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Amanda Jane Brown McNabb McClabb

The Hard Life of Amanda Jane Brown McNabb McClabb

Amanda Jane Brown McNabb was born in August 1861, a descendent of the Brown family that originally helped settle the area of northwestern Clay County, Arkansas -- an area now known as the Palatka, a small farming community about 4 miles north and 4 miles west of Corning, Arkansas. (See the FTaN Locator Map point G.)

The one photograph we have of Amanda Jane, which was hand tinted (due to the time period in which it was made) shows what is probably red hair as her father, J.W. Brown is said to have had (and several of the modern generation Brown family members, also, sport bright red hair).

Amanda Jane was around 16 years old when she married Harry (or Charles) McNabb - a farmer about 10 years older than she was. He farmed in Kilgore Township, the area to the southwest of Corning, Araknsas (roughly 5 miles south of Palatka). By June of 1880 when the Census was taken they had a five month old daughter they named Cornelea. And over the next several years they had another four children.

By the time she was 32 years old she found herself widowed and raising 4 (or 5?) children. Familly tradition says she supported her young family by growing, harvesting and selling cotton crops, raising gardens and canning vegetables, and sewing clothes for the well-to-do. One of her customers was a prominent and highly respected attorney named Bloodworth.

Then came along the handsome 21 year old John Henry McClabb. He was (probably) a new comer to the Palatka area. (While the 1880 Census lists his birthplace as Arkansas with his father from Kentucky and mother from Tennessee, often repeated family tradition says that he was aducted from his birth family as a child and raised by a man in Tennessee who died when John Henry was about 16 years old. Just before the man died he revealed the true story of John Henry's birth and his real name: McClabb. Though he tried, John Henry was never able to find his true parents and family.)

Amanda Jane and John Henry were married in Clay County, Arkansas, (according to official marriage records on file at the court house there) on June 14, 1893, with her age listed as 23 (although she would actually be 32) and he as 21. He farmed and they continued to lived in Palatka. It is one of those little towns that sprang up as the area was settled, but never amounted to much ... and there is hardly a widen spot in the road left there today.

During the first four years of their marriage Amanda Jane and John Henry had two children, Rex and Inez. Inez Cleveland McClabb was born on June 13, 1897. Around that same time 24 year old John Henry McClabb found work to support his growning family as a paymaster for a logging company in the heavily timbered hills of Carter County, Missouri, about 40 miles to the north. But soon afterward he became ill and pneumonia killed him the following February. John Henry died when his daughter Inez was eight months old -- making it February 1898.

It was bitter cold when Amanda Jane, Rex, and Inez got on a train (probably on the Iron Mountain Railroad which ran through nearby Success, Arkansas, about 3 miles west of Palatka, and then on north to St. Louis) to go to Grandin, Missouri, to bury Henry. The train tracks ran back beyond the Brown Cemetery which was south west of the old school building (now the Palatka Church of Christ).

Amanda Jane then had two more children to raise on her own. But she had a mighty work ethic. And she was renown for how clean she was. Family stories say that she even swept her front yard that was all dirt. She is listed in the 1910 Census as widowed, head of household with four children, and her occupation was listed as "washerwoman." Ten years later, when Amanda was 59, she is listed as living with and being supported by her 25 year old son James Rex McClabb, a salesman. The house next door belonged to her 40 year old son Robert Emery "Hawkeye Harry" McNabb, a farmer.

Amanda Jane was buried in the Brown Cemetery. Inez and Rex were buried near each other in the Black Cemetery a short distance from Palatka.

Thanks to Gail Webber, a granddaughter of Amanda, for collecting most of the information in this story.

2011-06-01 23:06:47 RBaxter

See additional information on the Individual Data Info Page for Amanda Jane Brown McNabb McClabb.


We would love to hear from you if you happen to know additional details about this story (or different "facts" about this story), or even other stories about Amanda Jane Brown McNabb McClabb that we don't include here on this website, please contact the Editor.

Amanda Jane Brown McNabb McClabb
The original of this photo of Amanda Jane Brown McNabb McClabb is paired in a frame with a photograph of John Henry McClabb. Thus it is likely that it was taken around the time of their marriage in Clay County Arkansas when she was 32 years old.
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