Individual Details
Sarah Leticia "Sally" HATLEY
(18 Jan 1847 - 7 May 1933)
Sarah Leticia Hatley was born 18 January 1847 in Stanly County, North Carolina to Green and Margaret (Burris) Hatley. She is described as a humble woman and religiously inclined. When her grandson, Carl Jethro Furr was interviewed, he remembered how much Sarah had cared and nurtured her family with good, carefully prepared food and with her best attention. "She was a fine lady, I know that", he remembered warmly.
As a young woman growing up in the Southern U.S., Sarah endured the trials that were associated there during the American Civil War. Her future husband, Aaron Furr (also of Stanly County, North Carolina) hailed from a farming family who believed in the cause of Abraham Lincoln, but fought for his homeland of North Carolina.
Sarah's son Green Paul (known as "Dean") wrote:
“After returning home [from the Civil War, Aaron] married Sarah L. Hatley on November 23, 1865. They lived at Daniel Bowers’ place where Cenia, Good, Andrew, Jane, Rosa L., and Green Paul were born..” We lived “in a log house that had no nails in the floor. As my father did not have any nails, he bored holes in the floor and floor joints, and made wooden pegs and drove them in the holes which held the floor down. This home was near Bear Creek Church and there was a spring of water near the house where they got water to wash… We didn’t have a bathroom in those days. We got our bath in a wash tub.. This was about 8 miles from Albemarle, North Carolina and about two miles west of Canton Baptist Church.”
In 1880, the Furrs moved to Bloomington on Ramsey’s Branch. “This home was also a log house about 50 feet long with a fireplace at each end. On the east room fireplace my mother [Sarah] did all her cooking."
Sarah's husband Aaron made a living as a farmer, Justice of the Peace, Postmaster at Bloomington, school teacher for a few years, and also ran a store.
Describing life on the farm, Dean wrote: “In that day threshing grain was done by a separater, which piles out the chaff in one place, straw at another. The one who measured grain kept the number of bushels by having a board with holes in it, and the man would move pegs in the board. The power was created by horses, which walked in a circle around the horse power. I got great joy in watching the driver stand on a platform cracking his whip to see that each horse pulled his part. When they got through threshing, the bugler would sound his bugle --- ‘sol do mi sol, sol do mi sol mi, sol do mi sol mi do’ – letting the next neighbor know they would soon be there so that dinner might be ready. They usually ate one or two meals with each farmer depending on the size of his crop – they frequently had plenty of apple cider to drink…I played the violin for the old time parties, at corn huskings, quiltings, etc. for people to dance after work was done… on the farmer’s floor after eating pie or chicken and dumpling supper – these were the good old days. We played ‘hoe down’ such as ‘Turkey in the Straw,’ ‘Rye Straw,’ ‘Arkansas Traveler,’ ‘Seven and a Half,’ ‘Mississippi Sawyer,’ ‘Leather Britches,’ ‘Whistling Ruffs’, etc.”
We “moved from Ramsey’s Branch to the Mill Place in 1889 where he had a corn mill, cotton gin and sawmill” and where Aaron and Sarah resided for the rest of their lives.
“My parents were religiously inclined, but they didn’t force us to believe in any particular religion… About sunset one evening at my father’s home two Elders (from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) came when I was in the barnyard. I looked at the edge of the woods toward well dressed men talking to father. I joined them, heard their talk; they discussed a few principles of the gospel. They asked if they could stay there overnight... So my dad said, ‘You can stay overnight.' My mother was very humble woman. She fixed supper for them. They sat up till 10:00 talking. Their story sounded good to me and my father”.
Aaron Furr passed away on 23 April 1920 at age 79. Sarah lived for 13 more years and passed away on 7 May 1933, at the age of 86. She was buried at Bear Creek Cemetery in Stanly County, North Carolina.
As a young woman growing up in the Southern U.S., Sarah endured the trials that were associated there during the American Civil War. Her future husband, Aaron Furr (also of Stanly County, North Carolina) hailed from a farming family who believed in the cause of Abraham Lincoln, but fought for his homeland of North Carolina.
Sarah's son Green Paul (known as "Dean") wrote:
“After returning home [from the Civil War, Aaron] married Sarah L. Hatley on November 23, 1865. They lived at Daniel Bowers’ place where Cenia, Good, Andrew, Jane, Rosa L., and Green Paul were born..” We lived “in a log house that had no nails in the floor. As my father did not have any nails, he bored holes in the floor and floor joints, and made wooden pegs and drove them in the holes which held the floor down. This home was near Bear Creek Church and there was a spring of water near the house where they got water to wash… We didn’t have a bathroom in those days. We got our bath in a wash tub.. This was about 8 miles from Albemarle, North Carolina and about two miles west of Canton Baptist Church.”
In 1880, the Furrs moved to Bloomington on Ramsey’s Branch. “This home was also a log house about 50 feet long with a fireplace at each end. On the east room fireplace my mother [Sarah] did all her cooking."
Sarah's husband Aaron made a living as a farmer, Justice of the Peace, Postmaster at Bloomington, school teacher for a few years, and also ran a store.
