Chambers County AlArchives Biographies.....Wise, Parham Lindsey 1831 - August 9 1862 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Jerry Delezen j.delezen@comcast.net July 28, 2004, 12:28 am Author: Jerry Delezen Parham Lindsey Wise, the only child of Isaiah and Rosanna Smith Wise, was born in late 1830 or early 1831 in Butts County, Georgia. Isaiah Wise was about 22 years old and Rosanna Smith was 19 years old when they were married in Butts County on March 18, 1830. Parham was 5 years old when his father, Isaiah, died in May 1836. Many of the residents of Butts County, Georgia, migrated to Chambers County, Alabama, during the 1830s. Their land had been depleted of nutrients by the continual raising of their “money crop” of cotton. Cotton is extremely hard on the soil, and they were looking for fresh new land. Chambers County, created in 1832 out of the Creek Nation, was subject to an influx of settlers seeking new land and fresh soil. The treaty with the Creeks provided 320 acres of land to each Indian family, but most of them lost their land to white land speculators and were then forced out of Chambers County after the Creek War of 1836-1837. John Johnson Wise, brother of Isaiah Wise, was one of the early settlers in this hostile wilderness area. Rosanna’s parents, William, an Irish immigrant, and Elizabeth Smith, also relocated to this area from Butts County. Widowed at the age of 25, Rosanna and her son, Parham, relocated to Chambers County to be near their family. Rosanna, at the age of 32, remarried to James A. Talbot, aged 26, on September 27, 1842. One of the earliest records of James Talbot living in Chambers County is the purchase of 240 acres on January 5, 1841. James Talbot was appointed by the court as guardian of Parham, age about 14, on January 1, 1845. To protect Parham’s inheritance he received from his father’s estate, a guardianship bond was set at $4,000, but was later increased to $7,000, in August 1847 due to the increase in the value of Parham’s property. Parham had an uncle, John Johnson Wise, who was one of the early settlers in Chambers County and a successful farmer. John had a wife, Nancy, 7 children (2 sons and 5 daughters) and 12 slaves in 1840. Parham probably had very close ties to his Uncle John, Aunt Nancy and Cousins Patton and James. Cousin Patton, who was about 5 years older than Parham, married Martha J. Harris, from the neighboring county of Tallapoosa, in December 1847. Parham became acquainted with Martha’s sister, Susan C. Harris, and married her on May 16, 1849, when she was about 15 years old and Parham was 18. Cousin James was bondsman (a person who knows the groom well and vouched for there being no legal impediment to the marriage) for their wedding in Tallapoosa County. Susan’s parents were Charles W. and Mary E. Harris. Charles died in March 1849. Her father’s death was shortly before Parham and Susan’s marriage in May, leaving speculation that this youthful marriage may have taken place sooner than normal to remove her from the hardships of a fatherless home. In 1850, according to the Census, Parham and Susan were living in Chambers County with real estate valued at $800 and a male slave, age 21, and a female slave, age 16. James and Rosanna Talbot, Parham’s mother and Step-father, were living close by with real estate valued at $640 and 4 slaves. On December 20, 1852, James A. Talbot was granted a license to operate a ferry on the Tallapoosa River. Early land purchases by Parham were in Section 21, Township 23, Range 25: July 1852 160 Acres $600 Sep 1853 80 Acres $400 Sep 1853 160 Acres $800 (purchased from Step-father, James A. Talbot) Parham and Susan’s first child, Charles Isaiah Wise, was born on April 5, 1851. Their second child, Mary Rosanna Wise was born in June 1853, followed by James A. Wise on February 6, 1855, and Eugenia B. Wise on December 20, 1857. Parham was active in their community of Milltown as a school trustee per records dated May 10, 1858. On December 18, 1858, Susan Wise died. Parham was now a widower with 4 children aged 7, 5, 3 and 1. Records from inventory and appraisement of her estate show that Susan owned: 1 Negro Man Edmund about 32 years old $1,200 1 Negro Woman Delcy about 26 years old 1,400 & child Lee about 3 years old 600 1 Negro Girl Sarah about 6 years old 600 Cash from the Estate of C. W. Harris (Susan’s father) 800 All of this property was probably her inheritance from her father, Charles W. Harris. Edmund and Delcy are very likely the slaves referenced in the 1850 Census which showed them as aged 21 and 16. The 1860 Census records Parham as a 30 year old farmer with real estate valued at $2,000 and a personal estate valued at $8,000. Living with