52 Cousins~The Lillie Ross Deese Wright Family

Lillie Ross Deese was my 1st Cousin twice removed. She was borne 11 May 1892, a daughter of Zechariah Taylor Deese and Clara W. Gathings. Lillie Ross was their first borne. The family would continue to grow over the next nine years with the addition of 4 more children giving Lillie two brothers and two sisters. 

Her father Zachariah was a farmer, and they lived in the Morven and Lilesville communities.

Lillie, age 20, married Daniel Robert Wright, Sr. on 21 November 1912 in Anson County, North Carolina. Daniel Robert Wright, Sr. was borne 9 December 1890. His patents are unknown; he is first listed as a 9-year-old Boarder in the N. B. [Nelson B.] Harrington household, Wadesboro, Anson County, NC in 1900. The Richmond County Death Index shows Daniel Robert Wright father’s to be Jim Wright. Lillie Ross and Daniel Robert Wright would raise a family of 9 children with one of those nine dying young at age 1.

Daniel Robert Wright and Lillie Ross Deese had the following children:

i. Georgia Lillie Wright, born 23 Aug 1913, Lilesville, Anson, North Carolina; married Thomas Dargin Gilliam; died 1 Jan 1991, Richmond, North Carolina. 

ii. Lorenia Wright was born on 5 Mar 1915 in Lilesville, Anson, North Carolina. She died on 23 Jan 2000 at the age of 84 in Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina. 

iii. Heywood Wright was born about Mar 1918 in Lilesville, Anson, North Carolina. He died on 20 Aug 1936 at the age of 18 in Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina. 

 iv. Ishmel Thomas Wright was born on 1 Feb 1919 in Lilesville, Anson, North Carolina. He died on 28 Dec 2003 at the age of 84 in Richmond County, North Carolina. He served in the military. 

v. Daniel Robert Wright Jr., born 12 Jan 1921, Lilesville, Anson, North Carolinas; married Ella Florence Gilliam; died 7 Feb 1951, Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina. 

vi. Samuel Jackson Wright was born on 13 Feb 1923 in Lilesville, Anson, North Carolina. He died on 17 Apr 1924 at the age of 1 in Lilesville, Anson, North Carolina. 

vii. Kenneth Mendal Wright was born on 17 Mar 1925 in Lilesville, Anson, North Carolina. He died on 31 Mar 2000 at the age of 75 in Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina. 

viii. Bernice Vivian Wright, born 9 Sep 1927, Lilesville, Anson, North Carolina; married Walter Benford Garrison; married James Gilliam Jr,; died 5 Jul 2012, Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina. 

 ix. Betty Jean Wright was born on 16 Sep 1932 in Anson County, North Carolina. She died on 15 May 1993 at the age of 60 in Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina. 

Daniel Robert Wright Jr. died Apr. 24, 1979 in Rockingham, Richmond County, North Carolina. 

Lillie Ross (Deese) Wright died at the age of 90 on 24 December 1982. 

Mrs. Lillie Ross Wright ROCKINGHAM - Mrs. Lillie Ross Wright, 90, homemaker, died Friday. Funeral is 2 p.m. Sunday at Cordova Baptist Church. Survivors are sons, Ishmal Wright, Kenneth Wright; daughters, Betty Jean Carpenter of Wadesboro, Mrs. Georgia Gilliam, Mrs. Lorenia Richardson, Mrs. Vivian Gilliam; sister, Mrs. Martha Atkinson of Troy. Marks is in charge. 

 Lillie Ross Deese was my 1st Cousin twice removed

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 1. Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database and digital images, (http://www.findagrave.com: accessed 15 December 2015); Memorial page for Lillie Ross Deese Wright; (11 May 1892–24 December 1982); Find a Grave memorial # 62535286, Citing Zion Methodist Cemetery; Rockingham, Richmond County, North Carolina, USA. 

2. 1900 U. S. Census, Anson County, North Carolina, population schedule, Morven, Anson County, North Carolina, enumeration district (ED) 0008, Page: 4A/152(stamped); Line 20, Dwelling #50, Family #50, Household of Zachariah DEES; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: viewed 15 July 2015); citing National Archives Microfilm T623, Roll 1181. 

3. 1910 U. S. Census, Anson County, North Carolina, population schedule, Lilesville, Anson County, North Carolina, enumeration district (ED) 0009, Page: 4B/115B & 116 (stamped); Line 99, Dwelling 62, Family 62, Household of Zack DEES; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: viewed 15 July 2015); citing National Archives Microfilm T624, Roll 1096. 

4. 1920 U. S. Census, Anson County, North Carolina, population schedule, Lilesville, Anson County, North Carolina, enumeration district (ED) 0010, Page 11B/147(stamped), Line 98, Dwelling #209, Family #211, Household of Daniel WRIGHT; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: viewed 15 July 2015); citing National Archives Microfilm Series: T625, Roll: 1283. 

5. 1930 U. S. Census, Morven, Anson County, North Carolina, population schedule, Lilesville, Anson County, North Carolina, enumeration district (ED) 0012, Page 8B/261(stamped); Line 84, Dwelling #185, Family #185, Household of D. R. WRIGHT; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com: viewed 15 July 2012); citing National Archives Microfilm T626_Roll: 1672. 

