LULA MORGAN LANKFORD (1871-1958)

I have been unsuccessfully searching for the parents of Lula Morgan for several years now.  To date, the names of her parents remain a mystery.  This much is known about Lula.  

She was born Lou Eliza Morgan on September 21, 1871 in or around Coffee County, Ga.  and died on December 5, 1958 at the home of one of her sons, J. D. Lankford, in Waycross, Ga. Lula is buried near Douglas, Ga. at Hebron Church Cemetery.  She was generally known as Lula but sometimes as Louiza. 

About 1890, Lula married William Marion Lankford, son of Hardy Lankford and Sarah Vienna Tanner.  To this union were born James Daniel Lankford, Mattie Bell Lankford, Rena Mae Lankford, Le Roy Lankford, Raymond Drawdy Lankford, William Loyd Lankford, Sarah Emaline Lankford, Cady Conney Lankford, Eliza Elizabeth Lankford, Hardy Roan Lankford, and Homer Carlos Lankford .  Cady and Homer died about two years of age and Hardy died about age three.  William Marion died in 1935 and is buried beside Lula at Hebron Church cemetery.  

Lula has been described by two grandchildren who remember her as being “short and wide.” and was an Indian. Rudolph Jowers said that she “wore a bearskin as a shawl and smoked a corn cob pipe.”  Sarah Jowers Howell, Rudy’s sister, stated that Lula “had long straight black hair,  could walk under my arm and I'm 5'5',   had dark gruff-looking skin, and the bluest eyes I've ever seen.”  Aunt Sarah also said that Lula “wore long dresses that covered her ankles” and always “wore an apron with dresses.”  

Lula never mentioned her parents to anyone’s recollection.   Aunt Sarah does mention that she thought Lula had a sister Ida who married Monroe Ricketson.  Ida and Monroe moved to Orange County, Florida where they raised their children and died there. (My research has shown that a Ida Arnold married James Monroe Rickerson and they moved to Orange County, Florida where they owned a farm.)

Some research notes:  In the 1880 Coffee County census, four Morgan’s are listed:  Eliza, Nancy, Samuel, and Louiza.  Eliza Morgan is listed in the household of Needham Arnold along with Nancy listed as a stepdaughter.  Eliza later married Needham.  Samuel is listed as being in the Hiram Sears, Sr. household  and is listed as a cousin.  Louiza is listed as being a boarder, age 9 years, in the John P. Wall household.

I believe that Eliza Morgan was the mother of Samuel and Louiza Morgan and that they were “farmed out” after their father died or disappeared..  In 1880, Louiza  would have been the same age as my great-grandmother Lulu Morgan.  My grandmother, Sarah Emaline Lankford, told me that her mother’s mother was a Sears.  Eliza Morgan may have later married Needham Arnold about 1880.

William Marion Lankford’s paternal grandmother was Lupine Hall who married Parish Lankford, Sr. Lupine has described herself as a Cherokee Indians.  Conversations with  other researchers have shown that Indians tended to stick together and marry into families that had “Indian blood.”   

William’s sister Matilda Loupine Lankford married Richard Jewell whose mother was Jane Lankford. Jane was the sister of Hardy Lankford.  Hardy was the father of William Marion Lankford.

I have recently obtained a copy of her death certificate.  It lists her father as John Sears and her mother as Eliza Sears.  One answer tends to ask another question!  For example, how did Lula get the surname Morgan if her parents were Sears?