The Swell-Headed Baby

 

The Charlotte Observer Charlotte, North Carolina · Sunday, March 13, 1881

The above article from nearly 150 years ago piqued my curiosity for a number of reasons. First, the description of the infant, which appears to me to have been a case of hydrocephalus, which was wholly untreatable in 1881. The third reason is because I have crossed paths with a Dovey Huneycutt before, research-wise, who lived in Iredell County. There seems to have been a sizeable trek from the Big Lick area of Western Stanly County to Iredell at some point, not all at once, but some earlier, some later, and she was from one of those mobile families. The third reason was the term "woods colt", that I had not heard from some time and did not have to be told what it meant, although I really hadn't heard of it at first. 

First off, who exactly was Dovie? A search of Iredell County in the 19th Century turns up more than one.  

I love the name Dovie. It's one of those antiquated, cutesy names given to girls in the latter part of the 1800's and early part of the 1900's, much like Pansy, Trixie or Blondie. Too prevent the two Dovey Honeycutt's from Sharpsburg from being mixed up, and to deduce which one was the mother of this 'wood's colt' child, I started at the beginning of their mention in records. 

Sharpsburg is located in the upper west part of Iredell County, a County twice as long as it is wide. It's northwest of the County Seat of Statesville and just south of the beautiful Love Valley.  The Yadkin River forms its southern border. It is also the place where the "Swell-Headed Baby" and its mother, Dovey Honeycutt lived.

There were no less than four Dovey Honeycutt's listed in the 1850 census for Davie County, and it looks like two of them were the same person. 

First there was 55-year-old Dovie Honeycutt listed lastly in the household of 60-year-old Asa Honeycutt, acting as bookends for five teenagers; Isabella, 19, Dovey C., 17, Robert, 16, 'Carkin B.", 14, and Harriett, 12.

The second is 17-year-old Dovey in the same household. 

Third is a 5-month-old Dovey J. Honeycutt in the home of C. A. and Lovina.

And lastly, 10-year-old Dovie E Honeycutt, in the home of R. N. and Mary Honeycutt. As it turns out, this was one big family of Dovie's.

It begins with a man named Asa Andrew Honeycutt born about 1790 in Yancy County, North Carolina.

Yancy County is a mountain county, and several counties to the west of Iredell, shown as the Ire on the far-right middle of the page above. Asa Andrew Honeycutt migrated against the trend, going east instead of west. 

A. A. Honeycutt was the son of Moses "The Pioneer" Honeycutt who was born in 1766 in Surry County, Virginia. He was also known as "Modie" Honeycutt. Moses was married to Margaret Louisa Stout and settled in Yancy County, bringing forth an astounding 15 children with one wife, mostly sons. His family were buried in the Honeycutt-Stiles Cemetery, Green Mountain, Yancy County, North Carolina.

Moses Honeycutt, 84 and blind, living in the home of his son, Uriah, in Yancy County, NC, in the 1850 census. 

Name	Asa Hunnicut
Enumeration Date	7 Aug 1820
Home in 1820 (City, County, State)	East of the South Fork of the Catawba River, Lincoln, North Carolina, USA
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10	4
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10	1
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25	1
Free White Persons - Under 16	5
Total Free White Persons	7
Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other	7

As a man, Asa first shows up on the east of the South Fork of the Catawba River in Lincoln County, North Carolina. By then, he had married Dovie Amy Brown, daughter of William Brown of Rowan County, NC and wife Jane Erwin, also of Rowan, who had settled in the Troutman area of Iredell County. She was the first Dovey. 

