Aletha Spencer who married John Allen Godwin, Sr. about 1836, probably in Madison County, Tennessee, was a descendant of William Spencer, thought to be of the English Spencers or DeSpencers. John Allen & Aletha Spencer Godwin married and traveled to Arkansas in 1846. The land they bought in Arkansas was wild country heavily timbered with pine oak, cottonwood, and willow. When they cleared the land, they raised cotton in the fertile rolling sandy soil. Aletha's grandchildren remember stories of how she kept a fire going in the fireplace all night to keep the wild animals from coming down the chimney.
John Allen Godwin, Sr. and three of their young daughters died in a fever epidemic near Arkadelphia, Arkansas. His son, John Allen Godwin, Jr. was born three to eight months posthumously and given his deceased father's name.
After losing her husband, Aletha continued to farm with the help of her children, the older boys being 14 and 15. These two boys both married in Arkansas, enlisted in the Confederate cause and both died of disease as young soldiers in the Civil War or soon thereafter.
Aletha Godwin married again, to J. D. Cain of Saline County, Arkansas, in 1861, when she was 46. The marriage did not last long, but she was known thereafter as "Grandma Cain" to her grandchildren. Tiana Godwin Smith, another of Aletha's great-granddaughters, remembers the second husband as a "Yankee carpetbagger."
Tiana also remembered this story of Aletha's trip from Arkansas to Texas in December,1865: Two of the family horses had been confiscated by the Union Army. Aletha took her two unmarried daughters and 11 year old son, John Allen, Jr. (known as J. A.) to the commanding officer who was holding their horses. She told him that she was a woman alone, with these children to raise, and needed the horses to make a living for them. Arkansas was a state with divided loyalties and the Union Army was under orders to co-operate with the population as well as possible, in order to bring them back into the Union. The Union officer must have been a gentleman as well; he told Aletha that she could have the horses, if she could find them. She sent her one remaining son into the horse corral, and he located their horses and brought them out.
She moved to Upshur County, Texas in December 1865 and on to Hopkins County in 1866. When her youngest son, John Allen, Jr. married in 1874, she lived with him, or he with her, in Como for several years before moving to Mills County in the Big Valley Community in late 1890. It was here that Aletha died during the terrible blizzard of 1899 at age 84. The Weather Bureau at Waco, Texas, recorded -5 degrees on February. 12, 1899, the coldest ever recorded there. Aletha's grandson, Enoch Godwin, told of taking the news of her death to the aunts and uncles in the community. At each house he was so nearly frozen he had to be helped off his horse. Aletha was carried in a wagon to the cemetery and buried without ceremony.
Granddaughter Beulah Hill remembered that Grandmother Aletha wore a size 2 shoe. Tiana Godwin Smith remembered that Aletha could dance the soles off a pair of those size 2 shoes in one night!
Information from:
Gadbury, Ruth. GODWIN-HILL AND RELATED FAMILIES. 1980
Godwin, Beulah
Holland, Beulah
Rigby, Henry W. DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM SPENCER OF MONTGOMERY CO., N. C.
Smith, Tiana. taped memories.
Wolfe, Peggy Wolfe. Godwin Archives (a 12 volume set) 2022.
John Allen Godwin, Sr. and three of their young daughters died in a fever epidemic near Arkadelphia, Arkansas. His son, John Allen Godwin, Jr. was born three to eight months posthumously and given his deceased father's name.
After losing her husband, Aletha continued to farm with the help of her children, the older boys being 14 and 15. These two boys both married in Arkansas, enlisted in the Confederate cause and both died of disease as young soldiers in the Civil War or soon thereafter.
Aletha Godwin married again, to J. D. Cain of Saline County, Arkansas, in 1861, when she was 46. The marriage did not last long, but she was known thereafter as "Grandma Cain" to her grandchildren. Tiana Godwin Smith, another of Aletha's great-granddaughters, remembers the second husband as a "Yankee carpetbagger."
