Person:John Magee (12)

John “Bud” Magee, oldest son of William and Mary James Magee, was born 13 Jan 1792 and died 6 Oct 1877 at present-day Clifton, Washington Parish, Louisiana. On 15 Dec 1817, in Marion County, Mississippi (just to the north of present Washington Parish, La.), he posted bond to marry Sarah Magee, of no immediate relationship. Fleet Magee [brother of Sarah] was bondsman for the marriage (Upton, “Marriage Records, Marion County, Mississippi 1812-1860,” 8). John Magee initially lived on land adjacent to his father’s tract on Hays Creek in Washington Parish. He moved in the 1840s about 2.5 miles to the west, to the “John Gwin” headright of 640 acres, on Bogue Chitto River. He purchased this land from Pierson Slocum, and I have posted a transcript of the deed here. This land on Bogue Chitto was better farm land, and was more accessible to the north/south route between Franklinton and Holmesville, Mississippi, hence the logic in John's move. In 1871, he sold his former tract of land on Hays Creek to his son Fleet Magee, see under Fleet. The John Gwin headright lay at the present site of Clifton, and his home stood on land now owned by the Bienvenue family.

After John Magee died, his wife Sarah and son William donated a plot of land just northeast of the home site to the fledgling “Magee Methodist Church.” That church disbanded in the first decade of the twentieth century, and the site was acquired by the Clifton Baptist Church. William Magee, John and Sarah’s youngest son, lived in the old home until his death. The location of the home, given to me many years ago by Maudine Knight, William Magee's granddaughter, was on the spot where the old Bienvenu dairy barn now stands. The John Magee Cemetery, in which John and Sarah Magee are buried with many members of their family, stands about 1/2 mile due north of the old home site.

John's nickname "Bud" was given to me by my grandfather, John Magee, a great-grandson of John and Sarah, who was named for the old man.

contributed by: Bevin Creel

1.   Abstract Documents, in United States. District Land Office (St. Helena, Louisiana). Greensburg claim papers, ca. 1770-1880. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1983)
   vol 49, #Z-33.

   Washington, Parish, La., Deed 31 March 1846, before Nelson Trawick, Judge, Pierson Y. Slocum of WPL sold to John Magee of WPL (for $1400 cash) a tract of land 640 acres, bounded N by lands of Wildblood, S by lands of Edwin Thomas, E by Bogue Chitto River, being the same on which the vendor now resides, also a negro man Zach aged about 30 years; It is understood by the sd apppearer that the house now used as a church together with one acre of land be reserved for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Mrs. Dicey Erwin wife of said Pierson Y. Slocum, relinquished her rights; wits. Edwin Thomas, William Foil; Recorded 1 April 1846 in Washington Parish Deed Book c, pp 106-8.
   [note: the Greensburg Claim Papers are viewable online at http://wwwslodms.doa.la.gov/HistoricalDocument]

   Greensburg Claim Papers vol 49, #Z-33, p 1 Greensburg Claim Papers vol 49, #Z-33, p 2 Greensburg Claim Papers vol 49, #Z-33, p 3
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Tombstone Photo, John Magee Cemetery, Washington Parish, Louisiana, www.findagrave.com.