(1840-1903)
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In a letter dated January 19, 1856, Mrs. Burwell wrote to her daughter Fannie in New York, “I forgot to tell you that Bella Waddell is coming to school to us this session. I do feel for them--poor Mrs. Waddell has seen so much trouble. Bella you know is a remarkably intelligent girl.” Charlotte Isabella Waddell descended from the most prominent families in North Carolina including Francis Nash and U. S. Supreme Court Justice Alfred Moore. Bella was removed from the St. Matthew's Episcopal Church registry in March 1857 [1].
The curriculum of academics and resilience taught by Mrs. Burwell came to be of great use in the life of Isabella Waddell as she moved away from Hillsborough to Alabama, married, and ran a household of seven children plus boarders including young lawyers studying with her husband in the cotton boom town of Opelika.
Mrs. Burwell wrote that Bella’s mother “has seen so much trouble” which included the death of daughters Catherine in 1854 and Sally in 1855. The Spring of 1856 while Bella was at the Burwell School, Mrs. Burwell’s own Fannie also died. The Waddells continued to see trouble with the death in 1856 of Bella’s brother Francis,. Haynes Waddell’s financial troubles combined with a failing economy prompted Mrs. Waddell’s sewing dresses for Burwell girls at $1.00 each for household money. 1
In March, 1857, Mrs. Waddell and Bella asked to be removed from the roll of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church.2 The Haynes Waddell family left Hillsborough for the booming cotton exchanges in Alabama. where they hoped to prosper. There Bella came to know and married a cousin, the son of another prominent North Carolina family, the young attorney George William Mallett Hooper. These two twenty-year-olds were at first living with George’s family in the Russell County seat, Crawford, Alabama, located at the current intersection of US 80 and Alabama 169. The railroad to Atlanta brought wealth to this cotton exchange. In 1864-65 the railroad and commerce were destroyed by Union forces. Following the war, the county seat was moved to Opelika, and the railroad was connected to Birmingham and New Orleans.3,4
Bella and George moved to their own home in Opelika. By 1870, they had five children under the age of 10, and Bella was “keeping house” while George engaged in law, cotton business, and real estate valued at $8,000 with a personal estate of $3,000. 5 By 1880, Bella and George had at home seven children aged 20, 18, 16, 14,10, 6, and 4, and a household that included as boarders the teenage girl Jessie Waddell, two Hooper relatives, and three black persons: John Farley, and G. W. and Lois Delany. 6 Bella saw her brother James become a judge, and brother DeBerniere become Presbyterian priest and archdeacon of Mississippi. While she outlived her husband and most of her children, she left many descendants who have continued to be prominent in the South. 7 Family correspondence is in the Hooper and Waddell papers in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC and at Duke University.
Sources:
1 Engstrom, The Book of Burwell Students
2 Registry, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Hillsborough NC
3 1860 Census, Crawford, Russell County, Alabama
4 Crawford, Alabama; Opelika, Alabama: Wikipedia
5 1870 Census, Opelika, Lee County, Alabama
6 1880 Census, Opelika, Lee County, Alabama
7 History of Grace Church, Sheffield, Alabama; DAR, SAR; NCPedia
From The Book of Burwell Students:
Charlotte Isabella Waddell, whose nickname was Bella, was descended from prominent families on both her maternal and paternal sides. She was the great-granddaughter of Francis Nash. Her father, Colonel Haynes Waddell, was apparently known to be a spendthrift and the family's existence was thus bleak and narrow. Her mother, Mary Hooper Fleming, appears to be the "Mrs. Wadill" who did sewing fairly cheaply and regularly for Burwell School girls, charging only $1.00 for a summer muslin dress.
On January 19, 1856, M. A. Burwell wrote to her daughter, then studying in New York:
"I forgot to tell you that Bella Waddell is coming to school to us this session. I do feel for them - poor Mrs. Waddell has seen so much trouble. Bella you know is a remarkably intelligent girl."
Bella married her mother's cousin, George William Mallett Hooper. Many of their seven children were given old Hooper and Mallet Family names: Elizabeth Fleming Hooper, Emma Thurston Hooper, Charlotte Isabella Hooper, Charles Mallett Hooper, Caroline Mallett Hooper, Juliet De Berniere Hooper, and George Beatty Hooper.
Other Relations:
Maria was at the Burwell School earlier than her cousin Charlotte Isabella, probably as a day student walking to school from her home at Twin Chimneys. By the time Charlotte Isabella attended the Burwell School, her cousin Maria had married and had met her untimely death in New York [1].
Charlotte was called Bella.
Charlotte Isabella Waddell was born on July 18, 1840. She died on December 10, 1903.
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