Heirs of Ellen Mathews Slatter

 Transcription of a file found at the Georgia Archives manuscript collection, Crawford County Probate Records, Enoch Mathews estate.  

Transcript of a petition found in the Crawford County GA loose files in the Georgia state archives,
State of Georgia Crawford county
To the Hon Court of Ordinary of said County,
The petition of Thomas B Eaton & Mary Eaton his wife of the county of Greer & State of Texas respectfully showeth that the said Mary Eaton is the daughter of Mrs. Ellen Slatter who was formerly Ellen Matthews & daughter of Enoch Matthews late of Crawford County Georgia. Your petitioners further showeth that said Ellen Slatter was the wife of Septimus Slatter Sr &that said Septimus Slatter Sr died previous to the death of said Ellen Slatter & that said Ellen Slatter died in Woods County Texas on Sept 15, 1869. That said Ellen Slatter at the time of her death was a widow & left surviving her five children to wit - L F W Slatter, Wm Slatter, George Slatter, S P Slatter & Mary Slatter (now Mrs. Mary Eaton) one of your petitioners. That no children of her had died before the said Ellen Slatter departed this life.
[pg 2]
Since the death of said Ellen Slatter L F W Slatter had died (leaving no will); also George & William Slatter have since died intestate, nor has there been any administration upon their estates. That said Wm Slatter left a wife who is now a widow named Isabella McBride & has his children who are minors & named Edward Slatter & Mary Slatter & that said Isabella McBride is the guardian for said minors & that the guardianship is pending in Raines Co Texas. That L F W Slatter died in Raines County Texas & left a wife and four children surviving him. His wife's name is Elizabeth & has recently married Richard Talley of Woods County Texas That the children of said L F W Slatter are minors & named Thomas Slatter, William Slatter, Robert & Henry Slatter and that their mother is their guardian & letters of guardianship are pending in Raines County Texas That George Slatter recently dec'd in Woods County Texas & left a
[pg 3]
widow named Roxanna & one child surviving him & that said child is a minor & no guardian appointed for same that your petitioners are aware of. That Septimus P Slatter Jr son of said Ellen Harris [sic] now resides in Raines County Texas, That your petitioners formerly resided at Whiteboro Grayson County Texas where the[y] moved from there to Frazer Greer County Texas, where they now reside since May 1886.
Your petitions further show that the aforementioned persons are the only heirs at law of said Ellen Slatter deceased who died intestate & no administration was had on her Estate that your petitioners are aware of. That the said Ellen Slatter at the time of her death was one of the legatees & heirs at law of Enoch Matthews her father late of Crawford County Georgia & that Geo. D. Matthews of Crawford County represented the Estate of said
[pg 4]
Enoch Matthews & has placed the portion of said Estate as belonged to the heirs of said Ellen Slatter in the Bank at Macon Ga ammntg to $230.90 & that the amount due your petitioner Mrs.
Mary Eaton of said source is $46.18 [1 word unknown] if any is due by said Bank. Your petitioner Mary Eaton joined by her husband Thomas B Eaton respectfully ask an order of your Honorable Court to pay the said sum of Forty Six Dollars Eighteen cents to their attorneys in fact Thomas & Chandler of Columbus Ga & that they have duly made & executed a Power of Attorney to said Grigsby E. Thomas Jr & Grigsby E Chandler or either of them to collect & receipt for same in their names. Said Power of Atty is dated Oct 14 1866 & witnessed by Mrs. L. Curry & F. B. Dirke County Judge of Greer Co Texas & certificate of clerk as to signature of said Judge. And your petitioners will ever pray &c
Thomas & Chandler
Atty for T.B & Mary Eaton
[pg 5]
State of Georgia Muscogee County
Personally appeared before me George W. Dillingham a Notary Public in & for said State & Couty, Grigsby E. Thomas Jr who is one of the firm of Thomas & Chandler Attorneys at law Columbus Georgia & who being duly sworn deposes & saith that the facts set forth in the forgoing petition of Thomas B & Mary Eaton are true to the best of his information & belief. That he went to Woods & Raines County Texas in July last & saw Mrs. L F W Slatter now Mrs Richard Talley, also saw Mrs. Isabella McPride & Mrs. Roxana Slatter in person, that Mrs. Isabella McBride was formerly the wife of William Slatter decd and had by said Wm Slatter two minor children surviving him, that Mrs.Roxann Slatter was the widow of
[pg 6]
George Slatter decd & had by said George Slatter one minor child surviving him. He also saw while out there Septimus P Slatter Jr in person. That he saw Mrs. L F W Slatter (now Mrs. Richard Talley) given name is Elizabeth & has by the said L F W Slatter deceased four minor children surviving him, That he went in person to Whitesboro Grayson County Texas to see Mrs. Mary Eaton & her husband Thomas B. Thomas B Eaton & was informed they had moved to Greer County Texas & that he [1 word] to them at Frazer Greer County Texas & received from them their power of attorney to act for them in collecting any money that may be due said Mary Eaton (formerly Mary Slatter & daughter of Ellen Slatter) as one of the
[pg 7]
heirs at law of her mother Mrs. Ellen Slatter wife of Septimus Slatter Sr & daughter of Enoch Matthews of Crawford County Georgia. That said Power of Attorney is dated Oct 14 1886 & witnessed by Mrs. L Curry and T B Dirke Judge of County Court of Greer County Texas & certificate of clerk of Green County as to the ?genuineness? of Judge's signatuer. That said Power of Atty is addressed to Grigsby E.Thomas Jr & Grigsby E. Chandler or either of them that [1 word] of same is hereby made to this Court of Ordinary of Crawford County Georgia for record in said Court.
Grigsby E. Thomas Jr
Sworn to subscribed before me this 26th day of November AD 1886
[signed] Leo W. Dillingham
Notary Public