Asa and Dovey had a large family of 17 children:

• 1)Elias Honeycutt (1811-1911)
• 2)Rowell Haywood Honeycutt (1812-1880)
• 3)Margaret L. "Peggy" Honeycutt (1816-1900)
• 4)Richard N. Honeycutt (1817-1900)
• 5)Coleman Andrew Asa Honeycutt (1821-1857)
• 6)Workman Hardlabor Honeycut (1824-1907)
• 7)Alexander H. Honeycutt (1825-1907)
• 8)Hampton M. Honeycutt (1826-1907)
• 9)Wesley Honeycutt (1830-0909)
• 10)Isabella Honeycutt (1831- unknown)
• 11)Haywood Honeycutt (1832- 1865)
• 12)Dovie Naomi Cavin Honeycutt (1834-1880)
• 13)Robert Rufus Honeycutt (1834-1918)
• 14)Wesley Honeycutt (1835-1850)
• 15)Rhoda Ann Honeycutt (1836-1900)
• 16)Bradford Larkin Honeycutt (1836-1887)
• 17)Harriett Susan Honeycutt (1837-1910)
• 
  
• 
  
• It's easy to see why there are so many Honeycutt's out there this day and time.

Dovie Naomi Cavin Honeycutt is the second Dovie. 

Born about 1834, in Iredell County, Dovie Number II was the daughter of Dovie Number One. She married George Hampton Henry, son of William Henry and Sarah Caroline Suther Henry. She had married a 'Cavin' sometime in late 1850 or early 1851. Either that marriage was annulled, or Mr. Cavin died, because on August 27, 1851, Dovie married G. H. Henry. They settled on Granite Hill in Iredell County, before moving to Coddle Creek, in Iredell County, a creek, and a township, that are also found in neighboring Cabarrus County. 

The Henry's end up in Deweese, Mecklenburg County, NC, by 1880, but the marriages of some of their children seem to suggest that George and Dovey may have moved over to Cabarrus County before their deaths, as their middle children were all married in Cabarrus. Neither of them lived to see the turn of the century, their year and place of death, or burial, is unknown, however, we can get a time frame with some of the children's documentation, showing whether their parents were living or dead at the time of their marriage. 

Marriage Certificate of George Burnside Henry and Lula Hunsuckeer dated July 10, 1886, showing his father living and his mother dead.

For example, because of the above document, we know Dovey Honeycutt Henry died before July 10, 1886, but George H. Henry was still living. 

In the 1880 census for Mecklenburg County, Deweese Township, below, we see the last record of George and Dovey together, with all 'ten' of their children, although, I am fairly certain that the last two were actually nephews, after following the trails of the extended Henry family. 

The known children of George H. Henry and Dovey Honeycutt Henry were:

1) C. Isabella Henry born May 16, 1852. Married Isaac Brown, a farmer, on May 4, 1878, in Randolph County. First settled in Deweese, Mecklenburg County, with many of her own family, and relocated to Randolph County, where they made their home near Asheboro along the Coleridge Road. She passed away on June 14, 1916, and was buried at Browers Chapel UMC cemetery. They were the parents of nine children, born between 1879 and 1897: Ella Flora, twins Elsie and Effie, Susan Ardella 'Sudie', Maude Minerva, Vila Luetta 'Valley', John Randolph, and another possible set of twins, Fletcher Elmer and Fleta Estelle. 

2) John A. Henry (1850-bef 1930) John was a handyman and farmer, once working in a sawmill. He is found several times living with siblings and bounced around between Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Rowan Counties in adulthood. He married briefly to Eldora Starnes, who divorced him and remarried three years later. No children. His date of death and place of burial is unknown. 

3) James Cowen Henry was born March 11, 1856. He Jalina Catherine Jolly on August 19, 1881, after the family had relocated to Mecklenburg County, NC. The family then migrated to Anderson County, Texas, with at least one of his brothers. James Cowen died on October 6, 1936, and was buried in Palestine, Anderson County, Texas. 

James and Jaline were the parents of 7 children: Shirley S. (a son), Emma, Edwin, Orabelle, Walter Price, Sam H. and Benjamin F. Henry, born between 1883-1899.

4) Robert Scott Henry, known as Scott, was born about 1858. A farmer, he married Annie Mary Jones after the family moved to Mecklenburg County. They first settled in Ironton, Lincoln County, NC and later moved to Buford, in Union County, NC. Scott died September 3, 1928, at the age of 70, and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte, NC. He and Annie were the parents of eight children born between 1886 and 1908; Molly, Ida, John William, Mary Belle, Franklin Burdette, James Matthew, Lillian R. and Rueben Jefferson. 

