Descriptive Register of Men in Attala County, Mississippi - Post-Civil War

Several years ago, while going through some microfilmed records at the LDS Family History Center, I located a copy of a transcription of the "Descriptive Register" of men living in Attala County during the period 1864-65. I was lucky enough to find James M. Porter, my paternal great-great-grandfather, on that list. The list contained each man's name, age, height, color of his hair, eyes, his skin color, birthplace, and his occupation in the county. Skin colors appearing on the list included "fair," "sallow," "tan," "red," and "dark."

According to the "Descriptive Register, " James M. Porter's height was 6 feet, and he was shown to have black hair and hazel eyes. He was born in Mississippi, his occupation was "farmer," and his skin color was shown as "dark." My first thought was this physical description of James M. Porter might very well have been that of one of my great-uncles, my brothers, or even one of my sons.

Interesting little document! But who prepared this list? What was its purpose? How did it become a "historical" document? Common sense told me the list was prepared during the time period directly following the end of the Civil War. Did the register have anything to do with the end of the war? Or was someone attempting to record racial differences in that particular place and at that particular time?

I began searching for online information about "descriptive registers" and immediately found the document contained on the microfilm at the LDS Family History Center included on a number of widely-used (and very helpful, I might add) Attala County, Mississippi genealogy websites.

What I did not find was information that explained the purpose of the list or its intended use. I found it fascinating, to say the least, that someone in 1864 and 1865 was interested in developing a list that included a person's "skin color." It was not until the U.S. Census of 1870 was taken that an individual's "race" was included on a federal census record. The available categories on the census were "Black", "White", "Mulatto", "Indian" or "Chinese" and the designation on the 1870 U. S. Census may have been decided by the census taker based on physical characteristics rather than having been provided by the individual or a relative. I was both puzzled and intrigued by this "descriptive register", so I kept on searching for an explanation.

But I have never found a valid reason to explain the list. The best explanation to date, is actually second-hand information. By that, I mean that other people have offered explanations to me or I have read explanations of others about what they think was the purpose of the "descriptive register."

I have read for myself that amnesty agreement terms, signed by both sides at the end of the Civil War, included a requirement that each military unit that fought for the South prepare a list of its members. These lists or "descriptive registers" would provide the Federal government with records of those who fought for the South and against the Federal Union. This requirement sounds like a "military" record to me. The "descriptive register" I viewed on microfilm, and which I copied for my own records, contains nothing about military unit name or number or the rank or length of service of the men included on the list.

The Attala County "descriptive register" appears to be a list of civilians. In fact, the list contains no military affiliation or reference to the military at all. I cannot imagine this list would be a comprehensive list of men from Attala County who served in the Civil War. I have researched my family's history in other counties in the State of Mississippi and in several other southern states, but I have never encountered a list similar to the "descriptive register" containing these names of Attala County men in 1864-65.

Will I ever find the answers to my questions about the "descriptive register?" At this point, I don't know.

Index to Attala County Deeds 1858 - 1900 (Porter as Grantee and Grantor)

Examination of various types of land transactions involving the Porter family has revealed not only the names of other family members and their relationships, but it has given me insight into the livelihoods of my ancestors, as well. When I researched Attala County, Mississippi deeds showing the name "Porter", I found the following deeds and deeds of trust filed for record between 1858 and 1900:

Porter, Emanuel to Shrock & Sons, Book A, Page 140, Trust Deed

Porter, J. M. and Wife to J. G. Gilliland, Book A, Page 590, Deed

Porter, John M. from State of Mississippi, Book A, Page 591, Deed of Trust

Porter, P.M. to E. A. Kelley, Book B, Page 423, Deed of Trust

Porter, Samuel to A. Mabry Adams, Book C, Page 466, Deed

Porter, Samuel from Wm. E. Pugh, Book C, Page 568, Deed

Porter, James M. to E. W. Jordan, Book F, Page 240, Deed

Porter, J. M. to R. B. Webb, Circuit Clerk Book J, Page 173, Deed

Porter, J. M. from R. B. Webb, Book J, Page 173, Deed

Porter, P. M. to W. J. Sills, Book K, Page 198, Trust Deed

Porter, J. M. to Charley Winters, Book M, Page 346, Trust Deed

Porter, Emanuel to J. K. Shrock, Book M, Page 536, Trust Deed

Porter, P. M. to G. E. Ratliff, Book O, Page 406, Trust Deed

Porter, J. M. to Wesley Winters, Book O, Page 574, Trust Deed

Porter, Perry M. to W. J. Sills, Book P, Page 106, Trust Deed

Porter, P. M. to W. J. Sills, Book P, Page 155, Trust Deed

Porter, P. M. to Exie Ratliff, Book R, Page 214, Deed of Trust

Porter, P. M. to J. W. Kimbrough, Book S, Page 518, Deed of Trust

Porter, Archibald and P. M. Porter to Daniel Musselwhite, Book T, Page 70, Deed of Trust

