|
|
|
North and South
Stories and Genealogy of Theodore Charles Anderson and Sara Carlene Shuttleworth
Arkansas Pioneers
|
Tending to the Cotton Fields in South Central Arkansas
|
Robert Johnson Black (1800-1859)
 (and a whole bunch of others)
Robert Johnson Black (Ted's 1st cousin, 4 times removed) was the oldest son of Samuel Russell Black (1771-1828) (Ted's 3rd Great Granduncle) and Isabella Johnson (1778-1861).
At the age of twenty, Robert J. married his 1st cousin, Mary Black (1800-1823), who was born on April 8th, 1800 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. She was the daughter of Robert Whitfield Black (1767-1843) (also Ted's 3rd Great Granduncle) and Matilda Alexander (1771-1843), and the granddaughter of the Patriot James Black (1728-1818) (Ted's 4th Great Granduncle) and Elizabeth Rogers (1771-1843) who were married in Cecile County, Maryland in 1756.
Matilda Alexander was a member of the Alexander family famous for their patriotic activities in North Carolina during the Revolution. Six members of this family signed the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. She remembered the Revolution well and told many stories about it.
Mary was reared in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. She had never been to Alabama until she was married.
Robert J. and Mary Black's son, Oliver Hazzard Perry (Ted's 2nd cousin, 3 times removed), was born August 24, 1821, and two years later to the day, their frail and premature daughter Araminta Matilda was born. Mary Black died the next day.
In August of 1823, Mary's mother, Mathilda (Alexander) Black, was en route by horseback from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, with her 5th son, Robert Wilkinson Black (1808-1853) (Ted's 2nd cousin, 4 times removed). She had planned to be in Perry County, Alabama, with her daughter when her grandchild was supposed to be born in September. She didn't know of her daughter's death until she got to Alabama in early September.
Robert J. had only one love in his life and he never remarried nor ever showed any interest in women again. After Mary's death, he devoted the rest of his life to his family and to community service.
Evidently, Robert J. visited and kept in touch with all of his relatives and distances meant nothing to him. He was a tall blonde with bright blue eyes who had inherited more of his physical characteristics from his Scotch father (Samuel Russell Black) than from his Irish mother (Isabella Johnson); however, he was fun loving and had the Irish wit.
In 1837 through 1839, together with his cousin John C. Black (1799-1860) (Ted's 2nd Great Grandfather), Robert J. organized the wagon train from Alabama to Union County, AR that resulted in the building of what became known as "Black's Road".
Letters from Robert J. began to reach Alabama, and North and South Carolina, which told of the wonderful lands in Union County. These letters brought other members of the clan to Arkansas.
Robert Wilkinson Black came with his family and his recently widowed mother, Matilda (Alexander) Black, and settled on the Ouachita River near Careyville.
When Isabella died in 1860, at the age of almost a hundred years, it was during a flood and they could not bring her to the regular cemetery just north of New London, so she became the first person to be buried on a high knoll overlooking the Ouachita River at Careyville. Today, this knoll, the final resting place of many of this family, known as Black's burying ground, is the only evidence that the Blacks ever lived there.
A lot is known about Robert Johnson Black and his activities in Arkansas are extremely well documented.
When he first came to Union County, he became interested in the affairs of the county and started using his energies for the general improvement of the community.
The first recorded appearance of him made in the affairs of the county was in January, 1843, when a review of Black's Road to the Louisiana line was given by George Perry, John Jones, and James Burke. The court appointed Robert J., James Hughes, and George Perry as overseers of the road.
It was noted in the record that Robert J., William Cornish, Jr., and Thomas Durrett were election judges of Van Buren Township at the time.
In July of 1843, a petition was filed by the citizens of Union County asking that the County seat be moved from Champagnolle on the Ouachita River to a more central location.
The County Judge ordered an election to select three commissioners to choose the new location. The election was held and the report was given in court on Tuesday, October 10, 1843, that Robert J., John R. Hampton, and John Reynolds had been elected. Robert J. and John Hampton were neighbors worked together on many community projects. They became fast friends.
On the same day, Robert J. and John Hampton came into open court and reported that they had selected "that portion of the county lying in the vicinity of the center, upon the South Quarter of Section 28, Township 17 South, Range 15 West as being the best located place to promote the convenience and interest of the majority of the inhabitants of said county." John Reynolds didn't sign the report and asked to be relieved of his duty.
