Notes for REVEREND JOHN TORRENCE MCLAUGHLIN, SR:

"Prominent Educator Passes To Beyond

Rev. John Torrence McLaughlin, well known preacher and teacher, died at the home of his
daughter, Mrs. Thomas W Taylor, near Montezuma, on Wednesday, February 28. Rev.
McLaughlin was a native of Newton County, and was about 91 years of age. He was
educated at Emory College, and graduated in 1853 with the A B degree. He was a teacher
43 years, and an ordained minister for 40 years. He was prominently associated with
a noted school for boys, at Talbotton, also LeVert College, another school located in
Talbotton. For a number of years he was president of the Georgia Methodist Female
College, located in Covington, and later went west, where he taught in schools of
Illinois and Arkansas.

Prof. McLaughlin was twice married. His first wife who was Miss Middlebrooks, of Sparta,
lived only a year. The second Mrs. McLaughlin was Miss Frances Lee, sister to J W, W B
and E O Lee. They had ten children, eight of whom survive. They are Mrs. Mary Miles,
Booneville, Ark.; Claude E, of Washington, D C; Leola, of California; Lovick A, of Gray,
Ga.; Mesdames W T Gibbs and Charles Davis, of Davisboro; T W Taylor, of Montezuma, and
John of Illinois.

Prof. McLaughlin was a scholar, a master of the languages, and possessed a mind stored with
a wide range of knowledge. Many of the foremost men in business, and professional life owe
much to his careful training. He was deeply spiritual, and devoted much time to preaching.
He never missed divine worship as long as he was physically able to attend. He observed the
laws of hygiene, and no doubt prolonged his life by many years by their observance.

The remains were carried to Talbotton, and interred in Oak Hill Cemetery. Among surviving
relatives are his great nephew and niece, Dr. W D Travis and Miss Eppie Shockley of this
city."

More About REVEREND JOHN TORRENCE MCLAUGHLIN, SR:
Burial: 1923, Oak Hill Cemetery, Talbotton, Georgia
Degree: 1853, Bachelor of Arts
Graduation: 1853, Emory College
Military service: Served in the Confederate States Army
Occupation: President and owner of Collinsworth Institute, in Talbotton, Georgia, and also LeVert College, also in Talbotton; Ordained minister; principal; teacher; professor, taught at Collinswood College in Talbotton, Georgia
Residence: Talbotton, Georgia; Booneville, Arkansas

Marriage Notes for JOHN MCLAUGHLIN and MARY LEE:

Letter of proposal:
"Collignsworth Institute, Georgia
August 27, 1861
Dear Miss Fannie:
Yours of August 16, mailed August 19, was received by last mail. Be assured
that it was waited for with great anxiety and interest and welcomed with joy and delight.
I regret exceedingly that mail facilities are so poor as to delay our letters so long. I
would like to hear from you every week, but I suppose we cannot pass letters oftener than
once in two weeks. Wednesday, I suppose, is your mail day. Does the mail return to
Covington the same day? If you can mail your letters in time for me to receive them
and answer by next mail we might write weekly, if you desire it.

