With Mother’s Day last Sunday and the wedding tomorrow of Miss Meghan Markle and Prince Harry of Wales, I thought I would write a post on some of her maternal ancestors. Often on Mother’s Day, genealogists consider their matrilineal ancestry as a way to honor their female ancestors.
The chronology of Meghan’s maternal grandmother was a challenging one. Reflecting modern life, over the course of a few generations women were married multiple times; sometimes their daughters’ surnames changed to those of their stepfather (sometimes much later in life!), and mothers’ maiden surnames were sometimes listed under their mothers’ later husbands’ names. I have summarized the line below with the relevant facts and sources. All ancestors are listed as black on the records when asked. The earliest generations of this family would have been enslaved until the end of the Civil War.
The family lived in the area around the Georgia–South Carolina border before moving to Sandusky, Ohio in the early twentieth century and making their way to California by the 1950s. The lineage should be considered preliminary, as I have ordered several additional twentieth-century records that might lead to corrections or additions to the facts below.
Gertrude Sad(d)ler was born at Lavonia 16 April 1882 and died at Newark, New Jersey 28 December 1958. She married, first, about 1895, probably in Georgia, Hunter Allen. Hunter was born in Georgia about 1875. He likely died before 1905, when Gertrude married, second, Samuel Arnold. Samuel was born at Anderson, South Carolina 28 March 1877 and died at Sandusky, Ohio 27 June 1943.[4]
Jeanette Forshey alias McAfee alias Arnold was born at Sandusky 4 September 1929. She died 27 December 2000, having lived most recently in Fresno, California. She married Alvin Azell Ragland, from whom she was divorced. He was born in Tennessee 21 February 1929 and died 12 March 2011. She married, second, before 1988, ______ Johnson.[6]
[2] 1870 and 1880 Censuses above; 1910 Census.
[3] Marriage Record; 1900 Census; 1910 Census [with three of Gertrude’s children from her first marriage to Hunter Allen]; 1930 Census; 1940 Census. Laura’s maiden name is given as Bowers in the Social Security application of her daughter Gertrude and the 1918 Ohio marriage of her daughter Essie. In the 1900 census, there is a woman named Nancy Bowers, age 71, widowed, mother of 25 children, 7 living, living in the household of Felix (listed as Fielding) and Laura Saddler; the relationship to the head of household is given as “Nancy,” an obvious error. Teasly is the surname on her marriage record, and appears to match the Laura in the 1880 census with familial connections to the earlier generation. Bowers may have been a family name as well.
[4] 1900 Census; 1910 Census; 1920 Census; 1930 Census; 1940 Census; Social Security Application of Gertrude Sadler Arnold; “Mrs. Gertrude Arnold,” The Sandusky Register, 29 December 1958, 10; World War II Draft Registration of Samuel Arnold; 1943 Ohio Death Certificate of Samuel Arnold; “Samuel Arnold,” The Sandusky Register, 28 June 1943.
[5] 1980 California Death Certificate of Nettie Pritchard (on order); 1917 Ohio Marriage record of John L. Williams and Nettie May Allen; 1920 Census; Social Security Application of John Linzia Williams; 1948 Michigan Death Certificate of John L. Williams; 1930 Census; 1938 Ohio marriage Record of John McAfee and Jeanette (Arnold) Williams; 1940 Census; obituaries of mother and step-father above. Nettie lists her step-father Samuel Arnold as her father on her 1938 marriage, and she is listed as Samuel’s step-daughter “Nettie Arnold” in the 1943 obituary.
[6] 1955 Fresno City Directory (as Jeanette Arnold); Social Security Application; Social Security Death Index; Social Security Death Index [from these records, it is not entirely clear if Jeanette Arnold and Alvin Ragland married].
[7] 1979 California Marriage Certificate of Thomas Wayne Markle and Doria Loyce Ragland (above right).
[8] Wikipedia.org biography for Meghan Markle.
