Job's Children: The Daughter that Didn't Exist: Sarah Elizabeth Aldridge

This photograph is of my maternal great-grandparents, William Hampton and Penny Wayne Turner Davis. Grandma Davis would not live long after this picture was made, as she died when I was about 4 years old. Papaw would live another 10 or 11 years. This photo is in their home, which is no longer there, but some of the trees are, that surround a bank parking lot now. A photo of Penny Wayne sits on a table by her hand.

I have been trying for some time now, to put together all the pieces of their families, both their ancestors and descendants. Papaw Will was the son of a Civil War veteran, Horton Hampton "Haut" or "Hawk" Davis and his wife, Julina Aldridge Davis. Julina's father, Henry Garner Aldridge died during service in the Civil War, in Virginia, of measles, where he had joined in his 40's as a substitute. Julina was but a little girl, and from there her life became tragic. It was a fact that Julina had several children prior to marriage with Hawk Davis, and she and Hawk had children of their own before the marriage.

The handsome gentleman to the right is H.H. Davis, father of Will. I have heard that he was a very spirited, but a very good man, very loving and very accepting of his lot and life, and most of all, an excellent father and neighbor.

In the Aldridge family history, the authors had attributed a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Aldridge to my great-great grandmother, and another daughter who had died in infancy, that I had not known about. I had a running knowledge, as a child, of the names of all the great-aunts and uncles, even the ones who had passed on before my birth, hearing the stories whenever my large extended family got together, which happened to be every Sunday at my great-grandparents house, many other times at the homes of various great-aunts and uncles, at church, where the majority of them all attended, and having the advantage of living with my grandparents as a child, many times between all that. Two of my great-grandfathers sisters, Aunt Becky and Aunt Carrie, lived well into my adulthood, nearing 100 years old. I knew my family. When I began searching, I found the documents online and at the courthouse, of the births, deaths, marriage of the twelve children I was familiar with, and copies of their obituaries in the old newspaper microfilms.

On this photo of H. H. Davis and Julina and their family, all of the known children of Julina are shown, with the exception of the oldest girl Mollie, who was married to John Boone by the time this photo was made.

We know Mollies biological father was Ephraim Whitley, because he is listed on her marriage license. On her tombstone in Rehobeth Cemetary, her name is listed as Mollie Eliza Davis Boone. Hawk loved and raised her, and was thereby honored in this way. Hawk and Julina are shown sitting with their youngest children. This was the complete group. There would not be another. The tallest youngest man standing in the back is Jesse Filmore Aldridge, known as Filmore. Occasionally, he was listed as a Davis too. Rumoured to be the son of Filmore Whitley, a cousin of Mollies' father Ephraim, Filmore listed Benjamin Lindsey Whitley as his qualifying ancestor in the Permanant Voter's book. Ben Whitley was the father of Ephraim, but not Filmore Whitley. Perhaps Ephraim was the father of both Mollie, born in 1877 and Filmore, born in 1879. The second tallest young man on the back row is George W. "Gus" Davis. Gus was born in 1881, two years after Filmore. Gus was never listed under any other name but Davis, and Hawk and Julina did not marry until 1891, but Gus looks nothing like a Davis. The next child born was Titus Henry in 1887, six years after Gus. Tite, as he was known definately looks like a Davis. My mother's oldest brother, Doug, looked exactly like Tite as a child. I believe that Gus was of an unknown father and Hawk just claimed him.

I had heard from a distant relative at the last genealogical meeting that Hawk had told his aunt, that he knew half of the children were not his, but he loved them anyway. From appearances, it seems that Tite on down belonged to Hawk, the ones born before the wedding and those after. The oldest girl, next to Tite, is Rebecca Jane Davis, or Aunt Becky. She was born in 1888 and died in 1987. Beside her is Martha Priscilla, named for her grandmother, known as Mattie. She was born in 1890 and died in 1955. Hawk and Julina were married between the birth of Becky and Mattie, making Mattie the first legitimate Davis.

The little girl leading off the first row, on the left is Carrie J Davis, next to her is Papaw, William Hampton Davis. The child leaning on Hawk is a boy, Thomas Parrish Davis, the baby sitting on her mother's lap is Cora, last born in 1898 and the ghostly image to his mothers side is Ritchy Clark Davis, who would die at age 3. Will was born in 1891 and his sister Carrie, beside him was born in 1893 and would live to see 1984. Tom was born in 1895, Ritchy in 1897 and baby Cora in 1899. Finished before 1900 rolled in.

But the Aldridge records clearly showed a Sarah Elizabeth, it was even verified by her son Ralph Eury and another relative. I searched and searched and could not put together who Sarah Elizabeth was. I asked the Aldridge relative who said Ralph had passed away not to long ago, so I set out to search for Ralph instead.

When I did, I found them. There was a Sarah Elizabeth Aldridge, known as Sallie, and she indeed married an Eury and had a son named Ralph. But she was not Julina's daughter, instead she was Julina's neice, daughter of her brother Hamp, Caleb Hampton Aldridge.


Sarah Aldridge Eury [Sarah Aldridge Aldridge]
Gender:	Female
Race:	White
Age:	65
Birth Date:	21 Feb 1888
Birth Place:	North Carolina, United States
Death Date:	23 Sep 1953
Death Location:	Albemarle, Stanly
Father's Name:	Hampton Aldridge
Mother's Name:	Betty Floyd
Residence:	Norwood, Stanly, North Carolina