Why? The records fail to give an answer. Green Newton was appointed to take his place.
Mathew F. Rainey deeded the quarter section selected to be the center of the new County Seat by the commission on December 2, 1843, to Green Newton, John R. Hampton, and Robert J. Black, "commissioners elected and appointed to locate the courthouse in Union County" for the consideration of four acres of land run off and set apart for the use of Mathew F. Rainey where his cabin is located. A. T. Rainey and C. C. Rainey witnessed the deed.
The Court instructed Robert J. and John Hampton to have the 160 acres divided into lots and to have a new courthouse built in El Dorado to be ready for use by the fall of 1844, and to move all County records from Champagnolle to El Dorado.
All judges' seats, benches and chairs were to be moved to El Dorado. $6.00 was allowed for the purchase of six new chairs for the courthouse. This was the first time the name El Dorado appears in the records and there is no indication of why this name was chosen. El Dorado Landing, near the present town of Calion, was on the Ouachita River, but there is nothing in the records of Union County about El Dorado Landing prior to the report given in 1843 calling the new location for a county site, El Dorado.
Robert J., John Hampton, and Green Newton reported in County Court April 8, 1844, that they had advertised and let the contract for the surveying of a portion of the Town of El Dorado at a sum of $60.00 to Marcellus Black (Ted's 2nd cousin, 4 times removed) (for a story about how Marcellus was involved in the shooting of Joseph Smith (Sara's 5th cousin, 5 times removed) visit Lynching at Carthage) and that they had on January 13, 1844, sold a public action nine of the said lots, two of which were purchased by James R. Moore who had died and the bonds and notes in the sale had to be executed. The other seven lots sold for the aggregate sum of $654.00 on credit of one, two and three years.
They also reported that they had made a contract with John A. Mitchell who was the lowest bidder to build a courthouse for the total sum of $200.00 payable January 1, 1845, and that the house was completed and had been delivered to the commissioners. They asked for permission to have the windows completed with glass. The action of the commission was approved and they were ordered to employ a carpenter of the highest type to put in the glass in the windows and to remove the benches and the judge's seats from Champagnolle.
There was a controversy going on in the county about the moving of the courthouse from Champagnolle and the commission asked that the court suggest the proper time to move the seats and judge's stands from the old to the new courthouse. They were ordered to do so at the earliest possible time.
Albert Rust protested in Court April 9, 1844, the moving of the judge's seats from the old courthouse and asked the court to delay the removal of the county records.
Albert Rust was in business at Champagnolle and he was a very rich man, but not the County's largest slave owner. Many stories have been handed down about the removal of the records from Champagnolle. It has been told that the citizens of Champagnolle stole the records from the courthouse and hid them and that part of the records were never recovered.
Another story is that the men took the records and dared anyone to come for them. If this happened, it is not recorded and the only evidence that there was opposition was the commissioners' asking repeatedly about moving the records and Albert Rust's protest over the removal.
After Rust had finished, Judge Zera Wakefield ordered the commissioners to have the seats removed to the new courthouse. At the same time he appointed Captain Richard Andrews with John McLemore, F. C. Leseuer, and A. T. Rainey assistants to patrol Jackson Township at or near the Town of El Dorado.
In the same term of court, Robert Johnson Black, Woodruff Norsworthy, and Hosea George were appointed election judges of Harrison Township for a term of two years.
El Dorado Township was established at the July Term of Court, 1844, which was the last term of the county court held in Champagnolle.
On October 14th, 1844. Union County Court was held in El Dorado for the first time and this turned out to be a very formal affair. All the men and women attending were dressed in their finest.
Even the writing of the recorder was more carefully executed than usual which indicates that he too felt the importance of the occasion. He took a new page to begin the records instead of filling the half page leftover after the last term of court, as had been his custom.
Judge Zera Wakefield was the presiding officer with Jarvis Lanford and Richard Wright as associate justices.
The sheriff, Jonathon Black, Jr. (Ted's 4th cousin, 3 times removed) read the proclamation opening court and the order of business was formally attended to.
John R. Hampton who lived about five miles north of El Dorado near the Robert Goodwin place was appointed road overseer of El Dorado Township.
The commissioners reported that the lots bought by James R. Moore, who had since died, had been sold to others and asked approval for the sale, which was granted.
