Thomas “Tom” Gauldin and Sallie Snow Cox
- Catherine Gauldin
- 4 days ago
- 21 min read
Thomas “Tom” Gauldin was born on 21 July 1850 in or near Danville, Virginia, into the large farming household of Thomas Gauldin Sr. and Mahala (Woodall) Gauldin. He grew up in Pittsylvania County, a region defined by small farms, tobacco culture, and extended family networks. By the time of the 1860 census (1), nine‑year‑old Tom was one of the younger children in a bustling home of thirteen siblings. His parents, both about forty‑five, were raising a large family typical of rural Virginia, with older sons already working the farm and younger children contributing as they could. The household lived in the Southern District of Pittsylvania County near Whitmell Post Office, an area dotted with modest farms and close‑knit communities.
The 1870 census (2) shows Tom at about eighteen, still living with his parents in the subdivision north of the Dan River. He could not yet read or write, a common circumstance for rural youth of the era, especially those expected to work the land from an early age. His father continued farming, and Tom likely labored alongside him and his brothers, learning the rhythms of agriculture that would shape the rest of his life.
On 20 February 1879, at age twenty‑six, Tom married Sallie Snow Cox, an eighteen‑year‑old woman from Pittsylvania County. Their marriage record notes that Tom was a farmer, born and residing in Pittsylvania, and identifies his parents as Thomas and Mahala Gauldin. The couple began their married life in the Tunstall area of Pittsylvania County, where Tom worked as a farm laborer. The 1880 census shows Tom and Sallie living with Sallie’s mother, Lucy A. Cox, suggesting a close relationship between Sallie and her family or a practical arrangement for shared labor and support.
Over the next three decades, Tom and Sallie built a large family of their own. Census records from 1900 and 1910 show them still living in Tunstall, raising a growing number of children while Tom continued farming. Their children included Daniel Archer, Mattie Sue, Annie Thomas, Mary Emma, Carrie Prudiss, Sedonia Lee, Samuel Hardin, Mahalia “Hallie” Elizabeth, and Thomas Jr., along with two infants—William W. and Walter—who died young. The household was typical of rural Virginia families of the era: multigenerational, hardworking, and dependent on the labor of every member. Tom never learned to read or write, as noted in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses, but he maintained steady work as a farmer and provided for a large family.
Late in life, Tom moved across the state line into Pelham Township, Caswell County, North Carolina, likely to be near extended family or one of his adult children. There, in the autumn of 1917, he fell ill during the devastating influenza pandemic. His death certificate records that he died of lobar pneumonia on 21 November 1917 (6), at age sixty‑seven. He was buried two days later in Shady Grove United Methodist Church Cemetery in Caswell County. The grave is either unmarked or is no longer marked. (7) His parents were listed as Thomas Gauldin and Mahaly Woodall, confirming his identity and family connections.
Children of Thomas “Tom” Gauldin & Sallie Snow Cox
Child | Birth–Death | Brief Bio |
William Gauldin | 1881–1881 | Infant death; William Gauldin’s life is one of those brief, heartbreaking entries that still deserves its place in the family story. He was born in Danville, Virginia, on 15 May 1881, the son of Thomas (“Thos”) Gaulding and Sallie Gaulding, a white infant recorded in local registers like so many children of that era whose lives never reached their first birthday. Within days of his birth, he fell ill with croup, a common but often deadly childhood disease in the nineteenth century and died in Pittsylvania County the same day—15 May 1881—his age listed simply as “0.” The record notes his cause of death as croup, a severe inflammation of the upper airways that, before modern medicine and vaccination, frequently proved fatal to infants and young children. (8) For Thomas and Sallie, William’s death would have come at a moment that should have been filled with joy: a newborn son, gone almost as soon as he arrived. Though no detailed obituary survives, the official entry preserves the essentials of his short life—his name, his parents, his race, his place of birth and death, and the illness that took him. William was likely buried in Danville, probably at Shady Grove, a cemetery that served local families in the area. There is no surviving stone identified with certainty as his, but the burial notation suggests that his tiny body was laid to rest among kin and neighbors, in the same soil that holds many Gauldins and related families. |
