Wesley Jolly's widow

Here is a follow-up to my last post, months ago. The subject of this post is Nancy Jane Cockerham, widow of Wesley Jolly, confederate soldier.

My ancestral line to Nancy Jane Cockerham, starting with my great-grandparents:

24.   Granville Dula Morrison, 1905-1976, Wilkes Co, NC
25.   Laura Isabel White, 1907-1987, Iredell Co, NC

48.   Harding Asby Morrison, 1875-1935, Wilkes Co, NC
49.   Amanda M. Jenkins, 1871-1951, Wilkes Co, NC

96.   Richard Aaron Morrison, 1853-1944, Wilkes Co, NC
97.   Mary Jane Jolly, 1852-1933, Wilkes Co, NC

194. Wesley M Jolly, 1831-1863, Wilkes Co, NC
195. Nancy Cockerham, 1831, NC

Nancy Cockerham was born on September 4, 1830 in Wilkes county, North Carolina to parents James Cockerham and Rhoda McCann.  She was the oldest of five children.  She married first Wesley M. Jolly (born 1831) on October 8, 1850 in Wilkes county.  They were the parents of six children.  Five of these children were born before Wesley was conscripted into the confederate army in October of 1862.  Their sixth child was born in 1863 and Wesley Jolly died at Gettysburg in August 1863. Nancy remarried sometime between 1863 and 1867 to Lon Chappell.  They had two daughters and Chappell was dead before 1870. In the 1880 census, Nancy and her family are listed again with the Jolly surname and that continues through her death certificate in 1922.  She applied for a widow’s pension in June 1901.  The application asserts that she never remarried.  This application was approved.

I enjoyed the process of discovering this information about Nancy Cockerham and her family.  This research started years ago.   Here’s how more about the sources:

First, a marriage record for Nancy Cockerham and Wesley Jolly:

The family in 1860 (Edwards Township, Wilkes county, North Carolina):

Originally, I was unable to find the 1870 census record for the family.  More about that in a moment. The 1880 census record found early on seemed correct for Nancy, but I was unsure about the children.  At least two of the younger children would have been born years after her husband died. 

Transcription of above:

Nancy JOLLY  Self                   W            Female    W            49            NC           Keeping House        NC           NC

W. Banner JOLLY  Son           M             Male         W            17            NC           Works Farm            NC           NC

Nancy S. JOLLY  Dau              S             Female    W            12            NC                                             NC           NC

Cordelia S. JOLLY  Dau          S             Female    W            11            NC                                             NC           NC

Recently, I found a death certificate for one of the girls, using “Nancy Cockerham” as a search term on beta FamilySearch.  No image available, but here is the text:

Name      Cordelia Susanah Hodge
Gender    Female
Burial date              09 Apr 1941
Death date              08 Apr 1941
Death place             North Carolina
Age in years            72
Birth date                06 Nov 1868
Birth place              Wilkes Co., N.C.
Race        White
Marital status         Widowed
Father name           ...on Ch...ppell
Father birth place   N.C.
Mother name          Nancy Cocherhan
Mother birth place  Wilkes
Batch number         B01772-8
Record group          North Carolina-EASy
Film number           1943203
Reference number  fn 2284 cn 98

The transcription is not clear on her father’s name, but this had me interested in the 1870 census again.  Here’s what I found:

The names at first don’t seem to match up to what we already know, but look again:

1870 Census	Combination of 1860 & 1880 census
Nancy Chapple, born about 1831	Nancy Jolly, born about 1831
Sarah L. Chapple, born about 1852	Lodema Jolly, born about 1852
Mary J. Chapple, born about 1855	Jane Jolly, born about 1854
James A. Chapple, born about 1856	Asberry Jolly, born about 1856
Mandy E. Chapple, born about 1857	Elizabeth Jolly, born about 1857
Roldas? Chapple, born about 1859	Rhoda Jolly, born about 1858
Wesley B. Chapple, born about 1862	W. Bammer Jolly, born about 1863
Nancy S. Chapple, born about 1866	Nancy S. Jolly, born about 1868
Carolina S. Chapple, born about 1869	Cordelia S. Jolly, born about 1869

Here is the widow’s pension from 1901:

In 1900, Nancy is listed as Nancy Jolly and living with her daughter Cordelia and family in Traphill, Wilkes county, North Carolina. In the 1920 census, she is still living with the same daughter and she dies in 1922.  When I first came across her death certificate I was so impressed that she was a confederate war widow for nearly sixty years.  Through more records, I've learned that she did have another marriage (although very short).  Still impressive though.  Her death certificate: