The Clopton Chronicles

A Project of the Clopton Family Genealogical Society

 

 

 

FIRE, FEAR AND DEATH:

THE FALL OF RICHMOND

 

 

Regarding

 

Edward Andrew Jackson Clopton &

His Wife Anne Waring Latane’

 

 

By Miles George Turpin,[1] [email protected]

 

 

President Davis’ Note

 

“Suddenly, as if by magic, the streets became filled with

 men, walking as though for a [race], and behind them

 excited Negroes with trunks, bundles and luggage

 of every description.  All over the city it was the same-

 wagons, trunks, bandboxes and their owners,

a mass of hurrying fugitives, filling the streets.”

               

 

It was the smell of dust.  It permeated everything.  With it came all sorts of sights and sounds.  But the dust was what you could remember about that day.  Smells are like that.  They can catapult you back to a moment in time so vividly and so quickly.

                There had been so many smells drifting through the Franklin Street[2] home of Edward Andrew Jackson “A. J.” Clopton, and his second wife, Anne Waring Latane’[3] over the last few years.  Before the war, it had been the rich fragrance of tobacco, all over the city.  It was even more intense at their home, just a block away from the Turpin & Yarbrough Factory.[4]  When the factory had been converted into a hospital, the aroma became more pungent: intense body odor, vomit, rotting flesh.[5]  In August 1864, when A.J.’s son, Alfred Willoughby, came home from the war, the smell of sweat from his fever filled the house.  “Where’s Lee?  Where is the army?” A.W. would call out in his delirious state.[6] In early September, he stopped calling out at last.  And the cloying scent of death permeated the house on Franklin Street as they kept the vigil over A.W.’s body.[7]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alfred Willoughby “A.W.” Clopton in happier days.  A.W. is the young cavalier at the upper right corner of the photograph, holding a bottle, filled, no doubt, with lemonade!  He served as a private in the 4^th Virginia Cavalry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A.W. was admitted to Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond on August 24, 1864 with a fever.  He was sent home and there he died on September 9, 1864.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                But on this afternoon, the only scent wafting through the air was dust. It was Sunday, April 2, 1865.  The day had begun as a peaceful Sabbath morning.  Then everything changed. “Suddenly, as if by magic, the streets became filled with men, walking as though for a [race], and behind them excited Negroes with trunks, bundles and luggage of every description.  All over the city it was the same- wagons, trunks, bandboxes and their owners, a mass of hurrying fugitives, filling the streets.”[8] Any vehicle that moved was commandeered by whoever could offer the most cash.

                A.J. Clopton could not hire any type of transportation to travel from his house to City Hall,  and so he walked.[9]  The sky was a beautiful blue. A perfect day.[10]  Federal prisoners were being led through the streets.[11] Confederate prisoners, just freed from Yankee prisons, were being ferried up the James. Gaunt and extremely weak, they cheered the Confederate flag as they passed the Virginia in the harbor.[12]  A.J. arrived at City Hall just before 4:00 pm.

                The Proceedings began.  President David J. Saunders asked the Mayor to explain why he had called this emergency meeting.[13]

                There really was no need to explain why.  Ever since the messenger had brought the sealed package to President Davis in church that morning, it seemed everyone knew.  President Davis read the note quietly in his pew.  Connie Cary was sitting right behind him.  She said his face turned gray as he read the note.[14] He  got  up  and walked “rather unsteadily out of the church.”[15]  Then everyone in St. Paul’s Church knew. Within hours, everyone in Richmond knew.  The city was being evacuated.

                At Mr. Clopton’s City Council Meeting, the reading of the previous Council meeting’s proceedings was deferred. 

                Mayor Mayo informed the 12 Council members that troops would be withdrawn from the city in just a matter of hours.  The Council voted to send a delegation to Governor “Extra-Billy “ Smith to ask that two city regiments be retained in the city for its protection.  Twelve men, Messrs. Saunders,. Burr, Clopton, Stokes, Crutchfield, Griffin, Walker, Denoon, Laskins, Hill, Richardson, and Scott, voted in favor of the motion. 

                Outside, wagons filled with Confederate archives careened wildly about the streets on their way from the government buildings to the Danville Depot. The dust began filtering through the windows from the streets.

                “Extra-Billy” Smith came into the meeting room.  Mr. Crutchfield made a motion that the governor be allowed to state what further information had been received by the government from General Lee in reference to the immediate withdrawal of his troops from the further defense of the city.  The motion was passed.

                Governor Smith read Lee’s telegram to President Davis.  Grant’s forces had broken through the lines around Petersburg.  Lee  finished the note saying,  “I advise that all preparations be made for leaving Richmond tonight.  I will advise you later according to circumstances.”[16]

 

 

Rivers of Spirits and A New Suit of Clothes

 

In the golden light, hundreds of silhouettes

could be seen bent over the gutters,

lapping up the alcohol like thirsty dogs

lapping up water. 

 

 

A new smell began to waft through the windows from the center of Capital Square: smoke. Countless clerks burned Confederate records that might lead them to a future in a Yankee prison. Then they began to burn Confederate money as well. Millions of dollars of it.  They meant to keep the Yankees from plundering their money; not that a Confederate dollar was worth anything at that point.

                The banks quickly opened and people jammed into them withdrawing whatever they could.

                Back in the Council meeting, Mr. Hill’s motion to keep the 19th Regiment and the 1st Regiment of 2nd Class Militia in Richmond was adopted. Mr. Scott’s motion, that the Council meet again at 9:00 a.m. the next morning, was adopted.  Mr. Burr’s motion, that all the liquor in Richmond be destroyed by committees of 25 men from each district, was adopted.  Mr. Stokes’ motion, that, in the event of evacuation, the Council, a committee of citizens, and Mayor Mayo meet the Federal troops to surrender the city, was adopted. The Richmond City Council then adjourned until 9:oo a.m. the next morning.

 

 

Edward Andrew Jackson “A.J.” Clopton

 

                A.J. walked east towards home.  Most of the city was going the other way, and he had to fight his way through the opposing flow like a salmon swimming upstream. “ Vehicles of every sort and description, and a stream of pedestrians with knapsacks or bundles filled the streets which led out from the western side... a few wounded officers were borne along on litters...[17].  On the way he called on some of the wardens elected to pour out the city’s liquor.  Told them of their appointment and hurried them on their way.  Night was approaching and there were fires along the shore where retreating troops were burning their supplies and their barracks.[18]

                It was not long before the streets were literally running with alcohol.  The wardens poured it from second story windows in government warehouses and dragged kegs of brandy from hotels and bars.  Out into the gutter it went. In some places, the rivers of spirits were two feet deep.  The fumes from the runoff were almost intoxicating in and of themselves.  And so the smell of dust was replaced by the smell of alcohol.

