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| Great-grandmother, Laura Anglin Metcalf |
LAURA ANGLIN METCALF
BIRTH 15 MAR 1888 • Yancey, North Carolina, United States
DEATH 22 AUG 1929 • Price Creek, Yancey, North Carolina, US
I received an email from a cousin who found my blog. She asked if I could tell her anything about her Grandmother, Laura Anglin, since her father did not talk much about his mother. Val's father, Thor, and my grandfather, Cliff, were half brothers. I told her I would do my best to share what I have learned about Laura.
Laura was the daughter of Elizabeth "Betsy" Anglin and her cousin, James Anglin. Laura was born on March 15, 1888 in Yancey County, NC. The census records of 1890 were lost in a fire, so we are not 100% certain where Laura lived as a baby but we suspect it was in the same home that we find in the 1880 census, next door to cousin James who lived with his siblings and mother in Caney River. It appears Betsy and her children moved from this location after James' death in 1894 as they are found living near Betsy's parents, Raburn and Kate Edney Anglin in Price Creek in the census of 1900. Laura was one of 7 children, many of whom did not live to adulthood. Among them are William Daniel who was known as "Dan (1873)," Lillie Anne (1876) , Sallie (1879), John I (1884), Laura K (1889), Fredrick (1891), and at least one male infant who died as a baby. Some of the children fall off the radar, meaning they stop showing up on the family's census records which I will address soon in another post.
Although life was quite different for Laura in the late 1800s and the early 1900s, there were still many of the same situations that we experience today. Young girls often wound up in a family way and without a husband. For Laura, her family unit was much like the blended families we see today. Laura was a single mother when her first five children were born; Gladys, known as Sis, was born in 1908 and Thor was born in 1910. Grady came along in 1912, Clifford (my grandfather) was born in 1914, and then came Zenas in 1916. It was after Zenas Metcalf's' birth that Laura married George Metcalf in May of 1917.
Although I have only found Cliff's father to be documented, family tradition indicates the following as the fathers of Laura's first 4 children:
Gladys/Sis was fathered by Doc/Dock Allen.
Thor's father was Jobe Austin.
Clifford's father was Laura's cousin, John Anglin (son of James Breckenridge Anglin and Josephine Hill Anglin).
Grady was fathered by Charles Gibbs.
Laura and George Metcalf had several children together. Zenas, as I mentioned earlier, followed by Byrd in 1918, Carl in 1922, Francis "Marie" was born in 1924, Grace came along in 1926 and went to heaven in 1929, and little Madeline died in infancy in 1927.
Upon marrying George Metcalf, Laura left her mother's home and George and Laura rented a place of their own in Price Creek. It seems Laura brought Thor, Grady, and Gladys with her to their new home, but Clifford remained in the home of his Grandma Betsy. Thor and Grady actually appear in the 1920 census living with Grandma Betsy and her family, although Thor also is listed as living in the household of Laura & George. At some point Grady was sent to live with his father's family and took the last name of his father, Charles Gibbs. We saw Uncle Grady often when we were younger and I asked my grandparents why Uncle Grady had a different name from my grandpa. I was told it was because their family was very poor (which they were) and Grady was given up for adoption. So I asked why Grady was chosen? Why was he the one who was given away...? Was he loved less? Well, according to my grandparents, it was because Grady was caught urinating off the front porch by his stepfather so he was sent away. Truth? Fiction? I do not know... but sometimes truth is stranger than fiction! It has been said that George Metcalf was a mean-spirited man and used his stepchildren as laborers.
My cousin, Val, sent me a picture that was found in her late brother's possessions by his wife. It shows Laura and George with several children. The children in the photograph are 5 of Laura's children: my great Aunt Gladys/Sis, Uncle Thor, Uncle Grady, my Grandpa Cliff, and the baby is Uncle Zenas. The man who is holding my grandfather on his lap is George Metcalf. The other woman is who my dad believes to be Aunt Lil, Laura's sister. The person who was cut out of the picture (all the way to the right) may likely have been Laura and Lillian's mother, our ancestral grandmother Betsy, but that's only a guess because all I can see is a small portion of a shoulder. 
