SENAH ALMEDIA HURT  was born June 15, 1852 to Ira & Eliza Hurt in Franklin County, VA.  On June 04, 1873, at age 21, she married George W. Hartwell, son of Silas Hartwell and Mariah Webb. He was born  in Franklin County, Virginia in 1847.

Children of MEDEA HURT and GEORGE HARTWELL are:

i. HARRY A. HARTWELL

ii. GEORGE IRA HARTWELL

Media, most likely named after her grandmother, Senah or Cynea Ray (daughter of Luke & Tabitha Ray of Bedford, Va.), preferred Media for her given name and resumed the use of her maiden name on most legal documents after her marriage to George Hartwell ended in divorce.  Court records indicate that she purchased a house on a small lot in Rocky Mount in 1881.  In 1882, Medea died at age thirty.  Her brother-in-law, Tazewell Helms (husband of Eliza Frances Hurt), was appointed to administrate her estate.  Her house was first rented to help pay the mortgage, repairs, taxes, and insurance until her estate could be settled.  In September of 1882, the house was sold and her personal property was appraised.  Tazewell Helms was instrumental in helping secure Media's part of her father's estate for her two children after her death.   The balance of her estate (about $1,000) was to be divided between her two sons.  After  Media's death in 1882, Tazewell Helms assumed guardianship of the boys, room, board, clothes.

Chancery Cause: Medea S. Hurt vs. Heirs of Medea S. Hurt.  

 "…with no one able to take care of them however much any of their relatives might have been disposed to do so, Mr. Helms took his two wards under his own hospitable roof and they received at the hand of him and his wife the same care and keeping as their own children. Harry, the elder, was sent to the Agricultural College at Blacksburg, VA and remained there 1-2 years if not longer and the charges against him in the settlement of his account was to defray necessary expense while there…the wards are to be congratulated upon the business like way in which their property has been managed and the kind treatment they have received at the hands of their guardian." 

John Carper, Comm.

Chancery Order Book, 1872-1874 D . pg. 39, 168, 314

Adm of Medea S. Hurt vs. Heirs of Medea S. Hurt 1897-070; 

Original file located in Library of Virginia.

Sale Bill of the Personal Property of Mrs. M. S. (Medea Senah Hurt) deceased sold on the 19^th day of Sept. 1882 (and value being $142.00).

1 clock, 1 bureau, 1 cooking stove, 1 shovel and tongs, 1 curtain, 1 small lot of wood, 13 chairs, 1 table, 2 carpets, 1 barrel flour, 4 stone jars, 1 bowl & pitcher, 3 pickle dishes, 1 lot glass ware, 1 bowl, 1 ¼ dozen plates, 1 set tea cups and saucers, 3 pitchers, 2 dishes, 5 small dishes, 1 dining table, 1 safe, 1 ham bacon, 1 coal stove, 1 water cooler, 1 crib, 1 lot buckets, 1 coal stove, 1 lot fruit cans, 1 coffee mill, 2 tin pans, 1 lamp, 1 tin dish pan, 1 washstand, 1 table and pitcher, 1 table, 1 quilt, 1 marble top washstand, 1 white sewing machine, 1 set chairs, 1 center table, 1 bedstead and bedding, 1 trundle bedstead, a small rocking chair, 1 bed quilt, 1 organ, 1 singer sewing machine.

Tazewell Helms, administrator for Mrs. M. S. Hurt, dec’d.