Daniel Archer “Archie” Gauldin | 1882–1949 | Son; Daniel Archer “Archie” Gauldin was born on 14 May 1882 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, the son of Thomas Gaulding and Sallie S. Gauldin. He grew up in a large, working farm family typical of rural Virginia at the turn of the century. The 1900 census places eighteen‑year‑old Daniel in the household at Tunstall, helping his father with farm labor alongside a long list of siblings—Mattie, Annie, Mary, Carry, Sedonia, Sam, and his maternal grandmother Lucy Cox. Daniel could read and write, and his early life reflects the steady, practical upbringing of a young man raised on a small Virginia farm. In 1905, at the age of twenty‑three, Daniel married Jessie Ora Gibson in Rockingham County, North Carolina. Jessie, just eighteen, was the daughter of William and Mary Gibson, and the marriage marked the beginning of a long partnership that would carry the couple across state lines and through decades of farming life. By 1910, Daniel and Jessie were living in Ruffin, Rockingham County, renting a farm and raising their first two children, William and Walter. Daniel appears in the records as a young farmer, industrious and literate, building a household in the familiar pattern of rural families of the era.The 1920 census shows a family that had grown considerably. Now living in Red Oak, Brunswick County, Virginia, Daniel and Jessie were raising a bustling household of children—William, Walter, Luther, Charles, Coral, Richard, Bessie, and Annie—while renting a farm along River Road. Daniel is listed as an employer, suggesting he had reached a point where he managed his own farming operation, likely with the help of his older sons. By 1930, the family had returned to Ruffin, North Carolina, and Daniel appears under the name “Archie Goulden,” a variation that appears in several records. The household had expanded even further, now including Carl, Robert, Lucy, Dora, Elsie, and Dorothy. The census paints a picture of a large, active farm family: Daniel working on his own account, Jessie managing the home, and children ranging from toddlers to adults contributing to the work of the farm. Despite the challenges of the Depression era, the Gauldin household remained stable, industrious, and rooted in the agricultural life that had defined Daniel since childhood. The 1940 census shows Daniel—now “Danine A. Goulden”—living in Sturgeon, Brunswick County, Virginia, owning a modest farm valued at $1,000. He had completed only a fifth‑grade education, yet he had built a life marked by steady work and resilience. Several of his younger children—Carl, Richard, Lucy, Dora, Elsie, and little Babbie—were still at home. The record notes that Daniel had income from sources other than farming, suggesting he may have supplemented his livelihood through additional labor or small business activities. Daniel’s life came to a close on 7 March 1949 in Brunswick County. According to family recollection preserved by Linda Lepow, he died of a “silent heart attack” at the age of sixty‑six. Jessie lived on until 1964, passing away in Leaksville, North Carolina at the age of seventy‑five. Together, they raised a remarkably large family—Luther, Dorothy, Daniel Jess, Carl Wesley, William Thomas, Walter Lee, Dora, Barbara, Bessie, and others—whose descendants spread across Virginia and North Carolina. |
Mattie Sue Gauldin (Meadows) | 1885–1926 | Daughter; Mattie Sue Gauldin was born on 26 February 1885 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, one of the elder daughters of Thomas Gauldin and Sallie (Cox) Gauldin. She grew up in the familiar pattern of rural Virginia farm families at the turn of the century—large households, steady work, and close ties to kin and neighbors. The 1900 census places fifteen‑year‑old Mattie in the Tunstall District, living with her parents and younger siblings, able to read and write, and contributing to the daily labor that sustained the family farm. In 1907, at the age of twenty‑two, Mattie married Claude Watson Meadows in Ruffin, Rockingham County, North Carolina. Claude, born in 1887, came from a nearby farming family, and their marriage represented the common movement of Pittsylvania families across the state line into Rockingham County for work, marriage, and opportunity. The young couple settled near Mattie’s home community, and by the 1910 census they were living along Stony Mill Road in Tunstall. Mattie, listed as “Mattie S. Meadows,” had already borne two children, though only one—Claude