Isaac's death left Mary Jane King as a 36-year old widow with seven young children. The deprivations which she endured in this period of her life molded her into an exceedingly strong-willed individual, and she is remembered by her family as a woman who ruled with an iron hand. In her later days she was crippled and used crutches to walk. One family legend says that she had a wooden leg, having had her leg shot off in the war. However, a more plausible if less romantic explanation of her infirmity is that she was kicked in the hip by a cow.

In about 1862, Mary Jane King moved her remaining family to Haywood County, Tennessee, the home of Isaac King's family. [See notes with circumstantial case for the parentage of Isaac King under the page for Elias King.]

1870 Census of District 8, Haywood Co TN (Brownsville)

King, M. J. 34 F W Keeping house MS
–––, J H 14 M W Farm hand MS
–––, W F 12 M W Farm hand MS
–––, Safroni 10 F W At home MS
–––, Otho 8 M W At home MS
Hunt, W H 24 M W Farm hand VA
---, M A 18 F W At home MS (Mary Jane’s daughter Medora Ann King Hurt)
---, Edman 17 M B Farm hand TN

King, E E 21 M W Farming MS
–––, A E 19 F W Farm hand TN

1880 Census of District 8, Haywood, TN:

King, Mary J., w, f, 55, Farming, MS, NC, NC
King, Otho, w, m, 18, son, MS, Tenn, MS
Dawson, Florence, w, f, 25, daughter, MS, Tenn, MS
Dawson, Eliza, w, f, 7, gr daughter, Tenn, Tenn, Tenn
Dawson, John, w,m. 6, gr son, Tenn, Tenn, Tenn

The Case for Assigning Elizabeth Dees as Mother of Mary Jane Fisher

by Clayton Heathcock, 7 April 2008

I have known for some time that Mary Jane's father was named Elijah Fisher, who died in Hinds Co MS in 1838, Elijah's will mentioned his wife Eliza Fisher and "three youngest children, David D. Fisher, Ann Eliza Fisher, and Mary Jane Fisher." The will also mentions his son Jacob F. Fisher and son-in-law Almond Robbins, who were the executors. Almond Robbins was the husband of Elijah's daughter Catherine Fisher (married in 1834). Mary Jane Fisher was 7 years old when her father died. After Elijah's death, Elizabeth Fisher continued to live in Hinds Co MS and was listed there as head-of-household in 1840, along with two sons and two daughters (probably David, Jacob, Anna Elizabeth and Mary Jane). Son-in-law Almond Robbins and his wife Catherine are listed as neighbors. Mary Jane Fisher married Isaac King in Hinds Co MS in 1847. There were probably other children as the 1830 census of the Elijah Fisher family in Hinds Co MS enumerated 7 males and 4 females. One possibility is a Hiram G. Fisher; Hinds Co MS documents pertaining to him were witnessed by a David D. Fisher. This Hiram G. Fisher married Penicia Perkins in Hinds Co MS on 30 March 1845.194

The mystery has been: 1. who was Elijah Fisher and 2. who was Elizabeth, his wife?

Almond Robbins was a blacksmith in Hinds Co MS and was born in New York. About a year ago I found a book about the New York Robbins family, written by a man named Lawrence Robbins.195,196 In the book Lawrence gave the parents of Catherine Fisher as Elijah Fisher and Elizabeth Deeds. Unfortunately, he did not have a source for Elizabeth's name, and he did not have any information about the parents of either Elijah or Elizabeth.

I also found Ann Eliza Fisher in the 1880 census and this gave me a very valuable clue. It turns out that her full name was Anna Elizabeth Fisher. She married George Nicholson Langford, Jr., who was later to be a member of the Mississippi State House of Representatives. In the 1880 census, she gave the state of birth of her father (Elijah) as Kentucky and of her mother (Elizabeth) as North Carolina. Now often you have to take census records with a grain of salt because in the early days many were not well educated and just made mistakes. But I figured that the wife of a public official was probably pretty literate and these states of birth were probably right.

So I began to look for families named Fisher (b in KY) and Deeds (b in VA) who lived close together. I found in the 1810 census records for a Sampson Dees and Elijah Fisher, relatively close neighbors in Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky. In 1810 the Elijah Fisher family included a woman the right age to be Elizabeth.

