Sue Harris Moses

My mother-in-law died this week.  She was a wonderful mother-in-law and an exceptional woman.  I could spend hours telling her stories.  There are probably many of them on this blog.  Just put Harris in the search box to read some of them.  Here is the obituary from the Huntington, WV paper:

SUE HARRIS MOSES, 98, of Huntington, widow of Jackson F. Moses, died Jan. 23 in Woodlands Retirement Community. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church. Visitation will be one hour before service at the church. Donations may be made to the Marshall University Foundation or Hospice of Huntington. 

Here is the bigger one in the Huntington Herald Dispatch Friday, January 26:

SUE HARRIS MOSES, 98, passed away peacefully on January 23, 2018, at Woodlands Retirement Community in Huntington, West Virginia. Sue was born in Twin Branch, West Virginia, on September 29, 1919, the daughter of Hewitt Samuel and Mattie Lee Harris. Sue was preceded in death by her parents, her three siblings, Nora, James and Everett, her husband of more than 60 years, Jackson Fitzgerald Moses (founder of Moses Auto Group), and her son, Jackson Fitzgerald Moses II. Sue is survived by her two sons, Robert Lee Moses and his wife Nikki and John Steven Moses and his wife Doris of Charleston, W.Va.; her daughter, Barbara Sue Moses Cook and her husband Ted of Knoxville, Tenn.; and her daughter-in-law, Marsha Hawkins Moses of Huntington, W.Va.; and her 13 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. Sue was a loving wife and mother and a delightful grandmother who amazingly never forgot a single birthday. Sue graduated from Welch High School in 1937 and then attended college at Roanoke Business College. Sue was the first of her family to graduate from college. After graduation, Sue worked for Appalachian Power as a bookkeeper while her husband, Jack, was overseas fighting as a Captain of the Ninety-Ninth Company Division of the United States Army in World War II. Jack and Sue met through a mutual friend at a dance, which Jack later said was the greatest day of his life. They married in 1943, while he was on furlough, and later honeymooned on his return in 1946, at The Hotel Roanoke. The $11,000 Sue saved during her seven years working for Appalachian Power while Jack was deployed served as the seed money to help Jack buy his first Lincoln Mercury dealership in Welch, W.Va., in 1947. Sue and Jack were active in their local communities. Sue was a longstanding member of Welch's Women's Club and was chosen to represent her chapter at the National Convention. Upon moving to Huntington, Sue became an avid bridge and tennis player and also excelled at needlepointing. She was one of the first members of her community to take up jogging and earn her 1,000-mile jogging award. She was an honorary member of Guyan Country Club in Huntington, W.Va., as well as the Bent Pine Golf Club in Vero Beach, Florida. Sue and Jack loved to travel and visited every state in the union. Sue was also a faithful congregant of the Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church in Huntington, W.Va., for more than 71 years. Her warm and caring nature coupled with her abilities as a talented cook made the Moses household a magnet for family and friends alike. She was a wonderful person who will be greatly missed. The family would like to express their gratitude to the staff and nurses at Woodlands and her devoted caregivers, Wanda Adkins, Gail McComas and Jill Hatfield, who helped her so much in her later life. Services to honor Sue's life will be held Saturday, January 27, 2018, at Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, 513 10th Street, Huntington, at 11 a.m., with Rev. Terri Deane officiating. Friends and family may call after 10 a.m. Burial will follow in Woodmere Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Marshall University Foundation or Hospice of Huntington. Beard Mortuary is assisting the family.

Published in The Herald-Dispatch on Jan. 26, 2018

Sue in 1938 at National Business College In Roanoke, Virginia:

Sue's sailfish:














Sue with son, Jack on her 80th birthday:


Sue with Marsha and Jack's grandkids 2011:


Granny and Drew:


Granny and Sarah and Rudy:



Granny with Suzanne and Virginia:

Moses/Harris sites in the coal fields of WV

My daughter is doing a rotation in Rural medicine and living with me for the month of January.  I am having a lot of fun spending time with her.  She is in McDowell County today and tomorrow at North Fork.  I wanted to share with her some of the places in southern WV that are meaningful to her father's side of the family.

Quite a number of years ago when my husband's uncle's wife died, Jack and I accompanied his mother and father to the funeral that was held in Bluefield (my memory is less than perfect perhaps it was Princeton?).  That afternoon, we drove on RT 52 from Princeton through the coal fields of WV where the Moses and Harris family had lived in the early to mid 1900's.

