Where's Letsy?

George Campbell sent this picture of James Madison Pearson and family standing in front of a two-story Cape Cod house. This got all the grandkids wondering who, what, when and where.

Lots of guesses went back and forth on text messages. The consensus is that James Madison Pearson and his wife Marguerite are standing behind daughters Elmire (center) and Marguerite (Titten, left). Where is young Letsy (age 3 or 4) is is anyone's guess.

Where is 6300 Offutt Road, Chevy Chase, Maryland.

When, circa 1932. Women's hair was short, necklines modest, and dresses were below the knee.

Granny kept as a souvenir an invitation to Major and Mrs. Pearson for a White House reception. The President and Mrs. Hoover were in residence. This was in the midst of the Great Depression.

In February of 1932, the capital was the scene of the Bonus March when some 15,000 veterans of WWI marched on the capital demanding bonuses promised them by Congress. That November, President Hoover would be soundly defeated for reelection by Franklin Roosevelt.

Life moves on. By 1938, the family would be in Hawaii, returning just before the start of World War II. Daddy Matt, which is what his grandchildren called him (Granny called him Matt), served as the commander of Ft. Dix during the Second World War.

The house is still there, in Chevy Chase, a bit more unkempt than the neighboring houses, and, as Joni Mitchell would agree, not the same.

Two Young Coosada Braves

  In 1819 Wyatt A. Bibb of Coosada, Alabama, was elected the first Governor of the state of Alabama. He had served two years as the first territorial governor. Coosada was an Indian Settlement in Elmore County on the Alabama River and a landing station for the steamboats that plied their trade between Mobile and Wetumpka.

Governor Bibb's home was on a plantation two miles from the river and one mile from the B and N Railroad Station between Montgomery and Birmingham. It was known as "Auburn Hill".

While in office as governor, Governor Bibb was killed by being thrown from a horse. He was buried on his home place in a country cemetery a few hundred yards east of the home. The graves of about one hundred of the early settlers of Elmore County are in this cemetery, including the graves of Governor and Mrs. Bibb. The tombstones among the many shade trees in the cemetery always created a rather ominous impression on my childhood mind. I'll confess a cowardly fear of the dark as a boy which I attribute largely to the weird ghost tales that so many old people hatched up and seemed to enjoy. They frightened old and young alike by supposedly true experiences with ghosts and haunted houses. In those days, for the lack of other forms of amusements, most men folk became practical jokers and resorted to jokes on their friends that sometimes were truly unmerciful and cruel on the victims.

After Governor Bibb's death, my maternal grandfather, Col. Washington Lary, purchased the Bibb estate. A few years after mother and father married, they moved from Montgomery into the old home in Coosada -just twelve miles from Montgomery. We lived there many years until the old home burned to the ground in 1898. Three of their children, Vallie, Ed and Claude Ferrell were born in that house. Emma Mae, the oldest was born in Montgomery before they moved to Coosada. Father had a country store, a sawmill and cotton gin at the L and N Railroad Station and farmed the home place (mostly cotton).

We had many relatives in Montgomery on both father's and mother's side, the boys and girls of the Montgomery families spent lots of time with us every summer. Mamie and Warren Hall spent more time with us than they did at their own home and we considered them brother and sister. Our summer guests were not confined to the children by any means - we had a continuous house party every summer. We spent many happy times with our close relatives. In those days families were closer, they looked forward to their visits with each other as they had no cars to travel as we do today. Horse and buggies and a few trains were our only mode of travel. A trip into Montgomery by train on the L and N was a real adventure to us, we had more fun then.

In 1897 our Uncle Lonnie Ferrell, who had a select boy's school in New Orleans, and our Cousin Willie Tullis and our Uncle Sapp Jackson, a doctor of Union Springs were visiting us at Coosada for a couple of weeks. All three were practical jokers of the breed I mentioned. My first cousin, Mat Pearson, who became General Pearson of World War I and World War II (and was a career Army Officer during his lifetime), lived in Montgomery and spent most of every summer at Coosada with us. At that time in 1897, I was seven years old and Mat was eleven years old. These three men could hardly wait to seize the opportunity of testing the bravery of Mat and me. Mat was the typical leader - into every devilment that could be conceived. He was leader of the Dexter Avenue Gang in Montgomery. They ruled the town and as the old saying goes, Mat wasn't afraid of a circular saw.

