Women's History Month and the ABCs of Women in the family.

I am copying a friend here, seeing how many letters of the alphabet I can fill with women from the family, as many as possible from memory because we're so much more likely to forget the women.  Most of the names (except Q, U, X, and Z) were from memory but I have gone back and doublechecked dates and places. 

A is for Agnes Petley, born about 1496 in County Kent, England.  One of 4 daughters (and no sons), she brought a portion of the Petley estate into the Manning family when she married John Manning.

B is for Betty Jean Becham my mother and most loved of my female ancestors.  She fought her family to go to college and ensured that her daughters knew that they could do anything they set their minds to.

C is for Catherine Chauser (or LeChauser).  She was born about 1342 in London.  Three hundred years later her descendants claimed she was the sister of Geoffrey Chaucer but that is highly unlikely.

D is for Delia (Sarah Lodelia) Mathews Becham, born 1870 in Brooks County, Georgia to T.F. Mathews and Kate Peterman.  She married Fate Becham and was the mother of 6 boys and 1 girl.

E is for Elizabeth Duggan 1 and 2.  Elizabeth 1 was born about 1795 to John Duggan and Mary Jane Joyce.  She married Samuel Gheesling in 1817 in Washington County, GA.  Elizabeth 2 was her niece, the daughter of Asa Madison Duggan and Susie Lord.  Elizabeth 2 also married Samuel Gheesling, in this case her cousin and the son of Elizabeth 1.  They married in 1851, again in Washington County.  Sorting these two out was a challenge.

F is for Feraby, the wife of Nimrod Lewis.  She may (emphasis on may) have been a Cates by birth.  She only appears in one record that I have found so far, the 1850 census in Crawford County, GA. However, her name and that of her husband helped me make the connection to her daughter Martha, who named her 2nd daughter and 2nd son Feraby and Nimrod respectively.

G is for Elvira Grizzle Gooch.  How can you not love that name?  The daughter of John and Sally Taylor Grizzle, the wife of James Gooch, and the mother of (among others) Lucinda Jane Gooch Hendrix.  A mountain farm wife who probably never had it easy.

H is for Harriet (Hattie) Gheesling, daughter of Sam and Elizabeth Duggan the younger, married Green Lee Garner as his second wife.  Raised 4 sons and a stepdaughter, who loved her enough to name her own daughter after her.

I is for Irene Moore Wade.  She went back and forth between Irene and Arena as her first name, doubly confusing because in that part of Georgia they would be pronounced much the same.  Married and had 14 children with Moses Thomas Wade, before finally kicking him out.  The descendant of several strong women and apparently one herself.  Born in 1855 to John Moore and Peggy Powers.

J is for Judith Knowles or Noles, known as Judia, a name which has lead some folks to transcribe her as Julia.   She was born abt 1801 in Georgia and married Timothy Johnson in Hancock County in 1817.

K is for Kate (Susan Catherine) Peterman, mother of Delia above.  Born and raised in Georgia, 1849-1933, she married T.F. Mathews in 1866.  Although both of them were from Taylor County, GA, the disruption of the war meant that they actually married in Madison County, Florida.  They stayed in southern GA for some years but finally settled back in Crawford County, GA.

L is for Lucinda Jane Gooch.  I fell in love with her name at a young age.  She was the daughter and James and Elvira Gooch, the wife of Warren Hendricks, and the mother of many children, 9 of whom lived to adulthood.  She and her husband also raised at least one foster child.  She was known in later life as Jane but I like the Lucinda too much to leave it out.

M is for Mattie Hendrix Garner.  Daughter of Lucinda Jane and Warren David Hendricks, she married Charles Gordon Garner.  She was a graduate of North Georgia Agricultural College, as it was known at the time, and worked for several years as a teacher and home extension agent in Emanuel County, GA, until forced to give up that job after her 1921 marriage to Gordon Garner.  She was very proud of her education and career.

N is for Nancy Whitaker Horne.  Born in Georgia about 1806, she married Nathan Horne in Wilkinson county in 1821.  Her parents and her life before that point are a complete mystery.   She was left a widow with at least 7 kids in 1840 but made a success of the farm and had considerably enlarged it by her death about 1870.   She was unusual among my earlier Georgia female ancestors in that she could read and write.

O is for Ola Pauline Bryant Becham, my grandfather's first wife and mother of his 5 oldest children.  Like so many women historically and even some today, she died from complications of childbirth.

P is for Peggy (Margaret) Powers Moore.  Peggy was born to a white father John Powers and (free) black mother Sarah Turner Powers in South Carolina about 1816.   Her husband John G. Moore is the only ancestor I have who emigrated to the United States rather than the colonies, being an Irishman who settled for some unknown reason in central Georgia.   She and her full siblings successfully sued her younger half-siblings over their father's estate after his death in 1868.

Q is for Queen Victoria Pyles who is actually a cousin rather than an ancestor, born in 1860 to William Piles and Susan Becham.

R is for Rebecca Douthit Keith, born abt in Pickens County, SC in 1799  to Solomon Douthit and his wife Mary.  She lived her entire life in Pickens County, marrying Allen Keith and raising 7 children.  Her youngest daughter Jane (Jenny) married George Washington Hendricks.

S is for Sarah Turner Powers although there are many, many Sarahs in the family to choose from.  Sarah (Sally) Turner was the daughter of a former slave, John Turner, and his freeborn wife Patience and was born in Marion County, SC.  She married a white man, John Powers, by whom she had 4 children before she kicked him out for wasting away her inheritance.  She later moved with her children first to Alabama and then to Georgia.

T is for Trenilla Patrick Becham - my aunt by marriage.  Another loved memory.

U is for Ursula Thompson, born about 1745 in Virginia, she is the sister to my ancestor Patience Thompson Glenn, so my 7X great-aunt.  Not that she was memorable but it turns out that she is the only woman in the family I can find whose first, last or nickname starts with U.  She married Thomas Ray.

V is for Viola Wade Becham, my grandmother and mother to my grandfather's youngest 3 children.

W is for Sarah Wooten, who was born about 1729 in Somerset County, MD.  She married John Lord in 1745 in Sussex County, DE, which was at the time a neighboring county.  Her parents were John Wooten and Margaret Davis.

X - Stretching this one but the only person in the tree who starts with X is a Xavier.  Next best is EXie Dickson Carr, who was a cousin by her marriage to my grandfather Garner's 2nd cousin Linton Stephens Carr.

Y is for Eva Lou Young Ward, since the only woman I have with a name beginning in Y is still living so does not qualify.  Eva Lou was not really my family, but she is the grandmother of many of my cousins, so she goes here.  She died in 2009 at the age of 94, having survived her husband Fletcher Claude Ward by 25 years.

Z is for Zelma Evans, a cousin.  Born in 1919 in Irwin county, GA to Carrie Morris and Robert Evans, making her my 2nd cousin 2x removed.  She died in 1967 and is buried near her parents. She is like so many unmarried women in the records.  I know when she was born, when she died and where she was buried but find nothing in between.   She was listed in 1940 as not having attended school and being unable work, so it is likely that she lived at home her entire life.