Notes and Letters

Pvt. Francis M. Carter

Francis M. Carter was born about 1839 in Louisiana the son of William P. Carter & Harriet Carter. The Carter family was well established in Amite County by 1850 and are listed in census records with two other sons — Calvin and Augustus. 

On January 29, 1858 Francis M. Carter married Martha A. Newman, the daughter of Jonathan Newman and Elizabeth Jane Mixon. On October 4, 1858 (Election Day) a Josephus Jones was stabbed in front of Wall's store in Gillsburg, Mississippi. Francis M. Carter was accused of this stabbing and the subsequent death of the victim on the following day. The Liberty Advocate published a report on the 14th of October, 1858 about this event. It was said that Mary Spurlock Jones spent $3,000 dollars trying to have him hanged. He was instead given a jail sentence, though it would appear to be a short one, from looking at the birth date of his second child — William Monroe Carter on September 7, 1860. 

Francis M. Carter served in the 33rd, Company B with his elder brother, Calvin Carter and his brother-in-law John Tisdale Newman. At the time of his enlistment he was the father of three small children. He would survive the war, and several more children were born after his service though not all lived until adulthood. Francis M. Carter lived a long life, dying on October 8, 1916 and was buried in Newman-Phillips cemetery with a Confederate marker on his grave

Pvt. John Tisdale Newman
and Sappina Jane Haley, Newman
5th Great Grandparents of Betty HALL

John Tisdale Newman was born September 11, 1842 in Amite County, Mississippi. He was the son of Johnathan Newman and Elizabeth Jane Mixon. He married Sappinia Jane Haley on March 6, 1862, the daughter of Albert and Mary Day.

He joined Company B, Amite County Guards, 33rd MS Infantry, and was mustered into service April 1, 1862 in Grenada, Mississippi. On May 17, 1863, at the Battle of Champion Hill on Baker's Creek, he received a saber cut across the head and a wound from a shell fragment. He was captured by the Army of the Tennessee, and sent to Memphis, Tennessee, May 25, 1863. He was then sent to Camp Morton, Indiana. He was then sent to Fort Delaware, Delaware, June 15, 1863. He was sent to City Point, VA, for exchange in July 1863. The exchange did not take place and he was sent to Point Lookout, MD, September 20, 1863. He was then sent to Elmira, NY, August 18, 1864. Paroled at Elmira, NY March 10, 1865, and sent to James Riviera for exchange.

He came back home to Amite County, MS and raised a family of 6 boys and 4 girls. He was a member of United Confederate Veterans Camp No. 226, Amite County, Mississippi. He died May 3, 1923 and is buried in the Newman Family Cemetery in Gillsburg, Mississippi.

March 30th 1862

J. A. Cato       

                                                                                  

Dear Sir,

                   

I received a letter from you this day that gave me great pleasure to pause.  I was of the impression that you had moved to Corinth to meet the enemy and sincerely hope that you will be able to meet them man to man, and I then know that our men will be proven victorious.  I am very well satisfied that we can­not be repulsed by the Feds if we have anything like an equal chance with them.  I sincerely hope that you will come out unhurt if you should get in a fight.  I hope there will be soldiers sufficient to give them sizzors and take the remains prisoners without the loss of any of our brave soldiers. We are still making exertions to get up more men from Franklin. There is a company to leave on the 3rd day of April under Capt. Web. He has a very good company, and I anticipate that Web will be a noble officer. He is certainly a very clever man and is very well liked by all that knows him. Parson Willis is also trying to get up a company, but I am not able to say how he will get along. If he will persevere he may be able to get up a company. He had 15 when I last saw him, but was then waiting for Web to get his company ready, and he may now go ahead and make his. There was also another company spoken of court week. They were also waiting on Web. This company was merely spoken of then; I have not heard since we heard that the yankees had taken Corinth, and it raised great excitment. I will assure you to think that our Franklin boys were cut off from home; if it had been the case you may expect that there would have been a greater excitment than was. The battle at Norfolk appears cherish the people very much to think 21 guns could stand their hand with 140 guns and whip them.

                   I see a Yankee dispatch today stating that they had now taken the Virgia steamer that done the execution at Norfolk, but am very well satisfied that it is false. It

is not believed to be so at all events by the editor of the paper that I saw it in. I believe that the Yankees are not able to take it. I believe the soldiers aboard of her would all die before they would give her up or surrender a particle aboard of her.

                   I was very sorry to hear that Oren was in the hos­pital sick. I was aware that he left home too soon. He should have stayed longer and gained his strength before going in to camp. If you should get a chance to see Oren tell him to write, as I am very anxious to hear from him.

                   I must close for the want of room. We are all well at present. Margaret has been very sick, but is now able to get about again, and I sincerely hope she will mend on as she has for a few days. You must write as soon as you can as I am now more anxious to hear than here-to-fore. Give my respects to Ben & Osker.

