XXI

SAMUEL GILLIAM PEGRAM⁶ AND ISSUE
LUCY V.⁷, AMOS J., AND JOSEPH JOHN WESLEY

SAMUEL GILLIAM PEGRAM⁶ (Edward⁵, Daniel⁴, Edward³, Daniel², George¹) the eldest child of Edward Pegram and Dorothy Gilliam, was born in Virginia. The only source of information as to his age is contained in several United States censuses, and this is not consistent from one census to another. The 1850 Hardeman County, Tennessee census gives his age as 35, making his birth in 1815. The 1860 Tippah County census shows his age as 45, again making his birth date 1815. The 1870 Tippah County census gives his age as 63, making his birth in 1807. This latter date is clearly in error, since his parents did not marry until 21 December 1807, and since the 1810 census of Bedford County, Virginia, showing Edward and his wife, did not list any male child. It did include a female child under ten years of age. She evidently died young, because there is no record of her in later years. This would leave Samuel Gilliam as the oldest living child. The 1820 census shows Edward in Sussex County, Virginia, with two males under ten, which would have been Samuel Gilliam and Reuben. Samuel Gilliam was therefore not born before 18 10. One source (1 9) recorded information to the effect that Samuel Gilliam was born in 1810, but no reference was given. We will have to conclude that Samuel Gilliam was born sometime between 18 10 and 18 15. His birth could have been in either Bedford or Sussex Counties, depending upon the date.

Samuel Gilliam Pegram moved to Hardeman County, Tennessee with his parents in 1830, when he was in his late teens. He married Harriet G. Jones in Hardeman County, Tennessee on 27 July 1836. The wedding was solemnized by J. M. Clunch. Calculating from information given in the 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses, Harriet would have been born in either 1807,1810 or 1815. As in the case of her husband, Edward, her exact date of birth is not known.

Harriet Jones was the daughter of Amos Jones and his wife Sarah, of Franklin County, North Carolina. Records there, including his will of 1842, show that Amos was an affluent large land and slave owner. His will named Harriet Pegram as his daughter. Amos had a son Amos Jr., who had gone to Jackson, Tennessee, in Madison County, and he was also likely in Hardeman County, since he owned land there. Harriet's family was well established in Franklin County, North Carolina. The only way to account for her being in Tennessee was to visit relatives, especially her brother, Amos. He was said to be associated with what is now Union University in Jackson. Amos Jr. married in Franklin County, North Carolina on 6 June 1831, to Sarah Bledsoe; at least a marriage bond for an Amos Jones and Sarah Bledsoe is extant in Franklin County, and no other Amos Jones was noted in that period and place. Another marriage record in Franklin County was between John Wesley Jones and Mildred Ransdell on 6 November 1849. He was married again on 7 November 1860 to Helen Jefferies, also in Franklin County. This marriage is mentioned because Harriet Jones and Samuel Gilliam Pegram had a son born in 1845 which they named John Wesley. John Wesley Jones was probably Harriet's brother. Samuel Gilliam Pegram engaged in farming in Hardeman County, Tennessee. He is shown in the 1840 census with his wife and seven slaves. His first child was born about that time. He was still in Hardeman County in 1850 with a complement of four children. In addition, Sarah Hunt, 66, was listed as a member of the household. It will be recalled that the mother of Dorothy Gilliam Pegram, Samuel Gilliam's mother, was Martha Hunt. Sarah was likely an aunt, or some other close relative of the family.

The complete record of Samuel G's land holdings in Hardeman County is not at hand. On 24 July 1844 he bought 125 acres from Thomas Toombs, in the 10th. District, Range 5, Section 1. Samuel's

118

brother R.W. Pegram attested the signature (108). Samuel G. also purchased land in Hardeman County from A.W. Jones. This was almost assuredly Amos Jones, his brother-in-law of Jackson, Tennessee. This was on 25 October 1857, and the price of the land was $500. This was also in District 10, Range 5, Sec. 1 (112). There are other land transactions of Samuel Gilliam Pegram recorded in Hardeman County (113, 114).

