Double First Cousin, Solomon G. Street

In the early 1800’s the McBride family and Street family were neighbors having settled along the Elk River in south central Tennessee. Both families had migrated westward at the close of the Revolutionary War to pursue farming interests.  Each originated out of Virginia.  The McBride family took a northerly route through eastern Tennessee while the Streets had come by way of Georgia.  In 1819, third great grandfather, John McBride (1800-1855), married his young neighbor, Louisa Street (1803-1857).  Both their fathers had served in the War of 1812 as Tennessee Volunteers.  Louisa’s father, Joseph Street, died during his service in 1815 returning from the Battle of New Orleans.  She was eleven at the time.  At 16, she married John, the oldest son of James McBride (1773-1850).

A couple years later (1823), The Street and McBride families were joined again by the marriage of Louisa’s younger brother, Anderson Street (1805-1888) to John’s younger sister Keziah “Kisey” Abigail McBride (1805-1866).  As a result of that second union, John and Louisa’s children were “double cousins” to Keziah and Anderson’s children through their father and their mother-- and there were plenty of cousins.

My line comes through Rev. William McBride (1829-1895), the sixth of eleven children by John and Louisa.  Keziah and Anderson Street had 15 children.  This was the generation of the Civil War.  All of Anderson and Kisey’s seven boys served during the Civil War.  Three would not survive it.  Both families moved into Mississippi in the 1830’s.  Kisey, her husband Anderson and a number of other Street relatives are buried in the Antioch Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery in Ripley, Mississippi.  Kisey and John’s father, James McBride is likely buried there also.  He had lived near Kisey and Anderson in Tippah County the last 15 years of his life.  Unfortunately no grave marker has been found for James.

By James McBride’s death in 1850 the John McBride family had a well-established farm in Holmes County Mississippi near the town of Lexington.  It was about this time some of the next generation of McBride’s moved on into Louisiana to develop their own interests.  My great-great grandfather was one of those settling in Jackson Parish, Louisiana.  His Street family double first cousins had mainly remained in Tippah County, Mississippi. 

At the outbreak of the Civil War, the Street cousins were plentiful in north Mississippi.  They made an impact on their community.  One cousin, Solomon Street, is a standout historically.  He and I share both sets of his grandparents.  Joseph Street & Nancy Lucinda Key and James McBride & Sarah Ann Brock were his grandparents and my 4th great grandparents making us 1st cousins 4 times removed (twice)!

The following is a somewhat lengthy account of my double first cousin (4 times removed), Solomon G. Street’s activities during the war—It’s an article by Andrew Brown as published in the Journal of Mississippi History, Volume 21, Number 3, July 1959.

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By Andrew Brown

Solomon G. Street, or Sol Street, was the son of Anderson Street, one of the pioneer settlers of Tippah County, Mississippi. The elder Street's home was about ten miles northwest of Ripley, the county seat, and about fifteen miles south of Saulsbury, Tennessee. Little is known of the early life of his son, who was a small boy when the family moved to Mississippi, beyond the facts that he was thirty years old in 1861, that he was married - his wife's name was Rhoda - and that he was making a good living as a carpenter when the Civil War broke out.

Sometime between March and May, 1861, he enlisted in the Magnolia Guards, a volunteer company that had been organized at Ripley in late 1860 or early 1861. The Magnolia Guards assembled at Ripley on April 30, marched to Saulsbury, and there took the cars for Corinth where they became Company F of the Second Mississippi Infantry.

The Second Mississippi was sent almost immediately after its organization to Lynchburg, Virginia, where on May 9 it was mustered into the provisional army of the Confederate States. On the same day Street was made third sergeant of his company and served in that capacity for more than a year. He was a giant of a man, possessed of a booming voice that carried into the farthest recesses of the regimental camp. After Sol Street had become a legend in North Mississippi, a survivor of the regiment recalled Sergeant Street's orders as he drilled his men: "Hold them heads up! Look fierce! Look mean! Look like the devil Look like me!” How well he succeeded in making the men of Company F look like the devil or Sol Street is not known, but it is a matter of record that they were good soldiers.

Street served with the Second Mississippi in the campaign of first Manassas in 1861 and at the battle of Seven Pines and in the Seven Days Battles around Richmond in 1862. While McClellan was being pushed away from the Confederate capital by Lee, however, affairs took an opposite turn in the West. On May 31, Beauregard evacuated Corinth, and within a month Federal troops were ranging far and wide throughout Northeast Mississippi, the homeland of the Second Mississippi. The news was not long in reaching Virginia; and in July a considerable number of the men in the regiment took advantage of a provision of the recently enacted conscription law, obtained substitutes, and returned to their homes. Among those who took this step was Sol Street; he obtained his discharge from the Army of Northern Virginia on July 28 and returned to Tippah County in August. There he found conditions even worse than he had feared. Not only was Union cavalry roaming throughout Northeast Mississippi almost at will, but Confederate and State authorities were bickering over responsibility for the defense of the region while neither was able to offer any effective resistance to the invaders. In the meantime property was being destroyed, slaves were being carried away and the lives of noncombatants were in imminent danger. It became evident to Street within a matter of days after his arrival that the citizens themselves must provide such protection as Northeast Mississippi received.

The first step toward an adequate home defense was taken by William C. Falkner, the first captain of Street's Company F and later colonel of the Second Mississippi. Falkner had been defeated for the colonelcy at the reorganization of April, 1862, and had returned to Ripley. There he recruited, almost entirely from Tippah County, a regiment of cavalry containing about 750 men known subsequently as the First Mississippi Partisan Rangers. The Rangers were mustered into Confederate service early in August and served creditably until the middle of November, when the Con­scription Bureau, taking advantage of some irregularities in the regiment's organization, broke it up in a vain attempt to obtain conscripts for the regular Confederate forces. Although Falkner later reorganized the regiment, the result of the Conscription Bureau's action was to leave Tippah and adjoining counties practically stripped of defenders. It was at this black time that Sol Street reentered the picture.

Nothing is known of Street's activities from August through November, 1862. He did not enlist in the First Mississippi Partisan Rangers. Possibly he was making plans to organize a military unit of his own, and biding his time until the moment came to strike. The breakup of the Rangers gave him an opportunity, and he seized it instantly. Early in December he obtained authority from Governor Pettus of Mississippi to recruit cavalry for home defense, and almost entirely by his own efforts enlisted a company called the Citizen Guards of Tippah County, of which he was chosen captain. On December 15, 1862, the Citizen Guards were mustered into the Army of Mississippi (not, it should be emphasized, the Confederate Army) as Company A, Second Mississippi (State) Cavalry. The commander of the Second Cavalry was Colonel J. F. Smith.

Smith's regiment was a paper organization that saw only desultory fighting before it disbanded upon being ordered into Confederate service on June 4, 1863. Early in January of that year, however, Captain Street's company A, Captain W. H. Wilson's Company D (which had been recruited largely by Street), and possibly another company were detached - one suspects that Street detached them on his own initiative - for "service along the Memphis and Charleston Railroad." Thus began the operations of that irregular but highly effective group of fighters known as "Sol Street's guerilla band," which for eighteen months was to be a thorn in the flesh of Federal commanders from Corinth to the outskirts of Memphis, and from Tippah County, Mississippi, to Hickman, Kentucky. To understand the nature of Street's operations, and the peculiar situation that dictated his policies, it is necessary to summarize conditions in Northeast Mississippi in the first part of 1863.

At the beginning of that year nearly all the Confederate troops in Mississippi were in the vicinity of Vicksburg. In March, however, Brigadier General James R. Chalmers was placed in command of the newly created Fifth Military District of the state, which comprised the ten northern counties. Following orders, Chalmers set up headquarters at Panola (now Batesville) near the western edge of his district. The ostensible reason for the location was to watch anticipated Union movements from Memphis toward Vicksburg; but another and probably overriding objective was the breaking up of the increasing trade between citizens of North Mississippi and the merchants of federally held Memphis. The specific aim of the Richmond authorities was to prevent cotton from reaching the Federal lines; and so strongly did they stress the cotton angle that military objectives were often subordinated or even ignored. This was certainly the case in the location of Chalmers' headquarters.

As Chalmers had only a handful of soldiers, many of whom were none-too-reliable Partisan Rangers, he was obviously unable from Panola to protect a district which extended 120 miles east and west and 60 miles north and south. For assistance in the eastern part of his district he was forced to depend on such help as he could get from Brigadier General Daniel Ruggles, commanding the First Military District from headquarters at Columbus. Showing an almost unbelievable lack of perception, Ruggles remained in that pleasant little city, far removed from the Union armies, until someone in Richmond noticed what Ruggles should have seen long before, that most Federal raids from the Memphis and Charleston Railroad followed the Saulsbury-Ripley road. Ruggles was thereupon ordered to move his headquarters to Tupelo. The incident is worth noting as one of the few occasions when the judgment of the Richmond authorities was better than that of the men in the field. But even after the move to Tupelo, the important town of Ripley was fifty miles from Ruggles' hodgepodge of state troops at Tupelo and even farther from Chalmers' little force at Panola. Neither general was able to offer much opposition to the swift Federal raids into Tippah County, with the result that such protection as the citizens had was provided by Sol Street and his band.

The term "band" is used advisedly. Officially Street was captain of one company, but usually he was reinforced by Captain Wilson's Company and other irregulars. In fact, his organization at this time was a most informal one, and he doubtless was accompanied by men who never enlisted in any state or Confederate unit. Street located his headquarters in the almost impenetrable bottom of North Tippah Creek probably near his boyhood home. From this hideout Street staged his spectacular raids with a force that on many occasions totaled no more than thirty hand­picked men. The necessity for using only men of known trustworthiness was vital, for the northern part of Tippah County was a region of divided loyalties, and the danger of betrayal was ever present. Street's intelligence system was simple and effective. News of practically every Union foray was speedily brought to him by some enlisted or un-enlisted "scout", and usually within a matter of hours the invaders found Sol Street's band hanging on their flanks, taking advantage of their knowledge of the country to do whatever damage they could.

