Lavina Jane Godwin Long was widowed with three small children during the Civil War. Later she remarried and was again widowed in 1877 with nine children under 20 and another on the way. About 1892 she, with her unmarried children, moved to Texas. She was a remarkable woman. Widowed twice, she remained a widow for 60 years the second time and raised her 10 children to be grown.
Soon after her second husband died, leaving her expecting her 10 child (as her mother was when HER first husband died!) Lavina "Jane" Godwin Long sought her Uncle Calvin's and brother J. A.'s assistance in obtaining her grandfather's inheritance, according to letter's published in GODWIN ARCHIVES, VOL. I, LETTERS TO ALETHA, 2006, compiled and edited by Peggy Smith Wolfe and published at Lulu.com. (PJSW, 2006)
***
According to Mills County Memories, entry of "Robert W & Sarah Elizabeth Long, FL & Lura Hartman:" Jane Godwin... came to Texas (told to me, Mary Lou Harris, by Louise Grant Long that Aunt Julie Perry told her) that Aunt Julie and Grandma Long, rode to Texas on horseback by themselves and camped out on the way. somehow, Henry and Jane met and married and had: 1) Tommy, born about 1865. 2) Robert, born January 1867. 3) Johnny. 4) Ben. 5) Riley. 6) Dan. and & Aunt T.
Great-granddad Henry died before Aunt T. (the only girl) was born and was buried beside his first wife in 1879. Theirs are the only two graves in the pasture, but they do have a headstone and a fence. That left Grandma to raise a house full of boys and one girl alone. That must have been interesting.
***
[Tiana Godwin Smith, taped interview, 1996-10-16]
Tiana remembered going to the home of Aunt Jane Long. She had ferns everywhere; it was something to go to her house. She lived near Goldthwaite as did her sister Julie.
***