Rachel Elizabeth (Beatie) McConnell (1834 - 1912)

Born 3 Oct 1834 in Chilhowie, Smyth County, Virginia, United States of America

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas Guilford McConnell — married 25 Feb 1855 in Virginia, United States

Descendants

Died 5 Dec 1912 at age 78 in Rural Retreat, Wythe County, Virginia, United States of America

Biography

Rachel Beatie was born on 3 October 1834 in the "Town House" at Chilhowie, Smyth County, Virginia, the fifth of eight known children and the fourth of five daughters of Robert Beatie and Paulina White.

On 25 February 1855, when she was twenty years old, she married Thomas McConnell, no doubt in Chilhowie. She bore him eleven children, including three sons and five daughters (Only four lived past infancy, and Robert, one of Bettie's two sons who lived to adulthood, died some years before his mother). The third child, Laura Bell "Lollie," (shown here) was the first to survive.

(Of Lollie's eleven children, four died in early childhood, but of the remaining seven, five lived well into their 80s (only the smokers died in their 70s)).

Children of Thomas Guilford and Bettie Beatie McConnell:

1. Infant Son McConnell, b&d 28 Aug 1856
2. Unnamed Daughter McConnell, b & d, 20 June 1857
3. Laura McConnell Prickett, 1 May1858-11 Nov 1928
4. Unnamed Daughter McConnell, 14 Jun 1860-18 Jun 1860
5. Robert McConnell, 1862-1893
6. Susan Pauline McConnell Bridgforth, 1863-1933
7. Ada McConnell, 1865-1865
8. Charlton Lee McConnell, 1866-1914
9. Three other children, based on the 1900 census, which says she had eleven children, three living.

On 5 December 1912, when she was in her late seventies, she died of a heart condition in Rural Retreat, Wythe County, Virginia, at the home of her oldest living daughter, Laura Bell/Belle ("Lollie").

Death

For a larger view of the death certificate below, click here.

Death certificate for Rachel Beatie McConnell

Citations

Acknowledgments

• Patricia Prickett Hickin created Bettie (Beatie) McConnell on 23 Aug 2012.

Sources

• Patricia Prickett Hickin memories from stories her father told.

• Prickett Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA.

• 1900 census.

• Death certificate.