Mary Ophelia’s Story

Mary Ophelia “Mattie” Morgan was born October 14, 1875, in Langston, Jackson Co., Alabama, the sixth of seven children of James Adkins and Ann Elizabeth (Caver) Morgan. When Mattie was thirteen, her brother Thomas Warren Morgan married Lou Ella Holdridge, oldest sibling of Horace Benton Holdridge. Thomas and Lou Ella had only been married three years when James Adkins Morgan died, followed by his wife Hattie two years after that in February 1894, leaving Mattie, age 18, Wallace, age 20, and youngest daughter Lela, 15 to be cared for by extended family.

Mary Ophelia, her sister Lela and brother Wallace probably lived with their brother Thomas Warren Morgan and his wife, Lou Ella (Holdridge) Morgan. Mary Ophelia married Horace Benton Holdridge in April 1894. Four years later, her sister Lela married William Howard Holdridge, thus creating all the double cousins and the "two Holdridge brothers and a Holdridge sister married two Morgan sisters and a Morgan brother" family story.
Thomas Warren Morgan

From back left: Mary Ophelia and Lela Morgan (sisters of Thomas)
Thomas Warren Morgan and Lou Ella Holdridge Morgan, Wallace Morgan (brother of Thomas)
George Malcome, Hattie and Willa Pearl Morgan (children of Thomas and Lou Ella)