The Complimentary Obituary of Sarah Elizabeth Winfield Howell Davis

My Fourth Great-Grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Winfield Howell Davis, known affectionately as Sallie, was born on Feb 7, 1773 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. She arrived in what was then Anson County, North Carolina, in the area near the forks of the Rocky and Yadkin/PeeDee rivers, in the mid-1780's, with her parents, 3 siblings, and other Southside Virginia Methodist Episcopals, most of them related to the Winfield or Freemans in some manner. Some of the family would migrate on to Marlboro County, South Carolina, just across the state line, a decade or later.

She was the daughter of Peter Winfield, born in 1745 in Sussex County, Virginia, youngest son of Edward Wingfield and Mary Harris Wingfield and grandson of Jarvis Wingfield. Her mother was Charlotte Freeman, daughter of Arthur Freeman and Agnes Stokes (daughter of Sylvanus Stokes).
Her siblings were:

Edward Winfield 1766 - 1836 married Sussanah Lee
Ancena Winfield 1771- Uncertain, married 1) James Morrison 2) Thomas Avett
Jemina Winfield  1780- between 1840 & 1850, married Griffin Nash

In early Anson, 17 year old Sally would meet Richard Howell, who had connections to the Randall and Jordan families who had arrived in the area possibly twenty years prior. They would marry in 1790 and become the parents of 4 children. Those children were:

1) Peter Howell 1794-1866 married Elizabeth Floyd, daughter of Josiah and Mary Tillman Floyd.
2) Jordan Howell 1796-1835 married Mrs. Hannah Handy maiden name possibly Hall, who later married Shipman Jones of Cumberland County, NC.
3) John Winfield Howell 1799-1854, married Clarrisa Harlow Phelps Pearce, widow of Nathan Pearce, possibly married to Carolina Allen, prior to marriage with the widow Pearce.
4) Charlotte 1800-1877 married Rev. Levi Stancill

Richard Howell passed away in 1802, sometime shortly after the death of his father-in-law, Peter Winfield. In 1804, Sallie would married Job Davis, who was also born in 1773 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia  and migrated to the same area about 1794 in the accompaniment of the Josiah and Mary Tillman Floyd family.  They were married in Marlboro County, South Carolina by Joel Winfield, Ordinary and Clerk, Sallies' cousin. This marriage would also produce 4 children:

1) Henry Davis 1806- 1865 married 1) Sarah Kendall 2) Martha Palmer
2) James M. Davis 1808- 1883 married Rowena Lee
3) Edward Winfield Davis 1811 - 1882 married Rebecca Hathcock
4) Marriott Freeman Davis 1815 - 1885 married 1) Elizabeth Turner 2) Mary Ann Pickler Winfield, widow of his cousin Milton Winfield.

Sallie would survive her second husband by about 4 years.



The Southern Christian Advocate was a newspaper published in South Carolina in the 1800's, that was the official publication of the Methodist conferences in many of the Southern States.

The August 21, 1856 issue gave the following obituary for Grandma Sallie:

Mrs. Sarah Davis - formerly Winfield - was born in Meclenburg Co., (sic), Va., Feb. 7 ,1773 and died in Stanley (sic) Co., N.C. July 10, in the 83rd year of her age.  Joined the M. E. Church when 13 years old. About 1790 she married Richard Howell, and was left a widow in 1802. She married a second time in 1804, to Job Davis, and a second time was left a widow in 1833 (incorrect as Job passed away in 1852), mother of 8 children, two of whom have died in the faith, and the rest, but one, are members of the church. 

The two children who predecessed her where Jordan Howell and John W. Howell. And the one who was no longer "In the Faith", had to be my direct ancestor, Henry Davis, as he was in and out of court with problems by the time his mother had passed away. Jim, E. W., M. F. , Charlotte and Peter, were continually devout and pious.

We remember you Grandma Sallie, and your 242nd birthday.

The Nurse

When you think of nurses during the Civil War, you probably imagine a scene like this:



But when it comes to my 3rd Great-Grandfather, Thomas Alexander Mauldin, I am fairly certain the scene did not look like that.

I haven't spent a great deal of time in my family tree, because it has been done, and a book written, by my diligent and entertaining distant cousin, Ervin Mauldin of Norwood, NC. I thought, there really isn't any research to do, because its all there already. All  I have to do is look in the book.

But when it came to my post, Bits and Pieces of Men, I realized I didn't really know my Mauldin ancestors involvement in that important time in American History.

