The last farm within the present town limits was that of Matthew Broome, Cayuga Street, on which was situated the large rambling frame building which burned about 40 years [circa 1900] ago. It was on the present site of the two-storey Broome home. Mr. Broome seemed to have arrived here about 1830 from South Carolina. He afterwards married Betsy Brown, who was a sister of Mrs. H.J. Sarrett, also of Hon. Dan X. Brown.
 
Mr. Broome was of an energetic and thrifty Scotch-Irish stock. His first real estate purchase being the block of land which now constitutes the residential section of South Main Street, from which he deeded the first acre of our present school land.* His large family has contributed much to the interests of our town for more than a century. The sons of this marriage were Billy, John, Cy L., Lon, Ellie, Walter, and Seymore; the daughters were Mattie (Mrs. Ford), Nannie, who married Mr. Fulgham, who has reached his late eighties; Leggy, who became Mrs. Davis; and Mary, who died young. Robert Moody, the first casualty of the present war [WWII] from the Utica community was a member of the Broome family.
 
*About 1852 . . . a frame building about 25 x 40 feet was erected . . . for educational purposes. As the school increased another was added; school quarters being by a partition within the rear end of the building. (page 88)
 
Being rebels of the first degree, most of the sons of this family saw active service in the Civil War. John, Cy, and Lon were members of Company C, 16th Regiment Mississippi Volunteers. After being wounded at Bull Run, Cy joined the troop of cavalry scouts of which he later became Captain. [John was wounded and had a finger amputated. Lon was wounded at Sharpsburg, captured, exchanged in November of 1862; again captured at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863; he remained a prisoner of war through at least February 1965 in Delaware. Cy was wounded at Second Bull Run.]
 
While still a youngster of 12 or 13 years of age, Walter became a member of the famed "Montgomery Scouts," commanded by the distinguished Captain W.W. Montgomery of Edwards; the exploits of this heroic band of youths became eternal gadflies that stung the invaders. "Uncle Walt," as he was affectionately known to all, was a thirteen-year-old youth when he fell into enemy hands. Condemned as a spy and identified as a member of the dreaded "Scouts," the courageous youth was strung up by a rope in the wooded area now included within Utica's incorporate limits. His courage and defiance in the face of death, his refusal to expose his secrets, apparently won the enemy as a federal soldier finally cut the rope which let him down. [More can be read about Walter in the book, Callow Brave and True, by Jay S. Hoar.]
 
After attaining young manhood, he married Anna Fulks [Folkes] of a well-known Warren County family. The grown children of this union were Grace, who became the wife of R.E. Dodson: Miss Bess, the lone survivor, who married her cousin, William R. Broome (deceased) and Ben, who married Nannie Williams, both of whom passed away a few years ago, while residents of Raymond.
 
Billy and Cy L. removed, after the Civil War, to Texas where they were very successful and prominent in the business and political circles of their adopted state. Captain Cy L. became the second sheriff of Crockett County, Texas. [He was a Texas Ranger, Special Forces, Company D, Frontier Battalion in the 1880s and 1890s. He was also a United States Deputy Marshal in 1894 out of San Angelo, Texas according to Texas Archival records. His papers say his physical characteristics were as follows: 5'11" tall; grey eyes; light brown hair; fair complexion.]
 
The John Broome family were among the prosperous planters of this section. The surviving children are - E.M. Broome, who was supervisor of this district for several years; and Mrs. Rufus Child of Jackson.
 
Ellie Broome remained on the old homestead during his lifetime. He was for several years among the first marshals of our town and was the grandfather of our present one, W.R. Broome. Mrs. Annie Broome Currie is also one of the daughters of this family.
 
Seymore died young and within a few months after his marriage. The remains of the earlier members of this family are interred in a private burying plot on the Henry Easterland plantation - a short distance off Carpenter Street.
 
[Please see the family group sheets on this site for in-depth family information.]
 

Page Created January 24, 2006
©2006  Jane Combs  All Rights Reserved
Submission Remains the Property of Jymie Carol Ford Inmon