52 Cousins~James Titus Hagler

The “52 Cousins” series of biographical sketches are Artificial Intelligence (AI) compiled narratives of selected individuals from my Genealogical database.  The selected AI will used documents and data from my RootsMagic Genealogical Software. All genealogical data is my research material acquired over the past 46+ years of research. Today's Biography of James Titus Hagler (1878-1922) was compiled with the assistance of Claude Sonnett 4 and is entitled:

 

 

A Family Biography

 

James Titus Hagler

 

1878 – 1922

 

Stanly & Mecklenburg Counties, North Carolina

 

Introduction

James Titus Hagler was born into a farming family in rural Stanly County, North Carolina, on 11 December 1878. He would go on to build a family of his own in neighboring Mecklenburg County, where he and his wife Dosie raised nine children on the land they worked as farmers. Though his life was cut short at age 43, James left behind a large and closely-knit family whose story is woven into the broader fabric of the Carolina Piedmont.

His years on earth — from 1878 to 1922 — spanned one of the most dramatic periods in American history. He was born just thirteen years after the end of the Civil War, came of age during the tumultuous Reconstruction era and the rise of the New South, and lived through the industrialization of the Piedmont, World War I, and the influenza pandemic of 1918. Through it all, James and Dosie farmed the land, raised their family, and left a legacy that continued long after his passing.

Parents and Family Background

James Titus Hagler was the son of Israel Franklin Hagler (1852–1917) and Eliza Jane Page (1851–1911). Both were North Carolina natives, and the family made their home in Stanly County during James's early childhood. Israel Franklin — known in some records simply as "Frank" or "I. F." — was a farmer by trade, and it was that life he passed on to his children.

The 1880 federal census found the young Hagler family in the Furrs township of Stanly County. At that time, Israel and Eliza had three children at home: John M. (age 6), Nancy S. (age 4), and little James T. (age 1). The family later relocated to Mecklenburg County, likely sometime in the 1880s or early 1890s, where they settled in the Clear Creek area. By 1900, the household was a bustling one — the census that year counted at least eight children still living at home, ranging from 18-year-old James down to 5-year-old Jessie.

Stanly County in the 1870s was a rural, largely agricultural community in the heart of the Carolina Piedmont. The county had been formed from Montgomery County in 1841, and its economy revolved around subsistence farming, small-scale tobacco and cotton cultivation, and the labor of families like the Haglers. The disruptions of the Civil War and the upheaval of Reconstruction were still fresh memories in the region during James's childhood, shaping the world into which he was born.

Brothers and Sisters

James grew up in a large family. From the 1900 census of his parents' household, we know he had at least nine siblings, though not all survived to adulthood. His known brothers and sisters include:

John M. Hagler, born about 1874, the eldest child recorded in the 1880 census. Nancy S. Hagler, born about 1876, the second child. Then came James himself in 1878. The 1900 census also lists Lucy A. Hagler (born February 1882), George F. Hagler (born February 1882 — possibly a twin with Lucy), Jacob M. Hagler (born August 1884), Mary R. Hagler (born December 1888), Daniel C. Hagler (born August 1890), William G. Hagler (born December 1892), and Jessie L. Hagler (born January 1895).

James's obituary in the Charlotte Observer mentions surviving brothers George, Grady, and Daniel Hagler of Mecklenburg County, and Jesse Hagler. His surviving sisters were listed as Mrs. Billie Carnell of the county, Mrs. Baker of Clemson, South Carolina, and Mrs. Will Linker of Mint Hill. These names suggest a close-knit extended family spread across the Piedmont region, and the death notice makes clear that family ties remained strong throughout James's life.

Marriage to Dosie Linsley Kiker

On 24 September 1903, James Titus Hagler married Dosie Linsley Kiker in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The marriage record — preserved in the North Carolina Marriage Records, 1741–2011 — records James as 23 years old and Dosie as 22, though both ages were approximations. James's parents were listed as I. F. Hagler and "Lizer" Hagler (Eliza Jane Page); Dosie's parents were listed as John Kikes and Kate Kikes.

Dosie Linsley Kiker was born on 26 January 1875 in Mecklenburg County, the daughter of John E. Kiker (born about 1835) and his wife. Her given name appears in various records as Dosie, Doce, Dosey, and Dora — a common variation in the era when spelling was phonetic and census enumerators wrote what they heard. Before her marriage to James, Dosie had been living in her father's household, as confirmed by the 1900 census, which shows her at home with John E. Kiker in Clear Creek, Mecklenburg County.

The Kiker family, like the Haglers, were farming people of the Carolina Piedmont. The Clear Creek area where both families lived was a rural farming community a few miles outside of Charlotte, and it is likely that James and Dosie had known each other for some time before their marriage.

The couple made their home in Mecklenburg County, where James worked as a farmer throughout his life. The 1910 census finds them in Clear Creek; by 1920, they had moved to the Crab Orchard area of Mecklenburg County, still farming.

