Home       Who Are We?     Family History      Family Tree

2011 Beckley Family Reunion

July 1, 2, and 3, 2011

Hosted by the Beckley Family Club of Mississippi

Hilton Garden Inn
363 East Main Street
Tupelo, Mississippi 
Hotel Link: http://hiltongardeninn.hilton.com/Tupelo

Schedule of Events

Friday, July 1, 2011
Banquet/Dance

Saturday Morning, July 2, 2011
Dedication Ceremony of the Fanny Barr Memorial at
College Hill Cemetery, Pontotoc, Mississippi
10:00 AM
(See history tidbit below.)

Saturday Afternoon
Lunch Time (Hawaiian Style)
Agri-Center, Verona, Mississippi

Sunday, July 3, 2011
Memorial Service & Breakfast

Click here to download and print the registration form.
 

Dedication of the Fanny Barr Memorial

Saturday, July 2, 2011, College Hill Cemetery, Pontotoc, Mississippi

Proceeds from the sale of the 2009 DVDs and leftover money from the 2009 event in Atlanta and Abbeville, So. Carolina are going towards the purchase of a memorial stone for our ancestor, Fanny Barr.  In August 2009, one was dedicated for Lewis Barr in Abbeville; we will also dedicate one to her. William Barr Jr. had also transported her to Pontotoc County, Mississippi in 1859.  Per the 1880 U.S. Federal Census, she was living with her grandson, Rev. Jacob C. Beckley, Jr., one of "The Beckley Five."  She was the maternal grandmother of "The Beckley Five" and the rest of their siblings, the paternal grandmother of William "Bill" Reed and his sister Mary Reed Pratt (who ended up in Senatobia/Como, MS), and the grandmother of others unbeknown to us at this time.

Since Grandma Fanny Barr was residing with Rev. Jacob Beckley during the last part of her life, chances are great that she was buried in an unmarked grave in the College Hill Cemetery, six miles east of Pontotoc.  Rev. Jacob became the first pastor of the College Hill C.M.E. Church in 1872.  The stone will be placed in that cemetery. She lived a very long life, as it is believed that she died around 1890 at the age of 100+.  She had been born into slavery in Virginia, sold down south to Abbeville, S.C. where she and Lewis birthed this family on Dr. William H. Barr's farm, and was then taken to Mississippi in 1859.  If someone had been able to interview her before she died, we probably couldn't even fathom the struggles she endured during her lifetime.  It's because of the struggles of our ancestors that paved our way today. 

For more history information, see http://www.BarrDescendants.org.