Society

Once again, the Marshall Academy Patriots swept the post-season series, downing Central Hinds Academy Thursday, cinching the AA North Half Championship. The team traveled to near Baton Rouge, La., to play Central Private Tuesday. They will meet up with them at home Friday, attempting to sweep the AA State Tournament. Please come out and support your local team, as they have worked so hard to get this far!

Sissy and Steve Hauth and daughter, Lindsey, of Milton, Fl., were the weekend guests of Kay and Laura Wheeler.

(To put your news in City Personals, please e-mail maryclayb@yahoo.com; mail to City Personals, The South Reporter, P.O. Box 278, Holly Springs, MS 38635 or call 662-252-4261. You may also e-mail your City Personal news to southreporter@dixie-net.com).

Pamela Buford to wed Terry Boga May 24

Pamela Buford and Terry Boga

Mr. Floyd Brooks is pleased to announce the engagement and forthcoming marriage of his daughter, Pamela Buford, to Terry Boga.

Pamela is also the daughter of the late Pauline Buford. Pamela is a 1990 graduate of Lafayette High School, Oxford.

Terry Boga is the son of the late Effie Rucker Boga and Clyde L. Boga Sr. Terry is a 1982 graduate of Holly Springs High School and 1986 graduate of Mississippi State University. He is currently employed at Baptist Memorial Hospital, Oxford.

The couple will exchange vows on Friday, May 24, in a private ceremony. A reception will be held on Saturday, May 25, at 3 p.m. at Annie’s Restaurant in Holly Springs.

Lisa Ah Hess to wed Patrick Cromer June 1 at First United Methodist

Lisa Ah Hess and Patrick Edward Cromer

Richard and Clara Jordan of Holly Springs are pleased to announce the engagement and forthcoming marriage of their grandson, Patrick Edward Cromer, to Lisa Ah Hess, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Albert Hess Jr. and Me Son Hess of Jacksonville, Ark. Patrick Edward Cromer is the son of Hal Cromer and Clara Jordan Simmons.

Miss Hess is a graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and earned a Master’s of Nursing Science degree. Miss Hess currently resides in Maumelle, Ark., and is employed as acute care nurse practitioner and faculty for the department of medicine for the division of hematology and oncology.

Mr. Cromer attended Arkansas State and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He resides in Little Rock, Ark., and is currently excelling as a sales engineer with Jordan/Marlar/Hale Inc., establishing new territory/office in the state of Arkansas.

Wedding vows will be exchanged at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, 2013, at First United Methodist Church in Holly Springs.

A reception will follow at the home of Clara and Richard Jordan.

Couple to wed in August

Crystal Michelle Utley and Nicholaus Aaron Secoy

Mark Douglas Utley of Germantown, Tenn., and Pamela Wells Fratesi of Ridgeland announce the engagement of their daughter, Crystal Michelle Utley, of Jackson, to Nicholaus Aaron Secoy, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elvis Clark Secoy of Rolling Fork.

Miss Utley is the granddaughter of Mrs. Walter A. Utley (Vermelle) and the late Walter A. Utley as well as of the late Hosea (Hozy) Wells and the late Mona Kay Wells.

She graduated from the College of Charleston and the Mississippi College School of Law.

Miss Utley is a special assistant attorney general for the State of Mississippi and a yoga teacher.

Mr. Secoy attended the University of Southern Mississippi and finished his studies at Mississippi Delta Community College. He is the executive chef at the Onward Store and a musician.

An August wedding is planned.

Isabel Ondene Ovando

Birth announcement

Isabel Ondene Ovando was born March 28, 2013, in Cary, N.C., to parents Heidi and Juan Pablo Ovando of Fuquay-Varina, N.C.

She weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces, and was 22 inches long.

