Bios: Edward Eagles Sr. & Nancy Jane Scarborough Eagles, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Karen Reaves Moss, 948 Vintage Dr., Kenner, LA 70065-1982 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** TIPS FOR SEARCHING RECORDS ON THE INTERNET Netscape & Ms Explorer users: If searching for a particular surname, locality or date while going through the records in the archives or anywhere....try these few steps: 1. Go to the top of the report you are searching. 2. Click on EDIT at the top of your screen. 3. Next click on FIND in the edit menu. 4. When the square pops up, enter what you are looking for in the FIND WHAT ___________blank. 5. Click on DIRECTION __DOWN. 6. And last click on FIND NEXT and continue to click on FIND NEXT until you reach the end of the report. This should highlight the item that you indicated in "find what" every place it appears in the report. You must continue to click on FIND NEXT till you reach the end of the report to see all of the locations of the item indicated. HISTORY OF EDWARD EAGLES, SR. AND NANCY JANE SCARBOROUGH EAGLES FAMILY BY: BESSIE EAGLES WILSON (1905-Aft.1966) Edward Eagles, Sr. was born November 24, 1819 at Birmingham, England. He died April 8, 1898 at his home near Winnfield, Louisiana and was buried in the Winnfield City Cemetery. His death occurred on Good Friday and his burial was on Easter Sunday. His youngest daughter, Margaret Emma Eagles Bailey, preceded him in death by one year, her death occurring April 16, 1897 and she, too, died on Good Friday and was buried on Easter Sunday at the Sardis Cemetery near Winnfield. His youngest son, James Scarborough Eagles, was the third member of the family to die on Good Friday, March 27, 1964 and was buried on Easter Sunday in the Winnfield City Cemetery. Edward, Sr. came to the United States in 1840 at the age of twenty-one from Birmingham, leaving behind an uncle, the only remaining member of his family. He landed at New York City and began making his way southward, working at different places at his trade as a cabinetmaker, painter and paper hanger, which he learned by serving apprenticeship in England. On May 2, 1851, at Trenton, Louisiana (now West Monroe)in Ouachita Parish, he married Nancy Jane Scarborough. He met Nancy Jane during the time her family had stopped there while enroute westward from Alabama. He was 32 and she was 14. While living there and possibly before his marriage, Edward, Sr. worked helping to bury the dead and care for those stricken when a yellow fever epidemic hit the area. It was a deadly and highly contagious disease, so it seems it was by the Grace of God that he survived. He was a very courageous man. While living in Trenton, four children were born to Edward and Nancy. The eldest, a daughter, Ismarelda died there when only a year old. She was named for the ship on which her father had made the voyage to America. The three sons were Edward, Jr.(called Ted), Charles and Harry. In January 1858, the family moved in an ox wagon to Winn Parish and chose a home-site in the midst of a wilderness, about four miles south of Winnfield in the Cedar Creek area. It was here that he lived and reared his family. Other children were born making a total of ten, all of whom lived well into their adult years with the exception of a son, Allen, who died after a short illness when a small child and the daughter already mentioned. There were four daughters and six sons in the family. The family lived in a very crude shack until Edward, Sr. was able to build the log house that stood for many years. After all the family had moved away, a number of other families lived there. The logs were dovetailed together making a much stronger house, an innovation that Edward brought to this part of the country. The log kitchen stood apart from the house; a safety measure in case of fire. The kitchen had a large mud chimney and a fireplace, which served a two-fold purpose; to furnish heat and all meals were cooked over coals in the fireplace. In later years, when some of their children lost their spouses in death, and would return to the home with their children, Edward and his sons would build another room onto the house, so that finally about four rooms were added to the original house. Edward, using his skills as a cabinetmaker made most of the furniture. These pieces included a large hutch, a pigeonhole desk, a wardrobe and a library table. Some of these are still in the possession of members of the family. Edward Sr. homesteaded land and bought land until he had about two thousand acres. Think what a task it must have been to clear that part of the land to be used to grow crops, by hand, so to speak, with only saws, axes and other hand tools. It was said of him, "The bigger the task and greater the challenge, the harder he worked, for he liked the satisfaction of accomplishment." So it was thus he conquered this untouched land with its virgin forest. Besides this, he went, at times, back to Trenton to pursue his trade. He did this, too, before he built his house, leaving Nancy Jane, who was still a young girl, alone with her three small children. She recounted