Sarah Ellen “Sally” Gulledge was born on June 20, 1896 in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. Her mother was Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” Gulledge. Sally first appears in the 1900 census in the household of her grandparents along with her mother. She lived near the town of Chesterfield which had just experienced a terrible fire and bloodshed between whisky runners and constables who felt it necessary to form a posse to keep the peace by keeping the whisky out of their county. The whisky runners were getting their illegal whisky from Hightower Distillery in Wadesboro, North Carolina and transporting it in to South Carolina. Mr. Kelly was transporting illegal whisky to his home in Bishopville in Lee County, South Carolina when he was killed by a Constable’s posse in Chesterfield County. (The Gaffney Ledger, December 24, 1896, page 8). The Chesterfield fire occurred on February 23, 1896 and was reported by The Watchman and Southron on page 3 on February 26, 1896.
The 1900 census places Sally Gulledge in the household of her grandfather Samuel Eldredge “Dred” Gulledge (age 53) and her grandmother, Sarah Temperance “Tempie Bell” (age 46). Her mother, Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” Gulledge (age 25) also lived in the home. She is listed as single and a farm laborer. Other Gulledge children in the home are John (age 16), Moses (age 15), Joan (age 14), Minnie (age 11), Harley (age 9), and Kate Aline (age 4). In this census, Sally is reported as being 2 years old and born in 1897. However Sally’s death records say she was born in 1896.
The 1900 census shows the Gulledge family in Enumeration District 21 which is the Courthouse Township portion which is east of Bishopville and Wadesboro Public Road outside of Chesterfield town. They are family 325. Father Dred Gulledge is a farmer and all of the older children are farm laborers. Their neighbors are all farmers also. Family 324 is William George Dees and his wife Margaret or Melissa Emeline Davis Dees. She is Sally’s great aunt (sister of Tempie Bell). They have five sons, ranging from 2 to 18. There is also a five-year daughter in the household. Family 326 is a black family, Richard Gordon and his wife Frances, They are ages 36 and 34 respectively. they have a six-year old girl, and two-year old son and an infant boy. Family 327 is Mark Morris (age 22) and his recent wife Martha Campbell Morris (age 18).
Mark Morris’s father Joseph Morris is living in Anson County, North Carolina in the 1900 census. He and his family live in Morven in District number 7 which includes McFarlan Town and would be close to where the Gulledges live. In 1900, Joseph is 57 and Mary is 58. Children in the home are Luke (age 23) John (age 19), Lucy (age 17) and William Bivens (16) and Julian (age 16). James Washington Morris (age 27) live next door. Louis (30) is married and living in Gulledge Township
In 1901, Sally’s brother William B “Bill” Gulledge was born on December 10, 1901 in South Carolina. Sally was five years old. Mother Mollie was still single. There is no paper trail that shows whether Sally and Bill share a father or if they are half brothers and sisters.
Sally’s mother 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 then 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.
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, Sally Gulledge (age 13, born 1897). Another daughter, Katy Esther “Topsy” White was born on October 2, 1911. Hattie Mae and Topsy’s father was William Benjamin White. The White’s are family 121 and their next door neighbors are Fred Richard Davis, Mollie’s mother’s brother and his second wife Lucy Hardy White (Family 120). Lucy Hardy White was the daughter of Thrashley White. Her brother, Ervin White and his wife Ellen are family 122.
Grandpa Dred and Grandmother Tempie Bell also live on Morven Road. Mollie’s son, Bill is seven years old and he lives with his grandma and grandpa. Others living in the home are Moses (age 21), Minnie (18), Harley (15), and Katie (13). Dred is listed as a farmer and the children are all farm laborers except for Bill. Two doors down, Mark Morris (age 33) and wife Martha Campbell (age 25) are living with their three children.
The Joseph Morris family lives just over the County line in Anson County. Joseph is 69 and is living with his wife Mary (age 69). Also living with them is Lucy (age 28) who apparently has had a baby Dewey Morris who is an infant and is listed as a grandchild. Julian is still in the home. Most of the other Morris boys have started a family and have left home but live nearby in Anson County (John, James Washington, and Louis). Luke and Mark live in Chesterfield with their families.
On December 30, 1911, fourteen year old Sallie Gulledge marries Benjamin Franklin Lee. Her mother Mollie states she was born July 26, 1897. Since she is under age, her Uncle John Gulledge (with whom she is living at that time) also gave permission. He states her true age is 14 1/2.