Street's first recorded brush with the enemy was on January 5, 1863. On that day Major D. M. Emerson left Bolivar, Tennessee, with a detachment of the First Tennessee Cavalry (Union) and independent companies of "Tippah and Mississippi Rangers." His objective was Ripley. About fifteen miles south of Bolivar, Street ambushed the raiders and killed one Union soldier. Emerson later reported that some of the attackers were dressed in Federal uniforms, which indicates that Street already had adopted a favored mode of camouflage in the bush-whacking war in the west. Both sides used it. A conspicuous example is supplied by the Union Colonel B. H. Grierson's famous raid through Mississippi in the spring of 1863, when part of his force was garbed in Confederate butternut.

After his first brush with Street, Emerson decided to leave well enough alone and returned to Bolivar. Three days later, however, Colonel Edward Prince of the Seventh Illinois Cavalry led a detachment from La Grange to Ripley in search of the elusive partisan. Prince failed to locate Street, but from the Union standpoint the raid was successful in that Lieutenant Colonel Lawson B. Hovis of the First Mississippi Partisan Rangers was captured at his home in Ripley.

By the middle of February harassed Union commanders had learned that Street's band was likely to turn up anywhere between the Mobile and Ohio and Mississippi Central Railroads, and anywhere between the Ripley-Salem line and Bolivar. On February 25 it captured two privates and two sergeants of the Seventh Illinois who had straggled behind their command. By this time Federal commanders were taking a serious view of Street, whom they consistently described as "the noted guerrilla." General Hamilton managed to send a man whom he described as "one of my best spies" to Street's camp. In due time this emissary returned with a report that the heavy guns at Vicksburg were being dismantled and the place evacuated. As the report was groundless, and as Street's men could have little knowledge of what was going on at Vicksburg in any event, it is obvious that the "guerillas" recognized Hamilton's "scout" for what he was and sent him on his way rejoicing with plausible but erroneous information.

March, 1863, was a busy month for Street's band. Being short of almost every kind of equipment, they for some time had eyed hungrily the provision and supply-laden trains that puffed heavily over the tracks of the Memphis and Charleston and Mississippi Central Railroads. The Partisans knew that every mile of track and every station on the Memphis and Charleston was guarded so closely that it was out of the question for a small unit to do any serious damage on that line. However, Private Archer N. Prewitt of Street's Company A, a native Tennessean, learned that the Mississippi Central was not guarded so closely, and that a pay train was scheduled to run from Bolivar to Grand Junction on March 21. This chance to get good Yankee dollars was too good for Street to miss. On the night of March 19 he took about 80 of his own and Captain White's companies, and, after riding all night and crossing the Memphis and Charleston near Saulsbury, hid in the woods all day of the 20th. After nightfall Prewitt led the band to a deep cut on a curve about three and a half miles north of Grand Junction. The men removed the rails on the outside of the curve and hid in the bushes. Soon after sunrise of the 21st a southbound train entered the cut, and before the engineer realized what was happening the locomotive and five cars were piled up. Street's men emerged from cover, firing as they came. About twenty or twenty-five Negro soldiers were aboard. These, when they glimpsed the ragged Confederates charging toward them, stood not on the order of their going but took helter-skelter to the woods, where some of them were captured later.

Unfortunately for Street, the train wrecked in the cut was not the pay train, but a construction train carrying a considerable amount of supplies. When the pay train itself came into sight a few minutes later, its engineer saw the wreck in time to stop and back up toward Bolivar. The Federal paymaster, however, jumped when it appeared that his train would ram the wreckage, and was captured.

After taking all the material they could use, Street's men set fire to the cars and began a leisurely retreat toward Ripley with sixteen white prisoners and "sixteen free Americans of African descent." Thus did General Chalmers, in reporting the affair, pay his respects to the recently promulgated Emancipation Proclamation. Among the prisoners was the paymaster. He was mounted on a mule during the retirement, and not being accustomed to such a mode of transportation over rough roads, suffered severely before he reached the fastness in Tippah Bottom.

Street's capture of the train brought him into contact for the first time with Colonel Fielding Hurst of the First Tennessee Cavalry (Union), whom the Confederates designated "the notorious Colonel Hurst." Though a native of Bethel, Tennessee, and a slaveholder - throughout the war he was always accompanied by his two body servants Lloyd and Sam - he had turned against the Confederacy early in the war, and had become one of its most vindictive foes. Appointed colonel by Governor Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, he recruited a body of "Troy" troops who, according to both Federal and Confederate evidence, were notorious for their freebooting proclivities. Hurst was far from unique in this respect. Many of the "independent" companies, battalions, and regiments attached to both the Union and Confederate forces held the same reputation. Street's band was no exception. In fact, one alleged act of robbery on their leader's part led to his violent death.

The acts of lawlessness with which the record of the war in North Mississippi and West Tennessee is studded were due to the fact that neither of the armies ever exercised firm control of the country, and that the fighting was nearly always on a small scale. It was true guerrilla warfare, which is a dirty, stealthy business under all conditions but especially under such conditions as prevailed in the region in 1863. From the Confederate viewpoint the situation was aggravated by stringent regulations against trading with the enemy, joined with the close proximity of enemy-held Memphis. All soldiers, regular and irregular, had orders to confiscate cotton going to Memphis and merchandise coming out of Memphis, and to "bring it to headquarters." Human nature being what it is, soldiers more often than not failed to take the offending articles to headquarters.

On the day after the affair near Grand Junction Hurst led about one hundred of his Federals from Pocahontas to Ripley, ostensibly to catch the train-wrecker. When he could not find Street, his trip turned into a horse and cotton­stealing expedition. The only military result of the raid was the killing of Colonel John H. Miller, whom Governor Pettus had sent to Tippah County to organize scattered small units in that area into regiments. Street was informed of Hurst's raid, and assumed that he would remain in Ripley that night. He therefore led his force of Partisans to the town after dark, intending to capture the Union pickets and possibly retrieve some of Hurst's booty. When Street learned that the Tennesseean had retired toward Pocahontas, however, he followed immediately, and by taking a side road through the bottom of Muddy Creek reached Jonesboro ahead of the enemy. On a steep hill about a mile south of Jonesboro part of the Mississippians ambushed and captured Hurst's rear guard of eight men, and the prisoners were taken to Ripley by a detail commanded by R. J. Thurmond. In the meantime Street with the remainder of his men took another side road, got in front of Hurst about a mile and a half south of Pocahontas, and charged the enemy recklessly. When the attack failed because of wet powder and inferior numbers, Street retired toward Ripley. Remarkably enough, not one of his men was killed in the skirmish; only one was wounded and two captured. The Federal loss, other than the eight men captured, is not known. Hurst reported to his superiors at Memphis that Street had been desperately wounded. This was not the first nor the last time that the guerrilla was erroneously reported disabled.

After the fighting near Jonesboro and Pocahontas, Colonel Hurst announced that he would not grant the rights of prisoners of war to the captured members of Street's band. This threat, Street realized, was one that had to be countered by higher authority than his own. Although he had been operating independently with little or no regard to the wishes or plans of General Chalmers, he was forced to take the matter to Panola.  Chalmers immediately wrote "Col. Hurst, U. S. A." that Street commanded a regular organization of State troops turned over to Confederate service," and that his men were therefore entitled to be treated as prisoners of war. Chalmers closed his letter with the warning that "in case of a persistent refusal to extend them such courtesies, the Genl. will retaliate upon your command, some of whom are now prisoners in our hands."

Chalmers now made the first of many efforts to bring Street's band of irregulars into formal Confederate service. The organization, as Chalmers wrote Hurst, had been turned over to Confederate service, but only on paper. On April 2 - the same day he wrote Hurst - Chalmers addressed an order to "Captain Solomon G. Street, commanding Citizen Guards of Tippah County" to assemble his company at New Albany. Instructions were also given to assemble all other independent companies in the vicinity at the same place for the purpose of organizing them into a battalion or regiment. The wording of the order shows that Street was the recognized leader of all state troops in Tippah County. The captain did not obey the order, if indeed he ever received it. Instead, he remained in state service for another four months, although on occasion he did cooperate with General Chalmers. On May 21 his band was part of about 300 Confederates who beat off a Federal attack at Salem. In that skirmish six of Street's men were captured.

Late in May the bitter enmity between the Union troops and Street's band came to a head. On May 27 Major General William Sooy Smith, commanding the Union cavalry at Memphis, charged that two of Street's men, named Kesterson and Robinson, had murdered two Union prisoners in cold blood, adding that "their excuse that the prisoners were trying to escape is so notoriously false that your own men heaped upon them the execration they so richly deserved." Smith threatened to place in irons and shoot four prisoners from Street's command if Kesterson and Robinson were not turned over to him. This time Street turned the matter over to General Ruggles, saying only that the prisoners had actually been shot while attempting to escape. Ruggles wrote Smith that he was having the matter investigated, and in the meantime was having four prisoners of Smith's placed in irons. There the matter stood for a time.

Late in July, Street took his company to Okolona. From that town, on July 29, he wrote the War Department at Richmond, stating that he "had power over" three companies and asking authority to recruit a battalion of cavalry for Confederate service. As Confederate authorities took a dim view of the enlistment of additional cavalry units, Street received no answer. A few days later his command received pay for the period December 15, 1862, to April 15, 1863. The muster roll made at the time, however, includes the names of all men who joined the company up to August 1. The total number of names on the muster roll - the only one of Company A in existence - is 113 rank and file, of whom 82 had enlisted when the company was originally mustered into state service. Of these, 38 were at that time present for service; 41 were absent without leave; four were on detached service; eight had been "claimed" (as deserters) by Confederate, units; one had died in camp and twelve had been captured. The roll shows none killed, though some of the men listed as captured are known to have died of wounds. In all probability the maker of the roll simply omitted the names of the men killed in action.

