Friday's Photo: Uncle Bill and Aunt Kate - Is this the William A. Martin Family?

Marguerite Cook Clark's photo of Uncle Bill and Aunt Kate might be the William A. Martin family of Bienville Parish, Louisiana. The second photo is the same photo edited and enlarged, but the features are still difficult to see. William A. Martin was over 20 years older than his wife, Catherine Evans. If this is his family, I assume most children are his. I don't know which one is his wife, but William would be the older gentleman on the left. 

According to the History of Bienville Parish, Volume I, William A. Martin was the son of John Nutt Martin and Matilda Bateman. If this is correct, William would have been half-brother to Rev. Thomas Jefferson Martin, whose parents were John Nutt Martin and Sarah Pittman. 

William A. Martin was a life member of the Mackey Lodge and, for several years, served as the chaplain. He died in 1902 and is buried with his wife in the  Social Springs Cemetery in Red River Parish. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

.

Diana

© 2023 

Billie Jean Poland, The History of Bienville Parish Vol. I (Bossier City, Louisiana: Everett Companies, 1984), p. 311.

Proceedings of the M. W. Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana Free and Accepted Masons, Eighty-Ninth Grand Annual Communication, February 11th, 12th, and 13th, 1901 (New Orleans: A. W. Hyatt, 1901), 90;  PDF download, Louisiana Masonic Library/Museum (https://library.la-mason.com/pastproceedings.html: downloaded 21 ‎March ‎2020).

Uncle Bill and Aunt Kate, no date,  digital image, 2016, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas, on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission. 

 

Bienville Parish, Louisiana - The Lost Scrapbook

At least two letters from Georgia Ann Frances "Fannie" Bryan Pittman Wimberly, pictured above, were said to be in the lost scrapbook. In one of those letters, written on 21 January 1862, to her sister Catherine Amanda Bryan Watts and sister-in-law, Alice Mary Wimberly Bryan, Fannie writes of her visit to New Orleans to visit her husband, James "Jim" Pittman. Below are my two favorite excerpts from that letter. 

"The place all the time seems like it is tearing up from bottom to top. All seems confusion. I have not been in the streets yet. I recon I will see the elephant sure enough when I go."

"Oh my sakes, you just ought to see the Madam" She is one of them you read about I think she beats all I've seen yet."

Copies of Georgia Ann Frances' letters and others were sent to me by researcher Julia Brittain in the 1990s. Marguerite Cook Clark's collection of family information and photos, first accessed in 2014, also contained copies of some of the letters and newspaper clippings that are said to be in the scrapbook. 

Friday's Photo: Sarah Pittman, Mother of Thomas Jefferson Martin - Bienville Parish, Louisiana

If you descend from Laura Frances Bryan, the daughter of Joseph Bryan and Sarah Wimberly, you would also be a descendant of Sarah Pittman. Sarah was the mother of the Rev. Thomas Jefferson Martin who married Laura Bryan. Thomas' father was John N. Martin.[1] Both Sarah and John are buried in the Providence Cemetery.[2]  According to the 1880 Census, Sarah was born in North Carolina but no other documentation could be found.[3]

This photo was found in a digitized collection sent to me by Mary V. Smith.[4] She wrote that the photos were copied from collections of Mary Virgie Martin Walker (her sister), Anna Laura Martin (her mother), Marguerite Cook Clark (a cousin), and Niler Sledge Edwards (a cousin). This particular photo was found in the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Marguerite Cook Clark's collection is enormous. I traveled three times to Texas to see the collection and my cousin and I spent six days scanning. This is one of many I did not copy. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

.

Diana

© 2022 

Sources 

    1. Vera Meeks Wimberly, Wimberly Family History, Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana 1837 (Houston Texas: D. Anderson, 1979), 315.

    2. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24938329/sarah-martin : accessed 05 January 2022), memorial page for Sarah Pitman Martin (18 Jan 1806–9 Feb 1897), Find a Grave Memorial ID 24938329, citing Providence Cemetery, Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by A Footstep In Time (contributor 47345816).

    3. 1880 U.S. Census, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, population schedule,  enumeration district 008, p.614B, dwelling 373, family 373, Thomas J. Martin household; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4241285-00574? : accessed 5 January 2022); citing NARA microfilm T9, roll 448. 

    4. Sarah Pittman, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Smith, Alaska, 2004; original image photographed copied from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark between 1973 and 1993.

Friday's Photo: Jesse Wimberly and Jane Crumpton

Jesse Pittman Wimberly  1852-1889
Jane Elizabeth Crumpton  1854-1940

Maggie Martin Cook wrote Uncle Jesse and Aunt Jane Wimberly above this photo. She was just a toddler when Jesse Wimberly died, but I'm certain she knew Jane and her children.

