Rev. 1 May 2014, Gen. 156

 

DESCENDANTS OF JOSEPH GREAVES AND MARY BENNETT

OF ENGLAND & SOUTH CAROLINA

 

 

See the Appendices at the end of this genealogy.

 

GENERATION 1

 

Joseph Greaves (1) may have been born about 1710-1720, probably in England.  He married Mary Bennett on 29 April 1743 in Prince Frederick Parish, Marion District, SC.  It is not proven that this is the same Joseph who was the father of the Joseph Greaves who served in the American Revolution, but it is likely that is so.  Note that a grandson was named Bennett Greaves.  (R‑5, R‑7)

Children - Greaves

+2.  Joseph Greaves, b. 9 Feb. 1744, m. Rebecka Evans.

  3.  Elizabeth Greaves, b. 12 Jan. 1745.

+4.  John Greaves,b.c. 1746, m. ‑‑‑‑‑‑, d. 3 March 1808.

  5.  Francis Greaves, b.c. 1747.  Capt. during the Rev. War.

  6.  Mary Greaves, b. 27 Nov. 17‑‑.

  7.  James Greaves

 

 

GENERATION 2

 

CHILDREN OF JOSEPH GREAVES (1) AND MARY BENNETT

Joseph Greaves (2) was born 9 Feb. 1744 in Prince Frederick Parish, BrittonÕs Neck, Marion District, SC, and probably died between 1790 and 1810 in Marion District, SC.  He married Rebecka Evans.  They lived in BrittonÕs Neck, SC.  He was a captain during the Revolutionary War.  All their children were born in Prince Frederick Parish, Marion Dist., SC.  (R‑5, R‑7)

Children - Greaves

+8.  Joseph Greaves, b.c. 1777, m. Mary (probably Baker or Blythe), d. 6 Dec. 1829.

+9.  Francis Greaves, b.c. 1783, m. Mary Alice Gause, d. 1 Jan. 1839.

+10.  Bennett Greaves, b. 26 April 1785, m. Rachel R. Davis, 16 Feb. 1811, d. 1849.

+11.  Mary Ann Greaves, b.c. 1786, m. Francis Allison, 12 Nov. 1805.

 

John Greaves (4) was born about 1746 in Marion District, SC, and died 3 March 1808 in Marion District, SC.  His name may have been William John Greaves.  He married Charity ‑‑‑‑‑‑.  He served under Capt. Joseph Greaves as a private during the Revolutionary War.  (R‑5, R‑7)

Children - Greaves

+12.  William Henry Greaves, b.c. 1772, m. Elizabeth Davis, d.c. 1834.

  13.  Susannah Greaves, b.c. 1775.

+14.  Sarah Greaves, b.c. 1778, m(1) James C. Johnson, m(2) Henry F. Williams, d. 11 May 1874.

+15.  Elizabeth Greaves, b. March 1793 (?), m. Francis Johnson, c. 1810, d. 16 Sept. 1819.

 

 

GENERATION 3

 

CHILDREN OF JOSEPH GREAVES (2) AND REBECKA EVANS

Joseph Greaves (8) was born about 1777 in Prince Frederick Parish, Marion District, SC, and died 6 Dec. 1829 in Georgetown, SC.  He married Mary B. (probably either Baker or Blythe).  A questionnaire filled out by his grandson, Clarence B. Greaves, stated that Joseph came from England and fought "throughout the Revolution with Marion's brigade."  Clarence's son, Harry B. Greaves, obtained a collection of documents from the National and South Carolina Archives concerning military service by Joseph.  He also received an intriguing collection of documents concerning horses, money and various supplies provided to the Continental Army by Joseph, William, Francis and John Greaves.  These men signed each other's documents as witnesses, etc., so they were probably related and/or lived near each other.  These documents are summarized in Appendix A.

Family tradition has it that Joseph B. killed a man in a duel in the 1830's and that his children moved to Mississippi about 1840.  The descendants have a copy of his will dated 1829, but do not know where or when he died.  (See Appendix B for this will, plus that of the abovementioned William Greaves.)

There is a family story that the Greaveses were loyalists who immigrated during the time of Oliver Cromwell along with some relatives named Cromwell who changed their name to Crowell because they were embarrassed to be connected with Oliver.

According to Harry B. Greaves (R‑3), "Many years ago a group of families, all related, left England and came to the new world.  Most of them settled in the Carolinas, and many of this group later moved to Mississippi and made new homes in Hinds and Madison counties.  The family names that come to mind as being closely or distantly related are: Greaves, Goodloe, Jiggitts, Dinkins, Riddick, Durphrey, Decatur, Thompson, Wailes, and Crowell (Cromwell with the M eliminated)."

Based on name similarity and living in the same areas, it was previously thought that Joseph was a cousin of Joseph Decatur Greaves, and that Jonathan Greaves (genealogy 18) was his uncle.  However, DNA testing has shown that is not correct and that Jonathan Greaves was part of a different Greaves/Graves family.

According to family records, son S.A.D. Greaves was born in 1817 in Sumter Co., SC, and son William Francis Greaves was born in 1824 near Charleston, SC.  However, neither the 1810 nor 1830 censuses show any Greaves or Graves family in either of these counties.  Instead, it appears that they lived in Marion Co. (north of Charleston Co. and east of Sumter Co.).  Also, based on the will of Joseph Greaves being written in 1829 and his not being listed in the 1830 SC census, he probably died in 1829 in Marion Co., SC.  It is possible that Joseph was living with one of his children in 1830; however, this seems unlikely, since Mary Greaves (probably his widow) was listed as head of household in Marion Co. in 1830.

The SC census indexes have been checked for 1790, 1810, 1830, and 1850.  It should be noted that the spellings Graves and Greaves were used interchangeably in these records.  The following lists (listing name of head of household, county of residence, and census page) show all the Greaves families in those records, plus all the Graves families living in Marion Co., and any other Graves families which seem possibly connected.

            1790 census

Francis Greaves          Prince Georges Par., Georgetown Dist.

John Greaves                          "                                  "

Joseph Greaves                       "                                  "

Lewis Greaves                        Laurens Co., Ninety-Six Dist.

Richard Greaves          Cheraw Dist.

 

James Graves              Prince Georges Par., Georgetown Dist.

Thomas Graves                       "                                  "

 

            1810 census:

Charles Greaves          Beaufort          p. 135

Peter Greaves              Colleton              315

 

Archibald Graves        Marion               84

Bennett Graves               "                    80

Francis Graves                "                    85

Hardy Graves                 "                    82

Henry William Graves     "                    84

John Graves                    "                    83

Joseph Graves                            "                    85

Sarah Graves                   "                    78

Stephen Graves               "                    84

William Graves           Lancaster             3

 

            1830 census:

Bennet Greaves           Marion              19

Francis Greaves              "                    19

Mary Greaves                 "                    19

William Greaves              "                    19

 

William Graves               "                    20

Charles Graves            Charleston          90

Charles Graves                "                   170

Emeline Graves               "                   133

John Graves                Orangeburg        40

Joseph Graves                            "                     41

Peter Graves               Georgetown     214

 

            1850 census:

no Greaves

Archibald Graves        Marion               81

William Graves               "                     81

 

Of the Greaves men listed in the Revolutionary War papers (Joseph, William, Francis, and John), all of them may be included in the 1810 census.  It looks as if both John and Joseph died by 1830.  Who were Archibald, Bennett, and Stephen, and were they related to Joseph and the others?  (R‑1)

Children - Greaves

  16.  Major) John Madison Greaves, b. 7 Feb. 1803, never married.  He had a plantation, "Sub Rosa", south of Pocahantas, MS.  He moved to California.  For further information, see Appendix D at the end of this genealogy and the nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places.

+17.  Joseph Blythe Greaves, b. 10 May 1808, m. Priscilla Dupree.

  18.  Mary Jane Greaves, b.c. 1811.  She remained in SC with her parents.

+19.  Charlotte C. Greaves, b.c. 1813, m. George Stokes.

+20.  Stephen Arne Decatur Greaves, b. 30 Jan. 1817, m(1) Sarah Anna Frances Lowe, m(2) Jennie Battley, d. 17 Nov. 1880.

+21.  Araminta D. Greaves, b.c. 1820, m. R. C. Cowan.

+22.  William Francis Greaves, b. 19 Feb. 1824, m(1) Eleanor Matilda Dupree, 6 Dec. 1854, m(2) Lucilla Hulme, 14 Nov. 1875.

 

Francis (ÒFrankÓ) Greaves (9) was born about 1783 in Marion District, SC, and died 1 Jan. 1839 at age 56 in Haywood Co., TN.  He married Mary Alice Gause (or Mary Paisley).  (R‑5)

Children - Greaves

+23.  Amanda Malvinia Fitzallen Greaves, b. 14 Nov. 1807, m(1) Thomas Gerald Rice, m(2) ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Fitzallen, m(3) ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Brown, d. 12 Dec. 1894.

+24.  Rebecca Greaves, m. Benjamin Huger Capers.

 

Bennett Greaves (10) was born 26 April 1785 in Marion District, SC, and died in 1849 in Haywood Co., TN.  He married Rachel R. Davis, daughter of Benjamin Davis, Jr., on 16 Feb. 1811 in Marion Co., SC.  She was born about 1793 in SC.  All their children were born in Marion Co., SC.  In the 1860 census for District 15, Haywood Co., TN, page 500, she was living with her son Andrew.  (R‑5)

Children - Greaves

  25.  William Leonard Greaves, b. 20 Jan. 1812, died in infancy.

+26.  Edwin Augustus Greaves, b. 28 Sept. 1814, m. Emily F. Davis, d.c. 1880.

+27.  Andrew Jackson Greaves, b. 25 March 1816, m. Sophronia ‑‑‑‑‑‑, d. 7 April 1869.

+28.  Ann Belum Greaves, b. 23 Jan. 1818, m. David M. Henning, 10 Dec. 1840, d. 1878.

  29.  Francis Bennett Greaves, b. 19 March 1822, died in infancy.

+30.  Sarah Adelaide Greaves, b.c. 1830, m. William J. Shaw.

 

Mary Ann Greaves (11) was born about 1786.  She married Francis Allison on 12 Nov. 1805 in Marion District, SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Allison

  31.  James Allison

  32.  Frances Allison

 

CHILDREN OF JOHN GREAVES (4) AND CHARITY ------

William Henry Greaves (12) was born about 1772 and died about 1834.  He married Elizabeth Davis (or Elisabeth McWhite).  (R‑7)

Children - Greaves

  33.  Margaret Elisabeth Greaves Davis (?)

 

Sarah Greaves (14) was born about 1778 and died 11 May 1874, both in BrittonÕs Neck, Marion District, SC.  She first married James C. Johnson, son of William Johnson and Celia ‑‑‑‑‑‑.  He was born about 1782 in Marion Co., SC, and died 19 Jan. 1817 in BrittonÕs Neck, Marion Co., SC.  She married second Henry F. Williams.  All her children were born in Marion Co., SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Johnson

+34.  Caroline Matilda Johnson, b. 17 Feb. 1812, m. Edward Hyrne Britton, d. 11 May 1874.

  35.  William Johnson, b.c. 1815, d. after Jan. 1817.

  36.  Jennett Johnson

+37.  Frances Rebecca Johnson, b. 17 Sept. 1817, m. Jehu Leonard Stone.

 

Elizabeth Greaves (15) was born in March 1793 (?) and died 16 Sept. 1819, both in Marion District, SC, and was buried 17 Sept. 1819 in the Johnson family cemetery, north side of Lynches River, west of highway 41.  She married Francis Johnson, son of William Johnson and Celia ‑‑‑‑‑‑, about 1810.  He was born about 1790 in Marion Dist., SC, died before Oct. 1854 in Mt. Crogham, Chesterfield Co., SC, and was buried in Mt. Croghan, SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Johnson

+38.  William J. Johnson, b.c. 1812, m. Margaret Stone, d. after 1853.

  39.  Francis S. Johnson, b.c. 1813.

  40.  Samuel Wilds Johnson, b.c. 1814.

+41.  Mary Lee Johnson, b.c. 1815, m(1) Orison J. Hinds, c. 1832, m(2) Andrew J. Hinds, after 1835, m(3) Samuel J. Steele, Feb. 1838.

 

 

GENERATION 4

 

CHILDREN OF JOSEPH GREAVES (8) AND MARY ------

Joseph Blythe Greaves (17) was born 10 May 1808 in SC.  He married Priscilla J. Dupree, daughter of James Dupree, a Mississippi state senator during the 1840Õs, and his first wife.  Priscilla first married a Mr. Hall and was widowed soon after.  James D. Hall on the 1850 census record was probably a son from that marriage.  She was born about 1824 in LA.  She was a half-sister of Eleanor who married his brother William F.  Eleanor was born to James Dupree and his second wife.  Another daughter of that second marriage, Anna Dupree, married Robert Moss at the home of Joseph and Priscilla and was living on a plantation near Edwards, MS, during the Civil War.

They were in the 1850 census for Hinds Co., MS, page 201, dwelling 1291, with Joseph B., 42, planter, Priscilla J., 26, Mary M., 7, Ida R. (or B.), 6, John D., 3, William F., 4/12, James D. Hall, 9, John Kisinger, 45, overseer, and Mary J. Greaves, 39.  The 1860 census for Clifton, Hinds Co., MS, dwelling 567, listed J. B. Greaves, 50, farmer & mayor of Clinton, P. J., 35, J. M., 16, F, J. B., 14, F, J. M., 12, M, J. B. Jr., 8, M, Ann D., 3, F, James B. Hall, 19, M, J. Dupree, 13, F, all children born in MS.  The 1870 census for Clinton, Hinds Co., MS, page 594, dwelling 21, listed Joseph B., 62, merchant, Prissilla J., 48, Joseph B., 18, clerk in store, Mary, 24, Ida B., 22, Anna P., 11, and James Hall, 26, druggist.  The 1880 census for Edwards, Hinds Co., MS, page 156A, listed Joseph B., 72, P. J., 55, J. B., 28, son, attorney, and A. D., 18, dau.  Joseph had a plantation near Clinton, MS.  (R‑1, R‑11)

Children - Greaves

  42.  Mary M. Greaves, b.c. 1843.

  43.  Ida B. Greaves, b.c. 1844.

  44.  John D. Greaves, b.c. 1847.

  45.  William F. Graves, b.c. 1850, probably d. before 1860.

+46.  Joseph B. Greaves, b.c. 1852, m. ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Elliot.

+47.  Anna D. Greaves, b.c. 1857, m. Thomas Randolph Henry, d. Sept. 1897.

 

Charlotte Greaves (19) was born about 1813 in SC.  She married George Stokes.  He was born about 1806 in Ireland, and probably died 1860-1870.  They lived north of Clinton, Hinds Co., MS, at their plantation, "Grassdale."

The following account written by Elmore D. Greaves was based on an interview with Charlotte Priscilla Greaves Neal in 1943.

Dr. George Stokes, from Cork, Ireland, was in love with Charlotte Greaves in South Carolina, followed her to Mississippi, and married her there.  They lived in Clinton, MS, where he practiced medicine.  Dr. and Mrs. Stokes had seven children.  Dr. Stokes was one of the founders of Mississippi College at Clinton.  The beautiful old chapel in the middle of the campus was given to the college by Dr. Stokes.  A few years after Dr. and Mrs. Stokes had lived in Clinton, Dr. Stokes bought a 2400 acre plantation four miles north of Clinton, called Grassdale, where they later moved. Grassdale was not one of the beautiful white-columned mansions, for which the South was famous.  Instead, it was a large, comfortable house that had porches and rooms running in and out.  Across the comfortable house, there was a long gallery in the front, twelve feet wide and extending the length of the two front middle rooms.  The front door opened into a wide hall and on each side of the hall were two large rooms.  At the end of the hall was another long gallery across the back.  The kitchen and dining room were in a separate wing, attached to the back of the main part of the house.

