Varner, Children of Will and Maggie

Will and Maggie Varner have produced sixteen children. Jody and Eula are important characters in The Hamlet and other texts. The remaining fourteen children are summarily described as "scattered, married and buried, from El Paso to the Alabama line" (6). Will suggests that this "mess of children" are largely male, a "passel of boys" who "soon as they got big enough to be worth anything . . . done married and moved away" (339). But there are unquestionably at least some women in this group, since Will also says that his wife conceived Eula because they wanted "some more gals" (339). Eleven of the fourteen are still alive, but none of them are mentioned in any other fiction.