Jessie Pittman Wimberly was the third child of William Wimberly and Mary Angelina Pittman Roberts Hinton Wimberly. Jesse, the 12th of William Wimberly's children, grew up with many half-siblings. He was half-brother to Sarah Margaret Wimberly Bryan who was the grandmother to Maggie Martin Cook and also aunt to my grandfather, Redic Bryan. 

In 1878, Jesse married Jane Elizabeth Crumpton, daughter of David Jackson Crumpton and Mary D. Scott. Jesse and Jane were the parents to four children; Laura Jessie, James Abner, Mary Elizabeth, and Sarah Alice. 

According to the Wimberly Family History, Jesse and Jane lived on a farm about six miles from Ringgold near the William Wimberly farm. Jesse took care of his farm and also put in crops for his sister Eliza Davis after her husband died in 1884. Jesse died from the flu in 1889 when he was only 37 years old. Jane did not remarry. She died at the home of her daughter in Natchitoches in 1940. Jesse and Jane are buried in the Wimberly cemetery.

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2019

Sources

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission.

Wimberly, Vera. Wimberly Family History: Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana, 1837. Houston, Tex.: D. Armstrong, 1979. Print. 

From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: Sarah Margaret Wimberly Bryan

Sarah Margaret Wimberly Bryan and her daughter, Laura Frances Bryan Martin

Sarah Margaret Wimberly Bryan, a tintype found in
Terrell Bryan's family Bible

Sarah Margaret Wimberly was born in Twiggs County, Georgia on February 23, 1828. She was the daughter of William Wimberly and Lucy Smith Lawson and the second of nine children born to this union. Sarah's mother died in 1844 and William Wimberly married Mary Angelina Pittman, widow to both John William Roberts and John Westly Hinton. She had two children (Martha Roberts and John W. Hinton, Jr.) when she married William Wimberly. Six children were born to that union. 

To Sarah Margaret Wimberly from her mother's sister, Martha S. Lawson, October 23, 1839

Sarah and Joseph Bryan were married on December 4, 1845, in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. They had eight children.

Marguerite Cook Clark was told by her mother and Aunt Alice Bryan Williams that Sarah was a little woman and was very kind. She said Uncle Albert remembered Sarah's ginger cookies. 

Laura Frances Bryan Martin wrote this after her mother's passing. A transcription is below.

                           Mother

The hearthstone is vacant the homestead is drear    

The loved one is gone who on earth was most dear   

Her voice is now silent  her work is all done

But her life of rejoicing is just now begun

I am lonely without her but death hath no power to sever our spirits for even one hour

The body may moulder

The spirit may fly 

Up to the mansions of glory on high

Yet there is a union as sweet and as near

As ever existed while even thou wast here

That union of spirit life Jesus hath given

To all the dear Saints on earth and in Heaven

Oh mother I love thee they teachings I love

I love thy devotion so like that above. 

I love our hearts union which nothing can sever

I have loved thee on earth and I'll love thee forever

                                                            Laura

Sarah's obituary was written by Reverand Thomas J. Martin Sr., Sarah's son-in-law. She died on October 4, 1904 and is buried in the Wimberly Cemetery. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds.  

Diana

© 2019 Sources

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission.

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn. 

Wimberly, Vera. Wimberly Family History: Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana, 1837. Houston, Tex.: D. Armstrong, 1979. Print. 

The Bryan Log Cabin in Bienville Parish

Click on the book to see it at Amazon.

I purchased this book from Amazon when they were only selling books. It was purchased for one reason  -  on page 59 was the Bryan Log Cabin. The Bryan Log Cabin was the home my great-great-grandparents, Reddick and Elizabeth Regan Bryan, built after moving to Louisiana from Georgia in the 1830s. 

The house was a two room dogtrot log cabin and was similar to these homes. 

The following was written by Mary Marguerite "Maggie" Martin Cook - Wife of Edward Clifton Cook, Daughter of Thomas Jefferson Martin and Laura Bryan.
The old Thos. J. Martin home, Mama, Mammie, Aunt Fannie
Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Sarah Bryan, Aunt Fannie Pittman Wimberly. 
Mrs. Martin was Laura Bryan Martin (Mama), Mrs. Sarah Bryan was Sarah Wimberly Bryan (Mammie), and Aunt Fannie was Georgia Ann Frances Bryan Pitman Wimberly.
Go to the bottom of this post to see a larger photo of the women in this picture. 

Old home of Dr. E. C. Cook. was also written by Maggie Martin Cook.
Maggie may be the woman with the baby in the doorway.

Go to the bottom of this post to see a larger photo of the woman and baby in this picture.

