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This
is Amelia Ann Williams Carrithers. She was called Annie by most people,
and "Rougy" by her husband. She was born August 4, 1864, at Hamilton,
Alabama. Her father was Robert Edgar Williams and her mother, Susan Ann Flurry Williams. Annie had one older sister, Sarah Ann Williams. Her father fought briefly in the Civil War, but wasn't wounded in battle; he died of pneumonia two weeks after the War ended. In the spring of 1880, 15-year-old Annie Williams came by train to Riverton to visit her sister Sarah. Sarah, at that time, was married to Richard (Dick) Vernon. Annie met 25-year-old John Calvin Carrithers, Jr. John and Annie were married October 4, 1880, in the home of John's parents, with his uncle, Jerome B. Hyatt, local JP, officiating. When the wedding was over, John, Sr. willed the newly weds 10 acres of land, located near Mhoontown Community. The land had a small house on it. John and Annie lived here and their 8 children were born here. |
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Family oral history said Annie was part
Cherokee Indian. She had many Indian-like features and characteristics
about her. A family legend tells that her grandmother was full blood
Cherokee, who had an Indian name but went by the name of 'Molly." The
story is that in about 1811 she was found wandering in the woods, naked
and half-STARVED. She was brought to a Presbyterian Mission School at
Dahlonega, Limkin County, Georgia where she remained until she was grown.
She learned to read and write, and even became a teacher to the other
children. Then an Indian trader had an adopted son whose name was John
Flurry. The tall young man wore buckskins, with platted hair, and gave the
appearance of being an Indian. The Indian trader supplied the school. John
and Molly met, fell in love and married. They built a home and owned a farm in the Hiwasse Valley and had six children. Both Molly and John were religious. They drove a wagon to church on Sunday morning. An evil old man lived next door to them. The land he owned was poor and infertile. He wanted the Flurry land. The Flurry family kept their milk in a 'springhouse’. The old man had his young slave to put arsenic in their milk and the entire family died except the youngest member, a little girl named Ann. Ann did not drink milk. Annie didn't drink milk either. That seemed so strange to me. We had several milk cows and milk aplenty. But my grandmother wouldn't touch it. Written by Cecil Hayes |
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