In the wee hours of the morn' when I was trying to fall back to sleep, I had a eureka moment and I would bet this picture was taken on Laura and George's wedding day! Zenas was born a little more than a year before Laura and George married. He looks to be about a year old in this picture which is what made me think this is their wedding photo. It surely looks like they are all dressed in their finest clothing. Don't you love the pom-poms that Aunt Lil, Aunt Sis/Gladys, and Uncle Thor are sporting?!? I could picture aunt Lil sitting with the older children and making those pom-poms with leftover yarn on those pom-pom making circles. What a GREAT find this picture is!! For me, it opened up a portal to the past and gave us another glimpse at our ancestors' lives. Thank you Val & Christina for sharing!! Thoughts and comments are welcome. If anyone has a box of old photos sitting around... you never know what treasures you will find in there!!
Let's continue on with more of the story...
As mentioned, my grandfather was left in the care of Grandma Betsy and Aunt Lil, as he called her. Clifford thought of Aunt Lil as his mother. Lil, also a single mother, had a son, Charles, who was like a true brother to my grandpa. When Grandma Betsy passed away in 1921, Charles became the head of the household. Their blended family lived on Banks Creek Road in Price Creek and consisted of Charles (age 20), his mother Lil (age 52), Uncle Dan (age 56), and Clifford (age 16). How blessed my grandfather was that he had a cousin who loved him like a brother and gave him a home. Charles and Clifford remained very close throughout their lives, even into their golden years.
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| Charles & Clifford Anglin |
We were never told of Laura being a single mother who had children with various men, and it was assumed that her first husband died. We do not know if Laura was a willing participant or if she was the victim of rape as women in the backwoods of Appalachia we often victims of such abuses. I wonder how much my grandfather knew about his own lineage. Did he know that his cousin John was also his father? One day I came upon a photo in my grandparents' boxes of pictures of a crumbling structure. On the back of the picture it said "John and Hettie's house" so I now believe my grandfather did know that this "John" was his father.
Laura passed away on August 22, 1929 at the age of 41, though her death certificate lists her age as 39 and 3 months. (Was a little white lie told to George about Laura's age since he was 6 years younger than Laura...? The year of birth on Laura's tombstone may also be incorrect.) Laura's cause of death is listed as cancer of the ovaries and womb with a 6 month history of the disease. On her grave stone, Our Beloved Mother, is inscribed.
Upon discovery of another photo in the box, I have been led to wonder about the word "beloved" on Laura's stone. The picture is of Laura pregnant with my grandfather, circa 1914. Oh, if this picture could talk... But guess what? It does! There is a note on the back from sibling cousins Vonno & Kitty Anglin who made it into a postcard style print. The writing on the top is my grandma's handwriting so I know she added that note. But clearly, there was not a whole lot of love going on between Laura and my grandfather since the cousins wrote, "and if you don't want to look at this one you can burn it." WOW!
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| John & Hattie's house |
Laura passed away on August 22, 1929 at the age of 41, though her death certificate lists her age as 39 and 3 months. (Was a little white lie told to George about Laura's age since he was 6 years younger than Laura...? The year of birth on Laura's tombstone may also be incorrect.) Laura's cause of death is listed as cancer of the ovaries and womb with a 6 month history of the disease. On her grave stone, Our Beloved Mother, is inscribed.
What happened to Laura's children? I will share what I know.
Gladys Anglin, who everyone called Aunt Sis, married Troy Metcalf. Yes, Metcalf, Troy was actually the youngest brother of Sis' stepfather, George. Troy and Sis moved from NC to NJ for a while and then settled in CA. They had two children, Ruth and Edward. Additionally, Sis took care of Francis Marie, known to us as Aunt Marie, after Laura died. Marie was only 4 years old when her mother died.
