Individual Details
Mary Catherine HATHCOCK
(28 Nov 1881 - 21 Mar 1972)
Mary Catherine Hathcock came into this world on an expansive farm which her grandfather, Joshua C Burroughs had given her parents when they got married. The land was rolling and heavily wooded with enough good N. Carolina rain to grow corn, peas, beans, sweet potatoes, cotton, grain, tobacco and large, delicious wild berries. The family especially enjoyed the beauty of the Dogwood and Magnolia trees which grew there in abundance, and the stunning colors of the trees in autumn.
Mary had a forthright personality and as the eldest surviving child, grew up to be both tough and tender in her ways. She was remembered by her siblings more as a little mother than a sister, as she needed to take care of the little ones while their parents were out in the fields during the summer months. She learned the skills needed to survive in primitive farm life, as there were very little outside resources.
Mary was a brilliant woman. As an excellent seamstress, she had the ability to see a dress she liked (or anything she envisioned), create her own pattern, then make it from memory. She also became a talented painter of watercolors. She was a dedicated genealogist who spent hours collecting data about her and her husband's family.
Mary was the mother of 10 children, 6 of whom lived to accomplished adulthood. She lived to the age of 90.
"I was born 28 November 1881 in a one room log house near Big Lick, Stanly County, North Carolina, on the Austin Road – close to the Mark Morgan ford, or Big Bear Creek. I was the second child born to Rufus Monroe Hathcock and Eliza Jane Burroughs. My older brother, or first born of my parents, was given the name of Vernon and died in infancy.
My first recollection was the day my sister was born. When Christine was born I went to great Uncle Monroe Lowder’s house. His wife, Aunt Nancy, made me a little rag doll which I gave the name of 'Bill'. That was in 1884.
In my youth where I was born, I liked to go in the woods and see the Dogwood blooms in the spring of the year. My mother and I would go down on the creek and pick creases (greens). She would cook them - they were so good. We had lots of blackberries on the farm. I loved the place. Along in June, when the huckleberries would get ripe, I liked to go through the woods and gather hickory nuts, blackberries, and black walnuts that were along the stream. My sister Christine and I would pick them and Mother would make berry pies. They were so good. We children had fun gathering.
I loved animals, especially sheep. I was the shepherdess at home. It was my task to care for the sheep we had on the farm. I liked to play out in the clover fields and catch butterflies. Some wrens would build their nests in our granary. I liked to feed them. Once I had a pet sheep and it had a lamb, but it didn’t live long. When it died, I took it to the woods and laid it by a tree so I could go and look at it every day as long as I could. But one day when I went to look at it, it was gone. Something had taken it away. I felt so badly I couldn’t see my baby lamb anymore.
I enjoyed going to Grandfather Burroughs to play with my Aunts Minnie and Rosa. Minnie was a year younger. We would go to the woods and play with our rag dolls. We would play house and have meetings. We had fun as youngsters. When we were able, we went to Pleasant Grove to Sunday School till we were grown up.
I started school at the age of 6 years in the old Burris school house, a mile from home - first teacher was David Burroughs. All were in one room – no grades at that time. My father walked with me the first day and when the teacher called me up to recite, I couldn’t read and I looked up at my teacher and said, “It’s somethin”. He laughed and said, 'Yes, it’s somethin,' and I returned to my seat."
We worked hard on the farm and we were poor. I helped Mother card and spin cotton and wool to make our clothes after school was out. She would weave the cloth. In the summertime the well would go dry sometimes and we would have to carry water from the Kiah spring about a mile away from home.
When I was 12 years old, a neighbor girl came to our house. One Sunday afternoon, she told me about their school recitation they were going to have at the end of the school. She mentioned Dean Furr. That made an impression on me. When the time came, my two Aunts, Minnie and Rosa Burroughs, came to go with me to the affair. So we went and I saw Dean for the first time. He was so handsome, about 15 years old, and I was 12. I decided that was my man.
[Years] after, we were picking cotton. On the road, he came by. I was just thrilled to see him again. In the meantime, I had two other boyfriends. I was then 16. I still remembered Dean – none like him. Then one night at a corn shucking at my uncle’s, he was there. He had my cousin ask me if he could see me home. Of course that was just it. So that was my first walk with him.
I enjoyed my school days with my friends. We had so much fun [even] if we did have to study hard. I did not get to go to school very much as we had to work. Times were so hard. My sister and I went to a singing school, taught by Walter Kirk. He took a fancy to me. I went with him for a while, but he was too old for me.
I did not know of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at that time. When 16 years of age [1897], I joined the missionary Baptist Church, but I only remained there shortly.