Sarah's rotation is with Dr. Thacker who has a family practice in Milton, WV.  However, twice a month Dr. Thacker works in a clinic in Northfork, WV for two days.  When Sarah and I were chatting about her upcoming trip with Dr. Thacker, I kept thinking that there was a reason that Northfork was familiar to me.  But I couldn't come up with it.  I am adding this paragraph to the post at the end of January.  Sarah and I were talking with Sue Moses and Barbara Atkins and they reminded me of why the town was familiar.  It was Northfork Middle School now.   Jack Moses, Sr. taught and coached in the early days of Jack and Sue's marriage!   Jack Sr. taught accounting and business law and coached in 1940 at the high school.

You will see Northfork on the map below just northwest of Kyle on the right hand side of the map. Click on the map to make it larger if it is not clear.

If you need help with figuring out relationships of the people, click on the URL on the right side of this page.

some other places that have meaning to the Moses and Harris family are:

Welch was the town in which Sue and Jack were living when  my husband Jack and his brother, Bob, were born.  It was the town where Jack first went into the automobile business.  Sue's parents were living in Welch when they met.  I am not sure if Jack's family was living there at that time or not....need to do a bit of research on this....some

The above photo is the two Jack's (father and son) standing in front of the first home owned by Jack Sr. and his wife, Sue Harris Moses on Lake Drive in Welch, WV.

Welch Elementary is where Jack said he attended first and second grade.  The family moved to Ashland, Kentucky after his second year in school.

Jack remembered riding his bike to play on the playground that was next to the school.

The above photo is of the home of the Vilani family.  Jack and Sue and son, Jack, remembered Doctor Vilani and his family very fondly.  The Moses family lived next door.  The house that they lived in has been torn down.  Dr. Vilani delivered three of Sue's children.  Virginia Vilani was Sue's best friend.  The children in the two households were close to the same age and played together.

This was the apartment building in which Sue's parents lived.  Sue lived here with them from the time she was 14 until she married.  She lived with them all through the war.  You can see the train on the tracks in the background.  The next photo shows the train coming out of the tunnel which was just across from the apartment building.  And the photo below that show the Tug River that flowed behind the apartment building.  Sue would walk through the tunnel.  She would put her ear down on the track to listen to see if the train was coming.

The above photo is the Appalachian Power Company where Sue Harris Moses worked during the war while her husband, Jack was overseas.  She walked to work every day.  Sue said that she worked for the man who was over the whole  building.  She said when she started to work she made $80 a month and when she quit she had worked up to $180 per month.

The above photo is the site of Jack's first  automobile dealership in Welch.  The Ford Store was located at this site from approximately 1949 to 1954.  And the below photo is of the site at which the Lincoln Mercury Dealership was located from 1946 to 1949.  Earl Yeager and Don Clark were Jack's partners in this store.

The above photo is the Methodist Church in Welch.  Jack Sr. was on the building committee when the church  was built.

We visited the Flat Iron on this trip.  This was a hangout of Jack's and Sue's during their courting days. To see what this street looked like during it's hey day see the photo below:

Sue always told the story that her Uncle directed traffic on Saturday night.  He would take his daughter and Sue with him and they would sit in the car and watch the crowds.

Roderfield   The below photo is a photo of the cemetery at Roderfield.  Several members of the Harris family are buried at Roderfield.  The below photos were taken in October 2009 when I attended the funeral and burial of Everett Harris with my mother-in-law and her family.

The above marker is beside the grave of Everett.  The marker is that of Samuel Sterling Harris and Louise Frances Woodson Harris.  These were the grandparents of my mother-in-law, Sue Moses.  I am going to add a copy of Samuel Sterling Harris' Death certificate at the end of this post.

Sue and Jack Moses had one still born baby born after Jack and Bob while they were living in the coal fields of WV.  She is buried at Roderfield.  This is the marker for Sarah Ann Moses.

Twin Branch
Sue Moses' father was Hewitt Samuel Harris.  Here is what I have in the notes for Hewitt:

 Hewitt Samuel Harris started working as a coal miner when he was 12 years old.  his pay was $0.05 per hour for a 10 hour work day--6 days per week.  The date was 1897.

