Monday Is for Mothers: Celestine Letitia Herrod (1836 - 1921)

When my paternal great great grandmother Celestine, also known as Celeta, married John Warren Avery in April of 1857, I don't know what hopes the young couple had for their future but their lives together would prove to be much harder than they could have imagined.

By 1860 Celestine* and John were part of the household of a wealthy farmer in Holmes County, Mississippi. There's no clue in the U.S. Census records what they were doing there and they aren't listed as owning any real or personal property.

[Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

By the time their first child was born the American Civil War had begun and in 1862 John enlisted in Company D of the 35th Mississippi Infantry along with several of his cousins. During his service he was captured by Union forces twice and wounded at least once. There are no records that tell us where Celestine and her babies were during this time.

In the 1870 U.S. Census the Averys had moved to rural Winston County, Mississippi, and still apparently owned nothing.* The youngest child is a 9-month old boy "not named" who never appears in any other records we know of and undoubtedly died very young.

[Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

My great grandmother Caroline Celestine Avery was eight at the time of the 1880 U.S. Census which finds the Averys in LaFayette County, Mississippi, where John's occupation is listed as farm laborer. Two little boys, Henry and Herbert, have also be added to the family.

[Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to the limited use license and other terms and conditions applicable to this site. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

During the 1890s several of the Avery children (including my great grandmother) found spouses and left home, and in 1899 Celestine is listed as the widow of John in the Meridian, Mississippi, city directory. Two of her children were living at the same address.

[Directory Title : Chittenden's Meridian City Directory 1899.

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.]

Celestine was still living in Meridian in the 1900 U.S. Census as the head of an extended family that included her daughter Caroline (Carrie) and her husband Tracy D. Porter and their two sons, and her grandson Henry Houst, the orphan of her daughter Susan. Of her eight children, only two are still alive.

[Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.]

The 1910 U.S. Census records Celestine's residence as that of her son Henry and his family in Mississippi City.

[Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA.]

We know that she was living in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1915 because there's a newspaper item that mentions her as 'the aged mother of Mrs. T. D. Porter" who has been visited by a niece.

In 1916 Celestine, who states she's living with her daughter, applied for a pension from the state of Mississippi as the widow of a Confederate soldier, something that was only granted to those in extreme need. Her answer to the final question is stark:

Q. Have you any relations or connections whose legal or moral duty it is to support you?
Answer. "No--children unable to support me."

She was granted her pension a month later. I haven't been able to discover what amount she received but  typically it would have been no more than $40 or $50 per year.

[Mississippi Office of the State Auditor Series 1201: Confederate Pension Applications, 1889-1932. http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/pensions/print/13961]

By 1920 the extended Porter family, including Celestine, had moved to Shreveport, Louisiana.

[Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 are on roll 323 (Chicago City).]

The final record we have is the Texas death certificate for Mrs Celestine Avery who died in Dallas on April 9, 1921.

[Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903–1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. iArchives, Orem, Utah.]

 The informant for the information on the death certificate was her daughter (and my great grandmother) Carrie with whom she had lived for at least the final five years of her life. Yet Carrie appears to have known practically nothing about her mother's parents. I suspect that Celestine, like many people who have lived through bad times, chose not to talk about her experiences.

*Her name is written as Christiner here.
**As John is listed as a farmer in this census but not owning anything he must have been renting land.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.