52 Ancestors 2015 Edition: #28 Lovie Ann Jones Watson

52 Ancestors 2015 Edition:  #28 Lovie Ann Jones Harris Watson --How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey


Amy Johnson Crow, the author of the blog No Story Too Small, is the host of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Blog Prompt series. If you are not familiar with the project please click on the following link:   Announcing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition.

Lovie Ann Jones Watson was my maternal great grand aunt. She was born in Morehead City, NC with her birth date being most likely January 14, 1883. Based on the records I've found thus far, she appears to have been the eldest child of my great grandparents Alexander Hamilton Jones and Rosa Mitchell Jones. 

Here's Lovie listed with her family in the 1900 Federal Census.


Source Information Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. 
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Source Citation Year: 1900;
 Census Place: Morehead, Carteret, North Carolina; Roll: 1186; Page: 14A;
 Enumeration District: 0022; FHL microfilm: 1241186


Lovie's two younger sisters Mary Jones Wooten Price and Ophelia Jones Bryant both became teachers. Lovey chose a different course. She decided to go into medicine like several other of the descendants of Cesar Jones, my 3rd great grandfather. You can learn about those other descendants of Cesar Jones who had medical occupations here.

My great grand aunt Lovie became a nurse.

She married a John M Harris on March 24, 1902 in Morehead City.

The only record of their union I've come across so far is an entry in the Carteret County Marriage Register Index:


Source Information Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Marriage Index, 1741-2004
 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. 
Source Citation Data Source: North Carolina State Archives

And yes they did list her name as Louie :) 



Okay, okay, I know completely random right. My brain and body are away on vacation with the family this week in Connecticut so you'll have to forgive me. Plus my mind has a tendency to want to tie in songs to whatever I may be working on. Just call it a weird quirk of mine.


Anyway, back to the marriage record. John Harris was from Goldsboro, NC and Lovie from Morehead City. How did they meet? Perhaps they met while she was in nursing school in Raleigh. Lovie attended Saint Augustine's Normal School and Collegiate Institute there. Here's the link to a page in the school's annual catalog for the year 1900--1901 that I found on Internet Archive. She was shown to be a second year student:
 https://archive.org/stream/annualcatalogueo18991914#page/n63/mode/2up/search/%22jones%2C+lovie%22

Lovie gave birth to the couple's only child Madeline Teresa Harris on June 23, 1905 in Morehead City. I have not been able to find any records that show where Lovie was living from 1902--1909. I am going to assume for now that she was finishing up her schooling in Raleigh and possibly working there. She shows up in the records again in 1910 on the Federal Census.


Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: White Oak, Carteret, North Carolina; Roll: T624_1095; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0002; FHL microfilm: 1375108 Source Information Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
Image courtesy of Ancestry.com

Apparently the marriage between John M Harris and Lovie Jones didn't work out because Lovie's marital status was listed as divorced that year. She's returned to using the Jones surname. Lovie's daughter Madeline T. Harris was also living in the Jones household. So much for marriage number one. On to marriage number two.

"Virginia, Marriages, 1785-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X51X-4XQ : accessed 21 July 2015),  Thos. D. Watson and Lovey Annie Jones, 11 Mar 1922; citing Northampton Co.,
 Virginia, reference Line 27; FHL microfilm 2,048,466.
Image courtesy of FamilySearch.org

Lovie married Thomas D Watson in Northampton County, VA on March 11, 1922. Her marital status was listed as widowed. Widowed probably went over better with most folks than divorced back in 1922. I can understand why she lied on her marriage record here. 


Source Information Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Death Certificates, 1909-1975 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Image courtesy of Ancestry.com

Lovie A.Watson died on June 2, 1948. She was listed as the widow of Thomas D. Watson. The thing is Mr. Thomas D. Watson was very much alive and living in Virginia. He didn't die until 1958. Here's his death certificate.

Source Information Ancestry.com. Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line].
 Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.Original data: Virginia, Deaths, 1912–2014.
 Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia.
Image courtesy of Ancestry.com

This is what I think may have happened. Thomas Watson's first wife was a Macon Goffigon Watson of Northhampton, VA. Macon died on January 13, 1922. Just two months later Thomas up and marries my great grand aunt Lovie. I believe that Thomas and Lovie were acquainted with each other before Macon died. 


Source Information Ancestry.com. Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line].
 Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Virginia, Deaths, 1912–2014.
 Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia.
Image courtesy of Ancestry.com

According to Macon Watson's death certificate, she was ill for 6 months prior to her death. Maybe Lovie was a nurse hired to assist with Macon's care?

Time to get back to Lovie and her daughter Madeline now. Madeline Teresa Harris was raised for the most part by her grandmother Rosa Mitchell Jones in Morehead City. In Rosa Jones's will, she even referred to Madeline as her "daughter" instead of granddaughter as further proof of this.

I find it especially sad that Lovie died from tetanus. Here she was a a registered nurse trained to help and heal others. A simple household accident of getting a splinter in her leg that went on to become infected would become the cause of her demise.

Lovie Annie Jones Harris Watson is buried at Bayview Cemetery in Morehead City, NC along with many other of my Jones ancestors.


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