Sarah E Hughes, Daughter of the Confederacy

February 24, 2015 — Alabama, Civil War, Confederate pension, Sarah Hughes, Shiloh Baptist Church

Shiloh Baptist Church

My second great grandmother was born in Alabama.  Her parents came from Mississippi and they owned slaves.  In the 1840 census, when Sarah was 11 years of age, her mother was already dead.  Her household contained 4 white persons and 44 slaves. 27 of them were involved with agriculture.  I guess they grew cotton.

In 1845 Sarah’s father died and she married Thomas Armer, my 2nd great-grandfather.  She had 13 children, 8 of whom were still alive in 1900.  My great-grandmother was her oldest daughter. In 1850, when her daughter was 3, she and her husband lived in Lowdnes County, Alabama.  Her husband’s occupation was listed as overseer.  Everyone on the census page is either a planter or an overseer by trade.  This is extremely creepy because they must be growing cotton and Thomas Armer was a slaver overseer.  This was the time in which they lived, but it seems like such an outrage to think about it.

1860 census

The Black Panther Party was born as the Lowdnes Country Freedom Organization.  In 1965 the county was 80% black, but not a single black citizen was registered to vote.  Between 1850 and 1965 not that much had really changed.

lowdnes county

By 1860 the family had moved to Old Town Dallas, and  Thomas was listed as a farmer.  No planters are listed on the page with them.  Engineers, physicians, and other farmers are their neighbors.  No slaves are listed in the household.  I think they have moved away from plantation life and started to farm for themselves. When the war broke out Thomas was conscripted to work in the Shelby Iron Works steel mill from 1861-1865.

Shelby Iron Works

After the war in 1870 the Armers moved to Waller County in east Texas, traveling in ox carts with their extended family.  In 1871 they founded the Shiloh Baptist Church with other veterans of the war in the membership. Thomas died in August of 1900 at the age of 75, leaving Sarah a widow.  She applied for a Confederate pension based on his service:

Confederate pension application

Sarah E Hughes (1829 – 1911)
is my 2nd great grandmother
Lucinda Jane Armer (1847 – 1939)
daughter of Sarah E Hughes
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of Lucinda Jane Armer
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor

Sarah is buried with her husband and some of her children at the Shiloh Baptist Church, in Prairie View, Waller County, Texas.