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Biography/History:
Alexander Fairly
Alexander Fairly, son of John and Katherine Crawford Fairly, was born in Richmond County, North Carolina, on March 10, 1797. He taught school before moving with his family, including brothers Archibald and Peter, to Perry County, Mississippi, around 1818. Fairly received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Thirteenth Regiment, Mississippi Militia, on December 10, 1820.
Fairly married Margaret Thompson, daughter of Archibald and Mary Thompson of Rankin County, Mississippi, in October 1822. They moved to Greene County, Mississippi, in 1823. The Fairlys had eleven children: Mary (b. September 13, 1823), Katherine (b. November 28, 1825), John Thompson (b. September 27, 1828), Annie (b. July 4, 1830), Archibald (b. August 25, 1832), Margaret (b. April 7, 1835), Jane (b. December 26, 1837), Sarah (b. November 4, 1839), Peter (b. April 17, 1841), Alexander, Jr. (b. November 7, 1842), and Franklin (b. February 17, 1846). Fairly was engaged in farming and livestock-raising in Greene County.
Around 1829, Fairly became an elder in the Presbyterian church. He also co-founded Salem Academy in Greene County where he taught for several years. The Fairly family moved to Williamsburg, Covington County, Mississippi, around 1860. Fairly continued farming and livestock-raising in Covington County until his death on September 12, 1894. He was interred at the Old Presbyterian (McNair) Cemetery in Covington County.
John Ford, son of James and Ann Townsend Ford, was born in the Marion District of South Carolina on February 27, 1767. Little is known of his early life except that he obtained his ministerial license while living in South Carolina. Ford married Catharine Ard, daughter of Thomas Ard, in Robeson County, North Carolina, in March 1790. They resided in the Marion District for approximately eight years. The Fords moved to the Mississippi Territory around 1798 and lived in the Natchez District until around 1805. That year, the family built a home on the Pearl River near Sandy Hook, Marion County, Mississippi, where they engaged in farming. The Ford home was the site of the first Mississippi Methodist Conference in 1814 and the Pearl River Convention of 1816, which recommended partitioning the Mississippi Territory into the present-day states of Alabama and Mississippi.
John and Catharine Ard Ford had twelve children: twins Elias and James (b. December 13, 1791), John, Jr. (b. December 23, 1793), Ann (b. March 23, 1796), Samantha (b. October 18, 1798), Asenath (b. October 30, 1801), Thomas (b. March 17, 1803), David (b. September 9, 1805), Joseph Martin (b. 1809), Washington (b. November 10, 1810), Catherine Ard (b. January 2, 1813), and Samuel (b. March 28, 1816). Ford remained active in the Methodist church and continued farming until his death on February 14, 1826. He was interred near Sandy Hook.
Elias Ford married Ruth Harper. Their daughter, Caroline Frances (b. December 24, 1829), married William Bartlett Holloway on December 4, 1843. The Holloways had a daughter, Elenora Victoria (b. January 9, 1855). She married Alexander Fairly, Jr., M.D., in Williamsburg, Covington County, Mississippi, on May 14, 1877. The Fairlys had a daughter, Mamie Eva, who married H. J. Wilson and resided in Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Mississippi.
George Washington Price, son of John and Nancy A. M. Ragland Price, was born in Calhoun County, Mississippi, on July 9, 1842. The Price family, including children Julia (b. ca. 1830), Martha Jane (b. ca. 1832), Caroline (b. ca. 1835), Mary (b. ca. 1838), and John (b. ca. 1839), were residing on a farm in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, by 1850.
Martha Jane Price married Wilson Hellums (or Helms) of Sarepta, Calhoun County, Mississippi, on September 7, 1849. George Washington Price and his brother-in-law, Wilson Hellums, enlisted with the Magnolia Guards, Company K, Seventeenth Regiment, Mississippi Infantry, between June and August of 1861. Price was wounded at Richmond, Virginia, on December 11, 1862, and his left leg was amputated. His name was deleted from the company muster roll on August 28, 1864, after a long absence following the amputation.
George Washington Price married Fannie O. Freeman in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, on February 22, 1866. They resided in Water Valley, Yalobusha County, Mississippi, where Price was a merchant. The Prices had at least two children: Edgar E. (b. October 8, 1868) and Guy H. (b. ca. 1876). Price owned a plantation in Lyon, Coahoma County, Mississippi, by February 1912. He died on July 6, 1921, and was interred at Oak Hill Cemetery in Water Valley.
