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Selected Families and Individuals
Notes
William Crawford Sherrod
Letter from William Crawford Sherrod written in late 1898 or early 1899, "I send you a copy of the life of myself as taken from Smith & DeLands Historical and Biographical History of the Public Men of Alabama." Col. William C. Sherrod is a native of Lawrence Co., Alabama -- Son of Benjamin and Talitha Goode Sherrod -- was born Aug 17th 1831. The Sherrods came originally from England and settled in North Carolina. The Goodes, also English, went from Bermuda Islands and settled at Richmond Virginia as early as 1760. The subject of this sketch was prepared for college at Edgefield South Carolina, and received his supplementary education at the University of North Carolina. In early life he engaged in Cotton planting in Lawrence Co., AL extending his planting interests into Arkansas where -- in Desha Co., on the Arkansas River he is the owner of an immense plantation which annually yields him many bales of the fibrous fabric. He also owns and manages the old homestead in Lawrence Co., AL -- one of the finest plantations in the Tennessee Valley. As was his father in his lifetime, Col. Sherrod before the War was one of the most extensive Planters and slave owners in Northern Alabama. He represented Lawrence County in the Legislature, session of 1859 and 1860 and was a delegate to the Charleston Convention of the latter year. In the Legislature he was a Union man and distinguished as one of the three members who refused to sign the ordinance of secession. In the Charleston Convention he supported Stephen A. Douglas as he did at Baltimore where he was also a delegate. Notwithstanding his opposition to secession, after his state withdrew from the federal Union, he did as every other true man espoused the cause of the South and at once volunteered his services in her defense. He was appointed Captain of Commissary for Patterson's brigade of Cavalry and was connected with the service from the first to the last -- participating in many hotly contested battles in Alabama and other Gulf States. At the close of the War he returned to Lawrence Co. and to cotton planting, and spent his time thereat until 1880. He was a member of the 41st U.S. Congress and had charge of the Southern Pacific Rail Way bill and conducted it to its final passage. During his term in Congress the records show that he devoted his time and his talent to the advancement of internal improvements to the exclusion of political discussion, and the history of Legislation during that period, attest the fact that he was one of the most useful members of that body. In 1879 he represented the Second Senatorial district in the upper house of the State Legislature and as a member of the finance Committee assisted in framing the revenue bill that piloted the state out of its indebtedness. He came to Florence in June 1883 for the purpose of schooling his children. In June 1886 in connection with W.B. Wood formulated the idea of the Florence Boom. He was one of the originators of the Florence Land & Mining Company, of the W.B. Wood Furnace Co., of which he is Vice President, also of the Florence Coal Coke & Iron Co., of the Florence Tuscaloosa & RR Co., of the Tennessee and Alabama RR Co., the Alabama, Florence & Cincinnati RR Co., the Florence & St. Louis RR Co., in all of which he is of the several board of directors. To recur to his Congressional record, we find that the Southern Pacific RR bill was turned over to him after it had been abandoned by all others, and that it was placed in his hands at the special request of Gen. Freemont. Col. Sherrod knew almost intimately every leading man in the 41st Congress and was upon terms of amity with them without regard to politics. To his credit, it may be said that he had at all times labored to promote and rebuild the country, and that he participated not in political discussions. He was married at Nashville, Tennessee, Oct. 21st 1856, to Miss Amanda Morgan, the accomplished daughter of Samuel Dold Morgan, whose body lies in the Capitol, by order of the Legislature. The wedding ceremony was performed by Rev. Dr. Edgar. ------------ William Crawford Sherrod, a planter, state legislator, and U.S. Congressman (1870-1872), was born August 17, 1831 at the Cotton Garden Plantation in Lawrence county and removed to Florence in 1883 for the purpose of educating his children. He was instrumental in formulating the Florence boom, being one of the originators of the Florence Land, Mining and Manufacturing Company and the Florence, Tuscaloosa and Montgomery railroad. William Crawford was married October 21, 1856 to Amanda Morgan, daughter of Colonel Samuel and Matilda Morgan. Samuel was an uncle of General John Hunt Morgan who served with the Confederate Army. Amanda Morgan Sherrod was one of the dedicated women leaders of Florence who persisted in the raising of funds to erect the statue of the Confederate solder on the grounds of the Lauderdale County Court House. ====== Wichita Falls Daily Times, May 3, 1910 ======== Among the many others who have made Wichita Falls their home there is none who have had a more varied and exciting experience than Col. W.C. Sherrod. Accidentally learning that he had been a member of the Charleston Convention in 1860, and was a member of the legislature of Alabama when the Ordinance of Secession was passed, a Times representative called on Colonel Sherrod and finally succeeded in getting him to give a brief history of his personal involvement with those stirring days which we reproduce below. As will be seen, Col. Sherrod was of the class of Southerners, who, while opposing Secession, yet when Alabama did secede, went with the South and did his whole duty by active service in the field under General Forrest. After the war he was elected to Congress from Alabama and served one term declining renomination. Owing to the constant decline in the price of cotton, which together with a destructive overflow finally swept away his entire fortune, he removed to Texas with his family in 1893, and soon after made Wichita Falls his home where he hoped in the Southwest his children might have a