166.-173. The Fitts Family (Caroline, Elizabeth, John, Mary, Susan, Susan, Tempe, Winnefred)

Hello, it's been a while! Maybe I was intimidated to return, knowing the Fitts family was next alphabetically. Well I'm feeling ready to face them now. There are eight students named Fitts in the rolls of the Mordecai school that I compiled over twenty years ago. They were the children of Henry Fitts (1778-1847) and Oliver Fitts (1771-1816), Warrenton residents. Oliver Fitts, who served in the NC legislature, sold his house to Jacob Mordecai to use for the school in mid-1811, so several of these children attended school in a building that was once their father's property. Here they are, set in their sibling groups:

Henry and Sarah (Sallie) Duke Fitts' children:
Caroline Fitts (1803-1846), attended the school in 1812
Elizabeth Fitts (1805-1884), attended the school in 1812
Mary Parham Fitts (1799-1856), attended the school 1809-1812
Susan Fitts (1800-?), attended the school 1809-1811
Winnefred Fitts (1802-1870), attended the school in 1812

Oliver and Sarah Harris Fitts' children:
Susan Brown Fitts (1798-1887), attended the school 1809-1812
Temperance Winnefred Fitts (1802-1870), attended the school 1809-1815

There's also a boy named John Fitts (1804-1882), attended the school 1809-1813; might be a cousin?

(Yes, two Susans and two Winnefreds. Temperance Winnefred went by the nickname "Tempe.")

Now, let's get to know more about these students using some online resources:

Caroline Fitts Palmer (1803-1846) married Horace Palmer (1801-1882) in 1838, as his second wife; they had children Sarah (1840-1929) and William (1844-1909) together; Horace Palmer also had four sons from his first marriage. Caroline died in 1846, aged 42 years, in Warren County NC.

Elizabeth Fitts Milam (1805-1884) married Nathan Milam (1802-1870) in 1827.  They had a son Henry Duke Milam (born 1831). They stayed in Warren County, where Elizabeth was widowed in 1870 and died in 1884.

Mary Parham (Polly) Fitts Rogers (1799-1856) married Zachariah Milam in 1819, and married Colonel George Rogers in 1823. With Rogers she had four children, Emily (1823), Thomas (1824), George (1826), and Adeline (1830). They lived in Mecklenburg County VA. She died in 1856, aged 57 years.

Susan Fitts Twitty (1800-after 1854) married John Eldredge Twitty. They had children together: Henry (1822), William (1825), Mary Ann (1827), Caroline (1829), Sallie (1831). Susan Fitts Twitty founded the Sunday School at Hebron Methodist Church in Oakville NC in 1854.

Winnefred Fitts Drake (1802-1870) married Matthew Mann Drake. They had children together: Henry (1828), Mary Ann (1830), William (1832), Sallie (1835), and John Oliver (1837). She died in 1870, aged 68 years, in Warren County. Her son Maj. William Caswell Drake, a Confederate Army veteran, became superintendent of schools in Warren County in 1885. Her daughter Sallie Duke Drake Twitty (1835-1923) was a Civil War widow and a longtime teacher and school principal.

Susan Brown Fitts Ripley Comegys (1798-1887) moved to Alabama in 1816; in 1818 she married Daniel B. Ripley. They had two children together, FitzHenry Ripley and Sarah Ripley. Sarah died and in 1823 Susan was widowed. She visited her former inlaws in Boston in 1826, with FitzHenry in tow.  In 1834 she married again, to Edward Freeman Comegys (1797-1875), a bank officer. They had two sons together, William and Edward. Susan was widowed again in 1875. She died in 1887, aged 88 years, in the home of her only surviving son, Edward, in Denton TX.

Temperance Winnefred Fitts Crawford (1802-1870) was one of the Mordecai's first and longest-running students, attended their school from ages 7 to 13. In 1819 she married William Crawford (1784-1849), a bank president and judge 18 years her senior. They lived in Alabama and had two daughters together, Susan (1821-1863) and Caroline (1823-1841). When she visited Emma Mordecai Myers in 1850 she was a recent widow. She outlived both of her daughters, too, by the time she died in 1867, aged 65 years.

Nearly all of these sisters and cousins had children who married the children of others on this list.