(Delayed) Women's history month - Women Ordinary's in 1930 and before in Georgia.

Recently while looking through some 1920s marriage records for Crawford County, I suddenly realized that the Ordinary was Mrs. L. J. Hancock.  This had me intrigued - Georgia at that time was not exactly a hotbed of feminism and women had only just achieved the vote.  This got me looking at the 1930 census and I found 6 other women fulfilling this role.  I also found a 1929 Butler Herald article talking about how extraordinary it was to have so many women in County Government roles and listing 5 of the 7 that I had found plus one I didn’t have.   What is even more extraordinary is that these women's pioneering roles have mostly been forgotten  For those not familiar with Georgia Courts, the Ordinary is now called the Judge of the probate court and the Ordinary court is now the probate court  

Minnie Kate Cornelius Pafford (Kate), 1885-1950, Clinch County, is one of the few that I could find in a county history.  She had the distinction apparently of being the first female Ordinary in Georgia.  According to the 1940 census, she had completed 3 years of High School, which at that time would have meant she graduated.  She was a teacher up until her marriage in 1908 to Leon Pafford, a grocer.   They had 4 sons.  Leon died in 1922 and she was elected Ordinary in 1925.  The County history says that she served 12 years (until 1937) but in fact she is listed as Ordinary in the 1940 census and in her 1950 obituary.  She also signed the County marriage licenses at least through 1947, the most recent available online.  

Minnie Fairchild Corbitt (1865-1955), Atkinson, was more educated than average, having completed 2 years of college according to the 1940 census.  She married Martin Corbitt in 1899, a Civil War Veteran 25 years her senior.  They had 3 sons to add to the 6 children from his first marriage.   Martin died in 1913.  When Atkinson County was formed in 1917, Minnie just happened to be living in the new County Seat. In 1920, Minnie is listed as a truck farmer, running her own farm, with the 3 boys still at home. She became Ordinary at some point between 1923, when another signature is on a pension record, and 1929 when she signed as Ordinary.  Marriage records for the county are not available online.  She may have retired by 1936 when she visited Cuba on her own.  She received a Confederate widow's pension in 1939, at which time she may have moved to Florida where her son lived and where she is listed in the 1940 census.  She died in 1955 in Kentucky, although her death certificate lists Hillsborough, Florida as her normal residence.  

Ella Sapp Spivey (1883-1963) Chattahoochee, was one of the women missed  in the Butler Herald article.  She married Samuel Spivey in 1908.  They settled almost immediately in Columbus, Muscogee county.   In 1910, she had no occupation and her husband was listed as a bill clerk for the Railroad.  In 1920, he was the Secretary for the Chamber of Commerce.  They divorced between then and 1925 when he remarried.  By 1930, she was back in Chattahoochee County residing with her mother and two young nephews.  The first Ordinary record for her is 1 April 1930.  According to the press, she had been elected without opposition in a special election on 5 February 1930, since her predecessor had died.  Although she was not found in the 1940 census, she was in office at least through 1949, per the online marriage records.  She died in 1963 in  Russell County, Alabama, near where she had lived while married.

