My Genealogy Hound

Edward S. Nesbit is manager of the Nesbit Lumber Company, of Mammoth Spring, Ark., dealers in dressed and rough lumber, shingles, sash, doors, blinds, lime, cement, laths, hair, etc. This business was established in March, 1889. Mr. Nesbit was born in DeSoto County, Miss., in 1838, and is the son of Thomas and Margaret (Driver) Nesbit, natives of South Carolina and Alabama, respectively. When a boy, Thomas Nesbit went to Alabama, where he grew to manhood, married, and soon after removed to Mississippi, being one of the pioneers of that State. He was a wealthy farmer, and died in the last mentioned State in 1885, at the age of seventy-three years. He was the founder of the town of Nesbit, on the Illinois Central Railroad, and one of the most prominent citizens of the locality in which he lived. He and wife were for many years members in good standing in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Thomas Nesbit, grandfather of Edward S. Nesbit, was of Irish parentage, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Nesbit died about 1881; she was the daughter of Lewis Driver, who was a wealthy agriculturist, and who died in Alabama. Of the nine children born to his parents, Edward S. Nesbit was the third. He secured a fair education in the common schools until nearly grown, and when nineteen years of age graduated from Wesleyan University at Florence, Ala. He then engaged in the lumber and saw-mill business on Tallahatchee River, where he remained until the breaking out of the Civil War. He then joined Company K, Ninth Mississippi Volunteer Infantry, and nine months later was appointed lieutenant of a battalion of sharp shooters, serving in that capacity until the close of the war. He was captured in West Mississippi in October, 1862, and was held a prisoner at Fort Pickering for about three months. At the close of the strife he engaged in farming and merchandising, which he carried on for some time. On the 1st of March, 1861, he married Miss Maggie Bradford, a native of Arkansas, and who died in 1866. Her father, Thomas Bradford, was one of the organizers of the Mississippi and Tennessee, now Illinois Central Railroad Company. He was a director and leading factor in that road until his death. To Mr. and Mrs. Nesbit were born four children, two sons and two daughters, all living. Mr. Nesbit’s second marriage occurred about 1881, to Mrs. Nancy E. Nesbit, daughter of J. R. Jefferys, a native of Virginia, who died about 1884, DeSoto County, Miss. Mrs. Nesbit was also born in Virginia. Mr. Nesbit lived in his native county until 1884, when he removed to Imboden, and in 1889 to Mammoth Spring. He was in company with his father in the milling, ginning and lumber business, and this continued extensively until he came to Arkansas, and was then connected with the Imboden Milling Company, until 1889. He was mayor of Nesbit, Miss., for a number of years. Politically, he was a Whig until the war, since which time he has been a Democrat, casting his first presidential vote for Bell in 1860. He is a Master Mason and Royal Arch Mason, and also belongs to the K. of H. and K. of L. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and his wife of the Missionary Baptist. Their children are named as follows: Mary E., wife of W. J. Johnson, farmer of DeSoto County, Miss.; Edward S., Jr., was educated at Nesbit, Miss., and is a telegraph operator at Imboden; Milton W. received his education at the same place, and is also a telegraph operator at Portia; Maggie E. was educated principally at Pulaski, Tenn. The children received good school advantages.