Sarah Jane Hildreth, daughter of Berry Grove and Colon C. Teal Hildreth, has a story of her own. While brief and simple, she was one the growing number of women I keep coming across, who belonged to a group I have come to call ,"The Women Who didn't exist, (except that they did)."
Sarah, sometimes called Sallie, was born around 1853 in Anson County, North Carolina. She's shown as a 7 year old in the 1860 census, living with her parents, Berry and Coley, sandwiched in between two other Hildreth households, her extended family.
Ten years later, she's gained a little brother, Ebben, but her father is nowhere to be found. His military records from the Civil War revealed he spent most of the war AWOL, so he could have been still in hiding somewhere, afraid of prosecution. He could have also went West, as many war-scarted vets did. They're still living next to Ann Pilcher Hildreth, widow of Elijah Hildreth, Berry's brother, who did die during the war. They were probably still farming on the land left by her grandfather Hildreth, (I'm leaning towards Reuben), who was deceased before 1860, and grandmother, Mary, deceased before 1870.
In 1880, Berry Hildreth has shone back up, living in White Store Township, but Colon C Teal Hildreth is still living in Gulledges with her two children, Sarah, and "Deberry", who has to be Ebben, as the age is right and this Deberry didn't exist 10 years prior. Also in the home is a 20 year old James Cox, said to be a cousin, but I have not yet deciphered where he fits in. Lastly, Sarah is now a grown woman, and gives her marital status as a widow. She has a 4 year old son named Frank.
Twenty years is a long time in the span of the life of a family and the twenty years between 1880 and the turn of the century saw a lot of change in the life of Sarah Jane Hildreth. First, her mother, Colon, seems to have passed away, and Sarah went from being a young woman to a middle -aged one. She also had a daughter, Mary, father unknown. I believe she never married. Ebben did marry, to a Caroline Burr, and became the father of 10 to 12 children.
One of the biggest changes was that Berry and both of his children had moved south of the border, the North/South Carolina border, that is, to an area in the Courthouse district of Chesterfield County, SC.
It wasn't a big move at all, the counties border, and Courthouse sat just below the state line.
So in 1900, we find Sarah Jane, at around 40, living in Courthouse District, Chesterfield County SC. She's farming, with help from her son Frank, now 23, and her daughter, Mary, 17. Also living with her was her father, Berry Grove Hildreth, 65, and a 21 year old 'servant' named Simeon Townsley, who probably helped on the farm. Sallie reported being the mother of two children, with two living. She gave her marital status as single. Nothing out of the ordinary,
except for one small detail.
While Berry and Sallie were given a "W" under race for white, Simeon Townsley, and Sallies children, Frank and Mary, were given a "B" for black. In the wounded years following the Civil War, Sarah Jane Hildreth, had had not one, but two mixed race children, and possibly three.
The father of her children was unknown, she likely never told, as any relationship between a white woman and a man of color could get someone killed. In modern times, racism towards interracial relationships has been swept under the rug, the relationships are not only accepted, but common. This was not the case in 1877.
This status placed Sarah into that category of Women who didn't exist, women with European heritage who had children of a darker hue in the 19th century or before. But they did exist, although they were rare, well, maybe not so rare in a small corner of Montgomery County. I keep running into them, however, mostly quite accidentally.
In 1910, Frank, now 30, is head of household and Sallie is 49. They live on Church Street and Frank is still farming. This time Sallie reported being the mother of 3 with two living. She also gave her marital status as married, for a span of 3 years, but no husband was living with them. Mary was also missing, but as she had two living, Mary had probably gotten married, but to whom, I don't know.
Frank, himself, married in 1912 to Miss Savannah Evans. He was 33, and she, but 15. I hope Frank, in his few short years of marriage, found happiness, because it was brief and he was struck down in the prime of life, literally.
On May 19, 1915, Frank was out in the fields tending his cotton, when a storm started brewing and he was struck by lightening and killed immediately. He was 39 years old.
