Since it is Valentine's Week, Amy has suggested the theme "Love"! There are many stories to choose from, but I think that one testimony of love is my great grandfather, John Thomas "Tom" Clark and his wife, Maggie Pitts.
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| I believe this was taken about the time of Tom and Maggie's wedding. |
Tom was born August 8, 1869 in Wayne County, Illinois to Zachary Taylor and Eliza (Reed) Clark. He was their first child and first son. Not long before Tom turned three years old, he and his parents and younger brother, Amos Bateman, traveled in a wagon train from Illinois to Ellis County, Texas. I have written about this journey in another post,
https://regnirpsstories.blogspot.com/2018/04/aunt-nay-clark-story-of-maiden-aunt.html.
Maggie had been born in 1873, either in South Carolina or Mississippi. (I am still trying to find "proof" of that location and narrow down her birth date.)
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| Tintype of Maggie Pitts, school girl, date unknown, location unknown |
Maggie's parents were Elijah and Lucinda (Lewis Johnson) Pitts. Both Elijah and Lucinda had died in Mississippi and Maggie and her two older brothers, James and Robert, moved to Texas to live with their 1/2 brother, George Washington Pitts and his wife, Frances and their family. Elijah was GW's father, but his mother was Amy Pitts.
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| Tintype of George Washington and Frances Pitts, Date Unknown |
When Tom was 22 years old, he married 18 year old Maggie Pitts on October 16, 1892 in Ellis County, Texas.
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| Marriage Record for J. T. Clark and Miss M. D. Pitts, Ellis County, Texas |
Tom and Maggie had their first child, Almon Fay on July 24, 1983. Their second son, Elmer (my grandfather) was born December 6, 1895.
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| Almon and Elmer |
Maggie was just 24 years old when she died on October 28, 1897.
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| Maggie Pitts Clark, unknown date and place. |
She and Tom had been married only 5 years and 12 days. I have found no death records with a cause of death, but it appears Maggie probably died in childbirth. There is a tiny grave marked off at the base of her grave in the Red Oak Cemetery, Red Oak, Ellis County, Texas.
Even though Tom was only 28 years old when widowed, he never remarried. On the census we are able to find, he is living with his parents and had various jobs.
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| Tom Clark as an older man |
Tom died on February 19, 1930 at age 60. He is buried beside the love of his life, Maggie.
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| Tom and Maggie's grave marker, Red Oak Cemetery, Red Oak, Ellis County, Texas |
'Til Next Time!
#52Ancestors
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