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- Georgia Marriages, 1699-1944 Not sure who this is.
Name: Absolom Gray
Spouse: Sarah Mathews
Marriage Date: 23 Dec 1829
County: Fayette
State: Georgia
1850 United States Federal Census
Name: A Gray (Absolom)
Age: 47
Birth Year: abt 1803
Birthplace: North Carolina
Home in 1850: District 68, Pike, Georgia
Gender: Male
Family Number: 1246
Household Members:
Name Age
A Gray 47 w. m. b. NC (Absolom)
M F Gray 35 w. f. b. NC (Mary F.)
J T Gray 16 w. m. b. GA (James T.)
M J E Gray 13 w. f. b. GA (Mary J. E.)
F A Gray 11 w. f. (?) b. GA (Francis A.)
Sarah Gray 1 w. f. b. GA
1860 United States Federal Census
Name: Abraham Gray
[Absalom Gray]
Age in 1860: 56
Birth Year: abt 1804
Birthplace: North Carolina
Home in 1860: District 1001, Spalding, Georgia
Gender: Male
Post Office: Griffin
Household Members:
Name Age
Abraham Gray 56 m. b. NC Merchant
Mary F Gray 45 f. b. NC
Mary J E Gray 21 f. b. GA
Francis A Grayer 18 m. b. GA
(James T. living next door with wife, Laura, and daughter, Estelle.)
CHILDREN OF JOSEPH AND ELIZABETH (WILLIAMS) GRAY
By Joseph Henry Hightower Moore
1998/2008
ADDENDUM TO GRAY HISTORY BY ALFRED L. HOLMAN
(This is an addendum to postings #9067, 9069, and 9070, giving the Gray History by Alfred L. Holman, being an account of the Grays of Augusta/Rockbridge County, VA, Tryon/Rutherford County, NC, and Wilkes and Monroe Counties, GA.)
1. Absalom Gray (1803-ca.1865) married first in Fayette County, Georgia, 23 December 1829, Sarah Matthews (b.1800-1810-d. by 1834); and second, probably in Meriwether County, Georgia, ca.1834, Mary F. (ca.1815-ca.1865). Absalom Gray first settled in Meriwether County, where he appears in the 1830 and 1840 Censuses. Soon after 1840 he moved to the new town of Griffin, Spalding County, Georgia, where he was a prosperous merchant and owner of the mercantile firm of A. Gray & Company. He was a strong Methodist and was a founding trustee of the Griffin (Methodist) Female College in 1845, and continued as a trustee until he moved from Griffin late in his life. In 1864, as the Union army began its invasion of Georgia, the Grays were among a group of Griffin families who were refugees to the neighborhood of Troy in Pike County, Alabama. They remained there until Absalom Gray’s death some time near the end of the war. It appears that by 1867, neither Absalom nor his wife Mary, nor any of their children, were still living. Only one granddaughter, Laura Estelle Gray, is known to have survived the family’s war experience (see below).
Children of Absalom Gray, all born to his second wife Mary: (1) James Thomas Gray (ca.1835–ca.1862), stated by descendants to have been John Thomas Gray, but his name appears in records consistently as James, evidently died in Confederate service. He married in Spalding County, Georgia, 10 July 1855, Laura Morton Leslie (ca.1836-1867), and had one daughter, Laura Estelle Gray (4 March 1859–1942), who was brought up in the family of her grandaunt and uncle Alston and Annie (Gray) Harris in Henry County, Georgia.
EstelleS married in Henry County, 2 October 1884, James Wiley Brannan (1859-1919). (See Patricia Branan Austin, “Branan/Brannan,” and Robert Earl Brannan, Jr., “Brannan,” in Joseph Henry Hightower Moore, ed., First Families of Henry County, Georgia [Alpharetta, Ga.: W. H. Wolfe Associates, 1993], pp.76-82.)
(2) Mary Jane E. Gray (ca.1839–post 1860), age 21 in the Spalding County, Georgia, 1860 Census in the Absalom Gray household; no further record, presumed to have died.