Marcellus Black, Seaborn I. Sharpley, and Jarvis Mills were appointed to view a road in Harrison Township commencing at William's Store and running South and East and intersecting the Black Road at the Northwest corner of Section 19. Township 18 South, Range 11 West, the three to meet at Woodruff Norsworthy's to be sworn in on the last Monday in November.
Robert J. was paid $15.00 for his services to the county as Commissioner elected to locate the county seat of Union County. John R. Hampton was paid $14.00 and Green Newton was paid $10.00.
Roads were playing an ever-increasing part in the records of the county court during the establishment of the county seat in El Dorado because they had to be built in all directions to reach the new county courthouse.
The Ouachita River had been the means of transportation to Champagnolle and to Camden when county court had been held there, but those who didn't live on the river found travel to the county seat difficult, even then. But now that El Dorado was the new county seat and located about 10 miles from the River, the only means of reaching it was by road.
John R. Beeson, who operated a ferry on the Ouachita River asked in January 1841 that Wiley Underwood be appointed overseer in Franklin Township of Black's Road from Beeson Landing to the Louisiana line; and that Isa Hill be overseer of the road from Franklin Township line to Big Lapile; and that Morris McDonald be overseer from Big Lapile to the Louisiana line. The following April he asked that an overseer be named to replace Wiley Underwood who had removed from Arkansas.
John Towns was appointed in his place and William Davis was named to replace Isa Hill who no longer lived in the Township of Harrison since it was formed from Franklin .
Robert J. was elected surveyor of Union County, October 7, 1844, and filed his bond signed by himself, T. Reed Williams, and Woodruff Norsworthy on December 4, 1844. He served in this office the rest of his life. This was the office he loved the most. He enjoyed the outdoors and was able to go all over the entire county as county surveyor. He made trails, marked lines, laid out roads and worked untiringly the remainder of his life to carve a civilization from the wilderness.
Union County had Smackover, Big and Little Lapile, Caney Creeks, Corney and Saline Bayous and the Ouachita River all of which went out of their banks during heavy rains. Robert J. waded streams, swam his horse and never spared himself in any task that needed to be done in connection his work. Whether his interest in surveying was inspired by his admiration for George Washington, or by the necessity for running accurate lines on the vast tracts of undeveloped land is not known.
He was an avid student of General and President George Washington. His library contained many books about him, among them a set of Jared Sparks, Washington's Writings in twelve volumes, published 1840. These books still exist and have notes written in the margins by Robert J. as he studied them.
January 15, 1845, Green Newton resigned and William G. Gresham was appointed to take his place on the commission on which Robert J. and John R. Hampton were still serving. The court ordered them to select and set aside certain lots in the city of El Dorado for churches, to draft a plan for a jail, and to lay off a graveyard of ample dimensions, to purchase a stove of convenient size for the courthouse, to select a location for a school house and to dig a public well.
It was in this January term of court, 1845, that the commissioners filed their first complete statement of moneys received.
Those who bought lots January 13, in addition to Mr. Moore who died were J. L. Parrington, (Pennington?), Peter D. Goodwin, M. W. Bledsoe, J. H. Cornish and--------Hill (Torn and cannot be read.) Among those who bought lots on the Christmas Day sale were John McLemore, Martin and Utely, J. A. Mitchell, J. L. Parrington, (Pennington?), E. P. Tatum, C. B. Goode, C. C. Rainey, W. C. Brown, R. Andrews, H. D. Marr, A. P. Farris, Martha Coleman, E. Rogers, J. M. Hudson and M. P. Mize. There was a demand for another sale because all lots offered had been sold and the commissioners asked for further instructions. The commission also reported that there was now enough money to pay the government the pre-emption price for the quarter section of land on which El Dorado is located.
On January 13, 1845, Sheriff Jonathan Black, Jr., Samuel P. Sealey, and E. M. Wright were appointed to view and mark out changes in the road from the house of George W. Gill, to the corner of David Coulter's field. These men reported on April 14, 1845, that the change had been marked out and it was necessary and of great convenience.
