In Memory- Joseph Henry Plunkett

Since today it Memorial Day I thought it was only fitting to feature a family member who fought and died for freedom. 
Sgt. Joseph "Henry" Plunkett was born June 4, 1919 in Lee County, MS. He was the sixth child of Jim and Beulah (Scruggs) Plunkett. 

He joined the Army on November 5, 1942 and left for Camp Shelby just south of Hattiesburg, MS where he was assigned to the 90th Infantry Division. His brother, Curtis, and brother-in-law, Odell, also fought in WWII. 

The 90th Infantry Division landed in England, 5 April 1944, and trained from 10 April to 4 June.

Henry's division saw action on D-Day, 6 June, on Utah Beach, Normandy, the remainder entering combat 10 June, cutting across the Merderet River to take Pont l'Abbe in heavy fighting. After fighting along the river Douve, the division attacked to clear the Foret de Mont-Castre (Hill 122), clearing it by 11 July, in spite of fierce resistance. In this action the Division suffered 5000 killed, wounded, or captured, one of the highest casualty rates suffered in WW II. Henry was one of these casualties, dying on July 13, 1944. 

His remains were shipped back home and he was buried at Boguefala Cemetery in Mooreville, MS. 

Utah Beach Landing 

Henry's Funeral

Sources:

Combat Chronicles: "90th Infantry Division". – The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. – 1950. – pp. 510–592. Hosted at the United States Army Center of Military History.

Fold3, Page 1 - U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963, 

U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2005, Provo, UT, USA

Famous Relative - Winston Churchill

Ancestry has an app called We're Related that I use. It uses your Ancestry family tree and finds famous people that you are related to. It is purely for fun and not always accurate. It often makes the assumption that if many people have an individual being the parent of your ancestor then it must be true. I do get a good kick out of it even if most of the people I am related to are pop stars that I have no interest in share genes with. A few interesting ones have popped up like Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, and Walt Disney. I am still working on proving these, however. I will keep you updated. Today I had one pop up that was easy to verify- Sir Winston Churchill. He is my 9th cousin 1x removed. This means my dad and Mr. Churchill are 9th cousins.

                                          M.A. Watson             (9th cousins)              Winston Churchill

                                          W.T. Watson              (8th cousins)               Jeanette Jerome

                                        Irene Looney                (7th cousins)              Leonard Walter Jerome

                               Mary Susan Francis              (6th cousins)              Isaac Jerome

                         William Ragland Francis            (5th cousins)                Aaron Jerome

                                        Sally Ragland              (4th cousins)               Samuel Jerome

                        John Ragland (1761-1842)          (3rd cousins)               Abigail Rich

                        John Ragland (1710-1791)          (2nd cousins)              Abigail Green     

                                    Hannah Walker                (1st cousins)                 Mary Warren

                                Elizabeth Warren                    (siblings)                   Abraham Warren
                                                         
                                                             John Warren (1585-1667)

• By BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives - https://www.flickr.com/photos/28853433@N02/19086236948/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41991931

Tombstone Tuesday - Joshua Smith

Today's Tombstone Tuesday features Joshua Smith. This one is a big deal to me. I have long suspected that my Smith line was descended from Joshua but I had no way to prove it until I had my DNA tested. I still hope to learn more about this family but for now I'll share what I know.

Joshua Smith was born July 23, 1812 in Newberry, South Carolina. This is fascinating because I have several unrelated ancestors who all came from Newberry. I wonder if they at one time new each other. What would they have said if they were told that their descendants would one day all be connected? Joshua's parents were probably James Smith and Sarah Teague. This conclusion comes from them having come from the same area at the same time as Joshua. 

Joshua and his wife, Nettie Jane Beeks were among the first settlers of Pontotoc County, MS. They had nine children. 

1850 U.S. Census

Their fifth child, Francis, is my second great-grandfather.  Joshua died on July 5, 1880. He is buried in Cherry Creek Cemetery.

James Robert Williams

       James Robert Williams was born on March 20, 1874 in Alabama, probably in or near Hamilton. His father, Sanders Buckner Williams was 19 years old and his mother, Agnes Lewis, was 17. He had one older sister, Cynthia Jane, one younger brother, John Harvey, and four younger sisters, Mary, Martha, Agnes Bethany, and Lacey. After his mother's death his father married Sarah Frances Taylor and had five more children: Sanders Buckner, Jr, Sigmund, Russell Hubert, Lennie and Nellie. 

1954 - Brothers John and Jim

James, also known as Jim, married Mollie Savannah Conway on February 3, 1895. In 1900 they owned a farm in Marion County, AL north of Hamilton, in a community called Reids. They had three children: Kirby, Effie, and Kimbuck. By 1910 they were renting a farm in Bexar, AL, right on the state line and had 4 more children: Walter, Della, Martha Ellen and James Robert. In 1920 they were renting a farm in Pontotoc and had added 3 more: Jeff, Etta, and Sanders Buckner. Esther was born the following year. Jim and Mollie stayed in Pontotoc County in the Pontocola and Troy areas. Jim died in 1967. He had 59 great-grandchildren, one was my mother. He was 92 years old.