The men named on the muster roll of Company A were not all of Street's band. A list prepared by a survivor and published in 1895 contains 69 names, 17 of whom are not on the roll. His account of the fight with Hurst at Poncahontas adds another name, that of R. J. Thurmond. Granted that some of the men named were members of Captain Wilson's company, it is most likely that others on this list never enlisted, but joined Street temporarily for one or more of his skirmishes.

Street's last fight as captain of Company A took place late in August, when he attacked a Union forage train between Pocahontas and Ripley. On this occasion, with the Kesterson-Robinson affair fresh in their minds, the Federal soldiers squared accounts in a brutal manner. Two of Street's privates, John Carraway and Moses Crisp, were captured and without further ado taken to a bridge over Muddy Creek and shot. Ruggles promptly held two Federal prisoners as hostages, but as in the original case there is no record of the final disposition of the case. In all probability the accounts were simply allowed to stand as balanced.

After the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, large numbers of Federal troops based at Memphis and in West Tennessee were shifted to the vicinity of Chattanooga. An immediate result was that Confederates in West Tennessee were able to operate more freely than had been possible before, and some of them took advantage of the relaxed pressure to move into North Mississippi, where they had some hope of obtaining arms and equipment. Conditions in Mississippi also improved. In August, Major General Stephen D. Lee was placed in command of all cavalry in Mississippi, and soon brought a semblance of order into the harried Fifth Military District. He brought many state troops into Confederate service and augmented them with units from Tennessee. One of the largest of these Tennessee units, about a thousand strong, was brought to Orizaba (about seven miles south of Ripley) late in July by Colonel R. V. Richardson. Within a matter of weeks Richardson had accumulated an even larger command, and was signing himself "Col. commanding NE Miss."

Richardson, a daring and successful partisan fighter, had had his share of troubles with both sides. In March, 1863, Joe Johnston, who had no use for guerrilla fighting, charged him with "great oppressions" and recommended that his authority to recruit be withdrawn. To keep the score even, on March 15 the Union commander sent Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson after him, saying of his men, "I am assured by high Confederate authority that they act without and against orders and are simply robbers to be treated as such. The gang must be exterminated and the sooner the better." Grierson's expedition came to nothing. In fact, when he made his famous raid to Baton Rouge a few weeks later, he had to fight Richardson all the way to Central Mississippi.

In Richardson, Street found a kindred spirit. Moreover, he was given no choice but to attach himself to the regular organization. On September 1 the partisan leader resigned his Mississippi commission and transferred his men to the Confederate army. They were not incorporated into a regiment, but fought as "Street's Battalion" under Richardson's command. This battalion participated in Chalmers' attack on Collierville in October, the first offensive movement in that area on the part of the Confederates since the battle of Corinth a year before. About this time Street abandoned the hideout in Tippah bottom and shifted his base to Orizaba.

In November, Street, probably at Richardson's suggestion, took his battalion on a raid into West Tennessee. He stopped first at Whiteville, where he rested for two days before moving to Cageville (now Alamo). He then moved through Dyersburg and after crossing the Obion River killed a well-known Unionist whom he described as "the notorious Tory Jim Dixon, who lost his life by refusing to surrender." He continued north to Hickman, Kentucky, where he killed one Union soldier and captured nine men and 40 horses before moving into-Madrid Bend. There he continued his recruiting - actually conscripting - activities with some success and then started south. At Meriwether's Ferry on the Obion River his rear guard was driven in by a detachment of the Second Illinois Cavalry. Two Confederates were killed, and Street himself and 29 of his command were captured. The Union commander lost no time in reporting his trophy: "I attacked the devils at Meriwether's Ferry at noon yesterday. I whipped them and killed eleven men and also took Sol Street and 55 men, also one wagon load of arms and some horses." "Colonel" Street, however, was not one to remain long in durance. After being a prisoner for about twelve hours he made his escape and overtook his command near Whiteville, where he learned that some of his horses had escaped near Reelfoot Lake. Immediately he retraced his steps to Madrid Bend, drove off a Union force engaged in conscription duty, retrieved most of his lost horses, and then settled down to a conscription campaign of his own.

While Street was fighting Yankees and conscripting men and horses in Kentucky and West Tennessee, Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest was at Okolona creating an army with which to invade his home state of Tennessee. He had been led to believe that Richardson would bring about a thousand men to his colors; but that hope proved illusory as Richardson's men, Street among them, were scattered far and wide. The indefatigable Forrest, however, did not let the absence of Richardson's men deter him. On December 3 he crossed the state line near Saulsbury, while Chalmers and Lee made an opening for him by diversionary attacks at Moscow and Ripley. Once inside Tennessee, Forrest and his 450 men began an intensive recruiting and conscription campaign, and when they slipped back into Mississippi on the night of December 27, the command numbered more than three thousand men. Many of them were untrained, more had no arms, many were unwilling conscripts; but they were the material from which their commander forged one of the greatest cavalry organizations in the long history of war. Street's battalion, and the men and horses he had gathered in Madrid Bend, were among the troops that poured across the state line that wintry night.

On January 25, 1864, Forrest formally organized his newly created "Forrest's Cavalry Department" which included all cavalry commands in North Mississippi and West Tennessee. General Order no. 2, dated the same day, grouped his scattered units into four small brigades. Street's battalion, with Marshall's regiment, Catlin's command, and the Twelfth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Tennessee formed the First Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General R. V. Richardson. On February 4 the Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments and Street's battalion were combined to form the Fifteenth Tennessee, commanded by Colonel F. M. Stewart. On the same day Street was appointed Major.

Until he came under the command of Forrest, Street had been a daring and, in his own sphere, a brilliantly successful leader, but he had never been a good subordinate. He changed almost instantly, and from a reckless individualist was transformed into a "good hand" even by the exacting Forrest standard. One result of the transformation was that his name dropped from the records. No longer was he Sol Street, the famous guerrilla, but now he was Major Street of the Fifteenth Tennessee. He did not participate in the Sooy Smith campaign of February, 1864, having been left in Central Mississippi; but under the command of Colonel J. J. Neely, who succeeded Richardson as brigade commander on March 9, he took part in Forrest's campaign in West Tennessee and Kentucky in March and April, the campaign was high-lighted by the capture of Fort Pillow. At the conclusion of that campaign his career came to a sudden end near the scene of some of his greatest triumphs.

On May 2 Forrest closed his headquarters at Jackson, Tennessee, sent his long trains southward to Corinth, and moved with most of his command, including Street's men, to Bolivar. There he skirmished with an expedition sent from Memphis under the command of General Samuel D. Sturgis, and bivouacked a few miles south of the town. While Street was riding into the camp, a young soldier named Robert Galloway shot him, inflicting a mortal wound. Years later Galloway related that Street's band had killed his father for the purpose of robbing him, but had been frightened away before they found his money; another version, told by members of the Street family, is that Street had burned Galloway's cotton to keep it from falling into Federal hands. But whatever the facts were, young Galloway - he was only sixteen years old - enlisted in the Confederate army and when Street was pointed out to him by a friend during the fighting at Bolivar, lost no time in taking his revenge. He escaped after the shooting, but was captured and taken before Forrest, who in a towering rage told him that a drumhead court martial would see that he was shot at sunrise. He managed, however, to escape during the night and made his way to the Union lines at Memphis. After the war he moved to Illinois.

So ended the career of Sol Street, who operated on a small scale and in a comparatively obscure theatre of war, but who was yet one of the most successful and most feared of the Confederate partisan commanders.

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by Andrew Brown as published in the Journal of Mississippi History, Volume 21, Number 3, July 1959

Our People at the Battle of Kings Mountain

The summer of 2017, we took our middle son to bagpipe camp not far from Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.  After dropping him off for his week long stint, the rest of us headed out for some touring of Appalachia via the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Appalachia, by the way, is pronounced "Apple at chuh" by the locals.

We saw Asheville and Boone and Blowing Rock among others.  It's really beautiful country and the average temperature in July in the mountains is nothing like Mississippi which made the trip exceedingly pleasant.  

High on my list of "must sees" was the Revolutionary War historic site of the Battle of Kings Mountain.  It's a bit off the beaten path just west of Charlotte, North Carolina.  Technically, it's across the state line just barely into South Carolina.  The battlefield is a National Military Park and it's saddled up next to a South Carolina State Park.  The area is well worth a visit.  Naturally, my interest in it is genealogical.  We had people there on October 7, 1780.

Monument at Battle of Kings Mountain National Military Park

There's a good wiki page HERE if you want to learn specifics about the battle.  In a nutshell, it was a decisive Patriot victory and is often credited with turning the tide of the Revolutionary War in the south.  It certainly is responsible for turning the redcoats out of North Carolina.  The forces involved were all Americans (Patriots and Loyalists) save the commander of the Loyalist forces who by most accounts was a decent and reputable leader of Scottish birth.  He was also the only professional soldier on the field that day.  There were about 100 Provincial Loyalist soldiers among the 1,200 or so Tories.  They would be the only forces on Kings Mountain wearing the iconic red coats.  Their leader, Major Patrick Ferguson, was felled in the thick of battle that day.

Monument and Cairn marking resting place of Patrick Ferguson

Both sides were primarily composed of militia forces. The Patriots were generally backwoodsmen or frontiersmen accustomed to scraping a living out of the soil, trapping and hunting for their food.  Instead of a standard issue military musket, they carried their own hunting rifles and wore handspun clothing and buckskins.  The lack of uniforms was a cause of confusion on the battlefield.  Loyalist militia units and Patriots looked so much alike, they had to devise a method of telling themselves apart.  The custom of the day was for the Loyalists to put a pine twig in their hat band, while the Patriots put a white piece of paper or cloth.