My [family and] sister Christine and I went to Concord to work in the cotton mill in the spring of 1898. I was a weaver – ran six lug looms at a time. I did not see Dean for some time but I still had him in mind. And then I had a friend, Rufus Hills I liked quite well. He thought he had to marry me, but I did not like him well enough. So one of my cousins told Dean if he didn’t go and see me, I would marry that fellow. So he came up to Concord – I remember it so well. I was so surprised to see him. I did not know he was coming. After that, we kept close contact with each other.
In 1901, we [the family] moved back to the farm for nine months. Dean and I saw each other 'til we moved back to Concord in the Fall of 1901. I worked till the family moved to the Gibson’s Mill.
We became engaged about Christmas and were married on December 10, 1902. Green Paul Furr and I were married on Wednesday at the home of Justice of the Peace Joseph Smotherly at Plyler, North Carolina. Henry Lowder, my cousin, was best man, and Dean’s cousin, Eliza Morton, was my bridesmaid. Witnesses were Flora Mae Morton (Dad’s cousin) and James Henry Lowder (Grandma’s cousin).
We lived with GP’s parents till our house was finished at Bloomington. It was sort of a sad parting - I being the first to leave home. My mother and all the family cried when I started to leave. I cried too. It was 20 miles from Concord to Bloomington. I remember how the telephone wired sang by the road as we travelled our long way. I never heard them sing that way anymore.
We lived in our five room house Dean had for us. I had a garden at Bloomington which I tended myself. He had his store close by. I helped my husband in the store. Dean, as he was called, was Postmaster there. I was his assistant. I opened the mail bags when the mailman would come with the mail. Then I would put it up in the boxes. While at Bloomington, I took a course in dressmaking from the School of Dressmaking from Kansas City, Missouri.
I heard the Elders preach in a schoolhouse. When I heard the Elders preach, I knew it was true. I later joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 14 July 1907.
We moved to Albemarle, North Carolina in 1908. We lived there till 1910, when we moved to E. LaBelle Community, where we started a mercantile business again. We homesteaded a dry farm in 1912 near Poplar, Idaho – a place close to the store. We had to live on the place three months out of the year to improve upon it. We built a nice house there. Then we added two rooms by the side of the store to live in till we proved up on the farm. After we improved upon the farm, we moved back to Poplar and built a brick house on a lot we bought by a canal. My brother Henry worked with him (GP) in the store. Later, Henry managed the one in Ririe which burned. It was a total loss. In 1917 my cousin Will Carter came out from North Carolina. He worked with us in the store at Poplar till we moved to Arizona.
In November 1917, we sold our brick home and moved to Mesa, Arizona on a farm ¾ mile out of town. Dean soon went into the mercantile business. In 1926, we traded the farm for a house and lot in San Diego. Then we moved to this house where I now live.
I enjoy going to church and meeting friends. I have travelled a lot to Utah and enjoyed the trips very much. I have made several trips back to the old home in Albemarle, Stanly County, North Carolina. I have been engaged in genealogical and Temple work for several years past. At present, I do Temple work each Monday night. I have worked in all the organizations of the ward and stake, both in Rigby, Idaho, and Maricopa Stake, been a counselor in the Primary Stake in Arizona, a counselor in Ward Primary in Idaho and Arizona Stakes, and in Relief Society in Mesa, and [been a] Sunday School chorister in Idaho Ward, secretary for genealogy; Stake Secretary and Treasurer for Singing Mothers.
I leave a strong testimony of the Gospel. I know with all my heart it is true. I love the association of LDS. I love to attend church and especially conferences. I love Relief Society – the lessons are very interesting. I have been a visiting teacher, and ward secretary and treasurer. I guess I have done about all I can do in the church. It is now for the younger people to carry on."
- Compiled by Nancy Hendrickson (granddaughter), 1974, based on the verbal dictations given to Shirley Ann Furr (granddaughter), on 6 October 1970, and also to her daughter-in-law Lucile Hardy (Hawkins) Furr, on 23 April 1971.
Mary had a forthright personality and as the eldest surviving child, grew up to be both tough and tender in her ways. She was remembered by her siblings more as a little mother than a sister, as she needed to take care of the little ones while their parents were out in the fields during the summer months. She learned the skills needed to survive in primitive farm life, as there were very little outside resources.
Mary was a brilliant woman. As an excellent seamstress, she had the ability to see a dress she liked (or anything she envisioned), create her own pattern, then make it from memory. She also became a talented painter of watercolors. She was a dedicated genealogist who spent hours collecting data about her and her husband's family.
Mary was the mother of 10 children, 6 of whom lived to accomplished adulthood. She lived to the age of 90.
"I was born 28 November 1881 in a one room log house near Big Lick, Stanly County, North Carolina, on the Austin Road – close to the Mark Morgan ford, or Big Bear Creek. I was the second child born to Rufus Monroe Hathcock and Eliza Jane Burroughs. My older brother, or first born of my parents, was given the name of Vernon and died in infancy.