Thor Anglin married Mae Angel. They lived in Yancey County, NC and had 2 children - Max Lee and Valeria "Val" Anglin. Thor's occupation is listed as a "farmer" on several census records. Val shared some details with me about her dad. "Thor did some small scale tobacco farming and he was also a merchant. There is a story from a booklet printed by the Cane River Baptist Church in the early 2000s. It told of Thor's contribution of bringing commerce to Yancey County in the form of a "Rolling Store," based largely a barter system. Thor owned and operated a service station/convenience store in Bald Creek for many years. During WWII Thor went to work in a defense plant in Detroit. Our family moved there for a short time. My Grandmother, (Nora Angel), lived with us, caring of Max and I while our parents worked. Thor retired from the Glen Raven Mill in Burnsville, NC."
Clifford Anglin was my grandfather and I written about him within my other blogs. What I have not yet shared is that my grandfather was in the CCC during the Great Depression. From there he joined the Merchant Marines and then became a crane operator for the railroad in NJ. Clifford had a daughter, Mary Cecil Anglin Ransom, by his first wife Vay McIntosh. He and my grandmother, Irene Grabowski, lived in NJ and had 3 sons, Bruce (my dad), Brian, and Leonard.
Grady Gibbs was a military career man. He completed 4 years of high school and enlisted in the Army in Jersey City, NJ, which was where his brother Clifford lived. He met his wife, Clara Bettendorf overseas when he was in Luxembourg. He retired with the rank of Chief Warrant Officer and they settled in Petersburg, VA. They had one daughter Mildred "Laverne" Gibbs.
Zenas Metcalf was the first of the children that Laura and George parented. We find Zenas living with Troy and Sis after Laura died. Zenas and his wife, Willie Mae Ayers, had three children, Doris, Patricia Lynne, and Douglas.
Byrd Metcalf is found living with his grandparents, John Black Metcalf and Dulcie Robinson Metcalf, after Laura passed away. His father George is living there as well, along with siblings Marie and Carl. Byrd married Myrtle Hunter and they had two daughters, Jerrie and Linda.
As noted above, Carl Metcalf is found living with his grandparents, John Black Metcalf and Dulcie Robinson Metcalf, after Laura passed away. Carl served in the Army Air corps during WWII and also worked in the tinsmiths, coppersmiths, and sheet metal workers field. He settled in Texas, married, and had children.
Francie "Marie" Metcalf was one of my favorite (great) aunts. She was warm and showed how much she loved you without reservation, but she was also no-nonsense when it came to discipline. She came to live in NJ with her sister "Sis" and Troy where she met Robert Wesley and they married. They lived on Long Island, NY where they raised two sons, Philip and Robert "Bobby" Wesley. They returned to the south and lived in SC in their retirement years.
Grace died as a child, about 3 years old and Madeline was an infant when she passed away.
Documenting our family's history is always a work in progress. Much of what we gather is based on stories being passed down from generation to generation. So much of our past has been lost because it was not written down and because stories have been forgotten. In years past when folks did not know how to read or write well, the story-telling function was often the responsibility of older persons
as a way to make sure new generations learned about the history and
heritage of their family.
In today's age of technology, historical information is recorded instantly via
social media and we can now research online and uncover family records. But still, many people know very little about their own family's
stories. We have a unique
opportunity to pass on some of those treasured stories. We know that not all stories are happy ones. But, telling such stories may be a way to release pains from the past to help us better understand our family members. Please share your stories, publicly or privately. It is so important that we cultivate our history and keep it alive.
Please reach out to me via email at DonnaAnglinToncic@gmail.com or leave a comment.
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| Bruce, Brian, Irene, Leonard, & Clifford Anglin at Laura Anglin Metcalf's grave, circa 1959. |
Below are some documents that I have found related to Laura.
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| Laura Anglin Metcalf' death certificate |
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| Census record 1920 |
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