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Americus "Meck" Peyroux Cartwright

Male 1840 - 1873  (33 years)


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  • Name Americus "Meck" Peyroux Cartwright  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
    Nickname Meck 
    Birth 17 Mar 1840  San Augustine, San Augustine County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8
    Gender Male 
    Death 11 Aug 1873  Carthage, Panola County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location  [4, 6, 9
    Burial Oakland Memorial Park Cemetery, Terrell, Kaufman County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Notes 
    • John Bennett Boddie's SOUTHSIDE VIRGINIA FAMILY, Volume 1, states that Mr. Cartwright was a First Lt., C.S.A. in the Third Texas Cavalry and fought in the Missouri Campaign, later serving in General Major's brigade in Louisiana and Texas. His date of death was shown by Boddie as 11 Aug 1873, which matches the photo of his headstone on FindAGrave.

      As had his older brother, Cumby, Meck attended the Kentucky Military Institute in Frankfort. In 1856 he had trouble with a reoccuring infection in his left eye...which eventually led to the loss of they eye. He later attended Cumberland Unversity in Lebanon, Tennesse, also with his brother Cumby. (Henson and Parmelee, p.179-183). He finished his studies in 1859 and returned home to clerk for the Burrus and Cartwright store. (ibid, p. 193).

      On May 25, 1861, Meck, his brother Lon "and twenty other volunteers rode to Shelby County, where Captain Short lived, to enlist...Short's company left in June to rendezvous near Dallas, where along with other East Texas units, they were sworn into Col. Elkana Greer's mounted regiment....(and) eventually were designated as the Third Texas Cavalry, and Short's company became Company E." (ibid, p. 200). Upon reorganization of the regiment on May 8, 1862, Meck Cartwright became second lieutenant of Company E, chosen by the majority of the forty-seven members voting. (ibid, p. 215) Meck requested and received a medical discharge in August, 1862 due to his missing left eye and a more recent impairment to his hearing. (ibid, p. 217). He rejoined the Texas Third Cavalry in 1863...and became a forage master. (ibid, p. 229) later returning home on sick leave, and later still joining General Major's Cavalry (ibid, p. 235). In May, 1864, he ceased duty as a cavalryman and was promoted to courier dispatcher at General Major's headquarters. (ibid, p. 236).

      In 1873, he died at a hotel in Carthage, while travelling on business. For some time he had suffered from various ailments, including jaundice, for which he took calomel or blue pills, both which contained mercury. He also used liquor to mitigate the pain, and on August 11, the doctor pronounced him as dead of black jaundice. (ibid, p. 287). When his widow some years later moved to Terrell, Texas, to join Meck's siblings, she had his body reinterred with those of his parents and siblings. (ibid, p. 308).
    • (Research):
      Census Listings:

      Texas, San Augustine County, PO San Augustine
      Enumerated 6 July 1870
      Page 20
      121-121
      Cartwright, A 52 F W Keep House 343291 15529 Tenn
      Cartwright, M 14 M W At School Tx
      Cartwright, A. P. 30 M W Merchant Tx
      Cartwright, Ophelia 23 F W Tx
      Cartwright, Mathew Jr 7/12 M W Tx
      Jones, Tom 20 M B Svt Tx
      Burl, Elvira 15 F B Svt Tx
      Sexton, Qunn? 10 F B Tx
    Person ID I16373  Strong Family Tree
    Last Modified 17 Aug 2014 

    Father Matthew Cartwright,   b. 11 Nov 1807, Wilson County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1 Apr 1870, San Augustine County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 62 years) 
    Mother Amanda "Mandy" Holman,   b. 24 Jul 1817, Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Jun 1894, San Augustine County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 76 years) 
    Marriage 18 Oct 1836  San Augustine County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location  [10, 11
    • In "The Cartwrights of San Augustine,' a transcription of a stilted, formal note written by Matthew Cartwright to his future bride reads as follows:

      Miss Amanda Holman,

      Please allow me to address you for the first time with the most profound respect. I admire your person, your addrss and appearance....I have come to the conclusion that of all other objects met with in this life...you are the one. Therefore I now address you for the purpose of requesting permission to pay my suit on that of which is the most importance to me and I hope not indifferent to you. Please reply as soon as convenient and relieve the suspense of one who is desiorous to unite his fate and happiness in life with yours.
      Your obedient servant,
      Matthew Cartwright

      Amanda soon accepted Matthew's proposal, scheduling the ceremony for Octobe 18, 1836. Some months prior to the wedding she bought seven yards of French muslin and two bonnest at Matthew's store, and later pink silk and gauze ribbon, all suitable for a wedding.

