Bertie County NC Letter - Bateman to Etheridge - 1850 Contributed to USGenWeb Archives by: tiobear@webtv.net (John Borges) The envelope is addressed as follows; note I used all caps in the surnames: Colerain NC Free April 13th (?). H. ETHERIDGE P.M. Mr. John BATEMAN "Pine Bluff" Arkansas (Letter content follow:) Colerain, Apl 12, 1850 Mr. John BATEMAN Dear Sir: Your letter dated Nov. 10th last was duly received, and in compliance with your request I availed myself of the first oppurtunity to give attention to is contents. Accordingly I wrote immediately the Clerk of Chowan Cty. Court, & sent the letter by a man going there, with a request for the Clerk to answer it forthwith. He sent me word that he would write me which kept me in suspence for sometime, and at last did not write to me. I then wrote a lawyer; & not hearing from him, I concluded I would go the next court myself, & try to acertain all about the matter. Accordingly I went over there this week and learned that your sister Rebecca BLOUNT is still living, but quite infirm & in bad health. I will now say something of your other relatives & friends so far as my memory serves me. I presume you have heard of the deaths of cousin Everitte (?) GARRETT as he has been dead 3 or 4 years. Aunt Cellia HOLLEY, Aunt Elizabth MCDOWELL & James HOLLEY son of Thomas are dead. Indeed, all of the old stock, except Henry WARD, is dead. He is now living here engaged in Mercantile busiess. David O. ASKEW (?) my brother-inlaw is also dead. He died in Miss. last August. His family now lives there. There has been a great deal of sickness in this section of the country & and a great many deaths. Four of which has occured in this place in about a month, one of whom was my little son 2 years old. I have a little daughter about 10 mos. old--a very fine healthy child. Hinderson WILSON of this place, son of James died last Feby. There have been so many changes since you left this county that the present order of things & race of beings are so nearly (?) new to you that a history of them would not be very interesting I imagine. Suffice it to say that I think we are improving much as (?) & bulding. You would hardly recognize old Colerain now. So much in the place improved. I am now engaged in fishing--but catching very few--I am so much hurried that I have not time to write more at present. I hope to hear from you again soon, and then I will try to give you a letter of morre interest. In the mean time I remain Very truly your fr'd (?). H. ETHRIDGE (?) contemplation (?) going South next summer or fall, & if I do, I will try to give you a call. Do you know where cousin Martha GARRETT, or MILLER lives? jShe married MILLER you know & moved away west. ___________________________________ I believe the parents of John BATEMAN of Pine Bluff, Arkansas were John BATEMAN and Miriam PERISHO of Perquimans County. In July 1830, Rebecca BATEMAN of Hertford, Perquimans County, sister of John BATEMAN of Pine Bluff, married John BLOUNT Esq. of Edenton, Chowan County. Parents of Mary Garrett, first wife of John Bateman of Pine Bluff, were David and Mary Garrett of (???). Any assistance in researching the above Bateman/Garrett/Perisho family lines would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the length of this posting--flames accepted. Newbie. Rich Borges ====== Additional identification: Sally M. Koestler" Dear Rich: I read the letter you posted with much interest. I think I can identify most of the persons mentioned. I have been looking into the children of Thomas and Pheraby Ward, my great great great grandparents and the names seemed familiar. The post master H. Etheridge was the son of William Etheridge and his wife Mary Holley; Everett Garrett was son of David and Mary Ward; Aunt Cellia Holley was an Askew; wife of Thomas Holley, Aunt Elizabeth McDowell was another sister of Mary and Thomas and the wife of Miles McDowell; these Holley are the children of James Holley and his wife Winiford Ward who was the oldest daughter of Thomas Ward and his wife Pheraby and also the sister of my great, great grand father James Ward who married as his forth wife Elizabeth Jones of Pitch Landing. Another sister was Mary Ward who first married William Sparkman and then married David Garrett. I am speculating on Henry Ward but my feeling is he is probably a son of Isaac Hill Ward, James's brother as we have a list of the children of his other brothers. The Martha Garrett who married Miller and moved away could either be Everett Garrett's daughter Martha or his sister Martha. David Garrett died in Bertie Co in 1803; his wife Mary in 1823 I refer you to my page on Thomas and Pheraby Ward. Also, the page on William Walton and Rachel Hunter. Sally ======================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.