Her Mother's Savage Daughter

There's a lovely old song making its way through TikTok Videos and Instagram Influencers in a revival of historic traditional folk songs. By Wyndreth Berginsdottir, it's a rebirth from the Viking tradition and has become an anthem of empowered women. Above, I've posted a photo of my own Savage Daughter. I have two of them, both beautiful, creative, and forcefully strong women. My youngest is more of an Earth Mother, bound to nature, with flowers blooming at her feet. This, my oldest, is more the savage, making her own way in life, living by her own rules, caution to the wind, advancing, surviving, succeeding, and letting no one stand in her way. I refer to her as my chihuahua, small in size and big in personality.

While researching the family of Maniza Ann Honeycutt, which I feel a bit incomplete on, one of her children stood out to me as the feral child, Margaret Ella, one of her youngest. Born late in Maniza's string of children, Ella's path seemed irregular, her story incomplete, yet fascinating. What facts and events created Ella?

The words to the beautiful Viking ballad, written by Wyndreth Berginsdottir are:

"I am my mother's Savage daughter,

the one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones.

I am my mother's savage daughter, 

I will not cut my hair; I will not lower my voice."

This is but the chorus. I will be repeating the remainder of the lyrics throughout this post. 

Maragaret Ella Honeycutt is shown with her mother Maniza, "Nizey", and her younger sister, Rebecca, in the 1880 census of Big Lick, Stanly County, NC, as an 8-year-old.

Her supposed father, George Cagle, to whom her mother was a long-time mistress and paramour, died in 1876, at the hands of a jealous and abusive husband, Daniel Crisco, who was also an employee of Cagle. Her mother was the daughter of George Washington Honeycutt and his wife, Tabitha Tomlinson Honeycutt, who had moved to Coddle Creek, in Iredell County by this year, leaving their wayward daughters in Stanly County.  Ella's date of birth is debatable and highly fluid. Upon her death, one of her sons informed the writer of her death certificate that she was 60 years old, which in 1935, would have given her a birth year of 1875. She was listed as 8 in 1880, but I feel she was much older than that at the time. She was young upon the date of her first marriage, I am sure, but not as young as her death certificate implies. 

It's unknown what life was like for Maniza and her younger children after the death of George Cagle. She obviously attempted to carry on, on her own, to be found still in Big Lick in 1880, four years after his murder. His legal widow, Nancy, moved to Iredell County, with others of his children, after his death. These included Maniza's own oldest son, Ellison "Eli" F. Cagle. He would later move to the Clear Creek Community in northern Mecklenburg County, which appears to be the area that the children of Maniza would congregate, and where Maniza would call home in her later decades, with the support of her children, in particular, her sons. 

Her second oldest son, James Alfred, seems to have been the official caretaker and 'rock' of the fatherless bunch, as his name ends up on records of siblings and aunts in various capacities. In 1880, he was a young 23, married to his first wife, Tisha Willliams, and living in Goose Creek, Union County. 

Oldest daughter, Eliza Jane, was only 17, a wife and mother to an infant son, Eli, and living in New Salem, Union County. 

The middle children, like William Daniel Hice, shown as 3-year-old William Honeycutt in 1870, and Mary Caroline, aka 'Lina', who was married in 1879 at 14-years-old, are not to be found in 1880.

Ella, it seems, was also forced into a very early marriage, perhaps one she was not happy about. 

On December 18, 1883, L. F. Yow, age 27, of Stanly County, son of Mary Yow and father unknown, married "Eller" Honeycutt, age 16, of Stanly County, daughter of 'Nisy' Honeycutt and father unknown. Nisy Honeycutt gave the permission for her underage daughter to marry. The marriage took place at the office of J. H. Honeycutt, Justice of the Peace, in Big Lick, Stanly County. Witnesses were C D Lowder, P F Huneycutt and Lina McIntyre, sister of the bride. 

This would have given Ella a birth year of 1867. If she and Eva, a newborn in the 1870 census, were one and the same, she would have been born in 1869, she could have, however, been missed. If she were indeed 8 years old in the 1880 census, as she was counted, she would have only been 11 years old at this marriage. Whichever scenario holds true, two facts withstand; her age was fluid, and she was a very young bride. 

 Lindsey Frank Yow had arrived in the world on July 25, 1856, in similar conditions as Ella Honeycutt. A Bastardy Bond would declare one Henry Atkins Easley as his father. Henry Easley had sprang from two of the wealthiest families along the Rocky River on the border of Stanly and Anson County, in the fertile Cottonville area just a few miles from its confluence with the Pee Dee River. He was the son of wealthy Miller Easley and his wife Francis Kendall. Miller would marry multiple times and lastly to a Great, Great, Great Aunt of mine. Henry was the grandson of John Kendall and Susanna Gaines, and Thornton Kendall and his wife, Mary. Stanly County was not a large slave-holding county full of wealthy planters during the Antebellum years, but there existed a small community of them, concentrated near the rivers, and clustered about the forks. The Kendall's and Easley's were two of them. 

Mary "Polly" Yow hailed from very different origins. 

Polly was the daughter of Dennis Yow and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Shoffner. She came from German roots, that had trickled into Stanly County from the Cabarrus and Rowan County borders from the north and west. They had settled in Tyson Township, not far from where the Easley's lived. Dennis Yow struggled with debt off and on. He was a Yeoman farmer. The above is a portion of the 1870 census of Tyson Township, showing the small Yow family, living among their Shoffner relatives. Dennis and wife are in their 70's. Their single daughter, Mary "Polly" Yow, at 30, is living with them. Her 14-year-old son, Lindsey is living with them, too.

Can you imagine how an innocent, 16 year old Lutheran girl would feel, if she encountered a charming and flirtatious young gentleman in his twenties, Methodist Episcopal, educated and a bit arrogant, while she might have been humble by nature, perhaps shy, and most definitely naive. 

How easily she may have fallen for his wiles, smitten and taken under his spells. There may have been promises of marriage, she may have been afraid of losing him. We can't know, but can imagine the scenario.

Lindsey was born in 1856. Henry Easley would marry four years later to Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Lewis and Dorcas Smith, respectable family. 

And there was the disgraced Polly Yow, in 1870, at 30, living with her parents, and her misbegotten son, 14 year old Lindsey. But she would find love. 

 Polly would marry a month later, on July 17, 1870, to John Carpenter, son of Thomas Carpenter and wife, Besty Broadaway Carpenter, ancestors of mine. Like many others I've feature in recent posts, they would move to Iredell County, North Carolina. John Carpenter and Polly Yow Carpenter would have one son, William J. Carpenter. 

In 1880, Lindsey is living with his widowed grandfather, Dennis, next door to his mother, stepfather and half-brother. At this juncture, they are still in Tyson Township, Stanly County. Three years later, he marries Ella Honeycutt. 

The marriage produces one child, a daughter Della. 

Twenty years later, young Della is living with her grandparents, the Carpenters, in Coddle Creek, Iredell County. Where are her parents?

Name	Frank ?? Yow
Age	43
Birth Date	Jul 1856
Birthplace	North Carolina, USA
Home in 1900	China Grove, Rowan, North Carolina
House Number	49
Sheet Number	14
Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation	242
Family Number	245
Race	White
Gender	Male
Relation to Head of House	Head
Marital Status	Divorced
Father's Birthplace	North Carolina, USA
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina, USA
Occupation	Day Laborer
Months Not Employed	0
Can Read	Y
Can Write	Y
Can Speak English	Y
House Owned or Rented	Own
Farm or House	H
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
Frank ?? Yow	43

Frank is living in China Grove, Rowan County, working as Laborer. His marital status is given as 'Divorced'. 

What had happened?

Fortunately, the divorce was preserved in Court records.

IN the Fall Term of 1890,  the case of  "L. F. Yow vs. Ella Yow" was brought before Judge Byrum. The judgement was rendered against the Plaintiff for failing to be present. The details of the case follows.

I     That on or about the 20th day of December, 1883, in Stanly County, he (the plaintiff, Lindsey F.Yow), was married to the defendant.

II    That the plaintiff was at the time of the several acts of adultery hereinafter mentioned and at the commencement of the actions and  inhabitant of the county and State.

III  That the defendant on or about the  ___ day of ____ 1885 committed adultery with one John Carter.

IV    That the defendant on or about the ____ day of ____ 1886 committed adultery with one Jackson Gurley.

V    That the defendant at diverse times and places has committed adultery with various other persons to the plaintiff unknown.

VI    That said adultery was committed without the consent, connivance or...      

procurement of the plaintiff and that the plaintiff has not cohabitated with the defendant since such adulterous intercourse was discovered by the plaintiff.

VII     That the issue of said marriage is one child, named Della J. Yow of the age of one and one half years. 

        Wherefore the plaintiff demands judgement.

1.     For a divorce from the bonds of matrimony. 

2.    That the custody of said child be awarded to him. 

    L. F. Yow being duly sworn says that the facts set forth in the foregoing complaint of his own knowledge are true except those matters therein stated on information and belief as to those matters he believe items to be true; that this complaint is not made out of levity or by collusion between him and the defendant, and not for the mere purpose of being freed and separated from each other, but in sincerity and in truth for the causes mentioned in the complaint that the facts set forth in the complaint are grounds for divorce have ajusted to his.

Knowledge for at least six months prior to the filing of this complaint + that the plaintiff has been a resident of the State of North Carolina for more than two years preceding the filing of this complaint. 

Signed in a lovely script, L. F. Yow.  On the 10th day of September 1887.

