Pearson, Charles Melvin

CHARLES MELVIN PEARSON
–
Civil War Veteran 
–
2-8-1846, 9-29-1930
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Finally at Rest
*
 The birds stop twittering.  No wind rustles the tree branches. Nothing stirs, and all is so very quiet.  People seem to hold their breath and over the glorious beauty
of the east Tennessee mountains, I seem to feel my grandfather.
*
He’s standing at attention, his eyes in the distance and salutes soldiers only he can see.  As the final notes of TAPS fades into the silence, my grandfather slips away
and I can no longer feel his presence. ——-

                                                   Dusty Laymance Nichols

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CHARLES MELVIN PEARSON 
Civil War Veteran Honored 
*
At 2 p.m., on June 23, 2007, Charles Melvin Pearson was honored with a Tombstone Laying Ceremony at Carpenter Cemetery on Nydeck Road in Rugby, Tennessee. 

Private Pearson, a bugler, served from 1863-1865 as an enlisted soldier with Company “M,” 1st Regiment, New Hampshire Heavy Artillery. A few years after the war, he moved to Morgan County where he served 
as a Magistrate within the 12th Civil District.  He served the community with honor and distinction and was given a tribute by the citizens of Morgan County for his many years of faithful service. 
*
REAL daughter, Eula Pearson Laymance (the last surviving child of Charles and wife Sibba Barnes Pearson), was present at the ceremony along with Eula’s two daughters, Dusty Laymance Nichols and Bernice Laymance Hall.  Eula and Dusty are members of Major Belle Reynolds, Tent No. 4, Jackson, TN., Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War (DUVCW).  A total of six generations of the Pearson family attended the ceremony. 
*
Reita Burress, Tent 4 President, opened the ceremony with a welcoming speech and thanked everyone for attending.  Rita Antle, Secretary, led the Pledge of Allegiance.  Special remarks were given by granddaughter, Dusty Laymance Nichols.  She also read the poem “What Do They Say,” written by National DUVCW President, Patricia Mullinex. 

Special guest speaker was Becky Ruppe, Morgan County Executive. Several members from Lucinda Heatherly, Tent No. 3, Knoxville, TN., DUVCW, were present.  Past Tent President’s of this Tent, Jeanie Watts and Jane Ayers, did the “Laying of the Wreath” ceremony, recited a beautiful poem, said a prayer and placed flowers on the grave . Dian Sutton placed flowers from the Roane County Muscular Dystrophy Society on the grave. 

Pat Latham, Sr. Vice President, read Army Captain Robert Ellicombe’s emotional version of TAPS. 

Jim Sutton, of the Roane County Honor Guard, did a wonderful job playing TAPS with help from another Honor Guard, William J. Bardill. As granddaughter, Dusty Laymance Nichols said later, “Silence reigned over the crowd of between 45-50 people as Jim, with his bugle, began to play the haunting melody of TAPS.   The birds stop twittering.  No wind rustles the tree branches.  Nothing stirs, and all is so very quiet.  People seem to hold their breath and over the glorious beauty of the east Tennessee mountains, I seem to feel my grandfather. 
He’s standing at attention, his eyes in the distance and salutes soldiers only he can see.  As the final notes of TAPS fades into the silence, my grandfather slips away and I can no longer feel his presence.  For a second, everyone stood in spellbound silence and I wondered if they saw what I saw? 

I gaze upon the faces of those before me and in their eyes, in their still bodies, I feel their emotions; a deep well of pride, a seeping of reverence and awe rise to the surface, and for that tiny space of time, that tiny fraction where a door opened and God touched us, we were humbled.  As the warm sun sat upon our heads, Mavis Sutherland, Chaplain of Tent No. 4, walked forward with her gown rustling, breaking the absolute silence and as we bowed our heads, she gave the final benediction.” 

Charles Melvin Pearson was honored by his country, his daughter, his family, his county and was given a fitting tribute for a true hero who fought during the Civil War. 

The Pearson/Laymance family would like to thank Dr. Doug Fidler, a member of Colonel Robert Byrd, Camp 8 (Dept of TN), Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) and Jim Sutton of the Roane County 
Honor Guard.  Also, a very special thank you to Schuberts Funeral Home for their overwhelming generosity in placing the tombstone, and for providing a tent and chairs.  Everyone’s participation and kind gestures will last a lifetime. 