Porter, Archibald and P. M. Porter to Daniel Musselwhite, Book T, Page 70, Deed of Trust

Porter, David to S. P. Rimmer and Son, Book T, Page 425, Deed of Trust

Porter, J. M. to C. S. Dickerson, Book Y, Page 98, Deed

Porter, J. M. to W. G. Mabry, Book Y, Page 187, Deed

Porter, J. M. to Lula Elvington, Book Y, Page 185, Deed

Porter, Archibald to J. W. Bain, Book AA, Page 66

Porter, Archibald to J. S. Bain, Book AA, Page 100, Deed of Trust

Porter, Archie to M. T. Duncan, Book BB, Page 436, Deed of Trust

Porter, Archie to J. M. Clark, Sr., Book BB, Page 437, Deed of Trust

Porter, Archie to Alex Winters and Wife, Book DD, Page 210, Deed of Trust

Porter, Archie to Alex Winters, Book DD, Page 298, Deed

Porter, P. M. to Archibald Porter, Book GG, Page 116, Deed

Porter, P. M. to Archibald Porter, Book GG, Page 125

Porter, P. M. to Archie Porter, Book GG, Page 541

Porter, Archie to J. A. Clark, Book GG, Page 542

Porter, Joseph and Sallie from W. S. and M. A. Donald, Book XX, Page 252, September 6, 1899

Porter, Joseph and Sallie from B. F. Nelson, Book XX, Page 253, dated September 6, 1899

Can you Identify These People?

Pictures, as they say, can say a thousand words. And old pictures can be fascinating from a variety of standpoints. Sometimes, it is just interesting to see family resemblances and how totally remarkable they can be, even throughout several generations. I think what I like best about family pictures is to see how the people dressed and wore their hair, both men and women. And did you ever wonder why so many photographs were made with relatives standing beside or on a horse, in front of the house or a barn, or beside a tractor or an automobile? It must have been because these things were such a vital part of living an agricultural-based life, and they were proud of these things. They worked very hard for what they had. Finally owning an automobile must have been like a dream come true, after they had walked, ridden a horse, or had driven a wagon or buggy everywhere they went.

My paternal grandmother, Lelia Porter Branch, left a wonderful album of photographs she collected throughout her lifetime. They span several generations of our family and are valuable records of what her life was like growing in Attala County, Mississippi. Included in the album were some photos and old picture postcards (postcards with “real photos” that could actually be mailed.) The problem is that I don’t know how the people in the photos and those pictured on the postcards are related to our family.

I thought I would post these pictures here and hope that someone who reads this may be able to identify the people in the pictures. Maybe someone will find a lost ancestor or maybe see a picture of an ancestor for the first time. I really hope so. I have included here a brief description of each picture, its markings, and any other significant information that I may know.

Three of the four pictures here are actually real “picture postcards.” One is of a couple, dressed in their best clothes, perhaps, identified in beautiful handwriting, written with a “fountain pen” having a fine point, as “Mr and Mrs Moreau, Clebourne, Texas.” Maybe one of these two people were related to Elizabeth Porter’s family in Texas, since Cleburne, Texas is where she went to live after James M. Porter’s death. I am not related to anyone that I know with the surname of Moreau.

Another second picture postcard contains the photograph of five men, dressed in their Sunday-best and wearing hats. It appears the men were photographed by a professional photographer. These names are written on the back of the postcard as they appear here: David Blair, Paytor (is almost illegible, so the spelling here is in question) Porter, Hall Hart, David Porter, and John Shearfield. It appears the postcard was never mailed, but it contains the handwritten phrase, “From Ellie to Vertie Helena, Ark” in the address portion of the card on the reverse side of the picture. There is no doubt in my mind the two Porter men are somehow related to my Porter family…I just don’t know how. I know that some of the Porter families did move to the Phillips County, Arkansas area after the Civil War, and US Highway 49, where it runs through Helena, Arkansas is also called "Porter Street." The other names surnames in the picture are unfamiliar.

