Mary Elizabeth Witty Hughes (1848-1876)

Originally posted: Sunday, February 22, 2015 (edited)

Another Sister of Eugenia Witty Booth

Mary Elizabeth Witty Hughes (1848-1876) was 6 years older than my great great grandmother, Eugenia Witty Booth.

Great Aunt Mary Beth (I'm guessing that that was her name because my own sister went by that nickname as a young girl) was born in 1848, also in Alabama, the 4th child of Susan Hoke Witty and Carroll Witty, (the first two being boys.)

In Limestone County, Alabama in 1850, the Wittys were farmers, and grandfather Joseph Hoke, age 57 was living with them as well.  At that time the next family listed in the census were Jackson Witty, a brother of Carroll Witty's, actually named Andrew Jackson Witty.  When Carroll went to Texas around 1850-52, Andrew Jackson Witty stayed in Alabama.

But let's look at Great Aunt Mary Beth a bit more.  By 1860 she was 12 and living in Hill County, Texas.  Then when she was 19 she married Isaac Butler Hughes, who apparently went by his middle name on most records.

They had 2 children: James M. Hughes who lived just from 1867-1876, and Alice Dovie Hughes Felts, 1869-1893.

But the same year that their son died, so did Aunt Mary Beth, on July 2, 1876.  She is buried with her husband, who had died just the year before, on 10 August 1875.

His headstone is broken, but her's has been somewhat repaired. It's interesting to note that her initial is wrong "M".  They are in the same cemetery as her parents and other family members, The Old Woodbury Cemetery, Hill County, Texas.

 

I was trying to find out if Alice had any children, who would be my cousins of course...but there wasn't much information on her, besides a name J. B. Felts for her husband, but no information on him.  

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.

Great x3 grandfather Carroll Witty (1818-1898)

Repost from Monday, April 9, 2018

A man named Carroll...

Carroll Witty, (1818-1898) that is, my 3 times great grandfather on my mother's maternal side, the Booth Family Tree.

We reviewed the lives of most of his children in (2018) the last week.  I'd deleted the new one added in Ancestry, born in 1882, named Permella Witty, born in Marshall TX - died in 1963,  Fort Worth, TX.  I found later that Permilia was granddaughter of Carroll Witty, daughter of William Wiley Witty (1854-1929) and his wife Molly Paschal Witty (1853-1933).

I have already covered much of the patriarch of the family's life.  But let's see if there's anything that isn't in the stories and photos, the background from one place to another where he traveled.  My old blog Here speaks of Carroll and his daughter Eugenia, and others in my family.

I found an Alabama agricultural census for 1850 had been recently added, with Carroll Witty having no land, either improved or unimproved, and no value of a farm, but $100 value for farm implements.  For the same year the federal census said he had a household of 8 persons.  He was 31, his wife Susan Hoke Witty was 32, and he had children; John C. 6. James 5, Martha E. 3, Mary 2, Thomas 0, and Joseph Hoke, 57 (his father-in-law).

The population census for the same year includes his brother (Andrew) Jackson Witty living next listing to his. Jackson did own land.  And his household was very interesting.  Jackson was 35 and his wife Emily was 26, and his mother's sister, Elizabeth Wells lived with them, age 75, and perhaps a cousin Sarah Wills 35 and unknown relationship Carlin Wills 26, and a mis-transcribed person Matilda Collins, 9 (listed as Marilda Colling).

I must salute Carroll Witty for taking his family to Texas, for being a entrepreneur and starting a new community (with partners) and for being a man with a mission.  He may have been a farmer in 1850, but by 1852 he was in Marshall TX, and by 1860 all the way in Hill County, Subdivision, TX.

This is a man who traveled far, as well as had a big family.  Though his 2 oldest sons took part in the Civil War, (and one died in it) there's no record that he did.  His family grew up, and daughters and sons married and moved away, and he continued to be a farmer.  In the 1870 census he had property valued at $1000 and his youngest 3 as teenagers were living at home as well as his oldest son James who was a stock raiser (perhaps cattle.)

