"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."
---Forrest Gump
Well, ain't that the truth. I was so reminded, delving into materials written by renowned local historian Ira Daunton Gibbs, Jr. (1911-1998). The old timers knew the history of the McDougall Place, long owned by the late Chester Green, and his descendants, of Franklinton. But I hadn't a clue. Though the property was often discussed in my family, I had no idea why. Mr. Daunton solved the mystery. As it turns out, it was the Brumfield family - my maternal ancestors - who settled what later came to be known as the McDougall Place, one of the earliest places settled in Washington Parish.
Perusing an article on the historic property published by Mr. Daunton in "The Era-Leader" on April 5, 1978, I was spellbound as he unraveled the history of the important tract. A bit of background --- as I've previously penned, I knew Mr. Daunton, in my youth, as the Coca-Cola man. He was a long-time employee of Coca-Cola who delivered soda pop about the parish. And I was also acquainted with him at First Baptist Church of Franklinton, the church of my childhood, where he was an active member with his lovely wife Verna (1915-2015). The Gibbs, who resided in a pretty home on Tenth Avenue, shared special friendship with my parents, something I've written about before and won't perseverate on. But, like my dad, Mr. Daunton not only delivered soda pop but also served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Still, the connection of the two couples derived, in no small part, from their shared devotion to their only children. Some folks are fortunate, due to age or health, to have just one child. My father was forty-five and my mother two months shy of forty when I was born in 1964. Sue Corkern Graham remarked recently, "Everybody thought that was the best thing that ever happened. That was just a miracle. Even us kids thought so." Not everybody but it was to my parents and their friends. This is why I was doted on, much like other onlies. The Gibbs lamentably lost their only child, son Ira Daunton Gibbs, III, a U.S. Army veteran of Vietnam, in 1995.
Back to the McDougall Place, Mr. Daunton began his article with John Brumfield (John Watson Brumfield, II), who together with his wife and their children, arrived in Washington Parish in 1808, coming here from South Carolina. He was the son of John Watson Brumfield and wife Elizabeth Patton Brumfield. Mr. Daunton described John Watson Brumfield, II, as "one of the very few known Revolutionary War veterans to settle in what is now Washington Parish." Born in Virginia in 1750, he expired in Washington Parish in 1845. But before that, he heroically served in the Continental Army for more than five years, participating in many significant campaigns in Georgia and the Carolinas.
While John did not settle the McDougall Place, his son Ridley Brumfield did. While, to my knowledge, I have not set foot on the McDougall Place, my husband Rodney certainly has, dove hunting long ago with his brother-in-law Dick Green, son of Chester and Victory Green. And I got the feeling, from my research, that Mr. Daunton, also, had visited the site. He described the headright as located on the south side of Catca Creek, with LA Highway 450 running alongside the eastern boundary.
Mr. Daunton informed that another son of John's, Ezekiel Brumfield, settled the neighboring headright just to the south of his brother Ridley's. A portion of this headright protrudes into present-day St. Tammany Parish. In 1820, according to the census of Washington Parish, John Brumfield and his wife, together with several children, were residing on one of the two places. Apparently, Ezekiel's widow Jamima Wilson lived with her family in the next household, adjacent to brother-in-law Ridley's.
Tragically, Ezekiel Brumfield --- a Corporal in Capt. John K. Goff's Company --- had died during the Battle of New Orleans, succumbing on February 22, 1815.
Dell Magee Clawson (Mama Dell, to me) wrote in her "Fields of Broom" series in "The Tylertown Times" on December 10, 2015, that Ezekiel died at the Camp Morgan battle site where there had been wicked weather and an epidemic, resulting in the death of around thirty soldiers. They were housed in log cabins with insufficient clothing and were thought to be buried in the trenches there. Brother Ridley was a Corporal in Capt. Thomas Bickham's Company, 12th and 13th Louisiana Regiment. Both companies had as their mission the guarding and protection of the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain from a British invasion. Both were stationed in what is present-day Madisonville, at the Navy Yard.
It is uncertain how long the Brumfield family owned and remained in possession of the McDougall place. John Watson Brumfield, II, passed away on May 6, 1845. While his exact last known address and place of burial are unknown, they are thought to have been, according to his neighbors, somewhere in the general vicinity of the McDougall Place. And it bears mentioning that one of his daughters Melinda became the wife of Harvey Penny, the very first Penny in Washington Parish. In addition to this daughter and sons Ezekiel and Ridley, John Watson Brumfield, II, also had a son Fleming Tynes Brumfield.
For the record, John Watson Brumfield, II, had a brother Charles Brumfield (1745-1826) --- my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. He is my Patriot, on whose record I was granted admission to the Daughters of the American Revolution. Hence, Mama Dell referred to John Watson Brumfield, II, as our Uncle John.
Back to the McDougall Place, as described by Mr. Daunton, it "occupied a very important location during the early days of St. Tammany and Washington Parish." About a mile to the east of it ran the historic Holmesville Road, running north to south. And what was known as the "Twenty Mile House," a two-story log house that served as an inn for travelers on the historic road, was situated approximately a mile from the McDougall Place. It was at this location that the road to Franklinton "branched off from the Holmesville Road …and ran to the ferry on Bogue Chitto River just below Franklinton."
Then about a mile to the west of the McDougall Place ran the Great National Road, alongside the west of the "Tchefunctia River." Mr. Daunton billed it as likely the most important road coming out of New Orleans. What was known as the Col. Daniel Edwards place was situated on that very road just one and a half miles to the southwest of the McDougall Place.
•Stay tuned for Part 2 of the history of the McDougall Place.
