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.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
82. Mary Ann Campbell
I have a student named Mary Ann Campbell on my rolls for the Mordecai school. She was there for both sessions in 1811. No hometown; but a James Campbell is shown paying tuition during 1811, for music, drawing, and painting (extras taught by non-Mordecai family members).
All of Mary Ann Campbell's name is fairly common; there were a lot of Scottish-American families in Virginia and North Carolina in the 1810s. But wait--there was a Col. James Campbell who heled establish the Leaksville branch of the State Bank of North Carolina in 1818. Many of the other families affiliated with the school were also involved in banking--George Mordecai himself would eventually be a Raleigh-based director of the State Bank. Col. James Campbell of Leaksville (now Eden) married a Sophia Spencer in 1821--but that could be a second wife.
(There's a weird story about a family of Campbells in Leaksville; sometime in the early 19c., "they bought some beef that happened to be unwholesome....the entire family were severely stricken, and the young man David was the only one that lived.")
Well, maybe Mary Ann Campbell was from Leaksville, or not. It's hard to say. But of course I hope she wasn't one of the food-poisoned Campbells there.
All of Mary Ann Campbell's name is fairly common; there were a lot of Scottish-American families in Virginia and North Carolina in the 1810s. But wait--there was a Col. James Campbell who heled establish the Leaksville branch of the State Bank of North Carolina in 1818. Many of the other families affiliated with the school were also involved in banking--George Mordecai himself would eventually be a Raleigh-based director of the State Bank. Col. James Campbell of Leaksville (now Eden) married a Sophia Spencer in 1821--but that could be a second wife.
(There's a weird story about a family of Campbells in Leaksville; sometime in the early 19c., "they bought some beef that happened to be unwholesome....the entire family were severely stricken, and the young man David was the only one that lived.")
Well, maybe Mary Ann Campbell was from Leaksville, or not. It's hard to say. But of course I hope she wasn't one of the food-poisoned Campbells there.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
81. Sarah Camp
One student named Sarah Camp attended the Mordecai school, for both 1818 sessions. She's listed as being from Norfolk VA, with a John Camp as the adult on the account.
First thing I see from online is that the surnames Camp and Kemp can be found interchangeably. Good to know. And apparently there's a genealogical volume out there, The John Camp family pertaining to the ancestors of John Camp of Norfolk Virginia (1936) by Sadie Scott Kellam, but it's not (yet) on Google Books. These Camps and Kemps, including Lt. John Camp, a Revolutionary War veteran from Virginia, might also be kin? Especially interested to see that they were connected to the Nashes, who were kin the Camerons (see immediate previous entry on Cameron girls). Lt. John Camp (1743-1818) of Norfolk did have a daughter Sara (aka Sallie), but she was born about 1770 (d. 1854), probably too old to be a Mordecai student herself. But she reminds me to remember to look at Sarah/Sara/Sallie/Sally as equivalent names, too...
I can't seem to get any further than this. Suspect the Camp family all those links connect to is the right one, but beyond that... the right Sarah (or Sara, or Sallie) Camp (or Kemp) isn't jumping out of the genealogical websites.
First thing I see from online is that the surnames Camp and Kemp can be found interchangeably. Good to know. And apparently there's a genealogical volume out there, The John Camp family pertaining to the ancestors of John Camp of Norfolk Virginia (1936) by Sadie Scott Kellam, but it's not (yet) on Google Books. These Camps and Kemps, including Lt. John Camp, a Revolutionary War veteran from Virginia, might also be kin? Especially interested to see that they were connected to the Nashes, who were kin the Camerons (see immediate previous entry on Cameron girls). Lt. John Camp (1743-1818) of Norfolk did have a daughter Sara (aka Sallie), but she was born about 1770 (d. 1854), probably too old to be a Mordecai student herself. But she reminds me to remember to look at Sarah/Sara/Sallie/Sally as equivalent names, too...
