Black female, born about 1843 in Evergreen, Conecuh County, Alabama. She died of general debility on 5 February 1895 at the age of 52, in Pensacola, Florida. The place of death on her death certificate is given as Zarragossa Street, with no house number. Her parents were both born in Alabama, and she had lived in the state of Florida for 20 years. She was married at the time of her death, and her occupation was given as Housewife. Her death certificate indicates there was no physician present, but remarks that she had “been sick for a long time.” She was buried in the Escambia County Poor Farm by S.B. Hutchinson & Co.
She has been difficult to find. An Escambia County, Florida marriage record shows that a John Betha married Henrietta Armstrong on 2 March 1884 by A. Travis, Baptist minister. “Betha” could reasonably have been “Bethea,” and “Nettie” is an accepted nickname for Henrietta; however, by 1884 Nettie would have been 40 years old. If she is the bride in this record, it was likely at least a second marriage, and I have been unable to confirm whether Armstrong is a maiden name or previous married name. No Betheas appear in the Pensacola City Directory by the time of Nettie’s death, and a search of Zarragossa Street residences in the 1898 Directory provides no insight.
SOURCES:
Florida Certificate of Death, Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Pensacola births and deaths, 1891-1910, Escambia County (Florida) Health Department. Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1973.
The Pensacola News, 9 FEB 1895, p. 2.
Escambia County Marriages, 1821-1900. West Florida Genealogical Society. wfgs.org.