(3) Francis A. Gray (b. ca.1842), age 18 in the 1860 Spalding County Census; no further record, presumed to have died in the Confederate War.
(4) Queen Gray, given in a list of Absalom Gray’s children compiled by descendants of his siblings and attached to Alfred L. Holman’s “Gray History.” This child was apparently not listed in the 1860 Spalding County Census, and is presumed to have died young, although “Queen” may have been a nickname for Mary Jane E. Gray. It is unlikely to have been a formal given name. (See research of Joseph H. H. Moore drawn largely from the records of Griffin and Spalding County, Georgia, and from Quimby Melton, Jr., History of Griffin, 1840-1900 [Griffin: Griffin Daily News, 1959], and History of Griffin, 1840-1940 [Griffin: Hometown Press, 1996].)
2. Ambrose Williams Gray, (5 May 1805-18 September 1867), married 13 December 1832, probably in Meriwether County, Georgia, Sarah Collier Hodnett (11 May 1814-12 February 1907), daughter of John Wyatt and Elizabeth (Tigner) Hodnett of Jasper and Meriwether Counties, and grand-daughter of Benjamin and Betsy (Collier) Hodnett of Virginia and Jasper County, Georgia. (See Mary Glover Thompson, “Benjamin Hodnett,” in Jasper County Historical Foundation, Inc., History of Jasper County, Georgia, 1984, pp. 206-207; and Ruth Hodnett Pendergrast, “Hodnett,” in Alice Copeland Kilgore, Edith Hanes Smith and Frances Partridge Tuck, eds., A History of Clayton County, Georgia, [Roswell, Ga., W. H. Wolfe Associates, 1983], pp. 293-295. See also accounts of the Gray and Burch families in Carolyn C. Cary, ed., History of Fayette County, 1977, and Joseph Henry Hightower Moore, “Ambrose Williams Gray,” in The Fayette County, Georgia, Heritage Book [Waynesville, N.C.: Walsworth Publishing Co., copyright Fayette County Historical Society, Inc., 2003], pp. 80-81.) Ambrose and Sarah (Hodnett) Gray first settled in Meriwether County, Georgia, where they are found in the Census of 1840 and where members of both their families were then living. In 1849 they moved to Henry County, where Ambrose Gray assembled a plantation west of the present town of Hampton, where Tara Field (Clayton County Airport) is now located. They sold this place in 1851 and moved to a plantation in Fayette County, between the communities of Inman and Woolsey. Ambrose Gray was a wealthy planter and a trustee of Liberty Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church at Inman.
Children: (1) Son, born dead. (2) Martha Elizabeth Gray (24 November 1834-13 November 1879), married Pleasant Wade Merritt (20 September 1827-8 March 1906), son of Henry Merritt, a wealthy planter of Henry County. (3) Sarah Caroline Gray (9 August 1838–18 May 1879), married 12 October 1858, Col. Quintus Cincinnatus Grice (18 March 1830–23 June 1915), named for his kinsman, the Honorable Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar. Colonel Grice was a son of Garry and Nancy Ann (Lamar) Grice of Henry, Spalding, and Fayette Counties. Quintus and Caroline (Gray) Grice lived at Inman, Fayette County, and in Jonesboro and Fairburn, Georgia, where he practiced law. (4) Mary Ellen “Ella” Gray (1850-1934), married 15 December 1868, Col. Charles Wesley Hodnett (24 December 1848–11 August 1898), her first cousin, son of Dr. Wesley Forbush and Caroline (Goodnall) Hodnett. Col. Charles Wesley Hodnett practiced law in Jonesboro, and for a time in Hampton, Henry County, and in Riverdale, Clayton County. (5) Ida Tigner Gray (27 December 1854–8 March 1926), married 22 September 1881, John Thomas Burch (10 July 1854–16 October 1931), son of William Henry and Frances Aurelia (Rowe) Burch of Monroe and Harris Counties, Georgia. The Burches lived in Fayette County (grandsons included Robert J. Burch, 1925-2007, of Fayetteville, popular author of juvenile books, and James G. “Jim” Minter of Inman, Fayette County, former managing editor of the Atlanta Journal/Constitution newspapers).
