FAMILY OF WILLIAM BENJAMIN LAUGHTER AND FRANCES

JOHN JOSEPH LAUGHTER was born about 1808 in Warren County, North Carolina, and died about 1876 in DeSoto County, Missisippi. He is buried in Baker's Chapel Cemetery, DeSoto County, Mississippi. He married HARRIETT BROWN about 1830, daughter of HUKEY BROWN. She was born bet. 1812 - 1814 in Alabama or Maury County, Tennessee, and died before September 14, 1903 in DeSoto County, Mississippi. She is buried Baker's Chapel Cemetery, DeSoto County, Mississippi.

Notes for JOHN JOSEPH LAUGHTER:

FROM "OUR HERITAGE-DESOTO COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI" BY PAM MCPHAIL IVY, 1975

JOHN LAUGHTER, P. 140

John Laughter born in North Carolina in 1808 and Harriet Brown born in Maury County, Tennessee in 1814 were married in 1832. Eleven children were born to them, one, George Wesley Laughter, born in DeSoto co. in 1847. He married Lou Anderson born in DeSoto Co. in 1866. Four children were born to them.

The family lived in the Brights Community and attended Bakers Chapel Church. The children attended the California School, located next to Bakers Chapel Church. The boys hunted in the Camp Creek Bottom, and a ride in a wagon to Hernando was a real treat.

Brown and Louise are now deceased. G.W. lives in Memphis, and Ruth graduated from the Baptist Hospital School of Nursing in 1924. She lives in Memphis.

MICHAEL HUNT LAUGHTER was born September 30, 1816 in Warren County, North Carolina, and died August 23, 1880 in Jackson County, Texas. He is buried on Laughter plantation near Morales, Jackson County, Texas. He married SARAH MAGDALENA VARDEMAN May 25, 1837 in Holmes County, Mississippi, daughter of JEREMIAH VARDEMAN and SARAH SMITH. She was born July 24, 1820 in Pike County, Mississippi, and died November 05, 1878 in Jackson County, Texas. She is buried on Laughter plantation near Morales, Jackson County, Texas.

Notes for MICHAEL HUNT LAUGHTER:

FROM "THE LAUGHTER FAMILY GENEALOGY" BY DOUGLAS LAUGHTER OF HOUSTON, TEXAS

Michael Laughter was born in Warren County, NC on 30 Sept 1816, just one year after his father, William Laughter, returned from service in the War of 1812. After moving to Tennessee in 1825, they lived near the present city of LaGrange, Fayette County, Tennessee. At the age of 14, family tradition says, Michael ran away from home, possibly with his brothers James and George, and lived in Holmes or Carroll County, Mississippi. He married Sarah Magdalena Vardaman, the daughter of Jeremiah and Sarah (Smith) Vardaman, in Holmes County on 25 May 1837. The Vardamans were prominent planters in Mississippi and probably influenced much of the business knowledge that Micheal practiced in the following years. He became a business success at an early age when, realizing that there was money to be made from the tremendous forests in Mississippi, he began purchasing timber rights in 1838 at the early age of 22. He became partners in this venture with John Claws in 1838, realizing a good profit while getting working capital in which to buy more land. He purchased the George W. Pollard home in Carrollton, MS and in Holmes County from 1839 to 1848. He lived in Mississippi City, Harrison County, until 1858 when he moved his family to Texas. In the fall of 1858, Michael, along with his family, mother-in-law Sarah (Smith) Vardaman, and brother-in-law William Sylvester Vardaman, left Biloxi in 3 ships that they had purchased on which they brought about 30 slaves, their household goods, etc. and lumber, already cut, to build a large 2 story Dutch Colonial house. After landing at old Indianola, a flourishing seaport of that time, they came overland to Jackson County. They bought 1600 acres of land out of the William Whittaker League,l east of the Navidad River, where they processed sugar and molasses for commercial purposes. There was a large sugar house on the east bank of the Navidad River, 2 large underground cisterns in which to cool molasses and large iron kettle with wide brims in which to cook the cane juice.

The Civil War started shortly after Michael came to Texas and his dream of the sugar plantation never became a reality. In July of 1861, his 3 oldest sons enlisted in the Confederate Army. As more and more men were needed, Michael, although 47 years old, joined the 24th Cavalry Brigade on 21 Sept 1863 at Camp Terry, Texas. His unit was captured on the 2nd of December 1863 at Aransas Pass, Texas. He was sent to New Orleans but one of his slaves, Nelse Dawson, who had gone with him, managed to escape the Yankees and return home to tell the family what had happened. They were held in the attic of a home in New Orleans where the guard marched up and down before the opening, day and night. One companion would sit by the opening and signal the others when the guard reached the end of his beat so that they had time to scrape the locks? before the guard returned and could hear the noise.

After breaking through 3 walls, they swam the Mississippi River and walked back to Texas. At the close of the war, Michael found his property dissipated, his slaves freed and his money worthless. The Vardamans sold their half of the plantation and returned to Mississippi where one of his sons, born in Texas, later became Governor (James K. Vardaman).

Micheal was involved in several business ventures after the war. One was the exclusive agent for Franklin & Johnson Soap along with the manufacturing rights, and another, the rights to manufacture a patented Bee Hive of J.F. Van Horn. How well these ventures fared is not known, but since this happened about 1878, it shows that he never lost his interest in business even after the vast disappointment of the war. Michael was appointed to the office of Justice of the Peace and Constable of his precinct in 1878 and served until 1880 when he was unable to run for election because of his health. His wife, Sarah, died on 5 Nov 1878. Sarah was born 24 July 1820 in Pike Co. MS. Michael died shortly afterward on 23 Aug 1880, and they were both buried on the Laughter plantation near Morales, Jackson County, Texas. He died without a will but left his property to his 2 youngest sons, Gideon and Robert, in exchange for their promise to take care of his minor daughters, Tryphrene and Emma Gertrude. Michael died of consumption along with several of his sons who died within several years of each other.

The Michael Hunt Laughter family bible listing the births, deaths and marriages is in the possession of Vernon Laughter, who worked for many years along with her sister, Pearl, in gathering material on the Laughter, Smith and Vardaman families. This material is also included in their DAR papers in Washington, D.C. Alice Vernon's DAR #418398 and Pearl's is #418399.