Charlotte A Davis – daughter of John B Davis and Elizabeth Pulliam
John B Davis is the son of William W. Davis jr and Elizabeth Ball of Abbeville, SC.
Elizabeth Pulliam was the daughter of Mary Sample and Benjamin Pulliam of Abbeville, SC.
The parents moved out to Mississippi in about 1835 or so, along with the man who was gdn and step father of Elizabeth and some as-yet unidentified kin of William W. Davis (distant cousin? We don’t know yet), Samuel Davis, son of Chesley Davis and Susannah Berry, also of Abbeville.
1850: Lafayette Miss im 18/199
- Family of Samuel Simpson 54 VA
- Elizabeth 54 SC
- Wm 30 Ala – all down to Josiah
- Saml 22
- Elizabeth 20
- Thomas 17
- Napoleon 14
- Sarah 11
- Josiah Simpson 8 MS
On this page, we also find Chesley Davis 29 of Alabama, fam 125 with his children, which is interesting. He is Charlotte A’s brother. He is named after his paternal grandfather. Charlotte, herself, is probably named after her Aunt, Charlotte Virginia Davis.
In that same county and Year:
1850:lafayette, Miss image 5/199
- John B Davis, head of household, married to Elizabeth Pulliam Davis
- Charlotte A Davis is 13, born 1837. With several siblings.
According to Family Search indexing , Charlotte A Davis was married in Lafayette, MS on 21 March 1855 to Napoleon B Simpson. This record is not known through the Ancestry database.
THE NEXT DECADE: 1860
1860: Arkansas- St Francis – Richland image 13/30
- Napoleon B Simpson 23 Grocer Ala
- Charity 22 SC b. 1838
- Ida ? 2 Ark
- Infant 3/12 Ark
— When I first read this, I was a little shocked. I knew that Charlotte remarried later in Lafayette, so I was prepared for the fact that her husband had died. This was before I’d done this timeline, though, so I didn’t understand the whens and wherefors. But here was her husband – suddenly in Arkansas and with another wife, Charity. When I got the dates straight, I realized there was a lot more time between spouses for everyone involved. Time enough for Noah to have fathered three children, and for the Civil War to have rolled in over the family and changed the world for them.
The timeline has allowed me to to feel confident that Charity is Charlotte. I find that odd, but then – we hop from decade to decade in our research. In ten years, you can call yourself any number of different forms of your name, depending on the company you keep.
Of course, it’s the children who really knit the decades together. And the family of John D Wimbish, who had at least one wife before Charlotte, and Charlotte, who had a husband before John is complicated.
Assuming that Charity and Charlotte are one in the same, we have to assume that Noah and Charlotte had three daughters, all born between 1856 and 1863. Of course, we don’t see the third until the 1870 census. But by that time, the other two have disappeared. A terrible tragedy for Charity. It looks like Noah and Charlotte were married for maybe eight years. She could have been a widow for seven. Or maybe less – depending on when Noah actually died. Which we will probably never know.
J.D. Wimbush married Maria L.T. Turner 31 March 1859 Lafayette
1860 Marshall, Mississippi, Waterford (he owned land in both Marshal and Lafayette counties – see his will)
- John D Winbush 30 (b. 1830)
- Mary 28
- Sarah Turner 4 (Mariah’s child from a first marriage?)
- William 1 month old.
- Rebecca J Winbish 20 (a family member?)
- Nancy Burnett 18
- M.J. Smith 62
NINE years later:
11 Nov 1869 : John D Wimbish to Mrs. C.A. Simpson
So, between 1860 and the two Simpson children and John D Wimbish’s William, same age as the Simpson two –and this point in 1869, both John and Charlotte have lost their partners and their children. This is the period of the Civil War – confusion, violence, illness, deprivation. By 1870, Charlotte has gone home to Lafayette. Her two oldest daughters, Noah’s first two, are evidently dead, as is her husband. (There are some records of a Noah B Simpson serving in the Civil War, with artillary – can’t prove this is the same man). I can find no probates or other records of his death. And of course, there is no record of the death of little children at that time.
