The Ragland Sons

John W. Ragland and Elizabeth Smith Ragland were the parents of four sons: John W., Jr. (1808), Arthur S. (1811), William J. (1825), and Robert W. (1826).  Arthur Ragland, for whom my paternal great-great-grandfather, Joseph Arthur Branch, was named, died in 1845 and is buried in Palestine Cemetery near Raymond, Mississippi. Although Arthur may have had a wife and children, I have not yet found that information.


According to the U. S. Census recorded in 1850 for Hinds County, Mississippi, William J. Ragland, a planter by occupation, was the head of a household that included Mary M., 27 years old, and four children named Josaphine (age 8), Benjamin F. (age 6), Rebecca A. (age 4), and Winferd Ragland, age 2.  Likely, "Winferd" was named for William's sister, Winiford Ragland Branch, my paternal great-great-great-grandmother. Although Mary was shown to have been born in South Carolina, William and each of their four children were born in Mississippi. To date, I have been unable to locate William J. or his wife and children on an 1860 census record. Look for more about William and his family in a later post.


Also, I have had difficulty in locating John W. Ragland, Jr., born approximately 1808.  Although I did find a John W. Ragland, born in Virginia in 1808, living near Nashville, Tennessee in 1850, further research is needed to determine his relationship, if any, to John W. Ragland, my fourth great-grandfather.


Two issues that most family researchers must deal with when reviewing old census records is the inaccurate spelling of surnames, often recorded phonetically by the census taker, and the  mispelling of names contained in transcribed records.  Searching for Robert W. Ragland on U.S. Census records for 1850 and 1860 found both situations existed. In 1850, R. W. "Raglin" was enumerated on the U. S. Census in Hinds County, Mississippi.  A twenty-four year old "overseer," his birthplace was shown as Louisiana.  R. W., based on his age, birthplace, and the place of his residence, was Robert W. Ragland, son of John W. and Elizabeth Smith Ragland.  According to the 1850 census record, R. W. was the head of a household that included his twenty-one year old wife, Sarah Jane, and a one-year old daughter named Laura. Later research revealed Sarah Jane was the daughter of William and Louisa Anastacia Porter of Hinds County, Mississippi.


In 1860, the U.S. Census record showed Robert "Rogland" living in Attalaville, now an extinct town in Attala County, Mississippi, in a household that included five young children.  The oldest child was Laura, 13, almost certainly the same small child who was listed on the 1850 census recorded in Hinds County.  A second daughter, an 11-year old named Elizabeth, lived in Robert's household in 1860 and most likely named for Robert's mother, Elizabeth Smith Ragland. Robert's other children included  Mary, 9 years old, Turner, age 7, and Sarah, age 5. Since Robert Ragland's household did not include a wife, I believe that Sarah Jane, with whom he lived in 1850, may have died during or shortly after the birth of 5-year old Sarah, probably named for her deceased mother. Since Robert's sister, Winiford Ragland Branch and her husband, Edward Tillman Branch and their children, already lived in Attala County in 1860, Robert may have moved his family from Hinds County to Attala County to be near relatives who could help him care for his children.


A review of the U.S. Census of 1860, Slave Schedules, found that Robert Ragland of Attala County, Mississippi, was the owner of three slaves, a 30 year old black female and two black males, aged 25 and 15.


In 1860, Robert's neighbors in Attalaville included the Burell and Jenkins families, of whom I have written on this blog, along with the family of James M. and Eliza (Walker) Porter, my paternal great-great-great-grandparents in my paternal grandmother's line.




Sources:
Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: Township 13 Range 4, Attala, Mississippi; Roll: M653_577; Page: 464; Image: 464; Family History Library Film: 803577. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. 
Ancestry.com. 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

"Gone to Texas" - Migration from Mississippi During the 1800s

According to the local histories of some of Mississippi's counties, a large number of residents pulled up what was left of their roots after the Civil War and left the state for Texas. Others had already made the move before the onset of the war. Often, groups that migrated to Texas included extended families, and sometimes the entire population of a community traveled "en masse." One of the counties hardest hit with this type of movement was Carroll County, where signs were left on abandoned houses stating "Gone to Texas." Often, in lieu of a sign, the letters "G.T.T." were carved on the door, a fencepost, or on the trunk of a tree in the yard. One particular area of Carroll County, Mississippi lost such a large number of its residents that it became known "Little Texas."

Carroll County was not the only area of Mississippi that experienced this mass migration to Texas, as evidenced by information posted on a blog entitled authored by Vickie Pounders Everhart. Vickie, a Native Texan, is a descendant of a family whose ancestors moved to Texas from Oktibbeha County, Mississippi around 1869. The blog includes the results of Vickie's research about these Mississippi ancestors who settled near what became the town of Burleson, Texas, now a bustling suburb off I-35 about 15 miles south of Fort Worth. I encourage you to visit Vickie's beautiful and informative blog, "Be-Not-Forgot," to learn more about this Mississippi-Texas connection. Self-described as the "keeper" of her family's history, Vickie is not only a historian and a blogger, she is also the administrator of a MyFamily.com website name "Us Mississippians," developed as a gathering spot to "collect and share" information from descendants of those who migrated from Oktibbeha County, Mississippi in 1869.

