken from:
http://www.pontotoc.net/tour.htm on 10 May 2007
Chapter 33 - References and Notes
1.Spotsylvania County VA Deed Book Q, p. 402 , p. 404,
also Spotsylvania County VA
Deed Book R, p. 504-505
2.Personal Property Tax Records for Spotsylvania County,
VA (1782-1822)
3.Marriages of Orange County, Virginia (1747 - 1810) by
Catherine L. Knorr
Spotsylvania County VA Deed Book J, p. 651. Also see
Virginia County Records
Spotsylvania County (1721-1800) at
Ancestry.com
Spotsylvania County VA Deed Book J, p. 650. Also see
Virginia County Records Spotsylvania County (1721-1800)
at Ancestry.com
U. S. GenWeb Site for Spotsylvania County, VA. See
1798 Direct Tax List for Berkeley Parish, Spotsylvania
County
A History of Early Spotsylvania by James Roger
Mansfield, 1977, p. 133
Spotsylvania County VA Deed Book O, p. 454. Also see
Virginia County Records Spotsylvania County (1721-1800)
at Ancestry.com
9. Spotsylvania County VA Deed Book P, p.158
Spotsylvania County VA Deed Book O, p. 31
Spotsylvania County VA Deed Book Q, p. 402 , 404
Spotsylvania County VA Deed Book R, p. 504-505
Personal Property Tax Records for Spotsylvania
County, VA (1782-1822)
Chapter 34 – Reference and Notes
1.Marriages of Orange County, Virginia (1747 -
1810) by Catherine L. Knorr
2. Orange County, VA Deed Book 19, p. 84
3. Marriages of Orange County, Virginia (1747 -
1810) by Catherine L. Knorr
4. Orange County, VA, Deed Book 20, p. 204
5. Orange County, VA, Deed Book 20, p. 205
6. Spotsylvania County, VA, Deed Book P, p. 299 –
300
7. Personal Property Tax Records for Spotsylvania
County, VA (1782-1822)
8. Spotsylvania County, VA, Deed Book O, p. 487
9. Wilkes County, GA, Deed Book SS, p. 226
10. Wilkes County, GA, Deed Book VV, p. 175
11. Early Records of Georgia, Volume One, Wilkes County,
Grace Gilliam Davidson, p.
304
12. Wilkes County, Georgia, Tax Records, 1785 - 1805,
Volume Two, Compiled by
Frank Parker Hudson
13. The Wilkes County Papers 1773 - 1833, Compiled by
Robert Scott Davis, Jr., p. 181
14. The Wilkes County Papers 1773 - 1833,
Compiled by Robert Scott Davis, Jr., p. 203;
also recorded in Wilkes County GA Book L,
fo. 303
15. Wilkes County, GA, Deed Book YY, p.
481
16. The Territorial Papers of the United States, Compiled
and edited by Clarence Edwin
Carter, Volume VI, The Territory of Mississippi (1809 -
1817), p. 470
17. Residents of the Southeastern Mississippi Territory,
Book One, Jean Strickland & Patricia N.
Edwards, P.O. Box 5147, Moss Point, MS, 39563, 1995,
p.109
18. Wilkes County, GA, Deed Book BBB, p. 168
19. Records of Lawrence County, Mississippi, Vol I,
Compiled by John Paul Smith,
1984, p. 134
Chapter 35 - References and
Notes
1. Spotsylvania County VA Deed Book Q, p. 402
and p. 404
2. Personal Property Tax Records for Spotsylvania
County, VA (1782-1822)
3. Spotsylvania County Patriots (1774-1782)
4. Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book O,
p.
490
5. Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book P,
p. 252
6. Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book T,
p. 175
7. U. S. GenWeb Site for Spotsylvania
County,
VA. See 1798 Direct Tax List for Berkeley
Parish, Spotsylvania County, VA
8.Personal Property Tax Records for
Spotsylvania County, VA (1782-1822)
9. Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book N, p.184 and
Book P, p. 305
10. Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book P, p. 300
11. Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book P, p. 328
12. Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book Q, p.