Describing life on the farm, Dean wrote: “In that day threshing grain was done by a separater, which piles out the chaff in one place, straw at another. The one who measured grain kept the number of bushels by having a board with holes in it, and the man would move pegs in the board. The power was created by horses, which walked in a circle around the horse power. I got great joy in watching the driver stand on a platform cracking his whip to see that each horse pulled his part. When they got through threshing, the bugler would sound his bugle --- ‘sol do mi sol, sol do mi sol mi, sol do mi sol mi do’ – letting the next neighbor know they would soon be there so that dinner might be ready. They usually ate one or two meals with each farmer depending on the size of his crop – they frequently had plenty of apple cider to drink…I played the violin for the old time parties, at corn huskings, quiltings, etc. for people to dance after work was done… on the farmer’s floor after eating pie or chicken and dumpling supper – these were the good old days. We played ‘hoe down’ such as ‘Turkey in the Straw,’ ‘Rye Straw,’ ‘Arkansas Traveler,’ ‘Seven and a Half,’ ‘Mississippi Sawyer,’ ‘Leather Britches,’ ‘Whistling Ruffs’, etc.”
We “moved from Ramsey’s Branch to the Mill Place in 1889 where he had a corn mill, cotton gin and sawmill” and where Aaron and Sarah resided for the rest of their lives.
“My parents were religiously inclined, but they didn’t force us to believe in any particular religion… About sunset one evening at my father’s home two Elders (from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) came when I was in the barnyard. I looked at the edge of the woods toward well dressed men talking to father. I joined them, heard their talk; they discussed a few principles of the gospel. They asked if they could stay there overnight... So my dad said, ‘You can stay overnight.' My mother was very humble woman. She fixed supper for them. They sat up till 10:00 talking. Their story sounded good to me and my father”.
Aaron Furr passed away on 23 April 1920 at age 79. Sarah lived for 13 more years and passed away on 7 May 1933, at the age of 86. She was buried at Bear Creek Cemetery in Stanly County, North Carolina.
Events
| Birth | 18 Jan 1847 | Albemarle, Stanly County, NC | |||
| Marriage | 21 Nov 1865 | Stanly County, NC - Aaron FURR |  | ||
| Death | 7 May 1933 | Albemarle, Stanly County, NC |  | | |
| Alt name | Janie L. HATLEY | | |||
| Burial | Bear Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Albemarle, Stanly County, NC | |
Families
| Spouse | Aaron FURR (1846 - 1920) |
| Child | Marcenia Hettabelle FURR (1867 - 1937) |
| Child | Goodin Caphus FURR (1869 - 1937) |
| Child | Andrew Jenkins "Andy" FURR (1872 - 1951) |
| Child | Malinda Jane FURR (1875 - 1961) |
| Child | Rosa Lillian Ann "Mollie" FURR (1877 - 1958) |
| Child | Green Paul "Dean" FURR (1879 - 1966) |
| Child | Margaret Ellen "Maggie" FURR (1882 - 1972) |
| Child | Grover Cleveland FURR (1885 - 1921) |
| Father | Green HATLEY (1819 - 1897) |
| Mother | Margaret Catherine BURRIS (1824 - 1906) |
| Sibling | John HATLEY (1844 - 1858) |
| Sibling | Gooden HATLEY (1849 - 1931) |
| Sibling | Mazia Rosilla HATLEY (1853 - 1861) |
| Sibling | David Adam HATLEY (1856 - 1857) |
| Sibling | Martha Jane HATLEY (1858 - 1861) |
| Sibling | Celia Elizabeth HATLEY (1861 - 1901) |
| Sibling | Louisa Quintina HATLEY (1863 - 1953) |
| Sibling | Margaret Ellen HATLEY (1867 - 1944) |
Notes
Death
Mrs. Sarah L. Furr passed away at the home of A. J. Furr in the Bloomington section Sunday after an illness of several weeks. Mrs. Furr, the widow of the late Aaron Furr, was 87 years of age, and on account of the infirmities of age, relatives realized that the end was near when she was stricken some three weeks ago. Funeral services were conducted Monday afternoon at Bear Creek Baptist church at 3 o'clock. Services were in charge of Rev. Jason Eudy. Interment was made in the cemetery there. Mrs. Furr is survived by seven children: G. C., A. J., and G. P. Furr, Mrs. J. A. Morton, Mrs. U. S. Burleyson, Mrs. L. A Herrin, and Mrs. Maggie Tucker. All the children live in this county except G. P. Furr, who lives in Mesa, Ariz. She is survived by many grandchildren and quite a number of great and great-great-grandchildren. Thus she lived to see her fourth generation.Stanly News and Press, Albemarle, North Carolina, May 9, 1933
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. North Carolina Deaths and Burials, 1898-1994. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 February 2020.
3. 1930 Cabarrus County, North Carolina, Census, Poplar Tent, ED 3, page 96A.
4. Tombstone Records Stanly County North Carolina, Volume I, David Kirk Shaver, Jr. and B. W. Cruse, Albemarle, NC, 1968.