Sarah Massey~A Short Life, Filled with Tragedy

Dempsey Rivers was a young man, age 20, living with his father, William Rivers in 1850 Chesterfield County, South Carolina.[1]

About 1855, Dempsey marries Elizabeth “Eliza” Ann Dozier. On December 11, 1856, Eliza Ann passed away, from childbirth complication of their first born daughter, Georgia Rivers. The new born daughter passed away two days later.[2]

In 1857, Dempsey married a very young Sarah Ann Massey. Their first born a son, called James was born on November 19, 1859. Sarah Ann is listed as age 16 in the 1860 Census and her new born son is listed as James W. T. Rivers [James William Thomas “Catfish” Rivers].[3]

In January 1861, Fort Sumter was fired upon, Sarah Ann was pregnant and the baby was due in late August or early September. I have no way of knowing what was going through this young couple thoughts but I’m suspect that it was troublesome. 

On April 13, 1861, Dempsey enlisted into Company “B” 8th SC Infantry.[4] His military records shows that he spent quite some time in the hospital with chronic diarrhea. The book “Broken Fortunes” by Randolph W. Kirkland, Jr. shows that Dempsey died from Typhoid fever.[5]

On September 4, 1861, Sarah Elizabeth Rivers was born to Sarah and Dempsey.[6] It is not known whether he was told or not but on November 13, 1861, Dempsey is reported as deceased.[7] His death date is reported as November 13, 1861 on pages 11 and 26 of his Civil War file.[8]

His widow, Sarah petition the court for the pay due him by the Confederate States for services render. Dempsey’s military record shows that the petition was received on March 3, 1862.[9]



On 11 March 1862 they documented the following personal effects



Sarah received $55.76 pay due Dempsey; $26.76 pay due for 2 months and 13 days and $29.00 for clothing allowance.

In May 1862, William Lawrence Massey, the Father of Sarah Ann Massey Rivers, passed away.[10]
At home Sarah moves forward and has Dempsey estate probated. [Estate Folder 11, Chesterfield County, SC].[11] Thomas P. Davis was granted letters of Administration August 10, 1866. With two very small children, a war raging, Sarah needed a husband and sometime between 1861 and 1867 Sarah married Leander SWEAT.  Leander and Sarah's first born son, Henry, was born in 1867.[12]

By 1870, Sarah is a widow again with three children in the household and she is again pregnant and expecting a child.[13] Destruction of local records in Chesterfield has greatly hampered research in this county. In the household are James W. T. RIVERS, Sarah Elizabeth RIVERS and Henry SWEAT [Note all the listed children have the SWEET/SWEAT surname].

On February 4th, 1875, Sarah Massey Rivers Sweet dies; she was 26 years old.[14] Phillip Rivers was assigned administrator of the estate [Estate Folder #535].[15] On 25 April 1884, the estate had been settled and he was relieved of his duties as administrator. 

The death of Sarah Massey Rivers Sweat resulted in children, under the age of 21, without any guardian.
On February 18, 1881, Philip Rivers was assigned Guardian of Sarah Elizabeth Rivers Tucker [Probate Folder #81].[16] She was just shy of being 21, the age of majority, married and with no known children. She had married James Hampton Tucker in 1878.

I have found no record of the two boys, Henry and William; the children of Leander and Sarah Massey Rivers Sweat. 

James William Thomas Rivers married Mary Eliza Davis and raised their family in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. Between 1900 and 1910,[17] James Hampton Tucker and Sarah Elizabeth Rivers took their family and migrated to Union Parish, Louisiana. They are both buried in the Brantley Cemetery, Union Parish, Louisiana.[18]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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[1] 1850 U. S. Census, Chesterfield District, South Carolina, population schedule, Chesterfield District, South Carolina, Page 179B, Line 16, family 1242, dwelling 1242, Household of William Rivers; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2010); citing National Archives Microfilm M432 Roll 851.
[2] Jim Tipton, Find A Grave, digital image, http://www.findagrave.com; Headstone for Eliza A. Rivers; (8 April 1836–11 December 1856); Memorial # 40202633; Record of the Kite Cemetery; Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, USA; Accessed on 5 June 2012.
[3] 1860 U. S. Census, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, population schedule, Chesterfield, South Carolina, Page: 115 (stamped); Line 27, Dwelling 299, Family 299, Household of Duncan RIVERS; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 31 July 2013); citing National Archives Microfilm M653_1217.
[4] Ancestry, "Civil War Service Records" database, Military Service Records (http://www.fold3.com/ : accessed 31 July 2013), entry for Dempsey RIVERS, Private; Co. B, 8th Infantry, South Carolina Volunteers; Confederate.
[5] Randolph W. Kirkland Jr., Broken Fortunes: South Carolina Soldiers, Sailors and Citizens Who Died in the Service of Their Country and State in the War for Southern Independence, 1861-1865 (Columbia, South Carolina: Univ of South Carolina, 1997), page 298.
[6] Jim Tipton, Find A Grave, digital image, http://www.findagrave.com; Headstone for Sarah Elizabeth Tucker; (4 September 1861–26 January 1926); Memorial # 25748786; Record of the Brantley Cemetery; Union Parish, Louisiana, USA; Accessed on 5 October 2011.
[7] Ancestry, "Civil War Service Records" database, Military Service Records (http://www.fold3.com/ : accessed 31 July 2013), entry for Dempsey RIVERS, Private; Co. B, 8th Infantry, South Carolina Volunteers; Confederate.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ancestry, "Civil War Service Records" database, Military Service Records (http://www.fold3.com/ : accessed 31 July 2013), entry for Dempsey RIVERS, Private; Co. B, 8th Infantry, South Carolina Volunteers; Confederate.
[10] James C. Pigg, Cheraw/Chesterfield District Wills, 1750-1865: Abstracts from the Court of Common Pleas 1823-1869 (Tega Cay, South Carolina: Self-published, 1995), page 133.
[11] "South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964," Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/ : viewed 3 August 2011), images, "Dempsey RIVERS, Probate Folder #11," Images 159-172.
[12] 1870 U. S. Census, Court House, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, population schedule, Court House, Chesterfield, South Carolina, Page 30/302B(stamped); Line 5, Dwelling 294, Family 294, Household of S. SWEET; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 31 July 2013); citing National Archive Microfilm M593, Roll 1491.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Estate Folder #535, Sarah [Massey Rivers] Sweat; SC Archives & History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[15] Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Estate Folder #535, Sarah [Massey Rivers] Sweat; SC Archives & History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[16] Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Chesterfield County Estate Papers, Sarah Elizabeth [Rivers] Tucker; "Chesterfield County Estate Papers," digital images, LDS Church, Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/: viewed, downloaded 4 October 2011); S. E. Tucker, daughter of Dempsey Rivers.
[17] 1910 U. S. Census, Union Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Police Jury Ward 3, Union Parish, Louisiana, enumeration district (ED) #0133, Page 65B; Line 61, Dwelling 145, Family 155, Household of James TUCKER; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : viewed 4 October 2011); citing National Archives Microfilm  T624_533.
[18] Jim Tipton, Find A Grave, digital image, http://www.findagrave.com; Headstone for Sarah Elizabeth Tucker; (4 September 1861–26 January 1926); Memorial # 25748786; Record of the Brantley Cemetery; Union Parish, Louisiana, USA; Accessed on 5 October 2011.