Surry County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....King, Valeria A. Maddera, 1950 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ 'Sis' Lee, Surry's Last Link With Confederacy, Is 100 By Charles Houston Richmond News-Leader Surry, Oct. 5 - "Sis" Lee, Surry County's last living link with the Confederacy was 100 years old October 5th. "Sis" Lee is the name affectionately given relatives and neighbors to Mrs. Valeria Ann King, daughter of one Confederate veteran and widow of two. The celebration was held with an open house from 2 to 4 P.M. Sunday at her home, two miles east of town on Thrifty Ridge Road. Mrs. King is bright and sprightly for her age. She will vote for President Truman November 2, and is now debating whether to vote by mail or go to the polls in person. All Property Lost She always has been interested in politics ever since her father, Eldridge T. Maddera, a tolerably wealthy man before the Civil War, came home in 1865 to find himself a pauper. All his property, she said, had been stolen and burned, or otherwise destroyed. He served as a first lieutenant. Her interest in politics, always intense, did not reach its peak until 1940. Then she was so vigorously a partisan of President Roosevelt that she insisted upon being registered to vote. She was totally blind, and has been since 1934. But Attorney-General Staples had ruled a short time before that blind persons might register to vote provided they could read and write before blindness came upon them. So, on her ninety-second birthday, Oct. 5, 1940, she registered, and then in November of that year cast her first vote. She did not have to pay poll taxes. She was doubly exempt as the widow of two Confederate veterans. Her first husband was Dr. William Madison Cotton, and her second was William King, who died about 1900. No Confederate veterans are left in the county now, say her relatives, and she is the one widow. She is the mother of four children, all by her first marriage. Among her 43 living descendants is Madison W. Berryman, member of the Surry Board of Supervisors, a grandson. A step-grandson is Gordon C. Berryman, Surry County Commissioner of Revenue and Secretary-Treasurer of the State Association of Commissioners of the Revenue. She lives in a house with four generations of the family - Mrs. Sarah V. Berryman, daughter; Mrs. Mary B. Pitman, granddaughter, and Miss Mary Jud Pitman, great-granddaughter. There are now five great-great-grandchildren among the 43 living descendants, which include one child, 15 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and the five great-great grandchildren. Mrs. King has no recipe for longevity. She thinks "the Lord has just been kind to me." Hers isn't a lonely life despite her blindness. She was expert enough to knit rugs long after blindness shut her in, and she enjoys the family talk now, and the voices of the youngsters of the clan whom she can identify by voice although she has never seen many of them. Always Lived In Surry She has spent all her days in Surry. On Oct. 5, 1848, she was born at Spring Grove, only nine miles from the courthouse, and her orbit of activity has been small. Many of her descendants are Richmonders. Among these is a granddaughter, Mrs. B.A. Travis, of South Richmond. Great-grandchildren who are Richmonders include Mrs. Eugene Barnett, Mrs. James Gayhart, Mrs. Chester J. Ritchie and John H. Lane III. Mrs. King had her birthday cake as usual, and she has learned to enjoy it and members of her family on her birthdays without being able to see them. As for Mrs. Truman, Mrs. King says, Mr. Roosevelt picked him, and he seems to be following the Roosevelt program. This, she says, is recommendation enough for her. ****************************************************************************** Mrs. Valeria King, 101, of Surry, Va. Died June 23rd [sic; 24th] Mrs. Valeria A. King, age 101, died at her home in Surry County June 23rd after a short illness. She was a life-long resident of Surry and a member of the Union Christian Church. She is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Sara V. Berryman, 14 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and 7 great-great-grandchildren. Funeral services were held on Monday at 4 P.M. at the grave in the family cemetery in Surry County. The body was taken from the Bullock Funeral Home at 1 P.M. Monday to rest at her home until time of the services. She was the last Surry County confederate. She was a daughter of a Confederate and a widow of two Confederates. Her father Eldridge T. Madcera [sic; A. Maddera] was first [sic; second] lieutenant in the Civil War. Her first husband, Dr. William Coctom [sic; Cotton], and her second, William King, were both Confederates of Surry County. She was always interested in politics and could knit rugs and patterns, although she had been blind since 1934. Valeria Ann "Sis Lee" (MADDERA COTTON; Mrs. William Allen) KING, last Confederate widow in Surry Co., b. 5 Oct 1848, Spring Grove, Surry Co., d. 24 Jun 1950, Surry Co., interred in the COTTON family cemetery*, near Dendron, Surry Co., "The Smithfield (VA) Times," Vol. 31, No. 20, Wed., Oct. 13, 1948, p. 1; "The Smithfield (VA) Times," Vol. 33, No. 5, Wed., June 28, 1950, p. 1 *Find a Grave Mem. #223481636 Death date from D.Cert. 14881 (Cobham #5) Her father served in Co. K, 13th VA Cavalry, CSA, rising from private to 2nd lieutenant. He was captured 1 Apr 1865 at Dinwiddie C.H., and was imprisoned at Johnson's Island, OH. He had been Postmaster of Spring Grove 1854-58. She applied for a pension 30 Sep 1912 as widow of William Madison COTTON, who d. 13 Jun 1883 in Surry Co. of consumption. He served as a sergeant in Co. K, 15th VA Cavalry, CSA. They m. 19 Dec 1866 in Surry Co. She 2m. 27 Mar 1888 William Allen KING, who d. circa 1900. He served as a private in Drewry's Co. of the Southside Heavy Artillery, deserting 9 Feb 1865. Son of George & Ann KING, he 1m. Louisiana R. RIGGAN 6 Jan 1855, and 2m. M.R. ROGERS 6 Mar 1879 - all in Surry Co. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Carolyn Keen (VAHistoricHouses@aol.com) & Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), and re-formatted by File Manager. file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/surry/obits/k520v1ob.txt