In the spring of 1863, when the final operations against Vicksburg were under way, 10,000 Yankee troops camped around Grassdale on their way to Vicksburg.

Charlotte Priscilla ("Tal"), then a little girl of six, relates the story of one of her most horrifying memories of the war between the states: "The Yankees came through the yard, tearing down the flowers and shrubs. They stole the horses and went all through the house, taking what they wanted.  The storehouse, as on all old southern plantations, was the grocery, hardware, and clothing store of the plantation.  Here were kept all the cured hams, the hogsheads of sugar, flour, corn meal, all kinds of preserves, and vegetables.  Mrs. Stokes knew this would be the first thing the Yankees would try to get, so she stood with her back against the storeroom door to keep them from going in.  The soldiers tried every way to get in and finally someone ran out and told her that the Yankees had found her husband's pistol and coat under the bed.  The minute they left, she, being terribly frightened, ran to the house to see what they had done.  The Yankees then tore down the door and carried all the hams and other foods they wanted out and destroyed the rest.  Hogshead after hogshead of molasses was poured on the ground and when Mrs. Stokes begged the Federal officers to stop the men, they only laughed at her.

Dr. Stokes had a very fine dog, that would catch chickens, and as soon as they found this out they tried it.  Charlotte Priscilla tried to call off the dog, but when one big Yankee soldier pointed his gun at her and threatened to shoot, she ran horrified into the house to her mother.  When she found her mother, she was amusing two Federal officers who were playing with a game of backgammon they had found.  Behind Mrs. Stokes stood a Yankee, sticking at her with a sword."

They were in the 1840 census for Hinds Co., MS, with 1 male 5-10, and 1 female under 5.  They were in the 1850 census for Hinds Co., MS.  They were in the 1860 census for Clinton, Hinds Co., MS.  He was a medical doctor.  She was in the 1870 census for Hinds Co., MS, without George, and with 3 of her children, Mary, 19, George Ann, 18, and Tal (Charlotte), 16.  All their children were born in MS.  (R‑1, R‑2)

Children - Stokes

  48.  James S. Stokes, b.c. 1831.

+49.  Ada Zenobia Stokes, b.c. 1837 m(1) ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Johnson, m(2) Jack Fontaine.

  50.  Ella Regena Stokes, b.c. 1842, m. ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Chilton.

  51.  Adelle Amenta Stokes, b.c. 1845.

  52.  Martha Ann Stokes, b.c. 1847.

  53.  Mary Margaret Stokes, b.c. 1849.

  54.  George Ann Stokes, b.c. 1852.

+55.  Charlotte Priscilla Stokes, b. Feb. 1855, m. William D. Neal, c. 1873.

 

Stephen Arne Decatur Greaves (20) was born 30 Jan. 1817 in Sumter, Sumter Co., SC, and died 17 Nov. 1880 in Madison Co., MS.  He first married Sarah Anna Frances Lowe, daughter of William Figures Lowe and Martha ‑‑‑‑‑‑ , and widow of her cousin John Lowe.  She was born 20 Aug. 1825 in Richmond, VA, and died 2 Aug. 1865 in Madison Co., MS.  He secondly married Jennie Battley.  She was born about 1843 in NC.

Stephen first settled at Pocahantas, MS, and then moved to Raymond, MS, where he practiced law.  He was elected to the Mississippi State House of Representatives in 1846.  At the outbreak of the Mexican War in that year, he joined the Raymond Fencibles which enlisted for the war.  The Raymond Fencibles (sometimes referred to as the Downing Rifles) was under the command of Capt. R. N. Downing and was outfitted for service June 2, 1846.  This company joined the First Mississippi Volunteers under the command of Col. Jefferson Davis.  By June 10, 1846, the Vicksburg Southerns, State Fencibles of Jackson, and the Raymond Fencibles had been mustered in Camp Brown near Vicksburg.  The regiment was formed at Vicksburg and divided into companies.  The Raymond Fencibles was formed into Company G., with R. N. Downing commander and S.A.D. Greaves as one of the lieutenants.  This regiment was armed with rifles instead of muskets by request of Col. Davis to General Winfield Scott.  The regiment then sailed down the Mississippi River and camped near New Orleans.  Col. Davis returned from a visit to his Brierfield Plantation and the regiment sailed on the steamship Alabama July 26, 1846, and landed at Brazos Island.  There they remained until August 2.  They were assigned in the organization of General Taylor's army. Lt. Greaves fought in several battles, including the assault on Monterrey which began Sept. 21, 1846. Quitman's Brigade attacked the fort, called Temeria. Col. Davis advanced his Mississippi riflemen obliquely by the left of companies into a line near the works, under the enemy's fire.  The Mississippians opened fire as soon as they formed in open order.  Then as the Mexican fire slackened, the Mississippians charged.  The enemy fled, leaving behind the artillery, a considerable number of muskets, the wounded and dead.  Sept. 23, the last day of the battle, Col. Davis took Company H (Lt. Moore), Company G (Lt. S.A.D. Greaves), and two Tennessee companies out on a perilous reconnaissance into the fort of El Diablo.  Col. Davis specifically mentioned Lt. S.A.D. Greaves for his outstanding gallantry in the battle of Monterrey.  In 1846, Brigadier General Samuel S. Heard of Spring Ridge was succeeded by S.A.D. Greaves. After his return from Mexico, he was made a Brigadier General of the Mississippi state troops.  The Mississippi State Archives contains a report made by Lt. Greaves to Col. Jefferson Davis on the events of Sept. 23, 1846.

After the Mexican War he married a rich widow, Sarah Lowe, and they lived on her plantation, "Sunnyside", in Livingston, Madison Co., MS, lavishly by all accounts. He changed clothes completely for each meal, had 90 pairs of hand-made boots, and was spared complete destruction of the property by Sherman's forces because of his war record.  Instead, reconstruction caused them to lose all they had.  Sunnyside was destroyed by fire in 1924.

 

According to Harry B. Greaves (R‑3), at about the same time that the Greaves family moved to Mississippi, another family, not related, the Lowes, also moved to Mississippi in wagons pulled by oxen.  There were two brothers, John and Figures Lowe.  John had a son, John, Jr., and Figures had a daughter, Sarah, both about the same age.  One brother was a lawyer and the other a farmer.  In time they accumulated many thousands of acres and bought slaves numbering in the hundreds.  They settled near the small town known as Livingston.  In time they built a lovely mansion on a hill.  The home had fourteen bedrooms, a bowling alley, pool room, and a dining room that could seat thirty or forty people.

A large ballroom adjoined the house in some manner, but it had been removed before my time, although I do remember the ladies' and gentlemen's dressing rooms.  One was on each end of a spacious front porch, both erected in a perfect circle shape.  About twenty steps led from the ground level to the front porch.  I recall that the windows in the front rooms extended from the floor to near the ceilings which were about 14 feet tall.  I was told that the ballroom and ladies dressing room had mirrors about 10 feet tall and four feet wide scattered throughout both rooms.

By the time the Lowes' children became adults, the parents decided that if the vast plantations they had acquired were to remain as one, their children should marry each other.  This they did and everything went well for a short while, but a real tragedy brought their plans to an abrupt end one Christmas morning.

My father told me he had been informed that the slaves were not permitted to have any kind of alcohol except on Christmas morning, when each and every one was given a small amount of whiskey.  While young John was out among the slaves, one of them hit him on the head with a shovel while his back was turned.  John died immediately.  I asked my father several times what was done to the slave and all he ever told me was, and I quote: "He was taken care of."

When Col. S.A.D. Greaves was relieved of his Mexican War duties, he went to his brother John's home just south of Pocahantas.  While there, he heard about the lovely and wealthy Lowe widow and decided he wanted to meet her. He therefore went to Mr. Robinson, a very close friend, for help.

Mr. Robinson dispatched a slave with a note to Mr. Lowe asking for permission to come bring a young hero of the Mexican War for a visit.  The slave returned with a note from Mr. Lowe inviting Mr. Robinson and his friend to dinner, or supper, I suppose, for this is what night meals were called.  My memory is vague as to how long the courtship lasted, but in due time they were married.

 

Another recollection of Harry B. Greaves is as follows.  "Lawzee, Little Miss, you look just like Ole Miss, your grandma, the General's wife."  I heard that statement nearly every time some of the ex-slaves or their descendants would see my sister Eleanor for the first time, and possibly every time they saw her.

They usually also said, "Your coal black hair and shiny black eyes make you look just like Ole Miss."

One time I heard my father say, "That is the Indian blood showing up."  I asked my father what what he meant by that, and he told me a story that has stuck with me for nearly seventy years.

To the best of my memory he stated, "My mother's grandmother was the daughter of Pocahantas' sister." (This would have referred to the grandmother of Sarah A. F. Lowe.)  He may have said first cousin and not sister.  I cannot understand why I did not ask my father more about it as time went by, but I failed to do so and now I regret it.  I stated earlier that I want to leave a written record of everything I possibly can to pass on to the younger generations, and I hope some of them will take up where I leave off.

He was in the 1880 census for Livingston, Madison Co., MS, page 160C, with S.A.D. Greaves, 63, lawyer, farmer, J.B., wife, 37, S.A.D., 26, J.M., 20, C.B., 17, H.B., 12, M.I., 10.  (R‑1, R‑2, R‑3)

Children - Greaves, by Sarah A. F. Lowe

+56.  Stephen Arne Decatur Greaves, Jr., b. 2 Feb. 1854, m. Julia Elizabeth Fondren, 24 Nov. 1881, d. 5 Dec. 1915.

  57.  William Figures Greaves, b. 3 June 1856, died young.

  58.  Paul Victor Greaves, b. 28 May 1858, d. Oct. 1861.

  59.  Ione Greaves, b. Dec. 1858, d. Oct. 1861.

+60.  John Madison Greaves, b. 16 April 1860, m(1) Elise Goodlow, m(2) Mary Dewees.

  61.  Corinne Greaves, b. 5 Feb. 1862, d. 1863.

+62.  Clarence Budney Greaves, b. 22 Aug. 1863, m. Elizabeth Baker, 16 July 1893, d. 8 Aug. 1940.

Children - Greaves, by Jennie Battley

+63.  Harry Battley Greaves, b.c. 1868, m. Lilah Parker.

  64.  Mamie I. Greaves, b.c. 1870, m. (Dr.) ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Hunt.

 

Aramanta (or Araminta) D. Greaves (21) was born about 1820.  She married R. C. Cowan.  He was born about 1817 in Ireland, and probably died 1860-1870.  They are said to have lived at Hattiesburg, MS.  They were in the 1850 and 1860 censuses for Harrison Co., MS.  He was a merchant.  She was in the 1870 census for District 2, Madison Co., MS, without him, and with all 4 of their children, and they were farming.  (There is a possibility that these children were not hers and were all by a previous marriage of her husband, since the 1850 census showed the wife as Martha A., 25, the 1860 census listed her as M. A., 35, and only the 1870 census listed her as Araminta, 50.  However, perhaps her middle name was Martha, or that was the name that she usually went by, and the name of the son Decatur certainly indicated she was his mother.)  All the children were born in MS.  (R‑1)

Children - Cowan

  65.  John M. G. Cowan, b.c. 1848.

+66.  Decatur D. Cowan, b.c. 1850, m. ‑‑‑‑‑‑.

  67.  Ara G. (or Alinta) Cowan, b.c. 1852.

  68.  Robert G. Cowan, b.c. 1854.

 

Dr. William Francis Greaves (22) was born 19 Feb. 1824 near Charleston, SC.  He first married Eleanor Matilda Dupree on 6 Dec. 1854 at the home of his father, Col. Joseph B. Greaves, in Clinton, MS.  She died 25 Dec. 1873.  He secondly married Lucilla Hulme on 14 Nov. 1875 in Madison Co., MS.  He lived at Boscobel plantation, near Pocahantas, MS.

The following article (possibly published in a local newpaper) tells of an incident during the 1863 Civil War campaign at Jackson, MS, was written by Ed Blake, March 7, 1972, and was titled "Union Raiding Party Captured Boscobel Owner in Springdale Hills Incident."

"Dr. William Francis Greaves, the central character in this incident, came to Mississippi with a company of his kinsmen and settled at Pocahantas, MS, about 1840.  He was a native of SC and son of Col. Joseph Greaves, who in the 1830's had killed a man in a duel in the period that dueling was being outlawed.

Shortly he was to build a two-story, white columned, white frame home with a brick kitchen to the rear atop a flat summit, surrounded by loess, red sand and clay cliffs that today is a part of Springdale Hills Park and Arboretum.  Meanwhile, another member of the family, Major John Greaves who had come from South Carolina with the party, settled two miles south of Pocahantas at Sub Rosa Plantation, where he built a beautiful two-story home that still stands today and which is on the Jackson tour circuit and is shown to the public by Mrs. T. A. Turner, owner for the past thirty years.

Both homes, Boscobel, located two and a half miles west of Pocahantas, and Sub Rosa, two miles south of Pocahantas, were to be visited by Union soldiers of Sherman's army who were converging on Jackson in 1863 to destroy that city.  This account will relate the events that occurred at Boscobel Plantation owned by Dr. William Francis Greaves.

Facts about the raid were related to Ed Blake by Mrs. Lula Greaves Russell, a daughter of Dr. Greaves.  Mrs. Russell visited Springdale Hills Park on Oct. 16, 1971, at the age of 86, in the company of a niece, Mrs. Virgie Greaves Huggins, of Pascagoula, who lived at Boscobel for a year in 1895 while the home was demolished escept for the brick kitchen.  In the company of members of their families, the two ladies visited the brick kitchen remains of Boscobel, and there Mrs. Lula Greaves Russell related the story of the Civil War raid as described to her by her father, Dr. Greaves.

Dr. Greaves had taken the hand of Miss Eleanor Matilda Dupree of Brownsville on Dec. 6, 1854, in the home of Col. Joseph B. Greaves in Clinton.  Shortly thereafter, they set up housekeeping at Boscobel where in subsequent years five sons and two daughters were to come into the household.

Four large cedar trees stood in a row in front of the house which faced west.  In front of it was a springhouse surrounded by crepe myrtle trees which have multiplied over the ensuing period of a century and a quarter and which still put forth a dazzling display of pink glory at the Boscobel home site each summer.  White iris was planted in clumps along the roadway down the steep hill and a black walnut tree stood behind the house.  The kitchen was made by slave labor of bricks which were made on the place.  The kitchen was removed from the house to spare the dwelling from the fumes of cooking and for safety reasons as well.  It had an interior dimension of 15 x 18 feet with a large fireplace and hearth along the south wall and a window along the east wall.

The home had porches across the front on both levels with a view westward of five miles to a slightly higher ridge, and to the south to Clinton and Jackson, the latter being some fifteen miles southeast.  From the home could be heard the incessant cannonading of the Blue and Grey during the spring and summer siege of Vicksburg in 1863.  Vicksburg's battlefields were approximately 35 miles west and slightly south.

After the surrender of the Confederate fortress at Vicksburg, the strategic moves of the Union forces came in the form of wide destructive swaths by the raiders on their way to Jackson.  General Grant was to move to Grand Gulf and approach Jackson subsequently from the southwest while General Sherman was to move directly from Vicksburg to Jackson, having been called in from West Tennessee to assist Grant in wreaking all manner of havoc upon the South from Vicksburg to the Atlantic.

Dr. Greaves and his family were at home when the Union troops arrived and took him in custody.  They blindfolded him, put him on a horse and told Mrs. Greaves that she would never see her husband alive again.  Before leaving, they took the family carriage with its gold upholstery to the smokehouse and loaded it with meat before riding off with Dr. Greaves and his pantry to a nearby Union encampment.  It is not known just where he was taken, or whether the incident occurred just prior to or after the fall of Vicksburg.  He could have been taken to Grassdale Plantation five miles to the south, where 10,000 Union troops were encamped during the Vicksburg campaign, presently Camp Kickapoo, owned by Dr. George Stokes, a native of Cork, Ireland, who had married Charlotte Greaves, a member of the Greaves family that arrived from South Carolina in 1840 with Dr. Greaves.  Or, it may have been to Flora, to a Union encampment there.

