Garania or Jarrania?

​Today we remember Jarrania Ada Smith, born February 1, 1891, in the New Light Township area of Wake County, North Carolina. She entered the world as the first child of Willie Norman Smith, only twenty two, and Sally O’Neal, just eighteen. She began life at the front edge of a new generation, the eldest branch on a growing family tree.

At birth, her name was recorded as Garania Ada Smith, a spelling that appears only once in history, in the 1900 census. Later, she chose a new spelling, Jarrania, the name she would carry through most of her life.

Jarrania’s life changed early. On October 20, 1907, at only sixteen years old, she married James Elvis Wheeler, who was just fifteen. The 1910 census tells a tender and heartbreaking truth about that time. It shows she had given birth to two children, but only one was living. This points to the loss of her first baby, Ernest Wheeler in infancy, likely around 1908, a grief carried by a girl who was still growing up herself. No headstone or record can fully hold a loss like that, but the census line preserves the echo.

By 1910, Jarrania and James were living in the Grissom Precinct of Granville County, not far from where they were raised. Their daughter Viola Wheeler, born January 9, 1910, was with them. Two sons followed, Elwood Wheeler in 1913 and Edward Ronald Wheeler in 1915. In those early years, Jarrania’s life was the life of many rural Southern women, marriage young, motherhood young, responsibility arriving fast.

Sometime between the mid 1910s and 1925, her marriage to James appears to have ended, though no divorce record has yet been found. By 1925, she is listed alone in the Durham city directory, living on East Main Street as Mrs. Jarrania Wheeler. A few years later, in 1932, she appears in Raleigh as Jarrina Wheeler, widow of James, working as a tailoress. James did not pass away until 1956, so this listing raises questions. It may have been an error, or perhaps being recorded as a widow felt easier than explaining a separation in that era. Either way, it shows a woman supporting herself through skilled work with her hands, stitching together a living during difficult years.

By 1940, Jarrania had remarried. She became Mrs. W. M. Blackmon, the wife of Willie Milton Blackmon, a widower. Though the couple has not yet been located on the 1940 census, they eventually made their home in Wilmington, North Carolina. There, Jarrania worked at their church, suggesting a life rooted in faith and community.

She faced loss again when Willie passed away from a stroke on July 4, 1952. Jarrania continued on, remaining in Wilmington for the rest of her life. On October 15, 1961, she died from colon cancer, closing a life that had spanned seventy years of enormous change, from horse drawn roads to the modern world.

Jarrania’s story is one of resilience. She was a daughter of young parents, a teenage bride, a grieving mother, a working woman, a seamstress, a wife twice over, and a church worker. She lived through personal sorrow, social judgment, economic hardship, and still kept moving forward. Her name changed, her addresses changed, her roles changed, but she remained.

On her birthday, we do more than mark a date. We remember a young girl who grew up quickly, a mother who endured loss, and a woman who built a life again and again when circumstances shifted beneath her feet. Because of her, an entire line of family continues. At present count Jarrania has 4 children, and 10 grandchildren. 

Researching Jarrania’s life has been a journey of piecing together records, directories, and census pages, but much of her story beyond her children and grandchildren is still missing. Like many women of her time, parts of her life exist only in quiet gaps between documents, in moments that were lived fully but never written down.

If you are a relative, descendant, or someone who may have known stories passed down about Garania (Jarrania) Ada Smith Wheeler Blackmon, I would truly love to hear from you. Family memories, photographs, letters, church connections, or even small details can help bring her story into clearer focus. Please share anything you know in the comments so we can continue honoring her life together and preserve her history for future generations.

Life of Lela Frances Smith

Early Life of Lela Frances Smith

Lela Frances Smith was born on January 27, 1897, in Granville County, North Carolina, the second child of Willie Norman Smith and Sally O’Neal Smith. Her older sister, Gerania Ada Smith, had been born six years earlier, and two years after Lela’s birth, her brother Willie Graham Smith arrived.

Life on the family farm was modest. According to the 1900 census, her father was a farmer who could not read or write, while her mother, Sally, was a homemaker who could. Lela and her siblings were learning to read and write, even at a young age.