"My mother's child is a savage,

She looks for her omens in the colors of stones,

In the faces of cats, in the fall of feathers, 

In the dancing of fire and the curve of old bones."

In summary, Ella had married, as a very young teenager, to 27 year old Lindsey Yow, who was himself an illegitimate child, as was she. Her mother may have pressed it, to get her married off before Ella, herself, became an unwed mother. 

They married near Christmas in 1883, and their only child, Della J Yow, who Lindsey requested, and received, custody of, was born early in the winter of 1886, as she was a year and a half old in September of 1887. Lindsey had caught his wife with a man named John Carter in 1885, and a year later, caught her with Jackson Gurley in 1886. He filed for divorce in 1887, suspecting her of having slept with other men, but had no proof or names,  just suspicions. 

For some reason, he had not shown up in court when the judgement was supposed to have been made, however, it seems the divorce was granted at some point, that fact withstanding. Who were these men that Ella had dalliances with, and why?

Name	Jackson G Gurley
Age in 1870	10
Birth Date	abt 1860
Birthplace	North Carolina
Dwelling Number	113
Home in 1870	Big Lick, Stanly, North Carolina
Race	White
Gender	Male
Post Office	Albemarle
Cannot Read	Yes
Cannot Write	Yes
Inferred Mother	Mary Gurley

Household members

Name	Age
Mary Gurley	68
Lucy Gurley	30
Harriet Gurley	26
Celia J Gurley	23
Jackson G Gurley	10

There was a Jackson G Gurley living in Big Lick in 1870.  At 10 years old, he would have been about 26 in 1886, when he was accused of an illicit relationship with Ella Honeycutt Yow. He's living in home of a Mary Gurley, 68, who may have been his Grandmother. Jackson is a bit of a mystery, but he's in the right place and the right age, to have been the accused.

Name	John M. Carter
Age	33
Birth Date	Abt 1847
Birthplace	North Carolina
Home in 1880	Big Lick, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Dwelling Number	41
Race	White
Gender	Male
Relation to Head of House	Self (Head)
Marital Status	Married
Spouse's Name	Adeline Carter
Father's Birthplace	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina
Occupation	Farmer
Neighbors
There were a number of John Carter's in Stanly County at this time. Some of them were just children, but of the two in the most feasible age range, only one lived in Big Lick. For a young woman in the time just before the railroads came through, location had a large part to play in availability and opportunity. This John Carter was a married man in his 30's, but I've come to discover that in post war Big Lick, that didn't mean a thing. In 1885, when he was accused, he would have been 38, based on his age in the 1880 census, pictures above.

When we last saw young Della J. Yow, the only child of Lindsey F. and Margaret Ella Honeycutt Yow's marriage, she was 14 years old, and living with her grandmother, Mary Polly Yow Carpenter and her step-grandfather, and uncle, in the Coddle Creek area of Iredell County. Ella's firstborn didn't live a long life. Her tombstone gives no dates, but she is not to be found in the 1910 census, or beyond. I believe she passed away, perhaps as a teenager, between 1900 and 1910, perhaps of Typhoid Fever or the Spanish Flu, which were rampant in the early years of the 20th century. 

Name	Della Yow
Cemetery	Amity Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place	Iredell County, North Carolina, United States of America

Della J Yow was buried at the Amity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Iredell County, NC. 

Her father spent his last years as a single man

Lindsey Frank Yow spent his last years alone, mining in Rowan and Cabarrus Counties

He passed away on June 20, 1917, at the age of 60, in Cabarrus County. His death certificate declared him married, although I've not found trace of another wife. He suffered from endocarditis and nephritis, which was rampant in those days. 

 

After her divorce from Lindsey, who seemed a steadfast and moral fellow, if nothing else, whom I feel loved her dearly despite her flaws, she went on to have bad taste in men, at least temporarily. Her next conquest, or love interest was a man so notorious, so dangerous, he was referred to as a local  ersatz "Jesse James" and was a married man. He became the father of her second child, Bub Alec Hagler, who was born on August 10, 1891. This indicates she was living in the Clear Creek area of Mecklenburg County, where several of her siblings and most likely, her mother, had taken root. Although her son with the aberrant name of "Bub" Alex Haigler took his father's last name, there was no record of a marriage or his divorce from his wife, not at this point in time.

My mother's child dances in darkness
She sings heathen songs
By the light of the moon
And watches the stars and renames the planets
And dreams she can reach them
With a song and a broom

James Alexander Haigler or Hagler, was born in Buford, Lancaster County, South Carolina around May in 1849. He was the son of  Charles George Hagler and Mary "Polly Ann" Althea Honeycutt. His mother was indeed a distant cousin of Ella's. I believe their grandfathers were first cousins. He was raised in Union County, North Carolina from an early age.  

On March 1st, 1872, he married Harriett Phillips, daughter of Henry F. Phillips, and wife, Mary Elizabeth Fincher Starnes Phillips, which places her squarely in my family tree, as I am borh a Fincher and a Starnes descendant.

Name	James Hagler
Age	31
Birth Date	Abt 1849
Birthplace	North Carolina
Home in 1880	Clear Creek, Mecklenburg, North Carolina, USA
Dwelling Number	22
Race	White
Gender	Male
Relation to Head of House	Self (Head)
Marital Status	Married
Spouse's Name	Hariet Hagler
Father's Birthplace	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina
Occupation	Farmer
Cannot Read	Y
Cannot Write	Y
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
James Hagler	31
Hariet Hagler	26
William E. Hagler	6
Henry Hagler	3
Ider Hagler	1

In 1880, James Alec Hagler were living in Clear Creek Township, Mecklenburg, NC. The first three of their five children would be born. After that, things would go awry.  There were multiple marriages between the Phillips daughters and the Hagler sons.

James Alex Hagler married Harriett Edith Phillips on March 21, 1872 in Mecklenburg County.

Isaac Wilson Hagler married Celia Ann Phillips on July 4, 1884 in Mecklenburg County.

Michael "Mike" Hokes Hagler married Ann Emilissa Phillips on August 1, 1886 in Mecklenburg County.

 There may have been more connections.

Alex had another brother, Thomas, who had married a Hayes, not a Phillips, and had settled across the Cabarrus County line, in Rocky River Township. In 1885, Alex seems to have left Harriett and the children, and possibly staying with his brother, Thomas. The article below sets the stage.

The Charlotte Observer Charlotte, North Carolina • Fri, Jul 17, 1885Page 7

In the hot Carolina summer of 1885, Alex had been a participant in a big family spat, armed himself and took to the woods to hide. What had spurred this behavior? Was the fight among he and his wife and children, his siblings, or the Phillips family, his in-laws? They all lived within one little cluster of Clear Creek, with the exception of his brother, Thomas. Had Alex been betrayed? Something that drove him to fury? Or was he mentally ill and seeing, or believing things that did not happen or did not exist?

The Charlotte Democrat Charlotte, North Carolina • Fri, Aug 21, 1885Page 2

A month later, in August, Alex was found and jailed. He had stolen a bay horse from a Mrs. Russell who lived near Rocky River Church, where a second and third Great Grandmother of mine are buried, along with distant aunts and uncles of previous generations. On the horse, it appears, he made his ways across the South Carolina into Chesterfield, where he was caught after stealing a gun. 

Evidentially, Alex served some time for his misadventures, how much, I didn't dig into too deeply. He was a free man, obviously, by 1890, when he would have met Ella Honeycutt. Their son, to whom they gifted the odd moniker of 'Bub Alec', was born on August 1, 1891.

My mother's child curses too loud and too often,
My mother's child laughs too hard and too long,
And howls at the moon and sleeps in ditches,
And clumsily raises her voice in this song.

The Charlotte Observer Charlotte, North Carolina • Sun, May 6, 1894Page 6

The Sanders.

Enter the Sanders. In May of 1894, Alex Hagler got in a fight with Miller 'Sadders', who was actually Miller or Millard Sanders. Both men were up for affray in Court and fined $25. Just below the mention of their fracas, we see that Albert Sanders was also in court, brought up on charges of obtaining goods from a Mr. Berry Hill under false pretenses. 

These weren't unrelated incidents and the names weren't a coincidence and the men were not random ne're-do-wells. 

In the 1870 census, we find both Miller, 15 and Albert, 13, in the home of one Jesse Snaders, 37. There are also two girls in the group, Eliza 18, and Sarah, 11. Certainly appears to be a family, and it was, a father and children who had just lost their mother, living together in Crab Orchard Township of Mecklenburg County, but using the Harrisburg Post Office in Cabarrus, so straddling the county lines, so to speak.

So, Alex Hagler had gotten in a skirmish with a Miller Sanders whose brother is mentioned as a thief or fraudster in the next line. What has that got to do with Margaret Ella Honeycutt Yow, the object of his affections, at least for a time in the early Gay Nineties? Quite a bit it seems.

Ella gave birth to her third child, a son, Wylie D. G. Sanders, on January 24, 1895, which would place the most probably date of his conception as between May 1st and May 5th, 1894. The fray between Alex Hagler and Miller Sanders was reported on May 6th , 1894. Which leads me to believe that Ella was at the center of the friction and confrontation between Alex Hagler and Miller Sanders. Do not let this lead you to believe that Miller Sanders, or even his shifty little brother, Albert, were the father of said Wylie D. G. Sanders. They were not, or, rather, reportedly not. The father was, on record at any rate, Miller and Albert's own father, Jesse Sanders. Now, is the year 1895, Jesse Sanders, the purported father of Wylie, was 64, Ella, his mother was 23, and Wylie's mischievous older brothers, Miller and Albert were a mere 40 and 38. It would seem that one or them would have been the more likely wooer of young Ella. Even at the brothers ages is gives a little repugnant feeling, or like my kids would say, "cringe". The thought of a 64 year old man with a 23 year old woman, even worse, and would lead one to think he must have had money. But it was the gilded age and the mores were very different. Ella was a divorced woman with an additional illegitimate child by a mad man and social derelict. That made every bit of difference in the world. It became a matter of whomever would give her shelter. It was quite the imbroglio and a tensile situation in any course.

