Sentimental Sunday

This was a big week in the Jollett family

May 2, 1944 – My great-grandaunt Victoria Jollett Breeden passed away at the age of 66.

Victoria Breeden

May 3, 1934 – My great-granduncle Burton Lewis Jollett passed away at the age of 73.

Burton Lewis Jollett
photo courtesy Ben Marks

May 5, 2019 – My sweet aunt Cerretha Comer Davis passed away at the age of 89.

"Scoop" Comer Davis
at home of Violetta Davis Ryan
Maybe an Easter Sunday

May 7, 1895 – My great-grandaunt Edith Kite Davis was born.

Millard Davis
Edith Kite Davis

May 7, 1905 – My grandfather’s cousin Alda Beatrice Clift Suite was born.

Alda Clift

May 8, 1956 – My grandfather’s cousin Fleta Florence Jollett Sullivan died at the age of 71.

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - NAMESAKE: Burton Lewis

Many years ago when I first became aware of traditional naming patterns, particularly among the Irish and Germans, I was hopeful that I could trace my ancestors more easily. Surely my database would grow and grow as a result of my new understanding of how children were named for their grandfathers and uncles. However, not so. It seems the generations I was working with were perhaps too far removed from the traditions of their forefathers.

Nevertheless plenty of grandfathers in my line have been honored when new baby boys came into the family. Take Burton Lewis Jollett, for example. 

Burton Lewis
(cropped from a larger photo courtesy Ben Marks)

He was the first child born to my 2X great-grandparents James Franklin and Lucy Ann Shiflett Jollett. That was 2 October 1860 in Greene County, Virginia.

The name “Burton” was bestowed in memory of Lucy Ann’s father Burton Shiflett. Just one month before the birth of her baby boy, Burton was stabbed to death at the hands of Lucy Ann’s uncle Leland Frazier. At trial, Leland pleaded “not guilty” to murder but was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter instead and was sentenced to four years in the penitentiary.

As for the “Lewis” half of the name, I had assumed it was either Burton Shiflett’s middle name or just a name that sounded good next to “Burton.” However, it turns out to be a tribute to his other grandfather, Fielding Jollett.

On deeds, in census records, and in other legal documents, Fielding’s name often included a middle initial that looked like either “L” or “S.” It wasn’t until I found James Franklin Jollett’s death certificate that I learned Fielding’s middle name (or maybe FIRST name) was actually “Lewis.” The informant was James Franklin’s daughter Laura Jollett Sullivan. She identified James Franklin’s parents as Mary Armentrout and “Louis F. Jollett.” Who knew?

Burton Lewis has been on my mind lately. Just this past week Burton Lewis’s great-grandson found my blog and contacted me. Along with thanks for the research, he sent PICTURES. For the first time, I saw Burton Lewis as a young father.

 

About 1900 Greene County, Virginia
Standing: Fleta Florence and Chester Clarence
Seated: Burton Lewis, Lewis Lloyd, Blanche Beecher,
and wife #2 Cornelia Morris Jollett
(photo courtesy Ben Marks)

I also learned that Burton Lewis was born with a club foot. Really?? 

I never noticed the deformity in the few photos I have in which Burton Lewis was standing with his brother and sisters at a family reunion.

Jollett "kids" from youngest to oldest
Ulysses, Victoria Breeden, Sallie Clift, Mary Frances Davis,
Leanna Knight, Laura Sullivan, Emma Coleman, Burton Lewis
and their father James Franklin Jollett

But it is certainly clear in the photos my 3^rd cousin Ben sent me.

Burton Lewis and younger brother
Ulysses
(photos courtesy Ben Marks)

 

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Jolletts in the News

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday photo is of a sales clerk behind the counter of a shell shop, but what caught my eye was the sign in the cabinet.  The pointing hand is much like the one in this photo:

The sign points folks driving along the Amicus Road in Greene County, Virginia to the home of Logan Jollett, grandson of Burton Lewis Jollett. The home has been in the Jollett family for at least three generations, the land probably even longer.

