Forget Me Not: William Jasper Smith, 1950 MS

What I like about this obituary, as a genealogist, is that William is a 'Pike Native' and was from an "outstanding pioneer" family. Those clues showed me he was one of 'our' Smiths. My research taught me that our Smith family was in the area by 1808. Pike County, MS was formed in 1815. William's great grandparents, Jeremiah & Joanna, moved there from Lancaster District, South Carolina. According to tradition they moved their belongings in a cart.

William's first wife, Martha Aner Alford, 1867 - 1926, was my first cousin 3x removed. She was the daughter of Junius Newton Alford & Mary Margaret Brumfield. They had 7 children.

William Jasper Smith

7 February 1862 MS – 31 March 1950 MS

Son of: William Jeremiah M. Smith & Rachel A. Ellzey

My 1st cousin, 3x removed

Wm. J. Smith, Pike Native, Passes at 88

Services Sunday for Resident of Biloxi for the Past 26 Years

William Jasper Smith a native of Pike County where his forbearers were among the outstanding pioneer families, succumbed at 12:15 p. m. Friday, March 31 at his residence in Biloxi, where he had lived for the past 26 years.

Mr. Smith was 88 years of age, having been born Feb. 7, 1862, in the community known as Smithburg, in Pike County. He ws the son of the late William Jeremiah and Rachel Ellzey Smith.

Funeral services were held Saturday afternoon at two o’clock, from Silver Springs Baptist Church, with Rev. C. P. Jones conducting, and Rev. F. W. Gunn of Poplarville assisting. The deceased had been a member of the Baptist faith for 65 years, the past 24 years of which he had been affiliated with First Baptist Church of Biloxi.

Masonic Rites Given

He was a Mason, belonging to Rising Glory Lodge of Osyka. Rites of the fraternal order were administered at graveside, with Masons also serving as pallbearers.

He married Miss Aner Alford in December, 1889, and six children were born to the union. His first wife preceded him in death by many years, and he married Miss Eva Boldt in Biloxi in October, 1924.

Surviving are three daughters,

Mrs. S. L. Hoak, Jennings, La.;

Mrs. J. A. Ott and

Mrs. D. C. Siler, both of Osyka;

a son, E. C. Smith, Osyka; [Eugene C. Smith, 1891 MS - 1969]

a half-brother, B. N. Schilling, Bogalusa, La.;

a half-sister, Mrs. J. D. Rimes, Picayune;

six grandchildren,

seven great grandchildren

and many other relatives.

Burial was in Silver Springs Cemetery with Hartman Funeral Home in charge of services.

Source: Wm. J. Smith, Pike Native, Passes at 88 (McComb, MS: Enterprise-Journal, 3 April 1950) 7; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed August 2020.

Related Posts:

• William J. M. Smith
• Smith Family in Maps of Pike Co., MS

Engagement: Julia Toy Brumfield, 1950 MS

It is always nice when a newspaper article includes a photo!

 

Julia Toy Brumfield

Born 2 November 1922

Daughter of: Frank Richard Brumfield & Julia Gardner

Engaged to Lindsey B. Murphree

 

Miss Julia Toy Brumfield – the engagement of Miss Julia Toy Brumfield, above, daughter of Frank B. Brumfield and the late Mrs. Frank Brumfield of near Magnolia, to M-Sgt Lindsey B. Murphree of Decatur, Ala., son of Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Murphree of that city, has been announced by her father.

 

Miss Brumfield graduated from Magnolia High school with honors and attended Southwest Junior College. Later, she completed a business course at Soule College, New Orleans. Since that time she has been employed by her brothers, Messrs. Joe, Frank and Thad Brumfield, and sister, Mrs. Tom Stout, at Brumfield’s Inc., in Pascagoula. The wedding will take place in that city on April 4. They will make their home at Craig Air Base, Selma, Ala., where M – Sgt. Murphree is stationed.

 

 

 

Source: Miss Julia Toy Brumfield. (McComb, MS: Enterprise – Journal, 22 Mar 1950) 3; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed March 2021. 

