Geer Cemetery-Ester Chavis

Sourced from: Friends of Geer Cemetery - Durham, NC FB page

Ester Chavis was born on 15 June 1876. Her parents were Henry and Louisa (Day) Chavis.
The marriage bond for her parents was registered on 19 August 1866, in Granville County.
The bond indicated that both were free people of color. Members of Lousia Day's family are listed in the 1850 and 1860 census, another indication that they were free people of color.

It is most likely that Ester was born in Granville County. However, by 1880 the family was living in Mangum township, Orange County.

Based on the 1880 census, Ester was the oldest daughter and second oldest of Henry and Lousia’s six listed children.
Ester married Harrison Cave on 28 March 1892, at the home of her father, Henry Chavis.

At that time the Mangum township was part of Durham County. Witnesses were H. Day, R.W. Woody, and J.S. Scarlett. In 1897, Ester and Harrison were living in the Tyson’s Bottom section of Durham.
Ester’s parents were also living in Durham, on Whitted Street.

By 1900, Ester had given birth to three children but had lost two. Eventually, the family grew to four children: Nettie Cave Smith (1892/7-1938), John (1895-?), Haywood (1899-1979), and Major (1900-1945).

As adults, the children scattered to different locations in the US. Haywood, who served in WWI, had a last known address in Oakland, CA.

John married Beatrice Richmond and later Melba Hayward. He had one son, John Jr., with Beatrice, and stayed in Durham.

Nettie initially moved to Norfolk, VA, and later returned to Durham.
Major made his home in Manhattan.

Harrison supported the family as a brick layer and Ester as a laundress.
Sometime between 1906 and 1910, Harrison passed away.

By 1910, Ester was still working as a laundress as well as taking in boarders. Death certificates were not kept during that time, and it is unknown if Harrison is buried with his wife in Geer Cemetery.

Ester died on 25 November 1922, according to her headstone in Geer Cemetery.

The headstone, seemingly left by her children, describes her as a “kind and affectionate mother”.

Those words are engraved within a heart-shaped headstone. Esther was forty-six years old.
Her youngest child was only twenty-two at her death.

There are two known members of Esther’s family also resting in Geer cemetery: her maternal aunt and uncle.

Her aunt, Nannie Chavis, married Robert Ruffin, and her uncle, Claude Chavis, married Pearl Maton. Both are buried in Geer Cemetery.

Narrative and photo sourced from: https://friendsofgeercemetery.org/...