Yet Another picture postcard is of a man in what looks to be a Marine uniform, possibly from World War I. He is wearing a fairly large cross, apparently some type of military medal. Some people who have seen this picture say the medal looks like a “Navy Cross.” The background of the picture appears to be the inside of a beautiful old building, with fine-looking wood and heavy draperies and could be somewhere in Europe. The postcard contains “Mrs J. J. Porter” in handwriting opposite the address area. Again, it appears the postcard was never mailed, unless it was included inside a letter. I suspect this picture may have been Maggy Porter’s only brother, Lewis Meriwether.

The fourth picture posted here is an actual photograph of three men and a mule or a small horse. The men's names are handwritten on the back of the picture: "Mr. Lominick, Dr. Williams, and Mr. Ray Hall. I would be delighted if someone responded to this post and told me they are related to one of the people in the pictures and they would like to have a copy. I really would like to give the very nice original picture of "Mr. and Mrs. Moreau" who lived in "Clebourne, Texas" at one time, to their descendants. But until that someone responds, the old photographs will remain exactly where they have been for a very long time........tucked away carefully in my grandmother's photo album.

How Many Relatives Do You Have?

The following article contains a sprinkling of philosophy and some unique math. It was written by the Rev. Gene Britton of East Point, GA, and was printed in "The Southside Sun," a Virginia newspaper.

"Next time you're feeling rather important, try a little arithmetic trick based on the undebatable fact that it took two people, your parents, to get you here. Each of your parents has two parents, so in the generation just prior to that of your mother and father, there were four people whose pairing off and sharing love contributed to your existence. You are the product of eight great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents, 32 great-great-great-grandparents, etc. Keep multiplying the number by two. If you figure an average of about 25 years between each generation, you'll discover that a scant 500 years ago, there were 1,048,576 people on this planet beginning in the production of you!"

Looks like I need to do more research, because I haven't made my numbers yet.

The Meriwether Society

Census and Marriage Records - 1830 - 1860

I initially began a search for the Meriwether surname, with only two names of known relatives......Margaret Susanna Meriwether and her father, Wilds Meriwether. I searched for all of the variations in the spelling of the name. During my review of available census and marriage records in Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas for the period between 1830 and 1860, I found this information:


Meriwether, Francis - U. S. Census 1830 - Chicot Co., AR


Meriwether, India - U. S. Census 1850 - born in VA and lived in Jefferson (Carroll County) MS

Meriwether, John N. - Tallahatchie County, MS marriage record


Merriwether, John T. - U. S. Census 1850 - Monroe County, MS


Merriweather, Judith - U. S. Census 1850 - Carroll County, Northern Dist., MS


Merriwether, Nicholas - U. S. Census 1850 - Carroll County, Southern Dist., MS


Meriwether, R. C. - U. S. Census 1840 - Pike County, MS


Meriwether, Robert - U. S. Census 1830 - Greene County, AL


(Note: It is a well-documented fact that many families migrated to MS, and specifically to Attala County, MS from Greene Co., AL. Sometimes several families migrated together.)


Meriweather, Robert E. - U. S. Census 1850; 1841 and 1845 MS State Census -living in Carroll County, Mississippi at the time each census was taken


Merriwether, V. H. - U. S. Census 1850 - DeSoto County, Southern Dist., MS


Based on this review of names, it appeared that I should focus my research on Carroll County, Mississippi. I was not surprised to find a number of Meriwether family members living in Carroll County, since my grandmother, Lelia Porter Branch, had told me stories as a little girl that her grandmother grew up around "Black Hawk", a community in Carroll County.


And then I discovered the existence of The Meriwether Society. Finding the society during a simple internet search was a revelation to me. I was amazed to find the group had been established since 1898, and at the time of my discovery, members of the group had been researching their family lines for over 100 years. The society has a number of different family groups working on their own specific "lines", and the entire society meets annually in a location that is significant to the history of the Meriwether family. Members of the society pay small annual dues and participate voluntarily in ongoing society-planned research projects. These projects have now resulted in several books documenting the Meriwether family's migration path from its immigration from England to western Virginia (later Kentucky,) down through the Carolinas into Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and back into Kentucky. Since I have known about the society, it has had annual meetings in Williamsburg, VA, Louisville, KY, and Nashville, TN. Apparently, many members of the early Meriwether family lived in or near all of those locations.

