Cerena Jordan Little 1818 - 1900
How we are related:
Cerena Jordan Little
Emily Virginia Little Pittman
May Ellen Pittman Brewer
Ina Beatrice Brewer Johnson
Marion Allen Johnson Speakman
Cerena (Cerene, Serena) Jordan was born on June 11, 1818, in South Carolina. Her father was probably the Garret Jordan who is listed in the 1840 U.S. Census of Chambers County, Alabama. There are 8 white persons and 12 slaves listed in the inventory. In the 1850 and 1860 census records Garret’s wife is listed as Mary. This is Mary Atkinson, whom Garret married in 1844 in Chambers County, but Cerena’s mother is assumed to be Garret’s first wife Lucy.
Cerena married Asa Little, who was 15 years her senior, on June 11, 1838, in Chambers County, Alabama, with the consent of her parents. Some records give the date as June 6, but that was probably the day they obtained the licence.
The Nixburg Community - Coosa County, Alabama
In 1832 the town of Robbinsville became Nixburg, after Charles William, Absolom and Ambrose Nix, whose families settled there. People settled around NIxburg more rapidly than other parts of the county. By the 1840's, among those early settlers were: ... Asa, James, and Robert Little ...
Ten children can be documented as having been born to Asa and Cerena and two others are listed by Beeman Family genealogists from family records, corroborating Cerenea's statement in the 1900 U.S. Census, when she was about 82 years old, that she was the mother of 12 children, 3 living.
1. F - Letha Ann Little - 1839-?
2. M - Franklin Greenberry Little - 1840-1880
3. M - Robert Little - 1842-1864
4. F - Lucy Little - 1844-1895
5. F - Nancy J. Little Steele - 1846-1928
6. F - Edna Susan Little - 1848-1863
7. F - Martha Rebecca Little Beeman- 1850-1925
8. F - Mary Elizabeth Little - 1852-1873
9. F - Emily Virginia Little Pittman - 1854-1888
10. M - Asa Little - 1856-1862
11. U - W. E. Little - 1859-1859
12. M - Hudson Little - 1862-1864
Those still living in 1900 would have been:
1. Martha Rebecca Little Beeman
2. Nancy J. Little Steele
3. ? Unidentified - probably Letha Ann since she is the only one left without a death date.
In 1866 Asa and Cerena left Alabama for Texas, settling in the community of Retreat in Navarro County.
RETREAT
The community known as Retreat was first called Beeman’s School House. In the early days of Navarro County this community was settled by the Beemans, Hamilton, Picketts, Bishops, Highnotes, Pettys, Hammonds, Hodges, McElwees, Clarkes, White, Martins, Comperes, Simmons and Asa Littles. The school house was located on the Beeman land and it was also used as a church by various denominations on Sunday. For a long time the old log school house was the only church or school near Corsicana to the Southwest. This building was moved, due to shifting of population, two or three miles Southwest of its original location and was later moved back across Harris Branch. Due to these frequent moves someone suggested that the name Retreat would be apropos and this designation has been used until this day.
Record of Marks & Brands
1854 - 1873
Navarro County, Texas
Little, Asa - April 16, 1867
Little, James - May 29, 1855
Asa died in 1871 and by 1880 Cerena was living with the family of her daughter Emily V Little in Ellis County, Texas. Twenty years later in 1900 she was still living in Ellis County, but with her grandson, Nat Brewer, her daughter having died two years earlier.
Cerena died on December 22, 1900, in Navarro County, Texas, at the age of 82. She, along with other family members, are buried in the Hamilton-Beeman Cemetery in Corsicana, Texas. Pictures are from Marion Hudson.
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| Little Burial Plot |
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| Part of Asa's Tombstone |
Among the oldest cemeteries in Navarro County is Hamilton-Beeman Cemetery, located southwest of Corsicana near the community of Retreat.
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| Cerena's Stone |
How we are related:
Cerena Jordan Little
Emily Virginia Little Pittman
May Ellen Pittman Brewer
Ina Beatrice Brewer Johnson
Marion Allen Johnson Speakman
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