Martin Family Newspaper Clippings
While this blog is primarily about my Hilbun ancestors, I am using this forum to post some old newspaper clippings of my maternal ancestors, the Martins, of Clarke County, Mississippi.
LucyA_Martin_death1925 This is the death of Lucy Autrey Martin, wife of John Henry Martin.
Early News Articles mentioning Hilbuns in Jones County, Mississippi.
Seaborn_Wade__postmasterNov1855 (SF Hilbun’s wife, M. Almedia Wade’s grandfather)
1906_SF_Hilbun__Wade_ 1906_Apr_21__AJ_Hilburn
DockHilbun_marriageMay19_1906_Laurel_Ledger
CharlieHilbun_marr_CallieHintonDec23_1905_
LaurelLedgerCleo MIller n AUnt Hilbun 9 1929
22Feb1924_HIndsCoGazette_RaymondMSp4_HarlHilburn
12Nov1929_MorningCall_p5_MrsHilbun
Early Newspaper clippings about Rev. Bruce S. Hilbun of Jones County, MS and his sons.
I’ve been able to locate some clippings from newspapers about some of my ancestors, and in particular about my grandfather, Bruce S. Hilbun, of Jones County, Mississippi. “Pop” was born in 1893 and died in 1978.
There are 15 clippings and I will add more later. Some of the articles below are also about my Dad, Joel P. Hilbun, and my uncle Billy S. Hilbun. In most, I have highlighted the Hilbun names. The articles shown on this page and which are NOT linked are from the Mississippi Baptist Paper, The Baptist Record.
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- The Baptist Record, 1/10/1918. Bruce Hilbun 1917 Ordination
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- Bapt. Record. 4/8/1971. BS Hilbun, interim pastor
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- Bapt. Record. 8/24/1972.
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- Bruce S. Hilbun from The Baptist Record, May 1940
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- Billy S. Hilbun to Gulfport
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- 1950 Billy S Hilbun to LA.
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- The Baptist Record. 10/17/1957
Daily Herald, 6/5/1934. Rev. BS Hilbun
William Hilbun 1831-1863- researched & written by great-grandson, Joel P. Hilbun.
NOTE: Feel free to use this information but please acknowledge the source- manuscript by Joel P. Hilbun.
William Hilbun was the third child of Stephen Newberry Hilbun (1805-1888) who was the eighth child of Frederick Hilbun (1768-1850). William was born July 7, 1831 in Lowndes County, Alabama. He married Susan Elizabeth Beard July 3, 1855 in Monroe County, Alabama (Monroe County, AL Marriage Book A) and security was provided by Joseph C. Lambert. Susan was the oldest child of Moses Beard and was 22 years old when she married William. Moses Beard was found in the 1850 census of Monroe County, Alabama. Susan Beard’s sister, Martha married William’s younger brother, David Frederick Hilbun and they also moved to Wayne County and later to Laurel, Mississippi.
William and Susan Hilbun had three sons: Andrew Jackson, born in Alabama in 1856; Steven Filmore, born in 1858, and William P., born in 1860. The youngest boys were both born in Wayne County, Mississippi.
William purchased land in Wayne County, Mississippi, on September 8, 1857- 43.20 acres in Township 10 North, Range 7, Section 31, NE4 NW4, for $108, record # 13632. This land joined that of his father-in-law, Moses Beard. A certificate for a Land Patent was issued by the Augusta Land Office on November 10, 1859. On the certificate his name appears five times as “William Hilburn” with the “r” scratch through each time.
On January 9, 1861 Mississippi was the second state to secede from the Union, and on April 12 of that year the War Between the States began with the firing on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. As many men began enlisting to fight for the Confederacy, on March 8, 1862, William and his younger brother, John Wesley, enlisted in the Shubuta Guards of Clarke County, Company E with T. T. Howze, a Clarke County farmer, as captain. Organized March 1, 1862, the regiment was first called the 37th Mississippi Volunteers. Shubuta, the nearest enlistment station, was just a few miles from where he lived in Wayne County. On April 28, 1862, ten companies from the counties of Clarke, Jasper, Lauderdale, and Smith, rendezvoused at Columbus, Mississippi, and there they were mustered into the Army of the Confederate States of America as the 37th Mississippi Infantry Regiment with a total of 888 men, including field officers and staff. The date on William’s service record states that he enlisted on May 13, 1862, by Col. Orlando S. Holland, who had been editor of a newspaper in Enterprise.
William’s unit participated in the Battle of Iuka on September 19, 1862, after which his company was moved into position for the defense of Corinth as a major railroad center. On October 3 there began a three day siege by Federal armies. William’s service record dated October 13 records that he was absent from his company, the reason being that he was wounded in action at Corinth, Mississippi on October 3, 1862 and sent home. His Company Muster Roll for November and December recorded him “absent, wounded in action, Corinth, and in hospital.” The January and February records show “absent, in hospital.” There is a Hospital Muster Roll of General Hospital at Enterprise, Miss., that says “to February 28, 1863, dated February 28, 1863, listing William ”present” as a patient.
Sometime after February 28 William rejoined his regiment which was alrea
dy engaged at Vicksburg. In the fierce fighting that led to the surrender on July 4, the casualties of the 37th were 17 killed and 56 wounded. One of those wounded was William. He was captured and taken as a Prisoner of War on July 4, 1863 but was paroled on July 6.
The Company Muster Roll for April 30 to October 31 states “Died in hospital, Vicksburg, Miss., July 15, 1863.” He was buried near Vicksburg in Cedar Hill Cemetery, in a section established in 1866 for Confederate Soldiers called Soldiers Rest, in the Mississippi Section. His grave marker is inscribed:
“PVT WILLIAM HILBURN
CO E MISS INF CSA
JUL 7 1831 – JUL 15 1863.”