UPDATED: He is listed as Terrell Witty, living with his wife Susan, in the 1880 census, with their daughter Susan actually 24, but listed as 20 living with them, as well as a niece, Freby Moore, age 21.  He is listed as "Terrell Witty" clearly in the handwritten form, but when someone says Carroll for a man's name, perhaps the census taker understood it as Terrell.  And their daughter Susan Witty had married in 1877 to James Moore...but for some reason was living with her parents and using her maiden name.  And whoever Freby Moore was, the niece, she was born in Alabama.  Perhaps James' sister?   Susan and James Moore didn't have their daughter, Edna May More, until 1885.

But this Uncle James "J.J." Moore (b. 1856 Marshall TX) had a life which continued after his wife Susie died in 1902, and he remarried to have more children.  He also lived until 1932, and here's a great photo of him in his corn field in 1930.

Great times 3 Uncle James Joseph Moore 1854-1932

Lucretia Wells Witty (1775-1817)

A great times 4 grandmother, wife of James Witty, and mother of Mr. Carrol Witty...she seems to have been confused on a lot of Ancestry trees with her sister Elizabeth. But if the will of her father, James Wells, is to believed, Elizabeth married Mr. Riece/Reeves, and Lucretia married Mr. Witty. Their names on their father's will are Lucretia Witty and Elizabeth Riece.

There are so many dates that make me scratch my head in wonder, when looking at the Wells family tree. I will just say that as of this date in time, it seems as follows. (These may change if I find any documents to substantiate other dates!)

Lucretia was born in 1775 in Surry County, North Carolina. The county was formed in 1771 from Rowan County, NC, which had been where her parents were living and several of her siblings births were recorded. This was before the American Revolution, so North Carolina was a colony still at the time Lucretia was born. Surry County now consists of about 2/3 Piedmont land, rolling hills, and the other 1/3 is the Appalachian Mountains to the west, including now the Blue Ridge Parkway National Park.

Lucretia was the 7th of 10 children born to James Wells (1728-1810) and Mary Price Wells (1730-1809). There are some alternate dates and places of her birth, namely in 1775 in Virginia (Surry County is on the NC/VA border) or 1768 in Delaware or Maryland. (See why it's hard to figure out much about this family?)

Without any documentation, it is conjectured that she married James Witty (1768-1830) in 1800. Their oldest son, George Witty, was born in 1805 or maybe 1808 in Limestone County, Alabama. A newspaper obituary in 1847 says he had been the first baby born in Limestone County in 1808.

There is a document in the Guilford County NC Quaker meeting in 1806, where James Witty and his family are removed from that meeting to move to another one. At one time there was an Ancestry tree that said his first wife was named Mary, who was mother of his earlier children, all but one of whom died before the move to Alabama, and we don't know her death date either. And his second wife was Elizabeth Wells (which I seem to believe not true.)

The Wittys had a son in 1815, Andrew Jackson Witty, born in Tennessee, whose death is unknown.

Their son, Carroll Witty (1818-1898) was born in 1818, in Limestone County AL.  James Calvin Witty was born in 1824 (death unknown.) And finally they had a daughter, Martha Jane Witty Hine, (1827-1891 also born in Limestone County AL.

Grandmom Lucretia was part of the 1830 Census of Limestone County AL, in James Wittys' household of 10 persons. I have no idea who was who, as it's just broken down by ages, and so many of the birth dates are not accurate.

As all the other dates are very nebulous, I can guess that the death date of Lucretia was after she was counted in the 1830 Cenus, but not in Martin Co., Indiana. That record is referring to Lucretia Ellis who died in Martin Co, Indiana, not my gggg Grandmother Lucretia Witty. Unfortunately that Indiana Lucretia is given the same parents as my Lucretia Wells Witty.

My ggg grandfather, Carroll Witty, moved further west into Texas. George Witty has his grave in Limestone, AL. There's no information on James Jr. or Jackson's deaths.  Martha Jane is buried in Athens, Limestone County, AL.