Evidently, once home in Lafayette, she met the widowed John and married him. They become a blended family.
- J.D. Wimbish 40 VA (b. 1830)
- C.A. 33 SC b. 1837 – this is Charlotte
- M.C Wimbish 1 year old born in MS.- so maybe born within the time of this marriage. . Was she the child of Napoleon, born in 1869, and he died some time during the pregnancy or immediately after? Or was she not really 1 year old, and born after the marriage between Charlotte and John D Wimbish?
- E Simpson 7 F (b. 1863) ARK This would be Charlotte’s lasy child with Nappy, so he was still alive by 1862 at least. But the other two children are not here. And neither is William Wimbish.
- Jennie Brown 22 NY servant
1880 – Ten years later
1880 Census Beat 3 Lafayette, Miss
- John Wimbish 56 MISS (b. 1824)
- Charlotte 43 South Carolina SC SC b. 1837
- Mariette 17 dtr (b.1863) Ark Miss SC – she was under the Wimbish surname, but she’s Charlotte and Noah’s daughter. (Shows as E. Simpson in 1870)*
- Mary 11 dtr MS VA? SC (b 1869?) She couldn’t have been Charlotte’s unless she was born August of 1870, after the census enumeration date. So this age is either off, or she might be Mary’s child, born at the end of 1869, which would explain why he had to marry again quickly –
- Walter 9 son (1871) Definitely Charlotte’s child.
- Elisabeth Davis 65 – mother in law SC SC SC This is Elizabeth Pulliam Davis. mother in law. Charlotte’s Mom. John B. Davis is evidently gone by this time. I probably have his estate papers.
So John and Charlotte were married for Eleven years, give or take some months.
marriage: J.D. Wimbish to Mrs. Lou J Massey 20 Dec 1882 Lafayette (she is the last of his wives.)
So Charlotte died between the 1880 census, 20 Jun 1880, and December 1882.
1900 Lafayette, Abbeville, MISS Dist 47
- John D June 1829 70 M 16 VA->>
- Lucy Mar 1853 47 m 16 Miss–>
John D. Wimbish estate. Walter R Wimbish witness.
- im 235
- im 236: exec: Walter R. About 14th day of Jan 1908 John D Wimbush made his will in the presence of D.G. Lingston, J R Davis and W.H Stafford
- im 238
- WILL (typed)
- wife: Lou Wimbish. Home place in Lafayette County, Miss (des. W of NW 1/4 quarter sec 24 TWP 6 range 3 120 acres also E of NE quarter sec 33 twn 6 range 3 35 acres for her lifetime. At her death the above land to son Walter R Wimbish or his heirs.
- Other properties to Water R.
- Grand daughter Mattie Hutchens – 25$. and land in Marshall, Miss.
- Son Walter R other lands in Marshall Co. descriptions.
Headstone app for military vets
- John Dorian Wimbish
- Medical Corps Co B.1st Miss Teg
- Born in VA June 26 1829, died Jan 15 1908
- Buried in Abbevillle, Miss.
- submitted by a woman W.P. Good, Oxford Miss, in 1959, but there are notes all over it aying that he could not be found as a confederate, or identified. But this is our area – Abbeville, Miss. So this mayb be our guy and we have a middle name. or not.
And that’s all I’ve got on that family.
The middle name really isn’t established. It’s found in a much later (1950s) request for a military tombstone. The information in the request would seem to indicate that it was being made for THIS John D. Wimbish, as his location is given as Abbeville, Mississippi. Oxford. Which is the right place. HOWEVER, Mrs. Good, who was applying for the headstone, was rejected because the government couldn’t find the person in question (supposedly having served in the medical corps in the Civil War). This sounds like someone going on family information. John D lived till 1908, so the woman in question, applying in 1959 could have been a grand child or great grand child. However, we have no information on that.
*Marriage of M.E. Simpson to J.F. Yiung 19 Oct 1880 Lafayette. This COULD be Mariette.
