This lovely lady is “Agnes Shramm McGinty” as written on the back of this photo. Although I believe her maiden name was spelled Schramm. The other inscription is “JB’s mother.” The photo was taken by a photographer in Houston, Texas. … Continue reading
This photo is the epitome of a young immigrant couple ready to make a life of their own in America – Brockton, Mass to be exact. They look pleased as punch to have just gotten married. “This was taken Sat … Continue reading
Well, there’s not much to say about young Esther yet. I’ve not been able to find her family in “Buffalo, Texas.” Ancestry wants that to be in Coleman County, Wikipedia directs me to either Leon or Henderson County. There doesn’t … Continue reading
I discovered a treasure trove of cabinet cards in a warehouse art supply store on the east side of Houston yesterday and nearly went broke. This was seriously my personal heaven. So many of the photos were labeled neatly with … Continue reading
Lucy More, Librarian & Instructor, 1936 UT Law School
An interesting start to this research. I had appeared to find who I was looking for right away in the Austin, Travis county, Texas 1930 census. A Lucy M. Moore, teacher at the state university, was single, 40, living with a boarder (another teacher) in her household. Her parents were from Virginia, but she was born in Texas. What a great match! But after that I could find no Lucy Moore born in 1890 with parents from Virginia. There was however, another persistent Lucy M. Moore, this one born in 1881 – quite a big gap even for sketchy census data. Lucy #2 also never married. She was also a teacher at the state unversity. She also lived with boarders in Austin, Travis county. But her parents were from Arkansas and Missouri (dad and mom respectively).
My suspicion is that the 1930 census is a fluke with bad data for whatever reason. As it happens Lucy #2’s mother (Leah Ann Bateman Moore) had parents from Virginia. Could that have been the mix up? What about the nearly 10 year age gap? All I know is that Lucy #1 doesn’t show up again. Here’s a little history on Lucy #2 as I follow the documents…
Born on September 5, 1881 in Texas. The family lived in Stephenville, Erath county, Texas where Lewellyn D. Moore, dad, was a farmer. In 1900 Lucy was 18 at home with 4 siblings. By 1910, she was working as a teacher but still living with family in Stephenville. A Lucy M. Moore shows up several times in 1918 and 1920 in The Catcus, the yearbook for the University of Texas. One of those is a photo of her with the UT Cofer Law Society. Hard to tell if the photos match, but my feeling now is it is likely her. If we are to go with the theory that 1930 Lucy equals Lucy #2 then she’s teaching at UT at the time and continues to do so in 1940.
Lucy died on November 2, 1953 in Stephenville. Sister Nell was the informant on her death certificate. She is buried in West End cemetery in Stephenville with her parents. She’ll have no children to follow this, but hopefully some nieces and nephews.
A quick side note that caught my attention when I did a simple Google search for Lucy:
From the endowments at the University of Texas webpage:
Name: Lucy M. Moore Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Law
Approval Date: October 12, 1990
Description: The Lucy M. Moore Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Law was established by the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System on October 12, 1990, for the benefit of the School of Law. Gift funds were provided by Mr. Emory T. Carl of Bellaire, Texas, a 1936 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin School of Law. The endowment honors Ms. Lucy Montlee Moore.
Here are more photos of a young gentleman from my grandmother’s high school memory book. His name is Seignor Jernigan. All I really know about his from her book is that he gave her a Kodak for her graduation gift, there are quite a few photos of him (more than any other young man), and based on local newspaper clippings, they visited quite often ;) He wasn’t in her class, he was two years older. These photos were taken in 1930. And it looks an awful lot like a courtship if you ask me.
But it wasn’t meant to be. While they have some lovely photos together and clearly did a lot of visiting – couldn’t get away with anything that a small town Texas newspaper wouldn’t talk about in 1930 – they were bound for different paths. My grandmother, as valedictorian of her class, had multiple scholarship offers to college and eventually graduated from the University of Texas. Seignor completed high school but went into ranching and farming and WWII from there. Holly would marry my grandfather in 1934 and lived in Houston, Texas most of their married life. Seignor married Johnnie and would spend his adult live in Mills county – the same small town where these pictures were taken. It appears Seignor died in 1987 in Lampassas, Texas; his wife Johnnie about 8 years later.
It’s always odd to think about what might have been. But even stranger to consider who I might have been if my grandmother and/or Seignor has choosen a different path. My grandfather, Howard, was such a large and positive presence in my life that I can’t even fathom it. But in 1930, none of that mattered.
I’m going to do something a little different with this post. I have a treasure of a family document, my grandmother’s 1930 High School “memory book”. It was a gift upon her graduation from her oldest sister, Sybil Guthrie. My grandmother, Holly, either loved high school (likely since she was the valedictorian) or was really bored because this book is chalk-full of memories, photos, signatures, letters, grades, you name it. It’s absolutely wonderful!