Parham are 3 of his children: Charles I. (9), Mary R. (7), and James A. (5). Also living with the household with Parham and his family were an overseer of the farm and his wife. Slave records show that Parham had 7 slaves and 3 slave houses. The slave records show that there were 3 males (ages 30, 16 and 5) and 4 females (ages 35, 24, 17 and 8). Eugenia, Parham’s 2 year old daughter, is found living close by in the household of her grandparents, Rosanna and James Talbot, who were in their mid-40s at this time. One can certainly understand the decision to place a 2 year old daughter under the care of her neighboring grandparents in preference to living in the daily grind of a cotton plantation. Charlotte Susan Clark was probably well known by Parham in their childhood since they were the same age and probably attended school together. Charlotte had lived in Chambers County until her marriage, at age 15, to Hugh L. W. Henry on September 15, 1845. After Charlotte’s marriage to Hugh and the birth of their first child in January 1847, they left Alabama to live in Cherokee County, Texas, where their other 3 children were born. Hugh died in November 1857. Charlotte remained in Texas until she returned to Chambers County, Alabama upon the death of her father, William Clark, on February 13, 1859. Charlotte’s mother, Judith Craddock Clark, was already deceased, having died on November 21, 1856. Charlotte Clark Henry was 1 of 10 children, so she received 1/10 of the estate, including her share of slaves. This property was given free from control by husbands and given for inheritance by the daughter’s children. Living in close proximity to Parham’s home, according to the 1860 Census, was Charlotte S. Henry. The property that Charlotte was living on in 1860 was most likely an inheritance from her father’s estate. Charlotte, a 28 year old widowed farmer, had real estate valued at $500 and a personal estate valued at $4,000. Living with Charlotte were her 4 children: Woodson (12), Judith (female, 10), Clinton (6), and William (4). Charlotte had 4 slaves (2 males aged 50 and 7, and 2 females aged 45 and 13) and one slave house. Charlotte was farming several hundred acres while living near many of her family. Two years after Charlotte returned to Chambers County, Parham and Charlotte were married. This marriage took place on January 10, 1861, just one day before Alabama became the fourth state to secede from the Union. In April 1862, Parham’s Step-father, James A. Talbot, organized and was the Captain of Company I, 37th Regiment, Alabama Volunteer Infantry. With Civil War battles raging, Parham made the decision on May 3, 1862, to enlist at Cussetta, Alabama, as a Private, Company H, 47th Alabama Infantry. Parham’s Cousin, James Wise, also enlisted in Company K, 47th Infantry. It is unknown whether Parham and Charlotte’s son, Parham, Jr. was born before or after Parham enlisted, but Charlotte was left behind with 9 children and a cotton plantation to care for. When the 47th Alabama reached Virginia in June 1862, they served guard duty around Richmond and then moved on to Ashland, Virginia where the were assigned to major General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s division and brigaded under General Taliaferro. At first they were unable to join the fighting because they were unarmed. They were soon equipped with Belgian rifles, which were described as inferior, but eventually equipped themselves with superior Enfield rifles that were salvaged from battle fields. The men of the 47th Alabama had very little training and no combat experience prior to their first battle of Cedar Run on August 9, 1862. The location of this battle was a few miles south of Culpepper Court House, Virginia and close to a creek named Cedar Run, and a mountain named Cedar Mountain. Initially located in the middle of the line of Talliaferros’s Brigade, a series of maneuvers resulted in the 47th Alabama having to defend the left flank, which is a position that was normally held by experienced veteran regiments. While the rookie 47th Alabama was focused on the battle in front of them and distracted by Union artillery shells bursting around them, they were caught off guard when Union troops suddenly came out of the woods and attacked the exposed left flank. Parham Lindsey Wise was among the 12 killed, while another 76 were wounded, reducing the 47th Alabama by nearly a third of its total number of men. The 47th Alabama, along with the other southern regiments regrouped, with the support of arriving reinforcing units, drove the Union forces out of the area during the final minutes of daylight, resulting in a Confederate victory. The 47th Alabama went on to fight in most of the