Dan's Daughters: Warrington

My paternal grandfather’s brother Dan Troutman and his wife Carrie had two daughters, Warrington and Lois. Warrington was born to them, and Lois was “adopted.” That’s what everyone thought, anyway, but truth be told, Lois was never legally adopted. One of her maternal aunts objected, so her legal status remained foster child.[1]

I don't remember ever meeting Warrington, but she lived well into my lifetime. I remember my dad talking about her affectionately. He liked to tell that she outlived four husbands. Warrington Catlett Troutman was born 27 December 1907.[2] At the time, her mother was 27 and her father was 24. Why she was given such unusual names is anyone’s guess. Perhaps Carrie’s three years of college had given her out-of-the-ordinary ideas about naming children.

Warrington with her parents, Dan and Carrie Troutman, c. 1920.

A high school graduate, Warrington was employed by the WPA as a seamstress throughout the depression years.[3] Later, she worked as a legal secretary.[4] She remained single until her mother died. Perhaps, because of her father’s illness, she felt a responsibility to stay with her mother.

Warrington, on left, with her cousin Verne Troutman (my dad) and an unknown friend. c. 1938, on a Virginia mountain road.

Carrie’s death at age 74 on 1 August 1954[5] seems to have freed Warrington to marry. The first was a 48-year-old, twice divorced farmer, Floyd J. Reynolds. Just two weeks after Carrie died, on 14 August 1954, they were married by a Presbyterian minister in Washington County, Virginia. Warrington was 47.[6] The marriage ended on 3 March 1958 when Floyd died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage.[7]

The second time, Warrington chose a widowed laborer named Fred R. Barker, or maybe they chose each other. They married at the Glade Spring Baptist Church on 2 May 1959. Fred was 58, and she was 51.[8] The couple lived on a farm near Damascus, Virginia. This marriage lasted until Fred died at age 66 on 2 April 1967, one month short of celebrating their 8^th anniversary.

Warrington’s third marriage was to Marion L. Davis, a farmer living at Mouth of Wilson, Grayson County, Virginia. They married in the early 1970s.[9] Marion died suddenly of a heart attack at age 89 on 24 June 1978.[10] Warrington was 71.

For a couple of years or so, Warrington remained single and lived on the Davis farm at Mouth of Wilson. She was persuaded to marry a fourth time by widower Charles G. Miller, a retired carpenter in the building construction business from Damascus.[11] At ages 91 and 73 respectively, Charles and Warrington surely had a spark of romance left in them when they married in view of the Blue Ridge Mountains at Whitetop in Grayson County on 11 February 1981.[12] About 20 months later on 23 October 1982, Charles died of pneumonia.[13]Warrington continued to live at their home in Damascus until she died two years later on 30 October 1984 at age 77. She is buried next to her first husband, Floyd J. Reynolds in Glade Spring Baptist Church Cemetery.[14]

Warrington's grave marker.

Troutman cemetery plot at Glade Spring Baptist Church Cemetery (New). Those buried here are Dan and Carrie Troutman, Warrington Troutman Miller, and Floyd J. Reynolds. Photo by Barry L. Seitz, Find A Grave contributor.

---

[1] Lois Faris, Glade Spring, Virginia, to Zola Noble, 15 August 2008, letter, information on life as a foster daughter in the Dan C. Troutman home; Lois Faris file, Troutman family; privately held, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] Anderson, Indiana.

[2] Virginia, Birth Records, 1864-2014, Warrington Catlett Troutman, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 October 2015).

[3] 1940 U. S. census, Glade Spring, Washington County, Virginia, population schedule, enumeration district 96-6, sheet 8-B, visit no. 158, Carrie Troutman, see Warrington; digital image Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com ; accessed 28 October 2015); NARA microfilm publication T-627, roll 4300.

[4] Lois Faris, Glade Spring, Va., to Zola Noble, 15 August 2008, letter.

[5] Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2013, Floyd Jefferson Reynolds, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 October 2015).

[6] Va., Marriage Records, 1946-2014, Floyd J. Reynolds and Warrington Troutman, digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 October 2015).

[7] Va., Dth. Rcds., 1912-2013, Mrs. Carrie Sexton Troutman, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 October 2015).

[8] Va., Marr. Rcds., 1946-2014, Fred R. Barker and Warrington T. Reynolds; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 October 2015).

[9] Va., Marr. Rcds., 1912-2013, does not include this marriage, and I have not looked elsewhere for the marriage information.

[10] Va., Dth. Rcds., 1912-2013, Marion Lonzo Davis, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 October 2015). Warrington was the informant for the death certificate.

[11] Va., Dth. Rcds., 1912-2013, Charles Gilham Miller, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 October 2015).

[12] Va., Marr. Rcds., 1946-2014, Charles Gilham Miller and Warrington Catlett Davis, digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 October 2015).

[13] Va., Dth. Rcds., 1912-2013, Charles Gilham Miller, digital image, Ancestry.com.

[14]  Find A Grave, database and images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 04 October 2015), photograph, memorial page for Warrington Troutman Miller (1907-1984), Find A Grave memorial no. # 95736549, citing Glade Spring Baptist Cemetery (New), Glade Spring, Virginia; photographs contributed by Barry L. Seitz.

© 2015, Z. T. Noble