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[ A big THANK YOU to Lynn Groves for transcribing this document for the webpage! ]
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JERSEY COMMUNITY IS NOW OVER 150 YEARS OLD By the outbreak of the Civil War the population of the community was almost as great as if it is now. The last visit I made to see my parents before their final sickness in 1929, I checked over the population of the community as in 1860 and as it was at that time. There was little difference. There were relatively few slave holders in the community. The Lees, the Hines, the Splawns, the Childs, the Hawthornes and the Tatums owned slaves. Notwithstanding the small monetary interest the community had in the outcome of the issues of the Civil War, all the young manhood of the community served in the various Confederate Armies. All those who were old enough at the beginning, were mustered into service at Warren or Pine Bluff and entered the service east of the Mississippi River. Most of this number were in the Ninth Arkansas and served in the campaigns in Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia. Those becoming old enough for service after the blockade of the Mississippi river entered the service on this side. I have not checked the records, but I am guided wholly by memory of statements made to me by my parents. I apologize now for any errors or omissions. As I recall if the following is the list of those who served in the Confederate Armies from the Jersey community or from near that community. Bill, Bob and John Ederington, then border residents as were Fayette and Gulf Childs, Bill, Bob and Henry Hines, Bill and Frank and Jesse Britain Lee, Bill, Joe and Ben Anders, Billy Higgason, W. T. Clements, Jerry Robinson, Jesse Boyd, J. Love, Z. Tucker, Dr. Beatle, Tom and Bud Smith, Steve and Jim Splawn, George Hawthorne, Tony Davis, one son of the Ready family. As I recall J. B. Watson enlisted at Pigeon Hill in Union county but came to the community a few years after the war. J. R. Broughton enlisted in Georgia, but came to the community just after the war. None of the foregoing were captured, so far I know, except Billy Higgason and J. R. Broughton. Jesse Britain Lee was the only one of the list killed in action. H lost his life in the Battle of Shiloh. Quite a few were wounded but not seriously. Billy Anders was in the service from the outbreak of the war until the surrender of Johnson in N. C. in May 1865. J. R. Broughton and Bill Ederington was with him. When they were preparing to come home, he too was ready to start. He never came and is thought to have sickened and died on the way. After the close of hostilities, the above list of survivors returned and those who had not already done so, established homes in the community. The next fifteen years were years of struggle. It was a hard fight for the necessities of life. As is usual in such periods there was constant shifting about. The grass looked greener on the opposite hill and very many moved from the community to other parts of the state, but most of them went to Texas. The names of many who were prominent in community life 70 years ago are lost to this generation. EDITORS NOTE: M. J. Anders, who practiced law at Eudora, was in the las school of Washington and Lee University with D. A. Bradham and persuaded the latter to move to Warren. Attorney Anders was from Jersey and was a relative of Annie Anders Johnson, mother of Carl Johnson, who still resides there. Attorney Anders wrote the preceeding over 50 years ago. [ Previous Page ] [ Articles - Jersey Community Over 150 Years Old ] [ Next Page ] [ Back to the Index ] |
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