Fouch, Mrs.

Mrs. Fouch was most likely Ann Fouch, born in 1771 as Ann Coxen Hawling. Ann Fouch frequently went by Nancy during her life, and is listed by both names in the census. She was likely the daughter of John Wilcoxson Hawling and Hannah Sinclair. Nancy married Isaac Fouch Jr., son of Isaac Fouch, on 23 September 1792. They had one child, named Elizabeth. Isaac Fouch Jr. died on 25 February 1795, leaving Nancy as a widow for almost fifty years. She did not remarry. 

When Isaac Fouch died, his estate was appraised for more than £145. Fouch seems to have left his widow economically solvent, if not comfortable, which likely led to her decision to not remarry. Nancy Fouch was listed as the head of household in the U.S. censuses of 1810, 1820, 1830, and 1840. Her daughter Elizabeth likely lived with her. 

Nancy and her daughter both owned enslaved people and could have potentially earned money from renting out their services, a practice typical of widowed female slaveholders. In the 1850s, after her mother's death, Elizabeth J. Fouche was listed as the owner of three enslaved people born in Loudoun County: Amos Norris, Cordelia, and John Henry. All three were children were born to an enslaved woman named Lucy. Elizabeth likely inherited the enslaved people from her mother. 

Nancy Fouch spent much of her life in Middleburg, Loudoun County, living there until her death on 8 June 1846 at the age of seventy-five. She was interred at Sharon Cemetery in Middleburg, where her husband was also buried. 

by Caroline Greer