Memorials › Christopher Henry DeJarnette

Christopher Henry DeJarnette

15 Jul 1815 – 30 May 1897

Birth	15 Jul 1815
Death	30 May 1897
Cemetery	Toccopola Cemetery Toccopola , Pontotoc County , Mississippi , USA
Added by	Shelia Cromwell Wiseman on 22 Sep 2010
FaG	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36832823

Gravesite details

Military marker placed at cemetery in 1992 by Dorothy M. Weathersby

Bio

"Attention Boys and Girls be Ambitious to Excel Keep Out of the reach of suspicion Cultivate the good Opinion of good people Trust in God, and Keep Your Powder dry." -- Christopher Henry DeJarnette November 1893 Pontotoc ______________________________________________________________________ The eldest of three children of John DeJarnette and Mary Ann Badger, Christopher Henry DeJarnette was born 15 Jul 1815 in Petersburg, Dinwiddie, Virginia. In 1817, his sister, Mary Ann, was born, and about 1819 a third child was born yet likely died in infancy. At the time of his birth, Christopher Henry's father, a successful cabinet maker overseeing an expanding business, operated shops in both Petersburg and Richmond. Financial strains in 1824, no doubt complicated by the then months long recession, led the father to relinquish many of his Petersburg assets. As the father refocused his efforts on expanding his Richmond operation to include coach making, his young family remained behind in Petersburg, where Christopher Henry went to school. His father wrote, "Nothing compensates me for the absence of my children, but for the hope of their improvements." John DeJarnette died in Richmond in early 1831 and his widow Mary Ann sold all their assets to settle her late husband's debts. Christopher Henry was not yet 16. In Mar 1834, at age 20, he engaged in early political action in signing with other Petersburg residents a memorandum to Congress in support of their removal of federal deposits from the Second Bank of the United States, which subsequently was denied recharter the next month. By Spring 1838, Christopher Henry DeJarnette operated a cabinet and chair making shop in Greensboro, Rowan, North Carolina. By Autumn 1839 he had relocated to Salisbury County, North Carolina, where he plied his trade as a sign painter and glass cutter. By 1840, he had relocated again to Cabarrus County, North Carolina, where he married Matissa Louanna McEachern, daughter of Dr. John McEachern and Mary "Polly" Neely, on 19 Nov 1842. In Sep 1844, the first of Christopher Henry and Matissa's nine children, Charles Philo, was born in Cabarrus County, and in 1847 they welcomed their second son, John Henry. By 1850, the CH DeJarnette family had relocated to Ashe County, North Carolina, but by 1860 had returned to Cabarrus. In these years, the DeJarnette family grew to include: Martha Lawrence and Mary(1851), James Edwin (1852), Robert Emmett (1853), Jane C. (1855), Elizabeth C. (1857), and William Christopher (1858). Jane died about 1857 and Elizabeth died about 1860. Early in 1860, DeJarnette designed and crafted of native ash the pulpit furniture and lectern with flower-shaped pedestrals of the Rocky River Presbyterian Church (https://rockyriver.org) in Concord, Cabarrus, North Carolina. On 31 Mar 1860, he was paid $15.00 for the pedestrals. The writer of an article in the church minutes, detailing the construction of the sanctuary, described DeJarnette as "the most skilful (sic) worker in wood that ever lived in North Carolina". The furniture, lectern and pedestrals he crafted are still in use. On 8 Aug 1861, at age 46, Christopher Henry DeJarnette enrolled in the army of the Confederacy, at Harrisburg, Cabarrus, North Carolina. On 21 Aug of that year, he mustered into the 7th North Carolina Infantry, Co. H, as a private at Camp Mason near Graham, Alamance, North Carolina. In the Spring of 1862, the 7th NC Infantry engaged in the battles of New Bern (14 Mar) and Hanover Court House (27 May), yet for at least part the period of May and June, Christopher Henry was "sick in camp". In late June and early July, the 7th NC Infantry engaged in the Seven Days Battles, and on 9 Aug, the Battle of Cedar Mountain, where Christopher Henry DeJarnette was captured by the Union Army as a Prisoner of War. On 12 Aug 1862, Matissa Louanna DeJarnette died, aged 44 years, at Mount Pleasant, Cabarrus, North Carolina, apparently at the shock of learning of her husband's capture. It is not known who acted as guardian of the younger DeJarnette children during this month and the next. Christopher Henry was paroled 20 Sep 1862 at Keedysville, Washington, Maryland, on 18 Oct was admitted to Howard's Grove General Hospital at Richmond, and was discharged 3 Nov 1862. Christopher Henry married Alice Margaret McClellan in May 1864 at Cabarrus County. On 27 Mar 1870, Christopher Henry and Alice Margaret's son George Edgar Badger DeJarnette was born. By 1874, elder sons Charles and John had relocated to Pontotoc County, Mississippi, while daughter Martha had relocated with her family to Missouri. Younger children of the first marriage remained in Cabarrus County with Christopher Henry and Alice Margaret through 1880. Sometime shortly thereafter, Christopher Henry and Alice Margaret relocated to Pontotoc County, Mississippi, where Alice Margaret died, aged 52 years, on 18 Dec 1882. Sometime thereafter, Christopher Henry ventured north to Estelline, Dakota Territory and west to Portland, Oregon, later returning to the Concord community in Cabarrus County, North Carolina by May 1886. Sometime prior to Spring 1891, Christopher Henry relocated to Pontotoc, Mississippi, where he spent the remainder of his days living with his son Charles, working on small projects while continuing to dream of new inventions, engaging in local politics and community affairs and serving his church, and writing letters to family and to the Silver Knight Watchman , a bimetallism publication to which he subscribed. Cabinetmaker, craftsman, onetime prisoner of war, inventor, entrepreneur, letter writer, poet, devoted father and grandfather, Christopher Henry DeJarnette died 30 May 1897 at Pontotoc, Pontotoc, Mississippi. A copy of the collected Letters of Christopher Henry Dejarnette , most helpful in compiling this biography and quoted herein, is available at the Pontotoc County Library, Pontotoc, MS. Many thanks to its editor Dorothy M. Weathersby for years of work uncovering and curating the history of our DeJarnette family.

Inscription

CHRISTOPHER DEJARNETTE PVT CO H 7 NC STATE TRPS CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY JUL 15 1815 MAY 30 1897

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