So I turned to the best source I've found for information of that kind, Fold3.

And there, I found the Civil War records of my double-ancestor, Thomas Mauldin. And what I found was intriguing.

First, let me explain the 'double ancestor' comment. My maternal grandmother was named Annie Maude Mauldin. She was the daughter of Jonah and Wincie Ann Mauldin. Wincie's maiden name was Mauldin. My grandmother often said her mother was born a Mauldin, she married a Mauldin and when he died she married another Mauldin. And this was true.

Walter Jonah Mauldin was the son of James Duncan Mauldin born 1842, died 1909.
Wincie Ann Mauldin was the daughter of Frank Washington Mauldin, born 1850, died 1925.

Jonah and Wincie were married December 29, 1900. Jonah died in 1930 and Wincie then married James Williams Mauldin, son of Franklin Mannasseh Mauldin.

Jonah and Wincie Mauldin and family. My grandmother was the girl in between her parents.

James Duncan Mauldin and Frank Washington Mauldin were both the sons of Thomas Alexander Mauldin and wife Mary "Polly" Blalock, meaning, they were brothers and Jonah and Wincie first cousins. First cousin marriages were not unusual in small towns and country communities during this time, whether in the North or the South, East or West. Many family trees reveal this common secret.

James Duncan Mauldin married Margaret W. Solomon, daughter of Rev. William S. Solomon and wife Tabitha Marks, and Frank Washington Mauldin married Martha Margaret Russell, daughter of Aaron Russell and wife Senith or "Sena" Elizabeth Swaim Russell.


The following information is in a folder on Fold3:

Thomas Mauldin, Private Co. K, 28th regiment, North Carolina Troops

April 8, 1864

During M fitness for field service is detailed for Hosp. or other light duty. 

April 13, 1864

Refer'd to Surgeon Hancock in chg Jackson Hospital for assignment.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Muster Roll

Thomas Maulding
Pvt. Company K, 28th Reg't NC Calvary
Enlisted: Sept 10, 1863

Where: Albemarle
By Whom: Col. Simpson
Period: War

Absent
Detail Service Richmond, VA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thos Moulden
Private  28  NC  

Appears on a report of Paroles given prisoners of War by DM Evans

May 1, 1865
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Roll of Prisoners of War captured in Hospitals, Richmond, Va. 

Where captured: Richmond, Virginia   April 3, 1865

Paroled May 3, 1865

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jackson Hospital, Richmond, VA    List of Employees

Thomas Mauldlin, Co K  28th Regt NC T

Attached to Hospital: April 13, 1864
When detailed: April 8, 1864

By Whom: GENERAL LEE

Now, wait a minute! General Lee? As in General Robert E Lee?  THE GENERAL LEE?

No way...Yes way....G, G, G Grandpa Mauldin was assigned to duty by General Lee. Wow. Just Wow.

Jackson Hospital, Richmond, Virginia

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later installments would show that Thomas Mauldin was employed as a Nurse.

On Christmas Eve, 1864, Thomas Mauldin is issued a Passport from Jackson Hospital, Richmond, VA. Destination:Stanly County. 

Then later, on a Return slip of "Medical Officers, Hospital Stewards, Detailed Men and Attendants on Duty, for August of 1864, Thomas Mauldin has returned to Jackson Hospital and assigned again as a Nurse. 

Thomas Alexander Mauldin shows up in 4 census records:

1850, Harris Township, Stanly County, where he is listed as a miner, living near Howell Parker and David Biles, which places him in the present New London area.

NAME:	Thomas Mauldin
AGE:	28
BIRTH YEAR:	abt 1822
BIRTHPLACE:	North Carolina
HOME IN 1850:	Harris, Stanly, North Carolina
GENDER:	Male
FAMILY NUMBER:	292
HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS:	NAME AGE Thomas Mauldin 28 Mary Mauldin 27 James Mauldin 7 Martha Mauldin 2 Mary Mauldin 1

1860, now a farmer, living near Samuel Lilly, Almond Boysworth and some Kirks. This places him on the Yadkin/PeeDee, near the area of Swift Island or between there and Stony Hill Church. 

