Hey Hey Hey!!!
My new book, “Okatibbee Creek,” is now available in paperback! The first place you can get it is:
More links will come over the next few days and weeks. Amazon.com and Amazon.uk will be posted within the week. The Kindle version will be out the middle of January. Other online retailers will be available soon.
Or you can get the paperback right now if you click:
Or you can just click:
2012 has been a most interesting year. Since my children were little, my years have been measured by childhood accomplishments: that’s the year he started high school, that’s the year she started piano. There have been family measurements too: that’s the year we went to the Grand Canyon, that’s the year we sold the house, or that’s the year Grandma died.
This year has been different. There have been no measurements. We didn’t move, no one died, there were no graduations, no great happenings, no exciting journeys around the globe.
This year has, however, been filled with humbling personal victories for me.
If you have ever read my blog, you know I’m into genealogy. I’ve been tracing my family for 30 years. I try to be as accurate as I can, but I realize memories are fuzzy, documents are mis-dated, names are misspelled. This is a fact in genealogy research, so I don’t worry myself too much with perfection of details. Example: I have known since childhood that my grandmother was 59 when she died. When I ordered her birth certificate this year, I found that her birth date was not the year we all thought. She was actually 60 when she died and her tombstone is wrong. See? You just can worry yourself with details. It takes nothing away from my love for my grandmother either way.
So, in 2012, I submitted my genealogy paperwork to three different organizations for membership. I didn’t feel one way or the other about the memberships, but when I was accepted into all three, I realized that my research has indeed been correct and now has been validated by others. More than becoming a member of these organizations, I have been patted on the back for my years of research. I am pleased to say that 2012 will be marked as the year I became a member of the United States Daughters of 1812, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Even better than that, the three memberships are under three different lines in my family tree.
I’ve also held a lifelong desire to write my memoirs for my descendants. I always craved more detail about my great grandparent’s lives, and wished they would have left me something. So, since I was very young, I thought I would someday write my memoirs in case my great grandchild felt the same. Sadly, I don’t really have a fabulous and interesting life, so I have very little to write in a memoir. I’ve spent many hours over the decades with pencil and paper in hand and never could find a way to start.
2012 became the year of writing a memoir! Not mine. My third great grandmother’s. I spent most of the year writing her life story and turned it into a book. I am currently holding the very first printed copy of the paperback and look forward to the official release of “Okatibbee Creek” in a week or so. I’ve written stories and music my whole life, but I have never completed a novel before, so I am speechless to be holding this book. The fact that it is a family history, a memoir, the family book I’ve always wanted to write, the family history I’ve always wanted to read, gives me great pleasure and validation – validation of my family history, validation of my dreams, validation that 2012 was a year well spent.
It is bittersweet to say goodbye to 2012. It will be remembered as: that’s the year I was validated.
I’m tickled pink over my new video book trailer for “Okatibbee Creek.”
This was my best blog ever, don’t ya think?
I’ve been tagged in The Next Big Thing.
The Next Big Thing is a blog interview for authors to give everyone a sneak-peak at a work-in-progress.
Authors writing more stuff…Yay! Okay, let’s get busy.
What is the working title of your next book?
“An Orphan’s Heart” — planned release date Spring 2013.
Working on the cover….
Where did the idea come from for the book?
I finished writing a historical fiction novel called “Okatibbee Creek,” where Mary Ann finds herself alone during the Civil War, raising her four children and her brother’s five orphans. One of the orphans was Ellen. While I was researching the orphans (yes, “An Orphan’s Heart” is also historical fiction), I found that Ellen moved around a lot by herself, and I was intrigued with a woman traveling alone at that time in history. I also found that she had only one child who lived until 1986 and died at the age of 98. Ellen and her daughter spanned U.S. history from the Civil War until relatively recently, which I can’t quite wrap my head around. I ended up speaking on the phone with the daughter’s grand-daughter, who is currently 73 years of age and living in Abilene, TX. After that, I was hooked on telling Ellen’s story.
What genre does your book fall under?