Now we all are brought forth out of darkness and water,
Brought into this world through blood and through pain,
And deep in our bones, the old songs are wakening,
So sing them with voices of thunder and rain.

As far as Alex Hagler's wife, Harriett Phillips Hagler, he had long given up on her, it appears. She too, had another child about this time, and not with James Alexander Hagler. In fact she had two. Her son Edward L., aka Edd, was born on June 1, 1895 and her son Brice R. (Beverly) was born on October 14, 1896. The two brothers were listed as Taylors in 1910, and Edd's records names a 'D. C. Taylor' as his father. However, as adults, they both assumed the surname of Hagler and that is the name they passed down to their children.

 

The Hagglers, Phillips, Sanders and a few other intertwined families from this particular section along the Cabarrus/Mecklenburg border had several interactions with Taylors, too, so D. C. might have been a member of this clan. 

The Evening Chronicle Charlotte, North Carolina • Sat, Aug 10, 1912Page 6

Harriett would remarry, becoming the third wife of  an old Confederate Vet from Tennessee named Henry Barlow, or Barley as the Carolina country folk had renamed him. He had previously been married to two Helms ladies, who were not sisters, and had a number of children. Harriett had only been married to him a few years, when she was widowed. She spent her last years with her younger two sons, passing away at 74 on June 5, 1929. She is buried at Arlington Baptist Church, near Mint Hill, which had been mentioned several times in this post and my last, as it also bears the remains of several of the family members of Maniza Honeycutt.

The Charlotte Democrat

Charlotte, North Carolina • Thu, Mar 18, 1897Page 3

As for James A. Hagler, in March of 1897, his ongoing exploits had rendered him committed, and declared insane. It was reported that he was delivered to the asylum in Morganton, Burke County, NC. He didn't stay there.

The 1900 census, taken on June 25, 1900, in Clear Creek Township by William F. Houston,  shows him living in the home of his only daughter, Ida Jane, who had married a William Helms. Also in the home was his son, John Hooks Hagler, and 19, and William and Ida's two young children. He declares himself 51 years of age, and married for 25 years. Although Harriett's where-abouts are unknown, her future husband, Harvey Barley, is listed just a page over, with his second wife, Sarah, and their children. 

The Charlotte News Charlotte, North Carolina • Fri, Jul 20, 1900Page 1

Less than a month later, Alex has been at it again, and Squire Maxwell was on his trail, again. Alex was terrorizing the neighborhood of Clear Creek armed to the teeth with guns and brass knuckles and three dogs in accompaniment. The newspapers declared him 'insane beyond any shadow of a doubt.'

The Charlotte News Charlotte, North Carolina • Thu, May 12, 1904Page 5

For at least a second time, Alex had been released to the peril of Clear Creek. He was taken to jail again in May of 1904. He was now 73 years old. 

The Charlotte News Charlotte, North Carolina • Mon, Oct 3, 1904Page 2

Alex was kept in jail in 1904 for a span of nearly 5 months. On October 3, it was reported that he was taken to the asylum in Raleigh, which would have been Dorothea Dix Hospital for the Insane. Within the next four years, he was returned home for the third, and perhaps last, time.

The Charlotte News Charlotte, North Carolina • Thu, Jul 2, 1908Page 5

James Alex Hagler was again in custody in July of 1908. He had been confined in the penitentiary, for some unknown offense, and was being transported back to Raleigh, probably to Dorothea Dix Hospital, by Sheriff Wallace. Now 78, the inestimable Alex escaped, by some means. Perhaps his age had given him abeyance. 

I don't know the date of decease or final resting place of the Mad Alex Hagler. I believe it most likely to have been between this last date of July 2, 1908, and 1909, which allowed his wife Harriett the release and freedom to marry Mr. Barley. 

Back to Ella

But what about Ella, the heroine of this story?  'E. Yould' in the 1900 census below is Ella Yow, now 34. 

Name	E Yould
Age	34
Birth Date	Jun 1865
Birthplace	North Carolina, USA
Home in 1900	Crab Orchard, Mecklenburg, North Carolina
Sheet Number	7
Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation	124
Family Number	135
Race	White
Gender	Female
Relation to Head of House	Boarder
Marital Status	Single
Father's Birthplace	North Carolina, USA
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina, USA
Occupation	Housekeeper
Months Not Employed	0
Can Read	Y
Can Write	N
Can Speak English	Y
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
J Sanders	61
Willard Sanders	45
Alic Sanders	9
Wylie Sanders	5
G?Y Sanders	3
E Yould	34

Ella is living in Crab Orchard Township, Mecklenburg County, working as a housekeeper for Mr. Jesse  Sanders. The "E Yould" is very vague, however, we can rest assured this is Ella, because she ends up marrying Mr. Sanders, and should, because the three children listed, Alic, Wylie and Guy, are her own children, but it is a little more complicated than that. Jesse is listed as 61. The 45 year old man living with him is his son, and Miller has been misrepresented as "Willard". Three little boys, ages 9, 5 and 3 are also listed as the sons of Jesse Sanders. They turn out to be Bub Alec Hagler, son of Ella and James Alex Hagler, and not a Sanders at all; Wylie D. G. Sanders, Ella's son with Jesse, mentioned before; and Davidson Guy Sanders, also a son of Jesse and Ella, supposedly. Not listed is the third child of Jesse and Ella, and Ella's fifth child, a daughter, Mary Annie Sanders, born December 5, 1899. 

Just three days after the census was taken, Jesse Sanders must have came to his senses and decided to make an honest woman of the mother of his youngest children, and give them a legal name. On June 28, 1900, Jesse Sanders, aged 69, son of Josh Sanders and Sallie Sanders, married Ella Yow daughter of "Iza" Honeycutt, living and father unknown. Both of Jesse's parents were deceased. The wedding took place at the Temple of Justice in Charlotte by Justice of the Peace Maxwell and witnessed by J W. Cobb, John B Spence and J. F. Adams. Adams was of some relation to the Sanders family. I believe the husband of his niece.

The Charlotte News Charlotte, North Carolina • Mon, Oct 1, 1906Page 4

The marriage lasted six years. Jesse was noted to have been in declining health in two newspaper articles, weeks before his demise. He died on September 30, 1906, and was buried in the Hickory Grove Church Cemetery. The article was wrong on several accounts. Jesse wasn't over 90. He was about 75 years old, in all honesty. He was survived by his widow, three young children and a step son and four, not three, adult children. Those named were his children, but they neglected to mention Miller, or Millard or Willard, whichever incantation is correct. He was living. 

After Jesse's death, Ella moved her family into the bustling City of Charlotte. The 1908 City Directory has her living at 403 East 14th Street. Of course, the place, or residence, is no longer there. Instead, a treatment center belonging to Atrium Health occupies the space. The 1910 census gives us a snapshot of how she was surviving. 

Now, in Charlotte Township, Ella is a 38 year old widow. She's living with her three youngest children, and claims to be the mother of six children with four living. We know that Dora Yow has passed, but the sixth child remains a mystery. She also has two boarders, Elbert and Johnny "Euton", father and son. Elbert was also a widower, and the name was actually spelled 'Wooten'.

A glimpse at the other side of the census shows how they were living. Ella did not have an occupation. Her 15 year old son, Wylie and 13 year old son, Guy, were both working in Cotton Mills. I've seen this painfully many times in records of this age, where children, even very young children, would be working while the mother stayed home, and the father, if living, farming. Nine year old Mary was not employed, thankfully. Her boarder was a Carpenter and his 14 year old son was not employed.

Ella's oldest son, Bub Alec Hagler, was 19 and on his own by 1910. Above is shown his military registration card, which gives a snapshot of what Bub was up to. He was a Mill operator, single, and working at Appleton Mills, while living on North Davidson Street.

Ella was always one to take advantage of an opportunity. As it would turn out, her boarder, the carpenter, was more than just a boarder. He was her lover. 

Her seventh child, counting the unknown one, was born on October 10th, 1910. Ella would have been well along in the pregnancy when the census taker made his rounds. She named the child, a daughter, Margaret Agnes Wooten. A second daughter, named Myrtle, would follow on February 18, 1914. Elbert and Ella married just after Agnes was born and Ella was in her early 40's by the time she had Myrtle, her last child. 

The Wootens

Elbert Alvin Wooten was born in October 5, 1848 in Eagle Mills, Iredell County, son of Alvin Wooten and Jennie Stillman of Yadkin County. He was a widower, having previously been married to a Cynthia, by whom he had two children, William and Viola, both born in the 1870's. His youngest son, Johnny, or John Lewis Wooten, was born of a Sarah Gordon in 1895. Ella was his third wife. 

In 1920, the family had established sort of a family grouping of residences on North Davidson Street. Elbert, 67, was still a Carpenter, and Ella, now 48, was a housekeeper, raising their two daughters, Agnes, 9 and Myrtle, 5. Right next door, can be found Ella's son, Guy A Sanders, with his wife, Mary and next to Guy, was John Wooten, with his wife also named Mary.  All four of the last four, the sons and their wives, were listed as Weavers and occupied "cutting wire".

