Mary Elizabeth was born in October of that year.
“She’s a pretty little thing,” William told his wife. “She sure is,” Mary
agreed.
2 She could see the worry on his face. “He’s wonderin
about havin another mouth to feed,” she thought to herself. To distract him,
she asked him to tell her about everything that had been happening since she
had taken to her bed to have the baby.
3 “Joel made it home,” William told her. “They
released him from the hospital at the end of May,” he continued. “I’m sure
Arminda and the children are glad to have him back,” Mary replied. “I know my
sister has worried and fretted over him ever since we received word that he’d
been wounded,” William agreed.
4 “What about Nancy?” Mary asked. “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean,” she insisted. “If you’re asking if my sister is still
living as Moses Rice’s whore, the answer is yes,” William finally admitted in
exasperation.
5 “Watch what you say,” Mary cautioned. “The children
can’t hear us,” he assured her. “They’re still sleeping in the other room.”
6 “I just can’t understand Matilda putting up with
that situation,” Mary whispered. “I’ve never understood it either,” William
agreed.
7 “I heard she’s pregnant again,” he volunteered.
“Good Lord!” Mary gasped. “She’s already had four babies by him – How many more
does she plan to have?” “I don’t know, but we’ve got problems of our own to
worry about,” William told her.
8 “I’ve been mending shoes on trade – nobody has any
money to pay for anything,” he reminded her. “I’ve heard it’s not likely to get
better any time soon either – they say there’s Yankee soldiers all over the
place,” Mary added. “How are we supposed to rebuild our lives when they won’t
let us rebuild them?” William demanded without expecting an answer.
9 “We’ll just do the best we can,” Mary soothed. “Have
you heard anything from your daddy lately?” she asked. “He’s too busy raisin
another family,” he replied. “I wouldn’t expect any help from that direction.”
“I wasn’t,” she agreed. “I was just wonderin if they’re makin do.”
10 “I’m goin out to my shop to work on those boots
that James dropped off the other day,” William told her. “I’ll probably feed
and water the stock after I finish with that,” he added as he walked out the
door.
11 Lionah was born in 1867, and Henry was born two
years after that. The Hendrix family was growing both in numbers and
restlessness.
12 The land in Randolph County was exhausted, and the
war had destroyed what little progress they had made before it started. William
kept going through the motions, but he had a sinking feeling that he was barely
treading water.
13 Now these are the generations of William Monroe
Hendrix:
14 William married Mary Camp, and they had children: Leah,
Armindia, Sarah, William, Lizzie, Lionah, Henry, Teenie and Virgil.
15 Virgil Hendrix married Ann Ennis, and they had children together: Samuel, Henry, Hayden, Eva, Corene, John and Virgie.
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