I am extremely happy to learn, Miss Fannie, that my letter was received so
favorably. The suspense has been greatly relieved and my heart has been rejoiced to
learn that you can reciprocate my feelings, that I may consider myself at least an
object of regard, as something more than an ordinary friend. You were mistaken
in supposing that I had any disposition to accuse of deceiving me. No indeed!
I only ask you to relieve me from all suspense; to provoke, if you will pardon me,
a candid avowal in regard to all other attachments, as I frankly have made myself.
I ask no more than I gave you on our interview on that subject. Was that not fair?
I have too exalted an opinion of your moral worth to suspect you of a defection. I
think, however, that we should both feel free to draw from each other a candid avowal
of our real feelings and sentiments on any point we may wish to discuss. I shall try
to be honest and candid. I credit you with the same sincerity. Let there be no
restraint. Write with the same or even with greater freedom than you could write to
a brother, for I pledge you my honor that the correspondence shall be kept sacred
and whether we shall ever be more than friends or not your letters shall be at your
own disposal alone. I repose in you the utmost confidence and ask nothing more
from you than I grant, that our letters be held as sacred property. I have no
objections to you consulting or advising with your parents or some special friend. I
only object to and protest against showing our letters to other eyes. I have a little
experience and I know such letters cannot be appreciated by any except those for
whom they were alone intended. I have been an honest friend and I confess that
I have felt a little disposition to ridicule such things even when enjoying the sacred
relation of a confidence. Understand me, I never indulge in ridicule; I only
take warning from my own feelings in the csse of the others. Let this then be the
understanding between us, no matter what betide us, our letters shall be sacred
property. Then we may write when we please without reserve, assured that the
vulgar gaze of the world shall never ridicule us. Don't imagine because I have
alluded to this subject that I suppose you need any warning in reference to it. I
do it simply to show you how sacred I regard our correspondence and to induce
you to throw aside all reserve and restraint. It would be useless, Miss Fannie,
for me to repeat my former avowal of friendship and regard for you. You know
too well if heart can have heart and soul can peer into the secret recesses of the soul,
that I entertain more than an ordinary degree of affection for you. To confess
the truth I have not only always entertained a high regard for you ever since I
knew you but have long felt a secret love, ignorant of its probably reciprocation.
I feel a hesitancy in saying now that I not only have loved you for sometime but
that I now love you still more devotedly. To be assured of your love renders me
happiness indeed. I pledge to you my purest, best, and sincerest affection.
Henceforth, with your consent, you alone shall be the idol of my heart. The
strongest affection you can cultivate for me will be fully reciprocated. For several
years I have felt bereaved, desolate, unhappy. If I can win your ardent love
and your hand freely given in the sacred bond of matrimony, my happiness shall
be as near complete as earth and fortune can possibly render it. I am fully
persuaded that the secret of human happiness is loving and being loved. The sum
of happiness is the amount of our love. Those are happiest who love most. I am
fully satisfied that you can make me happy if you really and genuinely love me.
My judgment approves the measure, and my whole heart is in it. Now are
you willing to share with me my humble lot in life with all its sorrows and its joys,
its cares and responsibilities? Do you love me well enough to pledge me your
heart and hand to share life's future together? I have neither fame nor fortune
to offer you. By constant toil and teaching for several years I have made some
money, but I have never accumulated much. With providence and economy,
I think I may anticipate a decent, honorable support, if I have no misfortune
in losing what little I have gained and can retain health to toil for more.
Let me know your feelings freely and frankly. Consider well and let know my
fate and future destiny. I do not ask you to make a sacrifice. I shall anxiously
await your reply. With your love and a pledge of your heart, I think I shall
be infinitely happy. Be assured of my constant and devoted love. May heavens
richest blessings attend you. Adieu.
Yours affectionately,
John T McLaughlin"

Children of JOHN MCLAUGHLIN and MARY LEE are:

i. FRANCES FLORENCE² MCLAUGHLIN, b. August 05, 1879; d. Unknown; m. THOMAS W TAYLOR; d. Unknown.

More About THOMAS W TAYLOR:
Residence: Montezuma, Georgia

ii. MARY LEE MCLAUGHLIN, b. November 09, 1862, Talbotton, Georgia; d. September 09, 1947, Fort Smith, Arkansas; m. OSCAR LANDON MILES, SR, June 28, 1878, Indian Territory, Oklahoma; b. October 16, 1854, Grainger County, Tennessee; d. August 17, 1910, Booneville, Arkansas.

Notes for MARY LEE MCLAUGHLIN:
Tribute to Mary Lee Miles:

"First Methodist Church
Fort Worth 3, Texas
Warren Johnston
Minister

Having known Mrs. Mary Lee Miles since my childhood, I count it a privilege to pay tribute
to her as one of God's noble women. I know of her long years of usefulness in the First
Methodist Church in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and in Little Rock, Arkansas, where I was her
pastor when she lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Judge and Mrs. J Seab Holt.

As we recall the goodness of her life, we think of her patience, her understanding, her
loyalty to duty and her love for her family and friends. Her staunchness of faith, her
kindly helpfulness, her willingness to render any service, her deep convictions concerning
things that were right, are all a part of the fine heritage she passes on to her children.

From early childhood throughout her life, she loved God and served him through the Methodist
Church. For her, church membership was something to be taken seriously. Over a period of
years she served her church as a Sunday School teacher, as a member of the Women's Society,
and as a faithful and devout attendant upon its services. As a part of the church, she
shared its faith and rejoiced in its successes.

Mrs. Miles was born in Georgia, November 9, 1862, and died September 9, 1947, in Fort Smith,
Arkansas. Her funeral was held at first Methodist Church in Fort Smith, by the Reverend
Fred G. Roebuck. A child of a Methodist parsonage, she came to Arkansas with her father,
Rev. J F Mclaughlin, in 1877. Her father became the principal of the Fort Smith District
High School, a Methodist school located in Booneville, Arkansas. It was here in Booneville
that she met and married Oscar Landon Miles, professor of Latin and Greek at this
institution. Mr. Miles became a lawyer and in 1900 moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he
was the general attorney for the Missouri-Pacific Railway.

