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I (Marty Grant) am a Great Great Grandson of Hattie T. Grant.
Hattie Thermudas Grant was born 18 Oct 1879 in Swain Co, NC, in the Grassy Branch area of Nantahala Township. This is in the area now under the waters of Fontana Lake. I don't know the source of her names. There was no one in the immediate family named "Hattie", so I don't know who she was named for. Her middle name is more mysterious. Several of her siblings also had unusual names. A Native American connection has been suggested as a source for these names, but I have not found one. My father remembers visiting a Cherokee family in the Fontana region when he was a child, but he didn't recall their names, but he does remember his grandfather (Marvin Grant) stating that they were relatives. I suspect these were not actually Indians, but members of the Evans family, who were dark skinned, and related, but probably of Melungeon origin instead. Hattie's mother was an Evans, and they were from that area, so it all adds up.
Hattie T. Grant was a daughter of John Patton Grant and Darthula Jane Evans. This fact is proven by family knowledge, as well as the 1880, 1900 and 1910 census, and Hattie's death certificate.
Hattie was home with her parents for the 1880 and 1900 census in Swain County.
Sometime around April 1901, Hattie had a relationship with her neighbor Carroll Alonso "Lon" Patterson, which produced a child out of wedlock Marvin R. Grant, born 13 Jan 1902. I have not found any official records proving that Lon Patterson was Marvin's father, but Marvin told me himself that Lon was his father. I have no knowledge (nor does anyone in the family) about what kind of relationship Lon and Hattie had, nor whether they ever discussed marriage. Whatever the circumstances were, they never married. Lon married someone else in 1907, and about 7 years after that, Hattie married someone else.
Hattie and two of her sisters all had one child each out of wedlock in the 1901-1903 timeframe. (Having children out of wedlock was a Grant family tradition that seems to occur in every generation of the family going back to the earliest in this country in the 1700's). Perhaps these three children born at the same time prompted their grandfather John P. Grant to consider moving away. In 1909 he sold his Swain County land and moved to Union Co, GA. I don't know what drew him there, as there were no known relatives of his there. Anyway, Hattie and her son Marvin went with them, as did her siblings, except a few of those who were already married.
In Union County, they lived in the Gum Log region near Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Hattie T. Grant and her son Marvin were both listed with her parents for the 1910 census in Union Co, GA.
Around 1914 or so (I haven't found a record of this yet), Hattie T. Grant married Thomas Joshua Gilbert in Union Co, GA. Thomas was born 15 May 1884 in Union Co, GA and was a son of Elijah Gilbert and Mary Maranda Miller.
Thomas and Hattie were listed on the 1920 census in Union Co, GA in Gum Log Township. I don't have their listing available yet for inclusion here.
At some point (I don't know when), Thomas and Hattie moved to Cobb Co, GA and resided at Route 1, Kennesaw, GA.
Hattie died on 25 May 1953 at home in Kennesaw, Cobb Co, GA. Her death certificate gave her age as 73, and her occupation as housewife and domestic. Her cause of death was "Hypertension artero schlerosis". Her parents were listed as "John Grant" and "Dorothy Jane Evans".
She was buried at the New Salem Cemetery in Kennesaw. Her stone shows "Hattie Grant Gilbert 18 Oct 1880 - 25 May 1953". Her birth year is off by one year (should be 1879).
Thomas Joshua Gilbert died on 14 May 1981 in Marietta, Cobb Co, GA. He is buried beside Hattie at the New Salem Cemetery.
I was surprised when I first saw Thomas' grave (in 1988), that he had only died 7 years earlier, and I had never heard of him my entire life (I had heard that Hattie had married Thomas Gilbert, but only after I got into researching the family). He was a blood relative of mine (a cousin), but he was also my Step Great Great Grandfather, and I never knew him, nor even knew of him until after he was dead. I was told that there was a rift in the family between Marvin Grant (my Great Grandfather) and his mother Hattie, and that the family rarely associated, and that is one reason I never heard anything about having a Step Great Great Grandfather alive.
Hattie T. Grant had one child out of wedlock (Marvin R. Grant, my Great Grandfather), born in 1902. She and her husband Thomas J. Gilbert had five children together, one of which died young, and another died in the 1960's, and three are still living. I'll not provide any details in order to protect their privacy.
Persons researching this family (click here for data on how to get on or off of this list:
No register report for this family to protect privacy.
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