Tiana also remembered this story of Aletha's trip from Arkansas to Texas in December,1865: Two of the family horses had been confiscated by the Union Army. Aletha took her two unmarried daughters and 11 year old son, John Allen, Jr. (known as J. A.) to the commanding officer who was holding their horses. She told him that she was a woman alone, with these children to raise, and needed the horses to make a living for them. Arkansas was a state with divided loyalties and the Union Army was under orders to co-operate with the population as well as possible, in order to bring them back into the Union. The Union officer must have been a gentleman as well; he told Aletha that she could have the horses, if she could find them. She sent her one remaining son into the horse corral, and he located their horses and brought them out.
She moved to Upshur County, Texas in December 1865 and on to Hopkins County in 1866. When her youngest son, John Allen, Jr. married in 1874, she lived with him, or he with her, in Como for several years before moving to Mills County in the Big Valley Community in late 1890. It was here that Aletha died during the terrible blizzard of 1899 at age 84. The Weather Bureau at Waco, Texas, recorded -5 degrees on February. 12, 1899, the coldest ever recorded there. Aletha's grandson, Enoch Godwin, told of taking the news of her death to the aunts and uncles in the community. At each house he was so nearly frozen he had to be helped off his horse. Aletha was carried in a wagon to the cemetery and buried without ceremony.
Granddaughter Beulah Hill remembered that Grandmother Aletha wore a size 2 shoe. Tiana Godwin Smith remembered that Aletha could dance the soles off a pair of those size 2 shoes in one night!
Information from:
Gadbury, Ruth. GODWIN-HILL AND RELATED FAMILIES. 1980
Godwin, Beulah
Holland, Beulah
Rigby, Henry W. DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM SPENCER OF MONTGOMERY CO., N. C.
Smith, Tiana. taped memories.
Wolfe, Peggy Wolfe. Godwin Archives (a 12 volume set) 2022.
Aletha Spencer who married John Allen Godwin, Sr. about 1836, probably in Madison County, Tennessee, was a descendant of William Spencer, thought to be of the English Spencers or DeSpencers. John Allen & Aletha Spencer Godwin married and traveled to Arkansas in 1846. The land they bought in Arkansas was wild country heavily timbered with pine oak, cottonwood, and willow. When they cleared the land, they raised cotton in the fertile rolling sandy soil. Aletha's grandchildren remember stories of how she kept a fire going in the fireplace all night to keep the wild animals from coming down the chimney.
John Allen Godwin, Sr. and three of their young daughters died in a fever epidemic near Arkadelphia, Arkansas. His son, John Allen Godwin, Jr. was born three to eight months posthumously and given his deceased father's name.
After losing her husband, Aletha continued to farm with the help of her children, the older boys being 14 and 15. These two boys both married in Arkansas, enlisted in the Confederate cause and both died of disease as young soldiers in the Civil War or soon thereafter.
Aletha Godwin married again, to J. D. Cain of Saline County, Arkansas, in 1861, when she was 46. The marriage did not last long, but she was known thereafter as "Grandma Cain" to her grandchildren. Tiana Godwin Smith, another of Aletha's great-granddaughters, remembers the second husband as a "Yankee carpetbagger."
Tiana also remembered this story of Aletha's trip from Arkansas to Texas in December,1865: Two of the family horses had been confiscated by the Union Army. Aletha took her two unmarried daughters and 11 year old son, John Allen, Jr. (known as J. A.) to the commanding officer who was holding their horses. She told him that she was a woman alone, with these children to raise, and needed the horses to make a living for them. Arkansas was a state with divided loyalties and the Union Army was under orders to co-operate with the population as well as possible, in order to bring them back into the Union. The Union officer must have been a gentleman as well; he told Aletha that she could have the horses, if she could find them. She sent her one remaining son into the horse corral, and he located their horses and brought them out.
