Week 47 #52Ancestors: Soldier

Researching the Bray's of my East Tennessee ancestry has proven to be quite challenging.  Who knew there would be three Benjamin Bray's living in Claiborne, Hawkins, and Hancock counties!  To add to the confusion, two of these gentleman left Tennessee and moved to Missouri sometime after 1850. One would go to Cedar County, Missouri and the other to Ozark County, Missouri.  The big difference is their age and place of birth as Benjamin of Cedar County (formerly of Hawkins County) was born c. 1799 in Virginia and the other c. 1817 in Kentucky (lived in Hancock County).  The two were most likely related as Benjamin of Cedar County was a witness on Henry Bray's will (this is my third great-grandfather) in 1827 Hawkins County, Tennessee along with Benjamin Bray of Claiborne County who was born c. 1767.  Young Benjamin Bray of Ozark County was most likely Henry Bray's son and the subject of this story.

Hawkins & Claiborne Counties would be divided in 1848 to create Hancock County. Map source: Linkpendium

Benjamin married Avarilla Hutchinson c. 1839 and the couple lived near his mother, Margaret McDaniel Wolfe and stepfather, Peter Wolfe until 1850.  The young couple decided to move to Ozark County, Missouri along with several of Avarilla's siblings and extended family. Their son, Thomas, born c. 1851 was the first of their 10 children to be born in Missouri.  The family was doing well by 1860 as their real estate worth was $1,000 and personal estate was $315 but the Civil War resulted in choices that may have led to a family divided.

Ozark County, Missouri map.  Source: mygenealogyhound.com

Benjamin enlisted with the Confederacy in the State of Arkansas and served in Co. A of Frazier's Cavalry Regiment of McBrides Brigade and would lose his life in January 1862 leaving Avarilla widowed with several children under the age of 10 years old.  How sad since his youngest child, Jefferson who was about a year old, would not remember his father.  In fact, it left me with the thought that there was little left to be learned about Benjamin.  Thankfully, a man named Silas Turnbo, who at one time resided in Pontiac, Ozark Co., Missouri, wrote stories and reminiscences of the area's pioneers and Benjamin Bray was included.  In fact, his stories helped connect some of Avarilla's family to the area as they were mentioned in his stories.

Silas Turnbo's Civil War Tales.  Source: ozarkhistory.blogspot.com

Several of the vignettes would be written about the Civil War that included information on Benjamin Bray.  One story regarding Ben Bray mentions he was suspicious of two men who wanted to join his company as he suspected they were spies.  The men were killed and a message was sent to their friends as to where the bodies would be found.  In yet another story, Capt. Bray offered protection to a man and the families in the area if they would enlist.  The man returned to his community to relay the information which apparently angered some as a couple of these men decided to hide along the road in a paw paw thicket with the intent of shooting him.  Unfortunately another man met an untimely death as they mistook him for the other and shot him.  Realizing their mistake, they covered the body with logs, stones, and leaves leaving him to be found much later.  Mr. Turnbo also shared a widow's remembrance of Capt. Ben Bray who died during the War in Springfield, Missouri.

Looking into the Hutchinson/Hutchison family (Avarilla's family) of Ozark County reveals that they were not Southern sympathizers.  It is surprising to learn of the political divide with her family given that Ben and Avarilla most likely moved to Missouri with her sisters.  The sisters' husbands were all Federal soldiers, as Mr. Turnbo would say, as were the Hutchinson men in the area.  In fact, the people of Ozark County were predominately Union supporters.  This most likely explains why Benjamin joined the Confederate army in Arkansas but he didn't travel far given that Ozark county shares a border with Arkansas.

This brings to mind an interesting observation about Benjamin's father-in-law Jeremiah Hutchinson.  He was involved with a mulatto woman named Susannah Hutchinson that is connected to Grainger County, Tennessee.  She was enumerated as a free woman of color on the 1840 Grainger County census and Jeremiah was listed as the next household (source U.S. Federal Census, Grainger County, Tennessee, p. 18).  Susannah moves to Ozark County, Arkansas but with the last name of Asbury. This links her to John Asbury who was enumerated in her household on the 1850 census.  Several researchers have speculated that Susannah and Jeremiah were married but then divorced.  A biography of Templeman J. Hutchinson, who also lived in Susannah's household in Grainger County, is found in A Reminiscent history of the Ozark region, published in Chicago, Goodspeed Brothers, 1894.  The biography that is written before Templeman's death states that his parents were Jeremiah Hutchinson and Susannah King of Grainger County, Tennessee.  This is very intriguing as Avarilla and her family moved to Arkansas soon after the death of her husband.  Did her husband's choices cause a divide with her Hutchinson clan and maybe even the community?  Such is the dark side of war.

A folksong from Southern Appalachia provided on battlefields.org seems an appropriate end.  These are the lyrics of The Rebel Soldier:

O Polly, O Polly, It’s for your sake alone,
I’ve left my old father, My country and my home.
I’ve left my old mother, To weep and to mourn,
I am a Rebel soldier, And far from my home.

It’s grape shot and musket, And the cannons lumber loud,
There’s many a mangled body, The blanket for their shroud:
There's many a mangled body, Left on e fields alone,
I am a Rebel soldier, And far from my home.

I’ll build me a castle on the mountain, On some green mountain high,
Where I can see Polly, As she is passing by:
Where I can see Polly, And help her to mourn,
I am a Rebel soldier, And far from my home.

(Courtesy of Robert Trentham)