Z 2033.000 Beasley (Henry Oscar) and Family Papers

Z 2033.000
BEASLEY (HENRY OSCAR) AND FAMILY PAPERS

Henry Oscar Beasley, son of William and Nancy English Beasley, was born in Georgia on October 22, 1819. The Beasleys had at least three other children: Betsy Beasley Hudson, Mary W. Beasley McNees, and William Beasley. Nancy Hines and Martha E. Thompson were stepdaughters of Nancy English Beasley.

By 1840, Henry Oscar Beasley owned slaves and was farming in Noxubee County, Mississippi. He married Lucy S. Ragan of Georgia on October 15, 1840. The Beasleys had five children: Lucy Jane who died in infancy; William (Billy) E.; Jeremiah (Jerry) R.; Mary E. who married Henry A. Hudson (1832-1891) in November of 1856; and Constance (1841-1931) who married Durant Owens (1836-1906) in December of 1863. After the death of Lucy Ragan Beasley in the early 1850s, Henry Oscar Beasley married Mary Ann Wingate on December 20, 1855. The daughter of Hope B. Wingate (1806-1879) and T. W. C. Wingate (1803-1875), she was born in North Carolina around 1831 and died in Raymond, Mississippi, on June 3, 1894. Henry Oscar and Mary Ann Wingate Beasley had at least five children: Annie O., Alice H. (b. ca. 1857), Mamie C. (1859-1931), Avie, and Hennie (b. & d. 1862).

In the 1850s, Henry Oscar Beasley built a house in Shuqualak, Noxubee County, located about nine miles south of Macon. Beasley was a member of the Shuqualak Baptist Church. He also gave the Mobile and Ohio Railroad right-of-way land around Shuqualak, enabling the railway to be built through town in 1854. A Democrat, Beasley served as sheriff of Noxubee County between 1855 and 1860. He was authorized to levy a special tax for the purpose of building a new courthouse in Macon in 1859. Beasley owned $5,300 in real estate and $8,700 in personal property by 1860. The board of police of Noxubee County appointed him to a committee formed to care for the destitute families of Confederate soldiers in 1861.

Henry Oscar Beasley enlisted as a second lieutenant in Company F, First Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry, in Macon, Mississippi, on March 12, 1862. After fighting at Shiloh, Tennessee, and in several other battles, Henry Oscar Beasley died of wounds sustained at Chewalla, McNairy County, Tennessee, in May of 1862.

William E. Beasley was born in Noxubee County around 1843. He enlisted in Company G, serving with his father and brother in the First Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry. He was a private and adjutant who lost a pair of pistols in battle at Shiloh. He also fought in several other battles, including Middleburg, Virginia. William E. Beasley was wounded in battle at Mechanicsburg, Yazoo County, Mississippi, on November of 1863, had a limb amputated when he arrived in Macon, and died of an excessive loss of blood on November 15, 1863.

Jeremiah R. Beasley was born in Noxubee County around 1847. He enlisted as a private in Company F, First Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry. He fought in several battles, including the defense of Corinth, Mississippi, in April, May, and June of 1862, and the raid on Holly Springs, Mississippi, on December 20, 1863. Beasley was killed while serving on company picket duty when fellow soldier Billy Connor accidentally shot him in the head in March of 1863.

James M. Edwards was born near De Kalb, Kemper County, Mississippi, on September 9, 1850. The son of Elisha (b. 1826) and Ann Jane Neeley Edwards (1829-1879), who were from Alabama and Mississippi, respectively, he was a merchant and farmer in Shuqualak, Noxubee County, Mississippi. After graduating from Eastmans Commercial College at Poughkeepsie, New York, James M. Edwards was elected to the Mississippi legislature in 1859. He later became a partner in the general merchandise store, Edwards, Nethery, and Company, established at Shuqualak in 1872. The company underwent several changes in ownership and management, and by 1891 Edwards operated the store with his brother, R. L. Edwards, and C. B. Dorroh. James M. Edwards also owned or controlled seventy-five hundred acres of land in Noxubee County, producing an average of two hundred fifty bales of cotton per year in the 1880s. He married Mamie C. Beasley on May 30, 1881. The Edwardses had at least five children: Mary Alice, Bessie Bland, Henry Beasley (1885-1934), Annie Ethel, and James M., Jr. (1901-1966). James M. Edwards was general manager of the Louisville, New Orleans, and Texas Railroad by 1885. He died on January 3, 1925, and Mamie C. Beasley Edwards died on November 13, 1931.