                The sun was beginning to go down.  In the golden light, hundreds of silhouettes could be seen bent over the gutters, lapping up the alcohol like thirsty dogs lapping up water.  Some brought glasses and even buckets to take advantage of all the free drinks.  And of course they got very drunk.   And they got loud. And they began to loot the downtown area businesses.  People were screaming and shouting and breaking windows and firing off guns. 

                About this time, the guards at the State Penitentiary, upon hearing that Richmond was to be evacuated, evacuated themselves.  All the prisoners escaped, pouring into the downtown area in search of excitement, alcohol and a new suit of clothes.  These were the most incorrigible felons imaginable.  Men too violent and unprincipled even for combat duty.

                When A.J. arrived at home, his family was waiting.  He. had quite a brood to protect in all this madness.  First on the list was his pregnant wife, Anne, then Ida, the oldest at 20 years of age, Susan, James , Edward, and J.J., the youngest at 6 years old. A.J. was also entrusted with the care of his aunt, Charlotte Clopton, who lived with them.  She was in her 90’s.[19]  The whole family was undoubtedly panic stricken. Word had gotten out that there were convicts in the streets.  Sometime soon, there would be armed Yankees.  The convicts were rapists and murderers.  And the Yankees might be, too. A.J. had served in the local militia since July 1, 1863;[20]  but tonight he didn’t show up for duty.  He would not be defending the city of Richmond, he would be defending his own home.

 

 

Anne Waring Latane’ Clopton, the daughter of William Catesby Latane’ and Ann Elizabeth Burwell, was born in Essex County, Virginia at Mahockney Plantation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                Most residents fled the city.  Like the family of his second cousin, John Bacon Clopton,[21] A.J. and his little brood, did not.  Staunch Confederates all, they were not about to abandon their beloved Richmond. They had been through so much. A.J.’s real estate business was ruined by the War. A. W. had come home from the cavalry to die only six months before. Now would convicts burn his house down and kill his wife and children?  Or would the Yankees do it first?

 

 

 

 

 

Daughter Susan Latane’ Clopton was twenty as she watched, horrified, as the once lovely city of Richmond burned.  The beautiful young woman would marry in 1871 Jackson Turpin, a kissing cousin to the Cloptons.

 

 

 

 

 

Hark!  A Yankee Spy In Our Midst

 

The mob scene downtown was riveting,

but the mystery of Miss Van Lew’s mansion

was equally intriguing.

 

 

From their windows, they could see from Libby Hill at the far eastern end of the city.  They could see most of the city down below them: Capital Square, the Danville Train Depot, the Richmond and Petersburg Depot on Broad Street, and the business district in the distance.  Much closer were Rockett’s Landing, the Naval Shipyard, Libby Prison, and the Union prison on Belle Isle.

                 Looking towards the front of the house they saw the gardens of Miss Elizabeth Van Lew.  She lived right across the street.  To the left they could see the violence downtown.  The mob scene downtown was riveting, but the mystery of Miss Van Lew’s mansion was equally intriguing.  Only last year officials had caught escaped prisoners from Libby Prison trying to hide on Miss Van Lew’s property.  No doubt she gave them directions on how to get there.  She had often visited them at the prison, bringing them books, and food.  Who might show up this evening?  Would they hide at Miss Van Lew’s or would they wreak vengeance on her neighbors?  Surely nothing good would come from that direction.

                 But no good was coming from any other direction either. On their right was the enemy, who would soon enter Richmond. In fact, their neighborhood was rapidly becoming deserted except for looters and an occasional army unit straggling through on their way to the western side of the city. And finally, behind the house was the James River.  The Naval Yard was already in flames there. Spies in front.  Fire behind.  Enemy troops to the right.  Rioting on the left.  A.J. and his family were surrounded.

                The militia had dispersed. Ewell would soon go to meet General Robert E. Lee and take the few local militia men who actually responded to his call.[22]  In the end, of the 1200 militia that had gathered earlier in the day, there were only 200 left in service.[23] The last vestige of order in the city had been A.J.’s Council Meeting, and that had been over for several hours.  Even at the train depot, armed troops guarding the departing Confederate President and the Treasury’s gold were terrified that they might be overwhelmed by looters at any moment.[24]

                Now the sounds of explosions began to accelerate almost as if they were some drum beating faster and faster.  Fires were breaking out everywhere.  Near midnight there were sounds of artillery rumbling across one of the bridges.  It was the rear guard of the army leaving Richmond.[25]

                Across the street from the Cloptons, Elizabeth Van Lew sat waiting.  On her lap was a neatly folded U.S. flag.  She was waiting to present it to the Federal troops when they entered the city.[26]  The bell rang at her front door. According to Elizabeth, “Two fugitives came from Castle Thunder... availing themselves of the confusion in the city, broke away from their keepers and, at intervals, found their way to [our] dwelling, to be gladly welcomed ; but with the terror still upon us we were afraid to have a light in the room they were in.... One woman confined as a spy...made her appearance at [our] house.”[27]

                A block down Franklin Street from the Clopton home, three cadets, forcing their way through town on a wagon, saw a small light in the Turpin & Yarbrough tobacco factory.  Undoubtedly, it was a cadet who had not received the order to flee.  The Naval cadets had recently quartered there.  They climbed the stairs and opened the door.  Inside, a Lieutenant sat at the mahogany table. Set with a white tablecloth and silver service.  The cadets told him the Yankees were coming, but he wouldn’t leave his feast of rum and crackers. “Nonsense. It’s all going to come out alright,” said the Lieutenant. They left him there and headed west out of town.[28]

                In spite of all that was going on, a marriage was taking place a few blocks from the Clopton’s house.  It began a little after midnight at the Lewis Crenshaw home on the southeast corner of Broad Street and 28th Street.[29] Colonel Walter Taylor, General Lee’s aide had left the Confederate Army retreating through Petersburg and hopped a train for Richmond to marry his sweetheart, Betty Saunders. The house was crowded with the Taylor and Saunders families as Col. Taylor came through the door.  He brushed the engine cinders off his clothing, greeted Rev. Minnigerode and they began the ceremony. “The occasion was not one of great hilarity, though I was very happy.  My eyes were the only dry ones in that company,” Colonel Taylor said later.  About three a.m., Taylor and his new bother-in-law, John Saunders, galloped off to rejoin the army then crossing Mayo’s Bridge.[30]

                 A little girl who lived next door to the Cloptons looked out her window and saw this scene: “People were running about everywhere with plunder and provisions.  Barrels and boxes were rolled and tumbled about the streets... Barrels of liquor were broken open and the gutters ran with whisky and molasses.  There were plenty of straggling soldiers who had had too much whisky.  Rough women had it plentifully, and many Negroes were drunk.  The air was filled yells, curses, cries of distress and horrid songs.