402-404
13. Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book R,
14. Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book Q,
p. 449
15. Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book Q,
p. 483-484
16. Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book S,
p. 432 and 484
17. Adair County, KY Deed Book D, p. 118
18. Adair County, KY Deed Book D, p. 128
Personal Property Tax Records for Spotsylvania
County, VA (1782-1822)
Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book Q,
p. 449
21. Adair County, KY Deed Book C, p. 315
22. Adair County, KY Deed Book C, p. 433
Adair County, KY Deed Book C, p. 315
Orange County, VA Deed Book 18,
p. 161-164
25. Orange County, VA Deed Book 19, p. 84
Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book P,
p. 305
Spotsylvania County, VA Deed Book R,
p. 357
28. A History of Early Spotsylvania by
James Roger Mansfield (1977), p. 133
Chapter 36 – Reference and Notes
1. Marriages of
Orange County, Virginia (1747
– 1810) by Catherine L. Knorr
1815 Orange County, VA, Will of Caleb
Abell
3. Lawrence County, MS, deed written on
5 February 1818
4. Lawrence County, MS, deed on 5
February 1818
Chapter 37 – References and
Notes
1. Early Records of Georgia, Vol I,
Wilkes County
by Grace Gilliam Davidson, 1932, p. 304
2. Minutes of the Wilkes County Inferior
Court (1811 - 1817), p. 153
Chapter 38 – References and
Notes
1. Records of Lawrence County, Mississippi, Vol I,
Compiled by John Paul Smith, 1984, p. 137
2. Lawrence County Deed Bk. A, 1818 and 1819
3. Bethany Baptist Church, Organized by William E. Stamps
on
3 June 1819 at White Sandy Creek, Lawrence County, MS,
(LDS Microfilm No. 1036220)
4. Lawrence County, MS, Marriages, 1818 - 1879, p. 39
5. Records of Lawrence County, Mississippi, Vol III, Deed
Books B (1826 - 1835) and C (1835 - 1840), Compiled by
John Paul Smith, 1989, p. 20 (original record in Deed
Book B
(20 Dec 1828), p. 125- 127
Chapter 39 – References and
Notes
1. Residents of the Mississippi Territory, Book 2A,
Jean Strickland and Patricia N. Edwards, 1996,
p. 17
2. Carroll County, Mississippi Pioneers by Betty C.
Wiltshire, p. 10
3. Records of Lawrence County, Miss, vol II, by J. P.
Smith, p. 44
4.Records of Lawrence County, Miss, vol I, by John Paul
Smith,
5.Lawrence County Mississippi Marriages (1818 – 1879) by
Maxie
Ruth Hedgepeth Brake, p. 42
6.Carroll County, Mississippi Estate Records (1840 –
1869) by Betty C. Wilshire, p. 12
7. Mississippi Cemetery-Bible Records, Vol 6, p. 138,
Wallace State
Ref Book, Hanceville, AL
8. Mississippi Cemetery-Bible
Records, Vol 12, p. 172, Wallace State
Ref Book, Hanceville, AL
Chapter 40 – References and
Notes
1. Records of Lawrence County, Mississippi, Vol III, Deed
Book B (1826 – 1835) and Deed Book C (1835 – 1840), compiled
by John Paul Smith, 1989, p. 53 (original record in Lawrence
County, MS, Deed Book B, 27 Feb 1834, p. 391)
2. The Reverend William W. Whitehead, Mississippi
Pioneer: his antecedents and descendants, E. Grey Dimond, M.
D., Diastole-Hospital Hill, Inc, Kansas City, MO 64108,
1985, p. 318
3. Records of Lawrence County, Mississippi, vol III, Deed
Book B (1826 – 1835) and Deed Book C (1835 – 1840), compiled
by John Paul Smith, 1989, p. 64 (original record in Lawrence
County, Mississippi, Deed Book B, 27 Feb 1834, p. 391)