3. Ann Williams Gray (29 March 1807–5 April. 1888), married in Monroe County, Georgia, 6 December 1827, Alston Green Harris (12 January 1806–17 October 1896), son of Nelson and Nancy (Long) Harris of Greene and Hancock Counties, Georgia, grandson of Matthew and Mary (Morris) Harris, natives of Isle of Wight County, Virginia, who had moved to Granville (now Warren) County, North Carolina, and of Drury and Sarah (Green) Long of Halifax and Warren Counties, North Carolina. The Harrises belonged to the large family connection known as the Granville County Harrises of North Carolina, and previously the Isle of Wight Harrises of Virginia. (See John A. Brayton, The Five Thomas Harrises of Isle of Wight County, Virginia [Winston Salem, N.C.: privately published, 1995]. See also Robert E. Harris, From Essex, England, to the Sunny Southern USA: A Harris Family Journey [Atlanta: Genealogical Press, 1994]. The Longs, Greens, and their close connections (including in this direct line the Tomlin, Turner, Birchet, Lundy and allied families) were early landowners in the James River area of Virginia.
Alston and Ann (Gray) Harris first settled near Macon in Bibb County, Georgia. After a few years they moved to northwest Upson County and settled at the place where White Oak Creek enters the Flint River. In 1833 they moved over the Flint River into Meriwether County, and in 1852 they moved to their final home in Henry County, at the plantation called Big Springs northwest of McDonough near the later village of Flippen. The Harrises were devout members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and his obituary in 1896 stated that Alston had first joined the Methodist Church under the ministry of the Reverend Jeremiah Norman in Monroe County in the spring of 1827. The family for many years belonged to old Zoar Methodist Episcopal Church in Henry County, and they maintained a tent at Shingleroof Methodist Campground north of McDonough. Alston Harris’s obituary in the Griffin newspapers stated that “His home was always the preacher’s home.” He was a trustee of the Zoar Academy which was established in connection with the church about 1857. (See “Gray” in Joseph Henry Hightower Moore, ed., First Families of Henry County, Georgia, 1993, pp. 287-289, and “Harris of McDonough,” same volume, pp. 315-322.)
Children: (1) Joseph Nelson Harris (5 September 1828–28 Mar. 1900) Griffin pharmacist and merchant, locally known as Dr. J. N. Harris, married in Spalding County, 2 September 1856, Mary Adaline Andrews (10 October 1838–26 March 1921), daughter of Jacob Woodson and Mary (Thompson) Andrews of Orchard Hill plantation southeast of Griffin in the community that now bears that name. (2) James Alston Harris (22 March 1830–6 March 1836). (3) Seaborn Drury Harris (25 April 1838–2 January 1863), moved to Greenwood, Jackson County, Florida, where his aunt and uncle, Charles N. and Eva (Gray) Hartsfield, were living. He died in Confederate service, unmarried. (4) Matilda Ann Harris (4 November 1843–2 June 1931) married 2 November 1865, James Osgood Andrew Hightower (5 May 1845–7 July 1922), son of James Calhoun and Manervia Ann (Armstrong) Hightower, faithful members of Liberty Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church in Fayette County. James and Matilda (Harris) Hightower settled in Jonesboro, Clayton County, Georgia. (See Joseph Henry Hightower Moore, “Hightower,” in The History of Clayton County, Georgia [Roswell, Ga.: W. H. Wolfe Associates, 1983], pp. 285-291. The present writer is a great-grandson of James and Matilda [Harris] Hightower.) (5) Elizabeth Williams Harris (8 February1845–25 February 1920) married in Henry County, 11 October1866, John W. Rountree (8 April 1846–14 December 1916), son of James and Martha (Long) Rountree of Henry County, and lived near Flippen in Henry County. (6) Judge Absalom Guilford Harris (15 March 1847– 1 March 1943) married in Monroe County, Georgia, 22 September 1870, Helen Ophelia Burch (1 August 1852–22 August 1928), daughter of William Henry and Frances Aurelia (Rowe) Burch of Troup and Harris Counties, Georgia. Judge Harris was many years Ordinary of Henry County and was the county’s last living Confederate veteran, having risen late in his life to the office of Commander of the Georgia Division, United Confederate Veterans, whereby he was known as General Harris. He represented the United Confederate Veterans at the lighting of the Eternal Flame at the Gettysburg Battlefield, Pennsylvania, in 1938, and at the world premier of the film Gone With the Wind in Atlanta in 1939. (7) Sarah Frances Harris (28 October 1849–1 June 1918), married in Henry County, 9 November 1871, Manson D. Rountree (25 August 1848–4 October 1908), brother of John W. Rountree, and lived near Flippen, Henry County.