———————–

Tombstone Laying Ceremony
for
Charles Melvin Pearson

*
Saturday, June 23, 2007
*
2 P.M.
* 
Carpenter Cemetery
Nydeck Road, Rugby, TN
*
Company M, 1st NH Heavy Artillery, Bugler
Served from 1863-1865
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Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War
Major Belle Reynolds, Tent No. 4 (detached), Jackson, TN.
*
Esquire Charles Pearson was an active member in the Rugby community.  
He served as Magistrate in the 12th Civil District and was given a 
tribute for his many years of service by the citizens of Morgan County.  
*
Charles and his wife, Sibba Darthula Barnes Pearson of Rugby,  have 
one surviving child, Eula J Pearson Laymance, who is a member of Major 
Belle Reynolds, Tent 4 (detached), Jackson, TN.  Family members also
include Dusty Laymance Nichols (granddaughter), Melissa Nichols Solomon 
(g-granddaughter), Jennifer Nichols Maxson (granddaughter), and Kelsey 
Alannah Solomon (g-g-granddaughter).
*
Tent 4 members attending will be dressing in period attire.
*
Also present for laying of the wreath will be members from Lucinda 
Heatherly, Tent No. 3, Knoxville, TN., DUVCW.
*
TAPS will be played by Jim Sutton from the Roane County Honor Guard
*
Speaker:  Becky Ruppe, Morgan County Executive.
*
Schuberts Funeral Home is placing the tombstone and helping with the 
ceremony by supplying a tent and chairs.
*
The Public is cordially invited to attend ceremony. 

*
http://home.lorettotel.net/~dubluet2/pearson.htm 
***
If you're a natural born female descendant of a Civil War Veteran 
interested in finding out more about joining DUVCW, please contact 
Reita Burress at rburress [at] usit [dot] net or write to the following address.  
Reita Burress, PO Box 153, Ethridge, TN. 38456*

My name is Dusty Laymance Nichols and I would like to share the following information about my mother, Eula J. PearsonLaymance and her father, Charles Melvin Pearson.  My mother and I are members of .Major Belle Reynolds, Tent No. 04 (detached), Jackson, TN. , Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War (DUVCW).  My mother is the REAL daughter of a Civil War Veteran. 

To be eligible for membership you have to prove your lineage (any and all papers showing your ancestor fought in the Civil War and was honorably discharged).
My grandfather, Charles Melvin Pearson, according to his enlistment papers, was born in Biddeford, Maine on February 8, 1846 to William Pearson and (unknown) Rice.  We believe his actual place of birth was in Manchester, NH instead ofBiddeford, ME.  
 His Volunteer enlistment papers states he joined on July 8, 1863 in Manchester, New Hampshire, which would have made his age 17 years and 5 months.  He was listed as being 5 feet 7 inches tall, light hair, black eyes and dark complexion, and was in Company M, 1st Regiment, Heavy Artillery.  According to New Hampshire Fights the Civil War by Mather Cleveland, MD, New London, New Hampshire 1969, “On November 5, 1864, the 1st New Hampshire Light Battery, with an effective strength of 111, ceased to exist as such.  By order of the War Department the Battery was transferred to the 1stNew Hampshire Heavy Artillery as Company or Battery M.”
 My grandfather was mustered out in Concord, New Hampshire on June 9, 1865 due to the end of the Civil War.  He was injured in the war (he drew a disabled veterans pension) but, as to date, we’ve not found out why.  We are investigating this further but in dealing with these issues, it takes time.  On January 1, 1865, his company appointed him bugler and he was mustered out as such. 
 All the skirmishes and battles he participated in were in Virginia.  Some of these battles included Brandy Station, Nov. 8, 1863; Mine Run, Nov. 30, 1863; Wilderness, May 6, 1864; Cold Harbor, June 3-12, 1864; and Siege of Petersburg, June 16 to July 26 (also at Petersburg July 30 to Aug. 12; Aug. 20, 1864 to March 29, 1865). 
 He married my grandmother, Sibba Darthula Barnes, daughter of John and Lucy Belle “Little Bird” Williams Barnes, inRugby, TN., on April 8, 1917.  His death certificate lists his occupation as farmer, justice of the peace (Magistrate) and blacksmith within the Rugby community.  He was an active member and was paid a high tribute by the citizens of MorganCounty for his many years of service and dedication. 

