Before, during and after photos of the grave markers of Sophia Richardson McNeill Ware and “Our Darling Jessie” who I believe to be her infant daughter. Amazing repairs by Lesley Mashburn

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Sophia Richardson McNeill was born in Fayetteville, NC, October 11, 1833. Sophia lost her mother in 1841 and her father in 1850. Sophia along with her two younger sisters were taken in by relatives. Sophia was adopted by her uncle and she relocated with his family to Selma in 1850. Sophia was educated at the Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Ga. and was a member of the Methodist Church in Selma. She married Henry H. Ware in 1855 in Selma. Mr. Ware had moved to Selma and became a very successful merchant and Sophia was his third wife.

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Sophia died September 17, 1858 in Selma, AL. and is buried beside “Our Darling Jessie” who I believe to be her infant daughter.

After Sophia’s death, Mr. Ware married his fourth wife in 1859 and during the Civil War he became connected with the Briarfield Iron Works. After the war he lived in New Orleans until 1869 when he relocated to New York. He established the firm of Ware, Murphy & Co., and was one of the original members of the Cotton Exchange. He possessed an excellent business ability and built up a large business and accumulated a large fortune. He was also a member of the Produce Exchange and the Manhattan Club.

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His first wife was Francis Favor Jeffries Ware, married Oct 10, 1846; second wife was Ann Eliza Coleman Ware, married on June 17, 1853; third wife was Sophia Richardson McNeill Ware, married on December 21 1855; fourth wife was Indiana "Inda" Elizabeth Williams Ware, they were married in Autauga, Alabama on October 12, 1859; fifth wife was Patty Waller Aylett Ware, married in 1871. She died in Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky in 1911; Mr Ware had evidently married at least one more time since his obituary in 1889 stated that he was “survived by his wife and two daughters”. He is buried in New York City Marble Cemetery, New York, NY.