NAME:	Thomas Maulden
AGE IN 1860:	40
BIRTH YEAR:	abt 1820
BIRTHPLACE:	North Carolina
HOME IN 1860:	Stanly, North Carolina
GENDER:	Male
POST OFFICE:	Albemarle
VALUE OF REAL ESTATE:	View image
HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS:	NAME AGE Thomas Maulden 40 Mary Maulden 38 James D Maulden 18 Martha J Maulden 13 Mary A Maulden 11 Washington Maulden 10 Laura Maulden 8 Nancy Maulden 7 Leny Maulden 5 William Maulden 3 Henry Maulden 1

1870, still a farmer, living near Kirks, Forrests and David Melton. Probably the same spot as 1870. Definitely the Swift Island/ "Rest" (Now River Haven) area. 

NAME:	Thos Maulden
AGE IN 1870:	50
BIRTH YEAR:	abt 1820
BIRTHPLACE:	North Carolina
HOME IN 1870:	Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina
RACE:	White
GENDER:	Male
POST OFFICE:	Albemarle
VALUE OF REAL ESTATE:	View image
HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS:	NAME AGE Thos Maulden 50 Mary Maulden 47 Mintie Maulden 31 Mary Maulden 21 Laura Maulden 18 Nancy Maulden 15 William Maulden 13 Henry Maulden 12 Lancy Maulden 11 Thomas Maulden 7 Mary Maulden 41

1880, now a Carpenter, The family has crossed the river to the Montgomery side, but staying near it in the Pee Dee area. All the children have grown up and left the nest, but grandson James lives with them.

NAME:	Thomas Maldin
AGE:	56
BIRTH YEAR:	abt 1824
BIRTHPLACE:	North Carolina
HOME IN 1880:	Pee Dee, Montgomery, North Carolina
RACE:	White
GENDER:	Male
RELATION TO HEAD OF HOUSE:	Self (Head)
MARITAL STATUS:	Married
SPOUSE'S NAME:	Mary Maldin
FATHER'S BIRTHPLACE:	North Carolina
MOTHER'S BIRTHPLACE:	North Carolina
NEIGHBORS:	View others on page
OCCUPATION:	Carpenter
CANNOT READ/WRITE: BLIND: DEAF AND DUMB: OTHERWISE DISABLED: IDIOTIC OR INSANE:	View image
HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS:	NAME AGE Thomas Maldin 56 Mary Maldin 50 James Maldin 4

It is not known when Thomas died, but before the 1900 census. His place of burial is unknown as well, whether in Stanly or Montgomery. I may try to find some sort of information on this, but it may be impossible.

In "Ye Mauldins" by Ervin Mauldin, he has included this information on Thomas Alexander Mauldin. "Thomas Alexander Mauldin was the second son of James and Mary Smith Mauldin, born in 1822. He helped his father farm until he married Mary Polly Blalock, daughter of William David Blalock and Martha Dennis. Thomas continued to farm until he moved to North Albemarle township where he went to work in the gold mine. He worked there until just before 1880, then moved to Montgomery County, NC."   

"There Mary Blalock Mauldin died before 1882, when he applied for a marriage license to wed Mary E. Blalock of Montgomery County. They were married in 1885.......The Montgomery County Blalock records state they are both buried in Sharon Cemetery, Mt. Gilead, NC. The second Mary E. was the daughter of Simeon and Harriett Williams Blalock. "

"Thomas was ordered by the court of Stanly County to go to service. At that time Thomas had a wife and eleven children. Shortly after he joined the regiment in Virginia, the 28th fought with Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Chancelorville. It fought at Gettysburg, where it took part in Pickett's charge. It fought with Lee at Mine Run and at Spotsylvania Courthouse and made its final assault on Petersburg. Thomas Mauldin was in the same company as his brother James Mauldin, Jr. He was assigned to the hospital in Virginia as a nurse. He was judged unfit for fighting. Orders signed by General Robert E Lee. 

Just Like Us

The Civil War is the first that we really have actual images of that have survived and can give an actual visual impression of.  Most of us have a very limited opinion and imagery of this time, but the more I delve into it, the more I am fascinated by the actuality of it.

We have heard of the battles, the commanders, the causes, the flags, the strategies and the results, but it is the people that intrigue me. The flesh and blood, just like us human beings that were caught up in this earth-shattering event that nearly tore our country in half, and effected every ancestor of any American who had one arrive here prior to this time. The faces tell the tales. Of people just like us.

The above Union soldier had his "Swag" going on. His cockiness comes across in his photo.



Belle Boyd, a confederate spy. Attractive and tempting, she was considered successful in her operations and aims. She reminds me a little of a young Susan Sarandon.


