THORPE, ARMELIA

Armelia Thorpe’s story is a sad one of repeated relocation, of being handed off from one relative to another, and finally of a too early death.

She was the youngest of Lewis and Aggie Thorpe’s seven children.¹1900 US Census Oak Hill: Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4117825_00493 : 28 Aug 2022. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.

1910 US Census Durham 0039: Year: 1910; Census Place: Durham Ward 3, Durham, North Carolina; Roll: T624_1108; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0039; FHL microfilm: 137512. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/20479850:7884 : accessed 28 Aug 2022. Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: https://www.archives.gov/research/census.

1920 US Census Durham 0055: Year: 1920; Census Place: Durham Ward 3, Durham, North Carolina; Roll: T625_1292; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 55. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/27190958:6061 : accessed 28 Aug 2022. Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 are on roll 323 (Chicago City). Lewis and Aggie were themselves children of emancipated slaves in the Oak Hill area of Granville County (northwest of Oxford).²Paternal grandparents freed: Series: Marriage Bonds (1763 – 1869). 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/discoveryui-content/view/5745273:60548 : accessed 25 Aug 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.

Maternal grandparents freed: “North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979 ,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99VS-ZN6B?cc=1726957&wc=QD8P-6Q1%3A1588772822%2C1588773236 : 19 July 2016), Granville > Marriage records, 1851-1868 > image 537 of 544; North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History. The family seems to have moved to Durham shortly after Armelia’s birth in 1906.The 1910 US census for Durham shows Lewis, and Armelia’s brother Cager, both working in the tobacco business, but oddly omits Armelia.³1910 US Census Durham 0039. The family had only been in Durham a few years when Aggie died in 1913.⁴Agnes Thorpe death certificate: North Carolina State Archives; Raleigh, North Carolina; North Carolina Death Certificates. Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/267452:1121 : Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina. Armelia would have only been 7 years old, and the death of her mother appears to have created a situation where she lived with older siblings, often forcing her to pull up roots.

We don’t know when she first moved in with her brother Cager and his wife, Kate, but she is noted in Cager’s 1917 draft registration as an unnamed “dependent sister.”⁵Registration State: Virginia; Registration County: Dinwiddie County. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6482/images/005153683_03987?pId=22421917 : accessed 24 Aug 2022. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm. This was in Petersburg VA, where Cager was working for the British American Tobacco Company. By 1920, Cager and Kate had moved to Winston-Salem NC, and that same year Kate died from complications from what was probably her first pregnancy.⁶Kate Thorpe death certificate: North Carolina State Archives; Raleigh, North Carolina; North Carolina Death Certificates. Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1329596:1121 : accessed 24 Aug 2022. Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina. Armelia was by this time once again in Durham, living with her sister Annie and Annie’s husband John Hinton.⁷1920 US Census Durham 0055.

In February of 1922, while still living with the Hintons and attending school, Armelia was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Four months later the disease put an end to her short, and likely chaotic life.⁸Armelia Thorpe death certificate.

BORN: 1906.¹⁰Armelia Thorpe death certificate.

DIED: 11 June 1922.¹¹Armelia Thorpe death certificate.

BIRTH PLACE: Oak Hill, Granville County, NC.¹²Armelia Thorpe death certificate.

DEATH PLACE: Durham NC.¹³Armelia Thorpe death certificate.

SPOUSE: N/A

PARENTS: Lewis Thorpe and Agnes Daniel.¹⁴Armelia Thorpe death certificate.

CHILDREN: N/A

OTHER FAMILY: Brother Cager Thorpe, sister Annie Hinton.¹⁵1920 US Census Durham 0055

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY: Parents Lewis and Agnes Thorpe, brother Cager Thorpe.

OCCUPATION: Student.¹⁶Armelia Thorpe death certificate.

CHURCH: N/A

AFFILIATIONS: N/A

ADDRESS: 417 Proctor Street.¹⁷1920 US Census Durham 0055

MILITARY SERVICE: N/A