This one seemed to stick. No longer wonton youth, seeking excitement in life, Ella and Elbert settled in and grew old together, with the City of Charlotte growing larger and busier around them. The 1930 census had them living on East 20th Street, near North Davidson Street. They were in the Belmont neighborhood, where most surviving homes were built in the 1920's, so it was a new, growing neighborhood in their day. Elbert, now 76 years old, had retired. Ella was 54, both had misunderstood the question, "How old were you at your first marriage?", and answered with the age they were when they married each other, or one misunderstood and answered for both. Their daughter, Margaret Agnes, now married to a Bass, lived with them, but her husband did not live with them. She was an inspector at a Cotton Mill. A City Directory close to this time revealed she was an Inspector at the Calvine Mill. Near the Belmont neighborhood, the Mill sat in the vicinity of the 1100 Block of Hawthorne Lane and had a considerable mill village surrounding it. A small street called Calvine Mill Way is left to honor it.

Margaret Ella Honeycutt Yow Sanders Wooten died on March 23, 1935, of cervix cancer and influenza. The informant on her death certificate was her son, Wylie Sanders. He couldn't recall the names of her parents, as he had never met them. He gave her place of birth as Montgomery County, which I don't believe was correct. Ella was buried at Arlington Cemetery in Clear Creek, where many of her family rests. Wylie's address was 1020 Pegram St. in Charlotte, which was the address the paper reported as her own in her obituary, indicating Wylie may have been caring for her in her illness. She was not a widow, as Elbert outlived her, despite a 20-year age difference. 

The Charlotte Observer Charlotte, North Carolina · Sunday, March 24, 1935

Margaret Ella was the mother of eight children, and only five survived her, Bub Alec Hagler, Wylie and Guy Sanders and Agnes and Myrtle Wooten. She was also survived by her oldest brother Eli Cagle, and her brother Daniel Hice. Two older sisters survived her, Eliza Cagle Philemon, and Lina Honeycutt Simpson. Not mentioned in her obituary was her husband, Elbert, although he survived her. There may have been a family rift, or he may have abandoned her to the care of her son, Wylie, during her illness, causing them to omit him. 

Elbert is found in 1940, at 92 years, living with the two children born of his middle marriage to Sarah Gordon, John Lewis Wooten, with his wife and son Lewis. His sister, Bertha and her husband, William Burris, were also in the home. The old Carpenter would pass on November 25, 1944, at the age of 96, of a cerebral hemorrhage due to hypertension. His children buried him at Oaklawn Cemetery in Charlotte.

Ella Honeycutt married three times, was divorced once, and took into her heart many lovers along the way. She was one of those who seemed to thrive on excitement, chaos and daring in her youth. A fatherless child, she did things her own way. She was the daughter of a postwar mistress, Maniza Honeycutt, and probably the lascivious miller, businessman and farmer, George Washington Cagle. Ella met life on her own terms.

We are our mother's savage daughters,
The ones who run barefoot cursing sharp stones.
We are our mother's savage daughters,
We will not cut our hair, We will not lower our voice

Savage Daughter Karaoke Graphic

The descendants of Margaret Ella Honeycutt were: 

1) Della Yow born in Stanly County in 1886. Died as a teenager in Iredell County. Father Lindsey Frank Yow.

2) Bub Alec Hagler (1891-1960) Born in Clear Creek Township, Mecklenburg County. Had a military career and later spent decades as a Beamer in a Cotton Mill. Married Bertie Darnell at age 32. No children. Settled in Charlotte. Son of James Alexander Hagler.

3) Wylie D. G. Sanders (1895-1979) Born in Crab Orchard Township, Mecklenburg County. Veteran of WWI. Married Mary Leila Jones and worked in Textiles in Mecklenburg County remainder of life. Six children: Lee, Jesse, Oten, Essie, Betty, Clarence. Son of Jesse Sanders.

4) Davidson Guy Sanders (1897-1973) Born in Mecklenburg County. Veteran of WWI. Lied about age to get in. Married at 20 to Mary E. Pendleton. Worked as a Carpenter and in the Cotton Mills. Lived on Pegram Street near his brother Wylie. Father of five children: Edna, Elizabeth, Wilson Lewis,  Pauline,and Barbara Jean.  Son of Jesse Saunders. 

5) Mary Annie Sanders (1900-1927) Born in Charlotte, NC. Lived with Aunt Mary Caroline Honeycutt Simpson for awhile in a Cotton Mill Village. Married at 17 to Andrew Carl Stuttz. Moved to Chester, South Carolina. Died young, at age 28, of peritonitis. Three children, but only two lived until adulthood, Wanda Juanita and Paul Amburst Stuttz. Daughter of Jesse Saunders. 

6) Unknown child born between 1900 & 1910. Ella had reported being the mother of six children with 4 living in 1910. 

7) Margaret Agnes Wooten (1910-1990) Born and raised in Charlotte NC, worked as an Inspector and Seamstress. Married Benjamin Burwell Bass in the late 1920's. One son, Monte Lee Bass, was born early and died at one day old. She divorced Burwell Bass, a character in the frame her mother would have sought after, and was living with her parents by the summer of 1930, in the census. She claimed her husband's infidelity had given her a disease that killed their son and would render her infertile. She had married Isaac Sherrill Greene ,(before 1940), by the time her father passed away in 1944 and was living in Norfolk, Virginia at the time. She was living in Mecklenburg County, when she passed a widow with no children at 83. Her obituary named her as Martha Agnes. Other records have her as Margaret Agnes. 

8 Myrtle Aileen Wooten (1914-2002) Born and raised in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County. At the much too tender age of 13, Myrtle married William Samuel Wilson, 14 years her senior, much like her mothers preference for much older men. Five children were born to this union, between 1930, when she was 16, and 1938, when she was 24, namely Lila Aileen, W. S. II,  Joyce Louise, Ella Josephine, Annie Victoria. She would later marry a second time to Thomas Smith. She was the daughter of Elbert Wooten.

The Charlotte Observer Charlotte, North Carolina · Thursday, June 21, 1928

Myrtle's story is too fresh and recent to tell in any depths, but she was her mothers savage daughter. When she passed away at 89, she was survived by two of her five children, 23 grandchildren, 48 great grandchildren, and 50 great great grandchildren.

The Saga Continues

Maniza

 

In the February Session of Court, in the year 1861, two people were brought to court on the charges of Fornication and Adultery. The jury consisted of Daniel Kimra, Hudson Biles, William Eudy, Jr., Wiley Lyerly, William Eudy, Sr., Nash Russell, John M. Lowder, W. H. Mabry, Arnold Parker, Alexander McSwain, Robert M. Hall and S. M. Tomlinson. They found the defendants, George Cagle and Maniza Honeycutt, guilty as charged, and both were fined, and the fines were paid, $20 for George Cagle, an enormous amount in those days, and $5.00 for Maniza, which was also probably paid by George. 

I've now wondered and opined on the life and legacy of George Washington Cagle for several posts now. I can't wrap it up without looking at the life of his other mistress, Maniza Ann Honeycutt, and in doing so, her own family. 

Maniza, blessed with one of those beautiful, old-fashioned names, that set her apart from the plethora of banal Mary's, Elizabeth's and Jane's. 'Muh-NEYE-zuh', for those wondering how to pronounce it. Of course she was a Huneycutt, and the Huneycutt's had arrived from Eastern North Carolina, or wherever else they derived from with a collection of uncommon names to spice up the prosaic landscape. Seen as both "Hu" and "Ho" in those days, before the bifurcation of the family lines, the name is of English origin, meaning literally, "Honey Cottage", and first appeared in Somerset, and could be the origins of the genetic link to "Somerset and Devon", in the genetic breakdown of family genetics. Maniza deserved a unique, flowery name, as she was anything but mundane.

Born on March 9, 1839, in Anson County, just south of the Rocky River, she is first seen with her family in the 1850 census of Union County but would spend most of her productive years in the Big Lick Community of Stanly County. 

Maniza was the daughter of George Washington Huneycutt (1809-1880) and his wife, Tabitha Tomlinson (1810-1890). Her father was a Miller, as was her future partner in crime, George Washington Cagle. Her father shows up in West Pee Dee, Montgomery County, in the 1830 and 1840 census. He's near George Cagle and Edward Almond, which suggests he lived in the Big Lick area of what is now Stanly County, and a large number of other Honeycutt's. Some speculate that he was the son of Drury Honeycutt, but as they an early and populous clan with few clear records at that stage of the game, I will not speculate. My own Honeycutt heritage begins with the ubiquitous Christian name of "John", so I have never speculated on his origins, as I can't get beyond him. 

In 1860, Maniza Ann was just a little girl, "Manicy A.", aged 10. She was the third child in the dropdown list, preceded by John W. and Frances M. ages 14 and 12, respectively, and followed by Lindsey, 8, Sarah C., 6, Clara E., 4 and Mary 2, the typical 19th century farm family pattern of a baby every two years. 