Robert J. was allowed $4.00 for Blank Books for the office of County Surveyor of which $2.50 was paid to W. C. Lucus for them. On April 15, 1845, Benjamin C. Williams was appointed overseer of the road leading from James Burk's Landing up to Robert J's farm and Joshua Stephens was made overseer from Black's place into town. On the same day, Marcellus Black and S. J. Sharpless reported that their work in reviewing and marking out a road from Williams' Store to the Northwest Corner of Section 19 had been completed.
Robert J., James Taylor, and Woodruff Norsworthy were appointed July 1845 to review a road beginning at the Northeast Quarter of Section Seven, Township Eighteen South, Range Twelve West, thence to the Northeast Quarter of Section Thirty-six to Williams' Store. A restraining order had been filed to prevent this road from being a public road and the court asked these men to examine the road. In the same court Robert Johnson Black was allowed Two Dollars and a Half for bringing up the poll books of the presidential election in the year 1844 from Harrison Township and a warrant was issued for the amount due.
In the October Term of County Court, 1845, Robert Johnson Black, Woodruff Norsworthy, and James Taylor were appointed to view changes in the Magnolia Road leading to and intersecting Burk's Landing Road by Esquire Howard's to the Louisiana Line. This Magnolia was a community which has disappeared, but it was in Union County and is not the City of Magnolia in Columbia County. On the same day Robert J. with James Taylor and John Bradley was appointed to view and mark a road from R. M. Wallace's to Burk's Landing. The same day the court allowed Robert J. $6.00 for his services as county surveyor in running a road from Magnolia to El Dorado. The $6.00 were paid to W. C. Lucas, who signed as assistant to the surveyor.
In January 1846, Robert J. and Woodruff Norsworthy, viewers, reported on the road known as Williams' Road leading from Magnolia to Esquire Howard's on the Louisiana Line. They asked that said road be made a public road which was done. On the same day Robert J., John A. Bradley, and James H. Taylor reported that they had viewed and marked out a road leading from Wallace's to Watt's Landing and had found the nearest and best route to be crossing Caney Bayou at a bridge, which report was approved, and R. M. Wallace was made overseer on said road. Robert J. received $3.00 for viewing the road.
Marcellus Black was allowed $2.00 for reviewing the road from Williams' Store. Oliver Hazzard Perry Black was appointed road overseer with Milton Keesse, John Hodge and John A. Bradley on the road from Louisiana Line across Big Lapile to Robert J's and on the Watt's Landing. This was the first appearance of the name of Robert Johnson Black's son in the records of Union County. In the same court Joel Kelly and Ezekiel Black were made overseers of Luter Road.
The commissioners who had selected the new Town of El Dorado filed their report of money received and paid out. Robert J. had been paid to date for work as commissioner $28.75. John R. Hampton had received to $23.00. Marcellus Black had received $40.00 for the additional survey. The other items were in part a duplication of the earlier report. This was examined and approved in the January term, 1846.
Robert J., John R. Hamton, and William G. Gresham, commissioners elected to select and locate a county seat of Union County, filed their resignations on July 15, 1846, which were accepted and Robert M. Hardy, William Davis, and Richard Lyon were appointed commissioners in succession. This ended the services of Robert Johnson Black and John R. Hampton who had worked together since the commission was created three years before.
Robert J. had been county surveyor for two years and nothing was more important to him, but John Hampton had others things to do to. He went on to serve in the State Legislature but this day marked the end of the close association of two great friends.
After Robert Johnson Black's duties as commissioner to establish a county seat were over, he devoted his entire time to the office of county surveyor.
Often W. C. Lucas helped him and was paid as assistant. Many of the records show that "Robert J. Black allowed fees as county sur-paid to W. C. Lucas." Black was re-elected county surveyor August 3, 1846, and filed his bond November 16, 1846, with himself, John R. Beeson and John H. Cornish as bondsmen. He was re-elected August 7, 1848, and filed his bond signed by himself, Charles Smith, and Robert G. Gill on January 1, 1849. Again on August 5, 1850, Black was re-elected surveyor and filed his bond, signed by himself, Arch C. Watts, Rubeun H. Christian, and O. H. P. Black on November 18, 1850. In the elections of 1852, 1854, and 1856 Robert J. Black was re-elected county surveyor.
Robert Johnson Black died in Union County in 1859 at the age of 59.
|
Andrew L. Black (1802-1886)
Andrew L. Black was born on the 1st of July 1802 in Mounty Sterling, Montgomery Co., Kentucky, the son of George Black (1775-1859) and Elizabeth Miller (1774-1831).
