 1859 - 1947 (87 years)
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| Name |
James Ruffin Capps |
| Birth |
29 Oct 1859 |
Johnston Co., North Carolina  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
7 Feb 1947 |
Erwin, Harnett Co., North Carolina |
| Burial |
Hodges Chapel Cemetery, Benson, Johnston Co., North Carolina |
| Person ID |
I6243 |
Gregory Gen |
| Last Modified |
12 Aug 2023 |
| Family |
Sarah Catherine Whittington, b. 12 Nov 1855, Harnett Co., North Carolina d. 8 Mar 1932, Erwin, Harnett Co., North Carolina (Age 76 years) |
| Marriage |
18 Dec 1881 |
Johnston Co., North Carolina |
| Children |
| | 1. Talmadge Vernon Capps, b. 6 May 1898, Harnett Co., North Carolina d. 12 Jun 1933, Dunn, Harnett Co., North Carolina (Age 35 years) [Father: natural] |
| | 2. George Anderson Capps, b. 21 Jun 1887, Harnett Co., North Carolina d. 2 Aug 1965, Harnett Co., North Carolina (Age 78 years) [Father: natural] |
| | 3. Lillie A. Capps, b. 17 Jul 1896, Harnett Co., North Carolina d. 13 Sep 1939 (Age 43 years) [Father: natural] |
| | 4. James Ruffin Capps, Jr., b. Abt 1900 [Father: natural] |
| | 5. Loula F. Capps, b. 4 Jun 1884 d. 23 Dec 1956, Erwin, Harnett Co., North Carolina (Age 72 years) [Father: natural] |
| | 6. William Alonzo Capps, b. 28 Nov 1882, Harnett Co., North Carolina d. 21 Dec 1948, Alexander Park, Norfolk Co., Virginia (Age 66 years) [Father: natural] |
| | 7. Infant Daughter Capps, b. 9 Jan 1892 d. 10 Jan 1892 (Age 0 years) [Father: natural] |
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| Family ID |
F2402 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
12 Aug 2023 |
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| Notes |
- http://users.firstva.com/diadem/capps.htm
------ James Ruffin CAPPS got his start working as a farmer in Harnett County, NC around 1880 for George James HODGES (son of John HODGES and Rebecca ALLEN). In 1881 he married George James HODGES's step-daughter, Sarah Catherine WHITTINGTON (daughter of Anna [possibly McLamb] ENNIS and W. Bryant WHITTINGTON). Anna Ennis WHITTINGTON married George James HODGES after her first husband (W. Bryant WHITTINGTON) died sometime between 1860 and 1861, possibly as a consequence of the Civil War. James Ruffin continued to work for and with George HODGES through at least 1900, for census records of that year show him and his brother William Henry CAPPS farming the land across the road from Hodges's home and Hodges's Chapel Church. That church burned down in 1992 and was replaced by a new Hodges Chapel Church located on the land they farmed. The Hodges's home is still there, located next to Hodges's Chapel cemetery. Behind the new Church is a small home that once belonged to James Ruffin's daughter, Loula F. CAPPS and her husband William Archie SANFORD. James Ruffin lived with them in the later years of his life. For more information on the Hodges's family, I recommend "Remembering Our Goff-Hodges and their Kin" by V. Mayo Bundy. This book was given me by Talmage Vernon CAPPS, Jr, who is also the one who pieced together the puzzle of how the Hodges, Capps and Whittingtons are interrelated.
------ By 1910, however, he was working in a cotton mill, according to census records of that year, and in 1925 he lived at 101 North 17th Street, Erwin, NC. It was here he and his wife cared for Talmage Vernon CAPPS, Jr. (their grandchild) for the first several months of Talmage's life. This was only two blocks from the cloth house where James Ruffin worked at the Erwin Cotton Mill. His job was to iron the cloth before it was shipped out.
----- Talmage recalls vividly that when James Ruffin got too old he was retired from the mill with no pay. For a long time he would keep going back and iron for nothing. But then he would get caught and sent back home. This did not stop him though and he would always keep going back.
------ Talmage V. CAPPS, Jr. reports that he was usually called Ruffin, but that lots of younger people called him "Uncle Pete." He doesn't know where the name "Uncle Pete" came from. Talmage remembers him as about 5'8" or 9" and a little heavy, but not much. Roger Eugene CAPPS remembers his great-grand father as "Little Grandpa" because Roger's grandfather, William "Lonnie" Alonzo CAPPS, was taller and hence called "Big Grandpa". Roger remembers him as always well-dressed, but shorter, maybe 5' 4".
------ Talmage had this to say about James Ruffin on 15-Nov-1993: "I don't think I've known a more humble and likeable person. I never met anyone who did not like him. I never heard him say a harmful thing or ever belittle anyone.... I believed he stayed with Loula and Arch Sanford more than anyone else. He was a true gentleman."
------ James Ruffin's death certificate says that the immediate cause of his death was myocarditis (disease of the heart) due to hypertension and arteriosclerosis. According to the certificate, he had myocarditis for seven years and hypertension and arteriosclerosis for fifteen years. James Ruffin is buried in Hodges's Chapel cemetery; also there are his wife, her mother and step-father, as well as James Ruffin's daughter Loula and her husband Archie.
Sarah: Roger Capps reported the spelling of her name as Whittington
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