He was buried at the Chesterfield Community Cemetery, in the town of Chesterfield, his name given as Franklin Hildreth and date of birth given as August, 1876.
He had a respectible estate for his station in life and a T.R. Eddins, no apparent relation, was appointed as the Executor. Names mentioned in the estate records as purchasers of property were Sallie Hildreth, Savannah Hildreth and Mary Simms or Simmons.
Sarah Jane Hildreth survived her son by three years. On June 11, 1918, she fell dead immediately. The cause given was apoplexy, or a cerebral hemorrahage or stroke. She was 65 years old. Her father was named as Berry Hildreth and her mother was unnamed. No informant was given,either, so we don't know who supplied the information.
Tombstone of Sarah Jane Hildreth from Find-a-Grave.
Sallie was buried with her son at the Chesterfield Community Cemetery.
Frank and Savannah had one child. Her name was Carolease and she was born on January 4, 1914. She was 16 months old when Frank died. Savannah, still in her teens when she was widowed, quickly remarried to Robert T. Falkner (1890-1968). Carolease was raised as a Faulkner and Savannah had no more children.
Robert was a minister and the family was very mobile. In 1920, they were living in Mercer, Pennsylvania.
1926 Greenville, PA
1930 Alliquippa, Beaver, PA
1935 Concord, North Carolina
1940 Pensacola, Florida
1950 York, South Carolina
1966 New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina was the final stop for Savannah and Rev. Faulkner, here, they retired.
Rev. Robert Fulton Faulkner died two years after his retirement on October 10, 1968. He was 77 years old and was buried at the Evergreen Cemetery.
Carolease Faulkner graduated high school in Pennsylvania, but grew up all over the country. She seems to have called North Carolina home.
In 1935, she was a student at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina. In the above City Directory of Salisbury, she's at the bottom of the clip as a student.
She was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Carolease sought a career in education, teaching at Virginia State College, and returning to Livingston College as a member of the faculty in the 1940's
Here, she met the debonair and charismatic Dr. Benjamin Hargrave, who was also a member of the faculty. Carolease is top right in the above photo.
Ben is bottom right in the above photo.
Benjamin Hargrave, Jr. was born on December, 18, 1918 in Wakefield, Virginia to Benjamin Hargrave,Sr. and Laura Blow Hargrave. During his boyhood, his family moved to Westfield, Union County, New Jersey. He attended Springfield College in Massachusetts and began his career as an athletic director.
He enlisted in WWII at West Point and served as an airman. He met and married Carolease Faulkner while both were teaching at Livingstone College in Salisbury, NC. Thereafter, the couple moved to Oakland, California and Ben received his Master's Degree from San Francisco State University in 1951.
Ben and Carolease were community activists and involved in numerous organizations and in the state government of California. Ben would retire from teaching and become an Education Consultant.
The couple would remain in California, and never had any children, but spent their entire lives working with and for, the benefit of children. That's Ben, above, later in life, on the right, next to one of his own teachers as a boy, and paying tribute to her influence.
Livingstone College in Salisbury , NC.
Carolease Faulkner Hargrave, biological daughter of Franklin Hildreth, retired from Alameda High School in 1973, having spent her entire career as an educator and inspiring a multitude of young minds along the way. She had been both a student and a faculty member of Livingstone College.
Carolease passed away on July 3, 1980, in Oakland, Alameda County, California, at the age of 66, survived by her husband and mother.
Savannah Evans Hildreth Faulkner outlived her second husband by 30 years, and her only child by 11. She passed away on December 18, 1991, survived only by her son-in-law, Benjamin Hargrave. She was 94 years old.
Benjamin Hargrave was the last surviving member of the family and lived another 10 years after Savannah, passing away in 2001 at the age of 82.
His membership in organizations, and contributions to the community was so great, I've had to divide his obituary in half.
The magnitude of the diversity in the life of Carolease Hargrave has made me stop and think, "What If?"
She was born in January of 1914. She came of age in the Roaring Twenties. She entered college and began her career as an African American educator during the Great Depression.
