Caroline Elizabeth Mays

Caroline Elizabeth Mays

• Father: Samuel Mays b. 23 July 1762, d. 25 January 1816
• Mother: Nancy Grigsby b. 10 May 1775, d. 8 December 1828

• Caroline Elizabeth Mays was born on 19 October 1811 in Edgefield, South Carolina.
• She married Theodore Washington Brevard, son of Alexander Brevard and Rebecca Davidson, on 7 May 1831 in South Carolina. A possible alternative marriage date is 26 April, but this probably was the date of the license..
• Following the deaths of their parents William Chambers and Jane Green Paul LeGrand in the early 1840s, the LeGrand children were taken into various families. Mary Jane, the eldest, spent time with Charles and Sarah Norman Rush and with Theodore and Caroline Mays Brevard. She and Green Mark Wood were married by Judge Brevard, and they named their first child Rush Brevard Wood. Margaret was raised as the only child of Letitia Ann Wood McNair (daughter of Green Wood’s cousin Ashley Wood) and her husband Edward McNair. Cornelia was raised in the household of Charles and Sarah Norman Rush, and Virginia William “Willie” was raised from infancy as the only child of John Henry and Mary Harris Gindrat (whose niece Sarah Anne Harris later married Willis Breazeal Wood). Likely son Milton Paul LeGrand also was taken into the Rush family, but no record has been found of his earlier years; by 1850, at age 17, he was serving as an apprentice in the household of druggist Henry F. Godden in Marion, Alabama.
• Theodore Washington Brevard and Caroline Elizabeth Mays appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Leon County, Florida. Other members of the household included Theodore Washington Brevard Jr., Ephraim A. Brevard and Samuel Mays Brevard.
• Theodore Washington Brevard and Caroline Elizabeth Mays appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. Other members of the household included Ephraim A. Brevard, Samuel Mays Brevard, Robert Joseph Brevard and Thomas Sumter Mays Jr.
• Theodore Washington Brevard and Caroline Elizabeth Mays appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Lincolnton, Lincoln County, North Carolina, and also in the household a dozen teenage students, three teachers, other boarders, and a few domestic servants.. Other members of the household included Ephraim A. Brevard and Robert Joseph Brevard.
• She was a school teacher, according to the 1870 census.
• Caroline Elizabeth Mays became a widow at the circa 1877 death of her husband Theodore Washington Brevard.
• Caroline Elizabeth Mays appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1880 in Shelby, Cleveland County, North Carolina. Other members of the household included Robert Joseph Brevard and Dennett Hill Mays.
• Evelina Wood wrote from Willis to her grandson Wood Powell in Christian County, Illinois on 12 April 1887, " . . . Your aunt Mary Jane is going to Montgomery soon & from there to North Carolina to see Mrs. Brevard, the lady by whom she was raised. Dr. Legrand wrote Mary Jane he would foot all of her expenses - a dear good brother. Milton Wood is building a brick house with seven rooms. He is making money & saves it - he has only one child. George Wood & wife will begin keeping house now very soon. Green Aleck will remain with his father & mother. . . ."
       Letter in private collection of B. M. Henwood, descendant of Wm Wood Powell; original transcription by R. E. Reichardt.
• Caroline Elizabeth Mays appeared in the 1890 Charlotte, North Carolina, City Directory at 306 South Tryon (rear.)
• Caroline Elizabeth Mays died circa 1892 in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida.
• She was interred at Machpelah Presbyterian Cemetery, Machpelah, Lincoln County, North Carolina.

• Last Edited: 2 Apr 2015