100. Anna Nesfield Cochran Green (1795-1842)

Number 100--and we're still in the Cs!?!  Indeed.

Anna (or Ann) Cochran (or Cochrane) was among the first students at the Mordecai school, arriving in 1809 and staying to the end of 1810.  When she didn't return in 1811, Rachel Mordecai commented, "I fear it will be long ere we shall find equal sense, solidity, & sweetness combined."  She may have gone on to Mrs. Rivardi's for 'polishing' after leaving Warrenton, but the Mordecais kept close tabs on her, so the outlines of her story are well-known.  By 1817, she was married to James Severn Green and living in Wilmington; when Rachel Mordecai moved to Wilmington to marry in the 1820s, she and Anna Cochran Green were friends.  Anna was frequently pregnant or newly delivered in those years, according to Rachel's letters.  When Mordecai alumna Jane Vance Dickinson died in 1828, Anna was among the three close friends to receive a mourning ring.  Anna's daughter Mary married in 1834, and was planning to move West.

So that's what I could learn before 1996.  What's available about Anna Cochran Green online, sixteen years later?

Looks like Anna Cochran was born in 1795, daughter of Robert Cochran Jr. (1772-1842) and the former Ann Maria de Keyser, in Wilmington.  Her name is often found with a middle name, Nesfield or Nessfield--a name that resembles that of a Cochran relative, Ann Nessfield Steele.  Anna's father was Collector for the Port of Wilmington, probably a fairly prominent job.  She married Major James Severin Green in June 1815, in Wilmington.  James Green's niece, Eliza Bradley, was a Mordecai student too (she arrived at Warrenton in 1811, just after Anna left).  Anna and James Green had at least nine children, born between June 1816 and September 1837--more than 21 years of childbearing.  We know she outlived at least one of her children, William, who died at age 14 in 1840.  Anna died in 1842, age 46; her youngest child, Sally, would have been just five years old that year.  Here is Anna's tombstone (and James's) in Wilmington (though it has her born in 1794 instead of 1795).  James outlived Anna by 20 years.

There is a portrait of Ann Nesfield Cochran Green, c. 1820, and a silver mug engraved with her name and birthdate (October 10, 1795), in a private collection in Wilmington.  (It's mentioned in the notes of Linnard R. Hobler, "Pure, Bright, and Solid:  Raising a New Standard for John McMullin and his Silver," a Master's Thesis from 2011, Corcoran School of Art.)  I found this little thumbnail version of the portrait on Ancestry.com (at right)--the first image on this blog of a Mordecai student.

So, happy 100!  We're about 20% through the rolls now. ;)

99. Sally Clifton

There's a student on my rolls for the Mordecai school named Sally Clifton.  She was at the school for three terms, 1810 to mid-1811.  Beyond that, I don't have an adult name or a hometown attached to her record.  There's a sum paid to "ACM for S Clifton" in the ledger for June 1811--ACM is Alexander Calizance Miller, the school's music teacher.  That seems to be the only other mention of Miss Clifton in my notes.

Not much to go on, but let's see what I can find....

I pretty quickly found a Sally Clifton from the right neighborhood and era--but she married in June 1810.  So, probably not our Sally.  (There was at least one married woman who attended as a student, or at least attempted to enroll; the Mordecais found that remarkable enough to tell the story in family correspondence.)  So many other Sally Cliftons in the South!  But even checking for Sarahs and Saras too, I'm not finding a Sally Clifton who makes sense as a possible Mordecai student. 

Dead end for this entry, I think, so far, anyway.  Good thing #100 isn't so disappointing...

95., 96., 97., 98. The Clarkes (Jane, Martha, Mary, Nancy)

I have four girls named Clarke in the rolls of the Mordecai school:

Jane Clarke attended two sessions, from summer 1811 to summer 1812.
Martha Clarke was there for one session in 1815, then for the last four sessions (1817-1818).
Mary R. Clarke of Nottoway Co., VA was there for one session, 1816 (second half).
Nancy Clarke was a student for four years, eight sessions, 1815-1818.

Nancy and Martha are at the school in overlapping times, and they have the same adult name, Col. John Clarke, attached to their accounts.  Mary R. Clarke has a different adult's name, Thomas C. Clarke, on her account.  But "Col. Clarke" appears in the school ledger in January 1815, for Mary, unless I misread Martha there; "John Clarke" appears for "Miss Nancy" in April 1815; And "Col. J. Clarke" for Nancy in February 1816; so this whole group might be kin.  (David Clarke and William Clarke are other names in the ledger, but they seem to be attached to student Olivia Norfleet--still, could be a further connection.)  I'm also thinking that "Mary R" and "Martha" might be the same girl--Mary R. would fill in one of the gap sessions for Martha.... hmmm.

Clarke is a fairly common surname, and none of these girls has an unusual first name.  But let's see what we can find anyway (acknowledging that Clarke may be Clark, Martha may be Patsy, Nancy may be Ann, etc.).


.... Hm, not too many leads.  Will leave this here for now.

93.-94. Jane and Sarah Christmas

Two girls named Christmas are on the rolls for the Mordecai school. Jane Yancy Christmas is listed attending for three sessions, I think (1813a, and both 1815 sessions); Sarah Christmas is there for three other sessions, one overlapping with Jane (1812a, 1813b, 1815a).  Both have Lewis Christmas as the adult name attached to the account.