Interestingly, the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, was actually built by a member of the Meriwether family member.

I also found that a number of Meriwether family members moved from Mississippi back to Shelbyville and Ballard County, near Louisville, Kentucky, where other relatives already lived, during the mid-late 1800's. Some of the information I found indicated that many Meriwether families left Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi before the Civil War broke out and moved farther north.

Based on the information I have found, I believe the family story of of how Wilds Meriwether left Mississippi with his family when they migrated back to Kentucky may be true. Or at least, Wilds may have left to re-join his family after they relocated there.

But the big question still remains. Why would he leave without Malverda and their two children?

Finding Wilds Meriweather and Melvertie Gibson

The Meriwether family name has been a difficult one to research in Mississippi. First there is the problem of how the name has been and continues to be spelled. The original English spelling, and still the most common, is "Meriwether." It has also been spelled "Merriwether", "Meriweather", and "Merryweather." These versions do not include the mispelled versions of the name, such as "Morsiweathers" as it was actually spelled on my great-grandparent's marriage license. Each time I searched in a particular group of records, I had to use each spelling to ensure I didn't miss the right one.

When I was growing up, the only other person I had ever heard with the name of "Meriwether", was Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame. I never even considered that my great-grandmother might be related to this person. He was an important historical figure, and my great-grandmother was, well...you know....my great-grandmother. As I became older and television, newspapers, and magazines made me aware of others in the world who had the surname of "Meriwether", I heard about Margaret Meriwether Post, the Washington socialite/heiress and Lee Meriwether, the actress. I still didn't even think about possible family relationships, particularly since my grandmother had told me that her mother's maiden name was spelled "Merriweather", and she would know the correct spelling. Today, I am not so sure that everyone used the correct spelling, and in some instances, different families may have spelled the name differently to set themselves apart from others. In this post, I will use the original spelling of the name, unless I am referring to an actual document that uses a variant spelling.

I had always heard that my great-grandmother Porter's father was named "Will Merriweather." I took this as gospel until I started this research about ten years ago and asked my father if he knew his great-grandmother's last name (Maggy Merriweather's mother.) He told me he did not and that he had only heard her called "Grandma." I had to know great-grandmother Porter's mother's maiden name, or I couldn't go back any further with my research. I was facing a "brick wall," as genealogy researchers say.

There was no one alive who knew the answer to my question. So I pondered about what type of record I could find that would provide me with my great-grandmother Porter's mother's maiden name. The answer was actually an easy one. Medicare law was passed in 1960, and great-grandmother Porter was old enough in 1960 to be eligible for Medicare coverage. This meant that if she didn't already have a number, she would have been required to apply for a number in order to obtain coverage. I knew that I could request a copy of her SS-5, or "Application for a Social Security Number" and that it would contain very valuable genealogy information, including her date of birth, place of birth, and the name of her parents, including the maiden name of her mother. A copy of the document can be obtained for a small fee, but for security reasons that are obvious, the information is available only after the number holder is deceased. I requested the document and received a surprise.

The SS-5 verified my great-grandmother's birthday and showed that her full name was Margaret Susanna Merriweather Porter, and she was born in Calhoun City, Calhoun County, Mississippi. Her father was "Wilds" Merriweather, and her mother was Melvertie Gibson. I had never even heard the name "Gibson" mentioned in our family and had no idea we had relatives who had that name.

Although I believed that I now had the correct name for my great-grandmother's father, I still didn't know the names of Wilds' parents, where he was born, where he died, or anything else about his family. I still wondered why he allegedly had deserted his wife and children. And now I had even another question: who was this Melvertie Gibson? who were her parents? where was she born? and where did she die?

Where would I search first?

Tomorrow: A Quest to Find the Meriwethers and the Gibsons.

