GRANT, James M., Beeville Bee-Picayune, Thursday, 25 Jan 1940, Front page:

James Grant Leaves Thinning Rank, Gray-Clad Veterans. Civil War Soldier Dies in Hospital 
Wednesday Night.

Private James M. Grant, of the 12th Mississippi Cavalry, Confederate States of America 
bivouacked last night with Death and woke this morning when reveille sounded in a fair land 
far removed from thundering cannons and the tramping of marching feet.  A member of the 
thinning ranks of gray-clad veterans of the War Between the States, Grant died Wednesday 
night, January 24, at 11:30 o'clock in the Beeville Hospital. The white haired kindly old man, 
a familiar figure on Beeville streets since 1934, was 91 years old. Death balked him in his 
determination to reach the century mark.

Funeral Services will be held Friday afternoon at the Smiley Baptist Church with Rev. B. P. 
Riddle officiating. Burial will be made in the church cemetery. Funeral directions will be made 
under the Walker Funeral Home.

Survivors include three daughters; Mrs. Henry Burdick and Mrs. Otho Burdick of Smiley, 
Mrs. Charles Tiemann of Karnes City, and two sons, Ore G. Grant of Helena Texas and Herbert 
Grant of Cuero. He is also survived by 24 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. His wife, 
the former Lou Zina Harrelson preceded him in death.

A native of South Carolina, he was born April 29, 1848. The family moved to Mississippi, the senior 
Grant being a farmer. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Grant's father enlisted and a year later 
Grant followed. An interview with Grant was published in the April 7, 1938 issue of the 
Beeville-Picayune.

Grant stayed in Mississippi long enough to get a start in life and to get married to Miss Lou Zina 
Harrelson, a Claiborne girl. Texas was at that time being developed and its praises were being 
constantly sung by a brother-in-law of Grant, who had settled in Gonzales County. So fifty years 
ago Grant moved his family to this state settling at Smiley where he operated a general store. 
He has since lived in Karnes County, Austin, Cuero and Beeville.

Grant went through the Civil War without a scratch from a bullet or saber and lived to be eighty-one 
before he became seriously ill. That was eight years ago at Smiley where he was working on his 
son-in-law's house repairing the gutter. He fooled the doctor and lived a full life the past eight years.