(picture- author and daughter Kaye at William’s grave)
William’s younger brother, John Wesley, was discharged by order of General Johnston sometime between April 30 and October 31, 1863. After he returned from the war, he married William’s widow, Susan Elizabeth, probably in 1865. In about 1879 the family moved from Wayne County to Jones County, Mississippi. An oral tradition has it that they were intending to move on to Texas, but were caught in west Jones County by a very unexpected snow storm. Stranded there for some days, they were treated so well by the Wade family that they decided to just settle in Jones County.
John Wesley Hilbun raised William’s sons and had more children with Susan- Lula, Theodocia, Mary Katherine, John T., and Daniel Benjamin.
William’s son, Stephen Filmore Hilbun grew up in the Big Creek area of Jones County and in 1881 married Mary Almedia Wade, daughter of Daniel Webster Wade and Cornelia Knight Wade. They had the following children- Doctor Franklin, Charles William, Nola Lavada, Persada, Bruce Sharp*, Daniel Wesley, and William Hobson.
*Bruce Sharp Hilbun married Cammie V. Miller and they had the following children, Billy S., John C., Charles C., Joel P., Robert B. and Thomas E.
This Hilbun Blog
My purpose for beginning this blog is simply to share information with others about Hilbun/Hilburn family history, with a focus on the earliest Hilbuns or Hilburns I have discovered in the southern United States, beginning in the colonial period of the 1700’s and going through the end of the 1800’s. My research has included only Hilburns found in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the other “Southern” states. I am aware of some Hilburn families who settled in colonial days in parts of the northeast but I have not researched them. In addition, I have not researched the many Hilborns of Pennsylvania, many whom settled there also in colonial times.
This blog will share findings which I hope others will use to do further research. Genealogy takes a lot of time and energy and while I plan to continue to research within my own direct family line, I hope others will pursue researching other branches of this Hilbun/Hilburn family tree!
This blog will not provide any “family tree” per se, (listings of family members with DOB, etc.) unless it is relevant to the subject matter about which I decide to blog.
There are many other Hilbun/Hilburn researchers, one of whom is my father Joel P. Hilbun. He has been researching our Hilbun ancestors for over three decades and has much of his compiled history and family tree on his website- joehilbun.com.
One of my goals has been to discover the father of Frederick Hilbun, born in 1768, my fourth great-grandfather. My conclusion at this point is that I don’t know who his father was, but I do believe that he is related to the North Carolina Hilbuns, the Hilbuns who settled in Laurens County, Georgia, the Hilburns of Copiah County, Mississippi and is LIKELY related to the Newberry County, South Carolina Hilburns.
I also want to state that in my research I have tried to document my sources for any finding or conclusion and not perpetuate any undocumented claim. For example, I’ve seen online genealogies in which a person has traced their history back many generations but they do not cite proof or provide supporting documentation. One example related to our Hilbun genealogy is that some state that Frederick’s father was a Joseph Hilburn, but I have seen no evidence to support that claim. If someone has this evidence please share it with me. I am primarily interested in researching early Hilbun history- before 1850.
Hilbun? Hilburn? Hillbun? Hillburn?
There has always been confusion regarding the spelling of our family name Hilbun. My whole life I’ve been called Hilburn even when someone is reading my name. For whatever reason, others want to put a “r” in our name.
In the earliest records I have found on the Hilbun family, I have seen the name spelled numerous ways. In colonial days, few were educated and census takers often spelled names as they sounded. Within the records of the Vaughan Hilburn of the early 1700’s, his name is spelled HILBUN and HILBURN in official documents; the same is true for land records for John Hilbun of Duplin County, North Carolina in the mid 1700’s.
Regarding the Hilbun/Hilburn name, my father, Joel P. Hilbun, on his Hilbun family history webpage- http://joehilbun.com/history.htm stated:
“The family name has several spellings, Hilburn being the most prevalent. There is a Family Bible record by descendants of Frederick Hilbun by his second wife in which every entry is spelled Hilbun.
First page of Frederick Hilbun’s Bible Record. Frederick was last enumerated in the 1850 Census of Lowndes Co., AL. That record gave his place of birth as North Carolina.
I also have copies of a Family Bible record by descendants of Stephen Newberry Hilbun and in it every entry is spelled Hilbun. Some of Frederick’s lines of descendants have used the Hilburn spelling and others the Hilbun spelling.
In another document, Joel P. Hilbun stated:
“Hilbun is the spelling in several land records also and is the spelling kept by all of the family members in Jones County, Mississippi. HILBUN is the spelling maintained by a majority of the descendants of James Bruce Hilbun, as well as other family branches.
A majority of descendants of Vaughn Hilbun (1808-91) in Laurens County, Georgia, have followed the HILBUN spelling. Another group that resided in northwest Mississippi followed the HILBUN spelling. No records of the relationship of those two family groups with each other or of Frederick line has been found. The HILBUN spelling has been found on land records of the early 1700s in North Carolina and on census and other public records in England in the 1800s.”
In addition, I have noticed that the majority of descendants of Woodward A. Hilbun (1775-1851) spell their name “Hilbun”. He was born in North Carolina and is likely the son of Vaughan Hilbun, Jr. and settled in Pontotoc, Mississippi in the 1840’s. His children moved to Desoto County, Mississippi and Memphis area, while many of his descendants moved to Texas and then California. These families have consistently used the name HILBUN.
Another “Hilbun” family I have discovered actually spells their name “HILLBUN”. These Hillbuns are first found in Barren County, Kentucky in 1810 with William Hilbun as the father of several children, most of whom later moved on to Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.
Hilbun 