Historical fiction.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Zooey Deschanel for the lead and a bearded Matt Dillon as her husband.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Ellen, with the broken spirit of an orphan and the soul of a gypsy, travels alone across the late 1800s rugged and dangerous United States, searching to ease the loneliness that fate has burrowed into her heart and hoping to find the only thing that is truly important…love.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I self-publish under Lori Crane Entertainment, Inc.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
It took about five weeks. I worked on it every day. I tend to write just the story, then go back a second time and describe the people and environments. I go back a third time and add color, description, more conversations, and connect all the dots. Usually somewhere in the second pass, the story changes direction. I don’t know why that always happens, but I get more clarity of the plot and the characters after the initial rough draft is completed. The fourth time through is my author edit. I then send it to a real editor, and when I get it back, I can freshly see the holes and connect even more dots. Then the proofreader. Then I go through it about three more times in different formats. By the time it’s finished, I never want to see it again.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I don’t know a specific work, but I imagine any female character trying to make it on her own, especially with the flavor of the Old West.
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
I love genealogy and am completely in awe of my ancestors. I laugh, cheer, and cry as I give them life through their documents and records.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
This is the second book in the Rodgers family series. The first, “Okatibbee Creek,” will be released in paperback and Kindle December 2012. If you fall in love with those characters like I did, you will also want to read “An Orphan’s Heart,” to continue the love affair. (Shameless plug: There will also be a third book in the series, “Elly Hays,” coming Fall 2013.)
Now, I’m off to tag five more authors to write posts of their own about their Next Big Thing. Stay tuned for details once they have all agreed…
My new book!! How excited am I???
Release date: December 2012.
Available in paperback , Kindle and Nook.
Based on a true story.
Mary Ann Rodgers is a happy child of a wealthy farmer in the early 1800s in Mississippi. She marries her childhood sweetheart and creates a wonderful life for herself and her children. When the Civil War begins, her world slowly shatters, not only from the economic trials and ravages of war, but from a typhoid epidemic that sweeps through her community, devastating her family. Between October 1861 and March 1863, she loses more than fifteen family members; including her beloved husband, four brothers, both parents, and her one-year-old baby boy. She takes in her brother’s five orphans, and along with her own children, struggles to raise them alone in an old general store that was her husband’s dream. Though with no paying customers and no way to re-supply her inventory, she is fighting her own war and losing.
When General Sherman’s Union Army marches through her town on their way to destroy Meridian, she has no choice but to fight back. And fight back she does – not only with her rifle, but with her change in attitude and her rebellious spirit. Following the death of her husband, she is left with no option but to marry the only man who can help her – her widowed brother-in-law, William. Adding his four children to the eight she is already raising is a daunting task, but her marriage to William turns her life around in surprising ways. She becomes a strong and resilient woman who understands better than most the meaning of life and the importance of love and family.
Okatibbee Creek is a novel of historical fiction based on the life of my third great grandmother, including supporting documents and family photos at the end of the book. It will have you crying and cheering through a real-life story of love, loss, and survival.
Sometimes you search for information about an ancestor and find oodles of information; sometimes you search for information and find…NOTHING?
How is that possible? Was she in the Witness Protection Program? If the person didn’t die young, there has to be SOMETHING. Census, will, land record, cemetery record, obituary, marriage record, ship log, family bible, something, anything.
I got stuck a while back researching my maternal great grandmother. I knew her name was Mary Howington. I knew she married John Patrick Burke. I knew she had 3 girls (one being my grandmother Ina Inez Burke), and 3 boys, and when I traveled to the cemetery, I found the headstone of a fourth boy who died as an infant.
I knew her in-laws, her children, when she was born, where she lived, when she married, when she died and where she is buried. Why could I not find her parents? Her siblings? Her past? Her entire past could not simply vanish into thin air.
Her daughter (my grandmother), Ina Inez Burke, married Earl Culpepper. I was working on the Culpepper line when I read Earl’s mother’s obituary for the hundredth time (my other maternal great grandmother).
