Fannie May Williams (1817-1876)
My Paternal 2nd Great Grandmother, married James Lang Cobb
Fannie May Williams, the daughter of William Williams and Nancy May was born in Pitt County, North Carolina on December 26, 1817. She was the great granddaughter of Scottish born Benjamin May who was a renowned hero in the Revolutionary War. Her father, William Williams, was a farmer.
Fannie married James Lang Cobb at the age of 22 and gave birth to eight of their children between the years of 1840 to 1856. Their first born child, Martha Louisa, married Reverend Needham Bryan Cobb, an educator and historian who received the first master’s degree offered by the University of North Carolina in 1856.
[Photo: Martha Louisa Cobb with husband Needham Bryan Cobb]
Fannie’s second born child, William Edward Cobb became a journalist and merchant. He is my great grandfather and his story is told in a separate blog. Fannie’s next child Benjamin Joseph was born in 1847. At the age of 24, Benjamin married Lelia Reese, a farmer’s daughter. Ben and Lelia’s only son attended the University of North Carolina. Fannie gave birth to James Thomas in 1848. James married Linda Vine, the daughter of a wealthy planter, and they lived together on the plantation she had inherited called “Vinedale.” Three of Fannie’s children (Mary, Richard and Stephen) died before they reached four years of age. Her last child Lucy Williams was born in 1856. Lucy married Charles Spencer who was a lawyer and later the Camden County Superintendent of Schools.
When her 46 year old husband died in 1858, Fannie was left to care for their five children on her own. Fifteen year old William and ten year old James worked side by side with her in the dry goods store started by their father and both would become owners of their own stores later in life.
[Photo: Mary Alice Cobb, the daughter of James Thomas Cobb and Linda Vine]
In the 1860 census, Fannie, age 42, listed her occupation as “farmer”. One of her daughters, Martha, had left home and Fannie was still supporting the other four. Oddly, there is no mention of their dry goods store. Her personal estate was reported as $10,000 and the value of her real estate as $2,000.
In 1860 Pitt County had a population of 16,440 (less than half of whom were white). There was growing agitation among its residents on questions of slavery, state’s rights and dissolution from the Union. In April of 1861, Fort Sumter fell under siege. The die was cast and the Civil War began. Forty five battles were fought in North Carolina. Pitt County experienced five of them between 1862 and 1863.
[Photo: Scene from Gone with the Wind when Scarlett and her sisters are forced to work the farm]
When General Sherman marched his army across the South behind him came an army of marauders who attacked Pitt County stealing horses and other food provisions from the unfortunate residents. The value of the confederate dollar plunged and there was a great deal suffering across the south. There is no question it must have been a very terrifying time for Fannie and her children.
[Photo: Iconic Scene from Gone with the Wind of the fall of Atlanta]
In the 1870’s census, two of Fannie’s children 21 year old James and 15 year old Lucy were living with their aunt, Penelope Grimes Williams, in the Gay family household (her deceased husband had a stepsister who married a man named Jonathan Gay). It is not known why, but Fannie was not living with them.
Sadly, Fannie died of liver disease on November 11, 1876 at the age of 58. I suspect she suffered from alcoholism, another victim of the far reaching repercussions of the Civil War.
[Photo: Vintage photo of woman drinking alcohol]