So as my story goes, after considerable conniving, these "Three Wise Men with Uncle Lonnie as spokesman came up with a proposition for Mat and me.- a get rich quick scheme. They offered each of us five silver dollars if we would sleep on the edge of the cemetery all night, agreeing that Mother would furnish us two quilts and a pillow to assure us comfort for sleeping. At that time, neither of us had seen five silver dollars, much less own such a fortune. I doubt seriously that the three would have made such an offer had they felt they would have to pay it. Five dollars was a lot of money, needless to say, Mat and I were so excited the thought of the price we were to pay didn't enter our minds. It was agreed we could go to Montgomery and spend all that money just as we desired. The offer was quickly accepted and dreams of the big times ahead overwhelmed us. We lost no time in getting our quilts and pillows from Mother and made our pallets at the cemetery.

No thoughts entered our minds except the acquirement of the five dollars. That noon at the dinner table, the "three wise men" talked among themselves very excitedly about some ghost experiences they had heard over the years and many that had happened in our very cemetery. These remarks were for our ears but not directed to us. Uncle Lonnie told about how Governor Bibb's ghost had come out of his grave a few months before and had gone to the lot where he had been killed - he rode one of the horses all over the fields to get even with the horse for killing him. His ghost was constantly chasing every horse he saw. Uncle Sapp told about his seeing several ghosts in the cotton field near the cemetery playing leap frog. Before dinner was over, my enthusiasm had cooled considerably but I managed to keep quiet.

The three girls, Emma Mae, Mamie and Vallie, were left out of the deal. Vallie couldn't see why we two boys were making that kind of money and asked if they wouldn't let her sleep at the cemetery too. The ghost tales didn't seem to score with her one bit for that kind of money. It was finally agreed that Vallie could sleep between two apple trees in the field halfway from the house and the cemetery. She got her pillow and quilts laid out in that spot.

Every possible moment from dinner on, the three in ear shot of us kept up a continual, well-conducted, scare conversation. Believe me, it sounded mighty real as all three of them were good actors and the way they told things, no one could possibly help but believe them. As each hour passed that afternoon, my spirits sank lower and lower and lower. I was a mental wreck, as the sun went down and night approached, I threw in the sponge and declared that I didn't want to make the money.

These three were brutal and had me crying, accusing me of being a coward (which of course I was) and a disgrace to our entire ancestry. I was the first to ever be proven a coward, inconceivable they said. But the more they talked, the further I was away from the job. Finally they accepted my resignation and said they were glad that Mat and Vallie would make their easy money. Mat had been quiet for sometime, after their reproach to me, he meekly said, "If Ed ain't going, I ain't going either". Evidently his 'bravo' didn't cover the dark or ghosts. They could not shame him into the job as he had me for an excuse. They worked on us unmercifully but finally had to tell us to go bring our quilts in from the cemetery. It was about good dark, we tried to get them to let us get them in the morning but Mother even was embarrassed that we were so cowardly and said we must get the quilts. Mat called me aside and said if I'd go with him, he would go with me. During all the excitement Vallie hadn't wilted in the least and said she was going through with the deal.

Mat and I got over the yard fence and slowly walked across the cotton patch to the cemetery. I was scared to death after hearing all those tales about the ghosts and Governor Bibb and the cemetery. We were twenty feet away from the quilts on the edge of the cemetery, when suddenly - a ghost began to rise from behind one of the head stones and came right towards us. We were petrified, it seemed ages as the ghost got closer and I couldn't move I was so scared. I finally managed to turn my head to see Mat - he was fifty yards away running to the house. With the help of the Lord, I began to run and ran as fast as he was running. I got hung on the wire fence and almost tore my clothes off, Mat ran for a big basket that was kept under the steps and they could not even find him for quite sometime. Of course it turned out that Uncle Lonnie was the ghost, Mother said she would never have allowed things to go that far if she had known what they were going to do.

Believe it or not, after all that terror, Vallie did not budge from the deal. Our Uncles couldn't believe she would try to sleep outside. They insisted Mother let them see if she would really go through with it as they admired her bravery. Mother consented only that she could stay out under the apple trees for an hour to prove she would go through with it. Mother sent Mary Jackson out with a chair to sit in the field about fifty yards away. After an hour they called to Vallie to come in. She called back, "Send me the five silver dollars and I will". They sent the money.

Written April 22, 1970 by Edgar Dawson Ferrell on request of Gloria Dalton Sorenson.

Incidentally, Mat Pearson fought all through World War One and Two in the Infantry. He was decorated for bravery with several medals but on the battlefield of Coosada Cemetery - he was a failure.

O'Farrell

This post is by way of Gregg Campbell.

The O'Fearghails were one of the four chief clans of the Conmacne.The O'Farrells (modern spelling) descend from the race of Conmac, son of legendary Fergus MacRoigh and Queen Maedhbh (Maeve). They were the princes of Annaly (roughly the Irish midlands); their chief seat of power was Longphort Ui' Fearghail (O'Farrell's fortress), present-day Longford.

Read a general history of Ireland and the story of Conmac.

The connection between the O'Farrells and James Madison Pearson is set forth on pages 21 and 23 of the O'Farrell Family History.

James Madison Pearson (M)
b. 17 October 1817, d. About 1867 1909


James Madison Pearson was the son of William Head Pearson and Mary White.
James Madison Pearson was born on 17 October 1817.
He married Elizabeth Ann Rose Brown on 29 November 1841.
James Madison Pearson married Sarah Catherine Reese on 28 July 1864.
James Madison Pearson died About 1867 1909.

Children of James Madison Pearson and Elizabeth Ann Rose Brown:
James Madison Pearson , Jr. b. 4 Sep 1843, d. About 1844 1933
Elizabeth Josephine Pearson b. 1 Dec 1845, d. About 1846 1939
William Fletcher Pearson b. 4 Oct 1847, d. About 1848 1937
Benjamin Rush Pearson b. 1 Aug 1849, d. About 1850 1939
Martha Caroline Pearson b. 7 Jul 1851, d. About 1852 1945
Charles Lafayette Pearson b. 10 Apr 1854, d. About 1855 1944
Albert Augustus Pearson+ b. 5 Feb 1857, d. Aug 1938
Henry Lucius Pearson b. 30 Oct 1858, d. About 1859 1948
Edward Pearson b. 1 Nov 1860, d. 31 Jul 1862

Children of James Madison Pearson and Sarah Catherine Reese:
Simeon Belle Pearson b. 14 Jun 1865, d. About 1866 1955
Lewis Walter Pearson b. 17 Nov 1866, d. Nov 1958 

The James Madison Pearson (1817- 1909) listed in the O'Farrell geneology is our great great grandfather. His son Benjamin Rush Pearson (1849 - 1939) was father of James Madison Pearson, our grandfather.And, there in the handwritten geneology of Benjamin Rush Pearson is a family connection to Sallie Coleman Farrell of Montgomery, Alabama.

The White Family

George introduced me today to a new line of our family - the Whites.

"[Art,] I added a file here on some documents that I had received from a distant cousin in California awhile back on the White Family. This would be Daddy Mat's G-grandmother's line Mary White b1790- d 1883."

George included a link to a pdf file so that all of the correspondence and documentation on the Whites would be available. Thanks George.

So, who are these people?

The original White was William White, a minister from Wiltshire, England. He and his family were granted land in the colonies by Robert Beverly because, "they were hard workers and because they oposed the Colony's old ruling clique and fundalistic economy." (Comment of Stanley Williams, dated 1985). The use of the term fundalistic is a bit obscure at this point, but it may be that Beverly and White both opposed the idea of slavery as the basis for a new world economy.

This William White died in 1658, appointing his brother Reverend Jeremiah White as guardian to his children. Another brother, John White, vicar of Cheriton, Wilshire, England left a bequest to his brother William's children in a will dated 1668.

William married twice in his lifetime. By his first marriage, he had six children: John, William, Edward,Deborah, Mary, and Jeremiah. His wife's name is lost to time, or someone else will discover it. William's second wife was named Martha, widow of Major Thomas Brice. These two, William and Martha married in 1657, a year before both William and Martha died.

One of William's sons, who it is not clear, fathered John White who married Mary Elliot sometime before 1705. Mary Elliot was the daughter of Thomas Elliot (Ellet) of King William County, Virginia. John and Mary had at least six children: Daniel, Jeremiah, Henry, Thomas, James, and another John. (The birth order is uncertain as is the number of children.) John, Senior died by 1743.

Daniel, the son of John and Mary, died in 1790 in Culpepper, Virginia, but not before producing at least one offspring Henry White.

Henry married Celia Page(?) (whose father was John Page of Buckingham County, Virginia?) Henry and Celia had six or more children: Jacob (Cpt.), William, Thomas, James, Stephen, Obadiah, and possibly, Henry.



I will leave it to George or Kathy to make the direct connection to James Madison Pearson.

Tallapoosa County, Alabama

Tallapoosa County, Alabama is located in east central Alabama, close to the Georgia state line. Coosa County borders Tallapoosa on the west and Elmore County, home of the Coosada Braves, on the southwest. Its county seat is Dadeville. The county is rural; the population in 2000 barely exceeded 40,000 souls.

In Tallapoosa, you can find the General C.L. Pearson Family cemetery. To get there, just follow the directions:

Turn off Hwy 280 onto Slaughter’s Crossing Road.
Go .9 mi - turn left,
over RR track, take right at 1.6 ½ miles, R at 2.4
(walk to top of hill, cemetery is on the left.)

Thanks to Barbara Taylor.

