Docia Connell

Docia L. Connell was born on February 14, 1886 and was the oldest child of Robert Jackson Connell, and was thus Granddad JC's aunt. As the oldest child, I'm guessing that she felt a lot of responsibility for her younger siblings and their children. I also guess that she liked young people, and I'm basing these two facts on the 1940 census record that shows her younger brother Ralph along with her nephews Norman and Wilbur living with her. According to the census record, these boys had been living with her for at least 5 years, as it shows "same house" for residence in 1935. My mom also mentioned that Docia's brother Luther also lived with Docia at one point (source: Granddad JC). The 1930 census also shows that he lived with her, along with his 3-year-old son, also named Luther. They were probably living at 1214 Fair St. at the time.

In her early 20's, Docia was a nurse and lived in Columbia, SC. She lived with many other nurses, as you can see in the 1910 census shown below.

Docia maintained her tie with nursing, even after changing her profession (to seamstress) and becoming a widow, as you can see that she had two nurses lodging with her at the 1940 census. The census indicates that she lived at 216 Haile St. in Camden, SC. That's so cool to me because I'm sure I've driven by that spot  scores (if not hundreds) of times coming home from school.

1910 Census for Columbia, Richland County, SC
1930 Census for Camden, Kershaw County, SC
1940 Census for Camden, Kershaw County, SC

I'm pretty certain that the Norman listed as living with Docia during the 1940 census was Granddad J.C.'s brother, even though his age is wrong and he's listed as living with his parents on their family's recording in the census. I couldn't find any other Norman Connells in South Carolina that were born around the same time, and I think that's pretty good evidence. I don't know which of Docia's brothers is Wilbur's father, though, and I'm not interested in doing the research (at least not right now) to find out.

Docia's death certificate has some really good information on it: her date of birth (which can help us pinpoint the date of her parents' marriage) and her mother's name: Mildred Bowers. With all the names listed for her on FamilyTree, I was kind of confused.

There's also a death certificate for Docia's husband, Stephen M. McCaskill. Stephen was a doctor, and I imagine that Docia got to know him while working in the hospital with him.

There was another woman the family called "Aunt Docia" because she looked just like the real Aunt Docia. However, the other woman was actually a cousin of some sort and her name was Gladys -G'dad JC

"Nurse's class of 1908
SC State Hospital"
Docia Connell is on the right.
Also pictured: Minnie Stevenson, Minnie Caskey