The Patriots' formal training as soldiers was practically nil, but most had gained suitable experience chasing and being chased by hostile Indians so the concept of "kill or be killed" among the brush and brambled forests had been honed in them through their daily lives. For many, the war had run them out of their farms in the east. They had sought refuge in wilderness areas west of the Appalachian Mountains, so when the war in the east forced them back over the mountains, they became known as the "Overmountain Men."

One of these Overmountain Men was Colonel Joseph Hardin.  He is a 5th great grandfather via my Kuykendall family line.  His son-in-law was Adam Kuykendall who is responsible for bringing the Kuykendall clan to Arkansas.  Col. Hardin is one of a surprising number of ancestors with his own wiki page (found HERE).  He is credited with a number of impressive accomplishments-- a mover and shaker in colonial times.  He was very active in the military serving North Carolina as a Major in the Salisbury District Minutemen, a Captain with the Tryon County Regiment, and a Captain with the 2nd Battalion of Volunteers.  At the time of the Battle of Kings Mountain, 46 year old Hardin was serving as a Major in the Wilkes County Regiment of the North Carolina Militia.  He and his family saw lots of action.  Two of his sons were killed in various battles with Indians.  His brother, Captain John Hardin, and his company of rifle marksmen earned fame at the Battle of Ramsour's Mill.

Joseph's name is found among the signers of the Tryon Resolves along with his father, Benjamin Hardin.  The Tryon Resolves was signed on August 14, 1775 by residents of North Carolina who were incensed by the degradation that resulted from the policies of the English government forced on the colonists, especially after the Battle of Lexington.

Signers of the Tryon Resolves a year before the Declaration of Independence

Another signer of the Tryon Resolves was the husband of Joseph Hardin's sister, Sarah.  He was Lt. Col. Frederick Hambright who would distinguish himself at the Battle of Kings Mountain.  Hambright was born in Bavaria and immigrated as a child with his family to Pennsylvania and then Virginia where he married Sarah. They lived very near Kings Mountain at the time of the Battle.  Hambright was severely wounded during the battle, taking a musket ball in his thigh.  The wound ended any future military exploits but not before he finished out the Battle of Kings Mountain, though wounded, directing his men from his horse.  When the battle was won, he was taken to his nearby home where his injuries were treated.  He lived another 37 years.

Hambright's marriage to Col. Hardin's sister makes him my great uncle (6x), but I also found that one of his daughters was married to a Kuykendall.  James Kuykendall, who was 24 at the time of the Battle of King's Mountain, married Mary Esther "Polly" Hambright in 1779.  The Kuykendall name popped up frequently in my Kings Mountain research.  This James Kuykendall was first cousin to 4th great grandfather Adam Kuykendall (mentioned above), son-in-law of Col. Joseph Hardin. Both Hardin and Hambright had children married to Kuykendall's.  If that's not enough.  Col. Hardin had a brother and sister who both also married Kuykendall's.  I'd say the families of Hardin and Kuykendall were very familiar.

Another look at the signers of the Tryon Resolves reveals yet another Kuykendall.  I believe this Joseph Kuykendall is the son of Col. Hardin's sister, Rebecca Hardin and John Kuykendall, an uncle to my Adam Kuykendall.  I believe he is the Joseph Kuykendall who was counted present at the Battle of King's Mountain.  It seems highly likely that Adam Kuykendall who was 36 at the time was also present at the Battle, but I have found no evidence to support this.

There is a "well grounded tradition" that two men were at the base of King's Mountain in fervent prayer while the battle raged October 7, 1780.  The chaplains for the men of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland's Wilkes County Militia were, Reverend George McNeil and Reverend John Cleveland.  John, my 5th great grandfather, was a brother of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland.  John had at least two brothers in the battle and another that had been wounded on his way to the battle.  Colonel Benjamin Cleveland is the most well known of the family as he led the Wilkes County men all over the Piedmont chasing Tories for most of the War, but he is most known for his important role in the victory at King's Mountain.  

Recently, I was surprised to find the "King's Mountain prayer story" corroborated by a mention in the Fall 2020 edition of the Sons of the American Revolution Magazine...

I tried to contact the author hoping to get a source for his story, but I haven't had any luck.

Col. Benjamin Cleveland's  exploits are memorialized in the very entertaining pension records of scores of men that served under him.  HERE is his wiki page.

Unfortunately, there is no pension record for Rev. John Cleveland.  He passed away about the time the federal government allowed full pension for those who fought in the Revolutionary War.  It's likely, he never filed one.  We do have some pay receipts that prove his service.  The North Carolina Archives holds a record of a voucher number 721 from January of 1782 showing payment of 25 pounds, 12 shillings to John Cleveland for services as Chaplain.  Another account paid by General McDowell of Burke County shows an amount of 18 pounds, 4 shillings, 6 pence paid to John Cleveland for militia services.  Prior to his Militia service in North Carolina, he had enlisted in the 9th Virginia Regiment.  He served three years and we have a copy of his discharge in June of 1780.  This is where he held the rank of Ensign which, I understand is comparable to today's rank of Lieutenant.

John Cleveland's discharge from 9th Virginia Reg't

Rev. John Cleveland definitely served Patriot duties during the Revolutionary War, but there are only a couple bits of evidence for him being at the Battle of Kings Mountain.  Other than the oral tradition handed down in the McNeil family about the prayer warriors mentioned earlier, I have found only a couple references to Rev. John Cleveland being at the battle.  One reference comes again from the McNeil family.  The Reverend George McNeil's family celebrated him at family reunions for many years.  In 1905, a hundred years after his death, a marker was erected at his gravesite.  Hymns were sung and statements were read including the following written by his son, Joseph McNeil...

The Rev. Mr. George McNeil was bornd on or about the year 1720 and was ordained some time before the year 1776, but the exact time I cannot tel, and he was frequently a corresponding messenger to different associations, frequently appointed a help to churches whose difficulties arose in them, and was called to ordain preachers, and constitute churches, and was Moderator of the Yadkin Association for a number of years, and he and the Rev. Mr. John Cleveland went in the Revolutionary War with the army as they went from Kings Mountain and preached to them until they got up into Burke County. Him and the Rev’d Mr. A. Baker yoused to preach a great deal together. He departed this life June the 7th, 1805. This is correct an account as I am able to give.

Much of what Joseph wrote about George McNeil's experience with the Baptists in North Carolina and north Georgia would apply to John Cleveland also.  They worked together to establish churches and associations.  It is understood they were great friends.  One of John's daughters married a son of George McNeil.

Another source that indicates John Cleveland was present at the battle of Kings Mountain is the pension application of Private Thomas Majors.  A deposition by a man named Forbes in that pension application states the following...

"I was from Burke County North Carolina Majors was from Wilkes County North Carolina & served under Colonel Benjamin Cleveland. I first knew him about the 30th of September 1780, when the different forces assembled. I knew Col. Cleveland well also Major Hearn, Captain Joseph Lewis: & Ensign John Cleveland also knew Colonels Campbell & Shelby & Major Winston. From the date aforesaid up to the battle of Kings Mountain I knew Majors & some time afterwards: Majors was one who went to guard some prisoners to Burke Court house: & I was also one"

Following Forbes' statement is another by a man named Isham Lane that backs up Forbes' recollection.  Lane states this...

We were both from Wilkes County North Carolina he (Majors) was a regular enlisted soldier of the Revolutionary Army. He & I both drew lots from the same hat & he drew to go: He enlisted early in 1780 He was at the battle of Kings Mountain & served under Colonel Cleveland & Major Winston & Captain Joseph Lewis and Ensign John Cleveland all of whom I knew well & also Shelby and Campbell Colonels but do not remember Major Hearn.

Photo by Joanie Chapman

This marker is near the I-85 South Carolina welcome center at Lake Hartwell.  I looked for it when we passed through there on the way back from the Blue Ridge Parkway but couldn't find it.  This photo was borrowed from Ancestry.   His body is buried at another location not far away in Oconee County, South Carolina.  His great great granddaughter, Sara Amanda Dickson married William Thomas Keller, they were the parents of my grandfather, William Harrison "Bill" Keller.

Two men who served as Captains in the Wilkes County Regiment of Militia and were also present at Kings Mountain are Godfrey Isbell and Moses Guest.  Isbell is a 5th great grandfather while Guest is a 4th great.  Both are found up the Keller line of my tree like Rev. John Cleveland.

There is a book called "The King's Mountain Men: The Story of the Battle with Sketches of the American Soldiers who Took Part" by Katherine Keogh Wright that mentions Godfrey Isbell and Moses Guest by name.  The passage referring to Godfrey Isbell states:

Godfrey was under Sevier. At a militia meeting of March 19, 1780 there were present Colonel John Sevier, Major Jonathan Tipton, Captains Godfrey Isbell, John McNabb, James Stinson, William Trimble and Joseph Wilson and Lieutenant Landon Carter, acting in the absence of Captain Valentine Sevier. It was ordered that 100 men be raised agreeable to the command of General Rutherford, to serve in South Carolina. These men were at Musgrove's Mill as well as King's Mountain.

 The Isbell family was from Virginia only having just migrated westerly about the time of the Revolutionary War.  Godfrey had a brother who enlisted with the 1st Virginia Regiment.  Pendleton Isbell was chosen along with three others within the unit to serve in the Commander and Chief's guard.  Sometimes called the Life Guard, this unit served as the personal body guards of George Washington.   Pendleton served 2 years in this capacity.  He was at Valley Forge, Morristown, the battles of Brandywine and Germantown with George Washington.  His tour ended in early 1780 at which time he took up with Godfrey's NC militia unit and was also present at King's Mountain.