    In 1912 he began working for the railroad and worked there until 1930 (approx).  He had the agency for tickets for the N&W Railroad at Twin Branch, WV.  In 1909 he fired the railroad train.  he did this for approximately one year.  In 1930 he worked for Peerless Laundry and Drycleaners at Welch.  In 1942 he began working for Appalachian Power Co.  In 1950 he retired from Appalachian Power Co.  In 1950 he started working for his son-in-law, Jack Moses, in Huntington, WV.

Sue's mother's name was Mattie Lee Johnson.  Mattie Lee was living in Henry County, Virginia when:

The Johnson family lived on a farm in Henry County, Virginia.  There was not much money to be had in farming and two of the Johnson brothers decided to move to the coal fields of WV.  The coal fields were booming in the early 1900's and many young men moved there for work.  The two brothers who moved were were Everett Hamable and Luther Nathaniel.  Sue named them as Hamable and Luther.

At that time, Hewitt Samuel Harris, was working in the company store in Twin Branch.  He had taken a correspondence course in business and had then been hired in the office of the company store.  Mattie Lee visited her brothers and visited the company store with her brothers which is where she met Hewitt.  They were married soon after the meeting in the home of Hewitt’s parents.

After the marriage of Hewitt and Mattie Lee, they continued to live in Twin Branch.  Sue remembered having lived in a large house.  I am guessing that it was a company house as she said that during the depression her father lost his job and they moved rather suddenly to Davey, WV.  Sue said about this time in her life:  

Sue told the story that when they lived in Twin Branch they lived in a large house.  Her mother always had boarders.  The boarders would pay for a room, but eat at the company club house.  Sue said that she never had a room to herself.  She always had a roommate and she remembered that it was usually a boarder rather than a sister or brother who would room with her.

Davey  

Hewitt Samuel Harris's father was Samuel Sterling Harris.  Samuel Sterling had grown up in Appomattox County, Virginia and he too had moved to the coal fields of WV for work.  Here is what I know of Samuel Sterling and Davey WV:

The Obit is headed Death takes wellknown citizen of Davy, S.S. Harris, Confederate Veteran Dies at Home...It goes on to say that Mr. Harris was born February 18 1848 at Appomatix VA.  He spent his early life in Virginia and enlisted in the Confederate Army in the war between the Statesat the age of 16.  Mr. Harris was married to Miss Louise Woodson on September 18, 1882.
  He came to Wv in 1902 and was mine foreman at Davy until ill health forced him to retire.

  Funeral services will be held at 1 o’clock afternoon in the Davy Methodist Church, conducted by the Rev. W.L. Suggs...Interment  will follow in the Iaeger Memorial cemetery at Roderfield....

The below photo is the Harris family when they lived in Davey.  This photo if from the photo album of Sue Harris Moses.  Samuel Sterling Harris  is sitting on the porand Grandma Lou is beside him.  Louise Woodson Harris was a beloved grandmother to many!  I have never heard any story from any of her descendents that wasn't about what a wonderful woman she was. The couple on the far left are Sue's parents:  Everett and Mattie Lee Johnson Harris.  Beside Mattie Lee and just below Samuel Sterling is Aunt Sis and the man beside her on her left hand side is Uncle John and Uncle Pete on far right

The two  women on front row are Cousin Louise and Sue's sister Nora is the lady with legs crossed and wearing a hat. Louise died young of pneumonia.  Louise's mother was Aunt Mabel.   Again the two men to her left hand side are Uncle John and Uncle Pete with the hat in his hand.

Ieager


 A.L. and his wife, Lida Augusta Fitgerald were the parents of my father-in-law.  They lived in many places before their move to Ieager  in September 1936 to Iaeger, WV.  A.L. sold life insurance for the John Hancock Co. My father-in-law would have been about 19 when they made this move.  However Ieager always stood out to me as a place in his life.

Kyle

 When A.L. and Lida were first married they lived at Kyle, WV.  He was employed by the Lynchburg Coal and Coke Co.  From March 15, 1912 until Jan 1, 1917 he was office manager and payroll clerk there.   There was only one office. After that A.L. and Lida lived in Omar Wv in Logan County.  He was with the Main Island Creek Coal COmpany as cashier and payroll manager for 6 or seven mines.  He stayed there yntil Mr. Jack Dalton and Mr. Jaong A. Kelly came to Huntington.  A.L. came at the same time to work in the new Huntington office.  Jackson Fitzgerald Moses was born in Hugtington at thte hospital located on the corner of 1sty st. and 6th Ave.  Dr. Hatfield delivered Jack.

