Lorena Eley Norsworthy Dews Harlow Lenahan Collins, And Her Lost Babies, Research Report, the As It Is Series

Copyright 2022, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

This continues a series of posts, done in a very efficient (make that speedy fast) manner to share some research on the ancestors.  This is NOT intended to be the end all to end all report.  It's a work in progress, to show you what I have found, right or wrong. Kind feedback is welcomed via comments.

Let’s begin - - 

We have discussed Lorena a time to two before.  But, never her lost babies.  I'll group them all on this post.  So, they are not forgotten.

Here is Lorena, her 5 husbands listed to the left.  Also her children.  Today we will be looking at child # 1, 5 and 6.

Lorena married first Mills Norsworthy. They had two children before Mills passed, they were a baby boy and Bessie. It's the baby boy we are interested in here.

Not a lot to learn, my notes are slim at best:

"This son was still born per Pearl Robinson."  (Pearl was a dear distant cousin who helped me build the basics of our clan.)  There is no birth record for this child to be found in the Isle of Wight County, Virginia birth records. I extended my search to all of Virginia birth registers/records and found nothing. We include this child due to the 1910 census enumeration in which Lorena claims to have had 8 children born.  No Find A Grave memorial.

It should be noted that J. Diggs, descendant of Bessie Norsworthy Forbes told me in 2006:  "Both mother and her sisters and brothers told me that there was a daughter whose name was Clara and she died at 9 with a childhood illness."  I have not found any records for such a child, using the surname of Norsworthy OR Dews.  I often wonder if this referenced daughter could be Delphine Dews (see below).

Mills Norsworthy died sometime around 1886, and in October 1887 Lorena married as her second husband, William Henry Dews.  William and Lorena had 6 children, we believe.  (Yes you heard a long sigh.)

Next, we share, the 3rd child born to William and Lorena:

This baby boy was 9 days old when he died, cause of death was not given in the record.  Lorena's name was spelled Lurena in the record.

Nothing more is known of this child.  There is no Find A Grave memorial.

Next, is Delphine "Della":

Per family tradition, Della died at age 2 or 3 of burns suffered from boiling kettle of water.

We do find Della on the 1900 census with her parents, William and Lorena:

William is enumerated on the 1900 U. S. census for Kempsville, Princess Anne County, Virginia as follows: Henry Dews, born Jan. 1865, age 55, married 12 years, born Virginia, parents born Virginia, farmer; Lorena, wife, born July 1865 age 34, married for 12 years, 4 children born, three still survive, born Virginia, parents born Virginia; Henry Jr., son, born Dec. 1887, 12 years old, born Virginia; Sarah, daughter, born July 1892, 7 years, born Virginia; Delphine, daughter, born July 1897, 2 years old, born Virginia.  

I have not found a birth record, a death record or a Find A Grave memorial for Della.  Della's father died in 1906.

Lorena had a long life, she died at age 82. She had, according to records and stories I have been able to forage around and locate, 8 children, 3 of whom did not live long.  She was the daughter of a Civil War veteran who died when she was about 5 years of age.  She was a bride 5 times, having children by her first two husbands.

* Disclaimers, I use Find A Grave, Ancestry dot com, FamilySearch, several newspaper subscriptions, free sites, such as Virginia Chronicles, Virginia Chancery Cases online at the Library of Virginia and more to research my ancestors.  I pay for subscriptions, full price.

** My judgements may or may not be correct.  Transcriptions may or may not have errors.

*** Links, URL's, for the most part will not be included henceforth on my posts, as so many of them change and then I have to come back and try to re-discover and relink.  Frankly folks, I have no desire to spend my limited time here on this side of the sod with those kinds of do overs.  As researchers, or just members of the internet community, sites such as Find A Grave are easy to find, some are free to use and with the information I am sharing with you, hopefully, you can duplicate the research/findings. That said, I have seen memorials at Find A Grave be removed.  If you have questions, I suggest you leave a nice comment for me. OR find the method I have outlined on my blog for contacting me.

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