better showing than in Alabama. While in Wichita Falls he engaged in farming and ranching. In 1899 he was elected Mayor of Wichita Falls but the corporation being declared invalid did not serve. For years he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic Party in Wichita County and has also served as county chairman and chairman for the Congressional District. A strict party man, and usually identified with the wing of the party he has always insisted on the rights of the people to rule untrammeled by bossism and dictation. While from his age not taking of late years as active a part as formerly, he is a man whose counsel is sought by party leaders. While a gentleman of the Old South with all its courtly manners, he never for a moment brooded over the losses of the war, but has been actively identified both in Alabama and Texas with the new order of things, and is a great believer in the future of the South. Now nearly 79 years of age, and probably the sole survivor of the Charleston Convention of 1860, having served in almost every civil capacity from road overseer up to member of Congress, and still interested in everything which affects the welfare of Texas and the South. A typical Southerner and yet, broad enough to rejoice that the wounds of the war are practically healed, and that North and South can meet on equal ground in love for the flag of a common country. Wichita Falls has no citizen who better represents the true patriot than W.C. Sherrod. --- Personal Reflections in Regard to Secession --- I was a member of the Charleston Democratic convention which convened in 1860; this was a very important period for the South, and the nation as well. I was a member of the Alabama legislature being 28 years of age, and at the time was made a delegate to the State Convention held at Montgomery and there made a delegate to the National Convention that was held at Charleston, SC. The Alabama convention directed its delegation to withdraw from the convention in the event of the convention refusing to guarantee the right of persons to carry their slaves into the Territories, and they demanded that the government should protect them in so doing. This was not in accordance with the views of Stephen Douglas on the subject of slavery. Mr. Douglas was the foremost candidate before the convention for the presidency -- he advocated the doctrine of "Squatter Sovereignty," with which I entirely agreed and endorsed Mr. Douglas' candidacy, but could do him but little good, as I believed that a state convention had a right to instruct its delegates, which instructions I obeyed to the letter. The delegates failing to get a plank endorsing the Alabama views, agreed to by the Committee on Platforms, withdrew, I think it was on the 23rd day of April, from the convention. We all returned to Alabama. There was a division of the delegations as soon as the withdrawal was accomplished; about one-third of the delegates favored by Mr. Douglas, and the idea of Squatter-sovereignty, and the other two-thirds demanded unconditional protection; one set of delegates were called "Secessionists." The other set "Submissionists." The Secessionists called a convention to meet at Montgomery, Alabama, and the Submissionists called a convention to meet at Selma, Alabama. Both conventions sent delegates; the Secessionists to Richmond, VA, the Submissionists to Baltimore, Maryland, where the regular Democratic convention had adjourned at Charleston to meet at Baltimore. So far as I am advised, I am the only living delegate who was at the convention. I could not attend the Baltimore Convention with others who were appointed at Selma. the other delegates who were at Montgomery were appointed to Richmond. The Richmond Convention ultimately adjourned and met at the same time as the other convention at Baltimore, but there were two separate conventions. Douglas was nominated immediately by the regular convention, and Breckenridge by the seceding convention; then, the warmest political canvas imaginable was inaugurated in Alabama. I was still a member of the Alabama legislature and the governor issued a call for a special session of the legislature which met at the same time that the secession convention met at Montgomery. The Secession convention formed a government known as the "Southern Confederacy." I did not think it best for the South to secede and with two other members never signed the ordinance of secession. I believed that we would have a war that would be disastrous to the South and our best young men would all be sacrificed and the property of the South, which consisted mostly of negroes, would be lost. I had no idea at any time of separating myself from the South, preferring to be with them believing them to be wrong than to be with the Northern army knowing it to be right. At the beginning of the war I was engaged in special service the most of the time. I was in the last battle East of the Mississippi River which was fought after both Lee and Johnson surrendered. General Forrest, with whose command I was attached, fought General Wilson with about four thousand Confederates; the Federals having ten thousand as fine cavalry as ever followed any command in the line of battle. The last command that I ever received came from General Bedford Forrest in person at the battle of Selma which was to have all the dry grass removed from the breast-works; that it would catch on fire whenever the fire became hot, and smoke us out. --Copied from History of the Congress of the United States-- William C. Sherrod was born in Courtland, Alabama, August 17, 1831. His ancestors on both sides were active in their sympathies with the Revolutionary war and furnished many soldiers. His father was a large cotton planter and prominent politician and one of the earliest and most active promoters of railroad building in the United States, having projected and built the Decatur and Tuscumbia railroad, and the second railroad built in the United States, and the first railroad built in Alabama. The subject of this sketch prepared for college at Edgefield, SC, and was educated at Chappel Hill College, North Carolina in 1851 and 1852 under the presidency of Governor