                No one in the house slept.  We moved about between each other’s rooms, talked in whispers, and tried to nerve ourselves for whatever might come.  A greater part of the night, I sat at my window.”[31]

                There was no light in the streets now.  The gas had been turned off at the City Works. “The storehouses were wide open and filled with men, women and children, black and white.  For light they were burning bits of paper, frequently dropping them on the floor still burning.  One man fell through the elevator shaft and nobody bothered themselves about him, so bent were they on plunder”[32]

               

 

A Hellish Transformation

 

Guards lashed them with whips,

but more taunting would burst

out somewhere else down the line of Yankees

as they slowly pushed through the crowd

and then disappeared.

 

 

Fire now surrounded even the Clopton’s neighborhood in the eastern end of the city. The Naval Yard (three blocks down and five blocks east of the Clopton home) was in flames to the southeast.[33]  And several blocks of homes and businesses between 20th and 21st Street and Main burned to the west of A.J. and his family.

                At about 2 a.m., a gigantic explosion rocked the city. Headstones in Shockoe Cemetery blew over. Window panes were blown out.  Doors everywhere were torn off their hinges.  Chimneys caved in.  “The earth seemed to writhe in agony...stupendous thunders roared all around.” [34] The Confederate arsenal had blown up.  It contained over three quarters of a million shells.  “Ten thousand shells burst every minute.”[35] “We did not know what it was nor care....” [36]

                Then came the second big blast. About 4:30 a.m., the entire sky lit up suddenly as if it were day. Then followed the most ear-splitting noise. It was “...the most awful and terrific sound that ever sent the life blood curdling of my heart, … like the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds,”[37] said a Richmond woman.  Shells arched into the sky and exploded above the city. Fragments fell everywhere, even on the Union lines six miles away.  It was the C.S.S. Virginia and the other ironclads anchored in the harbor.  Admiral Semmes had blown them up. 

                Shortly before daybreak, Provost Marshall Carrington, under orders from General Ewell, set fire to the Van Groening and Shockoe warehouses.  They were about to torch the warehouse next to the Petersburg Depot until they learned that Confederate wounded had been moved there.  So they left that warehouse alone.    Then, a southeast breeze blew up sending sparks across Cary street which spread the fire to the Gallego and Haxall Flour Mills.[38]

                Richmond had been transformed into Hell. Huge flames were shooting hundreds of feet into the air.  Thick black smoke was swirling everywhere.  Red bolts of flame shot out of the smoke like lightning bolts every time some ammunition exploded. Thousands  of invisible demons flowed through the streets, betrayed only by their tiny bits of burning paper. Tormentors marched through the crowd with their Yankee prisoners in tow. The prisoners jeered at the people as they passed, calling insults and laughing over the fall of the city.  Guards lashed them with whips, but more taunting would burst out somewhere else down the line of Yankees as they slowly pushed through the crowd and then disappeared.[39]

                Dawn drew more looters to the scene.  Convicts from the penitentiary, black slaves, hoodlums, prostitutes and gamblers, even middle class folk came out to get what they could get.  But nobody fought the fire. Someone had cut the fire hoses.[40] “I shuddered, “ said Matthew Fontaine Maury.  “Richmond burning and no alarm...I watched those silent, awful fires, I felt that there was no effort to stop them, but all like myself were watching them, paralyzed and breathless.  After a while the sun rose... a great ball veiled in a mist.”[41]

                The Cloptons and other residents on the eastside could see the long columns of blue advancing up the Osborne Turnpike. [42] They saw the last contingent of the Home Guard Cavalry retreating from the Turnpike.  Moving through the retreating Confederate cavalry was a small black carriage flying a white flag heading towards the blue masses of troops.  The carriage carried Mayor Joseph Mayo and five other dignitaries, who, having no white flag to wave, cut off their own shirttails to make one.  It now flew aloft their barouche.  The Mayor surrendered the city at 6:30 a.m.[43]

                Just a few blocks east of the Clopton’s house was Chimborazo Hospital.  It was the largest hospital in the United States. And it was almost empty. “Every man who could crawl had tried to escape Northern prisons.  Beds in which paralyzed, rheumatic and helpless patients had lain for months were empty....The lame and halt compelled to remain were almost wild at being left... for in many instances they had been exchanged as prisoners only a short time before.”[44]

                General Martin Gary led his cavalry through the streets, sabers held high to clear a way through the crowd. They passed through Rocketts which was just a block towards the river, and seven blocks east of the Clopton’s house.  One of  the Confederate troopers, Private E.M. Boykin, described the scene:

                “The peculiar population of that suburb were gathered on the sidewalk; bold, dirty looking women, who had evidently not been improved by four years of military association; dirtier, if possible, children; and here and there were skulking scoundrelly-looking men ... hard at it, pillaging the burning city.

                One virago stood on the edge of the pavement with her arms akimbo, looking at us with intense scorn as we swept along; I could have touched her with the toe of my boot as I rode by her, closing the rear of the column.  She caught my eye.

                ‘Yes,’ she said, with all of Tipperary in her brogue, ‘after fighting them for four years y’re running like dawgs.’

                Bareheaded women, their arms filled with every description of goods, plundered from warehouses and shops, their hair hanging about their ears, rushing to deposit their plunder and return for more...There were said to be 5000 deserters in the city, and you could see the gray jackets here and there, sprinkled in the mob that was roaring down the street.”[45]

                At 23rd or 24th Streets, Boykin and the rest of Gary’s troopers detoured past A.J.’s house on Franklin Street.[46] “... the sad and tearful faces of the kind Virginia women, who had never failed the soldier in four long years of war and trouble...it was a sad thought... that we seemed, as a compensation for all that they had done for us, to be leaving them to the mercy of the enemy; but their own  General Lee was gone before, and we were but as the last wave of the receding tide.”[47]

                Gary’s cavalry were  the rear guard of Sullivane’s Local Brigade. Captain Clement Sullivane, saluted as Gary reached the bridge, “All over, goodbye; blow her to hell.” The men who had been waiting with kindling, tar and turpentine lit the fire. And the 200 men of Company D, 2nd Virginia Battalion then crossed Mayo’s bridge.[48]

                As Gary’s troopers reached mid bridge, Yankee horsemen came up Main street.  They fired a few random shots at the departing Confederates.[49] A Richmond resident described the retreat of the army: “As the day grew lighter I saw a Confederate soldier on horseback pause almost under my window.  He wheeled and fired behind him, rode a short distance, wheeled and fired again; and so on, wheeling and firing as he went until he was out of sight.  Coming up the street...rode a body of men in blue uniforms.  It was not a very large body.  They rode slowly, and passed just beneath my window.”[50]

                What the Union troops saw when they entered Richmond was a “..city wrapped in a cloud of densest smoke, through which great tongues of flame leaped in madness to the skies.  Ten thousand shells bursting every minute in the Confederate arsenals and laboratories were making an uproar such as might arise from the field when the world’s artillery joins in battle.”[51]

 

 

Broken Lives

 

Fathers and mothers, and weeping

frightened children sought this open space

for a breath of fresh air.

