A to Z April Challenge: W is for Wives

This is day 23 of the A to Z April Challenge.

is for Wives.  My 3G grandfather Fielding Jollett had two of them.  Not at the same time, of course.  I descend from his second wife, Mary Ann Armentrout, whom I wrote about briefly HERE. 

Today I want to talk about Wife #1, Ann Stoutemire/Stoutemoyer/Stoutemyre/take your pick.  She was the daughter of Jacob and Barbara Orebaugh Stoutemire, born probably around 1800.  They lived along Naked Creek in Rockingham County, Virginia.   Ann and Fielding Jollett married in 1822 and bought land next to her parents.  They had two children.  Emanuel and Margaret were just little folks when their mother Ann Jollett died some time before October 1828 (which is when Fielding married his second wife). 

That’s the extent of my knowledge of Ann Stoutemire Jollett.  But I owe a great deal of gratitude to Ann’s 3G granddaughter Cathy Hecker, my half 4^th cousin.  Cathy compiled a great deal of Jollett research the old-fashioned way before computers, before email, before a phone call and credit card could get you a quick answer.  She was in Ohio, but the Jolletts were in Virginia.  She drove to court houses.  She wrote letters and mailed checks.  By the time we found each other, she had all but given up hope that there was anyone out there who cared about the Jolletts.  She mailed copies of her research to me. 

The broken font reminds me of the old word
processing machines in the days before Windows.

The bulk of her work was on the Fielding-Ann line, as it should be.  But she had found deeds, wills, and obituaries for many on the Fielding-Mary Ann side as well.  Her work gave me a strong foundation on which to build my own research. 

Cathy and I talked a couple times a year.  Her last phone call to me was filled with expressions of thanks for my interest in the Jolletts and excitement over all the new information generated due to my little website.  She was only sorry she had never had a chance to meet me in person, and had she mentioned that her cancer had come back. 

Then it hit me – this was a good-bye. 

Cathy Hecker is always close to my thoughts when I’m writing about the Jolletts.  And because of her, I think fondly toward Ann Stoutemire, a woman who is not my ancestor.

Why don’t you Work your Way over to the A to Z April Challenge for more Wonderful Writings?

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