What if Frank Hildreth had not been struck by lightening in 1915? What if his oh-so-young wife, Savannah, had continued to have children and they continued to try to operate that meagar cotton farm through the Depression? Carolease could have been the oldest of 8, 10, 12 children, working her fingers to the bone in a cotton field or cotton mill, instead of attending college and joining sororities.
Her chances of graduating high school would have been slim to none and her chances of attending college even less. Fortunately for her, she was raised as the single child of an educated, well-traveled minister, instead of one of a dozen children of a struggling cotton farmer.
This amazing union of two foresightful educators had a positive and influential effect on numerous North Carolina and California African -Americans, which would not have likely happened had Franklin Hildreth, grandson of Civil War vet, Berry Grove Hildreth and son of an unknown African American man in an illegal relationship with a white woman, Sarah Jane Hildreth, not been killed by lightening.
The title of this post sounds like a place where folks had settled and named it for a patch of will berries. This isn't the case. Berry Grove was a person. Berry Grove Hildreth.
So it was more than fitting that on a recent trek to Wadesboro in search of information on a certain set of Hildreths, I was greatest by a sign just a short distance from Wadesboro proclaiming "Hildreths Best Muscadines".
How fitting for a trek to uncover the truth about Berry Grove Hildreth.
Anson County is steeped in antipodean elaborations. On one hand, her 'Old South' remnants are beautifully and lovingly preserved, and in other spots, she's gone to ruin.
All of history can't be saved, but a handful of Ansonians try.
I visited the Anson County History Center in order to find out more about this confusing man Berry Grove Hildreth and about the Hildreth family as a whole.
Berry Grove Hildreth first appears in the 1850 census, as a 25 year old farmer, living in the home of William and Nancy Hildreth, one of the two couples from the 1840 census, who show up in the 1850 census. He quite appears to be, or could be, their son. The family is living in the Dumas Shop area of Anson County.
In 1860, we find Berry Hildreth, 27, living with a wife, Coley and a 7 year old daughter, Sarah.
They just happen to be listed below the Mary Hildreth family in Lilesville, who escaped being counted in 1850, and above Elijah Hildreth , 21, and his wife, Ann Piltcher's family. Elijah also missed out on enumeration in 1850.
Of note, also in the 1860 census, was the above young family. This is a 35 year old B. G. Hildreth, with wife, Ann and two small children, toddlers Mary M and Perry.
In 1870, we find Collin C. Teal Hildreth.She now has two children, Sarah and Ebben. Still living next to her, as they were in 1860, was Ann Picher Hildreth, widow of Elijah Hildreth, with one of her sons. A few houses up is Henry and Sarah Pilcher, Ann's parents. In their home is Ann and Elijah's older son, John Hildreth, not Pilcher. Also, a farm hand labeled only by his surname, Hildreth, no first name given. I believe this was Thomas Hildreth, who had been living in this spot in the 1860 census in the Mary 1810 grouping, of whom Berrygrove and Elijah had been a part of. The others had either married or had been killed in the Civil War. The exception was Elizabeth, who was at this time living with Davis, who was either her brother or brother-in-law.
We also find Ann Haire Hildreth and her children. She was the mother of 5, Mary 12, Perry 11, William A. 9, Ida, 7, and Parthenia, 1. The age difference between Ida and Parthenia will be addressed shortly.
What had happened? The Civil War.
We know Colin "Coley" Teal was married to Berry Hildreth, or living with him in 1860, but who was B. G. Hildreth who was living with Ann Haire Hildreth in 1860?
Ann M. Haire Hildreth, aged 49 and a resident of Ansonville, in Anson County, NC, filed for a widow's pension on the 4th of July, 1885, stating that she was the widow of Berrygrove Hildreth, who enlisted in Company H, 43rd Regiment, NC State troops, on or about the 8th day of September, 1863 and he died of wounds recieved in battle in June or July of 1864, in Virginia.