5) Whitefield H. "Whit" Henry was born July 8, 1860. He married Isadora Jolly on July 13, 1882, in Mecklenburg County, NC.  Both parents were living at that time. Whitt and James Cowan Henry seem to have moved to Palestine, Anderson County, Texas together. They lived side by side for a time

Whitt died June 27, 1845, in Anderson County, Texas, where he was a farmer, at the age of 84. He and Isadora raised six children born between 1888 and 1900; Dan, Hettie, Robert Lee, Charlie, Nellie Rachel and Jack.

6) George Burnside Walter Henry was born in January of 1863, smack dab in the middle of the War. He married Lula Hunsucker on July 10, 1886, in Mecklenburg County, NC. At that time, his father was still living, but his mother was deceased. He settled in the Poplar Tent area of Cabarrus County for at least 20 years, before relocating to the Jerusalem Community in Davie County, NC, where they stayed for a brief time before relocating back to Poplar Tent. George died April 18, 1935, and is buried at the Poplar Tent Presbyterian Church in Cabarrus County. He was 72. He and Lula were the parents of four children: Charlie Hampton, Bessie, Walter and Rosie Ovella. 

7) Bettie S. 'Sis' Henry was born about 1866. She married John Nelson Farrell on September 23, 1894

Her father was still living at that time, and of course, her mother was deceased still. 

Sis did not live a long life. She had one daughter named Dora, who grew up to marry Shepherd Kizziah and have eight children, although Dora also died young at 55. Sis died sometime between 1894 and 1900. Her place of burial is unknown. 

8) Elizabeth Louisa Henry was born about 1868. She married Charles Allen Hagler on December 21, 1893, in Cabarrus County. NC.  By this time, both parents were deceased. 

They raised their eight children in the Clear Creek area of Mecklenburg County, NC. She died on January 3, 1939, in the city of Charlotte, after living the life of a farmwife. Eliza and Allen raised a family of eight children: William, Connie Lena Ruth, Willie Jane, John Martin, Samuel Sherrill, Mary Ella, Annie Mae, and Julia M. 

The 1880 census shows two younger sons, with the initials of W. C. and L. M. There are no other records of these two boys, if they were indeed children of George and Dovey.  However, the initials and ages correspond with two of the sons of George's brother, William F. Henry, who died young, William and Lee, and I believe these were these two nephews of George that he took in. 

The third Dovey was Dovey Jane Honeycutt, born on December 22, 1849, and was the daughter of Dovey Honeycutt Henry's brother, Coleman Asa Andrew Honeycutt, and his wife, Levina Jane Brown. Brown was one of the surnames found intermarried  with the children and grandchildren of Asa and Dovey Amy Brown Honeycutt in multiple instances, including cousin marriages of varying degrees. 

Name	C A Homycut
Gender	Male
Race	White
Residence Age	28
Birth Date	abt 1822
Birthplace	North Carolina
Residence Date	1850
Home in 1850	Iredell, North Carolina, USA
Occupation	Farmer
Industry	Agriculture
Line Number	20
Dwelling Number	1412
Family Number	1422
Inferred Spouse	Levina J Homycut
Inferred Child	David W Homycut; James B Homycut; Andr A Homycut; Dovey J Homycut

Household members

Name	Age
C A Homycut	28
Levina J Homycut	38
David W Homycut	8
James B Homycut	6
Andr A Homycut	4
Dovey J Homycut	0

Coleman and Levina were raising a large family in Iredell County, farming as most families did in that day. Dovey Jane is shown as a five month old infant in the 1850 census, and their fourth child. Altogether, Coleman and Levina would have seven children altogether, but Coleman would died a young man of 35, on July 25, 1857, possibly of an illness that took the youngest child, Martha A. Honeycutt, who also died that year. Another girl was reported to have been born after his decease,  posthumously, and died an unnamed infant.

