2. Notes about Mary J. Holipeter's name: 
All of those places we see the name Jeniluska/Jenniluska, is either where I wrote it, or someone else, has quoted what I sent.  As I wrote in our Nicoles-Holipeter page:  "I haven't found "Jeniluska" or "Jenniluska" written anywhere." 

The closest we've come to independent corroboration is a reference to "Mary J." or "Mary 'Jane' ".   One place it's "G. Hollopeter".  It's easy to see how the census enumerators might struggled with this, thinking that her name was Ginny.  She had a niece named "Jennie", but I still haven't found the full name anywhere else.   Where, you may ask, did I come up with the name Jeniluska/Jenniluska?  My grandfather, Ralph F. Whigham, told me that one day.  Nelle Dix's middle initial was "J", but I haven't found what it stands for -- only guessing.  

I was beginning to think that I had a false memory of  hearing the name of, you know who, I've been using.  After all, I only heard it once and that was 45 years ago.  I searched my hard drive for all of the variants of  Jeniluska/Jenniluska/Jennie/Jenie and could find no independent corroboration.  I had already done this for the Web using Google, with no results.  Today, I started going through my Dix/Nicoles file box.  I came across a book of prepared forms for family history, that my mother made notes in.  She had made three separate references to, uh, Mrs. F. M. Nicoles.  To wit: 

• page 12, "Jenaluska (Jennie) Holipeter" 
• page 16, "Jennie Luska Holipeter" 
• page 30, Jeniluska Holipeter (Jennie) 

3.  "Covington Co. Ohio" is from her gravestone at Riverside Cemetery.  "Near Dayton" is from Etta's letter to Nelle.  The problem is that there is no Covington County in Ohio.  There IS a community named Covington, near Dayton, just up the road from Troy Ohio, in Miami County.  Let's go with that for now.

Photo submitted by Russell Dix Whigham
 

Photo submitted by Lyn Smith Simonton 

^{Did the Hollipeter brother & sister marry the Nicoles brother & sister?  Looks like it!
BRIDE                   GROOM                    DATE OF MARRIAGE   BOOK   PAGE
Nicoles Mariah   Jacob M.Hollipeter   (???)                                   C- 1       131 
<http://incass-inmiami.org/miami/marriages/mrgn.html> for Nichals/Nicoles
<http://incass-inmiami.org/miami/marriages/mrgh.html>  for Hollipeter/Holipeter} 

^{Almost a year after the wedding FMN served from August 19 through December 29, 1864 in the Union Army in Colorado.}

3  William Hollopeter  1790 - 1833
              4  John Hollopeter  1813 - 1841  [Their father]
                  5  William Hollopeter  1834 -
                      6  Andrew Jackson Hollipeter  1860 -
                          7  Lizzie Hollipeter 
                      6  Charles E. Hollipeter  1861 -
                      6  Walter Hollipeter  1873 -
                      6  Jennie Gertrude Hollipeter  1865 -
                  5  Jacob Hollipeter  1836 - +Unknown Nicoles 
                      6  Arthur Hollipeter  1862 -
                      6  Violette Ann Hollipeter  1864 -
                      6  Edward E. Hollipeter  1870 -
                      6  Francis E. Hollipeter  1872 -
                          7  Mollie Ruth Hollipeter 
                  5  G. Hollopeter  1840 - +Unknown Nicoles 

[The year should be 1841,and perhaps the census enumerator assumed "Jennie" was spelled with a "G" (Ginny),  but "wed to" is right and the brothers match with Mary J.]
 

In her letter on the family history, Etta didn't give Jennie's mother's first name, only that her maiden name was Murray. The Samuel Murray listed (in the link above) had 5 wives (m1-m5) as described in Etta's letter. If he's the same Samuel Murray, he's "Uncle Sam", the brother of Jennie Holipeter's birth mother, a Murray, whose first name was (until now) unknown to us. Farther down the list of Murrays (Samuel is #3) is:

7 Catharine [Murray] [Mary J. Hollopeter's birth mother]
m 12 Oct 1833 
Miami County OH

John Hollopeter  [Mary J. Hollopeter's birth father]
b 1813 York County PA, d 1841 
Miami County OH
s/o William Hollopeter &

