Copyright © Janice Tracy, Mississippi Memories

Monday, July 27, 2009

Garrard Family in Holmes County, Mississippi

I have pieced together enough information from U. S. Census records to write this post about the family of Richard N. Garrard and his wife Anna Lyles Garrard. Although there is much more that I would like to know about this family, the information included in this post today is all that I know for certain.

According to Hall County, Georgia marriage records, Richard and Anna were married in Hall County, Georgia on May 23, 1850. Richard and Anna must have set out for Alabama shortly after they were married, since their first child, my maternal great-grandmother, Martha Elizabeth Garrard, was born in Alabama in 1853. In 1860, a household headed by Richard N. Garrard, was enumerated in Holmes County, Mississippi, in the Eulogy Beat. Richard and Anna ("Fannie" as she was shown on the census record) were parents of two daughters, Martha Elizabeth, age 7, and Cena, aged 10 months. According to the census record, Richard and his wife had been born in Georgia, Martha Elizabeth in Alabama, and their baby daughter, in Mississippi. Richard worked as a blacksmith.

According to LDS records, Richard N. Garrard was born May 3, 1826, the son of James A. and Rebecca Garrard. I have been unable, however, to locate a James A. Garrard, or a Rebecca Garrard, that are old enough to be Richard's parents, on a U. S. Census record for 1850 or 1860 in Georgia, Alabama, or Mississippi. This fact leads me to believe that Richard's parents may have already been deceased when he married Anna Lyles in May 1850. The LDS website information shows Annie Lyles was born on August 10, 1834.

Also enumerated on the U. S. Census of 1860, taken in the Richland area of Holmes County, was John Garrard, born in Georgia, his wife, Loiza, born in South Carolina, and their children, James, 15, Franklin, age 13, Mary, age 7, John, age 3, and Caroline, age 1. Like Richard Garrard, John Garrard's occupation was shown as "blacksmith."

In 1870, Richard and Anna stilled lived in the Eulogy area of Holmes County, and their household included five daughters. Martha Elizabeth was now 16 years old and Cena A. was shown to be 9 years old. Three daughters, Alice, 7, Theodocia, 6, and Victoria, age 3, had been born since the U. S. Census was recorded in 1860. According to the census, Richard worked as a "blacksmith." Also enumerated in the household with Richard and Anna and their daughters, was Mary A. Garrard, 41 years old, no relation shown, who was also born in Georgia. Although I have no conclusive information about the relationship of Richard and John, since each worked as a blacksmith, it is likely they were either brothers or cousins who had migrated together from Alabama to Mississippi.

The census record showed that John Garrard, age 51, and his children lived several houses away from Richard and "Fannie." Since John's wife, Mary, is not enumerated in the household, it is likely that she is the "Mary E. Garrard" who was visiting in the home of Richard and Anna when the census taker was present. Also enumerated in the household with John were his children, Mary A., age 17, John H., age 13, and Caroline, age 11. All children were shown to have been born in Mississippi. James, who was age 15 when the U. S. census was recorded in 1860, was not present in the household at the time the census was taken in 1870.

Next door to John's household was another household headed by William F. Garrard, a 22-year old farmer, and his wife, Francis, also 22. According to the census record, both William and Francis had been born in Mississippi. Since neither John nor Richard had a son named William in their household when the census was recorded in 1860, it is quite likely that William F. is the same as the individual enumerated as "Franklin" on the 1860 census.

In 1880, Richard Garrard, age 53, and his forty-nine year old wife, "Annie," as she was referred to now, were living in Beat 4, Holmes County. Their household included S. A. (likely Alice), age 20, T.E. (Theodocia), age 15, V. T. (Victoria), age 12, and M. C., age 8, who had been born since the census was recorded in 1870. Annie's mother, according to information captured on the U. S. Census of 1880, was born in South Carolina, and her father had been born in Ireland. Another individual, a fifteen year-old male named J. B. Coleman, was also enumerated in the household.

In 1900, after Richard's death, Annie, now age 68, was counted on the U. S. Census taken that year, as a member of a household in Thornton, in Holmes County, Mississippi, headed by W. E. and T. E. Broadaway, likely Theodicia and her husband. Also living in the household were the Broadaway children, Anna Mae, age 14, Willie, age 13, Earnest, age 10, Roderick 8, and Clarence 6. In addition, J. A. Garrard, age 39, likely James A., John Garrard's son, whom I did not find on the 1870 census record, was shown as a disabled resident of the Broadaway household.

Martha Elizabeth Garrard, the oldest child of Richard and Annie, and my maternal great-grandmother, married William Bailey/Netherland and continued to live the remainder of her life in Holmes County.

Richard N. Garrard died on May 28, 1896, and Annie Lyles Garrard died 30 years later on on December 1, 1926. Their graves are located in Harland Creek Baptist Cemetery in Holmes County, Mississippi.

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