What the County Court of

Morgan County Thinks of a Faithful Public
 Spirited Member
 Twelfth District Citizen Honored
 High Tribute to ESQ. Chas. Pearson of Rugby

Useful Career in Public Service is Fittingly Rewarded

 Note—This paper circularized and paid for by business men of Morgan County who want economy and progress in county government.

                                                         Wartburg, Tennessee

                                                          July 7, 1920

 To Charles Pearson, Esquire
 Magistrate

12th Civil District

Rugby, Tennessee

 

Dear Squire Pearson:

 We, your fellow members and fellow workers in the county Court of Morgan County, inspired by the fact that you are probably the oldest member as to both age and period of service, in the court, and reflecting, further, with pleasure upon association and with the public service, deem it appropriate to tender you a tribute of our respect and testimonial of our good will.
  For years, few, if any have attended the sessions of the Court more faithfully than have you; if you have missed a session in years we do not recollect it.  By your gentlemanly bearing and your uniform courtesy to and consideration for the other members of the Court, and by your conscientious discharge of duty, and by your sense of the responsibilities of this body, you have gained our loyalty, confidence and esteem.  At all times you stood for the best interests of your constituents, and for the general progress of the county, and you have in all things been so fair and reasonable as to win our support of measures you have advocated.  You have stood for the advancement of the interests of our schools, of our roads, and of all things vital to the welfare of our county.  You have advocated that economy consistent with public needs.

 We take this method of attesting the pleasure afforded by our business and social relations with you, and we thus evidence our affectionate regard for you.  You served your country with distinction, we understand, in the Civil War: in the county Court of the good county of Morgan we are fully aware of, and we appreciate and commend you for, the service you have rendered in the public interest, and we congratulate you for your faithfulness, your zeal and your integrity.  Your people of the 12th District are also to be congratulated for selecting so trust-worthy, conscientious and earnest a man to represent them: you have been true to them, in the fullest sense of the term.  It comes to our knowledge that in your official acts as a District Magistrate you have proceeded with deliberation, tempering justice with mercy: you have quieted friction and kept down litigation: you have befriended the poor: you have not tricked, wronged, defrauded or oppressed any man, but have been frank, open, kind, fair-and-square in all your dealings in both private and public life; always on the right side of every issue, always alert to render service and to promote the best interests of your fellow-man and of this beautiful section which we love and which holds for us all that is dearest in life.

   To have merited and gained the respect and confidence of your fellow-man is not to have labored in vain: we trust, then, that you will find a certain satisfaction in this our voluntary testimonial.  We extend to you our best wishes.  Long may you continue in health and vigor and with your faculties as clear and keen as they now are, that the usefulness by which you are characterized may continue.  And when the evening of your life finally comes, and the shadows of the approaching night fall across your pathway, may you have that happy reflection consequent upon having been faithful to trust and having been considerate of your fellow man, attend you, until you hear from a higher source than this Court, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!”
 Sincerely yours,

 

THE COUNTY COURT OF MORGAN COUNTY

 John H Bingham        Bruno Schubert         W.H. Nelson
 J.L. Hackworth          B.M Hannahan          Wm. Bullard
Ben F. Bingham         E.C. Melton               J.S. Greer
 S.H. Jackson               Ray P. Stone             R.P. Potter
 H.H. Pitman               J.M. Langley             P.H. Adcock
Elmer Carroll             A.C. Lavender          John Dillon
 Dan Garrett                W.M Dyer                Joe Hawn
 

 My mother, Eula J. Pearson Laymance was born on June 4, 1928 in Rugby and was baptized at Christ Church Episocpal onJuly 22, 1928 by Geo. B. Kirwan. 

 She married my father, Junior Powell Laymance, son of William Oscar and Anna Mae Eastridge Laymance, in MorganCounty, TN., and they had three children, Dusty Laymance Nichols, my sister, Bernice Laymance Hall, and my brother,Harold Dean Laymance.  My father died on February 3, 1997 and rests peacefully at the Wartburg Cemetery in Wartburg,TN.
 My mother also received a certificate from Historic Rugby as one of the “First Families of Rugby” on May 28, 2001, signed by Barbara Stagg.

 Not only am I proud of my grandfather, but I’m also proud of my mother.  She kept the home fires burning with love and devotion to her family.  As a proud American and daughter, I salute them as they inspired me far more than they will ever know.

Photos and information courtesy of Dusty Laymance Nichols

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