Samuel Daniel McDearmon (1815–1871), also known as Samuel D. McDearmon, was a Confederate army officer during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
He held a number of political and government offices, and played a significant role in the development of
Appomattox and
Appomattox Court House Appomattox Court House could refer to:
* The village of Appomattox Court House, now the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, in central Virginia (U.S.), where Confederate army commander Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union commander Ulyss ...
, Virginia.
Biography
McDearmon was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, on November 18, 1815 and died in "Nebraska" (today
Appomattox), Virginia, on May 16, 1871. He was the eldest son of the Reverend James McDearmon (1790–1867) and Mary (Daniel) McDearmon (1788–1866). His father was a merchant, miller and county magistrate as well as a Presbyterian (New School) minister, his father's income deriving mostly from the family farm. James McDearmon owned Mount Evergreen, an estate originating in the land bounty granted to his grandfather for French & Indian War service. By the 1850 Census the Rev. James McDearmon held 22 slaves and real estate valued at $7000. This property was about seven miles (11 km) southeast of Clover Hill (later known as
Appomattox Court House village). In the 1830s Samuel D. McDearmon had received a share of this estate.
[Marvel, p. 5-6]
In 1835 at age nineteen McDearmon married Mary Frances Philadelphia Walton (1814–1884), the daughter of Col William Walton (1782–1851) of Buckingham County. She came with a substantial
dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...
, which would prove fortunate in later years. By 1845 McDearmon owned almost , consisting of part of Mount Evergreen and adjoining lands. He also held in trust a neighbor's estate of some . Near his father's Mount Evergreen property he owned and operated a sawmill ("Evergreen Mills"), which provided a regular income for him. After the formation of the new county of Appomattox in April 1845, he purchased most of the land in and around the
Clover Hill Tavern
The Clover Hill Tavern with its guest house and slave quarters are structures within the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. They were registered in the National Park Service's database of Official Structures on October 15, 1966 ...
,
and in 1846 cut out for a village of Clover Hill, including for a courthouse site.
McDearmon was a Democrat and had been serving in the
Virginia House of Delegates
The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...
from Prince Edward County when the new county was created, and he was a resident of that portion of Prince Edward that became a part of the new Appomattox County. McDearmon was very interested in seeing the development and success of the county seat for the new jurisdiction. He lived just a few hundred yards from the center of the small village in what is known today as the
Peers House. In August 1845 he had borrowed over two thousand dollars from his uncle Samuel J. Daniel (1787–1850) to invest in Clover Hill real estate, and thus began to play a critical role in the development of the village of Clover Hill (after 1845 officially Appomattox Court House), where
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
surrendered to
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
on April 9, 1865.
McDearmon was one of eight trustees of the newly formed village in 1845. By 1847 his tavern and store lots in town had increased in value to $4100 from the purchase value of $3300. By 1848 the value of improvements was $5960. In 1851 McDearmon built the Union Academy and Hall ($1100) on a lot carved from his Clover Hill tract.
Samuel McDearmon was the first to be elected the new county's representative to the House of Delegates, serving 1846-1847 and again 1850-1851. Previously in the early 1840s he had been deputy sheriff for Campbell County and Prince Edward County. In 1851 McDearmon was elected to serve in the Virginia State Senate 1852-1854, representing Appomattox, Campbell and Lynchburg City after a tumultuous race. His political success can be at least partially attributed to his inherited money and wealth.
At the height of his political and financial career (1849–1851) he built a new residence for his young family, the McDearmon-Tibbs "Clover Hill" house overlooking the Court House villag
Appomattox Court House National Historical Park ruins).
Also during these heady days McDearmon had striven mightily to promote the
Southside Railroad (Virginia) The Southside Railroad was formed in Virginia in 1846. Construction was begun in 1849 and completed in 1854. The gauge railroad connected City Point, a port on the James River with the farm country south and west of Petersburg, Virginia, to Lync ...
as a boon to the new county (and himself). Disappointed when the railway bypassed Clover Hill for
Appomattox Station
Appomattox Station was located in the town of Appomattox, Virginia (at the time, known as, West Appomattox) and was the site of the Battle of Appomattox Station on the day before General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Li ...
, he nonetheless bid for and secured the masonry contract for the railroad's spectacular project at Farmville: the
High Bridge (Appomattox River)
High Bridge is a historic former railroad bridge across the Appomattox River valley about east, or downstream, of the town of Farmville in Prince Edward County, Virginia. The remains of the bridge and its adjacent rail line are now a rail trail p ...