Vester Meadows, an infant—was living. The loss of a child so early in her marriage reflects the harsh realities of rural life, where infant mortality remained high and medical care was limited. Mattie’s adult life appears to have been shaped by the quiet, steady rhythm of marriage, motherhood, and farm work. Records suggest she and Claude had at least one additional child, James Albert Meadows, though documentation varies. Her days would have been filled with the domestic labor expected of women in her community: tending the home, raising children, helping with farm tasks, and maintaining ties with her Gauldin and Meadows kin. Her life came to an early end. On 4 October 1926, at just 41 years old, Mattie died in Dan River Township, Caswell County, North Carolina. Her death certificate lists her birthplace as Vandalia, Virginia, and names her parents as Tom Gauldin and Sallie Cox. Strikingly, the certificate notes that she had no doctor, leaving her cause of death unrecorded—an all‑too‑common circumstance for rural women whose final illnesses went undocumented. Whether her death resulted from sudden illness, chronic condition, or complications of life on a farm, the absence of medical care underscores the vulnerability of families living far from towns and physicians. Mattie was buried at Shady Grove United Methodist Church Cemetery in Providence, Caswell County, a resting place shared by many Gauldin and Meadows relatives. |
Walter Gauldin (?) | 1885–1885 | Infant death; Possible connection. There are no records of his death and nothing to prove he was a son. |
Anna “Annie” Gauldin | 1887–1976 | Daughter; Anna “Annie” Gauldin was born on 1 August 1887 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia (9), one of the middle daughters of Thomas Gauldin and Sallie Snow Cox. She grew up in the familiar world of rural Tunstall District—small farms, large families, and close‑knit kin networks that shaped daily life. The 1900 census records twelve‑year‑old Annie living at home with her parents and siblings, able to speak English but not yet literate, a detail that would follow her into adulthood. Annie entered adulthood during a period of change in Pittsylvania County, when young men and women often married neighbors or childhood acquaintances. Sometime before 1920, she married Martin Lee “Wack” Eanes, a Pittsylvania native born in 1877. Their marriage joined two long‑established families of the region, and together they built a household that would grow into one of the largest branches of the Gauldin–Eanes line. By 1920, Annie—now “Annie Eanes”—was living with Martin in the Tunstall District. The census paints a vivid picture of her early married life: she could neither read nor write, yet she managed a bustling household of young children. Eunice, James Ballard, Carrie, Lee Speeder, Roy Thomas, Joseph Bell, and Charlie Herman filled the home, each born within a few years of the next. Annie’s days would have been consumed with childcare, cooking, laundry, and the endless domestic labor required to keep such a household running. The 1930 census places Annie and Martin along Storey Mills and Danville Road, still in Tunstall. Annie is listed as having married at seventeen, consistent with her early entry into adult responsibilities. Martin worked on a dairy farm, and several of their older children did the same, suggesting that the family either operated or labored together on a dairy operation—a demanding but steady livelihood in rural Virginia. Annie remained illiterate, but she spoke English and managed a household that continued to expand. By this time, the couple had added more children: Willie, Lewis, Harold, and Joe Bell, rounding out a family of at least eleven children. As the decades passed, Annie’s life shifted from rural Pittsylvania to nearby Danville, where she appears in the 1959 Danville City Directory. By then she was a widow—Martin had died in 1958—and she was living in the city during her later years, likely near some of her adult children. Her long life spanned eras of dramatic change: from horse‑drawn farm life to the modern conveniences of mid‑twentieth‑century Danville. Annie died on 5 September 1976 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 89, in Danville, Virginia. She was buried at Highland Burial Park, one of the city’s major cemeteries. Her Find‑a‑Grave memorial lists her as the mother of a large and accomplished family: Emerson Franklin, Roy Thomas, Carrie Haley, Lee Martin, Willie, Lewis Speeder, Charlie Herman, Harold, James Ballard, and Joe Bell Eanes. Through them, her lineage spread widely across Pittsylvania, Danville, and beyond.