I did not show Omar on the map as it is up closer to Logan and not on the RT 52 map....from Rt 52 one would take Rt 44 north towards Logan and one would pass through Omar

      Their next move took them to Mohawk, WV where they lived from Sept. 15, 1924 until September 1936.  This is the town the kids (Jack, Bob, Barbara, and Steve) always kidded Jack about--they referred to the “tough area” in which he had grown up.
     In Mohawk A.L. worked for the Mohawk Company which was the same interest as the Lynchburg Company he had worked for when he was first married.  During this time A.L was appointed as a member of the board of education of McDowell County.  He was also elected to be a member of the County Court in the November election of 1934.  this was a 6 year term--four years of which he served as  president of the court.

In the early 1900's:


The coal fields of WV were booming in those days.  That was where the jobs were!   I always tell the story that...tell about 



I am showing the photos to Sue Moses in April 2014.  She told the story that she worked for H.B. Gibson when she was about 12.  Sue lived in Twin Branch at the time.  They called Mr. Gibson Hoot Gibson.  His wife had died and he sent his children away to school.  There were three boys and one girl.  Sue's mother looked after them during the summers.  So the four children almost always ate dinner with the Harris family.  Mr. Gobson lived next door.  

Mr. Gibson took Sue every Saturday night to Davey to see the movie.  Sometimes they went to Welch instead. 

Mr. Gibson was an engineer for a mine that was owned by Henry Ford.  They were trying to organize a union.  Henry Ford told them that if they did so, he would shut the mine down.  And he did just that .....the mine has never reopened.  

    

Luther Johnson

My mother-in-law, Sue Moses, has had wonderful FF DNA matches at FTDNA.  The newest match is a grandson of Luther Johnson.  Luther was Sue's uncle.  He was a brother to Mattie Lee Johnson Harris, Sue's mother.  Here is what Sue remembered about her uncle's family when I asked her to relate all that she could think of tonight.

Luther was a conductor on the N&W railroad.  He lived in Williamson, WV.  I was not clear on whether he was always the conductor for both the #4 that ran early in the morning and also the #16 that ran about dinner time.  Sue said that Luther was her mother's favorite brother.

Sue said that sometimes she would ride down with him on one and come back on the other.  She would visit his family.  One summer when she was about 12, she remembered having spent much of the summer in Williamson with Luther's family.  Sue said that Aunt Bessie had a garden that was maybe a half mile up the hollow from the house.  She would go to the garden with Aunt Bessie and help her.  Then at night they would cook the vegetables and Sue remembered them as having been delicious.

Her memory was that as you go into Williamson, there is a yard where they park the N&W cars.  It was quite close to where Luther's family lived.  If you walked across the yard and over the bridge, you were in Kentucky in a town called Stone.  A Mr. Brown and his family lived there.  Mr. Brown had been her father's boss in Twin Branch, but had been transferred to Stone.  Sue said that she visited several of the families who lived in Stone.  I looked at maps and could not make this make sense with modern information.

She remembered Luther's wife to have been from Henry County and having had maiden name of Lacey.

Woodson

My mother-in-law, Sue Harris Moses, did DNA testing for me in November 2013.  I have explained her Harris connection in other posts as well as her Shelton and Johnson connections.  Harris is on her father's side; Shelton and Johnson are on her mother's side.  However, a match has been in touch this week that may be on her father's Woodson side.  I am going to explain the little bit that I know about this Woodson connection in this post.

I will start it by telling the story that Sue grew up at least part of her childhood next door to her Grandfather, Samuel Sterling Harris and her Grandmother, Louise Frances Woodson Harris.  This was after the couple had moved from Buckingham/Appomatox area of Virginia to the coal fields of WV.  Sue loved her Grandmother Lou!  Anytime she talks about her childhood, she tells something nice about this woman who according to Sue:  Married Samuel Sterling and raised his four children by his first wife as well as the 9 children they had together and then raised grandchildren in her home as well as caring for Samuel Sterling in his old age.  According to Sue he went to bed and stayed there for years while Grandmother Lou waited on him hand and foot.  Sue says that Grandmother Lou had everyone for Sunday dinner after church and that no one ever helped her ....so that it was always Sue who finished the dishes and the clean up with her grandmother.