The relationship between the Fairly-Ford and Price-Hellums families is uncertain.
Scope and Content:
This collection was apparently assembled by Mamie Eva Fairly Wilson of Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Mississippi. She is a direct descendant of both Alexander Fairly and John Ford. The collection includes legal papers and business records relating to the Fairly-Ford family of Covington, Greene, and Marion counties, Mississippi, and two letters and a Confederate muster-roll record of the Price-Hellums family of Pontotoc and Yalobusha counties, Mississippi. There are also Confederate monument dedication materials and miscellaneous papers.
The Fairly-Ford family legal papers include land deeds, a deed of gift, and a commission. An 1813 land deed between James Jacobs and Malcolm Munroe, Jr., regards property in Jackson County, Mississippi. Three land deeds dating between 1822 and 1840 relate to property of the Ford family in Marion County, Mississippi. An 1869 land deed concerns town lots in Williamsburg, Covington County, Mississippi. It bears a penciled notation identifying the lots as belonging to a Fairly family member, possibly Alexander Fairly. Of particular interest is a December 6, 1831, deed of gift in which Archibald Thompson conveys a sixteen-year-old slave girl named Rosa to his daughter, Margaret Thompson Fairly, and her husband, Alexander Fairly. It was published in Mamie Eva Fairly Wilson’s book, Wilson, Fairly, and Allied Families. There is also an April 1, 1820, commission appointing Alexander Fairly as a second lieutenant in the Thirteenth Regiment, Mississippi Militia.
The Fairly-Ford family business records consist of a bill of sale, receipts, and a stock certificate that document various transactions of Alexander Fairly. Of interest is John Fairly’s 1818 bill of sale for a fourteen-year-old slave named Milley, which was published in Wilson, Fairly, and Allied Families. There is an 1833 receipt for thirty-nine cattle and one “stag” and an 1846 receipt for a twenty-year-old slave named George. An April 1859 stock certificate is for shares in the Gulf and Ship Island Rail Road Company.
The Price-Hellums family papers consist of two letters and a Confederate muster-roll record. A September 10, 1861, letter was written by Wilson Hellums to his Price family in-laws in Pontotoc County while he and George Washington Price were serving with the Magnolia Guards in Loudoun County, Virginia. Hellums mentions a skirmish along the Potomac River involving his unit and relates the health of family members and friends serving in the army. A February 22, 1912, letter was written by George Washington Price to nephew R. W. Hellums of Water Valley, Yalobusha County, Mississippi. Price begins the letter by offering biographical information about himself and his wife, Fannie, such as celebrating their forty-sixth wedding anniversary. Also included is a photostatic copy of the Confederate muster-roll record of Wilson Hellums for the years 1861 and 1862.
The Confederate monument dedication materials consist of two versions of an address and a photograph. The address was delivered by Ella Love at the dedication of the Confederate monument in the Hazlehurst Cemetery. One version is handwritten transcription, and the other is a typewritten copy with handwritten annotations describing the ceremony. The photograph is of Copiah County Civil War veterans who attended the dedication of the Confederate monument on the courthouse square in Hazlehurst. The image is dated July 4, 1918, and identified on the verso.
The miscellaneous papers consist of a letter, a resolution, and a newsclipping. The April 1, 1901, letter was written by J. L. Spinks of Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, to George B. Power of Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. Spinks expresses relief upon hearing of the improved health of Power’s father. There is a handwritten copy of a resolution that was written by members of the Turney Bivouac, United Confederate Veterans, Winchester, Franklin County, Tennessee, on September 18, 1898, and adopted on January 28, 1899. It expresses condolences to Varina Howell Davis upon the death of her daughter, Winnie Davis. Also included is a newsclipping identified as being from the September 7, 1919, issue of the Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee. It contains a version of a February 27, 1847, letter written by William E. Estes recounting his participation in the battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican War.
Series Identification:
Box 1, folders 1-2
Box 2, folders 2-3
Box 1, folders 3-4
Box 1, folder 5
Box 2, folder 1
Box 1, folders 6-8
Box List: