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Had Relative Here Mrs. Cora Pritchartt Williams, the widow of general James H. Williams, C.S.A., died at her residence in Woodstock, August 13, in the 88th year of her age and was buried here August 14. She was Miss Cora Pritchartt, daughter of Lewis S. Pritchartt and Roxanna Grigsby Pritchartt, formerly of this county. She was born in Fairfax county and was a first cousin to Mrs. Elmira V. Holbrook, Mrs. Madge R. Pierce and Miss Monimia Fairfax Richardson and F. W. Richardson, of this town. |
From the Fairfax Herald of August 19, 1927.
From Confederate Veteran Magazine, August 1927, page 429
Mrs. Cora Pritchartt Williams - The Shenandoah Chapter, as well as the Virginia Division, U.D.C., suffered an irreparable loss in the death at her home in Woodstock, Va., on August 12, 1927, of Mrs. Cora Pritchartt Williams, widow of Gen. James H. Williams, who was one of the notable lawyers of the Shenandoah Valley and a gallant Confederate soldier. Mrs. Williams death came at the ripe age of eighty-seven, and her service for the Southland began with her employment in the Confederate Treasury, where, as a girl, she was given the important task of signing and registering bonds of the Confederacy.
Her devotion to the cause whose sun went down at Appoxottox was evidenced by her never-flagging efforts to keep alive the memories of the South and instill into the hearts and minds of Southern youth the principles for which their fathers died and the heroic sacrifices of the hosts of Lee and Jackson. Possessing a brilliant mind and an enviable aptitude for writing, Mrs. Williams was peculiarly fitted for her chosen work, and to her zeal and initiative is due the organization of Shenandoah Chapter, U.D.C. The State organization realized her ability and appreciated her unfailing interests in the Daughters of the Confederacy, and for a time she served as Treasurer of the Virginia Division. She contributed frequently to periodicals and papers and was a member of the American League of Penwomen, among whom she numbered many distinguished friends.
The "Winchester Star", in chronicling her death, said; "Her retentive memory, coupled with a remarkable mind, gave her a prestige which her association enjoyed, and even in the shadow of death she retained the brilliancy which marked her other years. Loved and respected by her townsmen, her life was a benediction to those who knew her, and the great number of floral tributes attested the sympathy felt at her death." Mrs. Williams was a native of Fairfax County, and a member of an old Virginia family. For years he made her home in Winchester, but in 1883, came to Woodstock, where her husband soon became one of the leaders of the Shenandoah County bar.
Tribute was paid her in suitable resolutions passed at a meeting of the Shenandoah Chapter, U.D.C., in which her worth and example as a member was expressed, in part, as follows: "it is with saddened hearts that we are called upon to record the death of one so beloved as this gifted and loyal member of our U.D.C. Chapter, through whose untiring efforts its organization was effected. As its first President, she gave unstintingly of her time and talents until compelled by ill health to retire. The title of Honorary President was then conferred upon her."
Funeral Services were conducted in Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Woodstock. Her love for this Church was crystallized in the great work she accomplished in the reestablishing of the Episcopal Church in Woodstock after a lapse of years, when the congregation was without a church, and she lived to see the fruition of her unselfish efforts in the beautiful edifice from which she was borne to the tomb.
Notes: Buried Massanutten Cemetery, Woodstock Va. Cora De Movell Pritchartt was born in Fairfax, Va., the daughter of Lewis Samuel Pritchartt and Roxanna Grigsby, and the granddaughter of Travis Pritchartt and Rosa Buckley. Cora lost a brother and a sister during the Civil War, and probably witnessed many deaths at their home in Fairfax, Va.
Contributed by Anne Rupert |
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