In addition to seeing the cabin in this book, a sketch and description be found in the research paper Log Houses as Public Occasions: A Historical Theory written in 1977.  I won't put either on my blog as I want to avoid copyright infringement. 

However, I want to tell you a story about the cabin and maybe have questions answered. 

The Story 
This is the story as told to me by a Wimberly/Bryan descendant (my third cousin) when visiting Bienville Parish in 2007. 

About three years before my visit, the woman who owned the land told my cousin someone from Louisiana State University asked for the cabin. They took the cabin apart carefully numbering each piece. When a Nix/Bryan descendant asked for a board, he was denied as they needed each piece. 

My cousin said when LSU was called to find out where to see the house, they did not know anything about it. I don't know who called LSU. 

My Questions

• Could the cabin be at LSU?
• Could the cabin now be a cute guest house, someone's home, or a Bed & Breakfast?
• Does anyone remember the Bryan log cabin?
• Has anyone heard this story or know of another story?

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana
© 2017 

Sources

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission.

Newton, M. B. and Napoli, L. P.-D. (1977), Log Houses as Public Occasions: A Historical Theory. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 67: 360–383.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/2562336?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Overdyke, W. Darrell. Louisiana Plantation Homes, Colonial and Antebellum.  New York: American Legacy Press, 1981.

Friday's Photo - Three Civil War Soldiers

Isn't this a fabulous picture! It's not mine but from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. She was the great-granddaughter of Joseph B. Bryan. It's not marked, but I can am going to assume that these men are from or at least lived near Bienville Parish, Louisiana. 

This could be three of the Bryan brothers. Tilman, Joseph, and Terrell Bryan fought in different units. James was in the home guard. Or, maybe some of the Regan brothers - the three oldest died in the war. Catharine Amanda Bryan's husband, James C. Watts fought for a year. James Pittman, husband of Georgia Ann Frances Bryan, died on the battlefield. Thomas Jefferson Martin, future son-in-law of Joseph Bryan, also served. Then you have Hammetts, Wimberlys, Albrittons, and many other in-laws and friends. So many possibilities!!

Are there any other Bryan descendants with photos from the Civil War? If so, let's share and compare. 

___________________

Almost a year later, one of these soldiers was identified. Click on Friday's Photo: Thanks to Facebook, a Confederate Soldier is Identified.

Diana

© 2015

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014 and September 14, 2014. Used with permission.

Friday's Photo: Georgia Ann Frances Bryan - Another photo and more of her story.

Georgia Ann Frances Pittman Wimberly
Picture Courtsey of Mary V. Smith
Do you have an original copy of this photo?

 Last week I posted a picture of young  Georgia Ann Francies "Fannie" Bryan and earlier this week, I posted a letter that Fannie wrote in 1862.

I assume that Fannie lived with or near her family in 1862. Her husband, four of her brothers, and three nephews were in the Army.  Her three nephews died in the War and her brothers returned, but her husband, James S. Pittman, died on the battlefield in Tennessee late in 1863. 

Reddick Bryan, Fannie's father, died on January 12, 1864 and family letters indicate that she had a baby who must also have died as there is no record of the baby beyond the letter written in 1862. 

On November 19, 1867, in Bienville Parish, Georgia Ann Frances Bryan Pitman married Ezekiel S. Wimberly, a widower with three children; James, Martha, and Thomas.

In 1900, Fannie, a widow, was living with the John L. and Alice M. Wimberly family of Bienville Parish.  Alice was the daughter of Joseph B. Bryan, Fannie’s brother. 

Georgia Ann Frances Bryan Pitman Wimberly died in 1908 at age 68.  She is buried in the Bryan Cemetery in Bienville Parish next to her father, Reddick Bryan.

This is not all of Fannie’s story.  I am sure that there is more.  In the next few weeks, I will be looking for probate records for Fannie and both husbands. And, I have been told that there are more letters to find. 

Sources

Georgia Ann Frances Bryan Pitman, Bienville Parish, Louisiana  to Span and Julius Leurany "Lou" Speight Ragan , Lee County, Georgia,  letter, 5 February 1862; original or photostat in the possession of Span Ragan descendant William Ragan, who supplied a digital copy to the author. 

1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.

Cutrer,  Thomas W. (Editor) and Parrish, T. Michael  (Editor).  Brothers In Gray: The Civil War Letters Of The Pierson Family. (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1997).

Wimberly, Vera Meek. Wimberly Family History: Ancestors, relatives and descendants of William Wimberly, pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana, 1837. (Houston, Texas: D. Armstrong Co., c1979).