4. Martha Gray (22 August 1809-6 November 1892) married in Monroe County, Georgia, 6 December 1827, Simeon Clower (5 March 1805-1835), son of Thomas Clower (1780-1855) of Monroe County and later of Alabama. Simeon and Martha (Gray) Clower lived near present Hampton in Henry County. After his death Martha Clower lived with her children in Coweta County, Georgia. (See James Otis Rogers, Jr., and Martha Virginia Rogers Fall, “Simeon Clower and Martha Gray,” “John Selfridge and Millie Terrell Daily,” and “Simeon Clower Selfridge and Frances Ellen Elizabeth Everett,” in Joseph Henry Hightower Moore, ed., First Families of Henry County, Georgia, 1993, pp. 230-132 [Clower], and 602-606 [Selfridge].)
Children: (1) Samuel T. Clower (1828-11 November 1857) married in Coweta County, 21 July 1851, Drusilla Catherine Addy (24 March 1834-5 October 1861), daughter of Jacob and Mary (Rall) Addy of Haralson, Coweta County, where they were early members of Mt. Pilgrim Lutheran Church. Samuel T. Clower was a school teacher. His widow married second, Jonathan P. Milner of Griffin, and was one of his five wives who died in or soon after childbirth, all buried in a row in the J. P. Milner lot in Oak Hill Cemetery (Griffin City Cemetery). (2) Joseph Gray Clower (1830-17 September 1869) married in Spalding County, 23 March 1853, Ellen P. Turnipseed (5 September 1832-13 September 1908), daughter of David and Frances (Dubard) Turnipseed of Spalding County. Joseph and Ellen (Turnipseed) Clower lived west of Hampton, Henry County, near Mt. Pleasant M.E. Church, and left local descendants. (3) Mary Ann Bryant Clower (15 December 1831-23 March 1832). (4) Elizabeth Williams Clower (29 January 1833-28 April 1904) married 16 November 1854, David Selfridge (31 March 1829-16 March 1885) and lived in northern Henry County, where they left many descendants. (5) Sarah Jane Clower (14 January 1835-5 January 1903) married first, 22 December 1859, Simeon J. Bernhard (b.ca.1830-d. CSA), son of Jacob and Esther (Lites) Bernhard, who were wealthy planters of Henry County, and members of Mt. Pilgrim Lutheran Church at Haralson, Coweta, County. Sarah Jane (Clower) Bernhard married second, 8 August 1872, Dr. Benjamin F. Hodnett (11 February 1830-28 November 1912), son of William Collier and Caroline (Finley) Hodnett of Troup County, Georgia, and lived in Senoia, Coweta County. Sarah’s mother Martha (Gray) Clower lived her last years in the Hodnett household.
