Cora E (White) Carey (1843 - 1911)

Born 29 Jun 1843 in Fayette, Jefferson, Mississippi, United States

Wife of William T Watson — married 1861 in Franklin, Tennessee

Wife of Samuel Emory Carey — married 24 Feb 1870 in Marshall, Mississippi, United States

Descendants

Died 9 Dec 1911 at age 68 in Marshall, Mississippi, United States

Biography

Cora was born in 1843.

In the 1870s, Cora E. Watson Carey was an associate editor of the New Orleans Times Democrat and was responsible for editing the children's and women's pages and writing a society column. She was born Cora E. White in Fayette, Jefferson County, Mississippi, in June of 1843. After the death of her mother, Cora E. White was adopted by Ann Harris, an aunt from Somerville, Tennessee. Cora E. Harris attended a female academy in the mid-1850s.

Cora E. Harris married Will Watson of Holly Springs, Marshall County, Mississippi. In 1861, she moved in with her husband's parents, Judge and Mrs. J. W. Watson, after he was killed in the Civil War. Cora E. Watson assisted in running a female academy that the Watsons opened in their home after the war. Mississippi writer Katherine Sherwood Bonner was a student at the academy, and the two young women began a friendship that would last until Bonner's death in 1883.

Cora E. Watson married Samuel E. Carey in 1869. He was general manager and later president of the Mississippi Central Railroad. Carey subsequently worked as a general passenger and ticket agent for the Illinois Central Railroad, eventually moving with his wife to New Orleans. The Careys had two daughters, Nell (Nellie) S., who was born in January of 1874, and Elizabeth (Bessie), who was born on July 28, 1879. After the death of her second husband on November 6, 1880, Cora E. Carey and her two daughters returned to Holly Springs. Carey died in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, in 1911." (http://mdah.state.ms.us/manuscripts/z0688.html)

Diary

Cora's civil war diary is a significant part of this book: Civil War Women: The Diaries of Belle Strickland and Cora Harris Watson: Holly Springs, Mississippi July 25, 1864-June 22 1868.^[1] An excerpt (from the introduction):

Belle begins the diary by saying that "Papa has given me this book for a Journal, and I have promised to write in it every day until he comes again." No mention is made of where or why he has gone. But a glance at the date gives the clue, since it was a Civil War year. However to understand why she and her siblings were not left at home needs explanation. Belle's mother (born in 1835) had died, June 29, 1863,³ so the children were left in the care of a neighbor, Catherine Davis (Mrs. J. W. C.) Watson, while Papa was off to war. You also need to know that Mrs. Watson's daughter, Elizabeth Davis ("Miss Lizzie"),⁴ had started a school in the Watson home. Helping as a teacher was Cora Harris (Mrs. William T.) Watson, who had married a Watson son. He was killed in the First Battle of Franklin, Tenn., and "Miss Cora," as she is called in the diary, had come to live with her husband's family. Cora Watson also kept a diary, and discusses many of the same incidents and events as did the young child Belle. It is interesting to compare the perspectives the adult and the child give of Civil War incidents, national affairs, and events in the history of Holly Springs.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #12300745
2. ↑ Civil War women : the diaries of Belle Strickland and Cora Harris Watson : Holly Springs, Mississippi July 25, 1864-June 22 1868, by Belle Strickland (1855-1936), Cora Harris Watson (1843-1911); Robert Milton Winter, cwt (Lafayette, Ca. : Thomas Berryhill : 2001), archive.org (accessed 5 November 2023).

• Mississippi Marriages, 1800-1911", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2Z1-TCR : 14 February 2020), Cora E. Watson in entry for S. E. Cary, 1870.