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properties are all adjoining or in short walking distance to each other and that of James McArthur. On a list of public land claims east of the Pearl River in 1820 (American State Papers, Vol. 3) we find James McArthur, claim 34 and he states he settled there on “Bolochito Creek” in “1811” and was still there as ofNovember 1819. Other settlers nearby is our Solomon Lott who “settled” on the “Pearl River” in “December 1810”, Amos Lott on “Bolochito Creek” in “October 1810”, Stephen Lott on ’’Reedy Creed” in “May 1811”, Elisha Lott on “Bolochito Creek” in “1812”, Jacob Lott on “Reedy Creek” in “July 1812”, John Lott on “Reedy Creek” in “May 1811”, and Ezekiel Lott in “April 1811”. These claims are all in Pearl River Co. which was then Hancock Co., MS.
Little is known about James McArthur. We know the early McArthurs were Protestants, probably Baptists. We also know that James was basically a farmer by profession and not a wealthy person. Because the census records state that James and his wife were from “North Carolina” and their oldest son, John, states he was bom in “North Carolina”, one can assume that James McArthur and Celia Lott married c. 1803 (based on the year their son, John, was bom) somewhere in North Carolina. Using the previously mentioned lawsuit by Celia McArthur against their son, John, in May of 1859, we can assume James McArthur died in 1855. Until a more specific date can be found, we will use 1855 as James' year of death. He, like his wife, is presumed to be buried in the old Mill Creek Cemetery without a head marker.
In researching the McArthurs and Lotts, especially the various Catholic Church records, much confusion has resulted over the correct spellings of,these two family names. I don’t know how these two names were spelled centuries ago, but we do know that from the early 1800’s to the present, the above spellings are correct. For example the name “Lott” appears as “Loth” on the Baptism records of the children of Lott McArthur and Marcelline C. D’auby. These records are on file at St. Louis Cathedral in NO., LA. Baptism records of Rebecca and Mary McArthur, daughters of James McArthur, Sr. and Celia Lott, found at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis, identify both their parents as the above, spelling the names as we have them. Both baptisms took place in the 1880’s after a conversion to Catholicism in their old age.
Other proof of the correct spelling of “Lott” is on the Georgia Passport in 1810 when James “McArthur”, was traveling to Mississippi with Solomon “Lott”. All the early civil and land records spell Lott with two t’s with one exception. The 1836 survey of MS lands list “Solomon Loth, John Loth, Stephen Loth, Elisha Loth, and James McArthur” as being land holders. These same people on earlier, as well as all later records, spell their name as “Lott”. Today, we pronounce this name as “lot” - a parcel of land. Apparently, the early pronunciation was something like “low-th”. This could easily account for the misspelling of Loth for Lott.
With the exception of a few Church records (Baptism records of the children of “Loth McArthur” at St. Louis Cathedral) and very few civil records, we find the name “McArthur” spelled correctly. As early as the Georgia Passport, to census records, to tax records over the years, to the way it is spelled by today’s generation - we find the name spelled “McArthur”. The usual variations, in order of frequency, are: MacArthur, McArther, McCarthur, McArthy, McCarthy, and McCarty.
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