 

 

Into the smoke, and the exploding shells, A.J. Clopton walked his children down the street one block to Main Street to see the Yankees march by.  They walked down the slight incline towards Main, their feet crunching on the glass that covered the streets. It must have looked just as it did to Mary Fontaine: “The cavalry thundered at a furious gallop.  Then the infantry came playing ‘The Girl I left Behind Me’...then the Negro troops playing ‘Dixie’...then our Richmond servants were completely crazed, they danced and shouted, men hugged each other and women kissed, and such a scene of confusion you have never seen.”[52]

                Captain Lewis Weitzel of the Thirteenth New Hampshire: “When the mobs saw my staff and me, they rushed around us, hugged and kissed our legs and horses, shouting hallelujah and glory.... How they danced, shouted, waved their rag banners, shook our hands, bowed, scraped, laughed all over, and thanked God, too, for our coming.  Many heroes have fought for this day and died without the sight... It is a day never to be forgotten by us, till days shall be no more.” [53]

                Life was just beginning for the newly freed slaves. Life had ended in so many ways for their masters.  Standing there in the middle of all the celebration and music and flames and smoke, A.J., his wife and children, no doubt sobbed bitter tears.

                From across the river in Manchester, Gary’s cavalry watched the blue troops occupy Richmond.  They “heard the very welkin ring with cheers as the United States forces reached Capital Square.[54]

                Capital Square was covered with small flapping mounds of broken lives.  Scattered furniture, boxes of belongings.  Trunks flung open to reveal tattered and torn clothing. “Fathers and mothers, and weeping, frightened children sought this open space for a breath of fresh air.  But here, even, it was almost as hot as a furnace.  Intermingled with these miserable beings were the Federal troops.[55]   Weitzel called it a scene that “would have melted a heart of stone.”[56]

                Colonel Charles Francis Adams, Jr., grandson of President John Quincy Adams, marched his black troopers through the downtown streets:  “This fine regiment of colored men made a very great impression on those citizens who saw it.” Sallie Brock Putnam, Richmond resident saw it this way: “Long lines of Negro cavalry swept by the Exchange Hotel, brandishing their swords and uttering savage cheers, replied to by the shouts of those of their own color, who were trudging along under loads of plunder.”[57]

                Elizabeth Van Lew, like A.J. was unable to sit still.  She went out to see the troops come in, but with a completely different reaction: “What a moment!  Avenging Wrath appeased in flames!...The chains, the shackles fell from thousands of captives....civilization advanced a century.  Justice, truth, humanity were vindicated.  Labor was now without manacles, honored and respected.”[58]

                The City Council did not meet as planned at 9:00 a.m. that morning.

               

 

Epilogue to Disaster

 

 

The Union troops put out the fires in Richmond by the end of the day on Monday April 3, 1865. “Nine hundred homes and businesses were destroyed.  All the banks, the American and Colombian Hotels; the Examiner, Enquirer, and Dispatch offices; the General Court of Virginia and the Henrico County courthouse,...the arsenal and laboratory; Gallego and Shockoe Mills; the Danville and Petersburg railroad bridges and depots; Mayo’s Bridge,...a dozen drugstores, two dozen groceries and even more saloons, shops and warehouses; all or part of at least fifty-four blocks - gone.”[59]

                A.J. Clopton continued to serve as a Richmond City Councilman until August 13, 1869, when he was removed by the Military Authorities.[60]  He remained in real estate until retirement in 1877.[61]  His wife, Anne Waring Latan� Clopton, died on May 9, 1870 at Mahockney, the plantation where she grew up in Essex County, Virginia.[62]  Following her death, A.J. married Julia A. King.  A.J.’s two older girls, Susan Latan� Clopton and Ida V. Clopton, raised their younger brothers and sister.  A.J. died of heart disease on July 23, 1897, age 79. 

 

DEATH OF MR. E. A. J. CLOPTON

 

This Aged Citizen Passes Away After a Long Illness

 

                Mr. E. A. J. Clopton died shortly after noon yesterday at his home, No. 1401 Ross Street.  Full of years and respected by all who knew him, his death came at the end of a lingering and painful illness.  His busy life was passed in Richmond, his birthplace, and even when he retired from active business pursuits he loved to dwell in no place so well as the capital of old Virginia.

                Mr. Clopton was 79 years old, and was probably the oldest resident of this city.  He was an ardent Confederate and though he was not actively engaged in the war, he gave one of his sons to the cause.  Until he retired, Mr. Clopton was successfully engaged in the real estate business.  He was married three times, and his last wife, Mrs. Julia Clopton, survives him.  Three sons and one daughter survive him.  His sons are the Rev. John J. Clopton of Herndon, Va., and Messrs. James B. and E. T. Clopton, of Richmond.  His daughter is Mrs. Jackson Turpin, of Norwood, O.

                The funeral will take place to-day from Monumental Church, and the internment will be made in Hollywood Cemetery with Masonic honors.  Owing to the absence of Rev. Mr. Stickney, Rector of Monumental Church, some other Episcopal Minister will perform the ceremony, but no choice has yet been made.

                The pall-bearers will be Judge William I(zzard) Clopton, David L. Pullium,[63] A. Rufus Yarbrough, G. Harvey Clarke, William E. Robertson, Charles Lipscombe,[64] Jay Harvey Archer, and one member of the Masonic lodge of which deceased was a member. [65]

 

 

He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond (Section K, lot 41- the stone is flat on the ground) on July 24, 1897.  His third wife Julia A. King Clopton died in 1906 and was buried beside him.

