Statina Persia (Willis) Levisee (1836 - 1862)

Born 1836 in Talladega, Talladega, Alabama, USA

Wife of Aaron Burton Levisee — married [date unknown] (to 7 Jan 1862) in , , Alabama, USA

Descendants

Died 7 Jan 1862 at about age 26 in Shreveport, Caddo, Louisiana, USA

Biography

First wife of Judge Aaron Burton Levisee, Persia and Aaron were married at her family's home, "Thornhill," in Alabama. She died at their home, also called "Thornhill," at Shreveport.^[1] Both Thornhills still stand today. Persia and Aaron had three children, Leonidas (see memorial #5105265), Mary Ann, and Morgan (see memorial #61417892; named for Persia's sister Cornelia's husband, Confederate General John Tyler Morgan). After Persia's death Judge Levisee remarried three times more, surviving each wife. He left Shreveport in 1874, relocating to New Orleans and eventually to Ohio, where he died in 1907.

Mary Hardie's sister Martha Hall married Joshua Willis who died on December 7, 1835. Martha herself died in 1836 less than a year after her husband's death, so Mary took in three of their children: Cornelia, Persia and Demetrius "D" Willis.

D Willis left Thornhill around 1845 to live in Texas with his uncle, and Mary's brother, Isaac W. Hall. D Willis fought in the Mexican war and moved to Livingston, Texas, to live on land granted to veterans of the war. D Willis also served in 20th Infantry, CSA from 1862 until the end of the Civil War. As related in Lillian Martin's book, John Hardie of Thornhill and His Family, Cornelia and Persia Willis lived at Thornhill until they were married. Cornelia married John Tyler Morgan who had organized the Alabama 51st Cavalry Regiment, Partisan Rangers, in which Alva Finley Hardie served after September 1862. After the war, Morgan served in the U.S. Senate. Persia married Aaron Levisee and lived in Shreveport, Louisiana, until her death.

Another of the Willis children, Leonidas "Lee" Willis, was raised in New Orleans, and he may have come back to Talladega to work as a clerk in the Hardie's store in Mardisville. When John T. Hardie closed the store and moved to New Orleans in 1853, Lee left for Texas to live near his brother D. During the Civil War Lee Willis served in the Willis Cavalry Battalion of Waul's Texas Legion from 1862 until the fall of Vicksburg; he then served on the staff of Nathan Bedford Forrest. After the war Lee moved to Salem, Oregon, where he died in 1899. Octavia grew up under the care of her aunt Sarah Hall Finley who was Mary Mead Hardie's sister. Sarah Finley was married to Alva Finley, from whom John and Mary Mead Hardie took the name of their seventh child, Alva Finley Hardie.

Sources

1. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23880523/persia-levisee : accessed 29 October 2021), memorial page for Persia Willis Levisee (1825–7 Jan 1862), Find A Grave: Memorial #23880523, citing Oakland Cemetery, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, USA ; Maintained by RosalieAnn (contributor 46559872) .

See Also:

• http://www.thornhill.org/