Eugenia Witty Booth's youngest sister

Susan E. Witty Moore was born Dec 28, 1856, in Texas.  I'm not sure of the actual location.  I believe by 1857 her father had started the Subdivision in Hill County that was to be named Woodbury, and in the cemetery many of the Witty family are buried, including Susan.  But I'm not sure they moved there (from Marshall, TX) as a family until 1860.

By the 1860 census of the Witty family, she is listed (as of July 30 when the census was taken) as being four years old. There was one source (another census) which gave her age such that she would have been born in 1857, but I'm going with 1856 and have changed the Ancestry listing on my tree.

It is nice that the youngest of 9 children was named after her mother, Susan Hoke Witty.  

In the 1870 census her family says she is 13 (in agreement with having been born in 1856, because her birthday isn't until Dec. and the census was in July again...thus the question was answered, how old will she be in this year?

The wonderful census of 1900 tells how long people had been married, as well as listing their names and birthdates and states in which they were born.

In 1877, Susan had married a farmer, James J. Moore, and they lived in Justice Precinct 2, Hill County, Texas with their 14 year old daughter, Edna.  James is listed as having been born in Alabama, as her parents were, though later records suggest he was born in Texas. 

Susan Witty Moore died Sept 10, 1902, in Woodbury, Hill County, Texas, and has a nice big grave marker in the Old Woodbury Cemetery, where many other of the Witty family are buried. 


The "Texas Find A Grave" information gives this information about her:

Children: Edna Mae Moore (1885 - 1916)

Siblings: Martha E Witty Barnes (1846 - 1914) Mary Witty Hughes (1848 - 1876), Laura Dove Witty Patty (1854 - 1935)

Her daughter, Edna, died of tuberculosis in 1916, and her death certificate information was given by her father, J. J. Moore. So I know he lived until that year in June.  Unfortunately I am unable to find much information about James J. Moore.

She may have been only 46 when Susan E. Witty Moore died, but she outlived her sister, my great great grandmother who died at 23 in 1877.

Eugenia Almeta Whitty Booth

Here's my tree, not counting generations of my children (2) or grandchildren (1)
3) Barbara Booth Rogers (living)
4) Mataley Mozelle Webb Munhall Rogers (1917-2003)
5) Mozelle Booth Miller Webb Munhall (1897-1960)
6) Eugenia Almeta Booth Miller (1873-1936)
7) Eugenia Almeda Whitty Booth born 2.24.1852 Marshall, Harrison County, TX, d. 13 Jul 1875
Hempstead, Waller County, TX.
 married on 7.20.1869 (his second m) Hill County, TX
 (7  Richard R. Booth, born 23 Sept 1846, Jackson, IN, died 30 May 1879 Hempstead, Waller County, TX.
 her parents:  8) Carrol Whitty b. 6 Nov 1818 in Alabama,  d. 19 Sep 1898 in Texas
       married on 16 Jan 1843 Limestone County, AL
      (8) Susan E. Hoke Whitty, b. 12 June 1817 in Athens, Limestone County, AL, died 18 Dec 1895, Hill County, TX

Wikipedia tells me a bit about Marshall, TX (Eugenia Whitty's birthplace)

The Republic of Texas and the Civil War (1841–1860)

Marshall, TX was founded in 1841 as the seat of Harrison County, since the county was established in 1839, and was incorporated in 1843.. The city quickly became a major city in the state because of its position as a gateway to Texas on several major stage coach lines and one of the first railroad lines into Texas. The establishment of several colleges, including a number of seminaries, teaching colleges, and incipient universities, earned Marshall the nickname the Athens of Texas, in reference to the ancient Greek city state. The city's growing importance was confirmed when Marshall was linked by a telegraph line to New Orleans, becoming the first city in Texas to have a telegraph service.^[8]

By 1860, the city was the fourth largest city in Texas and the seat of the richest county. The county had more slaves than any other in the state, making it a hotbed of anti-Union sentiment, though some residents of Marshall nonetheless fought for the North.

Eugenia Whitty was born on this date (Feb 24, 1852) in Marshall, TX, a city where her parents aren't on the census records as having ever lived.  They were in Athens AL in 1850, she was born in 1852, and they were all the way over in Hill County TX by 1860's census.  So I think they weren't planning to settle in Marshall at all...maybe were just passing through on their way to a better place to live.

Carroll and Susan Hoke Whitty had been a farming family in the 1850 census of Limestone County, AL, living next door to a brother Jackson Whitty and his wife Emily.  Susan Hoke Whitty's father, Joseph Hoke, (57), lived with her family.  She already had 5 children in AL. 

Athens, Limestone County AL was

Founded in 1818 by John Coffee, Robert Beaty, John D. Carroll, and John Read... one of the oldest incorporated cities in the State of Alabama, having been incorporated one year prior to the state's admittance to the Union in 1819. (Source Wikipedia)

Founders Hall, Athens College, Athens AL

By 1852 the family had taken to the road west.  They settled in Hill County, TX by 1860, which is another 175 miles or so west of Marshall.  In July of 1860 a census shows Carroll Whitty identifying himself as a Wagon Maker, and his two oldest sons are stocksmen (which I assume means cowboys, before the term came into use).