Dr. Greaves was put to work ministering to the wounded Union soldiers, among them an officer that he nursed back to health.  The Union officer, grateful to Dr. Greaves for restoring his ableness, returned the favor and released Dr. Greaves to reunite with his family at Boscobel.  The shock of her husband's capture had ill effects on Mrs. Greaves however, and Christmas day ten years later, in 1873, Mrs. Greaves died.  Children born of the marriage were: five sons, William Francis, Walter Joseph, Marion Lee, William Dudley, and Hal Percy, and two daughters, Alma and Eleanor Matilda.  Only Walter Joseph, Hal Percy and Alma reached maturity.  Walter Joseph, born on June 12, 1857, was to become a medical doctor, was to return to Boscobel in 1895 at age 38 to live there a year to look for $40,000 in gold purportedly buried near the home site during the war, and to demolish the then deteriorating home.  He was later, about 1935 at age 78, to return to the home site with this writer, Ed Blake, in a final unsuccessful search for the buried gold.  He died at a Jackson nursing home on May 26, 1946, at the age of 89, and was buried in the Greaves family lot in Bolton.

Two years after his first wife died, Dr. William Francis Greaves remarried, taking to wife Miss Lucilla Hulme at the home of J. G. Hulme, her father, in Madison Co.  Four more children came from this marriage: Mary, Lula (who recalled the story of her father's capture related in the foregoing account), and Gertrude, and one son, Frank Marvin of Bolton...  Dr. William Greaves is buried in a small family plot near the entranceway to Sub Rosa Plantation,two and a half miles south of Pocahantas."

The family was in the 1880 census for Beat 1, Hinds Co., MS, page 117C, with W.F. Greaves, 56, doctor, Lucilla, 27, Alma, 20, Harry P., 13, and Gertrude, 1.  (R‑1)

Children - Greaves, by Eleanor M. Dupree

  69.  William Francis Greaves, b. 12 Dec. 1855, d. 11 July 1856.

+70.  Walter Joseph Greaves, b. 12 June 1857, m(1) Lucy Harrison, 23 Dec. 1885, m(2) Anna Rice, m(3) Bonny MacLavander.

  71.  Alma Greaves, b. 18 April 1860, d. 27 July 1902.

  72.  Marion Lee Greaves, b. 30 April 1863, d. 8 Nov. 1873.

  73.  William Dudley Greaves, b. 8 April 1865, d. 26 Sept. 1868.

+74.  Harry Percy Greaves, b. 17 March 1867, m. Elizabeth Pitchford, d. 12 June 1928.

  75.  Eleanor Greaves, b. 3 Aug. 1872, d. 4 April 1874.

Children - Greaves, by Lucilla Hulme

  76.  Gertrude Greaves, b.c. 1879.

+77.  Mary Greaves, m. Marvin Collum.

+78.  Frank Marvin Greaves, m. Anna Gaddis, d. 1969.

+79.  Lula Greaves, m. W. S. Bailey Russell.

 

CHILDREN OF FRANCIS GREAVES (9) AND MARY A. GAUSE

Amanda Malvinia Fitzallen Greaves (23) was born 14 Nov. 1807 in SC, and died 12 Dec. 1894 in Lauderdale Co., TN.  She first married Thomas Gerald (ÒTomÓ) Rice, son of Charles Rice and Hannah Phillips.  He was born 1 Nov. 1807 in SC, and died 24 Feb. 1877 in Lauderdale Co., TN.  She married second ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Fitzallen.  She married third ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Brown.  (The evidence for these last two marriages is not known.)  (R‑6, R‑8)

Children - Rice

+80.  Franklin Thomas Rice, b. 17 Feb. 1839, m. Virginia Tally, d. 25 Oct. 1894.

+81.  Mary Louise Rice, b. 29 July 1840, m. Hiram Bradford Mann, 4 Nov. 1857, d. Feb. 1868.

+82.  Amanda Rebecca Rice, b. 17 July 1842, m. Andrew Brown Jayroe, Jr., 8 Oct. 1860, d. 8 Aug. 1892.

  83.  Charles Joseph Rice, b. 14 Feb. 1844, d. 1844.

  84.  Hannah Elizabeth Rice, b. 4 March 1845, d. 1849.

  85.  John Shadrach Rice, b. 16 June 1847, d. 10 June 1864 (Gun Town, TN).

+86.  Charles Hannah Rice, b. 9 Feb. 1850, m. Ella Lou Capers (#87), d. 1927.

 

Rebecca Greaves (24) married Benjamin Huger (ÒBenÓ) Capers.  Rebecca was mentioned in the Thomas Gerald Rice Family Bible.  (R‑6)

Children - Capers

  87.  Ella Lou Capers, b.c. 1852 (Holly Springs, MS), m. Charles Hannah Rice (#86, her first cousin).  See #86 for descendants.

 

CHILDREN OF BENNETT GREAVES (10) AND RACHEL R. DAVIS

Edwin Augustus Greaves (26) was born 28 Sept. 1814 in Marion District, SC, and died in 1884 (or about 1880) in Lauderdale Co., TN.  He married Emily F. Davis.  She was born about 1819 in AL, and may have died between 1860 and 1870.  He was a minister (according to R‑5).

They were in the 1850 census for Dist. 9, Haywood Co., TN, page 23, dwelling 287, incorrectly indexed as Givens.  They were in the 1860 census for Dist. 15, Haywood Co., TN, page 500, dwelling 1473.  The 1870 census for Dist. 1, Lauderdale Co., TN, page 519, dwelling 202, listed Edwin Greaves, 55, Judy Greaves, 37, Henry Windrow, 18, John Windrow, 15, and Howel Jordan, 7.  Was Judy the second wife of Edwin?  Edwin was a farmer, and all his children were born in TN.  (R‑7)

Children - Greaves

+88.  Edward Bennett Greaves, b. 2 May 1838, m. Annie Wills, 11 April 1861, d. 10 April 1911.

  89.  John F. Greaves, b.c. 1840.

+90.  Joseph Andrew Greaves, b. 8 March 1843, m. Grace D. ‑‑‑‑‑‑, d. 27 Sept. 1907.

  91.  James D. Greaves, b.c. 1844.

  92.  George N. (or W.?) Greaves, b.c. 1850.

  93.  Frances E. Greaves, b.c. 1854.

 

Andrew Jackson Greaves (27) was born 25 March 1816 in Marion District, SC, and died 7 April 1869 in Haywood Co., SC.  He married Sophronia ‑‑‑‑‑‑.  She was born about 1817 or 1823 in AL.  They were in the 1850 census for Dist. 10, Haywood Co., TN, page 25, dwelling 317, indexed as Greaver, with his mother Rachel and sister Sarah living with them.  They were in the 1860 census for Dist. 15, Haywood Co., TN, page 500, dwelling 1473, with AndrewÕs mother living with them.  He was a farmer, and all their children were born in TN.

Children - Greaves

  94.  William F. Greaves, b.c. 1843.

  95.  Andrew A. Greaves, b.c. 1848.

  96.  Bennett B. Greaves, b.c. 1850.

+97.  Edward D. Greaves, b.c. 1853, m. Sarah ‑‑‑‑‑‑.

  98.  M. Adella Greaves, b.c. 1855.

  99.  James B. Greaves, b.c. 1858.

  100.   Mary I. Greaves, b.c. 1859.

 

Ann Belum Greaves (28) was born 23 Jan. 1818 in SC, and died in 1878 in Lauderdale Co., TN.  She married Dr. David M. Henning, son of John Bonhost Henning and Judith Burnley Meriwether, on 10 Dec. 1840.  He was born about 1814 in GA.  All their children were born in Lauderdale Co., TN.  (R‑5, R‑9)

Children - Henning

+101.   Frances Ann Henning, b. 10 April 1843, m. William Moorer, 16 Nov. 1859, d. 14 Nov. 1885.

+102.   John Bennet G. Henning, b.c. 1850, m. Nellie Frazier.

+103.   Adelaide W. Henning, b.c. 1852, m. J. D. Hall.

  104.   David Henning, b.c. 1855.

+105.   Ella Henning, b. 3 March 1857, m. Henry Moorer, 15 Dec. 1875.

 

Sarah Adelaide Greaves (30) was born about 1830 in Marion District, SC.  She married Capt. William J. Shaw.  He was born about 1826 in NC.  They were in the 1860 census for Dist. 15, Haywood Co., TN, page 500, dwelling 1467, with William J. Shaw, 34, Sarah A., 29, William J., 9, F. B., 6, Elenora Shaw, 15, and James E. Key, 30, carpenter, VA.  Their children were all born in TN.

Children - Shaw

  106.   William J. Shaw, b.c. 1851.

  107.   F. B. Shaw (son), b.c. 1854.

 

CHILDREN OF SARAH GREAVES (14) AND JAMES C. JOHNSON

Caroline Matilda Johnson (34) was born 17 Feb. 1812 in Marion Co. (now Florence Co.), SC, died 11 May 1874 in Williamsburg Co., SC, and was buried in Old Johnsonville Methodist Church Cem..  She married Edward Hyrne Britton, son of Francis Britton and Martha Elizabeth Jenkins.  He was born 5 June 1806, died 25 Sept. 1873, and was buried in Old Staples Lake Cem., Williamsburg Co., SC.  They were in the 1850 and 1860 censuses for Williamsburg, Williamsburg Co., SC.  The 1850 census listed his wife as Harriot, but the age was right to be Caroline, and one of the children was named Caroline M., so Harriot was probably either a nickname or an error.  The family has not yet been found in either the 1850 or 1870 censuses.  Edward was a farmer.  At least the first 6 children were born in SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Britton

  108.   Sarah G. (or J.) Britton, b.c. 1832.

  109.   Frances Rebecca Britton, b.c. 1835, m. Martin Van Buren Timmons.  He was b. 12 March 1839 and d. 10 Jan. 1880.

  110.   Elizabeth M. Britton, b.c. 1837.

  111.   William J. Britton, b.c. 1841.

  112.   Caroline M. Britton, b.c. 1845.

  113.   Edward Britton, b.c. 1849.  Not in 1860 census.

  114.   G. S. Britton, b.c. 1853.

+115.   Mary Jones Britton, b. 12 March 1855, m. Archibald Davis Cox, d. 1 Aug. 1928.

 

Frances Rebecca Johnson (37) was born 17 Sept. 1817 in Marion Co. (now Florence Co.), SC.  She married Jehu Leonard Stone, son of Dotson C. Stone and Frances Stone.  He was born about 1812 in Marion Co., SC, and died 18 Sept. 1852.  They were in the 1850 census for Williamsburg, Williamsburg Co., SC.  He was a farmer.  All their children were born in SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Stone

  116.   Frances Caroline Stone, b.c. 1843.

  117.   Leonard B. Stone, b.c. 1847.

  118.   Margaret R. (or L.) Stone, b.c. 1849.

 

CHILDREN OF ELIZABETH GREAVES (15) AND FRANCIS JOHNSON

William J. Johnson (38) was born about 1812 in Marion Co. (now Florence Co.), SC, and died after 1853.  He married Margaret Stone, daughter of Dotson C. Stone and Frances Stone.  She was born about 1810 in Pee Dee, Marion Co., SC, and died after 1853.  All their children were born in Marion Co. (now Florence Co.), SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Johnson

+119.   Mary Elizabeth Johnson, b. 15 Oct. 1830, m. Thomas Bath, 12 Nov. 1848, d. 23 March 1908.

+120.   Frances Permilla Johnson, b. 17 Sept. 1832, m. John Brown, 13 Dec. 1855, d. 1912.

+121.   Celia Greaves Johnson, b.c. 1835, m. William J. Grier, d. 1924.

  122.   Francis Johnson, b.c. 1836.

+123.   Thomas Edward Johnson, b. 22 July 1839, m. Mary Elizabeth Stone, 5 July 1865, d. 29 Dec. 1912.

  124.   William Chesley Johnson, b.c. 1841, d. 26 June 1919.

+125.   Henry F. Johnson, b.c. 1843, m. Sarah D. ‑‑‑‑‑‑, d. 26 June 1919.

+126.   Benjamin B. Johnson, b. 22 May 1845, m. Mary Agnes Brown, d. 22 Feb. 1927.

+127.   James Foster Johnson, b.c. 1847, m. Sue J. Taylor, d. 1918.

+128.   Robert H. Johnson, b.c. 1851, m. Fannie ‑‑‑‑‑‑.

+129.   Sara Martha Adieu Johnson, b. 25 May 1853, m. Richard James Cox, d. 23 Dec. 1922.

 

Mary Lee Johnson (41) was born about 1815 in Marion Co., SC.  She first married Orison J. Hinds about 1832.  He was born about 1810, died 6 March 1835 in Marion Co., SC, and was buried in Bryan Cem., Old River Road, Florence Co., SC.  She married second Andrew J. Hinds after 1835.  He died in Aug. 1837.  She married third Samuel J. Steele in Feb. 1838.  (R‑7)

Children - Hinds, by Orison J. Hinds

  130.   Henry N. Hinds, b.c. 1833.

  131.   Juventa Ann Hinds, b.c. 1835.

Children - Steele

  132.   Amelia Steele, b.c. 1838.

  133.   Mary Steele, b.c. 1846.

  134.   Francis Steele, b.c. 1850.

  135.   George J. Steele, b.c. 1851.

 

 

GENERATION 5

 

CHILDREN OF JOSEPH B. GREAVES (17) AND PRISCILLA J. DUPREE

Joseph B. Greaves (46) was born in March 1853 in MS.  He married ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Elliot.  He was in the 1900 census for Beat 2, Hinds Co., MS, widower, with his son, his mother, and his nephew and niece, Joseph and Anna Henry.  He was a lawyer.  (R‑1)

Children - Greaves

  136.   Joseph B. Greaves, b. Nov. 1898 (MS).

 

Anna (or Ann) D. Greaves (47) was born about 1857 in MS, and died in Sept. 1897 in Edwards, Hinds Co., MS, of yellow fever.  She married Thomas Randolph Henry[1].  He may have been the Thomas R. Henry, born about 1868, who was in the 1910 census for Calhoun Co., MS, with his second wife.  In the 1900 census for Hinds Co., MS, children Joseph and Anna were living with their uncle Joseph Greaves and their grandmother Priscilla Greaves.  (R‑1)

Children - Henry

  137.   Sudie Parker (or Lucy) Henry

  138.   Joseph (ÒJobieÓ) G. Henry, b. Dec. 1883.

  139.   Thomas (ÒTomÓ) Henry

  140.   Anna G. Henry, b. July 1889.

 

CHILDREN OF CHARLOTTE GREAVES (19) AND GEORGE STOKES

Ada Zenobia Stokes (49) was probably born about 1837 in Hinds Co., MS.  She first married ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Johnson.  She secondly married Jack Fontaine.  They have not yet been found in census records.  (R‑1)

Children - Johnson

  141.   Eliza Johnson

Children - Fontaine

  142.   John Fontaine

 

Charlotte Priscilla Stokes (55) was born in Feb. 1855 in Hinds Co., MA.  She married William D. Neal about 1873.  He was born in June 1850 in MS.  They were in the 1880 census for Dist. 3, Madison Co., MS, and he was a farmer.  They were in the 1900 census for Beat 4, Hinds Co., MS, when he was a deputy assessor.  All their children were born in MS.  (R‑1)

Children - Neal

  143.   Frank Neal, b.c. 1876.

  144.   L. Berry Neal, b. Oct. 1877.

  145.   Ruth Neal, b. Feb. 1880.

  146.   William D. Neal, Jr., b. Dec. 1883.

  147.   George Neal, b. Oct. 1887.

  148.   Nancy Neal, b. May 1891.

  149.   Thomas J. Neal, b. June 1897.

 

CHILDREN OF STEPHEN ARNE DECATUR GREAVES (20)

Stephen Arne Decatur Greaves, Jr. (56), called Arne, was born 2 (or 26) Feb. 1854 in SC, and died 5 (or 4[2]) Dec. 1915 in Livingston, Madison Co., MS.  He married Julia Elizabeth Fondren, daughter of Richard Fondren and Ella ("Nedella") Douglass, on 24 Nov. 1881.  She was born 3 Sept. 1861 in SC, and died 12 April 1918.

