FIFTH GENERATION

30. Nathaniel CHALFANT ⁽¹⁶⁾ was born in 1795 in Shelbyville, Mercer Co., KY. He owned 5 acres of land including a Saw and Grist Mill of the banks of Liberty Creek on 18 Aug 1824 in Amite Co., MS. Nathan buys and sells land in Amite Co., Ms eighteen times from 1825 to 1951. He owned bonds for $2800 and $2800 in cotton of the best quality on 28 Dec 1829 in Amite Co., MS. He owned land on 9 May 1838 in Amite Co., MS. They sold the land to Simeon Avery. Conveynance Book B4 page 61. He was a County Treasurer on 8 Aug 1841 in Amite Co., MS. He owned slaves on 23 Jun 1846 in Amite Co., MS. They are held in trust for the son of Mr. Avery. The Negroes are Betsy (30 years old) and her four children, Ellie (14), Henry (12), Kitty (10 and Hetty (8); and Marander (20); Jack (12) and Chaney (8). He owned land on 28 Jun 1849 in Pt. Coupee, LA.⁽¹⁸⁾ Nathan purchased Sec. 17, T #1 of Range 7E from John G. Brown. It is 162 acres of land on the Atchafalaya River. He paid $2500 ($1500 cash and $1000 in a year at 8% interest.)(#1076)
On Feb 1, 1851, he pruchased in the same area on the Atchafalaya River paying $1470 to Jas. Cotten.(#1719)
On June 13, 1853, he purchased from John H. Harmanson, Lot 4, Sect. 60, T 1 Range 7E, 49 plus acres for $100.(#2646)
On March 20, 1862, he purchased from Alfred Brown a Williamsport fronting on the old river bounded north by land formerly belonging to Dr. Dozier Southland of Mr. Coyle & West by the public road containing 3 acres for $679. (#7032)
More land as added next to above property later in chain length measurements. (#5927) He owned land on 1 Jun 1855 in Pt. Coupee, LA. ⁽¹⁸⁾ He donates 1/2 acre of land on the Atchafalaya River at the corner between Lot 15 and 16, T1, R7E, west of the Mississippi River to the first Parish school district. (Item 3756) He appeared on the census in 1860 in Red River Landing, Pt. Coupee, Louisiana. Nathaniel has either $60,000 or $160,000 (I can't tell if the mark is a scratch or 1) in real estate and $3,000 in personal estate. page 90, DW 842, Fam. 947.

Red River Landing at Simmesport, LA is one of the oldest, most historic points on the Mississippi River and served as the transfer point for all immigration, mail, and traffic between the Mississippi, Red and Ouachita Rivers. It was the crossing point from Mississippi and Alabama to Texas. Until the time of the railroads it was one of the largest ditributing points between Memphis and New Orleans. Daily stages through to Shreveport and into Texas. In the early days a large wharfboat moved with changes in the river.

There was a hotel owned by L. G. Picou. The post office was established in April 7, 1836 with John M. Phillips as postmaster.

Other towns nearby were Merrick in the North part of Pt. Coupee, east of the mouth of the Red River. It had Merrick's Store.

Williamsport was another town and part of the original Coyle Estate. The post office opened in April 7, 1844 with Angus M. Thant as postmaster. It closed in Feb 7, 1867.

There were huge floods in the area in 1811, 1812, 1827, 1867, 1881, 1882 and 1884.

The local newspapers were Southern Tribune (1845), Pt. Coupee Echo (July 1847 - Aug 1872), and the Pt. Coupee Democrat (11858).

In Pt. Coupee Parish in 1860, there were 4,094 white people, 721 freed Negroes, and 12, 903 Negro slaves.

