52 Cousins~Stella Deese Key

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 "Stella Deese Key" (1895-1990) was compiled with the assistance of Claude Sonnett 4 and is entitled:

Stella Deese Key

March 11, 1895 – August 19, 1990

Anson County, North Carolina  •  Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Introduction

Stella Deese Key was a woman of remarkable endurance, quietly living through nearly a full century of American life — from the rural farmlands of Anson County, North Carolina in the 1890s, through two World Wars, the Great Depression, and the social upheavals of the twentieth century, until her death in 1990 at the age of ninety-five. Born into the large and well-rooted Deese family of Anson County, Stella grew up in the farming community of Burnsville before marrying Abraham Lincoln Key in 1916 and making her way to Rowan and then Mecklenburg County, where she would spend most of her adult life raising four children in Charlotte. When her husband died in 1947, Stella was just fifty-two years old, and she carried on as a widow for forty-three more years. Her story is one of family, faith, resilience, and the quiet determination that defined so many Southern women of her generation.

 

Family Background and Roots

Stella was born on March 11, 1895, in Anson County, North Carolina, the daughter of Henry Harrison Deese Sr. (1845–1913) and Nellie Isabella Huneycutt (1858–1938). Both parents were North Carolina natives, and the family was firmly planted in the Anson County community of Burnsville, a small rural township in the central Piedmont region of the state.

Her father, Henry Harrison Deese Sr., was born in 1845 and would have come of age during the Civil War era. His generation witnessed the collapse of the antebellum world and the uncertain years of Reconstruction. By the time Stella was born, Henry was already fifty years old — a seasoned and aging farmer raising a younger family. He died in 1913, when Stella was just eighteen.

Her mother, Nellie Isabella Huneycutt, was born in 1858 and outlived her husband by twenty-five years, passing away in 1938. The Huneycutt family was also well established in the Anson County region, and the combination of the Deese and Huneycutt lines anchored Stella firmly in the Carolina Piedmont.

The 1910 federal census offers a snapshot of the Deese household in Burnsville, Anson County, when Stella was fourteen years old. The census lists her father, Harrison D. Dees (age 63), her mother Isabella (age 52), her brother Henry (age 21), her brother Lester (age 16), and Stella herself, enumerated as "Estella," age 14. The family was among the many farm families of the area who depended on the land for their livelihood.

Stella's Siblings

Stella was from a large family ten (10) known siblings.

i. Andrew Jackson Deese, born 17 Dec 1875, Anson County, North Carolina, United States; married Louise Morgan, 8 Oct 1899, Lilesville, Anson, North Carolina, United States; married Cornelia Emma Tarlton, 5 Jun 1903, Wadesboro, Anson, North Carolina, United States; married Azaline Honeycutt, 5 Nov 1936, Wadesboro, Anson, North Carolina, United States; died 4 Jan 1943, Litaker, Rowan, North Carolina, United States.

ii. Dallie Elizabeth Deese, born 15 Oct 1877, Anson County, North Carolina, United States; married Elijah Dorsey Atkinson, 19 Nov 1899, Anson County, North Carolina, United States; died 13 Apr 1955, Landis, Rowan County, North Carolina,.

iii. Ida Lillie Deese, born 2 Oct 1879, Morven, Anson, North Carolina, United States; married Noah Carpenter, 30 Nov 1904, Stanly County, North Carolina, United States; died 17 Mar 1940, Rowan County, North Carolina, United States.

iv. James Calvin Deese, born 24 Aug 1882, Morven, Anson, North Carolina, United States; married Pearl Cornelia Drye; died 25 Feb 1952, Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina, United States.

v. Harvey Frank Deese, born 3 Oct 1884, Morven, Anson, North Carolina, United States; married Mary Elizabeth  Carpenter, 18 Feb 1905, Wadesboro, Anson, North Carolina, United States; died 17 Jul 1957, Badin, Stanly, North Carolina, United States.

vi. Henry Harrison Deese Jr., born 28 Sep 1888, Morven, Anson, North Carolina, United States; married Minnie Lee Skidmore, 20 Oct 1912, ,Anson Co.,NC; married Mary Edna Barringer, 7 Jul 1920, Mecklenburg, North Carolina, United States; died 14 Jul 1938, Morven, Anson, North Carolina, United States.

vii. Ollie Washington Deese, born 7 Jan 1892, Morven, Anson, North Carolina, United States; married Carrie Burnette, 16 Jan 1915, Stanly County, North Carolina, United States; died 13 Jan 1969, Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina, United States.

