Wally Waits
©2015
Allen Waits
and Rhoda Cope met in Warren County, Tennessee.
Allen had migrated into the area from Georgia probably in search of his
future which at the time was still uncharted.
A son of a farmer, and a neighbor of farmers, he probably perceived a
future on a farm. Allen may have
traveled with John B. Waits who has not been proven to be related. John was living in Warren County when the
Second Regiment of West Tennessee Militia was raised in September, 1814. Allen was also in the county in 1814. The two may have arrived in Warren County the
previous fall.
Allen
married Rhoda Cope in 1814 according to a copy of vital records found in a
family Bible. These same records say
that Rhoda was born on 4 Nov 1800. The
marriage probably occurred in the summer following Rhoda’s thirteenth birthday.
English common law governed marriages
in Tennessee before 1899. Tennessee had no
state statute in effect when Allen and Rhoda married. The English common law was based on 800 years
of court rulings. These precedents were
inherited from North Carolina when Tennessee was established as a separate
state. This ancient law allowed residents
to marry at age 14 for boys and at age 12 for girls. Despite modern sentiments, both Allen and
Rhoda were of suitable age to marry in the eyes of their peers and in the eye
of the law.
Allen probably
did not know exactly when he was born as his father was illiterate. Furthermore, Allen’s mother died within five
years of Allen’s birth. He is believed
to be born about 1790. Thus, he would
have been about 23 when he met Rhoda.
Despite the nine to eleven years difference in their ages all
indications point to a happy union.
The young couple probably lived
initially in a log cabin on land owned by Rhoda’s father, James Bradley
Cope. The terrain was hilly with small
patches of level land that was arable.
Allen and Rhoda’s married life
started off normally. Their first child
was born 24 July 1815. This child, a
daughter named Mary but called “Polly,” was conceived about the middle of
October, 1814 given a normal pregnancy. Their
daughter was born apparently without complications. Polly was named for Rhoda’s step-mother, Mary
“Polly” Merritt Cope.
The summer of 1816 was not normal. In April, 1815, Mount Tambora in the Indian
Ocean erupted blowing volcanic ash into the atmosphere. The next summer the northern states suffered
most, but crops failed as far south as Virginia and many vegetables were
stunted or died of frost. Even the herds
of deer and squirrels probably suffered and shrunk in numbers. Farmers and wives had a harder time of
gathering food for the table and for the coming winter.
About the first of August when it was
pretty clear that there was going to be a weak harvest, Rhoda became pregnant
again. She delivered a healthy son on
May 11th, 1817 who was named after her father, James Cope.
A second son was born on August 2nd,
1818. He was named Cantrell Bethel Waits
after an itinerant Baptist evangelist who probably visited her father’s home
while in the Warren County area. This
boy’s name became corrupted to Cartrel Bethel.
He was generally known as “Beth Waits.”
The fourth child was another son
named Allen J. Waits or Allen Waits, Jr.
He was born 20 Jul 1820. He was
obviously named for his father.
Another son arrived 14 Jan 1822. He was named William S. Waits, probably after
Rhoda’s siblings, William and Stephen Cope.
Yet another son entered the world on
Dec. 4th, 1823. He was named
Joseph C. Waits, probably named after Rhoda’s half-brother and uncle.
At last, another daughter arrived on
Jan. 12th, 1826. She was
named Elizabeth.
The next child was a daughter named
Linea Doran Waits. Born Apr. 19, 1827, she
was named after the wife of Maj. James Doran, but is frequently remembered as “Linny
Adorn.” Since Maj. Doran lived in
Jackson County, Alabama and because Allen and Rhoda moved to a location not too
distant from Maj. Doran’s farm, Linea Waits’ birth may pinpoint when the Waits
family at last moved away from the community of Rhoda’s parents.
Two more daughters were born to Allen
and Rhoda. Rhoda Emeline Waits probably
carried both of her mother’s forenames, though Rhoda Cope’s middle name is
unrecorded. This daughter was born 19
December 1829 in Jackson County, Alabama.
Matilda Jane Waits was the last of
Allen and Rhoda’s children. She was born
5 Nov 1831, but she never knew her father because he died July 29th,
1832 of unknown causes.
In the eighteen years of their
marriage, Allen and Rhoda Waits lived near Rhoda’s parents for 12-14 years
before departing for a new beginning. While
the couple was living near the maternal parents, they named four of their
eleven children after Cope relatives and another one after a family connection. This pattern suggests a close bond.
Following
Allen’s death, Rhoda did not remarry quickly.
It would be four years later before she did and the delay hints to the
grief she endured. With a household of
young children and sole ownership of a farm, the widow would have been an
attractive, eligible mate. But Rhoda did
not rush into a marriage, despite the need of a man to plant crops, to slaughter
hogs, and to clear trees and rocks from future crop fields. This scenario supports the idea that Allen
and Rhoda had a close and loving relationship and that Rhoda grieved over Allen’s
sudden death at age 42.
