Fannie was born in Alabama in 1838 and migrated to Waco, Texas where she met and married H. B. Granb ury in 1858. He was 27 and she was 20.
The Civil War started and Granbury joined the 7th Texas in Marshall, Texas and fannie went on the move with him. After Granbury’s capture at Fort Donelson. Major Granbury petitioned General Grant to give him time (before going to prison) to situate his wife The petition was granted and he moved her to Clarksville, Tennessee. Grsanbury was shuffled from Camp Douglas to Camp Chase and finally, in April of 1862 he was taken to Fort Warren Prison in Boston Harbor. Fort Warren was a prision for Confederate officers. While Granbury was at Fort Warren Fannie relocated there as well. She became ill and suffered from stomach pains of an unknown origin. A surgeon in Baltimore determined that surgery would be the only possible thing to do. On July 29, 1863 Granbury wasn paroled so that he might attend to his wife while having a surgical operation in Baltimore. The surgeon’s diagnosis was ovarian cancer and it was not curable. Fannie returned to Alabama, residing in Mobile. Finally, on March 20, 1863, she passed away. Because of poverty brought about by the war, there was no money for a headstone, so she was buried in an unmarked grave in Magnolia Cemetery.
Postscript….
The shroud of mystery has finally been lifted. Fannie Granbury was not left behind to die in a cold and hostile northern state – a victim of war, as once was believed. The young wife was simply a victim of a tragic fate and the heartbreaking circumstances of the time. Credit for finding the burial site and obituary of Fannie Sims Granbury goes to: Edward Lanham, Brooks, Georgia; Mary Eddins Johnson, Mobile, Alabama and Jane Embrose, descendant of Gen. Granbury. Lanham researched cemetery records in Baltimore, Mobile and Waco and located the body. Johnson researched the archives and Mobile and found the death records as well as the obituary.