Another Letter from Sallie Bryan Hammett of Bienville Parish, Louisiana to Lizzie Ragan in Terrell County, Georgia - 28 April 1915

Clifford Cook Shelby, sister to Marguerite Cook Clark
Eleanor Mae Hammett Driscoll, youngest daughter of Sallie Bryan Hammett[1]

This is the second of two letters, written by Sallie Bryan Hammett to Lizzie Ragan. Lizzie was looking for genealogical information. At the time Sallie wrote this letter, she was living in Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana.[2] The first letter can be seen by clicking on this link. 

This letter was not transcribed exactly. Some punctuation and spacing were added to make it easier to read. 

_________________________

April the 28, 1915

Dear cousin Lizzie

Ada E. Hammett [3]

I will try and answer your dear letter which was received several days ago

I should have written sooner but I have been kept so busy I have not had time to write. Ada is down at her Aunt Ida’s [illegible word] this week and everything is mine to do. I washed today and am awful tired

We have been having some rainy weather this week

We were needing rain too but it has cleared off now and looks so pretty

We have a nice garden and I was afraid the fruit was all killed but I see we have plenty of peaches

I am so glad we have for we didn’t have any last year

I will can a plenty if nothing happens to prevent us

Everyone is getting ready for our school commencement. We have a fine school here at this place. Have three teachers. Our little Eleanor Mae will be in the exercises. She is just seven years old but we think she is awful smart for her age. She loves to go to school. We are might proud of her. She will be in several pieces. Wish you could be here. The school closes the 12 of May.

Cousin Lizzie I don’t have Uncle Terrells address but Ada writes to one of his Grand Daughters so she wrote for Uncle Terrells address and as soon as we hear from her we will write you and tell you what it is. He was at Austin Texas at the old soldiers home the last time we heard of him but I don’t know if he is still there or not. Trixie will tell Ada where he is. She told Trixie why she wanted to know his address and I know she will let us hear from her right away and we will write you right away. 

Oh know I do wish we could see each other. I sure would like to see cousin Joes sons we all thought so much of cousin Joe when he was out here. 

I sure did like Uncle John Regan. He was such a good man. Papa loved him as much as he did his own brothers and Uncle Span too your papa. I have heard my papa speak of him so much. 

I waited on Dear Uncle John when he died he had Brights Desease and was sick a long time and suffered so much. I can remember just as well as if it had been a few days ago my dear Papa and mama I do get so anxious to see them sometime in the sweet bye and bye. Never to part any more. Wont that be a grand time when we all meet to part no more. Oh cousin Lizzie if we never meet in this world I believe we will know each other in heaven. We know our parents are gone there and we will all meet there. We can’t afford to not meet them there. Pray for me and mine that we may hold out faithful to the end. 

Well will close with a heart full of love thinking of you.

Write soon to your loving cousin

Sallie Hammett

P. S. I do love to get your letters. 

_________________________

People mentioned in this letter are named below. Click on the links to see more photos and more information about these family members.

Cousin Lizzie was Elizabeth Leurany Ragan and the daughter of Julius Leurany Speight and Dr. Span Regan (later changed to Ragan). Span Regan was the half-brother of Sallie's father, Tillman C. Bryan. [4]

Allie Belle Trott Frye with her
cousin James "Jim" Smylie Hammett [7]

Sallie Manning Bryan Hammett was the daughter of Tilman C. Bryan and Mildred Manning Prothro.  She married Wesley Tilman Hammett, her first cousin, and son of Robert E. Hammett and Dorothy "Dollie" Bryan Hammett. Sallie and Wesley had children Irene, Ada, James Smylie, and Eleanor Mae.[5]

Aunt Ida may have been Sallie's sister who was married to John Henry Sheffield.[6] 

Uncle Terrell was Terrell Bryan, my great-grandfather, who left Louisiana and was in Texas by 1877.  Terrell was a son of Reddick Bryan and Elizabeth S. Bryan, brother to Sallie's father, Tillman, and brother to Wesley's mother, Dorothy. He was half-brother to Lizzie's father, Span.[8]

Terrell Bryan and his wife, Harriet Albritton [9]

Sallie wrote that she last knew of Terrell being in "Austin Texas at the old soldiers home." A copy of a letter Terrell wrote from the Texas Confederate Home can be seen by clicking on this link. At the time of Sallie's letter, Terrell was living in Stephenville, Texas.[10]

Trixie Hammett [13]