It is Samuel Sterling and Lou who had the Harris family Bible that contained the family pages that son, Hewitt, tore from the Bible.   The pages are now have in my possession.  If you would like to see the pages for yourself, go to Gregg Bonner's site:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gbonner/bible/apperson.html

Now to the small amount that I know about this Woodson connection:

Louise Frances Woodson was orphaned very early.  Her father died of typhoid fever in 1862....the same year that Louise was born.  Her mother died sometime after she was the informant on her husband's death information in Buckingham County and the census of 1870.  In the census of 1870 the children are found in the homes of various relatives:

1870 census shows children in homes of the following Uncles:

Uncle James H. Routon caring for Richard and Louisa Woodson

Uncle George D. Woodson caring for George E. & Lucy Virginia Woodson in Appomattox Co.

Uncle Peter H. Routon caring for Samuel Woodson in Bedford Co

In the 1870 census Frances Louise is living in household of James Routon who is 50 years old.  Also in the household are Lucy Routon who is 76 (likely to be mother of James),  Eliza Routon who is 40, Finnet G. Routon who is 30 and female, Richard Woodson who is 10 and Louisa who is 8.  This would have been right after Louisa’s mother died.  This is located in Francisco in Buckingham County, Virginia.  

The above information came from Fran Hill who also  told me that the mother of Louise was Martha Routon,   Martha was a sister to Fran's 2-gr-grandmother.  I looked for Louise in the census of 1880 and it appears that she was living with her brother, George who was married and only 23 years old with a wife and two very small children living with him.  No old maids in that household.  They are in Lovingston in Nelson County, Virginia.  However, I may have found the household that Louise talked about in her story.  In the 1880 census there is a household headed by Jas. H. Woodson in which his mother, Lucy,  who is 86 and a sister, Eliza, who is 55 and single and four black persons who are said to be servants.  This is in Francisco in Buckingham County.  This is indeed the same household that Louise would have been in in 1870.  It was not two old maids...it was a grandmother and a maiden aunt.


The family folklore told by Lou's son, Hewitt Samuel Harris is:

Louise never knew her father. He was captured by the Yankees in the Civil War and died at Camp Lookout from Typhoid Fever.  I have a note that says that Louise was in the kitchen when Yankees came through--but I don’t know anything else about that episode.  She did not remember her mother as she died when Louise was two.  She was raised by two old maid aunts.  They were Baptists and they were so mean that she became a Methodist.

Pop Harris (Hewitt Samuel Harris) said that Louise raised 4 step-children, 9 of her own, and 4 grandchildren and had all of the family for Sunday dinner every Sunday.  He said that she was great.  Samuel Sterling was in bed for five years at the end of his life and she waited on him.

In my data base I have the following:

I do not have the marriage certificate in hand, but in a letter to Ollie Mae from a genealogist in Amherst, Va. he says:  in marriage register 3, page 120 bond secured on Aug 30, 1882, and return by minister, Jno N. Jones, Sept 3, 1882.  Groom S. Sterling Harris-age 34--widowed--born in Appomatix and lived in Amherst--white--son of Samuel and Nancy Harris.  Occupation--miner--bride: Louisa F. Woodson--aged 19--single--white--parents: George and Mahala Woodson. 

In looking for Allen's Creek on the internet, I found the following:

http://pages.suddenlink.net/phelpsdna/Southern_Phelps_Research/VirginiaPhelps/PropertyTrailJohnOFGoochland.htm

This link mentions surnames of Woodson and Glenn which make me think that this is in the right area.  I also found work that someone has done to locate Allen's Creek which seems to have totally disappeared even as early as 1895:

http://www.roadsidethoughts.com/va/allens-creek-xx-nelson-genealogy.htm

http://www.roadsidethoughts.com/va/allens-creek-xx-nelson-map.htm

From reading the information on the roadsidethoughts site I lean towards the thought that Allen's Creek was very close to where the arrow is on the above map.  I have been unable to locate Francisco.  But it would have been on the Buckingham side of the James River ....not the Nelson County side as Allen's Creek.