The 1910 census for Jackson, Beat 1, Hinds Co., MS, page 100B, lists Stephen A. D., 56, member of the legislature, Julia E., 48, Elmore D., 26, Peyton R., 21, Delia F., 15, and Sara L., 9, all children born in MS.  (R‑1, R‑4)

Children - Greaves

  150.   Stephen Arne Decatur Greaves, died young.

  151.   Paul Victor Greaves, died young.

+152.   Elmore Douglass Greaves, b. 23 March 1884, m. Mamie Gray Cook, d. 1 Jan. 1951.

  153.   Dr.) Peyton Read Greaves, b. 2 Feb. 1889, m. Minnie Mae Carr.

+154.   Delia Fondren Greaves, b. 27 Nov. 1894, m(1) William Wallace Whitesides, m(2) John Dan Davis, d. 19 Nov. 1986.

+155.   Sarah Lowe Greaves, b. 8 Aug. 1900, m. William Barnes Wilson, d. 12 Sept. 1987.

 

John Madison Greaves (60) was born 16 April 1860 in MS.  He first married Elise Goodlow.  He secondly married Mary Dewees about 1890.  She was born about 1872 in MS.  They were in the 1910 census for Beat 3, Madison Co., MS, page 284A, with John M., 49, farmer, Mary S., 38, and John M., 19.  (R‑1)

Children - Greaves, by Elise Goodlow

+156.   Elise Greaves, m. John Robinson Anderson.

Children - Greaves, by Mary Dewees

  157.   John Madison Greaves, b.c. 1891, m(1) Katie Mae Kidwell, m(2) Lorena Cohn.

 

Clarence Budney Greaves (62) was born 22 Aug. 1863 in Madison Co., MS, and died 8 Aug. 1940 in Flora, Madison Co., MS, not far from Jackson, MS.  He married Elizabeth ("Lizzie") Baker, daughter of James McCulloch Baker and Frances Ann Pettus, on 16 July 1893 in Madison Co.  She was born 24 Sept. 1868 in Guadalupe Co., Texas, and died 13 Nov. 1938 in Okmulgee, OK.  They were both buried in Flora Cem., Flora, MS.

Clarence was a well-known trial lawyer specializing in murder trials, and for 33 years a member of the Mississippi State Senate despite being blind for much of his adult life.  He was educated at Miss. A & M, and read for the bar with a private tutor.  Lizzie was educated at a teachers' college in Jackson, MS, and was a teacher and housewife.  He belonged to the Episcopal church, she was a Methodist, and they were both Democrats.  All their children were born in Flora, MS.

The following article about Clarence Greaves appeared in the Jackson Daily News shortly after his death:

"Clarence Greaves, the fiery Flora attorney, recently killed at the age of 77 in an auto accident, was a picturesque figure in two terms in the legislature.  He wore many scars of battle -- literally.  But till the day he died, without a streak of gray or any sign of infirmity, he was a man of raw courage, iron will, and indomitable spirit.  Yet beneath it all, he was genial, kindly, tender.  It was his deep feeling for what he considered the 'neglected interests' of the underdog that motivated Clarence Greaves at all times, whether in the legislature or pleading at the bar.  Money seldom cut any figure with him.  He often offered his services to men in trouble purely because of his sympathy for them on his feeling that they were being imposed upon.  'He was born to be a watchdog for the underdog,' one fellow state senator said of him.  Tall, springy, with flashing dark eyes and knife scars on his face, he was a mixing figure in action, and when he threw back his hair and lifted his high-pitched voice, he usually was heard and he was never boring.  Many disagreed with him.  None ever failed to listen to whatever he said.  His law practice could have made him more money in a city like Jackson, Meridian, or Vicksburg.  But he preferred the quiet life of a country squire.  He used to say: 'Madison county is my home, the legislature is my pastime, and the court room is my battleground.'  But it is a matter of record that he found many battlegrounds over his home county, and he was never known to take a backward step."

Some of the stories recorded by Harry B. Greaves are given in Appendix C.

The 1910 census for Beat 2, Madison Co., MS, page 180B, listed Clarence B., 47, lawyer, Lizzie B., 42, Lila, 15, Harry, 14, C. B. Jr., 12, Eleanor E., 9, Mary B., 5, and Charles S., 2, all children born in MS.  (R‑1, R‑3)

Children - Greaves

+158.   Leila Crisler Greaves, b. 8 June 1894, m. Philip Naquin, 17 Feb. 1922, d. 22 July 1980.

+159.   Harry Battley Greaves II, b. 20 Jan. 1896, m. Wanda Lillian Feiro, 20 July 1930, d. 26 April 1979.

  160.   Clarence Budney Greaves, Jr. (called C.B. Jr. and "Bee"), b. 7 Jan. 1898, never married, d. 6 July 1964 (Albuquerque, NM).

  161.   Eleanor Elizabeth Greaves, b. 30 July 1901, m(1) Leo Flynn, m(2) Anthaires Maxwell Andrews, 8 Jan. 1933.

  162.   Mary Baker Greaves, b. 1 Nov. 1904, m(1) Alfred Lewis, m(2) Joe Staley, 15 March 1945 (Santa Fe, NM), d. 30 Nov. 1975 (Santa Fe, NM).

+163.   Charles Scott Greaves, b. 17 April 1908, m. Vera Nicks, 22 June 1942, d. 5 Feb. 1982.

 

Harry Battley Greaves (63) was born about 1868 in MS.  He married Lilah Parker.  She was born about 1874 in MS.  They were in the 1910 census for District 1, Madison Co., MS, page 58A, with Harry B., 42, lawyer, Lila P., 36, Florence, 11, Stephen A. D., 10, and Harry B., Jr., 3, all born in MS.  (R‑1)

Children - Greaves

  164.   Florence Greaves, b.c. 1899, m. Olson Cobb.

  165.   Stephen Arne Decatur Greaves, b.c. 1900.

  166.   Harry Battley Greaves, Jr., b.c. 1907, never married.  Born severely mentally handicapped.

 

CHILDREN OF ARAMANTA D. GREAVES (21) AND R. C. COWAN

Decatur D. Cowan (66) was born in July 1850 in MS.  He married ‑‑‑‑‑‑.  She must have died by 1900, since he was in the 1900 census for Scranton, Beat 3, Jackson Co., MS, as a widower and county superintendent of education.  No son Cliff could be found, but there was a Decatur D. Cowan, b. June 1891, and Carrie Cowan, b. Jan. 1889, living with their grandparents, Thomas W. and Ann Grayson, in Ocean Springs, Jackson Co., MS.  (R‑1)

Children - Cowan

  167.   Cliff Cowan

 

CHILDREN OF WILLIAM FRANCIS GREAVES (22)

Dr. Walter Joseph Greaves (70) was born 12 June 1857 at Boscobel plantation, Pocahantas, MS, and died 26 May 1946 in Jackson, MS.  He studied medicine in Louisville, KY, and practiced in Livingston, MS, Duckport, LA, Biloxi, MS, and New Orleans, LA.  He first married Lucy Harrison on 23 Dec. 1885 in Edwards, MS.  She was born 28 June 1870 and died 21 Nov. 1954.  They were divorced in 1913. She was the first woman admitted to the bar in Mississippi.  He secondly married Anna Rice.  After her death he married Bonny MacLavander (or Bonny Mae Lavendar).  (It is possible that his third wife was Nellie, and Bonnie was his daughter, since that is what the 1930 census indicates.)

The 1920 census for Canal St., New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA, ED 42, page 7A, listed Walter J. Greaves, 62, born MS, both parents born MS, with wife Anna, 43, born LA, father born England, mother born Ireland, no children in household.  The 1930 census for New Orleans, New Orleans Parish, LA, 1719 Second St., listed Walter J., 73, physician, Nellie, 22, wife, and Bonnie N., 5/12.  (R‑1)

Children - Greaves, by Lucy Harrison

+168.   Eleanor Virginia Greaves, b. 7 July 1890, m. Cleveland Pol Huggins, 12 Dec. 1912.

  169.   Lucy Greaves, m. Don Miles.

Children - Greaves, by Bonny M. Lavendar

  170.   Bonnie N. Greaves, b.c. 1929.

  171.   girl

  172.   boy

 

Harry (ÒHalÓ) Percy Greaves[3] (74) was born 17 March 1867 in Flora, MS, and died 12 June 1928.  He was an M.D.  He married Elizabeth ("Bettie" or Bettie Elizabeth) R. Pitchford, called "Vardie".  She was born in 1870 in Pocahantas, MS, and died 12 Aug. 1959.

The following biography was published in a local book. "Greaves, Hal Percy, M.D., mayor of Waterproof, and one of the prominent men of Tensas parish, is a son of William Francis and Eleanor Matilda (DuPree) Greaves, and was born March 17, 1867, in Hinds county, Miss.

William Francis Greaves was born near Charleston, S.C. in 1820, and came to Mississippi in early youth, settling near Jackson.  He obtained the degree of M.D. at Philadelphia and practiced medicine in Hinds county, Miss., until his death in 1885.  Eleanor DuPree whose death occurred in 1873 was a native of Mississippi, her father having been a native of France.

H. P. Greaves lived in Hinds county, Miss., until about 20 years of age, and obtained his preliminary education in the country schools of that county.  Later he passed 2 years of the regular course in the Agricultural and Mechanical college at Starkville.  In 1887 he came to Madison parish, La., and did clerical work and bookkeeping for 3 years.  He then went to the Memphis Hospital Medical college at Memphis, Tenn., where he took the degree of M.D. in 1892.  Following this he practiced medicine one year in Madison parish and then located at Madison, Miss., where he continued his professional labor for 7 years.  At the end of that period he came to Waterproof, Tensas parish, and here he has continued his professional calling to the present time, earning the reputation of a careful and skillful physician.  Dr. Greaves is a member of the Knights of Pythias, a democrat in politics, and is now mayor of Waterproof to which office he was elected in the fall of 1913.

June 30, 1894, he was married to Elizabeth R., daughter of J. C. Pitchford, a school teacher and farmer of Madison parish.  They are the parents of the following children.  Evie Hinton, Percy DuPree, John Pitchford, Francis Landon, Sterling Groesbeck, William Ridley.  Mrs. Greaves' ancestors were from North Carolina.  Mr. Pitchford, a native of that state, was living in Mississippi at the outbreak of the Civil war and at once enlisted in Pogue's battery of artillery with which he served through the war.  He was wounded and left on the field at Cold Harbor, and was also wounded at the battle of the Wilderness.  All his service was in Virginia, where he saw some severe fighting.  He surrendered at Appomatox Court House and from there he was paroled and returned to Mississippi to resume farming.

Dr. Greaves by his own industry and strict attention to his duties has acquired high standing in his profession.  Their home at Waterproof is the center of hospitality and refined influence."  (R‑1)

Children - Greaves

+173.   Evie Hinton Greaves, b.c. 1897, m. Joseph Carryl Seaman, d. 15 Dec. 1926.

  174.   Percy Dupree Greaves, b.c. 1899, m. Eleanor Ruth Sheely.  He was an attorney, and was living in 1974.  He had no children.  1974 address: Apt. 15-B, Edgewater Gulf Apts., Biloxi, MS.

+175.   John Pitchford Greaves, b.c. 1901, m. Gertrude Carroll.

+176.   Francis Landon Greaves, b.c. 1910, m. Frances Cooper, d. Aug. 1972.

+177.   Sterling Groesbeck Greaves, b. 12 Aug. 1910, m. Frances Louise Fulton.

  178.   William Ridley Greaves, b. 17 March 1912 (Waterproof, Tensas Par., LA, on the Mississippi River, just across from MS), never married.  He was a bank cashier for 44 years.  1974 address: 1603 St. John Ave., Ruston, LA 71270.

 

Mary Greaves (77) married Marvin Collum.  (R‑1)

Children - Collum

  179.   Margaret Collum, m. Ray Morgan.

  180.   Marvin Collum, m. Alline Jones.

  181.   Leslie Collum

  182.   Mary Collum, m. Lee Roy Chapman.

 

Frank Marvin Greaves (78) married Anna Gaddis.  He died in an automobile accident in Bolton, MS.  He was a major stockholder in banks in Bolton and Jackson, MS.  (R‑1)

Children - Greaves

  183.   Katherine Greaves, m. Hastings Kendall.

  184.   Lucille Greaves, m. David Graham.

 

Lula Greaves (79) married Bailey Russell.  (R‑1)

Children - Russell

  185.   Will Bailey Russell

  186.   Francis Russell

 

CHILDREN OF AMANDA M. F. GREAVES (23) AND THOMAS G. RICE

Franklin Thomas Rice (80) was born 17 Feb. 1839 in TN, and died 25 (or 24) Oct. 1894.  He married Virginia Tally, daughter of John P. Tally and Jedidah ‑‑‑‑‑‑.  She was born about 1844 in Brownsville, and died in 1898.  All their children were born in TN.  (R‑8)

Children - Rice

  187.   Thomas Rice, b.c. 1869.

  188.   Charley F. Rice, b.c. 1871.

  189.   Thomas P. Rice, b.c. 1875.

  190.   Os. S. Rice, b.c. 1877.

 

Mary Louise Rice (81) was born 29 July 1840 in TN, died in Feb. 1868, and was buried in St. PaulÕs Cem. between Ripley and Orysa, TN.  She married Hiram Bradford Mann, son of Austin Mann and Phredonia Bradford, on 4 Nov. 1857 in Lauderdale Co., TN.  He was born 12 Sept. 1835 in TN, died 11 Oct. 1899, and was buried in Oakwood Cem., Brownsville, Haywood Co., TN.  (R‑8)

Children - Mann

+191.   Austin Mann, b.c. 1858, m. Virginia Williams, 5 Feb. 1880, d. 1 April 1899.

  192.   Thomas Mann, b. after 23 June 1860, d. before 1870.

  193.   John Mann, b.c. 1864 (TN), d. after Aug. 1899.

+194.   Minnie Ola Mann, b. 25 July 1867, m. John Thomas Allen, before 1898, d. 29 Jan. 1956.

  195.   Mary Donie Mann, b. 2 Feb. 1868, d. 23 Nov. 1882.

 

Amanda Rebecca Rice (82) was born 17 July 1842 in Orysa, Lauderdale Co., TN, died 8 Aug. 1892, and was buried in St. Paul Cem., Durhamville, TN.  She married Andrew Brown Jayroe, Jr., son of Andrew Brown Jayroe and Hannah Rice, on 8 Oct. 1860 in Sumter, SC.  He was born 7 April 1838 in Georgetown District, SC, died 11 Nov. 1894, and was buried in St. Paul Cem., Durhamville, TN.  All their children were born in Orysa, Lauderdale Co., TN.  (R‑6)

Children - Jayroe

  196.   Francis Annie Josephine Jayroe, b. 12 Aug. 1861, m. Thomas Chalmers McCallum, 17 Oct. 1880, d. 23 April 1937 (Memphis, TN).  He was b. 15 Aug. 1859 and d. 30 Sept. 1931.

  197.   Infant, b. 14 Nov. 1862.

+198.   Thomas Andrew Jayroe, b. 4 Oct. 1866, m(1) Aimee Young, m(2) Mary Elizabeth Lewis, 18 March 1900, d. 12 Feb. 1920.

