Thomas Jefferson Dean was born in Warren County, in the hills of Tennessee, June 24, 1811. Nothing is known of his childhood or later life in Tennessee.

By 1837 he had moved to Walker Springs, Clarke County, Alabama, where he met and married Jane Walker, daughter of Purnell Walker. To this union was born four children: Melvina Jane Dean, born December 4^th 1837; Francis Parnell Dean born June 14^th 1840, William S. Dean born in 1842 and Purnell Dean born in 1844. Nothing more is know of his sojourn in Alabama.�

By 1850 Jeff and Jane had moved south into Jackson County, Mississippi, in that part that was later to be part of George County later. Their neighbors according to the 1850 Federal Census were:

�This land was located in Sec 33 or 34, Township 3 South, Range 5 West in what later became Tanner Town Community. The Post Office was Americus, located near present State Highway 63 at Big Cedar Creek.

�Family history (oral) is that Jeff, Jane and family pulled up stakes at some time after this and went to Texas to visit relatives whose names are not known. Neither is it known how long they stayed in Texas. By 1860 they were back in Jackson County at a new site; Section 16-T3S-R5W. There they built a double pen log cabin in which they resided the remainder of their lives.

The 1860 census does not list Purnell Dean. It is not known if he died, stayed in Texas or what became of him. It is interesting to note that in later years, when members of the Frank Dean family who were all over 90 years old, were asked about him, no one remembered anything about him or that there had ever been such a person.

Jeff Dean had the largest field in the community, five acres, in which he grew his vegetables and a little corn for his horse. Water came from a nearby spring and cooking was done on an open fireplace. He had cattle, sheep, and hogs running loose in the woods. He had a 99-year lease on the entire 16^th section. This two mile swamp along Dog River gave him plenty of hunting area. Deer, turkey, quail, coons, possums, squirrels..etc..abounded at that time. These, together with plenty of fish in Dog River, made a paradise for a woodsman. Bees furnished their honey for sweetening. Family history (oral) again is that once he shot a man for steeling his bees.�

Wool from the sheep after spring shearing was washed, carded, spun into threads, and woven or knitted into clothing. Soap was made by dripping water through oak wood ashes, mixed with hog lard, boiled in a washpot, and when solidified, turned upside down on a board and cut into squares � rather a strong soap!

By 1860, all the Walkers had returned to Alabama except Martha, who along with Valentine populated Tanner Town.�

Melvina Jane Dean (Aunt Viny) was born December 4^th 1837 in Clarke County, Alabama; died in Jackson County, Mississippi on March 31, 1889. She never married and lived with relatives all her life. She lies buried in Dean Cemetery.

William S. Dean was born in Clarke County, Alabama, ?, 1842. Little is known of William. Reportedly he served in the Confederate Army, but no record is available of this. He is buried in an unmarked grave in the NW � of the SW � section 7-3-5.

As noted before, nothing is known of Purnell Dean.

Francis Parnell Dean� aka Frank Dean�

Francis Parnell Dean was born in Clarke County, Alabama, June 14^th 1840. Sometime before he was ten years old the family made their move to Jackson County, Mississippi. Here he lived with his family until he enlisted in the Confederate Army at Mobile, Alabama.�

He served in Company �I� 12^th Alabama Infantry for an unknown length of time. He was not one to talk about his war experiences, so little is known about them. He was wounded in the left wrist at the Battle of Antietam by a �minnie ball.� He was discharged at the end of the war in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and had to make his way back home however he could. History (oral) relates that when Frank reached home, his father was burning a big pile of brush. Frank walked up and heaved his rifle onto the brush pile. He had enough of war.

Somewhere around 1870 Frank bought 200 acres of land in Section 9-3-5 adjoining the 16^th section where Jeff lived. He cleared land, built a house, and married a wife, not necessarily in that sequence. Thus began the transition from woodsman to settler. He built a six room house of heart pine and cypress. (later another room was added), a large kitchen (which by use became the sitting room) had a fireplace as had the parlor. These had �stick and dirt� chimneys. �Stick and dirt� chimneys were made by framing up a chimney in wood with cross bars. Then �rats� were made by mixing wire grass from the woods with clay and make a roll which was placed across the bars and smoothed down. This made an efficient chimney but had to be repaired occasionally as rain would melt the clay. Later Frank and his oldest son, Arthur, made bricks of cement and replaced the old chimneys. Here, too, water came from a spring nearby, later an iron pump replaced the spring.

Frank took for his wife Isabelle Tucker, the daughter of John S. and Rebecca (Ward) Tucker. To this union were born eleven children.

1. Arthur Ezra; b. 11-24-1873, d. 04-15-1963, 90 years old
2. Rebecca Jane; b. 08-18-1875, d. 06-09-1966, 91 years old
3. Olga Emnett; b. 10-06-1877, d. 01-15-1929, 52 years old (killed by auto)
4. Lucian Roscoe; b. 10-05-1879, d. 06-04-1959, 80 years old
5. Beulah; b. 02-02-1882, d. 10-30-1888, 6 years old
6. Maud; b. 04-27-1884, d. 09-25-1900, 16 years old
7. Robertie; b. 11-13-1886, d. 04-25-1987, 101 years old
8. Zona; b. 05-11-1889, d. 06-10-1986,�70 years old
9. Ruth; b. 07-19-1891, d. 05-13-1983, 92 years old
10. Lester Hardy; b. 05-26-1894, d. 01-11-1975, 81 years old
11. Celeste; b. 07-26-1899, d. 04-15-1960, 61 years old (died of cancer)

Frank and Belle lived in this same house all of his life and later Belle went to live with her daughter Zona.

