Memorials › Thomas Jefferson Brunson
Thomas Jefferson Brunson
22 Nov 1843 – 9 Aug 1929
| Birth | 22 Nov 1843 |
| Death | 9 Aug 1929 |
| Cemetery | Pecan Grove Cemetery McKinney , Collin County , Texas , USA |
| Added by | Andrea Hooe Raum on 29 Feb 2008 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6465703 |
Bio
Thomas Jefferson Brunson was born and raised in Mississippi. In his late teens he joined the Confederate Army as a Private in artillery. He entered the service in place of his father who was needed at home to support the family, and who otherwise would have been drafted. He experienced intensive action, but escaped injury --narrowly, it appears--his cap was once ripped from his head by a bullet. He related many of his war experiences to my grandfather, but by the time I got around to asking about those stories, my grandfather said: "I wish I had written it all down at the time, for he told me many details that I have long since forgotten. He would name the places and dates of his travels and of the battles he fought, and he evidently kept a journal. I do not know what happened to it. "The thing I remember most was that his unit was constantly hungry. When one of the mules that pulled his cannon was shot, they feasted on the meat. Once, when his company came upon a farmhouse where a lady was selling cookies to soldiers at the front door, he and a companion sneaked through the back door and stole her cookie dough from the kitchen. Toward the end of the war, their total daily ration was one ounce of pea-flour per man. "The war ended for him when his unit surrendered at Vicksburg. Soon afterward he married Minerva A. Adams and migrated to Texas, settling somewhere in the Blue Ridge-Westminster area of Collin County as a tenant farmer." Thomas owned a small country store in Westminster for a while, allowing my grandfather sweets from the glass candy case. Thomas and his family lived in a small frame house on the east side of Church Street in McKinney. Later in life, after Minerva died, he alternated living with his children's families. He lived with my grandfather's family from about 1916 until 1920. From there he lived with his daughter, Myrtle Lowrance in Leonard, Texas, until his death.
Inscription
T. J. BRUNSON PVT. MISS. LT. ARTY. C.S.A. NOV. 22, 1843 -- AUG. 9, 1929
Photos
Family
Spouse
Children
- James Patterson Brunson 1873–1945
- Ella Jane Brunson Samples 1877–1968
- Walter M Brunson 1880–1905
- Thomas Reed Brunson 1881–1945
- Maggie Lee "Dama" Brunson Birdwell 1883–1956
- George Solomon Brunson Sr 1885–1942
- Mary Myrtle Brunson Lorance 1889–1951
- Ester Brunson Choate 1894–1950
- Lillian Stella "Lillie" Brunson Howard 1896–1993
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