The survivng children were:

• David Workman Honeycutt (1842-1920)
• James Brown Honceycutt (1844-1865)
• Andrew Asa Honeycutt (1847-1933)
• Dovey Jane (1849-1933)
• William Alexander (1853-1931)

The loss of the father so young would toss a family into a thrall, but Levina had been fortuitous enough to have given birth to three strong boys before having a daughter, and followed up with another.

Name	Levina Honeycutt
Age	50
Birth Year	abt 1810
Gender	Female
Race	White
Birth Place	North Carolina
Home in 1860	School District 72, Iredell, North Carolina
Post Office	Coddle Creek
Dwelling Number	160
Family Number	162
Occupation	Weaver
Inferred Child	David Honeycutt; James Honeycutt; and Honeycutt; William Honeycutt; Dovey Honeycutt

Household members

Name	Age
Levina Honeycutt	50
David Honeycutt	19
James Honeycutt	16
and Honeycutt	12
William Honeycutt	10
Dovey Honeycutt	8
Jane Edwards	20

She is found in 1860 farming, and the family keeping above water, with the help of her teenaged sons. Levina was a Weaver, while her children worked the farm. She had also taken in a boarder, a young woman named Jane Edwards. The ages of her last two children were incorrect, as Dovey would have been 10 and William 7. They were living in Coddle Creek Township at this time.

Name	Levinia Hunnicutt
Age in 1870	60
Birth Date	abt 1810
Birthplace	North Carolina
Dwelling Number	131
Home in 1870	Davidson, Iredell, North Carolina
Race	White
Gender	Female
Post Office	Mount Mourne
Occupation	Keeping House
Inferred Children	Dovey Hunnicutt

Household members

Name	Age
Levinia Hunnicutt	60
Dovey Hunnicutt	18

1870 found Dovey and her mother , Lavina, living on their own. They had moved to the town Mount Mourne in Davidson, still in Iredell County.

 Mount Mourne began as the plantaion home of Major Rufus Reid. It was an enormous and profitable enterprise before the War, and the second largest in Iredell County. Afterwards, it continued to operate with hired labor and share croppers and a village developed around it as textile mills and other factories were built. I've seen in other families I've researched, a temporary draw to Mount Mourne about this time as they gravitated there for work The Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad established there at this time and the old plantation site became a transportaion hub for agricultural and manufactured goods, providing work and commerce for the village.

The Honeycutt sons had set out on their own. 

David Workman Honeycutt

David Workman Honeycutt had married in 1866 to Sarah Matilda Deaton. He was working as a house carpenter in Deep Well and they were already the parents of four. However, David had had a dalliance with the border, Miss Martha Jane Edwards, and a son, Lemuel Morris Edwards, was born on December 20, 1861, whom she named after her father, Lemuel Morris Edwards the first, a Quaker, who had moved to Iredell from Orange County, NC and married into the ...wait for it...Brown Family, his wife being Margaret "Polly" Brown, daughter of James Brown and Jane Love.

Martha Jane Edwards died in 1889

David seems to have been named for his uncle, Workman Hardlabor Honeycutt, a very unusual moniker indeed. Workman, who of course preferred his initials, "W. H.", also had a daughter named Dovie, after his mother. Her fullname was Dovey Julia A. Honeycutt. She was born in 1852 in Mecklenburg County, and as an adult, went by the name Julia. She married William Mack Atwell, and was the mother of 4 children; Ollie, Mary Ellen, Ida Cordia and Joseph Walter Atwell. She died at the young age of 37, also in 1889.

She would have been the fifth Dovey

Dovey Julia A Honeycutt Atwell died in 1889

But let us continue with the third Dovey, daughter of Coleman and Levina Jane Brown Honeycutt.

 

On March 6, 1873, in Iredell County, 23 year old Dovey married Thomas T. Reid of the Mount Mourne Reids, 15 years her elder. A businessman and farmer, Thomas had been married prevously and had one son, William, bonrn in 1858. He was the son of William "Billy" Reid and Susannah Augusta "Gus" Lineberger.

