GYR Scavenger Hunt

1930 :: Death of Grandma Cain

On this date in 1930 . . . the 23rd day of June . . . Grandma Cain died in Tanglewood, Lee County, Texas . . . aka Susan / Susanna / Sushannah Cain nee Holland . . . she was born 08 December 1841 in Franklin County, Alabama . . . and she is a 2nd great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . the burial location of Grandma Cain is marked with a simple homemade tombstone, which is shown on the left in the photo collage . . . on the right is Grandma Cain holding her great-grandson, James Oscar Beard (1918-1980) . . .

Rockdale Reporter. Thursday, June 26, 1930. Rural News. Tanglewood. June 23 -- Grandma Cain is very low at this writing. [Note . . .she actually died this date, Monday, June 23, 1930. See also: Thursday, July 10, 1930.]



Rockdale Reporter. Thursday, July 10, 1930. Rural News. Cole Springs. Grandma Cain passed away last Monday evening. She had been helpless and bed-ridden since last October. She was ready and anxious to take her departure. She knew in whom she believed, and she was not afraid to die. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Mrs. Cain was a native of Alabama. She was 88 years old the 8th of last December. She leaves one daughter, Mrs. J.M. Pounder of Tanglewood, and a host of grandchildren and great grandchildren to mourn her departure.



Texas Death Certificate. "Deceased was not attended by a Physician during her last sickness. Cause of Death from statements was dysentary. Dislocated hip from which she was confined to sick bed until her death."
"I.C. Shaffer, M.D., . . . am of the opinion that her ailments were results of dislocated hip in October 1929, & the immediate cause of her death was dysintiry."

I still have quite a few questions about this Sushannah. The genealogy info passed on to me by numerous family members said that Sushannah was married to Isaac Cosby Cain and that they had two children -- Thomas Sylvester Cain (1862-1920) and my great-grandma, Mary Susan Pounders nee Cain (1873-1950).

When I started doing my own research, I found Sushannah on the following census records --

• 1850 :: 8-year-old Susan Holland is living in Franklin County, Alabama with her parents, Edward & Mary A. M. Holland
• 1860 :: 18-year-old Susan Cain is living in Marion County, Alabama with her husband, Isaac Cain
• 1870 :: have not been able to locate Sushannah or Isaac or many of Susan's family members
• 1880 :: 48-year-old (?) Susan Cain is listed as a widow living in Belgreen, Franklin County, Alabama with her children, 18-year-old Thoms S. Cain & 7-year-old Mary S. Cain (my great-grandma)
• 1900 :: have not been able to locate Sushannah . . . she is NOT enumerated in Texas with either of her children and not enumerated in Alabama with her widowed mother or with any of her sisters . . . but family tradition says she came to Texas with her married daughter ca. 1896 . . .
• 1910 :: have not been able to locate Sushannah . . . not in Texas with either of her children
• 1920 :: have not been able to locate Sushannah . . . not in Texas with either of her children
• 1930 :: 88-year-old Susin Cain is listed in the household of her married daughter in Lee County, Texas

Susanna Cain's "Widow's Application for Confederate Pension" was dated 06 June 1930, less than two weeks before she died after being bedridden since October of 1929. In a cover letter (from the County Judge) which accompanied the application, W.F. Schlosshan observed that, ". . . she (Susannah) is very old ~ more than 88 years, and she was not able to furnish all the information in her application. . . ."

In said application it is alleged that Susannah stated that she was married to Isaac Cosby CAIN in 1858 in Franklin County, Alabama. It is also alleged that Susannah stated that her husband had died in 1865 in Alabama. In another part of the same application, it is stated that Isaac CAIN ". . . may have died before being discharged."

Online I found the following . . . Cain Isaack Company I Regiment 42 AL Hospital No.3 DOD 3/28/1863 Grave #951 . . . this Isaack Cain was buried in Vicksburg following his death during the time of the Vicksburg Campaign . . .

HOWEVER . . . "their" daughter, Mary Susan (CAIN) Pounders, was allegedly born 30 September 1873 in Franklin County, Alabama . . . c. eight years after Susannah supposedly said that Isaac died . . . and more than ten years after the death of the "Isaack Cain" at Vicksburg . . . I found Mary Susan on every census record beginning in 1880 . . . and they all support the ca. 1873 date of birth . . .

A letter dated 24 May 1930 from the War Department in Washington stated the following . . . "the records show that one Isaac Cain enlisted August 10, 1862, at Columbus, as private of Company I, 42d Alabama Infantry, C.S.A. . . . The company muster roll for September and October, 1862, . . . reports him absent, taken prisoner and paroled October 5, 1862 . . . another records shows that he was paroled at Bolivar, Tennessee, October 13, 1862 . . . no later record of him has been found. . . ."

Susannah's pension application was approved . . . on a husband that supposedly died during the war (1861-1865) . . . but it appears that the only payment that may have been made would have been after her death . . . when one of her grandsons made an Application for Mortuary Warrant. . . .

