Sunday, April 27, 2014

Ahnentafel #10 Warren David Hendricks and #11 Lucinda Jane Gooch

According to his own account, Warren David Hendricks was born 8 Sep 1854 to George Washington Hendricks and Jane (Jenny) Keith, in Pickens County, SC.  His mother died a few years later after the birth of his younger brother James and his life became rather peripatetic at that point. The family lived in Alabama as well as various places in Georgia, before finally reaching Lumpkin County, which is where he married Lucinda Jane Gooch.

Lucinda Jane Gooch was born 19 Mar 1857 in Lumpkin County, Georgia to James Gooch and  Elvira Grizzle.   They had moved to Union County by the time she was 13 and she married Warren when she was 16, on 27 March 1873.  The ceremony was performed by Warren's cousin (by marriage) George Whitmore, who was a J.P. 

The young couple almost immediately settled in the Gaddistown area of Union County, where they raised a very large family.  Warren was primarily a farmer, Jane was a midwife, mother, and homemaker.   For the first 20 years of their marriage, Warren's brother James lived next door to them, before moving down to Madison County.  James was married to Jane's sister Eliza.   The brothers must have been close, since they named their first sons after each other. They also lived quite close to Jane's parents as well as her brothers William and Madison. Tax records indicate that they owned 260 acres of land.

In 1880 Warren and Jane first appear in the census as a family, with their two oldest children Lucy Ann and John James.  Also in the household was a 14-year old orphan Elizabeth Rider.  Her relationship to the family is not known but Warren and Jane did later take in at least one other orphaned child whom they raised. 

In March 1890 Warren was arrested for making whiskey, although he was not charged with selling it.  He was released when one of the witnesses (who worked for him) changed his testimony.   Family tradition maintains that he did in fact make whiskey.  A few months later, the Atlanta Constitution wrote a short piece about him in their section "Dahlonega Nuggets":  'Mr. Warren Hendricks, One of Union County's most prosperous farmers, was in Dahlonega some days ago.  Mr. Hendricks is worth about two thousand dollars and made it by hard licks.  He never wore a store coat or store pants in his life, but wears clothing manufactured by the "folks at home."  Instead of furnishing his little boys with a bicycle and ((unreadable)) pair of shoes, he gives them a long pair of home-made pants, suspenders knit by his girls, tenders them a hoe and puts them in the cornfield barefooted, with instructions to cut the weeds so as to let the corn grow, is why he prospers.'

By the 1900 census, Jane and Warren's two oldest children were married, with 7 more still at home, the youngest being 4.   An additional 4 children had not survived.   Her daughter Mattie always claimed that Jane was an excellent midwife, but that she had great difficulty with her own pregnancies and was often bedridden for them.

In 1903, Warren was appointed as the road commissioner for the Gaddistown district, along with two other men.  About the same time, he was also made a jury commissioner, a position he remained in until his death.

By 1910, several more of the children had married and left home, but 5 were still living with Warren and Jane as they ran the farm.  About 1915 they fostered Evelyn Ingle from Copper Hill, Tennessee.  She was about 4 at the time.  To date, we have not discovered why she was sent to a family in Union County, Georgia.  Her father had died and her 4 brothers were also fostered, separately.  She was apparently very fond of Warren and Jane, naming two of her children after them, including her first son.

In 1920, Warren and Jane show daughters Mattie, Maude and Evelyn still at home.  Mattie and Maude were both teachers.  This census entry is not totally accurate since Mattie was also listed on the census in Emanuel county, where she was working. Since the census was taken in January, its possible that she was still home for the holidays when the census taker came by.   Maude was at home but left to marry a few months later.   The fact that Mattie and Maude were both teachers is a reflection of the importance that the family apparently attributed to education.  At least 3 of the daughters (Viana, Mattie and Maude) and one of their sons (Luther) had attended North Georgia Agricultural college in Dahlonega.

In 1930, Warren is still apparently farming, despite now being 76.  Foster daughter Evelyn is still with them, as well as their daughter-in-law Ellen Jones Hendrix Seabolt.  Ellen's first husband was their son Joseph.  In 1920, he had been serving as the mayor of McCaysville, GA when he intervened in an incident with a drunken man, who shot him in the head.   Ellen later married James Seabolt but by 1930 was listed as widowed again.

In 1940, Jane and Warren are living at the same place but he is no longer listed as a farmer.  All the children are now gone, but they do have a 15-year old maid in the house.  Both Jane and Warren are listed as having done 4 years of school.  Warren died on 28 August 1940 and Jane followed him on 25 May 1942.  Both of them are buried at Mount Pleasant #2 (the Hill Church) in Suches.

Jane and Warren had the following known children:

     -- Mary LucyAnne Hendrix, born 29 September 1875, died 29 April 1956.  She married Anderson Asberry McDougald and lived her entire life in Union County.
     -- James John Washington Hendrix, born12 Dec 1877, died 17 Mar 1954.  He was named after Warren's father Washington and his two brothers James and John.  He married Vinnie Gurley and eventually settled in Morgan County, GA.
    --  Joseph Benjamin Hendrix, born 18 Mar 1881, died 25 April 1920 while serving as mayor of McCaysville, GA.  Married Ellen Jones.
    -- Allen Luther Hendrix, born 16 Feb 1884, died 11 Mar 1959 in Gwinnett County, GA.  He became a preacher, and met and married his wife Cora Blanche Clyde while serving in Holt County, Nebraska. 
   --  Vianna Hendrix, born 22 May 1885, died 19 Sep 1947.   She married William Carl Gurley.
   --  Elvira Hendrix, born 23 Sep 1889, died 20 Aug 1968 in Monroe County, GA.  She married John Richard Bearden.
   -- William Arthur, born 20 Jan 1891, died February 1976 in Hall County, GA.  He lived much of his working life in Franklin County, Ohio, but returned to Georgia after his wife died.  He married Gilla May Sparks of Fannin County.
   -- Mattie Irene Hendrix, 13 June 1893 - 12 April 1975, Married Charles Gordon Garner
   --  Maude June Hendrix, born 21 Oct 1895, died 4 Aug 1967 in Atlanta.  She married Edward Lee Floyd, who had been one of the instructors at NGC when she and Mattie were there.
   --Alice Evelyn Ingle, born 7 Oct 1911, died 24 Dec 2007 in Haywood County, NC.  Married James Thomason and then Dennis Ammons.

Warren and Jane with their descendents, taken about 1938.


3 comments:

  1. Wow! Neat! I'll have to show it to Dad tomorrow. Mary LucyAnne lived to 111? Love the photo. Neat stuff!

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  2. Good morning -Hello My name is Bonnie-- My great-great-great Grandmother is Elizabeth Gooch Hendricks-she was marred to James Larkin Hendricks-- My grandmothers parents are listed on the death certificate and obit as -- R.L. Gooch and Elivira Griswell--(I think this could also mean Grizzle) as a last name- Could it be possible that James and Warren married cousins-- Also I am having trouble finding any info on my grandmothers parents- Other than what I have found about Warren and his wife's parents-- Thanks for any help-- I am only tracing my ancestors for myself--

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  3. Actually, I think that Lucinda Jane and Elizabeth were sisters and that her daughter (or granddaughter - not sure who Mrs. F. J. Waldrop was) got the information wrong, which is not unlikely when you're talking so many years after the fact. Elizabeth was after all at least 84 (although she got younger as the censuses progressed, she was more likely born in 1861 or 1862). If you want to correspond on this, email me at lsharongarner@yahoo.com

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