major battles in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. They transferred in January 1863 to the Alabama Brigade of Brigadier General Law, Hoods Division, Longstreet’s Corps and the Army of Northern Virginia. At Gettysburg, Law’s Brigade marched 25 miles on the morning and afternoon of July 2, 1863, and nearly overtook the Union forces at Little Round Top. Parham’s cousin, James Wise, who was his childhood friend, bondsman for his marriage to Susan C. Harris, and a teacher, was killed that day. Charles Isaiah Wise, the oldest son of Parham, remembered the great sorrow and weeping that took place among the family and slaves when word came that his father had been killed during the Battle of Cedar Mountain. Parham’s Step- father, James A. Talbot, resigned his position of Captain of Company I, 37th Alabama. While it is not known that the reason for his resignation was the death of Parham, the timing was such that he and Parham’s wife, Charlotte Wise, were appointed as administrators of the estate on October 28, 1862. Charlotte was left as a widow to care for nine children, ages ranging from 15 to less than one year. A well preserved probate file provides a historical account of the final settlement of Parham’s estate. The first order of business was to inventory and appraise the property. The following inventory was recorded on November 1, 1862: 1 Mouse colored mule horse – Dave $150.00 1 Light colored mare mule – Kit 150.00 1 Sorrel pony horse 75.00 1 Yoke of oxen 100.00 1 White face cow 25.00 1 pided heifer 22.00 1 Black cow 25.00 1 Black and white peided cow 25.00 1 Bell cow and calf (means she was wearing a bell) 30.00 1 Black Heifer with white face 15.00 1 Little Bull yearling 5.00 18 Head of Hogs 75.00 1 Old remnant of a wagon 15.00 1 Buggy 40.00 3 Wooden plow stocks 8.00 3 Iron plow stocks 9.00 1 Wooden plow stock .75 3 Mole moards 4 scrapes (plow gear and plow) 3.00 1 Lot of plows & 2 iron wedges 2.50 1 Lot of Singletrees & old Hames 3 Clevises 2.00 1 Lot of old Hoes & 1 Maddock 2.00 5 Old Axes 2.50 1 Handsaw and square 2.00 3 Augers 2.00 3 Pair of plow gear 4.00 2 Scythes & cradles 10.00 2 old Scythe blades 2.00 1 Coffee parcher 1.00 1 Set of Breast chains & Double tree 2.00 1 Lot of jugs and jars 2.00 1 Side Saddle 6.50 1 Pr of stilyards (scale used for weighing cotton) 1.50 1 Thrasher and Fan 25.00 1 60 saw gin (type of cotton gin) 40.00 1 Gin Band 5.00 1 Hand ax drawing knife and 2 gimblets 2.00 1 Bed stead and furniture 50.00 1 Do Do (Ditto) 30.00 2 Coverlets 10 Bedquilts 28 & County pins (counter panes)38 76.00 1 Book stand 8.00 1 Clothes press (wardrobe) 15.00 1 Chest 4.00 1 Small trunk 2.00 1 Do Do (Ditto) 1.50 1 Dressing table 2.00 1 Do Do (Ditto) 2.00 1 Large looking glass 2.00 1 Clock 5.00 1 Large Table 3.00 1 Do Do (Ditto) 1.50 1 Safe (pie safe for storing food) 7.00 6 Chairs 3.00 1 pair fire dogs .50 each (andirons) 1.00 2 Spinning wheels 3 & 2 5.00 1 Lot of pot wear & boilers & kettle 8.00 1 wash pot (large iron pot) 3.00 1 Negro woman Liser (nickname/slang for Eliza) 40 yrs old 600.00 1 Girl Margret 19 years old 1,100.00 1 Boy Solomon 17 years old 1,200.00 3 Notes on J. R. Phillips due Dec. 25, 1861 $40, 40 & 22 102.00 1 Note on W. C & J. B. Tomlinson due 25th December 1862 65.22 1 Note on Jesse Patterson Due June 1st 1861 10.00 [Total] $4,086.97 Property was to be sold to pay off all debts of the estate. The perishable property (items listed down to Slaves) was sold to the highest bidders at the residence of Parham L. Wise on November 21, 1862, for a total of $639.90. Since this would not pay the debts, a petition was made to sell the slaves on the first Monday in January 1863. James A. Talbot purchased Eliza for $742, and others bidders purchased Margret for $1,540 and Solomon for $1,280. On January 8, 1863, James A. Talbot loaned the estate $1,200 because the estate had $1,200 Confederate Treasury Notes that could not be used to pay the debts of the estate. On August 6, 1863, James A. Talbot made an application with the court to sell certain real estate because the personal property sales had been insufficient to pay the debts of the estate. On November 2, 1863, 440 acres, along with a cotton gin, a gin packing screw and a gin pond were sold for $2,662 to Wm C. McIntosh, a nephew of Charlotte Wise. Parham’s 4 children by Susan (Charles, Mary, James and Eugenia) were recorded as living with Parham’s parents, James and Rosanna Talbot, in August 1863, while Parham, Jr. was living with Charlotte. James A. Talbot filed application and posted bond of $10,000 to become guardian of Parham’s 4 children, whose estate was valued at approximately $5,000 after the sale of assets and payment of debts. It is not known what