Key Facts

Snapshot:	moved from North Carolina to Georgia to Alabama to Oklahoma; widowed twice
Parents:	250Louis Mathis Her mother is uncertain.
Born:	1827 North Carolina
Died:	March 1910 Oklahoma, very likely in LeFlore County
Buried:	Maxey Cemetery, LeFlore County, Oklahoma Cemetery coordinates: N34.348721 W87.705794

125Drucilla Mathis was born in North Carolina1 in 1827.2

The 1850 census shows 125Drucilla with her father 250Louis Mathis in Cherokee County, North Carolina.1 Her mother may have been 250Louis' wife Sara, who's shown in the same census, but there isn't enough evidence to be certain. In tandem with other records discussed previously, we can deduce that 125Drucilla was probably a young widow at this time (which may explain why she was living with her father), that her unidentified deceased husband had the surname Brown, and that the 3 year-old 62Isaac seen here is 125Drucilla's son.

1850: 125Drucilla with her father 250Louis and son 62Isaac in Cherokee County, North Carolina. Full page.1

Judging from the 1860 census, we can deduce that 125Drucilla had remarried to Lewis Wiles in the mid-1850's (Again, Cherokee County's pre-1865 records are lost, so we have no marriage record.), remained in North Carolina long enough to have a daughter, then moved to Murray County, Georgia circa 1858, where a second daughter was born.3 125Drucilla's stated age (23) is erroneous and contradicts all other records (more or less); she would have been ~33 at the time.

1860: 125Drucilla's family in Murray County, Georgia. Full page.3

By 1870 she'd moved again, this time to Marshall County, Alabama, and the census implies that she'd been recently widowed yet again. Her son 62Isaac lived next door (not shown in the image excerpt below).4

1870: 125Drucilla, again a widow, with her four Wiles children in Marshall County, Alabama. Full page.4

In 1880 she was still in Marshall County, and her soon 62Isaac was still next door.5

Full page.5

Her daughter Mary F. Wiles had married in 1879,6 and by 1900 125Drucilla had moved in with Mary's family. They were still in Marshall County.7

1900: 125Drucilla in her daughter Mary's household still in Marshall County, Alabama. Full page: 1, 2.7

An estate record reveals that 125Drucilla had owned the northeast quarter of T8 R1E section 12 but doesn't specify whether she actually resided or had a home there.8

Another estate record states that she had died in Oklahoma in March 1910.9 She had probably gone there to be near family; estate records mention several of her grandchildren as residents of Wister, Oklahoma.8 Contemporary local newspapers are extant, but I found no mention of 125Drucilla's death therein.

125Drucilla is buried in Maxey Cemetery, LeFlore County, Oklahoma, which is at coordinates N34.34872 W87.70579. A photo of 125Drucilla's tombstone is below.

125Drucilla's tombstone2

Sources Cited:

1: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Cherokee County, North Carolina. Page 46 (stamped), dwelling 596, family 596, Louis Mathis household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 625. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6PQZ-FWN>, accessed 3 February 2026.

2: The tombstone of Drucilla Wiles (1827 - 1910), Maxey Cemetery, Le Flore County, Oklahoma; cemetery coordinates N34.96030 W94.79610. FindAGrave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26656240/drucilla-wiles. Photo added by FindAGrave user Sandra Bessent on 6 May 2008.

3: 1860 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Murray County, Georgia. Page 48, dwelling 324, family 320, Lewis Wiles household. NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 132. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYBT-861>, accessed 4 March 2026.

4: 1870 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Township 8 Range 2E, Marshall County, Alabama. Page 7, dwelling 49, family 50, Lucilla Wilds household. NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 29. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D18S-J4J>, accessed 23 September 2021.

5: 1880 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Fractional Township 8 Range 1E, Marshall County, Alabama. Enumeration district 254, page 194A, dwelling 8, family 8, Drucilar Wilds household. NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 24. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYBS-SSP1>, accessed 23 September 2021.

6: Marshall County, Alabama. Marriage records No. 6, page 408. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99HV-X9SH-F>, accessed 4 March 2026.

7: 1900 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Precinct 21 Cranford, Marshall County, Alabama. Enumeration district 96, sheet 13B, dwelling 228, family 228, Martin M. Perkins household. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-691Q-HVL> and https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-691Q-C7L, accessed 4 March 2026.

8: Marshall County, Alabama. Probate estate case files for the years 1905-1927 / folder labeled "Wiles, Drucilla _ Mar. 1910" / a petition dated 18 August 1911. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRGV-9DL7>, accessed 3 March 2026.

9: ibid., the first page of a handwritten petition dated 20 May 1910. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRGV-9FQR>, accessed 4 March 2026.