stories of times when severe thunderstorms came and how she could hear the wolves and other wild animals howl at night, yet, she came through it all and was such a brave, strong, calm person, a true pioneer. Edward Sr., being a progressive person, was the first to own a steam mill, which furnished power for a small saw mill, a gristmill and a cotton gin. His family was the first to own a wood-burning stove for cooking, a sewing machine and an organ in the vicinity of Winnfield. With people coming to have corn ground for bread and to have cotton ginned, the Eagles place became a center of activity. Many of those coming there were invited in to share the noon meal with the family. It might be well to mention here that in the fall after the cotton crop was harvested, the bales were taken to Alexandria to a port on Red River to be sold. A caravan of wagons would set out on this journey of about fifty miles, with plenty of food and water to last. They had to stop at a campsite along the way for one or more nights. After the cotton was sold, purchases of goods that couldn't be bought in Winnfield was taken back home. The story is told about once when a barrel of brown sugar was taken back and after being opened, Edward Sr. and Nancy's youngest son, Jim, who was just a small boy with a real sweet tooth, set in to eat the whole barrel, but soon found his limitations. Edward Sr. became a Blue Lodge Mason, date unknown, and was a member of Eastern Star Lodge #1511 F. and A.M. in Winnfield. This lodge was organized in 1852. On Saturday afternoons, he would dress and saddle his horse, for the four-mile ride into town; he never missed a meeting. None of his sons ever joined the Masonic Lodge, but several of his grandsons were active in Masonic work. Edward Sr. was forty-five years of age when the Civil War came in 1861. He had severe arthritis, then known as rheumatism, and could not go into service. Edward Sr. was a man of fairly large stature with black hair and blue eyes. He never lost his English accent. He suffered a stroke and was paralyzed in his left side for seven years prior to his death. Much of this time was spent in a wheelchair. He was ministered to with much love and concern by Nancy, his children, and grandchildren. In the 1840's and 1850's, Winn Parish was still a sparsely settled frontier country of both good and bad settlers. They all had to be rugged to leave the more civilized communities of the eastern states and come out to the frontier wilderness of Winn Parish and survive. So it was that this couple, Edward and Nancy, and their children all stood together, with the highest physical and moral courage to survive. It can be seen that Nancy Jane Scarborough Eagles became the perfect mate for Edward, helping to overcome all obstacles and making a home where love and loyalty was the abounding theme. She was deeply religious and imparted to her children the very highest moral standards. Her great love for her children was reflected in their deep love and respect for her. This was shown, in each of her sons, as they manifested a special reverence for their wives. Not one of them ever used bad words of any kind, they did not drink liquor or smoke. A special band of love held the family together in all relationships throughout their lives and followed through, like a golden thread, into future generations. The Eagles daughters were taught the art of home making by their mother and all were expert cooks and seamstresses and kind and loving mothers. Nancy Jane was a pretty girl and what might be termed as a very nice looking older woman. She had dark brown hair and brown eyes, was of medium height and rather stout in later years. She was revered by all of her children and grandchildren, she had contributed so much to them. Edward Jr. (Ted) was the first to marry, at age 24. He married Joan Long. She was an aunt of Governor and Senator Huey P. Long and Governor Earl K. Long. They settled into a home near his parents, but after a time, the family moved into Winnfield where he had a small grocery store and was post-master for a time. He built a two-story house on the corner of Main and Abel Streets in the center of town. They owned a large brick building that was on a part of this block. They later sold the house and moved to another part of town after all of their children were grown. One son, Earl Eagles, was assistant post-master in Shreveport for a time and one daughter Ocie, worked in the Shreveport post office. Edward Jr. died from pneumonia March 17, 1917 and was buried in the Winnfield City Cemetery. Joan died December 16, 1937. They were the parents of nine children, three having died in infancy. Mary Ann, at the age of fourteen, married Warren Edwards. They lived near the family home for a time and later moved to town where Warren worked in a store. Warren died in 1888 and is buried in the Winnfield City Cemetery. Mary Ann, who was named for her father's two sisters, Mary and Ann, moved to Palestine, Texas while the children were still young. She bought a comfortable house and supported the family by doing sewing and nursing. She was a tall, strong, very