THOMAS FERRILL MILAM, Sr.

(COLEMAN⁴, THOMAS³, JOHN MILAM OF² HALIFAX, VIRGINIA, UNK FATHER OF VIRGINIA¹ MILAMS) was born 1810 in Laurens District, South Carolina, and died March 18, 1862 in CSA Hospital, Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas.

He married MARGARET AMANDA BELL 1831 in Franklin County, Tennessee, daughter of JAMES BELL and MARGARET SMITH. She was born March 24, 1815 in Franklin County, Tennessee, and died September 29, 1880 in Lows Creek, Franklin County, Arkansas; buried Lows Creek Cemetery.

About 1819, he moved with his family to Grundy County, Tennessee (later became Franklin County).   In 1838, along with his father, and reportedly a cousin named Ashford B. Milam, he enlisted from Franklin County in Capt Benjamin Cherry's Company of Mounted Spies, Tennessee Volunteers, to fight in the Florida Indian Wars.   In the 1840's he and his extended family moved to Hardin County, Tennessee, and in 1859 he took his family to Franklin County, Arkansas. 

At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he enlisted in the 17th Arkansas Infantry Regiment at Fort Smith, Arkansas, at age 51.  He was made Second Sergeant.  He died in CSA Hospital, near Van Buren, Arkansas, following the Battle of Pea Ridge/Elkhorn Tavern in March 1862.   He is buried at the Old Confederate Cemetery near Van Buren.

1. THOMAS FERRILL MILAM, SR. (COLEMAN⁴, THOMAS³, JOHN², UNKNOWN FATHER OF THE VIRGINIA¹ MILAMS) was born 1810 in Duncan's Creek, Laurens District, South Carolina, and died March 18, 1862 in Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas. He married MARGARET AMANDA BELL 1831 in Franklin County, Tennessee, daughter of JAMES BELL and MARGARET SMITH. She was born March 24, 1815 in Grundy County (Franklin), Tennessee, and died September 29, 1880 in Lowes Creek, Franklin County, Arkansas.

Children of THOMAS MILAM and MARGARET BELL are:

i. MARGARET SALINA MILAM, b. November 06, 1832, Alabama; d. September 14, 1916, Meg, Franklin County, Arkansas; m. CHESLEY MACK GAMMILL, December 23, 1853, Hardin County, Tennessee; b. March 28, 1832, Bedford County, Tennessee; d. December 25, 1905, Sub Rosa, Franklin County, Arkansas.

Notes for MARGARET SALINA MILAM:
Nan told this story many times. She told of hardships, trials, and sufferings she endured while her husband was in the Civil War. He was conscripted 1 January 1864 into Company E, 18th Iowa Infantry. After the region was overrun by the Union Army, every able bodied man in Franklin County was forced to serve or be shot. This also happened to Nan's brothers, Lucas Coleman Milam and Calaway Jackson Milam.

All of Nan's children came down with Smallpox because Union doctors deliberately vaccinated many of people, especially Confederate sympathizers, with the live pox and the live virus of the disease. The morning after her baby girl had died in the night, Nan got on her small pony to go to the neighbor's to borrow corn for their next meal. On the way, she met two soldiers and called to them to ask them if they would dig a grave to bury the girl. Upon hearing "Smallpox" they spurred their horses and she thought they were running away. Instead of leaving, they surrounded her and put the wind at their backs and blowing toward her. They asked for the desired location of the grave and where to get tools. They left and she hurried on to the neighbors to get the cornmeal. When she arrived home, they had dug the grave and were gone. She fixed a coffin as best she could and buried her child. She always said that no one knows what real trouble and heartache are until one had to bury a child alone.  The other children survived, but were badly scarred from the pox.

ii. RUFUS KENDRICK MILAM, b. July 27, 1834, Jackson County, Alabama; d. August 01, 1898, Marion County, Tennessee; m. (1) MARTHA LOIS POINDEXTER, October 06, 1865, Hardin County, Tennessee; b. August 07, 1835, Hardin County, Tennessee; d. March 13, 1923, Soper, Choctaw County, Oklahoma; m. (2) MARY ELIZABETH MEEKS, May 04, 1890, Grundy County, Tennessee; b. 1874, Tennessee.

iii. LUCAS COLEMAN MILAM, b. March 03, 1836, Franklin County, Tennessee; d. April 26, 1908, Lowes Creek, Franklin County, Arkansas; m. SUSAN EMALINE HOYLE, March 14, 1871, Franklin County, Arkansas; b. June 25, 1851, Ozark, Franklin County, Arkansas; d. May 04, 1891, Lowes Creek, Franklin County, Arkansas.

iv. CALAWAY JACKSON MILAM, b. April 01, 1838, Coffee County, Tennessee; d. October 31, 1898, Sub Rosa, Franklin County, Arkansas; m. (1) NANCY EVILINE BRYANT, December 19, 1867, Franklin County, Arkansas; b. December 02, 1852, Arkansas; d. May 07, 1889, Sub Rosa, Franklin County, Arkansas; m. (2) ELIZABETH LONG BLACK, September 01, 1892, Franklin County, Arkansas; b. 1856, Missouri.

v. JAMES FRANKLIN MILAM, b. April 26, 1840, Coffee County, Tennessee; d. March 26, 1911, Moore, Frio County, Texas; m. NANCY ISABELLE LONG, November 21, 1866, Hardin County, Tennessee; b. May 25, 1845, Hardin County, Tennessee; d. July 23, 1926, Branch, Franklin County, Arkansas.

vi. MALINDA WHITE MILAM, b. March 1842, Coffee County, Tennessee; d. 1910, Franklin County, Arkansas; m. (1) ALEXANDER "ALLIE" MCCLAIN, April 20, 1860, Franklin County, Arkansas; b. Abt. 1836, Tennessee; d. poss in Civil War; m. (2) AMBROSE "AMBERS" WILLIAMS, January 13, 1870; b. January 08, 1836, Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas; d. December 1902, Franklin County, Arkansas.

vii. THOMAS FERRILL MILAM, JR, b. September 05, 1844, Hardin County, Tennessee; d. March 29, 1912, Sub Rosa, Franklin County, Arkansas; m. REBECCA ADELINE MAINARD, December 25, 1867, Franklin County, Arkansas; b. March 30, 1851, Hardin County, Tennessee; d. March 18, 1932, Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska.

viii. ELIZABETH FRANCES CATHERINE MILAM, b. March 08, 1847, Hardin County, Tennessee; d. July 29, 1922, near Cecil, Franklin County, Arkansas; m. THOMAS O. NOLEN, December 05, 1867, Franklin County, Arkansas; b. February 15, 1843, Alabama; d. March 08, 1931, Lows Creek, Franklin County, Arkansas.

ix. WILLIAM HARRISON ORVILLE MILAM, b. May 08, 1850, Hardin County, Tennessee; d. September 01, 1914, near Ozark, Franklin County, Arkansas; m. LOUISA M. RECTOR, February 11, 1879, Franklin County, Arkansas; b. January 22, 1860, Barry County, Missouri; d. July 1930, Branch, Franklin County, Arkansas.

x. LORENZO MONTGOMERY MILAM, b. 1854, Hardin County, Tennessee; d. August 12, 1856, Nixon, Hardin County, Tennessee.