viii. Martin Lester Deese, born 27 Mar 1894, Anson County, North Carolina, United States; married Bertie Troutman; died 18 Jan 1948, Landis, Rowan, North Carolina, United States.

ix. Lany E. Deese was born in Mar 1896 in Anson County, North Carolina, United States. She received a degree before 1900. 20 She lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States in 1933.

x.     Matthew Samuel Deese was born on 4 Apr 1899 in Anson County, North Carolina, United States. He died on 4 Apr 1900 at the age of 1 in Morven, Anson, North Carolina, United States. He was buried on 4 Apr 1900 in Morven, Anson, North Carolina, United States. A Memorial has been created for Matthew at www.findagrave.com. He was the youngest Deese child, a baby brother who died in infancy, likely a painful early loss for the family.

 

Early Life in Anson County

Growing up in Burnsville, Stella would have known a life very much tied to the rhythms of agricultural work. Anson County sits in the southern Piedmont of North Carolina, a region that had long depended on cotton farming, and many families there worked the land from one generation to the next. The turn of the twentieth century brought gradual change: the arrival of railroads, the slow growth of textile manufacturing in nearby towns, and the beginning of the great rural-to-urban shift that would reshape North Carolina over the coming decades.

Stella was a teenager when her father Henry died in 1913, leaving her mother Nellie as the head of the household. This was not uncommon in rural communities, and families adapted by relying on one another. Within a few years, Stella — now a young woman of about twenty — was making her own way in the world.

 

Marriage to Abraham Lincoln Key

On March 11, 1916 — coincidentally, her twenty-first birthday — Stella Deese married Abraham Lincoln Key in Lexington, Davidson County, North Carolina. It is a charming detail that Stella apparently spent her birthday getting married. The marriage record from the North Carolina Marriage Records, 1741–2011, lists Stella's age as 20 (her birth year recorded as "about 1896," a slight approximation), and Abraham's age as 22.

Abraham Lincoln Key was born on April 5, 1893, in Surry County, North Carolina, the son of William L. Key (1860–1919) and Mary Peele (1868–1920). Named — as were many boys of his era — for the martyred president, Abraham brought his own family roots from the foothills of northwest North Carolina. The Keys were a Surry County family, and Abraham's parents would both die within a few years of his marriage, leaving him and Stella to build their own household largely on their own.

Why the couple married in Lexington, Davidson County, rather than in Anson County where Stella was from, is not entirely clear from the records. It is possible they had moved to the area for work, or that the ceremony was held near family of the groom's side. Davidson County lies in the central Piedmont, not far from both Surry and Anson counties, and Lexington was a growing industrial town in those years, its furniture and textile industries beginning to attract workers from across the region.

 

Married Life: From Salisbury to Charlotte

The young couple's early married years appear to have taken them through several parts of the Piedmont. By 1920, the federal census finds Abraham and Stella Key living in Salisbury, Rowan County — Abraham, age 26, and Stella, age 23, both listed as born in North Carolina. At this point, no children appear in the household, though their first son, Coy Herman Key, was born in June of that same year (1920) in Anson County, suggesting Stella may have returned home to her mother's in Anson County to give birth.

The 1920s and 1930s were years of great change in North Carolina. The textile industry was booming, drawing thousands of rural families into the cities. Charlotte, just across the county line in Mecklenburg, was growing rapidly into the major commercial and industrial hub of the Carolinas. Abraham and Stella were part of this broader migration: by 1930, the census finds the Key family in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, where they would remain.

The 1930 census shows the family at their Charlotte residence: Abraham T. Key, age 37; Stella Key, age 35; Coy H. Key, son, age 9; and Elmore W. Key, son, age 0 — a newborn. The family of four was settling into city life. By 1940, the household had grown considerably. The 1940 census lists: Abraham Key, age 47; Stella Key, age 45; Coy Key, son, age 19; Elmore Key, son, age 10; Pauline Key, daughter, age 7; and Franklin Key, son, age 5.

 

Children of Stella and Abraham Key

Coy Herman Key (1920–1994)

Coy Herman Key was born on June 11, 1920, in Anson County, North Carolina — the first child of Stella and Abraham. He appears in both the 1930 and 1940 census records in Charlotte with his parents and siblings. Coy lived his entire life in Charlotte and died there on December 26, 1994, a few days after Christmas. He is buried at Morven Cemetery in Morven, Anson County, near his parents — a meaningful tie to the family's Anson County roots.

