188, 189. America Fuqua and Saluda Fuqua

Well, nobody can say these two students had common names! America Fuqua and Saluda Fuqua were students at the Mordecai School in its later years, 1816 to 1817 for America, and 1816 to 1818 for Saluda. The adult name attached to their account is Samuel Fuqua. Also, my dissertation appendix says that Saluda was born in 1805, and died in 1886. So that's a lot to start with, for a change... 

America and Saluda were the daughters of Captain Samuel Fleming Fuqua (1787-1820) and Prudence Ford Fuqua (1787-1813). A few years after their mother died, their father placed them at the Mordecai School. 

Saluda Baker Fuqua (1805-1886) was born in Charlotte County, Virginia, when both of her parents were 18 years old. She was 16 when she married William Henry Browne Christian in 1821, the year after her father died. The Christians had six children. After she was widowed, she married again in 1847, to William Harloe Watson, and had one more child. She lived in Douglas County, Kansas, in her later years, and died there in 1886. Her eldest daughter America Fuqua Christian (born 1824) married Daniel Woodson, who was the acting Territorial Governor of Kansas several times in the 1850s.

Saluda's younger sister America E. Fuqua (born 1810) was a student at the Mordecai school when she was a small child of 6 and 7 years, but her older sister was also there. She died young, before 1830.

These girls had another sister, Evaline Ann Frances Fuqua (1807-1832) But I don't see any evidence of her attending the school, and she may have had chronic health issues. Evaline lived with Saluda and W. H. B. Christian in her last years. Their only brother, La Marquis Washington Fuqua (1810-1846, known as Marc) also died young.

A last note: The source of America's first name is obvious, but Saluda's name origin may be less so. Saluda River, Saluda Mountains, Saluda, North Carolina, and Saluda County, South Carolina, are all Southern placenames, but not very close to where Saluda Fuqua was born or lived. (There is also a Saluda, Virginia.) But the name seems to come from a Cherokee word, Tsaludiyi, meaning "green corn place".

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.

163, 164. Eliza and Harriet Field (and maybe 165. Another Eliza Field?)

Two students named Field are in the rolls of the Mordecai school, both from Mecklenburg, Virginia, both among the first students when the school opened in 1809. Eliza Field and Harriet Field were both at the school for six sessions, on and off between 1809 and 1813 for Harriet, 1814 for Eliza.

These might be Harriet and Eliza Field, the daughters of judge Hume Riggs Field (1772-1831) and his first wife Millicine (or Mildred) Young Field (1782-1827), of Mecklenburg Virginia.  The dates might not work out, though: Harriet H. Field was born in 1800--so she was nine the year the school opened, that makes sense. Eliza, however, was younger--born in 1806--maybe too much younger to be a Mordecai student in 1809.

If Harriet's sister Eliza was the Eliza Field at the Mordecai school in 1809, she would have been three years old, and the youngest known student. So I suspect she was the Eliza who attended after 1812; but a different Eliza Field, maybe a cousin, might have been there in 1809 and early 1810. The name isn't so unusual, anyway. Assuming the daughters of Hume and Millicine Field attended the Mordecai school...

Harriet H. Field (1800-1850) married Charles Perkins in about 1821, and they had at least one child, Marietta. She was widowed around 1828, and died in Tennessee in 1850, aged 50 years.

Eliza Mildred Field (1806-?) married Charles Perkins' brother, Constantine Perkins (1792-1836) in about 1824, and they had at least three children, Constantine, Ann Eliza, and Virginia in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Her husband served in the Alabama legislature, and as the state's attorney general.

159 and 160. Susanna (Suky) and Wilmouth Fawn

This month's entry brings us a hard truth about schools in the Early Republic. Even among the most privileged classes, child mortality was a fact of life, and running a school sometimes meant facing a student's death.