Young Lela (left)

By 1910, Lela, at just 13 years old, is listed as a laborer on the family farm, already helping contribute to the household. Her brother Willie worked alongside her, and her older sister Gerania had already married and moved out. Even in these early years, it is clear Lela was immersed in family and community life, learning the work and responsibilities that would shape her adult years.

Meeting Walter Choplin and the Marriage Mystery

In her early adult years, Lela was a familiar face at local gatherings and social events; gatherings Walter was also at. Local newspapers frequently mention her in the town gossip section, often describing her as visiting friends “until bedtime.” She seems to have had a large circle of friends and was well-known in her community. I suspect this is how Lela met her future husband. 

What becomes especially intriguing is the way Lela appears in the papers, assuming she is the one being referred to. She appears as “Mrs. Walter Choplin” months before her actual marriage. One article is dated June 12, 1918, and another November 6, 1918, yet Lela officially married James Walter Choplin on April 13, 1919, at the home of E.J. Haswell, a family friend. According to family stories, the Haswell home was located on the far end of Graham Sherron Road, toward Bruce Garner Road.

Wedding Day—Lela Smith (20) & Walter Choplin (40)

Why the early references? The answer is still a mystery. Perhaps it was a reflection of the close friendship between the Smith and Choplin families, or maybe it was simply the gossip-hungry nature of a small town. The newspapers give us a glimpse into Lela’s social world, hinting at a young woman whose life was already intertwined with the family she would soon join.

When she married Walter, she was 20 years old, and he was 40, creating a 20-year age difference that seems remarkable by today’s standards but was part of the story of rural life in early 20th-century North Carolina. After their marriage, Lela moved in with Walter’s family, as reflected in the 1920 census of Brassfield Township. There, she began a new chapter in a home that would see the birth of eleven children and countless family memories.

Raising a Family at the Choplin Homeplace

After her marriage to Walter Choplin, Lela settled into life at the Choplin Homeplace, a 3 bedroom white farmhouse with a large front porch sitting close to the road. No electricity nor running water in the house. Having such a large family a 3 bay outhouse would soon be built. It was here that Lela would build her legacy as a mother and matriarch.

Lela and Walter had eleven children, ten that lived through adulthood, all born in that very house:

1. Cora Leigh Choplin, February 12, 1920
2. Sally Evelyn Choplin, July 8, 1922
3. James Hinton Choplin, August 30, 1924
4. Marlie Lenard Choplin, January 6, 1926
5. Joe Willis Choplin, March 7, 1927
6. Elton Norman Choplin, June 6, 1928
7. Lewis Vernon Choplin, March 3, 1931
8. Magdalene Frances Choplin, June 27, 1933
9. Robert Samuel Choplin, December 5, 1935
10. Billie Jean and Betty Jane Choplin (twins), August 4, 1938

All 10 children posing with their mother Lela Smith Choplin

Raising such a large family required tireless dedication. Life on the farm meant that Lela and her children worked hard, but the home was also full of love and laughter. Lela made sure all her children knew the Lord. Every Sunday they all went to church. If it was a nice day they would make the 2.5 mile ride on the wagon to their home church Woodland Baptist and would visit the much closer Good Hope Baptist church if the weather was bad. Family gatherings were frequent, and the bonds she fostered among her children would last their entire lives.

Lela was known to be competitive and spirited—especially when playing checkers. Family stories tell of her snapping the board closed if she ever thought she was going to lose, scattering the pieces across the room, a small reminder that even in play, her fiery personality shone through.

Above all, Lela was an amazing mother, devoted to nurturing her children, teaching them the values of hard work, faith, and family loyalty. The Choplin Homeplace was more than a house, it was the heart of a growing, tight-knit family whose roots continue to extend through generations.

Tragedy and Resilience

Life at the Choplin Homeplace wasn’t without its sorrows. On December 5, 1935 her son Robert Samuel Choplin was born.  That winter proved to be one of the coldest on record in central North Carolina. Newspapers reported a bitter cold wave sweeping through the region, with temperatures in Raleigh dropping to around 10 degrees. Snow and ice covered the ground for days, and families like the Choplins relied on wood stoves to keep their homes bearable through the long, frigid nights. Lela often slept near their only heat source, keeping her children close to its warmth. 