A decade later, George has moved his growing family back across the north side of the Rocky River, and is again, living amongst, a number of Honeycutt's and others of the western Stanly County ilk. He's no longer a Miller, but just a farmer. He had purchased a 99-acre tract on Bear Creek, from a Sheriffs' sale, that bordered the Wright Burris property. This deed is found in the Stanly Court Register of Deeds records, Book 17 Page 543. Daughter Frances, or 'Franky', is now the oldest child in the home, as son John has begun his own household, at age 23, Maniza is 21, Lindsey, 19, Sarah 16, and now a Solomon has joined the group at age 15, who must have been left out in the 1850 census. Clara, "Clary", is now 12, Mary, who was listed as 2 in 1850, is listed as 10 this time. The ages were fluid in those days. The family has now been joined by two little boys, George W. Honeycutt, Jr., age 8, and Miles, age 6. More on him later. 

Things will change drastically for Maniza's parents and siblings in the years ahead, so this is a good place to stop before delving into her adult life, and adding a run-down of who her siblings were, as much as I can tell. I will only be focusing on a few that Maniza was closest to in her adult life. 

The children of George W. Honeycutt and wife Tabitha Tomlinson:

1)  John W. Honeycutt, born about 1836, married Elizabeth Cagle, daughter of George Washington Cagle and Elizabeth Rosa Whitley Cagle, on April 1, 1858. Three children: William Alfred (1859), Adam W. (1861) and Eli B. (1863). Killed May 3, 1863 in Chancellorsville, Virginia, a casualty of the Civil War.

2) Frances "Franky" Mary Honeycutt, born April 11, 1837. Never married, but became the mistress of Joshua Allen Burris. She had 8 children who all went by the name Honeycutt before marriage of daughters:

    A)  Calvin Arenus Honeycutt (1858-1941)

    B) Asbury Wilson Honeycutt (1860-1916)

    C) Sophronia Clementine H. Hinson (1862-1938)

    D) Mary Jane H. Hill (1864-1947)

    E) Ellen L H. Walters (1868-1918)

    F) John David Honeycutt (1869-1954)

    G) Eli F. Honeycutt (1872-1935)

    H) George Filmore Honeycutt (1874-1954)

Franky died on May 29, 1915, in Kannapolis, Cabarrus County and was buried in Mooresville, Iredell County. 

3) Maniza Ann Honeycutt born March 9, 1839, Story to follow

4) Lindsey Lafayette Honeycutt born December 20, 1840. Married Nellie Q. Smith, daughter of Edmund Smith and Elizabeth Ledbetter Smith. Two known children: Lindsey Lafayette Honeycutt, Jr. (1864-1928) and were guardians of Martha Frances Honeycutt, born in 1890. Lindsey survived both the Mexican American War and the Civil War. He left Big Lick, where he spent his childhood and settled in New Salem, Union County, then Lemley, Mecklenburg County, before returning to Union County. 

The Dispatch

Lexington, North Carolina • Wed, Mar 5, 1913Page 5

5) Sarah C. Honeycutt born about 1844. She married an unknown Whitley and had a daughter, Eliza, born about 1866-1867. She may have been a Civil War widow. Her story remains incomplete. 

6) Solomon Honeycutt born about 1845. Was a Civil War Casualty. There were two Solomon Honeycutt's who died in the Civil War, one in 1862 and the other in 1865. He was one of them. 

7) Mary Catherine Honeycutt, born in 1846. She first married Daniel J. Hooks on September 15, 1865. They parted ways, whether by divorce or lack of one is unknown, both are shown back with their parents in 1870. She had one or two sons with him. A John Hooks, born in 1866, is shown with her in 1870, but a James Pless Hooks, showing he's their son in his marriage and death records, shows up later, born in 1871 and died in 1971. I'm wondering if his name was incorrect in 1870, as he doesn't show up before 1900 and there's no more record of John. If so, his year of birth is incorrect, but his mother doesn't appear to be back with Daniel Hooks at any point, as he remarries to Ellen Munson. Mary Catherine remarries to a man from Virginia named George Vanderbill and they live in Mecklenburg County. She passes away on December 21, 1916, and is buried there. Her informant was a J. A. Honeycutt of Charlotte, which was her nephew, James Alfred Honeycutt, son of Maniza.

8) Clara E. Honeycutt, born in 1846. Doesn't marry. Has one son, James Calvin Honeycutt Austin, (1868-1937) with Calvin Austin (1832-1872). Her son goes by Austin as an adult. 

9) George Washington Honeycutt, Jr. born in 1852. Accompanies parents to Lenoir, Caldwell County, NC between 1860 and 1870. Marries Elizabeth Isabella "Ebbie" Hatley in Caldwell County on March 14, 1872, she also being from a Stanly County family who migrated west, first to Watauga, then to Caldwell. Seven.  children: James Fillmore, Cordie Jerusha, Christopher Columbus, George Haywood, Rufus, Mary Lou and Alfred. Died in Caldwell County sometime between 1892 and 1900.

10) Milus Honeycutt. Shown as a 6 year old in 1860 (1854). Does not appear on the 1870 census with parents in 1870. It can be assumed he died as a child. 

Maniza Marries.

Maniza Honeycutt married Gabriel Barbee, (1838-1864), son of Josiah Barbee and Polly Little Barbee, on October 20, 1860, in Stanly County. By this time, Maniza would have two children already, Eli, born in 1856 and James Alfred, in 1857. Eli was claimed by George Cagle, and admitted as his son in his will. The father of James Alfred remains unnamed. 

Gabriel Barbee was a Corporal in the Civil War. He died about 1864 or 1865. Was Maniza left a widow, or had the marriage ended before then? I lean towards the option of the marriage coming to an end before the death of Gabriel Barbee. Maniza would never go by the name of Barbee afterwards, and it would seem she would if she were justly widowed. Some add a child to this marriage, a daughter named Martha, born in 1861. I can't say if there was or was not. The Martha linked to her seems to be the child of someone else, and not Maniza or Gabriel. 

In 1863, Maniza Honeycutt would give birth to her third child, Eliza Jane, born on May 10, 1863.

Eliza was named Eliza Jane Honeycutt on her September, 1877 marriage certificate to 22 year old James Berry "Jim" Philemon, when she was all of 14 years old. Her mother was named as Maniza Honeycutt of Goose Creek Township, Union County, and the blank for father was left empty. However, when she passed away on July 12, 1939, at the age of 76, her father's name was given as George Cagle and her mother as 'Enza' Honeycutt. On other records, like those of her children, Eliza Jane's maiden name was given as "Cagle". So Maniza had given birth to another child of George Cagle before the death of her husband, Gabriel Barbee or "Barba", in some reticulations. And with Eli and Eliza both being the known children of George Cagle, it can be assumed James, her second born, was probably a Cagle also. A fourth child, Mary Caroline, would arrive a year or two after Eliza. Her father is not named.

The relationship between  George Washington Cagle and Maniza Ann Honeycutt was long-standing, illicit, illegal and sometimes, pretty embarrassing.

In the February Sessions of the Superior County in Stanly County, North Carolina, in 1866, George Cagle was brought up on charges of indecency. It seems he had gotten sloppy drunk and proceeded to make his way to the dwelling house of Maniza Honeycutt and dance naked in her yard, yelling and carousing as he did so, and exhibit himself in full view of various persons, which probably included at least two of her sisters and all of their children. "With force and amour" they described it, "exhibit himself naked and in an indecent position." One can use their imagination.

George was convicted by a jury of his peers of the lewd behavior and was described as "lewd and unchaste" and possessed of 'scandalous subversions'. This appears to be about the time that Maniza may have moved to Caldwell County with her parents and a few of her sisters.

Maniza gave birth to her fifth child, a son, William Daniel, on 1867. It seems the Honeycutt family made haste from Stanly County as soon as the whole, embarrassing fiasco of the Cagle trial was over.

In the 1870 census, George Honeycutt, 58 and wife, Tabitha, are found living in Lenoir, Caldwell County, with their 15-year-old son, George Jr., living with them in the household. Youngest son, Milo, who would have been 13, is not shown, so had probably passed away as a small child. Next to them is Sarah Whitley, their daughter, 25, with her young daughter, Eliza, age 3. It is unknown which Whitley she had married. Next to Sarah was Catherine Hooks, 20, with a 4 year old son, John. This was their daughter, Mary Catherine Honeycutt, who married Daniel J. Hooks, a great, great, great Uncle of mine. She was not a widow, they were divorced and Daniel was very much alive. 

Maniza is not with them by 1870, but I believe she was in 1866/1867. In the area where the Honeycutt's settled was a large family by the surname of "Hise". Hise is not a Stanly County area name. Near them were several  Hice households, headed by Jacob A. Hise, Jacob Hise, Coonrad Hise, Francis Hise, John W. Hice, Larkin Hise, and John K. Hice. Maniza's fifth child only went by Honeycutt as a child of three. The rest of his life, and on all his documents, he was known as Willaim Daniel Hise. He named Jacob Hise as his father, and was recognized by Jacob Hise as his son.

Jacob Hise

Jacob A. Hise was born on December 29, 1830 in Burke County, North Carolina. He was the son of Leonard Hise, Jr. , who hailed from Mecklenburg County, and his wife, Isabella, whose people were from Randolph County, and is named in his father's will. He settled as a young man, in Summers, Caldwell County, North Carolina, with his family, before 1850. Sometime in the 1850's, he either had an undocumented marriage, or an informal common-law marriage, with Elizabeth Shuffler, who was born along the North Catawba River in Burke County, to Phillip and Carrie Shuffler. They had five children together, Lucinda "Cindy", Leonard, Christoper Columbus, Frances and Isabella.

Sometime in the late 1860's, Jacob, who appears to have avoided the Civil War, met Maniza Honeycutt and fathered son William Daniel. As I've found no record of a Hise in Stanly County during this time, it would make the most sense that Maniza had moved west with her parents at this time and met Jacob Hise there. 