5. Davis Gray (17 January 1812-21 April 1878) married in 1839, Media (Leslie) Jones (4 October 1815-21 April 1874), daughter of Thomas and Catherine (Thornton) Leslie of Wilkes County, Georgia. (The writer assumes that Media [Leslie] Jones was a relative of Laura Morton Leslie of Pike County, Georgia, who married Davis Gray’s nephew James T. Gray, given above under #1 Absalom Gray.) Davis Gray lived in Monroe and Harris Counties, Georgia, and in 1856 moved to Greenwood, Jackson County, Florida, where his sister and brother-in-law, Charles N. and Frances Eva (Gray) Hartsfield, were living. He served in the Confederate War in the Greenwood Home Guard of the Jackson County Militia and fought in the Battle of Marianna, Florida, 2 October 1864. (For the Davis Gray family, see Eleanor Blake Dunson, The Dunson Family in the South (Also Rogers, Adams, & Gray) [Atlanta: privately published, 1960], pp. 108-112. This work gives the wrong lineage for the ancestry of Joseph Gray of Monroe County, Georgia, but is reliable in its data on Joseph Gray’s descendants.)
Children of Davis and Media [Leslie] Jones Gray: (1) Mary Ann Gray (b.1840). (2) Sara Catherine Gray (b.1842), died in Tennessee. (3) Elizabeth Williams Gray (b.1844). (4) William Varnum Gray (7 January 1847-14 August 1921) married 20 December 1876, Ella Willis Render (3 February 1851-16 June 1923), daughter of Robert Leback to Georgia from Florida and settled in LaGrange, Troup County, where he was a merchant and became one of the founders of the LaGrange Cotton Oil and Manufacturing Company, which in 1888 became the LaGrange Textile Mills. His home in LaGrange was the historic antebellum Frost-Gray house, one of the city’s fine Greek revival structures. (See William H. Davidson, Pine Log and Greek Revival [Alexander City, Ala.: Outlook Publishing Company, 1964], p. 101; and D. Gregory Jeane and Douglas Clare Purcell, eds., The Architectural Legacy of the Lower Chattahoochee Valley in Alabama and Georgia [University, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 1978], pp. 78-81.) (5) Frances Leslie Gray (b.1849) married Mr. Barclay and moved to Colorado. (6) Laura Gray (b.1851). (7) Alice Florence Gray (b. 1853) married Mr. Turner and moved to Tennessee. (8) Joseph Absolom Gray (b.1856) moved to Tennessee. (9) Felix Davis Gray (b.1859). (10) Lula Jackson Gray (b.1862).wis and Elizabeth Harris (Anderson) Render of Wilkes and Meriwether Counties, Georgia. In 1866, W. V. Gray, after service in the Confederate War, moved
6. Sarah Elizabeth Gray (b.1816) married 1 February 1838, Joseph George Washington Howard (d. 26 September 1878), son of Joseph and Amelia (Howard) Howard of Monroe County, Georgia, and first cousin of Eliza Howard who married Elizabeth’s brother Joseph Gray, Jr. Joseph and Elizabeth (Gray) Howard moved to near Cartersville, Bartow County, Georgia, and later to Gadsden, Etowah County, Alabama. (See records of Mary Scott and postings on Howard Genealogy Forum at Genealogy.com.)
Children: (1) Joseph Howard, evidently died young, possibly in CSA. (2) Edmond Davis “Bud” Howard (11 March 1848-5 December 1919), married Julia Idella Dysart (8 July 1851-8 June 1921), daughter of Joseph Lowery and Sarah Elizabeth (Upshaw) Dysart. They moved to Hubbard (now extinct), near Safford, Graham County, Arizona, north of the Gila River, being early residents there, and left descendants in that area. This family is buried in the Hubbard Cemetery, Graham County, Arizona.