On the night of December 23, 1935, Lela faced a heartbreaking moment when her youngest son, Robert became unresponsive. In the middle of a snowstorm, Lela screamed, waking the household. Her husband, Walter, immediately ran through the deep snow to the doctor’s house, desperate to get help. Despite their efforts, Robert could not be saved. His death was recorded as SIDS, a devastating loss for Lela and Walter.

Though the family grieved deeply, Lela’s strength and resilience shone through. While this loss truly affected Lela, she had no choice but to push through. There was no time to crumble. This tragic loss took place in the middle of The Great Depression and she had 9 other children to care for. Lela would persevere and continued to care for her children, raising them with the same dedication and love that had defined her life from the beginning. In 1938 Lela would be blessed with twins. 

Twins Billie Jean & Betty Jane

This chapter of her life reminds us that while tragedies may touch a family, the legacy of love, care, and togetherness can endure through generations.

Later Life 

As the years passed, Lela watched her children grow, marry, and start families of their own. Her father, Willie Norman Smith, passed away in 1931, and her mother, Sally, died in 1947, when Lela was 50. Through these losses, she remained the steady center of her family, nurturing the bonds that had always been so important to her.

Her husband, Walter Choplin, passed away on February 3, 1960, after 41 years of marriage. Lela continued to live at the Choplin Homeplace, moving to a nursing home in her later years. She lived to meet all 26 (by my count) of her grandchildren and 10 of her great-grandchildren, teaching the next generation about the values she held dear: faith, family, and perseverance.

Family stories remember her as competitive, lively, and loving; from snapping a checker board closed when she was about to lose, to making sure every child felt cared for. She instilled a sense of closeness among her children that has persisted across generations. Of her 10 children they all stayed close. Any that moved away always came back home to visit. I have found this to be rare for any time period. Even as grandchildren and great-grandchildren moved away, many still return each Christmas for the annual Choplin get together to honor the tradition she and Walter began, celebrating the Choplin family legacy they created

Walter & Lela at son Elton’s wedding

Conclusion

When I think of my great-grandmother, Lela Frances Choplin, I don’t see just dates and records, I see a life full of love, resilience, and family. From her early days on the farm in Granville County, through the joys and sorrows of raising ten children, to the quiet strength she showed in later years, Lela’s story is a testament to what it means to live a life devoted to others.

The Choplin Homeplace, still standing today, holds more than wood and nails; it holds memories, laughter, lessons, and traditions that have been passed down through generations. The family gatherings, the swims at Choplin Creek, the games and stories, all of it keeps her spirit alive.

Today, 2 of Walter and Lela’s 11 children are still living. Billie and Betty, the twin babies. Both still full of life and laughter, eager for visitors or phone calls. The annual Choplin Christmas reunion is also still held each December. While the number of descendants has increased, attendance each Christmas continues to dwindle. Help keep the tradition Walter and Lela started alive and join us in December of 2026 at the annual Choplin Family Christmas! 

Do you have any fond memories of Lela Choplin? Share it in the comments! 

Allen Davis: The Soldier, the Husband, the Father of Two Families

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Part II — Loss, War, and Leaving Home (1860–1862)

The first great loss of Allen and Seny’s marriage came quietly, the way so many tragedies did in the nineteenth century. By the time the 1860 census was taken on September 5th, the couple had a one-month-old daughter. She did not survive infancy. No record explains what took her, only the understanding that in an era before modern medicine, loss like this was heartbreakingly common.

In the mid-1800s, nearly one in five children did not live to see their first birthday. For families like Allen and Seny’s, grief was woven into daily life. And yet, life pressed forward.

After that loss, Allen and Seny welcomed another child. Fannie Davis was born on April 17, 1862, a son whose arrival brought renewed hope to a household already shaped by sorrow. For a brief moment, their world narrowed again to the familiar rhythms of family, work, children, and the fragile promise of continuity.

But the country around them was coming apart.

