Remembering Mary Wilson Propes

Today we honor the memory of Mary Wilson Propes who was born in North Carolina on 22 Apr 1822, the daughter of Richard Wilson and Sarah Hyde. She married Nicholas Augustus Propes in 1837. Not long after that the Propes and Wilson clans moved to Hall County, in the northwest of Georgia (Gainesville is the county seat).

They settled on a farm near Flowery Branch and raised a family of ten children, nine boys and one girl.
In 1860, their farm was prosperous, the census list the value of Nicholas' real estate at $4,000 and personal property at an additional $1,000.

Several of the sons served in the 43rd Georgia Infantry during the Civil War and one son, Richard W. Propes was killed at Paris, Kentucky 31 Oct 1862. His brothers Rufus and John went a.w.o.l. to bring the body back home to Hall County before rejoining their regiment in time for the battles of Shiloh and Vicksburg. Two of the boys and daughter Sarah died before they were adults.

By 1870 the economic situation of the family had changed dramatically. The 1870 census shows a real estate value of only $800 and $100 personal property. Life was so difficult after the war, that two of the boys, John Alexander and Augustus Propes took their families west to Rusk County, Texas.

The 1880 census did not provide land or property valuation. Nicholas and Mary are still living and working on the farm. Mary dies in 1890 out living her husband by 15 months.

She is the 4th great-grand-mother of my son-in-law.