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.