Yours respectfully,

S. M. Newman

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note:  John Archie Cato was the son-in-law of Samuel Maxwell Newman.  John was the 1^st husband of Samuel’s daughter, Martha Elizabeth Newman.   John Cato died during the Civil War on July 14, 1864, near Corinth, MS.  Samuel Maxwell Newman was the son of Solomon Newman and Mary Ann Lowrey.  Samuel Maxwell Newman married Margaret Ann Herring, daughter of Aaron Herring and Mary Rowan.

Samuel Maxwell  and Margaret Ann Newman are Betty's 3rd Great Grandparents and Solomon and Mary Ann Newman were Betty's 4th Great Grandparents.

Benjamin Solomon Newman

Second Great Grandfather of Betty Hall

Benjamin Solomon Newman was born in the northeastern part of Franklin County, Mississippi, probably in the general area of the Solomon Newman Plantation Home.  Later, when his father, Samuel M. Newman, acquired a farm in Section 3, T7N, R3E, which bordered Middle Fork Creek at the Jefferson County Line, it was here that he spent his years growing into manhood.

According to family accounts, it was during his teenage years that Ben Newman suffered an accident which left him crippled in his left knee for the balance of his lifetime.  Accounts indicate that he was working on his father’s farm on a particular day, chopping wood with an axe, when somehow the axe, striking a glancing blow, then hit Ben in the area of his left knee.  It caused a terrible wound and resulted in the loss of a considerable amount of blood.  After the wound had healed, the knee could no longer flex properly, and Ben also suffered an antipathy to the sight of blood.  Consequently, his ambition which he had held to study medicine and become a physician, was then lost.  Furthermore, at the beginning of the American Civil War when the young men of the South were answering the call for military duty for the Confederacy, enthusiastically enlisting in Southern regiments and returning home on leave in their smart-looking uniforms, Ben was unable to qualify for military duty because of his disability.  He probably felt an acute sense of alienation as he saw his father and brother, Joseph, going off to serve in the cause of the Confederate States.

It appears that Benjamin Newman met his wife, Sarah Jane Knox, as a result of his employment by Sarah Jane’s step-father, David P. Holmes.  The 1870 population Census record for Franklin County, Mississippi included B. S. Newman in the household of D. P. Holmes, indicating that he was working as a mechanic. Approximately one month after the enumeration of the 1870 Census, Ben Newman and Sarah Jane Knox were married by Reverend S. Bufkin, M.G., minister at Union Baptist Church which is located near Whiteapple Village, a few miles north of the Knox home.  Then about a year and a half later, two of Ben Newman’s sisters married Sarah Jones two surviving brothers:  Ione Newman married “Ferd” J. Knox and Eudora Newman married Calvin H. Knox.

Earlier, the 1860 population Census enumeration included Sarah Jane’s eldest brother, George W. Knox., who was killed in 1865 as a result of a wild turkey hunting accident.

According to the record of the Grand Commandery of the Knights Templar in Mississippi, Benjamin Solomon Newman had been initiated, passed and raised in the Concord Masonic Lodge #181 in Jefferson County during the year 1864.  He allowed his membership to terminate in 1875, since the lodge was located in Jefferson County, and at that time he was apparently living at too great a distance to maintain his attendance.

Following their marriage in 1870, Benjamin and Sarah Jane (Knox) Newman probably continued to live in the home of David P. Holmes, Sarah Jane’s step-father, as a result of Ben Newman’s employment with Mr. Holmes.  David P. Holmes and his wife, Mary, the mother of Sarah Jane, continued to live in Section 26, T5N, R1E of Franklin County, and it was part of the original land tract acquired by John N. Knox’s father, George Knox, about the year1815 – 1816.  About the year 1861, David Holms sold the John N. Knox plantation to G. & E. Kennedy, and he then purchased about 232 acres of land in Section 9 of T5N, R1E from Mrs. Lucinda Kennedy.  It appears that the family then moved to a house on this tract of land, about a mile northwest of the Knox home, and it was at this location that the family was enumerated in the Census of 1870.  Ben Newman and his wife, Sarah Jane apparently lived here until the death of her mother, Mary, about the year 1875.

