52 Ancestors in 52 week
Week 1 - January 1, 2025
Prompt: In the Beginning
One of the first ancestors I sought to uncover in my genealogy journey was Mattie E. McCorkle, my maternal great-grandmother.
I inherited a beautifully framed marriage license for P.J. Nolen and Mattie E. McCorkle, dated October 1, 1891, in Prairie County, Arkansas. P.J. and Mattie are my maternal great-grandparents, parents of Leonard Nolen. Leonard was raised in the Sand Springs Home. My mother told me that her father didn’t know his parents, so I was determined to learn who P. J. and Mattie were.
In August 1994, I attended a professional training conference at the Red Lion Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah. Knowing there was a family history library nearby, I took all the family history I had with me—namely, a tree my father’s cousin Wally had provided and the information from the framed marriage license.
The Red Lion Hotel was within walking distance of the Family History Library. After each day’s conference sessions, I would walk to the library and use one of their computers. I started by entering names from my father’s tree but didn’t uncover anything Wally hadn’t already documented.
On my last day in Salt Lake City, I switched gears and typed in “P. J. Nolen and Mattie McCorkle” with their marriage date. This search led to a microfilm call number for their marriage record, which indicated that the parents of the bride and groom were listed in the original record. The microfilm was in another building, and it was nearing closing time, but I found the original record in time to print it.
The record contained the marriage affidavit, bond for the marriage license, marriage license, and certificate of marriage. There was also a handwritten note that read:
October 1, ’91
Des Arc, Ark.
This is to certify that Mr. D.S. ^and wife^ McCorkle is willing for his daughter Miss Mattie E McCorkle be married to Mr. P. J. Nolen. Age 17 years old.
I was thrilled to have found the initials of Mattie’s father and thought it charming that “and wife” appeared to have been added as an afterthought, possibly a legal requirement. I was hooked.
Mattie’s Family History
“D.S. McCorkle” referred to Daniel S. McCorkle, born May 27, 1842, in Tennessee. His father is unknown.
In the 1850 census, Daniel appears in District 14, Warren County, Tennessee, with his widowed mother, Martha McCorkle (maiden name unknown), and five siblings:
• Richard (born 1835)
• Jesse Carroll (born 1842)
• Samuel (born 1853)
• Mary (born 1845)
• Rachel Margaret (born 1849)
By 1860, the family was in McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee. Daniel was a 20-year-old student, likely attending Irving College, located eight miles south of McMinnville.
In 1861, Irving College closed due to the Civil War. The library was divided among the students as they left for their homes. Daniel joined his classmates and faculty in enlisting in the 16th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Company H.
After the war, Daniel worked as a farm laborer with his future wife’s family. “And wife” referred to Hester Ann Estell Williams, whom Daniel married on September 12, 1870, in Lebanon, Wilson County, Tennessee.
Mattie, born in May 1874, was the eldest of their four children, all born in Tennessee:
• Nita (born August 27, 1878)
• Thomas Gardner (born July 22, 1880)
• Elbert Nicholas (born August 5, 1883)
In 1896, Daniel’s Civil War pension application, filed from Lee County, Arkansas, was rejected for lack of proof of service.
Mattie's Adult Life
In 1900, Mattie and P. J. Nolen were living in Marianna Village, Independence Township, Lee County, Arkansas. They had started a family in Augusta, Woodruff County, Arkansas, with two sons:
• Robert Luther (born 1895)
• Leonard (born 1897)
A daughter, Pet, was born and died sometime between 1891 and 1900.
front row: Leonard Nolen, Daniel S. McCorkle, Robert Luther Nolen
Sometime after 1900, Mattie and her sons left P. J. No divorce record has been found, but in 1907, she married William F. Jones, also known as Bill McCuiston. The license was issued in Carthage, Missouri, but the marriage took place in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The license stated that both bride and groom resided in Tulsa, Indian Territory, and it was a second marriage for both.
left to right: Leonard, Mattie, and Robert LutherA Tragic End
The rest of Mattie’s story comes from A Fool’s Enterprise: The Life of Charles Page by Opal Bennefield Clark.
In 1909, Mattie and Bill were living in the Illinois Hotel in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. Leonard, then a newspaper boy, had missed delivering papers to Charles Page, an oilman, for a few days. Concerned, Mr. Page learned that Mattie was gravely ill with tuberculosis, and Bill was in the hospital. Leonard was left to care for his mother while continuing to sell newspapers.
Moved by their plight, Mr. Page asked Captain Breeding of the Salvation Army to bring Mattie and her sons to Sand Springs, west of Tulsa, where Page was building his dream industrial city. Captain Breeding and his wife cared for Mattie in a tent while her husband recovered, and Bill eventually joined them along with his three sons from a previous marriage. This act of compassion marked the beginning of the Sand Springs Home, which Captain Breeding and Charles Page established to care for widows and children.
On Christmas Day, 1909, Mattie passed away from tuberculosis. She was initially buried near a lake in Sand Springs, as there was no cemetery for white people nearby. Her grave was later relocated to Woodland Park Memorial Cemetery in Sand Springs, where her sons Robert Luther and Leonard are also buried.
Reflection
Finding Mattie’s story not only gave me insight into my great-grandmother’s life but also deepened my connection to the past. Her resilience and the kindness of Charles Page left a lasting legacy for our family.
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