“Mom always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”
—Forrest Gump
Well, that’s the truth. I was reminded of this while browsing through the materials of famous local historian Ira Daunton Gibbs, Jr. (1911-1998). The old hands knew the story of McDougall Place, long owned by the late Chester Green and his Franklinton descendants. But I had no idea. Although the property was often discussed in my family, I didn’t know why. Mr. Daunton solved the mystery. As it turns out, it was the Brumfield family – my ancestors on my mother’s side – who settled what later became known as McDougall Place, one of the first towns in Washington Parish.
When I read an article about the historic property that Mr. Daunton published in The Era-Leader on April 5, 1978, I was transfixed as he unraveled the history of this important piece of land. A little background – as I have written before, I knew Mr. Daunton in my youth as the Coca-Cola man. He was a long-time Coca-Cola employee who delivered sodas in the community. And I also knew him from the First Baptist Church of Franklinton, my childhood church, where he was an active member with his lovely wife, Verna (1915-2015). The Gibbs, who lived in a lovely house on Tenth Avenue, shared a special friendship with my parents, something I have written about before and will not go into further. But like my father, Mr. Daunton not only delivered sodas, but also served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Still, the bond between the two couples was based in no small part on their shared devotion to their only children. Some people are lucky to have only one child because of age or health. My father was 45 and my mother just under 40 when I was born in 1964. Sue Corkern Graham recently observed, “Everyone thought it was the best thing that ever happened. It was just a miracle. Even we kids thought so.” Not everyone, but my parents and their friends thought so. So, like other only children, I was spoiled. Sadly, the Gibbs lost their only child, son Ira Daunton Gibbs III, a U.S. Vietnam veteran, in 1995.
Returning to McDougall Place, Mr. Daunton began his article with John Brumfield (John Watson Brumfield II), who arrived in Washington Parish from South Carolina in 1808 with his wife and children. He was the son of John Watson Brumfield and his wife Elizabeth Patton Brumfield. Mr. Daunton described John Watson Brumfield II as “one of the very few known veterans of the Revolutionary War who settled in what is now Washington Parish.” He was born in Virginia in 1750 and died in Washington Parish in 1845. Before that, however, he served heroically in the Continental Army for more than five years and participated in many notable campaigns in Georgia and the Carolinas.
John did not settle on the McDougall Place, but his son Ridley Brumfield did. I have never set foot on the McDougall Place to my knowledge, but my husband Rodney certainly did when he went dove hunting long ago with his brother-in-law, Dick Green, son of Chester and Victory Green. And I got the feeling from my research that Mr. Daunton had also visited the place. He described the headright as being on the south side of Catca Creek, with LA Highway 450 running along the eastern boundary.
Mr. Daunton reported that another of John’s sons, Ezekiel Brumfield, built the adjacent property south of his brother Ridley’s property. A portion of this property extends into what is now St. Tammany Parish. According to the Washington Parish census, John Brumfield and his wife, along with several children, lived on one of the two properties in 1820. Ezekiel’s widow, Jamima Wilson, apparently lived with her family in the house next door, which was adjacent to that of her brother-in-law Ridley.
Tragically, Ezekiel Brumfield, a corporal in Captain John K. Goff’s company, died during the Battle of New Orleans on February 22, 1815.
Dell Magee Clawson (Mama Dell to me) wrote in her series “Fields of Broom” in The Tylertown Times on December 10, 2015 that Ezekiel died on the battlefield of Camp Morgan, where bad weather and an epidemic resulted in the deaths of about thirty soldiers. They were housed in log cabins with inadequate clothing and were probably buried in the trenches there. Brother Ridley was a corporal in Captain Thomas Bickham’s company, 12th and 13th Louisiana Regiments. Both companies were tasked with guarding and protecting the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain from a British invasion. Both were stationed in what is now Madisonville, at the Navy Yard.
It is not clear how long the Brumfield family owned and remained in possession of the McDougall estate. John Watson Brumfield II died on May 6, 1845. Although his exact last known address and burial place are unknown, it is believed that they were somewhere near the McDougall estate according to his neighbors. And it must be mentioned that one of his daughters, Melinda, became the wife of Harvey Penny, the very first Penny in Washington Parish. Besides this daughter and sons Ezekiel and Ridley, John Watson Brumfield II also had a son named Fleming Tynes Brumfield.
For reference, John Watson Brumfield II had a brother named Charles Brumfield (1745-1826) – my great, great, great, great grandfather. He is my patriot, because of whom I was admitted into the Daughters of the American Revolution. Therefore, Mama Dell referred to John Watson Brumfield II as our Uncle John.
Back to the McDougall Place, as described by Mr. Daunton, it “occupied a very important place in the early days of St. Tammany and Washington Parish.” About a mile east of it was the historic Holmesville Road, running north-south. And the so-called “Twenty Mile House,” a two-story log cabin that served as an inn for travelers on the historic road, was located about a mile from the McDougall Place. At this point the road to Franklinton “branched off the Holmesville Road… and led to the ferry on the Bogue Chitto River just below Franklinton.”
About a mile west of the McDougall Place ran the Great National Road, west of the Tchefunctia River. Mr. Daunton described it as probably the most important road out of New Orleans. The so-called Col. Daniel Edwards Place was located on this very road, only a mile and a half southwest of the McDougall Place.
• Stay tuned for Part 2 of the McDougall Place story.