After his soiree with Maniza Honeycutt, Jacob Hise, took off west into wilderness. He may have been escaping some legal entanglements. He abandoned his Caldwell County family. Elizabeth would remain under the care of her oldest daughter, Lucinda, and her son-in-law Max Lutz, until she passed away around 1910. She would refer to herself as a widow, as if  Jacob was dead.. He was not.

In the 1870 census of Summers, Caldwell County, NC, we find 39 year old Jacob farming with his slightly older wife, Elizabeth. Maniza Honeycutt had returned to Stanly County by this time with all of her children and had taken up residence with her sisters Frankie and Clara, who did not leave. Jacob and Elizabeth are listed at the bottom of a page, and I don't think Jacob was a happy man. 

At the top of the next page were the children of Jacob and Elizabeth Hise, just a continuance of the listing, Leonard, Columbus, Francis and Isabel, only 6 months old. The oldest child, Lucinda, was recorded at a relatives house. 

Next is 81 year old Grandison Hise, no doubt a relative of some measure. Afterwards is a household headed by Elizabeth Chester, with three small children and 21-year-old Sarah Chester. The following household is headed by 20-year-old Henry Chester. This is a sibling group. Elizabeth Caroline Chester had married her cousin, Calvin Chester. Shortly after this census, Jacob Hise will head west to Tennessee, leaving his wife and children behind, and taking with him, Sarah Chester.

They settled in Crab Orchard, Carter County, Tennessee. I found this really informative little article, seen below, on Crab Orchard during the Civil War era. Of course, there would have been some difference a few years later when Jacob arrived, but it was still a hideaway area. What was Jacob hiding from?

Wednesday, November 04, 2020

The Crab Orchard (Tennessee) and the Civil War

   
There were several places that bore the name of Crab Orchard during the Civil War. Crab Orchard, Kentucky, was probably the most famous, but for this post, we are going to look at Crab Orchard, Carter County, Tennessee. The Crab Orchard in Carter County, geographically speaking, is a rugged area. Near the North Carolina border, the area is split by the Doe River Gorge. It is rough place, but for those looking for hide out and escape, an ideal location. One veteran described it as a “most rugged country…”[1]

   Crab Orchard became a haven for Unionists and dissidents during the war. The area is rough, running through the Doe River Gorge. Nathaniel G. Taylor, a Carter County native who had served in the US House in 1854-1855, and had been outspoken in his defense of the Union during the 1860 election, reportedly fled to the Crab Orchard area following the secession of Tennessee. He was being guarded by 100 Union men. [2]

Crab Orchard section of East Tennessee.

    After the bridge-burning episode in East Tennessee in November 1861, many of the bridge burners fled to the Crab Orchard area after Federal soldiers failed to support the activities of the local firebugs. Confederate soldiers chased the Unionists for a time, but did not enter the Crab Orchard area. (Judd, The Bridge Burners) An article in a Nashville newspaper reported at the end of November that many of the bridge burners were still in the area: “Some spasms of the rebellion yet exist on the upper borders of the Buffalo, in the Limestone Cove, and the Crab Orchard…”[3]

   William Penland, a sergeant in the 6^th North Carolina Cavalry, was stationed at Mount Taylor, in the Carter County area. He wrote home on January 6, 1863, that he had been on a raid and the rumor was that the “tories in the crabb orchard that was a going to cutt us off if the Yankees whipped us and we had to retreat[.]” Wilson wrote that his command journeyed into the area, but found “none[.]”[4]

   Possibly the biggest movement of troops through the area came in June 1864, when Capt. George W. Kirk moved from Broylesville (then in Carter County), through the area into North Carolina. Kirk was heading to Camp Vance, in Burke County, in an attempt to capture a train to take his raiders east to destroy the bridge over the Yadkin River on the border of Rowan and Davidson Counties. While Kirk was able to capture the camp, along with 200 prisoners, he failed in taking a waiting train at the depot nearby and retreated back into Tennessee, probably passing through Crab Orchard once again.[5]

   North Carolina home guard forces, under Major Harvey Bingham, maneuvered toward the southern end of the Crab Orchard area in October 1864. A group of nine robbed several families in the Bethel community of Watauga County before heading back to Tennessee. Bingham followed with portions of the 11^th Battalion North Carolina Home Guard just over the Tennessee line, capturing one man and driving “off some beef cattle” before heading back to his base.[6] 

Doe River Gorge.

  The Crab Orchard was also a stop on a local version of the underground railroad, funneling escaped prisoners and dissidents out of the Carolinas and into Tennessee. Keith Blalock, Harrison Church, and Jim Hartley were all pilots on this route, moving from Banner’s Elk through Crab Orchard and then toward Greenville (or wherever Federal lines happen to be holding at that moment).  When Blalock was wounded late in the war while raiding a farm in Caldwell County, a group of fifteen to twenty men came to Banner’s Elk and rescued him, taking Blalock to convalesce at the home of David Stout at Crab Orchard.[7] When George W. Kirk followed Maj. Gen. Stoneman’s Cavalry raiders into North Carolina in March-April 1865, they supposedly moved via Crab Orchard and Banner’s Elk before arriving in Boone.[8]

   This small glimpse of the war inside the Crab Orchard community is just that – a small glimpse. There were many events that took place inside this community that have escaped the pen of the historian and are now lost to history. In Scott and Angel’s history of the 13^th Tennessee Cavalry (US), they write of members of Thomas’s Legion roaming in the area, spreading “terror and dismay wherever they went.” Scott and Angel mention that a man named Andrew Buck “was taken out and hanged until he was black in the face by Walters to make him tell where his sons were concealed.” Outside of saying that Walters was “Captain Walters” from Georgia, who was in Carter County in May 1863, we don’t actually know who this is. Maybe in time we can dig out a few more of these stories and preserve this piece of history.[9] 

Looking for the Confederate War

Historian Michael C. Hardy's quest to understand Confederate history, from the boots up

Jacob and Sarah would have 5 children together, beginning with Laura in 1873 and followed by: Edward Duncan, Rebecca, Abner and Robert Raymond in 1880. Again, there is no record of their marriage, and they probably did not proceed with the formalities.

Jacob Hise passed away on Roan Mountain, Carter County, Tennessee, deep in the Appalachians. He was buried June 20th, 1885, at the Hampton Cemetery.

Sarah Chester Hise would return to North Carolina and lived in Mitchell County, first and Snow Camp and later in Spruce Pines, where she died in 1937.

1870, Big Lick, Stanly County, NC

Wherever Maniza Honeycutt was when she conceived her fifth known child, William Daniel, she was back in Big Lick by June of 1870, where she is listed in the household headed by her sister, Frankie Honeycutt. Her sister, Clara, is also in the home, and this may have been the house that their parents and several other siblings, abandoned when they relocated to Caldwell County in Blue Ridge foothills. This was a house full of children.

The listing begins with Frances, age 32, "Keeping house" and was followed by Calvin, 15, Sophronia 8, Ellen L. 7, Mary J. 5 and John, 1. Frankie will have two more children after these.

Next in line is sister Clara, 21 and her son, James Calvin, who would go by the name of his father, Austin, as an adult.

After Clara in "Mania", or Maniza, age 30. She is followed by James "H", 12, although this would have been James Alfred Honeycutt, who would sign his Aunt Mary Catherines' death certificate in Charlotte in 1916. Eliza Jane is 8, Caroline is age 6, this is Mary Caroline Honeycutt, whose age was very fluid. Ten-year-old Asbury is out of line and out of place. Asbury Wilson Honeycutt was the son of Frankie, not Maniza. After Asbury comes 3-year-old William, or William Daniel Hise, and lastly, a newborn infant named Eva. This would be Maniza's sixth child.

After the name of one month old Eva Honeycutt comes the name of her probably father, George Cagle, in the next homestead counted, number 119 Big Lick Township. George is 58. His second wife, Nancy, is living with him, and their youngest child together, daughter, Francis, 13. After Francis is listed Eli, age 11. Eli Cagle, Maniza's firstborn, has been adopted by his father, and is named in his Will. Eli helps old George and will later go by his full name of Ellison F. Cagle. 

Eli is followed by Mariah Myers Meggs, a boarder and another mistress of George Cagle, and her daughter, Melissa "Lisy" Meggs, who was not George Cagle's child. Her father was a Parker. 

After the Meggs is listed William Honeycutt, 11. Now, William Alfred Honeycutt was a grandson of George Cagle, but also a nephew of the Honeycutt sisters living near them. George Cagle's daughter, Elizabeth, had married John W. Honeycutt, the oldest son of George W. Honeycutt and Tabitha Tomlinson Honeycutt. John, if you recall, was a Civil War Casualty. Elizabeth would remarry to a Baker but passed away in 1885.

1880

We really don't hear anything else from the Honeycutt sisters who stayed behind until 1880. Frankie is still living in Big Lick with her children. Her oldest son, Calvin, has married, and is listed in Household number 25. He married on January 28, 1877, at 22, to Betsy Ann Smith, daughter of Big Lick neighbors, Alfred and Mary Smith. By 1880, they've already had two sons, William Thomas and Rufus Houston. He named his parents as J. C. Burris and Frankie Honeycutt. To add to Cagle/Honeycutt entanglements, Betsy's mother, Mary Cagle Smith, was a daughter of George Cagle, Maniza 's baby daddy. Add all the Honeycutt children who were really Cagle's by blood, and George's daughter Elizabeth marrying Maniza 's older brother, John Wilborn Honeycutt, that's a well-woven quilt of connections and relation between the two families.

