Wesley A Barnett enlisted in Company G, Arkansas Regiment, Mounted Volunteers, on 21 June 1846. Elijah Skidmore's brother, Gideon, enlisted on the same day. Wesley was 25 years old; Gideon was 28.
Eighty-one men from Sevier County enlisted in the regiment to fight in the War against Mexico. Several of these men were from the community at Clear Creek, including Andrew Dollarhide, 21; Josiah Houston, 30, nephew of Elizabeth Houston Millwee Pride; Henry C. Pride, 24; and Joseph C. Smoot, 18.
Wesley and Gideon died within four days of each other that autumn. Wesley was killed at Trinity River, Texas, on 8 September, and Gideon died at Camp Crockett on 12 September.6
The documents that establish John M Barnett's residence in Arkansas, and James H Barnett's residence in Mississippi, are included in the records of the estates of their brothers, Wesley A and Archibald Jackson Steele Barnett. Their estates were probated in Sevier County, Arkansas, in 1846 and 1848, respectively.
As well as providing a reference to John M Barnett having made it to Arkansas, these probate documents provide further proof that Andrew and Deltry were Barnetts, since they were named as Wesley A Barnett’s heirs.1 Presumably, Elijah applied for their guardianship in 1848 so they could inherit property in the estate as minors.
These and other documents also indicate a continuing—and intriguing—relationship between the Barnett and McMillan families. Just as Andrew McMillan had done a generation earlier during Moore Barnett’s probate proceedings, Hugh M McMillan and Joshua McMillan both acted prominently in the estate of Moore’s son, Wesley.
When Wesley died in 1846, Hugh M McMillan signed as security, along with AJS Barnett, for Lucinda Jane McMillan’s petition to administer the estate. The following year, Lucinda, who was then identified in the probate records as the widow of Russell McMillan, married William T Scroggins.2 AJS Barnett became administrator de bonis non of Wesley’s estate, with Joshua McMillan and Lucinda’s new husband acting as his securities. When AJS Barnett died in 1848, Joshua McMillan became administrator de bonis non of Wesley’s estate, with David Robinson and Elijah D Skidmore as his securities.3
Joshua also acted as an affiant on Elizabeth’s behalf in 1863, when she applied for Elijah’s Confederate Army pay after his death, stating he was “well acquainted” with Elizabeth, and had known her late husband, Elijah, for “some twenty years.” 4
Although we don’t know the relationship between Hugh M McMillan and Joshua McMillan, we know that Joshua, at least, was related to an Andrew McMillan, and we will discuss this shortly. We have no documentation to prove that this Andrew McMillan was the one who acted in Moore Barnett’s probate a generation earlier, but circumstantial evidence leads us to believe that he was. One such bit of evidence is a record in January 1847 of an expenditure for coffins for Robert Barnett, Andrew McMillan, and Mrs McMillan.5