property Charlotte retained as provision for her support since there is no accounting for this, but it can be assumed that she kept their home since there was no record of the sale in the estate settlement. Also, she probably retained some slaves since Parham owned 7 slaves in 1860, but the Inventory Records and Appraisement only accounted for 3 slaves. In April 1863, Charlotte’s oldest son, Woodson Henry, joined Captain M. P. Medow's Scouts (mounted infantry) at the age of 16. During the war, he received a saber wound to the head and later had his collarbone broken and a shoulder dislocated when a runaway horse fell with him. He was offered a discharge after the second injury, but returned to his unit as a courier. After being captured by the Union forces while with Company A of the 8th Alabama Regiment of Cavalry, he was paroled at Montgomery, Alabama in May, 1865. He returned to Chambers County after the war and is next seen taking the registration oath to the Union (to allow voting) in the 3rd precinct, Chambers County, Alabama in 1868. A letter written in November, 1866 from Dr. John R. Clark in Union Parish, Louisiana to James E. Clark of Cherokee County, Texas (both her brothers) indicated that Charlotte was destitute and in poor health, having been diagnosed as consumptive, and moving her to Union Parish was being considered. John also requested that James look into her business in Texas to try to help her financial situation. Information regarding Charlotte’s life after Parham’s death is limited, but she was still living in Chambers County in February 1868 when her daughter was married at her home. Sometime within the next 2 years Charlotte made the decision to join her brother in Union Parish, Louisiana. The 1870 Louisiana Census shows that Charlotte is living with her sons Woodson (21), Clinton (14), William (12) and Parham (7). Charlotte followed her sons to Arkansas at some date prior to 1880 where she is recorded as living and farming with her 3 youngest sons in Columbia County. Woodson, her oldest son, had married and moved to Calhoun County, Arkansas, where he homesteaded a piece of property containing 160 acres. Charlotte is thought to have died around 1900, but her place of burial has not been located. James and Rosanna Talbot continued to live in Chambers County until their death, at which time they were buried beside each other in the Talbot Cemetery located in Section 29, Township 24N, Range 25E, in Chambers County. • James’ tombstone is inscribed with: Sacred to the Memory of Deacon James A. Talbot, born May 8, 1816. Died June 25, 1878. “Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of His saints.” Psalm CXVI, 15th v. • Rosanna’s tombstone is inscribed with: In Memory of Rosanna Talbot, born July 25, 1810. Died January 12, 1881. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Many of the residents of Chambers County, Alabama, migrated to south Arkansas after the Civil War. The community of Chambersville, Calhoun County, Arkansas, was so named because of the number of people that moved there from Chambers County, Alabama. In 1872, Charles Isaiah Wise, the oldest child of Parham and Susan, followed his step-brother, Woodsen Henry, to Arkansas where they married Grimmet sisters with whom they had been childhood friends back home in Chambers County, Alabama. Charles and his wife, Sophronia Grimmet, were married just over 8 years and without children before her death in 1881. Charles returned to Chambers County, Alabama, where he married Mary Elizabeth Jarrell. He and his bride returned to Chambersville, Arkansas, where they had three children (Maude, Minnie and George Jarrell) before her death in 1889, or about 7 years after they were married. A few months later, Charles married Louella Jane Anderson, a resident of Chambersville. Charles and Louella had nine children during their 39 year marriage: Guy Anderson, Myrtle Eugenia and Charles Roy lived to adulthood, while 6 children died in infancy. The only known picture of Parham Lindsey Wise hung over the bed of his granddaughter and Charles’ daughter, Myrtle Eugenia Wise Russell, for almost 50 years at her home in Camden, Arkansas. This picture was given to her by her Uncle Parham Wise, Jr. according to a letter, dated March 19, 1929, from Parham, Jr. to Myrtle. Myrtle had very little knowledge of her grandfather since her father, Charles Isaiah Wise, was orphaned at 11 years of age when his father was killed in the Civil War battle. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/chambers/photos/bios/nbs20wise.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/chambers/bios/nbs20wise.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/alfiles/ File size: 21.4 Kb