7. Matilda Gray (1820-1900) married in Monroe County, 6 December 1838, Matthew P. Harris (1810-1903), brother of Alston Green Harris (see #3 above). They lived in Meriwether County, Georgia, in 1850, and in Upson County, Georgia, by 1860, and until shortly after 1880, when they moved to Caddo, Stephens County, Texas, where their son Joseph L. Harris had settled. Matilda and Matthew Harris both died in Stephens County, Texas. (See Harris sources as referenced in #3 above, Ann Williams [Gray] Harris, especially as referenced to Robert E. Harris, A Harris Family Journey, 1994, pp. 838-848.)
The children of Matthew and Matilda (Gray) Harris were: (1) Ann Elizabeth Harris (b.1840) married in Upson County, Georgia, 26 December 1860, Robert Colquitt. (2) Davis W. Harris (b.1841). (3) James H. Harris (20 January 1844-26 April 1902) married in Upson County, 23 November 1879, Georgia Ann Burgess (b.1859). They made their home in Upson County. (4) Joseph L. Harris (30 December 1845-24 June 1943) married in Upson County, 22 December1872, Caroline M. Pierce (1851-ca.1890). Sometime between 1878 and 1880 Joseph and Caroline Harris left Upson County and moved to Caddo, Stephens County, Texas. Other Harrises, including his parents, later joined them in this move. In old age Joseph L. Harris moved to Weatherford, Tex. to live with his daughter there. (5) Martha F. Harris (b.1848). (6) Mary J. Harris (b.1850). (7) Richard P. Harris (b. November 1852) moved to Stephens County, Texas, by 1880, and married there, 26 September 1906, Annie E. Thomas (b. ca.1877). (8) P. K. Harris (b. 1854), a daughter. (9) Cordelia P. Harris (b. 1856) married in Stephens County, Texas, 5 July 1885, J. D. Childs. (10) Clara Harris (b. 1860) married in Upson County, Georgia, 7 October 1874, Josiah S. Freeman.
8. Joseph Gray, Jr., (10 December 1821-7 December 1899) married in Monroe County, Georgia, 12 December 1844, Elizabeth Amelia “Eliza” Howard (12 August 1831-18 March 1889), daughter of Joseph and Eleanor (Shi) Howard and first cousin of Joseph G. W. Howard, who married Joseph Gray’s sister Elizabeth (see #7 above). Joseph and Eliza (Howard) Gray made their home at the old Joseph Gray, Sr., plantation near Bolingbroke, Monroe County. (See Alfred L. Holman, “Gray History,” and records of the late Shi Gray Holmes, Zebulon, Georgia. Mr. Holmes, who was for some years Clerk of the Pike County Superior Court, had accounts pertaining to the Holmes, Mitchell, Harris, Williams, Gray, Hollis, Howard, Shi, Pennington, Harwell, Tyler, Ashburn, Denson, Milner, Jordan, Singleton, Gwyn, Davis, Aiken, Chapman, Beckham, Carriker, Pilkenton, and Lee families all recorded in Deed Book 58, Office of the Clerk of the Superior Court, Pike County Court House, Zebulon, Georgia, under date of 29 March 1975.) Children: (1) Dr. Samuel Shi Howard Gray (10 January 1846-31 August 1885), served in the Confederate Army in Virginia at age 16, and an 1868 graduate of the Georgia Medical College in Augusta, married in 1872, Lula Hollis (30 October 1857-4 May 1942). He died in Barnesville, Lamar County, Georgia. A grandson was the late family historian Shi Gray Holmes of Zebulon, Georgia. (2) The Reverend John Davis Gray (11 May 1852-21 February 1887), known as Davis Gray, married in Newton County, Georgia, 16 December 1875, Sarah Cornelia Burge (11 December 1855-8 June 1892), daughter of Thomas Burge of Burge Plantation near Mansfield, Newton County, and his second wife, Dorothy “Dolly” Sumner (Lunt) Lewis. (See James I. Robertson, ed., The Diary of Dolly Lunt Burge [Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1962]. See also Medora Field Perkerson, White Columns in Georgia, New York, Rinehart & Co., Incorporated, 1952, chapters 3 and 4.) The Reverend