General Notes

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James Atlas, born 9 Aug 1850 died 6 Mar 1936, was the youngest son of Jeremiah and Polly Crump Ingram.

When the war between the North and South was raging, James was a young boy of eleven years.  He often told his friends of an incident of a time when a Yankee appeared in the yard and James began firing his gun and the Yankee left hurriedly without searching the premises.

In 1869 James west to Missouri with a friend, Thomas Threadgill.  A Yankee came to their room and started an argument about the War. Threadgill told James to raise the window and throw the "damn Yankee"out.  The Yankee didn't wait to be thrown out - he left hurriedly.  James stayed in Missouri four years before returning to his parents home in Anson County, North Carolina .

James went to Richmond County to visit his brother, Eben, who lived at the Grassy Islands.  There was good farming land and James decided he would stay and become a farmer.  There was a small house by the road near the creek where he lived for three years.  While living there he met the daughter of Frank and Elizabeth Bruton Baldwin.

James Atlas Ingram and Emma Ella Baldwin were married November 7, 1877. They lived at Grassy Island a few years after their first child was born.  In the summer the low land became infested with mosquitoes and they would move to the house on the mountain.

When they expected their second child, they moved to Mountain Creek in Black Jack Township.  Their house was small and as the family grew, four rooms were added.

Several years later he bought many acres of land in the surrounding area.  Cotton, corn, wheat and all kinds of vegetables were grown. Horses, cows, pigs, chickens, and ducks were raised , and a farm could not be without dogs and cats.  There was a big barn where feed for the stock was stored; this was the horses and mule barn.  There was a special barn for the cows and stalls to put them in for milking.

On the river there was a mill which was powered by an overshop waterwheel.  Corn was ground d for meal and feed for the animals.  In front of the house was a commissary stocked with staples for the family and the people who worked on the farm.  There was a blacksmith shop where shoes were made for the horses and mules and farm tools were repaired.