William Billy George Washington Going

Billy had a long name: William George Washinton, July 17, 1824, in a log house in the Mount Joy community, a section of Pea Ridge in northern Union County, SC. He was the eighth of eleven children born to farmer Isaac Going and his wife Rebecca Palmer. Grandpa Billy worked on his father's farm until his marriage to Nancy Manerva Jane Dupree in 1847. By 1851, he had built the original part of his own log house where he would remain the rest of his days and where the majority of his 13 children were born. At age 38 he enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, Company C, 11th SC Cavalry. He later became part of the 7th SC Cavalry and saw action in such places as Petersburg, Malvern Hill, Darbytown Road, Farmville, and Appomattox Courthouse, where he surrendered on that fateful day of April 9, 1865. Once home, he settled back ino farming and even tried his hand at teaching in a public school near his home. He remained hale and hearty up until about his 90th year. His last year was one of struggle, physically and mentally, but he made it to his 91st birthday, celebrated in the customary style with a splendid picnic dinner and surrounded by his many descendants, by which time they numbered 58 grandchildren and 88 great-grandchildren. The total of great-grands would reach 189 by the time the youngest of these was born in 1951. Today all of the grandchildren are deceased, and only 17 remain of the 189. The oldest of these great-grands is 93 and the youngest is 63. From these great-grands, 432 great-great-grands were born, and today 299 survive with the oldest being 95 and the youngest 35. Grandpa Billy died at home on October 7, 1915. He was laid to rest beside wife Nancy at Mount Joy Baptist Church Cemetery. His sizable real estate amounted to almost 1000 acres plus four city lots in Union. All of this was sold at auction in November 1916, with the homeplace going to his son John. Continue scrolling through this album to find photos of his children, except for the two who died as infants, Julia Ann Frances Jane Going and Robert Lee Going. By Fredrick Tucker