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816. Milton Weddings of 1905

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On December 23, 1905, the Pensacola News Journal published the weddings of several local couples. One was the marriage on December 17th of Charles Jones Henderson (1878-1946) and Ruth Amorelle McCarthy 1885-1925). Charles had obtained a job as a mill wright at a local saw mill. Several years later he became a ship's carpenter for the Bagdad Ship Building Company, a job he would keep for several years. By 1920, he was still a ship's carpenter but they had left Bagdad and moved to 905 Canal Street in Milton. On the other hand Ruth's father, Phillip M. McCarthy (1846-1918), was an early settler in Santa Rosa County after the Civil War. He had been born in England and sailed to American where he eventually became a naturalized citizen. Toward the end of the Civil War Phillip left his clerk's position in New York and enlisted at 19-years old in the US Navy on May 26, 1864. His rating on the muster roll of Mary 28, 1964 was that of a "landsman," which would close to today's "recruit." He would serve with the Navy until May 27, 1867. For whatever reason, her father came to Santa Rosa County, Florida prior to 1880 along with Ruth's mother Sarah E. Hill (1847-1905). Perhaps he had sailed here during or after the war with the Navy and liked what he saw. Here he took work as an accountant and by 1910 was listed as a bookkeeper for the Bagdad Lumber Mill. As for Charles and Ruth, today they lay at rest in the Bagdad Cemetery.



The second couple was Miss Bamma Bray (1881-1960) who married John Arthur Smith (1881-1957) on December 20, 1905 in Santa Rosa County in 1905. By 1918, John had become a ship's carpenter at the Bagdad Ship Building Company while they were living in Milton. By 1910, they were in George, Mississippi as he followed the carpentry trade where it took them. Ten years later, they were in Shelby, TN before finally relocating to Miami in 1925. They spent time in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida as well prior to John passing away in 1957 in Miami. Bamma would follow him in death in Ft. Lauderdale in 1960 and was buried in the Southern Memorial Gardens. Bamma's parents were John Bray (1861-) and Mary Hicks (1862-) who married in 1882 in Escambia County, Alabama. Her grandparents were none other than Henry Bray (1827-1914) and Mary Ann McCulers who married in 1851. Henry is buried in the Bray Family Cemetery) and had been a private who enlisted on 2-11-1863 in Conecuh Co., AL. He was attached to the Confederate 3rd Cavalry Battalion until 1863 before it was consolidated into the 15th Confederate Cavalry.


And finally the last couple was Miss Jeanette McKain (1883-1962) and Zachary "Zeke" Monroe (1880-1949). Jeanette was born in Tallulah, LA where her father had been a merchant for many years. However, her father was William Edgar "Billy" McKain (1848-1916), himself a native of Milton, Florida, Billy had married her mother, Georgetta D. Fisher (1855-1909) in 1874 in Milton. and had relocated to Tulluah to enter the mercantile business. There, Billy would pass away in 1916 and was buried next to Georgetta in the Silver Cross Cemetery where she had waited for him since her passing in 1909. As for Jeanette and Zeke, they would make their way in life with her husband working as a railroad brakeman. In 1918, he was working in Tucson, Arizona before they finally settled in Van Horn, Texas where he passed away in 1949. Jeanette would follow him to the grave in 1962 with both resting today in the Van Horn Cemetery.


Pensacola News Journal 12-23-1905


Pensacola News Journal 12-23-1905


Grave of Charles and Ruth Henderson in Bagdad Cemetery


Muster Roll of May 28, 1864 for Phillip M. McCarthy, US Navy

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