William Elmore Key (1929–1992)

William Elmore Key — apparently known to family and friends as "Cotton" — was born on May 27, 1929, in Norwood, Stanly County, North Carolina. His birthplace of Norwood, in neighboring Stanly County, suggests the family may have been living or working there temporarily at the time, as the Stanly/Anson county border area was familiar territory for both the Deese and Key families. Elmore also appears in the 1930 and 1940 census records in Charlotte. He died on June 16, 1992, at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte — an institution that had grown from a modest facility into one of the region's most prominent medical centers. His obituary identified him affectionately as Mr. William "Cotton" Key.

Alice Pauline Key (1933–2009)

Alice Pauline Key, born January 15, 1933, in Charlotte, was the only daughter of Stella and Abraham. She appears as "Pauline" in the 1940 census, age 7, living at home in Charlotte. She later married Earl Pasco Honeycutt (born 1927), and she died on November 23, 2009, in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County. It is worth noting the surname — Honeycutt — which was also her grandmother Nellie's maiden name (Huneycutt/Honeycutt), a common surname in the Stanly/Anson County area.

Franklin D. Key (1934–2010)

Franklin D. Key, named perhaps in the spirit of the times for President Franklin D. Roosevelt — who took office in 1933, the year before Franklin's birth — was born on August 10, 1934, in Yadkin County, North Carolina. His Yadkin County birthplace, like his brother Elmore's Stanly County birthplace, may reflect a temporary relocation of the family during the difficult Depression years, when families sometimes moved in search of work or affordable housing. Franklin returned to the family's Charlotte home and appears in the 1940 census there, age 5. He later settled in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, where he died on October 9, 2010.

 

Loss of Abraham and Life as a Widow

The great sorrow of Stella's middle years came on September 24, 1947, when her husband Abraham Lincoln Key died at their home at 3530 Card Street in Charlotte. He was fifty-four years old and had been ill for several months. His obituary, published the following day in The Charlotte Observer, noted that last rites were held at Friendly Baptist Tabernacle in North Charlotte, with the Reverend A. L. Campbell of Landis Baptist Church and Reverend J. D. Griffin officiating. Abraham was buried at Morven Cemetery in Morven, Anson County — a return, in death, to the county where Stella's family had long been rooted.

Abraham's obituary described him as a member of the Reformed Apostolic Holiness church and listed his survivors as his wife, Mrs. Stella Deese Key; three sons, Coy H. Key, Elmore Key, and Franklin Key; and three brothers — Solomon Key of Greensboro, and Isaac and Jacob Key of Bass. (Daughter Pauline, who was fourteen at the time, was not separately named in the obituary, though she was very much part of the household.)

At fifty-two, Stella was left a widow with children still at home. Young Franklin was only thirteen. This was a pivotal and no doubt difficult moment in her life, requiring her to manage the household and family on her own. The postwar years in Charlotte were economically active — the city was growing, industry was expanding, and opportunities existed for families willing to work hard. Stella navigated these years with what the records suggest was quiet determination.

What is perhaps most remarkable is the sheer span of Stella's widowhood: she outlived Abraham by forty-three years. She would see her children grow up, marry, and have families of their own; she lived through the Korean War, the Civil Rights Movement, the assassination of President Kennedy, the moon landing, the Vietnam era, and much more — all as a widow, all from Charlotte, Mecklenburg County.

 

Death and Burial

Stella Deese Key died on August 19, 1990, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, at the age of ninety-five. At the time of her death, she was a resident of a nursing and rest home in Mecklenburg County — a common circumstance for someone of advanced age. Her death record lists her as widowed, with her father's last name recorded as Deese, confirming her maiden family connection. Her Social Security number, XXX-XX-XXXX, reflects enrollment in the program that had been established during her own lifetime, in 1935.

Stella was buried at Morven Cemetery in Morven, Anson County, North Carolina — the same cemetery where her husband Abraham had been laid to rest forty-three years earlier. It is a fitting resting place: Morven is in the heart of Anson County, the county where Stella was born, where her parents are from, and where the Deese family had deep roots. The Key family plot at Morven Cemetery holds both Abraham and Stella together, reunited in the place that anchored their family's story.

 

Life in Historical Context: 1895–1990

To appreciate the arc of Stella's life, it helps to place it alongside the major events of the ninety-five years she lived:

• 1895: Stella is born in rural Anson County, a farming community in post-Reconstruction North Carolina. The state is overwhelmingly agricultural, and cotton is still a dominant crop.

• 1913: Her father Henry Harrison Deese Sr. dies. Stella is eighteen.

