|
Robert Lee West & Dora Ware Raper Harris West |
|
|
Robert Lee West was my paternal grandmother's
father. He was born in 1878 to Nathaniel West and Jane Gilbert
West,
probably in Camden Courthouse township, North Carolina. Robert had two
older sisters, Mamie (born 1874) and Jennie (born 1876). All of we know of
Mamie is that she appears in a Norfolk city directory as a music teacher
in Berkeley. She and Robert may have moved to Berkeley together. Jennie's
married name was Barnard (yes, with the "a") and lived in Poplar
Branch in Camden County.
My grandmother would say that "you don't want to know about my father's family -- he didn't come from much." Actually, I haven't been able to discover much about Robert's family, except from a few obscure records in the census and others that I will include here on the web. Through a posting on the Camden County geneaology site, I discovered Jane West's family cemetary (for the Gilbert family). I imagine that the cemetary is on part of what was the Gilbert family property, but I haven't researched this further. Click here to see photos of the cemetary and the land at Treasure Point, Camden County, NC, and approximation of the Gilbert Family lineage (guestimate from the tombstones).
|
|||
| Nathaniel West (age 24) and Jane West (age 16) first appear on the 1870 Camden County North Carolina federal census (she as "Mary Jane"). His occupation is listed as a farm laborer. The 1880 census shows Mamie, Jennie, and Robert. According to her tombstone. Jane died in 1888 (48 years old), when Robert was only 9 or 10 years old. By the time of the next census in 1900 (the 1890 census was destroyed by fire), Nathaniel West is not listed (could have died, or was just not enumerated). I can only guess that perhaps Nathaniel and the children lived with relatives after Robert's mother died. I do not know where Nathaniel is buried but it is not the same place as his wife, Jane. |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||
| Dora was the oldest daughter of John
Anderson Harris and Jennie Towe Harris. She was born in Perquimans
County.
I'm not sure how Robert and Dora met, but there was a West family living in the Parkville district of Perquimans County (where the Towe family resided) according to late 1800s census records. I wonder if Nathaniel and the children lived in this household after Jane died. This family had a daughter named Cora who was Robert's age. If Cora was a friend of Dora's, maybe that's how Robert and Dora met. Or, Robert and Dora could have met in Berkeley. Wish I knew that whole story! Dora made several quilts. She was known to make rolls that rose 5 inches. |
Robert
and Dora were like many
other transplanted North Carolinians who moved to Berkley and Norfolk to
find work. The 1904 Norfolk City Directory lists 26-year-old Robert West
as a caulker for E. T. Duncan. He roomed at 332 Liberty Street. His
sister, Mamie West, is listed as a music teacher at 200 Pine Street,
Berkley. After Robert and Dora married, they lived at 333 Liberty Street.
My great-uncle William West remembers that his father was a railroad man.
Robert's obituaries (right and below) illustrate that he was involved in many things before his death at a young age. |
 |
||
|
|
 |
|||
Newspaper announcement of 
|
|
|
|
Return to Geneva's page
Return to the homepage