Samuel G. and Harriet had the following children: LUCY V.⁷, A. JONES, JOSEPH JOHN WESLEY, and SAMUEL WILLIAM, all born in Tennessee. All except Samuel William will be included in the present chapter, and he will be treated in the following one.

Samuel Gilliam Pegram and family moved to Tippah County, Mississippi, just south of Hardeman County, Tennessee, where he lived, in late 1857 or 1858. He is shown in the 1860 Tippah census. His post office address was Ruckersville, which no longer exists, but was about four miles east of Falkner. Samuel G. sold 275 acres of land in the 10th. District of Hardeman County to P. F. Pravitt for $2,100, on 8 January 1858. It was stated that this was known as "my last residence in Hardeman County." The land was bounded on the east by that of J. W. Hunt and on the west by that of C. B. Jones. As previously noted the Hunts were relatives, and C. B. Jones might have been a relative of his wife, Harriet. Samuel G's parents preceded him to Tippah County by about 20 years. The 1860 agriculture census of Tippah County showed Samuel Gilliam with 480 acres of land, in the Northern District. The slave population showed him with nine.

Samuel Gilliam was probably not in the Civil War. He would have been fifty or more years of age when the war began. His name does not appear on a list of Pegrams from Mississippi who were in the war, although he had two sons listed. Samuel Gilliam apparently continued farming in Tippah County for as long as he lived. He, of course, lost his slaves after the war, and his later years during the reconstruction period were very different from anything that he had experienced. He died in 1875 and was buried at Mt. Zion Cemetery, near Falkner, Mississippi. Harriet, his wife was living at the time of the 1870 census. She was said to have died on a trip from North Carolina, where she no doubt was visiting her family in Franklin County, and had to be buried en-route.

Samuel Gilliam Pegram is a direct ancestor of the line being followed. All of his children and their descendants to the present day will be presented prior to a discussion of his brothers and sisters, who were younger.

LUCY V. PEGRAM⁷ was the oldest child and only girl, of Samuel G. and Harriet Jones Pegram. She was born in 1840 according to census records of Hardeman County, Tennessee. There is very little information on Lucy. She probably married before 1860, since she is not listed with her family in the 1860 census. It is known from the writings of her brother, Samuel William, that she was at the home of her Grandmother Jones in Franklin County, North Carolina, along with the remainder of the family, during at least part of the Civil War. Lucy's husband, whose name is not known, was killed in the war. After the war Lucy married Richard Miller, and it is said, without confirmation, that they went to Texas.

When Lucy was growing up her family had a few slaves, and family members stated that Lucy had a girl assigned to her as a personal servant. She was said to be a very proud and somewhat haughty woman.

AMOS JONES PEGRAM⁷, the second child of Samuel G. and Harriet, was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee in 1842, calculating from the 1850 census records. He was obviously named for his grandfather or uncle or both, since each of them was named Amos Jones. He grew up on his father's farm in Hardeman County, Tennessee, and had just arrived at adulthood when the Civil War began. He entered the Confederate Army as a private in Company B, 2nd. Mississippi, and was killed at Richmond in 1863 (41). Like so many young men of this country, this ended forever a life of hope and promise.

JOSEPH JOHN WESLEY PEGRAM⁷, the third child of Samuel G. and Harriet,
was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, 20 October 1845. John Wesley Jones of Franklin County, North Carolina, who married there in 1849, was almost certainly a brother of Harriet Jones, Joseph John Wesley's mother, and John Wesley Pegram was named for him, as previously stated.

119

Like his brothers and sister, Joseph John Wesley, known in later years only as Wesley or Wes, grew up on his father's farms in Hardeman County, Tennessee and Tippah County, Mississippi. John Wesley would have been only about 15 years of age when the war began. The date of his enlistment is not known, but he was a private in Company G. of the Mississippi Cavalry, from Tippah County. Following the war John Wesley lived the remainder of his life in Tippah County. He married Elizabeth Jane McCown of the Falkner Community on the 16 March 1869. She was the daughter of Alfred McCown and Mary Ann Sannover. John Wesley was a planter in north Tippah County. He and Elizabeth had five children: WILLIAM EDWARD⁸, ALFRED HENRY, BEUNA VISTA, LORENA ROSALIE and OLIVIA ONEAL. John Wesley died in Tippah County 1 1 May 1918. His wife Elizabeth died in 1943. They were buried in Chalybeate Mississippi, their home.