Ann reapplied on June 18, 1901, stating that she was 65 years old and still living in Ansonville, and that she was a widow of Berrygrove Hildreth, who enlisted in Company H, 43rd Regiment of the NC State Troops on the 8th of September, 1863 and that she was married to Berrygrove Hildreth about the year 1856. Her husband died of wounds recieved in battle on May 60, 1964. She stated that her name was on the pension rolls of Anson County.
Her pension application was signed by the Clerk of Court of Anson County, John C. McLaughlin and approved by J. C. Allen, W. D. Webb, J. T. Broadway, F. Bennett and W. J. Averett (Avitt).
Berry Grove Hildreth, who served with Co H , 43 regiment, enlisted at Oranage Courthouse in 1863 and died of wounds recieved in May of 1864, a few weeks later in June of 1864.
He died in 1864.....
Yet, on Find-A-Grave, we find this ...
CONFEDERATE SOLDIER:
Pvt. Berry Grove Hildreth Co I "Anson Regulators", 43rd NC Infantry Regiment.
UNMARKED GRAVE: Pvt. Berry Grove Hildreth, Co I "Anson Regulators", 43rd NC Infantry Regiment. Fought with the NC 43rd at Culp's Hill at Gettysburg where the 43rd sustained twenty - six percent casualties. He was present on 9 Aug 1865 in Appomattox, Va when Gen. Lee surrendered. Husband of Annie M. Haire Hildreth. Son of Thomas and Hipsira Childress Hildreth. Father of William Harrison, Mary M., Perry, Ida, and Cook Hildreth.
Family history as told by his granddaughter, Sadie Hildreth Beachum (Find A Grave #34296770)of Ansonville, is that after Berry Grove Hildreth was paroled on 9 Aug 1865 at Appomattox when Gen. Lee surrendered, Berry then walked back to Ansonville. Berry Grove said that he had to stop and ask or beg for food as he made his way back home. Berry also said that he thought that he would never get back home and that he was so sick of walking. When he did arrived back in Ansonville, he disliked walking so much that he would always either ride his horse or hitch up the wagon even for very short trip.
The brother of Pvt. Berry Grove Hildreth is Pvt. Thomas O. Hildreth (Find A Grave #7391390)b. 1820 d. 2 May 1865. Thomas O. was in Co G, 3rd NC Reg Artillery and later the 2nd NC Artillery. He was captured at Fort Fisher, NC and was sent to Elmira Prison Camp, Elmira, NY where he died of pneumonia. Thomas O. is buried at Woodlawn National Cemetery, plot #2007, Elmira, NY.
Pvt. Berry Grove Hildreth is: Father of William Harrison Hildreth #34985287. Buried Bethlehem Cemetery, Ansonville, NC.
Great grandfather of Vera Mae Cauble Faggart #60196709. Buried Oakwood Cemetery, Concord, NC.
Bethel Cememtery lies quietly in the sandy soil of southeastern Anson County. I recently made a visit there, along with a visit to the two Hildreth cemeteries, Bethlehem Cemetery, and several others where many Hildreths grace the ground.
There, I found a tombstone. Private Berry Hildreth, born in 1824. The year of death given was 1870. But didn't he die in Virginia in 1864?
Next to it was this one....
And this one.... Definately a family grouping. Ebben Harrison Hildreth was the son of Colon C Teal Hildreth and Berry Grove. He had one sister, Sarah. Colon or Collin, Coley for short, seemed an unusual name for a woman, but she wasn't the only one. There was a Colon C Polk who married a Meachum, a Colon Beachum and a Colon C Boyette ( Boyt/ Boyd), whose family was very close to the Hildreths and Teals, so there may have been an original female ancestor named Colon C in common.
Caroline Hildreth was Ebb's wife, Caroline Burr. They had a large family together. But the story didn't end there.
1880
In 1880, we see Collon "Coley" Hildreth, now 55, with her daughter Sarah Jane, 22 and Sarah's son Frank, and Deberry Hildreth, her son, who is the same age Ebben would be, yet there's no Eben to be found. I believe Ebben and Deberry were one and the same, as Deberry was not found in any other record and Eben would have been in this one. Deberry could have been a nickname or a middle name that Ebb left behind later in life.