His grandfather, William Black (1735-1811) was a pioneer of Kentucky, traveling over the State on hunting expeditions, and was often the companion of Daniel Boone. His grandmother, Sara Hicklin (1740-1821) came with her parents from Northern Ireland before the Revolutionary War and settled in Maryland, where they were compelled to submit to many privations and much trouble from the Tories during the Revolution.
In 1822, when he was about 20 years old, Andrew moved to Dixon County, Tennessee. There he met and married Mable May (1813-1870) in 1826. The Mays were an extensive family of Tennessee. Several of them were in the Revolution and many served in the War of 1812 at New Orleans with Andrew Jackson.
Andrew and Mable had 11 children, the first 3 born in Dixon County, TN, all the rest in Arkansas.
In January 1834, Andrew moved to Johnson County, Arkansas, where he obtained 200 acres and started farming. He was one of the first settlers in the area, and took an active part in all affairs of the county. He was elected Coroner and also served for a time as Sheriff.
He cleared a large tract of land, became a very successful farmer and made a lot of money. In 1849 he moved to Bradley County, bought a farm near the Moro Bay, and became identified with the political affairs of Bradley County, but would not accept office.
In 1858 he sold his farm in Bradley County and moved to Calhoun County, where, in 1859, he built a hotel in Hampton, a large frame building, which was the only hotel in town for many years.
In 1870, his wife Mabel, who had shared all the vicissitudes of his hard pioneer life, died. In 1871, at the age of 69, he married a lady, who's name is not known, in Holly Springs, Dallas County, where he resided until his death in July, 1886, at the age of eighty-four. The direct cause of his death was said to be sunstroke, which he received in 1885, from the effects of which he never recovered.
|
Samuel Frank Black (1820-1887)
Samuel (Sam) Frank Black (Ted's 1st cousin, 4 times removed) came to Union County in 1839 when he was 19 years old in the wagon train organized by his uncle John C. Black (Ted's 2nd Great Grandfather) and his older brother Robert Johnson Black (visit Black's Road and Robert Johnson Black above).
Sam lived with his brother Robert Johnson Black and his mother, Isabella (Johnson) Black in Union County until he married Nancy C. Dobbs from Mississippi in 1844, she was only 16 at the time, he was 24. They quickly had 2 sons, Henry Clay (1847) and Charles Tandy Black (1847).
In 1852 Sam went off alone to California to seek his fortune during the gold rush, leaving his wife and 2 young sons at home in Union County. After a year spent fruitlessly in the gold fields, he came back to Arkansas, where he started a grocery business in Hampton, Calhoun County in partnership with a guy named J. H. Means, under the firm name of Black & Means.
Sam's grocery business went well until the outbreak of the Civil War. During the War, between 1860 and 1865, it was said that Sam was mostly in Texas and Alabama. He probably served and fought with the Confederates, but we have not been able to find out were or with whom. He is not included in the list of 121 Arkansas soldiers with the surname of Black that we know of who were in the Confederate Army.
After the war, he returned to Hampton where he lived until he died in 1887. Sam's wife Nancy (Dobbs) Black died in Hampton in 1882 at the age of 54.
|
Captain Oliver Hazzard Perry Black (1821-1887)
Captain Oliver Hazzard Perry Black (1821-1887) (Ted's 2nd cousin, 3 times removed) was born on 24 August 1821, the only son of Robert Johnson and Mary Black. He was 18 when he came with his father and Ted's 2nd Great Grandfather John C. Black on the wagon train to Arkansas.
He grew up on his father's farm in El Dorado and helped him in his duties as County Surveyor.
|
Dr. Thomas (Tom) A. Black (1833-1883)
Dr. Thomas (Tom) A. Black, was born in Dixon County, Tennessee, June 10, 1833, the third in a family of eleven children born to Andrew L. Black and Mabel May.
As a youngster, Tom was reared on his father's farm in Johnson County and was fortunate to attend a private school there. It was said that he was a very bright student. But when the family moved to Bradley County, the school system there was primitive at best, so at the age of 19 he decided to leave home and seek his fortune.
He saddled up his horse and rode off to Van Buren, where he sold the horse and attended school as long as the money lasted. He then worked as a clerk in a hotel for about six months and then went back to school again until that money ran out. He then traded for a while, and when he had saved enough, went to Chambersville where he again attended school as long as the money lasted.
