1864 Letter from Samuel & Susan Dover to John M. & Eliza E. Bolton
Contributed by Francine Rossman
Geo[rgia], Murray Co, Jan. the 24th 1864
My dear Son and Daughter
I write these lines to you to inform you that your kind
letter of the 9th Reached us the 21st of this inst.
We was truly sorry to hear of the loss of your
dear Little Baby which I must tell you that
I bear a portion of your Troubles myself and
I greatly fear by the time you all get naturalized
to that low Country that you will loose more
of your Family though I hope not. Well I will
tell you that on the 21st of this inst. we Received
a letter from Thomas [23 year old son of Susan & Samuel] bearing date the 5th he was
well then but said that the most of them was
nearly Naked and Barefooted and that they had
done some of the hotest Fighting that he had seen
since the War began. Bryant was at Dalton the
other day and the Report there was that Longstreets
Men was cut to pieces dreadful on the 8th
day of this Month though I hope it is a fals report.
I will say to you that there was a Raid of 60
Yankeys up on the Old Road the other day at
McCanys and Howels and taken all the
Horses and Mules they had and returned
back to Tennessee there is Nothing to hender them
from comeing through here at any time for there
has not been any Picketts here in nearly three
weeks and they say that the Army is leaveing
Dalton. I have nothing strange to write to you more
than to tell you that ________
[Page 2]
____ that man Cook that was attending
____ the Mill departed this life and
____ the next Thursday his Wife moved
____ down to Old James Crows and her
Baby has died since it was about seven
weeks old and as fat a child as I ever saw of
its age. I am sorry to say to you that me and
the Old Man is still in a lingering state of
Health. I don’t think you ever saw the old man
as weak as his is now though we keep up but
not able to do any kind of labour. Our complaint
is like a sloe Fever but we can’t tell what it
is for it has went through Bryant’s Family. I hope
we will get better of it soon though I think it will
be a tight squeeze for us to rise with it. I do
hope these lines may have a speedy conveyance
to you and find you all well and doing well.
I want you to write as often as you can for I will
be glad to hear from you at any time and I will
try to do the same. Adaline sends her love to
you all give our love to all the children
and accept the same yourselves. We Remain
with love and Respect your Affectionate
Father and Mother and Sister till separated
by Death.
Samuel & Susan Dover to
John M. & Eliza E. Bolton and Family, Farewell.
Three years
before her letter was written, in the 1860 census of Murray County, Georgia,
Susan Campbell Dover is listed as age 58, and Samuel Dover, as age 63. So
when she wrote the letter, she was 61 and Samuel was 66, Adaline was 16.
I’ve copied most of this letter from my carefully compiled family records of
the Bolton lineage. Unfortunately, I have no clues as to Dovers
beyond Susan Campbell Youngblood (Dover) and her husband Samuel Dover.
However, they came from South Carolina into Georgia. That is established
from authentic census records.
Letters reveal
often times the emotional make-up of the writer as well as other
characteristics. But each ancestor through the miracles of heredity,
transmits a portion of himself or herself that lives on through and in their
descendants. Thus it is that you and I carry within ourselves some of the
unknown factors which animated the life of Susan Campbell Youngblood (Dover).
And little did she know that several of her descendants would be so very
interested in her long years after she left this world.
Contributed by Wanda Snyder
1840 Gwinnett Co, GA Census pg 109
(Male 30-40; Male 5-10; Female 20-30; female 5-10)
1850 Gwinnett Co, GA Census pg 184, Dwelling #798, Family #798;William &
Samantha C. Dover also pg 184, Dw #793,Fm #793
1860 Murray Co, GA Census pg 144 ln 18, Dw #1014, Fam #953
1870 Cleveland Bradley PO, Polk Co, TN Census pg 6, Dw #48, Fm #48
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
REPRINT of OFFICIAL REGISTER of LAND LOTTERY OF GEORGIA 1827
27th DAY'S DRAWING---April 6th
MORGAN.
page 83
Fortunate Drawers: Samuel Dover,
Captains District: Boswells
Number: 12
District: 22
County: Lee County
Samuel G. Dover served in the Confederate Army,
State of GA, enlisted 03/04/1862
Company G, 41st Infantry, Sergeant, Record #330
406th DIST.GA. MILITIA - PINCKNEYVILLE
SETTLEMENT - GWINNETT CO. GA.