  199.   Donie Mary Jayroe, b. 17 July 1868, d. 19 Sept. 1875 (Orysa, Lauderdale Co., TN).

+200.   Ora Ionya Jayroe, b. 29 Jan. 1871, m. Walter Angus McCallum, 2 April 1901, d. 13 Jan. 1954.

  201.   John Charles Jayroe, b. 14 Sept. 1875, d. 19 Sept. 1875 (Orysa, Lauderdale Co., TN).

  202.   Allie Fitzallen Jayroe, b. 18 July 1877, d. 29 Oct. 1885 (Orysa, Lauderdale Co., TN).

 

Charles Hannah Rice (86) was born 9 (or 10) Feb. 1850 in TN, and died in 1927.  He married Ella Lou Capers (#87), his first cousin, daughter of Rebecca Greaves and Benjamin Huger Capers.  She was born about 1852 in Holly Springs, MS (or 1854 in TN), and died in 1894.  (R‑8)

Children - Rice

  203.   Gerrold H. Rice, b.c. 1872 (TN), m. Aetna ‑‑‑‑‑‑.

  204.   Mamy A. Rice, b.c. 1877 (TN).

 

CHILDREN OF EDWIN A. GREAVES (26) AND EMILY F. DAVIS

Edward Bennett Greaves (88), possibly called Bennett, was born 2 May 1838 in Haywood Co., TN, and died 10 April 1911.  He married Annie Wills on 11 April 1861.  She was born about 1840 in VA.  They were in the 1880 census for District 9, Haywood Co., TN, when he was listed as B. E.  He was a farmer.  All their children were born in TN, probably in Haywood Co.  (R‑10)

Children - Greaves

+205.   Emma E. Greaves, b. 5 Aug. 1863, m. Henry Bascomb Moorer, 7 Jan. 1895, d. 22 Jan. 1944.

  206.   Fannie H. Greaves, b.c. 1866.

  207.   Joseph L. Graves, b.c. 1868.

  208.   Helen Greaves, b.c. 1870.

  209.   Etta Greaves, b.c. 1875.

 

Joseph Andrew Greaves (90) was born 8 March 1843 in Haywood Co., TN, and died 27 Sept. 1907 in Collinsville, TX.  He married Grace D. ‑‑‑‑‑‑.  She was born about 1845 in AL, and died before 1900.  They were in the 1880 census for Henning, Lauderdale Co., TN, ED 80, page 110B, dwelling 209.  He was in the 1900 census for Collinsville, Grayson Co., TX, ED 109, page 1A, dwelling 7, as a widower, with his last 3 children, and Melton, his grandson.  He was a physician.  All the children were born in TN.  (R‑7)

Children - Greaves

  210.   Annie W. Greaves, b.c. 1873.

+211.   Samuel Augustus Greaves, b. 2 Oct. 1874, m. ‑‑‑‑‑‑, d. 24 April 1937.

  212.   Hattie C. Greaves, b. Dec. 1877.

+213.   John Gordon Greaves, b. Dec. 1879, m. Annie ‑‑‑‑‑‑.

 

CHILDREN OF ANDREW J. GREAVES (27) AND SOPHRONIA ------

Edward D. Greaves (97) was born about 1853 in TN.  He married Sarah ‑‑‑‑‑‑.  She was born about 1858 in TN.  They were in the 1880 census for District 11, Lauderdale Co., TN, ED 83, page 154C, dwelling 131.  He was a farmer.  All their children were born in TN.

Children - Greaves

  214.   Sparell (or Sharell) Greaves (son), b.c. 1875.

  215.   Iola Greaves, b.c. 1847.

  216.   Leona Greaves, b. July 1879.

 

CHILDREN OF ANN B. GREAVES (28) AND DAVID M. HENNING

Frances Ann Henning (101) was born 10 April 1843 and died 14 Nov. 1885, both in Lauderdale Co., TN.  She married William Moorer, son of William A. Moorer and Harriett B. Jenkins, on 16 Nov. 1859 in Lauderdale Co., TN.  He was born 2 Oct. 1836 in Orangeburg Cistrict, SC.  All their children were born in Lauderdale Co., TN.  (R‑9)

Children - Moorer

  217.   Willie May Moorer, b. 6 March 1863, m. Robert Lipscum.

+218.   Charles A. Moorer, b. 23 Sept. 1866, m(1) Nettie Allison, m(2) Dora Hotchkiss.

  219.   T. Mary Moorer, b. 18 Aug. 1868, m. Sidney Harris.

  220.   Harriett A. Moorer, b. 8 Feb. 1871.

  221.   Frances A. (ÒFannieÓ) Moorer, b. 22 Dec. 1872, m. William Keller.

  222.   Greaves H. Moorer, b. 29 July 1874, m. Lula Haynes.

 

John Bennet G. Henning (102) was born about 1850 in Lauderdale Co., TN.  He married Nellie Frazier.  (R‑9)

Children - Henning

  223.   Max Henning, m. Charlie Scott.

 

Adelaide W. (ÒAddieÓ) Henning (103) was born about 1852 in Lauderdale Co., TN.  She married J. D. Hall.  (R‑9)

Children - Hall

  224.   David Meriwether Hall

 

Ella Henning (105) was born 3 March 1857 in Durhamville, Lauderdale Co., TN.  She married Henry Moorer, son of William A. Moorer and Harriett B. Jenkins, on 15 Dec. 1875 in Lauderdale Co., TN.  He was born 16 Sept. 1850 in Lauderdale Co., TN.  All their children were born in Lauderdale Co.  (R‑9)

Children - Moorer

  225.   Allen M. Moorer, b. 26 Jan. 1881, d. 17 Dec. 1883 (Lauderdale Co., TN).

  226.   Henry B. Moorer, b. 14 May 1883.

  227.   Earl H. Moorer, b. 31 July 1885.

 

CHILDREN OF CAROLINE M. JOHNSON (34) AND EDWARD H. BRITTON

Mary Jones Britton (115) was born 12 March 1855 in Marion Co., SC, died 1 Aug. 1928 in Florence Co., SC, and was buried 3 Aug. 1928 in Old Johnsonville Methodist Church, Johnsonville, SC.  She married Archibald Davis Cox, son of William James Cox and Elizabeth T. Stone.  He was born in March 1853 in Williamsburg Co., SC, died 9 July 1904 in Florence Co., SC, and was buried 11 July 1904 in Old Johnsonville Methodist Church, Johnsonville, SC.  All their children were born in Williamsburg Co., SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Cox

  228.   Missouri A. Cox, , b. 13 April 1880, d. 15 Nov. 1972 (Williamsburg Co., SC).

  229.   Mary Florence (ÒFlorrieÓ) Cox, b. 28 June 1885, m. Irby R. Eaddy, d. 4 July 1953 (Williamsburg Co., SC).  He was b. 8 Sept. 1890 and d. 9 April 1977.

+230.   Stacy White Cox, b.c. 1888, m. Minnie Frances Rogers, d. 14 March 1945.

  231.   Daisy Cox, b.c. 1890, m. Melvin Haselden.

  232.   Caroline Elizabeth (ÒBessieÓ) Cox, b. 29 Nov. 1892, d. 7 June 1966 (Williamsburg County Memorial Hospital, Kingstree, SC).

  233.   James (ÒJimÓ) Cox, b.c. 1894.

  234.   William Beaman Cox, b.c. 1896.

 

CHILDREN OF WILLIAM J. JOHNSON (38) AND MARGARET STONE

Mary Elizabeth Johnson (119) was born 15 Oct. 1830 in Marion Co. (now Florence Co.), SC, and died 23 March 1908 in Georgetown Co., SC.  He married Thomas Bath on 12 Nov. 1848.  He was born 15 Nov. 1818 in Georgetown Dist., and died 20 Sept. 1906 in Georgetown Co., SC.  They were in the 1860 census for Prince George Parish, Div. 2, Georgetown, SC.  They were in the 1870 census for Collins Twp., Georgetown Co., SC.  He was a farmer.

Children - Bath

  235.   Daniel Bath, b.c. 1852.

  236.   Sarah F. Bath, b.c. 1854.

  237.   Margaret Ann Bath, b.c. 1859.

  238.   Mary Jane Bath, b.c. 1866.

 

Frances Permilla Johnson (120) was born 17 Sept. 1832 in Marion District, SC, and died in 1912 in Florence Co., SC.  She married John Brown, son of Robert Brown and Mary Perkins, on 13 Dec. 1855.  He was born 25 Oct. 1822 in Lake Twp., Williamsburg Co., SC, and died 6 Oct. 1897 in Florence Co., SC.  They were both buried in Brown Family Cem., Browntown, Florence Co., SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Brown

  239.   William Johnson Brown, b. 25 Oct. 1856, d. 5 July 1872.

  240.   Jane Elizabeth Brown, b. 15 Oct. 1859.

  241.   Alexander Chesley Brown, b. 1 Aug. 1861.

+242.   Robert Foster Brown, b. 23 July 1863, m. Sarah Jane Johnson, d. 1950.

 

Celia Greaves Johnson (121) was born about 1835 in Marion Co. (now Florence Co.), and died in 1924 in Florence Co., SC.  She married William J. Grier, son of Thomas Rothmahler Grier and Margaret Ann Johnson.  He was born 4 March 1848, and died 8 Sept. 1917 in Florence Co., SC.  They were both buried in Grier Cem., Johnsonville, SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Grier

  243.   Louisa Grier, b.c. 1861.

  244.   Margaret E. Grier, b.c. 1862.

  245.   William I. Grier, b.c. 1868.

 

Thomas Edward Johnson (123) was born 22 July 1839 in Marion District (now Florence Co.), SC, died 29 Dec. 1912 in Florence Co., SC, and was buried 31 Dec. 1912 in Trinity Methodist Church Cem., Johnsonville, SC.  He married Mary Elizabeth Stone, daughter of William Henry Stone and Mary Elizabeth Singletary, on 5 July 1865 in Marion District, SC.  She was born 7 Dec. 1832 in Marion Dist. (now Florence Co.), SC, died 28 April 1917 in Florence Co., SC, and was buried 30 April 1917 in Trinity Methodist Church Cem., Johnsonville, SC.  All their children were born in Old Marion Co., SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Johnson

  246.   William Francis Johnson, b.c. 1866, m. Lizzie Johnson, d. 1934 (Florence Co., SC).  She was b. 15 April 1868 in Old Marion Co., SC, and d. 7 Dec. 1948 in Florence Co., SC.

  247.   Elizabeth Johnson, b.c. 1868.

+248.   James Walter Johnson, b. 1 Jan. 1873, m. Charlotte Higgins, d. 29 June 1934.

 

Henry F. Johnson (125) was born about 1843 in Old Marion Co. (now Florence Co.), SC, died 26 June 1919 in Florence Co., SC, and was buried in Trinity Methodist Church Cem., Johnsonville, SC.  He married Sarah D. ‑‑‑‑‑‑.  She was born 30 June 1836 in NC, died 26 June 1919 in Florence Co., SC, and was buried 28 June 1919 in Trinity Methodist Church Cem., Johnsonville, SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Johnson

  249.   Maggie Johnson, b.c. 1869.

 

Benjamin B. Johnson (126) was born 22 May 1845 in Old Marion Co. (now Florence Co.), SC, and died 22 Feb. 1927.  He married Mary Agnes Brown, daughter of John Brown and Sarah Jane Murphy.  She was born 18 July 1849 and died in 1923.  (R‑7)

Children - Johnson

+250.   Liston Bass Johnson, b. 5 Jan. 1874, m(1) Mary Kellahan, m(2) Cora Estelle Huggins, d. 2 Jan. 1932.

  251.   Lonnie Olin Johnson, b. 29 June 1879, m. Beatrice Cagle, d. 23 Aug. 1953.  She was b. 17 July 1888 and d. 12 Aug. 1955.

+252.   Liller Eulalia Johnson, b. 11 Jan. 1883, m. ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Williams, d. 25 Dec. 1958.

  253.   Verona Madge Johnson, b. 24 June 1886, d. 15 Sept. 1900.

  254.   Benjamin Lamar Johnson, b. 19 Feb. 1892, m. Laura Rhem, d. 30 Jan. 1923.

+255.   Wofford Jeddy Johnson, b. 6 July 1894, m. Annie Jane Legette, d. 7 Feb. 1970.

 

James Foster Johnson (127) was born about 1847 in Old Marion Co. (now Florence Co.), SC, and died in 1918 in Florence Co., SC.  He married Sue J. Taylor.  She was born about 1852 in Old Marion Co., SC, and died in 1937 in Florence Co., SC.  They were both buried in Trinity Methodist Church Cem., Johnsonville, SC.  Their first child was born in Old Marion Co. (now Florence Co.), and the other two in Florence Co., SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Johnson

  256.   Willie Johnson, b. 22 Dec. 1883, d. 12 July 1904 (Florence Co., SC).

  257.   Eugene McGahan Johnson, b. 17 July 1890, d. 2 Aug. 1899 (Florence Co., SC).

  258.   daughter, died in infancy.

 

Robert H. Johnson (128) was born about 1851.  He married Fannie ‑‑‑‑‑‑.  She was born in 1854.  (R‑7)

Children - Johnson

  259.   Mary J. Johnson, b.c. 1877.

  260.   Ethel V. Johnson, b.c. 1879.

 

Sara Martha Adieu Johnson (129) was born 25 May 1853 in Old Marion Co., SC, died 23 Dec. 1922 in Columbia, SC, and was buried 25 Dec. 1922 in Trinity Methodist Church Cem., Johnsonville, SC.  She married Richard James Cox, son of Archibald J. Cox, Jr. and Elizabeth Cribb.  He was born 21 May 1848 in Pee Dee, (Kingsburg), Old Marion Co., SC, died 24 Jan. 1898 in Kingsburg, Florence Co., SC, and was buried 26 Jan. 1898 in Trinity Methodist Church Cem., Johnsonville, SC.  Their first 7 children were born in Old Marion Co., and the last two in Florence Co., SC.  (R‑7)

Children - Cox

+261.   Witt Eldridge Cox, b. 26 June 1871, m. Nora Richardson, d. 10 March 1934.

+262.   Margaret Jane Cox, b. 26 Oct. 1872, m. Robert Benjamin Tanner, d. 29 Sept. 1909.

+263.   Henry Benjamin Cox, b. 17 Dec. 1873, m. Lula Louisa Flowers, d. 1912.

+264.   William Franklin Cox, b. 16 Aug. 1876, m(1) Mary Lorena Coxe, m(2) ‑‑‑‑‑‑, m(3) Launa Harris, d. 12 June 1930.

+265.   Andrew James Cox, b. 16 June 1880, m. Docia Creel, d. 30 May 1936.

+266.   Ida Mae Cox, b. 1 April 1881, m. Albert Thomas Taylor, d. 28 March 1962.

  267.   Mary Frances Cox, b. 7 July 1885, m(1) Reuben Turner, m(2) Daniel Huffman Williams, d. 5 Feb. 1937 (Florence Co., SC).  Reuben died in Florence Co., SC.  Daniel was b. 10 March 1877, and d. 25 Nov. 1937 in Florence Co., SC.

+268.   Robert Harlee Cox, b. 17 Oct. 1887, m. Mae Ruth Hyman, 30 Jan. 1910, d. 28 Jan. 1950.

  269.   Neal Cox, b. 29 Aug. 1889, d. 27 Jan. 1892 (Florence Co., SC).

 

 

APPENDIX A

 

Documents from the National and South Carolina Archives that pertain to the activities of Joseph B. Greaves and other associated (probably related) Greaves men in the Revolutionary War are summarized below.