self-sufficient woman with blue eyes, dark hair, a nice looking woman. She met and married Fred Koonce after having reared her children. Fred died in 1915 from pneumonia and was brought back from Texas and buried in Winnfield Cemetery eleven days after the death of her mother Nancy Jane. She moved back to Winnfield and rented a house near her brothers Charlie, Jim and Will. She then built a house on her part of the Eagles estate. Her daughter, Lillie Coffey, and family moved there and built a house nearby. In the fall of 1917 it was discovered that she had cancer, she died August 4, 1919. Harry first married Ella Ray Long, a sister to Ted's wife, Joan. To this union three children were born: Robert, Clayton, and Ida. After nine years Ella Ray died. Harry then married Ruler Blackwell and lost this wife when she miscarried after an accident and lost twins. In compliance with her request, he took her back to her home somewhere in south Arkansas for burial. Harry then married Annie Foster. They were parents of six children. Their home was on a high hill about three miles south of town on the old Alexandria road. Harry was a tall, slender, very personable man and quite handsome. He loved music, was a good singer and always led the song service in the Methodist church. Harry promoted a Fourth of July picnic that was held annually at Holmes Spring on Cedar Creek on the Alexandria road, toward town from his home. This was a highly anticipated event for family and friends, a day of fun and fellowship with an abundance of good food. World War I came and after this the picnics were never held again. He was a carpenter and also farmed. He fell from a roof while working on the two-story Bernstein home on Main St. in Winnfield. He died November 5, 1919 from these injuries. Once, after a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner, all gathered in the parlor where each one verbally gave thanks to God for his blessings. This parlor was nicely furnished with a green velvet sofa with wood frame, comfortable chairs and a plush rug that covered the floor. Also, in this room were a nice piano and an Edison graphaphone. The sound from the graphaphone came through a large horn shaped like a morning glory. They had two of these, one was black with big red roses on it and the other was green. The records were cylinders. On summer nights, the family would gather for an ice cream supper, with several freezers put into use. Laura's mother, Grandma Chatham, donated the land and a small Methodist Church was built up on a hilltop, a short distance from their house and was called Damascus. It was here that they worshipped. Every Sunday found Laura and Nancy, Charlie's mother, and others on their knees in front of the benches, during the time of prayer, a common practice in Methodist churches then. Charlie and Laura were parents of six children, five girls and one boy. Two girls were born and both died in infancy, Keren at one month and Katy at one year of age. David, the youngest child, fell into the fire in the fireplace and was burned. He lived for awhile, but died in 1910 when he was about eleven years of age. Edna, Roanna, and Grace lived well into adult years; each married and had families. Edna lived near her parents, Roanna lived in Beaumont, Texas and died there. Grace lived in the family home, reared her children there and spent all of her life there. After her death, the house was abandoned and was finally torn down. With it went many memories of the couple, Charlie and Laura, who in their lifetime had brought so much joy into the lives of others. Their lives were cut short, Laura died June 2, 1919 from Bright's Disease when only forty-nine years of age. These two were such close companions and Charlie was so grief stricken, those close to him said he died partially from grief August 20, 1920, a little over a year after Laura's death. He died rather suddenly, possibly from a stomach ulcer. Both are buried in the Winnfield Cemetery. Margaret Emma was seventeen years of age when she married Berrien Bailey. His family lived not far from the Eagles family over on the old Alexandria road. Three children were born to them, Marie, Ella and Bryant. When she was twenty-two years old, Margaret Emma developed pneumonia and died. Tennessee Isabella Eagles, at age 26, married George T. Stroud. His family lived near Atlanta, Louisiana and this is where they made their home and where all of their children, except their youngest son, were born. Their first child, a girl, Christine, died when a small child. They were the parents of nine children. About 1910 or 1911, they moved to her brother, Jim's, homestead place and lived there for several years. They cleared a home-site on her part of the Eagles Estate. With the help of her brothers, a house raising was held when the logs for the main part of the house were assembled. House-raisings were common in those days when friends, relatives and neighbors gathered to help one another. Tennessee, called Tennie, was a tall, strong woman, soft spoken and kind to all. She had brown hair and eyes and resembled her mother. She left a sort of memorial to herself