 Godfrey Isbell had a granddaughter who married a grandson of Rev. John Cleveland.

Moses Guest is the best documented of my direct ancestors at Kings Mountain.  He has an excellent pension application with loads of detail.  The Georgia State Archives has a copy of his Bible with names and dates for all of his children.  Nearly every list I have found compiled of the soldiers at Kings Mountain include Captain Moses Guest.  In 2003 the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) placed a grave maker at his burial site.  The following is a succinct bio of him written in a Toccoa, Georgia newspaper describing the SAR event...

...The Patriot was born in January, 1750, in Fauquier County, Virginia, and died October 1, 1838, in Franklin County, Georgia. He married Mary Blair, a first cousin of Daniel Boone, in Wilkes Co., North Carolina. In 1775, he was appointed by the Governor as an Ensign in the North Carolina Militia serving under Captain Elijah Issacs in fighting an Indian uprising. From 1776 to 1780, he served as Captain of Horse under Colonel Armstrong and Colonel Cleveland. He had a company of 50 men including his brothers, Benjamin and William Guest, in the battle of Kings Mountain. After the victory, his company was chosen to take over 700 prisoners to Moravian Town, North Carolina. Moses had sixteen children by Mary Blair and one child by his second wife, Eleandor York. He served as Sheriff of Franklin County around 1786, and as Justice of Peace from 1809 to 1816...

The passage mentions Moses' wife, Mary Blair.  The Blair family is interesting for a couple reasons.  The Daniel Boone reference is made, and I was aware of that connection.  Mary's maternal grandfather was the brother of Daniel Boone's mother.  So Mary's mother is the first cousin of Daniel Boone-- and so is anyone descended from Mary's mother.  I am Daniel Boone's first cousin, 7 times removed.

Other interesting things about the Blair family, are more closely related to the Battle of Kings Mountain.  Moses' wife, Mary, had a brother at Kings Mountain.  He was James Blair.  James is famously credited with sounding the alarm when it was discovered that Ferguson's band of Loyalists were making their way deeper into North Carolina.  James is known as the southern Paul Revere.  He rode through the settlements of the Overmountain men announcing the coming threat.  He was wounded during the ride by an unsympathetic Tory but completed it nonetheless.

There are Quaker records for the parents of Mary and James Blair.  Fifth great grandparents Sarah and Colbert Blair were practicing Quakers living in Burke County, North Carolina at the time of the Battle of Kings Mountain.  Interestingly, Colbert gets a mention in a Tory diary.  Lieutenant Anthony Allaire was acting as an adjutant to Major Patrick Ferguson when they fought at Kings Mountain.  Allaire survived the battle but was captured and along with 20 or so fellow Loyalists were marched toward Burke County by Colonel Benjamin Cleveland.  Allaire recounts a conversation with Cleveland...

Sunday, 29th. Col. Cleveland waited on Capt. DePeyster and the rest of the officers, and asked us if we, with our men, would come and hear a sermon at ten o'clock. He marched the militia prisoners from their encampment to the town, and halted them; and sent an officer to our quarters to acquaint us they were waiting for us. We then ordered our men to fall in; marched to the front of the prisoners; the whole then proceeded on to a height about half a mile from the town. Here we heard a Presbyterian sermon, truly adapted to their principles of the times; or, rather, stuffed as full of Republicanism as their camp is of horse thieves.

Monday, 30th. A number of the inhabitants assembled at Bethabara to see a poor Tory prisoner executed for a crime of the following nature, viz: A Rebel soldier was passing the guard where the prisoners were confined, and like a brute addressed himself to those unhappy people in this style: "Ah, d--n you, you'll all be hanged." This man, with the spirit of a British subject, answered, "Never mind that, it will be your turn next." But Col. Cleveland's goodness extended so far as to reprieve him.

Later Allaire and a few others escaped their captors.  They began travelling back towards their own forces at night to avoid recapture.  They hid out in the woods during daylight hours.  This went on for several days and then Allaire records this...

Friday, 10th. Suffered very much with the cold. At six o'clock in the evening set out again. This night saw the moon in an eclipse, and heard several wolves bark. Passed a Rebel party consisting of twelve or fourteen, who lay about twenty yards from the road by a fire; but very fortunately for us, they were all asleep. We marched thirty miles and arrived at Colbert Blair's, just at daybreak. 

Saturday, 11th. It began to rain just after we got to Mr. Blair's. Lucky we were indeed. This good man secreted us in his fodder-house, and gave us the best his house afforded.

Sunday, 12th. Remained at Mr. Blair's; a rainy, disagreeable day. 

Monday, 13th. Set out from this good man's fodder-house. He conducted us about three miles to a Mr. F. Rider's, who guided us seven miles farther, over the Brushy Mountains, to Catawba river. Mr. John Murray, who lived on the bank of the river, put us over in a canoe, and conducted us three miles to Mr. Ballou's. This old man was about sixty years of age; but his love for his King and his subjects induced him to get up, although very late at night, and guided us seven miles to a Mr. Hilterbrine's. On the way the old man informed us he had two sons who lay out in the woods, who were anxious to go to our army, and were also good guides. He also told us of one Williams, that was a good guide, and who would be glad to go with us. We told the old man we should be very happy to have them, as the road began to grow more dangerous, and we quite unacquainted with the way. This poor old man expressed a great deal of anxiety for our safety, and at last told us he would go the next day and endeavor to find them, and send them to us. We arrived at Hilterbrine's about six o'clock in the morning of the 14th. He received us with great caution, lest we should be treacherous; but when he found we were British officers he was very kind.

By most accounts, Colbert Blair was not a Loyalist.  He was simply living out the code espoused by the Quaker movement--  pacifism and love to all.  It is likely he would have treated escaped Patriot prisoners in the same manner.  Colbert was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  He moved with his family to North Carolina around 1778.  Colbert's father, James, is buried at the Alamance Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Guilford County, North Carolina.  Probably, Colbert grew up Presbyterian and converted to Quaker at the time of his marriage to Sarah Morgan.  The Morgans have a deeper history with the Quaker movement.  Colbert and Sarah remained in North Carolina.  Colbert passed away in 1805 at about 75 years old.  Sarah died in 1827 at about 98 years old.  They are buried in Cedar Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery in Lenoir, North Carolina.

Lt. Allaire's interaction with Benjamin Cleveland and Colbert Blair is not my only connection to the Loyalist forces at the Battle of Kings Mountain.  Among the ranks of Patrick Ferguson and his Loyalist forces was Joseph Field.  Joseph and his brothers William, Robert and Jeremiah just a few years earlier had been members of the Regulator movement in North Carolina.

The "Regulators" were a large group of colonists who had grievances with and opposed the system of taxation and fees imposed by the local British officials.  In 1771 the opposition escalated into a full fledged battle waged between the regulators and the Governor's Provincial Militia.  The Regulators were soundly defeated.  Some were executed but most were pardoned after providing, under oath, loyalty to the King and royal government.  Joseph and his brothers pledged the oath.  Joseph's brother William is one of my paternal 6th great grandfathers making Joseph an uncle 7 times removed.

A few years later, when the Revolution began in earnest, a call was made from the Colonial powers for enlistment in the King's forces.  William Field stated that he was bound by honor to make good on his oath and submit to the call.  His brothers did the same.  The brothers marched on Wilmington as Loyalist Provincials but quickly surrendered themselves at Guilford Courthouse when confronted by unfavorable odds.  They spent a number of months as prisoners of the Patriots eventually gaining their freedom most likely through a prisoner exchange.  Joseph and brother William show up on a payroll list in New York for North Carolina Loyalists being paid from February 5, 1776 to October 27, 1778. No documents occur for Joseph after that date.

After the war, Joseph's wife Lydia remarried.  She had a son by the new husband named Joseph B Armfield.  That son is quoted in Sallie Stockard's book, "The History of Guilford County, North Carolina" saying his mother's first husband was killed at the Battle of Kings Mountain.  In all likelihood, Joseph would have been one of the hundred or so Provincials decked out in the red coat uniform on the mountain that day.  Joseph's brother, Jeremiah, lived to 90 years old.  He is quoted in the book A Sketch of the Life and Character of the Rev. David Caldwell, D.D. by Eli Washington Caruthers.  I feel like all his brothers would echo this sentiment...

Jeremiah used frequently to say in conversation that having fought twice, once for his country and once for his king, and having been whipped both times, he would fight no more; but generally added that, if war were to arise again between England and America, though he would not fight at his age, he would be on the side of the king, because he had taken a solemn oath to be faithful to him while he lived; but he would tell all his sons to fight for their country.

So at the end of the day, October 7, 1780, I count at least 14 family members at the Battle of Kings Mountain...

• Col. Joseph Hardin - 5th great grandfather, Patriot
• Rev. Ens. John Cleveland - 5th great grandfather, Patriot
• Col. Benjamin Cleveland - 6th great uncle, Patriot
• Capt. Robert Cleveland - 6th great uncle, Patriot
• Capt. John Cleveland - 1st cousin 6x removed, Patriot
• Joseph Kuykendall - 1st cousin 6x removed, Patriot
• Lt. Col. Frederick Hambright - husband of 6th great aunt, Patriot
• Col. James Blair - 5th great uncle, Patriot
• Capt. Moses Guest - 4th great grandfather, Patriot
• Pvt. Benjamin F. Guest - 5th great uncle, Patriot
• Pvt. William Guest - 5th great uncle, Patriot
• Capt. Godfrey Isbell - 5th great grandfather, Patriot
• Capt. Pendleton Isbell - 6th great uncle, Patriot
• Capt. Joseph Field, KIA - 7th great uncle, Loyalist

Woodbridge/ Sentell Plot at Minden City Cemetery

Photo borrowed from Find a Grave, originally posted by Yon Hafer

This plot is in the Minden City Cemetery (also known as Goodwill Cemetery) in northern Louisiana.  The marker reads, “WOODBRIDGE, SENTELL.”  This is the burial place of Reverend George Grant Woodbridge (1855-1920).  From his obituary…

...The remains were laid to rest in Minden Monday beside those of a first wife and an only son… …Mr. Woodbridge came of several generations of ancestors who were all ministers of the Presbyterian Church. He had been for the greater part of his life in the service of various churches in Louisiana. He was pastor of the church at Minden for ten years [~1903-1913] and had since served the group of churches including Benton, Cottage Grove and Plain Dealing for a number of years and until lately also served the church at Keatchie.

