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Dr. Samuel Alexander Mims
Assignment Memphis
Dr. William Fisher McFarland
Polly Dancy
D.C. Crawford
Willie P. Cherry Family
~ Honors ~
Thomas Allen Hughes Alexander Duff Mebane
Regimental Histories and Memorial Rolls - The Dancyville Grays
Burchett Douglas - Historical Marker Dedication
DR. SAMUEL
ALEXANDER MIMS
Dr. Samuel Alexander Mims lived in Dancyville and Walnut Ridge, near Dancyville, from early 1849 to late 1853. In Dancyville he lived very near the Methodist Church (close enough to hear the singing and preaching).
Dr. Mims was born February 18th, 1818, in Bladen County, North Carolina, the son of Samuel Alexander Mims and Nancy Ann Sessions Mims. He had two brothers: James Sessions Mims and Thomas J. Mims and two sisters: Columbia Mims and Catherine Mims.
The family moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1824. Doctor Mims finished his medical degree at the Medical College of Charleston, South Carolina in 1847. Dr. Mims brother, James S. was a professor at Furman Institute, now Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina.
Dr. Samuel and his brother James married twin sisters from Society Hill, South Carolina: Sam married Harriett McIver and James married Sara McIver.
Dr. Samuel and Harriett McIver Mims had three children:
-James Mims, b. 1848, died young, place unknown
-Samuel Evander Roderic Mims, b. December 27, 1850, in Dancyville. What happened to Roddy
is unknown. He remained in Louisiana after the Doctor's death and his step mother returned
to South Carolina.
-Nancy 'Nannie' Elizabeth Mims, b. August 24, 1853, in
Dancyville, d. January 13, 1903, Nancy married Newton Darius Gandy, b. 1853 d. Mar
12, 1932, Nancy and Newton's children were:
Harriet McIver Gandy, married William B. Wall
Frances Olive Gandy, married Dr. James McCall Earle, they lived in Darlington, South
Carolina
Harriett McIver Mims became ill while living in Dancyville and wanted to be near her kin at the time of death. Doctor Mims took her to Greenville, South Carolina where she died in 1857.
Dr. Mims married Frances Ann Blackburn, in Greenville, South Carolina, date unknown. Samuel and Frances' Children were:
-Francis Olivia Mimms²
-Mary Columbia Mimms, born in Greenville, South Carolina
-Catherine Mimms
-Samuel Alexander Mimms, b. January 5, 1864 (five days after Dr. Mims death)¹
Samuel Alexander Mimms married Margaret Eleanor Ligon on
January 1, 1890. She was the daughter of Col. Robert Burns Ligon and Margaret Adeline Carter
Ligon. Margaret was b. December 7, 1872, d. June 19, 1934.
Sam and Eleanor had eleven children:
-Margaret Ann Mimms, b. Oct. 9, 1890, d. Nov. 30, 1930 -
married J. Thomas Slater, 6 children
-Nancy Elizabeth Mimms, b. July 25, 1892 - married John Milton Brown, 11 children
-Samuel Alexander Mimms, b. August 13, 1894 d. Nov. 6, 1953, married Lucile Donnald, 2
children
-Robert Joseph Mimms, b. Jan.31, 1897, d. Apr. 22,1956, married Pansye Mae Williams, 1
child
-Amelia Mimms, b. Apr. 10, 1898, d. Sep. 1, 1901
-John Allen Mimms, b. Sep. 28, 1901, d. 1985, married Hazel Bennett, b.Mar 30, 1905, d.
1988, 2 children. See**
-Minnie Eleanor Mimms, b. May 8, 1904, married Melvin P. McHugh, b. 1903, d. July 17, 1971
-Allie Mary Mims, b. Oct 8, 1907, unmarried, did not add 2nd 'm' to name. Lives in Home
Place in Piedmont, S.C.
-Frances Blackburn Mimms, b. Oct. 4, 1909, married Marvin O. Thomas, 1 child
-Mildred Mimms, b. June 24, 1912, d. Aug. 3, 1912
-Lucy Ligon Mimms, born Dec 24, 1916, d. Feb 28, 1966, married George Campbell, 2 children
** John Allen and Hazel Bennett Mimms' children are:
- John Allen Mimms Jr. b. Mar 12, 1930, married Gwen Walton, Sep. 22, 1965. John and
Gwen's children are:
James W. Nance
Shari Nance
-Margaret Mimms Ward, b. 1932, d. 1986, Margaret married
Charles Ward. Margaret and Charles' children are:
Lawrence Ward
Allene Ward
Dr. Samuel Mims always wanted to live in Texas, so around 1861, he left Greenville, South Carolina and headed to Texas. He got as far as Logansport, Louisiana, about 1000 yards from the Texas line and settled. Dr. Mims died from flu on Jan. 1, 1864. He was the owner of about 1600 acres of land about 3 miles from Logansport (where there are many oil wells today). His wife remained in Logansport until around 1872 when her brother came and took her and the family back to South Carolina. The land sold for taxes, one dollar an acre, some time later.
Note: There is a Baptist Church on the property today, named: 'Mims Springs Baptist Church'. I took my father and mother to visit the church in 1968. Daddy was so proud. jm
This profile provided by John Allen Mimms Jr., great-grandson of Dr. Samuel A. Mims.
See The MIMS LETTERS also provided by John.
¹It is not known where Dr. Samuel Alexander Mims is buried. The family has searched for 30 years in Louisiana for his grave. Anyone with information regarding the burial plot is asked to email this web site.