There is a map of Buckingham showing some land that belonged to Woodson men at:

http://home.southwind.net/~crowther/Dibrell/Map-VA.html

Below map is one that I found in my Harris files.  I am embarrassed to admit that I do not know where I found it on-line, but I am sure that it is on-line somewhere:

I am viewing a map on the Library of Congress site that is a c. 1864 map of Amherst and Nelson Counties that shows some land owners.  I have clearly looked at a Harris Ferry on the James River and also a landowner in Amherst with surname Harris.

http://www.loc.gov/item/2002627457

I have also been viewing a modern DeLorme atlas that shows Allen's Creek.  It is clearly an area that is VERY close to all four counties:  Amherst, Nelson, Appomatox, and Buckingham:

The Woodson Orphans

I woke up this morning thinking about the Woodson orphans.  About 20 years ago I was obsessed by the Civil War.  I would visit battlegrounds.  At some of them there would be a recording that one could listen to and I would listen and cry.  And then as suddenly as the obsession had begun, I was no longer interested in the Civil War and I was on to the Revolutionary War.  Probably because my research had gone back a generation or two earlier on many of my lines and these people were living during the Colonial and early America days.

But one of the things that I remember about the families after the Civil War were the joyful homecomings of husbands!  And the other thing that I remember about the time just after the Civil war were the MANY old maids!  Some had boyfriends who did not return from the war and remained unmarried....there were just not enough men to go around after the war.  And I am sure that the Buckingham/Appomatox area of Virginia was exactly the same.

This post is about the orphans of James E. Woodson and his wife, Martha Routon Woodson.

 From my good buddy, Fran:

From Fran:  James Woodson, enlisted as a Private in Co F. 18th Virginia Infantry Regiment on March 16, 1862 in Farmville, VA.  His service record shows he died in Winchester of Fever on October 25, 1862.  His death register states he died of typhoid fever.  His wife, Martha, died about 1864, leaving five children to be cared for by their family.   The 1870 census shows Louise and her brother living in the household of their Uncle, Grandmother and two old maid aunts. 

also from Fran:

1870 census shows children in homes of the following Uncles:

Uncle James H. Routon caring for Richard and Louisa Woodson

Uncle George D. Woodson caring for George E. & Lucy Virginia Woodson in Appomattox Co.

Uncle Peter H. Routon caring for Samuel Woodson in Bedford Co

So why are these orphans on my mind this morning?  Two reasons.  One my mother-in-law, Sue Harris Moses,  just died this past month. [I have written several blog posts about my mother-in-law.  If you have interest you can find them by using search words of Harris and Woodson in the search box on the main page.]  Sue VERY MUCH loved her grandmother, Louise Woodson Harris!  She told many stories about her relationship with her grandmother and every single story was about how great her grandmother was!  At least one or two of the blog posts are about this relationship.

The second reason is that Damon Woodson read one of my blog posts and got in touch with me this winter.  He descends from another of the Woodson orphans:  George who was living in his Uncle George's home in 1870.  After chatting with Damon, I started thinking about these children split up between various relatives.  Louise was only about two when her mother died.  So I am guessing that the grandmother and maiden aunts and Uncle took in the two youngest children while the older children went to live with the families of other uncles.

If you are reading this and have any information to add about any of these orphans and their lives after they grew up, I would love to add your information here.  Please send information to me at my e-mail address:  mosesm@earthlink.net and give me permission to share.  Also tell me if you want your name mentioned and if you want your e-mail added to your information so that others can contact you or if you prefer to remain anonymous.  marsha

Grandma Lou

 My mother-in-law lived next door to her Grandma Lou in Davey WV.  Ada Sue Harris Moses loved Louise Frances Woodson Harris very much and told many stories that were connected to Louisa Frances Woodson Harris.  My niece, Meredith Moses Titus, has received an invitation to the Colonial Dames of America.  Lynn Goldsmith and I have promised to do her papers for her and we are working on just that today on this cold, snowy February day.  Another member of our Colonial Dames group used Obadiah Woodson as her ancestor, so we know that if we can get the proofs back to him, we will have no problem proving the service of the ancestor.