Swaine. He afterward engaged in cotton planting, at the same time devoting some attention to politics and was a member of the National Democratic convention held at Charleston in 1860, and of the Alabama legislature in 1858-60 and was one of three members of that body who persistently refused to sign the ordinance of secession; he finally however cast in his fortune with his state and entered the army of the Confederate States. At the close of the war he resumed his occupation as a cotton planter, conducting his operation on an extensive scale. He was elected representative from Alabama to the forty-first Congress (March 4, 1869--March 3, 1871). As a Democrat he served on the commission of Railroads and Canals, and devoted himself untiring industry to the success of the Southern Pacific railroad which carried an appropriation of twenty-seven million acres of land, the largest appropriation ever given any railroad in the United States, and he contributed more to the accomplishment of that end than any other representative in Congress. -- From History of Public Men of Alabama -- William C. Sherrod is a native of Lawrence County, Alabama; son of Benjamin and Talitha Goode Sherrod and was born August 17'th, 1831. the Sherrods came originally from England and settled in North Carolina. The Goodes, also English, were from the Bermuda Islands, and went to Richmond, Virginia as early as 1760. The subject of this sketch was prepared for college at Edgefield, SC, and finished his course at the University of North Carolina. In early life he engaged in cotton planting in Lawrence, County Alabama, extending his planting interests into Arkansas, where, in Deshay county, on the Arkansas river, he is the owner of an immense plantation, which annually yields him many bales of fibrous fabric. He also owned and managed the old homestead in Lawrence, Alabama, one of the finest plantations in the Tennessee Valley. As was his father in his lifetime, Col. Sherrod before the war was one of the most extensive planters and slave owners in northern Alabama. He represented Lawrence County in the legislature session of 1859-60, and was a delegate to the Charleston convention of the latter year. In the legislature he was a Union man and was distinguished as one of three members who refused to sign the Ordinance of Secession. In the Charleston convention he supported Stephen A. Douglas, as he did at Baltimore, where he was also a delegate. Notwithstanding his opposition to secession, after his state withdrew from the Federal Union, he as did every true Southern man, espoused the cause of the South and at once volunteered his service in her defense. At the beginning of the war he was appointed captain of commissaries for Patterson's brigade of cavalry, and was connected with the service from the first to the last, participating in many hotly contested battles in Alabama and other states. At the close of the war he returned to Lawrence County and engaged in cotton planting, spending his time there until 1880. He was a member of the forty-first United States Congress and had charge of the Southern Pacific railroad bill, conducting it to its final passage. During his term in Congress his record shows that he devoted his time and his talents to the advancement of the internal improvements to the exclusion of political discussion and the history of the legislation during that period attests the fact that he was one of the most useful members of that body. In 1879 he represented the second senatorial district in the upper house of the legislature, and, as a member of the finance committee, assisted in framing the revenue bill that piloted the state out of its indebtedness. He removed to Florence in June, 1883, for the purpose of educating his children. In June, 1886, with the Hon. W.B. Wood, he formulated the idea of the Florence Land and Mining Company, of the W.B. Wood Furnace Company, of which he was vice-president; also of the Florence Coal, Coke and Iron Company; the Florence, Tuscaloosa & Montgomery Railroad, of the Tennessee and Alabama Railroad; the Alabama Florence and Cincinnati Railroad, in all of which he is of the several board of directors. To recur his congressional record, we find that the Southern Pacific bill was turned over to him after it had been abandoned by all others, and was placed in his hands at the special request of General John C. Fremont. Col. Sherrod knew almost intimately, every leading man in the forty-first congress and was on terms of amity with them without regard to politics. To his credit it may be said that at all times he worked to rebuild the country and that he participated in no political dissensions. He was married at Nashville, TN, on October 21st, 1856, to Miss Amanda Morgan, the accomplished daughter of Col. Samuel Dold Morgan, whose body lies in the state capitol of Tennessee by order of the legislature. --------------------------------------- Record of military service in the Civil War: Alabama Department of Archives and History, 624 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36130 Cavalry: Sherrod, W. C. 5th Regt. Ala. Cav. Act'g Ass't Commissary Subsistence Organization of Brig. Gen. Roddey's Cav. Command Nov. 20, 1864 [This information was filed with Chapter No. 2423 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy by Terry Downs Nelson on 30 June 1988 and accepted as proof of Confederate service] Also: Fact 2: Planter, congressman Fact 3: Chappel Hill College, North Carolina
Amanda Morgan