One of the first pages is titled “My Dearest Friend.” On it is one photo “Blanche” or Mrs. Hillard Prater as she was soon to be known. It’s a beautiful photo; and I knew a lot about Blanche without doing any research. She was probably born around 1911, just like my grandmother. She went to Mullin high school and therefore likely lived in Mills county, Texas, like my grandmother. And she clearly married Mr. Prater. Later in the book she’s identified by the last name Dellis.
Here are the many places where Blanche makes an appearance in my grandmother’s memory book:
I hope that my grandmother’s careful preservation of her high school memories can be beneficial to others – like Blanche’s family. It’s a treasure trove I’m more than happy to share!
Beekman Ezell, 1937
I just can’t resist these Wink Wildcats. A rugged Texas team of young men, many of whom would go off to war, and Beekman Ezell was no exception. Born on December 5,1919 in Louisiana to Jefferson Ezell and Pearl White, Beekman Benjamin Ezell was the 2nd of four children born in rapid succession. Older brother Jeff was born in 1918, Beekman in 1919, Dee Earl in 1921, Don in 1922!
It appears that dad, Jefferson Ezell, died in 1925 in La Salle, Louisiana where the family had lived. Pearl remarried by 1930 and she and her children lived in Wink, Texas with new husband Hobart Little. The children are actually listed with the last name Little in this census. But that’s corrected by 1940, when the family is still in Wink.
Beekman enlisted in the war effort for the army in 1941. He was single at the time with 2 years of college. He was released from the arm in 1945 and went back to college at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and he also went back to playing football. A 1946 newspaper article discusses the issue of vets who receive disability payment playing football. They, and Beekman was mentioned by name, would have to take a physical and if they didn’t pass, choose either football or benefits, but not both.*
Beekman appeared to live in or near Winkler for most of his adult life. Beekman Ezell died August 19, 1999. He was preceded in death by his first wife and remarried, passing away before his 2nd wife. He is buried in Kermit cemetery. A wonderful obituary of his brother Don on Find a grave, outlines more of the family history.
Looks like serving their country and TCU football were in the Ezell boys’ blood!
*Friday, November 1, 1946, Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), Page: 31
An Ancestry member has confirmed the relationship that I was wondering about on some earlier posts. Rowena Clement – originally listed here – was the sister of Peter Wallace Clement, whose wife is pictured here. According to Mark Rowena was “Born on 15 Jul 1879 in Calhoun County, Texas – died on 21 Feb 1974 in Edna, Jackson Co, Texas. She was buried in Palacios, Matagorda Co, Texas.”
This is great information, I had very little on Rowena but suspected she and Mary Lee Clement were related somehow. Thanks for the help Mark! I’ll add her photo to Find a Grave.
Earl Thomsen
Earl Thomsen, the son of Harry Thomsen & Anna Ertzner, was born in Nebraska on June, 19, 1920. In 1930 the family lived in Osmond; Earl was the second oldest of 4, although there would be six siblings eventually with Earl as the only son. Harry and Anna were both from Nebraska, and 3 of Earl’s 4 grandparents were born in Germany. Mr. Thomsen was the proprietor of a gravel pit. And in 1940, still in Osmond, Earl had completed high school and worked as a laborer in his father’s gravel pit. The day before the 1940 census Earl has worked 72 hours in the gravel pit in one week! No wonder signing up for the war looked good. According to his gravestone Earl was Tech 4 in the US army. Father Harry was also a veteran, he served in WWI. Earl died in Nebraska on April 11, 1989 and is buried in Immanuel Cemetery with a sister, his mother and father in Osmond. I have no information on whether or not he married and had children.
Elmer August Schuettler (love the hair!), was also a WWII veteran. He was born March 14, 1921 in
Elmer Schuettler in 1938
Osmond and died July 13, 1996 in Omaha. When he enlisted in the army in 1942 he was single with no dependents, working at a gas station, and had completed high school. He enlisted at Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX. Elmer was the son of Henry & Elizabeth, both of Illinois. In 1930, Elmer was the youngest of 4 living in Plum Grove, Nebraska; although he had other older siblings who had already left home – 7 in all I believe. 1940 Elmer lived with his brother Rudolph and family – still in Plum Grove. His brother was a farmer. Elmer (age 19) was an attendant at a gas station. All 4 grandparents were from Germany. He married a Norma Huey. Elmer is buried in Immanuel Cemetery (same place as Earl Thomsen). However, Elmer’s parents are buried in Rose Hill cemetery in another town in Pierce county.
These gents had similar paths to many young men of their time I imagine. Graduating high school in a nation still struggling with the Depression. Likely not a lot of jobs (gas stations, gravel pits not exactly living the dream), and, with so many sibling, it would have been hard for parents to send them to college. Signing up to fight for their county was likely a very attractive offer.
Also interesting is that these men, and many others, were going off to fight a country that their grandparents had immigrated from. Was that a cause for pause? Did their parents or grandparents feel torn? Both of these graduates from Osmond High School in 1938 came back from the war and settled in or near their home towns.
Unclaimed Ancestors 