She moved to Upshur County, Texas in December 1865 and on to Hopkins County in 1866. When her youngest son, John Allen, Jr. married in 1874, she lived with him, or he with her, in Como for several years before moving to Mills County in the Big Valley Community in late 1890. It was here that Aletha died during the terrible blizzard of 1899 at age 84. The Weather Bureau at Waco, Texas, recorded -5 degrees on February. 12, 1899, the coldest ever recorded there. Aletha's grandson, Enoch Godwin, told of taking the news of her death to the aunts and uncles in the community. At each house he was so nearly frozen he had to be helped off his horse. Aletha was carried in a wagon to the cemetery and buried without ceremony.
Granddaughter Beulah Hill remembered that Grandmother Aletha wore a size 2 shoe. Tiana Godwin Smith remembered that Aletha could dance the soles off a pair of those size 2 shoes in one night!
Information from:
Gadbury, Ruth. GODWIN-HILL AND RELATED FAMILIES. 1980
Godwin, Beulah
Holland, Beulah
Rigby, Henry W. DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM SPENCER OF MONTGOMERY CO., N. C.
Smith, Tiana. taped memories.
Wolfe, Peggy Wolfe. Godwin Archives (a 12 volume set) 2022.
John Allen Godwin, Sr. and three of their young daughters died in a fever epidemic near Arkadelphia, Arkansas. His son, John Allen Godwin, Jr. was born three to eight months posthumously and given his deceased father's name.
After losing her husband, Aletha continued to farm with the help of her children, the older boys being 14 and 15. These two boys both married in Arkansas, enlisted in the Confederate cause and both died of disease as young soldiers in the Civil War or soon thereafter.
Aletha Godwin married again, to J. D. Cain of Saline County, Arkansas, in 1861, when she was 46. The marriage did not last long, but she was known thereafter as "Grandma Cain" to her grandchildren. Tiana Godwin Smith, another of Aletha's great-granddaughters, remembers the second husband as a "Yankee carpetbagger."
Tiana also remembered this story of Aletha's trip from Arkansas to Texas in December,1865: Two of the family horses had been confiscated by the Union Army. Aletha took her two unmarried daughters and 11 year old son, John Allen, Jr. (known as J. A.) to the commanding officer who was holding their horses. She told him that she was a woman alone, with these children to raise, and needed the horses to make a living for them. Arkansas was a state with divided loyalties and the Union Army was under orders to co-operate with the population as well as possible, in order to bring them back into the Union. The Union officer must have been a gentleman as well; he told Aletha that she could have the horses, if she could find them. She sent her one remaining son into the horse corral, and he located their horses and brought them out.
She moved to Upshur County, Texas in December 1865 and on to Hopkins County in 1866. When her youngest son, John Allen, Jr. married in 1874, she lived with him, or he with her, in Como for several years before moving to Mills County in the Big Valley Community in late 1890. It was here that Aletha died during the terrible blizzard of 1899 at age 84. The Weather Bureau at Waco, Texas, recorded -5 degrees on February. 12, 1899, the coldest ever recorded there. Aletha's grandson, Enoch Godwin, told of taking the news of her death to the aunts and uncles in the community. At each house he was so nearly frozen he had to be helped off his horse. Aletha was carried in a wagon to the cemetery and buried without ceremony.
Granddaughter Beulah Hill remembered that Grandmother Aletha wore a size 2 shoe. Tiana Godwin Smith remembered that Aletha could dance the soles off a pair of those size 2 shoes in one night!
Information from:
Gadbury, Ruth. GODWIN-HILL AND RELATED FAMILIES. 1980
Godwin, Beulah
Holland, Beulah
Rigby, Henry W. DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM SPENCER OF MONTGOMERY CO., N. C.
Smith, Tiana. taped memories.
Wolfe, Peggy Wolfe. Godwin Archives (a 12 volume set) 2022.
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