Sunday, April 9, 2017

Mattie Moad - Chapter 1



Mattie Moad

Chapter 1


Martha “Mattie” Blackburn is born to Black Township, Posey County, Indiana farmer William Jackson Blackburn (1843-1915) and his wife Charlotte Duckworth Blackburn (1846-1922) on the 15th of September 1870. 

Charlotte affectionately called Charlotty, in official birth returns for her children, was the daughter of Green Duckworth also of Posey County. She had been born, raised and raised her (7) seven children during the civil war and post-civil war era. From 1865-1881 Charlotty was birthing babies! William Jackson Blackburn had deep roots in Posey County as well. The census records confirm close, large family bonds within the community. Known as Jack Blackburn he served in the Union, 25th Indiana Infantry, Company A, as a Corporal and at the end of the War had promoted to Sergeant. 




The area of Posey County at that time was rural and primitive even for those days of the 1840’s through 1870’s. Black Township encompasses Mt. Vernon reaching to the river borders and Solitude at its northern border.

Families were large by nature and out of necessity to manage labor for their farms. The farms were not generally large scale money making operations such as today. The farms were raised just to feed the family. The rural farming poor. They were the civil war veterans who were the descendants of Revolutionary War Veterans who moved west to claim their land grants in Kentucky and Indiana. Many were immigrants escaping the escalating conflicts such as the Scotch-Irish and severe poverty of Great Britain (Ireland and England) and Germany as seen in this family tree.
Southern Indiana was growing rapidly in post-civil war and many newly freed slaves migrated to the Evansville area just in time for the manufacturing boom.


Black Township School, Posey County, Indiana - Sketch by Anne Doane

As a young farm girl from Southern Indiana, Mattie probably did have a good grasp on socially acceptable behavior, Jack was a preacher and Mattie had the benefit of learning Christianity to guide her through her daily life. Church was probably a luxury only to be enjoyed by those who could travel to services and did not have daily choirs to tend to just to keep the family surviving on a small family farm. 
Daily life consisted of choirs, taking care of younger siblings, if you were able, you could go to church, if you were within walking distance, you might be lucky enough to have a school house to learn how to read and write. 
Your parents decided when you were ready to marry and keep house on your own. Mattie was luckier than most girls she stayed at home until she turned 17 years old…


Chapter 2 posting soon!

Saturday, April 8, 2017

The Life & Times of Mattie Moad (1870-1932)



The Life & Times of Mattie Moad…(1870 – 1932)





Who was this woman who dared to marry 5 husbands, a widow once, 3 divorces and died living apart from her last husband? 

This was the Edwardian period…The time of the Great Depression in the bustling, factory driven, river town Evansville, Indiana.


Mattie has left her ancestors trying to put the pieces of her shattered life together to discover just who she was.
 Researching for years and sifting through records and interviewing family members she has remained forever elusive. 

There are some clues to her life and the vital records and historical social records do tell a story. So, let me enlighten my kinsmen on just what I have discovered about the infamous Grandma Mattie Moad.

Coming soon April 2017 currently being written…