Jacquelina Higgerson

Jacquelina Higgerson "Lena," only daughter of Permelia (Chewning) and Benjamin Higgerson. Jacquelina was born on 28 Dec 1854 in Orange County, Virginia. The birth date on her death certificate is incorrect. She was not 100 years old, though they celebrated that birthday. She was 98. She resided in Orange County, VA, in 1860. Her step-father, William Wallace Porter made her pregnant at the same time his wife was pregnant, so out of embarrassment, they left VA about 1870 and headed westward where people wouldn't be so inquisitive. Once in MO, Wm Wallace took Lena and went westward, she having four children by him while traveling. Finally, Porter left her in MT taking has youngest child to his sister, Julia's, in Flora, IL to rear. He never saw his mother again. She had some happiness in life in that she married a rancher named Thos Francis Daley and had one child by him, Anna May, in 1886. Townspeople could figure out how this "obviously" married woman with four children could marry in the Catholic church, but they did not know she'd never been married before.