 

Joseph Greaves enlisted in 5th So. Car. Regiment 10 August 1778.  (GSA Archives)

 

31 Jan 1781, "the Continent to Joseph Greaves". Supplied Col. Lee with 2500 bundles of fodder.  Furnished the 1st regiment of cavalry with 20 bu. corn, 612 bundles fodder, half-side of leather, 36 wt. pork, 10.2.1-1/2 (meaning 10 pounds 2 shillings 1 penny half-pence sterling).  Joseph Greaves appeared before Peter Harry, J.P., 19 July 1783 to verify this account.  The amount plus interest was "entered in John Greaves acct." 4 (?) June 1784. signature Francis Greaves.  With interest 13.6.8-1/2.

 

16 June 1781, "the St. of South Carolina to Joseph Greaves".  Furnished a detachment of Gen'l. Marion's (Francis Marion) brigade under the command of Col. Peter Harry with 11 bushels of corn; fifty-six weight bacon, 3.4.7.  Joseph Greaves appeared before Peter Harry, J.P., 19 July 1783, to verify this account.  signed by Mr. Joseph Greaves.

1 July 1784, "So. Carolina, Georgetown district". Joseph Greaves and John Greaves certify that they authorize Capt. Francis Greaves of said district to "receive the indents." for several accts. hereafter mentioned agreeable to the sums and dates, one for 15 pounds 6/7 sterling dated 19 July 1783, the other for 5,000 continental dollars dated 19 July 1783.

 

26 Nov. 1781, "the United States to Joseph Greaves". To 350 weight neat beef furnished to Gen'l. Greene's troops whilst in the state of So. Carolina, 4.9.10. State of So. Carolina, Georgetown District, Personally appeared before me Benjamin Davis, one of the Trustees of said district, Capt. Joseph Greaves who being duly sworn sayth that the above acct. is just and true and that he hath not (rec'd?) any part thereof by indent. or otherways.

Sworn to before me this 10 day Sept. 1785 (signature) Joseph Greaves.  (next page) This may certify that I have purchased of Joseph Greaves 350 wgt. neat beef for the use of the Southern army commanded by the Honble. Major Gen'l. Greene and at the ‑‑‑‑‑‑-- of the Cont'l. Congress dated 25 Feb. 1780.  Rec'd. this 26 day of Nov. 1781, Tho. P. Wade, C.G.P. So. Ca. (Justice of the Peace, So. Carolina?).

 

Will of Joseph Greaves, 6 Dec. 1829, Marion County Wills, vol. 1, book 1, pp. 225-226.

 

31 Dec. 1785, Joseph Greaves.  For 8 days duty as Captain in the Brittany Neck Reg't. of Militia commanded by Col. Hugh Giles in October 1779, and for 63 days duty as Captain in same reg't. under same command at the siege of Charleston from 20 March to 22 May 1781.  Thirty pounds 8 shillings 6 pence 3 farthings sterling.  signed (illegible)

31 Dec. 1785, full satisfaction for the within in an indent.  (signed) Joseph Greaves

 

11 June 1782, then rec'd of Mr. Francis Greaves "fore hundred wight" of beef for the use of a detachment of Gen. Marion's Brigade under my command.  (certified?) Fran. Marion

 

22 Sept. 1782, Rec'd. of Mr. Francis Greaves one steer adjudged to weigh 300 wgt. for the use of Gen'l. Marion's Brigade.  (signed) Fran. Marion

 

1782, State of S. Carolina to Francis Greaves Dr. (debtor).

Feb. 19        3 hoggs for Gen. Marion's Brig.          4.4.11

June 11        400 beef                                              5.2.8

Sept. 22       1 steer 300                                          3.17

                                                                                13.4.7

Personally appeared Fra. Greaves who swore the above is just.  Sworn 19 July 1783, P. Harry, J.P.

Received the 4th of June 1784 from the Commissioner of the Treasury on Indent. 172, Book G, for 13.4.7 sterling in full satisfaction of the within amount.  (signed) Fra. Greaves

 

31 Dec. 1785, John Greaves, for 63 days duty as a Private in Col. Giles' Reg't. of Militia, Capt. Jos. Greaves' company, from 20 March to 22 May 1781, 4.10.

 

16 May 1780, the State of So. Carolina to John Greaves, Dr.  To one Black Horse Impressed by Francis Woolfolk Quarter Master to the 3d Regiment of Light Dragoons Commanded by Lieut. Col. Washington.  Appraised at 5,000 dollars worth 22.2.3-1/2.

State of South Carolina.  Personally appeared before me Peter Harry, one of the Justices of the Peace for Georgetown District, John Greaves who being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists Deposeth that the above amount is just and true.  Sworn before the 19 July 17-- (paper torn).  (Appears written in same hand as other statements sworn to by Francis Greaves same date.)

 

Gentlemen please to ‑‑‑‑‑‑-- to Capt. Joseph Greaves my indent. for duty done in Charles Town in the year 1780.  October 14, 1786, (signed) John Greaves.  This was signed in the Presents of Fran. Greaves, J.P.

 

(Printed form with blanks filled in)  "We the Commissioners of the Public Treasury do certify that we have received into the Treasury" from Mr. William Greaves (of Charlestown) 1400 pounds.  (Terms of loan follow, 7% interest, etc.)  Signed by three commissioners at the Treasury Office, Charlestown, July 10, 1777.

 

7 Jan. 1796, Grant from the state to William Greaves, 154 acres of land in Camden District.

 

7 Jan. 1796, Grant from the state to William Greaves, 267 acres of land in Camden District (plats included).

 

Recorded in Will Book 29 Oct. 1836.  Will of William Henry Greaves of Marion District, So. Carolina, dated 11 Nov. 1834.  From So. Carolina Archives.

 

 

APPENDIX B

 

The will of Joseph B. Greaves is given here. Following that is the will of William Greaves, who was associated with him in the Revolutionary War records. (Both these wills were difficult to read, so there may be minor errors in transcription, usually indicated by question marks.)

 

JOSEPH GREAVES

 

                                                        Charleston, So. Car, Dec. 6th, 1829

 

Knowing the shortness of life & certainty of death I make this my last will & testament in the name of the Lord Amen.

First I give to my eldest son Jn. M. Greaves, the following named negroes - Mary-Esam (?), Cherry & their increase.  Second - I give & bequeath to my second son Jo. B. Greaves the following negroes viz - Big Hariet - Virgilo her child & Cazrole (?).  Third to my daughter Charlotte I give and bequeath the following negroes viz - Little Hariet, Kelsey, Kelly & their increase.  Fourth - to my sons S. A. Decature Greaves - the following negroes & their increase - Larry & Ginney.  Fifth to my daughter A. D. Greaves the following named negroes & their increase - Florence & Betty.  Sixth - to W. F. Greaves I give & bequeath the following negroes & their increase, Lawson & Lionser (?).  The residue of my negroes I give to my beloved wife Mary B. Greaves & my daughter Mary Jane Greaves during their natural life - then to be equally divided among my children - I also give & bequeath to each of my children when of age a bed & furniture - & also I give to my beloved wife & daughter afforesaid all my real estate - during their life as afforesaid & then to return to my lawful heirs to be equally divided - during the lifetime of my wife & daughter afforesaid - the children are to remain with them during pleasure - and further should any of my children be so unfortunate as to lose a negro before they come of age, they are to be replaced by my executors from the residue of my negroes as afforesaid given to my wife & daughter.  I also appoint my sons John M. Greaves, Jo. B. Greaves, Francis Greaves & James I. Richardson to be my lawfull executors of this my last will & testament, in testimony whereof I now assign my hand & seal in presence of these witnesses.                                              Joseph Greaves (SEAL)

Peter E. Graves

Shad. S. Gasque

James I Richardson

 

It is also my request that if any of my children die without lawfull issue that their property received from me be equally divided among my surviving heirs.                                    Joseph Greaves (SEAL)

 

Witnesses

Peter E. Graves

Shad. S. Gasque

James I. Richardson

Recorded in Will Book 1, Page 225-226, Marion Co., Sworn to April 9, 1830, Edward B. Wheeler, Ordinary N.D.(?), Roll No. 337

 

 

WILL OF WILLIAM HENRY GREAVES

 

In the name of God, Amen.  I William Henry Greaves, of the District of Marion, and State of South Carolina, being in good health of body and of sound and disposing mind and memory and being desirous to settle my worldly affairs, whilst I have strength and capacity so to do, do make and ordain this my last will and testament, in manner and form following

IMPRIMIS.  I desire that my just debts and funeral expenses be paid immediately after my decease, out of my estate.  ITEM I give and bequeath to my beloved wife Elisabeth Greaves four tracts of land adjoining each other, containing fifteen hundred acres, including the plantation whereon I now live; Also the following negro slaves, namely, Cyrus, Sancho, Billy, Nathan, Dick Patrick, Toney, Hannah, Chloe, Bella, Suckey, Matilla, Beckey, Polly, Sarey, Bina, Flander, Moses, Nemo, Bob, and Gilbert; also all my household and kitchen furniture, stock of horses, cattle, hogs and sheep, to her and to her heirs forever.

ITEM I give and bequeath the following negro slaves, namely, Winder, Nancy, Eusibby, Harriett, Robbin, Andrew and Cain together with the future issue and increase of the females, to my said wife Elizabeth Greaves, her Executors, Administrators and assigns, in trust nevertheless and for the use and purpose hereinafter mentioned and expressed of and concerning the same, that is to say, in trust, to and for the use and benefit of my adopted daughter Margaret Elizabeth Greaves Davis to the intent that she may possess, use and enjoy the same, and the profits thereof free and discharged from the debts contracts or liabilities of any future husband for and during the term of her natural life, and immediately from and after her death, I give and bequeath the said negro slaves last mentioned to the lawful issue of my said adopted daughter, to them and their heirs forever.  But in case my said adopted daughter Margaret Elizabeth Greaves Davis should depart this life, leaving no lawful issue surviving her, then and in that case I give the said negro slaves, namely, Winder, Nancy, Eusibby, Harriet, Robbin, Andrew and Cain, to my said wife Elizabeth Greaves to her and her heirs forever.  But in case my said adopted daughter should survive my said wife, and afterwards depart this life leaving no lawful issue as aforesaid, then and in that case I give and bequeath the last aforesaid negro slaves to David William Davis, to him and his heirs forever.  ITEM I give and bequeath all the residue of my estate real and personal not hereinbefore disposed of that I may be possessed of at my death, to my said wife Elizabeth Greaves, to her and her heirs forever.  And I hereby nominate, constitute, and appoint my said wife Elizabeth Greaves, to be sole Executrix to this my last will and testament. I also give to her, her Executors, administrators and assigns, full power and authority to execute the foregoing trust.  And lastly hereby revoking all former wills, by me at any time heretofor made, I declare this to be my last will and testament in witness whereof I the said William Henry Greaves, to this my last will and testament, set my hand and seal this Eleventh of November Anno Domino One thousand Eight hundred and thirty four.

Signed, sealed published and declared as and for the last will and testament of the above named William Henry Greaves, in the presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.

                                                        Wm. H. Greaves (SEAL)

Benj. Gause

Griffin C. Rogers                John Rogers

Richard W. Rogers

Recorded in Will Book 1, Page 287, Sworn to Oct. 29, 1836, Ed. B. Wheeler, Ordinary, Roll No. 306

 

 

APPENDIX C

 

The following stories were written by Harry B. Greaves II in 1975 when he was 79.  They were provided by his daughter, Nancy Greaves.

 

MURDER TRIAL

 

In 1897 during a murder trial in Canton Mississippi, my father, Clarence Budney Greaves, was the defense attorney.  A man interested in the prosecution insulted my father.  The man accused my father of not speaking the truth and the two met right in front of the judge.  Dad struck the man, and the judge grabbed him with both his arms trying to stop the fight.

While my father was being held in this manner, his opponent cut his throat with a sharp pocket knife.  My father told me that had he not lowered his head instantly, forcing the man to hit his jawbone and go up into his face, the jugular vein would have been severed.

The judge turned my dad loose at this point, and he chased the fleeing man to the courthouse door, where he fell unconscious.  He was rushed to the hospital where efficient doctor friends saved his life.  My mother told me that she was informed of the incident in the wee small hours of the night.

Jeff, my father's faithful setter bird dog, was the only protection Mother had, and with my sister Leila being a little over three years old and I just over one, she must have endured a great worry.

She told me that she kept thinking the rest of the night, "What will I do if he dies."  My mother was one of the most sincere Christians I have ever known.  I feel certain that her communication with Jesus that night helped the doctors make Dad recover.

 

YELLOW FEVER

 

When I was about four years old, which would have been in 1900 or 1901, yellow fever hit Mississippi a devastating blow.

I cannot recall leaving my home with Mother, my sister Leila two years my senior, and Clarence Budney, Junior, two years my junior, but I do recall quite well being in my Uncle John's home out in the country about eight miles from Flora.

I knew that my dad was ill and Mother worried about him.  I knew nothing about yellow fever, and for that matter the grownups knew very little about it either. We went to our uncle's home in the hot summertime and I recall quite well asking my mother many times, "When are we going home?"  And every time she would reply, "When the first frost comes."  In later years I was informed that Doctor Rowland, our family doctor, had told mother to stay away until frost came.  I knew what frost was and I went out early every morning looking for it, whenever my mother told me to do so.

I made a good many fruitless trips and then one morning as I approached the wood pile where the servants cut wood for the large wood-burning fireplace, I was thrilled to see what I knew had to be frost.  I picked up one of the wood chips covered with frost and ran to my mother.  Mother took the chip in her hand and said, "Yes, that is frost and we can go home soon."

In later years I learned that neither Doctor Rowland nor anyone else knew at that time just how a mosquito carried the dreaded disease from one person to another. Many people died in Flora and all through the South, before the curse and cure were found.

My father was one of the few who recovered.  I remember how he gave old time turnip greens a great deal of the credit for his survival.

Here is the story as I remember it, and I quote: "Doctor Rowland had given my cook and nurse (a good faithful old negro woman) orders not to let me eat anything but soups, soft-boiled eggs and the like.  Then finally one day after I had almost starved to death I smelled turnip greens being cooked in the kitchen.  I guessed that more would be cooked than my faithful helper could eat and that some would be put in the dining room 'safe'.  I waited until she left to go to her home for a brief visit and I got out of my bed and crawled on my hands and knees to the safe and was able with the utmost effort to reach the dish of greens.  I ate it all, and when my cook-nurse returned she almost had a fit."

"Doctor Rowland was informed about it and he told me, 'Well, Clarence, that will either cure or kill you.'"  I learned to like turnip greens about that time and have enjoyed them all through the years.

 

It might be interesting to relate how we made the trip back to our home in Flora.

Fall rains had come just ahead of the frost and the dirt road was almost impossible to travel except with two good strong mules and a heavy farm wagon.

Just such a conveyance was arranged for our trip. First a large 20 or 30 gallon cast iron pot was placed in the wagon and a good wood-burning fire was started in the pot.

When the pot was about half full of red hot coals, Mother and we three children were helped into the wagon and all seated on the floor with our feet near the pot. A good supply of quilts and blankets was furnished by Uncle John and Aunt Mary.

Uncle John's most trusted employee, Plez, was given the assignment of getting us home and he did a good job.

I have no doubt that Dad was correct in thinking the turnip greens kept him from starving, but I would guess that the prayers of my good Christian mother and Aunt Mary had a great deal to do with it.

 

LAW SUITS AND THE SENATE

 

It was a great pleasure for me to accompany my father to the court rooms and hear him plead his cases.  I have seen him have most of a jury in tears as he eloquently pled the case of his client.  He told me once that he only lost two murder cases in the thirty or forty years that he practiced criminal law.

I also recall sitting in the state senate chamber and enjoying the proceedings, even as a child.  I became interested in politics then and have taken an active part in it most of my life.

My father used to let me sit near him while he was interviewing people who had come seeking defense in a murder they had committed.  My father would always start off with the following statement: "Tell me everything. Do not hold back one fact."  The interview would usually last about thirty minutes.

