Dates: 1843-1911; n.d.
Permission of manuscript curator is required for access to certain fragile photographs.

Biography:

John Abert Neilson, Sr.

John Abert Neilson was born at Belmont plantation in Lowndes County, Mississippi, on April 13, 1842. He was the son of William Walker and Louisa Abert Neilson. John Abert Neilson attended school in Green Springs, Alabama, prior to the Civil War. At the age of nineteen, he enlisted as a private in the Confederate army in Company K, Fourteenth Regiment, Mississippi Infantry (Columbus Rifles). Neilson was captured at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, on February 15, 1862. As a Union prisoner of war, Neilson was sent to Camp Douglas, which was located near Chicago, Illinois. He later escaped from Camp Douglas with his brother, James Crawford Neilson, and then returned to his company. Neilson was commissioned as a captain on April 25, 1862, and he served until the end of the war.

Neilson briefly studied medicine in France in 1866 before returning home assist in managing Belmont plantation after the death of his father. He married Eliza Lucy Irion of Lowndes County on April 13, 1871. The Neilsons settled at Wildwood, which was part of Belmont plantation. The couple later moved to Willow Cottage, an adjacent property. The Neilsons had five children, Louisa Gray (b. June 24, 1872), John Abert, Jr. (b. October 17, 1874), Elizabeth Cornelia (b. February 11, 1878), Sophie Abert (b. October 4, 1880), and James Furniss (b. January 18, 1883). Around 1900, the couple moved to Columbus, Lowndes County, where John Abert Neilson became a proctor at the Industrial Institute and College (later Mississippi University for Women). John Abert Neilson died at the age of seventy-nine on February 25, 1922, and was interred at Friendship Cemetery in Columbus.

Eliza Lucy Irion Neilson

Eliza Lucy Irion was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, on March 3, 1843. She was the daughter of McKinney and Lucinda (Lucy) Gray Irion. Her siblings included Cornelia Parthenia, Elizabeth Charlotte, James William Gray, and McKinney, Jr. Lucinda Gray Irion died in 1846, and McKinney Irion, Sr., later moved his family from Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tennessee, to Columbus, Lowndes County, Mississippi, in 1851. Eliza Lucy Irion married John Abert Neilson of Lowndes County on April 13, 1871. She died at the age of seventy on November 17, 1913, and was also interred at Friendship Cemetery in Columbus.

 

Scope and Content Note:

This accretion to the papers of the Irion-Neilson family of Lowndes County, Mississippi, contains photographs and memorabilia. The photographs consist of annotated and unidentified images. Among the photographic images represented are ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, and tintypes.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Photographs. 1895-1899; n.d. 12 folders.

The annotated photographs frequently provide genealogical information on various Irion and Neilson family members.  Among the photographic images represented are ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, and tintypes.

Box 1, folders 1-12

 

Series 2: Family Memorabilia. 1843-1911. 5 folders.

The family memorabilia consists of two books, locks of children's hair, and memorial cards. The first book, which was given to Elizabeth Charlotte Irion Barron Watt by her niece, Bessie Irion, is entitled Psalms and Hymns. The second book, which belonged to Eliza Lucy Irion Neilson, is entitled A Parting Gift, and it contains locks of hair from her friends. There is an envelope containing locks of the Neilson children's hair and memorial cards for Major J. M. Watt and his wife, Elizabeth Charlotte Irion Barron Watt, and for Lucy Irion Morris.

Box 1, folders 13-14 
Box 2, folders 1-3

 

Box List:

Box 1, folders 1-12: photographs, 1895-1899; n.d.
Box 1, folders 13-14: family memorabilia, 1900-1911; n.d.
Box 2, folders 1-3: family memorabilia, 1843-1868.