Forget Me Not: Sarah (Fortenberry) Smith, 1943 MS

This obituary is typical of the 1940's. Sarah is described only in relation to her husband and son. There is nothing of her interests or personality. It is helpful for genealogical purposes but I wish it would reveal more of the woman herself. 

Sarah (Fortenberry) Smith

4 May 1891 MS – 6 Dec 1943 MS

Daughter of Jessie Crawford Fortenberry & Susan A. Ryals

Wife of Marshall E. Smith

My 2nd cousin, 3x removed

Rites Held at Brookhaven for Mrs. Smith, 51 

 

Brookhaven, Miss. Dec. 7 – Mrs. Marshall E. Smith, 51 years old, died Monday in the King’s Daughters’ Hospital, Brookhaven. Following services conducted by the Rev. James L. Sullivan, pastor of the First Baptist Church, at 11:30 Tuesday at the Smith home here the body was taken to Mrs. Smith’s girlhood home six miles southeast of Tylertown for interment in the Fortenberry family cemetery.

 

Surviving Mrs. Smith, the former Miss Sarah Fortenberry of Tylertown, are her husband, formerly state highway patrolman in this area and now an investigator for OPA, working with Jackson and Brookhaven as headquarters; her son, Billy Fortenberry Smith, serving overseas with the Marine Corps; three sisters, Mrs. W. O. Hobgood, McComb; Mrs. Lewis O. McDaniel, McComb; Mrs. Warren E. Woods, Tylertown, and five brothers, John C. Fortenberry, Willis F. Fortenberry, George W. Fortenberry, and Easley Fortenberry, all of Tylertown, and Essley Fortenberry, McComb.

  

 

Source: Rites Held at Brookhaven for Mrs. Smith, 51. (McComb, MS: Daily Journal, 8 Dec 1943)  3; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed June 2020.

 

 

 

Spotlight on: Viola C. Mark Nothstein

 

Viola Cathern Mark Nothstein

26 May 1913 OH - 26 Jul 2004 OH

Daughter of Thomas K. Mark & N. Regina Gruissy

Mother of Loyal, Norbert, Benieta & Kenneth

Sister of my paternal grandmother, Ivy Mark Brown

My great aunt

Ray & Viola (Mark) Nothstein, 1935

Anyone in the family will be quick to tell you what they remember about Viola. She never forgot a birthday. She sent birthday cards to everyone in the family, which I personally know included her grand nieces and nephews and her great grand nieces and nephews.  I looked forward to receiving those little flowery cards with a handwritten note each year.

            Viola (Mark) Nothstein was the fourth child of Thomas and Regina Mark.[1]She told me she was named after her Aunt Rephenia Cathern (Gruissy) Nichols (her mother’s older sister). She made it very clear that her middle name was not Catherine. Her nickname was ‘Vie’, given to her by a boss for whom she once worked.[2]^,[3]  

Viola said her favorite toy as a small child was a "Nanny Doll" which is 200 years old. When she was a child she wanted to be a school teacher. She liked going to school because she "wanted to learn". When asked how she celebrated her birthday as a child she wrote, "For Owen, Clarence and I, having birthdays so close together were celebrated with the Sunday school class having a party." 

Viola said that she and Owen were “pretty near alike, like twins though we were born two years apart. We were almost like twins. In fact, a lot of times Mother passed us off as twins when we were young.  See, I was small for my age, very small.  And Owen was a little big for his age.”  They took a trip to see their Aunt Rephenia Mark Nichols. Regina told people on the train that Viola and Owen were twins.[4]

In school Viola was behind other children her age.  She had whooping cough her first year of school.  It was a long walk to school. Viola said, “We walked to school and I’d go a day or two and then I couldn’t go for another day or two and then I’d be back to school. So the next year I had to stay behind.”[5]

When Viola was beginning second grade her Aunt Rephenia came for a visit.  She wanted to take Viola back to Michigan with her. She wanted to ‘build her up’. Regina checked with the doctor who thought the change might be good for Viola. So she spent several months in Michigan. Schools there were behind the schools in Ohio so Viola was put ahead a level. She gained a little weight and had a good time with her aunt and uncle.[6]