Elsie Smith O'Neal Ellis (1889-1964), Meriwether, replaced her husband Judge Maltire O'Neal as the Ordinary in 1927.  She continued to serve until 1940 when she lost the election.  Elsie was a high-school graduate and in 1910 was working as a sales person in a drug store.  I have not found a marriage date for her, but she married Maltire at some point between his wife's death in 1911 and their first child's birth in April 1917.  In 1920, he is working as a lawyer in general practice and she was not apparently working outside the home.  They had 2 more children between then and his death in 1927 while serving as Ordinary. Elsie was elected to replace him in the special election.  The following year she was elected in her own right. In 1930, she was living with her father, stepdaughter, and 3 children.  After losing the election in 1940, she became very involved in Democratic Party politics at both the local and state level.  In 1948, she married. Dr. William Ellis and they settled in Chipley (now Pine Mountain), Georgia.  She died in 1964.  

Frances (or Fannie) Kate Scott Marshall (1889-1964), Putnam,  is another who replaced her husband as Ordinary.  She graduated high school and married Ed Marshall in 1907.  She shows no occupation in 1910 but her husband is the manager of an electric power plant.  By 1920, he is the Putnam County Ordinary while she is a clerk in the Ordinary office.  Her husband died in 1926 and she became Ordinary but only served through 1932.  In 1940 she is the Clerk for the Superior Court.  She and her husband were unique in this group in that they did not own their house.  They were boarding in 1910 and living in a rented house in 1920,  Fannie was living with her mother 1930, still in a rental property, and was boarding again in 1940. She died in 1964.  

Louisa Wright (1891-1938), Jefferson,  was not only the Ordinary but was the first woman in Georgia to be appointed a member of the Board of Registrars.  According to an article in "Business and Professional Women of Georgia", 1931, she began her career in World War 1 serving as an assistant clerk of the local exemption board, then worked in the office of the Clerk of the Ordinary.  In 1921, she became the Clerk of the Ordinary, serving until 1927 when Judge Brown, then serving as Ordinary, died.  She won the special election to complete his term and was elected in her own right the following year.  She continued to serve as Ordinary until her sudden death in 1938.  According to her obituary, she apparently had a stroke while working at her desk.  She was taken to the hospital but died a few days later.  She was unusually well educated, having attended Limestone College and the Winnie Davis school of history, in Gaffney, SC.   

Nell Maxwell Fort (1896-1965), Decatur County, took over the role of  Ordinary from her father Tom Maxwell when he stepped down from the role in 1928. She said on the 1940 census that she had completed 1 year of college.  In 1920 she is working as an assistant in an office.  Her father, then 77, stepped down in late 1928  with Nell assuming the role by early 1929.  She had been clerk just before this. Online court records do not go far enough to indicate when she herself left the job but she is listed as Ordinary in the 1930 and 1940 censuses  At some point after 1940, she apparently married Dr. Mannie Fort, a widower some 20 years older than her.   He died in 1953.

Last but not least, the woman who started me on this search.  Lizzie Ruth Jones Hancock (1894-?), Crawford, also completed High School before becoming a teacher in Crawford County. It was there that she married her husband, widower Jack Hancock, in 1917  He already had three children and they went on to have a daughter in 1918.  Jack was described by his children as the sheriff but his official occupation in 1920 was that of Farmer.   Lizzie (who consistently signed licenses as Mrs L.J. Hancock) took over as Ordinary in April 1929 after the previous Ordinary died suddenly. She continued to serve in the role until at least December 1948, with a new Ordinary taking over in January 1949.  I have found no mention of her after that and there are no dates on her headstone.

So what do these women have in common?  Well, they were all unmarried (single, divorced, or widowed) at the time of their election. Some of them did still have children or stepchildren at home. They each became Ordinary in a special election to fill out a term after the death or departure of the previous judge, but they all won election to at least one full term after that.  For those who were finishing their husband’s term, this was possibly originally a sympathy vote. They were unusually well educated for women of their time.  Possibly connected to this, several of  those who did marry did so at a later age than average and often worked prior to the marriage