Belle and the girls still had to do the spinning and weaving to make their clothes until later when fabric could be bought in Mobile. Washing was done at a nearby branch. Dirty clothes were boiled in a washpot and beat with a board or on a stump to get the dirt out. Later there were rubboards, rinsing was in the branch water.

Frank ran cattle and hogs in the woods as Jeff had done. He branded his cattle with a figure 12 and his mark in the ear was crop with an overslit in the left ear and swallow fork and underslit in the right ear. Hogs were not branded, only ear marked.�

This was recorded in the George County Court House on June 18, 1911 soon after George County was founded.

In the spring when the cattle got fat, the market cattle were driven to Mobile, Alabama. A four-year old steer would sell for $20.00. Several men would drive together. It was reported that one man drove turkeys to Mobile, this seems to be impossible.

In the fall hogs were fattened and slaughtered and carried to market in a wagon. Several were kept for home use. At least one grandson was afraid to go in the smokehouse because the sausages looked like snakes.

Supplies were bought in Mobile and since few trips were made (it took two days to go to Mobile and back) they were bought in large quantities. A barrel of flour, another of syrup, etc. Later Frank grew sugar cane and made his own syrup. He also grew rice and oats.

Frank greased his wagon with tar made by heating pine splinters until the tar ran out. Soap was still homemade in the old way. Frank did a lot of hunting and on one of his trips he came up on two buck deer who had fought and locked horns. He cut the throat of one of them. The other shook loose and ran away.

Frank was not a religious man but neither was he profane. His byword was �duggunitt.��

The Dean children attended a one-room school called Rogers School run by a Mr. Rogers. He taught to the eight grade, the boys called it �Lizard Hill� and it stayed so even after it was moved to a new location. Three of the girls, Bertie, Zona and Ruth, went on to a higher grade boarding school at Leaf. Celeste became a secretary. Olga was killed by a car in Mobile , Maud and Beluh died young. Arthur will be treated in another chapter. Roscoe and Lester became farmers.

Arthur married Mary Evelyn Lane. Jane never married. Roscoe married Louvenia Vise. Robertie married Albert Delmas Tilley. Zona married Lewis Finch. Ruth married Isaac Ryals. Lester married Lydia Vise. Celeste married Herbert Carpenter.�

One fall Frank rode his horse to Scranton (now Pascagoula) to pay his taxes on his 200 acres of land and came back grumbling because the tax was almost $16.00. Almost the price of a four-year old steer.

The Deans attended Shipman Methodist Church along with their cousins, the Cornelius Wards, and others. The girls rode in the buggy behind �Bob� and the boys rode their horses. This church was one of the pioneer churches of this area.�

The Dean family was a long-lived family with four women living into mid-nineties and one of them to 100, three men mid-eighties.

�Grandma� Tucker lived to 92 years. The main remembrance of her is that she smoked a clay pipe with a long reed stem.

All of the above mentioned ancestors to Frank and Belle, except William as noted, are buried with proper monuments in the Dean Family Cemetery in the NW � of SE � Section 9 Township 3 Range 5 West in George County, Mississippi.

Arthur, Roscoe, Lester and their spouses and Jane and Ruth are buried in Agricola Cemetery, Zona in the Finch Family Cemetery in Section 3-3-5, Celeste in a Perpetual Care Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama, Beulah and Maud, who died young, and Olga, in the Dean Family Cemetery.

Recent information from the National Archives in Washington, D.C., show that Frank enlisted in the Confederate Army June 8, 1861, in Mobile County, Alabama, for the duration of the war in the 12^th Alabama Infantry, Company �I�. Nothing is shown of the battles that he fought in.�

The next entry is the register of the General Hospital No. 9, Richmond, Virginia, admitted February 25, 1864, discharged February 26, 1864.�

The next entry is the register of the C.S.A. General Hospital, Charlottesville, Virginia, admitted July 26, 1864, returned to duty September 15, 1864.

The next entry is the roll of prisoners at Point Lookout, Md. Not dated but shows that he was captured March 25^th, 1865, near Petersburg, Virginia. Another entry shows that he was captured by the Army of the Potomac and wishes to take the oath, dated March 27^th 1865. Another entry of the roll of prisoners of war at Point Lookout, Md., shows the date of arrival in Washington, D.C., March 31, 1865. Released on �Oath� May 13^th 1865.�

Evidently the oath was of allegiance to the U.S. and probably that he would not engage in any further warfare against the U.S.�

** The above account of part of the history of some of the Dean family was written by: Mr. Roy Dean and then given me by�Mr. Ray Dean. I asked permission to share this with others as it depicts times from all of our pasts, and what confronted our ancestors as they struggled to survive and make a better life for their families.

Mr. Ray thanks for sharing this with all of us� Jimmy Trussell,� 10 January 2009�

Go to More George County Cemeteries to view the family cemetery listed as �Dean Cemetery�.