There are two students with the surname Fawn in my rolls of the Mordecai school. Suky Fawn (or "Sucky", as I have it transcribed) and Wilmot Fawn. Both were enrolled for only one session (the second half of 1812), and both have a Captain Fawn as the adult name on the account. Suky Fawn died at the school in August 1812.

We'll get to Suky in a minute, but .... Wilmot? I have that student marked as male in my dissertation, because, well, it sounded like a male name. I must not have found any other reason to think that, because (as it turns out) "Wilmot" was Wilmoth L. Fawn (b. 1795 in Franklin NC), daughter of Capt. William Fawn* (1768-1809) (a Revolutionary War veteran) and his wife Elizabeth Harrison (1759-1847) of Franklin, NC. Wilmouth Fawn married Samuel Aaron Devaney (1779-1857) in 1818. Wilmoth Fawn Devaney had at least ten children, all born in North Carolina between 1819 and 1829, except one son, Ellis, who is shown as being born in 1843 (when Wilmoth was 47).  Of her sons, Frank Devaney was a Civil War veteran (CSA), who lived till 1925 in Oregon.  Wilmoth Fawn Devaney died in Roane County, Tennessee in 1854, age 58. (Her name is found, variously, as Wilmouth, Wilmuth, even Wilmarth.)

And Wilmouth's younger sister Susanna Fawn (b. 1799) must have been our unfortunate "Suky". "The death of Miss Fawn must also have been a severe shock," wrote Samuel Mordecai to his sister Rachel in September 1812, "for I can well imagine how it affected you all." (Mordecai Family Papers at the Southern Historical Collection).

*A different (but possibly related) "Capt. Fawn" of Norfolk VA seems to have been the uncle of student Eliza Armistead; but he died in 1818, according to a letter from Rachel Mordecai to her sister Ellen (8 February 1818, Southern Historical Collection.

153, 154. Jane Evans and Lydia Anna Evans

Two Evans girls were with the Mordecai school when it opened in 1809: Jane Evans was there from 1809 until mid-1811, and her sister Lydia Anna Evans (sometimes written as Lydianna, which might reflect how it was pronounced) was there until the end of 1810.  They came from Oakland, an estate near Petersburg, Virginia, and had Dr. George Evans as the name attached to their accounts in the school ledger.  The Mordecai family discussed the Evans girls in letters, beginning even before their arrival:

"The house is full of girls and... in a few weeks Lidyanna & Jane Evans will come Mrs. Johnson is now at Oakland and they will return with her." (Ellen to Samuel, 16 April 1809, Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke)

The family were, obviously from their name, Welsh in ancestry. The girls' father Dr. George Evans (c1755-1822).  He moved South from Pennsylvania to Virginia after the Revolutionary War, in which he served as a surgeon.  Their mother was the former Mary Peyton (d. 1818).  The girls' much older sister Mary Evans married William R. Johnson, a notable Warrenton resident, in 1803. (That's the Mrs. Johnson mentioned above and below.)

The marriage announcement of Governor William Miller and Lydiana Evans
Weekly Raleigh Register (June 7, 1816): 3.
From Newspapers.com

 

Lydia Anna Evans (d. 1818) left the Mordecai school at the end of 1810; she married almost six years later, to William Miller, at Chesterfield, Virginia, in May 1816 (see announcement above). William Miller was a Warrenton man, well known to the Mordecais, but at the time of the wedding he was well-known throughout the state--because he was the Governor of North Carolina from 1814 to 1817. (So a Mordecai girl became the first lady of North Carolina while the school was still running.)  Sadly for Lydia Anna, the glamor was very short-lived: she was soon pregnant, had her son William Jr., and she died in March 1818.  (William Jr. soon joined his mother; he only lived to be five years old.) Her widower Governor Miller died in 1825, traveling through Florida on a diplomatic mission to Guatemala.

