Their Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements

Lifting the Mists of History on Their Way of Life

By: Ethelene Dyer Jones


Sunday, March 28, 2010

John Little Ingram, Father of a Large Family

John Little Ingram (1788-1866), the father of twenty-two children, twenty-one of whom lived to be adults, was the ancestor of many with Union County, Georgia connections.

John Little Ingram was married three times and had children by each wife. First he married Mary “Polly” Cagle (1793-1829). Their ten children included one child that died as an infant and nine more, seven daughters and two sons: Rebecca, Isaac, Elizabeth, Sarah, Tillman, Nancy, Mary Jane, Louisa and Malinda.

After his wife Mary “Polly” died, John Little Ingram married Cynthia Kittle in 1830. To them were born ten children, five sons and five daughters: Lucretia, Little, Jr., Ginsey, Allen, Clary, Cynthia, Jeremiah, Benjamin, Ruth and Martin.

After his second wife’s death, John Little Ingram married, third, Catherine Cameron in Franklin County, Georgia on February 22, 1845. He and Catherine had two sons, Joseph (1846) and William (1847). His third wife died before 1860. By then, several of the twenty-one children of John Little Ingram had already married and established homes of their own, with the first of his and Mary Cagle Ingram’s children, Rebecca, herself marrying a Cagle—Joseph Roland---in 1834.

At the age of 78, John Little Ingram died at the home of his daughter, Lucretia Ingram Rhodes in the Ivy Log District of Union County. She was the first child of Little’s second wife, Cynthia Kittle Ingram. Lucretia had married George Rhodes, a widower with two small sons, Grant and Wiley Rhodes. Even though John Little Ingram had been an early member of Choestoe Baptist Church (listed in the 1836 membership rolls), he was buried at the Ivy Log Baptist Church Cemetery, because transporting the body to Choestoe in 1866 would have been a long journey by wagon. His first wife Mary had been buried in Hall County. His second wife Cynthia may have been buried in the Gaddistown District of Union County where the family lived at the time of her death. The place of interment of his third wife, Catherine, is unknown.

There is no stone marking the grave of War of 1812 patriot John Little Ingram. I wish we knew the exact location so we could erect a monument to his memory.

My interest in the Ingram family stems from my great grandmother, Louisa Eliza Ingram (1827-1907) who married James Marion Dyer (1822-1904) on June 18, 1846. Louisa was the eighth child of John Little Ingram and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. The sixth of the twelve children born to Louisa and James Marion Dyer was Bluford Elisha Dyer (1855-1926), my grandfather, who married Sarah Evaline Souther (1857-1959). The tenth of the fifteen children of Bluford and Sarah was my father, Jewel Marion Dyer (1890-1974) who married Azie Collins (1895-1945).

The Ingrams in America were patriotic. John Little Ingram, my great, great grandfather, was a soldier in the War of 1812. His first service was near Nashville, Tennessee for six months. He enlisted again from Franklin County, Georgia and fought at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama with General Andrew Jackson in 1814. It was there that the Creek Indians known as “The Red Sticks” rose up against white settlers. General Jackson and his soldiers were dispatched to put an end to the Indian uprising at Horseshoe Bend.

We can only imagine the stories John Little Ingram told his many children of his experiences as a soldier in the War of 1812 and his service in the Indian uprisings. Little Ingram was discharged at Augusta, Georgia in 1814. He brought home with him a small hymn book that became a family treasure. It was passed on through his youngest son, William P. Ingram (son of Little and Catherine Cameron) who lived in Culberson, NC. As late as 1935, George Ingram, son of William P., still had the old hymnbook in his possession.

Five of John Little Ingram’s sons served in the Civil War and three of them lost their lives in that conflict. Tillman Ingram (1822-1863) was the fifth child of Little and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. His first enlistment ended in discharge with the notation that he was “too old for service.” However, Tillman, wishing to “defend against the enemy,” reenlisted, giving his age as younger than his actual years. He died of a raging fever in Trinity, Texas during the war. Four of Tillman’s sons, John Robert, Thomas B., John C. and Edmond Dale, fought in the Texas War for Independence against Mexico.

Little Ingram, Jr. (1832-1863), son of Little’s second wife, Cynthia Kittle, died at the Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi and was buried there. He had married Mary King on March 8, 1855. She was left a widow with little children, but information about their family has not yet been gathered by this researcher.

Jeremiah Ingram (1838-?) was a brother to Little, Jr. and the seventh child of John Little and Cynthia Kittle Ingram. He enlisted in the Confederate Army and fought at the Battle of Chancelorsville, Virginia where he was captured May 3, 1863. He was paroled from Fort Delaware (probably in a prisoner-of-war exchange) that same month. His record showed that he deserted the Confederate Army September 21, 1863. He married Elizabeth Henson on December 3, 1857. Further information about their family is unknown to this writer.

Benjamin Ingram (1840-?) married Charity Gilbert on July 15, 1856. He enlisted in Company B of the Georgia 23rd Regiment at Camp McDonald on August 31, 1861. He was at the Battle of Charlottesville, Virginia. He was hospitalized with consumption in December, 1862. He was captured at the Battle of Fredericksburg in June, 1863. He was paroled and rejoined his company. On July 21, 1864 he was captured at Winchester, Virginia and sent to military prison in Wheeling and from there transferred to a prison at Camp Chase, Ohio September 16, 1864 where he remained a prisoner-of-war until the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. He returned to Georgia but further information on his family has not been researched by this writer.

Martin Ingram (1844-1863) married Rebecca Bozeman prior to enlisting in the Confederate Army. He was a casualty of the war, dying at Jackson, Mississippi in 1863.

John Little Ingram learned the importance of patriotism from his father, Pvt. John Little Ingram of South Carolina who was a patriot in the American Revolution. Next week’s column will go further backward in time to trace the service of this soldier.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 2, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

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