| Sources |
- [S112] Census, 1930.
Name: Gladas Reagan
Event: Census
Event Date: 1930
Event Place: Nantahala, Swain, North Carolina
Gender: Female
Age: 14
Marital Status: Single
Race: White
Birthplace: North Carolina
Estimated Birth Year: 1916
Immigration Year:
Relationship to Head of Household: Daughter
Father's Birthplace: North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace: North Carolina
Enumeration District Number: 0008
Family Number: 220
Sheet Number and Letter: 12B
Line Number: 94
NARA Publication: T626, roll 1723
Film Number: 2341457
Digital Folder Number: 4608318
Image Number: 00206
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Inkabo J Reagan M 38 North Carolina
Son Herman Reagan M 18 North Carolina
Son Perry Reagan M 17 North Carolina
Son Edward Reagan M 15 North Carolina
Daughter Gladas Reagan F 14 North Carolina
Son Fred Reagan M 12 North Carolina
Daughter Hattie Reagan F 9 North Carolina
- [S112] Census, 1940.
Name: Gladys Wright
Titles and Terms:
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1940
Event Place: Militia District 1180, Dawson, Georgia, United States
Gender: Female
Age: 23
Marital Status: Married
Race (Original): White
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Wife
Relationship to Head of Household: Wife
Birthplace: Georgia
Birth Year (Estimated): 1917
Last Place of Residence: Rural, Dawson, Georgia
District: 42-12
Family Number: 27
Sheet Number and Letter: 2A
Line Number: 37
Affiliate Publication Number: T627
Affiliate Film Number: 662
Digital Folder Number: 005460987
Image Number: 01016
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Arvel Wright M 30 Georgia
Wife Gladys Wright F 23 Georgia
Son Verlin Wright M 3 Georgia
Son Wayne Wright M 0 Georgia
- [S142] Newspaper Article, 25 Aug 2000.
Gladys was born on May 19, 1916, in the Smokemont Community, Swain County, North Carolina. She was one of six children born to James H. “Jim” and Inkeybo Mathis Reagan.
Her family lived in a small home near Lufty Baptist Church. She recalled going to church with her family and hearing the wonderful singing of the Cherokees who also attended the church. Sometimes, when walking home from church, she would get separated from her mother and “… just cry and cry” until someone took her to her mother.
In 1922, her father died of typhoid and shortly thereafter the family moved to Almand, North Carolina. Gladys had many memories of this small town.
She attended Almand Elementary School, where her best friend was Helen Card. They were always getting in trouble for talking in school. The teacher would send them to the principal’s office for disrupting class. The principal would just laugh and put the girls in the gym or in the hallway and make them sit all day. Well, when no one was around, they would leave school and go down to town and, before school was out, they would return. She said the principal liked them and knew they were leaving but didn’t ever say a word!
Gladys and Helen didn’t have dolls or toys so they made their dolls out of fuzzy caterpillars rolled in leaves. Gladys also loved to fish in the Nantahala River. She recalled one particular time when her brother, Fred, was with her and while they had their poles in the river a storm came up. They had to run and take shelter in a shed of some kind. While they were waiting, Fred made a bet with Gladys that he would have a catfish on his pole when they got back. When they returned, there was the fish!
In 1931, when Gladys was 15, the family was forced out of their home in Almand. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was going to build a dam, later named the Fontana Dam, just north of their home, and the entire town of Almand would end up under water. The family traveled south to Georgia and ended up in the small town of Dawsonville.
Soon after their arrival, Gladys, her brothers, and her sisters attended a square dance at a neighbor’s house. There she met her future husband, Arvil Wright.
“Oh, he was handsome all dressed in his suit,” Gladys would say. “That’s when he was a courtin’!”
Arvil and his brother, Cleve, used to run whiskey to neighboring counties to make a living. One day, not too long after Gladys and Arvil were married, Arvil and Cleve got caught going over to Jasper. They took off running through the woods when the police stopped them. Cleve didn’t get caught, but Arvil did! After he got out of jail two or three days later, Gladys told him if he ever messed with whiskey again, she would leave him! He never took another sip!
She loved Dawsonville, but often said, “Part of me is still in those mountains!” referring to the Great Smokies where she grew up. She loved to take trips with her family back to the mountains. Just a few months before her death, her son, Wayne, and her granddaughter, Stormie, took her back to Cherokee. Gladys had such a good time! They carried a picnic and ate by the river. Wayne and Stormie will never forget the countless stories Gladys passed on to them that day!
Gladys never worked outside the home. She was a farmer’s wife and a mother of two boys, Verlin and Wayne. She loved her family and they loved her! She was crazy about her boys. Her first-born, Verlin Dale, died in 1961.
