112. Arnette S. Craig

A student named Arnette Craig is on the rolls for the Mordecai school; she was there three sessions, mid-1817 to the end of 1818 (and maybe past, because there were some students who stayed past the sale).  I have her as a student from Richmond VA, with a Samuel Paine as the adult name attached to her account, along with a Mrs. Craig, suggesting that Mr. Craig died before mid-1817.

Her unusual first name helps find mentions...except that it's spelled so many different ways. 

"Papa received a letter from Mr. Saml. Paine, the gentleman who conversed with you respecting the school requesting admission for Miss Craig.  She cannot be received this session, but if they wish it will have a place reserved for her next," Rachel Mordecai wrote to Solomon Mordecai in the summer before Arnette came to Warrenton (27 July 1817).  She seems to have shared a ride to school with another student, Harriet Marx, who was kin to the Mordecais (18 January and 17 February 1818); Rachel reported the scene on Arnette's arrival at school, "I have just heard an alarm sounded of 'Arnett Craig is come' but as she has not made her appearance I cannot vouch for it being well grounded" (15 February 1818).  The next year we find Rachel reporting from outside Richmond, "Mrs. Payne, Arnot Craig's mother, died suddenly a few days since..." (6 December 1819).

Okay, turning to the genealogical information online:  Arnette S. Craig (1805-1873) was the younger daughter of Adam and Mary Mallory Craig, of Virginia.  This is the Adam Craig house in Richmond (here's the marker).  Adam died while his daughters were young; Mary Mallory Craig remarried to Samuel Paine in 1817.  In 1822, Arnette Craig married Philip Whitehead Claiborne (b 1801, also in Virginia).  At some point around 1830, the Claibornes move to Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama, where they were still living in 1860.  They're listed with at least eight children; this is the grave of one of Arnette's granddaughters, Mary Claiborne Porter (1859-1939).



Arnette must not have minded her unusual first name, because she named one of her own daughters Philapella (1843-1871).

111. Mary Connick

I have a student in the rolls for the Mordecai school named Mary Connick.  No hometown, no adult name attached to the account.  She seems to have been at the school in 1809 (its first year), and then later for the first half of 1811.  That pattern sounds like a local girl...

I think she only turns up once in my transcripts of the Mordecai papers--1.50 for pocket money for "M. Connick" is in the school ledger for May 1811.  That's it.  Not much to work with there.

Connick is an established surname--think Harry Connick Jr., for one--but it's possible that the name Connick was misspelled by the Mordecais, or misread by me.  Maybe it should be Cormack, or Connaught?  Not seeing any likely candidates, with any variation.  Trying Polly (a common nickname for Mary at the time)... Okay, well, there's a Polly Cormack born 1797 (which would be the right year for a 1809-1811 student), born in North Carolina, daughter of Lewis Cormack (1769-1842) and Esther; but it looks like their family had moved to Tennesee by 1805.  Probably not her.

Too many dead ends for now to connect Mary Connick the student to anyone in other records.  We'll wait and see if anyone comes along who know's more.