Thomas Hatton Langley (1840-1912)
My Paternal 2nd Great Grandfather, married Frances Elizabeth Daniel
Thomas Hatton Langley, the son of wealthy planter David P Langley and Penelope Edmundson was born in Pitt County, North Carolina on May 30, 1840. At the age of nine he lost his mother when she (along with two hogs) were struck by lightning as she walked in her beloved garden.
The 1860 census of Pactolus District in Pitt County contained a number of wealthy planters. Wealth in those days was measured by the number of enslaved persons a planter owned. The wealthiest in the district was a planter named C Perkins whose real estate was valued at $50,000 and personal property was valued at a staggering $233,890. (His net worth is the equivalent of about $11 million today.) Living with 54 year old Perkins in 1960 were two doctors and an overseer. The next closest in wealth had $100,000 in enslaved persons. Coming in third place was Thomas’ father David who owned $12,000 in real estate and $45,500 (80 enslaved persons) in personal property. In 1860 the family had a live-in teacher. Very few others came even close to this much wealth in their district. Their financial world was about to collapse.
[Photo: Chilling Advertisement for the Sale of Enslaved Persons in 1857]
Thomas enlisted in the Confederate army when war first broke out in April of 1861 and was imprisoned five months later as a POW at Fort Hatteras, North Carolina. He was eventually exchanged out in February in 1862 and re-enlisted two months later. He was captured a second time in April of 1864 near Suffolk Virginia and held at the notorious Point Lookout POW camp in Maryland. Point Lookout was the largest and one of the worst POW camps used during the war. Thomas was exchanged in March of 1865. Thomas’ father, David enlisted alongside his son in 1861 and died in April of 1864 in the battle of Plymouth in North Carolina. Thomas’ nineteen year old brother Pollard enlisted in August 1861 and died four months later at the battle of Roanoke Island in North Carolina.
[Photo: Bonnie Blue Flag, painting by William Gilbert Gaul]
On April 9, 1865 the General Robert E Lee surrendered is troops to General Ulysses S Grant at the Appomattox Court House and the war was over. Five months later Thomas married Frances Elizabeth Daniel in the same district where he had enlisted in the army. Between 1867 and 1886 Francis gave birth to eight children, one of whom is my great grandmother, Margaret Little Langley.
In 1870 census 30 year old Thomas was a farmer, owning real estate with a value of $1000 and personal property of $200 - a far cry from the life of luxury he was accustomed to before the war.
[Photo: Lee Accepts the Surrender Terms, Painting by Tom Lovell]
By the 1910 census Thomas at age 79, and his 66 year old wife had moved in with their son Benjamin. Thomas contributed to the household by working as a “car builder.”
Fannie passed away in August of 1911 followed by Thomas in November of 1912. They are buried together in the Thomas H Langley Family Cemetery in Pactolus, Pitt County.
[Photo: Thomas Hatton Langley’s headstone and confederate soldier grave marker in the Langley family Graveyard]