I can't seem to get any further than this. Suspect the Camp family all those links connect to is the right one, but beyond that... the right Sarah (or Sara, or Sallie) Camp (or Kemp) isn't jumping out of the genealogical websites.
Monday, January 16, 2012
79-80. Charlotte and Mary Ann Cameron
Two girls with the surname Cameron are in the rolls for the Mordecai School:
Charlotte Cameron attended the school for four sessions, 1810-1811.
Mary Ann Cameron attended the school for four years, 1814-1818.
I have written a good bit about Mary Ann Cameron's brother Thomas, so her family and her story I know very well. I'll get to that in a moment.
I have no idea who Charlotte Cameron was. She wasn't a sister of Mary Ann's, or a close cousin, and I have no other mentions of her in the Mordecai papers, though she was with them for a longer-than-average time. I have no hometown, no adult's name attached to the account, nothing. That doesn't mean she didn't exist, but it's also just possible that I misread a record--both "Charlotte" and "Cameron" appear in other contexts throughout North Carolina history. I'd have to see the rolls again in person to confirm what I saw almost 20 years ago.
(I did find a Charlotte Cameron, b. c1792, who married Joshua Holt Toomer c1812, which would make sense for an older Mordecai student, to marry a year after she leaves school; but I can't find any stronger evidence to link her to the school. And the Mordecais might have remarked on a recent student's wedding, but there's no mention of Miss Cameron becoming Mrs. Toomer.)
Now, Mary Ann Cameron, on the other hand.... She was born in 1804, the eldest daughter of Duncan Cameron and Rebecca Bennehan Cameron--and thus, born into a lot of property. She struggled at the Mordecai school. Dozens of her report slips and letters to home have been preserved in the Cameron Family Papers at the Southern Historical Collection, and they present a frustrating tale of a child who can't ever be quite neat enough, can't ever pay sufficient attention, to avoid scolding and other petty punishments. She was sent to the foot of the class, and even made to wear a dunce's cap on one occasion, for doing her grammar repetitions poorly. She quarreled with other girls, she wouldn't sing loudly enough in music class, she wasted paint in art class. The list of minor infractions was almost endless. She apologized to her parents, over and over, for the bad reports. She also asked about her younger brothers, and hoped they would write to her--but Thomas (1806-1870) was slow to learn and soon overtaken by their brother Paul (1808-1891).
Mary Ann returned to her family when the Mordecai school was sold in 1818; she was fourteen years old. Rachel Mordecai Lazarus encountered Mary Ann ten years later, and was surprised to find Miss Cameron "improved in appearance," with "genteel manners" and a pleasant singing voice (Rachel Lazarus to Ellen Mordecai, 22 January 1828, Mordecai Family Papers at the Southern Historical Collection, Chapel Hill). Mary Ann lived at home the rest of her life, which was a short one: she died in 1839, age 35, from tuberculosis, a disease that would also claim three of her sisters.
It was while visiting the Cameron plot in a cemetery in Raleigh, in 1995, that I started thinking about the project that became my postdoctoral research--a study of Thomas Cameron, Mary Ann's brother--so, in a way, it was Mary Ann who introduced me to the academic field that became my home (disability history). Glad to have finally reached her in the alphabetical parade of Mordecai students.
Charlotte Cameron attended the school for four sessions, 1810-1811.
Mary Ann Cameron attended the school for four years, 1814-1818.
I have written a good bit about Mary Ann Cameron's brother Thomas, so her family and her story I know very well. I'll get to that in a moment.
I have no idea who Charlotte Cameron was. She wasn't a sister of Mary Ann's, or a close cousin, and I have no other mentions of her in the Mordecai papers, though she was with them for a longer-than-average time. I have no hometown, no adult's name attached to the account, nothing. That doesn't mean she didn't exist, but it's also just possible that I misread a record--both "Charlotte" and "Cameron" appear in other contexts throughout North Carolina history. I'd have to see the rolls again in person to confirm what I saw almost 20 years ago.
