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many of the elder descendants of Solomon and Ann Lott. Some could only remember that “old Sol Lott” came to Mississippi from the “Carolinas”, settled in what is now Pearl River County, near the city of Picayune, and had a large family.
I.	Celia “Celie” Lott - was bom c. 1780. The first record of a McArthur in Hancock Co. is in a 1819 census of landowners settled in the district east of the Pearl River. This record shows on line 34 is a “James McArthur” as the original claimant of a tract of land located on “Bolochito Creek” in what was then Hancock Co. It stated that he settled there in the year 1811. In a book called “Passports Issued by Governors of Georgia during the years 1810 - 1820”, found in the Jackson Archives, we find a passport issued “the former with his wife, five children, and three Negroes, and the latter with his wife and one child”. These passports were a legal requirement needed to go through parts of the Georgia Territory, which was still owned by the Creek Indians.
From information taken from the 1850 Hancock Co., MS census, James McArthur was bom in North Carolina in 1778. His wife, “Celia” was also bom in North Carolina in 1780 according to the same census. Baptism records, in St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, LA, of their grandchildren (children of Lott and Marcelline McArthur) and Baptism records in Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis of two of their children (Mary Ann and Rebecca Mary McArthur) indicated that James McArthur’s wife was Celia “Celie” Lott. Most of the records spell her name as Celia, while some refer to her as “Celie”, “Sillie”, or even “Sally”. While Sally is a nickname for Sarah, we have found no indication that Sarah was her correct name.
The last record we have on Celia is in the Hancock County Chancery Court case #38 on May 11, 1859 where she is suing her son, John McArthur, over a land claim. In the suite Celia states that she was the “widow” of James McArthur in “1855.” Her son, John, was appointed administrator of her husband, James McArthur, Sr.'s, estate in the July
1859	term of Probate Court. See special Treasurers Report (Probate Court Book) page 393 in Hancock Co. Courthouse. With John being appointed administrator of his father’s estate in 1859, one can only assume that Celia Lott McArthur was also dead by July of 1859. With this, we will use 1859 as her year of death. She is presumed to be buried in the family plot located on Mill Creek in Hancock Co. without a head marker. This burial plot is located near the old Gainesville community (now Stennis Space Center) in the abandoned Mill Creek Cemetery which was near the old James McArthur, Sr.'s homestead and the burial ground for the rest of her family. This was told to us by an old descendant, Casey Moran, who was very familiar with that community.
James McArthur owned a section of land on Bogue Chitto Creek in Hancock Co. on the east side of the Pearl River. He was the original land claimant and this land was eventually passed on to his descendants. This land was located in the area of the Stennis Test Facility, once called Gainesville. On a 1822 map found in the Hancock Co. Courthouse, James McArthur is listed as claimant to 395 acres in Section 7, Township 6, Range 18W, certificate #34. Also in the Pearl River County (Hancock County prior to 1890 Tract Book #1, page 13, James McArthur had 80 acres in Section 12, Township 7, Range 16. He purchased this land on July 11, 1836, certificate #4735. On this same map, are listed Solomon Lott, Stephen Lott, Amos Lott, John Lott, and Jacob Lott. These
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