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The first Geoghegan to arrive in Mississippi was Thomas
Shipley Geoghegan. He migrated from Hardin County Kentucky sometime
after 1855 with his wife, Elizabeth Johnson Geoghegan, and their eight children, Elizabeth, Ambrose Denton, Thomas Quincy, Martha Haines (Mattie), William Mason, twins John Robert & Charles Cecil and Mary Generose. Three other children, Sarah who was born in 1836 and died
before 1840, Denton, born and died September 3, 1838 and Elisha, born Dec, 1847 and died in Aug, 1848 did not accompany the family to Mississippi. These children died in infancy.
They settled in Jefferson County near what is now the town of Fayette, MS.
They lived next door to Stephen Compton Stampley who had married their oldest
daughter, Elizabeth on December 29, 1853 in Adams County, MS.
Thomas Shipley Geoghegan died of yellow fever on August 7, 1858 at the home of
Stephen Stampley.
There is a discrepancy in the actual date of arrival of the Geoghegan's to
Mississippi. How did Elizabeth marry in Mississippi in 1853 when,
according to the census, the children of Thomas were all born in KY and the
youngest one was born in 1855? I personally think it was a census error and
the actually arrived about 1852, shortly after the twins were born. This
would have given Thomas time to settle his father's estate. Denton
Geoghegan died in 1850 and it would have taken a year or two to settle his
very large estate.
Thomas Geoghegan sent two sons to serve with the 19th Mississippi Infantry during the Civil War.
Ambrose Denton (A.D.) Geoghegan
and Thomas Quincy Geoghegan served with
the 19th Mississippi Infantry,
Company "D",
the Thomas Hinds Guards of Jefferson County.
Quincy was killed on July 2, 1863 at the
Battle of Gettysburg. He was 8 days from his 19th birthday. We believe he is
buried in an unmarked grave at Gettysburg.
A.D. enlisted as a private but was quickly promoted to Lieutenant.
A.D. was never sick a day, never missed a battle that his command was in, was
slightly wounded three or
four times, and on one occasion, during the fighting
around Richmond, he had three bullet holes through his
hat and coat collar.
The last eight months of the war his company was
cut down to a mere handful of men, with three officers.
The companies F and G (19th Mississippi) had no officers
and petitioned that Geoghegan be put over them. He
took Company F, and happened to be one of the unfortunates
who had to help defend Fort Baldwin and Fort Gregg at Petersburg and was
captured on the second day of April.
The prisoners were sent to Johnson's Island, and not
being the kind that would take the oath, A.D. spent the summer on the
island.
A.D. returned from the war and on January 6, 1873,
he married Miss Lucretia "Lula" Dromgoole. Ambrose Denton
Geoghegan was drowned on May 2, 1913 while attempting to save people and
livestock during the 1913 flood. He and his wife Lucretia are buried in the
Fayette Cemetery in Fayette, Jefferson County, MS.
A. D.' s descendants founded the Hunt Wesson
Oil Plant in New Orleans, makers of that great Blue Plate mayonnaise we
Southerners all know and love!
For more information on the 19th Mississippi Infantry,
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