Name	Dovey Jane Reid
Age	30
Birth Date	Abt 1850
Birthplace	North Carolina
Home in 1880	Davidson, Iredell, North Carolina, USA
Dwelling Number	255
Race	White
Gender	Female
Relation to Head of House	Wife
Marital Status	Married
Spouse's Name	Thos. T. Reid
Father's Birthplace	North Carolina
Mother's Name	J. L. Honeycut
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina
Occupation	Housekeeper
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
Thos. T. Reid	45
Dovey Jane Reid	30
J. L. Honeycut	68

In 1880, the household includes both Dovey and her mother, Levina Jane. In 1900 and 1910, Tom and Dovey are living in China Grove, just them, growing old together, along the China Grove - Mooresville Road, in Rowan County. Thomas dies April 18, 1913 and is buried at Oak Grove United Methodist Church in China Grove. Dovey continues to live in China Grove for a time. 

Name	Dovie J Reed
Age	70
Birth Year	abt 1850
Birthplace	North Carolina
Home in 1920	China Grove, Rowan, North Carolina
Street	Mooresville Road
House Number	Farm
Residence Date	1920
Race	White
Gender	Female
Relation to Head of House	Head
Marital Status	Widowed
Father's Birthplace	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina
Able to Speak English	Yes
Occupation	None
Industry	Old Lady
Home Owned or Rented	Owned
Home Free or Mortgaged	Free
Able to read	Yes
Able to Write	Yes
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
Dovie J Reed	70
Margaret E Earnhart	60

In 1920, she has taken Margaret Earnhardt into her home, aged 60, and described as a "Companion". I find it humorous that  although her household is described as a farm, under industry they have labeled it "Old Lady". I can envison her farm, owned free and clear, producing a crop of old ladies.

Name	Davie J Reid
Birth Year	abt 1850
Gender	Female
Race	White
Age in 1930	80
Birthplace	North Carolina
Marital Status	Widowed
Relation to Head of House	Sister
Home in 1930	Davidson, Iredell, North Carolina, USA
Map of Home	Davidson,Iredell,North Carolina
Dwelling Number	237
Family Number	237
Attended School	No
Able to Read and Write	Yes
Father's Birthplace	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina
Able to Speak English	Yes
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
Andrew A Honeycutt	82
Mary A Honeycutt	78
Lue E Honeycutt	45
Henry C Honeycutt	38
Davie J Reid	80

By 1930, Dovey, now 80, has moved in with her 82- year- old brother, Andrew, and his family, in Davidson, Iredell County. She lives another three years and died on June 27,1933, later buried beside her husband in China Grove.

Could Dovie Jane Reid have been the mother of the 'Swell-headed baby"? I think not. In 1880, she was a Reid, no longer a Honeycutt, and the child was described as a "woods colt", meaning that it was born outside of marriage. Dovey Jane Honeycutt never had children, as ws confirmed by the 1900 and 1910 census records, that recorded such things. She had the one stepson, William Reid, whose mother was Mary Calloway Reid, Tom's first wife.

That leaves her cousin, Dovey E. M. Honeycutt, daughter of  Coleman's brother, Richard N. Honeycutt and his wife, Mary Campbell Honeycutt.

Born about 1841, this Dovey was the third of nine children. She was preceded by sisters Louisa and Mary, and followed by Nancy, brother Adam Edward, Rosa Lee, Rowell Workman, two names that ran through the family, George Elias Washington, and John Wesley.

1850

Richard and Mary started out housekeeping and farming in a place called Rock Cut, on the West side of the Railroad in Iredell County.

1860

By 1860, the family was complete and they were still living in Iredell County. Dovey was now 19 years old and still at home.

After the war, things changed.

In 1870, Dovey was living with the Emmanuel Eidson family, in the New Sterling Community, Shiloh Township. She was serving the family as a housekeeper. It is unknown why she had left the family home and pack, as Richard and Mary had moved with their younger children, and the rest of their unmarried ones. 

The greater Richard N. Honeycutt family had moved from Iredell to Alexander County, which was located on their western border. 

They were living withing the York Collegiate Institute Post Office district. The Institute was founded by a Rev. Brantley York.