Frankie is seen by her middle name, Mary, and at age 42, in the house below her son. The family, as a whole, appear to be trying to run a farm together. It must have been a profitable enterprise, because Calvin will eventually buy his own store building and become a merchant, but not in Big Lick. Living in Frankie's homestead is second son, Asbury, 20, Ellen, 15, Mary Jane, 14, John D., 12, Eli, 10 and George, 8. Yes, Maniza and Frankie both had sons named Eli. 

Maniza is also living in Big Lick, but not exactly close to her sister, or where she lived a decade prior. Her main source of support, George Cagle, had been murdered four years prior by Daniel A. Crisco, his employee and the husband of his other paramour, Mariah Meggs. For what reasons, I can't determine, but Maniza was now living in Household 118, while Frankie was in Household 36, and among a large number of Smiths and Jones, and households mostly headed by women. Widows, abandoned women, unmarried mothers, I can't say, but a community of women. She is now age 38, extant and desolate, with her two youngest daughters, Ellen, 8 and Rebecca 7, the last born about the time George Cagle perished by the blade of Daniel Crisco. Were these young ones his spawn? Had she been large with expectancy of Rebecca when the tragedy occurred?  And where was the youngest of George W. Honeycutt's wayward daughters, Clara, who had lived with her two older sisters a decade before?

Clara was living in New Salem, Union County, which borders Stanly and New Salem is just across the Rocky River from Big Lick. She was listed as 32 years old and she's living with a 72-year-old Clara Huneycutt as her daughter. There was no 72-year-old Clara in any other record, but the shoe fits the age of Clara's actual mother, Tabitha. Perhaps Tabitha had the middle name of Clara. Clara's son, James Calvin Austin, is shown as an 11-year-old in this record, and with the name Honeycutt. His father, Calvin Austin, died in 1872, and as an adult, James went by his father's surname. When he married Lydia Araminta Thomas, daughter of William Green Thomas and Lydia Adeline Dry Brooks Thomas, on January 30, 1887, Clara was still living and a resident of Union County. She's not to be found in 1900, when Jim Austin is living in Cabarrus County, with his family, and working in the Cotton Mills. As she only had the one son, she would have most likely lived with him until she passes away. I can't say when she died, presumably sometime between 1887 and 1900, or where she was buried, perhaps in Union County, or Cabarrus County, possibly even Stanly County, North Carolina. 

Maniza

Maniza Ann Honeycutt is found neither in the 1900 or 1910 census records, but she was very much alive, and living in North Charlotte during this time, as was told through other records. This may have been the story for Clara, also. I have searched for her with due diligence. Maniza lived long enough to have a Death Certificate, which had just become common in Mecklenburg County, NC, but would not catch on in other counties until a few years after. 

Maniza Ann Honeycutt passed away of heart disease on January 18, 1910, at the age of 72. Her residence was given as North Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, NC. The informant was her son, James Alfred Honeycutt, and oddly, he gave her marital status as married. Not single, not widowed, but married, indicating she had a living husband, but there is no sign that she had married, and she was still bearing her maiden name. Her birthplace was given as Anson County, and her parents were named as George Honeycutt and 'Tobitha Tomberland', which was close, as it was Tabitha Tomlinson. Her place as burial was only listed as "Country", what did that mean?

19 Jan 1910

Charlotte, North Carolina

A brief obituary was printed the next day in the Charlotte paper. The article revealed that she had been sick for awhile, and had been staying with relatives in North Charlotte. Her body was being taken for burial to Anson County. 

Maniza's tombstone gives her date of birth as March 9, 1839 and her date of death the same as her death certificate. Added were the words, "Asleep in Jesus" and "Gone, but not forgotten'. Her name was written with her nickname, 'Niza" Ann Honeycutt, and she was obviously not taken to Anson County for burial. There had been a change of plans. Instead, she was buried at Arlington Baptist Church in the Allen Community of northern Mecklenburg County. It's easy to see why this place was chosen. Also gracing the church grounds were her children, Eli Cagle, Ella Sanders, Eliza Philemon, her brother, Lindsey Honeycutt, and several grandchildren. This may have been her family church in those later days. 

Arlington Church was founded about 1880 by a man named Eli H. Hinson. If you are thinging that sounds like a Big Lick area name, you are thinking what I was thinking and we might be right, or we might be wrong. This seems to be the area where most of the children, and Maniza herself, ended up by the turn of the century. Mr Hinson was also the proprietor of a country store, that was an essential landmark for the Allen and Clear Creek Communities in those days. Now having been eaten by the insidious amoeba that is the ever-encroaching City of Charlotte, the surviving structure has been declared an historic property and righteously so, has been the subject of a research report by the Mecklenburg Historical Society and the following historical sketch was written by Lara Ramsey, whose surname makes me wonder if she is a descendant of my ancestor, Old Stark Ramsey.

The Hinson Store was built by Eli Hinson, a well-known and successful gold miner, farmer, and businessman, along with his son Francis Martin Hinson, who was also a prominent merchant. Both men were respected and important members of their small rural community located in the center of Clear Creek Township. Eli had been a founding member of Arlington Baptist Church and had donated the land on which the first church building was built. Martin was a teacher at both the Mount Pleasant School and Rutherford College before taking over his father’s farm and store. The brick store that remains today replaced the original wood frame store that Eli had opened across Arlington Church Road many years before, and was part of a number of enterprises (including a grist mill and brick yard) that encompassed the Hinson farmstead.

The Hinson Store was just such a commercial hub for the small community of Allen in Clear Creek Township. Run by Eli Henderson Hinson and his son Francis Martin Hinson, the store sold everything imaginable to its customers, from common household and farming tools to coffins. The Hinson Store is also significant for its association with Eli Hinson and his son Francis M. Hinson. Eli Hinson had already made a name for himself as a successful gold miner when he moved from his native Union County to Clear Creek Township in the 1850s. Through the last half of the nineteenth century, Eli established a large farmstead that included the general store, brick yard, cotton gin, and grist mill. He also continued to use his knowledge of mining, acting as manager of the Surface Hill gold mine for many years. After a religious conversion that is said to have happened on a Civil War battlefield, Eli also founded Arlington Baptist Church, providing land and funds for the building of the sanctuary. Eli’s son Francis Hinson (known in the community as “Martin”) followed in his father’s footsteps—after attending Rutherford College and teaching school for several years, Martin began working with Eli in the running of the farm, mill, and store. Martin received the deed to the farm in 1887 and continued to operate the store until his death in 1935.

So, Eli Henderson Hinson hailed from Union County.  A quick look into his predecessors indicate that He was the son of William M. and Peggy Cook Hinson of upper Union County, the part that was originally part of Anson, and that his roots sprang from the Hinsons who settled along the Rocky River in Big Lick Township and in the northern parts of Anson and Union Counties, the same stock that had produced the G W Honeycutt and Tabitha Tomlinson Honeycutt family.

Eli Henderson Hinson family near Mint Hill, Clear Creek Township

Looking into the children of Moniza Honeycutt, where were they in 1900 and 1910? Certainly she had lived among them, if she had died among them.

1900

Most of Maniza's children were living in Clear Creek Township, a grouping which included 36 pages of citizenry. The Eli Hinson family were listed on pages 30 and 31, near the end of it on page 32. Pages 33 through 36 enumerated the citizens of the tiny town of Mint Hill, as part of Clear Creek Township. They were surrounded by a few Stanly County names, but also by a large number of Hagers, Biggers and Philemons, which they married into. There were classic Union County names, like Helms and Starnes, some names typical of the Midland and Locust areas, like Burnett and McManus, and others popular to Cabarrus County, which it bordered, like Flowe, Mullis and Clontz. Are the far end, near the Hinson Store and Mint Hill, are seen several Lemmonds, my paternal grandmothers' family.

Ellison F "Eli" Cagle is on page 8 of Clear Creek Township. Near him is another Honeycutt family that were not descendants of Maniza or her siblings. It was headed by an Elizabeth Honeycutt, age 68. That would be a bit  anonymous, if she did not have living with her Nettie B Honeycutt, age 48, her niece, and Adam P. Honeycutt, age 21, her nephew. Nettie Brazilla was the daughter of an entirely different George Washington Honeycutt, (1796-1891) and his wife, Jane Elizabeth Burris, daughter of Old Solomon and Judith Burris, making her my multiple Great Aunt, four times over, as I descend from her sister Nancy and her brothers, Solomon, Jr., Taylor and Joshua Christian Burris. Adam was Nettie's son , Adam Pettigrew Honeycutt, whom she had out-of-wedlock with Solomon Robbins. This would mean her Aunt Elizabeth was the sister of this other George Washington Honeycutt.

James Alfred Honeycutt is on page 21 of Clear Creek Township. Right next door was another Honeycutt household headed by a 22-year old William Honeycutt, his wife Octavia and young family. It appears he could have been a son of James Alfred, but looks can be decieving. This was actually William Thomas Honeycutt (1877-1943), and his wife Nancy Octavia Hagler, a son of Calvin Arenus Honeycutt, son of Maniza's sister, Frankie, and therefore James Alfred's first cousin once removed.

Eliza Jane Cagle Philemon is on page 18 of Clear Creek Township. She's two houses up from Lindsey Honeycutt, 65, her uncle and Moniza's brother.

William Daniel Hise lived in Goose Creek, Union County, NC in 1900.

