Jonathan Lorraine Catchings (1786-1855), one of seven sons and a daughter of Revolutionary War Major Benjamin Catchings Jr. and grandson of Benjamin Catchings of Southampton County, Virginia, was born in Wilkes County, Georgia. His mother was Mildred Criddle Catchings, daughter of Humphrey Criddle and Mildred King of Bedford County, Virginia. Jonathan and two of his brothers, Joseph and Phillip, came to Mississippi Territory in 1809, with their families.

Jonathan’s first wife Lawrany Thompson (1783 GA-1832) made the journey, with children Eliza Ann (1806-1834, m. William Albritton) and Augustus (1808-1873, m. Hanley Cassity). Daughter Catherine Ann (1812-1883, m. John Hampton Collins) was born in Pike County, Mississippi. Jonathan was a private in the 13th Mississippi Militia in the War of 1812, fighting in the Battle of New Orleans.

Jonathan moved his family to south central Hinds County by 1820, and settled near Palestine. Lawrany died in1832 in Hinds County MS, and Jonathan married widow Martha Fairchild Gallman (1794 SC -1852), the mother of six Gallman children. They had two children Jonathan Jr. and Martha, neither of whom lived to adulthood. Jonathan and family had extensive farming interests in Pike and Hinds Counties, and were early members of Palestine Baptist Church, organizing church of the Mississippi Baptist Convention.

In the Catchings family book written in 1918, one of the authors noted that she remembered as a child that “Uncle Jonathan had a Great Bible” that contained family records, but it no longer exists. The Catchings home was burned down during the Civil War, and the Catchings family cemetery is located down the hill from the home site off Parsons Road in south central Hinds County.

Catherine Ann Catchings married John Hampton Collins, one of 12 children of Moses Collins Jr. and his first wife Elizabeth Zachary. John and Catherine had one son, John Hampton Jr. (b. 1842, m. Pernicia Annette Riser), and daughters Lawrany (Lorraine) Elizabeth (b. 1832, m. John R. Miller, then John P. Gunnels); Eliza Ann (b. 1834, m. Thrashley Chapman); Mary Louisa (b. 1836, m. Dr. Robert Edward Fullerton, moved to Colorado); Rebecca Olivia (1838-1841); Catherine Adelia (1840-1841); Martha Jonathan (b. 1846, m. Henry Clay Lewis); and Ginerva Vivia Augusta (1855-1876, m. Bryant H. Wolfe).

Augustus Catchings, only son of Jonathan and Lawrany to reach adulthood, married Hanley H. Cassity, and lived on his plantation located between Siwell and Forest Hill in central Hinds County. Their home, built in 1843, survived until 1999. Augustus’ children were Augustus Jr. (1834-before 1860); Lorraine Thompson (b. 1833, m. Dr. William J. Dulany); Virginia Margaret (b. 1839, m. her cousin Dr. Thomas Alfred Catchings, grandson of Joseph and Mary Holliday Catchings of Pike County); and Augustus Ward (1860-1912).

First Family descendant member: Mary Collins Landin

First Family descendant member:
Mary Collins Landin