The following is information sent to me by Lee Jackson of Buford, GA.  I thought I would share it with my readers here.  Let me know if you are aware of any of the things he is looking for, and I will pass it along to him!

(Photo Link Below!)

“Pike County, Mississippi 1798-1876: Pioneer Families and Confederate Soldiers, by Luke W. Conerly, published in 1909, is back in print.  This book documents many early families of Pike County, MS, as well as Confederate soldiers going out from Pike and surrounding counties, with over 400 surnames.   I am the author’s great great grandson and had the reprint created from a pristine 1909 copy.  It is a very good quality hardbound reprint with 368 pages, and several photos and illustrations.  This is a link to the book:

http://www.southernlionbooks.com/pikecountymississippi_book.htm

This book is not in many libraries.  There is some info on the author at www.lukewardconerly.com.   I just located his grave this year in Gulfport, MS, and the SCV is giving him a headstone.  He never had a proper marker but I found records where he is buried and several of his living grandchildren had already told me where he was.  There is a story in the book about the 1812 Unknown Soldier that never had a proper marker, and Luke Conerly had him moved to a military cemetery.  I have a picture of that 1812 soldier’s marker.  It’s strange how history repeated itself with Luke never having a headstone.  Luke is buried next to his second wife, Ida Mae Farmer.  It looks like someone scratched his name into a piece of concrete.  The SCV headstone will be placed in August.  If you run across any old photos of Luke or  the Conerlys pre-1920's, let me know.  I’m also looking for an original 1909 copy of his book or the newspaper he owned in Pike County, the Magnolia Herald, from the1870's.  You can see a photo of Luke's ninth son, Preston Johnston Conerly (PJ), and his wife and family.  One of his daughters in the photo was my grandmother.  It was taken circa 1930 in Okolona. And some postcards I have with Luke's handwriting on them.

Spread the word around McComb about the reprint.  I've sold a few in Pike County--most have gone to descendents of the book around the country.  I'm working with Dr. Luke Lampton, the owner of the Magnolia Gazette on writing a biography of Luke W. Conerly to be printed in his newspaper.”

***To see more photos contributed by Lee Jackson relating to Luke Ward Conerly (and all my photo albums), please visit www.photoworks.com/members/tmorgan100.  (Click on "View all" to see albums not pictured on the first page.  Note: Photos can be viewed as a slide show, but in full-screen mode descriptions which may be under some of the photos are not visible--you may need to scroll down to read the descriptions.) 

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