“November 16, 1961
Mrs. Annie Culpepper
Funeral arrangements were being completed today for Mrs. Annie Blanks Culpepper, 84 of Mobile, a former resident of the Martin community who died yesterday at Mobile.
Mrs. Culpepper was a member of the Duffee Baptist church and had been active in its various organizations until she suffered a broken hip three years ago.
Her two daughters are Mrs. Mae Howington of Meridian and Mrs. Aaron Spears of Enterprise. She is also survived by five sons…”
WOAH! Wait! Did that say Mae Howington? The only Mae I know is my grandpa’s little sister Zeffie Mae. Was Aunt Zeffie married into the same Howington family? How many Howington lines could there possibly be in the same town?
When I researched Aunt Zeffie, I found she was married to Milton Howington, who I remember as “Uncle Sug.” And when I researched Milton, I found his parents and siblings. His eldest sister was named Mary Howington and had the same birth and death date as MY Mary Howington. And then I found most of the siblings are buried in the same cemetery. I have photos of all of those headstone, but I didn’t know who they were. And then I found when Mary married John Patrick Burke, her sister married David Edmund Burke. Two Howington sisters married two Burke brothers.
After a year of searching, the mystery blew up full-force in less than five minutes. My “Uncle Sug” was my great grandma’s little brother. I didn’t know that. Now I have the male Howingtons traced back to 1750 in North Carolina, and the female line of the Howingtons traced back to 1550 in Wales. BAM!
I knew in the back of my mind that you can find leads if you trace siblings, but it was never cemented until that moment. Since then, I have used that technique many times, and it ALWAYS works. If you get stuck, look at the siblings. It may take you back farther than you can imagine.
I’ve traced my family for over 30 years. I currently have 8548 people in my family tree, including 16 great great grandparents, 26 third greats, 36 fourth greats, 49 fifth greats and 61 sixth greats – there’s more, but I won’t bore you any further. At one point, part of my tree opens up and the male side dates back to 1190 England, and the female side dates back to 70 B.C. I have family from England, Ireland, France, Scotland, and places so far back, they aren’t even on the map anymore. I am passionate about my records and my new discoveries.
Do you want to know what my BIGGEST pet peeve in the whole world is??
My biggest pet peeve is getting messages and/or emails that say things like: “Please respond and let me know who you are and why you are tracing my family” or “Please transfer my uncles memorial page to me because he is my family” or “Thank you for posting headstone photos of my family.”
Yeah. My My My My. Let’s make it clear. If you have ancestors, you are probably not the only one in your family tree. The above comments need responses from me including, “I am tracing my husband’s family, not yours”, “The man is also MY uncle”, and “I drove 14 hours one-way to visit that cemetery and posted headstone photos of MY family, not yours, but you are welcome, I guess.”
One of my biggest pleasures is finding distant cousins all over the world, but not when those cousins send rude emails.
I’m currently working on a book about a cousin who was an orphan. My third great grandmother raised her deceased brother’s five orphans for a while. One of the orphans has a great story, so I’m writing a book about her. She lost her parents at the age of nine in 1862 in Mississippi. She is found in the 1870 census living with her other aunt in Alabama, and found in the 1880 census living back in Mississippi. She is then found in 1890 in Texas, married with an infant daughter, and died that very same year at the age of 36. My questions were, “Why did she go back to MS? and “How did she end up in TX?” I did find the answers to my questions, but still wanted more information. Through some family searching (emails to a cousin of a cousin of a cousin), I ended up on the phone with the infant daughter’s GRANDDAUGHTER, who is 73 years old and living in Abilene, TX. She told me all about her family and her grandmother, but she did not know anything about her orphaned great grandmother or the family line before that, so we filled in a lot of family history for each other. She emailed me a photo of the orphan and a four-page hand-written letter from the orphan to her brother, dated July 1890, a month before she died. And I emailed her stories of the family along with a photo of the orphans grandfather, her THIRD great grandfather whom she never knew existed. It was amazing. We are cousins connected 150 years ago. Wow!
So, lesson to be learned:
If you contact someone about their family research, do not say “MY family,” because if they are researching and have records, it is more than likely their family also, and you never want to be rude to your cousins.