• 1914–1918: World War I reshapes the nation. Stella is a young married woman in these years, and Abraham, born in 1893, would have been of draft age.

• 1916: Stella marries Abraham Lincoln Key on her twenty-first birthday in Lexington, NC.

• 1918: The Spanish Flu pandemic sweeps the nation, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans — a terrifying event for young families everywhere.

• 1920: Stella's first child, Coy Herman, is born. The family is living in Salisbury, Rowan County.

• 1929: The Great Depression begins following the stock market crash. The Key family is in Charlotte, where Abraham would need work to support his growing family.

• 1930s: Roosevelt's New Deal brings federal programs to struggling Americans. Stella and Abraham raise their family through these difficult years.

• 1938: Stella's mother, Nellie Isabella Huneycutt Deese, dies at approximately age 80.

• 1941–1945: World War II. Stella's oldest son Coy is twenty-one when the war begins; Elmore is twelve. Many North Carolina families sent sons to the conflict.

• 1947: Abraham Lincoln Key dies. Stella, at fifty-two, becomes a widow.

• 1950s–1960s: Charlotte grows into a major Southern city. The Civil Rights Movement brings profound change to North Carolina and the South.

• 1969: The moon landing — one of the great events of the century — occurs when Stella is seventy-four years old.

• 1990: Stella Deese Key dies on August 19, having lived through nearly the entire twentieth century.

 

Summary of Key Dates

Born:          March 11, 1895 — Anson County, North Carolina

Parents:       Henry Harrison Deese Sr. (1845–1913) and Nellie Isabella Huneycutt (1858–1938)

Married:       March 11, 1916 — Lexington, Davidson County, NC, to Abraham Lincoln Key

Children:      Coy Herman Key (1920–1994)

               William Elmore "Cotton" Key (1929–1992)

               Alice Pauline Key (1933–2009)

               Franklin D. Key (1934–2010)

Widowed:       September 24, 1947 (death of Abraham Lincoln Key)

Died:          August 19, 1990 — Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (age 95)

Buried:        Morven Cemetery, Morven, Anson County, North Carolina (Key plot)

 

Stella Deese Key is my 1st Cousin Twice Removed

Open Research Questions

As thorough as the available records are, there are a few things still worth noting or investigating:

• The marriage record gives Stella's birth year as "about 1896," while her tombstone and death record agree on March 11, 1895. The 1896 figure in the marriage record is likely a minor transcription approximation — the 1895 date appears the more reliable.

• The birthplaces of Elmore (Stanly County, 1929) and Franklin (Yadkin County, 1934) differ from the family's Charlotte residence. Understanding why the family was in those counties at those times could shed light on Abraham's work history and the family's movements during the Depression years.

• Abraham's obituary mentions three brothers: Solomon Key (Greensboro), Isaac Key, and Jacob Key (both of "Bass" — likely Bass Station in Surry County). Further research into the Key family of Surry County could round out the picture of Abraham's side of the family.

• Alice Pauline Key's husband, Earl Pasco Honeycutt (born 1927), shares a surname — with a variant spelling — with Stella's mother's maiden name (Huneycutt). Whether this is coincidence or reflects connected family lines in the Stanly/Anson area is an interesting question for further research.

Stella Deese Key is my 1st Cousin twice removed.

Sources

1. Find A Grave, Memorial #37954846 — Stella Deese Key, Morven Cemetery, Anson County, NC.

2. Find A Grave, Memorial #37953810 — Abraham Lincoln Key, Morven Cemetery, Anson County, NC.

3. 1910 U.S. Census, Anson County, NC, Burnsville Township, ED 0004 — Household of Harrison D. Dees.

4. 1920 U.S. Census, Rowan County, NC, Salisbury — Household of Abraham Key.

5. 1930 U.S. Census, Mecklenburg County, NC, Charlotte — Household of Abraham T. Key.

6. 1940 U.S. Census, Mecklenburg County, NC, Charlotte — Household of Abraham Key.

7. North Carolina Marriage Records, 1741–2011 — Stella Deese & A. L. Key, March 11, 1916, Davidson County.

8. North Carolina Death Certificates, 1909–1976 — Abraham Lincoln Key, death date September 24, 1947.

9. North Carolina Death Indexes, 1908–2004 — Stella Key (Stella Deese), death August 1990, Mecklenburg County.

10. The Charlotte Observer, September 25, 1947 — Obituary: "Abraham Key's Funeral Friday," Page 9, Column 5.