Next, he went to Bradley County where he actually taught school for one term, while at the same time began the study of medicine. In 1856 he moved back to Chambersville and continued the study of medicine under Dr. William Brooks, who was an eminent physician in the county at that time.
He then borrowed some money and went to Louisville, where he attended the University of Louisville, studying privately during under Prof. D. W. Yandell.
In March of 1857 he came back to Arkansas, settling in Dallas County, where he started a medical practice. During this summer he married Mary F. Stevenson, who lived only two years, dying in July 1859, leaving one child, a boy, Andrew L., his father's namesake.
After the death of his first wife, Tom married a second time on December 25, 1859 to Mariah W. Ford, of Dallas County. She died July 22, 1867, leaving no children.
Tom made Dallas County his home until January 1861 when he moved to Clarendon Township, Monroe County.
Then at 4:30 AM on Friday morning, April 12th, 1861 the Confederate Forces in South Carolina fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor and the Civil War had begun.
Right from the start, things didn't go well for the Confederates in the Western Theater. After the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, the Generals Grant and Sherman were pounding them everywhere. There was a desperate need for medical personnel throughout the South, on both sides. So, in April 1862, almost a year after the outbreak of the War, Tom enlisted in the Confederate Army, serving as the Assistant Surgeon of the 4th Arkansas Regiment.
Initially, he was stationed at Corinth, Mississippi but was quickly sent to Aberdeen, Mississippi to take charge of the hospital there.
At the end of August, 1862 he was sent to the Confederate camp at Knoxville, but he didn't stay there for long. Towards the end of September, the whole brigade was ordered across the mountains into Kentucky to join the command of the famous Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith.
Tom was in charge of the ambulance train of the brigade, but after a short time was sent to Tazewell, East Tennessee to established a hospital there.
In December 1862 he was ordered to rejoin his old regiment, the 4th, which fought in what became known as the Stones River Campaign which was fought in Murfreesboro, TN, a battle the Confederates lost badly.
In January 1863, Tom was ordered back to Arkansas to establish a hospital in Camden Township, Ouachita County. He remained here until November, when the ladies of Calhoun County petitioned that he be detached and return home to practice there, as there was no physician left in the county. This was granted, and he went back home to Hampton in November 1863.
He stayed there for the rest of his life, except for one year when he went back to medical school in Louisville.
In February 1868, Tom married a third time to woman named Drake, a native of Alabama (her first name is unknown). In 1873, he returned to the University of Louisville, where he took advanced medical courses, and graduated with a full Doctorate in Medicine
in 1874.
Thomas A. Black was always active politically wherever he has made his home, and worked tirelessly for the Democratic Party in Arkansas. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity, demitted from the lodge and Chapter. He also belonged to the Odd Fellow's organization, and was a member of the Wheel and President of the examining board of physicians of Calhoun County.
|
Henry Clay Black (1845-1900)
Henry Clay Black (Ted's 2nd cousin, 3 times removed) was the county surveyor of Calhoun County for many years. He was born in Union County, AR in 1845, the eldest of the two sons of Samuel (Sam) Frank Black.
Henry was reared mostly in Hampton, where he attended the local schools until the outbreak of the Civil War when he enlisted at Hampton in a company commanded by his much older cousin, O. H. P. Black (visit Oliver Hazzard Perry Black above). They called themselves "The Calhoun Invincibles".
Henry probably lied about his age because he was only 16 at the time but his cousin Oliver must have known better. At any rate, he left Hampton in February 1862 with the newly formed company and went up to Northwestern Arkansas, where they all became part of the 4th Arkansas Infantry.
Henry was in the battle of Pea Ridge, then on to Corinth, Mississippi, Iuka, and the next spring went into Tennessee, and later took part in the battle of Richmond. All of this before he was 18 years old.
In November 1863, he was discharged from the Condeferate Army because of his youth (he was still only 17) and returned to Calhoun County.
But young Henry wasn't through with the Civil War yet. He soon joined a Texas company in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. With them he fought in the battles of Pleasant Hill and Mansfield. His company was surrendered in Texas in May 1865.
He returned home to Hampton, a battle-hardened veteran at the ripe old age of 21. For some time he went back school to finish up on what he had missed during the war.