The Mordecais commented on Lydia Anna's death, of course: 

"We have just received intelligence of the death of Mrs. Miller (Lydia Anna Evans)--So young, so sweet, & so lovely, who can think without pain of her being this early nipped in her bloom. The last letter from Mrs. Johnson mentioned her being much better, & her husband had come out to prepare for her removal to their intended place of residence. Her last illness must have been short for her had not received intelligence of it, & was still absent, when the final event took place." (Rachel to Samuel, 22 February 1818, Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke)

"The last visitation on the Evans family is a most melancholy one and you are so prone to feel another's woe, that exclusive of the attachment you had for Mrs. M., your sympathy for them must be strongly excited..." (Samuel to Rachel, 1 March 1818, same as above)

"A letter from Mrs. Johnson to Mary mentions that the amiable deceased had left to her the care of her infant, from this I conclude that she was sensible of her approaching fate." (Rachel to Samuel, 1 March 1818, same as above)

Jane Maria Evans:  No sooner had Lydia Anna died, than her sister Jane Evans, also a Mordecai alumna, followed; the Mordecais shared the news:

"You will unite with me in deep & sincere concern when I acquaint you with the new misfortune of the devoted family of poor Dr. Evans--Jane is no more, she expired on the 12th of this month, Lydia on the 13th of last.  Her health had for some time been delicate, and the shock proved too severe for her to bear. Poor Mrs. Johnson appears, as she must be, overwhelmed with grief. Does it not seem indeed too much for human nature to support? I fear it will be impossible for her poor mother to strugle against such an accumulated load of sorrow. When I think of that family as we knew it a few years ago, so cheerful, so happy, so pleased with one another, the girls so gentle, so lovely, and blooming..." (Rachel to Samuel, 22 March 1818, same as above)

"The succession of misfortune in the Evans' family is enough to excite commiseration even in those who feel less interest in their happiness than we do. I had not heard of Jane's death until you mentioned it." (Samuel to Rachel, 29 March 1818, same as above)

But there was still more tragedy for the Evans family in 1818.  That summer, the mother of Lydia and Jane, Mary Peyton Evans, also died. "The unfortunate old lady had never left her chamber since the death of Jane, but has borne her own severe sufferings with entire patience & resignation. She may indeed be said to have fallen victim of a broken heart." (Rachel to Samuel, 26 July 1818, same as above)

Death dates and circumstances are thus well-established; I still don't know when either student was born, or where they might have been buried (I assume a private family plot near the family home at Oakland?).  Does anyone know?

139, 140, 141. The Easthams (Anne, Eliza, and Mildred)

There are three girls named Eastham in my student rolls for the Mordecai school.  Anne, Eliza, and Mildred Eastham are almost certainly sisters, all from Halifax County, Virginia, all with James Eastham as the adult on their account.  I have Anne and Mildred (Milly) arrived in mid-1814; Anne left after just one session; Mildred stayed for most of the next two years, with their sister Eliza joining her.  Mildred and Eliza both finished at the school at the end of 1816.  James appears in the school ledger through during sessions.

Either Milly or Eliza was ill during August 1816, requiring a visit from their talkative father:  "Miss Eastham I hope has recovered before her father's anecdotes are exhausted.  And I congratulate you on having a visitor that could talk." (Solomon to Ellen, 23 August 1816, Southern Historical Collection)  Julia wrote about the same visit to Samuel Mordecai:  "The best news I can give you is that Miss Eastham, her talkative & goodhumoured father & mother left us on Friday.  She was much better & will I hope soon recover.  Her father must I think be a good man, he has at any rate a very tender heart, he bid us farewell with tears in his eyes & was so much affected that he could hardly speak." (Julia to Samuel, August 1816 [und.], Southern Historical Collection)

A James Eastham was deputy sheriff of Halifax County in 1815; there are a lot of Easthams in Halifax County, but he seems like a good candidate for starters.  The same man was also the county surveyor in 1810.  But his name mostly turns up in legal documents, no family history I can see.

