The Pettus Family of Holmes County, Mississippi

A few months ago on Attala County Memories, I wrote a post about the Pettus family that migrated from Norwich, England to Virginia. Although I did include some information in that post about my maternal grandmother, Rosa Mae Pettus Netherland, who lived in Holmes County, Mississippi, I did not include anything about other Pettus family members who lived in Mississippi.


My Grandmother, Mother, and Me, Lexington, MS
Photographed by my father in late 1946

The fact is that I knew very little growing up about this side of my family. One reason for this was that my Pettus great-grandparents died when I was very young, and my mother and her mother seemed to known very little about the family's history. But thanks to two of my readers, Robby Pettus and R. E. Harthcock, newly discovered cousins in Mississippi, I now have some of that information. Interestingly, Robby's great-grandfather and mine were brothers.

Based on available family information, the Pettus family in Mississippi may have migrated from Virginia, via South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama . Verified information about my branch of the Pettus family, however, begins in 1830, when William Spencer Pettus, was born in Holmes County, Mississipi, on June 30th of that year. On an unverified date in 1867, William Spencer married Martha M. Thomas, in Holmes County. The daughter of Patrick Boyd Thomas, Sr. and Mary Frances, whose surname is unknown, Martha M. Thomas was born on October 30, 1847. According to the 1870 U. S. Census taken in Holmes County, Mississippi, William Spencer and Martha M. Thomas were living near Tchula, Mississippi. In 1880, the U. S. Census taken that year listed the family, now with three children, as residents of Beat 4, Holmes County, Mississippi. William's occupation was shown as "carpenter."

The marriage of William Spencer and Mary M. Thomas Pettus ultimately produced seven children. Their oldest child, John Dabney Pettus, was born in 1881 in Holmes County. When he was about 27 years old, John Dabney Pettus married Evie Lena McLean on November 2, 1907, also in Holmes County. Evie McLean, the daughter of Edward Dudley McLean and Adeline Cecilia Ferrell, was born on February 24, 1890, in Attala County, Mississippi. John Dabney Pettus died in 1909, and Evie McLean Pettus did on February 26, 1960 in Holmes County. During their marriage, Evie gave birth to 2 children, John Pettus and Charley Pettus.

Another of their sons, William Elza Pettus, my maternal great-grandfather, was born on June 1, 1876 in Holmes County. I was able to locate William Elza on census records only once, in 1900, when he was shown as a "Boarder" in the Thornton, Mississippi home of Molly Malone, a widowed mother of three children. Later that year, William Elza Pettus married Lucy Lula Trigleth in Holmes County. Lucy Lula was born in 1881 near Brozville, Holmes County, Mississippi, and was the daughter of George Walter Trigleth, Sr. and Susan Elizabeth Elviney Coggins. Lucy died in 1951 and was buried in Coxburg Cemetery in Holmes County. William Elza Pettus died the next year, on December 15, 1952, and was buried along with other Pettus relatives in Holmes County. During their marriage, William Elza Pettus and Lucy Lula Trigleth had four children, Mary Sue, William O., Rosa Mae, and Eloise.

Their oldest child, Mary Sue Pettus was born on September 9, 1903 in Holmes County. Mary Pettus married Robert Autry Chisolm on December 29, 1920, also in Holmes County. On January 19, 1961, Mary Sue Pettus Chisolm died, and she is buried in Coxburg Cemetery, Coxburg, Holmes County, MS.

William O. Pettus, the couple's only son, was born on October 17, 1904, in Holmes County, MS, and died on January 12, 1968, also in Holmes County, MS.

Rosa Mae Pettus, my maternal grandmother, was born on August 18, 1908, in Holmes County. She married Ralph Ernest Netherland, my grandfather, and they divorced around 1940, when my mother was 14 years old and her brother was around 10. A few years later, Rosa Mae remarried, but she became a widow in the early 1950's. After her second husband's death, Rosa Mae moved from Holmes County to Jackson, where she worked as a nurse at St. Dominic's Hospital until she retired. After Rosa Mae retired, she settled near Yazoo City and lived there until her death on January 4, 1986. My grandmother is buried in Coxburg Cemetery, Coxburg, Holmes County, MS, just miles from where she was born, grew up, and married my grandfather.

