Person Page - 11

     Lucy Margaret Willis married William Claude Hale. Lucy Margaret Willis was born on 31 October 1934. She died in December 1994 at age 60.

     Mary Whitford was born on 1 May 1833. She died on 15 April 1849 at age 15.

     William Claude Hale married Lucy Margaret Willis, daughter of James Bryan Willis and Mavis Norris. William Claude Hale died in January 1985.

     Jesse N. Simpkins was born in 1868. He married Mary Penel Willis, daughter of Needham Willis and Julia E. Brock, on 24 May 1891 at Craven County, North Carolina. Jesse N. Simpkins died on 21 January 1926.

     Macon "Make" Bryan Simpkins married Mamie Williams. Macon "Make" Bryan Simpkins was born on 25 April 1899. He died on 14 November 1954 at age 55.

     Needham Simpkins married Rosa Gaskins. Needham Simpkins was born in 1895. He died on 3 March 1955.

     Mamie Williams married Macon "Make" Bryan Simpkins, son of Jesse N. Simpkins and Mary Penel Willis. Mamie Williams died on 8 January 1983.

     John N. Whitford was born on 4 May 1835; "Whitford, John Nathaniel (4 May 1835-26 June 1890), merchant, Confederate officer, and planter, was born near Vanceboro, the son of Nathan, a farmer who represented Craven County in the General Assembly in 1862-1864, and Hannah Bright Whitford. After his early education at the South Lowell School in Orange County, Whitford was employed as a merchant until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he volunteered his services and was made Captain of artillery by Governor Henry T. Clark.

Assigned command of Company I, Tenth North Carolina (First Artillery) Regiment, Whitford was attached to the forces of Brigadier General Lawrence O'B. Branch defending New Bern. When Union general Ambrose Burnside's powerful forces attacked Branch's defenses on 14 Mar. 1862, Whitford and his company constituted part of the garrison of formidable Fort Thompson on the Neuse River. During the battle the company engaged the Union gunboat fleet passing up the river to attack New Bern. Following the defeat and withdrawal of Branch's forces to Goldsboro, Whitford was placed in charge of a special battalion of troops consisting of his own and three other artillery companies. Later this company was disbanded when it was evident that Burnside's forces would not advance further inland, and Whitford's company was sent to the defenses of Wilmington, garrisoning the Old Brunswick Battery.

After a time the service of Whitford's company was changed from artillery to infantry, and the men were stationed around Swift Creek, Craven County, as scouts watching the movement of Union forces. Here they had skirmishes with Union troops. In April 1863 the company was augmented by the addition of a number of other companies to form the First Battalion of Local Defense Troops. Whitford was given command of this organization and promoted to Major on 14 May 1863. The battalion soon became known as the Whitford Battalion of Partisan Rangers, and Whitford led it in numerous partisan operations against Union forces. On 18 Jan. 1864 the battalion was augmented by still more companies and was commissioned the Sixty-seventh North Carolina Regiment, with Whitford elected as its colonel. The regiment contained nine companies of infantry and one of cavalry and, rather than being turned over to regular Confederate service, was retained by North Carolina as a state unit, subject to the orders of the governor and limited to service within the boundaries of the state.

On 1-3 Feb. 1864 Whitford's new regiment participated in the unsuccessful efforts of Major General George Pickett's Confederate forces to recapture New Bern. It was to have taken part in the assault on Fort Anderson on the northern bank of the Neuse, but the attack never materialized and the entire operation against New Bern was abandoned. Early in May Whitford led his regiment in yet another attempt to capture the city by Major General Robert F. Hoke. For a time Whitford's regiment led the advance, driving back Union outposts near Deep Gully, and then remained to protect the rear of Hoke's forces while they attempted to capture the city. Again the attack was called off, as most of Hoke's command was ordered immediately to Virginia, and Whitford's regiment continued to serve in eastern North Carolina on picket and relief duty for Confederate troops at Plymouth, Washington, and Kinston.

Whitford also led numerous raids and forays against Union forces. He and part of his command were sent to Fort Branch, at Hamilton, on the Roanoke River and there repelled an effort by Union gunboats to steam up the river and destroy the Weldon Railroad bridge. In March 1865 his regiment joined other Confederate forces to halt the advance of Sherman's and Cox's Union armies through the state. It was present at the Battle of Southwest Creek, or Wise's Forks, again under General Hoke. At Goldsboro, Whitford was assigned command of a brigade consisting of his own and the Sixty-eighth North Carolina regiment. The brigade was present on the battlefield of Bentonville, 19-22 Mar. 1865, and following that Whitford was instructed to operate with it on detached service from the main Confederate army. Moving by way of Tarboro and Greenville, he was to attack and harass Sherman's lines of communication. This was a daring assignment, but Colonel Whitford was quite competent in partisan tactics and of course familiar with the area. Unfortunately, soon afterwards it was learned that General Joseph Johnston's Confederate army had surrendered to Sherman and the war was virtually over. Accordingly, Whitford disbanded his two regiments and returned home to New Bern.

After the war he became the successful owner of the Whitford Hardware Store in New Bern and of a substantial plantation in Jones County. He was twice married, first to Mary E. Williamson, a descendant of North Carolina's first governor, Richard Caswell, on 26 Nov. 1861, with whom he had six children. After her death, he married Sidney A. Taylor of Beaufort on 3 Jan. 1884. He was buried in the Whitford family cemetery in Jones County." Paul Branch Jr. in Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, vol. 6, ed. William S. Powell (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1996), p. 188. He married Mary E. Williamson, daughter of Daniel Williamson and Caroline Miller, on 26 November 1861. John N. Whitford married Sidney A. Taylor, daughter of George Washington Taylor and Sidney Ann Bragg, on 3 January 1884 at Beaufort, Carteret County, North Carolina.¹ John N. Whitford died on 26 June 1890 at age 55.

     Luby G. Hardison married Laura Whitford Williams, daughter of Joseph DeLeon Williams and Laura Elizabeth Whitford. Luby G. Hardison was born on 3 February 1908. He died on 24 May 1990 at age 82.

     Elizabeth Whitford married William Speights. Elizabeth Whitford was born on 24 July 1732.¹