by planting several kinds of trees on this place that she loved. In later years, they built another house just below the log house and it was here that George died December 29, 1940. Tennie moved away and died at the home of her eldest son, near Mars Hill near Atlanta, Louisiana. James Scarborough Eagles married Lucy Leona Porter, December 21, 1904. She was the daughter and youngest child of James Tillet and Mary Frances Teddlie Porter. She was seventeen and he was twenty-seven years old. It was said by many, that she was the prettiest girl in the area. She had blue gray eyes, light brown hair and fair skin. Jim was the youngest child in the Eagles family and with so many brothers and sisters older than he, adored by all. He was of medium stature with brown hair and brown eyes. When he became a young man he courted many of the young ladies and thought nothing of riding horseback over snow covered ground as far as ten or more miles away to parties and square dances. He, also, rode his horse to attend the better schools that were several miles from his home. He managed to acquire about a seventh grade education. Most of the schools were only in session three months of the year. He was very good in math and a very poor speller and reader. He was known as a very good conversationalist. He was also known as a man of his word and was never to be swayed from what he believed to be right. He set an example of honesty, integrity and high moral standards for his children. He was always the courteous gentleman. Jim and Lucy's wedding was held at the Porter home. Lucy was a pretty bride in a long, white dress and she wore white gloves. Her hair was done in a pompadour, the style of the day and time. Jim was dressed in a dark suit and he, too, wore white gloves. These gloves and his wedding socks were put away and kept for many years. He took his bride to his home, which was about a mile east of the old Alexandria Road and about two miles from the Porter place, which was west of the road. He, his mother and older brother, Will had left the family home and had come to live in a house built on eighty acres of land he homesteaded. The house was an unpainted frame, with two large rooms on the front and two smaller rooms called side rooms on the back. One of the large rooms had a mud chimney and fireplace. A wide porch extended the length of the house across the front. As was common then, the kitchen was built separate from the house and was connected by a walkway with banisters on the sides. It was a very large room in which there was a big Home Comfort range with a reservoir for heating water. The large table and benches from the old family home were used. On the back of the kitchen there was a small porch and a large pantry and storage room. Although there were pretty oak trees in the yard the place was in the midst of virgin pine timber, the tall longleaf whispering pines. At this time, Jim and Will farmed. In 1909, Jim sold timber on his land for $7,500, which was considered a good sum of money then. He and Will went into the grocery business in Winnfield. In February 1910, the family moved into a neat, comfortable house, which was rented from Mr. J. L. Durham and was about half mile from the city limits on the south side of town. Jim wanted to be near the Winnfield School so his children could attend a good school. A daughter, Bessie Mae, was born here, November 9, 1905. Fourteen months later a second daughter, Emma Christine was born, January 9, 1907. On October 4, 1912, a son, James Scarborough Eagles, Jr. was born. With having had just two little girls for six years, this was a joyous occasion for all of the family. Jim and Will sold their store to Mr. Isom Corley when a money panic came along. January 1913, the family moved to a large, well built house with two stories and three fireplaces, which was about a half-mile farther south from the Durham house. Jim soon bought the house and fourteen acres of land from Mr. P.K. Abel. It was in the Machen subdivision and just a short distance from his brother Charlie's home. Jim decided to farm and raise cattle and hogs. He cleared ten acres of land on his part of the Eagles estate. This was about three miles south from where he lived and about a mile east of his brother Harry's place. Many people had wild hogs that roamed the woods, usually in a certain territory and by using well-trained "hog dogs" they were rounded up, penned and marked by certain cuts and slits in the ears. The boars were castrated to be used as "meat hogs". These marks were registered at the clerk of court's office, each man having his own mark. Every man marked only those in his bunch and his territory and no man was supposed to ever take another man's hogs. Jim liked going hog hunting and in the fall and winter would go down and kill many of his meat hogs. He would bring them home in his wagon, scald them in the huge iron kettle that had belonged to his father, butcher them and sell them, keeping what would supply his family's needs. The meat was smoked and cured with hickory smoke in the "smoke house" which was in the back yard. These cured hams and big sides