Jeff, Dude, Mahulty, Jefferson, Ruth, Molly, Sam, Mae and Lou

 

James Robert and Sanders Buckner Williams

Jim Williams and Jimmy Long

Signature

 


Please share any stories or memories you have of Jim in the comments!



Sources:

•  Enumeration District Maps for the Twelfth through the Sixteenth Censuses of the United States, 1900-1940." Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Citing NARA microfilm publication A3378. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.
• 1880 United States Federal Census, Beat 2, Marion, Alabama; Roll: 23; Page: 45C
• 1900 United States Federal Census,  Reids, Marion, Alabama; Page: 14; Enumeration District: 0061
• 1910 United States Federal Census, Bexar, Marion, Alabama; Roll: T624_25; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0078; FHL microfilm: 1374038
• 1920 United States Federal Census,  Hoyles, Pontotoc, Mississippi; Roll: T625_891; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 105
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32699541
• 
  

Family Group Friday - The Looney Family

Seated Left to Right: Sally Francis, Nola Owene, Hugh James, James Murphy, Sr, Susan Irene, Mary Susan Francis Looney,

Standing Left to Right: Robert Lee, Mazie Edens Looney, John William, Molly Williams  Looney, Nathanial Bacon, Mattie Wilkinson Looney, James Murphy, Jr, Jennie Miller Looney, Frank Pearson, Edna Brice Looney

Bravest Soldier of All

I had forgotten about this amazing story until my mother reminded me of it this weekend. I thought about paraphrasing it but I love the language the J.C. Spees uses.

This is an excerpt from the book  "The Geneology of the Spees Tribe" by J.C. Spees

   "Miss Lucy Wright had seven brothers in the Revolutionary War, but she was the bravest soldier of all. One day during the War of Independence in the United States of America the Indians surrounded Red Stone Fort, now Brownsville, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where the old men, mothers and children of the soldiers in Washington's army were stationed in stockades for protection from the Indians, there was a call for two volunteers to try and reach Washington's army, which was twenty-two miles away, to notify them of the critical condition of the Fort. Out stepped little [sic] curley headed Lucy Wright, about 18 years of age, followed by her young lady chum. 

     Time was precious as the Indians could be seen gathering wood for their camp fires for the night. The sun was getting ready to set in the western sky and pin her [sic] murkey curtains of night with the evening stars. Two horses were made ready for the girls to try and run the gauntlet of the Indian lines. On the backs of these horses sprang Lucy Wright and her girl friend, whose name father had forgotten as he was but a small boy of 8 or 10 years when his old Grandmother Young told him of the hardships of her childhood days during the war. The gate of the Fort swung open and out dashed these girls, coming onto the Indians so sudden that they stood spell-bound with the wood in their arms hardly realizing what was going on until horses and riders were out of reach. On dashed the ladies, following the trail of glazed trees as their guide by moon light until they reached the outer edge of Washington's picket line, where the horse that Lucy Wright rode dashed sideways against a snag of a tree and tore off the calf of one of her limbs. The great grandmother of J.C. Spees, her grandson, the scar and say, "Brice, if you do as much for your country as your grandmother did you will be a brave boy.  

     This ride of twenty-two miles was made in less than three hours through the forests of Washington county, Pennsylvania. The best horses were selected and soldiers went to help save Red Stone Fort and its occupants, and they reached the Indian camp before all the powder and balls had been consumed in the Fort. Great was the joy when those old fathers, mothers and children heard the sound of guns around the Indian camp, for they then knew the girls had reached the camp of Washington's army."

I am still learning more about Lucy Wright and who she was. In other parts of the book Spees refers to the Wrights as "curly headed people" and "very energetic". Lucy certainly sounds like someone I'd like to meet.
In genealogy things aren't always certain. There is a Lucy Wright born about the same year as my Lucy who married and died in Madison County, AL. However, I am almost certain they are not the same person. She would have had to be married to remarried and moved to Alabama yet the Spees book mentions calls her "old Grandmother Young" at one point. There another Lucy Wright recorded as being born that same year but her parents died when she was young and her trail goes cold. I am going to keep digging and hopefully find my Lucy.

Lucy Wright Young is my 6th great-grandmother. Lucy - Mary Young Spees - Joseph Carter Spees - Newell Birkett Spees - Beulay Mae Spees - Oda Zelle Smith Spearman.

Tombstone Tuesday - Mary Ann Parilee Rogers Sparkman

When Mary Ann Parilee Rogers was born on October 18, 1851, in Mississippi, her father, Reuben, was 25, and her mother, Elizabeth, was 17. She had 12 children with Thomas Jefferson Sparkman between 1873 and 1894. She died having lived for more than 100 years. She died on October 21, 1952, at the age of 101, and was buried in the New Greensboro Cemetery in Grady, Webster County, Mississippi.

Mary Ann Parilee Rogers is my 2nd great grandmother.