SHEARIN, AUGUSTA “GUSSIE” BEVERLY

Augusta “Gussie” Beverly Shearin was the fifth of the six children of Haywood Beverly and Amanda Graham Beverly. She was born in Hillsborough Township, where her father was a prosperous tanner.¹“United States Census, 1880,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YBG-52P?cc=1417683&wc=XWL3-PTL%3A1589411027%2C1589395954%2C1589396994%2C1589394814 : 24 December 2015), North Carolina > Orange > Hillsboro > ED 190 > image 8 of 56; citing NARA microfilm publication T9, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., n.d.). After her father’s death in 1891, she and her mother moved to Durham, where the 1897 City Directory shows the two of them living together at 161 Fayetteville St.²Mangum’s Directory of Durham and Suburbs 1897 (Durham, N.C.: D. C. Mangum, 1897) p. 67, Beverly surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25139 : accessed 3 Apr 2022). In March of that year, Gussie married Henry Shearin.³Henry and Gussie Shearin Marriage License: “Marriage Licenses,” Durham Daily Sun (Durham N.C.) 1 Nov 1897:1. https://www.newspapers.com/image/73373856/: accessed 3 March 2022.

Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60548/images/42091_331672-00084?pId=9277522. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. Note that the “A.M. Moore” in attendance is not Aaron McDuffie Moore, but Alex M. Moore, husband of her sister Julia.

Gussie and Henry had seven children. For the lives and careers of the male children, see Henry Shearin’s life story.

If the family’s sons were their fortune, their daughters were haunted by misfortune. Their first child, Elizabeth, was born in December 1898, and died at the age of 5 on 2 June 1904.⁴Birth: “United States Census, 1900,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-68FZ-KM?cc=1325221&wc=9BWW-4WY%3A1030551601%2C1032311101%2C1032348701 : 5 August 2014), North Carolina > Durham > ED 30 Durham Township Durham city > image 13 of 48; citing NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

Death: Elizabeth Haywood Shearin family tree on Ancestry.com: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/42588/person/302070617287/facts. A second daughter, Annie Brown Shearin, born in 1905, was epileptic. She died at the age of 20 at the Goldsboro State Hospital, where she’d lived for nearly 12 years.⁵Annie B. Shearin death certificate. The extent of her disability is hinted at in the 1910 census, where, at age 6, she is listed as unable to speak English.⁶1910 Federal Census, Durham. Twins, Roseanna and Rosetta, were born on 14 Jan 1906, but do not seem to have survived.⁷Augusta Gussie Graham Beverley family tree, Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/42588/person/300243467403/facts: accessed 4 Apr 2022. They are not shown in the 1910 Federal Census, nor in any other historical record that we can find.

Gussie herself died of influenza on 3 February, 1922, age 42.⁸Gussie Shearin death certificate: “North Carolina Deaths, 1906-1930,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-68LZ-9HB?cc=1609799&wc=MJWB-W38%3A1042599001 : 3 May 2019), 004215996 > image 549 of 3014; State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh. Despite the social and financial success of her husband and her son Alex, the loss of all four of her daughters at such young ages must have weighed heavily on her. She left two young sons behind: William Jr. (10) and Haywood Beverly (4). Concern for those two boys may have been part of the reason that Henry remarried in August of that same year.

BORN: 29 May 1879.¹⁰Gussie Shearin headstone.

DIED: 3 February 1922.¹¹Gussie Shearin headstone.

BIRTH PLACE: Hillsborough, Orange County, NC.¹²1880 Federal Census.

DEATH PLACE: Durham, NC.¹³Gussie Shearin death certificate.

SPOUSE: William Henry Shearin.¹⁴“Marriage Licenses,” Durham Daily Sun (Durham N.C.) 1 Nov 1897:1. https://www.newspapers.com/image/73373856/: accessed 3 March 2022.

PARENTS: Amanda and Haywood Beverly.¹⁵1880 Federal Census.

CHILDREN: Elizabeth (b. 1898)
Alexander (b. 1900)
Annie Brown (b. 1905)
Rosetta (b. 1906)
Roseanna (b. 1906)
William Henry, Jr. (later Wm Gaston; b. 1913)
Haywood Beverly (b. 1917)¹⁶Older children: 1900 Federal Census, Durham.

Younger children: 1920 Federal Census: “United States Census, 1920,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRXW-GFG?cc=1488411&wc=QZJ5-V54%3A1036474001%2C1039156401%2C1039171601%2C1589332311 : 12 September 2019), North Carolina > Durham > Durham Ward 3 > ED 55 > image 50 of 64; citing NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

OTHER FAMILY: Sisters: Mary (b. 1862)
Julia (b. 1867)¹⁷1870 Federal Census: “United States Census, 1870,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DHXQ-S8N?cc=1438024&wc=K28P-SP8%3A518653801%2C518997001%2C519319001 : 14 June 2019), North Carolina > Orange > Hillsboro > image 2 of 24; citing NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
Lizzie (b. 1882)¹⁸1900 Federal Census, Durham.
Brothers: Walker (b. 1869)¹⁹1870 Federal Census.
Wm M. (b. 1873)²⁰1880 Federal Census.

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY: Mother Amanda Beverly, sister Lizzie, husband Wm Henry Shearin.

OCCUPATION: Housewife.²¹Gussie Shearin death certificate.

CHURCH: N/A

AFFILIATIONS: N/A

ADDRESS: 1010 Fayetteville St.²²1920 Federal Census, Durham.

MILITARY SERVICE: N/A