After the death of Mary (Lowery) Knox Holmes, it appears that Benjamin and Sarah Jane Newman then moved back to the home of Margaret Ann (Herring) Newman, his mother, whose home was located bordering Middle Fork Creek near the Jefferson County line.  On the 15^th of January 1878, Margaret Newman then deeded 150 acres of land in Section 5, T7N, R2E of Franklin County of her son, Benjamin Newman.  This tract of land was part of her inheritance from her father, Aaron Herring.  She had inherited this tract of land following the death of Aaron Herring on the 5^th of April in 1874 and the subsequent settling of his estate in the probate court of Franklin County.  Having been Part of Aaron Herring’s plantation, this tract of land was located near the head of Morgan’s Fork Creek and bordered the Jefferson County line, north of the village of Hamburg.  The 1880 Population Census Record indicates that Ben and Sarah Newman had moved to their new tract of land and had established their own home. At this new home, Benjamin Newman operated a small, self-sustaining livestock farm consisting mostly of a sizable herd of hogs, some cattle, and chickens.  He also grew an annual vegetable garden near the house. Benjamin Newman’s principle occupation, however, was that of carpentry, and he is known to have built a number of houses in the Franklin – Jefferson County area and some store buildings, including onces at Hamburg and McNair.  He also built the two-storied house in which he and his family lived north of the village of Hamburg, and which was near the older home of his grandfather, Aaron Herring.  Following the marriage of his eldest son, George P. Newman, Benjamin Newman and his son worked together to build a home for his son’s family.  This home was located in or near Section 32, T8N, R1E of Jefferson County on the road which led from the Newman house to the village of McNair.  Ben Newman was also skilled at making household furniture and kitchen utensils. 

For a considerable time, Sarah Jane (Knox) Newman suffered from a skin cancer located on her cheek, and finally on the 22^nd day of August 1896, she passed away after it had advanced considerably.  Her burial in the New McNair Cemetery at the village of McNair in Jefferson County was among the earliest burials in that cemetery.  Late in the night of August 12^th 1903, Benjamin S. Newman passed away in his home with his children at his bedside.  He was buried next to his wife in the cemetery at McNair, Jefferson County, Mississippi.

Uriah Perkins

Second Great Grandfather of James Hall

Note: The following information was provided by Letitia Perkins from RootsWeb: In 1969 a Dr. Ralph Perkins, of Abilene, Tx. , Taylor Co. wrote a letter to Marture Greenwood who was writting a book titled "The Loving Irish, The Gillilands." In this letter Dr. Ralph Perkins stated that Uriah Perkins was born July 1812 in Ky., left an orphan and raised by a family where he served as an apprentice cabinet maker. He married a Viney ? in Tn. The 1840 cesus of Winston Co., Ms. shows a Uriah Perkins, wife and two children. Other census place this Uriah Perkins and family in Ms. until 1845. The 1850 census of Smith Co., Tx. shows Uriah Perkins, wife Viney and children all born in Ms. Uriah's occupation is given as Cabinet Maker. The 1860 census places Uriah Perkins in Wise Co. where he has remarried Mary A. Gilliland. Uriah's and Viney's last child, a daughter was born 1859. By Uriah's second marriage in 1860 and the birth year of this child. it is assumed that Viney died in 1859. Jim Paschall now owns the property that belonged to Uriah Perkins in Wi Co. according to his family lore Mrs. Perkins is buried in an unmarked grave on this property. There is also a son of Uriah's and Viney's buried next to her. This son was killed by indians. Name and date is unknown. Uriah and Viney had four sons. Preston "Press" Perkins, who was killed by indians on Salt Creek, Wise Co., in 1866, Milton Perkins who is buried in  the Cottondale Cemetery, Ezekiel Perkins who was in Palo Pinto Co., Tx. well after Uriah sold his property in Wise Co. and moved to Palo Pinto Co.. This leaves Marion Perkins, which to date I have not been able to find any records on except for the 1860 census of Wise Co. where he is living with his father and step mother, the 1870 census of Wilson Co., Tx. where he is living with his brother Ezekiel "Zeke" and his family. Marion's age is given as 18 and a marriage licenses found in Wilson Co. where Marion married Sarah Margaret Miller in 1872. The Perkins Family lore states that Sarah and her son Joah went to live with her sister and brother in law, Thomas and Clarissa Culwell after Marion died. Althought it probley will never be proved, I feel that given the above info. it is safe to assume that Marion Perkins was killed by indians sometime between 1872 when he married and 1880 when the census shows Sarah Perkins and his son Joah living in Wise Co. with the Thomas Culwells. That he was buried next to his mother in an unmarked grave on the property that Uriah owned at the time and that Jim Paschall now owns.

Matthew Rushing and family passport

Excerpted from The Family and Descendants of Jonathan Newman, an American Patriot from Lynches River, South Carolina, by W. Leroy Moffett
Aaron Maxwell Newman 1849 - 1941
The following statement was made by Aaron Maxwell Newman upon his admission as an inmate in 1937 to Beauvoir Soldier's Home near Gulfport and Biloxi in Harrison County, Mississippi. Beauvoir (meaning beautiful view) is located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. It was the former home of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. Late in life, he deeded this home to the State of Mississippi for use as a home and hospital for Confederate Veterans. When Aaron Maxwell died here, he was 92 years of age.