I see a Mildred Hardeman Eastham (1805-1857), who was born in Virginia, married Alfred Hicks Rose (a fellow Virginian) in 1828, had seven children, and died in 1857 in Tennessee (here's her grave).  Her dates are perfect, and we know that a lot of Mordecai-connected families moved west to Tennessee in the 1820s. 

Now, here's a thought:  What if Ann and Eliza are the same person? Their times at the school don't overlap, and if anything it makes more sense if she's one person--it means two sisters, Ann Eliza and Mildred, who were at the school simultaneously, arriving in mid-1814 and finishing in 1816.   I found an Ann Eliza Eastham (1803-1881) who was born in Halifax Co. Virginia, married Thomas J. Spencer in about 1819, had two children, was widowed very young, and died in 1881.  Her dates are perfect for a Mordecai student.

I have no evidence at hand that Mildred and Ann Eliza were sisters, or were Mordecai students--only their dates and place of birth, really.  But I'm intrigued at merging Ann and Eliza Eastham into one student.  Makes more and more sense as I think of it.... any clues from Virginia family historians out there?

101, 102, 103, 104, 105. The Cohens

There were five students named Cohen in the Mordecai rolls:

Cornelia Cohen (1805-1886) was a student at the school for five years, from early 1814 to the end of 1818.  Her parent was Mordecai Cohen, in Charleston SC.

David Cohen (1802-1860) was a student at the school for three sessions, mid-1815 to the end of 1816.  He was also from Charleston, also one of Mordecai Cohen's children.

Eleanor Cohen (c1803-1871) was a student at the school for three years, early 1814 to the end of 1816.  She was from Georgetown SC, daughter of Solomon Cohen.

Lucretia Cohen (1807-1888) was a student at the school for two years, 1817-1818.  She was from Charleston SC, another child of Mordecai Cohen.

Henrietta Cohen (1799-1886) was a student at the school for on year, 1814 (both sessions).  She was from Georgetown SC, daughter of Solomon Cohen.

A few things jump out from that list.  First, I already have the birth and death dates for all these students--unlike most students covered so far here at the blog.  Southern Jewish family history is quite well documented, and the Mordecais would have known more about the lives of these students (through their mutual networks) than about most of their farflung alumnae.    Second, we have two families represented--the children of Mordecai Cohen of Charleston, and the children of Solomon Cohen of Georgetown.

The Cohens appear throughout the Mordecai's ledger from 1814 to 1818; there's a mention of a Mr. Gregg being paid for Henrietta's travel expenses in 1814; David Cohen apparently boarded with Dr. Gloster in town.  They're also featured in family correspondence:  Rachel reports to Samuel that "Today Mr. Myers leaves George Town with his daughter & two of Mr. Cohen's, who in a letter yesterday morning informed papa that the indisposition of one of the children had prevented their being with us earlier.  I hope your next will tell us that the other two have changed their mind." (15 May 1814, in the Mordecai Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection)  A somewhat longer report came the next week: 

 Last night Mr. Cohen, who left his little girl here, as he passed through to carry his son to Mr. Girardins paid us a late & unexpected visit.  Today he dined here, he is one of the witty Familikin sort.  The other two Miss C's are not his daughters, the eldest is as I told you before handsome enough and a very charming girl -- she is only to remain 6 months at school and then, take my advice, and turn thy face to the south, wifeless brother of Rachel, look on those eyes of blue, that smile of ingenuous sweetness, and resign thy heart a willing captive. (same correspondents, 29 May 1814, Mordecai Family Papers)

Note that in 1814, Henrietta Cohen turned 15 years old.  Further speculation on Henrietta's marriage plans followed a couple years later:  "I believe that Mr. Cohen is going on a fruitless expedition," confided Julia in a letter to Samuel, "for it is said that Henrietta is engaged to a cousin of hers, Mr. Mordecai Myers."  (30 October 1816, Mordecai Family Papers) 

