legend has it that Otelia and William Mahone traveled along the newly completed Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad naming stations from Ivanhoe, a book she was reading written by Sir Walter Scott. From his historical Scottish novels, Otelia chose the place names of Windsor, Waverly and Wakefield. She tapped the Scottish Clan "McIvor" for the name of Ivor, a small Southampton County town. When they reached a point in Prince George County not far from the end of the line at Petersburg, the two could not agree. It is said that they invented a new word in honor of their "dispute", which is how the tiny community of Disputanta was named. The N&P railroad was completed in 1858, and William was named its president. When her husband became an officer in the Confederate Army, Otelia served the cause in Richmond as a nurse. Small of stature at 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing only 100 pounds (45 kg), her husband was nicknamed "Little Billy". When Otelia was notified by Governor John Letcher that her husband had been injured in the Second Battle of Manassas, but had only received a "flesh wound", she replied "Now I know it is serious for William has no flesh whatsoever." Late in the War, during the Siege of Petersburg, Otelia and the children moved to Petersburg to be near him. Mahone himself became the hero of the Battle of the Crater in July, 1864, and was promoted to Major General. Children and family life Otelia and William Mahone had 13 children. However, only 3 of their children survived to adulthood, two sons, William and Robert, and a daughter, also named Otelia. William Mahone, Jr. (1856-1927) attended school at Hanover Academy. He was engaged in the tobacco trade for a time and later served as collector of customs at Petersburg. Robert Butler Mahone (1858-1914) was assigned to his father as private secretary for a number of years and afterward was in the government service. In 1898, he was appointed by U.S. President William McKinley as Consul of the United States at Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, across the U.S.-Mexico border from Laredo, Texas. Otelia (née Mahone) McGill traveled extensively in Europe and in 1895 married William L. McGill, from a prominent Petersburg, Virginia family. The Mahones lived in Norfolk after their marriage. Late in the Civil War, they relocated to Petersburg. They moved to Lynchburg, headquarters of the