The Fayette Chronicle; Fayette, Mississippi
Dated: circa February 1, 1941

A. M. Newman Dead; buried at Beauvoir
Served Confederacy as youth and died in the Soldier's Home, January 26th

"Mr. A. M. Newman (Max Newman), native of Franklin County, died at the Old Soldier's Home, Beauvoir, on January 26th, and was buried in the Jefferson Davis Soldier's Home Cemetery. Services were conducted by Rev. Mr. Landrum, pastor of the First Methodist Church, Gulfport.
At the time of his death, Mr. Newman was just past his 92nd birthday, and had been an inmate of the Home for 14 years.
He was admitted to the Home on the following statement of his antecedents and service to the Confederacy, which is published because of his wide connection of relatives in this and adjoining counties, who will doubtless be interested:"

"My name is A. Maxwell Newman. I was born in Franklin County, Mississippi, December 27, 1849. I am now (at the time of entry in the Home) 88 years of age.

My father's name was S. M. Newman, a farmer and small slave-owner in Franklin County. My mother's name was Margaret Herring. She was the daughter of Aaron Herring. He was a large planter and slave-owner, living in the Northwest corner of Franklin County, on the Jefferson County line, at the head of Morgan's Fork (Creek). My father's father's home was ten miles from Meadville, about half way to Union Church. The place bordered on the Jefferson County Line. My father's mother was a Lowry. She was related to General Lowry.
I was too young to go into the Civil War at the time it broke out. In December, 1864, I was fifteen years of age. Since I was subject to conscription at the age of sixteen years, I volunteered for service with the Confederate forces in Franklin County, Mississippi, preparatory to entering into actual service as a soldier when I arrived at the age of sixteen. The country at that time suffered greatly from the raids of the Federal soldiers from Vicksburg. They would come through the country, destroy property, carry off livestock and food stuffs for the support of the Army at Vicksburg. My companions and myself were organized in Franklin County, Mississippi, for the purpose of protecting that county and surrounding counties. e furnished our own guns and ammunition and we protected the country against the raids of Federal soldiers. We would capture then and turn them over to the nearest Confederate officer.
Early in the year 1865, a band to which I belonged, composed of about fifteen young men, captured forty Federal soldiers west of Brookhaven, Mississippi. We took their horses away from them and we took their arms and delivered the same to the Confederate authorities.
I was at all times during such service exposed to capture by Federal soldiers, and if captured would have been dealt with as any other captured soldier and would have been confined in prison.
One of our principal duties was that of supplying food for the Confederate forces. It was our duty, and we scoured the country, taking from each farmer one out of ten of his head of livestock-that is to say, hogs and cattle. We delivered this livestock to a Confederate officer either at Hazlehurst or Brookhaven to be used in feeding the Confederate soldiers.
I continued in this service until Lee surrendered to Grant, April 10, 1865. I was paid $3.00 a day in Confederate money. We were under a Captain by the name of Captain Crawford. The services which I performed were military in character, were valuable in the protection of the community in which I lived, and were preparatory to my entering into active service as a Confederate soldier.
At least twenty-five members of my immediate family (connection) served in the Confederate Army. I had by one brother. His name was Ben Newman, and he was a cripple and unable to render military service. My father, S. M. Newman, became a private soldier in a company organized by Captain McGehee. The company was composed largely of Franklin County young men. My uncle, Jim Herring, and my cousin, Wesley Brown, at the outbreak of the war, volunteered, and went to Union Church, Mississippi, and joined the Union Church Rifles, a company organized by the Honorable Charles Clark, a distinguished lawyer of Jefferson County, Mississippi, who afterwards became Governor of the State of Mississippi.
My father's company was stationed at a place called Milldale, in the Northern portion of Mississippi.
At least twelve of my close relatives were either killed in action or died in the service. My cousin, Wesley Brown, died on his way from the Virginia Army. My sister's husband, John Archie Cato, of Union Church, Mississippi, was a private soldier in the Tennessee Army, around Corinth. He was killed July 16, 1864 (Battle of Shiloh). I was present at the Presbyterian Church in Union Church, Mississippi, when one of his companions returned and rode up the Church with is horse. The same was delivered to his widow, my sister. She then had in her arms an infant son, afterwards known as Louis A. Cato, of Union Church, Mississippi.
My Captain was a man by the name of Crawford. I do not know his first name, but we called him Captain Crawford."

The foregoing narrative was furnished The Chronicle by Hon. Will H. Watkins, of Jackson, who was a kinsman of Mr. Newman, through the Herring line, and who had been interested in his well-being during his declining years. Practically all of the soldiery of the 1861-'65 conflict have passed away, and few of the youths of that time remain to recount to the youth of the present generation, the heroism and tribulations of that war period. We are confident that many of the lads of the present time will read with interest these facts concerning the part the lads of tender age had in the defense of their homes while the adults were away in the Armies of the South.