The Christmas family were locals in Warrenton; there is still a Christmas family historical house standing (barely) in town.  The Mordecais who stayed in the area mention the family's doings in their letters.  One hair-raising report finds a drunken "T. Christmas" chasing his wife through the streets with a stick, breaking down doors and signs, even beating a man in his rage, because Betsy Christmas danced with another man at a party.  (Caroline Mordecai Plunkett to Ellen Mordecai, 12 May 1826, Mordecai Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection; stay tuned, because Betsy Davis Christmas was a Mordecai alumna too--more on here in a few entries.)  A later letter indicates that this man's problems continued:  "Tom Christmas is out of jail, his mother & brother stood his securities." (Caroline Mordecai Plunkett to Ellen, 12 May 1828?, Jacob Mordecai Papers, Duke University)


Well, I can't complain about it being a common surname this time, but it's also not an easy name to google.  Nonetheless, because they're local and Warrenton isn't a big town, they're pretty easy to track down.


Jane Yancy Christmas (c1798-1820) was the daughter of Jane Yancey(1774-1845) and William Christmas (1766-1804); her mother remarried, so Jane also had a stepfather, Captain John Green (to make this family a little more complicated, John's first wife was William Christmas's sister, Martha). Jane was born and died in Warren Co., NC.  Her brother was Lewis Yancey Christmas.*  As their father had died by the time Jane and Sarah attended school, it makes sense that Lewis was the tuition payer in the school ledger. 

Her sister Sarah Christmas married John H. Marshall in 1818.  Sarah sometimes appears as Lucy D. Christmas in family histories, but with the nickname "Sally."  The names Lucy and Lewis could be confusing on siblings, and maybe she preferred a more distinctive sound?  She's "Sally D. Marshall" in a bit of 1820 paperwork about land.  I can't find a record of children or a death date for either Sally or John Marshall; they may have left the area.



*Lewis Y. Christmas freed a group of his slaves, acknowledged to be his own children and grandchildren, in his 1859 will, and left funds for them to be transported safely to a non-slave-holding state (or Mexico).  The will was contested by Lewis's white kin, but it was upheld in court.  The Christmas family, black and white, still has reunions that they call "Christmas in July"--here's a report from a recent gathering. 

92. Elbert Alston Cheek (1803-1871)

Another boy's name turns up in the Mordecai rolls.  Young Elbert Cheek attended the school for both sessions of 1813.  Only local boys attended the school (no boarding room for boys), so we know he was from Warrenton. 

As usual with historical lookups, it's easier to find a man--men owned property, men didn't change their surname on marriage, and men used fewer nicknames (no Martha=Patsy problem).  So it's quick to find that Elbert Alston Cheek was born on Valentine's Day in 1803, eldest child of Robert Tines (or Tynes) Cheek (1772-1841) and Mary Hinton Alston (1782-1864), according to a family Bible.   The Cheeks owned a plantation called "Shady Oaks" outside Warrenton, and Robert T. Cheek ran a hotel in town.  By the time he attended the Mordecai school as a ten year old, Elbert had a younger brother and three younger sisters (another younger brother died in infancy).  Four more brothers and another sister arrived after Elbert's time at the school.  He married Mary Sue Hayes (b. 1803) in 1825, in Warrenton; they had nine children together between 1827 and 1851.  Their adult children lived in Mississippi and Kentucky, with a few staying near Warrenton.   (Same details given here, with slightly different dates in some instances.)  Elbert Cheek is mentioned in the 1924 local history "Glimpses of Old Warrenton," in passing (as the father of a local Civil War veteran, Col. William H. Cheek--more about William here).

(Robert Tynes Cheek pulled a bit of a stunt for genealogists:  he left an extra $500 in his will to each grandson named Robert.  So there were four grandsons named Robert, including Elbert's oldest son.)

Found an obituary for an Elbert Alston Cheek V, who died young in 2008--must be some kind of kin, because that's not a common set of names.

91. Mary Cheatham

There's a student named Mary Cheatham in the rolls of the Mordecai school.  She was there for one year, 1814 (both sessions), and a William Cheatham is the name associated with her account.  William Cheatham appears in the Mordecai ledger, paying for "Miss Mary," in April 1814.  (William Cheatham also appears on the page for February 1816, without a child's name attached, possibly meaning he lived near enough to Warrenton or to the Mordecais in other places to have further dealings with them; or perhaps he had a niece who attended after Mary's time there.)

 I'm guessing that Mary Cheatham might have been from Chesterfield County, Virginia, only because a lot of Cheathams lived there.  But I can't find a William with a daughter Mary the right age.  Their names are too ordinary; and Mary might have gone by Molly or Polly or May later in life, and the Cheatham might have been spelled Chatham in some records.  The usual story!

Next entry:  another boy's name in the school rolls.

90. Sally Cary

There's a student on the rolls for the Mordecai school named Sally Cary.  She was at the school for both 1811 sessions.  I don't have a hometown or an adult's name attached to the account, and I don't think she got mentioned in any Mordecai correspondence.

Neither part of the name is particularly uncommon. She's obviously not this Sally Cary, but she could be from that Virginia family--as we have seen over and over here, families tended to recycle first-last name combinations across branches and generations.  I do find a Sallie Cary (1806-1848), daughter of Captain Miles Cary of Norfolk County, Virginia.  She'd be on the young side of the right age, but without more details, I can't say she's the Mordecai student.