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Mary Emma “Maddie” Gauldin | 1890–1921 | Daughter; Mary Emma “Maddie” Gauldin was born on 1 April 1890 in Brosville, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, one of the younger daughters of Thomas Gauldin and Sallie Cox. She grew up in the Tunstall District, a landscape of small farms, tobacco fields, and close‑knit families whose lives were shaped by hard work and the steady rhythm of rural life. The 1900 census records ten‑year‑old Maddie living at home with her parents and siblings, part of the large Gauldin household that formed the center of her early world. At nineteen, Maddie married Noah Washington “Will” Gammon (11) on 14 November 1909 in Dan River Township, Pittsylvania County. Noah, born in 1870, was nearly twenty years her senior and already a widower. His first wife, Laura Bell “Laurie” Gauldin, had died earlier that year, leaving Noah with children and a household in need of stability. Maddie stepped into a ready‑made family, becoming both wife and stepmother at an age when many young women were only beginning their adult lives. The marriage record lists her parents as “Tom Gaulden” and “Sallie Gaulden,” a common variation in spelling, and gives her age as twenty‑one. Maddie and Noah settled in the Tunstall community, where Noah farmed and Maddie managed the home. Their daughter, Ocie Mae “Tiddley‑Winks” Gammon, was born around 1910–1911, adding another child to the already bustling household. By 1920, Maddie—recorded as Emma W. Gammon—was living with Noah on Henry Turnpike Road in Tunstall. The census paints a vivid picture of her life: she could neither read nor write, yet she managed a large and active family. The household included children from Noah’s first marriage—Bell, Noah Jr., Roy, Kate, May, and Viola—along with Maddie’s own daughter. Her days would have been filled with cooking, washing, tending children, and supporting Noah’s farming work. In a home of eight or more children, domestic labor was constant and demanding. But Maddie’s life was short. On 20 August 1921, at just 31 years old, she died in Pittsylvania County. (12) Her death certificate lists her parents as Thomas Gauldin and Sallie Cox and names her husband as Will Gammon. The cause of death was pulmonary tuberculosis, one of the most feared and deadly diseases of the early twentieth century. Tuberculosis often struck young adults, especially women weakened by childbirth, hard labor, and limited access to medical care. Maddie’s death left Noah widowed for the second time and her young daughter motherless. Her burial location is not explicitly recorded, but she was likely laid to rest in one of the Gammon or Gauldin family cemeteries in the Tunstall–Brosville area, near the community where she had lived her entire life.
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Carrie Prudiss Gauldin | 1892–1979 | Daughter; Carrie Prudiss Gauldin was born on 1 May 1892 in Laurel Grove, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, one of the younger children of Thomas J. Gauldin and Sallie Cox. (14) She grew up in the Tunstall District, a rural community of tobacco farms, textile workers, and extended families who lived within a few miles of one another. The 1900 census shows eight‑year‑old Carrie living at home with her parents and siblings—Daniel, Mattie, Annie, Mary, Sedonia, Sam, and her maternal grandmother Lucy Cox. Carrie attended school and could speak English, but like many girls of her era, her formal education ended early. At just 15 years old, on 3 December 1907, Carrie married Albert Moore Gauldin in Rockingham County, North Carolina. Albert, born in 1881, was the son of James Monroe Gaulding and Elizabeth “Betty” Lovelace Stevens. He worked in the textile industry and, by all accounts, was industrious and well‑known in the Danville area. Their marriage began a new branch of the Gauldin family that would eventually stretch across Pittsylvania, Danville, and Rockingham counties. Carrie and Albert settled first in Tunstall, where the 1920 census lists her as Carry Gauldin, age twenty‑seven, living on Henry Turnpike Road. She could read but not write—a detail that reflects the limited schooling available to rural girls in the late nineteenth century. Their household was already full: Ruby, Meveline, Catherine, and Margaret were all young children, and more would follow. Carrie’s days were spent in the demanding rhythm of early‑twentieth‑century motherhood—cooking, washing, tending children, and supporting Albert’s work in the mills. Tragedy struck early. Albert died in 1928 at just 46 years old, leaving Carrie a widow with six children to raise. His obituary described him as a native of Rockingham County who had lived in Danville for seventeen years and worked in the local textile industry. Carrie, suddenly alone, had to find work to support her family. By 1930, she appears in the Danville City Directory as Carrie G. Gauldin, employed at D.R. Mills, one of the city’s major textile factories. Her address—137 Macon Avenue—places her in a working‑class neighborhood close to the mills and other industrial employers. In 1933, Carrie remarried. Her second husband, William Marion Gladson, born in 1878, was the son of Miles Jasper Gladson and