4. Carroll County [Mississippi] Pioneers by Betty C.
Wiltshire, p. 24
5 .Holmes County [MS] Deed Book A, (June 1834), p. 175
6. Holmes County [MS] Deed Book A, (August 1834), p. 71
7. Carroll County [MS] Pioneers by Betty C.
Wiltshire, p. 64
8. Carroll County [MS] Pioneers by Betty C. Wiltshire, p.
83
9. Holmes County, MS, Deed Book N, p. 331
Chapter 41 - References and
Notes
1. The Reverend William W. Whitehead, Mississippi
Pioneer: his antecedents and descendants, by E. Grey Dimond,
M.D., Diastole-Hospital Hill, Inc., Kansas City, MO 64108,
1985, p. 4
2. Ibid
3. Records of Lawrence County, Mississippi, Vol I,
Compiled by John Paul Smith, 1984, p. 295
4. The Reverend William W. Whitehead, Mississippi
Pioneer: his antecedents and descendants, by E. Grey Dimond,
M.D., Diastole-Hospital Hill, Inc., Kansas City, MO 64108,
1985, p. 3
5. Ibid
6. Holmes County, MS, RootsWeb Internet Information, p.
121
7. Carroll County, Mississippi, Cemetery Records,
Ethel Bibus & Louise Marshall, p. 152
8. Ibid, p. 151
9. Material from Yvonne Olliphant Traylor, Winter
Park, FL, 22 Sept 1999, also e-mail message on 25 Apr 2000
(Laura Lovisa King Olliphant is an ancestor)
10. Ancestry.com Internet Site, MS Marriage Index,
1826–50
11. Holmes County, MS, Deed Book M, p. 451
12. Marriage Records in Carroll County Courthouse,
Carrollton, Mississippi, Mrs. O. K. Gee, Sr., p.73
13. History of Carroll County, Mississippi, by William
Franklin Hamilton, p. 15 and p. 49
14. Holmes County Mississippi Pioneers by Betty C.
Wiltshire, 1993, p.31
15.Clarke County, MS, Deed Book F, p. 582
16.Clarke County, MS, Deed Book F, p. 491
17. Clarke County, MS, Deed Book F, p. 584
18. Clarke County, MS, Deed Book H, p. 339
19. Clarke County, MS, Deed Book H, p. 290
20. Clarke County, MS, Deed Book H, p. 337
21. Clarke County, MS, Deed Book H, p. 338
22. Material from Yvonne Olliphant Traylor, Winter
Park, FL, 22 Sept 1999, also e-mail message on 25 Apr
2000 (Laura Lovisa King Olliphant is an ancestor)
23. Holmes County, MS, Deed Book N, p. 487
24. 1866 Clarke County, MS, Census (Wallace
State Community College Library, Hanceville,
AL)
25. The Reverend William W. Whitehead,
Mississippi Pioneer: his antecedents and
descendants, by E. Grey Dimond, M.D.,
Diastole-Hospital Hill, Inc., Kansas City, MO
64108, 1985, p. 53
Chapter 42 – References and
Notes
1. FamilySearch.com Internet Site
(LDS Church Web Site), IGI Records, Source Call No.
1553779
2. Yvonee Olliphant Traylor, Winter
Park, FL, (Laura Lovisa King Olliphant descendant),
e-mail communications on 22 Sept 1999 and 25 Apr 2000
3. Holmes County, MS, Deed Book M, p. 450
4. Yvonee Olliphant Traylor, Winter Park,
FL, (Laura Lovisa King Olliphant descendant), e-mail
communications on 22 Sept 1999 and 25 Apr 2000
5. 1866 Clarke County, Mississippi, Census (Wallace State
Community College Library, Hanceville, Alabama)
6.Yvonee Olliphant Traylor, Winter Park, FL, (Laura
Lovisa King Olliphant descendant), e-mail communications on
22 Sept 1999 and 25 Apr 2000
Chapter 43 – References and Notes
1. Holmes County Mississippi Pioneers by Betty C.
Wiltshire, 1993, p. 138
2. Holmes County, MS, Deed Book N, p. 331
3. Holmes County, MS, Deed Book N, p. 105. The 40
acres described as SW1/4 of SE1/4 S20,T15, R5E
4. Holmes County, MS, Deed Book N, p. 276. This 160
acres described as NW1/2 of S32,T16,R5E
5. Holmes County, MS, Deed Book N, p. 659.
This 480 acres described as S1/2 of
S25,T15,R4E
6. Holmes County Mississippi Pioneers by Betty C.
Wiltshire, 1993, p. 40
7. Holmes County, MS, Deed Book M, p. 522
8. Holmes County, MS, Will Book 1, p. 210
C. Wiltshire, 1993, p. 139
Chapter 46 – References and Notes
1.Ancestry.com information
on 24 Oct 2004. See this URL:
http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=pabst2&id=I08558
Ancestry.com cites the following: Revolutionary War
information from Dorothy Hurter on August 23, 2003. Her
email address is:
CarlHurter@aol.com
Chapter 47 – References and Notes
1.Ancestry.com information
on 24 Oct 2004. See this URL:
http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=pabst2&id=I08558
2.Ancestry.com information on 24 Oct 2004. See this URL:
http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=pabst2&id=I08558
Ancestry.com cites the following: Revolutionary War
information from
Dorothy Hurter on August 23,
2003. Her email address is: CarlHurter@aol.com
3.