During the Civil War Union Warships and troop transports were up and down the Mississippi River. Union Steamboats took sugar and citizens on board. After Aug 10, 1862 men between the ages of 18 and 35 could be conscripted. In September 1863 the Federal troops at Morganza took food and animals while the citizens suffered severly. He owned 38 slaves on 20 Jul 1860 in Pointe Coupee, LA. ⁽¹⁶⁾ According to Slave Owners Listing, he owns 38 slaves, 19 males from 55 years old to 2 months old and 19 females from 50 years old to 1 year old. All of the slaves are black with no mulattoes. The males are 2 at 55 years old, 1 of 45 years of age, 3 at 35 years of age, 2 at 25 years old, 4 at 15 years of age, 2 at 13 years, 2 of 10 years, 2 at 7 years of age , and 1 at 2 months old. The females included 1 at 50 years old, 4 at 30 years old, 2 at 20 years of age, 4 at 15 years of age, 2 at 12 years of age, 2 at 10, 2 were 8 year olds, and 2 were 1 years old.

Bessie Mason says, "When the slaves were freed Grandfather had to sell most of the land to get established again and pay his debts. My mother often told he was a man of honor and his word was as good as his bond.He never made the acquistion of mooney an objective. He was a plain man and very democratic; she said he was the kindest man she ever knew, all his slaves loved him. He thought it was wrong to keep slaves but it was custom of his time and location and how else could he run his plantation? He said the government should pay for the slaves instead of leaving the planters destitute. She agreed. My mother, Emma, was always a rebel to that extent. She loved her father very dearly and he loved her, and she was a companion to him, being the eldest daughter. He used to talk to her about his life and his background. I image as my mother talked to me. It is nice to have a kndred ear, to whom one's heart can speak."

Uncle John Foster Miller talked about a very spiritual slave man who was really respected and valued by the whole family. Nathaniel is said to have hoped he could go to heaven on the man's coat tails. He owned a partnership in Devald Co on 21 Dec 1860 in Pt. Coupee, LA.⁽⁵⁸⁾ He owned land on 30 Mar 1861 in Pt. Coupee, LA. He sold to Fred Brown land at Williamsport fronting on the old river near the the upper side of the Presbyterian Church and west of the public road. His wife Caroline Burrows signs. He was buried in Aug 1869 in Chalfant Cemetery, Trimble Co., KY. The cemetery is in the middle of Tracy Creech's farmfield under large trees on Highway 421, New Hope Rd., Trimble Co., KY. The huge stones have been knocked over. Nathaniel is listed on a stone with his brothers and sisters. The stone lists NAthan Chalfant 1795-1888, John G Chalfant 1805-1885, Abner Chalfant 1800-1837, Nancy Chalfant King 1805-1887. He visiting his family when he died. The farm once belonged to Joe Ogden. He died on 10 Aug 1869 in Kingston, Trimble Co., KY. ⁽¹⁶⁾ "A few years after the close of the war, being broken in health and in spirit, he had a yearning to go back to Kentucky and see his sisters and his old home. When he knew he was not going to live, he begged his family to take him back to KY to die. He died at the home of his nephew, John Chalfant New and was buried there. He left no Will, but Aunt Emma said he told her he wanted the minor children to have what was left." He owned land, bonds, and chattel 1830 to 1851 in Amite Co., MS. There are 26 transactions with Nathan Chalfant in the Amite Co., MS Conveyances Index. He owned land May to Sept 1836 in Amite Co., MS. In the Original Entries, Amite Co., MS, Nathan buys 544.07 acres in 5 purchases of land in Sec. 17, 18 and 23. All are in T2, Range 4E. James Witherspoon and his brother, John G. have been buying land here since 1815. pg. 38. He served in the military War of 1812 in Battle of New Orleans, LA. Nathan Chalfant was a Corporal under Captain Ziba Holt's Co., Roll of Field and Staff, Davis Regiment, KY. He was detached militia, commanded by Lt. Col. Presley Gray, his uncle. Samuel Gray was a Quartermaster - sergeant. Nathan was given bounty land for serving in the War. He was a Planter in China Grove Plantation, Merrick, Simmesport, Pointe Coupee Pa, LA. He served as Parish Treasurer for 4 terms of office.
He was a wealthy planter and owner of China Grove Plantation on the Atchafalaya River at Red River Landing.
Red River Landing is one of the oldest, most historic points on the Mississippi River, as it was the transfer point for all immigration, mail, and traffic between the Mississippi, Red and Ouchita Rivers. It was a crossing point for emigrants from MS and AL to TX. Until the advent of the railroads. it was the largest distributing point between Memphis and New Orleans. There were daily stages through Shreveport into Texas from here. In the early days, there was a large wharfboat, which moved with the changes of the river.
A hotel was there and a post office was established there on April 7, 1836. There were floods on the River in 1811, 12 27, 67, 81, 82 and 84.
My grandmother told of rolling down the levees that held the river back and of playing on the dock. When we visited the area in the late 1960's, we were told that the China Grove Plantation house was now in the river as it had changed course over the years.
He was Baptist in MS and LA.⁽⁵⁹⁾ They were active members of the New Providence Baptist Church, Amite Co., MS. Nathan and Caroline applied for letters of dismissal from New Providence in Feb. 1838. He joined the Liberty Baptist Church, Amite Co., MS in August 1838 and remained a member until 1869. He was a delegate from Liberty Church from Oct.6-8, 1838 to the Mississippi Baptist Association at Jackson, LA. He was a trustee and an ordained deacon in the Liberty Church June 27, 1839.