Fredericksburg Free Lance 1 March 1904

Burton Lewis was the oldest child of my 2X great-grandparents James Franklin Jollett and Lucy Ann Shiflett. He was named for his grandfathers Burton Shiflett and Fielding Lewis Jollett. Burton Lewis grew up to be a significant figure in Greene County. For many years he was Justice of the Peace. He also was elected as a delegate to the Republican conventions.

The Jolletts were often in the news, not just for political reasons, but also social. The Greene County Record and Greene County Register were both 4-page publications that included world and national news on the front page and agricultural matters on the last page. In the middle were local news and ads. The local section covered personal news of anyone and everyone in the surrounding vicinity – illness, deaths, marriages, and who was visiting, even when those visits were within the same community. Yes, big news.

In 1904 Burton Lewis’s children made the social column when they visited their grandfather James Franklin Jollett, just across the mountain: “Chas. Roberts and wife, C. C. [Chester Clarence] Jollett, Misses Fleta and Blanch Jollett and Master B. L. [Burton Lewis Lloyd] Jollett went to Harriston, Augusta County, Saturday to visit James F. Jollett for a few days. We wish them a happy journey.”

A couple years later Fleta Jollett made the news again spending the winter with the family of Charles D. Wyant in Rockingham County.

Harrisonburg Daily News Record
30 Nov 1909

A story that appeared in the social pages February 1, 1923 was about Burton Lewis’s visit with his sister Leanna Knight, who lived just a couple miles away. According to the Greene County Record, “the whole family enjoyed his visit very much indeed, especially the boys hearing their uncle tell about one of the guide posts of his life – promptness – and the way young people of today should do and act.”  

As adults, Burton Lewis’s children were still the topics of interest for the social columns. Lewis Jollett and his children even made the news in nearby Harrisonburg:

Harrisonburg Daily News Record
5 Sep 1923

Harrisonburg Daily News Record
22 Sep 1924

Harrisonburg Daily News Record
4 Dec 1928

As a teenager, Logan, Lewis’s son, made the news when his high school drama troupe won first place in a one-act competition and he won a personal award as best actor.

Richmond Times Dispatch
15 Dec 1940

With such interesting and inspiring goings-on among the Jolletts, who would not want a wooden hand pointing the way to the home of such an accomplished family???

To see what else is in store, I’ve pointed the way to Sepia Saturday.

Wendy

© 2017, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

James Franklin Jollett's Kids: Burton Lewis Jollett

As part of my “Genealogy Do-Over” efforts AND to force myself to get crackin’ on my James Franklin Jollett book, Jollett Reunion, I will be researching and writing brief biographies of James Franklin, his wives, and his children.

Burton Lewis Jollett was the first child born to James Franklin Jollett and Lucy Ann Shiflett. That was 2 October 1860, just months before Virginia joined the Confederacy, just months before war was declared. He was a little tyke when his father left their home in Greene County, Virginia to join the cause. However, James Franklin’s lackluster service record suggests he was frequently AWOL, probably at home taking care of the farm and his growing family.

Like his younger brothers and sisters, Burton Lewis attended school. As an adult he was considered educated enough to serve his community as Justice of the Peace. The position does not require legal training but it requires good sense and ethics to handle less serious cases such as simple assault, disorderly conduct, public intoxication, reckless driving, petty theft, landlord and tenant disputes, and small claims. A Justice of the Peace can also perform civil marriages.

The children are lined up from youngest to oldest
Left to right: Ulysses, Victoria, Sallie, Mary Frances, Leanna,
Laura, Emma, Burton Lewis, James Franklin

Most of the time though he labored on the farm. Farm communities tend to maintain close ties among farm families, each one helping another with planting, bailing hay, transporting animals to market, and canning. Maybe that is how Burton Lewis came to know his future bride Louisa Sullivan. Judging by the chronology of census records, she grew up just a few farms away from the Jolletts. Her parents were James Andrew Sullivan and Lydia Wyant.

A birth record for a baby girl born May 1878 indicates Burton Lewis and Louisa had a child out of wedlock; nevertheless, they married three years later on 20 January 1881 and made their home in Greene County. In March 1882, they had a little boy who lived only two months. Five more children were born in regular intervals; one child Maggie lived only four years.