      The couple was married nearly thirty-five years before Matthew's death, and Amanda survived him for nearly twenty-five additional years. They were buried side by side in a small family plot near their home in San Augustine. Youngest son Matthew later made arrangements to have his parents reinterred in Terrell, Texas, with a suitable marker, in September 1896. (Henson and Paremelee, p. 308).

    Family ID F3418  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Margaret Ophelia Smith,   b. 14 Jan 1845, San Augustine County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Jan 1939, Terrell, Kaufman County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 93 years) 
    Marriage 11 Feb 1869  Jefferson, Marion County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location  [12
    • Upon hearing of her brother's pending marriage plans, Anna Cartwright wrote her sister Mary "I cannot believe Meck is going to be married until the cermony has already been performed."
    Children 
     1. Matthew Charles Cartwright,   b. 24 Nov 1869, San Augustine County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Jan 1960 (Age 90 years)
     2. Annie Thompson "Annie T" Cartwright,   b. 28 Nov 1871, San Augustine County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 21 Oct 1959, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 87 years)
     3. America "Meck" Peyroux Cartwright,   b. 16 Feb 1874, San Augustine County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 4 Apr 1959, Terrell, Kaufman County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 85 years)
    Family ID F3484  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 18 Dec 2012 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 17 Mar 1840 - San Augustine, San Augustine County, Texas Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 11 Aug 1873 - Carthage, Panola County, Texas Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Sources 
    1. [S633] Davis, Kathryn Hooper "San Augustine County, Texas Census Records 1860".

    2. [S292] Collins, Jerry H. (Jerry H. Collins@comcast.net) Ver. 2009-01-18; http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=jhc-3cousins.

    3. [S1186] Boddie, John B. SOUTHSIDE VIRGINIA FAMILIES, Volume 1, p. 372 (Reliability: 3).

    4. [S873] Find A Grave [database online]; http://www.findagrave.com/, (Thousands of contributors submit new listings, updates, corrections, photographs and virtual flowers every hour to the FIND A GRAVE website. When it comes to administrating, building and maintaining the site, Find A Grave is largely operated by its founder, Jim Tipton.), Oakland Memorial Parkd, Terrell, Kaufman County, Texas (Reliability: 3).

    5. [S207] 1870 United States Federal Census [Ancestry.com database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2003., (United States. Ninth Census of the United States, 1870. Washington, D.C. National Archives and Records Administration. M593, RG29, 1,761 rolls. Minnesota. Minnesota Census Schedules for 1870. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. T132, RG29, 13 rolls. This database is an index to individuals enumerated in the 1870 United States Federal Census, the Ninth Census of the United States. Census takers recorded many details including each person's name, age at last birthday, sex, color; birthplace, occupation, and more. No relationships were shown between members of a household. Additionally, the names of those listed on the population schedule are linked to actual images of the 1870 Federal Census.), Enumerated 6 July 1870 Page 20 121-121 (Reliability: 3).

    6. [S1426] Henson, Margaret Swett and Parmelee, Deolece "The Cartwrights of San Augustine" (Texas State Historical Association, Austin, 1993), Appendix, Chart II: John Cartwright's Children and Grandchildren (Reliability: 3).

    7. [S1426] Henson, Margaret Swett and Parmelee, Deolece "The Cartwrights of San Augustine" (Texas State Historical Association, Austin, 1993), p. 107, Americus Peyroux's name was chosen in honor of both his mother's sister, America Holman, and of his father's agents in New Orleans, Peyroux, Arcueil & Company, a commission house near Toulouse Street that sold Matthew's cotton crops for him (Reliability: 3).

    8. [S1426] Henson, Margaret Swett and Parmelee, Deolece "The Cartwrights of San Augustine" (Texas State Historical Association, Austin, 1993), p. 107 (Reliability: 3).

    9. [S1426] Henson, Margaret Swett and Parmelee, Deolece "The Cartwrights of San Augustine" (Texas State Historical Association, Austin, 1993), p. 286 (Reliability: 3).

    10. [S233] Noble, Harry P. Jr TEXAS TRAILBLAZERS: SAN AUGUSTINE PIONEERS (Best of East Texas: 1999), 85 (Reliability: 3).

    11. [S1426] Henson, Margaret Swett and Parmelee, Deolece "The Cartwrights of San Augustine" (Texas State Historical Association, Austin, 1993), p. 99 (Reliability: 3).

    12. [S1426] Henson, Margaret Swett and Parmelee, Deolece "The Cartwrights of San Augustine" (Texas State Historical Association, Austin, 1993), p. 272 (Reliability: 3).