Ruins on the Eley Property in Cataula, GA
I started searching for my Eley (Ely) and Dumas ancestors in the late 70’s, before the age of the internet or computers. My great aunt Esther Klutts sent me a dilapidated family bible that belonged to Moses Dumas .(It’s a miracle this bible has survived, it went through the 1928 Lake Okeechobee Hurricane in Moorehaven, Florida). She told me that the bible belonged to my 3rd great grandfather Moses Dumas. Thus began my 40 year search for family roots. Because of my interest in our family history, I received a treasured gift from my great uncle James Blakeley. He gave me a yellowed pillowcase that had been hidden between mattresses since 1924. (The pillowcase was found in the bedroom of his grandmother Martha Frances Dumas Ely in Woodbury, GA. When she passed away, Uncle Jim closed the door to her bedroom. Until the age of 90, Uncle Jim lived in Woodbury and ran a small general store. (Uncle Jim lived with my parents the last ten years of his life.) As I looked through the pillowcase, I found more than 130 letters my great great grandparents Marcus and Martha Dumas Ely had written to his beloved wife during the Civil War. Along with the letters from Marcus and Mattie, there were letters from their family members and the bible Marcus carried during the war. I would love to say I started transcribing the letters immediately, but I can’t. My husband constantly encouraged me to begin the project, but it wasn’t until 2010 that I finally started to read and transcribe the letters. At first, I only wanted to transcribe the letters and publish them. As I read the letters, I began to have questions about the men in the unit he wrote about, the places his unit found themselves in. I am a very curious person and I found myself pouring through reels of newspaper microfilm, looking at census records, writing countless letters, collecting wills and other documents, emailing countless people through my research efforts on ancestry.com, looking at records of the unit at fold3.com, typing in the name of every man in the unit at findagrave.com, searching through endless books and manuscripts at the Georgia Archives and the Bradley Memorial Library. I have visited the Beaulieu area in Savannah, GA, Hardeeville, S.C., Purrysburg, S.C. and all the battle sites in the Atlanta area, north Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and many of the men’s graves. I haven’t found all the answers to questions that I have about this family, their neighbors and the sad time they endured, but it has given me a greater insight into who I am and a deep appreciation for my ancestors and their struggles.
I am very lucky when it comes to tracing my Eley/Ely family because Lyndon B. Johnson is an Ely descendant, so there had been exhaustive research. The first Eley on my family line was Robert Eley, who came from England on the "Primrose." It sailed from Gravesend, England bound for Virginia on July 27, 1635. He settled in Isle of Wight and in 1629 patented 600 acres of land.
St. Luke's Church
Smithfield, VA
His son, Robert Eley, II married Jane (Braswell/Bracewell) Stokes, the widow Robrt Stokes. Jane was the daughter of Reverend Robert Bracewell. Reverend Bracewell born in London in 1611. He attended Oxford University and graduated in 1631. He arrived in Virginia before 1650. There is a record of him witnessing an agreement between Ambrose Bennet and Thomas Webb in 1651. He became the rector of St. Luke's in July of 1653. While serving as rector, he was chosen as Burgess from Isle of Wight. He was later asked to resign because of concerns for separation of church and state. Jane was born ca. 1648. Jane married Robert Stokes in 1667. Robert participated in Bacon's Rebellion and was hung by the royal governor in 1677 for his involvement. After Robert died, she married John Roberts. In her will, dated August 14, 1711, she left her son Robert Eley, III, (1679-1739) 100 acres being part of a patent of 1450 acres granted to Jane and John Roberts in 1680. Robert Eley, III married Jospehine Catherwood. Their son Eli Edward Ely (1710-1740) married Ann Lawrence (1714-1786) in 1738 in Isle of Wight, VA.
Thay had one son, Samuel Ely (1736-1771). Samuel married Mary Jordan Hilsman (1742-1784) in 1759. The couple moved from Virginia and settled in Franklin, North Carolina. They had five children: William, Jesse, Anne, Mary and Sarah. Samuel died in 1771 in Bute County, NC where his will was probated in April 1771.
Bethesda Baptist Church
Greene County, GA
Jesse Eley (1762-1820) was born in Granville, NC. He married Nancy Haynes Shackleford, the widow of James Shackleford and daughter of Revolutionary War soldier from Virginia, Captain Parmenas Haynes, on December 28, 1797 in Oglethorpe County, GA. Jesse and Nancy settled in Greene County, GA where they purchased land onalonh the Little River. They attended Bethesda Baptist Church which had been established in1785 as Whatley's Mill Baptist Church. The church was renamed in 1818.
Jesse died in Greene County, GA on March 8, 1820.
Nancy died on November 12, 1843 in Oglethorpe County, GA.