When it was over my dad would make one of two statements: "I will take your case" or "Get someone else to take your case; you committed cold-blooded murder." He would not take a case just for the fee.  If he thought a person was justified in killing another he would take the case even if the guilty person had no money.  I remember one such case, where the defendant told Dad all he had was a few razorback hogs.  It was agreed that the negro client would bring us one of the pigs when he was about grown.

Later that fall one Saturday morning I observed a negro driving a wagon drawn by two skinny mules into our driveway.  I was directed to go see who it was and what he wanted.  I found it to be the man with the promised razorback hog.  The hog was confined in a crudely made but very strong crate.

My dad told me to have the man turn the hog loose into what we called the hog pen, an enclosure about 50 feet square, made of used lumber.  The idea was to let the "shoat", as the negro called him, get used to our place before turning him out into the hog pasture consisting of several acres.  The shoat was allowed to jump out of an opening in one end of the crate into the pen after the wagon had been backed up to the pen gate.

The new addition to our hog population had long legs, a long snout, and was black and white spotted, a true "razorback".

He trotted all around the pen, apparently inspecting it for weak spots, then backed up about twenty feet from the fence and made a running jump something like a deer might have done.  The fence was about five feet tall, and "Mr. Razorback" hit the top board, crashing it as he passed over the enclosure.  He hit the ground running and that was the last of Father's fee.

 

In later years after becoming a resident of Okmulgee, Okla., I was selected for a District Court jury panel.  I was one of the first to be called and both sides accepted me.

The case we were about to hear was a murder trial.  A negro man, possibly fifty or sixty years old, had been indicted for ambushing a young negro man, killing him instantly with an old single barrel twelve-gauge shotgun.

During the trial the fact was brought out that the old man had a rather young wife with whom the young negro had been "keeping company" while the husband was working in his cotton field some distance from the home.

The young man had been warned to stay away from the old man's wife but he failed to heed the warning. Instead he told the husband that he would kill him if he tried to stop him.

Finally the old man became desperate, loaded his single barrel gun with a squirrel load of shot and hid in some bushes not far from his home and right near a path that the "lover" travelled when making his visits.

The old man waited until the lover was about fifteen or twenty feet away and shot him in his chest, killing him instantly.

In time both sides rested and we were sent to the jury room after the judge had issued his instructions.  As soon as we were seated around the long table, one of the jurors stated, "I move we make Harry the foreman."  I objected that I had never served on a jury before. Several more insisted that I serve as chairman and I finally accepted.

I called for discussions.  The first man spoke about as follows: "Well, we know he is guilty, he even admitted that."  Another man said, "Let's give him the electric chair."  Three or four more thought it would be good riddance to send him to the chair, and then silence prevailed for possibly a minute.

I decided it was time for me to speak up.  I proceeded to tell how I had attended a good many murder trials with my father, one having been almost exactly like the case before us.  I explained how my father had always argued that justifiable homicide was not cause for conviction. I said, "I think we should turn the old man loose."

During the next ten minutes, one after the other spoke up and agreed with me.  The second man to speak admitted that possibly he was a little hasty in wanting to send the old fellow to the hot seat.

At this point I passed out the little ballots and asked them to vote either guilty or innocent.  The ballots were all passed up to me and I requested two men to come help me count the ballots.  All twelve voted innocent.  Within thirty minutes I told the bailiff to report to the judge that we had reached a verdict.  We were led back into the court room where the judge asked me if we had reached a verdict and I replied, "Yes, your honor, we have."

As was the custom, each juror was polled and we all answered, "Not guilty."  I looked at the old fellow and saw that tears were streaming down his face.  As we passed down from the jury box the old man grabbed me and almost administered a "bear hug."  I never did see him again, and that has been over forty years ago.  The experience with my father probably saved that old man's life.

 

A little earlier I related how my father received a razorback hog as a legal fee.  Now I want to relate something that I think is the most amazing experience I can recall in connection with our dad.

There was a meat market in our home town of Flora operated by a Mr. Hemphill.  It was Mr. Hemphill's custom to be open on Sunday morning from seven to eight and then close down until seven Monday morning.

I would quite often, when we did not have a servant to get breakfast for the family, get up about six o'clock and have a good fire going in the kitchen stove for Mother when she arrived on the scene.

When I was about six or seven years old one Sunday morning such as I described, my dad came into the kitchen and said, "Here, son, take this money and go down to Hemphill's Market and tell him to send me a pound of the best pork sausage he has."

That kind of errand pleased me very much, for I could hear all the news about the negro Saturday night fights and quite often killings.

I delivered my dad's message and returned home soon after seven.  My mother started cooking the sausage while Dad was out seeing about the chickens that he loved to raise.  I went out to be with my dad and told him of an unusual experience I had at the market.  I reported to my father about as follows: "Papa, Mr. Hemphill cut one of his fingers off while he was grinding the sausage."  Papa apparently was paying more attention to the little chickens that were being hatched than he was to my conversation.  He stopped, however, and said, "Repeat that."  I explained how I had seen Mr. Hemphill cut off one of his fingers in the sausage grinder and immediately he started towards the kitchen.

I followed him and heard him say, "Lizzie (my mother's nickname), stop cooking that sausage."  Mother wanted to know why, and Dad told me, "Son, tell Mother what you saw Hemphill do."  I related my story.  Mother replied, "Now, Clarence, you know Mr. Hemphill started over with some more meat."  Whereupon Dad said, "I am not taking any chances of eating Hemphill's finger.  Knowing him as I do, I doubt very seriously that he started over."

Mother gave in and Dad called our two bird dogs and gave them all the sausage, partially cooked and raw.  We finally had some home-cured ham for breakfast, which I liked better anyway.  Years later I talked to Mr. Hemphill after he had retired from his meat market business, and I noticed the first finger on his right hand was noticeably absent.

 

While reporting funny experiences, I must tell of one we had at our dining table where our Uncle Arne, the oldest son of General S.A.D. Greaves, was involved.  I loved to see Uncle Arne walking home with our dad when he was returning from Jackson, for I knew a good supply of chocolate candy was on its way.  This time was no exception, in that respect, but my brother, C. B. Junior, had persuaded my sister, Leila, to help play a rather harmless prank on our beloved uncle.  He was a good Episcopalian and knew some rather impressive and slightly lengthy thanks to offer before eating.

Our Uncle Arne was very fond of the fine biscuits our mother made, and Mother always saw to it that the plate containing the biscuits was placed just to the right of his dinner plate.  This happened to be during the hot summer and before the day of electric refrigeration, making a perfect setup for C. B.'s prank.

As usual, Uncle Arne was asked to return thanks and we all had our heads bowed and eyes closed, that is to say except "Bee" as we called him and sister Leila.

Bee had Leila hand the dish of butter to him and he exchanged the biscuits for the butter.  As was the custom of Uncle Arne just as soon as he said "Amen" he reached for the biscuits and his fingers entered the dish of butter that was anything but solid.  The roughest word I ever heard Uncle Arne say was "Confound Damn."  Well, this expression was forthcoming immediately and as one might imagine, our meal was disrupted for several minutes.

A good many years later, "Bee" told me how it happened.  I am sure he escaped some kind of punishment by looking so innocent and keeping quiet.

 

PAYMENT IN GOLD

 

When I was about nine or ten years old, which would have been in 1905 or 1906, I witnessed a sight that few people in my opinion have ever seen.    My father had won a damage suit for a client against a railroad company, and I think it was the Illinois Central.  The judgement was for ten thousand dollars.

My father, mother, and I were sitting on our front porch during a hot summer day and, as I recall it, Mother was reading something to my dad.  His eyesight had been gradually growing weaker since the terrible experience he had in the Canton Court House that I told about earlier, and Mother had to read everything to him.  I was therefore the first one to see a man coming into our front yard gate carrying some kind of a leather bag.

I notified my parents and the reading stopped immediately.  Our visitor came to the porch, and now I quote the gentleman: "You are Mr. Greaves, aren't you?" Dad replied, "Yes, sir."  "Well, I have come to pay the ten thousand dollars we owe you."

At my mother's direction I hastened into our home to get a pencil and tablet.

The man emptied the ten thousand dollars in twenty dollar gold pieces upon the front porch floor as he stood upon the ground, about four feet below the porch floor level.

Gold watches, rings, pins, etc., covered my knowledge of gold, so naturally I became very excited.

The twenty dollar gold pieces were stacked in even heights in two or three rows and Mother finally announced, "It is all here."

Dad signed some papers for the man and he then stated, "Mr. Greaves, you may keep the bag, to handle the money in."  He told us goodbye and left.

Mother and I put the money back into the sack and then my dad said, "Son, see if you can pick it up."  I grabbed it with one hand as any child might do and it didn't move.  I then put a foot on each side of the bag and with both hands I could barely clear the floor with it.

My dad then made a remark that has stuck with me all through the years.  He stated, "Son, you will never see that much gold again in all your life even if you live to be a hundred."  I am now seventy-nine and feel quite certain that I have not seen two hundred dollars in gold since then.  I have often wondered why my dad was able to make such an accurate statement.

 

CHAPEL OF THE CROSS

 

Many conflicting stories have been told about Annandale, the Johnstone mansion, and the lovely little Episcopal Church known as the Chapel of the Cross.

My Uncle John and Aunt Mary related to me what they had heard from General Greaves and others of that generation.

There seems to be no recorded reason why the Johnstones wanted such a large home.  There were forty or fifty rooms in the home and all were elegantly furnished.

My uncle and aunt knew of only two children, both girls.  A great deal is known about Helen, the fiancee of Henry Clay Vick, but nothing is ever said about the other daughter.  I will relate what I know about the death of Henry Clay Vick a little later, but first I want to discuss the legend of the sister's death.

If I was told about the death of Mr. Johnstone, I cannot recall it, but I do remember hearing that this sister of Helen became disturbed mentally and committed suicide by hanging herself in the mansion.  This happened while the mother and two daughters lived alone.

Many years later, when I saw the home for my first and only time, it was believed by practically all negroes and many white people that the ghosts of Henry Vick and Helen's sister roamed the grounds and halls of the mansion every night.

The home was abandoned and locked for about forty years, during which time nothing was stolen.  I would guess that the ghost stories caused this.

I will relate a little later an experience my father had as a result of a small wager he made with some friends, but first I must tell about the death of Henry Vick.

Mr. Vick was a very enthusiastic quail hunter.  While visiting in New Orleans a few days before his planned wedding date, he became engaged in an argument with a complete stranger, apparently over hunting experiences, and as a result a duel was fought under the "dueling oaks" of New Orleans the following morning at sunup.

I was not told anything about who the seconds were, but only that Mr. Vick lost the duel.

The sad message was brought to the Johnstone family. Miss Helen decided to have her fiancee's body brought to Annandale for burial near the Chapel of the Cross.  Large barrels of tar, or pitch, as it was called then, were placed every few hundred yards along the road leading from Annandale to the little church.

Slaves put a torch to all the barrels, which thus lighted the way as Mr. Vick's body was borne to the chapel by a horse-drawn vehicle arriving just before 12:00 midnight.

Miss Helen had bird dogs included in the marble stone markings in memory of the sport Vick loved so well.  She also had a wrought-iron bench placed at the head of the grave, and she would go there from time to time to recall memories of her handsome fiancee.

The close friendship existing between the Greaves and Johnstone families was the cause of General Greaves, his wife and three infant children all being buried near Mr. Vick's grave.  Helen herself is not buried there.  She later married and moved away, and is buried with her husband in another part of the state.

While on the subject of burial grounds, I will state that I think John Lowe was buried in Jackson, while Figures Lowe and his wife were buried a mile and one-half northeast of the Lowe-Greaves home.  For many years, large cedar trees and a brick wall surrounded this location, but in the past twenty or thirty years, ownership of the land has changed hands several times and as I write this nothing remains to identify it as the resting place of Figures Lowe and his wife.

Now back to my father and the wager I mentioned earlier.  My father told me that he and some of his friends were discussing the ghost stories one day when he was about eighteen years old, and he stated that he did not believe in ghosts.

His friends dared him to go to the locked home, enter through a window, and then spend the night there.  A small wager was agreed upon.

My father accepted the challenge and the date was set. He rode horseback to the mansion just before dark one nice, warm pleasant day.  He hitched his horse some distance from the home and finally opened a ground floor bedroom window and crawled in.

He went to bed with his pistol on the pillow near his head.  For a while nothing happened, but eventually he heard some strange noises and suddenly he saw a rather large dark object on the window sill by his bed. Instantly he fired his pistol at this object and it disappeared.  In due time Dad said he had the same experience.  Again he fired his pistol at the object, and it disappeared as before.  Daylight finally came without his ever having gone to sleep.  Dad looked out the window and saw the two "ghosts" he had killed -- two very large black cats.

Dad told me that while he won the wager, he would not care to go through the experience again.

 

THE SENATE AND A FIVE DOLLAR GOLD PIECE

 

I remember one time hearing my mother read from the Jackson Daily News while Dad was in the Senate, a story about him.  The story was headed, "Senator Greaves gets city-slicked by three small boys."

We could hardly wait for Dad's return to hear more about it.  Dad's explanation was something like this: "I was on my way to the Senate chamber when I came upon three small boys scratching in the grass near the sidewalk.  One of them was crying."

"I stopped and asked what was wrong, and one of the boys replied, 'We were going to the store to get something for Mother and Jimmy lost the money.'  As Jimmy cried, the other boys explained, 'He will get a whipping if we cannot find it.'"  Dad then asked them how much he had lost, and the answer was a quarter.

Dad said he then reached into his pocket to feel for a quarter.  He was almost blind and had to distinguish change by feel.  He found a quarter and gave it to the boys.  Then as they walked away Dad heard the boy say, "Look, he gave us a $5.00 gold piece and we lied to him."  A reporter for the paper happened to meet the boys just at that time, and ran the story that he accidently overheard.  Dad told us that none of his friends teased him about it.

 

As a child of five or six years I used to play on the floor by the side of my dad's seat or desk in the Senate while my mother did a little visiting and shopping.  I happened to be near the Capitol one day in about 1938, so I went by the Senate chamber.  It was vacant and quiet. I tried to pick out my dad's old seat, and as I stood there almost overcome with nostalgia, an old gentleman walked up to me and put his hand gently on my arm.  I turned and realized for the first time that I was not alone.  I spoke to him, and he asked me in a very quiet, gentlemanly manner, "Is there anything I can do for you, sir?  I am the caretaker here."

I explained to him why I was there, and he stated, "I remember your daddy quite well.  He authored more laws that were put upon the statute books of Mississippi than any other man in history."

 

My dad had told me several times about going to the first Misissippi Senate chamber in the old original capitol building while his father, General Greaves, was a member of the Senate from Madison County.  Dad also told me that his father told him of his friendship with Jefferson Davis.  General Greaves brought Mr. Davis home with him from Jackson not long before the Civil War broke out and he spent the weekend with the Senator and Grandmother in their Sunnyside mansion.  It would be most interesting to have a record of what they talked about. Those were heart and soul-testing days.

 

 

Now I'll tell you about Barlow Brady, the ex-slave that many white mothers used to hold their children in check and settle disputes between them, especially when they were busy with other more important matters.

My sister Leila, brother Bee, and I had a very trying experience once where this old fellow was involved.  It was unintentional on our parents' part.  First I must describe Barlow Brady to you.  He was about five feet, eight inches tall, and weighed about 150 pounds.  He was a witch doctor of sorts and was widely sought after by those who had been "conjured" by an enemy, or had a curse put upon them.

Barlow carried about a peck of wild onions, and roots of various kinds in a cloth bag tied to the end of a small pole a little longer than an ordinary walking stick and resting on his shoulder.

When he called upon his patients he would make a broth using the contents of his doctor's bag.  He had the reputation of curing his patients if they drank his broth and obeyed his instructions following consumption of the medicine.

