Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries......McClenny, M. Cattie, 1925 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ MARY C. (CATTIE) McCLENNY MISS CATTIE McCLENNY DIES AT SISTER’S HOME Miss Mary C. (Cattie) McClenny died Tuesday morning at 6:10 o’clock at the home of her half-sister, Mrs. J.C. Byrd, near Holland. She was the daughter of David McClenny and his wife, Median D. Wright, both natives of the county. Miss Cattie was born near Myrtle on October 27, 1843, and was therefore, more than 82 years old. She had made her home for some years with her brother, David McClenny, until he died on August 10, this year. Since that time her home was with Mrs. Byrd. She spent most of her life, however, with her step-father, Henry F. Copeland, near Boxelder. She had been a member of the Baptist church for nearly 70 years, first joining Western Branch Church as a girl, and as she was living near Holland’s Corner Baptist Church when that was organized, she joined there, to which church she belonged at the time of her death. She belonged to one of the old families of the county, which settled here prior to 1704. The family has always had many members in the Baptist church, and at least two ministers in the early days and were member of that church in Thomas Jefferson’s day, when he was fighting for religious freedom in the State. The men of the family did not hesitate to give him their support as the old petitions in the State archives show, for there were several by that name who signed the petitions to the Legislature for religious freedom in the State. Her grandfather, John McClenny, was in the War of 1812, while her great- great uncle, John Gilliam, died in Revolutionary service. Her father belonged to the Nansemond militia in 1831 and was one of the mounted men sent from the county to help put down the Nat Turner insurrection in Southampton County that year. She has given her life in faithful loving and devoted service to four generations in her family, as long as she was able to work, and in her last days she was cared for by Mrs. Byrd and her family. She leaves also a half-brother, Jesse W. Copeland, of Lummis, and several nieces and nephews. Funeral services were held at Western Branch Baptist Church Wednesday, November 11, at 2 p.m. Burial was in the family cemetery near Myrtle. Active pallbearers were Henry and Holmes Copeland, Howard and Leonard Byrd, J.D., S.L. and W.E. McClenny and Christy Eley; honorary: R.L. Eley, J.H. Powell, P.J. Powell, Jack Pierce, John B. Archer, John D. Matthews, D.L. Daughtrey, R.A. Daughtrey, Frank N. Ashburn, J.F. Rawles, W.J. Simons, Sam Nelms, Dempsey Johnson, Carr Butler, Lloyd Frank Wright, J.H. Copeland, William J. Wright, J.K.P. Daughtrey, Butler, I.T. and Y.C. Byrd, J.L. and J.W. Hare, C.C. Copeland, R.C. Norfleet, A.H. Savage, E.T. Holland, Noah Brown, William Daughtrey. Her funeral was conducted by Dr. N.G. Newman of Holland, assisted by Dr. W.W. Staley of Suffolk, at Western Branch Baptist Church, the place where she first united with the church, and where she first united with the church, and where her ancestors for several generations had worshiped. Her pastor Rev. L.F. Paulette, being absent at the State Association in Roanoke, Va., and these two ministers each having known her for over thirty years, both made appropriate remarks on her long life of service to her family and humanity. The music by the church choir was appropriate, and the flowers beautiful. After the service at the church her remains were laid to rest in the old family burying ground on the farm which has been in the family for much over 100 years, and the large gathering at that time showed the esteem in which she was held by the people of the two communities in which she had spent the major part of her life, and each one felt that one of God’s good and faithful servants had been called up higher, to receive her reward. Mary C. "Cattie" MCCLENNY, b. 27 Oct 1843, near Myrtle, d. 10 Nov 1925, at half-sister's home, near Holland, interred in family cemetery*, near Myrtle, 11 Nov 1925, donated obit, publication unknown *Added to the COPELAND family cemetery, on Pioneer Rd., where her mother & step-father are buried Nansemond Co. Miscellaneous Cemeteries, Vol. 2 (II-16), an extension of the Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/nanvol2.txt Her brother David is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Suffolk. Cedar Hill list, another extension of the SCHS Cemetery Project: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/cedar_m.txt His obit (donated) is posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/m245d1ob.txt Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), and re-formatted by File Manager. file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/m245m1ob.txt