John Luther Bridgers Sr.

John Luther Bridgers senior (born November 29, 1821 in Tarboro , North Carolina , † January 22, 1884 in North Carolina) was an American lawyer and plantation owner and a Confederate politician and officer in the Confederate Army . The Confederate Congressman Robert Rufus Bridgers (1819-1888) was his brother.

Career

John Luther Bridgers Sr., son of Elizabeth Kettlewells Routh and John Bridgers, was born on a farm in Edgecombe County about six and a half years after the end of the British-American War . His family has been resident in this county, since his grandfather Briton Bridger in 1770 with his stepfather Joseph Pender from Northampton County ( Virginia dragged) to there. One of his direct ancestors is Colonel Joseph Bridger (1625–1686), an important settler in the 17th century who sailed from Gloucester ( England ) to Isle of Wight County (Virginia). The "s" used at the end of the Bridgers name was first used in 1725 in the Bertie County, North Carolina court records . After his father died, his mother married Baptist minister Elder Mark Bennett. Bridgers attended the Town Creek Academy he founded and directed in 1834 . In 1843 he graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina and gave the final speech in French . Bridgers studied law and was admitted to the bar. He settled in Tarboro and joined the firm of his brother Robert and Robert Henry Pender (1820-1881), but also went on to do business. His student days were overshadowed by the economic crisis of 1837 and the following years by the Mexican-American War . Bridgers later worked as a prosecutor ( Attorney ). Throughout their lives, John and his brother Robert competed, particularly in agriculture. In the 1850s they owned more than six thousand acres of land, which they cultivated with scientific zeal. Two of John's plantations , Strabane and Middleplace, frequently broke production records . Bridgers was an ardent supporter of the State Agricultural Society and a keynote speaker at the annual State Fair. He was the director of the North Carolina State Bank branch in Tarboro. He was also the first escheator at the University of North Carolina to be appointed to Greene County . He was in the North Carolina House of Representatives . During this time he was elected to the State Council. Bridgers was a major player in the construction of the Calvary Episcopal Church in Tarboro. He lived most of his life in The Grove, a house which Congressman Thomas Blount (1759-1812) had built in 1808. Before the war, Bridger was one of three delegates, which from North Carolina to Montgomery ( Alabama , to find an amicable solution to bring about were sent). The attempt failed. He was then unanimously named captain of the Edgecombe Guards . This troop mourned the first fatality on the part of the southern states , Private Henry L. Wyatt († 1861), in the battle at Big Bethel . For his bravery in the battle , he was named Lieutenant Colonel in the Heavy Artillery , North Carolina 10th  Regiment . As such, he was in command of Fort Macon until illness forced him to resign. He then served on the staff of Lieutenant General Daniel Harvey Hill (1821-1889). He also assisted his brother Robert in the operation of iron-melting furnace in High Shoals ( Gaston County ), the second most important in the south for the production of nails and rolled. His entire life was plagued by poor health and several financial setbacks at his age prompted him to sell The Grove in 1881 and move to the Strabane plantation , which at that time was only a fraction of its original size, where he died three years later . He and his two wives were buried in the grounds of the Calvary Episcopal Church .

family

Bridgers married Rebecca Louisa Dicken (1829-1865) of Halifax County on April 20, 1847 . She was the great-granddaughter of Benjamin Dicken, one of the commissioners who laid out the city of Tarboro. The couple had three children: John Luther junior (* 1850), Routh "Ruth" (* 1855) and Charles (* 1858). Their last child died in childhood. After the death of his first wife, he married on April 4, 1867 Mary Elizabeth Battel (1844-1918), daughter of Mary Ann Horn and Joseph Summer Battle. The couple had four children: Marcus Milton (* 1868), Loulie (* 1870), Whitney Luther (* 1873) and Maria Horn (* 1882).

Honors

A portrait of John Luther Bridger senior hangs in the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond ( Virginia ) and another is owned by his family.

literature

• William S. Powell and William Stevens Powell: Dictionary of North Carolina Biography , Volume 1, University of North Carolina Press, 1979, ISBN 9780807813294 , p. 223

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Turner, Joseph Kelly: History of Edgecombe County, North Carolina ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , London: Forgotten Books, 1920, pp. 366f.  
2. ^ Robert Henry Pender in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved March 3, 2016.
3. ↑ Thomas Blount in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved March 3, 2016.
4. ^ The First Confederate Soldier Killed In Battle - The Battle of Big Bethel

Web links

• John Luther Bridgers Sr. on the ancestry.com website
• John Luther Bridgers Sr. on the ancestry.com website