Class dismissed.
The great great great grandparents…continued. (This would be #3 and #4 of 32 great great greats. This may take a while.)
The last Ancestry post was about mom’s side, so in fairness, here’s one about dad’s side.
My paternal great grandparents, whom I knew and loved dearly, were Ben and Eula Pickett. This entry is about Ben’s grandparents.
Robert Theodore Pickett and Lucy Ann Rackley
Robert Theodore (3rd great grandfather) was born in Alabama on 2 Feb 1836 to Daniel L Pickett and Amelia Ferrill. He was the last of four children, because his mother died in 1836 or 1837. At that time in history, I would suspect she died shortly after 2 Feb 1836 due to complications of childbirth, but I have no proof. His father re-married in 1838 – a woman named Harriet Elizabeth Wilson. Daniel and Harriet had one child, and following Daniel’s death in 1851, Harriet married Miles Linton and had six more children. (My aunt also married a Linton, and if I did the research, I am positive I would find that her Linton was a descendant of Miles, making them not-so-distant cousins. Lauderdale is not a very big county. 🙂 )
Robert Theodore married Lucy Ann Rackley in Choctaw, Alabama in 1860 and shows up in the census there through 1880. All of their children were born in Alabama, but at some point, the entire family moved to Mississippi. If you don’t know, the 1890 census was burned up in a fire, so it is not available to us to research and hunt for clues. I know the family was in Mississippi by 1891, when the youngest daughter was married there. All except the youngest son are buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Zero, Lauderdale County, MS. The youngest son died in Sicily Island, Louisiana and I do not know where he was buried, but he is not at Pleasant Hill.
I have photos of all of their headstones and most of their death certificates, but I won’t bore you with them.
Only Robert and Lucy’s…
The only photographs I have of any of the children are the youngest son, Rev. Robert Tilden Pickett 1876-1947 and his wife Lilian Price 1877-1962. They married in June of 1904, three months before his mother’s death.
Aren’t they gorgeous?? (photos from the library of my cousin, Fran Pickett)
The other children were:
Sarah Elizabeth “Sally” 1859-1930
Margaret Madelene “Maggie” 1860-1924
Amelia Elizabeth “Betty” 1863-1924
Annie Mariah 1864-1912
Joseph Lawson 1866-1910 (my 2nd great grandfather)
Lloyd Daniel 1866-1936
Joshua H 1870-1933
Nathan Brightling 1872-1954
Two things strike me about the above dates: 1. Joseph and Lloyd couldn’t possible be born in the same year. One was born in Jan and one in Feb, so someone put the wrong birth year on the headstone. I have neither of their death certificates. 2. Maggie and Betty both died in 1924. According to their death certificates, which I have, Maggie died on June 26th of cancer and Betty died on August 28th. That must have been a difficult year for the siblings.
Also, only one of the four girls married – Annie Mariah. She married James Henry Fisher Sr. James’s sister, Caledonia D Fisher, married Joseph Lawson Pickett – the above mentioned 2nd great grandpa. “Callie” and “Joe” were the parents of my great grandfather, Ben Pickett, mentioned at the beginning. So, a Fisher brother and sister married a Pickett brother and sister. I know who my 2nd great and 3rd greats are, but I still have to stop and think about that for a minute. Annie Pickett Fisher and Callie Fisher Pickett make me stop and scratch my head every time.
Lucy Ann Rackley (3rd great grandmother) was born in Alabama on 6 Aug 1834 and died in MS on 8 Oct 1904. Her father was Anthony Rackley and her mother was Julia A Johnson, and she was the youngest of their 6 children. Her parents were born in North Carolina and Virginia respectively, and both died in Alabama, though I am not sure when or why they moved there. Her mother died in 1860 and her father died just after 1880. Perhaps that is when the family decided to move to Mississippi. Fortunately for her, none of her children died before her, and her husband outlived her by 10 months.
