Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” Gulledge was born in Chesterfield South Carolina to Sarah Temperance Davis and Samuel Eldred “Dred” Gulledge. When Mollie was born, buggies and horses were the primary sources of transportation. Mollie was born on March 10, 1872. This advertisement is from the Abbeville paper, the week Mollie was born.
In the 1880 census Mollie is listed as five years old and is living with her 27 year old father Eldred and her 24 year old mother Temperance in Chesterfield, South Carolina. Also listed are three-year-old Thomas and two-year-old Fanny. Although not listed in the 1880 census, other children who are reported as to have been born during this decade are Rebecca “Becky” born on December 15, 1873 and Harley William born August 28, 1878.
Other brothers and sisters who were born between 1880 and 1900 include Moses Jonathan, John Samuel, Joan, Minnie, and Katie Aline. In the 1900 census, Eldred and Temperance report they have been married 27 years, and have had thirteen children, eight of whom are living. The family are farmers living in the Court House district of Chesterfield. The children are farm laborers. Mollie and her father cannot read or write. Mother Temperance can read but not write. Also, Mollie has had a baby, a little girl named “Sallie” Gulledge, aged two. In 1901, Mollie had a second child, a boy named William “Bill” Gulledge.
Mollie married or started living with William Benjamin White around 1910. His first wife, Lizzie Landon died. He had one daughter with his first wife named Della Nancy White. He married Margaret Ann Hasty, the widow of Reverend James Alfred Barber on April 17, 1887 in Union County, North Carolina. In 1900, William Benjamin is living with Margaret Ann in Charlotte. Also staying with them are her children from the first marriage, his daughter Della, and a niece and nephew.
In the 1910 census, William Benjamin White is 40 and is living with his 34 year old-wife, Mollie on Morven Road in Chesterfield, South Carolina. Also living with them is baby Hattie Mae and Mollie’s daughter, Sallie Gulledge. Another daughter, Katy Esther “Topsy” White was born on October 2, 1911. Mollie’s son, Bill is living with grandfather Eldred and grandmother Temperance nearby.
William Benjamin White’s wife in Charlotte, Margaret Ann Hasty Barber White died on October 4, 1916 of general paralysis. She was 73 years of age. The informant on the death certificate was James A White, William Benjamin White’s nephew. The death certificate says she was a widow. It must have been referring to her first husband, because the second was alive until 1941. It is not known if they were divorced.
Mollie Gulledge was a Doctor Assistant. She worked with Dr. Benjamin James McGoogan of Morven. During the flu epedemic, it is said she warded off flu germs by always keeping a dip of snuff in her mouth. She also was a well known midwife and delivered many babies on her own.
This February 26, 1920 article on page 4 in the Anson paper The Messenger and Intelligencer tells of the havoc played on that community by the flu. It also speaks of a community nurse who is helping out.
In the 1920 census, Mollie and William Benjamin White are living in rural Chesterfield, very near the young Ben and Sallie Gulledge Lee family. There are the two young White girls, Hattie Mae, aged 9 and Katy “Topsy”, aged 8. The family is reported as living on a farm. Mollie’s father Eldred died on May 10, 1921. His death certificate says he died suddenly with no physician. It also said he was married, so his wife Temperance most likely out lived him and died sometime before 1930. No death certificate has been found and they are both probably buried at the Davis family burying ground off Zoar Road in Chesterfield as reported by his death certificate.
In the 1930 census, William Benjamin and Mollie White are living on Sneedsboro Road, Chesterfield, South Carolina. He is 70 years old and she is 62 and they are continuing to farm. They live in a rented house. Katy or “Topsy” is living with them as well has daughter Hattie Mae. She has married Fred Sheppard but he is not living with the family. Hattie Mae’s children, Mildred and twins Thurell and Thelma Sheppard are also living with the Whites. According to family sources, Hattie Mae was not well and had seizures.
Mollie’s husband William Benjamin White passed away on November 15, 1941 at the age of 83. They had been married 31 years. He was at the home of his daughter, Della Tarlton in Goose Creek, Union County, North Carolina. According to his death certificate, he died of heart disease. Mr. White died while visiting his daughter in North Carolina. Margie Lee related that she remembers the body of Mr. White being brought back to South Carolina around 2:00 a.m. in the night time and being put in the Ben Lee’s family living room. At that time they were living at the “Old Place”. She said she got up that morning and felt of the body and it was hard and cold. Mr. White’s death certificate and grave marker do not agree on the time of death or place of burial. it should be noted that the grave markers were purchased by daughter Topsy some time later and it is possible the date is wrong. The death certificate says that the place of burial was Center Grove Church in Chesterfield but the monument is at Westfield Creek Baptist Church.
Mollie’s son, William B “Bill” Gulledge passed away on April 13, 1944 at the age of 42 at the McLeod Infirmary in Florence, South Carolina. He died of complications of a peptic ulcer. He was a farmer and lived in Chesterfield, South Carolina. Daughter Hattie Mae died at the age of 40 at the Marlboro General Hospital in Bennettsville from complications from an automobile accident.
Mollie lived to be quite old. She was known to her many grand children and great grandchildren as “Granny White”. As you can see from the picture, she was dark and very wrinkled. Many of her descendants thought she was close to a hundred when she died but from census records it appears she was only in her late eighties. She was the oldest child of her family and she outlived all of her siblings except for her sister Kate who was born around the same time as her daughter Sallie. Many attributed her old age to her proclivity to take a nip of whiskey every day. She also liked to have a grape NEHI soda with milk daily. She lived with her daughter Sallie and Sallie’s daughter Azaline and husband J.L until she died. The front room was hers and it was off limit to kids. This was problematic in such a small house.
Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” Gulledge White died on February 21, 1959 in Chesterfield, South Carolina when she was 86 years old. Her heart gave out on her.
She was buried at Westfield Baptist Church in McFarland.
Mollie Gulledge’s children were:
1. Sarah Ellen “Sally” Gulledge 1896-1989 married Benjamin Franklin Lee 1891-1954.
2. William B “Bill” Gulledge 1901-1944 married Eunice Irene Parker 1907-1975
3. Hattie Mae White 1910-1951 married Fred Sheppard and John Thomas Ratliff 1906-1977.
4. Katherine Esther “Topsy” White 1911-1994 married Robert Augustus “Gus” Tucker 1908.
References available at Rogers Family Tree on Ancestry
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/34712803/family
and at Family Search https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LB2N-CD8?1=1&spouse=LK2K-VFL
Martha's Family Connections 