How Do You Spell That? Hettie or Hattie

Joseph Smith Lanier and Nancy Jane Bennett’s fifth child, a daughter, first appears in the 1880 U.S. census as Hetta V. Lanier, age two years old.¹1880 U.S. census, Randolph Co., AL, population schedule, Rock Mills, enumeration district (ED) 114, p. 11, dwelling 72, family 82, Joseph Lanier; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6742 : accessed 21 Nov 2009); from NARA microfilm T9, roll 30. And the spelling of her name varies in records for the rest of her life.

On 25 November 1898, Hettie Lanier married V. S. (Virgil Slokem) White in Monroe County, Mississippi.²Monroe Co., MS, Marriages, 16: 316, White-Lanier, 1898; Monroe Co. Clerk, Aberdeen. In 1900, they lived Muldon in Monroe County and she was listed in the census as Eugenia White.³1900 U.S. census, Monroe Co., MS, population schedule, Muldon, enumeration district (ED) 75, sheet 3A, dwelling 46, family 46, Virgle S. White; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7602 : accessed 21 Apr 2009); from NARA microfilm T623, roll 822. She was also listed in her parents’ household in that census as Hattie E. Lanier.⁴1900 U.S. census, Monroe Co., MS, population schedule, Muldon, enumeration district (ED) 75, sheet 7A, dwelling 134, family 136, Joseph Lanier; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7602 : accessed 2 Feb 2009); from NARA microfilm T623, roll 821; all of Joseph’s living children were listed in his household even though five of them, including Hattie, were living elsewhere at that time.

By 1910, the White family lived in Lanett, Chambers County, Alabama, and she was listed in that census as Hettie White.⁵1910 U.S. census, Chambers Co., Alabama, population schedule, Lanett, enumeration district (ED) 26, sheet 9B, dwelling 154, family 163, Virgil White; digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.comsearch/collections/7884 : accessed 22 Apr 2009); citing NARA microfilm T624, roll 5. She and Sloke divorced sometime between 1910 and 1916 when she married William McRae in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Her name on the marriage license and certificate was Hattie White.⁶“Marriage Records from Microfilm,” digital image, Georgia Archives Virtual Vault (https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/countyfilm/id/264295/rec/31: accessed 27 Jul 2012), Fulton Co., W: 418, McRae-White, 1916; from Georgia Archives, Morrow. In the 1920 census, she was Hattie McRae.⁷1920 U.S. census, Fulton Co., GA, population schedule, Atlanta, enumeration district (ED) 67, sheet 5A, dwelling 77, family 98, William McRae; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6061 : accessed 22 Apr 2009); from NARA microfilm T625, roll 251. In Atlanta city directories for 1922 and 1927, she was Hattie, but in 1921, she was Hettie.⁸Atlanta City Directory 1922 (Atlanta, GA: Atlanta City Directory Co.), p. 784, entry for Wm & Hattie MacRae.; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469 : accessed 18 Sep 2019) > Georgia  > Atlanta  > 1922 > Atlanta, Georgia, City Directory, 1922 > image 400. Atlanta City Directory 1927 (Atlanta, GA: Atlanta City Directory Co.), p. 849, entry for Wm M. & Hettie McRae.; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469 : accessed 18 Sep 2019) > Georgia  > Atlanta  > 1927 > Atlanta, Georgia, City Directory, 1927 > image 428. Atlanta City Directory 1921 (Atlanta, GA: Atlanta City Directory Co.), p. 783, entry for Wm & Hettie McRae.; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469 : accessed 18 Sep 2019) > Georgia  > Atlanta  > 1921 > Atlanta, Georgia, City Directory, 1921 > image 397.