Rest in Peace great great great grandma and grandpa…
Hays Rodgers Sr was my 4th great grandfather. He was married to Marey Ann Scott and had 14 children: Lewis, James, Allen, Jackson, Susannah, Stephen, William, Mary Ann (my 3rd great grandmother), Timothy, Hays Jr, Wilson, John W, Elizabeth and Martha Jane. His sons, Stephen and William, died in 1834 at the ages of 8 and 10. His son, James, died of typhoid in Nov of 1862. Between 1863 and 1864, his sons, Timothy, Wilson and John W, all died during the Civil War. Timothy and Wilson died of illness. John died of a gunshot wound to the stomach in Jonesboro, GA. Fortunately, Hays Sr was not alive to witness the soldier’s deaths as he died of typhoid in Dec of 1862.
Hays Rodgers Sr was born 1 Feb 1783 in Greene, TN to James Rodgers and Elizabeth “Elly” Hays. He was one of 12 children. At the age of 18, he moved with his parents to Clarke Co, AL to raise hogs. Clarke Co was part of the Mississippi Territory at that time. He and his brother, Absolom, signed up for the Mississippi Militia in 1814, and were assigned to Capt Evan Austill’s company of volunteers in Maj Sam Dale’s Battalion to fight against the hostile Creek Indians. Hays remained in the Militia until Oct 1818, but was only called out once for a two-month tour.
On 11 Dec 1816, he married Marey Ann Scott, who was from Georgia. In 1818, following the end of his military service, he, Marey, and 1st born Lewis, moved to Copiah Co, MS (what later became Simpson, MS). He started buying land and farming. He built the “Ole Stennis House” (see photo) in 1857 at the age of 61. In 1860, the U.S. Census states Hays owned 13 slaves, a 640 acre (square mile) plantation, 2 horses, 3 mules, 10 cows, 4 oxen, 16 sheep, 60 swine, and $600 in farming instruments, for a total worth of $8400.
Upon his death in Dec 1862 in Lauderdale Co, MS, he owned 690 acres of land and stock in the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, which was sold and divided between his heirs. His wife died shortly after him in March of 1863, also of typhoid.
Their property was sold in 1869 at public auction on the steps of the Meridian Courthouse to Major Adam T Stennis, hence the name “Ole Stennis House.” It remained in the Stennis family for 100 years until 1970. A while before the property was sold, Hays Jr, who was the only son to returned home from the war albeit with a useless arm and a wilted spirit, sold his farm and moved to Alabama to be near his wife’s family. He sold his farm to a Tom Stennis. Tom Stennis was a former slave to Major Adam T Stennis.
If you are a descendant of Hays Rodgers Sr or would like more information about the family, please join us at our Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/DescendantsOfHaysGRodgersSr All descendants and history buffs are welcome.
Hays Rodgers Sr.
The Ole Stennis House taken April 2012
Hays Rodgers Sr War of 1812 Military Record
1869 Probate Record Transcribed
(witnessed by Mary Ann Rodgers 2nd husband, William Eades Jolly)
Probate court of Lauderdale County, MS Oct term 26th day 1863
In the matter of the petition of J.D. Tolson and D. Maggard for letters of Administration on the Estate of Hays Rodgers, deceased.
In reading and filing the petition of J.D. Tolson and David Maggard for letters of Administration on the Estate of Hays Rodgers, deceased, it is ordered that letters of Administration be granted to the said J.D. Tolson & David Maggard upon their taking of the oath prescribed by law and entering into bond in the form of the statue in the sum of twenty thousand dollars with G.N. Chandler and N.R. Batt as their securities and the said J.D. Tolson and David Maggard appearing in open court and taking oath and together with their said securities signed, sealed and delivered said letters are now granted and ordered to be filed and recorded according to law and that T.H. Warren, Alsa Pace and A.W. Gillespie be appointed appraisers for which ? and that the action be recorded.