Barbara Gladson. Their marriage brought stability to Carrie’s life after years of widowhood and hard labor. The 1940 census shows Carrie Gladson, age forty‑seven, living again in the Tunstall District with William and several children: her son Billie J. Gladson, and daughters from her first marriage—Margaret, Inez, and Helen. Carrie had completed only a fifth‑grade education, yet she managed a blended household with resilience and quiet strength. Carrie lived a long life, witnessing the transformation of Danville from a tobacco‑and‑textile town into a modern city. She died on 2 December 1979 at the age of 87, in Danville, Virginia. (15) Her death certificate lists her parents as Tom Gauldin and Sallie Cox, and her spouse as William M. Gladson. She was buried at Mountain View Cemetery, one of Danville’s historic burial grounds. (16)
Carrie’s legacy lives on through her children: Ruby E. Gaulding (1912–1989), married Homer Robertson Meveline Agnes Gaulding (1913–1960), married Julius Edgar Crawford Inez Gaulding (1914– ) Catherine May Gaulding (1914–1985), married Roy Abraham Crawford Margaret “Maryetta” Gaulding (1919–1970), married Julius Crawford Helen Adelle Gauldin (1922–1995), married Claudie Thomas McKinney |
Sedonia Lee “Danie” Gauldin | 1895–1978 | Daughter; Sedonia Lee “Danie” Gauldin was born on 26 April 1895 in the Tunstall community of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, the daughter of Thomas Gauldin and Sallie Cox (17). She grew up in a large rural household where siblings, cousins, and extended kin formed the fabric of daily life. The 1900 census records three‑year‑old Sedonia—listed as Sedonia L. Gauldin—living with her parents and older siblings, part of the familiar Gauldin family cluster that shaped the childhoods of so many in the Tunstall District. By 1910, fifteen‑year‑old “Danie” Gauldin was still at home, attending school and able to read and write. Her literacy set her apart from several of her sisters, reflecting the gradual expansion of educational access for rural girls in the early twentieth century. Her adolescence unfolded in the quiet rhythms of farm life: household chores, seasonal work, church gatherings, and the close companionship of siblings who remained together well into adulthood. Sometime before 1920, Danie married Thomas Madison Barber, a young man whose parents were also born in Virginia. Their marriage marked the beginning of a life lived largely along the Virginia–North Carolina border. The 1920 census places the couple in Pelham, Caswell County, North Carolina, living on Shady Grove Road, a rural community just across the state line from Pittsylvania. Danie, then twenty‑three, was beginning her own household, stepping into the role of wife and soon mother. By 1930, Danie and Thomas had moved to Ruffin, Rockingham County, North Carolina, another border community closely tied to the families of southern Pittsylvania. Their household had grown to include several children—Virginia, Ruth, Ruby, and Juanita Barber—each born within a few years of the next. Dannie’s days would have been filled with the demanding domestic labor of rural motherhood: cooking, washing, tending gardens, and raising children in a home where resources were modest and work was constant. Over the years, Dannie and Thomas’s family expanded further. Records from Find‑a‑Grave list additional children: Ruth Lucille Welch, Thomas Harden Barber, Sarah Bell Davis, Juanita Elizabeth Pickeral, Virginia Lee Barber, and Ruby Lee Welch. Through them, Danie’s lineage spread across Caswell, Rockingham, and Danville, forming one of the Barber family’s strongest branches. In her later years, Dannie returned to Virginia. By the time of her death, she was living in Danville, a city that had drawn many rural families into its textile mills, neighborhoods, and churches. She died on 14 February 1978 at the age of 82, (18) her death certificate naming her parents as Thomas Gauldin and Sallie Cox, and her husband as Thomas Madison Barber. She was buried at Schoolfield Cemetery in Danville, a resting place shared by many families who migrated from Pittsylvania’s rural communities into the city during the twentieth century.  |
Samuel Hardin “Sam” Gauldin | 1897–1914 | Son; Samuel Hardin “Sam” Gauldin was born on 18 December 1897 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, the youngest son of Thomas Gauldin and Sallie Cox. He entered a household already full of older siblings—Daniel, Mattie, Annie, Mary, Carrie, and Sedonia—each contributing to the busy rhythm of farm life in the Tunstall District. The 1900 census records two‑year‑old Sam living at home, surrounded by the familiar Gauldin family cluster and an elderly relative, Lucy Cox, who likely helped with the children. Sam grew up in a world defined by tobacco fields, small farms, and close‑knit rural communities. By 1910, thirteen‑year‑old Sam was still living at home, attending school, and stepping into the early responsibilities expected of boys in farming families. His adolescence would have been shaped by chores, seasonal labor, and the companionship of siblings who remained together well into adulthood. But Sam’s life was tragically short. On 24 August 1914, at just 16 years old, he died in Danville, Virginia. His death