Charles Melvin Pearson
First New Hampshire Heavy Artillery
Company "M"
Charles Melvin Pearson was born in Biddeford, Maine on February 8, 1846 to William Pearson and (unknown first name) Rice Pearson.
He enlisted in the Union Army as a private recruit on July 8, 1863 in Manchester, New Hampshire at the age of 17 years and mustered out on June 9, 1865 in Concord, New Hampshire. He was assigned to Company M, 1st Regiment, Heavy Artillery, New Hampshire. He was 5 feet 7 inches tall with black eyes, light hair and a dark complexion. His company appointed him as bugler on January 1, 1865. He married Sibba Darthula Barnes April 8, 1917 in Rugby, Tennessee (Morgan County), and had seven children before his death on September 30, 1930. He was a farmer, Justice of the Peace (Magistrate) and blacksmith within the community.
Charles was engaged in the following battles:
Brandy Station,
Virginia November
18, 1863
Mine Run,
Virginia
November 30, 1863
Wilderness,
Virginia
May 6, 1864
Po River,
Virginia
May 9-10, 1864
North Anna River, Virginia May 23,
1864
Sheldon Cross Roads, Virginia May 28, 1864
Totopotomoy,
Virginia
May 29-31: June 1,1864
Cold Harbor,
Virginia
June 3-12, 1864
Siege of Petersburg, Virginia June 16-July 26;
July 30-August 12: August 20, 1864 to March 29, 1865
Little is known about Charles Melvin Pearson after his discharge from the army on June 9, 1865. According to the 1910 census he was living in Rugby, TN, married to Sarah Katherine McKinney (their marriage license states they married September 19, 1906) who was wheel chair bound. This marriage produced no children and Katie died in 1915.
Charles Melvin Pearson married Sibba Darthula Barnes (daughter John and Little Bird Williams) April 8, 1917. Little Bird was of Cherokee descent adopted by Harold Williams who changed her name from Little Bird to Lucy Belle.
Charles Melvin Pearson was an active member of the Rugby,
TN community. The citizens of Morgan County gave him a tribute for his many
years of service and dedication. Here is a typed copy of that tribute.
What the County of Morgan County Thinks Of a Faithful Public Spirited Member
Twelfth District Citizen Honored
High Tribute Paid to ESQ. Chas. Pearson of Rugby
Useful Career in Public Service is Fittingly Rewarded
Note- this paper circularized and paid for by business men of Morgan County who
want economy and progress in county government.
Wartburg, Tennessee
July 7, 1920
To Charles Pearson, Esquire
Magistrate
12th Civil District
Rugby, Tennessee
Dear Squire Pearson:
We your fellow members and fellow workers in the county Court of Morgan County,
inspired by the fact that you are probably the oldest member as to both age and
period of service, in the court, and reflecting further, with pleasure upon
association with you in the public service, deem in appropriate to tender you a
tribute of our respect and testimonial of our good will.
For years, few, if any have attended the sessions of the Court more faithfully
than have you; if you have missed a session in years we do not recollect it. By
your gentlemanly bearing and your uniform courtesy to and on consideration for
the other members of the Court, and by your conscientious discharge of duty, and
by your sense of responsibilities of this body, you have gained our loyalty,
confidence and esteem. At all times you have stood for the best interests of
your constituents and for the general progress of the county, and have in all
things been so fair and reasonable as to win our support of measures you have
advocated. You have stood for the advancement of the interests of our schools,
of our roads, and of all things vital to the welfare of our county. you have
advocated that economy consistent with public needs.
We take this method of attesting the pleasure afforded by our business and
social relations with you, and we thus evidence our affectionate regard for you.
You served your country with distinction, we understand, in the Civil War: in
the county Court of the good county of Morgan we are fully aware of, and we
appreciate and commend you for the service you have rendered in the public
interest , and we congratulate you for your faithfulness, your zeal and
your integrity. Your people of the 12th district are also to be congratulated
for selecting so trust-worthy, conscientious and earnest a man to represent
them; you have been true to them, in the fullest sense of the term. It comes to
our knowledge that your official acts as a District Magistrate you have
proceeded with deliberation, tempering, justice with mercy; you have quieted
friction and kept down litigation; you have befriended the poor' you have not
tricked, wronged, defrauded or oppressed any man, but have been frank, open,
kind, fair-and-square in all your dealings in both private and public life;
always on the right side of every issue, always alert to render service and to
promote the best interests of your fellow-man and of this beautiful section
which we love and which holds of us all that is dearest in life.
To have merited and gained the respect and confidence of your fellow-man is not
to have labored in vain: we trust, then, that you will final a certain
satisfaction in this our voluntary testimonial. We extend to you our best
wishes. Long may you continue in health and vigor and with your faculties as
clear and keen as they are, that the usefulness by which you are characterized
may continue. And when the evening of your life finally comes, and the shadows
of approaching night fall across your pathway, may you have that happy
reflection consequent upon having accomplished something worthwhile, and may
peace and contentment upon having been faithful to trust and having been
considerate of your fellow man, attend you, until you hear from higher source
than this Court, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant!"
Sincerely your,
THE COUNTY COURT OF MORGAN COUNTY
John H. Bingham, J.L. Hackworth, Ben F. Bingham, S.H. Jackson, H.H. Pitman,
Elmer Carroll, Dan Garrett, Bruno Schubert, B.M. Hannahan, E.C. Melton, Ray P.
Stone, J.M. Langley, A.C. Lavender, W.M. Dyer, W.H. Nelson, Wm. Bullard, J.S.
Greer, R.P. Potter, P.H. Adcock, John Dillon, Joe Hawn
After the death of Charles Melvin Pearson his wife (Sibba Darthula) drew a pension check of $72 a month. There is a pension file record along with an accounting made of how his check was used towards purchases made for living expenses for herself and their children. Sibba died July 24, 1943. One of the children of this marriage is Eula J. Pearson Laymance, REAL DAUGHTER of Tennessee Tent #4.
Charles Melvin Pearson
Father of Eula J. Pearson Laymance (Real Dughter)
Grandfather of Dusty Laymance Nichols
Great Grandfather of Melissa Nichols Solomon and Jennifer Nichols Maxson
Great Great Grandfather of Kelsey Alannah Solomon