Grandma Lucy: Mother of Macy (Williams) Musgrove

Macy Carole Williams...or Leverett...or Strickland?

Lucy (WILLIAMS) Leverett
b 03 FEB 1867
d 03 DEC 1945 

Lucy Williams was born on February 3, 1867, and raised in Pierce County, Georgia. She wasn't married when her daughter, my great grandmother Macy Carol Williams, was born. This has caused confusion over grandma Macy's maiden name. 

It's common knowledge Lucy Williams' child, my great grandma Macy, was born of wedlock and married great grandpa, Edward Columbus Musgrove, when she was thirteen years old. 

But when we started our family research we were surprised to find three different maiden names given for Macy Carole; Leverett, Strickland and Williams.  

Some family genealogy books list her as Macy Strickland; some family trees shared on various family research sites, as a Leverett.


Leverett Surname

Macy Carol (WILLIAMS) Musgrove
b 25 DEC 1889
d 22 SEP 1963

Grandma Macy was almost four years old when her mother, Lucy Williams married John W Leverett on March 22, 1894, in Pierce County, Georgia. 

The idea she was a Leverett child, born before they married, is behind the Leverett surname. 

John Leverett was also born of wedlock. 

His mother, Sarah Leverett, was an epileptic at a time epilepsy was thought a mental disorder. Those deemed mentally impaired were barred from marriage.

Complicating matters is the rumor in the Leverett family that John 'David' Musgrove fathered John Leverett. 

Were David Musgrove the biological father of John Leverett and John the father of Macy, when she married David's youngest son, Edward Columbus Musgrove, she would be wed to her biological uncle.

Strickland Surname 

The rumor, reflected in many family histories and geneaologies, is "a Strickland boy' was the father of Macy Williams.

Strickland Brothers Store ca. 1870-1930?
Blackshear, Pierce County, Georgia
 Photo credit:
Vanishing Georgia, Georgia Archives

We're not trying to propagate any rumors with this post. We've no idea who either John Leverett's or Macy Williams' father was and we haven't found any male Leverett willing to DNA test. They are all happy with being Leveretts.

However, this information will be very important to any DNA research done on ours' or the Leverett or potentially the Strickland family. 

Knowing these stories can literally save thousands of dollars worth of Y-DNA tests.


And paper trail researchers need to know this: The only record you'll find for Macy with a surname other than Williams or Musgrove is the 1900 Federal census.  There she is eight years old (she's actually ten) and listed as Macy Leverett.

Williams Surname

Her maiden name was Macy Carole Williams. 

Note: Relationships, such as grandmother, 2nd great, etc., are expressed from the perspective of the grandchildren of Willis Edgar and Carrie (known as) Mae (Merritt) Musgrove.