certificate (20) lists his parents as Tom Gauldin and Sallie Cox, and gives the cause of death as appendicitis—a condition that, before modern surgical intervention, was often fatal. In rural communities where access to timely medical care was limited, appendicitis could progress rapidly, leaving families helpless as a young life slipped away. Sam’s death marked a deep loss for the Gauldin family. As the youngest son, he would have been cherished by his parents and siblings, and his passing left a quiet but lasting absence in the household. No burial record is explicitly noted, but he was likely laid to rest in one of the Gauldin family cemeteries in the Tunstall–Brosville area, near the home where he spent his short life. Though Sam lived only sixteen years, his presence in the Gauldin family story is meaningful. His life reflects the vulnerability of children and adolescents in the early twentieth century, when even treatable conditions could become fatal. |
Mahalia “Hallie” Elizabeth Gauldin | 1901–1985 | Daughter; Mahalia “Hallie” Elizabeth Gauldin was born on 18 January 1901 in Danville, Virginia, the youngest daughter of Thomas Gauldin and Sallie Cox. (21) She entered the world at a time when Danville was rapidly transforming from a rural tobacco town into a bustling industrial center. Hallie grew up in a large family whose older children were already leaving home, marrying, or working in the mills. Her childhood unfolded in the borderland between Pittsylvania’s rural communities and the growing urban life of Danville. By 1920, Hallie—then nineteen—was living not with her parents but in a boarding house on Henry Street in Danville. This detail reveals much about her early adulthood. Boarding houses were common among young mill workers, offering inexpensive lodging close to the factories. Hallie worked as a spooler in the cotton mill, a demanding job that required speed, dexterity, and long hours. She could read and write, and her literacy helped her navigate the industrial world that was drawing thousands of young women into its workforce. On 22 April 1920, Hallie married William Cornelius “Willie” Toler in Danville. Willie, born in 1896 in Pittsylvania County, was a U.S. Army veteran who had served in Company C, 116th Infantry during World War I. His service record shows enlistment in 1916 and discharge in 1919, placing him among the many young men whose lives were shaped by wartime duty. Their marriage joined two families deeply rooted in Pittsylvania and Danville, and together they began building a household in the city. The 1940 census shows Hallie and Willie living on Franklin Street in Danville. Hallie, then thirty‑nine, had completed the sixth grade—more education than several of her sisters—and was raising two daughters, Evelyn and Nancy. Willie worked to support the family, and Hallie managed the home, a familiar pattern for mill‑town families of the era. Their neighborhood was part of Danville’s growing residential landscape, filled with textile workers, veterans, and families who had migrated from rural Pittsylvania in search of steady employment. Hallie lived a long life, witnessing Danville’s evolution from a mill town to a modern city. She outlived her husband by nearly three decades—Willie died in 1957 and was buried at Highland Burial Park. Hallie remained in Danville, close to her children and extended family, until her death on 5 October 1985 at the age of 84. (22) Her death certificate (23) lists her parents as Thomas Gauldin and Sally Cox, and gives the cause of death as ischemia of the small intestine, a serious condition often associated with age and vascular disease. She was buried at Highland Burial Park, one of Danville’s major cemeteries. Hallie’s life reflects the experience of many Southern women who came of age during the rise of the textile industry. She moved from a rural childhood into the industrial workforce, lived in a boarding house as a young mill worker, married a World War I veteran, and raised children in the growing neighborhoods of Danville. |
Thomas “Tom” Gauldin Jr. (?) | 1902–? | Son (death date unknown); There may have been a son named Thomas but there is nothing to prove his existence. No sources. If he was a son of Thomas and Sallie and was born and died between 1900-1910, then he would not be recorded in any of the census records. Mahalia was the last recorded child. |
Sallie Snow Cox
Sallie Snow Cox was born on 12 December 1860 in the New Mount Cross/Laurel Grove area of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, into a young family whose life would soon be reshaped by the Civil War. She was the daughter of George W. Cox (1833–1862) and Lucy Ann Murray (1831–1907). Sallie’s earliest years were marked by loss: in May 1862, when she was only two years old, her father died of measles at Camp Winder in Richmond, a Confederate hospital complex overwhelmed by disease during the war. His burial there was later documented in Lucy Murray Cox’s 1888 Confederate widow’s pension application, which also confirmed his service in Company C, 38th Virginia Infantry under Captain Simpson. Sallie grew up with the knowledge that her father had died in service, leaving her mother a widow with young children in a county deeply affected by wartime hardship.