There's also a Frank Cox , a cousin , living with them. I'd like to discover more about how he is related.
Ann Haire Hildreth is still living in Ansonville, with her three youngest children, William, Ida and her youngest, "Cook", a nickname for Parthenia.
And then there's this guy, Berry Hildreth, about 60. He appears to be working for a Gaddy family.
It's quite clear by now that there were two Berry Grove Hildreths, very close in age. Cousins, no doubt, and both of them served in the Civil War. If it were that simple, but its not quite that simple.
The Berry Grove who shows up in 1850 in the home of William and Nancy Covington Hildreth was probably their son and was the one who married Ann Haire in 1856.
The other Berry Grove, about a year older than the other, first shows up in 1860, married to Colon C. Teal, in the Mary 1810 family grouping, a brother of Elijah, Walter, Elizabeth and Davis Hildreth, and possibly a son or stepson of Mary. The more I research, the more I agree with those who presume this to be the family of Rueben, son of David Sr. and Nancy Vickory Hildreth.
Berry Grove (William and Nancy) was in the 1860 census too, married to Ann Haire, as "B. G. Hildreth".
Neither of them appear in the 1870 census. Ann Haire Hildreth's Berry Grove, of course, died in June of 1864, of wounds he recieved on May 20th of that year. He never made it home. The other Berry Grove? He was probably still in hiding. A look at their military records can clear things up a bit.
Just as there were two Berry Grove Hildreths, there were more than one Company of the 43rd Regiment that had Hildreths enlisted.
According to Fold3, Company H, 43rd Regiment, first enlisted men in April of 1861, and most of the soldiers were from Anson County, North Carolina. The youngest soldier was Robert C. Hildreth, at age 16, a son of Robert R. Hildreth and the oldest soldier was John A. Boggan, at 54. I found that interesting because the Boggans and Hildreths have both been in my scope recently.
They fought at Gettysberg, Totopotomy Creek, Cedar Creek, the Third Battle of Winchester and the Third Battle of Gettysburg. The Hildreths in this company were BerryGrove, Robert C. and William C.
North Carolina 43rd Infantry, Company I, first started enlisting soldiers in Wadesboro in May of 1861, and most of the soldiers were also from Anson County. The youngest soldier in this company was Nathan G. Jones, at 14 and the oldest was Benjamin Hudson, 60, who served alongside his sons, Joshua and Evan. This family is also in my peripherials as Benjamin was a brother of Joshua Hudson Jr. who settled along Ugly Creek in Stanly County after moving up from Anson and spawned an enormous family of Hudsons, one of whom I married.
Private Thomas P. Devereux of the 43rd North Carolina Infantry, Co. D.
This Company was known as the Anson Regulators and fought at Gettysberg, Totopotomoy Creek, Third Battle of Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek and Fort Stedman. The Hildreths who fought in this company were Berry G. , Davis, James, Nelson P., and Walter L. The only ones who survived were brothers Berry Grove and Davis. They lost their younger brother, Walter L. Hildreth. Elijah's wife Ann Pilcher Hildreth would name a son after him and so would Berrygrove's son, Ebben.
Many a person had merged the military records into one Berrygrove, who enlisted in Anson in one Company, appears to have gone AWOL, and then reenlisted in the other company at Orange Courthouse. So had Fold3. However, if you follow and separate the H and I Companies, who can tell which Berry Grove was which.
Berry Grove must have been a name that had been passed down the Hildreth family for a few generations, at least. A Greenberry Hildreth shows up in Alabama, a descendant of Reuben Hildreth (the first), who migrated to Alabama from Anson County in its earliest days of settlement, and was a brother to David Sr. who married Ann Vickory.
A careful look at the military records can kind of explain what happened.
One cousin enlisted in Company I, 43rd regiment.
The other cousin enlisted in Company H, 43rd regiment.
One was 37 years old at the time.
