John Beck ABNEY

     John Beck ABNEY, son of James Wiley ABNEY and Eleanor Ward HAILEY, was born on 4 July 1833 in Elbert County, Georgia.²

John married Lucy Matilda Caroline Brown on 16 October 1855 in Georgia. She was the daughter of Benjamin and Millie Crawford Brown. John and Lucy were the parents of ten children: Mildred, Martha, Benjamin, Mary, William, Dozier, John, Nancy, James and Thomas.³

John Beck ABNEY and Lucy Matilda Caroline Brown were charter members of the Rock Branch Baptist Church in Newton County, Mississippi. Rock Branch Cemetery is located between the town of Union and the community of Little Rock, MS. The cemetery sits beside Rock Branch Baptist Church on the south side of Highway 494. A memorial there reads: "In Memory of Charter members of Rock Branch Church John B. Abney 1833-1895, Lucy M. C. Abney 1836 - 1913, William W. Abney 1866 - 1896, and Sallie A. Abney 1868 - 1896.

In 1880 John Beck ABNEY and Lucy Matilda Caroline Brown were living in Newton County, Mississippi. Living wiith them was Lucy's sister, A. L. E. Brown, age 39. In early 1892 John moved his family to Goldthwaite, Texas where he opened a hotel, but died in 1895. Lucy moved back to Newton County with two of the five minor children of her son, William Wiley and Sallie Anne Laird Abney, both of whom had died of typhoid fever in November and December of 1897. Lucy appeared in the 1900 Census in Newton County with the two children. She remained there for a few more years before returning to Texas to live with her son and is buried in Hunt County, Texas.^4,3

John Beck ABNEY died on 19 November 1895 in Goldthwaite, Mills County, Texas, at age 62.² He was buried in Odd Fellows Memorial Cemetery.