The New Providence Baptist Church Covenant

We acknowledge ourselves under the most solemn obligation to be the Lord's, and we do solemnly covenant and agree, That we will take the one living and true God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to be one God. We believe in the fall of Adam and the imputation of his sin to all mankind, as his posterity in the total deformity of human nature, and in man's ability to restore himself to the honor of God. We believe in the free electing grace of God and Jesus Christ and that sinners already are justified in the sight of God by the imputed righteousness of Christ, which is unto all that believe. We believe that baptism of believers by immersion to be the only mode and the duty of all believers. We believe in the final perserverance of the saints through the grace and glory, and that the happiness of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked is eternal. We believe in the scriptures of the old and new testaments to be the work of God and of divine authority, which we take to be our rule of faith and practice in the affairs and great concerns of religion, for a directory in the affairs of life, and particularly for the transacting of the affairs of the church. We unreservedly and solemnly give ourselves and all we possess to the Lord to be ordered and directed and disposed of agreeably to his will, and this we do in as humble attendants on the grace of God and the Holy Spirit to aid and supplant us in these sacred enagements, taking for acceptance in salvation through the merits of Jesus Christ. We promise to maintain communion and fellowship with each other in the public worship of God according to the various ordinances of the gospel, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together in the mass, but embracing all regular and convenient seasons as the providence of God shall permit and that we will exercise Christian forebearance, and live, one towards another, praying for and sympathizing with each other, in the various affairs of life and using every laudible exertion to partake to law and to God's word. We promise individually to pay due respect to the advice and admonition of the church, to be subject to its discipling as directed by the word of God and the spirit of the gospel. We promise to contribute in a reasonable manner for the support of the public worship and to the relief of the poor in the church, and to use our influence to permit the interest of the Redeemer's cause in the world, and we will be careful to conduct ourselves with uprightness and integrity in a peaceable and friendly manner towards mankind and towards serious Christians particular, and that we will pay a conscientious regard to civil government, to give our support as an odinance of God and this covenant we make with the free and full consent of our will, hoping through free and boundless grace we shall share in redemption of Christ there and be accepted of God into the everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be glory, majesty, and dominion forever, Amen.

September 29, 1822 Amite Co., MS The church members were whites and people of color. He was married to Caroline Druecilla BURROWS in 1830 in Amite Co., MS. ⁽¹⁶⁾ He is listed as Caroline's guardian and husband in the Amite Co., MS Orphan Court records.