After finally graduating from High School, he went into the grocery business with his father Sam for a couple of years.
In 1868 he married Tabitha Raiford, the daughter of Robert J. Raiford, who was one of the pioneer settlers of Calhoun County.
Henry and Tabitha had seven children: Frank, Carrie, Henry (who died at the age of twelve), Effie, Mannie, Charlie, and Lula (who died in infancy). They were all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Hampton.
Shortly after getting married, Henry decided that the grocery business wasn't for him so he purchased his first farm of 160 acres. After a few of years, he sold this farm and bought a bigger one in 1870. He kept turning over his lands until he finally purchased his largest farm in 1886. This one comprised 480 acres of land, 280 acres of which is good timberland, and the rest was used for cotton. Henry proved to be a good farmer. It was said that he averaged one-half bales of cotton per acre.
Henry was very active in local politics and voted with the Democratic Party. In 1890 he was elected to the office of County Surveyor, and served in that capacity for many years. Henry took a deep interest in educational matters, and was one of the active and enterprising farmers of Calhoun County. His name is still known to this day.
|
Tune the Nocturne from Mendlessohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
The introductory tune used on this page is the Nocturne from Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as played by the Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Sir Neville Marriner.
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg on February 3, 1809, and died in Leipzig on November 4, 1847. He wrote the Overture (Op.21) to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1826, at the age of 17. It was first performed publicly in February 1827.
Fifteen years later, in 1842, Mendelssohn was asked by Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, to compose incidental music to the play to complement his earlier overture. He wrote the Incidental Music (Op. 61) in 1843. It was first performed on October 14, 1843, in the Royal Theatre of the New Palace in Potsdam as part of a new production of the play.
The Romantic generation felt Shakespeare to be one of its own. How could it not, when the Bard’s works were filled with all the things the Romantics held dear: passionate love, fairytales, times long ago and places far away... It was at the beginning of the 19th century that Shakespeare’s plays began to exert a profound influence on composers. Beethoven based the slow movement of his String Quartet Op.18, No.1 on the tomb scene from Romeo and Juliet. Berlioz wrote a monumental dramatic symphony on the same subject, in addition to smaller works after Hamlet, King Lear and an opera after Much Ado About Nothing.
Felix Mendelssohn started reading Shakespeare as a child during the 1820s. His family spent long hours reading through or acting out entire plays in the German translations by August Wilhelm Schlegel and Ludwig Tieck, two important Romantic literary figures. The Mendelssohn family had a close personal connection to these translations: Felix’s aunt Dorothea was married to A.W. Schlegel’s brother Friedrich, one of the leading German philosophers of the time.
None of the plays captured the young Mendelssohn’s imagination more than A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or Ein Sommernachtstraum in the version he first encountered. In a letter written in mid-summer of 1826, the 17-year-old composer told his sister Fanny: “I have grown accustomed to composing in our garden; there I’ve completed two piano pieces in A major and E minor. Today or tomorrow I am going to dream there the Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is, however, an enormous audacity...” The overture was completed less than a month later.
Mendelssohn moved in the world of Oberon and Titania, the fairy rulers of the enchanted woods near Shakespeare’s Athens, with the grace and ease of an elf. The four opening chords of the overture, played by the woodwind and horns, made history with their delicate orchestration. In each chord, some new instruments are added, gradually expanding the range. The chords are all major with the exception of the third one, which is minor; a subtle interplay between the modes is thus introduced that will continue throughout the overture.
After this exceptional opening, we hear music that will forever be associated with Puck and the other elves and spirits in the forest. The fairy music is complemented by a more majestic, “earthly” melody, which turns out to be a quote from Carl Maria von Weber, whose own Oberon -- not based on Shakespeare -- was premiered the same year (1826) just two months before Weber’s death at age 40.
A third theme invokes the “hee-haw” of Bottom, the artisan-actor who, by magic, suddenly grew a donkey’s head and then proceeded to sweep fairy queen Titania off her beautiful feet. The three themes act out their own little comedy, evolving, interacting and enchanting the listener. If we are to single out one detail, it must be the ending, where “earthly” theme becomes absolutely celestial, played very softly and slowly by the violins as an exceptionally touching farewell gesture.
|
|
This page and all genealogical data contained on it are Copyrighted © 2007/2008
by Theodore C. Anderson
|
|
|
|