It is not known who started the story, but the "information" was that Barlow was a real snake doctor and carried snakes in the bag that accompanied him everywhere he went.  Barlow had many patients and every white child at least in or anywhere near Flora knew the "doctor" on sight.

When a white mother wanted to settle a dispute, all she would have to do would be to mention getting Barlow Brady to come take care of the argument and peace prevailed immediately.

Now I will tell you how Barlow was named, and then I will relate the experience the three Greaves children had.  Barlow liked my father very much and told him the following story, and I quote the old fellow:

"I was a child about five or six years old when some white people came to Africa buying or stealing negro children.  There were many children in our family, and I remember well what my parents were given for me.  The white men that wanted me offered my father a good, sharp pocket knife and the deal was closed.  The slave traders sold me to a man named Mr. Brady who was a good man.  The Bradys taught me English and gave me a pretty good education.

In time I saw a knife just like the one that was traded for me and I was told it was a Barlow knife.  I told Mr. Brady I wanted my name to be Barlow Brady, and he said that would be agreeable with him."

And now for the three Greaves children's experience. The scene is our front porch about eleven a.m. on a hot summer day.  Our dad had brought some of his political friends home for dinner.

While we children had not been fussing, we had been noisy, and our mother had just told us to be quiet or go somewhere else for our conversation.  About that time I heard our mother say, "There goes Barlow Brady."

As I recall it, I was later told that my father wanted to let his political friends hear from the "doctor" how he cured his conjured patients, so he called to Barlow, "Come here, Barlow, I want to see you."

Well, we children quietly but quickly made an exit.  I led the way into my bedroom and crawled under the bed. Leila and Bee followed and within a few seconds we were well concealed under the bed.  The temperature must have been close to 100 degrees outside, and with no kind of air conditioning in our home, you can imagine the condition we were soon in.

About twelve o'clock or an hour later we heard our negro cook summoning our mother to come see if she had the dinner table arranged properly.

In due time dinner was announced to Dad and his guests, at which time we were finally missed.  Our names were called all through the house and yards.  Finally I heard Mother say, "Look in the cisterns; they might have fallen into one of them."  That search, of course, was fruitless.  By that time the adults were getting frantic.

One of the guests was passing through my room and saw a foot not completely hidden under the bed.  Within less than a minute we were all pulled from our hiding place dripping wet with perspiration and near suffocation.

We were asked what we were hiding for, and I think all of us answered in unision, "We did not want Barlow to put his snakes on us."

The adults ate dinner without the company of the three children.  We had to bathe and put on clean clothes before being permitted to appear at the dinner table. Later Mother told us the true facts about Barlow Brady, but the old man died before I really accepted the fact that he was a snake doctor without snakes.

 

I will now go back to some of the things my father and his brothers told me.

Before the Civil War came along to disrupt and all but destroy the South, General Greaves and his wife entertained extensively.  Early in the spring for a number of years a good crowd of relatives and friends from the Carolinas and Virginia would come to spend the summer with the General and his family.  They traveled via horsedrawn vehicles.  It required several weeks to make the trip.  An orchestra from New Orleans would be engaged to spend the entire period and dancing until the wee small hours was enjoyed every night.  The visitors would leave just in time to arrive back east before the cold weather arrived.

Another source of my information was one of the old ex-slaves, "Uncle" Mack Robinson, who operated a shoe repair shop in Flora.  It was a great pleasure for me to visit this fine old man.  He was crippled from his waist down, but I never did know what caused it.

"Uncle" Mack told me that his only duty during slavery time was to make shoes and boots for the Greaves family. At one time he told me, "Your grandfather was a fine gentleman and a real swell dresser.  He changed clothes for every meal, shoes and all."  The old fellow might have exaggerated a little, but he said, "I made about 90 pairs of shoes and boots for him."

Once during one of our visits he said, "Little Master, we colored people were much better off during slavery time than we are now.  Your grandfather was good to all of us and we did not have a thing to worry about."

Another of my favorite ex-slaves was the head slave, "Uncle" Horace Winder.  His wife, "Mam" Patsy, was a fine Christian character.  "Uncle" Horace told me that when word reached the Greaves home that Sherman and his troops were marching in their direction, he was called in and given the task of burying all the silverware and silver coins.  He decided that the stalls where the fine stallion and other horses were kept would be a good place.  With the help of a few good trusted slaves, all the silverware and a peck of silver coins were carefully buried.  By the time Sherman and his troops arrived, all evidence of the burial had disappeared.

When Sherman arrived and found that my grandfather had been a Federal officer during the Mexican War, he showed them a little consideration by leaving Grandfather one saddle horse, a few mules, and two or three milk cow. All other livestock was taken.  The cattle were slaughtered and eaten by the troops.  A 40-acre deer park south and east of the mansion with a rail fence about ten feet tall was entered by the soldiers and the pet deer were killed, all but a few that tore parts of the rail fence down and escaped.  My father told me that every spring for a good many years after the war, the deer would return to the park and eat the new tender grass that had been planted for them.

Now back to "Uncle" Horace.  Sherman knew that a great home like the Greaves mansion just had to have lots of silverware, so he put many of his troops to the task of finding it.  They ransacked the home and all the barns. Finally they were put to digging for it.  Many days were spent with hundreds of soldiers digging everywhere they thought it might be found.

Sherman finally gave up and ordered Uncle Horace brought before him.  Sherman said, "You know where the silver is hidden and if you do not tell me where it is we will hang you."  Uncle Horace replied, "I have nothing to tell you."

Sherman ordered a hangman's noose tied and placed around this courageous man's neck.  This was done and the soldiers slowly tightened the rope until the point of death had been reached when Sherman ordered him lowered to the ground.  He soon recovered and lived to be past ninety years of age, as did "Mam" Patsy.  A nice little home was given to them and my father and his brothers took care of them until their deaths.

Several other slaves refused to leave when the war ended and they were protected and helped in every way possible by my father and his brothers.  I have six of the silver forks with Lowe engraved on them that escaped Sherman and his soldiers.  I will probably tell more about them later.

When Sherman saw that he was not likely to get his thieving hands of the silver, he decided to destroy the cotton crop.  It was August and cotton was already being picked when a heavy rain hit the plantation.  Sherman ordered all his troops to mount their horses and mules and go through the fields riding in close formation, field after field, until every stalk of cotton was trampled into the earth.

In later years my Uncle Harry filed a law suit against the Federal Government asking for damages done by Sherman.  He kept pushing it for a considerable time and was finally told, "No one will ever pay any attention to you.  We planned on destroying you and that was part of the plan."  I might not have quoted the exact words, but it was something like that.

Several of Sherman's troops died while encamped on the Greaves plantation and General Greaves gave them a plot of burial ground about 40 feet square.  A fence was built and tombstones were erected by the Federal Government. After many years the fence deteriorated and livestock knocked the tombstones down.  They finally disappeared entirely.

 

Jeff Davis visited General Greaves during the Civil War and Grandfather gave him several hundred thousand dollars to help carry on the struggle.

 

John Audubon, the great ornithologist, visited the Lowe brothers and painted many of his famous pictures while a guest of the Lowe families.  When departing from one of his visits he gave the Lowe brothers a number of his original paintings.

Following General Greaves' death in 1880, my father was made of age at seventeen so he could be given his share of the property.  My Uncle John related the next incident.  Uncle S.A.D., Jr., or Arne, as we all called him, selected the Audubon paintings as part of his inheritance.  A few years later a stranger came riding in a rather ordinary looking horse drawn buggy and stated that he had heard someone had some old pictures of birds there and he might buy them if the price was right.

Uncle Arne got the pictures from his storage place and showed them to the man.  The stranger offered Uncle Arne eighty dollars for them and they made a deal.  The pictures, wherever they are today, would be priceless.

 

The General's second wife, mother of Harry and Mamie, made a deal with Arne, John and Clarence for some of their silverware, furniture, etc., and it passed on to Harry and Mamie at her death.  Uncle Harry and Aunt Leila gave me a set of silver forks that I mentioned earlier. They came from England and are so heavy that one has to exert a little effort to eat with them.  They are the only things that I possess that belonged to the Lowes or my grandfather, and I presented them to Wanda, my fiancee, not long before we married.  I said, "Here is something I am giving you.  Your grandfather's friends could not take them away from my grandfather, but I will give them to you."

Now back to the four sons of General Greaves.  I have already stated that Harry was a lawyer.  S.A.D. Jr. or Arne inherited the home and several thousand acres.  He spent most of his life farming the two thousand acres he was able to hold onto.  The second son, John, inherited several thousand acres, and he too was able to hold onto considerable acreage and farmed it successfully under extremely trying conditions.

Earlier I stated that Clarence Budney Greaves, my father, was made of age at seventeen.  Naturally he knew nothing about farming.  He depended upon someone else to do the farming while he followed other pursuits.

One of the first things he did was to attend the newly-opened Mississippi A & M College at Starkville, MS. He packed his belongings necessary for college and proceeded to Starkville on horseback.  A colored valet went along with him to take care of the horses and do other things for him that he had been accustomed to at home.

My dad stated that he liked the school very much and was getting along just fine until Christmas, or possibly Easter.  Anyway, one or two distinguished guests had been invited to supper with the college president and a large turkey was roasted and placed upon the table.  While a lot of confusion was going on at the door during the entrance of guests and host, my father and four other students opened a rear window and "lifted" the turkey.

A thorough investigation was held and evidence was found linking the five students to the "lift."  They were all sent home, not expelled but suspended for a while. My father did not return.  Instead he took up horse racing and rooster fighting in a big way while his "overseer" was taking care of his plantation.

My father told me that he had some fine horses and was successful in winning a good many races, but his rooster fighting interested me a great deal more.  I suppose it was because I had seen roosters fighting in our yard and I liked the action.

I asked my dad one time what was the most exciting fight he had participated in, and this is what he told me: "I had gradually lost my plantation through mismanagement partially but mostly for very high unjust taxes.  I finally gave up the last of my plantation and horses and had $5,000 plus a few hundred left.

I had kept my fine game rooster, a strong long-legged rugged white bird with a few red feathers scattered over his body.  I heard of a great weekend fight in New Orleans where some man had challenged anyone for a $5,000 fight.  This was to be the closing event."

My father stated that he had a special cage built for this rooster that had killed every rooster he had encountered.  So off to New Orleans he went with his white rooster in hand and $5,000 in cash well hidden and protected.  I have his prized pistol today.

When he reached New Orleans and informed the promoter of his willingness to enter his rooster and call the wager, excitement went through the town.

When the final minute came, many bets had been placed and an excited crowd was on hand.

Dad said, "I was on one side of the pit (or small arena) and the other man just opposite me.  At the word "Go" we turned our roosters free.  They started to the center, pecking at the ground and also scratching the ground a few times.

They met in the center and jumped about two or three feet into the air, with foot to foot, something like boxers do with their gloves, sparring with one another. This same performance took place several times, when I noticed a little blood on the chest of my beautiful white rooster.  I knew what that meant and realized my rooster could not last very long.

Up they went again, and this time my rooster fell upon his back with both feet folded against his chest.  His opponent evidently thought he had killed my rooster, but I could see both of his eyes were wide open, and I did not give up.

The big red rooster, his opponent, attempted to carry out his role of declaring himself the winner by mounting his opponent and giving the victory crow.

He started to do just that when my rooster, with a movement so swift it was difficult to see, struck the big red rooster with one of his needle-point spurs, taking off half of his head.

He fell to the side of my rooster.  My beautiful bird struggled to his feet, crawled upon his victim and attempted to crow, but fell dead before he could finish. The crowd went wild and I was declared the winner."

My father came back to Livingston, where he was living with his brother, John.  He did not fight roosters any more, but his $10,000 was exhausted in a year or two, mostly in hunting and fishing trips.

 

When Dad finally reached the end of his financial life, he decided he wanted to be a lawyer like his father had been.  He borrowed law books from friends and started studying in his brother's home.  In time he stood his bar examination tests and passed with flying colors.  He practiced law for about thirty years or more, specializing in murder cases.  He lost only two murder cases in all that time and became one of the most famous criminal lawyers in the South.

He also followed in his dad's footsteps by becoming a state senator from Madison County where he served for over thirty years.  At one time while he was the senator for Madison County, his two brothers John and Harry served in the House of Representatives from Madison County, and Arne, his oldest brother, served in the House representing Hinds County.

 

 

APPENDIX D

 

SUB ROSA PLANTATION

 

This is the plantation owned by Major John Madison Graves.  The following information was provided by the staff of Unity In The Community, New Orleans, LA, from research in the archives.  That organization was the recipient in 2014 of a sign for the plantation found two years ago about 3-4 feet underground by a developer on a property he purchased in Jackson, MS.  The sign is 6 feet wide and 4 feet tall, is almost 200 years old, and was buried for about 100 years.  A photo of it is here.

 

Sub Rosa (/ˌsəb ˈrōzə/): Adj. Happening or done in secret.

 

In 1743 Joseph Greaves, of English descent and soldier of the Revolutionary, married Mary Bennett, an American, on April 29.  They settled in South Carolina with six children, Joseph Greave, Elizabeth Greaves, John Greaves, Francis Greaves, Mary Greaves, and James Greaves.  Out of his six children John Greaves was the son who followed in his fatherÕs footsteps and became part of a military force. John Greaves, who fought in the Mexican War was a major settled in Pocahontas, MS, where he was the largest planter and bought a plantation in Madison, Ms, located two miles south of Pocahontas, Ms. On his property he build an elegant anti-bellum ÒSub RosaÓ home, which is still occupied and is now listed on the National Register of Historical Homes website. The house is a two-story frame structured home where in 1841 he owned twenty-three slaves. After a period of general financial difficulties, John began to reestablish himself as a planter now that he had slaves. In 1843 he married Margret C. Williams, by 1850 his restate was valued at $6,000 and by 1860 the land was worth $38,000 with seven cattle, sixty-one slaves under the age of 60, and two carriages.

 

On the plantation there is a concrete structure that is buried in the ground. It has a long entrance tunnel that opens into a circular room which has a round opening in the ceiling and a turtle pond in the center of the floor. A bench is located in a recessed section along the wall and above this bench is another opening in the ceiling that contains a canopy of roses. Embedded in the wall at each end of the bench is a metal tube that extends around the wall of the room. Individuals sit on opposite ends of the bench under the roses and pass secrets back and forth by whispering into the metal tubes. They would hang roses from the ceiling to enforce confidentiality among those present. If anyone from the gathering divulged information from the ÒSub RosaÓ meeting, the others had the right to kill that person and his family.  Mississippi had been known as the worst state a slave could be transported to. In the 1830s the town was noted for the hanging of a vigilance committee which had risen to incite the Negros against the whites; six men were executed. The slaves described their survival concept as courage and determination. John Greaves was the Òman with the upper handÓ in the society. He later on met Lieutenant Cohn, of the U.S Navy, and performed an alliance duel with a Dr. Mohees. Shortly after the alliance was performed Dr. Mohees was killed in a fire and there was a collapse in the confederacy by JohnÕs prints being on MoheesÕ body. John and his wife Margret moved to L.A and never returned to Mississippi again, leaving the property owned by Donald and Melise Lutkin. In 1844 John and his wife adopted a child named Adelle Stokes in L.A. John and Margret died in the 1870s. Adelle married a John Fontaine in 1879 and they purchased a tract of land in Hinds County, MS, where they were buried. The property is now owned by Jack Daniel of Madison, MS.

 

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[1] The information on this marriage, AnnaÕs death, and their children is from A History of the Henry Family From Its Beginning in this Country to the Present Time, by John Flournoy Henry, Louisville, 1900, page 113.

[2] R-1 gave date of birth for Stephen A. D. Greaves, Jr. as 2 Feb. 1854, and R‑4 gave it as 26 Feb.  R‑1 gave date of death as 5 Dec. 1915, and R-4 gave it as 4 Dec.

[3] He apparently went by the name Hal, but he was listed as Harry in the 1880 census for Hinds Co., MS.