My Genealogy Hound

Ithey Nash, editor and proprietor of the Gurdon Advocate, a Democratic paper, was born in Anson County, N. C, in 1846, the second of five children, four of whom are still living, born to the union of Jesse J. and Dorothy (Duncan) Nash, natives of North Carolina. The family moved from North Carolina to Mississippi in 1856, locating in Monroe County, where the mother died in 1856. The father is still living in Monroe County at the age of seventy-two years. He has been a very successful planter, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for a good many years. Politically he is a stanch Democrat. The family is of English descent. Anthony and John Nash were mentioned in the will of Shakespeare as legatees. Anthony and John are favorite names in this branch of Nashes, and it is probable that they are descendants of the gentlemen the great poet named in his will. The Nashes came to the United States before the Revolutionary War, and located on the James River in Virginia, and all the male members of the family that were able served in the ranks of the American army, some of them becoming distinguished for their bravery and skill. Jesse J. Nash was the grandson of Michael Nash and son of William Nash, a farmer by occupation, who died in North Carolina. The Duncan family are of Scotch descent, and trace their ancestry back to the Scottish wars. The subject of this sketch was reared and schooled in Mississippi, receiving his education in the common schools of Monroe County. In April, 1861, he left his books and joined the Fourteenth Mississippi Regiment, Confederate Infantry, Company E, in which he served until the fall of Fort Donelson, when he received a very severe wound in the left shoulder, which was one reason why he was not taken prisoner, and went to Columbia, Tenn., for a short time, and then went home to Mississippi. In October, 1862, he re-enlisted in the Fourth Confederate Cavalry, made up of Mississippi and Alabama soldiers, and remained with this regiment until it surrendered in the latter part of April, 1865, at the close of the war. During his term of service he was in many battles, some of them being Fort Donelson, Lafayette, Ga., and skirmishes too numerous to mention, around Atlanta, Rome, and a great many others. At Pensacola he was again wounded, and again was slightly wounded by a sabre or bayonet. At Spanish Fort he received a complimentary notice from the commanding officer, in a personal letter, for bravery on field of battle. At Okolona, Miss., he was taken prisoner while carrying a message to Gen. Chalmers, but soon escaped. At the close of the war he returned home and engaged in school-teaching in Monroe County. until 1873, then came to Arkansas, locating in Pike County, and in 1877 came to Clark County, continuing to teach all the time. In 1885 he purchased the Gurdon Advocate (a paper which had only been established a short time), which he has greatly improved, making it a seven-column paper, and under his able management the journal has greatly increased in value and has now a very wide circulation. He at all times advocates Democracy and States' rights, and lets all side issues alone. In 1868 he married Miss Annie E. Grissom, a daughter of John M. Grissom, of Itawamba County, Miss., and by this union is the father of five children, viz.: Ithey Yerger, Lelus McCaulas, Zela Yerger, and Lee Duncan Hubbard and Ledonia Grissom Yerger, twins. McCaulas and Hubbard are ancestral names. Mr. and Mrs. Nash are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The former belongs to the I. 0. 0. F. and A. F.& A. M. Mrs. Nash, also, has taken several of the ladies' degrees in Masonry, and is an enthusiastic member of the ''Daughters of Rebekah.'' The Confederate veteran referring to her says: "Mrs. Anna E. Nash, of Gurdon, Ark., a pleasing writer of prose and verse, is a regular contributor whose articles are looked for with much interest. Mrs. Nash has contributed to various periodicals in St. Louis and other Western and Southern cities. Her nom de plume in the Veteran is Lorena. In a short time we will give our readers the introductory chapters of a story by this favorite writer."