Bowden Joyce, Founding Mothers

to the village. In the 1830s, Methodists established a church there and the village changed its name to Cokesbury from M OUNT A RIEL . 3 Though not born in the new village, Mary D.’s mother Mary Ann Dorothy (Connor) Hodges was born nearby. 4 The birthplace of her father Samuel Anderson Hodges is not known but likely was nearby also. He was village postmaster and county sheriff and tax collector. One of her father’s brothers was trustee of the Methodist boys’ preparatory school; another brother managed the school and its farm. 5 Photos: Mary Ann Dorothy (Hodges) Bailey’s mother, Mary Ann Dorothy (Connor) Hodges, and father, Samuel Anderson Hodges Courtesy: South Caroliniana Library Photo: Mary Ann Dorothy (Hodges) Bailey’s niece, Harriet “Hattie” Hodges (foreground), and sister-in-law, Harriet (Bailey) Hodges Courtesy: Julia B. Hodges Photo: Mary Ann Dorothy (Hodges) Bailey’s nephew, Arthur Lee Courtesy: The (Greenwood, South Carolina) Index-Journal In 1850 Mary D.’s family lived in the county seat. As a county official, her father probably traveled there regularly and knew it well. He identified himself as the innkeeper to the census enumerator. The inn was home to him, his wife and eight children including Mary D. Eleven men also lived at the inn, making it appear like a long-stay hotel or boardinghouse. Lawyers and a law student who lived there suggested that the inn was close to the courthouse. A doctor, tailor and two clerks also lived there. A live-in hosteler probably managed the inn enabling her father to continue his public duties. 6 3 Bowden, Four Connor Generations , 10-81 passim. Also, Betsy Wakefield Teter, The Townsends of Cokesbury and Ninety Six (Spartanburg, South Carolina: WakeTown Editions, 2021), 35-98 passim. 4 Henrietta Mayson Connor Holt to William Shackleford Connor, excerpt from November 1888 letter, quoted in Paul E. Connor, Kansas City, Missouri, to Frances Connor, Cokesbury, South Carolina, letter, 2 December 1941; Watson Papers (Harry Legare Watson); South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia. 5 Watson, Greenwood Co. Sketches , 106, 195, 261-267. Also, Elliott, Kith and Kin , 102. 6 1850 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, population schedule, Village of Abbeville, pp. 46A & B, dwelling 743, family 743, Samuel A. Hodges; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 21 October 2020); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 848.

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