I am looking for parents of my great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Murphy, b. ca. 1857 in Tennessee. I don't know her parents' names, but she had a brother James. The Murphys had a plantation with about 100 slaves. I have two stories of the end of that plantation:
1) They "lost" it all in the Civil War and Mary and brother escaped to Arkansas, or
2) The family died in a flu epidemic, Mary and James were raised by an aunt and uncle who kept the land, and Mary and James later went to Arkansas (it is definite that they went to Arkansas).
Does anyone know anything about this family? Or can you recommend a book about Dyer county that might give me some background? THANKS for any suggestions.