My first recollection was the day my sister was born. When Christine was born I went to great Uncle Monroe Lowder’s house. His wife, Aunt Nancy, made me a little rag doll which I gave the name of 'Bill'. That was in 1884.
In my youth where I was born, I liked to go in the woods and see the Dogwood blooms in the spring of the year. My mother and I would go down on the creek and pick creases (greens). She would cook them - they were so good. We had lots of blackberries on the farm. I loved the place. Along in June, when the huckleberries would get ripe, I liked to go through the woods and gather hickory nuts, blackberries, and black walnuts that were along the stream. My sister Christine and I would pick them and Mother would make berry pies. They were so good. We children had fun gathering.
I loved animals, especially sheep. I was the shepherdess at home. It was my task to care for the sheep we had on the farm. I liked to play out in the clover fields and catch butterflies. Some wrens would build their nests in our granary. I liked to feed them. Once I had a pet sheep and it had a lamb, but it didn’t live long. When it died, I took it to the woods and laid it by a tree so I could go and look at it every day as long as I could. But one day when I went to look at it, it was gone. Something had taken it away. I felt so badly I couldn’t see my baby lamb anymore.
I enjoyed going to Grandfather Burroughs to play with my Aunts Minnie and Rosa. Minnie was a year younger. We would go to the woods and play with our rag dolls. We would play house and have meetings. We had fun as youngsters. When we were able, we went to Pleasant Grove to Sunday School till we were grown up.
I started school at the age of 6 years in the old Burris school house, a mile from home - first teacher was David Burroughs. All were in one room – no grades at that time. My father walked with me the first day and when the teacher called me up to recite, I couldn’t read and I looked up at my teacher and said, “It’s somethin”. He laughed and said, 'Yes, it’s somethin,' and I returned to my seat."
We worked hard on the farm and we were poor. I helped Mother card and spin cotton and wool to make our clothes after school was out. She would weave the cloth. In the summertime the well would go dry sometimes and we would have to carry water from the Kiah spring about a mile away from home.
When I was 12 years old, a neighbor girl came to our house. One Sunday afternoon, she told me about their school recitation they were going to have at the end of the school. She mentioned Dean Furr. That made an impression on me. When the time came, my two Aunts, Minnie and Rosa Burroughs, came to go with me to the affair. So we went and I saw Dean for the first time. He was so handsome, about 15 years old, and I was 12. I decided that was my man.
[Years] after, we were picking cotton. On the road, he came by. I was just thrilled to see him again. In the meantime, I had two other boyfriends. I was then 16. I still remembered Dean – none like him. Then one night at a corn shucking at my uncle’s, he was there. He had my cousin ask me if he could see me home. Of course that was just it. So that was my first walk with him.
I enjoyed my school days with my friends. We had so much fun [even] if we did have to study hard. I did not get to go to school very much as we had to work. Times were so hard. My sister and I went to a singing school, taught by Walter Kirk. He took a fancy to me. I went with him for a while, but he was too old for me.
I did not know of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at that time. When 16 years of age [1897], I joined the missionary Baptist Church, but I only remained there shortly.
My [family and] sister Christine and I went to Concord to work in the cotton mill in the spring of 1898. I was a weaver – ran six lug looms at a time. I did not see Dean for some time but I still had him in mind. And then I had a friend, Rufus Hills I liked quite well. He thought he had to marry me, but I did not like him well enough. So one of my cousins told Dean if he didn’t go and see me, I would marry that fellow. So he came up to Concord – I remember it so well. I was so surprised to see him. I did not know he was coming. After that, we kept close contact with each other.
In 1901, we [the family] moved back to the farm for nine months. Dean and I saw each other 'til we moved back to Concord in the Fall of 1901. I worked till the family moved to the Gibson’s Mill.
We became engaged about Christmas and were married on December 10, 1902. Green Paul Furr and I were married on Wednesday at the home of Justice of the Peace Joseph Smotherly at Plyler, North Carolina. Henry Lowder, my cousin, was best man, and Dean’s cousin, Eliza Morton, was my bridesmaid. Witnesses were Flora Mae Morton (Dad’s cousin) and James Henry Lowder (Grandma’s cousin).
We lived with GP’s parents till our house was finished at Bloomington. It was sort of a sad parting - I being the first to leave home. My mother and all the family cried when I started to leave. I cried too. It was 20 miles from Concord to Bloomington. I remember how the telephone wired sang by the road as we travelled our long way. I never heard them sing that way anymore.
We lived in our five room house Dean had for us. I had a garden at Bloomington which I tended myself. He had his store close by. I helped my husband in the store. Dean, as he was called, was Postmaster there. I was his assistant. I opened the mail bags when the mailman would come with the mail. Then I would put it up in the boxes. While at Bloomington, I took a course in dressmaking from the School of Dressmaking from Kansas City, Missouri.
