Last week, Mr. Wayne Lackey shared the tragic story of the murder of 11-year-old Miss Ida Lou Whalen and the apprehension of the perpetrators by his grandfather, Mr. Henry C. Lackey. This week, we will take a look at Ida’s parents and siblings who were born and raised in the Dodson community of Patrick County.
Before we go further, if you know of a forgotten cemetery in the Dodson (Union Primitive Baptist Church) area, please let me know so I can share that information with Ron Martin. Mr. Martin has been diligently photographing, documenting, and registering forgotten cemeteries before they are lost forever.
Miss Ida Lou Whalen was born to Marshall Green Whalen and Senora Ruth “Snowy” Wright on the 20th of April 1913 in Dodson, Virginia. Ida was the seventh of ten children born to the couple. Green Whalen was born in May of 1863 at Dodson and was the son of German Whalen and Sallie Jane Williams. German Whalen was the son of Pleasant Whalen, early settler to Dodson from Pittsylvania County and Lucinda Foley. Sallie Jane Williams was the daughter of John B. Williams and Sarah “Sallie” Helms. All the Williams descendants in Patrick County can trace their ancestry back to the progenitor, John B. Williams.
Senora Ruth “Snowy” Wright was born in July of 1879 to William Green Wright and Mary Virginia Temperance “Tempy” Bryant of the Dodson community. William Green Wright was the son of Jubal James Wright and Emily W Martin, also of the Dodson community. Tempy Bryant was the daughter of John Bryant and Frances Jane Jones of the Union Furnace area of Patrick County.
An interesting side note about Marshall Green Whalen is that his mother, Sallie Jane Williams, named him after her brother, Marshall Green Williams who married Amanda Penn Whalen, the daughter of Pleasant Whalen and Lucinda Foley Whalen. So…Amanda Penn Whalen Williams was Green Whalen’s aunt on his father’s side and his aunt by marriage on his mother’s side.
I have digressed enough, so let’s return back to Ida Lou Whalen’s siblings, the children of Marshall Green Whalen and Senora Ruth “Snowy” Wright. Green and Senora were married in Dodson on the 8th of November 1896. Charlie William Whalen was born to the couple on the 12th of June 1899. Charlie never married and passed away in 1986.
The second child, James Whaling, was born on the 8th of August 1902 in Dodson. James moved to West Virginia as a young man and began working in the coal mines. James married Muriel Foster, and they raised a large family in Eureka Hollow and Eckman, McDowell County, West Virginia. James and Muriel and their eleven children all spelled their last name Whaling, instead of Whalen.
Ella Jane Whalen was born on the 2nd of June 1903, only ten months after her brother James. Ella married James Jackson Setliff in March of 1924 and one of the attendants in her wedding was her little sister, Ida Lou, who would be taken so horribly only eight months later. Ella and James raised two sons and four daughters in the Elamsville community.
The fourth child born to Green and Senora was Albert, who spelled his last name as Whaling. Albert’s tombstone states that he was born on June 15th of 1903, but this would not have been possible for him to be born two weeks after his sister Ella. I am thinking it is more likely that Albert was born in 1904. Albert Whaling married Miss Mary Etta Chaney, the daughter of James Chaney and Lucinda Bryant of Stuart.
Ada Whalen, the fifth child of Green and Senora, was born on the 1st of July 1907. Ada married Robert Lee Scott, the son of George Robert Scott and Nannie Clark, and they had three children, Frank; Russell; and Susie Ruth Scott Wright.
Minnie Sue Whalen was born to Green and Senora on the 15th of May 1909. Minnie married Josiah Fitzhugh Wright on the 23rd of December 1933, and they raised two daughters and four sons.
Ida Sue Whalen was born next on the 20th of April 1913, and she would only live 11 years, 6 months, and 26 days before her life was cut short by a murderer and his two accomplices. Homer Lancaster Whalen was the eighth child born to Green and Senora, arriving on the 25th of June 1914. Homer married Miss Lillie Mae Clark, the daughter of Jack Rufus Clark and Bessie Morrison. Homer and Lillie raised four daughters and four sons in the Elamsville community.
Harvey Lee Whalen was born on the 10th of February 1920; he never married. Harvey passed away at the age of 60. The youngest child of Green and Senora was Edna Martha Whalen, born on the 5th of March 1921. Edna married Amon Turner and had two sons, one who died at birth in 1943 and Cleo who was killed in an automobile accident in 1959 at the age of twenty. Edna later married Ivor Corns of the Nettle Ridge community.
In April of 1925, five months after Ida Lou’s murder, Senora still had three children, ages eleven; five; and four to raise, when an attempt was made on her life. According to a report in the Stuart Enterprise, Senora was in the yard of her home when someone shot at her from the woods, with the bullet passing through her hat. Sheriff F. D. Mays and Commonwealth Attorney F. D. Burton went to the scene of the shooting the next day, but the only clue found was the footprints of the one that lay in wait for Senora. Senora was the principal witness in the trial of the murderer and his two accomplices who had taken her daughter, Ida.
Thankfully, no further attempts were made on the life of Senora, and she lived until the 27th of February 1949. Her husband Green had passed away eight years before at the age of seventy-four. Green and Senora are buried near their daughter, Ida, at the Martin-Whalen cemetery off Iron Bridge Road.
Thank you to Ron Martin for helping with the information for this story. If you know of a forgotten cemetery that needs documenting, please let me know so I can pass this information along to Mr. Martin. Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or (276) 692-9626.
