Amelia Monroe (Hooper) Word (1796 - 1850)

Born 10 Feb 1796 in Pendleton, Pendleton, South Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Wife of John Sevier Clark — married 1812 (to 1825) in Georgia

Wife of James Dickenson Word Sr. — married 16 Mar 1826 (to 25 Oct 1850) in Franklin, Heard, Georgia, United States

Descendants

Died 25 Oct 1850 at age 54 in Sand Mountain, Blount, Alabama, United States

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Biography

Amelia Monroe Hooper (known always as "Millie") was born on February 10, 1796 in the Pendleton district of South Carolina, the first of 12 known children born to Matthew Hooper and Elizabeth Word. By 1810, her parents had moved to Franklin, Georgia.

In 1812, Millie Hooper married her first husband, John Sevier Clark in Georgia, when he was 20 and she was 18. Their three daughters were born in quick succession (1813, 1814 and 1818). In 1825, she divorced him in Atlanta. ^[1]

On March 16, 1826, Millie married James Dickenson Word in Franklin, Georgia, when she was 30 and he was 29. They were first cousins, sharing grandparents Charles Word and Elizabeth Adams.

Their nine children were born between 1826, when Amelia was 30 years old, and 1841, when she was 45. B. Add records from 1850 Federal Census: Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Census Place: Northern Division District 4, Tishomingo, Mississippi; Roll: 382; Page: 76B Date of enumeration: November 25, 1850. Add quote from daughter Amelia on loss of her mother.]

Millie's untimely death on October 25, 1854, came on her way home from an autumn visit to family in Georgia with her husband James. This was prior to the construction of the Memphis & Charleston railroad, so this trip was made by horse-drawn carriage and mule-drawn wagon, with the assistance of enslaved men from James Word's plantation.

The most difficult part of the journey was over Sand Mountain, after crossing into Alabama. Her husband told a family memoir writer decades later that "On the way home my wife was taken ill and died at a place called Shanty in Blount County, Ala. at the house of A.W. Arnold." ^[2] She was buried in a temporary grave at Mr. Arnold's home.

Later, Millie's coffin was brought to Eastport, Mississippi and reburied in the private Beall Cemetery, near the old town of Eastport. The inscription on her gravestone was transcribed by Shorty Bonds in November 1996. It reads:

Age 54 Years 8 Months and 15 days

Consort of James Word

A photo of her gravestone is included with her Find A Grave memorial. ^[3]

Note: In the 1850 Federal Census for Blount County, Alabama, the house of A.W. Arnold was valued at $5000 , the third highest in Blount County. Son Thomas living at home in census, Physician age 24. ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Documentation to be added from family records and sourced documentation on the Clark daughters and their father.
2. ↑ Smith, Elizabeth Penn. "Recollections." Typescript, October, 1955. Page 2.
3. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37140729/amelia-monroe-word
4. ↑ https://ahc.alabama.gov/Alabama%20Register%20Properties/Blount%20County/AL.BlountCounty.NationThomasHouseOCR.pdf

• Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Census Place: Northern Division District 4, Tishomingo, Mississippi; Roll: 382; Page: 76B Date of enumeration: November 25, 1850.