On May 8, 1958, Tom R. Mears wrote his niece, Ruth Peavy, the following when she had written him about family information:
". . . E. J. Mears had a rather colorful career in the Confederate Army under Lee. He ws the captain of Company R, 42nd, Regit. Mississippi Volunteers, Davis Brigade, Hearth Division, A. P. Hill Corps, Center of the Virginia Army. His company was the one that took the brunt of the attack at Gettysburg, and history says that it was all wiped out but 7 men. He was wounded four times - in the arm, the head, chest and heel. He stayed in a Union hospital for two years after the close of the War and when he was dismissed from it, he was told that because of the wound in his lung, he could only live about two years. He livd to be almost 99. He told this story about how he got his comission as a second lieutenant. One day a man came into their camp with a load of apples off the wagon. He and some of the others told them to stop, and a fight ensued. He had a man down on the ground just going for him when he suddenly realized that all of the others had stopped fighting. He looked up and there stood Stonewall Jackson. He got up as fast as he cold and saluted. Jackson said, 'What did you come into the army for?' He again saluted and said, 'to fight, sir.' Jackson replied, 'Well, it looks like you are doing a pretty good job of it,' and rode on. That night he was told to go to Jackson's tent. He thought he was going to be disciplined, but when he reached there, he found another soldier in the tent and Jackson told him that he had a mission to be performed behind the line; and that man was his most trusted spy; that he needed another man to go with him; and that he had watched him that afternoon and believed that he was the right man. When they came back from the mission, he was made a second lieutenant."
left: Ervin, daughter, 'Scrap', Samuel Dillard, his family Eunice and Lorena
In a letter dated May 19, 1958, Minnie Mears, wife of Thomas Robert Mears, who was s/o Gouldberry Mears and gs/o Erving Jasper Mears was that Erving Jasper said this about the war:
One thing that impressed me was that Grandpa said that during the two years that he was in a northern prison hospital, he received the very best of care. He was also a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln, and said that the WAR would never have been fought had the hot heads listened to him. Another thing that deeply impressed me was that when I asked him why he thought the South lost at Gettysburg, he used almost the same words that recently created such a furor about Eisenhower in the papers. He said, 'Well Honey, the soldiers were hot and ready to go; but, when we were winning, they pulled us back and wouldn't let us follow through. Then they sent us against the impossible. There was not a coward in my bunch ad every man fought as long as he could crawl, but when we started up that hill, every one of us knew that we were walking into the jaws of death.' . . .You will pardon the long recitation of these memories, but from what you said in your letter, I thought that you would like to have them."
Bob writes in February 2008:
Back in December 2004, my elderly mother, my sister and I went to my nephew’s Army graduation at Fort Jackson South Carolina, and on the way back we veered off to Itawamba County (Mentachie Mississippi) and visited the Erb Mears gravesite. I had been to Mississippi many times when I was young but I wasn’t much interested in family history in those days, so I took time to do a little looking on that pass through.I knew that all of my Mears’ were Methodists, so I went to the only Methodist Church and cemetery in town (Center Star) and walked directly to the Erb Mears and family gravesite almost as if I knew where it was.
There were several things I noticed immediately when I reached the site. One, the graves were facing west. If I remember correctly, all three graves faced west, but Erb’s headstone had been broken at ground level, and whoever was kind enough to reinstall it placed the stone facing east. At least that is the way I remember. I have disks stowed away with the pictures. I don’t know if that is significant or not.
Another thing was the headstone beside Erb and his wife. The headstone next to Elizabeth stated “H.J. (SRAP) Mears”, just like that, with SRAP in parentheses. Since then I have seen it as Sharp and Scrap (on your website), and I think one other place in similar form. If you have any info on this person, however their name was spelled, it would be appreciated. But on the tombstone it was definitely “SRAP”. Until I looked at your latest site, I thought this “SRAP” was a male. Your photo on your site depicts a young attractive female, which was a surprise.
Another thing was how small and modest their headstones were. Of course, a modest headstone doesn’t necessarily indicate poverty, but somehow the sight of those stones supported what I had already figured out, those people died poor as a snake. Being on the losing end of the Civil War resulted in poverty for most of that generation of southerners. And that, probably more than ANYTHING else, is what had an influence on Goal Berry Mears Sr. and his brother Thomas Robert Mears, the two Mississippi Mears that came to Texas to “succeed” at all costs. And they were successful for sure.
Bob Burnitt, a descendant, writes (February 2008):
I am a descendant of Earvin Jasper “Erb” Mears. He is my great great grandfather. One of his sons “Gouldsbourgh Mears” (though on his tombstone in Calvert Texas it is stated Goal Berry Mears) is my great grandfather and the man who raised my father. I grew up calling him “Grandpaw Mears”. Grandmaw Mears called him “Berry”. My grandmother, Catherine Mears Burnitt - Rolls – Cannatella was of course my father’s mother. Since she divorced her first husband (Andrew Wagner Burnitt Sr.) when my father was a toddler, and this was at the beginning of the Great Depression, Grandpaw Mears ended up raising my father and his brother, and really, a number of my father’s cousins. Grandpaw Mears was considered pretty affluent (for the time) and in his 70’s ended up supporting or assisting a large number of relatives and generations of his Negro farm hands. Of all my descendants, and I have them all back to the 18th century, the Mears’ left the most indelible impression. So they are a very interesting family to me. Most of the ones I have known are kind of “larger than life” as people like to say these days.My Grandpaw Mears out lived all of his sons and died at 92 (1961). Though his daughters outlived him, they did not live to be as old as he. My grandmother Catherine died at 68, but most of her sisters lived up in to their 80’s.