Nathan Britt (52 Ancestors)

     I'm participating in the 52 Ancestors Challenge in Ahnentafel order, and week 10 is about one of my paternal great-grandfathers.

     Nathan Britt was born on 9 March 1901 (mine too!) in Emanuel County to William Britt and Amelia Parish.  He was the last child of the couple, who had both been married a few times before.  His father was 76 years old, his mother was 44.  Whoa, huh?  I recently made a DNA match on my Parish line, but I'd love to find one on my Britt line to confirm everything.

Nathan with his granddaughter and son,
on the back of a wagon 

     Nathan's dad died maybe a year after his birth and, based on census information, it seems that he, his mother, and siblings grew up in his oldest full-sister's household.  Based on the 1940 census, Nathan didn't complete a single year of school, which is backed up by the 1920 census' report that he could neither read nor write - though the 1930 census reports a yes.  I imagine that he might have learned at a later age.

     Nathan married Ledora Barfield and their children were Ollie, Sarah, Evoid, and Helen.  Nathan and Ledora separated, with Nathan moving to Elbert County, Georgia.  I don't think they had a legal divorce, but after her death he was married for a short time to a woman named Silvina.  I don't know much about her (is that how her name is spelled?), except that she had two grown sons and she and Nathan didn't stay together long.

     Nathan was a farmer and his grandchildren say that he was extremely fast at picking cotton; faster than anyone else, in fact.  It seems that Nathan struggled some in his later years, but he was beloved by his children until the end.  He is buried in Melwood Cemetery in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and his oldest daughter, Ollie, opted to be buried next to her father to stay near him forever.