By 1861, the United States was at war with itself. North Carolina initially hesitated to secede, but when President Abraham Lincoln called for troops following the attack on Fort Sumter, the state withdrew from the Union. What had once felt like distant political debate quickly became a personal reckoning for families across Granville County.

Men began leaving home in increasing numbers. Some volunteered out of loyalty to their state, others under pressure from neighbors and kin. Many believed the war would be short. Few imagined the scale of loss that lay ahead.

For women left behind, daily life changed almost overnight. They took over farms and households, managed children alone, and learned to live with uncertainty as a constant companion.

By the fall of 1862, the war could no longer be ignored. On October 2, 1862, 27-year-old Allen Davis left home for Camp Mangum in Raleigh, where he enlisted in Company I of the 55th North Carolina Infantry Regiment. Leaving behind a pregnant wife and a young mother with two children and no reliable way of knowing when, or if, he would return.

Official Camp Mangum letterhead 

Camp Mangum was one of several training camps established to prepare North Carolina troops for Confederate service. The conditions were harsh. Rows of tents offered little protection from the weather, food was limited and poorly prepared, and disease spread quickly. Many men fell ill before ever reaching a battlefield.

For Allen, enlistment meant stepping into a world governed by orders, drilling, and long marches. For Seny, it meant learning how to run a household alone in a time of scarcity and fear.

There were no telephones. Alexander Graham Bell’s first successful phone call would not occur until 1876, more than a decade away. Communication depended entirely on letters; letters that could take weeks or months to arrive, if they arrived at all. Once Allen marched away, Seny had no way of knowing where he was sent, what battles he might fight, or whether he was even still alive.

In 1863, while Allen was away with his regiment, Seny gave birth to another son, Gordon. Like countless Civil War wives, she entered motherhood again without her husband present, carrying the weight of survival, parenting, and fear alone. With two young children depending on her, Seny faced the war not just as a wife left behind—but as a mother determined to keep her family intact amid silence. Times like these shows the importance of community. 

By the summer of 1863, Allen and the 55th North Carolina were on the move. As infantry, they traveled entirely on foot, marching hundreds of miles with heavy packs, worn shoes, and limited food. The regiment was swept into General Robert E. Lee’s second invasion of the North, a campaign meant to shift the balance of the war.

Allen marched north unaware that within weeks he would be captured, imprisoned, and swallowed into a system that would leave his wife with no answers—only waiting.

The next chapter would place him on one of the most famous and deadly battlefields in American history.

Remembering My Great-Grandmother, Lucille Carter Poole

I never had the chance to meet my great-grandmother, Lucille Carter, but through census records and bits of history, I’ve been piecing together her life. Each detail brings me closer to understanding who she was and the world she grew up in.

Lucille was born on January 6, 1914 in Wake County, North Carolina. Her father, Amos Carter, was just 24 years old, and her mother, Flossie Jones, only 20. At the time, her older brothers Amos Jr. (age 5) and Lawrence (age 3) were already part of the household. Lucille would become the third of six children.

The world looked very different in 1914. Woodrow Wilson was president, World War I had just begun overseas, and only weeks after her birth, Alexander Graham Bell made the first transcontinental phone call. The Coast Guard became its own branch of the military, cars were still considered a luxury, and radio was just beginning to capture people’s imaginations. It was a time of change, both for America and for Lucille’s young family.

Not long after her birth, the Carters moved east to Rocky Mount, NC, where Lucille’s sister Margaret was born in 1917. By the 1920 census, the family was settled there, with Amos Sr. working as a car mechanic for the railroad. Another brother, Elwin, joined the family later that same year.

By the late 1920s, the Carters returned to Wake County, where Lucille’s youngest sister Dorothy was born. In the 1930 census, 15-year-old Lucille is listed with her family at 413 N. Salisbury Street in Raleigh, while her father worked at the planning mill for the steam railroad. The country was in the midst of the Great Depression, though it seems Amos managed to keep steady work.

On April 1, 1934, at just 20 years old, Lucille married Glenn Etheridge Poole. Despite the hard times, they started a family quickly. Their first son, Glenn Wyatt Poole, was born less than a year later, on May 21, 1935. Four years later came Jimmy Ethridge Poole, born June 5, 1939, followed by William “Bill” Poole, born June 8, 1941.