The Mordecais certainly had ongoing connections with these students, past school days.  In 1825, Ellen mentions that "Cornelia Cohen ...is to spend the winter here," with here being Warrenton (Ellen Mordecai to Solomon Mordecai, 7 December 1825, Jacob Mordecai Papers, Duke).  Julia Mordecai had a "commonplace book" (now in the Virginia Historical Society) with various details of family history, including the tidbit that Lucretia Cohen had eighteen babies born, with nine of them dying in infancy (p. 27).  David Cohen's engagement to a Miss Hart, and his marriage in 1830, are also subjects of discussion among the Mordecai siblings.


Because of all this discussion, I have married names and spouse names for all five Cohens, which makes tracking them down in the online genealogical resources pretty easy.

1.  The children of Mordecai Cohen and Leah Lazarus of Charleston:

David Daniel Cohen (1802-1860) married Mary Hart in 1830.  They had six children together.

Cornelia Cohen Lazarus (1805-1886) married her uncle Benjamin Dores Lazarus (1800-1875), brother-in-law of Rachel Mordecai's, in 1840, and had six children (five sons and a daughter, who all lived into adulthood) all born after her 35th birthday.  She was widowed in 1875, lost her son Albert to suicide in 1879, and died in 1886. 

Lucretia Cohen Mordecai (1807-1888) married Thomas Whitlock Mordecai, a nephew of Jacob Mordecai's.  They had eighteen children born, and half died in infancy.  Her youngest child, Thomas Moultrie Mordecai, was born when Lucretia was 48 years old.  (Her oldest son, also named Thomas, died in 1861, age 22, at Sullivan Island, a member of the Confederate army.) When Lucretia was 58, she was widowed.  Her surviving son Thomas was a successful Charleston attorney who remained close to his mother until her death at 81.   Here's a photo of her daughter Lucretia (1837-1922).

Note:  Mordecai Cohen was born in Poland.

2.  The children of Solomon Cohen and Belle Moses of Georgetown:

(Sarah) Henrietta Cohen Myers (1799-1886) married Mordecai Myers (1794-1865) in 1820, though they were rumored to be engaged as early as 1816.  They had twelve children born, most of whom lived into adulthood.  Henrietta was widowed in 1865, and died in 1886, age 87.  She is buried with her husband in Savannah GA.

Eleanor Cohen Lopez (c1803-1871) married Dr. Aaron Lopez (1800-1873) in 1818, and they had eleven children born.  She died in 1871, in Memphis TN, survived by her husband and at least one daughter.  

 
 

83., 84., 85. Esther, Mary, and Winnefred Carr

I have three girls named Carr in my records for the Mordecai school:

Esther Carr of Pitt County, NC, attended the school from early 1813 to mid 1814 (so, three sessions). Elias Carr was the adult associated with her account.

Mary Carr attended the school in early 1815, and then for all of 1817 (so, again, three sessions, but these weren't consecutive).

Winnefred Carr attended the school for two sessions, early 1814 and early 1815 (two non-consecutive sessions). She was also from Pitt County with Elias Carr as the adult on her account.

Elias Carr appears in several places in the school ledger, including a mention in January 1814 of him paying tuition for his "daughters"--so that establishes the relationship between Elias, Esther, and Winnefred Carr, at minimum. He also appears making a payment in January 1817, so he may also be the parent or relative of Mary Carr. (But he's in the ledger again in April 1818, when none of the girls above was enrolled, so I won't assume that. Still, it's a start.) He's clearly not this Elias Carr, though there must be a relationship there, and thus to the girls at the Mordecai school.

And there is. The Governor Elias Carr had among his aunties a Winnefred Carr and an Esther Johnston Carr, and yes, a Mary Carr. Their father was Elias Carr (1775-1822) and their mother was Cecelia (or Celia) Johnston. (Winnefred was named for Elias's mother, and Esther was named for Cecelia's mother.)