Susan Latan� Clopton married Jackson Turpin.[66]  Jackson was the son of Miles Turpin,[67] a partner at the Turpin and Yarbrough Tobacco Factory.[68]  The couple lived in the 800 block of Broad Street for quite some time.  By 1880, they and their children had moved to 2302 Broad Street. Miles’ sister lived there, Mrs. W.W. Dickie.  They were next door to Susan’s father-in-law Miles Turpin, and one block west and one block north of  her father, E.A.J. Clopton’s home.

Jackson worked for his father.  The enterprise continued to prosper until the late 1870’s when the demand for tobacco began to shrink.  The firm went completely out of business in 1883. Undoubtedly that is why Susan and Miles moved in with the Dickie family in 1880.[69]  After the business was sold, Susan, Miles and their family moved to Norwood, Ohio, where Jackson got a job selling tobacco on the road.  They brought Susan’s sister, Julia Catesby Clopton, with them.  Susan and Jackson Turpin had eight children of their own. Jackson and Susan moved out to California in the early 1900’s to live with their son, Marshall Turpin.  But both Jackson’s and his son Marshall’s health problems forced the elder Turpins to move to Denver in the 1920’s to live with their daughter, Julia Turpin Brookes.  Jackson died in 1928 in Denver.

Their granddaughter, Martine Brooks Evans remembers Jackson’s death: "My grandparent's came and lived with us.  I remember when my grandfather died.  I had to tell my grandmother.  I was just in Junior High at that time.  Maybe it was because I got home from the hospital first. Or maybe she asked me first. I don't know why it was me. She was just so bereaved. 'Oh, Jack. How can you leave me like this?,' she said. It was the first time I ever had to see real grief. I comforted her as best I could. She was just so hurt." 

 Susan lived to be 94 and was one of the first people to be successfully treated with penicillin for pneumonia.

Ida V. Clopton died sometime before her father passed away.[70] She had not married.  Her pictures show a very beautiful young lady.  But to be 21 and female in the south after the Civil War was not a good thing.  If she didn’t have a “beau” before the war, the odds were against her afterwards - so many young men died.  Having to raise her siblings didn’t help either.

Julia Catesby Clopton also died before her father.  She never married. She was living at the time of her death with her sister, Susan in Norwood, Ohio.[71]

James Burwell Clopton and his brother Edward Thomas Clopton were both alive and well and living in Richmond at the time of their father A.J.’s death.[72]

John Jones “J.J.” Clopton became an Episcopalian minister in Lexington, Virginia.  He married Miss Irene Cabell Horsely.  They had five children, all girls.[73]  In addition to his church duties, J.J. was a fine author.  He wrote many church pamphlets, poems and short articles on church and literary topics.  He was quite a distinguished lecturer on the topic of Stonewall Jackson.  J.J. eventually wrote a short book on Jackson. His book is to this day quoted in Stonewall Jackson biographies because of the first hand accounts that J.J. collected about Jackson from those who served with him.[74]

                 As mentioned earlier, J.J.’s mother died when he was eleven. He was raised by his two older sisters Susan and Ida, with disastrous results.  J.J. grew up with very warm and loving intentions, but very inflexible and idealistic reactions to life.  His  grandson, Bill Waters, described him as “idealistic.  He would decide who people were and how they should behave just by looking at them.  Once!  And then he would be very disappointed and hurt when they didn’t act like he thought they would. “ J.J.’s wife became ill after the birth of their last daughter.  She never really recovered and died ten years later.  The loss of his wife coupled with  the gap between what J.J. felt life should be and what it was, became too much to bear.  Much to everyone’s sorrow and surprise,  J.J. killed himself on December 9, 1930 in Lexington, Kentucky.[75]

                The notice of his death did not, of course, even hint of his suicide.[76]

 

 

The Rev. John Jones Clopton graduated with honors from Virginia Seminary in 1881, and one year later, ordained Deacon by Bishop Whipple.  In 1883, he was raised to the Priensthood by Bishop Peterkin.

                He served in many Parishes, including Grace Church, Petersburg, Virginia;  Meade Memorial Church, Manchester, Virginia;  Upper Truro, Virginia;  Grace Church, Cedar Run Parish, Fauquier County, Virginia; St. Paul's, Weston, West Virginia; and,  St. Mathew's Church, Sparrows Point, Maryland, and Christ Church, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

                In 1920, he became General Missionary in the Diocese of Lexington, with special charge of St. Margaret's Mission, Jenkins; Grace Mission, Lawrenceburg; and Christ's Mission, Richmond.  In 1925, he was also General Missionary to Mission of the Savior, Louisa, and in 1926, Christ Church Mission, Somerset.

                As his health declined, the records indicate he gave up the tremendous demands of General Mission, and was named in May 1927, Rector of St. John's Parish, Bellvue, Dayton, Kentucky, a post he held until 1929.

                His death, reported in the report of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Convention of the Episcopal Church, noted:   "attained considerable distinction as an author.  He published a book on the life of Stonewall Jackson, a number of church pamphlets, poems, and short articles on church history and literary topics.

                His death was a great shock to a wide circle of friends, within and outside of the Episcopal Church.

                His character was conspicuous for modesty, forcefulness, and generosity.  In all his dealings as a man and as a clergyman he was noted for his high sense of honor and duty.  He was faithful, self effacing and keenly conscientious.  He was a tender, loving father.  Among the five daughters surviving him is the Editor of the Diocesan News.

                Those that knew him intimately respected and loved him for his kindly disposition.

                His passing is a great loss to the church in her councils and ministry.

                From many hearts a prayer will go up to the throne of Grace for the soul of our dear brother, 'Requiescat in pace.'"

 

 

Elizabeth Van Lew was left penniless by the War.  She spent every bit of her inheritance spying for the Union.  Fifteen days after his inauguration as President, U.S. Grant appointed Miss Van Lew Postmaster of Richmond at an annual salary of $1200, a huge amount for those days.  She served two terms under Grant. After Grant left office, there was no work for Elizabeth Van Lew. For a long time, she pleaded for a job or some kind of compensation for her wartime expenses.  The government did nothing.  She became more and more frantic about her finances.  Elizabeth became a nuisance at St. John’s Church and was no longer allowed to worship there.

