T.C. "Chiz" WIATT
Thomas Chiswell WIATT, known to friends and family as "Chiz," was born about 1845 in Mississippi, probably in Jasper County, which was the county of his father's residence for many years. His parents were Thomas P. WIATT of Virginia (said by some to have been a doctor) and Rebecca SNELL, whose family is said to have originally come from Germany to Orangeburgh, South Carolina. Chiz's father, Thomas Wiatt (we call him "Mississippi Thomas"), originally from Lynchburg, Virginia and a descendant of Rev. Haute Wyatt, had come to Mississippi around 1842, where he settled in Lake Como, Jasper County.
Chiz was Thomas Wiatt's oldest child. Chiz married to Eliza ROGERS (lineage currently unknown) on 20 December 1877 in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, and they had a daughter named Anne, born in 1879. There may have been other children, as well.
T.C. Wyatt was in the 8th Reg. Inf. Co. E Allahoma Hard Shells of Jasper Co. Mustered into State Service at Paulding 29 July 1861. He was a Private. (see Company E, Allahoma Hardshells of Jasper County, Mississippi )
Benjamin Frank Cross gave the following testimony:
Although T. C. (Chiz) Wyatt did not
draw a Confederate Pension in Jasper
County, he survived this record
of service, returned home where he, for a
time made and sold mattresses in
Paulding as well as other points of the
County. He later owned and
operated a large furniture store at Meridian in
spite of his blindness. It
was at the Battle of Chickamauga he lost both
his eyes, both being shot out by
the enemy. One of his comrades of Company
E, T. J. Hare, with Benjamin Frank
Cross of Company G. 8th Regt., went to
him and led him from the Battlefield.
Records of Jasper Co., MS W.P.A.
Source Material
Jean Strickland and Patricia N.
Edwards, 1995.
After the war, Chiz returned to Mississippi, where we find him in In 1870, aged 24 years, living in an "assylum" for the blind in Hinds County. The other inmates of the home appear to be of young age, as well, and were probably blinded in the war, just like Chiz. (1870 Federal Census, p. 743, Hinds Co., MS)
Chiz later established a mattress and furniture store in Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, where his brother John lived with him and worked as a clerk. The 1880 Census for Lauderdale County, MS, lists Chiz as a merchant, assisted by his brother John, a clerk.
The following notice appeared in the Ellisville (Jones Co., MS) newspaper, issue dated Saturday, April 7, 1894:
Chiz's connection to Ellisville was probably through his brother, John, who married Maggie Bradley of Ellisville. We would love to know how John and Maggie met, but present have no indication other than the fact that Maggie's father, James Marion Bradley, and her husband were both very active in the Masonic Order."T.C. Wyatt, Meridian furniture man, visited in town last Saturday."
It is possible that Chiz married a second time on April 28, 1892, to Catherine Leatherwood, for a marriage is recorded in Lauderdale County on this date for a couple with the names "T.C. Wyatt and Catherine Leatherwood." This could, however, conceivably be the marriage of Chiz's son. (Note that Chiz was using the WYATT spelling rather than the WIATT spelling used by his father. Brother John also switched to the WYATT spelling some time after his marriage in 1883.)
We would love to learn more about Chiz and his descendants. If you can add anything more to the story of this remarkable man, who managed to found and maintain a prosperous business despite blindness, we would be grateful to hear from you.
Susan Wyatt
sdwyatt@themastersnet.com