A place name in the biography of John Marion Bolton, grandfather of J.D. Worthington
(as a methodist minister he preached at ten known churches in Georgia).
In 1830 a stagecoach ran through Lawrenceville,
Pinckneyville, and to Bennington, Alabama. Pinckneyville was a village
with a post office. It was a trading post and a stagecoach stop. It
also had an inferior courthouse located there. In 1870 this courthouse
was moved to Norcross, Ga. In 1813-1818 the first settlement established
near what is now Lawrenceville, was called Hog Mountain. There was a fort
there called Fort Daniel in 1812. Hog Mountain gave way to what is now
known as Lawrenceville, near by.
Data source for notes above is
Mrs. Chas. M. Honour, Box 39, Jones Bridge Rd. Norcross, Ga.
Samuel Dover married Susan Campbell
(Youngblood) about 1828, for my grandmother, their oldest child, was born 7/17/1829, somewhere near
Lawrenceville. According to my uncle, Tom Bolton, Samuel
Dover drove a stagecoach about 1820, between Augusta, Gainesville, and Dalton, Ga.,
when Dalton was then in Murray County. Perhaps that is why Samuel Dover
moved from Gwinnett Co. in 1850 to Murray Co., where the 1860 census reveals
that he had resided there for 10 years. He died and is buried there.
There can be no doubt that Samuel Dover was in Pinckneyville many times, because it, too,
was a stagecoach stop. John Marion Bolton was appointed Captain of the 406th district, Pinckneyville,
11/25/1848 by Governor George W. Towns of Milledgeville, at age 23. This indicates he was a man of good
character. This was 2 months and 7 days before he married my grandmother, Eliza E. Dover, 2/1/1849.
The 1850 census of Gwinnett Co. Ga. lists John Marion Bolton as a schoolmaster, age 25, born in S. C.
his wife, Eliza E. Dover, is listed as age 22. They had 1 child, James Samuel Bolton, age 9 months.
Their marriage license is on file in book 4, page 106, court of the ordinary, Lawrenceville, Ga. Marriage
records for Gwinnett County, Ga. begin with 1844. Due to a fire about 1871 many records were destroyed,
hence my failure to find the marriage record of Samuel Dover, if there. My maternal g-grandparents,
Samuel Dover and Susan Campbell (Youngblood) Dover, were both born in S. C. according to 1850 census of Gwinnett
Co. Ga., and the 1860 census of Murray Co. Ga. These censuses supply their ages from which their birth
years can be determined.
Today Pinckneyville is a cross-roads settlement including Mt. Caremel Methodist churchyard
(church and cemetery established 1826) where Hardaway Youngblood lies buried, only child of Susan Campbell
(Youngblood) Dover, by her first marriage to a Youngblood. His identity was first made known to me over
40 years ago by uncle Tom Bolton. Hardaway Youngblood was a half brother of Eliza E. Dover (Bolton) and
upon his mother's marriage to Samuel Dover, grew up with the Dover family for some years. So close were
they that grandma Bolton named her second son William Hardaway Bolton for him. According to uncle Tom
Bolton, Susan Campbell died in Ozark Co., Evening Shade, Arkansas, having gone there because her oldest son,
Samuel Z. Dover lived there. She was buried there.
Pinckneyville spring festival held its 2nd annual commemoration of the village May 6th and 7th,
1967. I was there and made pictures. Only the document now reposing in Kate Bolton's bible announcing
the appointment of J. M. Bolton as captain of militia in the 406th district of Pinckneyville gives documentary
proof of his presence in this particular place. Several photostatic copies of the original and zerox copies
are in existence. Alice Youngblood, g-granddaughter of Susan Campbell (Youngblood) Dover, is the only direct
descendant now living near Pinckneyville.
This sketch of Pinckneyville compiled by J. D. Worthington, 5/27/1967,
my 44th wedding anniversary, as a source of knowledge to any descendants interested in their
family history.