Both girls were born near Plymouth,(Marshall County) Indiana.  January 7, 1870 for Issie, No DoB for Etta
Moved to Auburn IL in 1871
About 1881 moved to Clarinda, Iowa
Moved to Alabama in 1884
Moved to Macon GA (with Bert & Issie?)
Burried in Macon

From Ruth Dix Whigham's Red Photo Album

Etta and Issie Nicoles
Auburn, Illinois

This enhanced image was made from an almost totaly dark 5x7 tin photograph, with the above caption taped to the back.  It's apparent after some digital manipulation, that the photograph had spent some time in an oval frame.  The two individual 2x3 photographs below, were obviously made at the same time as the one above.  They are also on tin, but in much better condition.

We have very little specific information on the Nicoles family during this period.  Etta mentioned that the family moved to Alabama in 1884 and we have some evidence that both Etta and Issie attended Tuskegee Female College /Alabama Conference Female College, Tuskegee AL (now Huntingdon College in Montgomery), and that they were in Brewton AL in 1886 when Issie and Bert met, and we know that they were married in 1886. 

Here, the path diverges.  You can continue below for a little more on the Nicoles line, or connect to the Albert Sidney Dix page, at the time when they were in Brewton, and Bert and Issie begin their life together.
 

Lyn wrote:

...  I found some more old pictures, one being a picture of an old house with what appears to be an iron fence around it, but maybe wooden. There are two people standing in front of the house (or sitting on the walls on either side of the front steps) who might be our Grandfather and Grandmother Nicoles (the figures are small as the photographer seemed to be mainly taking a picture of the house and hard to tell). Anyway, written on the back of the picture, which appears to have been torn out of an album, is 1016 Ala. St. Was a house at 1016 Alabama Street one of our family homes? I would assume it was in Montgomery. Just wondered if you were familiar with this address, or if you could search it out? 

This is a new address for me.  There is an Alabama St. in Montgomery but, today it's only eight blocks long now, and it's been like that since I was born in St. Margaret's Hospital (in what would have been the 900 block) in 1945. Can you tell their approximate ages from the photo?  Do you think it was after the girls left home?  I don't think Grandmother Nicoles ever lived in Montgomery.

1884 Moved to Alabama from Clarinda, Iowa
1886 Lived in Brewton AL 
1907 Grandmother Nicoles died at age 66, and buried in Macon 

At least we have an upper limit on the date (1907) when this photograph was made.  Lyn has looked for this house in Macon.  There is an Alabama St. in Macon, but nothing resembling this house exists today.  At some point, Grandpa and Grandmother Nicoles moved to Macon, presumably to be near Granny Dix and ASD, but we don't know when they left Brewton. 

By scanning the original photo, I was able to glean some details not obvious in Lyn's image.   It appears to be a recently completed house.  The boards at the street serve as "curbs" on the unpaved street.  The gated fence does appear to be wooden. 

Protective frames around the young trees implies recent landscaping.  Grandpa Nicoles is holding a book prominently.  It looks like they're dressed-up and posed for the photo and the book was more than just a coincidence.  The trees in the background appear to be pine trees.  There are utility poles on the street behind the house.  The single crossarm on the poles implies either powerlines or a recent addition to the telephone lines in the area.  There are gutters and downspouts.  Venetian blinds are in the windows.  There is no grass in the yard.

The couple appears to be in their advanced years, so I'm still leaning toward Macon as the location.
 

Mrs. F. M. Nicoles, aged 66 years, died yesterday morning at 5:45 o'clock at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Albert S. Dix, of the Georgia Industrial Home, after an illness of several weeks.

Mrs. Nicoles was known throughout the statefor her charitable deeds, and her death is greatly regretted by the Christian people of Georgia.  She was a consistant member of the Christian church.

She is survived by her husband and by two daughters, Mrs. A. S. Dix of Macon, and Mrs. C. T. Hanshaw of Illinois.

The funeral cortege will leave the residence this afternoon at 4 o'clock and the funeral services will be held at Riverside cemetery where the interment will occur.  The Rev. E. C. Dargan will officiate at the service.

Three years later, when Albert died, and the family had to leave their home, Grandpa Nicoles went to Montgomery with Granny Dix and the kids.