“That’s when I lost part of my heart,” she’d say.
Gladys was concerned about Wayne, just as if he was still 3 years old. She’d say, “No matter how old he gets, he’s still my baby!”
She loved her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. When asked about them, she would immediately pull out her little picture album and “show off”!
“A mother is so busy, she doesn’t have time to enjoy her children as much as she can enjoy and spoil her grandchildren,” Gladys would say.
Her nieces and nephews also were like her children. The Reagans and Wrights always got together and had meals and, oh, the fun they’d have! Gladys was always so much fun! She was always laughing and smiling, kidding and joking, and hardly ever frowning. She was a true ball of fire!
“You couldn’t get anything on her!” her niece, Carolyn, said.
Gladys was an avid member of Dawson County Senior Citizens Center. She attended for more than 15 years and had many, many friends. She talked about the “old folks” up at the center and just smiled! She helped sew and quilt at the center and, on the side, she loved to embroider. Each year at Christmas, a member of the family received embroidered pillowcases or a quilt.
Gladys was a member of Juno Baptist Church for more than 60 years and attended until she was no longer able. Even though she could not attend church, she was still very religious, read her Bible daily, and had a close relationship with the Lord.
Gladys died at her son’s residence on Friday, August 25, 2000, following a short illness. She leaves behind a wealth of stories and jokes told to her family and friends throughout her life, as well as a gentleness and love she shared with everyone she met. She was the true “virtuous woman.”
Gladys was predeceased by her parents; her husband; her son, Verlin; her brothers, Ed Reagan, Fred Reagan, Herman Reagan, and Perry Reagan; and a grandson, Whitney Wayne Wright.
She is survived by her son, Wayne (Gail) Wright of Dawsonville; her grandchildren, Misty (Larry) Smith of Dawsonville, Spencer (Lora) Wright of Dawsonville, and Stormie (John) Whitfield of Baldwin, Georgia; her great-grandchildren, McKenzi and Sawyer Smith of Dawsonville; her sister, Hattie Bailey of Cave Spring, Georgia; her sisters-in-law, Fannie Reagan of Dawsonville and Rosa Simmons of Stockbridge, Georgia; and many nieces and nephews.
- [S142] Newspaper Article, The Times (Gainesville, GA), 27 Aug 2000.
Funeral services are scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27, 2000, in the chapel of Bearden Funeral Home for Gladys Reagan Wright, 84, of the Juno Community, Dawsonville.
The Rev. Tim Biddy and the Rev. Lawton Burt will officiate. Burial will be in Juno Baptist Church Cemetery. The Rev. Spud English will officiate at the graveside.
The family received friends Saturday at the funeral home.
Mrs. Wright died Friday, Aug. 25, 2000, at her son's residence following a brief illness.
Mrs. Wright was born in Swain County, N.C., on May 19, 1916, and was the daughter of the late James and Inkeybo Mathis Reagan. She was preceded in death by her husband, Arvil Wright son, Verlin Wright brothers, Ed Reagan, Fred Reagan, Perry Reagan and Herman Reagan and a grandson, Whitney Wayne Wright. She was a homemaker and a member of Juno Baptist Church. Mrs. Wright attended the Dawson County Senior Citizens Center for over 15 years.
Survivors include her son and daughter-in-law, Wayne and Gail Wallace Wright, Dawsonville sister, Hattie Reagan Bailey, Cave Spring sisters-in-law, Fannie Reagan, Dawsonville, Rosa Simmons, Stockbridge grandchildren, Larry and Misty Wright Smith, Dawsonville, Spencer and Lora Whitfield Wright, Dawsonville, John and Stormie Wright Whitfield, Baldwin great-grandchildren, McKenzi and Sawyer Smith, Dawsonville and several nieces and nephews.
Whitfield Funeral Home, South Chapel, Baldwin, and Bearden Funeral Home, Dawsonville.
- [S147] Find a Grave, (Memorial: 71491171).
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Groom's Name: J. H. Reagan Jr.
Groom's Birth Date: 1889
Groom's Birthplace:
Groom's Age: 22
Bride's Name: Inkeybow Mathis
Bride's Birth Date: 1890
Bride's Birthplace:
Bride's Age: 21
Marriage Date: 18 Apr 1911
Marriage Place: Swain Co., North Carolina
Groom's Father's Name:
Groom's Mother's Name:
Bride's Father's Name:
Bride's Mother's Name:
Groom's Race: White
Groom's Marital Status: Unknown
Groom's Previous Wife's Name:
Bride's Race: White
Bride's Marital Status: Unknown
Bride's Previous Husband's Name:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M75233-2
System Origin: North Carolina-EASy
Source Film Number: 847735
Reference Number: p R
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