Words written about herself by Amanda Morgan: In what words shall I write of myself? My husband says "this is my opportunity to say something nice, and he will back me in every thing I say," but I would rather let truth prevail, and will try to confine myself to facts. I grew up in Nashville, went through the Nashville Female Academy, graduated there and entered society with a "heart as alight as air." My parents were most indulgent, denied me nothing and gave me every opportunity for enjoyment, for which I paid them with the strongest devotion and a great love of home. I think my acquirements were mediocre in every respect. I married the only man who ever made me take a serious view of the subject, William C. Sherrod. He was a planter by profession, and a large slave holder. We have gone through sunshine and storm together, and now, in the evening of our days, find great consolation in each other and great recompense in our sons and daughters. The fortunes of war left us stranded, and we emigrated to Texas from Alabama and began a new life in a strange country. We have succeeded fairly well financially, and have never regretted the move. Mr. Sherrod had a leaning towards politics, and represented his State (Alabama) in the Legislature, Congress, and the State Senate. He was a delegate to the Charleston Convention, and was one of the three men who voted against secession. He felt that the South had been greatly oppressed, but did not think that was a remedy, but when his State went out of the Union he joined the ranks heart and soul. He was with the army until the close of the war, and a participant in the Battle of Selma, which was fought after the surrender of both Lee and Johnson. His father was Col. Benjamin Sherrod, a large cotton planter and projector of railroads. He was president of the third railroad built in the United States, was unfortunate in this venture, and his heirs paid out for him after his death, $500,000. He was the soul of honor and his tomb bears this epitaph "An honest man, the noblest work of God." My husband was a member of the 41st Congress and devoted his energies to the passing of the Texas Pacific Bill, which had been the dream and hope of his father's life. He was with Gen. Bedford Forrest, and at his side during the last fight of the war at Selma. Before the war he was a large slave holder and cotton planter on the Arkansas River. Not being successful in the culture of cotton with free labor, he abandoned his plantations and migrated to Texas, where he now resides, and at the age of 84 years, is hale and hearty, and in full possession of his faculties. He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Our first child, a daughter named Addie died of typhoid fever at the age of seven years. We also lost an infant son. Our oldest living child is Charles Morgan Sherrod, a member of the State Senate, practices law at Courtland Alabama. His wife's maiden name was Helen Cates; they have two daughters -- Addie and Miriam, and a son, Morgan. William C. Sherrod Jr. and my youngest son Eugene are engaged in the cattle business on a ranch in Gaines County Texas. William C. Sherrod is unmarried. My third son, St. Clair Sherrod is engaged largely in wheat raising, and has besides that crop, a farm where he plants a diversified crop and raises fancy stock of great variety. He married Mrs. Nina Butler. Benjamin Sherrod lives in El Paso Texas, and is manager of the City Water Works. He married Marietta Jones of El Paso Texas. She is a lovely woman; they have no children. Eugene Sherrod married Virginia Withers, whose father was a Confederate Officer and whose mother was a highly cultured lady. They lead a perfectly harmonious life, are blessed with three lovely children -- Judith, the oldest, very beautiful and gifted; Mildred, the second child, scarcely less attractive, and Eugene Jr., a perfect specimen of a happy-go-lucky boy. Eugene Sr. is a court reporter by profession. Lillian, the oldest daughter, is a fine wife and mother, devoted to her family and home. She married Charles B. Toney of Ennis, Texas. Their oldest, William Sherrod Toney, is a very handsome young man, steady and industrious. He has made a study of regulating and working with automobiles and commands a fine salary; he is not yet of age. Dorothy is a very pretty girl of fine intelligence and at present is holding a position with the Telephone Co. She is practical and seems to have a fine business head. Charlie, the younger son is still at school and a boy of fine promise, and his inclinations, like his brothers, centers in automobiles, which he believes to be the coming business. Lucile Amanda Sherrod: If I wrote of Lucile what she really deserves, those who do not know her would say that it was too highly colored; those who know her well would think I did not say half enough. But such unselfishness and devotion to her aged mother and father -- to her brothers and sisters, speak more loudly her praise than anything I could write. I leave those who know her best to speak for me. Abnegation is the keynote of her character, she never thinks of herself, but always how she can give the most happiness. Rarely do we meet with such a combination of good. She takes upon herself all the cares of others, never permitting any worries she can avert, to fall upon the family. She cultivates cheerfulness as one of the Christian virtues -- "On her tongue is the law of kindness." The next son of my father's family was Franklin Henry Morgan, who died of typhoid fever a short while before reaching his twenty-first birthday. He was a boy of great talent and fine ideas of integrity. Mary Matilda Morgan married Dr. R.N. Williams a planter on the Arkansas River. They were the parents of seven children -- two died in infancy, Jennie who married James Mulligan of Lexington, KY, Nancy Lee who married William Morgan of Columbia, TN; Morgan, Robert and Willangby. Mrs. Williams is still living, makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Morgan. Madeline Allison Morgan married Dr. Johseph Duncan of Barnsell, South Carolina. They were the parents of three children: Tillie Morgan, the eldest who died quite young, George and St. Clair. George married Miss. Weakley of Nashville -- he died leaving two sons. St. Clair the daughter, married Thomas M. L[unreadable], and is very happy, living near Memphis. She has been a cripple from her birth, but it has resulted in making her a perfectly lovable patient Christian woman. They have no children. Both Dr. Duncan his wife and George are dead. Sam Morgan Jr: He offered his young life to his country before he was twenty-one years of age, made a gallant soldier, with his cousin, John Hunt Morgan, was killed just after he reached his twenty-first birthday. He was fired upon by sharpshooters, concealed in a building in Augusta, KY. The enemy had surrendered and hoisted the white flag of truce. Five