This collection includes the correspondence of Henry Oscar and Mary Ann Wingate Beasley, William E. and Jeremiah R. Beasley, various family members, and a number of other individuals. The correspondence primarily concerns agricultural and social issues of the 1850s to 1880s and the Civil War. There are also Beasley family business records, including insurance records, slave bills-of-sale, miscellaneous business records, and a number of envelopes.

1. Correspondence (Henry Oscar and Mary Ann Wingate Beasley). 1855-1862; n.d. 1 folder.

The letters in this series were primarily written by Henry Oscar Beasley from various Civil War camps to his wife, Mary Ann Beasley, in Macon, Mississippi. The first two letters are from Henry Oscar Beasley to Mary Ann Wingate proposing marriage and subsequently discouraging gossip about their relationship. There is one letter from Mary Ann Beasley to her husband, asking about Civil War camp life and informing him of rations, crops, and general agricultural business. The balance of the letters were written by Henry Oscar Beasley from such camps as Chewalla, Tennessee, and Corinth, Mississippi, to his wife. He described several battles, including Shiloh, Tennessee, and a retreat during the defense of Corinth, Mississippi. He occasionally mentioned his sons, William E. and Jeremiah R. Beasley, and various other men. There is also one letter written by J. L. McNees to Mary Ann Beasley informing her of Henry Oscar Beasleys death.

2. Correspondence (William E. and Jeremiah R. Beasley). 1861-1863; n.d. 1 folder.

Most of the letters in this series were written by William E. Beasley from Civil War camps, including Chewalla, Tennessee, and Ripley, Mississippi, to his family in Macon, Mississippi. He mentioned specific prices for washing clothes and buying such items as boots and horses, and he described a number of skirmishes and marches in detail, noting specific names of Confederate casualties. The battle of Middleburg, Virginia, was described in some detail. He also wrote to his stepmother about his fathers death and burial. There is one letter from Jeremiah R. Beasley describing the Confederate victory at Holly Springs, Mississippi. He also mentioned burning Union supplies and taking around twenty-five hundred prisoners.

3. Correspondence (Miscellaneous). 1856-1886. 1 folder.

The letters in this series were primarily written to Mary Ann Beasley, in Macon, Mississippi, while a few letters were written to lieutenants Beasley and Beale and other recipients. Most of the authors of the correspondence were family members or acquaintances writing from Mississippi, Alabama, or Tennessee about agriculture, social conditions, and a Confederate election. Some of the principal correspondents are Aunt Lizzie, Mary Whitfield, Mary C. Boling, and Susan Powe. Some of the more unusual topics include a letter from Mary C. Boling who wrote Mary Ann Beasley in February of 1856 about her cotton being burned. Aunt Lizzie wrote Mary Ann Beasley from Woodlawn, Mississippi, in May of 1856 about local agriculture and some of her slaves running away. Mary Whitfield wrote Mary Ann Beasley in June of 1856 about a mob that tried to hang a negro prisoner named William who allegedly stabbed his white overseer. John Mahon [?] wrote from Macon in May of 1862, asking lieutenants Beasley and Beale to elect Foote as colonel and Dillard as lieutenant colonel in the upcoming regimental election.

4. Business Records (Beasley Family). 1845-1905; n.d. 5 folders.

This series includes insurance records, slave bills-of-sale, and business records of the Beasley family and acquaintances. The insurance records are for Elisha Edwards for one thousand dollars of fire insurance for Kebles store in Kemper County; James M. Edwards for two thousand dollars of fire insurance for his store in Noxubee County; and Mrs. M. E. Haynes of Meridian, Mississippi. There are thirteen bills-of-sale for slaves sold by or to Henry Oscar Beasley, and there is one slave bill-of-sale from H. M. Dowling. There are a large number of receipts from James M. Edwardss store, a personal indenture for Henry Oscar Beasley, and Henry Oscar and Mary Ann Beasleys general business receipts and records. The miscellaneous business records include receipts from James M. Edwards, M. E. Haynes, and others; statements-of-account for Roderick Franklin; and tax receipts for a number of people, including James M. Edwards and Mary Ann Beasley. There are also land deeds for John Beauchamp, Durant Owens, and James M. Edwards; tenant-farming agreements of James M. Edwards and others; deeds-of-trust of James M. Edwards and others; and a land-sale agreement for T. Y. Brent.

Folder 1: Insurance records. 1876-1905.
Folder 2: Slave bills-of-sale. 1845-1860.
Folder 3: Beasley family business records. 1847-1892; n.d.
Folders 4-5: Miscellaneous business records. 1856-1899; n.d.

5. Envelopes. 1863-1916; n.d. 1 folder.

This folder contains both postmarked and undated envelopes addressed to Henry Oscar Beasley, Mary Ann Wingate Beasley, James M. Edwards, and Hope Hatch.