I heard the Elders preach in a schoolhouse. When I heard the Elders preach, I knew it was true. I later joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 14 July 1907.
We moved to Albemarle, North Carolina in 1908. We lived there till 1910, when we moved to E. LaBelle Community, where we started a mercantile business again. We homesteaded a dry farm in 1912 near Poplar, Idaho – a place close to the store. We had to live on the place three months out of the year to improve upon it. We built a nice house there. Then we added two rooms by the side of the store to live in till we proved up on the farm. After we improved upon the farm, we moved back to Poplar and built a brick house on a lot we bought by a canal. My brother Henry worked with him (GP) in the store. Later, Henry managed the one in Ririe which burned. It was a total loss. In 1917 my cousin Will Carter came out from North Carolina. He worked with us in the store at Poplar till we moved to Arizona.
In November 1917, we sold our brick home and moved to Mesa, Arizona on a farm ¾ mile out of town. Dean soon went into the mercantile business. In 1926, we traded the farm for a house and lot in San Diego. Then we moved to this house where I now live.
I enjoy going to church and meeting friends. I have travelled a lot to Utah and enjoyed the trips very much. I have made several trips back to the old home in Albemarle, Stanly County, North Carolina. I have been engaged in genealogical and Temple work for several years past. At present, I do Temple work each Monday night. I have worked in all the organizations of the ward and stake, both in Rigby, Idaho, and Maricopa Stake, been a counselor in the Primary Stake in Arizona, a counselor in Ward Primary in Idaho and Arizona Stakes, and in Relief Society in Mesa, and [been a] Sunday School chorister in Idaho Ward, secretary for genealogy; Stake Secretary and Treasurer for Singing Mothers.
I leave a strong testimony of the Gospel. I know with all my heart it is true. I love the association of LDS. I love to attend church and especially conferences. I love Relief Society – the lessons are very interesting. I have been a visiting teacher, and ward secretary and treasurer. I guess I have done about all I can do in the church. It is now for the younger people to carry on."
- Compiled by Nancy Hendrickson (granddaughter), 1974, based on the verbal dictations given to Shirley Ann Furr (granddaughter), on 6 October 1970, and also to her daughter-in-law Lucile Hardy (Hawkins) Furr, on 23 April 1971.
Events
| Birth | 28 Nov 1881 | Big Lick, Stanly County, NC | |||
| Marriage | 10 Dec 1902 | Plyler, Stanly County, NC - Green Paul "Dean" FURR |  | ||
| Death | 21 Mar 1972 | Mesa, Maricopa County, AZ |  | | |
| Burial | City of Mesa Cemetery, Mesa, Maricopa County, AZ | |
Families
| Spouse | Green Paul "Dean" FURR (1879 - 1966) |
| Child | Carl Jethro FURR (1903 - 1991) |
| Child | Vernon Cornelius FURR (1905 - 1988) |
| Child | Essie Elizabeth FURR (1907 - 1929) |
| Child | Ruth FURR (1909 - 1910) |
| Child | Cecil Ray FURR (1911 - 1987) |
| Child | Green Paul FURR Jr. (1913 - 1927) |
| Child | Mary FURR (1917 - 2006) |
| Child | Kenneth Quentin FURR (1919 - 1920) |
| Child | Edgar Grant "Eddie" FURR (1921 - 1990) |
| Child | James Angus FURR (1926 - 1996) |
| Father | Rufus Monroe HATHCOCK (1856 - 1933) |
| Mother | Eliza Jane BURROUGHS (1861 - 1953) |
Notes
Death
MESA — Mrs. Mary C. Furr, 90, who came here in 1917 from Poplar, Idaho, died in Mesa General Hospital. Mrs. Fur, 165 W. Second Ave., had been a past president of both the Relief Society and and was an Arizona Temple worker, all with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints. She belonged to the church's Third Ward. She was born in Albemarle, N.C. Survivors include five sons, Carl J. , US. Army (Ret.) of Mesa, Cecil of Salt Lake City, Edgar of Glendale, Angus of Miami, Fla., Vernon of Phoenix; a daughter, Mrs. Mary Johnston of Phoenix; a sister, Mrs. Myrtle Pearce of Mesa; a brother, Isaac Hathcock of California; 22 grandchildren and 32 great - grandchildren. Services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Third Ward Chapel, 234-W. 10th Ave. Friends may call from 5 to 9 p.m, tomorrow in Meldrum Mortuary, 52 N. Macdonald. Burial will be in Mesa Cemetery.The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona, March 23, 1972
Endnotes
1. Helen L. Garner, transcriber, Stanly County North Carolina Marriages, Book I: 1851-1867, Book II: -1904: (Albemarle, NC: Stanly County Genealogical Society, 1987).
2. The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona, March 23, 1972.
3. findagrave.com.