Esther Johnston Carr (1798-1864), then, was 15 when she arrived as a student at the Mordecai school, and she stayed till she was 16 in 1814. In 1816, she married a local man, Allen Blount (1789-1828), at her father's house. The couple had six children between 1817 and 1827, five boys and a girl. Esther was widowed in her early 30s, and died in 1864, in the same county where she was born. Here's her tombstone.

Winnefred "Winnie" Williams Carr (1800-1855) followed her older sister to the Mordecai school in 1814, when she was 13. In 1822 she married a Dr. John Thomas Eason (1796-1864). They had ten children together, born between 1822 and 1843. The couple moved to Sumter County, Alabama, before the last two children were born (so, probably in the late 1830s), and Winnefred died there at age 54, having survived at least two of her children (William died at age 17 in 1842, and Elizabeth died at age 20 in 1853).

Mary Carr (1802-1822?) followed her two older sisters to the Mordecai school in 1815, overlapping with Winnefred for one session. She was about 13 when she arrived there. and 15 when she left. In early 1822, she married Josiah E. Fowle (1791-1822?) of Massachusetts, but apparently (according to family tradition) faced her father's "violent opposition" to the marriage, and was disinherited. The story continues that Josiah was killed in September 1822 when he was captured by pirates in the West Indies, while returning from the couple's honeymoon there. She may also have been "lost at sea" in the same incident, as some accounts tell their tale. If so, she was just 20 years old at her death. She doesn't always turn up in lists of Elias Carr's descendants, perhaps because she had no children in her short life, thus no descendants.

(Note that both Winnefred and Mary married in the year their father died.)

Three Mordecai students, solid identifications on all of them. Only the fate of Mary seems even slightly uncertain.

52. and 53: Eliza and Evelina Boykin

Two students named Boykin attended the Mordecai school:

Eliza Boykin from Smithfield was at the school for three sessions, mid-1815 to the end of 1816, with Simon Boykin as the adult name attached to the account.

Evelina Boykin, also from Smithfield, was also at the school from mid-1815 to the end of 1816, also with Simon Boykin taking responsibility for her account.

The notation in the ledger page for October 1815 says "Simon Boykin for Eliza and Evelina." Another notation at May 1816 just says "Majr Boykin," and at September 1816 there's "Maj. S. Boykin" making another payment.

I'm going out on a limb and guessing that Eliza and Evelina are kin. ;) Not necessarily sisters; they could be cousins. But first: Smithfield VA or Smithfield NC? Smithfield NC still has a Boykin Motors listed among its major local businesses. But Smithfield VA (home of Smithfield ham) has Fort Boykin Historic Park, on the James River. A Simon Boykin of Virginia seems to have been a Revolutionary War officer, but there were a handful of men named Simon Boykin, all in the same family, including sometimes brothers (who went by Simon Jr. and Simon Sr., and named their sons Simon just to keep things interesting).

One interesting tidbit emerges from the mess of Simons: Major Simon Boykin (of Smithfield VA) had a daughter Louisa Boykin (1791-1850). She married a Daniel Boon (1786-1870--not the Daniel Boone), and they had a number of children, including daughters Eveline and Eliza, both born c. 1815. Were the Boon daughters named for Louisa's sisters, who would have been young teens and soon Mordecai students at the time? To complicate things, this Boon family seems to have lived in Smithfield NC before moving West in 1835.

So, which Smithfield? Which Boykins? Surprising that the rather uncommon name "Evelina Boykin" gets no useful hits, even with various spellings. So she doesn't turn up in marriage records or cemeteries or even family genealogies (not so uncommon for daughters, especially if they don't marry or die young). Or maybe she just used another first name for most of her life? There are several Eliza Boykins who might be the right age to be the Mordecai student, but not much about any of them.

Anyone want to claim the Boykin girls?

