Mahala Evans Foster

Mahala Evans, 35, was listed with Mary J. Evans, 9, presumably as her mother, in the 1850 Murray County, Georgia, census in the household of Jesse Lyons, 60. If we presume that Mahala was the daughter of Jesse Lyons, this means that she would have married her first husband, a Mr. Evans, prior to c. 1840. I have searched all the marriage records in north Georgia and Tennessee for this marriage and have not yet found it.

However, Mahala Evans does not appear in the next (1860) census, and her daughter Mary J, now 19, is found living with a couple named Isaac and Mary Smith. This Mary Smith corresponds in age to the Mary Lyons, an assumed sister of Mahala Evans with whom she was living a decade earlier. At first, I guessed that Mahala must have died by 1860, but then I found a marriage record on April 6, 1860, in Murray County between a Mahala Evans and a Pleasant Foster. I found P. L. Foster (age 46) in the 1860 census, with Mahaly (age 50) listed as his wife, which confirmed that they were indeed a middle-aged newlywed couple, both of whom had probably entered a second marriage. Living with them were his four children from his first marriage, ages 5-18, likely bereaved of their mother. We can speculate as to why Mahaly's daughter Mary J., at age 19, might have felt uncomfortable moving in with her mother's new family, or perhaps there was not room for her, or perhaps she did not get along well with her mother's new husband. Instead, she lived with her aunt and uncle and their very young daughter.

The marriage with Pleasant Foster, who was not an ultra-wealthy man but who had solid land holdings valued at $1000 Confederate dollars in 1860 and who did not seem to own slaves since his personal property was valued at only $200, seems to have promised Mahala, as a single mother and probably widow, some stability and comfort. It also doubtless came with the formidable responsibilities of raising the Foster children, however, and serving as the mistress of the Foster household, so it would not have provided her with a life of leisure. Also, a war was to come, and so the conditions of her life during those years would be unpredictable.

Her husband Mr. Foster did survive the war, as we find him listed on a June 28, 1867 listing called a Return of Qualified Voters for Murray County, Georgia--a listing that now included black men alongside white ones. In order to be on this list, he would have had to swear an oath to the Union (the United States of America), foreswearing the Confederacy.

He is listed in 1870 on an Agricultural schedule of the Federal Census, detailing his holdings of land, livestock and stored food rations. It appears that he owned 200 acres, of which 30 were "improved" (i.e. cultivated or built upon), valued at 500/10, with animals 0-0-1-0-1-0-4-30 (need to look up chart, the headings of which are unreadable here), valued at 0-30-0-150-0-0-0-0-30; then on 2nd page 0-0-0-15-0-4-0-0-50, followed by 16 empty spaces, then 10-55-215. [U.S., Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880, Agriculture, Schedule 3, Spring Place, line 18]. He is also listed on numerous annual property tax digests over the years.

The 1870 census shows Pleasant (57) and Mahala (60) along with his youngest daughter, Augusta (15). His post-war wealth has decreased by half to $500 property value and $125 personal property.

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jan 11 2020, 0:47:10 UTC