The other was 35.
One spent most of his time AWOL
The other spent most of his time sick.
One died in the summer of 1864.
The other was paroled in 1865.
Ann Haire Hildreth filed for a widow's pension. Her husband, Berry Grove, son of William and Nancy Covington Hildreth was dead.
Colon C. Teal Hildreth did not file for a widow's pension. She was not a widow, in fact, her Berry Grove Hildreth outlived her.
Colon aka Coley, doesn't show up anymore after 1880, but Berry does. This excerpt is from the 1900 census of Courthouse Township in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, which is not very far from where the family was living in Gulledge Township, Anson County.
Both children of Colon C Teal Hildreth and her Berry Grove were living in Courthouse, Chesterfield County by 1900. Whether or not they had moved down with their mother is unclear. However, while Colly has appeared to have passed away during this time, Berry clearly didn't. Here is Sarah, "Sally" Hildreth, 40, and her two children, Frank and Mary, living in Chesterfield County, with her 64 year old widowed father, Berry Hildreth.
Sally never married and Simon was a boarder or employee on her farm.
Ebben Hildreth was nearby his father and sister in 1900 in Courthouse, Chesterfield County. He was renting a farm and he and wife, Carolina Burr Hildreth were busy raising a large family.
Name:
Ann Hildreth
Age:
62
Birth Date:
Aug 1837
Birthplace:
North Carolina, USA
Home in 1900:
Ansonville, Anson, North Carolina
Sheet Number:
10
Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation:
177
Family Number:
177
Race:
White
Gender:
Female
Relation to Head of House:
Head
Marital Status:
Widowed
Father's Birthplace:
North Carolina, USA
Mother's Birthplace:
North Carolina, USA
Mother: number of living children:
4
Mother: How many children:
5
Can Read:
Yes
Can Write:
Yes
Can Speak English:
Yes
House Owned or Rented:
Rent
Home Free or Mortgaged:
F
Farm or House:
H
Neighbors:
Household Members
Age
Relationship
Ann Hildreth
62
Head
Back in Ansonville, in Anson County, NC, Ann Haire Hildreth is living alone. In a year, she will file for the new pension for widows and orphans that the Congress had came out with. Ann was the mother of 5 children, and there was something a little off - kilter with the whole of them.
1) Mary Ann Hildreth was born on July 26, 1856 in Anson County, shortly after the marriage of Ann and Berry Grove. She married Robert Treadway and passed away on March 10, 1926 and is buried at the Seago Cemetery near Wadesboro.
2) Perry Hildreth was born about 1859 in Ansonville. He married Martha Edney Tarlton on March 19,1878 and was the father of one child, Lola Irene Hildreth, born Feb. 5, 1878. Perry died young and came to a tragic end.
28 Sep 1879
Wadesboro
"The Observer" (Raleigh NC) news
On September 27, 1879, when his daughter was just a about a year and a half old, Perry Hildreth and his brother William H. Hildreth, struck up a card game with a set of three Rhine brothers. One of them, Ellis, became enraged and began slicing Perry up with a knife. Perry stood up, but then fell over dead. He was 20 years old. The account of the murder was reprinted in five newspapers across the state. Ellis Rhyne admitted to his guilt.
3) William Harrison Hildreth was born on Oct 29, 1860 in Ansonville, where he lived his entire life and seemed to be very involved in the church. His brothers murder right in front of the teenager must have left a deep scar on his life. He married Martha Jane Cauble and had a family of 11 children. He died in Ansonville on February 12, 1939 and was buried at the Bethlehem Church Cemetery in Ansonville.
William Harrison Hildreth family
4) Nancy Jane Ida Hildreth Carpenter was born on April 16, 1864, just a month before her father incurred the wounds that would die of. She married William Atlas Carpenter and had 4 children. She died of pnuemonia at the age of 52 in 1916.
5) Cora Parthenia "Cook" Hildreth. Parthenia is a story all of her own. I can't start with her birthdate, because her birthdate is as fluid as butter in the sun, so we'll start with her obituary. Her very glowing obituary.
