Lollis/Stevenson Family History

This is the family history of my father (an only child)
-- Edward Wesley (Ed) LOLLIS [1904-1995].

The family was created 24 Dec 1903 by the wedding of his parents
-- William Montray (Will) LOLLIS [1870-1923] and
-- Georgia Angeline STEVENSON [1879-1915] in Roachdale, Putnam County, Indiana, USA.

The Lollis half of the family is entirely from Virginia; Will's father was in the Confederate Army -- and a Union prison (Camp Chase, Ohio). The Stevenson half of the family is essentially Midwestern; Georgia's father was in the Union Army -- and a Confederate prison (Macon, Georgia).

This webpage contains their four-generation pedigree followed by hot links to many documents written by or about family members and their ancestors named Lollis (ex-Lawless), Canady, Smith, Custer, Stevenson, Brandenburg, Dodd, Davenport, etc. 

--------- ---------  --------- ---------  --------- ---------  --------- ---------
LAWLESS   CANADY     SMITH     CUSTER     STEVENSON BRANDENBU- DODD      DAVENPORT
Wyatt     Elizabeth  Jefferson Eliz. Ann  Isaac W.  Eliza  RG  Ennis     Jemima
b.1795 VA b.1801 VA  b.18?? VA b.18?? VA  b.1814 KY b.1817 ??  b.1811 VA b.1815 VA
d.18?? VA d.1902 VA  d.1911 VA d.1911 VA  d.???? IN d.1862 MO  d.1853 IN d.???? IN
-------------------  -------------------  -------------------  -------------------
 LOLLIS               SMITH                STEVENSON            DODD
 William Edward (Ed)  Missouri Etta        Wesley (Wes)         Mary Catherine(Kate)
 b.1830 VA BedfordCty b.1851 VA RoanokeCty b.1841 IN NewWnchstr b.1849 IN NorthSalem
 d.1902 IN Whitesvlle d.1915 IN Whitesvlle d.1912 IN HendricksC d.1939 IN Roachdale
 ---------------------------------------   ---------------------------------------
  LOLLIS                                    STEVENSON
  William Montray (Will)                    Georgia Angeline (Georgia)
  b.1870 VA Botetourt County Carvin's Cove  b.1879 IN Putnam County Maysville farm
  d.1923 IN Indianapolis Cent.St.Hospital   d.1915 TX Austin hospital
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  LOLLIS
                                  Edward Wesley (Ed)
                                  b.1904 IN North Salem
                                  d.1995 IN Indianapolis
                                  m.CAMPBELL Georgia May
  • 1775-1783 - Richard LAWLESS of Amherst County, Virginia, serves in the American Revolution. After the Civil War (1861-1865), anyone named Lawless in Amherst County will be considered to be Indian and therefore Black under Virginia's "racial integrity" laws. In January 1943, the State Director of Vital Statistics (Dr. Walter A. Plecker) will officially designate Lawless as a "mongrel" name in Amherst County: "All certificates of these people showing 'Indian' or 'White' are now being rejected."

  • 1832 (May 15) - "3 cows, 12 hogs and their increase" - Wyatt LAWLESS in Bedford County, Virginia, provides for his sister Elizabeth LAWLESS Tankersley in neighboring Amherst County. The parents of Wyatt and Elizabeth were Richard LAWLESS and Elizabeth GOODRICH.

  • 1861 - "There has a good many gon to war from here" - Lewis Clark DODD in Missouri uses patriotic stationery to write his step-mother Jemima DAVENPORT Dodd and half-sisters Kate and Ang "back home" in Indiana.

  • 1862 (January 1) - Death of Absalom SMITH, Jr. in Mason's Cove, Roanoke County, Virginia (near Salem, VA). Absalom and his wife Martha GARWOOD (who died 26 Apr 1863) are buried in a tiny 2-person walled cemetery on a cliff overhanding Route 622 about 3 miles West of Mason's Cove. They were major landowners and parents of Jefferson SMITH (see 1911 below).

  • 1863 (September 3) - "Get a furlough and come home. I want to see you very bad." - Widow Elizabeth GOODMAN Canady writes from Bedford County, Virginia, to her nephew (and boy friend?) William Edward LOLLIS while he's in the Confederate Army.

  • 1865 (March 22) - "An Order received from The President" releases Confederate soldier William Edward LOLLIS from the Union prison at Camp Chase, Ohio.

  • 1866 (October 4) - Received of Lawless...Signed by Lollis - Confusion over the family name: It's written one way but signed another -- on the same paper and on the same day.

  • 1901 (March 19) - "We have traded our farm [and] I feal like I will die [about my sister]." - Mary Catherine (Kate) DODD Stevenson tries to hold two families together: Her own in Indiana and her sister's in Arkansas.

  • 1902 (January 9) - "What a time we could have together. Ha. Ha." - Girl talk by 22-year old Georgia Angeline STEVENSON writing from Indianapolis to a chum in the country.

  • 1905-1942 - Stevenson Family Postcards. - Robert and Arthur visit Manitoba. Arthur, Georgia and Edward go to Texas. Mother Kate joins them after Wes dies. Edward comes to live with Robert & Mary. Arthur stays in Texas. Etc. Etc.

  • 1906 (March 7) - "Above all let peace and love abound which I have always wanted." - Foreseeing her own death, 26-year old Georgia Angeline STEVENSON Lollis asks her parents and husband to "educate [baby] and give him every opportunity possible."

  • 1909 (February 28) - "Unanimous consent to take unto himself a wife." - The Indiana House of Representatives passes a "virtual" resolution permiting Arthur STEVENSON of Roachdale to marry Ethel ADAMS in Muncie, Indiana.

  • 1911 (December 22) - Death of Jefferson SMITH near Bennett Springs, Roanoke County, Virginia (coming soon).

  • 1915 (April) - "Her soul boat slipped its moorings." - Poem written by Arthur STEVENSON (age 38) enroute from Texas to Roachdale, Indiana, for the funeral of his sister Georgia Angeline STEVENSON Lollis (age 34) who died in Austin, 14 Apr 1915. Plus an obituary which may also have been written by Arthur.

  • 1915 (October 7) - "Great Fiananceer worth one half millian dollars" - Doctors examine William Montray LOLLIS just after he's admitted to the Insane Hospital of the State of Indiana.

  • 1938 (January 18) - "I am hoping to cook a good dinner for ones I love." - 90-year old Grandmother Kate DODD Stevenson writes from Roachdale, Indiana, to her grandson Edward Wesley LOLLIS and his family in Indianapolis.