This is week three.
Tomorrow, I'll do week 4 and be caught up.
I'd planned to write this one earlier but it's been crazy around here.
My middle son, Rob, has taken a new job in Nashville, TN.
The packers are coming tomorrow!
I'm excited for them!
So there's stuff going on there and other stuff has come up as well.
Let me just confess- I didn't feel like doing ANYTHING!
So the challenge this week is:
Unusual Name.
I knew right away who I was going to write about.
Santa Fe Clementine Ewell
Her headstone reads Santa C and other times you see S C
She had a brother named Amazon so I guess her parents were into place names?
Born January 4, 1857 in Vernon County, Missouri (3 counties straight south of me)
Died 16 January 1916 also in Vernon county, Missouri.
At age 59.
She was the daughter of Jesse Ewell and Rebecca Hurst and the Great-granddaughter of Maxey Ewell, who served in the Revolutionary War.
She married James Newby Welch April 6, 1873 in Vernon county, MO
He was the son of Thomas Welch and Nancy Pryor.
It's interesting to note that EVERY time they are listed in a census his FULL Name is used.
They had FIVE daughters.
Laura Welch who lived only 2 weeks.
Lily Pearl Welch who married Wallace Irvin Lyons
Jessie Ivy Welch who married John William Weddle
Ina Welch, Jessie's twin who died the day they were born.
and Isabelle Welch who married Floyd Dixon
My grandmother (granddaughter of Santa Fe) told this story,
I don't know if it's true but it is possible.
Grandma (Santa C) told me that during the war (between the states) she as a young girl was sent to town for a peck basket of salt. (This seems like an awful lot of salt to me!)
She was on her way home (I believe on a horse) when she heard the soldiers coming.
Knowing that they would take the horse and maybe do worse to her, she hid in the woods for several hours while the Red Legs passed before going home.
Here's why it's possible.
The Ewell's lived on the south side of the Little Osage River, which was the southern border of General Order No 11. Now General Order No 11 basically cleared everyone out of the countryside along the border with Kansas and into a few towns. In the case of Bates County no one was left, they were forced to go east or south but not into Kansas, many would go to Texas. Even to stay in the Union held town you had to sign a loyalty oath to the Union and many southerners (most of my family on that side) who did not flee refused and were jailed or sent to prison camps even though they were not in uniform. This included women and children. Then Union forces set fire to everything outside the limits of the town - a scorched earth policy. So the Ewell's lived just outside the area included in the Order but would have known what was going on.
The Red Legs were Union Troops from Kansas and had a reputation for being rather brutal and where in charge of all that burning. If they had found her they would have taken the horse and the salt at the very least. At any rate Santa C conveyed her absolute hatred of Kansans to my Grandmother!
You can read more about the Civil War on the Missouri/Kansas Border at www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org
This includes a section on Order No 11 as well as George Caleb Bingham's famous painting with the same title.
Again, my lineage:
Gail Sue Hickam>James Robert Hickam>Ora May Weddle>Jessie Ivy Welch>Santa Fe Clementine Ewell and James Newby Welch
1 comment:
Okay, I would have thought Kansas was a Confederate State. There are no rules in war so it was a good thing Santa C was a wiley wee lass. You're lucky that your relative's full name is listed all the time. I wish mine were. It would be so much easier to differentiate him (GWWB) from all the other GWBs & GBs out there! Here's a name for Thermuthis (it's a girl's name). Seriously.
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