It's a Family Affair: January 2020

My great great grandmother Martha Frances and Jeremiah Jackson were the youngest children of Moses and Frances Hendley Dumas (Monroe County, GA). Soon after Marcus* enlisted and traveled to Beaulieu at Savannah he received news that Jerry’s wife had died. As I transcribed the letters from 1862, I read this piece of information with surprise. In all of the research and information gathered on the Dumas family, this information had never been revealed. As I continued to transcribe the 1862 letters, I read that Jerry had died. I immediately began to try and find out what had happened to Jerry and his wife. Along with the Civil War letters I had received, there were many letters from other members of the family. I found several letters Jerry had written to Marcus and Mattie and even one that he had written to his father. Several of the letters were written before the Civil War. Jerry worked for grocers George and James Thompson in Perry, GA. Though only 21, Jerry was an ambitious young man. In letters written from 1860 to 1862, he revealed his plans and hopes for the future with continuing worries about the political battles between the Northern and Southern states. While he was working as a clerk, he had stated in an 1860 letter to Mattie and Mark (Marcus) he was planning to go to Ft. Gaines and go into the grocery business with Mark. (Mark and Mattie were living in Ft. Gaines and Mark was teaching school). Probably because of the uncertainty of the times, this venture never got off the ground. Jerry continued to live and work in Perry and in a letter dated June 19, 1861 Jerry wrote “I can not write you a lengthy letter this morning and a little to each will be included in one as my time is entirely occupied with my business together with the arrangements I am making arrangements for my marriage and from experience you both can very well imagine my condition. I would be delighted if I could have some of my relatives present at the time but I suppose it will be inconvenient besides we are most satisfied owing to the times at having to go to the unnecessary expense of providing refreshments for a large collection. We therefore concluded that we would be married in the morning on the 27^th inst having only a few of her nearest relatives to witness ceremony. The name of the “fair creature” destined to be my companion through the “journey of life” is Jeanette Eola Pope. She has been unfortunate in having to give up both of her parents. She has one brother and three or four sisters - the family is of high standing in society – what might be termed “the first circle” A description I believe I gave when I first informed you of the fact. She will doubtless prove to be all that I could wish in fulfilling the duties of a loving and faithful wife. I have not yet enlisted for the war, but I find the temptation hard to resist.”

In another letter dated June 24, 1862 he wrote “My furlough will be out next Sunday and I must “away to camps” you may be somewhat surprised to hear me say that I am going to camp= but I know have nothing that bind me to stay any longer at home= After visiting you my wife continued to grow worse and on the 20^th she died and her happy spirit winged its flight to realms of eternal bliss where it will ever be at rest= She died so happy! Praying to God that she might receive her soul= Yes she was ____________ Christian= My dear sister – this is a dreadful bereavement indeed! May I have your sympathy and your prayers that I better be able to bear this dreadful trial.” Jerry had enlisted as a private in Co. A, 14^th Batallion, GA Volunteers on April 26, 1862. After Jeanette’s death he rejoined his unit in Calhoun, GA. I found a letter he had written to his father, Moses Dumas, ( dated July 30, 1862) in which he stated, “I have for some weeks past intended writing you but somehow there has always been something to prevent my doing so= I have been sick with the measles for over two weeks and a pretty severe time I have had. I luckily got permission to stay at a private house where I received kind attention and am free from expense which is very important when you have the measles=I am improving slowly and hope by being prudent I will be well enough to return to camps in a week – all I need is time sufficient to recover my strength. He also wrote Mattie on the same day, “I have promised myself often that I would write you though I have been absent only a little over one month. There is nothing at all of interest that I can think to write, But I naturally concluded that you felt some anxiety of mind in regard to my health, whereabouts &c_ Well my sister we are in a portion of the world that might not suit a poet very well but as I haven’t a poetical turn of mind I can’t say that I am over delighted with the = we are quartered among the hills and mountains remote from civilization where we can hear nothing= neither can we see anything= The inhabitants are all poor but some of them are very kind. I have been very sick with the measles for over two weeks. I am not yet able to do duty but am mending slowly= I fortunately succeeded in getting a room at private house there the measles first broke out and I have been careful ever since not to expose myself and I think in a week or so I will be able to return to camp= You must excuse a short letter as I have bearly time to get this letter off- I will write again as soon as I can hear from you and will probably have something more interesting to write you. In Civil War records, it was recorded that Jerry Dumas died on August 30, 1862 at Camp Randolph in Gordon Co., GA. I kept searching letters and I found this one, “Dear Mrs. Ely I received yours the next day after my arrival home and have tried to answer it once before, but was unable to do so. I have been confined to my bed ever since I returned home with Typhoid fever. I write this in bed propped up with a chair and pillows. I am improving slowly and hope to be up soon. I would like to give you a full detail of your brother’s sickness and death but I feel unable to do so in this. But I say to you in relation to his last hours my impression is that he had a triumphant death. The nearer death approached him the happier he appeared. When I get ready to back to my company I will try to spend a day with you as I suppose you want to hear a full account of his sickness. Yours truly, T.J. Graves. I was so amazed that I had in my possession, letters over 150 years old, that had solved this mystery. Fast forward to July 2012, looking on findagrave.com, I found Jeanette and Jerry’s graves. They were buried in the old Perry City cemetery. I traveled to the cemetery, found their graves, along with the tiny grave of J. Dumas infant.. I can only suppose that Jeanette died in childbirth along with the baby.

*In my possession are more than 150 letters written by my great great grandparents Martha Frances Dumas and Marcus Bethune Ely. "A Just and Holy Cause?" containing the letters was published by Mercer University Press in 2016.