Trixie Hammett was the daughter of Alice Amanda Bryan and John Regan Hammett. Alice Amanda was the daughter of Terrell Bryan and John was the brother of Sallie's husband, Wesley Tilman Hammett.[11] Trixie must have sent Terrell's address as I have a copy of a letter Terrell wrote to Lizzie that same year.[12]

Cousin Joe was Joseph Thomas Ragan, son of Span and brother to Lizzie. You can see a photo of him and learn more at Randy's Cousin Web Page.[14] 

Uncle John was John Regan, the son of Elizabeth Regan and her first husband, Joseph Regan, and brother to Span.  John and Span were very young when their mother was widowed and married Reddick Bryan. [15]

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

© 2021 

Sources 

    1. Clifford Cook Shelby and Eleanor Mae Hammett Driscoll, n.d.; digital images, 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.

    2.  Letter from Sallie Hammett, (Bienville Parish, Louisiana) to Lizzie Ragan (Bronwood, GA), 28 April 1915; digital copy held in 2021 by D. Quinn (Virginia Beach, VA). Current location of the original letter is unknown. 

    3. "Ada E. Hammett [obituary]," newspaper clipping, 1974, unidentified newspaper, from the privately-held collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Obituaries 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.

    4. Letter from E. Ragan Pruitt, (Georgia) to Cousin Diana (Diana B. Quinn), 14 April 2003; This letter containing Regan/Ragan family information is held by D. Quinn (Virginia Beach, VA) in 2021.

    5. Julia Brittain, "Ahnentafel Chart for Reddick Bryan," 1793 - 1991; supplied by J. Brittain, Cypress, Texas, 1999.

    6. Ibid.

    7. Allie Belle Trott Frye and James Smylie Hammett, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of the Frye Family, San Francisco, 2019.

    8. Terrell Bryan Family Bible Records, 1836 - 1927, The Illustrated Polyglot Household Bible (Philadelphia: G. Zeigler, McCurdy, & Co., 1870), "Family Record," privately held by Diana Bryan Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA, 2021. Also, Diana Quinn, "Ahnentafel Chart for Reddick Bryan and Elizabeth Regan," 1793 - 1991; created by D. Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA, 2004.

    9. Terrell Bryan and Harriet Albritton, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of J. McAlister, TX, 2001.

    10. Diana Bryan Quinn "Friday's Photo: Terrell Bryan's Twilight Years," blog entry, 28 July 2017, Moments in Time: A Genealogy Blog (https://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/2016/07/letter-to-lizzie-ragan-from-bryant.html : accessed 9 October 2021).

    11. Ellington, "Hammett/James Family," public tree, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/account/profile/03132af8-0000-0000-0000-000000000000?compareToTestId=68D2EDDB-2A54-4305-9626-096A711BCFA6 : accessed 21 October 2021). 

    12. Letter from Bryan, Terrell  (Stephenville, Erath County, TX) to Miss Lizzie Ragan (Terrell County, GA), 17 October 1915; copy held and sent to Diana B. Quinn in 2003 by E. Ragan Pruitt. 

    13. Trixie Hammett, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, original from the privately held photo collection of R. Warner, TX, 2001

    14. Letter from E. Ragan Pruitt, (Georgia) to Cousin Diana (Diana B. Quinn), 14 April 2003; This letter containing Regan/Ragan family information is held by D. Quinn (Virginia Beach, VA) in 2021. 

    15. Ibid.

A Letter from Sallie Bryan Hammett of Bienville Parish, Louisiana to Lizzie Ragan in Terrell County, Georgia Written in Spring 1915

I scanned this photo at the home of a cousin in Post, Texas, several years ago.
This is Wesley Hammett and Sallie Bryan and their children, Jim,
Eleanor, and Ada. [1] 

This letter and one other were sent to me by a cousin in Georgia.  They were originally copied and sent to him by E. Ragan Pruitt. [2] I love how these posts came together with photos shared by so many different families. 

This letter and others belonged to Lizzie Ragan and their location is not known at this time.  Lizzie was looking for genealogical information. Sallie Hammett wrote this letter sometime in the Spring of 1915 prior to a second letter dated April 28, 1915.