It was a precursor of Ruthford College. I wonder if Richard had relocated there for educational reasons for his children, perhaps to be close while they attended and to avoid boarding fees. Whatever the reason, the family did not remain there.

The 1880 census springs forth with even more questions. 

On June 5th, 1880, Richard is shown living back in Iredell County, it Barringer's Township, with his wife, Mary, aged 66. Also in the household, as an Assistant Housekeeper, is a family labeled as his cousins, Dilly Williams, 44, and her two children, Mary and Wesley. 

Meanwhile, 

On June 14,  1880, in Sharpesburg Township, Iredell County, NC, 

Mary Campbell Honeycutt is shown as head of a household including two of her daughters, Dovey, now 41, and Rosa, 32. That is not all this record reveals. 

Mary is not well. The record reveals that she was suffering from Dropsy. Dropsy is a term no longer used, but referred to swelling in the body and limbs, that was a symptom of a number of other issues, like heart failure, liver dysfunction, kidney disease, or a number of other digestive or circulatory problems.  Just 9 days after Mary was shown with Richard and his cousin, Dilly.  

Then, just three short months, later, M D Williams, or Margaret Dilley Griffin Williams, becomes the second wife of Richard N. Honeycutt. Mary must have passed away in the interim. Richard wasted no time marrying his cousin. 

Dilly

1850 

 Dilly was born Margaret Dilly Griffin, around 1835 in Alexander County, NC to Allen and Mary Griffin. She is shown above in the 1850 census with her parents and siblings, Lafayette, Howell, Isabella and Nimrod.

1860

Dilly married Aaron Williams and is shown in the 1860 as M. D. Williams, and living just below her parents, still in Alexander County. 

In 1870, she was a young widow, living with her two children, Mary and Lafayette, ages 9 and 6. The are back in her parents home. It's not recondite to assume she was a Civil War widow.

1870

And then in 1880, we see this cousin living with Richard and his wife, Mary, while Mary was ill, just before Mary is seen living with her two single daughters, during the summer. Then, in early fall, she married Richard, newly widowed, the second marriage for them both. Was there an affair before the wedding? It was disturbingly quick. Poor Mary.

1900

The marriage of Richard and M. D. Griffin Williams Honeycutt lasted at least twenty years, as they are found together, in Iredell County, Concord Township.

Returning to the 1880 census with Mary, Dovey and Rosa, I would be remiss to mention one last member of that household. 

Name	Thomas Hunnicutt
Age	2/12
Birth Date	Mar Abt 1880
Birthplace	North Carolina
Home in 1880	Sharpesburg, Iredell, North Carolina, USA
Dwelling Number	106
Race	White
Gender	Male
Relation to Head of House	Grandson
Marital Status	Single
Father's Birthplace	NC.
Mother's Name	Rosa J. Hunncut
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina
Maimed, Crippled, or Bedridden	Y
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
Mary Hunncut	65
Dovey Hunncut	41
Rosa J. Hunncut	32
Thomas Hunncut	2/12

The fourth member of group was a two-month-old boy named Thomas Huneycutt. His relationship to Mary, the head of household was that of a grandson. Under the column labeled  unapolgetically "Maimed, Crippled or Bedridden", he was checked positively, he belonged in that category.

I believe there was an error. As she was listed last among the women, the transcriptionist named Rosa as his mother. However, I am of the opinion that Thomas had to be the subject of the newspaper article, and was our "swell-headed baby", and Dovey then his mother. She would have been 40ish upon his birth, but that's not out of range of imagination, and the delayed motherhood may have contributed to the condition.

It's unknown how long Thomas lived, but at the time of the article, he was over a year old, which matches up perfectly with the census record, due to the obvious love and care of his mother. He obviously would not have lived to be an adult in that age and time.

Dovey lived to see the turn of the century, and was found in 1900 in the home of her brother Adam. 

Neither she or her father, Richard, are found beyond this time, and their final resting place is unknown.

The swell-headed baby is one of a family legacy of honoring a mother and grandmother named Dovey, and the care of a handicapped child by a mother with few options and a tremendous amount of love.