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James McArthur appears as head of a household in the 1840 census. Although three of his oldest children were married by 1840, he seems to have picked up another family - young adults and four new children under age 10. We know his son Lott McArthur and Marcelline D’auby were married prior to 1840 and had several children by 1840. Because Lott and Marcelline fail to show up in a household of their own, we feel safe in assuming that they were living with his parents, James and Celia McArthur, Sr. in the year 1840.
Through our research, we have identified five of the six possible children born to James McArthur Sr. and Celia Lott. The only child not identified is an unnamed female born around 1820, appearing in the 1830 household census of James McArthur. Perhaps she died as a child, for no other record on her has been found as of this date.
In the course of our research, we have found several “McArthurs” living in Hancock County after 1850 that do not seem to belong to our family of McArthurs. One is a “Dan McArthur” age 58, bom in MS with wife, Elizabeth McArthur, in the 1870 Hancock County census. They were living in the same house with a Gabrielle Davis, white, age 32, bom in MS, Martha McArthur, white, age 26, bom in MS, and a Nancy McArthur, age 18, white, bom in MS. This same Daniel McArthur fought in the Civil War in the same 3rd Miss.
Infantry as Thomas Jefferson McArthur - a son of Lott McArthur and Marcelline D’auby.
There are two female McArthurs that do not fit into our McArthur grouping. They seem to, somehow, belong to the Dan McArthur previously mentioned. One is Margaret McArthur that married Willis Marse on December 22, 1869. The other is Mary McArthur that married Elias Davis on January 31, 1868. Both marriage records are in the Hancock County Court House.
Now for the children of James McArthur, Sr. and Celia “Celie” Lott:
I.	John “Jack” McArthur - his baptism record in Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis says he was bom on June 5, 1805 (this took place on November 27, 1880 and no parents were listed). He appears in the 1870 Hancock County census as John McArthur, age 65, bom in North Carolina, living alone in Gainesville, MS. It should be noted that he lived a few houses down from an Indian - “Milly Yarba, age 45,” with children: Nancy age 5 and John age 2, according to the same census. He appears later in the 1880 census as “Jack McArthur,” living with Milly McArthur, an Indian servant and her children.
John was no doubt the one child that came through Georgia in 1810 with his parents, as stated on the “Georgia Passport” for James McArthur. The other children were no doubt bom in Hancock County, MS. The baptism record of John in November of 1880 is the last record we have on him. Perhaps this was a last minute conversion to the Catholic faith before he died.
John owned land, but let it go back to the State for delinquent taxes. He was appointed administrator to his father’s estate, as was the custom to pick the oldest male child, but his younger brother, James Jr., soon had the Court assign that position to him. John “Jack” and his brother, James “Jim” McArthur were members of the famous outlaw gang run by James Copeland. In a book, at the University of Southern Mississippi called “Copeland’s Own Last Story” (written shortly before they hanged him), Copeland names the two McArthurs as his members working out of the Honey Island Swamp near Gainsville in 1843 and 1844. They were in charge of the area from the Pearl River to Pascagoula. They were to aid Copeland in the smuggling of horses and negro slaves
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