On April 14, 1834, in Franklin Co., MS during the February term at a public auction land was sold that James A. Witherspoon, dec. left to his granddaughter, the wife of Nathan Chalfant. The lots of land were for 12 months of credit. The high bid in the town of Liberty was $1000. The land was Sec. 1 Township 2, R3E and R4E which contained 674 acres. At Washington, MS, West 1/2 of SW 1/4 S 17 Township 2 R4E was sold. It contained 78 acres. (Conveyance Record Book 3, Amite Co., MS page 156)

Bessie Chalfant says, "My father, Nathaniel, was very sentimental; I must be like him in that respect. I think he was not very happy in his marriage, he and grandmother were so different; she was very arrogant, the "Grand Lady" as my mother used to say, proud of her 'blue blood'. She got the things that money would buy, such as a silver table service, etc., but grandfather wanted none of it, and shocked her very often with his democratic ideas; they had such a very different sense of values; with all he loved and indulged her.

At the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, Mary saw in a silver display in the Governament Building, a coffee service and a soup tureen engraved with the name Chalfant, both taken by northern soldiers when the house was pillage and burned."

31. Caroline Druecilla BURROWS⁽¹⁶⁾ was born in 1813 in Amite Co., MS. Amite Co., MS was formed on Feb. 24th, 1809. Amite comes from an Indian word of "Friendly River". The Piney Woods area has 462,080 acres of land and water. In 1812, the population was 4,750, with 3,312 whites and 1,422 slaves and 16 listed as other. The land is at the head of the Amite River. There are five feeders of the Homochitto River meet here. The land produces fruit trees, berry bushes, cotton, jute, corn, rice, sorghum, sugar cane, oats, peas, sweet and Irish potatoes, pumpkins and melons. Liberty, the main town was formed in 1828.
In 1863, Federal troops destroyed the college and burned the houses. It was soon rebuilt. Two hundred and eighty two Confederate soldiers came from this town. These notes are from "Hometown Mississippi" by James Brieger. She died in Dec 1865 in Lettsworth, Point Coupee, LA. ⁽¹⁶⁾ Caroline was sick in bed with puemonia when Civil War troops, called by the family "blue belly Yankees", arrived at the plantation to destroy it. The troops removed Caroline from the house by carrying her outside on her mattress into the rain. They then burned down the house. Caroline died a few days later.

Her granddaughter says, "Caroline was ill of erysipelas (an acute feverish disease associated with intense edematous -swelling- local inflammation of the skin and subctaneous tissues caused by a hemolytic streptococcus) at the time the Yankees descend like the plague, and she had to be moved to a smaller place which they owned down the river. She died three weeks later."

It appears to me that Caroline Burrows Chalfant must have brought money into the marriage for at the death, it appears that her land and property was divided into thirds. One third with to her husband, Nathan; one third to the minor children, Emma, James and Louisiana; and one third to the older seven children. The older children then seem to sell to the younger siblings 1/7 of that one third. She owned plantation on the Atchapalaya River on 2 Jan 1866 in Pt. Coupee, LA.⁽¹⁸⁾ John Hill of East Baton Rogue and Augustus N. Denenbion of New Orleans, LA purchased the plantation fronting on the Atchafalaya River bounded on the east by lands of Mrs. Fanny Wells and Mr. Winstead, South and West by lands of N. B. Grist and others and North by the Atchafalaya River from the minor children of Caroline Chalfant, Ann E, James and Louisiana. (Why didn't her property and land go to her husband? He is listed as their tutor.) $2000 was paid to Charles Chalfant and a further sum of $1000 to be paid on behalf of the minor with interest at the rate 8%. (# 11169) Signed by C. Chalfant, Belle A. Chalfant, Per C. Chalfant, N. Chalfant - tutor. She owned Goods sold at a Sheriff Transfer of Goods on 23 Feb 1866 in Pointe Coupee, LA.⁽⁶⁰⁾ Her goods were sold after her death. The goods include: a sideboard sold to Stephen Barbre $15; bookcase to Mr. Barbre $3; a sofa for $1; 12 chairs for $5; a bed and bedding for $50; 16 head of cattle for $112; 45 head of hogs for $22.50; and a plantation of 350 acres on the Achafalaya River for $555. The total raised was $785.50.