Probate court of Lauderdale County, MS March term 1869
To the Honorable E.S. Bramlette, Judge of the Probate Court of Lauderdale County. The petition of the undersigned Hays Rogers, and Mary A. Jolly, two of the heirs at law of Hays Rogers, Sr. late of said county deceased, respectfully represents unto your Honor that the said Hays Rogers, Sr. died intestate seized and possessed of a large personal estate which has heretofore been administered and distributed under the order and direction of your Honorable Court by J.D. Tolson and David Maggard the former administrators thereof as will fully appear by reference to the records of your honorable court. Further, your petitions show that the said Hays Rogers, Sr. also died intestate as aforesaid seized fee of the following lands lying and being in the County of Lauderdale and known and described as follows, to wit: W 1/2 of Sec 2; NE 1/4, E 1/2 of SE 1/4 & NW 1/4 of SE 1/4 of Sec 3; E 1/2 of NE 1/4 Sec 10; all of Township 7 R15 east containing in all 680 acres more or less. Also the said H Rogers owned five shares Mobile and Ohio Railroad stock ($500) No. 3215. Your petitioners show that together with your petitioners are the following heirs at law of the said Hays Rogers, Sr., to wit: Lewis Rogers of the State of Texas, Allen Rogers, Mary A. Jolly (one of the petitioners), Martha Meeks and Hays Rogers (another of petitioners), and Sarah A. Rogers guardian of Cornelia A. Rogers of Lauderdale County, Susan Chatham of Louisiana, Elizabeth Graham of Pickens County, Alabama and the following named minor heirs of Hays Rogers, Allen Rogers, Mary E. Rogers (who is the wife of D. Morrow and dau. of James, Hays Sr.’s son), Martha E. Rogers, Wm H. Rogers (Son of James, Hays Sr.’s son), Pernecia Ann Rogers of whom your petitioner is the guardian and Cornelia A. Rogers the ward of Sarah J. Rogers (wife of Wilson, Hays Sr.’s son) of Lauderdale County.
Your petitioners further show unto your honor that the said lands are not susceptible of division in kind amongst the several heirs named nor can the said M&O RR certificate be disposed of and divided without Administration de bonis non on said estate. Your petitioners therefore pray your Honor to grant letters of Administration on said estate to Warren H. Alford, Esq., he being the choice of our petitioners for that purpose, as well as the choice of several adult heirs of the said intestate. Upon his entering into bond in such sum as to your Honor may consider right and proper in the premises, and as in duty bound they will pray, tc.
Sworn to Subscribed before me by
Wm. E. Jolly May 24, 1869
Signed
Hays Rogers, Jr. Mary A. Jolly
To the Hon. E.S. Bramlette, Judge of the Probate Court of said County. The undersigned Administrator de bonis non of the Estate of Hays Rogers, Sr., deceased, late of said county respectfully represents unto your Honor that his said intestate has no personal estate except a certificate of stock in the Mobile & Ohio RR No. 3215 for five hundred dollars being five shares in said road. Also the following lands lying and being in the County of Lauderdale and known and described as follows, to wit: W 1/2 of Sec 2; NE 1/4, E 1/2 of SE 1/4 & NW 1/4 of SE 1/4 of Sec 3; E 1/2 of NE 1/4 Sec 10; all of Township 7 R15 E. containing in all 620 acres more or less. Further the said Administrator shows that the said Hays Rogers, Sr. left and has now surviving him the following heirs at law, to wit: Lewis Rogers of the State of Texas, Allen Rogers, Mary A. Jolly, Martha Meeks, and Hays Rogers, guardian to Allen, Mary E., Martha E., William H., and Perneca Ann Rogers and Sarah J. Rodgers guardian of Cornelia Rogers and Susan Chatham of Louisiana and Elizabeth Graham of Pickens County, Alabama.
Your petitioners further shows that it is desirable and to the best interest of all the heirs and distributees of said estate that the said Railway stock and the said lands be divided amongst the several heirs aforesaid and that a division of said lands cannot be effected without a sale of the same. He therefore prays your honor to grant him an order of sale of said lands & RR Stock for cash upon such terms as to your Honor may seem lawful and expedient and he asks that citations issue to the heirs of said Hays Rogers, resident of this county, to appear at the next term of your court to be holded on the 4th Monday in July next and that public citation be made in some newspaper, notifying the nonresident heirs of said intestate to appear at the said July term to object to the prayer of your petitioner if they think proper. And as in duty bound he will ever pray, etc.