By 1940, the young Poole family was living on Poole Road in Wake County, with Lucille at home caring for her boys while Glenn worked at the A & P warehouse, a produce company.

I don’t know what Lucille’s personality was like, or what she enjoyed in her day-to-day life, but I can picture her: a young woman raising three sons during the Depression and World War II, supporting her husband while keeping the home together. She lived through decades of change — from railroads, electricity, and radio to television and automobiles becoming common.

Lucille lived through world wars, the Great Depression, and an America that was constantly changing. Yet, her most lasting accomplishment wasn’t tied to world events — it was the family she and Glenn created together. From a little girl born in Wake County in 1914 to a grandmother of thirteen by the end of her life.

Though I never met her, learning Lucille’s story makes me feel closer to her and the life she lived. It also makes me long for a chance to sit with her for just one conversation.

What’s one question you wish you could ask an ancestor you never met?—leave it in the comments!

Arthur Hodge (1885–1940): A Wake County Life Marked by Work, Loss, and Survival

Arthur Hodge was born January 3, 1885, in Wake County, North Carolina, into a rural world of farms, dirt roads, and small communities that no longer exist as they once did. He lived his entire life in Wake County, passing away on January 23, 1940, but the story between those dates is anything but ordinary.

Arthur was the son of Nathan Ivey ‘Sam’ Hodge Sr. and Lenora “Nora” B. Parrish. By 1900, he appears in St. Matthew’s Township as a 15-year-old farm laborer—already working, already literate, already carrying the responsibilities of adulthood.

Courting Vallie & an Elopement That Shocked the Family

At 22, Arthur married Valarie “Vallie” Helon Holder, who was only 16 years old. According to their daughter, Chloe Bell Hodge, Arthur and Vallie met at the parlor. Arthur courted Vallie properly; they walked to church together. They had never even kissed before marriage.

But Vallie’s parents did not approve.

The reason given was Arthur’s weekend drinking—an objection that appears often in Wake County family stories of the era. Convinced marriage was the only way forward, Vallie quietly planned an elopement. Day by day, she slipped one article of clothing at a time to her best friend and neighbor’s house. When everything she needed was safely hidden, she told her parents she was spending the night with her friend. Instead, she slipped away with Arthur to Raleigh, where they were married by Justice of the Peace N. W. Poole.

Poole is my maiden name. I have not yet identified how this man fits into my family tree, but in Wake County, coincidences like that are rarely coincidences.

A Violent Accident & a Past That Followed Him

The News & Observer ran several articles involving Arthur Hodge during December of 1906. On December 8, 1906 Arthur purchased a new hammerless Iver & Johnson revolver from Carolina Hardware Company in downtown Raleigh. After showing it to friends, Arthur encountered his neighbor and lifelong friend, Clyde Jones, on Wilmington Street.

As Arthur pulled the gun from his pocket to show it off it discharged, striking Clyde in the stomach.

Arthur panicked and ran, discarding the weapon as he fled. He was intercepted by Deputy J. P. Stell and taken into custody. Clyde Jones later died from the wound.

Arthur was tried in January 1907. The jury concluded the shooting was a tragic accident between two lifelong friends. Arthur was acquitted of murder but convicted of carrying a concealed weapon and fined $100, a substantial penalty at the time.

Notably, Clyde Jones was an orphan taken in by Robert Poole, and the articles mention Clyde worked for a Mr. Holder—the maiden name of Arthur’s future wife. It is difficult not to see how this incident would have reinforced Vallie’s parents’ objections.

My aunt never mentions this event in her book. I do not believe she knew.

Building a Family & a Livelihood

Between 1908 and 1916, Arthur and Vallie welcomed four children, all born in Wake County:

• Jasper ‘Jack’ Hodge: Born June 1908
• Thomas A. ‘Tom’ Hodge: Birn August 29, 1912
• Flonnie Clay Hodge: Born October 11, 1914 (my great-grandmother)
• Chloe Bell Hodge: Born July 30, 1916

Arthur worked as a farmer, mechanic, and sawmill laborer. In 1916 Arthurs parents died within months of each other. Using money inherited after the deaths of his parents, he purchased partial ownership in a sawmill, an ambitious move for a rural Wake County man.