Span Regan and Questions Regarding his Name

Span Regan
1818-1875

Span Regan, the son of Elizabeth Span Regan and Joseph Regan was born on April 1, 1818. The date is well documented; however, the spelling of his name varies from Spann to Span and Regan to Ragan. It is said that Span Regan changed the spelling of his last name to Ragan. In Public and Private Trees at Ancestry.com, Span Regan along with name variations were found in over 100 trees. I found the name Span to be used in 73 trees and Spann in 55 trees. Regan was used in 82 trees, Ragan in 25 trees and the rest could not decide whether to use Regan or Ragan so used Regan/Ragan. 

Elizabeth Span Regan Bryan, 

Span's mother. I'm sure I have

written her name as Spann as

well and will need to make 

many changes. 

E. Ragan Pruitt
1922 - 2009

Deciding between Span and Spann was easy. I loved E. Ragan Pruitt's explanation for the Span/Spann confusion and wish I could undo some of my mistakes as well. Ragan, a descendant of Span Regan and a genealogical researcher who began his search for family in the  1970s, stated that it's Span (not Spann) in Span Regan's family bible and that an error was made when he (Ragan) wrote a family history. He wrote, "it has just gone the rounds - don't really know how to stop it." 

Span Regan and his birthday of April 1, 1818, is written in the transcription of his step-father's family bible. 

Span was the second of three sons; John born in 1816 and Rufus Wiley born on February 16, 1820. Rufus died just a few days before his father, Joseph Regan, in December 1820. Joseph named his sons, John and Span Regan in his will dated December 18, 1820. 

Span's mother, Elizabeth Span Regan married Reddick Bryan in 1821 in Pulaski County, Georgia. They lived in nearby Twiggs County and later settled in Houston County, Georgia

In 1836, Span Regan, John Regan, and their step-brother James Bryan were drafted into the Georgia Militia during the Creek War. In the index records, Span's name is written as Span Ragan. 

Span sold land in Coweta County, Georgia to his brother John in 1838. His name was transcribed as Span Regan. 

In the fall of 1838, the blended Bryan / Regan family left Houston County for Northwest Louisiana where they settled in what is now Bienville Parish. In a brief biography about Span Regan's son, Joseph Thomas Ragan, it is said that Span accompanied his family to Louisiana where he was employed as a school teacher before medical school.

Elizabeth Bryan wrote a letter to her son, Span Regan, in 1845. He was living in Houston County, Georgia. In 1846 Span graduated from Southern Botanico-Medical College in Macon, Georgia. The name on his diploma was Span Regan. 

The census taker wrote, Spann Ragan on the 1850 census in Lee County, Georgia. In the 1852 tax digests of the same county, his name was written as Span Regan. 

According to written family histories, Span married Julius Leurany Speight on May 1, 1856. I do not have a documented record for this marriage. 

The 1860 United States Census shows his name as Span Ragan. And, in 1863, Span Regan was named in his brother-in-law's will as his executor. Span Reagan was the name listed in the county index. 

 He is Span Regan on the Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers. Span is found in the Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869.  He signed his name as Span Regan although, in two of three sections completed by a county official, his name was written as Span Rigen. 

On December 15, 1867, in a document giving Terrell Bryan Power of Attorney, Span signed his name Span Regan. 

Span Ragan was listed with his family on the 1870 United States Census. 




Span died in 1875. Obituaries, cemetery records, and written family histories all record his last name as Ragan. Old letters, written by his wife to Joseph B. Bryan in the early 1880s, show that she signed her name as Ragan. And, Ragan is the surname used by his children and their descendants. 

I've always wondered why Span Regan changed his name to Ragan. Now, I don't believe he did.



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

© 2020








Sources

Ancestry.com. U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865

Ancestry.com. U.S. Army Indian Campaign Service Records Index, 1815-1858

Ancestry.com. Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869

Ancestry.com. Georgia, Property Tax Digests, 1793-1893

Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census

Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census

Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census

Ancestry.com. Pubic Member Trees

"A History of Savannah and South Georgia - William Harden."  Google Books https://books.google.com/books/about/A_History_of_Savannah_and_South_Georgia.html?id=zv9HAQAAMAAJ. Accessed 15 Mar. 2020.

Family photographs and documents from the collection E. Ragan Pruitt. Used with permission. 

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

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.

The transcription of the Reddick Bryan Bible was found at the DAR library in Washington DC by Diana Bryan Quinn on July 7, 2010.  This bible record was submitted in 1950 and found in Louisiana Bible Records (1950), Louisiana DARGRC report S1v25. These records were submitted by Mrs. John Newton Pharr of the New Iberia Chapter of the DAR. 

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