                To make matters worse, it seemed that as each year went by, more and more of Miss Van Lew’s wartime activities came to light.  Elizabeth had been the most important and useful Union spy during the entire war. She conspired to light the Confederate White House on fire. Elizabeth paid arsenal employees to sabotage Confederate ammunition. Most importantly she had passed on many Confederate military secrets to the Union Army.  With each new revelation in the newspapers, the citizens of Richmond grew more outraged.  At dinner tables and firesides all over town,  there were many empty chairs after the war. Chairs that would have been filled by fathers, sons, brothers and friends. Which ones had died because of Elizabeth Van Lew?   The people of Richmond, particularly close neighbors like the Cloptons, the Yarbroughs and the Turpins, hated her.  They told their children to walk on the other side of the street.  No one would speak to her.  Elizabeth was constantly referred to in the press as “the witch.”

                Searching for companionship, Elizabeth invited her niece, Elizabeth Louise Klapp, to move in with her. But even that relationship went sour.  Through no fault of Miss Van Lew,   Elizabeth Klapp verbally and physically abused her aunt while she stayed there. [77] 

                Elizabeth Van Lew died at home on September 25, 1900.  She was buried in a simple grave.  Some years later, the family of Paul Joseph Revere, grandson of the Revolutionary hero, Paul Revere[78] donated a granite tombstone.  They sent it down from Boston and it was laid over her grave.  Miss Van Lew had cared for the boy while he was incarcerated at Libby Prison.  The tombstone reads in part.

 

She risked everything that is dear to man

friends, fortune, comfort, health, life itself,

all for the one absorbing desire of her heart,

that slavery be abolished and the Union preserved.[79]

 

                1.  Edward Andrew Jackson²⁰ Clopton, Esq. C.S.A.  (Edwin J.¹⁹, George¹⁸, William¹⁷, William¹⁶, William¹⁵, Walter¹⁴, William¹³, Richard¹², William¹¹, John¹⁰, William⁹, Thomas⁸, Walter⁷, William⁶, Walter⁵, William⁴, Walter³, William², Guillaume¹ Peche, Lord Of Cloptunna and Dalham)¹ was born 1819 in Richmond, Virginia, and died July 23, 1897 in Richmond, Virginia of heart disease at his home and buried Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond².  He married (1) Dorothea C. Rodgers, of Richmond, Virginia March 16, 1841 in Richmond, Virginia by Rev. E. L. Magoon³.  She died Bef. 1848.  He married (2) Anne Waring Latane', of "Mahockney"⁴ June 8, 1848 in Essex County, Virginia by Rev. McGuire⁵, daughter of William Latane' and Ann Burwell.  She was born May 6, 1823 at Mahockney, Essex County, Virginia, and died May 9, 1870 at Mahockney, Essex County, Virgnia.  He married (3) Julia A. King⁶ Aft. 1871.  She was born Abt. 1841⁷, and died December 28, 1906⁸.

 

 

       

Children of Edward Clopton and Dorothea Rodgers are:

        2                 i.    Ida V.²¹ Clopton, born Bef. 1848⁹; died Abt. April 18, 1875 in Virginia and buried Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond.

        3                ii.    Alfred Willoughby Clopton, C.S.A., born 1842; died September 9, 1864 in Richmond, Virginia, and buried September 10, in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond¹⁰.

 

Children of Edward Clopton and Anne Latane' are:

        4                 i.    William Latane'²¹ Clopton, born April 20, 1849¹¹; died March 22, 1850¹¹.

        5                ii.    Susan Latane' Clopton, of Richmond, born August 8, 1850 in Richmond, Virginia¹¹; died December 16, 1943 in Denver, Colorado¹¹.  She married Jackson Turpin, Esq., of Richmond¹² May 25, 1871 in St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia by the Rev. Henry Wall, D.Div¹³; Jackson was born October 28, 1847 in Richmond, Virginia; died December 21, 1928 in Denver, Colorado.

        6               iii.    Catesby Jones Clopton, born July 30, 1852¹⁴; died March 25, 1853¹⁴.

        7               iv.    James Burwell Clopton, born April 27, 1854¹⁴; died February 19, 1910 in Virginia and buried February 21, 1919 at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond.  He married Carrie Vernon; born April 20, 1867; died January 18, 1941 in Richmond County, Virginia and buried Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond.

        8                v.    Edward Thomas Clopton, born November 18, 1856¹⁴; died Abt. October 24, 1920 in Virginia and buried Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond.

        9               vi.    John Jones Clopton¹⁵, born November 20, 1858 in Richmond, Henrico County, Virginia¹⁶; died December 20, 1930 in Lexington, Kentucky, by his own hand, and buried Lexington Cemetery¹⁷.  He married Irene Cooper Horsley¹⁸ Bef. December 10, 1891 in Trinity Church, Nelson County,  Virginia, by the Rev. George S. Somerville¹⁹; born September 1869 in Virginia; died 1912 in Virginia, probably, and buried Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery, Casanova, Virginia.   

        10            vii.    Julia Catesby Clopton, born 1866²⁰; died 1896 in Norwood, Ohio and buried Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond.

 

 

Endnotes

 

1.  Miles George Turpin provided this information unless otherwise noted, He is named in his father's will.  The Clopton Family Archives contains copies of several legal documents relating to transactions between Mr. Clopton and his wife, Anne.  His full name is given in "Richmond At War," p. 628 (F 233.48 R51 no. 17).  The Virginia Historical Society contains a biographical sketch (F 233.48 R51 no. 17).

2.  Hollywood Cemetery, Courtesy Carroll (Taylor) Everette and Patsy Ann (Clopton) Wheeler, Section K, Lot 41.  At the time of his death, he was living at 1401 Ross Street, Richmond.

3.  Religious Herald (Richmond, Virginia) Marriage Notices,  (Copy located Clopton Family Archives, courtesy of Darlene Slater, Research Assistant Virginia Baptist Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia), March 25, 1841.

4.  Virginia Historical Society Microfilm and Manuscript Collections, For additional references see the Ware Family Papers, MSS1 W22 96a 329-340.  The Clopton Family Archives contains a deed (GS Film 031821 (7566 pt. 31) Book 61, pages 110, 111, dated April 7, 1851, regarding a real estate transaction between Edward A. J. Clopton and Ann W. Clopton of the City of Richmond.  Land located in Richmond on Union Hill.  Refers to James T. Morris, John A. Belvin and Philip A. N., Benjamin T. Hay and Mary Ann his wife, and a second deed between Edward and Ann of the first part and Mary A. Howle of the Second.  For $725 sells to Mary A. Howel a lot of land in Richmond on Union Hill.

5.  Marriage Notices from Richmond Newspapers, 1841-1853,  (Courtesy of Suellen (Clopton) DeLoach Blanton), p. 1, Notice appeared in the "Richmond Enquirer, "  June 15, 1848, p. 3, and in the Richmond Enquirer," published by William F. & Thomas Ritchie, Jr., June 16, 1848, p. 1.

