John McCormack Baylis (1826-1885) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

John McCormack "Doc" Baylis

Born 28 Oct 1826 in Jones, Mississippi

Ancestors

Son of George Baylis and [mother unknown]

Brother of Sarah Elizabeth (Baylis) Knight [half], William T. Baylis [half] and Wyatt Baylis

[spouse(s) unknown]

[children unknown]

Died 8 Oct 1885 at age 58 in Jones, Mississippi

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Profile last modified 29 May 2018

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Biography

As Mississippi debated the secession question, the state called a secession convention which met in January 1861. Two men from Jones County vied to represent the county at the convention: J.M. Bayliss was the pro-secession candidate and John Hathorne Powell, Jr. was the anti-secession candidate. Powell was elected to represent Jones County at the convention but when he did so, he voted for secession. Legend has it that, for his vote, he was burned in effigy in Ellisville, the county seat. The reality is more complicated, for the only votes possible at the Secession Convention were for immediate secession, on the one hand, or a more cautious, co-operative approach to secession among several Southern states, on the other. Powell almost certainly voted for the more conservative approach to secession—the only position realistically available to him that was consistent with the anti-secessionist views of his constituency. John M. Baylis Children

Three of Dr. John M. Baylis' children became doctors.

George Benjamin Baylis - married Elizabeth, farmed in Perry and Forest Co, MS

Charles Wyatt Baylis - married Sara J. McComb, farmed in Jones Co, MS

John Jabez Baylis - died at 19

Mary Ida Baylis - married Civil Engineer Oliver Crittenden moved to Bowie TX then back to Jones County as a widow.

James Terrell Baylis - died as an infant

Lulu Edwena Baylis - died at 8 months

Henry Eugene Baylis - married Vadie Whittle, doctor in LA, TX and OK

Jenny Baylis - married Henry B. Gullette

Minnie Elnora - married lawyer James William Shanks moved to LA, then Sumrall MS

William Fleming Baylis- married Jennie Peebles, doctor in Jones County

Samuel J. Robert Baylis - died at 8 years old

Fannie Dewitt Baylis - died at 9 years old

Burial

Birth: Oct. 28, 1826 Death: Oct. 3, 1885

Burial: Eastabuchie Cemetery Jones County Mississippi, USA

Methodist Minister George Baylis migrated to Jones County, Mississippi from the Carolinas like so many settlers did in the early 19th Century. He would become one of the richest men in the county, owning much land in the Piney Woods and would also rank as one of the largest slaveholders in an area not known for slave ownership. When he died his sons John McCormack and William took over the family farm located west of Ellisville along the Leaf River.

John Baylis was perhaps named after a “John McCormack” found on an early Jones census living near the Baylis family. Shortly after 1850, he was enrolled in the Zion Seminary along with brothers George Jr. and William. This was a boarding school established in 1846 a few miles west of the farm where John grew up. The school was destroyed in the Civil War, and today the town of Seminary stands on the banks of the Okatoma River where the school used to be.

While there were more than 70 one-room schools in the county, Zion Seminary provided education beyond that of the smaller schools. First built of pine poles and split-pole floors with dirt chimneys, the Zion Seminary grew under Rev. A.R. Graves' efforts in promotion, and hiring the highest quality educators. After several years, the school had grown into a two story building of lumber and brick with two dormitories. Zion Seminary was said to be ahead of its time by 40 years for the southern United States of its time and, at its peak, had nearly 500 students from all over Mississippi and adjoining states.

Soon after completion of his studies at Zion, John Baylis moved on to Tulane Medical school, graduated in 1856 and then married Mary Rawls of a pioneer family of Mississippi. Prior to the Civil War, Dr. Baylis managed his farm, practiced medicine and also was in the mercantile business with Amos McLemore. In addition, he was prominent in public life with records indicating that in 1861 he was was one of two representatives from Jones County in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He would later serve as the secessionist candidate to the Mississippi state convention. Jones county was against secession and John H. Powell won the local election.

When war came, John and his brother Wyatt both became officers in the 7th Battalion Mississippi Infantry, along with brother-in-law John Gillis. In May of 1963, Grant drove the Confederate Army of Lt Gen. John Pemberton into defensive lives around Vicksburg, Mississippi and the 7th Mississippi Infantry marched with Hebert's Brigade to join the Confederate defenders. Grant began a siege of the city that lasted 47 days and included bombardments from ships commanded by Admiral David Farragut on the Mississippi River.

Dr. Henry Eugene Baylis, son of Dr. John McCormack Baylis, told his grandchildren that his father had crossed the enemy lines at Vicksburg to trade medicine with the Union doctors. He said that his father had succeeded, and was able to get badly needed medicine for the Confederates trapped by the bombardment. A biography says that "at the height of the Vicksburg struggle, Dr. Baylis helped to care for casualties of both the Union and Confederate armies… he was called upon by the Union Army to help with the casualties and in return for his help was given some quinine, badly needed by the residents of Vicksburg."

Dr. Baylis's younger brother Wyatt had received a battlefield promotion from Captain to Major, probably replacing a senior officer who had been killed. Tragically, Major Wyatt Baylis was himself wounded fatally in an assault by Grant's troops against the fortifications that was repulsed with heavy casualties. Wyatt Baylis died of his wounds June 28, 1863 at the age of 24.

The death of his younger brother must have been devastating for Dr. John M. Baylis. One history reports that Dr. Baylis was reported Absent Without Leave on June 30th, 1863, shortly after Wyatt's death and he was not at Vicksburg on July 4th, 1863, when the Confederates finally surrendered. He returned to his unit in November of 1863, continuing as acting surgeon, often serving on detached duty with other units requiring his medical skills.

There is evidence in his surviving Confederate military documents that Dr. Baylis met the the father of the husband of his future daughter, Minnie Elnora, during his time at Shelbyville. On page 8 of his military records, John Shanks, Pvt, Co K, 29 Reg't Mississippi Vols, appears on the Company Muster Roll as absent. In the remarks, he is said to have been sent to hospital from Shelbyville, Tennessee April 21 by order of the Regimental Surgeon. On page 14 of John M. Baylis’ Confederate records he is on detached service at Shelbyville, Tennessee on a list dated April 30, 1863. Dr. Baylis is recorded as having signed a similar order for his brother-in-law, John Gillis, sending him home to his wife Catherine Jane in 1862 with constitutional debility and chronic diarrhea.

The 7th Mississippi Infantry Battalion also included deserters to the Knight Company that hid around Jones county following Vicksburg, led by captain, Newt Knight. The Knight Company battled Confederate influence around Jones County and is credited with the murder of Amos McLemore when he was assigned to capture them late in the war. Following the war, on July 30, 1865, John Baylis is recorded expressing his contempt for Knight band renegades as a "band of outlaws who have engaged in murder and pillage" in a personal letter to Gov. William L. Sharkey.

His appointment as Health Officer of Jones County in 1880 is recorded in Goodspeed’s Memoirs of Mississippi, published in 1891.

Dr. John M. Baylis died October 9th, 1885 at age 56. He and wife Mary are buried in Eastabuchie Cemetery, north of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.