My maternal grandmother, Pattie Elizabeth Twiddy Twiford, told me on several occasions whenever I would ask her about her childhood and family history to ‘let sleeping dogs lie’. To tell me her granddaughter a genealogist that statement just made me want to dig deeper into her past to find out what she didn’t want to talk about. After much digging, I think I have figured out most of her life and why she wanted her past to be kept silent.
My grandmother was born April 16, 1895 in Currituck County, NC to Nancy James Chaplin Twiddy. Her real father wasn't talked about as Nancy James Chaplin Twiddy was not married at the time of my grandmother’s birth as her husband Joseph Henry Twiddy, Sr (so the story goes) went to find work and never returned. Family oral history is that he drowned at sea and never returned. Since we live on the east coast of NC where many men were sailors, fishermen or boatman – this theory is believed to be correct and acceptable.
At the time that Joseph Henry Twiddy left to look for work, Nancy James had 3 other children (two sons and one daughter). Joseph Henry Twiddy, Jr born, 6 Jan 1874 - Jeremiah Twiddy born Jan 1881 and Martha Isolind Twiddy born 15 May 1888. We believe Nancy James left Tyrrell Co with the 3 children to go live with relatives in Jarvisburg in Currituck County, NC. Before my grandmother died, I asked my grandmother where she lived in Currituck Co and she said that they lived with Johnson Melson in Jarvisburg in an old house.
My grandmother was born April 16, 1895 in Currituck County, NC to Nancy James Chaplin Twiddy. Her real father wasn't talked about as Nancy James Chaplin Twiddy was not married at the time of my grandmother’s birth as her husband Joseph Henry Twiddy, Sr (so the story goes) went to find work and never returned. Family oral history is that he drowned at sea and never returned. Since we live on the east coast of NC where many men were sailors, fishermen or boatman – this theory is believed to be correct and acceptable.
At the time that Joseph Henry Twiddy left to look for work, Nancy James had 3 other children (two sons and one daughter). Joseph Henry Twiddy, Jr born, 6 Jan 1874 - Jeremiah Twiddy born Jan 1881 and Martha Isolind Twiddy born 15 May 1888. We believe Nancy James left Tyrrell Co with the 3 children to go live with relatives in Jarvisburg in Currituck County, NC. Before my grandmother died, I asked my grandmother where she lived in Currituck Co and she said that they lived with Johnson Melson in Jarvisburg in an old house.