6.  "Newspaper Obituary," Richmond, Virginia.

7.  Hollywood Cemetery, Courtesy Carroll (Taylor) Everette and Patsy Ann (Clopton) Wheeler.

8.  Hollywood Cemetery, Courtesy Carroll (Taylor) Everette and Patsy Ann (Clopton) Wheeler, Section K, Lot 41.

9.  Hollywood Cemetery, Courtesy Carroll (Taylor) Everette and Patsy Ann (Clopton) Wheeler, Section R, Lot No. 69.

10.  Confederate Military Records from the United Daughters of the Confederacy, National Archive Microfilm #324, Roll 39, under the name "A.W. Clopton."  See also records for Hollywood Cemetery.  His records and photographs are located Clopton Family Archives, Courtesy Miles George Turpin.  According to Virginia Military Institute records, his middle name is Willoughby.  Records confirm his father was E. A. J. Clopton.

11.  Clopton-Latane Holy Bible,  (Courtesy Miles George Turpin).

12.  Miles George Turpin provided this information unless otherwise noted.

13.  The Southern Churchman, 1835-1941,  (Abstract located Virginia Historical Society, courtesy of Suellen (Clopton) DeLoach Blanton), June 1, 1871, Also appeared in "The Religious Herald," June 1, 1871 Issue.

14.  Clopton-Latane Holy Bible,  (Courtesy Miles George Turpin).

15.  William Edward Waters, III, provided this information unless otherwise noted.

16.  Clopton-Latane Holy Bible,  (Courtesy Miles George Turpin).

17.  His obituary was published in a Georgetown, Kentucky newspaper, dated January, 1931, and was written by Archdeacon Wentworth.  This obituary also appeared in the report to the Thirty-Sixth Annual Convention of the Episcopal Church, 1931, page 14.  Copy located Clopton Family Archives, courtesy William Edwards Waters. III.

18.  Brown, The Cabells and Their Kin,  (Courtesy of Suellen (Clopton) DeLoach Blanton), p. 305.

19.  The Southern Churchman, 1835-1941,  (Abstract located Virginia Historical Society, courtesy of Suellen (Clopton) DeLoach Blanton), December 10, 1891, States that  John is at that time (1891) Rector of Meade Memorial Church in Manchester, Virginia.  According to "A History of Grace (Episcopal) Church," Cedar Run Parish, Casanova, Fauquier County, Virginia, he was Rector from January 15, 1899 until he resigned August 1907.

20.  Hollywood Cemetery, Courtesy Carroll (Taylor) Everette and Patsy Ann (Clopton) Wheeler, Lot Number 65.

 

 

        1.  William Catesby⁴ Latane', Sr., of "Mahockney"  (William³ Latane, Esq. of "Langlee", John², Lewis¹)¹ was born April 14, 1789 in Essex County, Virginia, and died October 1846 in White Sulpher Springs, Fauquier County, Virginia.  He married Ann Elizabeth Burwell December 16, 1816 in Essex County, Virginia, daughter of James Burwell and Judith Ball.  She was born Abt. 1800 in Northumberland County, Virginia, and died Bef. 1840 in Essex County, Virginia.

        Ann Elizabeth Burwell descended from the aristocratic Burwell family of Virginia as well as the famous Lee and Armistead families.

 

Children of William Latane' and Ann Burwell are:

        2                 i.    Mary⁵ Latane', of "Mahockney".

        3                ii.    Thomas Louis Latane', of "Mahockney".

        4               iii.    James Henry Latane', of "Mahockney", born February 1820 in Essex County, Virginia; died June 22, 1897.  He married Janet Juliet Rouzie 1841.

        5               iv.    Anne Waring Latane', of "Mahockney"², born May 6, 1823 in Mahockney, Essex County, Virginia; died May 9, 1870 in Mahockeny, Essex County, Virgnia.  She married Edward Andrew Jackson Clopton, Esq. C.S.A.³ June 8, 1848 in Essex County, Virginia by Rev. McGuire⁴; born 1819 in Richmond, Virginia; died July 23, 1897 in Richmond, Virginia of heart disease at his home and buried Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond⁵.

        6                v.    Susan Elizabeth Latane', of "Mahockney", born 1824 in Essex County, Virginia; died 1848.  She married Thomas Latane 1847; born 1824 in Essex County, Virginia; died 1906.

        7               vi.    William Catesby Latane', Jr., of "Mahockney", born 1826.  He married Virginia Hollowell.

        8              vii.    John Lafayette Latane', of "Mahockney", born 1828.  He married Mary Holloway.

 

 

Endnotes

 

1.  Miles George Turpin provided this information unless otherwise noted.

2.  Virginia Historical Society Microfilm and Manuscript Collections, For additional references see the Ware Family Papers, MSS1 W22 96a 329-340.  The Clopton Family Archives contains a deed (GS Film 031821 (7566 pt. 31) Book 61, pages 110, 111, dated April 7, 1851, regarding a real estate transaction between Edward A. J. Clopton and Ann W. Clopton of the City of Richmond.  Land located in Richmond on Union Hill.  Refers to James T. Morris, John A. Belvin and Philip A. N., Benj T. Hay and Mary Ann his wife, and a second deed between Edward and Ann of the first part and Mary A. Howle of the Second.  For $725 sells to Mary A. Howel a lot of land in Richmond on Union Hill.

3.  Miles George Turpin provided this information unless otherwise noted, He is named in his father's will.  The Clopton Family Archives contains copies of several legal documents relating to transactions between Mr. Clopton and his wife, Anne.  His full name is given in "Richmond At War," p. 628 (F 233.48 R51 no. 17).  The Virginia Historical Society contains a biographical sketch (F 233.48 R51 no. 17).

4.  Marriage Notices from Richmond Newspapers, 1841-1853,  (Courtesy of Suellen (Clopton) DeLoach Blanton), p. 1, Notice appeared in the "Richmond Enquirer, "  June 15, 1848, p. 3, and in the Richmond Enquirer," published by William F. & Thomas Ritchie, Jr., June 16, 1848, p. 1.

5.  Hollywood Cemetery, Courtesy Carroll (Taylor) Everette and Patsy Ann (Clopton) Wheeler, Section K, Lot 41.  At the time of his death, he was living at 1401 Ross Street, Richmond.

 

 

 

        1.  Miles⁷ Turpin, the Elder, of "Dove Hill"  (Michael⁶, Lusby⁵, Michael⁴, Michael³, Michael², Lionel¹) was born October 21, 1775 in Henrico County, Virginia, and died Bef. 1837 in "Dove Hill," Henrico County, Virginia.  He married Fanny Frayser February 4, 1801 in Henrico County, Virginia, daughter of Jackson Frayser. 