The couple's youngest child, Eloise Pettus, was born on August 18, 1910 in Holmes County. She married Joseph Elijah Gilmore about 1929, also in Holmes County. Eloise (pronounced "Eloyce") died on November 12, 1996 and is buried in Holmes County, as well.

In addition to John Dabney Pettus and William Elza Pettus, William Spencer Pettus and Mary Frances Thomas Pettus had five other children, Mansfield, born about 1868, James, born June 1870, Alice born circa 1875, Tildon, born June 1878, and Elmer, born on June 16, 1880. Elmer died on October 10, 1934. Like their brothers, John Dabney Pettus and William Elza Pettus, all five of these children were born in Holmes County, Mississippi.

According to my new cousins, most of our Pettus ancestors are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Holmes County, Mississippi. Others are buried in Coxburg Cemetery and in nearby cemeteries. Later this spring, I plan to post pictures of their gravestones on Cemeteries of Dancing Rabbit Creek, my cemetery blog, and I hope you will stop by.

Wordless Wednesday

Resting angel atop monument in Odd Fellows Cemetery, Holmes County, Mississippi

Happy Mardi Gras!

Tonight at midnight, Mardi Gras celebrations are officially over, and the season of Lent begins. It seems this celebration, a religious-based one that dates back to the second century in ancient Rome, catches on in more places every year. Although large parades and related festivities are still confined to predominantly Catholic areas in Louisiana and coastal cities all the way from Beaumont, Texas to Mobile, Alabama, including the Mississippi Gulf Coast, smaller celebrations of green, gold, and purple continue to pop up every year in areas farther north. King cakes, with plastic "babies" are sold in chain grocery stores throughout the midwest, and colorful beads hang from the rear-view mirrors of cars whose owners have never set foot in "Mardi Gras Country."

It seems that Mardi Gras has become "everyone's celebration."

Why has this happened? Have we become a country of party-goers and merrymakers, where everyone is looking for something to celebrate? Maybe. But more likely than not, traditional celebrations such as Mardi Gras serve as means to bring people together in ways that ordinary, everyday celebrations cannot. They create a common bond of tradition, promote a spirit of community, and create an opportunity to live for a few moments in the present that removes some of the stress of everyday life.

And during these difficult economic times, celebrations like Mardi Gras, with its meaning steeped in years of history and tradition, are important to all of us.

The Swinging Bridge at Byrum

Almost everyone who was a teenager growing up during the sixties in Jackson, Mississippi knew about "the swinging bridge," south of town. But few of them ever crossed it in a vehicle. Most ventured there because it was in a remote, wooded area, far away from their parents' eyes. Those days are now long gone, and foot traffic from curiosity seekers is all the traffic the bridge ever sees today. At least for now.



Built in 1905, the "swinging bridge" that spans the Pearl River near Byrum, Mississippi, is a single-span suspension bridge that transported vehicles from this portion of southern Hinds County into nearby Rankin County during the early part of the twentieth century. It was fairly typical of similar bridges built in Mississippi and in other places during that time frame. Once used for various types of vehicular traffic, possibly including log trucks going into the pine forests nearby, the bridge has been closed to vehicles since about 1987.

Although visitors can be seen walking across the bridge in the picture here that I took in April 2008, I would warn against doing so. Curiosity seekers still come in large numbers, particularly on the weekends, due in part to events at a nearby raceway. But walking on the bridge may not be as safe as it looks. During our venture there with my brother and sister-in-law last spring, we observed the bridge in a somewhat dangerous state of repair. Not only did we notice that pieces of large boards were missing, we observed gaping holes left by those missing pieces that were large enough to afford anyone brave enough to venture near with a clear view of the river some 100 feet or so below.

My brother mentioned that he had heard the bridge was scheduled for a restoration  roject to begin in late 2008. I certainly hope the project is ongoing.