Parthenia's obituary gives her a date of birth as April 6, 1872.
Name
Parthenia Hildreth
Birthplace
North Carolina
Dwelling Number
135
Home in 1870
Wadesboro, Anson, North Carolina
Race
White
Gender
Female
Post Office
Wadesboro
Occupation
At Home
Inferred Mother
Ann Hildreth
Household members
Name
Age
Ann Hildreth
32
Mary Hildreth
12
Perry Hildreth
11
William A Hildreth
9
Ida Hildreth
7
Parthenia Hildreth
Yet, she first appears as an infant in the 1870 census, born abuot 1869. She was there. She was counted. He wasn't psychic. The 1880 census has her at 14, or a birth date of about 1866.
She married first to William Stephen Watson on Oct 3, 1886. Her age at that time was given as 22, with a birth year of about 1864. In the 1900 census, her age was given as 30, with a birth year of 1870. W. S. Watson died February 18, 1909, just one month after the birth of their 11th child. She is a widow in the 1910 census and her birth year is given as April of 1870.
The day after Christmas in 1917, Parthenia remarries to James L. Witherspoon. Her year of birth has now slipped to 1872. In 1920, her birth year is given as 1871, in 1930, it's givne as 1872.
And there she is, on her death certificate, with the name of a man who died years before even the earliest estimate of her birth, being listed as her father.
Parthenia died on February 4, 1939. At that time, her birthdate was given as April 6, 1872. So when was Parthenia really born? As a fact, she was alive and breathing by the time the 1870 census was taken. She seemed to get younger as she aged, but in any case, she was far too young to have been the biological daughter of Berry Grove Hildreth, who died in Virginia in June of 1864, at least of the Berry Grove who had married her mother. Anne Maria Hairre Hildreth was not the only Civil War widow who was visited by hte ghost of thier deceased husband years after their death. It was fairly common, in fact. Those days were a different time.
Horrible things happened in horrible times, people took desperate measures. They did what they must to survive. I wonder if any descendants of Parthenia have taken a DNA test? Do they match up with any Hildreths not descended from Ann Haire Hildreth? Do they have matches within the last four generations they can't place a relationship to? Was Parthenias' father another member of the family or another member of the community, or some Yankee Carpetbagger? Only DNA would know.
On the other Berrygroves side, his and Colon Teal Hildreths' children remained in Chesterfield County, SC.
Sarah died first, and suddenly, of apoplexy, in 1918. Her son, Frank, gave the name of her father, but couldn't remember his grandmother's name. Her age was off by at least a decade, as she was born before 1860.
Ebben followed his sister in 1934, at the age of 73. He left a large family, although several of his dozen or more children died young.
There were a few of his children merged into one, or lost by the wayside, as it may have been. His sons Edward D. or Eddie and E. D., no real name, just the initials E D. , were the most confusing pair. As you can see by the 1910 census, they were two separate children, born 2 years apart. On top of that, they died the same year, 1962, but in different months and places. Edward D. hildreth, was born on October 6, 1887 and was married twice, frist to Eliza Culley, by whom he had two children, Viola and Redmond and to Hattie Rainwater, by whom he also had two chidren, Willie Beatrice and James Thomas. Eddie, as he was called, died on August 2, 1962, in Lumberton, Robeson County, NC.
E. D. or Edd D Hildreth, was born on August 5, 1888. The two brothers could have been what was referred to as "Irish Twins." He also married twice, to Mary Carpenter Lear, who had her own children, but none with E. D. and to Letha Sellars, by whom he had two daughters, Avis and Myrtle. E. D., a military man, died July 30, 1962 in Virginia.
Why two brothers so close in age would have names so close in context, I do not know. Then there was the whole Tom, who was a girl and Ruth, who was a boy.
The known children of Ebben Harrison Hildreth and wife, Caroline Burr HIldreth were:
1) Susanna Ada Hildreth (1884 - 1924) Married William Albert Morris, 2 children, remained in Chesterfield County, SC. Died at 40 of uterine cancer.
