Person:Linwood Britt (1)

Linwood Harrell Brett was born in 1903 in Hertford County, NC, with his last name spelled BRITT. The rumor is that he changed his surname to BRETT after his first two children (Ruth Irene and Mildred) were born due to his extreme predjudice towards the negro race, and the fact that there were so many negroes with the surname BRITT. As a rule, the slaves in VA and NC took the names of their owners, and there were lots of wealthy owners, mostly farmers in the area. Our family was not one of them. His first child, Ruth Irene, died at an early age (6) of complications of Bronchial Pnuemonia with contibuting factor of Diptheria(as stated on her Virginia death certificate (#6449, District #2610 Reg #74). Prior to my locating the death certificate, family stories said that she died of scarlet fever. Linwood married Ruth India Nixon on 19 Feb 1921 in Suffolk, VA. His brother, Norman Hill Britt married Ruth's sister Catherine on 14 May of the same year. His marriage license states that his Mother's name was Bettie H., which probably stands for Hill, her maiden name. Other documents list her name as Bettie Elizabeth Hill and Bettie A. Hill. I tend to recognize Bettie A. as correct due to the correctness of other information on Linwood's brother's (James Thomas Jr.) marriage license. At the time of his marriage, Linwood was an electrician's helper, and later became an expert electrician on his own. He had a major problem with alcohol most of his adult life, and that, along with heavy smoking and hypertension most likely contributed to his early death at age 52 in 1955.