After school she did housework. During summer vacations, she worked. Her family never took summer vacations. Her first jobs were ironing or babysitting. Viola's talents were drawing, painting and "fancy work". Before she was married, Viola did housework for people.  She worked in a shirt factory and dress factories.  She also worked in a restaurant.[7]

            Viola married Raymond Alexander Nothstein. She met him when she, “double dated with another girl that was with him."  On a typical date they would go "to a show".  They were married on 10 July 1935.[8]She remembered that she wore a white lace dress to her wedding. Viola and Raymond were married at 2:00 pm at Wadsworth Methodist Episcopal Church by Rev. Harold Buckey. Raymond had been in the Navy at one time.  He was a farmer.

Viola and Raymond had four children: Loyal David Nothstein, Norbert Allen Nothstein, Benita E. (Nothstein) Pierce and Kenneth Howard Nothstein. Viola wrote that their first child, Loyal, was born "at home in a big snow storm”.  Kenneth was named after Viola’s father, Thomas Kenneth Mark.

After the breakup of her marriage with Raymond, Viola moved to Florida. Her daughter lived there. Viola bought a house nearby.

Sisters: Ivy (Mark) Brown & Viola (Mark) Nothstein, 1998 NY

Photo taken by this Blogger

            A note in a 1997 Christmas card from Viola she wrote,” I broke my right wrist in April. It was so bad that they put pins in it for 6 weeks and then a splint on till the end of July.  It was terrible trying to do things left handed.  I’m finally able to write again.”[9]

            In March 1998 she wrote, 

 

We have been making juice of our lemons & oranges and still have juice oranges on the trees. I’m trying to plan how I can come to New York this summer. I would like to see all of you up there. You know that I don’t drive. I also smoke so I don’t know who can stand to have me at their house while I’m there and can take me around. The tornado just missed us by 3 miles. We have been very Lucky with all the tornados & Hurricanes that have been close to us.[10]

 

 A June 1998 letter gave her flight information for her visit from Florida to New York State. She stayed in Poestenkill with our family and we took her to visit with many family members during her visit. She visited her older sister, Ivy Mark Brown, in the nursing home.

            In December 1998 Viola fell and broke her hip. She wrote that she was in a rehabilitation center for a month. In her July 1999 letter she said she was able to get around without using a walker or a cane.[11]

            In December 2000 Viola wrote about moving from 1099 Kingswood Way, where she had lived for many years, to 1098 Wexford Way. Both were in Port Orange, Florida.  She wrote, “Bee & I moved across the street.  The house on Kingswood was getting too small for the six of us. It’s a smaller house but we’re still close to them.”  In the same letter she said her son, Kenneth, had been ill.[12]

After her death, Viola’s daughter sent me a prayer card which says: 

Viola Nothstein, May 26, 1913 - July 26, 2004.  Port Orange.  Viola Nothstein, 91, of Wexford Way, a resident since 1989, died Monday at home.  Mrs. Nothstein was born in Rittman, Ohio, and moved to this area from White Plains, Md. Survivors include three sons, Loyal, Rootstown, Ohio; Norbert, Falcon, Colo.; and Kenneth, Eubank, Ky.; a daughter, Benita Pierce, Port Orange; a sister, Wava Braun, and a brother, Clarence Mark, both of Ohio; 12 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. Memorial donations may be made to the Easter Seals Society, 1219 Dunn Ave., Daytona Beach, FL 32114.  National Cremation Society, Melbourne, is in charge.

 

---

[1]Certificate of Birth for Viola Cathern Mark, Registration Dist.#828, Primary Registration Dist. #2869, Registered #28 , State of Ohio, Bureau of Vital Statistics.

[2]Mark Family Papers, 1800s & 1900s from Viola C. (Mark) Nothstein, sent to author April 1995.

[3]“Interviews with Viola C. (Mark) Nothstein,” June and July 2007.

[4]Ibid. 

[5]Ibid.

[6]Ibid.

[7]Mark Family Papers, 1800s & 1900s from Viola C. (Mark) Nothstein, sent to author April 1995.