30. and 31. Olivia and Margaret Barrow

Two girls named Barrow attended the Mordecai school:

30. Olivia Barrow (1806-1857) of Tarboro NC attended the school for a year, in 1818.
31. Margaret Barrow of Tarboro NC attended the school for a year, in 1818.

Both Barrows have the name "Bennet Barrow" attached to their account.

So let's start with Bennet Barrow. Seems a Bennet Barrow (1777-1833) was born in Halifax Co., and was the son of Olivia Ruffin and William Barrow. The Ruffins are all over the extended families attached to the Mordecai school; and this particular connection gives Olivia Barrow her first name, too. Much of the extended Barrow family (Olivia Ruffin Barrow, three daughters, three sons) moved to Louisiana in 1798, by covered wagons and barges, to build some rather famous plantation homes for themselves. Two Barrow sons stayed behind in North Carolina for a while, then joined the clan. One of them was Bennet Barrow; he was listed as the cashier at the Tarboro branch of the State Bank of North Carolina, when it opened in 1811. He moved to Louisiana in 1816.

So... it's a prominent family, and it's not hard to track down the Mordecai students Olivia and Margaret. Their cousin Bennet H. Barrow (1811-1878) was a Louisiana planter and diarist. (This is another of those families where the same names are used by multiple members of the same generation; they had a brother Bennet Barrow, but his middle name was James; the diarist's father was William H. Barrow.)

Olivia Ruffin Barrow (1806-1857) was named for her late grandmother. Her father was Bennett Barrow and her mother was Martha Hill. When she attended school in Warrenton NC with her sister Margaret, their family was already mostly moved to Louisiana. She married her first cousin, William Ruffin Barrow (1800-1862). They had ten children together; five died young. They were the planters in residence at Greenwood Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana, which at its peak encompassed thousands of acres; the Ruffins held about 750 slaves at Greenwood. (Today the house still stands, much restored, and is open as an inn.) Here is Olivia's house on Flickr.

Margaret Barrow, Olivia's sister, "died young." "No information available." But we know something about her: she attended the Mordecai school with Olivia for a year, in 1818. One of the benefits of studying the rolls of a girls' school is that the many women who died young are still "caught" by the school's records--because their attendance was recorded, they have a bit more trace than a tombstone, or a date in a family Bible.

23. and 24. Mary Jane Bacon and Petronella Bacon

There are two girls surnamed Bacon in the Mordecai rolls, and they appear to be sisters:

Mary Jane Bacon and P. Nelly C. Bacon, both from Hendersonville, Virginia, both attended the Mordecai school for the same two years, from the beginning of 1816 to the end of 1817. The adult's name on both their accounts is Major Tyree G. Bacon.

Now, the name "Tyree Bacon" may seem unusual enough to make a search easy. Not so! The first name Tyree is used often through generations of Bacons in Virginia. (There's even a present-day Tyree Bacon with a MySpace page.) But Col. Tyree Glenn Bacon (1772-1830), a War of 1812 veteran, lived at Bacon's Hall in Crewe, Nottoway County. His wife was Mary Lamkin (1774-1846).

So, here are the students' stories based on what we can find about them online:

Mary Jane Catherine Bacon (b. 1804) married a Jesse H. Leath (d. 1846) in 1832, when she was 28. Mary Bacon Heath had eight children: James, Branch, Tyree, Joseph, George William (d. 1922), Virginia, Harriett, and Sarah. Mary lost her husband and her mother the same year. She inherited Bacon's Hall as specified in her father's will. All her sons were wounded as Confederate soldiers in the Civil War.

Mary's sister Petronella Ann Graghead Bacon (whose name might have been written "P. Nelly C." by the Mordecais--especially if she was called "Nelly"; Graghead is sometimes written as "Craghead" even in family records) was born 1802, according to this transcript of a family bible. She was apparently named for her mother's sister Petronella Lamkin Graghead. She married a Col. John Marshall in June 1821, when she was 19.

Oh, and "the community of Hendersonville no longer exists."