Rev. Woodbridge officiated the funeral of 2x great grandmother, Ann Eliza Sherburne Sentell in 1915.  The Sentell's were regulars at Cottage Grove.  George was family as well.  A couple years after Ann Eliza's funeral, his daughter married Samuel Eugene Sentell, one of Ann Eliza Sentell's sons.

There is some question as to who all is buried in this plot.  The lack of individual markers makes it a bit of a mystery but because the lone monument includes the name “Sentell” it follows that Woodbridge’s daughter, Aline Woodbridge Sentell, is buried here.  She is the only "Sentell" connection to the Woodbridge family and her obituary states she was buried at the Minden City Cemetery.  It is also likely that her daughter, Novaline Sentell, who never married, is buried here also.  Her obituary indicates burial at this cemetery.  No other descendant of George Grant Woodbridge is buried at the Minden City Cemetery.

From what I have gathered, the people buried in this plot are (in order of burial):

Rosa Lee Baldwin Woodbridge (1866-1907) - first wife of Rev. Woodbridge
Samuel Baldwin Woodbridge (1893-Bef. 1920) - only son of Rev. Woodbridge
Reverend George Grant Woodbridge (1854-1920)
Mabel Paul Jordan Woodbridge (1883-1962) - second wife of Rev. Woodbridge
Novaline Mina "Aline" Woodbridge Sentell (1891-1965) - daughter of Rev. Woodbridge
Novaline Armena Sentell (1922-1993) - granddaughter of Rev. Woodbridge

Photo borrowed from Find A Grave, originally posted by Yon Hafer

Our Pilgrims

The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor, by William Halsall 1882

November of 2020 will mark the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower in the new world.  It's an anniversary celebrating another of those significant historical events made more personal and relevant by the realization that we had ancestors there as eyewitnesses.

Thanks to a 1856 marriage in Jackson Parish Louisiana joining the Baptist Minister William McBride and his bride the widow Ann Emelia Scarborough Hardy, I can point to specific grandparents that walked the deck of the Mayflower in 1620.  Ann Emelia's great grandmother was Nancy Doty, the great great granddaughter of  Edward Doty, a Mayflower passenger.  Nancy was also the great great great granddaughter of Samuel Fuller, another Mayflower passenger.  Samuel's parents, Edward and Ann were passengers too.  That's four people who made the voyage on the Mayflower that contributed to my DNA and that of all my family that descend from Ann Emelia McBride.

The General Society of  Mayflower Descendants publishes a multi-part volume originally titled, The Five Generations Project.  It's an aid for membership that lists the descendants of all the Mayflower passengers down five generations.  It is now called the Silver Books as the  project has expanded beyond five generations.  Because of this volume, a prospective member only needs to prove lineage to someone listed in the Silver Books.  The lineage above that person is considered already proven.  In my case, Nancy Doty was the ancestor I needed to prove lineage.  She is in the Silver Books and connects me to the four Mayflower passengers already mentioned.

9th great grandfather, Edward Doty was in his early 20's when he made the Mayflower journey.  Although he signed the Mayflower Compact in 1620, he is not considered one of the traditional "Pilgrims."  He was the servant of another passenger and remained so until becoming a freeman some years after the establishment of the Plymouth Colony.  Edward was the servant of Stephen Hopkins.  Hopkins was one of very few on the Mayflower that had made a previous journey to the new world.  That journey, fraught with excitement, saw him shipwrecked in Bermuda, a castaway for 10 months, sentenced to death as a mutineer (later commuted), a member of the Jamestown community and finally returning to England.  Why, after all that, he returned to the new world is anyone's guess.  His servant, Edward (my ancestor), developed the reputation of having been a bit of a rogue.  He appears regularly in the court records and is credited with carrying out the first recorded duel in the new world.  He and a fellow servant took to swords and daggers to settle a quarrel.  Both were bloodied  but neither died in the bout.  The Colony fathers sentenced them to be bound together by the head and feet for a day.  So heinously unbearable was the punishment that the men were separated after only an hour.

11th great grandparents Edward Fuller and wife were a little more tame and certainly more respectable in comparison to the antics of Edward Doty.  Originally from Norfolk, England, they made the journey with one young son, Samuel.  An older son was left in England to make the journey later.  Along with many other Mayflower passengers, they were living in Holland before the historic trip to the new world.  Some researchers say Mrs. Fuller's name was Ann, but there are no records to prove this.  I show her as Ann in my tree just for the sake of giving her a name.  Edward and Ann did not survive long in the new world.  They passed in the first season.  Their son, Samuel, became an orphan and was taken up by his uncle who was also named Samuel Fuller and also came on the Mayflower.  The two are frequently confused.  Uncle Samuel Fuller was a self taught physician and became the colony's doctor.

The younger Samuel Fuller is my 10th great grandfather and lived to 71. He died in Barnstable, Massachusetts.  He married Jane Lathrop, the daughter of John Lathrop, a congregationalist preacher who in 1634 left a prison cell in England for the new world on the condition that he never return.  Samuel and Jane had several children.  He outlived her and we find his will instructs that his oldest son receive Joel, an Indian slave, giving Samuel the dubious distinction of being the only Mayflower passenger to have been known to own a slave.

My descendance from these Mayflower ancestors looks like this...

EDWARD CAMERON DOTY (1598 - 1655)
9th great-grandfather
SAMUEL DOTY SR (1643 - 1715)
Son of EDWARD CAMERON DOTY
JAMES DOTY (1686 - 1739)
Son of SAMUEL DOTY SR
BENAJAH DOTY (1723 - 1780)
Son of JAMES DOTY
NANCY DOTY (1753 - 1809)
Daughter of BENAJAH DOTY
SARAH "SALLIE" WARREN (1781 - 1834)
Daughter of NANCY DOTY
ABRAHAM MARSHALL SCARBOROUGH (1804 - 1842)
Son of SARAH "SALLIE" WARREN
ANN EMELIA SCARBOROUGH (1832 - 1885)
Daughter of ABRAHAM MARSHALL SCARBOROUGH
JOHN SHERWOOD MCBRIDE (1860 - 1937)
Son of ANN EMELIA SCARBOROUGH
WILLIAM MCGINTY MCBRIDE SR (1899 - 1963)
Son of JOHN SHERWOOD MCBRIDE
WILLIAM MCGINTY MCBRIDE JR. (1929 - 2016)
Son of WILLIAM MCGINTY MCBRIDE SR
JOHN SENTELL MCBRIDE

SAMUEL FULLER SR (1612 - 1683)
10th great-grandfather
HANNAH FULLER (1636 - 1686)
Daughter of SAMUEL FULLER SR
ELIZABETH BONHAM (1659 - 1704)
Daughter of HANNAH FULLER
PHOEBE SLATER (1693 - 1745)
Daughter of ELIZABETH BONHAM
BENAJAH DOTY (1723 - 1780)
Son of PHOEBE SLATER
NANCY DOTY (1753 - 1809)
Daughter of BENAJAH DOTY
SARAH "SALLIE" WARREN (1781 - 1834)
Daughter of NANCY DOTY
ABRAHAM MARSHALL SCARBOROUGH (1804 - 1842)
Son of SARAH "SALLIE" WARREN
ANN EMELIA SCARBOROUGH (1832 - 1885)
Daughter of ABRAHAM MARSHALL SCARBOROUGH
JOHN SHERWOOD MCBRIDE (1860 - 1937)
Son of ANN EMELIA SCARBOROUGH
WILLIAM MCGINTY MCBRIDE SR (1899 - 1963)
Son of JOHN SHERWOOD MCBRIDE
WILLIAM MCGINTY MCBRIDE JR. (1929 - 2016)
Son of WILLIAM MCGINTY MCBRIDE SR
JOHN SENTELL MCBRIDE

James McBride (1773-1850)

James McBride is (and has been for some time) at the top of my Paternal line.  His line is a frustrating brick wall.  There are scant few documents available to help flesh out who his parents were. While we don't have a grave marker or a death certificate, we do have the family Bible belonging to his son, Daniel.  It was recently in the possession of Gladys Meadows, a 4th cousin and descendant of Daniel.  She said the following...

I have Daniel's bible and his parents death dates are given. James McBride Sr. died 28 November 1850 and his mother Sarah died 2 January 1854. I am sure they are buried at Antioch Cemetery. In 1850 census of Tippah Co. James and Sarah McBride lived next door to Anderson Street. An old letter exists dated 31 May 1858 where Daniel McBride writes a letter to his brother Sherwood McBride sending a draft for his share of their father's estate." - Gladys Meadows

Gladys passed away in 2012.  I'm not sure who has Daniel's Bible now.

Tippah County, where James is buried, is as far north as you can go in Mississippi. It is situated between Marshall County and Alcorn County on the Tennessee state line.  The town of Ripley, Mississippi is the county seat.  The area is replete with McBride and Street family descendants to this day.  I found the Antioch Church cemetery during a visit in May of 2015.  James' daughter Keziah's stone marker was easily located as well as those of several other family members.