captains were chosen and fired upon -- an act of treachery equal to anything the Germans have perpetrated in their savage warfare. The particulars may be found in Basil Duke's "History of Morgan's Cavalry." He was an unusually handsome man -- tall, admirably proportioned and with the courage and determination of a soldier. His remains rest in Lexington beside the grave of his loved cousin. Harriet Cruse Morgan was lovely of form and feature and endowed with all of the graces of mind and heart that go to make the perfect woman; she died on the threshold of her young life. She was ill many months before her mother's death, but after that she had no desire to live, her only plaint was, "Let me go to my mother." I have written nothing but what I know to be true, and with the simple desire that it may be some pleasure to those who come after me. Signed, Amanda Morgan Sherrod, dated Dec. 1915. ----------------------------------------- Obituary for Amanda Morgan: Mrs. Amanda Morgan Sherrod, aged 87, daughter of Colonel Samuel D. Morgan of ante-bellum and Civil War fame, and the widow of Colonel W.S. Sherrod, Alabamian who was one of the most prominent statesmen of the war and reconstruction era, died early Monday morning at her home, 1000 Broad. Death resulted from an illness following her collapse on receiving the news of the death of her grandson, William Sherrod Toney, slain on September 30, while assisting officers in a raid on a Kemp City gambling house. The funeral services were held Monday afternoon at 5 o'clock. The home was filled with friends, the majority of them of a quarter of a century's standing, who paid at this time their last respects to the deceased. Here and there in the company appeared a Confederate veteran in the uniform in which the father, brothers and husband of Mrs. Sherrod served in the sixties. Rev. N.F. Grafton, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, conducted the services, members of the choir singing songs which were favorites of Mrs. Sherrod. Honorary pall bearers were: John Woodhouse, H.C. Young, Wiley Robertson, J.J. Lory, T.B. Noble, Judge Edgar Scurry and Judge A. H. Carrigan. Active pall bearers were: Joe Henson, Elbert Childers, R.E. Strange, J.N. Prothro, J.L. Mears and T.P.T. Reese. Burial was in Riverside cemetery on the Sherrod lot where the bodies of her husband and grandson are resting. The five sons and two daughters of Mrs. Sherrod were at her bedside for several days before the end came and despite her suffering and periods of unconsciousness, all were recognized by her in a farewell before the end came. C.M. Sherrod of Courtland, Ala., St. Clair Sherrod of Buena Park, Cal., and Benjamin Sherrod of El Paso, arrived last week to be at their mother's bedside. The four other children, Miss. Lucile Sherrod and Mrs. C.B. Toney and W.C. and Eugene Sherrod reside in Wichita Falls. Mrs. Sherrod had called for the young widow of her grandson, who is in Elk City, and Mrs. Toney also arrived in time for the dying recognition. Mrs. Sherrod's death marks the passing of a gentlewoman of the southern type. Born in Nashville, Tennessee January 17, 1834, she was the daughter of Samuel Dold Morgan, respected as a statesman and as a dealer of the commercial world in the ante-bellum days, as well as a warrior and a father of warriors of the Confederacy. Tennessee, in which he was a leader living, paid his remains the highest honor possible, his body being buried in state in the capitol building at Nashville. One of his sons, St. Clair Morgan, slain in Chickamauga, was a West Pointer and was said by many to have fired the first gun at Forst Sumpter. Another brother, Samuel Dold Morgan, Jr., was killed in 1862 in Kentucky. General John H. Morgan of Mexican war and Civil War fame, was her cousin, and there were other close relatives who all played prominent parts in the history of the South, both the old and new. Mrs. Sherrod's education was unusual for the girl of that day, her father, who was noted as a scholar, as well as for his attainments in other lines, paying particular attention to her training in all lines. She was especially talented as an artist, her natural gift for this being cultivated under the direction of the best instructors of the day. Art critics of the modern school, as well as the critics of her younger days, have pronounced her canvasses the work of genius. It is a true indication of the spirit of the old south that she never commercialized her art, painting always for the pleasure of her family and friends. Many homes in Wichita Falls number among their prized treasures a canvass from her brush. She was a veritable storehouse of wonderful reminscences of the days of the "Golden South," of the gay days of the southern capitals, and the national capital as well, before the Civil War tore the land, and the old papers, magazines and books which she treasured told of girlhood days similar to those painted by novelists who recorded the romance of the old South. [remainder of obituary is unreadable] ----------------------------------------------------- Amanda Morgan Sherrod was one of the dedicated women leaders of Florence, AL who persisted in the raising of funds to erect the statue of the Confederate soldier on the grounds of the Lauderdale County Court House. Amanda Morgan's father, Samuel Dold Morgan, was a prominent businessman in Nashville, TN. The Tennessee Legislature selected him to oversee the construction of the Tennessee State Capitol building. In honor of his service, the Tennessee Legislature had his body buried inside the Capitol building when he died. Samuel Dold Morgan's brother was Calvin Cogswell Morgan. Calvin Morgan was the father of the great Confederate general John Hunt Morgan. After General Morgan escaped from a Yankee prison, the Union forces came to his home looking for him. They did not find him, and in frustration one of the soldiers shot a portrait of the General hanging on the wall of his home. That portrait, complete with bullet hole, was passed down to Amanda Morgan who passed it down to Eugene Sherrod Sr. Tragically, the portrait was destroyed when a fire devastated the farmhouse where Eugene and Virginia Sherrod lived.