²The second 'm', added to Mims is also a mystery. When first added is not known. It was on Dr. Mims' second wife, Frances Ann's tombstone - 'Francis Ann Mimms'. But the second 'm' was being used prior to her death in 1918.
Assignment:
Memphis¹
Boy, Victorious Over Illness, Rides In Sartorial Splendor
By Lydel Sims²
The dreams of 10 year-old boys are strange and wonderful things, especially as they apply to sartorial magnificence. Once, years ago in West Tennessee, such a dream came true.
I heard the story the other night from the man who was the boy - Anderson Renshaw³ of 4263 Airways.
We were talking of things parents promise their children when they are sick and Mr. Renshaw smiled suddenly and told me about it.
He lived in Dancyville. One day, while playing in the barnyard, he stepped on a sharp stick and it broke off in his bare foot. What followed was, in those days, as familiar, as it was terrible: tetanus.
Boy Grew Worse
Despite the efforts of the family physician, Dr. J.S. Rawlings, the boy grew rapidly worse. The parents, despairing of his life but praying they were wrong, talked to him as parents will about the fine times he would have when he was well.
What would he like most of all?
Anderson thought it over solemnly. He wanted to go on a real train trip, he said, to visit his two grown brothers down in Mississippi. But mostly, there was something special he wanted to wear. Something he wanted more than anything else in the world.
He grew still worse. At last Dr. Rawlings told the family he had done all he could, except for one thing. There was something new, an antitoxin for tetanus. Many physicians were hostile to it. He could promise nothing but the chance might be worth taking.
Desperate the family agreed. A rush order was sent to the old Van Fleet-Mansfield Drug Company in Memphis. The antitoxin sped back by rail and horseback. And it did the job.
Only Survivor
Later as Mr. Renshaw recalled it, Dr. Rawlings was criticized at a medical convention in Memphis for administering the antitoxin. He answered with two questions. How many cases of tetanus had been reported to the organization during the year? More than 40 the secretary replied. And how many had survived? Only the Renshaw child.
But that belongs in a medical version of the story. It is triumph of a boy's dream that concerns us here.
Not long afterward, father and son
set out on a real train trip to Mississippi. And neither cared if some of the grownups
looked at them and smiled. For Anderson's wish had come true, just as he had been promised
it would:
He wore what he had so often dreamed of wearing as he sat through the long sermons
on Sunday mornings - a stiff-fronted white shirt, a wing collar, and a black bow tie, just
like the preacher's.
¹Assignment Memphis is a
Copyrighted© column of the Memphis, Tennessee newspaper, The Commercial Appeal,
which retains all rights to it's use. Used by Permission -
granted: June 23, 1999.
²Lydel Sims wrote humor and human interest articles for The Commercial Appeal
and other publications. Mr. Sims died in 1995 at the age of 78.
³Mr. Anderson Renshaw was the son of the Rev Renshaw, the Pastor of the
Dancyville United Methodist Church, 1900-1903.
DR. WILLIAM FISHER McFARLAND
Dr. William Fisher McFarland was born in Dixon Springs, Smith County Tennessee but moved to, and lived in, Dancyville, Tennessee from 1840 until his death.
Dr. McFarland was a pioneer physician, traveling many miles to practice his profession. He was also a professor at the Memphis Medical College.
In addition to medicine, Dr. McFarland managed a 1200 acre farm and a mercantile business, in the Dancyville Village.
Early Dancyville maps show Dr. McFarland’s home across the road from the entrance to the United Methodist Church Road. His home was originally a two story log that was later weather boarded, with additions of a front porch and a dining room on the rear of the home. The home contained six rooms and was in the style of the 1846 - 1860 period. To help manage the home, three servants; cook, maid and stable man were engaged, and the farm had 25 to 30 slaves in residence.
Dr. McFarland married Martha Douglas. Martha’s father was Burchette Douglas, who lived in Wilson County for many years, then Somerville. He served both communities in the Senate for 25 years and was also a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1834.
Both Dr. McFarland and wife Martha were of Scotch heritage, and in the words of one son, Louis Burchette McFarland, were clanish. In clan tradition the oldest member of the family was the head of both family clans.
Bib.: Most of the information contained in this profile is from the Tennessee Civil War Questionnaire completed by Louis Burchette McFarland, son of Dr. McFarland.
PROVIDING PROFILES
I WOULD LIKE TO INCLUDE SHORT PROFILES OF EARLY FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS FROM THE DANCYVILLE AREA. THERE WERE MANY PROMINENT FOLKS, WITH NAMES EASILY RECOGNIZABLE AND THEY ARE IMPORTANT. THERE WERE ALSO MANY LESSER KNOWN PEOPLE, THAT ALSO CONTRIBUTED GREATLY TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMMUNITY AND AREA. I WISH TO INCLUDE BOTH GROUPS. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO INCLUDE HUMAN INTEREST ITEMS SIMILAR TO THE ASSIGNMENT MEMPHIS PIECE APPEARING ON THIS PAGE.
PROFILES and HUMAN INTEREST ITEMS may be sent as email attachments (use Note Pad or Word Pad for text), or you may email me for the address where you can send by regular mail. I can use small photos in the items (if you send photos by email attachment please insure the file is small and in jpg format). Photos should be of the early pioneer(s) or event, not modern vintage. If the item is not written by the sender, be certain to have permission to use the material. Provide the name and address (only the name will appear, for credit purposes, on the site) of the person(s) providing the material. I will post profiles as time and space permits. If you have questions, regarding any part of these instructions, please email me.Thanks. jd
Updated August 27, 2000
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