James and his second wife, Sarah Jackson, migrated to Tippah County with the families of their son Daniel and their daughter Keziah around 1834-5.  Keziah McBride was married to Anderson Street.  That union produced fifteen children.  The ninth child, Seleta Street, was the first to be born in Mississippi.  Her birth date is recorded as 1835.  This tells us the family was in Mississippi very shortly after the land was made available for settling.  Although Mississippi became a state in 1817, North Mississippi was not opened up for white settlement until the Chickasaw land session of 1830.  Legal settlement began in 1834.  It would appear the McBride family were anticipating the available farmland and took advantage of it as soon as it was offered up.

James is found enumerated in the 1840 federal census in Tippah county.  He died in 1850 but not before he was included in the 1850 Federal Census. Sarah shows up in his household.  Neighbors listed around him include Keziah and Anderson Street and  James' son Daniel (owner of the family Bible) and his wife Mary.  We can assume James spent the last 15 years of his life in Tippah county living near the property of one of his children.  I have found no land records for James in Mississippi, though the census record indicates he owned property.

Cropped page from 1850 Federal Census shows James' age and place of birth

The 1850 Federal Census is the best document we have for James McBride.  In this census, James lists his age as 77.  That puts his birth around 1773.  Virginia is given as his birth state. Of course census records are not infallible but it seems a safe bet that this information can be trusted because James, as head of household, likely provided the information himself to the census taker.

Prior to his years in Mississippi, much of his productive years were spent in Tennessee.  His children were born there.  The breakdown of his family is best described in a letter we have from James Louis McBride, one of his grandsons...

My great grandfather and granmother came from Ireland sometime between 17 hundred and twenty five and fifty before they married and granfather serves at prentiship as a blacksmith trade and then he married and settled in Virginia. They lived there till after the Revolution war and they then moved to Tennessee. I don't know how many children he raised. They raised several sons I never saw but 2 of them that was my granfather James and Uncle Daniel. James was my granfather. His first wife was a Brock. She had 4 children before she died, 3 sons and 1 daughter, John was the oldest, was my father, next Sharword then William next Kisey (Kesiah).
My granfather second wife was a Jackson. She had 4 children 3 boys and 1 girl, Daniel, Jefferson and Solomon and Polly (Mary).
My granfather fout threw the Revolutionary war. Great granfather and granmother lived till they was 93.

There were two wives and two sets of 4 children.  Like James Louis McBride, I descend from the oldest son, John, of the first wife, Sarah Ann Brock.

I find it interesting that he says his granfather fought through the Revolutionary War.  The timeline doesn't quite work out for that statement to be entirely correct.  Assuming the 1850 census is right, James would have been only 10 years old at the end of the Revolutionary War.  But, I'm sure James Louis McBride didn't pull that statement out of thin air.  No doubt there was some oral history passed down to him.  I believe he was referring to his great grandfather (from Ireland) as having served through the Revolutionary War.  In the same letter, he calls the man who served an apprenticeship as a blacksmith, then married and settled in Virginia his "grandfather."  That man was obviously his great grandfather.  Maybe he was just loose with the terms.

It could also be he had his wars confused.  The ages work out for James Louis McBride's grandfather, James, to have fought through the War of 1812.  In my mind, it is probable that both men served their country.  Great Grandfather likely served through the Revolution as James Louis recalls and James McBride, at 40 years old, would still have been expected to respond to muster calls from his local militia in 1813.  There is evidence for that.

James' local militia were those formed in Lincoln County, Tennessee.  We have some land records for James in Lincoln County.  That's where he was farming during the 1810's.  He bought land on the headwaters of Kelly's Creek near the Alabama border and had it surveyed in 1808.  Kelly's Creek is a tributary of the Elk River that flows east/ west along the southern portion of the county.  His farm was about 13 miles from the county seat of Fayetteville, Tennessee.

Peter Tidwell, listed as a chain bearer on this Lincoln County survey plat, married Martha McBride, who is believed to be a sister of James.  Some of her descendants match me and other descendants of James with no other discernible connection other than the McBride family connection.  The plat maps are interesting because it was common for family members to assist in the survey of properties.  The fact Peter is listed on this one reinforces the theory that Peter's wife, Martha was a sister of James McBride.

Just up the Elk River from James and two miles south of Fayetteville was Camp Blount, where in 1813 Andrew Jackson collected the men that became his army who fought the first Creek War.  These men soundly defeated the Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.  In 1814 the men mustered at Camp Blount were part of those that traveled with Jackson down the Mississippi River and ultimately defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans.  If our James served, he likely mustered at Camp Blount.

James' neighbor, Joseph Street, was roughly the same age as James and lived 4-5 miles closer to Fayetteville and Camp Blount.  He became an in-law when two of his children married children of James.  Keziah and Anderson, mentioned earlier, were one of those couples.  Unlike James, Joseph's war record is pretty clear.  He was one of those who traveled down the Mississippi to fight at the Battle of New Orleans.  We know he died of illness while returning from that battle.  His wife's pension application spells out the whole experience with witness accounts from his superior officers.  I have a previous blog post about Joseph.

The search for James' 1812 service record has turned up two general index cards that record a James McBride in units that were formed at Camp Blount.  Our James could be one of these, both of these, or neither.   Unfortunately, I can't find a pension record for James.  The index cards only list the name, rank and associated unit.

General Index Cards for James McBride.  These units mustered at Camp Blount near Fayetteville, Tennessee 1813-14.  May or may not be our James McBride.

There is no way from these documents alone to confirm if this is our James.  Lincoln county, Tennessee was home to at least two James McBride's in the early part of the 1800's.  The other James McBride that we know of is buried in Belfast, Marshall County, Tennessee along with many other members of his McBride family.  I'll refer to the families from here on out by where they are buried.  I suspect we may be related somehow, but I have been unable to draw any connection between the Belfast McBride's and our Tippah County McBride's through records or DNA evidence. 

The Belfast James is said to have been born in Ireland in 1751.  He was 22 years older than our Tippah County James.  His pension record indicates he settled in Lincoln County Tennessee along the Duck river in 1812.  I find it unlikely that Belfast James could have served during the war of 1812.  He was in his 60's and his pension record for service during the Revolutionary War filed in 1832 has no mention of 1812 service.  He had no son named James, but it is possible he could have had a nephew or other relation named James McBride.

Family locations in 1813

It's very common to see ancestry trees online that lump our Tippah County James McBride in with the Belfast, Marshall County McBrides in one way or another.  Some list Belfast James as father to Tippah James.  More often, they list the parents of our Tippah County James McBride as John McBride (b. 1752)  and Margaret McGahey (b. 1757).  The argument is made that Tippah County James' first son is named John, likely after his grandfather.  John and Margaret are buried with the Belfast McBrides and it is highly likely that John is a brother of Belfast James.  While I think it is possible John and Margaret are related to me on some level, I do not believe they are the parents of our Tippah County James McBride.

We know a good bit about the McBride family buried at the Round Hill Cemetery at Belfast, Tennessee.  That family spent a fair amount of time in North Carolina.  Belfast James' extensive pension record lists the following...

From James McBride (b. 1751) Pension Record: 

• Aug 1751 - he was born County Down, Ireland [Shortly after his birth moved to Lancaster Co. PA]

• 1771 or 1772 moved from Lancaster Co. PA to Guilford Co. NC.

• 1775 living in Guilford Co, NC at time of Revolutionary service. 

• 1800 moved to Tennessee, principally in Williamson County, Tenn. 

• 1806 moved back to Guilford Co. NC presumably to settle his father's estate, and lived there until spring of 1812.   

• Spring 1812 moved to Lincoln Co. Tenn.   

• 1832 living in Lincoln Co. Tenn. when applied for pension.

The Round Hill cemetery brothers, James and John, had a father named John McBride born in 1721 (Ireland).  He was married to Jean Gahey and he left a will in 1806 at Guilford, North Carolina.  In the will he names all his children including James and John as well as some grandchildren...

Last Will and Testament of John McBride, 25 Jan. 1806
I John McBride farmer of Guilford - In the name of God amen.  Being by the blessing of God in the perfect exercise of my reason, but in a low state of health do hereby make, appoint and constitute this my last will and testament.   I leave my mortal body to the grave and my soul to God who give it...
I do hereby name, constitute and appoint my well beloved son James McBride [buried Belfast, Marshall County Tennessee] and Samuel Allison to be the true and faithful executors of this my last will and testament...
I do leave and bequeath all the land that I am possessed of together will all the stock on it, and estate property and heredetennet (?) to the same belonging without any let or encumbrance whatever except what is hereafter mentioned in this testament unto my four unmarried children that is to say unto my son James McBride, my daughter Elizabeth, my daughter Jean, and my daughter Sarah, equally among them share and share alike...
I do leave and bequeath unto my son John McBride one hundred dollars.
I do leave and bequeath unto my daughter Margret McGaughy’s two sons viz David and James McGaughy thirty dollars each to be paid when they are come of age, remainder to one if the other dies sooner, remainder to their mother if both dies - .
I do leave and bequeath unto my said daughter Margret one cow as soon as she desires to have it after my decease...
I do leave and bequeath unto my grandson John McBride one hundred dollars together with one middle rated horse & a saddle...
In consideration of the distance of the place of residence of my house and to present disputes when I am deceased I do hereby prohibit and restrain those of my heirs each and every one of them from selling or anyway disposing of their particular part or share of the said land until they are all agreed to the same...
That this is my true will and testament I have hereunto signed and sealed in presence of Samuel McDill and William Cosbie this 25th of January in the year of our Lord 1806.
John McBride.
Witnesses present.
Samuel McDill (Jurat).
W. Cosbie.
State of North Carolina. Guilford County.
Mary Court 1806.
Samuel McDill proved the execution of the within will in open court and on motion ordered to be recorded ---  Then came in James McBride and qualified as Executor. 