. But McDearmon's over-ambitious plans were dashed: in May 1853 the original design was reduced by a third, eliminating a third of McDearmon's projected brick production. This reverse and his over-extended real-estate investments at Clover Hill caused McDearmon to put his holdings under the trusteeship of his father, brother Dr John R. McDearmon (1817–1876) and brother-in-law James C. Walton (1819–1880), reserving Mary F. P. McDearmon's still valuable "dower rights." Within the next few years he would complete a move from Clover Hill to Appomattox Station.
Whatever the ultimate success of his various ventures McDearmon had begun to develop business relationships in a wider field. William C. Flournoy, delegate from Prince Edward 1850-1853 had been his partner in the High Bridge masonry contract. In 1852 he partnered with fellow southside Virginians as McDearmon, Scott & Booker commission merchants in Richmond. His support for fellow democrat
Henry A. Wise
Henry Alexander Wise (December 3, 1806 – September 12, 1876) was an American attorney, diplomat, politician and slave owner from Virginia. As the 33rd Governor of Virginia, Wise served as a significant figure on the path to the American Civil W ...
for the governorship in 1855 produced an appointment at Richmond's Shockoe warehouse as tobacco inspector, an office of historic although declining importance in the commonwealth. By 1860 he had established another partnership in Richmond as McDearmon & Chamberlayne with his second at Shockoe, Edwin H. Chamberlayne.
McDearmon was a major (1845) and later colonel in the 174th (Appomattox) Regiment of the
Virginia Militia from 1849 to 1855. He served as an aide to now Brig. Gen.
Henry A. Wise
Henry Alexander Wise (December 3, 1806 – September 12, 1876) was an American attorney, diplomat, politician and slave owner from Virginia. As the 33rd Governor of Virginia, Wise served as a significant figure on the path to the American Civil W ...
, commander of "Wise's Legion" during the Kanawha campaign in the American Civil War and was part of the Virginia volunteer troops that were trying to keep Union forces out of western Virginia.
Following the defeat of Wise's forces in 1861 McDearmon limited his service to providing the army with lumber and other essential supplies. He was collector of the Confederate tax for Appomattox 1863-1865. By war's end he was in the reserves with the young, the old and the infirm.
In the immediate aftermath of the war, Samuel D. McDearmon was appointed agent by the Freedmen's Bureau to represent the county's black population in actions before the Bureau's "court" for peace-keeping between the races.
McDearmon opened a store in 1855 near
Appomattox Station
Appomattox Station was located in the town of Appomattox, Virginia (at the time, known as, West Appomattox) and was the site of the Battle of Appomattox Station on the day before General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Li ...
in what was then called the town of Nebraska and is called today
Appomattox, Virginia
Appomattox is a town in Appomattox County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,733 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Appomattox County.
Appomattox is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The town ...
. He soon became an agent for the
Southside Railroad, which passed through the village and had a depot there. He became the first postmaster for "Nebraska"; the town was called "Nebraska" from 1855 until 1895. It was then renamed "West Appomattox" since the official county seat of Appomattox Court House (formerly Clover Hill) was three miles (5 km) east. Eventually the "West" was dropped when Appomattox Court House became a historical park and the railroad town became known simply as Appomattox, Virginia. McDearmon built a large six-room Virginia
farmhouse
FarmHouse (FH) is a social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 33 active chapters and four associate ch ...
there in 1855, less than one hundred yards from the train station; the house eventually came to be known as the
Nebraska House
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
.
By 1870 S.D. McDearmon had sufficiently recouped his fortunes to declare worth $8000 in the county by the agricultural census for that year. In addition he had two milling operations: a gristmill ("Evergreen Mills") in partnership with his brother-in-law James D. Calhoun (1810–1885) with a capital investment of $2000; and a sawmill employing eight men capitalized at $800.
His restoration to solvency was however short-lived. The ''Lynchburg Republican'' recorded his death "in the fifty seventh year of his age" at his residence, May 16, 1871.
[Quoted in the ''Richmond Times Dispatch'' October 1905.]
Children
The couple's children were
*Mary Elizabeth McDearmon (b. 1836) married first David A. Plunkett (1826–1860) and second Cornelius Hill.
*Victoria McDearmon (d.''infans'')
*William James McDearmon (1844–1925) married Mary Frances Stickley (1851–1890)
*Samuel Walton McDearmon (b. 1845) married Judith L. Atwood.
*John Hampden McDearmon (1850–1885) married Sarah J. Wright
Footnotes
References
*Farrar, Stuart McDearmon,''Historical Notes of Appomattox County, Virginia 1824-1861.'' (Pamplin City, Virginia: 1989)
*Marvel, William, ''A Place Called Appomattox'', UNC Press, 2000,
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDearmon, Samuel D.
1815 births
1871 deaths
Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates
People of Virginia in the American Civil War
People from Prince Edward County, Virginia
People from Appomattox, Virginia
19th-century American legislators
19th-century Virginia politicians