The Netherland Family of Holmes County

According to the U. S. Census recorded in November 1850 for Warren County, Mississippi, John P. Netherland was 46 years old and was shown with a birthplace of Scotland. John P. Netherland, or "Patrick," as he was known, was my maternal great-great-grandfather. According to Gena Ayres Wall, in her book entitled "Netherland, Leatherlin Legacy," John Patrick Netherland was the son of William Neatherlin, born about 1776 in Richmond, Georgia, and Rachel Fenner, born around 1780 in Tennessee. I have found no information to tell me how their son, John Patrick, would have been born in Scotland, although most research indicates that Rachel Fenner's parents had migrated to the U.S. from Ireland.

On October 1, 1848, Patrick married Mary Denkins, who was born in Kentucky. On the U. S. Census of 1850, Patrick headed a household in Warren County, Mississippi, that included Mary, age 30, and their 3-month old son, William. According to the census record, Patrick was a "carpenter." Although young William had been born in Mississippi, only a few of those who lived near the Netherland family in 1850 had been born in Mississippi; the majority were born born in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, and Alabama. Their occupations were planter, overseer, merchant, raftmaker, and engineer.

In 1860, "Jane" and William Netherland were living in the Eulogy Beat of Holmes County and were enumerated in a household headed by John Allman, 48 years old, and his wife, Amanda Allman, age 38. Jane is likely "Mary Jane," who was married to Patrick Netherland in 1850. John Allman's birthplace was shown as Virginia, and his wife's as Tennessee. A farmer by occupation, the value of John Allman's real estate was estimated at $5,400, and his personal property at $5,115.

Since no relationship information is shown for either Jane or William, it is impossible to know whether these household members were related to Jane Netherland or to William's father. Perhaps Amanda was Mary Jane's younger sister who had taken her in, along with her child, after she and Patrick Netherland had separated, or perhaps after his death.  Although no age information is shown on the 1860 census record for the mother and her son, Jane would have been about 40 years old, and William would have been just over 10.

By 1870, William Bailey Netherland, raised primarily by his mother, had already served in the Confederate States Army (CSA), as a member of Red's Company, Mississippi State Troops. According to the U. S. Census recorded that same year, he was shown living in the Eulogy Beat of Holmes County, Mississippi. There he is shown as the 25-year old head of a household that included Elizabeth Netherland, age 45, who was listed as "keeping house." No relationship was shown for Elizabeth, and this fact, along with her age, created a question in my mind. Just who was this Elizabeth? Was she an aunt or a hired housekeeper? Or was she Elizabeth Jane?  But then who was Mary, and who was Jane, names shown on earlier census records? My questions were resolved after a review of the U. S. Census of 1880, detailed later in this post.

By June 1880, my great-grandparents, William B. (Bailey) Netherland, then 35 years old, and M. E., aged 25, were already married. The initials, "M.E." stood for Martha Elizabeth Garrard. Ironically, Richard M. and Mary H. Garrard, along with their daughter, Martha E. and her four sisters, Cena, Alice, Theodocia, and Victoria, had lived in the same community since at least 1870, when they were enumerated on the same page of the census taken that year, also living in the Eulogy Beat of Holmes County. Two other Garrard families  lived nearby, one headed by John, age 52, and another by William Garrard, age 22. Although John Garrard and Richard Garrard, Martha Elizabeth's father, and likely brothers, were born in Georgia, Martha Elizabeth, according to the census record, was born in Alabama.

The U. S. Census recorded in June of 1880 shows that William Bailey and Martha Elizabeth Netherland already had six children. Living in the household were three daughters, A. E., age 7, and M. O., age 2, and J. A., age 6 months, as well as three sons, J. K., age 6, William B., Jr., age 5, and B. L., age 4. William Bailey, as he was known to his family, was a farmer, with personal property valued at $200. Also living in the household with William Bailey and his wife, was E. J. Netherland, identified on the census as William's 53 year-old mother. Strangely, over a period of 30 years, not only had William's mother been enumerated as Mary, Jane, Elizabeth, and now E. J., her age, if correct in 1850, had been recorded incorrectly on each subsequent census record.

Eventually, six more children were born to William Bailey and Martha Elizabeth Netherland, and one of those children, born on February 1, 1886, was my maternal grandfather, Ralph Ernest Netherland.

