(1834-1928)
« return to database listMary Easley was one of the “Halifax girls” who came from the close-knit Halifax County, VA community. The collection at the Burwell School includes Mary’s little autograph book, and Mrs. Burwell’s handwritten account of Mary’s pocket money in 1852 [1].
With the exception of her time at the Burwell School, Mary Easley lived her entire life in the small community of Black Walnut (later renamed Cluster Springs) in the rolling farmland of Halifax County, Virginia, just north of the North Carolina state line. She was one of at least eight Halifax County girls to attend the School, all from the families of prosperous landowners, planters and slaveholders who placed emphasis on church and education for their sons and daughters. Mary was the youngest of eight children born to Thomas Easley and his wife, Harriet Bailey Easley. Thomas Easley was a well-established landowner and planter in Black Walnut.
At age 14 Mary’s older brother Thomas, an 1846 graduate of the Academy at West Point and a lieutenant in the US Army, was the only man from Halifax County to die in the Mexican War. His friend and classmate, George Pickett, was known for his valiant but unsuccessful charge at the battle of Gettysburg.
It is not known how many years Mary attended the Burwell School but her schoolgirl autograph album includes an autograph from Anna Burwell dated May 29, 1852, likely marking the end of the school year, perhaps even the end of Mary’s time at school, as she was almost 18. This charming little book, adorned with mother-of-pearl decorations, is one of the treasures of the collection at the Burwell School. It includes the initials or signatures of several of Mary’s classmates, including her future sister-in-law Sallie Brookes, who later married Charles Easley, Mary’s brother. He attended the Hillsborough Academy during Mary’s time at the Burwell School, and they likely travelled together in Hillsborough.
Also in the Burwell School collection is Anna Burwell’s handwritten account of Mary’s pocket money, dated July, 1852, noting expenditures for cloth, fruit, melon, postage, 40 cents for candy at Mrs.Vassuer’s confectionary shop, and a payment of $1.50 to a Mrs. Waddill for making a dress. (Keeping track of the students’ pocket money was not Mrs. Burwell’s favorite task.)
Two years later, in 1854 at age 20, Mary Easley married John Wimbush Craddock, younger brother of her older sister Fannie’s husband. Charles Craddock. Charles and John were physicians and practiced medicine in the Halifax County community as partners. One history of the county says of them: "the embodiment of unselfishness and self-denial, going day and night through all kinds of weather to minister to some suffering patient.” John and Mary lived in her girlhood home, “Oak Grove,” with Mary’s widowed mother. John also operated a tobacco farm and listed his occupation as “farmer & doctor” in the 1880 US Federal Census. The couple raised eleven children at Oak Grove. John hired a teacher and operated a small school on the second floor of the house for his daughters and girls from the community.
Dr. Craddock died in 1884 at age 60: Mary lived another 44 years and all subsequent census counts show that she lived at Oak Grove and that her youngest child, teacher Sarah, always lived with her.
Three Craddock sons settled in Texas and worked in business there; son Robert Craddoc was the respected clerk of court for Halifax county. Mary’s son Edward and his family took up residence at Oak Grove in the late 1800’s with Mary and her daughter Sarah.
Today, lovely “Oak Grove,” intact and well-maintained, continues as a bed and breakfast inn operated by a direct descendant. Mary, her parents, her husband John and others of their Easley and Craddock relations rest in the family cemetery a short walk from the house [1] [2] [3].
Mary Bailey Easley was born on November 24, 1834 [4]. She died on November 8, 1928, and was buried in Black Walnut (Now Cluster Springs), Halifax County, VA, USA.