Frances Hook, one of over 400 documented women who fought in the Civil War. Some entered under the guise of being male. Others wore a partial uniform and did not disguise their femininity, like Frances.


A pretty young Civil War nurse. She reminds me of a young girl I know today.



A Civil War pin-up girl. No, Mae West and Betty Grable were not the first pinup girls that wooed men on through a War. No, they were not considered proper for Antebellum ladies, but there were always those young widows,  fatherless girls, and disenfranchised misses who "had to do what they had to do".

Another female soldier. They took all of the same risks that the men did. It was reported that there were two unidentified female bodies found dead at the Battle of Gettysburg, both Confederate. Why they fought would be as varied as who they were. Perhaps they could not bear to be away from their husband, fiance, brothers or father. Perhaps they had nowhere to go or nothing to do when the men in their families marched off to war. Maybe they posed as male soldiers because they needed the money.

Don't this guy look a little like the kid you just ran into at the Speedy Mart?



Another chick, this one in Union garb. She had a bit of a flair going on, didn't she?

Edmund Ruffin. He was 65 years old when he joined the Confederate Army in Virginia. At first glance, he looks a little like a Native American. I don't know his genetics, however, he was known as a Virginian planter, and a agriculturalist. His studies and findings on soil conservation and use would peg him as "The Father of Soil Chemistry". He is also identified as one of 3 people who may have fired the first shot at Fort Sumter. He was a supporter of states rights and left Virginia and joined the Palmetto Guards in South Carolina.


Civil War doctor, Mary Edwards Walker.

General Eli S. Parker. He was a Seneca Indian and was appointed by U. S. Grant as Commissioner of Indian affairs.





Another Native American who fought in the Civil War.


Parker with his daughter. She shows little of her Native American heritage. The family passed into the European-American community.

Many Native Americans married into African-American families as well as families of Caucasian-European descent. As a result, Native Americans could range in appearance to a broad spectrum of phenotypes.


A very young soldier. This war took in young boys, old men, women, and actually anybody who would pick up a gun and fight.

I believe I just saw this handsome young man skateboarding down by the YMCA. Looks a little bit like Justin Bieber.

A Civil War soldier and Native American Scout.



Below, the First Louisiana Native Guard. Enough Said.



Next, another team of Soldiers that would not normally come to mind.


These two young friends liked to show off their weaponry like most teenaged boys. However, the times and era make this photo highly unusual. They are identified as Sgt. Andrew Martin Chandler and Silas Chandler.


This soldier likely has an interesting family tree.

As does this gentleman. Both appear to be multi-racial. It is unknown how they would identify or be identified, in a census record, say.


The above photo is of Nate Love, who was also know as Deadwood Dick. A Civil War vet, he would become a Cowboy of reknown in the old West after the war. He was born in 1854 and died in 1921. He had some Swagger in his pose, too.


Soldiers were often family men, like the below unidentified Union soldier and his daughter.




The following soldier had a very young bride. I wonder if he made it through the war to come back home to her.




This fellow was obviously a musician, and posing with his wife and daughters.


Sometimes entire families of brothers would enlist, often with their father as well.




What became of these poor children? Did daddy come home?








And the brotherly bonds would last a lifetime.

And in time, the wounds of the scarred country, would begin to heal.


These were not unrelated persons in an ancient, unrelevant time. They were people....just like us.



Below, a Civil War era family that followed their father into war.

Where John Fletcher Capron Rests his Traveling Bones

I thought I had discovered everything there was to know about John F. Capron. I was wrong.

I had not covered every resource in the hunt for this interesting and well-traveled gentleman.

In Stanly County, we are blessed to have had several cemetery surveys, some from maintained and existing church and community cemeteries, another from the abandoned and hard-to-find family cemeteries that dot the countryside. We amazingly  have two books on a survey that was done in 1936, before my parents were born. I am grateful that individuals were interested in family history and preserving it at that time.

As oftentimes happens, while looking for one thing, I will find another. I did not think that I would be able to find the final resting place of the Caprons, with the exception of youngest son Edward O Capron, who is buried at Concord Methodist Church in Anson County. This is the final resting place of his grandparents, and his parents, too probably, I thought, among those ancient graves whose stones are either no longer legible or are missing entirely.

But my assumptions were wrong. While browsing through the 1936 book, I found the listing for John F Capron, his wife Julia Howell Capron and son John F Capron, Jr. I wondered about the third son, Peter Howell Capron, who died just a few years before his mother and brother, if his grave was here, but already illegible, or if he were buried somewhere else.