Often, family history research finds little known or long forgotten information. In her book mentioned earlier, Gena Ayres Wall has included information about causes of death, including copies of the death certificates for some of the children born to William Bailey and Martha Elizabeth Garrard Netherland. These documents, along with other research, produced an ironic and sad fact: 5 of these 12 children Netherland children, including my own grandfather, died of stomach cancer.

The picture seen above was taken by Weaver Photo on October 20, 1921, in the front yard of the Netherland home in Holmes County, Mississippi. Seated in the center are my maternal great-grandparents, William Bailey and Martha Elizabeth Garrard Netherland. Since Elizabeth Netherland had died on July 1, 1901, the lady in widow's garb seated to the right of Martha Elizabeth, must have been her mother and my great-great-grandmother, Mary H. Garrard. Ralph Ernest Netherland, my maternal grandfather, is the tall, dark-haired man wearing a bow tie, pictured on the right side of the back row.

References:
U. S. Census records for Holmes County, MS, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900 - personal research.

Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, Mississippi Marriages, 1826-1900

Wall, Gena Ayers, Houston, TX, The Netherland, Leatherlin Legacy, with Allied Crane and Wall Families

Harthcock, R. E., Register Report for William Neatherlin (Developed using Ancestry.com and FamilyTreeMaker)

Mississippi Memories Receives Kreativ Blogger Award

Yesterday, Judith Richards Shubert who writes Cemeteries With Texas Ties, Genealogy Traces, and a new blog entitled Tennessee Memories, conveyed the Kreativ Blogger Award to Mississippi Memories. I feel honored that she considered this blog deserving of such an award. Now that the Geneabloggers group includes over 300 talented and resourceful writers, I am extremely pleased and delighted to be among the bloggers that have received the Kreativ Blogger Award. Thank you, Judy!



Here are the procedures that connect with receiving the award:

1. Copy the award to your site.
2. Link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 7 other bloggers.
4. Link to those sites on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominate.

And the award goes to......

1. Terry at Hill Country of Monroe County
2. Anne Parks and her Mother at The McQueen Family
3. Judy at Cemeteries With Texas Ties
4. Mona at Itawamba Connections
5. Jon at Mississippi Garden
6. Tim at Walking the Berkshires
7. Lisa at A Light That Shines Again

Froggy's Friday Book Review

Recently, while researching the Cherry Hill Community of Calhoun County, where some of my Gibson ancestors lived over 100 years ago, I found an online book written about this particular area of Mississippi. Assembled, edited, and copyrighted by James M. Young of Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, as a second edition in 2000, the book is a compilation of typewritten and handwritten letters and notes Young received during the 1980s from his mother, Monette Morgan Young.

Mrs. Young's information primarily came from records and recollections of family historians who lived in early Calhoun County, Mississippi, as well as recollections of her own. Entitled "The Cherry Hill - Poplar Springs - Reid Community of Calhoun County," and published online through "Scribd," the book traces the early history of life in the Poplar Bluff community that later became a part of Calhoun County. Logically presented and easily read, this book is a valuable resource for those who are searching for ancestors who lived Mississippi during the 1800s.

Young's book is a must-read for anyone who has family roots in Old Monroe County, the community of Egypt, or sections of Chickasaw and Yalobusha counties, since large numbers of residents of those particular areas migrated into and settled newly formed Calhoun County in the early-mid 1800's. Specific family profiles make up a large portion of the book's pages, along with historical information about the area's businesses, churches, and schools. Anecdotal accounts of everyday rural life in this remote area of the state are often included in the family profiles found in the book. Of particular note, an early census of the Poplar Springs Baptist Church can be found near the end, and an alphabetical index allows the reader to easily search for individual names referenced throughout the book's 272 pages.

James M. Young also compiled the first edition of the book, a non-digital version, and presented a copy to his mother as a surprise gift for her 69th birthday in 1984. According to the preface written by Mr. Young in the second edition published online, approximately 100 copies of the book's first edition were ultimately printed and distributed to family members and several museums and bookstores.

Born in Reid, Mississippi on July 5, 1915, Monette Morgan Young died at St. Dominic's Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, on February 18, 2000. She is buried next to her first husband, Tom Young in Hillcrest Cemetery in Vardaman, Calhoun County, Mississippi.