2) Edward D. (Possibly David) Hildreth (1887-1962).
Married 1st) Eliza Culley, two children.
Married 2nd) Hattie Rainwater, two children.
Lived mainly in Chesterfield, later in Wadesboro and lastly in Robeson County, NC.
3) E. D. (or Edd D.) Hildreth (1887-1962)
Married 1st) Mary Carpenter Lear, no children.
Married 2nd) Letha Sellars, two children.
Spent most of his adult life in Wadesboro, Anson County, NC when not in the military. Died in Danville, VA
4) Tomsie Virginia Hildreth (1892- 1925) Seen as Tommise in one census, Georgia as another, causing some to count her as 2 differnt people, and nothing at all of her adult life. She married Calvin C. Culley, a brother of Eddie's wife, Eliza and was the mother of 7 children: Elsie Mae, Hattie, Grace Beatrice, Leroy P., Helen, Mary Jane and Thetis Irene. She died at 38 of heart disease and her two youngest daughters were raised by two of her younger sisters. Lived for awhile in Marlboro County, SC, died back in Chesterfield.
5) Cora C. Hildreth, born around 1892, no further information. Yet.
6) Elijah Frank 'Lidge" Hildreth (1894-1950) Seen as Lidge half the time and Frank the other half. Married twice, 1st to Essie (unknown), 2nd to Anna Bissett Wessinger, no children. Moved around a bit between Marlboro, Chesterfield and Florence counties in South Carolina and Anson in North Carolina. Died in Florence.
7) Rufus Carl "Ruth" Hildreth (1898-1985) Some folks have added a sister named Ruth, born the same year, but as they are not shown at the same time, and all future refernces to Ruth is to Ruth, the man, I believe their was only one, Ruth/Rufe. Married Lillian Norris, no children. After leaving Chesterfield, lived in Anson, Red Springs in Robeson County, NC, died in Pinehurst, Moore County, NC.
8) Thetis Irene "Thete" Hildreth (1901-1950) Married Greek restauranteur, Peter John Zounis, who ran 'The Busy Bee", in Chesterfield, at 17. Later moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts, died in Florence, South Carolina and buried in Chesterfield. No children, but raised niece Thetis Irene Virginia Culley Powell, daughter of Virginia.
9) Lannie Bell Hildreth (1907-1949) Married Sidney F. Terry Jr. Divorced. One son, Early Terry/ Hildreth. Lived in Chesterfield and Wadesboro.
10) Thurston Wagoner Hildreth (1909-1984) Married Margaret Lee Brower, four children. Lived in Wadesboro.
Ann Marie Haire Hildreth died in August of 1908
She had a nice, small obituary in the local newspaper, noting her long life.
The only mystery left is the that of the story told by Sadie Hildreth Beachum mentioned in the Find-A-Grave memorial.
Sadie was the Daughter of William Harrison Hildreth and wife, M. J. Caudle Hildreth. William Harrison Hildreth was the son of Ann Haire Hildreth and Berry Grove who died in 1864 in Virginia. He never made it home alive. Who was she remembering who walked home and didn't want to walk anymore? It wasn't her grandfather. Not her grandfather Hildreth, at any rate. Ann Haire Hildreth knew well when and where her husband died. She said as much in two pension applications.
Colon Teal Hildreth never filed an application because her husband outlived her. He appears to have been missing for awhile, and seems to have abandoned her, but he survived the War. Yet, even his marker, at Bethel Church beside that of his son Ebben, is incorrect. He was living in Anson County in 1880, and lived until at least 1900, with his daughter, Sarah, when he moved to Chesterfield County SC, with his daughter and her children, as well as his son Ebben and his family. I believe both markers must have been placed much later by a grandchild or further, who has no memories of Berry, just tales of his existence.
In summary, there were two distinct Berry Grove Hildreths, first cousins in all likelihood, and both served in the Civil War. One made it home and one did not. The one tagged in Find a Grave did not.