Maternal grandparents are Noel and Bunny Hammer of Victoria; paternal grandparents are Marco and Beatrice Ovando of Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Martha Fant found one name and gave to me, George Hall. Although she found the name in a file that was supposed to be for men in Mississippi who had a recognized military burial, we have not found one shred of evidence that he was a veteran. All the form she discovered showed was his name and that he was supposed to be buried in Hill Crest.

Thus we have 10 identified and confirmed veterans who lived in the county, five of whom died here, three of whom have located burial sites, and several other “maybes” which we hope to prove someday. Some interesting stories could be recounted for the battle experiences of these men, but room does not permit, so only a cursory look will be given to a small number of them.

Alexander Meek lived to be nearly 94 years old; according to his tombstone, other sources say he was nearly 100 when he died. In his pension application, Meek stated he was at the Battle of King’s Mountain, and that a number of Tories were taken captive. They were to be hung and he was assigned the duty of holding the cowhides from which the strings were cut to hang nine Tories, killed in retaliation for depredations and atrocities done by the Loyalists army. Thirty captives had been taken, but after hanging these nine, in sets of three, another group of three was selected to be executed also, but some officers arrived and called a halt to the hangings.

Meeks’ grave was marked with a DAR plaque, placed by the James Gilliam Chapter from Panola County. Harrison Jones was disabled in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, and subsequently lost his right leg below the knee. He was a Virginia soldier, moved to Georgia, thence to Mississippi. He is buried across the Tallahatchie River from Marshall County, in the Harrison Jones Cemetery in Lafayette County. John Spelts came to Marshall County via Madison County, Ala., as did so many of the early settlers of the area. He had been wounded by a gunshot to the shoulder by Tories in the Battle of Yadkin River. Spelts, known in the ranks as “Continental Jack,” was one of the famed “Overmountain Men,” patriots who had responded to a call for volunteers to halt the British’s threatened attack on their homes.

These were hardy pioneers who lived far from civilization, in the hollows and valleys west of the Appalachian Mountains, men who chose their own officers, followed which- ever leader they wanted to, volunteered to fight, received no pay, and fought Indian style, from the shadows, trees, forest and glens, with yells and shouts accompanying their attacks, and returned home at battle’s end, but willing to take arms up again as needed. These were the men who fought and won the Battle of King’s Mountain.

The British, to their regret, had felt they had little to fear from the ragtag army. As the battle raged around, the Tories began to try to surrender, but knowingly or not, the Americans declined to recognize the white flags and continued shooting, killing until their officers could gain control of the situation. Many said later they did not know the significance of the white flags. It was John Spelts who contributed to Lyman Draper, historian of the Battle of King’s Mountain, that Tory Commander Patrick Ferguson had a silver whistle a foot long with which he signaled his troops.

It was Spelts who told of the cries for water and groans of the dying Tories, cries which the Patriots ignored in their exhaustion. Spelts also told of their prisoners being fed like animals, with the guards surrounding them and then tossing raw ears of corn and pumpkins to the prisoners who scrambled to get a bit of food. In one section of the battlefield, in a rocky enclosure, 20 bodies of Tories were found, all shot through the head by the Overmountain sharpshooters, using rifles, rather than muskets as the British soldiers used.

Room here does not afford the opportunity to tell of the deeds and experiences of even this one soldier. Epilogue: “Today in History in Marshall County,” May 2, 1935, Ulysses Matthews, the last surviving Confederate veteran in Holly Springs, died.

Please come by and visit the museum. We have some great items for end-of-the-year graduate gifts. Check out our MS-Soaps by Janet Brewer as highlighted in the “Invitation Oxford” magazine. These soaps are so good for your complexion and skin. They contain all natural ingredients. In addition to the large soap, you will find a great item called “Skeeter Beater Lotion Bars.” They will keep those pesky critters away and they have a very pleasant smell to them. We are also selling lotion bars that you carry in your pocket or purse. The creamy delightful things keep your skin soft and supple. We have so much more. Come on by 220 East College Ave., Holly Springs, call 662 252-3669.


Thursday, May 9, 2013
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