Life on the Farm: A Mecklenburg County Farmer

James Titus Hagler spent his entire adult life as a farmer. It was the occupation listed for him in both the 1910 and 1920 federal censuses, and it defined the rhythms of daily life for his family. In the early twentieth century, farming in Mecklenburg County meant working the red clay soil of the Carolina Piedmont, growing crops such as cotton and corn, and raising livestock. It was hard, physical labor — and it was the life James had learned at his own father's side.

By 1910, James and Dosie were living in Clear Creek Township and had been married seven years. The census that year shows four children at home: King A. (age 7), Jane B. (age 4), John I. (age 2), and Mary L. (age 1). A decade later, the family had grown considerably. The 1920 census places the family in Crab Orchard Township and shows no fewer than nine children still living at home, ranging from 17-year-old King down to baby Elizabeth, age 1.

During these years, the wider world was changing rapidly around the Hagler family. Mecklenburg County and its county seat, Charlotte, were growing fast. The textile industry was booming in the Carolina Piedmont, with mill villages springing up across the region and drawing rural families into industrial work. Charlotte was becoming a regional hub of commerce and industry. Yet James appears to have remained on the farm, continuing the agricultural way of life his father had followed before him.

World War I touched even the most remote farming communities of North Carolina. Between 1917 and 1918, young men across the state registered for the draft and many served overseas. The influenza pandemic of 1918 devastated communities across the country, killing an estimated 675,000 Americans. Mecklenburg County was not spared. We do not know the full impact of these events on the Hagler household, but James, then in his late thirties, would have been keenly aware of the losses felt by his neighbors and community.

Children of James Titus and Dosie Hagler

James and Dosie Hagler had nine children together, born between approximately 1902 and 1919. All nine are listed in the 1920 census as living at home. A brief account of each child follows.

King Adam Hagler (1902–1981)

King Adam Hagler was born 28 July 1902 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and was the eldest of the Hagler children. He outlived nearly all of his siblings and died 28 August 1981 in Mecklenburg County, having lived nearly eight decades.

Janie Bell Hagler (c. 1906–1922)

Janie Bell Hagler was born about 1906 in Mecklenburg County. Her death, recorded on 28 May 1922, was a tragedy made all the more heartbreaking by the circumstances. The newspaper account of her father's later death reveals that Janie — referred to in one article as 'Jessie' — was just 16 years old when she was found dead by her mother just outside the corn crib door, lying across a box. It appeared she had stumbled while carrying a heavy box and had fallen across it, likely breaking a blood vessel. Her father was in the hospital at the time and could not be at her side. Janie died weeks before her father, making the summer of 1922 a doubly sorrowful time for the Hagler family. She was buried in Mecklenburg County; a Find A Grave memorial records her passing (Memorial ID #69109358).

John Israel Hagler (1907–1968)

John Israel Hagler was born 16 June 1907 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He lived to age 60, passing away 6 April 1968 in Mecklenburg County.

Mary Louise Hagler (1909–1996)

Mary Louise Hagler was born 3 January 1909 in Mecklenburg County and lived a long life, dying 13 August 1996 in Mecklenburg County at age 87.

Nancy Hagler (c. 1911–1939)

Nancy Hagler was born about 1911 in Mecklenburg County. She married Joe Bennett Greene (1906–1973). Sadly, Nancy died young — on 25 December 1939, Christmas Day — in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. She was buried on 27 December 1939, just 28 years old.

Nellie Lee Hagler (1912–1997)

Nellie Lee Hagler was born 10 August 1912 in Mecklenburg County. She married Willard Hensley (1913–1965) on 27 May 1951 in Mecklenburg County. Nellie lived into her 80s, passing away 12 June 1997 at the Ebenezer Nursing Home in Rock Hill, York County, South Carolina.

Beulah Bright Hagler (1914–2005)

Beulah Bright Hagler was born 6 July 1914 in Mecklenburg County. She had a long life, dying 30 July 2005 in Concord, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, just weeks after her 91st birthday.

James T. Hagler (c. 1917–unknown)

James T. Hagler, named for his father, was born about 1917 in Mecklenburg County. No death date has been established for him in the records reviewed to date.

Elizabeth C. Hagler (1919–1998)

Elizabeth C. Hagler, the youngest of the Hagler children, was born 27 May 1919 in Mecklenburg County. She married Odie Rigdon Heath Jr. (1919–1995) on 16 January 1938 in Mecklenburg County. Elizabeth died 1 July 1998 in Fork Mills, York County, South Carolina.

Death of James Titus Hagler

James Titus Hagler died in the early morning hours of Friday, 24 June 1922, at Mercy Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was 43 years old. According to his death certificate, the cause was an illness of several months' duration, and James had been confined to the hospital for several weeks before his passing. The certificate records his father as Frank Hagler and his mother as Lizer Jane Paige (Eliza Jane Page).

The Charlotte Observer of 25 June 1922 carried a brief notice of his death:

"James T. Hagler, aged 44 years, died Friday about midnight at Mercy hospital, where he had been confined for several weeks. He lived on Lawyers' road and had been in ill health for a year or two. The funeral was conducted Saturday, burial being at Arlington cemetery in the county."

