The Mystery of a Picture

For as long as I can remember, there was this picture of a lady...a mysterious lady, that always intrigued me and Heather.  It was a haunting image of a lady from years past.  This picture hung on the wall in the back bedroom of my grandparents house in Lowland.  When we packed up Granny and moved her up to Alliance 15 years ago, the picture came also.  We inquired about who the lady was in the picture.  It was Ada Craig.  Granddaddy Clifford Lewis first wife.

Who was this lady?  What was her story?  Of course this led me and Heather to do a bit of research.

Ada Craig was born in Wilmington, New Hanover County in 1888.  Her parents were Simon and Maranda Craig.  She married my great granddaddy Clifford on December 19, 1913 in Wilmington NC.  I do not know the story how they met as I can only speculate by going through the research.  Apparently, Granddaddy Clifford was in Wilmington in 1913, as well as his sister Fannie Lewis Hodges and her husband Thomas Hodges.

At some point between that Christmas of 1913 and late 1915, Granddaddy came back to Goose Creek Island with his bride Ada.  For Ada, I can imagine life on Goose Creek Island was far different than the hustle and bustle of the port city of Wilmington.  Prior to her marriage to Granddaddy, Ada was living with her older brother William Freeman Craig and his family, as their parents were deceased.  William Freeman Craig was a police officer in Wilmington and died in the line of duty in September 1918.

On Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1915 in Lowland, Ada gave birth to a daughter, Dorcas Elizabeth Lewis.  Ada battled many complications from childbirth and died a couple of weeks later on December 15th.  My Granddaddy Clifford was left a widower with a newborn baby to care for.

Because the folks on Goose Creek Island always take care of each other, I am sure Granddaddy Clifford's family and other folks in the community offered much support and care.  One can only imagine the need for this young man to try and care for his infant baby girl.  Sadly, within a month, on January 19, 1916, baby Dorcas had died as well.  She was laid to rest along side her mother in the McGowan Cemetery, Lowland.

With today's technology and the vast amounts of information that can be found, we were able to learn a few small pieces of the Ada Craig mystery.  However, with learning tidbits of information here and there, it also opens up other questions.  Questions that we will probably never get answers to.  Why was Granddaddy in Wilmington?  Was he working on a ship?  How did he meet this woman?  I wonder what her thoughts were of arriving on Goose Creek Island? Did they live at the Lewis homestead beside the Potter ditch?

Several years later, Granddaddy Clifford married Melissa Howerin Rice, my great grandmother and they raised a family together.

So today, Heather is the keeper of the haunting Ada Craig picture and I am the keeper of Ada Craig's rocking chair.  It was the only two possessions known to have belonged to her.  The image of the woman dressed in black will always intrigue us.  Hopefully one day, we will be able to obtain more information.  But until then, she will always be shrouded in mystery.