This was advertized in the Pt. Coupee Echo. It is recorded in Orginial Acts, Vol 1, 1866, #7313-7418. She was also known as Druecilla Caroline Borroughs. Children were:

i. CHALFANT died in 1831. He (or she) was born about 1831. ⁽¹⁶⁾
ii. William CHALFANT was born about 1832.⁽¹⁶⁾ He died on 22 Jul 1843.⁽¹⁶⁾ He was the oldest son and died when he was 10 years, 9 months and 17 days old.
iii. Henry CHALFANT was born about 1834.⁽¹⁶⁾
iv. Julia CHALFANT was born about 1835.⁽¹⁶⁾ She died about 1835.⁽¹⁶⁾
v. George Presley CHALFANT⁽¹⁶⁾ was born in 1836 in Amite Co., MS. He served in the military on 9 May 1861 in Camp Walker, LA. He enlisted in Co. E, 2nd LA infantry as a private at Camp Walker, LA. They went to the Metairie Race Track in New Orleans, LA. They went on to Yorktown and Williamsburg, VA under Robert E. Lee in his Army of Northern Virginia. The first battle was at Lee's Mill on April 16, 1862. He served in the military on 3 Jul 1863 in Gettysburg, PA. He was captured there and sent to the hospital. He served in the military on 19 Jul 1863 in Pt. Lookout, MD. After he was captured at Gettysburg, Pa, was transfered to this Hospital. He was paroled on March 11, 1865 to the Confederal States of America General Hospital in Shreveport, LA. He owned land he sold on 22 Jul 1873 in Pt. Coupee, LA. ⁽⁶¹⁾ He sold the land to Bill McVay. It is said he lived in Arkansas and that his daughter was a post master.
vi. Charles F. CHALFANT⁽¹⁶⁾ was born in 1838 in Amite Co., MS. He served in the military on 9 May 1861 in Camp Walker, LA. He entered the CSA Army on May 9, 1861. He was discharged for physical inability on Aug, 1861, as a Pvt. Co. E., 2nd LA Infty En. He is single at 38 yrs. in the 1880 Pt. Coupee, LA census. His occupation is Horsetrader. His niece, Bessie Chalfant Mason, says in December 1865, " He killed the pilot on the big Yankee gun boat, Queen of the West, because the Yankees loaded their slaves on the boat and ran others way (some came back and begged to stay), and took 1,000 head of cattle, and even cut the legs off of little calves; ripped open the feather beds; set fire to the plantation home and 22 negro homes on the plantation. The Chalfant's had the largest sugar houses and they were filled with sugar and syrup. These were burned and corn crib destroyed after being rifled. The gin house which was the largest in the parish, containing cotton ready market, was destroyed."

In another retelling she says, "Grandmother was ill when the gunboat, Star, cast anchor nearby and the Yankee soldiers were ordered to burn down every house on the river. Grandfather Nathaniel Chalfant told the Captain his wife was very ill and he was afraid to take her out of the house, but the Captain insolently ordered the soldiers to proceed as they had been instructed, so Grandmother was brought outside wrapped in blankets and Grandfather took what he could of his money and papers, and the girls ordered the piano brought out in the yard, and one played and the others stood on th fenceposts and sang the "Bonny Blue Flag" till the house was gone. A temporary shelter was made for the family , but Grandmother died the next day, age 39. She was buried on the place in a brick and cement vault above ground, and that night the soldiers came and broke the vault all to pieces, with their bayonets, to see if Grandfather had buried gold in with her. The next morning early, Uncle Bud (Charles) shot the Captain on the deck of the boat and took his horse and galloped off to Texas, where he has been ever since. He was under 16, just a boy; he went to join his older brother George who was a school teacher in Texas.