(I did find a Charlotte Cameron, b. c1792, who married Joshua Holt Toomer c1812, which would make sense for an older Mordecai student, to marry a year after she leaves school; but I can't find any stronger evidence to link her to the school. And the Mordecais might have remarked on a recent student's wedding, but there's no mention of Miss Cameron becoming Mrs. Toomer.)
Now, Mary Ann Cameron, on the other hand.... She was born in 1804, the eldest daughter of Duncan Cameron and Rebecca Bennehan Cameron--and thus, born into a lot of property. She struggled at the Mordecai school. Dozens of her report slips and letters to home have been preserved in the Cameron Family Papers at the Southern Historical Collection, and they present a frustrating tale of a child who can't ever be quite neat enough, can't ever pay sufficient attention, to avoid scolding and other petty punishments. She was sent to the foot of the class, and even made to wear a dunce's cap on one occasion, for doing her grammar repetitions poorly. She quarreled with other girls, she wouldn't sing loudly enough in music class, she wasted paint in art class. The list of minor infractions was almost endless. She apologized to her parents, over and over, for the bad reports. She also asked about her younger brothers, and hoped they would write to her--but Thomas (1806-1870) was slow to learn and soon overtaken by their brother Paul (1808-1891).
Mary Ann returned to her family when the Mordecai school was sold in 1818; she was fourteen years old. Rachel Mordecai Lazarus encountered Mary Ann ten years later, and was surprised to find Miss Cameron "improved in appearance," with "genteel manners" and a pleasant singing voice (Rachel Lazarus to Ellen Mordecai, 22 January 1828, Mordecai Family Papers at the Southern Historical Collection, Chapel Hill). Mary Ann lived at home the rest of her life, which was a short one: she died in 1839, age 35, from tuberculosis, a disease that would also claim three of her sisters.
It was while visiting the Cameron plot in a cemetery in Raleigh, in 1995, that I started thinking about the project that became my postdoctoral research--a study of Thomas Cameron, Mary Ann's brother--so, in a way, it was Mary Ann who introduced me to the academic field that became my home (disability history). Glad to have finally reached her in the alphabetical parade of Mordecai students.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
78. Eliza Callagham
I have a student named Eliza Callagham (or Callaham, or possibly Callaghan or Callahan) on my Mordecai school roster, listed as being from Halifax VA, kin to James Callagham, attending the school just one session (the second half of 1815). James is shown in the ledger paying for Eliza's tuition in July 1815; otherwise I don't think the Callaghams appear in the Mordecai materials.
Seems like the name might also be Calliham... this family tree finds several spellings used interchangeably by Southern Callahams/Callihams in the 1700s and 1800s. That tree includes a James Callaham (b. c. 1773) who married a Mary "Polly Smith" in 1797, in Halifax Co., VA. That puts them just exactly in the right place and time to be the parents or at least guardians of this Mordecai student. Beyond that listing, the trail seems to run out--I can't find Eliza herself. But maybe someone else is more creative in their spelling and searching?
Seems like the name might also be Calliham... this family tree finds several spellings used interchangeably by Southern Callahams/Callihams in the 1700s and 1800s. That tree includes a James Callaham (b. c. 1773) who married a Mary "Polly Smith" in 1797, in Halifax Co., VA. That puts them just exactly in the right place and time to be the parents or at least guardians of this Mordecai student. Beyond that listing, the trail seems to run out--I can't find Eliza herself. But maybe someone else is more creative in their spelling and searching?
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
77. Martha Cain
Well, this entry might get some stray hits, from folks searching the surname "Cain"! Hi folks. Unless you're interested in a schoolgirl in 1810s North Carolina, you probably aren't going to find what you want below. --Ed.
A student named Martha Cain is in my list of students--she was at the school just one term, the second half of 1811. A William Cain made payments to the school in December 1811.