The family was interred at Bethel United Methodist Church near New London, Stanly County, North Carolina. The stone sign for the church, now encased in brick, says that it was established in 1790. I would love to discover more history on this church, as I am sure it must have an amazing one, with a birthday that old.

The church is still a vital and active congregation, and the church sits back off the highway between present day New London and Badin, which in their day would have been the road from Bilesville to the River road and the ferries along the Yadkin and probably to Ebenezer Baptist Church, which is now Badin Baptist, and existed long before the town of Badin came into existence.

I did not walk the cemetery in depth, but I checked out most of the older stones and could not find the graves of the Caprons. The yard had visibly unmarked graves, however, and others marked with fieldstones that are not decipherable with the naked eye. I did not spend a great deal of time there, however, so a trip back is in order.

In his agreement with his neighbor Miller, in 1887, to take care of him in a good manner and to have suitable, durable tombstones mounted for himself and his family, in exchange for his land, a contract surviving son, E. O Capron, would later challenge, John F. Capron described in great detail the structure and quality he required for his gravemarkers, so I hope they still stand and I don't imagine they would be of fieldstone, but more likely the old mildewed white marble kind.

The location of the church makes a good deal of sense when looking at land records from the final decades of the Caprons lives. They were in the Harris Community and neighbors to William Biles, Daniel Ritchey, Levi Parker,  and others. He is listed as a Mechanic in 1870 and 1880, living next to brickmasons, miners and farmers.

John F. Capron always followed mining operations, although there is no record of him ever mining.

The families final resting place is not the only recent discovery, however. I also found this excerpt from The Southern Chrisitian Advocate, September 5, 1851 issue, concerning the first Mrs. John F. Capron:

"Died, in San Francisco, California, on the 19th of May, Mrs. Matilda Capron, wife of John F. Capron, formerly of Warsaw, Alabama. Reported by Jesse Boring. "

Somehow, I know there is more on this family to discover.

The Early Roads of Albemarle

I have a fascination for old maps. Something intrigues me. I love to look at them and try to determine where exactly the roads and areas led pertaining to the modern landscape.


In 1841, when the county of Montgomery in North Carolina had been severed by the Yadkin/PeeDee River in order to form the new County of Stanly, a group of men got together, including my Davis ancestors, to determine the placement of the County Seat, a center for justice, a place to build a Courthouse and Jail.

The place was eventually decided to be 50 acres of part of the Hearne lands, "within 8 miles of Eben Hearne" and taking into account the dower of his mother Nancy, and the shares of minor "infant" heirs Mary Frances Hearne, who was unmarried and still at home and of her nephew Alexander, whose mother had passed away and who was in the custody and guardianship of his grandmother Nancy.

And it was to be called "Albemarle".






The description of the site in 1841 was as follows, "the situation is central and healthy, being on a high and dry ridge, with fine and suitable soil for a county town, having a beautiful grove of forest trees, large oaks + hickories......having advantage of good public roads leading to it, the road from Fayetteville to Morganton, and the road from Cheraw to Salisbury pass directly by it, and two other roads unite with them at the spot."


So Albemarle, before she was Albemarle, was an intersection of the Fayetteville to Morganton road, which I believe was at least in its eastward streach, the reasonable trajectory of East Main Street leading to the Troy Road, or 24/27 and that the Salisbury to Cheraw road was pretty much the same path that Highway 52 runs today, off a little as "The Old Salisbury Road" from Albemarle to Richfield runs parallel to 52 and is closer to the original path in all likelihood.



On this old map, the Cheraw to Salisbury Road was probably the one through Centre (now Norwood) to the South and through Narrows (Richfield/Misenheimer) to the North. The Fayetteville to Morganton Road was probably the one leading east from Albemarle to Lawrenceville (now in the Uwharrie Forest) and to Mount Pleasant and Concord to the West.  The other southbound road out of Albemarle looks to have led to Cottonville and then down to the Ford, with one westward from there. But I'd like to know the other roads they were talking about. There is one from "Narrows" which follows the river all the way down into Anson, with another that crosses at what was probably a Ferry near present day Badin, maybe Lowders Ferry or Kirks. The road might follow somewhat, current 741, then picking up along Valley drive and the now nonexistant road that led from Morrow Mountain to Rest, which is now River Haven and maybe following close to "Indian Mound Road" or "Greentop", down to Randalls and old Allenton, below Norwood.

If anyone has any more information on these old roads, please contact me.