Salena of Many (Sur)Names

Salena Hooper was born 30 Aug 1850 Monroe Co., TN and died after 18 April 1910. In 1900 and again in 1910, Salena indicated that she was the mother of seven children, and that seven children were yet living.

She married first to John Millsaps (b. ?4 May? 1844 Monroe Co., TN) on 2 Apr 1868, and probably divorced him about 1880. He died 5 Dec 1922 and is buried in the Midway Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Marietta, Cobb County, GA. Their children were:

Enos G. Millsaps was born 9 Mar 1867, NC and died Apr 1912, married Adaline Long on 10 Nov 1886 in Union County, Georgia.*
Hettie Millsaps was born 25 Feb 1869, NC and died 6 May 1948 Union Co., GA, married John Jones on 18 Feb 1886 in Union County, GA. John Jones was born 7 Apr 1865 in GA and died 20 Dec 1939 in Union Co., GA.
Dates are from tombstones in Duncan Cemetery, in Coosa District, Union County, Georgia. Elliott, Dale and Wimpey,C. T., eds., no date, Cemetery Records of Union County, Georgia: Blairsville [GA], Union County Historical Society, p. 223.
For a list of descendants, see the article Nance, Elma Farley, 1994, "John Erwin Jones" in Heritage of Union County, Georgia: Blairsville [GA], Union County Heritage Book Committee, Article 632, pp. 212-213.
Estell Millsaps was born 14 Feb 1871, NC and was alive 3 Jun 1880*
William Clinton Millsaps was born 22 Mar 1873, NC and died 26 Mar 1927. He married Mary D. Sawyer on 1 Jan 1904. Mary was born about 1888.*
Lewilla Millsaps was born 20 Sep 1876, NC and was alive 3 Jun 1880.*

*Birth dates for Enos, Estell, William, and Lewilla, and the death date for Enos, all come from Ancestral File submissions by Carolyn Ann Thomason Millsap and appear to be based on entries in a family record.

Salena next married Richard Cox on 7 Nov 1881 in Graham County, North Carolina. Richard was born about 1858, according to his age on the entry in the county marriage register. This Richard Cox might not be the father of Maggie and Lillie. Since no Coxes were found in Graham County for the 1880 and 1900 enumerations, he might have been using an alias when he married, or the marriage register transcription may have gotten his name wrong.

Lillie Sherrill** was born in 1883 and was alive 18 April 1910. She married W. Harvey Phillips on 14 April 1902 in Graham Co., NC. Harvey Phillips was born on 16 September 1877 and died 19 January 1906.
**The following census information was not included in the article "Salena of Many Names:"
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1900 Graham Co., NC Cheoah, page 123A, 1 June, beginning line 20, #5,5
Sherrill, Abram H.  57,         white,   male, single,  b.     1843, NC NC NC, Farmer
Fanter, Mary        53, sister, white, female, widowed, b. Aug 1846, NC NC NC
Fanter, Fannie      25, niece,  white, female, single,  b. May 1875, NC NC NC
Sherrill, Lillie    16, servant,white, female, single,  b. Aug 1883, NC NC NC
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Two years after the turn of the century, Lillie Sherrill, age 18, married W. H. Phillips, age 24, on 14 April 1902 at A. H. Sherrill's. Witnesses were T. C. Carringer, N. E. Millsaps, and T. W. Devane. (Witness Thomas C. Carenger had been enumerated in 1900 four households after the above Sherrills.) The groom died less than four years later and was buried at Lone Oak Cemetery. His stone reads "Harvey Phillips 9/16/1877-1/19/1906." Lillie and Harvey had two children:
1. Arnold Ross Phillips, Sr. was born 30 May 1903 and died in Asheville, NC on 21 October 1980, according to an index of NC death certificates.
2. Ella Phillips was born about 1905/6 and was listed in the family in 1910.
"Graham County, NC Marriages 1872-1925," in Southwestern North Carolina Genealogical Society Quarterly, X:iii [Summer] 1993, page 198.
"Lone Oak Cemetery," in Southwestern North Carolina Genealogical Society Quarterly, VI:ii [Spring] 1989, page 91.
Margaret "Maggie" Hooper/Sherrill was born Feb 1887 and was alive 18 April 1910. She is said to have married George Denton
Husband identified in Crocker, Mary Hooper, 1993, A Glimpse into the Past, p. 630.

Salena then married W Thomas "Tom" Hall on 3 Nov 1896. His 1900 census data indicates he was born March 1880 in North Carolina. The Halls lived in the Yellow Creek district of Graham County, NC in June 1900. In 1910, they were enumerated in the western part of Cheoah District in Graham County. Hall indicated in 1910 that he was born about 1875.

Salena's date of death and place of burial are unknown to this researcher.

Further research suggestion:

Since Lillie was yet alive 1910, she possibly lived long enough to have had a death certificate - that document, or an obituary, might identify her parents. An index shows there is a death certificate for a Lillie Etta Phillips, resident of Canton in Haywood County, North Carolina, who was born 22 February 1883. She died 16 January 1979 at Waynesville General Hospital.
Similarly, the death certificate and obituary for Maggie Denton also might name her parents and husband. An index lists a death certificate for Margaret Denton, who was born 22 February 1887. This widow died at the hospital in Bryson City, Swain County, North Carolina on 31 January 1972.