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MAJ Marcus Brutus Winchester

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MAJ Marcus Brutus Winchester

Birth
Castalian Springs, Sumner County, Tennessee, USA
Death
2 Nov 1856 (aged 60)
Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, USA
Burial
Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, USA Add to Map
Plot
Under the City Garage Building
Memorial ID
View Source
Land developer and first mayor of Memphis, the eldest son of James Winchester and Susan Black Winchester. Educated in Baltimore but left school at age sixteen to serve at his father's side in the War of 1812. He was captured with his father and others at the battle of River Raisin and sent to prison in Quebec. In October 1818 he accompanied Andrew Jackson and Isaac Shelby to the signing of the Chickasaw Cession (Jackson Purchase) and traveled on to the Chickasaw Bluff to report on the land investment owned by his father, Jackson, and John Overton. Winchester and surveyor William Lawrence drew up a plan for a town which his father named Memphis. He made his home in Memphis, where he served as agent for the proprietors and opened the first store. He was one of the first five members of the Quarterly Court and was elected register in 1820. When Memphis was incorporated in 1826, he became the first mayor. He operated a ferry and served as postmaster until 1849, although his loyalty to the Jacksonians came under question when he supported Davy Crockett for Congress. About 1823 he married Mary Loiselle of New Orleans, and most historians agree that she was a woman of color. They had six daughters and two sons. Possibly because of his marriage and the hardening of racial lines, Winchester's career declined. He moved with his family to his farm three miles outside Memphis and was involved in a variety of lawsuits and financial difficulties. After his wife's death in 1840, he married a nineteen-year-old widow, Lucy Lenore Ferguson McLean, in 1842. She died in 1861 with no children. He served as a delegate to a railroad convention in St. Louis in 1849 and was elected to the state legislature in 1851. The cemetery, named in honor of his family, fell into disuse and was eclipsed by the fashionable Elmwood Cemetery. There is one published list of inscriptions dated 1897. By the 1920s it was a ruin and some transcriptions were made of the remaining known interments. All who could afford to be had been transferred to other cemeteries. Only a handful of stones remained which have since disappeared. The remainder of the burials lie under a public park created in 1931 with municipal buildings erected on the west side. Marcus Winchester and a wife (possibly Mary Loiselle) lie under one of these structures.
Land developer and first mayor of Memphis, the eldest son of James Winchester and Susan Black Winchester. Educated in Baltimore but left school at age sixteen to serve at his father's side in the War of 1812. He was captured with his father and others at the battle of River Raisin and sent to prison in Quebec. In October 1818 he accompanied Andrew Jackson and Isaac Shelby to the signing of the Chickasaw Cession (Jackson Purchase) and traveled on to the Chickasaw Bluff to report on the land investment owned by his father, Jackson, and John Overton. Winchester and surveyor William Lawrence drew up a plan for a town which his father named Memphis. He made his home in Memphis, where he served as agent for the proprietors and opened the first store. He was one of the first five members of the Quarterly Court and was elected register in 1820. When Memphis was incorporated in 1826, he became the first mayor. He operated a ferry and served as postmaster until 1849, although his loyalty to the Jacksonians came under question when he supported Davy Crockett for Congress. About 1823 he married Mary Loiselle of New Orleans, and most historians agree that she was a woman of color. They had six daughters and two sons. Possibly because of his marriage and the hardening of racial lines, Winchester's career declined. He moved with his family to his farm three miles outside Memphis and was involved in a variety of lawsuits and financial difficulties. After his wife's death in 1840, he married a nineteen-year-old widow, Lucy Lenore Ferguson McLean, in 1842. She died in 1861 with no children. He served as a delegate to a railroad convention in St. Louis in 1849 and was elected to the state legislature in 1851. The cemetery, named in honor of his family, fell into disuse and was eclipsed by the fashionable Elmwood Cemetery. There is one published list of inscriptions dated 1897. By the 1920s it was a ruin and some transcriptions were made of the remaining known interments. All who could afford to be had been transferred to other cemeteries. Only a handful of stones remained which have since disappeared. The remainder of the burials lie under a public park created in 1931 with municipal buildings erected on the west side. Marcus Winchester and a wife (possibly Mary Loiselle) lie under one of these structures.

Bio by: Vincent Astor



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