Lucy Murray Cox raised Sallie and her siblings alone for many years, and Sallie remained close to her mother throughout her life. By the time Sallie reached adulthood, she was living in Pittsylvania County, where she met Thomas “Tom” Gauldin, a young farmer from a large local family. On 20 February 1879, at age eighteen, Sallie married Tom in Pittsylvania County. Their marriage record describes her as “Sarah Cox,” age eighteen, daughter of S. and L. A. Cox—a clerical shorthand for her parents, George and Lucy Ann Cox. Tom was twenty‑six, a farmer, and the son of Thomas and Mahala Gauldin. The couple began their married life in the Tunstall area of Pittsylvania County, a rural community of small farms and extended kin networks.
The 1880 census shows Sallie at age nineteen, living with Tom and her widowed mother, Lucy Cox, who remained an integral part of Sallie’s household. Tom worked as a farm laborer, and Sallie managed the home alongside her mother. Over the next two decades, Sallie bore a large family—eleven children in total, nine of whom survived infancy. The 1900 census records her at age thirty‑nine, living in Tunstall with Tom and their children: Daniel, Mattie, Annie, Mary, Carrie, Sedonia, and Sam, along with her mother Lucy, then age sixty‑nine. Sallie could read and write, unlike her husband, and her household was typical of rural Virginia families—busy, multigenerational, and sustained by the labor of every member.
Sallie’s life was shaped by both continuity and change. She spent most of her years in Pittsylvania County, but by the late 1920s she was living in Danville, Virginia, at 417 Keen Street, as listed in the 1927 city directory. This suggests she moved into town later in life, possibly to live near children or to be closer to medical care or family support after Tom’s death in 1917. Her death is recorded on her death certificate as “sudden and unexpected”. (25) The cause was unknown and she was 68 and widowed when she died.
Works Cited
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10. Image of Anna Gauldin and her daughter Eunice. ancestry.com. [Online] Shannon_Barger originally shared this on 5 Jan 2019. https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/163174124/person/422121230414/media/7c448a8c-daa7-452b-89b1-02bb8ccea029?galleryindex=2&sort=-created.
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14. Carrie Prudiss Gauldin. Find a Grave. [Online] https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60525/records/79979940?tid=163174124&pid=422121229432&ssrc=pt.
15. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. ancestry.com. [Online] https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3693/records/22429776?tid=163174124&pid=422121229432&ssrc=pt.
16. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014. ancestry.com. [Online] https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9278/images/43006_162028006054_0363-00301?pId=1384694.
17. Danie Gauldin Barber. Find a Grave. [Online] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/206212403/danie-barber.
18. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. ancestry.com. [Online] https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3693/records/2835118?tid=163174124&pid=422121228171&ssrc=pt.
19. Image of Danie Gauldin and Thomas Madison Barber with their son. ancestry.com. [Online] Shannon_Barger originally shared this on 5 Jan 2019. https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/163174124/person/422121228171/media/dd93935e-5786-41f3-9502-e1a1d0283b23?galleryindex=2&sort=-created.
20. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014. ancestry.com. [Online] 1914. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9278/images/43004_172028008877_0024-00278?pId=747044.
21. Hallie G Toler. Find a Grave. [Online] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132991325/hallie-g-toler.
22. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. ancestry.com. [Online] https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3693/records/62789328?tid=163174124&pid=422121229248&ssrc=pt.
23. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014. ancestry.com. [Online] https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9278/images/43006_162028001248_0273-00102?usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=946650.
24. Image of the family of Daniel Archer Gauldin. ancestry.com. [Online] https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/163174124/person/422121229192/media/61f5d73c-3e2a-484c-a095-c01574159c89?galleryindex=1&sort=-created.
25. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014. ancestry.com. [Online] https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9278/images/43004_162028001249_0151-00165?pId=93546.
26. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995. Virginia, Danville, 1927, Danville, Virginia, City Directory, 1927. [Online] https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/10836460?pId=554905598.
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