[8]Marriage Certificate for Viola Cathern Mark and Raymond A. Nothstein, 10 July 1935, Vol. O, Page 130, Certificate. #432, Medina Co., Probate Court-Marriage Record, Ohio.

[9]Letters from Viola C. Nothstein (Port Orange, Florida) to Delbert K. Brown (Woods Rd., Germantown NY) and Colleen Pasquale (7 Seneca Dr., Averill Park NY) from 1994 – 2003. 

[10]Ibid.

[11]Ibid.

[12]Ibid.

The above story of Viola was taken from my book,

The Mark Family Story.

My Irish Roots

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I love this holiday. Why? Because I have strong Irish roots, especially through my maternal side. My mother's mother was Helen F. Coyle Gardner. Her parents came from Ireland to New York City in the late 1880s. And I like this holiday because it is my birthday. Yes, those parades and the green beer are for me! 

This photograph shows three generations:

 My Nana, Helen F. Coyle Gardner (1897  NY - 1965 NY),

My mother, Alberta Joy Gardner Brown (1928 NY - 1992 NY),

My older brother & the baby is me, Colleen G. Brown Pasquale

Details on Helen's ancestry follow in the Pedigree Chart & links to other posts. Before you read those details, here is an Irish Blessing for today & always.

May you have warm words on a cold evening,

A full moon on a dark night,

And a smooth road all the way to your door.

Related Posts:

• Michael Coyle, Baker
• Mary Josephine Mullane Coyle
• Margaret Brady Coyle 
• Daniel Mullane, Irish Coach Builder

Forget Me Not: Alexander Griffin Brumfield, 1873 MS - 1963 MS

Alexander Griffin Brumfield

12 April 1873 MS – 29 September 1963 MS

Son of Isaac Newton Brumfield & Sarah Jane Smith

Husband of Netie Aramantha Conerly

Father of 10 children

My 2^nd cousin, 3 x removed

Alexander Brumfield Dies at 90. Funeral services for Alexander Griffin Brumfield, 90, Rt, 1, Tylertown, were conducted Tuesday afternoon at 2 from the Magee’s Creek Baptist Church. Burial was in the church cemetery with Masonic rites. 

Mr. Brumfield died Monday afternoon at his residence in the Salem community where he had lived for the past 65 years. He was a retired farmer and was born in April 1873 in the “Old Pike County” area of present Walthall County.

His survivors are five sons,

[1] Theodore, Kokomo,

[2] A. G., Jr., Tylertown,

[3] Nelson, Seattle, Wash.,

[4] Woodrow, Jackson, and

[5] Bradford Brumfield, Foxworth; 

five daughters,

[1] Mrs. A. C. Cotton and

[2] Mrs. Lela Ainsworth, both of McComb,

[3] Mrs. Floyd McKenzie, Tykertown,

[4] Mrs. Era Terrell, Lumberton, and

[5] Mrs. J. E. Mascair, New Orleans, La.;

29 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren.

Rev. G. E. Jolly was officiating minister. Pallbearers were Sammy Alford, Jack Duncan, F. J. Alford, Dewitt and John Ellis Pigott, Alvin Randall and Victor Holmes. Ginn Funeral Home had charge of arrangements. 

Source: Alexander Brumfield Dies at 90. (McComb, MS: Enterprise-Journal, 3 Oct 1963) 3; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed March 2020).

Social News: Dinner with L. W. Fortenberry, 1950 MS

Using websites such as Newspapers.com, we researchers can find news of our families. Weddings & Obituaries can often be found. But smaller occasions were also reported in small local newspapers. This brief social clipping describes a Sunday family dinner for the Fortenberry family in November 1950.

Dinner Guests. Mr. and Mrs. L. W. Fortenberry of Progress enjoyed having as their dinner guests Sunday Mrs. Ina Alford, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Fortenberry and children, Billy, Alice and Ray, Mr. and Mrs. John Hall and sons, John and Don, Mr. and Mrs. Thurman Fortenberry, Mr. and Mrs. Wilburn Fortenberry and son, Wilburn.

