My Fourth Great Grandmother Martha Echols Hughes is a bit of a nemesis to me - read, she is just this side of a very large brick wall. I know who her siblings were, and I know the name and few details regarding her father, and I have reasonably concluded that her mother's name was also Martha (maiden name unknown. I do realize, of course, that I'm entirely fortunate to have this information at all, many have to research much harder than I have in order to build a tree with this many generations.
The point of this post, though, is to document which of our ancestors were more inclined to have "stayed home" for whatever reason. I have no documentation or stories of Martha's adult life, just a few census recordings, and she probably did go to church, to market, and to visit neighbors and grandchildren. She did however, stay home on the farm in Southern Illinois and keep the home fires burning while all three of her sons went off to fight in the Civil War.
Having had my husband in a war zone, I know something of the dread and anticipation this creates in those who wait. Her her two older sons were well old enough to sign their names to the rolls and did, and her youngest son, my 3rd great grandfather wasn't eighteen years old until the middle of the war, but off he went as well. Unfortunately, there are several William Hughes from the immediate area, and it is as yet undetermined which service record is his.
Martha surely remained busy, and she appears to have still had her husband (also WIlliam Hughes) still living. It's possibly he served as well, but he was nearly 60, which was fairly old in those days. With her sons gone and none of them yet married, she would have had a great plenty of both home and farm chores to keep her from having idle time on her hands to sit and worry. Her only sister had died (her sons were soldiers as well), so she would have relied on extended family and neighbors for news and companionship. She was indeed literate, so I can imagine her sitting at her table with sewing or knitting, pausing to read a letter to her husband, or to read for a neighbor who couldn't. She may have watched anxiously for battle news in the papers.
Since her sons were literate as well, I hope Martha received letters alerting her that they were on their way home. During war time, resources were scarce, but there would have been extra reading of the house, perhaps additional baking or obtaining and preparing favorite dishes. The absolute joy of reunion - all three of her sons came home, married and built families. She may have been the envy of many neighbors who weren't so fortunate.
In 1880, she lived with her youngest son, the aforementioned WIlliam, who is enumerated as "sick" in the appropriate column in that census. He is married to Mary Jane (formerly Pearson) and they have one daughter, Florence, age 4. I hope Martha was a kind mother in law and affectionate grandmother, as Mary Jane clearly would have been in need of assistance with an ill or disabled husband and small child. There is no further record of Martha, nor a known grave. It was common to have been buried on the farm, still. She is likely at rest, at home.
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