Athens Weekly Review
Friday, April 24, 1903
J. W. Carver
A soldier, patriot and farmer born in Pickens county, Miss., on
Feb. 9, 1856, when quite a youth he
moved with his parents to Henderson county, Texas, and settled at
Brownsboro, where he engaged in
farming. When Texas seceded he joined a volunteer company
commanded by Capt. Bridges and marched
east in defense of the Confederacy. His first engagement was at
Pea Ridge, March 7, 1862, in which the
Confederates suffered severe loss, including the gallant Gen. Ben
McCulloch. He served in the sixth
Texas cavalry for twelve months under the command of Capt. Stone.
And he was under the command of
Sul Ross, the hero of Corinth, in which battle he received a very
painful wound and was borne from the
scene and cared for by his comrades. The student will remember
that it was in the battle of Corinth where
Col. W. P. Rogers of the Second Texas fell with the colors in his
hand just as he had leaped upon the
embankment and was cheering on his men. The Federal troops in
admiration of his bravery gave his
body an honorable burial. It was in this battle that Gen. W. L.
Cabell at the head of an Arkansas brigade
won the appellation of "Ole Tige." Mr. Carver says that
his company fought with the bravery of a bulldog.
He was also in Bragg's army in Tennessee and Kentucky. He was in
John B. Hood's army when he evacuated
Atlanta and went north into Tennessee hoping to draw Sherman
after him in 1864.
After the surrender, as all other Confederate soldiers who
survived, he wended his way home without a
penny. As many others he began farming "flat broke,"
though by industry and economy he soon acquired a
comfortable home and now has valuable property. His farm at
Brownsboro is gray and black sandy loam
land, and he has a bottom land farm of 100 acres that is fertile,
easily producing a bale of cotton to the
acre and in proportion all the cereals commonly grown in East
Texas; also fruits and vegetables profuse
and abundant. Owning valuable city property in Athens and a good
farm nearby besides his Brownsboro
farm property, cattle, hogs, and horses, farming implements,
etc., we can truthfully say that Uncle Jim
Carver is a successful tiller of the soil. During the time since
the war he has served Henderson county
thirteen years as an officer--seven years commissioner of
precinct No. 4 and six years county treasurer.
And so the same cloud which poured down blessings upon him in one
direction, broke into a tempest and
many sore afflictions in another. God's ways are not easily
understood and his acts and thoughts of
kindness are numerous as the drops of rain.
Mr. Carver has buried at Brownsboro eleven of his children and
their mother. He has only one child,
Mrs. Godwin of Athens now living, she being his youngest. While
he has not had so many afflictions as
Job, we do believe he has as great faith in God. For it seems to
me that a man after having lost twelve of
his family by natural death would rend his clothing and almost
depart from the faith. Take into
consideration the enormous expense of twelve births and twelve
deaths occurring in one farmer's house
within a space of thirty-five years, it is indeed wonderful that
he as a penny left. But the income of his
estate today is keeping Mr. Carver and his second wife in easy
and comfortable circumstances.
Had we dipped our pen in the cup of faith we could say he is a
good man, his hopes live where the
angels live. His kindness and gentleness are sweetly tempered
with that meekness and forbearance
which are born of faith. Trust comes into his heart as rivers
come to the sea, and in the dark hours of
doubt and foreboding he rest fondly on the strong arm of that
buoyant faith as a treasure of life which will
purchase him a home in that far off clime. And in his hollar
musings we see him stretch forth his frail hand
for that gentle Spirit to lead him away from the vanities of
worldly ambition to the fullness of that joy which
the chosen shall inherit.
W. R. Coker.
Transcribed by Bunny Freeman May 2003
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