of bacon lasted throughout the summer. Jim had more hogs than anyone else in the area. He grew the finest watermelons, which he sold and was an expert truck farmer, raising vegetables of all kinds. There was never a shortage of food of all kinds in this family. He grew cotton and corn on his ten-acre plot and some watermelons. The sale of timber from his land added to his income each year. January 4, 1914, a second son, Edward Porter Eagles, was born, just fifteen months the birth of James Jr. At the time of his birth, Bessie was in bed with typhoid fever, which lasted for four weeks. Then Christine had it, her fever lasting 2 weeks. Jim's mother, who made her home with the family, was a great help in caring for the children at this time. During this year, Jim had his brother, Harry, come and do the carpenter work and had the two upstairs bedrooms completed, planning for theses to be his son's rooms. He then had a man called "Painter Thompson" a painter and paper hanger, come and paint and paper the house. It was then quite an attractive place, situated on a hill among red oak and past oak trees. Jim built a picket fence around the house. The long front porch that extended on around on the east side of the house was a very pleasant place for the family to sit during the day and on hot summer nights. The family had a very comfortable home. Jim's mother, Nancy, was stricken with pneumonia and lived about ten days before she died on March 15, 1915 with her children at her bedside. Dr. Morris Peters, the family physician had brought the girls through the typhoid fever, but couldn't save Nancy, who died just nine days before her seventy-eighth birthday. The girls had fun caring for their two little brothers, Bess caring for James and Chris looking after Edward, called "Brother" by all of the family. October 10, 1917, Murphy Lee Eagles was born. At this time, his mother had phlebitis (milkleg) and other complications and was confined to the bed for three months, seriously ill. Jim hired two of her nieces, Laura and Ola Barton, to live in and do the house work and hired a Mrs. Anders to care for the new baby. In those days friends and relatives filled the house when someone was sick. At the end of a month, Lucy was taken to the Baptist Hospital in Alexandria where she stayed for a month, then returned home and it took another month for her recovery. Murphy's care was shared by his two sisters who were then eleven and twelve years old. He could hum a tune before he could talk and amused everyone by singing "Ja Da, Ja Da, Ja Da, Ja Da, Jing, Jing, Jing," a popular song of the time. Lucy was a jolly, optimistic person, and a favorite among her nieces and nephews, a very devoted wife and mother. She was almost like a sister to her own daughters, who loved her dearly. She was always understanding and there was no doubt as to her great love for her children. When her sons became teen-agers and could go out to the show by themselves, she always got out of bed to go in and talk with them while they ate a snack she had provided for them when they came home. The children were all taught the basic principles of righteous living and were given strict discipline, along with security and were always aware of their parents' love for them. As the years passed, the children were all growing up. The first to leaves the home was Chris, when she married George Wallace Jenkins and went to live at the rock quarry, about five miles west of town where he was employed. Their first born was Wallace Richard, who was born at the home of his grandparents. He was a fine healthy baby and was special, being the first grandchild. A little over a year after Richard's birth, a sixth child was born to Jim and Lucy on November 28, 1925. They named him Charles Clifford. He was already and uncle when he was born. Bess married Johnie Orlander Wilson and their daughter Jean Raydell was the second grandchild. She was born at her grandparents' home. She cried a lot and this prompted Jim to jokingly say he thought her name was "Raise Hell". They lived in an apartment in Minden for a year and then moved back to Winnfield. About two years after Richard's birth, a second son, George Edward, was born to Chris and Wallace. Next in line was Olive Elizabeth, then Joseph Sean was born and he was followed by James Morris and then Barbara Ann. They were all born at the rock quarry. When Barbara was two weeks old, Lucy became ill on a Monday afternoon, July 15th, and was taken via ambulance to a Shreveport hospital for emergency surgery for a strangulated hernia. Because all three Winnfield doctors were unavailable, (Dr.'s Fitz, Faith and Mosely) when she became ill, about 4 PM, and it was about 7 PM when Dr. Mosely was finally located and came to see her, then the ambulance had to come down from Jonesboro, so all of these factors contributed to the delay of the urgent need to act quickly, peritonitis set in and she died about 10 PM, Wednesday July 17, 1935. She was forty-seven years of age. She was buried in a plot that Jim purchased in the Winnfield City Cemetery. Her death left a void in the lives of all her family. Jim had