But first things first. Goldie Wynelle Stange's parents were Sam Jones Jowers (1888 - 1963) and Rena Mae Brown (1895 - 1986). Here is an undated photograph of Rena Mae Brown Jowers.
We looked at Rena Mae's father, James Madison Brown (1858 - 1902) in a previous post. Rena Mae's mother was Mary Arkansas Elizabeth Henderson, born April 17, 1870 in Homerville, Georgia, in Clinch county. Her parents were John Tyler Henderson and Mary Guest. This information was given to me by Rena Mae's younger sister, our Aunt Goldie (Etta Goldie Brown Jardine) when I was a kid. She wrote, "Mama's mother was a Guest." I wasn't sure what that meant at the time but she also pointed me to Folks Huxford's seven volume Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia. Eventually I found these volumes at a library somewhere. While historians regard books as secondary rather than primary sources, and the Huxford books have been shown to contain errors, they can be a great starting place for the names which can then be searched in primary sources for verification. The Huxford books gave me the names of Mary Guest and John Tyler Henderson as the parents of Mary Arkansas Elizabeth Henderson, which matched what I had been told by Aunt Goldie.
Oral family tradition also says that Mary Henderson (known to my grandmother as her Grandma Wilson) was one-quarter American Indian. The ongoing joke in genealogy is that every family has a hidden native American ancestor, and that this is almost always untrue. I will expound on Mary's ancestors on her mother's side in the next post, and consider that possibility. I have also wondered if her unusual middle name of 'Arkansas' is a hint to a native ancestor. If anyone knows the source of this name, please let me know. I will have much more to say about Mary's father, John Tyler "Jack" Henderson, in a future post. His line is a gold mine.
Here is an undated photograph of Mary A. E. Henderson Wilson.
Mary Henderson was a baby in the 1870 census, living in Homerville in Clinch county, Georgia.
John L. (sic) Henderson, 27, farmer
Mary, 25
Balinda (sic), 3
Jackson, 2
Mary, 0
For this family as well as John and Mary's families of origin, first names will reappear in every generation. It can be frustrating trying to keep the Johns and Marys straight, especially when each family had so many children, but less common names like Argent, Belinda, Hulda, and Jackson can serve as clues that we may be looking at a cousin.
By 1880 the family was living in Coffee county, and another daughter, Hulda, had been born around 1875. As we saw in the post about James Madison Brown, on Christmas Eve, December 1885, fifteen-year-old Mary married James Madison Brown in Coffee county.
Most of the 1890 census records were destroyed, but in 1900 Mary and James Brown are living in Willacoochee in Coffee (now Atkinson) county, Georgia with their children Henry, 11, Rena Mae, 5, and Harry, 2. See James Madison Brown post for census images.
Mary's husband James M. Brown died around 1902, and she made ends meet by taking in boarders. By 1910 she had remarried Alexander Wilson. Each brought four children to the marriage. The family was living in Broxton, Georgia, in Coffee county. Alex Wilson was a foreman at a shingle mill. Mary was a "hotel propriator." Eula Wilson was two years old.
In 1930 Mary was living with 23-year-old Eula and Eula's son Harry in Douglas. Boarders are also listed. Alex Wilson, now age 70, was listed as head of household but at another address. In 1940 Mary, age 70, was living with Eula and Linton ("Unc") Taylor and their sons on Hicks St. in Waycross. Mary Henderson Wilson died in 1964 and is buried in Jacksonville Memory Gardens.
In the next blog I will look at the family of Mary Henderson's mother, Mary Guest.
Correction on the date of marriage of Mary Elizabeth Henderson and James Madison Brown. The date is hard to read but I've found that it actually reads 1886 instead of 1885, so Mary would have been sixteen instead of fifteen, which makes me feel a little better.
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