1950 :: Death of Mary S. Pounders

 
On this date in our family history . . . the 21st day of April . . . in the year 1950 . . . Mary Susan Pounders dies in Houston, Harris County, Texas . . . this Mary Susan is the mother of Jacob Edmund Forrest Pounders (1902-1957) . . . aka Pa Jake . . . who is the paternal grandpa of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . it is said that Mary Susan was born the 30th of September 1873 in Franklin County, Alabama . . . and Isaac Cosby Cain is said to be her father . . . however! . . . based on information in her mother's (Sushannah Holland Cain) application for a confederate pension, it was reported that Isaac Cain died in 1863 at Vicksburg . . . more than 10 years before Mary Susan was supposedly born . . .

• 1850 Census :: Eight-year-old Susan Holland (Mary Susan's mother) is enumerated with her parents and siblings in Franklin County, Alabama. I have not found Isaac Cain in 1850 -- unless he is the 17-year-old living in Pontotoc County, Mississippi?
• 1860 Census :: I find Isaac and Susan (Holland) Cain in 1860 living in Marion County, Alabama.
• 1870 Census :: I have not yet been able to find Mary Susan's mother on the 1870 Census. As a matter of fact, several members of the Holland family are MIA for this census. I did find a Thomas Cain of the right age -- living in 1870 in Tishomingo County, Mississippi (next door to Franklin County, Alabama) with the head-of-household named James Turner. Is this Susan and Isaac's son?
• 1880 Census :: On the 1880 Alabama Census Mary Susan appears in Alabama as a 7-year-old (born 1873) living in Franklin County with her 18-year-old brother, Thomas . . . and their widowed mother, Susan Cain, is head-of-household.
• 1900 Census :: Mary Susan is married and living in Texas with her husband and children.
  

It is said that Mary Susan's mother, Sushannah, came to Texas with them when they left Alabama about 1896 . . . but I have not been able to find Sushannah on the 1900 or 1910 or 1920 census records . . . she does appear as Susin Cain on the 1930 census in Lee County, Texas, living with her daughter and her family . . . please do let me know if you have any suggestions or input on this family . . .

Hugh Wilson Cemetery

The following poem was composed as an introduction to an imaginary book about the entire community of kith 'n kin that is buried in a certain little country cemetery in Central Texas ... many are connected to a particular group who were known as "Us Mississippians" during the latter part of the 19th century ... written as if talking to the descendants of my nieces & nephews, et al ...



May I share with you a little story
of a quiet resting place
tis a small country graveyard
home to those who have finished life's race.



Tis a lovely place in the springtime
bluebonnets & wild phlox abound
here & there a pink evening primrose
a lovely pallet amidst nature's sounds.

Allow me to introduce a few folks
who begat the who who begat you
for one of these days there will be a time
when I won't be here to walk with you.

Let's start here at the grave of my Father
a gentle humble man was he
he loved making little kids giggle
always enjoying the sound of their glee.

And over here, these are his parents
they were married for 31 years
Pa Jake died early, but Granny lived on
she outlived their two sons & her peers.

Jake's parents are next in this row of graves
of loved ones of which you're a mix
they left Belgreen, Alabama for Texas
in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-six.

And over there is Pa Jake's Grandma
she's buried a few rows away
the homemade marker just says Grandma Cain
with no mention of a birth or death day.

Now let's stroll a little bit farther
past the graves of our kith 'n kin
to the other end of the graveyard
where older markers are known to stand.

(Did you happen to bring your camera
you know there's always an image to save
like that tree standing there in the corner
like a guardian over each silent grave.



I have captured it during each season
in winter, spring, summer & fall
there just seems to be something about that old tree
that has spent years watching over us all.)

Now that grave belongs to my Dad's Grandma
the mother of seven was she
not a son did she have, all girls in the house
and a widow when the baby was wee.

Near to her are her own loving parents
the father who served with John Hood
& the young bride from Mississippi
who beside many a grave has stood.

Dear One . . .

These graves hold the dust of your history
for many years they have been gone
they lived & they died before you were born
these generations have all traveled on.

And when I have slipped the bonds of this earth
with this family is where I will be
& this ground is where my dust will rest
only rememberings will be left of me.

So when you come here to reminisce
& these old acquaintances to renew
may the memories never dim, let them be not forgot
'cause they begat the who who begat you.



~ The ancestors spoken of here ~

My Father
Forrest Lee Pounders (1927-1996)

His Parents
Jacob Edmund Forrest Pounders (1902-1957)
Ima Lois Pounders nee Muston (1906-1999)

Pa Jake's parents
James Madison Pounders (1867-1942)
Mary Susan Pounders nee [Cain] (1873-1950)

Grandma Cain
Sushannah Cain [?] nee Holland (1841-1930)

My Father's Maternal Grandma
Emma Patience Muston nee Nettles (1882-1964)

Her Parents
Joseph Helidorah Nettles (1832-1890)
Mary Annie "Mollie" Nettles nee West (1852-1939)

... plus a large number of assorted kith 'n kin,
many being the very people who were mentioned
in the family stories told by these ancestors ...