Mary Carolina Honeycutt is not to be found in the 1900 or 1910, but was the child who lived the longest, to 1957. She may have heard Elvis. As these are the years Maniza is missing, I'm inclined to believe that Maniza may have been living with this child, who could have been living under a different name with an unknown husband between the one she married in 1879 and the one she married in 1920. Curiosly, Maniza's sister Mary Catherine Honeycutt is also missing in 1900, but shows back up later after a second (or more) marriage.

Margaret Ella Honeycutt is found in Crab Orchard Township, next to Clear Creek Township in Mecklenburg County. 

Clear Creek and Crab Orchard

I have no other information at this time on Maniza's other two known daughters, Eva, born in 1869, and Rebecca, the youngest, born in 1873. 

The known children and grandchildren of Maniza Honeycutt, to the best of my knowledge, shown by the names they went by as adults, were:

1) Ellison F. "Eli" Cagle born June 3, 1856. Son of George Washington Cagle Jr. As a youth, lived with his father, near his mother's home, and migrated to Coddle Creek, Iredell County, with a numberof his half-siblings on his father's side. Returned to Stanly County by October 16, 1884, when he married Sophronia Alice Thomas of Union County, in Stanly County, daughter of William Green Thomas and wife, Lydia Dry. Five children in this marriage. Died Jan. 7, 1940, Cedar Creek, Mecklenburg County, NC.

    1. Dee Ellison Cagle (1886-1940)

    2.Walter Vance Cagle (1888-1964)

    3. Lourella 'Lula' Cagle (1893-1915)

    4. Rossa P. Cagle Belk (1896-1931)

    5. Ocey Ola "Flossie" Cagle (1903-1985)

2) James Alfred Honeycutt  born September 26, 1857, father not named, but being born only 15 months after Eli Cagle, George Cagle most likely candidate. Married on September 23, 1877 to Lutitia Adelina Williams, in Union County, daughter of John Daniels Williams and Nancy Griffin. Six children to this marriage.

    1 & 2)  Two boys, W. L. (1878) and G. L. (1879), of which no more is known, died before their father.

    3) Zebulon Ellison (1881-1944)

    4) Ida J. (1882 - 1901) *Married 1st cousin William Eli Philemon.

    5) Edward Mangum (1886-1961)

    6) June Jefferson (188-1935)

Married second: Isla Smith in Mecklenburg County, daughter of Alford Smith and Polly Cagle Smith, a granddaughter of George Cagle, so possibly a1st cousin marriage. Fiver children to this marriage.

    7) Jesse James (1893-1914)

    8) Samuel Howard "Verdette" (1895-1965)

    9) Tink E "Benett" (1897-1974)

    10) George Dewey "Dudett" (1901-1923)

    11) Maybelle (1914-1963)

James Alfred HOneycutt dieon July 3, 1933 in Mecklenburg County, NC. He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

3) Eliza Jane Cagle was born on May 10, 1863, in Stanly County, NC.George Cagle is named as her father on her death certificate. Married James Berry "Jim" Philemon on September 23, 1877, in Union County, NC at the age of 14. Settled first in New Salem, Union County, Removed to Clear Creek in Mecklenburg and finally, settled in the city of Charlotte by 1910. Six Philemon children:

    1) William Eli (1878-1943) Married cousin Ida J. Honeycutt as 1st of 4 wives, preceeding Maggie Hagler, Alice  and Maggie Byrd

    2) Mary Jane P. Kennedy (1880-1936)

    3) Martin Luther (1889-1968)

    4) A. G. (1891-1893)

    5) Rettie Cagle Philemon Mullis (1894-1952)

    6) George David Philemon Sr. (1896-1967)

Eliza Jane Cagle Philemon died on July 12, 1939 at the age of 78. She was buried at Arlington Baptist Church Creek in the Allen Commuinty of Clear Creek Township, Mecklenburg County, NC. 

4) Mary Caroline "Lina" Honeycutt was born about 1864, but consistenly lowered her age for reporting. She married first James Allen McIntrye on November 22, 1879, in Union County, NC, son of Young Allen McIntrye and Dolly Yow. Divorced, no children. She doesn't appear in records again until she marries William Thomas Simpson in Gaston County on april 10, 1920. She lived in McAdenville, Gaston County, then Ward 5, Charlotte, Clear Creek, Mecklenburg and lastly in Crab Orchard, Mecklenburg, in the County Home after the death of her husband, Thomas Simpson.  

No father is named for Mary Caroline on her first marriage certificate and George Honeycutt is named on her second, the name of her grandfather. I believe it was a reference to George Cagle, and not her grandfather, and the clerk added the Honeycutt, as that was her surname. No parents were named on her death certificate.

Mary Caroline Honeycutt Simpson passed away on December 28, 1957. Her obituary gave her age as 88. She had no children of her own, but her husband had a son by a previous marriage. She was buried at Wilson Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in the Wilgrove Community North of Mint Hill. 

5) William Daniel Hise was born September 9, 1867, in Norwood, Stanly County, NC, according to his records. His father was Jacob A. Hise, son of Leonard Hise, of Caldwell County, NC. He married March 16, 1886, at the age of 18, In Union County, NC to Apsy Idella Presson, daughter of James Postel Presson and wife, Mary Matilda Hagler. Hagler is another common named that intermarried with this branch of Honeycutts. They first settled in Goose Creek, Union County, before moving to Charlotte, Ward 5, in the city. Nine Hise children were born to this union:

    1) Wilma Elizabeth (1887-1908)

    2) Farley McCall (1888-1964)

    3) James Alexander (1890-1949)

    4) Lemuel Evander (1890-1964)

    5) Minnie Idella (1892-1927) 

    6) Charles Odell (1894-1983)

    7) Alice Ardella (1896-1926)

    8) Clyde William (1900-1976)

    9) Bonnie Odessa (1901-1982)

After the death of his wife Apsy Idella, in 1915, Dan moved back to Goose Creek, before settling finally in the town of Monroe in Union County. He remarried on October 14, 1917 to Kizzie Ella Nance. He was 50 and she, 41. There were no children born to this marriage. Ella was the daughter of Henry Nance and Martha Stewart.She must have been a good cook.

26 Nov 1942

Location

Charlotte, North Carolina

William Daniel Hice died November 25, 1942, in Monroe. He survived all of his daughters and all of his sons survived him. His only surviving sibling was Mary Caroline, aka Mrs. Thomas Simpson.

6) Eva Honeycutt or Hise was born in May of 1870, and shown only as a one-month old in the 1870 census of Big Lick, Stanly County. 

7) Margaret Ella Honeycutt was born sometime between 1872 and 1875, in Big Lick, Stanly County. She married first in Stanly County, but spent most of her life afterwards in Mecklenburg. She married first on December 14, 1883 to Lindsey Frank Yow, son of Henry Atkins Easley and Polly Yow, unmarried. She was disturbingly young. Her marriage ceritificate gives her age as 16, her father as unknown and her mother as Nizey Honeycutt. This would give her a birth year of 1867, but she doesn't show up in the census until 1880 as an 8-year-old, meaning she would have been only 11 in 1883. As her age was fluid, she may have been the same individual as Eva Honeycutt. One child to this marriage.

    !) Della Yow (1886- Marker bears no date)

Married second, formally or informally to Adam Alexander Hagler. One child.

    2) Bub Alexander Hagler (1891-1960)

Married third Jesse Sanders in Mecklenburg County on June 28, 1900, a much older man she worked for. Three children:

    3) Wylie D. G. Sanders (1895-1979)

    4) Davidson Guy Sanders (1899-1973)

    5) Mary Ann Sanders Stuttz (1899-1927)

Married fourth to Elbert Alvin Wooten, either formally or informally. Elbert was born in Yadkin County, son of Alvin Wooten and wife, Jenny Steelman. Two children:

    6) Margaret Agnes Wooten (1910-1990)

    7) Myrtle Wooten Wilson (1914-2002)

Margaret Ella Wooten died on March 23, 1935, of cervical cancer. Her age was given as 60 and the informant was her son Wylie Sanders. That would have given her a birth year of 1875, which is impossible, as her first marriage was in 1879. As I mentioned earlier, her age was fluid. I believe she was at least 70.

The Charlotte Observer

Charlotte, North Carolina • Sun, Mar 24, 1935Page 10

Ella's father was said to have been George Cagle. When she passed in 1935, she had survived two of her daughters, Della Yow and Mary Ann Saunders Stuttz. Two of her brothers survived her, Eli Cagle and Daniel Hice, and two sisters Mary Caroline Simpson and Eliza Philemon. She was buried at Arlington Church Cemetery near Mint Hill with her mother, Uncle Lindsey and several siblings. Her daughter Della was buried in Iredell County.

8) Rebecca Honeycutt was born in Big Lick, Stanly County, about 1873. She is only shown with her mother, and her sister, Ella, in the 1800 census. I know no more about her. She could have died as a child, but as her mother hasn't been located in the 1900 and 1910 census records, although we know she was living, Rebecca may have lived until adulthood. She is not listed in her siblings obituaries, so she died before they did.

Maniza Ann Honeycutt was a surviver. The Civil War had changed the rules of polite society. With few rights and limited options, the widows, orphans and single women of Big Lick, and the greater South, did what they must to survive. Maniza, and her sister Frankie, too, had settled under the canopy of second wives, though not legally, of one of the few, healthy and mildly prosperous living men, albeit already married. They depended on him for housing, supplies, protection and survival, George Cagle for Maniza and Joshua Burris for Frankie. Later, they would depend on the several children they had born, after they had grown up and spread their wings into a new world of change and discovery that their mothers could only imagine.