The assumption I have found perpetuating online is that my Tippah County James McBride is the grandson of  John, the writer of the will, and the son of, John Jr., mentioned in the will.  None of the countless trees online support this assumption with record evidence.

The will names sons James and John, daughters Elizabeth, Jean, Sarah and Margaret (who married a McGaughy).  Grandchildren mentioned include David and James McGaughy and John McBride.  Many of these people mentioned are buried in the Round Hill Cemetery at Belfast, Marshall County, Tennessee.

My reasoning for discounting this family's proposed connection to our Tippah County McBride's is twofold. (1) The will does not jive with what we know about Tippah County James McBride (from James Louis McBride's letter) and (2) the current evidence offered by DNA testing does not seem to support it either.

James Louis McBride's letter says his great grandparents were from Ireland and "lived till they was 93."  John McBride and Margaret McGahey were 74 and 61 at their deaths.  Margaret was born in Pennsylvania.  There is some question about where John was born. Some say Ireland, but it is likely he was born in Pennsylvania also.  James Louis mentions his great grandparents settled in Virginia.  Tippah County James also says he was born in Virginia per the 1850 census.  This is counter to the Belfast McBride family history which shows no residence in Virginia.  They went from Ireland to Pennsylvania to North Carolina and finally to Tennessee.

The name Daniel does not show up in the Belfast, Marshall County McBride's family.  James Louis tells us this great uncle's name specifically (as the only one he could remember).  John's will (above) names three grandsons but does not mention Tippah James who would have been a 33 year old grandson at the time.

Secondly, I have found no cousins in my DNA matches that support a connection to the Belfast, Marshall County McBrides.  My brother has done yDNA testing at FTDNA.  The pool of matches is still a bit small, so there have been no big breakthroughs.  I have managed to rule out a couple McBride families but have not been successful narrowing the field of possible McBride ancestors.  I think this will come with time as more people do yDNA testing.

Additionally, I have autosomal testing for myself and two sisters that has proved helpful.  The McBride matches we share collectively have revealed probable siblings or really close cousins of Tippah County James McBride.  These include Martha McBride Tidwell  (mentioned above), Rebecca McBride James, Nathaniel P McBride, Daniel McBride, Thomas McBride and John McBride (who married Fanny Clark).  Unfortunately, the descendants of these 5th great uncles and aunts have no more information on their McBride ancestors than we do, but they do provide some new avenues for research.

My job now is to collect record information that confirms or denies the evident kinship suggested by these DNA matches.  Often, learning their family stories helps develop ours.  John and Fanny Clark McBride are one example.

In 1810 there is another property surveyed for our James McBride on Kelly's Creek where a John McBride is called out as chain bearer.  This John, born in 1782, is believed to be a brother of our James.  John married Fanny Clark and produced a large family.  Some descendants of that union match DNA with me and other descendants of James McBride in the same way Martha McBride Tidwell's did.  John and Fanny have no land records in Tennessee, but had children in Lincoln County.  They most likely lived on our James McBride's property.

Some time before 1830 the Tippah McBride's including John and Fanny moved from Lincoln County, Tennessee to Lauderdale County, Alabama.  James' son Sherwood bought property there.  That land is now under the waters of Wilson Lake just east of Tuscumbia, Alabama.   Tippah County James and his wife Sarah were there and probably his oldest son John (my 4th great grandfather).  Sherwood later moved to Hunt County Texas after a stint in Itawamba County, Mississippi.  Much of the rest of the clan also made the move to Mississippi around 1834-5.

There are no land records for Tippah James McBride after Lincoln County, Tennessee.  Census records show he lived in Tippah the last 15 years of his life.  The search goes on for his father.  Here is what I believe to be the facts regarding my James' father:

• He was born in Ireland
• Last name McBride
• Immigrated between 1725 and 1750
• Apprenticed as a Blacksmith
• Married in the Colonies
• Lived in Virginia before and through the Revolutionary War
• Fought through the Revolution
• Moved to Tennessee in the 1780's
• Possible children include:
• Martha McBride Tidwell (1770-1837) Virginia birth
• James McBride (1773-1850) Virginia birth
• Nathaniel P McBride (1776-1841) Virginia birth
• Rebecca McBride James (1780-1834) Married in Tennessee
• John McBride (1782-1869) South Carolina birth, Married in Tennessee
• Thomas McBride (1785-1861) Tennessee birth
• Daniel McBride
• Lived very long life (possibly to 93 years old) as did his wife.

Dr. David Lewis Phares

At noon on Wednesdays, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History hosts "History is Lunch."  Generally, it is an opportunity for an author of History (typically Mississippi History) to pitch his latest book.  Usually there is an accompanying slide show.  If I've got nothing keeping me at the office, I'll walk over and check it out.  It's a nine minute walk through the heart of downtown Jackson.  There have been some interesting topics and great speakers and I, more often than not, enjoy the hour.  I always learn something.  On the rare occasion, I'll even buy a book.

Today's topic was the book, Images in Mississippi Medicine a Photographic History of Medicine in Mississippi.  The authors, Dr. Luke Lampton and Karen Evers, spoke.  They currently edit the Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association.  Dr. Lampton spoke about the early history of Medicine in Mississippi.  We saw many pictures of the enormous Lunatic Asylum that was located in Jackson where UMMC is now.  There was much discussion about Doctors who impacted the early life of Mississippi as a territory and eventually a State.  Many names and portraits were presented during the hour.  Several of the names were familiar or at least vaguely familiar. 

One familiar name was Arthur Guyton.  He wrote a Physiology book that is world renown.  I went to camp with a couple of his grandsons.  Guyton was one of the more recent people discussed.  

A photo of a horse drawn "ambulance" from 1909 was shown.  The owner/ operator was named Hiram Hardy.  He operated in Jackson.  That name rang a bell so I wrote it down thinking this person or one of his ancestors may be in my tree.  I'd check it out later.

Another name that rang that bell was "Phares."  Dr. Lampton spoke about David Lewis Phares from Woodville, MS.  He was born in 1817 and graduated from what became Centenary College in Louisiana.  He later achieved a Medical degree from Tulane in New Orleans.  He practiced in Wilkinson County, Mississippi for 40 years, started a couple colleges, and was instrumental in the formation of Mississippi State University.  He taught at MSU for nine years.  Among other things, he served on the first Board of Health for the State of Mississippi. He was an early bigwig in Mississippi Medicine.  There is a great bio of him HERE written by our speaker.

Looking at my tree a little later, I did find Dr. David Lewis Phares.  He had two siblings that married into the Noland family.  The Noland's are my people.  Ann Phares (1821-1892) married William Avery Noland (1810-1874) and Samuel Phares (1802-unk) married Sarah Ann Noland (1821-1880).  William and Sarah Ann Noland's father was Pierce A Noland III (1785-1842).  He and wife Nancy Palmer are one set of my 4th great grandparents. 

The image below is a detail from an original plat map from the extreme southwest corner of Mississippi.  I believe this was drawn up in the 1820's.  The property to the left of Pierce Noland's is labeled "William Phares."  He was David, Ann and Samuel's father.

The Phares and the Nolands were both American families with European backgrounds that moved from the east coast in the early 1780's.  They became Spanish land grant holders and neighbors in what eventually turned into the Territory of Mississippi.  This was an interesting time in Mississippi and Louisiana history when the land was changing hands between colonial powers.  Pierce Noland III was likely born on that property when it was Spanish held.  As a teen, he saw it fall under the jurisdiction of the United States. 

The straight line on the south side of the Phares and Noland properties at the bottom of the map is the 31st parallel.  This portion is sometimes called the Ellicott line- named for the man that George Washington asked to survey it.  Today it is the boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana.  At the time when the Noland's and the Phares' lived there, it was the border between the Mississippi Territory (United States) and Spanish West Florida.  It was an international boundary.  Another couple miles west on the Mississippi River was Fort Adams, the official Southern "Port of Entry" for the United States on the Mississippi River.  Pierce Noland II (5th great grandfather) is supposedly buried at Fort Adams.  More likely, he was buried on his property and the death was documented at Fort Adams as it would have been the local seat of government.

The Phares and Noland families lived and farmed this land when Andrew Ellicott's survey crew came through in October of 1798.  Pierce III was 13 years old.  Ellicott's journals indicate he had a falling out with his co-leader, Thomas Freeman at Thompson's creek.  You will notice on the map that Thompson's creek crossed the 31'st parallel on Noland's property.  Freeman stormed off at that point and left the party.  He later led the 1806 Freeman-Custis Red River Expedition as requested by Thomas Jefferson.  I wonder if my Noland's were witness to the argument between Ellicott and Freeman.  It was in their backyard, afterall.

That's my connection with the esteemed Dr. David Lewis Phares.  Our families were neighbors and married into each other way back when.  I don't share an ancestor with him as far as I know, but some of my cousins do.

That other guy that sounded familiar in today's History is Lunch program, Hiram Hardy, is likely not related either.  He is not in my tree but he sounded familiar because Hiram Hardy Hargrove is in my tree.  Hargrove was the first husband of my great great grandmother, Ann Emelia Scarborough.  After his death she married Rev. William McBride.  Hargrove was from Georgia and died in Louisiana, but did have property in Mississippi.  I don't know about Hiram Hardy, the ambulance operator's background, but it could be that he and Hiram Hardy Hargrove were both named for an earlier Hiram Hardy.  Who knows!

Here is a link to the book that was highlighted at today's History is Lunch...

https://www.msmaonline.com/Public/Journal_MSMA/Images_in_Mississippi_Medicine/Public/Journal/Images_Book.aspx?hkey=5291961e-b1b9-4d23-b2f1-94625e4b2e0c