Diana

© 2013

A Letter from Bienville Parish: 1862

This letter was written by Georgia Ann Frances Bryan Pittman of Bienville Parish, Louisiana to her half-brother and his wife, Span and Lou Ragan of Lee County, Georgia.  Span was the son of Elizabeth Regan Bryan and her first husband, Joseph Regan.  

Fannie was the youngest child of Reddick Bryan (Pap) and Elizabeth Regan. Fannie mentioned several other family members in this letter. Lizzie Bryan (Elizabeth Mercer Bryan) was the widow of Fannie’s half – brother Simeon Baker Bryan, son of Reddick Bryan and his first wife.  Bro. Jimmy (James Bryan), was Simeon’s oldest brother. Jim Watts was James C. Watts, husband of Fannie’s sister, Catherine Amanda “Manda” Watts and Terrell Bryan was Fannie's brother and my great-grandfather. 

It is assumed that “my baby” was a young daughter of James "Jim" Pittman and Fannie who married in 1857. In an earlier letter, she was referred to as “her,” but it is thought that the baby died young as there is no record of the child after this letter.  

Thank you to Bill Ragan for sending me this letter. 

Wednesday Feb. 5 # AD 1862

Bienville Par. La. 

My dear Brother and Sister

     It has been a very long time since I have written to you or received a letter from you and have come to the conclusion that will write to you again as would be pleased to hear from you by letter again.  I have but little news to write you of interest and that will very likely be of the All absorbing topic War as that is all that is talked of now.  We have hard times with us now and I fear worse a coming.  Though from what I've heard we are not quite so bad of as the citizens of Georgia yet for my part it is worse for me now than is pleasant  you no doubt have heard ere this that Mr. Pittman was in the Army.  Yes, it is even the case.  It seems sometimes that it is all I can bear and on reflection I think  it wrong for me to murmur. Just to think what he has left home and comfort and binding ties  for.  He has been in service four months the twentieth of Jan. He has been home once.  I have been to see him once which makes twice I have seen him.  He is now stationed at New Orleans but don't know how long they will remain there as there has been a good deal of talk of their being ordered to Mobile.  It is thought by a good many that Mobile will be attacked soon. 

     There are five Regiments at New Orleans. Brother Terrell is there also. He and Jim are in the same company. It is the Castor Guards under Capt. Mabry 16 Regiment.  There are a good many of my acquaintances in it.  They were all proud to see me when I went down.  I only remained with Jim seven days.  If it is so I can will visit him again sometime.  If I could only know that he would go through his term safe it would not go so hard with me.  He was sick a few days before I went to see him but I found him up and left him well.  I left the city the twenty seventh of last month.  I have been quite uneasy about him ever since as there has been such a great deal of rain and it is such a muddy place where they are.  They are on the Pontchartrain Rail Road. Two mile from the Citty.  I enjoyed my trip fine but got home with the worst cold I ever had in my life. I was quite uneasy last night about it as it has settled in my throat and yesterday evening it commenced getting soar so I had to draw a blister on it. I have the worst time of it with my throat you most ever saw any body.  It gets so bad some times it seems almost like it will kill me.

     Pap got a letter from Lizzie Bryan a few days ago  she writes of the hard times said she was to see you last fall. She is very anxious to come back to La.  Says her people won't do anything for her.  Mother is going to write to her this evening.  Brother I will not be able to write you an interesting letter as you will see so don't expect anything interesting. 

     The connection are all tolerably well.  Bro. Jimmy has the chills.  My baby had one this morning and is quite sick with it. I had like to of forgotten to say to you Jim Watts was also in the army.  He is in Virginia at Manassa.  His time will be out in June.  Mothers health is not very good but better than has been in some time.

     We have been somewhat looking for you to move out hear as we could not hear from you  and you've been writing some thing like coming.  All would be very glad to see you and have you live among us.  I think if you have much of your provisions to buy it would be much better for you to come as they are cheaper here than there.  I don't hear of anything selling here but Pork.  It has been selling at ten cents.  I have heard of some selling for nine. There has been more sold for over ten cents. Corn and other things have been made in great abundance so there is no sale for it unless it is sold to the government.  I think the Poor Soldiers ought to be well supplied with corn meal for they don't get any thing but Flour and beef to eat, it is enough to kill the last one of them.  It would to if they were not so patriotic. 

      Well brother I will come to a close as have nothing more of interest to write. Kiss Lou and the babies for me. Write very soon and let us hear from you.  Your devoted sister.

                Fannie Pittman.

Source

Georgia Ann Frances Bryan Pitman, Bienville Parish, Louisiana  to Span and Julius Leurany "Lou" Speight Ragan , Lee County, Georgia,  letter, 5 February 1862; original or photostat in the possession of Span Ragan descendant William Ragan, who supplied a digital copy to the author.. 

   

Diana

© 2013