(Bessie's father, James would have been 12 years old, Louisiana was 10 years old and Charles was 26 years old not 16, when this took place. One version says Charles killed the pilot not the Captain, ship called Queen of the West which was sunk in 1863 not the Star. Charles is back in 1880. One says she died next day and the other three weeks later. I remember hearing my mother tell parts of this story.)


vii. Mary Elizabeth CHALFANT⁽¹⁶⁾ was born in 1842 in Amite Co., MS. She owned land on 31 Oct 1876 in Pt. Coupee, LA. ⁽¹⁸⁾ Her sister, Emma, buys for $500 the land Mary inherited at the death of sister, Anna. (Item 10991) She died in Chicago, Cook Co., IL. Bessie Chalfant Mason says, "When Mary was seventeen years old she had had a love affair with Ned Harmeson, brother of Sulsa who married her sister, Anna. Her father did not want her to marry him, he drank and gambled. Nathaniel's sister, Nancy, was at China Grove on a visit and when she left to go home to Springfield, Illinois, via the Mississippi River, he suggested she take Mary with her for a visit (to get her away from Ned). Mary was pleased to go; on the boat she met John Garrison Davis, who got on at Natchez with his sister; a week later she married him.

Aunt Nancy had two daughters, Molly and Betty; Betty was the same age as Mary, so she confided to Betty her plan and Betty went with her to St. Louis, where she was married. When Aunt Nancy was told she said "Nathan will never forgive me." He grieved over it the rest of his life. She regretted her impulsiveness too, when the war came on; there were complications very hard to bear. She was separated from her loved ones in the South though she managed to go back several times to see her father, always with difficulty and danger, crossing the Mason and Dixon line.

When she was young she was known for her gayety; it was characteristic of her to marry this way; she was full of fun and laughter, and liked to do things adventurous and reckless; I have been told she rode horse bareback like a circus rider; but she was not like that when I came into her life. She was always living in the past, down home with memories of her father, mother, brothers and sisters, and early life on the plantation. She endowed it with a wistful glory it probably never had....one thing I know is best for people that they marry in their own orbit."
viii. Isabella A. CHALFANT⁽¹⁶⁾ was born in 1844 in Amite Co., MS. She was also known as Belle. She was described as cold, haughty and regal.⁽¹⁶⁾ Her niece, Bess Chalfant Mason, says "The Yankees dragged the piano out on the river bank and Aunt's Bel (21 year old) and Emma (19 years old) followed them and played and sang, The Bonny Blue Flag while their home was burning."
ix. Emma Louise CHALFANT⁽¹⁶⁾ was born in 1846 in Amite Co., MS. Her grandson, F. C. McCaleb, Jr. writes that she was born in Lettsworth, LA. She died on 26 May 1916 in New Orleans, LA. She owned garnet ring. Emma had a size 3, dark red (almost black) garnet with an inverted cameo and four small pearls. She gave it to her niece, Bessie, who wore it until she died. I have a photocopy of a letter: "Atchafalaya, May 18th, 65. To the Parish Clerk, This is to certify that I give my full and free consent to the marriage of J. F. Collins and my daughter Emma Louise Chalfant. Nathan..l Chalfant."

x. Ann E. (Bebe) CHALFANT⁽¹⁶⁾ was born in 1849 in Amite Co., MS. She died about 1870 in Point Coupee, LA. Her niece, Bessie Mason, says she died soon after she married in childbirth. Others say she had ten children and died on 29 March 1943. She owned Chalfant Place on 2 Jan 1877 in Pt. Coupee, LA.⁽⁶²⁾ After her death, 1/7 of 1/3 of this land is sold for $150 to her sister, Louisiana Miller, by her brother Charles, who received it by succession from her.
xi. James William CHALFANT⁽¹⁶⁾ was born on 5 Feb 1853 in Amite Co., MS. He owned land in 1876 in Pt.Coupee, LA. ⁽¹⁸⁾ He sold his interest in the inherited land to his sister, Emma for $3000. (Item 10990) They both live in Dallas, TX. He died on 2 Jan 1929 in Kountze, Hardin Co., TX. He was a County Treasurer for 25 years in Hardin Co., TX. He was a farmer in Hardin Co., TX. He served as County Treasurer of Hardin Co., TX for 25 years. "James was outspoken and could "cut anyone down to size" with his way with words. Bess admired this ability. All of the girls adored, no worshiped, their father."
15 xii. Louisiana Prestine CHALFANT.