James Harrison Kay

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son of Charles Kay and Mary Johnson, was born 27 Sep 1817 in Abbeville Co., SC. On 26 Jul 1837 he married Lumina Mattison, born 17 Mar 1819, the daughter of William Mattison and Elizabeth Wyatt. Her first name is also listed as Luminta, Luvina, Lumma, Levinia, Louvenia, Loumina, and Louminia. James Harrison Kay was included on the Anderson Co., SC tax rolls in the years 1840-1845 but not on any after 1846. He is listed on the 1840 census of Anderson Co. with his wife and two daughters. On 11 Dee 1846 he volunteered in the Palmetto Regiment for the Mexican American War. He was mustered out of service on 3 Jul 1848, at war's end. James Harrison Kay was awarded a medal for his service and it is still in the family, (in 1997 owned by #1690 James Howard Kay). In the fall of 1848 he moved to Tishomingo Co., MS and was enumerated there in both the 1850 and 1860 censuses. From studying his census records it is noted that his last child born in SC was in 1846 and his first child born in MS was in 1849. He moved to Iuka, Tishomingo Co., MS and served in the Civil War as a 2nd Lt. in Company E of the 17th MS Infantry. Serving under him were his sons; William B. Kay and James Lemuel Kay. In Jun 1870 a board of 26 people met at the school house near the home of James Harrison Kay in order to organize a church. They elected elder James Harrison Kay their first preacher. Their first log church was completed in 1872 and was called the New Salem Baptist Church. He served as their pastor until 1873. Later they moved to Arkansas where Lumina died on 27 Oct 1882 in Decatur, Benton Co., AR. The estate of her father, William Mattison, names 'Louvenia' as an heir and her share was $2206.04 in 1854. The estate of her mother, Eliza Mattison, in 1885 lists the heirs of 'Louvina' Kay and names all their children except William B. Kay and James Lemuel Kay, both of whom died in the Civil War. James Harrison Kay was married secondly, on 15 Aug 1883 in AR, to Emily Harriet (Deese) Nolan, born 18 Sep 1849 and died 1 Mar 1940 in Wanette, OK. She was the daughter of Alexander D. Deese and Eliza Franklin and the widow of John Franklin Nolan who had died on 20 Jul 1867 in AR. From her first marriage there were two Nolan children that James Harrison helped raise. She was also the mother of two Kay daughters. James Harrison died while working in his barn on 6 April 1891 in Decatur, AR. He was buried with his first wife, Lumina, in the Coffelt Cemetery, two miles west and one-half mile north of Vaughn, AR.

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