The family folklore is that Louisa Woodson was an orphan at a young age as her father died of Typhoid fever at Winchester Virginia during the Civil War and her mother died only a few years after.  I have found Louisa in the census in her grandmother's home along with her brother Richard and two maiden aunts and an uncle in the 1870 census.....and they fit the story quite well as the story says that the old aunts were so mean that Louisa wouldn't set foot in a Baptist church for the rest of her life.   Louisa had moved into the home of S.Sterling Harris when his wife died to take care of his children....and then married him and raised his first four children as well as the nine children they had together and then raised another four grandchildren.....

Louisa's parents in my data base are James Woodson and Martha Jane Routon.  And I have lots of good information ......including the service records for James that tell that he died in Winchester, Virginia that I found on Fold4.  But today we had a major surprise.  Working together, Lynn and I found the marriage record for Louisa and S. Sterling and it says that her father was GEORGE Woodson.  Phooey!  A mystery to solve!  Here is the marriage record:

and a close up of the actual record:

The date is 3 September 1882.  And it is in Register 3 of the Amherst marriage record book on page 120

You can see it for your self on family search at: 

 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9XF-FZ9M?i=306

Suddenly, new information names Louisa's father as George rather than James.  Phooey!

It isn't such a surprise that the couple married in Amherst County, Virginia.  After the death of S.Sterling's first wife, Louisa moved into his home to care for his children.  While she was from Buckingham County, Samuel Sterling was from Appomattox and the Couple were married at Allen's Creek.  On a previous blog post written several years ago I showed that the place of marriage was very close to all three counties.

http://marshamoses.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-samuel-harris-family-in-appomattox.html

Ok...now I need to solve the mystery of the REAL name of Louisa's father.  And at the end of the day I have a theory.  When Louise and S. Sterling Harris, Louisa was only 19.  I believe it possible that she needed to take a permission with her to the place where she and her betrothed would marry.  I have googled and googled and about the only piece of information that I found was this:  

Hi Jeanette Yes you are right, the legal age of consent was always 21 so they did need permission to marry before that. With permission a girl could marry at 12 and a boy at 14. This was changed early last century, I don't know the exact date but 1920's or 1930's it changed to 16 for both sexes with permission, 21 without. Later again last century it changed to 18 without permission 16 with permission. Dianne

Louisa's parents were both dead by then.  So she asked her older brother, George to write a note for her.

When she presented the note to the justice of the peace or who ever was doing the marrying, he wrote the name of the person giving permission into the blank for father.  Perhaps the wedding couple even encouraged him to think that it was Louisa's father if they weren't known by the man presiding over their marriage.  

I have spent time today looking for possible George Woodsons who would fit as possible parent for Louise with no success.  James Woodson on the other hand is a perfect fit for my children's genealogical family folklore.  I believe there is not doubt that the husband of Martha Jane Routon and the father of Louise Frances Woodson Harris was James Woodson.  

The following is added several days later:  In the 1860 census there is only one George Woodson in the entire county of Buckingham.  That is Louise's brother George who is 6 at the time and living in the household of James and Martha.  Frances Louise has not yet been born.  It is very clear to me that at the time of Frances Louise's marriage her brother, George, is acting as her guardian in giving permission for her marriage. Louise is found in George's household in the census of 1870 and is identified as sister.

There was one more sibling to Frances Louise who had been conceived but not yet born at the time of this census: 

 Samuel Thomas Woodson (b. August 30,  1860, Buckingham County, VA;

d. September 28,  1952, Pike County, MO; bur. Curryville Cemetery,

Pike County, MO)

From Damon Woodson:  1 Samuel Thomas Woodson (never married and appears to have gone to live with Uncle Peter Routon after orphaned and they all moved to Pike county Missouri)

Damon sent me a death certificate for this man from Missouri.  I have filed it in Woodson in genealogy documents.  The informant named Martha Jane Routon and James Woodson correctly as parents.

 Virginia is the oldest child in the family and lucky for me, when Virginia died, the informant names very clearly the her parents.  Virginia had married 

Married November 30,  1875, Appomattox County, VA, to

Henry M. Brown 

I am quite satisfied with the relationships of these orphans of James Woodson and his wife, Martha Jane Routon.

We solved the mystery of why George is said to have been Louisa's father.  In the 1880 census, Louisa is shown living in George's home with George's young family.  Louisa is clearly named as sister to the head of the house.  However, when Louisa and Samuel Sterling Harris got married in 1882, Louisa was under age and needed permission to marry.  George acted as guardian and gave the permission and was entered into the official document as father.