Davis Gray was a Methodist minister in the South Georgia and Florida Conferences and was the youngest Presiding Elder in the conference. Both he and Sarah (Burge) Gray died in Hawthorne, Florida, but are buried in Oxford, Newton County, Georgia. Descendants (members of the Usher, Bolton, and Morehouse families) now live in Covington, Georgia, and at Burge Plantation. (3) Dr. James Gray. (4) Florence Emma Gray, married ca.1888, Joseph James Singleton III (1 December 1857-10 October 1927), a native of Dahlonega, Georgia, who graduated in 1878 from Emory College, Oxford, Georgia, and lived in Arcadia and Fort Mead, Florida. (5) Sarah Frances Gray (24 July 1859-20 February 1918) married in Monroe County, 15 December 1880, Dr. Thomas Baldwin Hollis (15 December 1855-11 March 1901). They were married at the Gray plantation near Bolingbroke, the ceremony performed by her brother, the Reverend Davis Gray, and made their home in Forsyth, Monroe County, Georgia. Present descendants include the Hollises of Newnan, Coweta County, Georgia. (Mention of the historic Newnan house owned by the Edgar Baldwin Hollises is found in Perkerson, White Columns in Georgia, cited above, p. 314.)
9. Frances Eva Gray (1828-post 1870) married 10 October, 1844, Monroe County, Charles N. Hartsfield (ca.1825-ante 1870), son of William S. and Pelletiah (McLeroy) Hartsfield of Oglethorpe and Harris Counties, Georgia, and Greenwood, Jackson County, Florida, where they moved late in life. (For early Hartsfield ancestry, see Nell Hartsfield Clover, The Hartsfields of America [Tyler, Tex.: privately published]. See also Hartsfield Genealogy Forum at Genealogy.com, and records and postings of Eric Hartsfield and Lee Carlson.) Charles and Eva (Gray) Hartsfield lived in Harris and Muscogee Counties, Georgia, and moved by 1854 to Greenwood, Jackson County, Florida. A letter written by their nephew Seaborn D. Harris (see under #3, Ann [Williams] Gray Harris), dated at Camp Hunt near Jacksonville, Florida, 3 May 1862, to his brother Joseph N. Harris, Griffin, Georgia, states: “I got letters from home [Jackson County, Fla.] yesterday. Uncle C. [Charles Hartsfield] had to trot from St. Andrews – the Yankees got too close after him. He is almost pegged out. I would like to see him again before he dies.” The reference to St. Andrews is no doubt to St. Andrews Bay at Panama City, Florida. (Ironically, it was Seaborn Harris who died first, on 2 January 1863, when he was killed in the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.) A later mention in the same letter of “Coz. Francina” and her unnamed baby was no doubt a reference to Frances Eva (Gray) Hartsfield, whom Seaborn Harris called “Coz. Francina” rather than “Aunt,” probably due to her being younger than her siblings and only ten years older than Seaborn. The unnamed baby in May, 1862, was the child later called Robert, born ca. 1861. (Although Seaborn Harris’s uncle Davis Gray, #5 above, of Greenwood, Jackson County, Florida, had a daughter named Frances, who was thirteen in 1862, her age makes it clear that she was not the “Coz. Francina” of this letter.)
Children: (1) Pelletiah “Polly” Hartsfield (b.ca.1847); (2) Henry M. (McLeroy?) Hartsfield (b.ca. 1848); (3) William Richardson Hartsfield (ca.1850-13 November 1898), married 23 February 1887, Marianna, Florida, Charlotte Marie (Daffin) Pittman; (4) Joseph D. (Davis?) Hartsfield (b. September 1852), married first, 2 May 1876, Jackson County, Florida, Josephine E. Pooser, second, 28 February 1888, same place, Hettie Pooser; (5) Charles G. (Gray?) Hartsfield (b.ca.1854); (6) Frances Hartsfield (b.ca.1857); and (7) Robert Hartsfield (b.ca.1861).
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Abt 1803 - 1865 (62 years)