Adelaide "Addie" Sherrod
Died at age 7 from typhoid fever.
Lucille Amanda Sherrod
The following comments about Lucille Amanda Sherrod were written by her mother, Amanda Morgan Sherrod: If I wrote of Lucile what she really deserves, those who do not know her would say that it was too highly colored; those who know her well would think I did not say half enough. But such unselfishness and devotion to her aged mother and father -- to her brothers and sisters, speak more loudly her praise than anything I could write. I leave those who know her best to speak for me. Abnegation is the keynote of her character, she never thinks of herself, but always how she can give the most happiness. Rarely do we meet with such a combination of good. She takes upon herself all the cares of others, never permitting any worries she can avert, to fall upon the family. She cultivates cheerfulness as one of the Christian virtues -- "On her tongue is the law of kindness."
Samuel Dold Morgan
Samuel Dold Morgan, was a prominent businessman in Nashville, TN. The Tennessee Legislature selected him to oversee the construction of the Tennessee State Capitol building. In honor of his service, the Tennessee Legislature had his body buried inside the Capitol building when he died. Samuel Dold Morgan's brother was Calvin Cogswell Morgan. Calvin Morgan was the father of the great Confederate general John Hunt Morgan. After General Morgan escaped from a Yankee prison, the Union forces came to his home looking for him. They did not find him, and in frustration one of the soldiers shot a portrait of the General hanging on the wall of his home. That portrait, complete with bullet hole, was passed down to Amanda Morgan who passed it down to Eugene Sherrod Sr. Tragically, the portrait was destroyed when a fire devastated the farmhouse where Eugene and Virginia Sherrod lived.
From his daughter's obituary:
Mrs. Sherrod's death marks the passing of a gentlewoman of the southern type. Born in Nashville, Tennessee January 17, 1834, she was the daughter of Samuel Dold Morgan, respected as a statesman and as a dealer of the commercial world in the ante-bellum days, as well as a warrior and a father of warriors of the Confederacy. Tennessee, in which he was a leader living, paid his remains the highest honor possible, his body being buried in state in the capitol building at Nashville. One of his sons, St. Clair Morgan, slain in Chickamauga, was a West Pointer and was said by many to have fired the first gun at Forst Sumpter. Another brother, Samuel Dold Morgan, Jr., was killed in 1862 in Kentucky. General John H. Morgan of Mexican war and Civil War fame, was her cousin, and there were other close relatives who all played prominent parts in the history of the South, both the old and new.
Samuel Dold Morgan and his two brothers were born in Staunton, VA. The family moved, first to Maryville, TN around 1808 and then to Huntsville, AL in 1813. In April, 1823 the three brothers were recorded as partners with their father in the merchandising firm of "Luther Morgan and Sons" in Huntsville, AL. Samuel Dold Morgan was married on November 2, 1819 to Matilda Grant Rose Mackintosh of Staunton, VA, born in 1802. The family moved from Huntsville to Nashville, TN in January, 1833, where Morgan became involved in dry goods and banking. Samuel Dold Morgan was at once a merchant, architect and builder. His firm, Morgan and Company, was one of the largest wholesale importers of dry goods and a manufacturer of clothing; the business was sufficiently sound and respected to be permitted to issue script money during the Panic of 1837. On January 30, 1844 he was appointed to the new commission charged with planning a new State Capitol, becomming its president in 1854; he was instrumental in choosing William Strickland of Philadelphia as the architect of this monumental structure. In 1856 his firm built the Morgan-Reeves Building at 49 Public Square which survived until 1975. During the Civil War he engaged in manufacturing munitions for the Confederates, until Nashville's occupation by Union forces. He was also a Confederate official, serving as chairman of the Central Bureau of Military Supplies in Nashville during the War. He died an honored citizen of Tennessee, on June 10, 1880, and his remains were interred in the southeast corner of the State Capitol. Samuel Morgan was an uncle of General John Hunt Morgan of Alabama, who served with the Confederate Army and led "Morgan's Raiders." ----------------------------------------------------- On June 10, 1980, the hundredth anniversary of Samuel Dole Morgan's death, a ceremony was held at the Tennessee Capitol Building in honor of Mr. Morgan. The State Legislature declared that day to be "Samuel Dold Morgan Day" (Senate Joint Resolution 351). [Morgans, Wm andSons.FBK.FTW] -----------------------------------------------------
Matilda Grant Rose Mackintosh
