The Life of Malissa Burnett Gaulding and Her Children

The story of Malissa “Dicy” Burnett Gaulding, second wife of William T. Gaulding, offers a rare glimpse into the life of a nineteenth‑century Virginia widow whose resilience carried her through decades of hardship. Born around 1807, Malissa married William in 1835, becoming stepmother to his older children and raising two of her own—Mary S. A. Gaulding and Jabez Sidney Gaulding—on the Gaulding farm along Stewart’s Creek in Pittsylvania County. Her life was shaped by the rhythms of rural labor, the responsibilities of managing a household, and the instability that followed William’s death in 1841.

The 1850 census shows Malissa living with her children Mary and Jabez, both attending school—an indication that she maintained a stable home despite the challenges of widowhood. A decade later, she appears alone on the 124‑acre dower tract set aside for her support, with enough real and personal property to suggest she was managing the land successfully. Her Revolutionary War widow’s pension, granted in 1853 based on William’s service, provided modest financial relief, though payments were interrupted during the Civil War. In her 1865 pension testimony, Malissa described living partly on her own land and partly with neighbors, surviving through her own exertions and the help of the community. She died around 1869–1870, leaving a will that closed the final chapter of her long and difficult life.

Malissa’s daughter Mary S. A. Gaulding remains only faintly visible in the historical record. Born around 1835, she appears in the 1850 household but disappears from Pittsylvania County documents thereafter. Whether she married, migrated west, or died young is unknown. Her absence from later records underscores how easily women’s lives could vanish from the documentary landscape unless anchored by marriage, property, or litigation. She was not listed as one of the heirs of William Gaulding’s estate, a fact which may bring her legitimacy into question.

Her son Jabez Sidney Gaulding, however, left a far more dramatic imprint. Born in 1838, Jabez grew up on the Gaulding farm and in 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate Army, joining the 58th Virginia Infantry. His service carried him through some of the war’s most brutal campaigns, culminating at Gettysburg, where he was killed in July 1863. His death—one of thousands of young men lost in that battle—marked the end of Malissa’s only son and the extinguishing of her branch of the Gaulding line.

Together, the lives of Malissa, Mary, and Jabez form a small but vivid chapter in the Gaulding family’s history. Malissa’s perseverance, Mary’s quiet disappearance, and Jabez’s tragic death at Gettysburg reflect the broader experiences of rural Virginia families navigating widowhood, war, and the uncertainties of nineteenth‑century life. Their stories, preserved through scattered census entries, pension files, and military records, ensure that their names and lives remain part of the Gaulding Origins legacy.

Read more about Malissa Burnett Gaulding and her children on Gaulding Origins

The Life of Malissa Burnett Gaulding, the second wife of William T. Gaulding

Mary S. A. Gaulding, the daughter of William T. Gaulding and Melissa "Dicy" Burnett

Jabez Sidney Gaulding, son of a solider of the revolution was killed at Gettysburg