Archann Dauge Marchant (1834-1879)
My Maternal 2nd Great Grandmother, married Durant Hall Tillitt
Archann Dauge “Archie” Marchant, the daughter of very wealthy parents Dr Gideon C Marchant and Emily Sawyer Dauge was born in 1834, in North Carolina. She lived at home with her parents until March 10, 1856 when she married Durant Hall Tillitt. Their first born child, my great grandfather Gideon Marchant Tillitt, was born 9 months later. A daughter named Lydia age 3 and a son Isaac age two appear in the 1860 census but both died very young. The 1860 census also mentions a newborn daughter named Sophie Martin. Sophie married Samuel Weston in 1878 and their first born child Frances Weston, married a cousin Bruce Martin Tillitt (my grandfather Durant Howard Tillitt’s brother.)
[Photo: Sophie Martin Tillitt]
Sophie also had two sons Samuel C Weston (born 1893) and Durant Edward (born 1896). I found this two adorable picture of her son Durant on Ancestry.com. By the 1900 census Sophia was widowed and teaching music in Norfolk, Virginia. In the 1910 census she supported herself by taking in boarders. Still living with her: her son Samuel a draftsman for an architectural firm, Edward a clerk in a shipping company and daughter a salesclerk in a drug goods store. In 1920 Sophie was worked as a tailor. She passed away in 1941.
[Photo: Durant Edward Weston]
Archie gave birth to two boys, Samuel Caldwell (born 1864) and Durant H (1866). She was pregnant with a daughter, Archann her namesake, when her husband suddenly died in 1866. The court ordered a public sale of their home and surrounding land near the village of Shiloh to pay his debts and out of the proceeds Archie received $2,500 as her “widow’s dower.”
Three years later in March of 1870, Archie married a second time to Dr. Joseph Baxter. Despite the war he was relatively well off, having $10,000 in real estate and $1,000 in personal property. They lived together in Currituck County until her death in 1879.
[Photo: Marriage Record Dr Baxter and Archie D Marchant (Tillitt)]