Ancestry.com information on
24 Oct 2004. See this URL:
http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=pabst2&id=I08558
Ancestry.com cites the following source: E-Mail from Dero
Ramsey, 7 September 2003, at deroram@ebicom.net Charles Montgomery, b 1748, date taken from tombstone at Old
Brick Church by Mrs. Meta Hightower, d 27 Sep 1820 m. Margaret Reynolds, 1774. She was b 1752 in Ireland; d 16
Aug 1818. Charles P. Montgomery, Sr. middle initial came from the Clan
Montgomery website and from information sent via gedcom from
Mel Stephens January 13, 2000.
Chapter 48 – References and Notes
1. Internet information from Ancestry. com on 24 Oct
2004. See Montgomery/Trinkle-Shuck/Stickley Family Trees at
the following URL:
http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=pabst2&id=I08558
Ancestry.com contacts given are Jim and Judy Montgomery
at email pabst04@comcast.net
Chapter 51 – References and Notes
1. Sonny Montgomery, The Veteran’s Champion; G. V.
"Sonny" Montgomery with Michael B. Ballard, Craig S. Piper;
University Press of Mississippi, 2003, p. 7
Chapter 8 –
Two Mississippi Land Transactions by James
Castleberry *
Chapter 9 -
Children of James and Elizabeth Castleberry
*
Chapter 10 - William Castleberry (The Honest Merchant of
Pontotoc) (1830 - 1882) *
Chapter 11 - Annie Rosa Coleman Castleberry
(1840 - ca
1925 *
Chapter 12 -
Children of William and Annie Castleberry
*
Chapter 13 - Charles Rufus Castleberry (1878 - 1963)
*
Chapter 14 - Eliza King Castleberry (1883 - 1959)
*
Chapter 15 -
James C. Castleberry of Yalobusha County
(1819 – 1885) *
Chapter 16 - Castleberry’s in the Civil War
*
Chapter 17 - Ancestors of Elizabeth Carroll
*
Chapter 18 - John Carroll (1664 – 1735)
*
Chapter 19 - Joseph Carroll (1699 – 1784)
*
Chapter 20 - John (H) Carroll (ca 1732 - ca
1787)---------------------------------------------55
Chapter 21 – James Carroll (1768 - 1813)
*
Chapter 22 - Elizabeth Carroll (1801 - 1879)
*
Chapter 23 - William Nesbit (1788 - 1863)
*
Chapter 24 - Introduction - Coleman
Family---------------------------------------------------63
Chapter 25 - Daniel Coleman (1720 -
1777)--------------------------------------------------64
Chapter 26 - Eden Coleman (1764 -
1816)-----------------------------------------------------67
Chapter 27 - Thomas Coleman Daniel (ca 1740 - 1813)
*
Chapter 28 - William Randle (ca 1778 - 1830)
*
Chapter 29 - Daniel T. Coleman (1800 - 1873)
*
Chapter 30 – Children of Daniel T. Coleman and Clarinda
Ann R. Randle *
Chapter 31 – Servants of Daniel T. Coleman and Clarinda
Ann R. Randle *
Chapter 32 - Introduction to King
Family-----------------------------------------------------86
Chapter 33 - Francis King (ca 1740 - ca 1816)
*
Chapter 34 - Azariah King (ca 1760 - 1816)
*
Chapter 35 - James, Francis, Jr., Elijah, and John King
*
Chapter 36 - Mary Abell King (ca
1760 - ca 1825) *
Chapter 37 - Nancy King (ca 1790 - ca 18??)
*
Chapter 38 - George W. King (ca
1788 - 1824) *
Chapter 39 - Shadrack King (1798 - 1827)
*
Chapter 40 - Meshack King (1799 - 1837)
*
Chapter 41 - Lovisa Whitehead King(ca 1797 - ca 1865)
*
Chapter 42 - Laura Lovisa King and Samuel Rutherford Olliphant
*
Chapter 43 - William A. King
(1818 - 1859) *
Chapter 44 - Thomas Rhorea King (1850 - 1935)
*
Chapter 45 - Eliza King Castleberry (1883 - 1959)
*
Chapter 46 - Introduction --The Montgomery Family
*
Chapter 47 – Charles P. Montgomery, Sr (1748 -
1820)-----------------------------------115
Chapter 48 – Charles P. Montgomery, Jr. (1781 - 1851)
*
Chapter 49 - James D. Montgomery (1809 - 1865)
*
Chapter 50 - John G. Montgomery (1835 -
1926--------------------------------------------118
Chapter 51 - William Bell Montgomery (1829 - 1904)
*
INDEX
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