Muscogee County, GA
Osborn Eley was born in Greene County, GA on December 3, 1803. As a young man, he became a teacher in the Poor Schools of Greene County. In the early 1800's the Georgia legislature decided that the education of less advantaged students should be provided for. They voted to provide $250,000 in a fund to provide for the "future establishment and support of Free Schools throughout the state." In reality, it would take another sixty plus years for Georgia to establish a public school system. (Their union resulted in the births of Anne,1830, Marcus,1831, James, 1833, Sarah, 1836, Richard, 1839 and Judson,1840 ). Three Eley brothers (Osborn, Seaborn and Wellborn) and their families emigrated from Green Co., GA in the 1830’s to Columbus at that time a frontier town. They settled in the northeast part of the newly formed Muscogee County. The records of Bethel Baptist Church (established in 1829) shows Osborn, Seaborn, and Wellborn Eley as members. Osborn is also mentioned in Martin’s History of Columbus as a member of the School Committee. Looking at records in Randolph County, GA, Osborn had a farm in the area in the 1840’s. Possibly, he was still living in the Columbus area because the deeds stated Osborn Eley of Muscogee County. Several newspaper articles were found in the Columbus Ledger Enquirer concerning runaway slaves seen in the vicinity of Osborn Eley’s farm in Fort Gaines, GA. Osborn’s wife, Adgailene died in Randolph County, GA on October 6, 1843. Her death notice was recorded in the Christian Index. Osborn married Jane Russell August 18, 1844 in Muscogee County, GA. The Russell family were also members of Bethel Baptist Church and probably lived near the church. By 1850, the Eley family had moved to the Cataula area of Harris County, GA. The 1850 census shows Osborn and Jane along with Marcus (18), James (16), Sarah (14), Richard (11), Judson (10), George (4), Lucy (6 months). An infant Charles Carroll was born in November 1848 and died 11 months later (October 5, 1849). By 1860, Osborn and Jane had added Robert (8), Ida (6), Fanny (4) and Osborn (6 months) to their family. Osborn had become a wealthy landowner. He owned almost a thousand acres, a cotton gin and thirty-five slaves. His personal wealth would have been about one million dollars in today's economy. Osborn Eley died in Harris County May 19, 1869. Though he has no grave marker, it's likely he was buried Eley family plot in the Hamilton City Cemetery in Hamilton, GA.
Ruins on the Eley Property in Cataula, GA
Marcus Bethune Ely was born on December 1, 1831 in Muscogee County, GA. Marcus attended and graduated from Brownwood Institute (LaGrange, GA.) in 1850 and became a teacher. He met Martha Frances Dumas (Mattie), also a teacher (Mattie attended The LaGrange Female College in LaGrange, GA and graduated in 1854.) Marcus and Mattie married on May 1, 1855 in Barnesville, GA. After their marriage, Marcus and Mattie moved to Ft. Gaines, GA where Marcus taught school. Their first child, Lizzie Birdsong Ely was born on April 25, 1856, followed by Edwin Dumas Ely, born May 27, 1859. I found letters written by Mattie’s brother Jerry to the couple during this time. Mattie and Jerry were the youngest children of Moses and Frances Hendley Dumas. (Moses and Frances had eight sons and four daughters and lived in Monroe Co., GA.) During the time the couple lived in Ft. Gaines, Marcus and Jerry planned to start a business together in Ft. Gaines (unfortunately the precarious times prevented the venture from coming to fruition.) Marcus enlisted in Company H, 54th Regiment, in Columbus, GA, May 12, 1862. It is interesting to note that the Russell Guards was formed by Charles R. Russell, the brother of Marcus’s stepmother Jane. Marcus immediately left for the Savannah area with many of the men in his unit that had enlisted on the same day. After the war, Marcus and Mattie settled back in Harris County and for a short time Marcus farmed, but by the 1870’s he was establishing schools in Phenix City, Alabama and surrounding areas. Marcus and Mattie joined the First Baptist Church in Columbus, GA in 1873. Elizabeth, the oldest daughter of the Ely’s married Abram Blakeley, a machinist from Chester, Pennsylvania on October 13, 1878. Marcus became Superintendent for the Girard Public School System (Phenix City, AL) for several years in the 1870’s. In 1879, Marcus went back to the Columbus, GA area to teach. He died at his home April 5, 1880 and was buried in Linwood Cemetery. After his death Mattie and Lizzie continued to teach in the Browneville, AL area. On July 19, 1881 Eddie died of typhoid fever in Browneville, Al. He was 22 years of age. His obituary stated that he was a young man of promise and good disposition. Eddie was buried in the family plot in Linwood Cemetery. Tragically, in September 1886. Lucy, the youngest child of Mattie and Marcus, while visiting an aunt in Atlanta, died unexpectedly. Her obituary stated that her body was met by her uncle, George W. Ely in Opelika. She was also buried in the Linwood family plot. Among the pallbearers were Albert Kirven(a prominent Columbus business man) and Charles Russell. She was laid to rest September 25, 1886. The 1880 census found Mattie living in the community of Nances in Muscogee County with Marcus’s brother James, also a teacher. Some of her neighbors included Samuel Rodgers and Aaron Land, who were in the same unit as Marcus during the Civil War. In the 1900 census, Mattie was living with her daughter Elizabeth in Nances. Abram was a master machinist for Swift Textiles. By 1910, the family had relocated to Woodbury, GA. Abram died January 24, 1912 and is buried in the Woodbury Cemetery. Mattie moved to Woodbury to live with the Blakeleys, where she died in January 1,1924. She is buried in the Woodbury City Cemetery. Elizabeth died on January 18, 1936 and is also buried in the Woodbury City Cemetery in Woodbury, GA.
Marcus Bethune Ely
1831-1880
Martha Frances Dumas Ely
References:
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IN GEORGIA
Author(s): WILLIAM H. KILPATRICK
Source: The Georgia Historical Quarterly , SEPTEMBER, 1921, Vol. 5, No. 3 (SEPTEMBER,
1921), pp. 3-19
Published by: Georgia Historical Society
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4057567
John Camden Hotten, ed. The Original Lists of Persons of Quality. . . (New York: G. A. Baker & Co., Inc., 1931
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