Susan Elizabeth Hoke Witty 1817-1895, mother

I've already spoken about her husband Carroll Witty, and their 9 children, including my great times 2 grandmother, Eugenia Witty Booth. (I'll finish describing the siblings this week!

But I haven't recorded the story of their mother, Susan Elizabeth Hoke Witty, 1817-1895, my great times 3 grandmother.

She was born on 12 June 1817 in Madison County, Alabama. Her parents were Joseph Hoke (1793-1852) and Elizabeth Hunt Hoke (1793-1846). In the 1850 Census of Limestone County, AL, the Carroll Witty family included her father, Joseph Hoke, age 57, and he lists that he was born in South Carolina. That 1850 Census has Susan Elizabeth Hoke Witty (age 32) and her 5 older children, her husband Carrol (age 31) and her father, living in household number 211, and household 212 is Jackson Witty, (age 35) an older brother of Carrol Witty.

Susan Elizabeth Hoke's birth was in Madison County, Alabama, which is located next to Limestone County AL on the northern border near Tennessee. Limestone County AL is where the Carrol Witty family lived until they went to Texas. The Elk River and the Tennessee River flow through Alabama in that area, which was an agricultural center for cotton raising.

The Elk River (above) flows into the Tennessee River in Limestone County, AL

Susan and Carrol were married 16 June 1843, in Limestone County AL, when she was 25 years old.  They had 9 children, including a set of twins. They moved to Marshall TX from 1851 until about 1858-59. They then lived in Subdivision, Hill County TX the rest of their lives. The area they settled was one of those land speculations to bring new residents to Texas. It later became named Woodbury.

Susan's mother, Susan Hunt Hoke (1793-1846) might have been born in Alabama or South Carolina. She and Joseph Hoke married in 1816 in Madison County AL. The only sibling I know of for Susan Elizabeth Hoke Witty was William E. Hoke, who was in one census a pharmacist. (1825-1876).

The Hill County Texas census for 1860 has Carrol and Susan Witty with their 9 children. The two oldest boys are listed as stockmen, but the transcriptionist changed their occupation to "stockroom." My gg grandmother, Eugenia was just 9 years old in 1860.

A lot happened between that 1860 census and the 1870 one. Susan Hoke Witty's two oldest sons, James and John had fought for the Confederacy.  John joined in 1862 and died in 1865. James came back and was part of the family on their farm in Hill County, where he again was listed as a stockman.  My gg grandmother, Eugenia had already married at age 18, in 1869, so was no longer part of the household in 1870.

In 1870 Carrol was 52, and Susan Witty was 53, living with just 4 of their children still, the three youngest just teenagers.

By 1880 Carol and Susan are 64 and 65, and their daughter Susan (21 years) is living with them and a niece Freby Moore age 20 is also.  (I wonder about that name, but have no answers today.)

The next household in the 1880 census listing is William W. Witty, age 36 and his wife, Molly age 35, and 3 children ages 5 and under.  Who's William Witty? He was the second to youngest child of Carrol and Susan. His son who gave information on WWW's death certificate thought he'd been born in Missouri, and some Ancestry trees indicate he was born in Atlanta GA. But I'm pretty sure that his mother, Susan E. Hoke Witty, lived in Marshall TX where he had been born. And did I mention he was a twin to Laura Dove Witty? That's what I discuss tomorrow.

Susan died on18 Dec. 1895. Carroll died on 19 Sept 1898. They are buried together in  Old Woodbury Cemetery, Woodbury, Hill County, Texas.

 Susan's headstone propped up...

Carroll and Susan Hoke Witty's headstones, photo taken in 2013. I wonder what that symbol is on the other headstone.