Mary Caroline Bragg, my paternal grandmother's mother (and thus one of my great grandmothers), was the 4th of 11 children born to Sylvester Bragg and Caroline Upton on Sunday, 9 Dec 1866 in a un-incorporated portion of Greenbrier County, WV.

On Thursday, 21 Feb 1884, she married my great grandfather, John Henry Dodd. She was 17 years old and he was 19 at the time.

On Sunday, 24 May 1885, she gave birth to their first of 12 children, Elbert Genings. Their other children, from oldest to youngest were:

Other Lee - born Thursday, 14 Apr 1887
Burman Sylvester - born Wednesday, 12 Sep 1888
Pearly Green - born Tuesday, 12 May 1891
Lloyd Hillary - born Saturday, 25 Mar 1893
Hessie Gertrude - born Saturday, 13 Jul 1895
Lola Effie - born Wednesday, 24 Mar 1897
Cora 'Dale' (my paternal grandmother) - born Wednesday, 5 Oct 1898
Mary 'Stella' - born Tuesday, 22 Jul 1902
Amy 'Sibyl' - born Tuesday, 15 Dec 1903
Basil 'Corbett' - born Saturday, 2 Feb 1907

She gave birth to their last child, John Henry, Jr on Thursday, 19 Aug 1909, 24 years and almost 3 months after first having Elbert. There is some talk in the family that Mary Caroline gave birth to two or three other children that didn't survive. As to whether there is any truth to this talk, I have no way of finding out for certain.

One thing that I do know positively is that my great grandmother, Mary Caroline Bragg Dodd, did not fare well postpartum after giving birth to John Henry, Jr and consequently passed away 37 days after his birth on Saturday, 25 Sep 1909.

She was sorely missed by her children throughout their lives and by this great granddaughter, who was born 45 years after her passing. I have at least been finally successful in bringing all of your children, who are themselves now gone to heaven to be with you again, back together with you by linking them to your Find A Grave Memorial here. I know you were looking down and helping me to accomplish that feat.

All my love always!
Judi