The Oran and Mary Ann (Gholson) Sargent Family

Oran Sargent was born about 1812 in Tennessee and died 14 Mar 1868 in Franklin County, Alabama.  His father was Temple Sargent (1781-1850) who came from North Carolina and was one of the original Alabama state legislators in 1819.  Oran's mother was a daughter (some later sources name her Peggy) of Major William Russell, one of the first white settlers of Franklin County and the namesake of the city of Russellville.  Russell had fought with Andrew Jackson, Davy Crockett, and Sam Houston in the Creek Indian War (1814).  Temple and Peggy had two children, Oran and Dorothy Ann (Dolly).  After the death of Peggy (around 1820),  Temple Sargent married Louisa Lester and had 9 other (known) children.

The Sargent line goes back to North Carolina and before that, New England.  Distant relatives include famed American painter John Singer Sargent, and governor of the Mississippi Territory Winthrop Sargent.


Mary Ann Gholson was the daughter of Francis Gholson of Virginia and Susanna Jameson of Kentucky.  Mary Ann was born in 1818. If the 1850 census birthplace of Alabama is correct,  her family were among the first settlers.   But a story (preserved in a 1960 letter from Minnie Mack) says that Mary Ann and Oran rode on horseback from Kentucky to Russell's Valley, Alabama, just after their marriage in Kentucky (about 1837).

Oran and Mary Ann had the following children:

Thomas McCulloch and Susan Sargent McCulloch (right) and
children, with Kate Sargent (standing).

1. Ann Sargent (b. 1838).  Not much is known about her.

2. Susan L. Sargent (my ancestor) --------->
Married Capt. Thomas Ellett McCulloch, a Confederate Officer.  Later a Justice of the Peace in Russellville, known for performing marriages (sometimes two at once), and a regular newspaper correspondent into his later years.
a. Margaret C. (1860-1901)
b. Estella (1861-1906)
c. Mary E. (1862-1913)
d. Julia (1868-1906)
e. John S. (1869-?)
f. Samuel Gholson (1871-1945)
g. Thomas O. (1875-?)



3. Harvey Gholson Sargent (1843-1913) -------------->
Confederate officer.  Fought in the Civil War at Shiloh, Perryville, and Murfreesboro.  Lost his left arm above the elbow at Murfreesboro.  Mayor of Russellville.  Married Rebecca Brigham Harris, a graduate of Ward Seminary (school for women) in Nashville and an author of "several stories about the Confederacy".
a. Bemjamin Harris Sargent 1869-1935
b. Lucie Temple Sargent 1873-1906
c. Harvey Owen Sargent 1875-1936
d. Bessie Brigham Sargent 1879-1928
e. Rebecca C. Sargent 1882-1921

4. Margaret Francis Sargent (1845-1852)

5. Samuel J. Sargent (1848-1911), ancestor of the Hamilton family
Had 7 children with Ella Hamilton.  As he was white and she was African American, not able to be legally married in Alabama.  According to descendants, they had a very loving relationship, though.  In 1900, Samuel is listed as a boarder with his sister Susan McCulloch and her family.


6. Catherine (Kate) Sargent ----------------------------------->
married George O. Bowen.  Ancestor of my genealogy correspondent Val Alley who provided these pictures.


7. Stephen A. Douglas Sargent (1855-1905)
married Mary Frances Lucas.  9 children including Robert Pelham Sargent, the banker.  Married Annie Lee Smith, one son.  Worked in the iron mines (an injury was reported in 1903 from a falling bank).


8. Dr. Oscar Sargent (1857-1937)
Married Annie Terry Drake.  Moved to Jacksonville, Alabama.  A doctor.  Owner of a 100-year old gold watch given to him by his father-in-law A. J. Drake, who bought it in Philadelphia (1937 newspaper article).

From Bowen/Sargent Family Bible, unknown person, c. 1870's.