 

My notes on the dinner guests:

 

Mr. and Mrs. L. W. = Lucius Wilburn Fortenberry (c 1888 MS – 1964 MS) & wife Rosa

 

Ray Luther Fortenberry, son of Lucius & Rosa, (1909 MS – 1989) & wife, Zelda Marie Alford (1915 LA – 2005 MS) & children Billy Joe, Alice Darrel and Ray Luther

 

Mrs. Ina Alford = Ina Lucille Brown Alford (1890 – 1922), mother of Zelda Marie Alford

 

Thurman Fortenberry, son of Lucius & Rosa & wife 

 

Wilburn Fortenberry, son of Lucius & Rosa & wife & son, Wilburn

 

John Hall & wife (daughter of Lucius & Rosa) & and sons, John and Don

 

Source: Dinner Guests (McComb, MS: Enterprise Journal, 8 Nov 1950) 8; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed January 2021.

Spotlight on: Vera V. Mark Ballard

Vera Victoria Mark Ballard 

27 Jul 1905 OH - 8 Jun 1995 FL

Daughter of Thomas K. Mark & N. Regina Gruissy

Wife of Robert E. Ballard

Sister of my paternal grandmother, Ivy Mark Brown

My great aunt

Vera was the second child of Thomas and Regina Mark.[1]In 1920 their family was living on 

Prospect Street in Seville, Ohio.  Vera was just 14 at the time and attending school.[2]

On 26 May 1933 Vera Mark married Robert E. Ballard.[3]  According to Vera’s nephew, Delbert K. Brown, Robert Ballard was a millionaire at one time.  He lost his money in the stock market crash of 1929. In later years, he had a concession stand at Chippewa Lake, Ohio.  He ran speed boats at the Resort.  He took his nephew, Del, all around the lake for free.  Delbert was 9 or 10 years old at the time.[4]

            Robert and Vera (Mark) Ballard had one child, Vera E. (Ballard) Bowling, who was born 30 May 1940 in Wadsworth, Ohio. Their daughter was often called ‘Little Vera’ to differentiate her from her mother.  Vera married Butch Bowling.[5]^,[6]

            Vera and Robert moved from Seville, Ohio to Tennessee. According to her sister, Wava (Mark) Braun, there was a big sand storm in Tennessee. They packed up overnight and moved to Florida.[7]

            Vera was a registered nurse.  At one time she lived on 4th Avenue North, St. Petersburg.

            A 1987 Florida newspaper article tells us about Vera and her career as a nurse: 

 

“Lakeland – Vera Ballard was mending a coat for one of Watson Clinic’s employees when clinic manager Tom Blinn came to pick her up for a retirement party in her honor. She kept him waiting until she finished. That incident tells a lot about the 82 – year – old registered nurse, who retired this week after 60 years in nursing. Forty – two were with the clinic. She belongs to the traditional school of nurses who wore their white caps proudly, went on house calls (with or without doctors) at all hours and were taught to put their calling before personal pleasure.

‘She’s a very efficient person, very dedicated, and very interested in doing the right thing,’ says Bob Hockman, director of facilities and materials for Watson Clinic. But she won’t tolerate swearing. Ballard got another nurse to replace her when a doctor at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital swore during surgery.  When a Watson Clinic physician used bad language during an operation, she started pulling off her gloves.  The doctor stopped swearing and kept his language clean in her presence from then on.

‘I don’t mind working overtime, but I do demand a little respect, ’Ballard said Thursday during an interview at the clinic.  Her co-workers provide both respect and affection. The purchasing department has given her birthday dinners for three years.  A nursing seminar will be named after her. ‘This is like family to me. I’ve been here so long,’ she said. ‘It’s marvelous working in a place where you can talk to people and they’ll talk to you, not just give orders.’

The admiration goes beyond her workplace.  Ballard is among 73 semifinalists in a state program to recognize older workers.  It’s sponsored by the Department of Labor and Employment Security and private corporations. Lakeland was a ‘little country town’ when Ballard, her husband Robley and daughter Vera Elizabeth arrived in the mid – 1940s.

