Douglas(s) family of Mississippi

Click here to 
Print this page

Biography finder

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

 

 

Index of first names

This page is a stub.  You can.  You can help improve it.

family home family log cabin  Elisha Douglas cabin  map 


Notes on the early Douglases of Mississippi

•  Edward Douglass, married Miss. Green. Went to Mississippi. He was the son of Elmore Douglass, son of Colonel Edward and Sarah (George) Douglass, who married Betsey Blakemore.
•  Sarah E. Douglass, married Dr. James Glass. Moved to Mississippi. She was the daughter of William Howard Douglass, son of Edward Douglass, Jr., and Elizabeth (Howard) Douglass, who married Sally Edwards.
•  John Douglas was born in 1764, in South Carolina. He married Nancy Denman Douglas (born Walden) in 1790, at age 25. Nancy was born on May 20 1774, in Georgetown, S.C.. They had 6 sons: Elisha Douglas, John Douglas and 4 other children. John died 1839, at age 75 in Mississippi.
•  Norvell Robert Douglas (25 Nov. 25 1859 - 14 Feb. 1937), son of Elisha and N. Jane Davis Douglas was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery Brookhaven, Lincoln County, Mississippi.
•  Thomas Logan Douglass died Marshall Co., Mississippi, Nov. 25, 1844 in the 38th year of his age.
• Asa Douglas: Born 1809 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. A son of John Wallace Douglas (1755-1815) and Mary Brawner (1767-1845). Migrated to Georgia. Appeared in the 1830 Putnam County, Georgia, census (20-49 age category). Married Elizabeth Denham in Putnam County, 12/16/1830. Father of John William (1832-1891). Drew in the 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery. Migrated to Mississippi. Appeared in the 1850 Lowndes County, Mississippi, census (41 years old). Appeared in the 1860 Oktibbeha County census (51 years old). Appeared in the 1870 Oktibbeha County census (60 years old) residing next door to his son, John. Died circa 1875 in Oktibbeha County. Some relationship to James Douglas. Elizabeth would pass away sometime after 1880.

• Alsey Douglas: Born circa 1814 in Georgia. Carpenter by trade. Migrated to Mississippi. Married Elizabeth Moore on 6/9/1836 in Lawrence, Mississippi. Migrated to Texas during the 1840s. Appeared in the 1850 Anderson County, Texas, census (36 years old). A younger brother, Anderson Douglas (34 years old) was residing in Alsey's household in 1850. Father of Louisa Catherine (b. ca. 1836), James A. (b. ca. 1840), Alsey M. (b. ca. 1842), Susan E. (b. ca. 1844), Margaret A.M. (b. ca. 1848), and F.D. "Doc" (1856-1953).

•  The Natchez-Fort Stevens Road crossed Fair River about six or eight miles west of Tryus. Here John Douglas settled along with his father-in-law William Walden. The house in which he lived, and so far as we know built, still stands, as a part of the home of J. Fleet Maxwell, a direct descendant of John Douglas. It is about one mile from Fair River Baptist Church, in Lincoln County today. The original logs are weather boarded on the outside, and ceiled inside. We have no record of the year he settled here, but he was living in this house when his twin sons, Elisha and and Elijah were born in 1814.

• Benjamin Franklin Douglas: Born 10/7/1836 in Georgia. Migrated to Mississippi. Died 1919 in Sarepta, Calhoun, Mississippi.

• Elijah Putnam Douglas (1838-1899) was a Baptist Minister, living on his farm in Lincoln County near Wesson, Mississippi.

• The Elisha Douglas Cabin Historical Group is a non-profit organization which seeks to preserve the legacy of the Mississippi pioneer, John Douglas, Sr. (1764-1839), and the log cabin (circa 1856) built by his son, Elisha P. Douglas (1814-1900). Through education and historical artifact collection and preservation, the group seeks to promote knowledge, education, and appreciation among the John Douglas, Sr. descendants and the community at large.

The following were recorded in the 1850 Federal Census for Clarke County, Mississippi
• Douglass, John - 30 - M - W - Farmer - Mississippi - Beat 5
• Douglass, Elijah - 67 - M - W - Farmer - Tennessee - Beat 5
• Douglass, Nancy - 45 - F - W - - Louisiana - Beat 5
• Douglass, Henry - 20 - M - W - Farmer - Mississippi - Beat 5
• Douglass, James - 14 - M - W - - Mississippi - Beat 5
• Douglass, Samuel - 25 - M - W - Farmer - Mississippi - Beat 5
• Douglass, Sarah - 40 - F - W - - Tennessee - Beat 5


Bibliography:
•  The John Douglas family of Mississippi. Author, Edgar Lamar Douglas

The Great Migration to the Mississippi Territory
After the Revolution, the westward movement of Americans intensified. During the first two decades of the nineteenth century, Americans moved west in such great numbers that historians refer to that mass movement as the “Great Migration.” In 1800 there were only two states west of the Appalachians — Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1820 there were eight: Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The population of these eight western states had grown from 386,000 persons in 1800 to 2,216,000 in 1820. Mississippi was a product of the Great Migration.

The Mississippi country was opened to settlement in 1798 when Congress organized the Mississippi Territory. (Until it became a separate territory in 1817, Alabama was part of Mississippi.) A few settlers already lived in Mississippi when it became a territory. They were concentrated in two principal areas — the Natchez District and the lower Tombigbee settlements above and west of Mobile. Approximately 4,500 people, including slaves, lived at Natchez, considerably more than the combined free and slave population of 1,250 that inhabited the Tombigbee settlements in 1800. Outside of these two areas, the territory was populated only by American Indians.

State timeline:
1540 - DeSoto with about 1,000 men entered the eastern boundary of the state.
1682 - LaSalle descended the Mississippi River, taking possession of the adjacent country in the name of the King of France, and named it Louisiana.
1700 - Fort Rosalie was builit in 1716. A massacre by the Natchez Indians occured in 1729.
1755 - War between France and England resulted in France ceding to England that portion of Louisiana lying east of the Mississippi River, except for New Orleans.
1763 - France, by a secret treaty, ceded to Spain all that portion of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, and New Orleans and Mobile. France also ceded to England all of Florida. The English divided Florida into East and West Florida.
1765 - Inducements in the form of liberal land grants were provided by the King of England.
1779 - Spain, as an ally of France, declared war against England. In the treaty of 1783, England loses all the Floridas south of the 31st parallel to Spain.
1785 - The Spanish King ordered liberal grants.
1795 - Treaty was signed with Spain.
1797 - Col. Andrew Endicott hoisted an American flag on an eminence near Fort Panmure, within the present limits of the city of Natchez, and demanded the surrender of Fort Panmure to the Americans. On 9 June the Spanish seized an American Baptist minister. The people rose in arms, and within a few hours, the Spanish authority in Natchez was virtually over thrown. During this period, Congress erected the territory previously surrendered by Spain, naming it the Mississippi Territory.
1798 - Winthrop Sargent was appointed the first governor of the Mississippi Territory.
1818 - Mississippi Statehood Convention held at Jefferson College, Washington, Adams Co, Mississippi. Mississippi gains statehood.



Sources

 

Sources for this article include:

•  Mississippi Historical Society
•  The Georgia Douglases


Any contributions will be gratefully accepted





 

Back to top

 



The content of this website is a collection of materials gathered from a variety of sources, some of it unedited.

The webmaster does not intend to claim authorship, but gives credit to the originators for their work.

As work progresses, some of the content may be re-written and presented in a unique format, to which we would then be able to claim ownership.

Discussion and contributions from those more knowledgeable is welcome.

Contact Us

Last modified: Monday, 25 March 2024