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 predeceased 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.