Sampson Dees was first found in the census in 1790, in Sampson Co NC, but here is the silver bullet -- Sampson Dees died in Warren Co Mississippi in 1817 and here is his estate probate:

Dees, Sampson.
Probated Sept. 23, 1817. Of Christian County, Kentucky.
Wife: Ruth, to have household goods and 2 negroes.
Children: son Samuel (youngest) to have negro, horse, saddle and bridle, feather bed and household furniture; dau. Polly Dees, to have negro, horse and saddle; dau. Altezes Woolf, to have negro, horse and saddle; sons William, Danson (Denson), Luke; daus. Elizabeth Fisher and Sally Jones. Exr: wife
Wit: John Clark, John Polls, John Mancy, David Mancy.

There is a healthy group working on the Dees (Deas) family and the line has been traced back to Scotland in 1660.

On November 25, 1847, Mary Jane Fisher married Isaac King, born in Tennessee in 1824, in Hinds County Mississippi. The couple lived in Jackson, Mississippi and are listed in the 1850 and 1860 census records. The 1860 census also shows that Isaac's seventy-five year old mother, E. King, lived with them at the time, and that young Ellen had died. Isaac is described in both the 1850 and 1860 census as a “planter” and he is reported to have owned three slaves in 1850 and five in 1860.

According to a story told by a descendant, about 1861 or 1862 the King family moved went to Haywood Co TN. A little town 10 or 12 miles from their home was Brownsville. There was a store and probably a post office called Rudolph near them also. There was a big cedar tree at the side of the walk of the old King house in Tennessee. The house was brick and the foundations are all that is left today. The King family moved from Mississippi to Tennessee because they had been told that a battle between the Confederates and Yankees was going to take place near where they lived. They left for Tennessee where some of Isaac’s brothers lived. When they left there was a Confederate sentry posted at their front gate. A battle was fought near their MIssissippi home but not on their land. The yankees ransacked their home. They took the dresser drawers and used them for feed troughs for their horses.191

Isaac King was 6 feet 2 1/2 inches tall and had light complexion, dark hair, and blue eyes. On March 21, 1862, he enlisted in the Mississippi Light Artillery in Jackson and was made Corporal in Company A of Withers' Regiment. At the time, he described himself as a planter.192 In late 1862, the North realized that the Mississippi River was crucial to the continued survival of the Confederacy. And yet nearly 250 miles of the river, from Vicksburg south to Port Hudson, Louisiana, remained in the hands of the South. The Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg was the key. Heavily fortified in the hilly terrain on the east bank of the river, it was impregnable to attack from the river itself. The Mississippi makes a great bend to the east at Vicksburg and for months the Northern forces tried to dig a north-south canal so as to divert the river and thus by-pass Vicksburg. However, the attempt failed. Finally, in April of 1863, Grant marched south on the western bank of the river and crossed well below Vicksburg. He then led his army north and captured Jackson on May 14, thus cutting the rail connection to the Confederate garrison at Vicksburg. The Confederates, under General Pemberton, fought two last stands against Grant's advancing troops, first at Champion's Hill and then at the crossing of the Big Black River, before retreating into Vicksburg, where they were besieged until they surrendered on July 4, 1863.193 Isaac King fought with the Rebel army in the Battle of Big Black. According to a family story told by Floy Medora Akin Garner, Isaac’s granddaughter, Isaac was a “swabber” with a canon crew. It was reported to the family that Isaac had been killed, but they later learned that he had been promoted to Corporal and it was his replacement who was killed. However, soon after, Isaac became ill with dysentery and died on 25 May 1863, during the siege of Vicksburg.

1850 Census of Hinds Co MS:

Isaac King, 26, m, Planter, b Tenn
Mary J. King, 23, f, b MS
Elias E. King, 1, m, b MS
Mary E. King, 3/12, f, b MS

1850 Slave Schedule, Hinds Co MS:

Name of Slave Owner: Isaac King
Male, aged 22
Male, aged 16
Male, aged 40

1860 Census of Hinds Co MS:

Isaac King, 35, m, Farmer, b Ala
M.J. King, 33, f, b MS (attended school in last year)
E. King, 11, m, b MS (attended school in last year)
Ann M. King, 7, f, b MS
Florence King, 5, f, b MS
J. S. King, 4, m, b MS
W. G. King, 2, m, b MS
S. King, 7/12, f, b MS
E. King, 75, f, b NC

1860 Slave Schedule, Hinds Co MS:

Name of Slave Owner, Isaac King.
Aged 32 Male
Aged 25 Male
Aged 21 Female
Aged 13 Female
Aged 3 Female