Thomas Henry Crawford Dedmon

     
      Born: September 20, 1846 Rutherford County, North Carolina
Died: September 20, 1910 Heavener, Leflore County, Oklahoma
Buried: September 22, 1910 Lower Heavener Cemetery, Leflore County, Oklahoma
Parents: Mark L Dedmon b.1820 Rutherford County,NC d.1869 Walker County, Georgia
         Rebecca Macon b.1819 Davie County,NC d.1866 Walker County, Georgia
Married: 1842 North Carolina

 

Brothers and Sisters: Isaac Charles (Crate) b.1843,Mary C
b.1847,Abram Oliver b.1848,Margaret Ann (Peggy) b.1849,Mark Rufus b.1852,Morris Harrison (Harry) b.1856,Adolphus F (Dolphus O) b.1856,William Carrollb.1859,John Brakingridge b.1861. All of Thomas Crawford's brothers and sisters migrated to Scott County,Arkansas or Leflore County,Oklahoma except Isaac CHarles (Crate) who died in 1898, his family stayed in Chattanooga

Military Service: Thomas, enlisted July 1, 1861 as T H Dedmon in Company H (Wrights Infantry) 2nd Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry, enlisted for nine months and thirteen days giving address as Whitfield County,Georgia. During the Civil War the 2nd served under General Robert Augustus Toombs (Toombs Brigade) in the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E Lee. The 2nd fought in The Seven Days Battle, Garnett's Farm, Malvern Hill, Second Manasas, Antietam, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Knoxville, Suffolk, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Appomattox. Thomas was wounded at Garnett's Farm on June 27,1862 and was wounded again at Malvern Hill on July 1,1862. On September 17, 1862 at Antietam being the bloodiest day in American History with 23,582 Americans losing their lives, the 2nd and 20th Georgia Infantry with fewer than 300 soldiers held off nearly thirty regiments of the Federal IX Corps for five hours, repelling five attacks at Burnside's Bridge. General Lee would later come to view the battlefield accomplishments of his outnumbered troops at Antietam as his Army's finest hour. Thomas did not appear on the roll at the end of the War, but family members passed down that he fought against Martha Ellen's father John J Jones at the Battle of Chickamauga September 19/20 1863.
     Thomas's family migrated from North Carolina to North Georgia around 1846 or 1847, Thomas was just an infant. Thomas's family appears in the 1850 East Chickamauga, Walker County, Georgia Census. On April 17, 1855 Thomas's dad, Mark L bought four acres of land on Taylors Ridge in Ringgold, Catoosa County,Georgia from David McCarter Dickson. In the 1860 Ringgold, Catoosa County,Georgia Census Mark L and his brothers William D and Thomas W and their Dad William b 1791 were all living next door to each other on Taylor's Ridge with their families. Mark L remarried March 19, 1868 to Louisa E (Lou) Bridges in Catoosa County, Georgia and died before the 1870 Census.
     After the Civil War Thomas appears in the 1870 Fricks Gap, Walker County, Georgia Census with his first wife Martha (Mattie) Davison and two children, John 2 (John was never listed again in any Census's) and William 9/12, it states that Martha is 24 and born in Georgia. Thomas and Martha appear in the 1880 17th Civil District, Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee Census becoming the first Dedmon family to live in Chattanooga. I have been unable to find Martha's family yet. Their children John b 1868 Fricks Gap, Walker County,Georgia, William b August 12, 1870 Fricks Gap, Walker County,Georgia, Gussie b 1873 Fricks Gap, Walker County,Georgia, Nancy R (Becky) b 1874 Fricks Gap, Walker County,Georgia, Mark Rufus b August 1,1875 Chattanooga,Tennessee, Samuel b November 5,1883 Chattanooga,Tennessee. On January 17,1889 Land Deed #78-476 Thomas and Martha Davison purchase thirteen and a quarter acres of land from John and Elizabeth Ellis in Harrison, Tennessee for $126.00. Thomas and Martha Davison appear on Land Deed # 143-296 in January of 1890 giving Hamilton County Goverment the right of way to build Harrison Pike on their property. Martha died after January 1890 an before August 1891 but I have not found her yet in any death records, obituary listings, or cemeteries. Their first son, John, I believe died before the age of twelve, William, which I am a descendent, stayed in Chattanooga, Nancy R(Becky) I believe married a C L Fergenson in Chattanooga on February 8, 1891 but I have not found them after the marriage, Gussie, Mark and Samuel migrated to Heavener, Leflore County, Oklahoma.
     After Martha's death Thomas hired  Martha Ellen Jones to clean house and cook for his family for $1.50 a week. Thomas must have liked the job the young 22 year old with an hourglass figure (5'5", 125 lbs) and ankle length hair, they were married August 24, 1891 in Chattanooga. A drug store in Chattanooga offered Martha Ellen $25.00 a week to walk around with her ankle length hair and say she used a certain tonic sold there, but she refused the job because she would not lie. On October 22, 1898 Land Deed #166-160 Thomas Crawford and Ellen sold property to start the Missionary Baptist Church on Harrison Pike to trustees Thomas Crawford Dedmon, William R Knight and James Harvey for five dollars. On land Deed # 166-162 the church was described as the Baptist Church by Thomas Crawford Dedmon. The Missionary Baptist Church that Thomas Henry Crawford Dedmon started later became the Bartlebaugh Baptist Church in Harrison, Tennessee. Martha Ellen b August 23, 1868 in Chattanooga was the daughter of John J Jones (Enlisted 1862 in Harrison, Tennessee in Company G, 5th Regiment Tennessee Infantry Union Army) and Mary Ellen Talley.John was the son of Conway Jones and Ruth Biggs and Mary Ellen Talley the daughter of Berry Lee Talley and Ellender Gay, Mary Talley's second marriage was to George M (Grover) Petty. Thomas and Martha Ellen had five children all born in Chattanooga, Ira Crawford  b May 19, 1893, Harry L b January 1, 1894, Eva P (Delora) b September 17, 1896, Carl Lee b September 22, 1899, Setha Aldeen b September 20, 1902. Thomas became ill and could not work his prosperous vegetable farm in the Harrison area of Chattanooga and decided to join his sons Mark and Samuel in Heavener, Leflore County, Oklahoma where he thought his health would improve. Thomas and Martha Ellen sold their 13 acre vegetable farm in Harrison to J R Davis and wife Arminda on December 24, 1906 Land Deed #205-600 and moved to Oklahoma, where the family moved to the country and raised cotton. Thomas and Martha Ellen appear in the 1910 Heavener, Leflore County, Oklahoma Census with children Ira, Delora, Carl, and Aldean. Harry L died November 6, 1902 in Chattanooga and was buried in his father's  Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, Harrison, Hamilton County, Tenessee, which became the Bartlebaugh Baptist Church. Thomas died on his 64th birthday. Martha Ellen operated a boarding house and appeared in the 1920 Heavener, Leflore County, Oklahoma Census as Ellen Fegley, living with her was her youngest son Carl Lee Dedmon. I believe her second husband was James W Fegley b February 1866 Schuyler, Illinois. Martha Ellen lived to be ninty three and was married five times. Her last husband was Frank Graham and she died August 31, 1961 in Muskogee, Oklahoma and is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery there.

Compiled and Submitted by Tim Dedmon
tdedmon@bellsouth.net