Burton Lewis and Louisa did a cute thing naming their children. The first and middle names began with the same letter: Chester Clarence, Fleta Florence, Blanche Beecher (or some say it was Blanche Beatrice), and Lewis Lloyd.

Sometime between 1895 and 1900, Louisa died. According to the 1900 census, Burton Lewis was a widower raising his children alone. However, in September that same year he married Cornelia Morris Sullivan.

Cornelia Morris Sullivan
photo courtesy of Olen Morris

Like Burton Lewis, Cornelia was recently widowed, her husband having died in October 1899. She was the second wife of James Andrew Sullivan, Louisa’s father. Therefore, Cornelia was Louisa’s stepmother. Burton Lewis married his stepmother-in-law 19 September 1900 in Greene County, Virginia.

As if that family relationship were not close enough already, Cornelia was distantly connected to the Jolletts in another way. Her brothers William Gordon Morris and George Austin Morris were married to Burton Lewis’s mother’s sisters Nancy Frances and Susan Clementine Shiflett, respectively.

Before 1928
Clementine and Austin Morris, James Franklin Jollett,
and Ambrose Vernon (widower of Clementine's
sister Victoria Shiflett Vernon)

Burton Lewis and Cornelia’s marriage was not the love of a lifetime. By 1916, they were divorced. Census records for 1920 and 1930 show Burton Lewis widowed; Cornelia, however, took back the Sullivan name and proclaimed she was divorced. She died in 1927.

In his later years, Burton Lewis lived with his youngest son Lewis and his family. Apparently Burton Lewis did not care much for his daughter-in-law Mary Neville (Peluso). In his will written in 1931, he named Lewis as executor; he then stipulated that should Lewis die before his wife Mary Neville, she should not be appointed to administer the estate and all inheritance from Burton Lewis should go to Lewis’s heirs. Burton Lewis’s disdain for Mary Neville is evident in these words from the will: “She would go through with it [inheritance] real soon do nobody no good. I don’t want her to have nothing from my estate whatsoever the way I have been mistreated by her.”

Burton Lewis JOLLETT ( 2 Oct 1860 Greene Co, VA – 4 May 1934 Greene Co, VA) and m1) Louisa E. SULLIVAN (Aug 1862 Greene Co, VA – Before 1900 Greene Co, VA) married 20 Jan 1881 Greene Co, VA ; m2) Cornelia MORRIS SULLIVAN (Nov 1844 Greene Co, VA – 2 Aug 1927 Greene Co, VA) married 19 Sep 1900 Greene Co, VA

Issue with Louisa Sullivan:

1. P. JOLLETT (May 1878)
2. E. E. JOLLETT (Mar 1882 Greene Co, VA – May 1882 Greene Co, VA)
3. Chester Clarence JOLLETT (11 Jun 1883 Greene Co, VA – Apr 1967 Baltimore, MD) and Cora Eliza MORRIS (26 Dec 1888 Greene Co, VA – Apr 1975 Baltimore, MD) married 1 Jun 1905 Fredericksburg, VA
4. Fleta Florence JOLLETT (22 Aug 1885 Greene Co, VA – 8 May 1956 Albemarle Co, VA) and John Lloyd SULLIVAN (26 Dec 1892 Rockingham Co, VA – 1 Dec 1967 Greene Co, VA) married 27 Dec 1916 Greene Co, VA
5. Maggie JOLLETT (May 1887 Greene Co, VA – May 1891 Greene Co, VA)
6. Blanche Beecher JOLLETT (13 Mar 1890 Greene Co, VA – 10 Feb 1972) and John Benjamin GENTRY (28 Dec 1888 Greene Co, VA – 8 May 1953 Charlottesville, VA) married about 1911
7. Lewis Lloyd JOLLETT (11 Jun 1895 Greene Co, VA – Dec 1978 Richmond, VA) and Mary Neville PELUSO (11 Apr 1896 Rockingham Co, VA – 9 Mar 1981 Arlington, VA) married about 1919

Wendy

© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.