By 1930, she and McRae were no longer together and likely divorced. Hattie MacRae lived with her younger sister Lillie Manning in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana.⁹1930 U.S. census, Orleans Parish, LA, population schedule, New Orlean, enumeration district (ED) 26-197, sheet 26A, dwelling 400, family 469, Lillie Manning; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6224 : accessed 18 Jul 2012); from NARA microfilm T626, roll 809. In 1931, she was listed in the New Orleans city directory as Hattie E. McRae.¹⁰Soards’ New Orleans City Directory 1931 (New Orleans: Soards Directory Co., Ltd.), p. 986, entry for Hattie E. McRae; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469 : accessed 18 Sep 2019) > Louisiana  > New Orleans  > 1931 > Atlanta, Georgia, City Directory, 1931 > image 490. In 1938, she lived in Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska, and was Hattie E. Macrae in that city directory.¹¹Polk’s Lincoln City Directory 1938 (Omaha, NE: R. L. Polk & Co.), p. 348, entry for Hattie E. MacRae; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469 : accessed 18 Sep 2019) > Nebraska  > Lincoln  > 1938 > Lincoln, Nebraska, City Directory, 1938 > image 175.

In 1940, Hattie MacRae lived with her daughter Mary L. Scott in Salem, Lee County, Alabama.¹²1940 U.S. census, Cullman Co., AL, population schedule, Precinct 1, enumeration district (ED) 22-5, sheet 10B, household 5, Mary L Scott; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2442 : accessed 28 Jun 2012); from NARA microfilm 627, roll 52. She died on 31 October 1944 in Salem. Mrs. Hattie McRae is the name on her death certificate, but Hettie Laneir McRae is on her headstone.¹³AL Dept. of Public Health, death certificate no. 19900, (1944), Mrs. Hattie McRae; AL Vital Records, Montgomery. Salem Cemetery (Salem, Lee Co., AL), Hettie Laneir McRae marker, photographed by Linda McCauley, 16 Nov 2010.

When I visited her grave in 2010, I thought I had found the answer to how to spell her name. Her daughter likely had that headstone done. Wouldn’t she have known how to spell her mother’s name? That misspelling of Lanier nagged a little, but I called her Hettie for years.

And then in 2020, I ordered her Social Security Number application (SS-5). That application is for Hattie Lanier McRae, and she signed her name Hattie McRae.¹⁴Hattie Lanier McRae, SS no. 258-10-1490, 30 Nov 1936, Application for Account Number (Form SS-5), Social Security Administration, Baltimore, MD.

Her SS-5 is the only record located to date where Hettie/Hattie signed her name. Is it possible that someone at Calloway Mills in LaGrange, Georgia, where she worked at the time, filled out SS-5s for employees in bulk and even signed them? Maybe. But lacking any way to know for sure, I’ve conceded that she spelled her name Hattie.

So, what about that middle initial E. or V.? In 1880 with her parents, her middle initial was V, which could have been a mis-heard E.¹⁵1880 U.S. census, Randolph Co., AL, pop. sch., Rock Mills, ED 114, p. 11, dwell. 72, fam. 82, Joseph Lanier. In the 1900 census with her husband, she was Eugenia.¹⁶1900 U.S. census, Monroe Co., MS, pop. sch., Muldon, ED 75, sheet 3A, dwell. 46, fam. 46, Virgle S. White. Sloke and Hattie had a daughter named Susie Eugenia, who was born and died between 1900 and 1910.¹⁷Terri Golliver to Pam Rumer, e-mail, 26 Apr 2009, copy privately held by Linda McCauley; information about Susie Eugenia provided to Golliver by Hattie’s grandson Jerry White.  E appears as her middle initial in one census and two city directory records.¹⁸1900 U.S. census, Monroe Co., MS, pop. sch., Muldon, ED 75, sheet 7A, dwell. 134, fam. 136, Joseph Lanier. Soards’ New Orleans City Directory 1931, p. 986, entry for Hattie E. McRae. Polk’s Lincoln City Directory 1938 , p. 348, entry for Hattie E. MacRae. Hattie’s middle name was most likely Eugenia.

Relationship to Author: Hattie (great-aunt) daughter of Joseph Smith Lanier & Nancy Jane Bennett > John William McCauley > David Hankins McCauley > Linda McCauley