Matilda Mackintosh was baptized by Rev. John Clanly of the Presbyterian faith. Her parents were Dr. George Mackintosh and Sarah Weitzel. Her father was of Scotch descent. Their family coat of arms was a cat reaching after a glove, with the motto "Touch not the cat but a glove." Mention is made of his clan in the novel by Sir Walter Scott, in his novel "The Fair Maid of Perth." They were fighters as far back, as heard from -- none of them "nursed on the milk of the white doe." ---------- Notes written by Amanda Morgan about her mother: "Now that I come to write of my mother, my pen weakens -- I can find no words to do her justice. One so complete in the qualities of heart and mind is rarely met with. Tender and sweet and loving, with no ambition but to be a good wife and mother. 'To do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before God' was her creed, and faithfully she observed it. The long and ceaseless devotion of her husband attests to her enduring virtues. 'Her children rise and call her blessed.' Their devotion speaks of their gratitude for the privilege of calling her by the sweet name of Mother. It was impossible to be near her and not feel the influence of her [unreadable]. Her charity was unparalled. The world would be better if there were more like her." [Morgans, Wm andSons.FBK.FTW] Matilda Mackintosh was baptized by Rev. John Clanly of the Presbyterian faith. Her parents were Dr. George Mackintosh and Sarah Weitzel. Her father was of Scotch descent. Their family coat of arms was a cat reaching after a glove, with the motto "Touch not the cat but a glove." Mention is made of his clan in the novel by Sir Walter Scott, in his novel "The Fair Maid of Perth." They were fighters as far back, as heard from -- none of them "nursed on the milk of the white doe." ---------- Notes written by Amanda Morgan about her mother: "Now that I come to write of my mother, my pen weakens -- I can find no words to do her justice. One so complete in the qualities of heart and mind is rarely met with. Tender and sweet and loving, with no ambition but to be a good wife and mother. 'To do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before God' was her creed, and faithfully she observed it. The long and ceaseless devotion of her husband attests to her enduring virtues. 'Her children rise and call her blessed.' Their devotion speaks of their gratitude for the privilege of calling her by the sweet name of Mother. It was impossible to be near her and not feel the influence of her [unreadable]. Her charity was unparalled. The world would be better if there were more like her."
Samuel St. Clair Morgan Jr.
According to his sister Amanda: Sam Morgan Jr: He offered his young life to his country before he was twenty-one years of age, made a gallant soldier, with his cousin, John Hunt Morgan, was killed just after he reached his twenty-first birthday. He was fired upon by sharpshooters, concealed in a building in Augusta, KY. The enemy had surrendered and hoisted the white flag of truce. Five captains were chosen and fired upon -- an act of treachery equal to anything the Germans have perpetrated in their savage warfare. The particulars may be found in Basil Duke's "History of Morgan's Cavalry." He was an unusually handsome man -- tall, admirably proportioned and with the courage and determination of a soldier. His remains rest in Lexington beside the grave of his loved cousin.
Sarah Ann Catherine Laurence Morgan
She was perhaps the hansomest member of the family -- tall, straight, of fine figure and glorious dark eyes; she was very talented; she married quite young, and was a devoted mother and wife. On September 15, 1850, a few days after the birth of young Sarah Elizabeth, their mother, Sarah Ann Catherine Lawrence Morgan Cheeney, died just short of her twenty-ninth year, and her five little children were raised by their grandparents, Samuel and Matilda Morgan, in Nashville.
St. Clair Mackintosh Morgan
St. Clair Morgan attended the United States Military Academy at West Point with the Class of 1852. St. Clair Morgan was present at Fort Sumter, South Carolina when the short was fired which began the Civil War (many people say that he fired the first shot). In May, 1861 he became the Captain of Co. F (later Co. C) of the 10th Regiment Tennessee Infantry. The regiment surrendered at Fort Donelson on February 16, 1862; Morgan was confined at Camp Chase, Ohio and, after May 1, 1862, on Johnson's Island. He was released at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in September, 1862, and was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 19, 1863, where he is buried. ----------- Comments written by Amanda Morgan: The next son was named St. Clair Mackintosh, after my mother's brother. He was a strikingly hansome man, of strong personality, making friends for himself of all who knew him. He was educated at West Point, was a soldier by nature, but to gratify his father, he gave up his inclination for the army, and was made a junior partner in the Wholesale Merchantile business of Morgan & Co. When the war of the rebellion broke out, he was among the first to enlist in the regiment raised by Maj. Hieman and was made Captain by election, of one of the companies. He was captured at the fall of Ft. Donaldson, carried a prisoner to Johnson's Island, was exchanged just in time to participate in the Battle of Chickumaugua, where he was killed, gallantly leading his company in a charge against the enemy. He was buried on the battlefield of Chickumaugua by his own request. He married Miss Ida Pope of Memphis who survived him; he had three children, Sam, Louie and Judith [Morgans, Wm andSons.FBK.FTW] St. Clair Morgan attended the United States Military Academy at West Point with the Class of 1852. St. Clair Morgan was present at Fort Sumter, South Carolina when the short was fired which began the Civil War (many people say that he fired the first shot). In May, 1861 he became the Captain of Co. F (later Co. C) of the 10th Regiment Tennessee Infantry. The regiment surrendered at Fort Donelson on February 16, 1862; Morgan was confined at Camp Chase, Ohio and, after May 1, 1862, on Johnson's Island. He was released at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in September, 1862, and was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 19, 1863, where he is buried.
