Zilla Hames is my great great great grandmother. She was born in 1793, the daughter of William Hames (1759–1823) and Elizabeth Moseley (1763–1850). Her Hames family is the Charles Hames/Catherine Krugg line from Germany to Virginia to Union County, SC; her Moseley family is the John Moseley/Ann Williams line from European and British Isles beginnings to Virginia to the Carolinas.

Zilla Hames, in 1809, married Thomas Mabry (1788–1860). Thomas was the son of James Mabry (d. 1805). His mother may have been named Hannah, who had previously been married to a Mr. Briggs.

The Mabry and Hames families lived near Grindal Shoals, north and south of the Pacolet River. They were to be found in the communities of Draytonville and Goudeysville, part of Union County until Cherokee County, created in 1897, claimed them.

Zilla Hames had two brothers who married two daughters of Ephraim Fowler (1765-1822). Charles E. Hames (1782 -1847) married Lydia Fowler (1785-1852); John M Hames (1791–1862) married Sarah Fowler (1790-after 1870).

For the record, Charles E. Hames was the son of William Hames and an unknown woman. This was made clear in the Last Will and Testament of William Hames, who specifically mentioned his born-out-of-wedlock son. Zilla Hames, John Hames, and their siblings, —William Edmond Hames (1785-1870), Mark Hames (1787–1865), Charity Hames (b. 1789), Thomas Hames (b. 1793) and Edmund Simpson Hames (1796–1864) — were the children of William Hames and his wife Elizabeth Moseley.

No slaves, no land to speak of, no great wealth — Zilla Hames had married a man of little means. In 1850, Thomas Mabry had one mule, two cows, and eight pigs. And… three children: Franklin F. Mabry born before 1820, Larissa Mabry born 1817, and Elizabeth Mabry born 1824.

Three children were a rare occurrence in the 1800s. Families of nine, ten, eleven children were not unusual, and I have seen instances of women who had seventeen or more. It is likely that there were more children born who did not survive long enough to be counted in a census record. Lucky I am that my ancestor, Franklin F. Mabry, survived to adulthood.

Franklin F. Mabry married Julia Ann Cooke (1824–1867), a descendant of the Cooke family from Ireland who also lived a little north of the Pacolet River. After the death of Julia, he married Missouri Kennitt (1828–1921). He had children with both wives. These children will be studied in-depth in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Frannklin F. Mabry.

Zilla’s oldest daughter Larissa Mabry became the second wife of a neighbor, widower John St John (1799–1879). He and his first wife Nancy had children. He married Larissa Mabry after 1850, and before 1860. At the time of the marriage, she would have been in her thirties, maybe even early forties, and her advanced age may be the reason there were no children.

Elizabeth Mabry married in the late 1850s. She was ten years older than her husband, Jackson Gregory (b. 1835). Like her mother, Elizabeth “Bettie” Mabry Gregory had one son and two daughters: William Gregory (b. 1860), Laura Ann Gregory (1862–1927), and Mary Gregory (b. 1868).

A collage of images from census records 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870 and the 1850 Agriculture Schedule; Some images are inclusive of neighbors (Hames, etc)

There is very little that I know about Zilla Hames other than what has been written above. I know I am here today because she was there yesterday. For that, I am grateful.