Laney Estelle Garrett Pugh

Laney is a maternal 3rd Great Grandmother of mine.

She was born on September 11, 1873, in Macon Georgia to Peter Martin Garrett and Harriett Ann Elizabeth Maddox Garrett. She was the 4th child out of seven in all. Her siblings were William Harvey (1866), Emma R. (1868), Robert Joseph (1871), Obediah Denton (1876), Charles Beeman (1877), and Lucy Ann (1883).

Estelle's father was born in Kentucky and was a son of Irish Immigrants. His parents were James Madison Garrett and Edith Chaina Garrett. Laney's mother was born and raised in Butts County, Georgia. Her parents were David C. Maddox and Rebecca L. Hunt Maddox.

In 1880, Estelle (age 5) is shown living in Butts County, Georgia with her father and mother (ages 41 and 40), and her siblings William, Emma, Robert, Obediah, and Charles (ages 14, 9, 8, 7, and 4). Laney's parents are farmers at this time.

By the 1890s, Estelle's parents seemed to be actively looking for land in the Ouchita County area of Arkansas. I say this, because Laney's marriage license shows that she got married in Ouachita County, but she and her family didn't move there until the early 1900s.

On November 15, 1897, Estelle married my 3rd Great Grandfather, William Wilson Pugh. She was 24, and he was 28. Together they had ten children: Lottie Lavonia (1898 - my 2nd Great Grandmother), Bertha Mae (1899), Fannie Lou (1900), Annie Lee (1904), Raymond Martin (1905), Grady Davis (1907), Emogene (1909), Dalton Franklin (1911), Carrie Belle (1913), and Ruby Louise (1915).

Laney was 25 when she gave birth to her first child, and she was 42 when she gave birth to the last. Poor woman spent practically 7.5 years of being pregnant.

A couple of years after her marriage, it seems that Estelle and her husband stayed around the Holly Springs area, long enough to have their first two children, then they relocated to Alabama where her husband was from.

In the 1900 census of Pickens County, Alabama, Estelle (age 23), is shown living with her husband (age 31), and their two first children Lottie and Bertha (ages 2 and 1). Estelle and her husband paid a monthly rent for the farmland they lived on. In this same year, Estelle's parents and most of her siblings relocated to Bearden, Arkansas.

On December 9, 1901, Estelle lost her mother. Harriett was 62, while Estelle was 24. Shortly after her mother's death, Estelle her husband and children moved to Ouachita County, Arkansas again to be closer to her family.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a 1910 census for Estelle or her husband. Given the fact that the rest of her children were born around the Ouachita and Dallas Counties of Arkansas during that time period, I'm assuming she lived within that area. A great majority of her siblings also lived in that area.

By 1920, Estelle (age 47) is living with her husband (age 53) and seven of their children: Raymond, Fannie, Grady, Emogene, Dalton, Carrie, and Ruby (ages 17, 15, 13, 11, 8, 6, and 5). According to the census, Estelle and the rest of her family were all able to read and write. In fact, all of Estelle's children living with her, except for Ruby, were shown to be in school at the time. Estelle's land was also completely paid off by this point.

One thing I've heard from my grandfather, Glen Edward Jones as well as from my late 2nd Great Aunt Ruth Harper Jones is that the Pugh family was highly wealthy. I'm almost certain that Estelle's husband was a son of plantation owners, and that his wealth could've been inherited. Two things that give a little truth to what I've heard is the fact that there are quite a few photos of the Pugh family. Having your picture made, especially a lot of pictures, was pretty expensive back in the late 1800s to early 1900s. If the family didn't own a camera (which was expensive in and of itself), they'd have to pay a photographer to come to their home to snap the photos. The Pugh's did this quite a few times. Even the clothes they wore would've been expensive to make, even if Estelle made them herself. The material she'd need for herself, her husband, and 10 children would've been a ridiculous amount. Even the suits her husband and sons wore give a glimpse into their financial standing. By the time my grandfather's generation came into being, no one knows where the wealth went. We're not sure, to this day, if it was completely spent, possibly distributed so much it thinned out, or if it's lost.

The 1920s were a pretty rough decade for Estelle. From 1921 to 1928, she would lose six immediate family members.

On March 13, 1921, she lost her son Raymond when he was only 16.

On January 22, 1923, her husband passed away at 54 years old. His death certificate shows that he died due to apoplexy. Apoplexy is bleeding into an organ or loss of blood flow to an organ. For example, Adrenal apoplexy -- bleeding into the adrenal glands. Pituitary apoplexy -- bleeding into the pituitary gland. So, he would've died due to internal bleeding.

On April 8, 1824, Estelle's father died at 85 years old. His death certificate shows that he died due to paralysis. During the 1920s, paralysis would've been recorded as the cause for a myriad of reasons. Some of them include, Scarlet Fever, Botulism Poisoning, Syphilis, Typhoid Fever, etc. It's unclear what happened to cause the paralysis for Estelle's father, but it's most likely one of those I've mentioned. Estelle buried him in the Holly Springs Cemetery with her mother in Dallas County, Arkansas. Estelle was 50.

On November 24, 1927, her brothers Obediah and Charles both died on the same day. I haven't been able to find any death certificates to show what happened to them, but I do know they were both in Eagle Mills, Ouachita County, Arkansas. It makes me think it could've been an accident like a wreck or something. I'm not sure though.

On October 15, 1928, her daughter Fannie passed away at 28 years old. Her cause of death is hard to read on the death certificate, but it seems like she had an absess of some kind in her pelvic region. Possibly septic shock?

Almost four years later, Estelle died on August 2, 1933 in Dallas County Arkansas, due to stomach cancer. She was 59 years old.

It makes me sad the the last decade of her life was spent burying her loved ones, only to suffer with cancer at the end. Life just kept kicking her while she was already down.

She left behind four daughters, two sons, and 19 grandchildren. She was buried next to her husband in the Holly Springs Cemetery in Dallas County, Arkansas (the same cemetery her parents are buried in).

(Information given by Laney Estelle Garrett Pugh & William Wilson Pugh's 3rd Great Grandson, Bradley Haden Ainsworth Reynolds. Haden is the 2nd great grandson of Lottie Lavonia Pugh Jones & Benjamin Franklin Jones, the great grandson of Glen Franklin Jones & Maudie Marie Selman Jones, and the grandson of Glen Edward Jones & Ola Jeannine Gray Reaves.)