Mary Elizabeth (Champion) Rearigh

Lizzie was born on December 3, 1873.

She was left an orphan in 1879 and entered the Dayton Soldiers' Orphans School, where she remained until it closed in February 1888. At that time she was only fourteen--so what happened to her next?

When Dayton closed, the remaining students either transferred to another school or returned to family. We did not find her listed at another institution in the Sixteeners records, and she had no home to return to. Did she go to live with another relative?

What we do know is that she married at age seventeen.


On October 21, 1891, she married John Wilkes Booth Rearigh.


Lizzie and John had nine children:

Leafy Jane  1893-1974

Clara C.  1896-1982

Albert E.  1898-1963

Margaret M.  1900-1972

William L.  1903-1985

Miles S.  1905-1978

Floris I.  1907-1925

Veotta S.  1910-1997

Kathryn A.  1912-2005