Mrs. Miles is survived by two daughters, Charlotte Miles of Seattle, Washington, and Mrs.
J Seab Holt of Little Rock, Arkansas; three sons, Oscar L Miles of Monore, Louisiana,
Fanning C Miles of Atlanta, Georgia, and Marion Lee Miles of Vicksburg, Mississippi; ten
grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

Few women live so long, and even fewer live so well. At the close of such a long and good
life, it is truly fitting to conclude by saying, 'Father, into Thy hands I commend my
spirit.'"

Notes for OSCAR LANDON MILES, SR:

Letter from Oscar to Mary, dated August 11, 1902:

"My Dear Wife,
I received your sweet little letter several days ago, but was just in the act of starting
to the mountains and hence have not written you. We camped out on the mountain very high up
without a tent and there was a very heavy frost that night and I contracted a severe cold.
I took Syrup of Figs last night and am taking quinine today, think I will be all right
tomorrow. It is our intention to go to the highest mountains tomorrow and commence our
final deer hunt on the 15th. Deer are very scarse. Vernon and Wm. Jns. have each killed a
buck - The only two we have seen. On our last trip I tore my clothes nearly off of me and
think I will be about nude by the time I head for xxxxxxxxxxxxx. We have been having a very
pleasant time. We ride horse back some where every day. It is three miles to the post
office and little store and this makes a nice ride. I was greatly pleased to hear of the
fine rains in Arkansas. We will have an excellent crop on our farm and our cattle should
do finely. So far I have not had a word from any of the children. Have they forgotten me?
I think we will start back about the 20th. The balance of the party are all well.
Love to your dear self and our little ones.
Your Devoted husband,
Oscar L Miles"

Letter from Oscar to Mary, dated September of 189_:

"My dear Mary,
This is sunday, and I am at Ozark. Came here this morning from Ft. Smith. Left home
Saturday morning. My health has greatly improved and I am feeling quite well again.
Last week was at house all the time & hired some hands and got up our winter wood. I have
enough stove-wood to last until next spring, and nearly enough fire wood. I have eight
hogs in the pen and have begun to fatten them. The hands will begin to gather corn in
about two weeks. Cotton is growing very fast now and the prospect is favorable for a good
yield. I think I can get through here in about ten days or two weeks and I want you to
start home Tuesday or Wednesday a week. If you start on Wednesday you will get here about
Friday morning- & I think I will be ready to go home with you by that time. Write me at
once when you will start. Love and kisses to you and the little ones. Don't disappoint
me.
Your Devoted husband
Oscar L Miles"

1. Barnes, Robert, Indexed by, Genealogies of Virginia Families, Volume IV, (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, 1981.), 20.
2. Barnes, Robert, Indexed by, Genealogies of Virginia Families, Volume IV, (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, 1981.), 444.
3. The Miles Family History, "Oscar Landon graduated from Emory and Henry University and in the late 1870's he moved to Booneville, Arkansas where he was employed as a school teacher. He taught mathematics at a Methodist school which also served as the high school for the area."
4. The Miles Family History, "Oscar Landon had been attending night school to study law and by this time (when he and Mary returned from Oklahoma to Booneville, Arkansas) he had obtained his license to practice. He became a successful trial attorney, and later served as Prosecuting Attorney for the District of Van Buren, Ozark, and Booneville. It is told that one time he and Judge Jeptha Evans, a close friend, were riding horseback, going home from court. They figured up how many fights each had been involved in, in the courtroom. Evans counted 10, and Oscar Landon calculated he had been in 14. Oscar Landon's grandson Franklin Wilder recounts one of the more spectacular incidents: 'One day in 1959, Harry P. Daily, a very scholarly attorney, who was attorney for two of the banks in Fort Smith, came to my office while I was the Chancery Judge. (Mr. Daily and I were good friends.) He said, 'When I was a young lawyer in 1909, I went to Clarksville, to get the Circuit Judge to sign an order for me. When I got in court, I found your grandfather Involved in a murder case. He was representing the defendant, a well-known pharmacist there who shot a man when he found him in bed with his wife. The man he shot was of a prominent family and they hired two leading attorneys as special prosecutors to try and convict this defendant. One was Webb Covington, a fine trial attorney, and the other was U S Senator Jeff Davis, also a good trial attorney. 'Your grandpa had found out that, the day before, they had taken a man on the jury who made the statement that he had 'come out of the hills to convict the S. O. B.' Miles filed a motion to disqualify this juror, and also said one of the special prosecutors knew about his fraud before they took the man on the jury.'Covington said, 'Colonel, I didn't know anything about this.' Miles said, 'Webb, I'm not talking to you, you stay out of this. But I am talking about that y____/_____ S. O B. that calls himself the Junior United States Senator from A.