Susan Whitty now had 9 children, two of whom are 6 year olds (I wonder if they are twins perhaps!)  And Eugenia is listed as 9 years old. 

 Hill County, Texas was founded in 1853, so the Whitty family was among the earliest settlers, and their property was listed in 1860 as "The Subdivision."   There no longer is another Whitty family nearby, nor any Hokes either.  If I ever get the time, I might try to trace where these families moved. 

In 1868 Richard Booth, an attorney like his father, was 22 when his first wife had died in childbirth (and the baby died within 4 months.)  (See Here for more on RRB)  Their 2 year old son had been named after his grandfather, William Lewis Booth.(see HERE for more on WLB)  Richard R. Booth married Eugenia Almeta Whitty on 7.20.1869 in Hill County, TX. 

William Booth residence, Hillsboro, TX, land purchased 1855

So by the Hillsboro Census of 1870, Richard and Eugenia and little William L. Jr,  were listed as living in a separate household next door to the senior William Booth's household, which included some of Richard's older siblings, who were also attorneys. 

On 7 Feb 1871, Eugenia Whitty Booth gave birth to Edwin Whitty Booth. And on 30 Jan 1873, she gave birth to Eugenia Almeta Booth, both children born in Hillsboro, TX. 

At some point in the next 4 years, the Richard Booth and the William Booth families moved to Hempstead TX. On July 13, 1875 Eugenia gave birth to a daughter who died the same day.  Eugenia Whitty Booth also died that day.
  
50 miles northwest of Houston,  Hempstead, TX was the home of the Booth families according to the 1880 census.   William Lewis Booth, Sr's household included his grandchildren: William Jr., 14, Ed, 9, and Eugenia A, 7.  Their father, Richard Booth, had been killed by a person he was prosecuting in the same town in 1879.  Hemstead is known as having been a distribution center between the Gulf Coast and the interior of Texas since 1858 when the Houston and Texas Central Railway reached it. 

Availability of transportation facilities and the surrounding area's large cotton production facilitated growth of textile manufacturing and cotton processing industries. Merchandising and processing grew rapidly between 1867 and the 1880s. The town prospered as a transportation center and became Waller county seat in May 1873. Hempstead's commercial, manufacturing, and processing sectors suffered large financial losses from fires between 1872 and 1876.  (Source: Handbook of Texas)

There are various spellings of Eugenia Almeta Whitty Booth's names, Almetta, Almeda, Witty, and so on.  I would be interested in finding out where the name, Almeta, originally came from.

Ancestor Birthdays in February

some ancestors' February Birthdays:
William Sanford Rogers
Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers
Eugenia Almetta Whitty Booth

 

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William Sanford Rogers (Known as W. Sam by his son, my grandfather, George Elmore Rogers, Sr.)  
born on 2.9.1850 Huntsville, TX
m. Bette Bass on 12.14.1876,  Willis Tx 
d. 1879 Huntsville TX.  

You might notice how young he was when he died.  His wife died within a year of him, so my grandfather was raised (with his little sister) by W. Sam's sister, Alice Luella Rogers Ross and her husband, John Elmore Ross, who just happened to have also been born on February 22.1850, died-1.14.1918. 
(NOTE: Further research shows it is not true that Bette Bass Rogers died then)

*********************** 

A woman who was a strong leader in our family.  My father's mom: Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers was born Feb 23, 1886 San Marcos, TX,
m. 6.6.1905 George Elmore Rogers,  Galveston, TX
d. Dec. 1964,  Houston, TX

Ada Rogers as one of two Christian Science Readers for Sunday services in a Houston Texas church. (In the background is Mary Beth Rogers who is honored below)

My grandmother was a Christian Science Practioner for as long as I knew her, which meant she helped sick people without use of medical attention, only with prayer.  It wasn't quite the same as laying on of hands, as there was little drama involved, but the purpose was to use the same powers that Jesus did to have healings.

She raised my father in the religion and he remained a devout Christian Scientist all his life, though he seldom attended Sunday services (at least when I lived with him).

Ada and husband George Rogers

Christmas dinner 1938.  Front row, l to r, Mataley (my mother) Donna V, Ada; back row, brothers: George (Junie, my father), Alex, Chauncey, James and Pop (George Sr) taken at the Rogers home, 400 E. Myrtle, San Antonio, TX

 sisters Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers and Stella Zuleka Swasey Winslow (b. 1887)

The Swasey sisters were the only children of Zuleka Phillips Swasey, whose sister was also named Ada.  

See an older post on my blog about Ada and George Rogers, and a very old photo here.

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Eugenia Almetta Whitty Booth b. 2.24.1852 Marshall TX.  She married 7.20.1869 (his second m.) Richard R. Booth. They were the maternal grandparents of my grandmother, Mozelle Booth Miller Webb Munhall.  I love that I can trace a maternal lineage this far, and actually a bit further.

This is the home 17 year old Mrs. Booth moved into when she married a widower.  Richard had one son who was 3 at the time of the marriage.  They had 3 more children, including Eugenia Almeta Booth Miller, my great grandmother.  I've already talked about her on this blog earlier here.
  

Booth family home, 1855 Hillsboro, Texas