James Hardyman Simmons

James Hardyman Simmons

• Father: John Simmons b. circa 1810
• Mother: Unknown (?) b. say 1810

• James Hardyman Simmons was born on 31 December 1832 in Georgia.
• John Simmons and Elizabeth (?) appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. Other members of the household included James Hardyman Simmons, Satsy Ann Simmons, William J. Simmons, Catherine Simmons, Martin Van Buren Simmons, Moses Franklin Simmons, David Simmons, Elizabeth Simmons and Jasper N. Simmons. It is not yet known when John Simmons married Elizabeth, or which of the children are hers and which from his earlier marriage.
• He was a farmer, according to the 1850 census.
• He married Laura H. McFarland on 14 October 1856 in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana.
• James Hardyman Simmons and Laura H. McFarland appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Athens PO, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. Other members of the household included Savannah E. Simmons, John Breckenridge Simmons and Martin Van Buren Simmons. Jas H. Simmons was the census enumerator for the area.
• He was a farmer, according to the 1860 census.
• James Hardyman Simmons and Laura H. McFarland appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Athens PO, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. Other members of the household included Savannah E. Simmons, John Breckenridge Simmons, Laura Kate Simmons, James H. Simmons, Ada Simmons, Ida Simmons, Arthur V. Simmons and Lucious C. Simmons.
• He was a farmer, according to the 1870 census.
• In 1877, Adolphus McCranie (1831-1878) and James Hardyman Simmons (1832-1907) purchased William Jasper Blackburn’s Homer Iliad, a controversial north Louisiana newspaper that had spoken out against secession in 1860-61 and worked to obstruct the Confederate cause during the Civil War. Reorganizing the paper as the Claiborne Guardian, McCranie and Simmons leased it to Benjamin D. Harrison (1824-1889), founder in 1851 of Claiborne Parish’s first newspaper, the Claiborne Advocate. Drayton B. Hayes (ca. 1848-1885), a lawyer, served as Harrison’s editor from 1877 to 1882, when he was succeeded by attorney John Edwin Hulse (1854-1908). The paper was sold to D. W. Harris in 1886. In October 1888, it was renamed the Homer Guardian upon coming under the ownership and editorship of Charles W. Seals (1861-1929) and John R. Phipps (ca. 1849-1916).
       Chronicling America: Historical American Newspapers (Library of Congress, National Endowment for the Humanities).
• James Hardyman Simmons and Laura H. McFarland appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1880 in Homer, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. Other members of the household included Laura Kate Simmons, James H. Simmons, Ada Simmons, Ida Simmons, Arthur V. Simmons, Lucious C. Simmons, H. Daisy Simmons, Maud A. Simmons, Rosa Bell Simmons and Leonard W. Simmons. Also in the household was one female domestic servant, and her young son.
• He was a farmer, according to the 1880 census.
• James Hardyman Simmons became a widower at the 26 June 1894 death of his wife Laura H. McFarland.
• He married Julia A. (?) circa 1897.
• James Hardyman Simmons appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1900 in Gregg County, Texas.
• He was a farmer, according to the 1900 census.
• James Hardyman Simmons died on 29 April 1907 at age 74.
• He was interred at Rosedale Cemetery, Gladewater, Gregg County, Texas.

• Last Edited: 2 May 2013