I know this is a repeated refrain in this project, but there were a lot of Cains in North Carolina in the 1810s--and a lot of them had daughters named Martha. A William Cain was born in Virginia in the 1670s, and seems to have been the patriarch of a very productive family for several generations--many families of nine or ten children in their tree. So this will be a matter of finding one born about 1800, for starters...
Aha! I've found a Martha Ann Cain born 22 June 1799 in Orange County, NC (near Chapel Hill), youngest daughter of William Cain Sr. (1743-1834) and Sarah Alston. (Her mother's surname Alston is attached to several Mordecai students--likely cousins to Martha.) That would make her the aunt of William Cain III--who married Sarah Jane Bailey (1828-1927), the daughter of Priscilla Brownrigg Bailey, another Mordecai alumna. This Martha Ann Cain's older sister Charity married Willie Person Mangum, a rather prominent North Carolinian with connections to many other Mordecai families. Assuming this is the same woman who attended the Mordecai school, she was about twelve when she was at Warrenton, briefly.
There's a PDF called "Families of Saint Mary's Episcopal Chapel, Orange County, North Carolina," that comments about this Martha Ann Cain that "she apparently did not marry." Was she buried under this name? I have a note in my dissertation appendix that she may have died in 1834, but I don't know where I got that tidbit.
There was another younger Martha Ann Cain (1825-1900), this woman's niece, who attended the Burwell School in Hillsborough.
A student named Martha Cain is in my list of students--she was at the school just one term, the second half of 1811. A William Cain made payments to the school in December 1811.
I know this is a repeated refrain in this project, but there were a lot of Cains in North Carolina in the 1810s--and a lot of them had daughters named Martha. A William Cain was born in Virginia in the 1670s, and seems to have been the patriarch of a very productive family for several generations--many families of nine or ten children in their tree. So this will be a matter of finding one born about 1800, for starters...
Aha! I've found a Martha Ann Cain born 22 June 1799 in Orange County, NC (near Chapel Hill), youngest daughter of William Cain Sr. (1743-1834) and Sarah Alston. (Her mother's surname Alston is attached to several Mordecai students--likely cousins to Martha.) That would make her the aunt of William Cain III--who married Sarah Jane Bailey (1828-1927), the daughter of Priscilla Brownrigg Bailey, another Mordecai alumna. This Martha Ann Cain's older sister Charity married Willie Person Mangum, a rather prominent North Carolinian with connections to many other Mordecai families. Assuming this is the same woman who attended the Mordecai school, she was about twelve when she was at Warrenton, briefly.
There's a PDF called "Families of Saint Mary's Episcopal Chapel, Orange County, North Carolina," that comments about this Martha Ann Cain that "she apparently did not marry." Was she buried under this name? I have a note in my dissertation appendix that she may have died in 1834, but I don't know where I got that tidbit.
There was another younger Martha Ann Cain (1825-1900), this woman's niece, who attended the Burwell School in Hillsborough.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
72-76. The Burwells (Eliza, Lucy, Martha, Mary, and N)
So my list has five girls(?) named Burwell who attended the Mordecai school:
Eliza Blair Burwell was there for both sessions of 1812.
Lucy Burwell was there for both sessions of 1817.
Martha C. Burwell was there for four sessions, 1811-1812.
Mary W. Burwell was there for both sessions of 1812.
And N. Burwell was on the rolls for 1809.
I have most of these names attached to Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and the adults named Armistead Burwell and Richard Boyd are found in the ledger, paying for their accounts (possibly also William Robards). Martha C. Burwell was married to Grandison Field in November 1816, and is mentioned as "Mrs. Field" in some of the Mordecai letters after that date (for example, 3 July 1831, Caroline Plunkett to Ellen Mordecai, in the Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke University). So that's where I'm starting from.
I know this is a recurring theme of this blog, but there were a lot of Burwells in the area--and even several Armistead Burwells, all related. One branch of the family even ran a girls' school in Hillsborough NC, in the 1830s. (That linked website for the Burwell school does some of what I'm trying to do here, in listing all the known students and, where possible, their life stories.)