Sally’s first child was born stillborn in the early years of her marriage to Ben Lee. But she soon settled into being a responsible and beloved mother to her children. She had seven children over a period of twenty-six years. From the accounts of her children, she was a devoted wife to her husband, Ben who was a sweet-spirited person. She had a harsher edge and was very protective of Ben and her children, almost like a “momma bear.”
The picture below is probably take in the 1940’s after Ben and Sally’s son Wilson returned from World War II. Sallie could not read or write and Ben read her the Bible daily.
Sallie became a widow at age fifty-seven when her beloved Ben passed away from problems with his diabetes and kidneys. This is a picture of the family at Ben’s funeral.
Sally never worked at public work. She helped Ben farm, raised her children and then helped raise her 21 living grandchildren. As one of the middle grandchildren, my memories of her occur after she was widowed. She was a strict disciplinarian, expecting children to work hard and not be prone to a lot of foolishness. Sally always had trouble with her stomach and had lost all of her teeth because of pellagra stemming from poor diet in her younger years. She always wore her false teeth to church on Sunday and her best hat and dress.
Sally also cared for her mother, Mollie, whom we called “Granny White”. Granny White had the front room all by herself while the rest of us were consigned to the other two bedrooms which had two large beds each. Four generations lived in Sally’s home until the death of “Granny White” in 1959. Daughter Azaline and her husband, Jesse Leon “JL” and three small children shared the home. Four of Sally’s children lived away from the Hinson Hill Home in Chesterfield and they often returned to stay overnight.
I was eight years old when “Granny White” died and I remember being told as a child my Grandma Sally was a “woods chicken” and did not know her father. I remember being told various theories about her origin. Ms. Mollie Gulledge “Granny White” was a Doctor Assistant. She worked with Dr. Benjamin James McGoogan of Morven. During the flu epidemic, 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. One family theory was that Dr. McGoogan was the father of Mollie’s children. The problem with this theory was that Dr. McGoogan didn’t arrive in McFarlan until 1917, well after the birth of Sally and her brother, Bill as shown by this article in the Message and Intelligencer, published on April 5, 1917, page 8.
Another theory was that Mollie was somehow jilted by a man who was just passing through the community, an artist or traveling salesman. This is sort of negated by the fact that there were two children born without a father who are about five-years apart in age.
DNA evidence seems to point toward the Joseph Morris family. Indirect evidence points in that direction as well. The family lived in close proximity to the Gulledge family during the time period of Sally’s birth. Also, one of Mollie Gulledge’s sister married one of the Morris brothers. Minnie Gulledge married Julian Jule Morris.
In examining the DNA evidence, the following steps were followed:
- Examine Ancestry, GEDmatch, 23 and me, and My Heritage shared matches between this family and Margie Lee, Sallie’s daughter
- Through DNA Painter for matches in this family, determine how the match is related. If it is related through paternal side, or known maternal relationships through Dred Gulledge and Tempie Davis, then it would be ruled out.
- Plot the relationships on the What are the Odds Tool in DNA Painter to determine if evidence supports a Morris relationship for Sally’s father.
The conclusion from this analysis is that there is weak not overwhelming evidence that Sarah Ellen “Sally” Gulledge could be the daughter of two of the sons of Joseph Morris. The other sons along with Joseph Morris and his brother James “Bud” Morris are ruled out by the statistical odds of DNA. The two brothers who are not ruled out are James Washington Morris and John Walter Morris. James Washington Morris would have been a 21 year-old young man around the same age as Mollie Gulledge. He was single farmer living on his own next to his parents in the 1900 census. John Walter was 18 in 1896 and in the 1900 census he was single and still living with his parents.
Sally Gulledge enjoyed a long life. She lived until age 93. She was only incapacitated for the last few years of her life. She lost her vision and stayed in bed most of the time. Before her decline, she was very interested in the world around her, always watching the news on television and having her family read to her as she was unable to read. This picture is of her as she celebrated her 89th birthday.
This is the verse that appeared on her funeral card. She certainly had her trials in life but she lived her life with strength, light, and grace.
God has not promised
Skies Always Blue
Flower-Strewn Pathways
All Our Lives Through
God Hath Not Promised
Sun without Rain
Joy without Sorrow
Peace without Pain
But God Hath Promised
Strength for the Day
Rest for the Labor
Light for the Way
Grace for the Trials
Help from Above
Unfailing Sympathy
Undying Love
Martha's Family Connections 