The same edition of The Charlotte News offered a longer account that also noted the recent death of his daughter Janie (referred to as 'Jessie' in that article), who had died just weeks before, adding to the family's grief.

James was buried at Arlington Baptist Church Cemetery in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (Find A Grave Memorial ID #69109678). His obituary noted that he was survived by his wife Dosie; three sons — King, Israel, and James; and five daughters — Mary, Nancy, Nellie, Beulah, and Lizzie (Elizabeth). All the children were living at home at the time of his death.

Dosie Kiker Hagler in Her Later Years

After the death of James in June 1922, Dosie Linsley Kiker Hagler was left a widow with a large family still at home. She was 47 years old and had nine children ranging from young adult King, age 20, down to 3-year-old James T. and infant-age Elizabeth.

On 22 September 1923 — just over a year after James's death — Dosie married Mark Johnston in Mecklenburg County. The marriage record lists her as D. L. Hagler (also noted as D. L. Kiker), and the marriage license number was 000241. Little additional information is available about Mark Johnston from the records reviewed.

Dosie Kiker Johnston died on 18 February 1924 in Clear Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, just months into her second marriage. She was 49 years old. Her death certificate recorded her as Dora Kiker Johnston, occupation housewife, and listed her father as John Kiker and her spouse as Mark Johnston. She was buried at Arlington Baptist Church Cemetery in Charlotte on 19 February 1924 — joining her first husband James, who was already interred there. Her Find A Grave memorial (ID #58269603) marks her resting place.

The deaths of both parents within two years left the Hagler children to make their own way. The older children — King, John, and Mary — were young adults by the time their mother passed; the younger ones would have had to rely on family support in the years that followed.

Historical Context: 1878–1922

The years of James Titus Hagler's life — 1878 to 1922 — were among the most transformative in American history, and North Carolina was no exception to the sweeping changes of the era.

James was born into the Reconstruction South, a time when the former Confederate states were adjusting — sometimes painfully — to the political and social realities that followed the Civil War. His parents' generation had lived through the war itself, and the economic hardships of Reconstruction shaped the farming communities of the Piedmont.

By the time James was a young man in the 1890s and early 1900s, the Piedmont was in the midst of a dramatic industrial transformation. The textile industry was spreading rapidly across the region, drawing farm families into mill villages and creating a new industrial economy alongside the old agricultural one. Charlotte grew from a modest county seat into a regional commercial hub during these years, connected to the wider world by railroad lines that brought both opportunity and change.

James came of age during the era of Jim Crow — a period of legal segregation and racial restriction across the South — and also a time of Populist and Progressive political movements that sought to address the inequalities of industrializing America. The early 1900s saw dramatic technological change as well: electric lights, automobiles, and telephones were transforming daily life, though the pace of change was slower in rural farming communities like the ones James called home.

World War I, which the United States entered in April 1917, brought the Hagler family into the national story in ways that earlier conflicts had not. North Carolina sent thousands of young men to the war, and the home front was mobilized for the effort through Liberty Bond drives, food conservation campaigns, and industrial production. James, at 38 when the U.S. entered the war, was likely too old for the draft, but the war's impact was felt across communities throughout the state.

The influenza pandemic of 1918 was one of the deadliest events in human history, killing between 50 and 100 million people worldwide and about 675,000 in the United States. In North Carolina, communities large and small suffered losses. Churches, schools, and public gatherings were closed in many areas. How directly the pandemic affected the Hagler household is not recorded, but no family in Mecklenburg County would have been untouched by the outbreak.

By the early 1920s, when James fell ill and died, America was entering a period of prosperity and cultural change — the Jazz Age and the beginning of the Roaring Twenties. But for the Hagler family, these years were marked by loss: the death of young Janie in May 1922, the death of James in June 1922, and the death of Dosie just two years later. The children they left behind would carry the family story forward into the twentieth century.

James Titus Hagler is my 1st Cousin 3X Removed. 

Sources and Notes

The information in this biography is drawn from the following primary and secondary sources:

1. Federal Census Records: 1880 (Stanly County, NC); 1900, 1910, 1920 (Mecklenburg County, NC), accessed via Ancestry.com.

2. North Carolina Death Certificates: James T. Hagler (24 June 1922); Dora Kiker Johnston (18 February 1924).

3. North Carolina Marriage Records, 1741–2011: James Hagler & Dosie Linsley Kiker (24 September 1903); Mark Johnston & D. L. Hagler (22 September 1923).

4. Find A Grave memorials: James Titus Hagler, Memorial #69109678; Doce Hagler, Memorial #58269603; Janie Bell Hagler, Memorial #69109358.

5. Newspaper obituaries: "Funeral of J. T. Hagler Conducted Saturday," Charlotte Observer, 25 June 1922, p. 8; "James Hagler Dies at Local Hospital," The Charlotte News, 25 June 1922, p. 5, col. 2.

6. Mecklenburg County, NC Birth Index, 1865–2012: Dosie Linsley Kiker.

7. U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936–2007.

 

Research conducted by Charles Purvis, Thomasville, NC 27360 / CPurvis1@gmail.com. 7 June 2