With that in mind, we'll start with the one we know most about: Martha Christian Burwell (b. 1795) was the youngest child of a very large family of Burwells--she was the sixteenth and last child born to Col. Lewis Burwell (1745-1800), who served in the Revolutionary War, and the fourth child born to the second Mrs. Burwell, Elizabeth Harrison (1754-1824). She would have been a five-year-old when her father passed away, and was a teenager during her years at the Mordecai school--seventeen when she left, making her one of the older students. She married Charles Grandison Field in 1816, in Richmond. (His name is sometimes spelled Feild or Fields or Feilds, by various branches of the family.) Charles Grandison Field and Martha moved to Tennessee in 1836, with their whole household, including a significant number of slaves. (Among the slaves in that group were the ancestors of Tennessee Assemblymen John Boyd and William A. Feilds.) Martha was widowed in Tennessee, and seems to have remarried at least once. She might have had children, but I can't find mention of their names (she might also have raised step-children). I saw one mention of her dying in 1898, which would mean she was over a hundred years old--possible, but without seeing it mentioned in multiple places I'm not going to assume that's true.
The other Burwell girls couldn't have been Martha's sisters, because all her sisters were older than her and wouldn't have been young enough to attend the Mordecai school. Unfortunately, they all have fairly common names for the Burwell families, and I'm not locating any that are the right age.
Thus end the Bs! Next entry, we move onto the C names.
Eliza Blair Burwell was there for both sessions of 1812.
Lucy Burwell was there for both sessions of 1817.
Martha C. Burwell was there for four sessions, 1811-1812.
Mary W. Burwell was there for both sessions of 1812.
And N. Burwell was on the rolls for 1809.
I have most of these names attached to Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and the adults named Armistead Burwell and Richard Boyd are found in the ledger, paying for their accounts (possibly also William Robards). Martha C. Burwell was married to Grandison Field in November 1816, and is mentioned as "Mrs. Field" in some of the Mordecai letters after that date (for example, 3 July 1831, Caroline Plunkett to Ellen Mordecai, in the Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke University). So that's where I'm starting from.
I know this is a recurring theme of this blog, but there were a lot of Burwells in the area--and even several Armistead Burwells, all related. One branch of the family even ran a girls' school in Hillsborough NC, in the 1830s. (That linked website for the Burwell school does some of what I'm trying to do here, in listing all the known students and, where possible, their life stories.)
With that in mind, we'll start with the one we know most about: Martha Christian Burwell (b. 1795) was the youngest child of a very large family of Burwells--she was the sixteenth and last child born to Col. Lewis Burwell (1745-1800), who served in the Revolutionary War, and the fourth child born to the second Mrs. Burwell, Elizabeth Harrison (1754-1824). She would have been a five-year-old when her father passed away, and was a teenager during her years at the Mordecai school--seventeen when she left, making her one of the older students. She married Charles Grandison Field in 1816, in Richmond. (His name is sometimes spelled Feild or Fields or Feilds, by various branches of the family.) Charles Grandison Field and Martha moved to Tennessee in 1836, with their whole household, including a significant number of slaves. (Among the slaves in that group were the ancestors of Tennessee Assemblymen John Boyd and William A. Feilds.) Martha was widowed in Tennessee, and seems to have remarried at least once. She might have had children, but I can't find mention of their names (she might also have raised step-children). I saw one mention of her dying in 1898, which would mean she was over a hundred years old--possible, but without seeing it mentioned in multiple places I'm not going to assume that's true.
The other Burwell girls couldn't have been Martha's sisters, because all her sisters were older than her and wouldn't have been young enough to attend the Mordecai school. Unfortunately, they all have fairly common names for the Burwell families, and I'm not locating any that are the right age.
Thus end the Bs! Next entry, we move onto the C names.
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