Among the markers are the grave stones of James Madison Pearson and Elizabeth A. Pearson, his wife, which read:

17th Oct 1817   Died 11th Nov. 1891 Age 74 yrs. 25 days.

Wife of James M. Pearson and Daughter of James N. & Martha Brown
Born in Morgan Co., Ga. 12th of Nov. 1823  Died 9th Aug. 1861
37 yrs. 8 mos. 27 days
 

This James Madison is our great great grandfather and his wife, our great great grandmother. Their son was Benjamin Rush Pearson, who in turn, fathered James Madison Pearson.

The General Charles Lafayette Pearson (1854 - 1940) for whom the Pearson family cemetery is named was a brother of Benjamin Rush Pearson. Charles Lafayette is also buried here along with other family members.

Photo is circa 1938, the farm of General C.L. Pearson (From the Alabama Dept. of Archives).

The Great War

It was only later after the end of the conflict that it was called by the names it is known by today - the First World War or World War I. It was only when World War II commenced, that the world knew of a second global conflict.

During the war it was sometimes gloriously referred to as a War to End All Wars; expectations were as high as the number of casualties, but 20 years later another global conflict would consume the planet. And, since then, mankind has seen fit to fight other wars and battles.

It was also called The Great War. The use of the word" great" must have been ironic, for one has to think of ways in which to consider this war, or any war, great. Certainly, no one involved could be said to have had a great time. There were massive frontal assaults of infantry soldiers met by machine guns spewing deadly fire and rolling barrages of artillery, gas attacks that poisoned the air and sickened the lungs, trench warfare that caused all forms of sickness and disease. All these factors were brutal and deadly. More than 70 million military personnel were involved with more than 15 million deaths. So, only in this one sense, death and destruction, can this war be called great.

The war officially ended in an armistice on November 11, 1918 at 11:00 a.m. At this moment, the guns fell silent and it was all quiet on the western front. This phrase "All Quiet on the Western Front" became the title for a book by Erich Marie Remarque, describing the horrific experiences of German soldiers during the war. The phrase derives from the dispatches sent from the front to the headquarters, and the occasional moments when the carnage stopped and for the moment it was "quiet on the front."




At the hour, day, month and year that this war ended, Major James Madison Pearson was being transferred from 1st Army Headquarters to Third Division Headquarters. Major Pearson or Pierson, the spelling is French, would remain overseas until October of 1919 serving with the Third Division keeping the peace. Before returning to the United States, Major Pierson would meet, fall in love with, and marry Marguerite Chevallier Meine, a French girl from the village of Graffign-Chemin. So, in this one ironic sense, it was a great war.

Simpler and more adventerous times

This photo is of James Madison Pearson at age 14 I received this from Mary Grace Pearson when we stopped in Mobile Alabama on a recent trip. This was the first pre-WWI photo I had ever seen of Daddy Mat.

There has always seemed to be a sense of adventure with him. To his grandchildren it was the battles of WWI in France that seemed surreal to us. As I have researched him further. I have found other stories of adventure such as the story of the elephant rampage in Valdosta Georgia where Matt was working for his uncle at the New Valdez Hotel and came face to face with the elephant that had gone mad. I later talked to Gloria Dalton Sorensen a first cousin of Daddy Mat's, she had told me that she was very familiar with the story of the rampage of Gypsy the Elephant. She jokingly told me that everyone in Valdosta had come face to face with that elephant on that night, insinuating that everyone had a story to tell. I found the story on the Georgia Archives website that had a mention of Daddy Mat. You can read the story <>

There is also the story of the Two Coosada Braves were his cousin Ed Ferrell and Mat were baited into sleeping in the cemetery nearby a family home.

Born in 1884 Madison Pearson lived in an adventurous time in America. Chester A Author was president He would have seen steamboats traveling up the river near his home. Train travel was the only wat to go for long distance travel. At the age of two the newpapers would have reported on Geronimo (Apache) surrendering.
In 1888 Eastmans' Kodak camera begins amateur photography. Madison Pearson saw the Wright Brothers first flight and saw mans travel to outer space. These were certainly simpler times but also times filled with much adventure and exploration. I wonder what he would think about these times we live in.

Stories of Madison Pearson

Madison & Margurite Pearson are the common bond that all the Davis', Gallaghers and Campbells have. There are many wonderful stories that have not been told between these three families due to distance and the busy lives that we lead.

Please post any stories that you can share with each other so that we may preserve Daddy Mat and Granny's memory. I am in the precess of scanning all photos, letters, newspaper articles and the like to a digital format that we can all share. I will be posting more here as I am able. You are welcome to post here and add comments to posts.

If you have any photos or any other items that you can share you may do so here or email them to me at georgeCcampbell@gmail.com