Mildred Rebecca Manning Prothro Bryan AND a Question About My Last Post

Mildred Manning Prothro Bryan   

A family photo at home.
This is said to be the home where Mildred and Tillman raised their family. 

When Julia Brittain sent me a copy of this photo in the 1990s, the caption below named each person as well as their ages. 
Mildred Manning Prothro is seated next to her daughter-in-law, Mary Elizabeth
McDowell Bryan, wife of Tillman II. Mildred's children Jewell and Willie, are
standing. Erie Prothro is the daughter of Mildred's son, Edward Prothro. Marie
and Della are the daughters of Tillman II and Mary Elizabeth. 

On Friday, I finished the last of three posts about Tillman Bryan and Mildred R. Manning Prothro Bryan. As I began putting away all of my records regarding Tillman and his wife, Mildred, I saw two dates on Mildred's pension request that didn't match what I had written previously regarding her death. 

According to the cemetery stone in the Bryan Cemetery, Mildred died on December 8, 1912.  Looking at the pension request, I see that Tillman's service records could not be found in April 1912. And, I see further documents completed in 1913. On June 5, 1913, H. V. Tooke and J. Frank Tooke stated they had personal knowledge that Tillman served as a corporal in Company E of the 5th Louisiana Calvery. 

Why would they need to testify about this matter if Mildred died in 1912? 

Of course, I needed to know more . . . 

Mildred Rebecca Manning was the daughter of Simon Manning and Mary Brown. She was born in 1839 in Louisiana, where her family was described as living near Ringgold. Mildred married her first husband, Hartwell M. Prothro, on March 23, 1854. He died in a steamboat explosion in March 1856. Their only child, Edward Hartwell Prothro, was only a little more than six months old. 

Mildred married Tillman on April 15, 1857. Mildred and Tillman had a large family. You can see more about their children at Friday's Photo: Tillman C. Bryan.

Tillman's death was documented on his cemetery stone and in James Bryan's family bible as June 16, 1899. No record of Mildred's death can be found except the date on her cemetery stone - December 8, 1912. The stone is a more contemporary cemetery stone and is shared with her husband, Tillman. Tillman's old stone was described as leaning against the fence by my father in 1981. Was Mildred's old stone destroyed or worn? Who replaced the stone, and where did they get the death date? There is no death certificate.

And then I found it . . . 

In an undated family letter, Mildred's daughter, Sallie Bryan Hammett, wrote, "dear Mama died December the 18, 1914." 

That letter, and one other written by Sallie Bryan Hammett, will be a part of my next Bryan post. 

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.

Diana

© 2021 

Sources 

Bryan Family Photograph. 1903. Photocopy (original held by Brittain family) held by D. B. Quinn [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Virginia Beach, Virginia. 

Bryan, Tillman C.and Manning, Mildred R. Prothro Cemetery Stone Photograph. 1981. Photograph held by D. B. Quinn [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Hammett, Sally Bryan. Sally to cousin Lizzie Regan, no date. Photocopy held by D. B. Quinn [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Virginia Beach, Virginia.  

"Louisiana Confederate Pensions, 1898-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939F-VZSD-5S?cc=1838535&wc=M61M-PNB%3A164934001 : 20 May 2014), Brown, John B - Evans, C H > image 991 of 1406; Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge.

Louisiana, Bienville Parish. 1850 U. S. Census, population schedule. Database with images. Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com : 2020. 

Manning, Mildred R. Prothro Bryan Photograph. No date. Photocopy (original held by Brittain family) held by D. B. Quinn [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Virginia Beach, Virginia. 

Sherrod, Ricky L. "Strong Southern Women: Female Leadership on the Northwest Louisiana Frontier." Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association 52, no. 1 (2011): 5-34. Accessed January 16, 2021.