WILLIAM EDWARD PEGRAM⁸, John Wesley's oldest child was born in Tippah County, 27 December 1869. He never married, was a farmer, and lived in the Chalybeate Community until his death on 27 November 1921.

ALFRED HENRY PEGRAM⁸, son of John Wesley and Elizabeth, was born in
Tippah County, 2 1 December 1872. He was married 3 1 July 19 1 1, to Lila Goodman. He lived at Chalybeate, Mississippi, and was a planter. Alfred died at Chalybeate on 14 February 193 1. Alfred Henry and Lila had two sons: WILLIAM ALFRED⁹ and GEORGE GILBERT.

WILLIAM ALFRED PEGRAM⁹ was born at Chalybeate 25 July 1912. He graduated from the Tippah County Agricultural High School at Chalybeate. He first married Mary Lois Nunnally in 1935, and they had a daughter, LINDA KAYIO. William's second marriage was to RUTH HAMBELIN. There is no known issue. William Alfred died in July 1981, at Memphis, Tennessee, and is buried at New Albany, Mississippi.

GEORGE GILBERT PEGRAM⁹, son of Alfred Henry Pegram and Lila Goodman, was born at Chalybeate 3 October 19 1 3. He graduated from the high school at Chalybeate. He never married, and died of tuberculosis in Memphis in 1937. He was buried at Chalybeate.

BEUNA VISTA PEGRAM⁸, daughter of John Wesley Pegram and Elizabeth McCown, was born in Tippah County 18 January 1875. She married Will T. Crump of Chalybeate on 13 April 1902. They lived at Chalybeate all of their lives, where Will T. was a substantial farmer of the area. Beuna Vista died about 1962, at the age of 87. Her Husband died four years later. Both are buried at Chalybeate. They had four children: FLORENCE LANETTE⁹, EDITH OLETA, JAMES WESLEY and WILL T. Jr.

FLORENCE LANETTE CRUMP⁹, was born 10 August 1905. She was a nurse and lived in Memphis, Tennessee. She married John Amos Archer, and they had three children. Two died in infancy and a daughter, ROSE¹⁰, married a Mr. Castelow, who lived in Virginia. Florence's husband died in 1972. She remarried, and was killed in an automobile accident in 1974.

EDITH OLETA CRUMP⁹, daughter of Beuna Vista Pegram and Will T. Crump,
was born at Chalybeate, Mississippi on 12 September 1908. She is also a Registered Nurse and lives in Memphis. She married Gilbert Sanders in 1937, and he died in 1975. They had a daughter DIANE¹⁰, born in 1938. She married William Wage, an architect. Diane and William had two daughters", born about 1964 and 1966.

JAMES WESLEY CRUMP⁹ was born at Chalybeate 17 September 19 13, and died 26 March 1916.

WILL T. CRUMP Jr.⁹, youngest child of Beuna Vista Pegram and Will T.  Crump, was born 9 May 19 18. He married Katie Lou Rowe, and they had three children: ODELLA¹⁰, PATRICIA, and WILL T., III. Will T. Jr. was divorced and married Katie Powers. They live in Memphis.

LORENA ROSALIE PEGRAM⁸, daughter of John Wesley and Elizabeth Pegram, was born in 1880 and died in 1883.

OLIVIA ONEAL PEGRAM⁸, daughter of John Wesley Pegram and Elizabeth McCown, was born in Tippah County, 18 October 1882. She was a school teacher, and was also trained as a missionary. She married Warren S. Johnson of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania in 1942. Olivia died at Corinth, Mississippi in 1981, at the age of 98.

120 

| Next | Back | Index | Table of Contents | References | Top |