In the summer of 2000, Vickie wrote to the Lee County (Texas) Historical Commission advising the group of the existence of her website and the responses she had received from descendants of the Mississippi group who now live throughout the nation. In her letter, Vickie also offered information about an oral account by her great-grandmother, Mollie West Nettles, to her granddaughter, Ruby Nettles Vance, of Lexington, Lee County, Texas, about life in Mississippi during the Civil War. The following information was originally published in the April 19, 1979 edition of The Giddings Times News in Lee Co., Texas. The article was written by Ruby Vance, nee Nettles, of Lexington, Lee County, Texas, and the publication date was timed to coincide with that year's annual Lexington Homecoming:

"Miss Ruby is a granddaughter of Mollie, the original narrator of this family saga. If Miss Ruby and/or y'all prefer to use her 1979 article as she originally wrote it, then just ignore parts 1, 2 and 3 from me, and I'll send you an Alternate Nettles-West Story for Lee County History. In introducing her little Grandmother's story one afternoon in the summer of 1932, this writer visited her aging grandmother for the purpose of taking notes on some of the Civil War stories she had heard her tell all her life. We hope in sharing these with you that many of you will do likewise. . . .' There are an inestimable number of persons with Lee County connections who descend from Civil War-era residents of Oktibbeha Co., Mississippi. Andy Monroe, descendant of Cecelia Parker Sikes, nee Perry, has observed that many of the folks on the 1850 Oktibbeha County census who later wound up in Texas, were earlier in North Carolina."

Part One of Mollie's story tells of her childhood memories of life in and around Oktibbeha County during that time period. Vickie's entire letter to the Lee County Historical Commission can be read on her "Gone to Texas" website.

Some of my own Porter relatives, Elizabeth Jane Allen Porter, the widow of my great-great grandfather, James M. Porter of Attala County, and the children born during this second marriage, also moved to Texas after her husband died. Interestingly, this family settled near Cleburne, Texas, in Johnson County. Allegedly, Elizabeth had relatives who already lived near Cleburne, which is barely a dozen miles away from where Vickie's ancestors from Oktibbeha County had already settled. According to my own research, the descendants of the children born during James M. Porter's second marriage multiplied in number, and many of them still reside in places throughout the State of Texas.

Residents of Attalaville, Mississippi - September 1860

Recently, Duncan C. Covington, who compiled and edited a book entitled "The People of Shrock," provided me with a list of Attala County residents who are buried in Fellowship Cemetery, near the extinct town of Attalaville, Mississippi. Duncan also emailed me copies of photographs that he had taken of the grave markers in that cemetery. I have posted both the list and the pictures on Cemeteries of Dancing Rabbit Creek, and they can be viewed here.

Among those buried in the relatively small Fellowship Cemetery are some of Duncan's Covington ancestors and one of my own, James M. Porter, my paternal great-great-grandfather. As I read through the list of names, I wondered how many of these families were neighbors or had familial ties to each other in this particular area of Attala County. With that question in mind, I began a search of U. S. Census records, starting with the 1860 census conducted for Attalaville during September of that year. (The history of the early development of Attalaville can be found here.)

Enumerated in Attalaville, Attala County, Mississippi, in 1860, were thirty-three (33) separate households. Seven of the households had the same surnames as some of those buried in Fellowship cemetery : Allen, Burell, Jenkins, and Porter.

Census details for these seven households are shown below.

Allen, James P., 40, farming, $1,480, Georgia
Cicely, 38, Georgia
Franklin, 16, laborer, Miss
Mary E., 14, Miss
Martha, 10, Miss
Ann E., 7, Miss
Georgeann, 4, Miss
Juanita, 2, Miss
Parker, John, 19, laborer, Florida

Jenkins, Samuel, 66, farmer, $1,500, SC
Nancy, 40, SC
Elizabeth, 35, SC
William, 19, labor in farm, SC
Joseph, 16,labor in farm, SC
Dick, 11, Miss

Burell, John, 41, farming, $1,700, SC
Mary, 41, SC
John B., 15, SC
Elizabeth J., 14, Miss
Samuel J., 13, Miss
Ephraim J., 11, Miss
Amanda A., 1, Miss
Caldwell, John, 15, farm laborer, Miss

Jenkins, E. Jeffs., 39, farmer, $21,415, SC
Sally 42, SC
Samuel O., 17, farm laborer, Miss
Peggy A., 15, Miss
David Spiars, 55, Carpenter, SC
George P. Jackson, 14, Ala
Wm. A. Jackson, 18, labor in farm, Ala

Porter, James M., 37, farming, $1,700, Miss
Eliza, 24, Miss
Sarah E., 5, Miss
Wm. R. E., 1, Miss

Porter, Jane M., 25, farming, $30,000, Miss
Porter, Laura E., 20, Miss
Hamilton Cottrow(?) 13, Miss

Porter, William, 22, overseeing, $150, Miss
Mary E., 23, Miss
Lilian V., 9 months, Miss

My research for more information about the Allen, Burell, Covington, Jenkins, and Porter families who lived in Attalaville is far from complete. And as it continues, I plan to post the results here and at Cemeteries of Dancing Rabbit Creek. I hope you will stop by again to visit.