Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Lamon and Stephen Anderson Speights Papers (Z/0719.001).
Creator/Collector: Name Name.
Date(s): 1842-1862; 1951; 1959.
Size: 1.00 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff, April 1972; Biographical sketch, Laura Heller, 2023.
Processing Note: Because of its fragility, one tintype of Stephen Anderson Speights, III, was separated to the Fragile Photographic Material area.
Provenance: Gift of Mrs. Kirby Thompson and Mrs. S.A. Fortenberry of Prentiss, MS, on August 20, 1959; Z/U/1972.036.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research.

Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Preferred citation: Lamon and Stephen Anderson Speights Papers (Z/0719.001), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Biography:

Lamon Speights

Lamon Speights was born on January 22, 1794, in Dobbs County, North Carolina, the son of Mary Hill (1769-1847) and Stephen Wasson Speights (1769-1842).  His siblings included Elizabeth, Penelope, Nancy, Delphy, Stephen, and John.

During the War of 1812, Lamon enlisted on December 28, 1814, at Montpelier, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, and served as a Corporal in Captain William Watson’s Company of the 12th and 13th Consolidated Regiment, Louisiana Militia, and he also served in Colonel Abner Womack’s Company of the 12th Regiment, Louisiana Militia.  Lamon Speights was discharged from military service on March 10, 1815.

Lamon married Elizabeth “Betsy” Lee (1796-1855) in March 6, 1817 in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, and the couple had the following children: James J. Speights (1817-1862), Stephen Anderson Speights (1820-1893), Lavinia C. Speights (1822-1844), Edward Lee Speights (1828-1863), and Elizabeth “Eliza” Jane Speights (1834-1877).  After Betsy died in 1855, Lamon married Cynthia Ann Stuckey (1826-1926) in 1856.

He died in September 1869 in Bournham, Lawrence County, Mississippi, at the age of 76 years, and was buried in the Speights Cemetery near Prentiss in Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi.  In 1959, his third great grand-daughter Neva Fortenberry Thompson applied for a military marker for Lamon Speights to be placed in the Oatis Cemetery (originally located in Lawrence County before Jefferson Davis County formed), where his son Stephen Anderson Speights is also buried.

 Stephen Anderson Speights

Stephen Anderson Speights was born on September 23, 1820, the son of Elizabeth “Betsy” Lee (1796-1855) and Lamon Speights (1794-1869).  His siblings included James J. (1817-1862), Lavinia C. (1822-1844), Edward Lee (1828-1863), and Elizabeth “Eliza” Jane (1834-1877).  

Stephen married Amanda Jane Oates/Oatis (1821-1862) on June 12, 1844 in Monticello, Lawrence County.  The couple had the following children: Alice Speights (1846–1931), Frances “Fanny” Speights (1847–1904), James Lee Speights (1850–1874), Mary Elizabeth Speights (1852–1928), Mary Lucy Speights (1855–1928), and Martin Augustus Speights (1857–1936).

Stephen died on November 29, 1893, and is buried in the Oatis Cemetery in Whitesand, Jefferson County, Mississippi.

 

Scope and Content Note:

Correspondence of Lamon Speights and his son, Stephen Anderson Speights. The letters pertain mostly to Lawrence County, Mississippi, and there are several Civil War letters. The genealogical notes include the Speights Bible records (1789-1807) and material pertaining to Jeremiah Oates/Oatis.