6. 1940 U. S. Census, Richmond County, North Carolina, population schedule, North-West and South Rockingham, Richmond County, North Carolina, enumeration district (ED) 77-27, Page: 13B/145(stamped); Line 48, Household #210, Household of Daniel WRIGHT; digital images, 1940 CENSUS (http://1940census.archives.gov: viewed 15 July 2015); citing NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 2963. 

7. State of North Carolina, death (24 December 1982), Lillie Ross [Deese] Wright; https://www.ancestry.com, Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. 

8. Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database, "Record, Lillie Ross Deese Wright (11 May 1892–24 December 1982), Memorial # 62535286. 

9. Social Security Administration, "U.S. Social Security Death Index." Database, Ancestry, (http://www.ancestry.com: 15 July 2015), Lillie Ross [Deese] Wright, 241-06-5587, 1973 derived from U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, 24 July 2011). 

10. Anson County, North Carolina, Anson County Marriages, Lilly Dees and Daniel Wright, 21 November 1912; Register of Deeds, Wadesboro, North Carolina. 

11. State of North Carolina, death, (24 April 1979), Daniel Robert Wright. 

12. Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database, "Record, Daniel Robert Wright (9 December 1890), Memorial # 62535284-Apr. 24, 1979. 

13. "Social Security Death Index, "Ancestry, entry for: Daniel Wright, SSN: 237-10-3510. 

52 Cousins~Monroe Johns, aka “Walking John”

Monroe Johns was born 19 May 1924, the sixth child of Walter Joseph Johns and Aletha Quick.  Monroe had a difficult life, he was born mentally handicapped, yet he lived and survived until age 75.  

Three years after his birth, his mother Aletha (Quick) Johns passed away on 22 April 1927 from lobar pneumonia and Brights disease.

His father, Walter, then married Blanche Scott who also passed away shortly after her marriage to Walter on 10 August 1927 in Bennetttsville, South Carolina. After the death of Blanche Scott, Walter married Ellen Grooms on 22 August 1833. 

You can see that by age 6, young Monroe had 3 Mama’s in his life.  An article in The Cheraw Chronicle, September 23, 1976, Page 2B, Right side of page, tells the story of Monroe Johns, aka “Walking John.”

Walking John Stirs Curiosity

 

Have you seen Walking John lately?

 

Who is Walking John and what does he look like?

 

He is about five feet, 10 inches tall, clean shaven and has searching eyes. His low extremities are somewhat bow and his walk is how my grandmother used to describe as loping and digging.

 

He usually wears a variety of caps. One day the cap maybe red, white and blue, the other days he may be seen with a striped and checkered cap pulled tightly on his head. Even the hottest days, he either wears a coat or a kind of jacket. Sometimes his trousers are blue and on other days he may wear a kind of brown ones like the soldiers wore in World War One.

 

People have seen him walking from Bennettsville to Chesterfield.

 

One person met him coming from just out of Bennettsville and in about an hour's time he was passing, through Fisher's Hill. 

 

Where he was coming from and where he was going to may be summed up as his personal business. Some, however, said that he had relatives on both ends of his almost daily journey. People are curious and they (we) must remember that curiosity killed the cat.

 

Goldie Locks likes to tease him about walking to Mississippi, but he denied it and claimed it was his brother.

 

I do not know whether motorists offer him a ride or not, but he is always seen walking. His first stop is at Van's Place on Second Street. He buys a 10-cent bag of boiled peanuts. If he does not have the money, Goldie Locks lets him have it on credit until the next day. He is honest and pays the next day or the next time he passes. He leaves walking with the bag in one hand and another bag in the other hand. He begins immediately to eat with an art of shelling the hulls and eating at the same time. Other people whom I have known eat most of the hulls and the boiled peanuts together.

 

Walking John's next step may be at Kimrey's Exxon Station where he may buy a soft drink. If he is hungry, he may buy a bottle of milk and some cookies at IGA and have his lunch. After his lunch, he proceeds on his walking journey towards Chesterfield.

 

People are usually attracted by a strange pattern of another person. They wonder what the person is thinking about and the person, no doubt, wonders about your thoughts if he observes you watching him in a strange way. We, ourselves, are the odd ones and have our own peculiar behavior patterns. The ape-like people in the television series of the "Planet of the Apes" think human beings should be caged and they are the superior ones - they may be right.

 

For a long time, I wondered what Walking John's name was. I asked him what was his name and he told me. May he continue to walk and enjoy good health and come from and go to where he wants to go --- God bless him.

 

[Henry L. Marshall, The Cheraw Chronicle, Thursday, September 23, 1976, Page 2B, Right side of page].

 

Walking John was my 1st cousin once removed. Monroe lived a long simple life dying at 75 years of age on 10 February 2000.

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1. [Henry L. Marshall, "Walking John Stirs Curiosity," The Cheraw Chronicle, September 23, 1976, Page 2B, Right side of page, . He died 10 February 2000.

2. Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database and digital images, (http://www.findagrave.com: accessed 4 May 2014); Memorial page for Monroe JOHNS; (19 May 1924–10 February 2000); Find a Grave memorial # 64946776, Citing Bethesda United Methodist Church Cemetery; Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, USA

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