This article discusses Matilda Mims, her life and marriage to Thomas Jefferson Mullins, and her ancestry.
Great great-grandparents
- Thomas Mims (1681-1719)
- Mellyanne Martin (1680-1717)
- Cousins through Thomas & Anne Mims
- Jesse James (1847-1882)
- Frank James (1843-1915)
- Cousins through Thomas & Anne Mims
Great grandparents
- Benjamin Mims (1710-1788)
- Judith Woodson (1715-?)
Grandparents
- Thomas Mims (1736-1809)
- Mary Wright (1738-1801)
Matilda Brooks Mims was born on a large tobacco farm in Caswell County, North Carolina on November 27, 1816[1], [2]. We know little about Matilda’s childhood. She was married to Thomas Jefferson Mullins at the age of 19, on October 10, 1836[3], and had her first child 11 months later, Mary Margaret Mullins. The couple established their own tobacco farm on land in neighboring Rockingham County, NC, from T.J.’s father’s land.
The Mims family traces back to the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. Matilda was the 4th of six children of John Wright Mims and Wilmouth Wiley Brooks. John Wright Mims was born in 1773 in Virginia to Thomas Mims and Mary Wright[4]. John had one brother and 6 sisters[5]. It is likely that Thomas Mims fought in the American Revolution, but firm proof is lacking at this writing. Thomas’s parents were Benjamin Mims and Judith Woodson, a descendant of Dr. John Woodson of Jamestown.
Benjamin’s grandfather, Thomas Mims, is probably the Thomas Mims who arrived from England in Virginia in 1657, settling in Lancaster County[6]. Thomas married Anne Stanford in 1675[7], and their son Thomas Jr., Matilda’s great great-grandfather, was baptized in 1681 in Christ Church Parish[8]. Thomas Jr. married Mellyann Martin in 1698[9], and Benjamin was born in 1710. His son Thomas was Matilda’s grandfather.
One well-known descendant of the immigrant Thomas Mims was Zarelda Amanda Mims (1845-1900), wife of the infamous 19th century outlaw Jesse James. Matilda and Zarelda were 3rd cousins. There was more in this tangle of relationships because Matilda was also a distant cousin of Jesse James himself through her grandmother, Judith Woodson: in fact, Jesse’s full name was Jesse Woodson James. Beyond that, Matilda’s daughter-in-law, Sophia Freyschlag, was also a Woodson descendant and cousin of Jesse James!
This tangle of relationships is not as accidental as it might seem. The community of Virginia and North Carolina farmers in the 17th and 18th centuries was not that large, and children of the farmers tended to marry each other. We find multiple distant cousin relationships among the Mullins, Woodson, Mims, Chiles, Wyatt, Hawkins, Venable, Curle and Walker families. Read more about our cousin Jesse James in the Mullins Family Story about Queen Elizabeth.
Matilda Mims and Thomas Jefferson Mullins moved their family several times to new farmland, certainly an arduous process – but still likely a much more pleasant fate than that of Matilda’s cousin, Zarelda! The young Mullins family remained in North Carolina until April 1846; shortly after the birth of their 5th child, William Madison Mullins [G38-WMullins], they left North Carolina for Tennessee, with all of their belongings loaded onto 2 wagons pulled by 8 mules, while the family rode in a 2-seated buggy pulled by 2 horses[10]. The Mullins’s joined T.J.’s half-uncle, Samuel Mullins, and his 2 half-aunts, Letty and Francis, in McNairy County, TN, where they continued tobacco farming and manufacturing.
It was common for tobacco farmers to move every few years because tobacco farming rapidly depleted the soil of vital nutrients. Open land was scarce in North Carolina in 1846. T.J.’s father Thomas continued farming until 1850, while gradually dispensing his land, mostly to his 4 daughters and their husbands. We can assume that T.J. and Matilda saw greater opportunity by moving to Tennessee.
Matilda had 2 more children in Tennessee. In 1852 the family moved again, to Christian County, Missouri, where they would remain until after the Civil War, then making their final move to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where T.J. bought 80 acres of land for $600 from Edward Freyschlag on September 7, 1866[11]. The Mullins and Freyshlag families would be united 5 years later when William married Sophia.
© 2013 W. Mullins