always said she was the only one in the world for him, and he proved it because he never even thought of anyone to take her place. They were very devoted to each other. After her death, Bess, Johnie and Raydell, who lived nearby, moved into the family home to help care for her dad and four brothers. The Jenkins family moved from the quarry into town in the summer of 1935, when Wallace went to work for The Creosote Co. and they lived nearby. That same year, Edward married Juanita Wagoner and they came into the family home to live. Then in the fall of 1936, Johnie, Bess and Raydell moved into their own home which they had built on four acres of land they had bought and it was only a short distance from the family home. Edward and Juanita continued to live there for several years. Their daughter, Anita Leona, was born there. That summer, after her birth, the house caught fire and burned to the ground. In the fall, Jim had a nice, three-bedroom house built on the same spot as the old house had been. In this house, Edward and Juanita's son, Marion Edward was born. Later they moved into town and their son, Tommy Joe was born. James Scarborough Eagles, Jr. married Merle Belle Haynie, January 27, 1940. Their daughter, Dona Gaye, was born November 18, 1944 in Winnfield, Louisiana. Jim, Murphy, and Clifford lived in the family home. After World War II, Clifford returned from duty in the Navy, he and Vertie Leeper married. They made this their home. Their children, Charles Clifford, James William, and Elizabeth Leona were born. They eventually bought the house and four acres of the fourteen. The other acreage was divided among the other children. This was Jim's home until about two years before his death, when he left his beloved Winn Parish and went to Springhill, Louisiana to make his home with the Jenkins. He suffered a stroke two weeks before his death which occurred in the Springhill Hospital, March 27, 1964. He was the last survivor of the children of Edward Sr and Nancy. He had the longest life span, eighty-five years, nine months, and seventeen days, of any member of their immediate family. Murphy Lee Eagles never married. He served in the Air Force during World War II and in later years, bought a commercial fishing camp at Shady Acres on Saline Lake. Here he spent many happy days among friends. He loved to fish and spent a carefree life. In 1968, he was found to have cancer in his intestines and underwent surgery at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Shreveport. On December 5, 1969, he died in the hospital and is buried in the plot beside his parents. When he was thirty-nine years of age, William Eagles married Daisy O. Grigsby (nee Wilson) October 23, 1911. She was a native of Lincoln Parish. Her husband had died and left her with two small sons, John and Tom. She was a very attractive woman, a good cook and homemaker, a person of great pride and always well groomed. Will was a tall rather distinguished looking many who wore a short clipped moustache. He was the most learned of his brothers and sisters. He had taught school at the little one room Carthage school on the Old Alexandria road. He had been a partner with Jim in the grocery store and then became a rural mail carrier on Route One, out of Winnfield when the route was covered by horse and buggy. Then, with the advent of the automobile, he bought one for the mail delivery. He held this job until his retirement. During the first years of their marriage, he and Daisy and the boys lived in a house on West Court St. in town. They moved into a house in the neighborhood where Jim and Charlie lived and then bought a nice house near this one which was on Alexandria highway. They lived here for a number of years and then bought a large, quite nice house in town and lived there until his death December 28, 1937. He died from cancer of the colon. Some years after his death, both Tom and John who had married, but had no children, died. Will had been a wonderful father to them. After many years, Daisy sold her home and went to Little Rock, Arkansas to be near Tom's wife, Flossie. She was here when she died as the result of a stroke on Thursday, March 11, 1976. She was buried beside Will in the Winnfield City Cemetery. She was ninety-three years of age. According to historical documents, the Rev. E.B. Galloway listed as being members of the Winnfield Methodist Church, before 1881, a number of people among whom were Edward Eagles, Sr, Nancy Eagles, Mary Ann Edwards, Carrie Eagles, Laura J. Eagles, and Emma Eagles. All of the Eagles family were Methodist. Nancy's mother was a McHaney, given name unknown. Her father was Allen Scarborough. She had several sisters, one named Caroline and one named Mary, she also had a brother named James. When he volunteered for service during the Civil War, his father volunteered also. Both fell, in battle, and are buried at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Nancy named her youngest son, James, after her brother. Nancy had an uncle, Joe McHaney in Alabama. In the early 1900's, several of her cousins came at different times from Alabama to visit Nancy and her family.