Franklin Henry Morgan
According to his sister Amanda: Franklin Henry Morgan, who died of typhoid fever a short while before reaching his twenty-first birthday. He was a boy of great talent and fine ideas of integrity.
Samuel Dold Morgan Jr.
Samuel Dold Morgan Jr. enlisted in the Rock City Guards, First Tennessee Infantry, of the Army of the Confederate States and served in that regiment until the Spring of 1862, when he was transfered to Company A, Second Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, commanded by his first cousin John Hunt Morgan. He was eventually promoted to offership and became the Captain and commanding officer of Company I, seeing action at Shiloh, Gallatin, Cynthiana, and Salt River Bridge among other campaigns. Both his cousins Thomas H. Morgan, as First Lieutenant, and Francis Key Morgan, as a private, served under him. Samuel Dold Morgan Jr. was killed at Augusta, Kentucky on September 27, 1862. ----------------------------------- The following notes were written by Amanda Morgan about her brother, Samuel Dold Morgan Jr.: He offered his young life to his country before he was twenty-one years of age, made a gallant soldier, with his cousin, John Hunt Morgan, was killed just after he reached his twenty-first birthday. He was fired upon by sharp-shooters, concealed in a building in Augusta, KY. The enemy had surrendered and hoisted the white flag of truce. Five captains were chosen and fired upon -- an act of treachery equal to anything the Germans have perpetrated in their savage warfare. The particulars may be found in Basil Duke's "History of Morgan's Cavalry." He was an unusually hansome man -- tall, admirably proportioned and with the courage and determination of a soldier. His remains rest in Lexington beside the grave of his loved cousin
Harriet Cruse Morgan
According to her sister Amanda: Harriet Cruse Morgan was lovely of form and feature and endowed with all of the graces of mind and heart that go to make the perfect woman; she died on the threshold of her young life. She was ill many months before her mother's death, but after that she had no desire to live, her only plaint was, "Let me go to my mother."
Luther Morgan
Luther Morgan was listed as an ensign in the Augusta County, Virginia militia in 1797. Luther Morgan was the fourth cousin of President John Quincy Adams, and thereby third cousin, once removed, to his father, President John Adams; fourth cousin of the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (and thereby fourth cousin once removed to his son, Justice of the Supreme Court Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.); and fifth cousin of the writer and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Calvin Cogswell Morgan
Samuel Dold Morgan, was a prominent businessman in Nashville, TN. The Tennessee Legislature selected him to oversee the construction of the Tennessee State Capitol building. In honor of his service, the Tennessee Legislature had his body buried inside the Capitol building when he died. Samuel Dold Morgan's brother was Calvin Cogswell Morgan. Calvin Morgan was the father of the great Confederate general John Hunt Morgan. After General Morgan escaped from a Yankee prison, the Union forces came to his home looking for him. They did not find him, and in frustration one of the soldiers shot a portrait of the General hanging on the wall of his home. That portrait, complete with bullet hole, was passed down to Amanda Morgan who passed it down to Eugene Sherrod Sr. Tragically, the portrait was destroyed when a fire devastated the farmhouse where Eugene and Virginia Sherrod lived.
John Hunt Morgan
Samuel Dold Morgan, was a prominent businessman in Nashville, TN. The Tennessee Legislature selected him to oversee the construction of the Tennessee State Capitol building. In honor of his service, the Tennessee Legislature had his body buried inside the Capitol building when he died. Samuel Dold Morgan's brother was Calvin Cogswell Morgan. Calvin Morgan was the father of the great Confederate general John Hunt Morgan. After General Morgan escaped from a Yankee prison, the Union forces came to his home looking for him. They did not find him, and in frustration one of the soldiers shot a portrait of the General hanging on the wall of his home. That portrait, complete with bullet hole, was passed down to Amanda Morgan who passed it down to Eugene Sherrod Sr. Tragically, the portrait was destroyed when a fire devastated the farmhouse where Eugene and Virginia Sherrod lived.
Mary Matilda Morgan
The following comments about Mary Matilda Morgan were written by her sister, Amanda Morgan Sherrod: Mary Matilda Morgan married Dr. R.N. Williams a planter on the Arkansas River. They were the parents of seven children -- two died in infancy, Jennie who married James Mulligan of Lexington, KY, Nancy Lee who married William Morgan of Columbia, TN; Morgan, Robert and Willangby. Mrs. Williams is still living, makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Morgan.
James Mulligan
of Lexington, KY
William Morgan
of Columbia, TN
Dr. Joseph Duncan
of Barnswell, SC
Weakley
of Nashville, TN
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