Ezra's Mother

Octavia Goodlow Garey Merrill

Octavia Goodloe was the eldest of Georgianna’s two children. Octavia was born in Florida in March 1865, about two months before Florida officially surrendered to the Union. When she was born, her father, George, was 20, and her mother, Georgianna, was 17.

Octavia married William Garey in September 1882. Ezra was the eldest of the two children that they had together. According to census records and his death record, Ezra was born before the couple was married. Octavia petitioned for a divorce from William on the grounds of adultery, abandonment, and abuse.

Octavia married Richard Merrill in July 1885. According to the 1900 United States Federal Census, the couple had only one child together, a son named George, who was born circa 1888. Octavia was listed as single in 1900 but then listed as a widow in 1910. Furthermore, there is a daughter, Mamie, listed on the 1910 record born one year before George in 1887, but her last name is recorded as Goodloe instead of Merrill. Curiously, Octavia is recorded in two separate entries of the 1910 census. One record shows her as living with her mother and the second has her listed as the head of household. Both records show her as widowed and working as a dressmaker.

Octavia followed in her mother’s footsteps and worked as a seamstress for many years before becoming a midwife by 1920. Octavia’s mother, Georgianna, died in 1927 and leaving Octavia the family home at 121 A Street in Pensacola. Octavia lived there until she died on May 13, 1941, at the age of 76. She is buried next to her brother in Milton, Florida.