The 1920 census shows the family back in St. Matthew’s Township and includes an 18-year-old Black woman, Maud Candy, listed as a family servant.

Injury, Survival, and Vallie’s Strength

Around 1917 or 1918, Arthur suffered a severe sawmill accident, slicing his leg open near the knee. Blood poisoning nearly killed him. He was bedridden and unable to work for nearly two years.

During this time, Vallie became caregiver, provider, and nurse. Modern bandages did not exist; she used old linens, boiling and reusing them. Neighbors donated worn cloth. A doctor later credited Arthur’s survival not to medicine, but to Vallie’s care.

Arthur eventually regained the ability to walk but spent two years on crutches.

A Loss No Family Recovers From

On June 16, 1923, tragedy struck the Hodge family again.

Arthur’s sons, Jack age 10, and Tom age 8, were helping move logs from the sawmill using a mule-drawn wagon. As they crossed a railroad track, an oncoming train approached. Fearful of their father’s reaction to losing the mule, the boys attempted to pull the animal off the tracks.

They were unsuccessful.

The train struck the wagon, killing both boys.

The accident occurred just days before Jack’s birthday. Vallie had been in their kitchen on Poole Road making an orange layer cake for him. She was understandably distraught—and she never made another orange layer cake for the rest of her life.

To compound the family’s grief, while they attended the funeral of their two sons, someone broke into their home and robbed them stealing Vallie’s only other dress. 

It was later determined that the train failed to blow its horn as it approached the crossing.

Arthur would make several trips north to where the train company was based, pursuing legal action for negligence. Eventually, the company settled, paying Arthur $8,000, a significant sum at the time, though roughly half went to legal fees.

After this loss, Arthur stopped drinking completely.

A New Start Along the Neuse River

Arthur and Vallie were eager to leave Poole Road after the deaths of their sons. The following spring, they moved six miles north on Poole Road, near the banks of the Neuse River.

Using the remaining settlement funds, Arthur purchased two lots in the Fisher Heights community of Wake County. There, he began building a five-room bungalow for his family. As was common in that era, Arthur did most of the work himself.

Thinking ahead, Arthur hired someone to wire the house for electricity—even though electrical service had not yet reached the area.

This decision speaks volumes about Arthur’s desire to provide stability and modern comforts for his family after years of hardship.

Later Years: Stability and Redemption

After leaving the sawmill, Arthur secured employment with the State of North Carolina. The steady income made life noticeably easier for the family.

In time, Arthur became the favorite son-in-law of Vallie’s parents—a quiet redemption after years of disapproval. Every Christmas, Arthur prepared a cardboard box filled with sweet treats for them, a tradition remembered long after his death.

Arthur and Vallie have not yet been located in the 1930 or 1940 censuses, despite Arthur’s death occurring in 1940—a mystery still under investigation. Around 1938 Arthur had several mini strokes and spent time in the hospital. It was around this time when Mormon missionaries were visiting Raleigh from Rocky Mount. Arthur was very impressed by the two missionaries and the whole family left the baptist church they had always gone to, Ebenezer Baptist Church and Bethlehem Baptist Church and joined The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints. The Mormon religion was very new to Raleigh. There was no established church building or meeting house yet. Meetings were held at member’s homes. Arthur became too weak to travel to the meetings due to his declining health. To ensure Arthur continued growing his relationship with God and becoming more involved in the church, Arthur offered to host the weekly Bible studies at his house. In June of 1939 the whole family was baptized into the church. The Hodge family became one of few families that started the Raleigh division for The Church of Latter Day Saints. They would go go on to play a pivotal role in the church growing in the Raleigh area and becoming what it is today. 

The Raleigh , North Carolina Temple 

Arthur Hodge’s life was marked by hard work, tragedy, endurance, and quiet redemption. He was a man shaped by accident, loss, and responsibility, a husband who changed, a father who grieved, and a provider who thought ahead for a future he might never fully see.

His story lives in census records, newspaper ink, and the memories passed down by a daughter who may not have known all of it.