Ballard, a graduate of the second section of Henry Ford Hospital’s first nursing class, had early experience in the hospital and in a rural area of Ohio. When her husband’s illness necessitated a move to Florida, she wanted to work for a registered diagnostic clinic.  The American Medical Association told her that Watson was the only one nearby.  ‘When I went in to find six doctors, I was flabbergasted,’ she recalls.  She accepted a job with Dr. W. P. Logan and Dr. Herman Watson.  They made house calls in the morning and again at night.  Ballard still makes them, to give several older patients their shots.

In addition to standard health checks, the doctors and their nurse were responsible for electrocardiograms.  The EKG machine came with a 50 – pound battery that had to be carried to homes and the hospital. Watson Clinic was in the Marble Arcade when Ballard began work there on June 1, 1946.  The clinic moved into an annex of the Thelma Hotel across the street a few years later, and then to its current location on Lakeland Hills Boulevard, Ballard said. Now there are more than 100 doctors, satellite clinics and plans for more growth. Those numbers don’t faze her, Ballard said, because the hospital where she trained had 250 doctors.

Ballard has been responsible since the early 1960s for linens, some sewing, magazine subscriptions, housekeeping of the lobbies and other chores that make the clinic run smoothly.  She preserves numerous photo albums, which she began filling more that 30 years ago, that show the clinic’s history.[8]

 

        

    Vera (Mark) Ballard died in on 8 June 1995 in Tampa, Florida where she had been in a nursing home for a long time.  She was 89 years old.  She is buried in Florida.[9]

---

[1]Record of Birth for Vera Victoria Mark, 27 July 1905, Probate Court for Medina County, Ohio. 

[2]1920 U. S. Census, Medina County, Ohio; Volume 147, ED 67, Sheet 5, Line 37, Family History Center Microfilm # 1821417: Thomas K. Mark, Head of Household.

[3]Marriage Certificate for Vera Mark and Robert E. Ballard, 26 May 1933, Certificate # 40, Medina County Probate Court, Medina, Ohio.

[4]“Interviews with Delbert K. Brown.”

[5]“Interviews with Wava Mark Braun”.

[6]“Interviews with Harold Jay Nee.”

[7]“Interviews with Wava Mark Braun”.

[8]The Ledger (Florida) c. 1987, newspaper clipping, photocopy in possession of Colleen G. Brown Pasquale.  “Registered Nurse. Vera Ballard proud of her profession, puts calling before pleasure.”

[9]Certificate of Death for Vera V. Ballard, 8 June 1995, Certificate #69832, State of Florida, Office of Vital Statistics, Florida.

The above story of Vera was taken from my book,

The Mark Family Story.

Forget Me Not: Ferman Esco Fortenberry, 1952 GA

 

 

 

Ferman Esco Fortenberry

18 June 1886 MS – 9 June 1952 GA

Son of William Jackson Fortenberry & Canolia A. Simmons

Husband of Nellie Mae Simmons

My second cousin, 3x removed

Forman Fortenberry, Pike Native, Passes in Clarkston, Ga. Funeral services were held Tuesday in Clarkston, Ga., for Forman Fortenberry who died there Monday night after a lingering illness. Burial was in the cemetery there. 

 

He was born and reared in the Silver Springs church community, a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. W. Jack Fortenberry, and spent most of his life in Pike County as a useful citizen.

 

For the past 15 years, he had lived in Clarkston, near Atlanta, where he and five of his sons had developed a large building and contracting business.

 

He is survived by his widow, who was Miss May Simmons of the Progress community, and by six sons, Everette of Canton, Miss., and Adrian, Jack, Elmo, Donald and Clyde, all of Clarkston.

 

In the large family of brothers and sisters, only four now remain, Dr. Andrew Fortenberry of Morgan City, La.; Mrs. Myrtis Dodds, Meadville, Miss.; Glenn Fortenberry of Progress; and Mrs. Wanzie Tuttle, Chattanooga, Tenn.

 

 

Source: Forman Fortenberry, Pike Native, Passes in Clarkston, Ga. (McComb, MS: Enterprise-Journal, 11 June 1952) 7; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed June 2020).