Nancy Virginia McEwen

1848-1914 · Georgia

Born 1848, Washington County, Georgia

Died 1914

Father: Rev. William Penn McEwen

Mother: Rutha Sheppard

Children include Rhoda

Nancy Virginia McEwen was born in December 1848 in Washington County, Georgia. She was the third child of the Rev. William Penn McEwen, a Methodist minister and planter, and his wife Rutha Sheppard. In the 1850 census she appears as Nancy V., aged one, in her father's household at Washington County, with her brothers and sister and her widowed grandmother Elizabeth Sheppeard.

About 1858 the family moved to Florida, probably to Lake City. In 1867 they settled a mile and a half south of the present town of Wauchula, at the site of old Fort Hartsuff, in Manatee County. On 19 January 1868, near Wauchula, the Rev. Cross married her to Robert Calvin Hendry, called Cab, a young cattleman and Union veteran. Two of her sisters married in the same circle that year: Elizabeth married Simeon Elias Whidden and Martha married Albert Carlton.

She and Cab made their home at Joshua Creek, south of what became Arcadia, the seat of DeSoto County from 1887. She bore thirteen children between 1868 and 1889, three of whom died young. Her daughter Rhoda Ellen was born there in 1882 and married Terrell Elmer Fielder, sheriff of DeSoto County. Her father died at her house in July 1883, while he was in the district for a revival. Cab and Nancy were both known for their charities.

Nancy was widowed in April 1904, when Cab died at Atlanta after an operation. On 14 January 1911, aged sixty-two, she applied for a widow's pension on his Union service and signed the declaration with her mark. Albert Carlton of Wauchula and S. E. Whidden of Arcadia swore to her marriage. She was granted twelve dollars a month. She died on 10 March 1914, the date the pension office recorded when it dropped her from the rolls. She was buried at Joshua Creek Cemetery in Arcadia, where her husband lay. Her grave carries a metal funeral-home marker reading "NANCY V M HENDRY, 1848, 1914."

Parents

Rev. William Penn McEwen 1815-1883 Rutha Sheppard 1819-1898

Children

Rhoda Ellen Hendry 1882-1963

Sources

Find a Grave, memorial 24504762, Nancy Virginia McEwen Hendry, Joshua Creek Cemetery, Arcadia, DeSoto County, Florida.

Find a Grave memorial 24504762; FamilySearch Family Tree, persons MT1G-C77 and LVY3-WSG; Spessard Stone, "Robert Calvin Hendry" (2001, from The Herald-Advocate, Wauchula, 18 August 1988), citing the pension files of Robert C. and Nancy V. Hendry at the National Archives; Spessard Stone, "Rev. William Penn McEwen" (2001, from South Florida Pioneers 51/52, 1987).

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Cite: Heirology, "Nancy Virginia McEwen (1848-1914)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/nancy-virginia-mcewen-1848-1914-d971ef.