(1833-1861)
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Mary Amelia Faison was the 10th child born to William Alexander (‘Billie’) Faison, a wealthy farmer in Sampson County NC, and his wife, Susan Moseley Faison.
She married Col. John Gillespie McDugald, lawyer of Bladen County, NC, December 28, 1853.
After John McDugald’s death in Oct of 1857, Mary Amelia married Reverend Benjamin Franklin Marable of Clinton, Sampson County, NC in December of 1858 [1].
Mary Amelia Faison, always called Amelia, was the tenth child of William Alexander Faison and Susan Moseley. She was therefore the younger sister of Eliza Ann Faison who married Patrick Murphy, Esq. She was consequently the aunt of Eliza's twins: Mary Bailey Murphy and Susan Moseley Murphy . As her father was a wealthy planter of Sampson County, Amelia was in no sense a pensioner of the Murphy family into which her sister had married. Amelia was only three years older than her nieces, though, so it is likely that her older sister Eliza Ann Faison thought of her as a youthful chaperone for the girls.
Orignally homeschooled, Amelia entered the Burwell School the same time as the other girls from the Cuwhiffle Plantation (the Murphy estate) and the surrounding area. This circle included her two twin nieces, Mary Bailey Murphy , and Susan Moseley Murphy . In addition to the twins, Julia Murphy and Sarah Eliza Grice also attened. They all began in the fall term of 1848 (which started on July 17) and presumably stayed two years. Amelia is frequently mentioned in letters her twin nieces wrote home.
At the age of twenty, Amelia married John Gillespie McDugald. Five years after the death of her first husband, Amelia married married a Presbyterian minister, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Marable. The couple had two daughters. The first, Louisa Marable, died as a young woman, while Mary Belle Marable went on to marry a man by the name of [Unknown] Dean and have children of her own: Christine Dean, Marable Dean, Carlton Dean, Dorothy Dean, Gladys Dean, and David Dean. Updated in 2018: It is possible that Mary Belle Marable was actually the daughter of Benjamin Franklin Marable's second wife, Octavia Marable, not Mary Amelia Faison due to the dates of birth as provided in the 1870 census.
Amelia died August 21, 1861 and was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery (grave site 50) in Sampson County, NC.
Research on this student was updated in January, 2018 by a BSHS Researcher.
Resources:
Place of Death/Burial: http://www.sampsonhistory.org/2017/07/01/the-faison-family-cemetery-at-mount-pleasant/
At a Glance: http://www.sampsonhistory.org/2017/07/01/the-faison-family-cemetery-at-mount-pleasant/
Raleigh Register Marriage and death notices, January 1854 [1].
Mary was called Amelia.
Mary Amelia Faison was born on March 5, 1833, in Sampson County, NC. She died on August 21, 1861, of typhoid fever, and was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
. (niece, b. 1834) [1], Susan Moseley Murphy (niece, b. 1834) [1], Christine Dean (granddaughter) [1], Marable Dean (grandson) [1], Carlton Dean (grandson) [1], Dorothy Dean (granddaughter) [1], Gladys Dean (granddaughter) [1] and David Dean (grandson) [1].