Z 1857.000 Hagaman (Abraham) Memoir

Biography

Hagaman was licensed as a minister by the Presbytery of Mississippi in 1830. He was ordained in 1831, and he served as pastor of the Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church in Adams County, until 1836. Hagaman represented the Presbytery of Mississippi at the general assemblies of the Presbyterian Church that were held in Philadelphia in 1832 and 1834. He also represented the Presbytery of Louisiana at the general assemblies of Presbyterian Church that were held in Cincinnati in 1845 and New York City in 1855.

He married Louisa Dunbar Collins of Adams County on April 10, 1834. They had seven daughters, Alma, Callie, Hallie, Lida, Ludie, Mary, and Mattie and a son who died in 1854. In 1836 Hagaman moved his family to Jackson, Louisiana, where he served as pastor of a Presbyterian church until 1848. He also pastored a number of other churches in East and West Feliciana parishes. Hagaman operated a drug and book store from 1837 to 1859 to supplement his modest income as a minister. He also served as deputy census enumerator for East Feliciana Parish in 1840. Unfortunately, Hagaman's real and personal property were sold for delinquent taxes in 1840; but with the financial assistance of his mother-in-law, he was able to redeem his property and subsequently convey it to his wife.

By 1850 Hagaman had accumulated enough money to purchase a small plantation on Thompson's Creek near Jackson, Louisiana, where he planted cotton, sugar cane, and corn. He became postmaster of Jackson in 1854, and he held that position until 1859 when he sold his store. Hagaman sold his plantation on Thompson's Creek in 1856, and he purchased a plantation in Carroll Parish on the Mississippi River. A crevasse in a levee caused extensive flood damage to this plantation in 1858.

In 1859 Hagaman moved from Jackson to Lake Providence, Louisiana, where he had purchased the Chambliss home and in which he operated a female academy. He was also pastor of a Presbyterian church in Lake Providence, and he occasionally preached to the slaves of Daniel Turnbull at a chapel on Turnbull's plantation near Bayou Sara, Louisiana. Prior to emancipation, Hagaman owned about forty slaves.

In 1863 General McArthur ordered Hagaman to vacate his home in Lake Providence so that it could be used as a Union hospital. In desperation Hagaman petitioned General Ulysses S. Grant for permission for his family to travel to St. Louis, Missouri, and to his surprise the petition was granted. Upon arriving in Memphis, Tennessee, he sold a portion of his cotton crop that had not been confiscated by the Union army. The proceeds from this sale enabled Hagaman to purchase a home in St. Louis. Hagaman was also paroled after he arrived in St. Louis. Although he occasionally returned to Louisiana to attend to various personal and business matters after the Civil War, Hagaman remained in St. Louis and continued his ministry. He died on February 4, 1885.

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