       

Children of Miles Turpin and Fanny Frayser are:

        2                 i.    Charlotte⁸ Turpin, of Henrico, born in Henrico County, Virginia.

        3                ii.    Fanny Turpin, of Henrico, born in Henrico County, Virginia.

        4               iii.    Jesse Frayser Turpin, of Henrico, born in Henrico County, Virginia.

Jesse married a northern woman.  At the start of the War, he enlisted in Augusta, Georgia, and she returned North, never to see him again.

        5               iv.    Keziah F. Turpin, of "Dove Hill", born in Virginia, and was a member of Four Mile Creek Baptist Church, New Kent County, Virginia.  She married Samuel Cornelius Clopton, a missionary to China April 14, 1846 in "Dove Hill," Henrico County, Virginia by Elder J. O. Turpin¹; born January 7, 1816 in New Kent County, Virginia; died July 7, 1847 in Canton, China and buried there.  He was a member of Emmaus Baptist Church².

 

                               ELDER S. C. CLOPTON.

 

               We this week have the painful duty to discharge of announcing the death of one of our missionaries, brother S. C. Clopton.  He died at Canton, China, on the 7th July, after an illness of ten days, leaving an afflicted widow and child.

               This is indeed a mournful bereavement.   In June, 1816, he left our city, buoyant with health, and fondly hoping that he might have the high privilege of proclaiming the Saviour he loved, as a sure refuge to the perishing heathen.  Young, ardent, long to be useful, blessed with a grand constitution, he might naturally have expected a long and useful career.  He was only permitted, however, to give for a brief space of the vast field before him, to survey the magnitude of the enterprise on which he was entering, and to feel the full responsibility of being a messenger of glad tidings to those countless millions, ere he is summoned to a higher and -?- sphere of enjoyment.  His sojourn amongst the Chinese had been too brief to permit him to acquire the language, and he therefore was debarred from the privilege of preaching Christ and him crucified to that  -?- nation; yet he was -?- engaged in preparing himself for this arduous duty; and by his presence in their midst, he evinced an interest in their welfare, and a readiness to spend and be spent in their service.

               We sympathize with the Board and the Convention in this afflicting event.  Just entering on a new and responsible work, one of the few agents on whom they depended to carry out their plans, and give stately to their enterprise, is suddenly and unexpectedly removed, and another -?- by -?-.  These are discouraging -?- well fitted to try our faith and love.  God has said that the heathen shall be given to his Son for an inheritance; and the promise must and will be fulfilled.  Adverse events are sometimes permitted to -?- -?- fidelity to the cause, and indeed a stronger -?????- the great Head of the Church.  Others -??????- efforts, yet have gloriously succeeded - The Hindus -?-, the Germans, the Greenland, the South Seas, had -?-their faith severely -?- by -?- disappointments yet they persevered, and God bless their labors.  -????????- the strength of the Lord go on, and that with increased Zeal.

               Our lamented brother was 31 years old.  He was born in New Kent, and was the third son of our esteemed brother Elder James Clopton.  The child of pious parents, he was brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and at an early age became a member of Emmaus church; of which his father was the pastor.  Feeling it his duty to devote himself to the ministry, he became a student in the Va. Baptist Seminary.  He subsequently entered Columbian College, of which he was a graduate.  On leaving that Institution, he accepted an appointment as teacher of the preparatory department of Richmond College.  Desirous to qualifying himself thoroughly for the work of the ministry, he resigned his office, and became a student in Newton Theological Institution.  When the unhappy separation was place[ed] betwixt the North and South, on the decision of the Boston Board, he, with some other Southern students, left that institution.

               In the interval between leaving that Institution and his acceptance as a missionary by the Board, he was actively engaged in preaching to different churches.  In the fall of 1815, he was accepted as a missionary, and by direction of the Board, he visited several churches and with a view to awaken a deeper interest in the -?- -?-

               A few weeks before he embarked he was united in marriage to sister Frances Turpin, a daughter of the late beloved pastor of Four Mile Creek church, in this county.

               Amiable in his deportment, and courteous in his intercourse with his fellow-men, as a man he was loved and esteemed.  Devotedly pious, and conspicuous for a fervent zeal, as a Christian, he won the confidence and esteem of all with whom he associated.  but his pilgrimage is ended.  Like the early dew, he vanished in the morning of life; yet it is our duty to bow submissively to the stroke, and say, Surely will not the Judge of all do that which is right.

 

                                                               "Religious Herald"

                                                               October 28, 1847

        6                v.    Mildred Turpin.

        7               vi.    Sally G. Turpin, of Henrico, born in Henrico County, Virginia.  She married Joshua Frazier February 12, 1825 in Henrico County, Virginia.

        8              vii.    William H. Turpin, of Henrico, born in Henrico County, Virginia.  He married (1) Susan Hill.  He married (2) Lucy B. Hill.

        9             viii.    Jackson Frayser Turpin, of Henrico, born October 26, 1809 in Henrico County, Virginia; died August 4, 1881.  He married Catherine Mary Barnes December 2, 1841 in Richmond County, Georgia.

        10              ix.    John Oscar Turpin, of "Dove Hill", born 1811 in "Dove Hill," Henrico County, Virginia.  He married Martha Baylor Brown January 29, 1836.

The Rev. Turpin was the pastor of Beulah Church, King William County, Virginia, for over forty years.  He is buried at Beulah Church cemetery.

        11               x.    Miles Turpin, the Younger, born December 6, 1815 in Henrico County, Virginia; died in Henrico County, Virginia.  He married Rebecca Marshall Garthright, of Hanover February 13, 1840 in Richmond, Virginia; born February 10, 1821 in Hanover County, Virginia; died June 28, 1904 in Richmond, Virginia.

        12              xi.    Elisha Straughan Turpin, of Henrico, born October 4, 1819 in Henrico County, Virginia; died September 20, 1885.  He married Elizabeth Keesee May 20, 1885.

 

 

Endnotes

 

1.  Marriage Notices from Richmond Newspapers, 1841-1853,  (Courtesy of Suellen (Clopton) DeLoach Blanton), p. 113, Notice appeared in both "Richmond Enquirers," May 8, 1846, p. 2.

2.  Religious Herald (Richmond, Virginia) Obituary Notices,  (Copy located Clopton Family Archives courtesy of Darlene Slater, Research Assistant, Virginia Baptist Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia), October 28, 1847.

 

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