John James Porter and Margaret Susanna Meriwether Porter

Top Left: Maggie Porter, circa 1920, Above: Porter Children and Grandchildren, circa 1940. Right: J. J. Porter and Maggy Porter, circa 1930. Below: J. J. Porter, Alice Porter, and Lelia Porter Branch, my paternal grandmother, circa 1925. All pictures taken in Attala Co., MS

Since J. J. Porter died in the 1940s, I knew him except through pictures and stories about him from family members. He was a farmer all of his life, just like many of his neighbors and like all the other Porter men before him. His mother, Eliza Jane Walker Porter, died when he was a small child, and his father, James M. Porter, had also died when J. J. was still quite young. He and Maggy lived on land they farmed in Attala County, Mississippi, near Sallis, the same land that other Porter family members had lived on and used for farming, raising cattle, and cutting timber for many years before them. At one time, J. J. Porter's land amounted to about 300 acres and was bordered by the Big Black River. Much of it was heavily wooded and some of it was "bottom land." Others parts had been cleared for pasture land. A clear creek with a sandy bottom known by locals as "Jordan's Creek", flowed through the property and provided a swimming hole for the children. Some portions of the land were made of red dirt and clay, and cultivation was difficult in those places. But pine trees loved to grow in this soil, and wood was needed for wood stoves for cooking and heating and to burn in fireplaces in the winter. The trees were also sold for timber, likely to a sawmill that was nearby in the Shrock community.

Maggy was one of two children born during her mother's first marriage to Wilds Meriwether. The Meriwether Family in England and the United States has been well-researched, and I will discuss my family's Meriwether connections in a later post. According to census records with information likely provided by her parents, John P. and Margarett J. Williams Gibson, Maggie's mother was shown as "Malverda." In other records, I have seen her name spelled as "Malvertie" and "Melverda." A marriage record from Monroe County, Mississippi, shows that Malverda's mother, Margarett J. Williams and her father, John P. Gibson, were married on January 3, 1843 in Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi. Joseph Gibson, likely a relative not yet proven, put up the marriage bond of five hundred dollars ($500.) The John P. Gibson family was enumerated on the U.S. Census for Calhoun County, Mississippi conducted in 1860. They were living in the Cherry Hill community, and John's occupation was "Blacksmith." Children shown in the Gibson household were Malverda, Elvira, Asberry, Francis, Mary, Martha, and Becky.

Melverda Gibson later married Wilds Meriwether, and they had two children, Margaret Susanna (Maggy, my great-grandmother), and a son named Lewis. Wilds Meriwether was the son of Robert Emmit and Susan Terrell Meriwether, who lived for a time in Carroll County, Mississippi,, near Carrollton . I have never been able to find a record of a marriage between Malverda and Wilds. Family stories throughout the years told how Malverda gave birth to a third child that was "stillborn", and after he and Melverda buried the baby, Wilds left her and the other children and moved to Kentucky with his childhood family, who had already moved there from Mississippi. I did find a record of a Meriwether infant shown on the 1880 Mortality Index, with "iniation" as the cause of death. Iniation was medical terminology that actually meant "stillborn." This record may establish the time period during which my great-great-grandfather Wilds Meriwether left Mississippi.

Maggie was born in Calhoun City, Calhoun County, in On September 4, 1876, and she would have been about four years old when her father allegedly deserted his family. On September 20, 1886, according to Yalobusha County, Mississippi marriage records, "Mrs. M.V. Merryweather" married Newell Autry Felts. I feel quite certain that "M.V." is Melverda Meriwether, as the next sentence will tell. J. J. and Maggy Porter later gave one of their own sons the name, Newell Autry Porter. Maggie must have respected her stepfather well enough to honor him by naming one of her sons for him.John James and Maggy Porter became the parents of seven living children. Etta, Vertie, and my grandmother, Lelia, were their three daughters. Clarence, Newell, James, and Charles were their four sons. According to records that I have seen, J. J. and Maggy may have lost at least two children at very young ages due to childhood illnesses. One of those children was named Walter.

My great-grandmother was a very petite woman , weighing barely ninety pounds, who wore her long, dark hair in a bun on the back of her head. Her looks really didn't change much over the almost twenty years I knew her. She was almost totally deaf, and I do not recall that she ever wore a hearing aid. I feel that I know very little about her family, and if she had been better able to hear during the years that I was old enough to talk to her and ask questions, I would certainly know more than I do about her Meriwether, Gibson, and Williams families. I think about all the family history I could have learned firsthand from her. Maggy lived longer than any of my other relatives that I knew growing up. She was 93 years old when she died in 1969. She and J. J. Porter are buried in Hillcrest Cemetery in Goodman, along with several other Porter relatives, including two of their sons and my paternal grandparents, Clark C. and Lelia Porter Branch.