Sworn to Subscribed before me this
The 24th of May, 1869
Signed
W. R. Alford Adm.
Throughout the work on my last book, I became more and more interested in the organization called the UDC – The United Daughters of the Confederacy. On their website, the president, Mary Nowlin Moon, writes the following: “I am a Daughter of the Confederacy because I was born a Daughter of the Confederacy.”
That is my heritage also – a few times…
My book called “Okatibbee Creek” (available at Amazon.com) is about my 3rd great grandfather, Rice Benjamin Carpenter, who fought for the CSA (Confederate States of America) as a member of the 41st MS Infantry during the Civil War. Rice was born 15 Aug 1828 in Greene, TN. He signed up for battle in Marion Station, MS on 21 Apr 1862, and sadly, was killed at the Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, TN on 31 Dec 1862 at the age of 34. He was married and a father of five children. (His brother, Hilliard, also fought and died for the cause. He died at home on 16 Jul 1864 following wounds he received in battle on 28 May 1864 at Dallas, GA.)
I also have a 3rd great grandfather, William Lafayette Brown Jr, who fought for 37th MS Infantry. William was born 30 Oct 1836 in Lauderdale Co, MS. He signed up for battle on 8 May 1862 in Enterprise, MS at the age of 24, with four small children at home and one on the way (my 2nd great grandmother). William was a sharpshooter, guarding the railroad bridges in Chunky, MS from the Union troops. He was captured and escaped. He allowed himself to be captured a second time to help others escape. He/they did. There was a bounty on his head for the remainder of the war. He returned home when the war ended and lived until the age of 52. He died in Lauderdale County, MS on 23 Sep 1889. He was married and fathered ten children.
There’s another 3rd great grandpa: James C Howington. James was born in Wake County, NC on 15 Jan 1823 to Nimrod Howington and Milbury Bradley. He was the second born of thirteen children. He was 5′ 11″ and had auburn hair and gray/blue eyes.
At some point, he ended up in Sumter Co, AL and married Amelia “Ann” Smith on 24 Sept 1843. By 1850, they had taken up residence in Newton Co, MS and had ten children before the start of the Civil War. James signed up with the 5th Mississippi Infantry, Co. A, on 7 July 1862. He was captured 15 Jun 1864 and held prisoner at Rock Island, Illinois. When the war ended, he returned home and they had two more children.
I have yet another 3rd great grandfather, Joseph M Culpepper, who fought also for the 37th MS Infantry. Joseph was born in 1822 in Jackson, GA. He signed up in Marion, MS on 11 Apr 1862 at the age of 40. His records show that he was continually absent due to illness. He did not fight much, but died in battle on 15 Aug 1862 at Columbus, MS. He was married and a father of six children, two of whom were young boys also serving in the war.
The Rebel I filled out my UDC application under was my 2nd great grandfather, Joel Bluett Culpepper, 17-yr-old son of Joseph M Culpepper. JB and his brother, Benjamin, fought with the 63rd Alabama Infantry. JB was captured by Federal Forces at Blakely, AL on 9 Apr 1863 and held at Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island until the end of the war. He came home and married and had six children. At the end of his life, he lived at Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis House in Biloxi, MS, under his rights as a Confederate Soldier. He died at Beauvoir on 11 Nov 1911. (The following photos are: CSA Military Record, Fort Massachusetts, Beauvoir pre-Hurricane Katrina, JB Culpepper, headstone.)
Even though I live in Michigan now, I have proudly been accepted as a member of the United Daughter of the Confederacy, Robert E Lee Chapter, in Meridian, Mississippi, where I was born. I am honored and humbled by the acceptance as well as by my heritage. The Rebel blood in my veins is strong. I can no more deny my place in the Daughters of the Confederacy than I can deny being an American.
We protect our future by remembering our past.
Photo take 26 Aug 2012 at the Jackson, Michigan Muster, the re-enactment of the Battle of Stones River 1862.
Lori Crane 