Hello. This is both my first blog and my first blog post ever. So let's get to it.
I met my dad, Claude Walker (1924 AR-2000 IL) November 1991, when I was 39, and he passed away nine years later in March 2000. He was only four years old when his mother died in 1928, so he had little to share with me about her other than her maiden name, Bertha Mae Dobbins. It's been an uphill climb trying to research her and her people, but after 20 years the terrain has begun to level out...a bit.
She was born about 1892 in an unknown part of Mississippi. In October 1921, she married my paternal grandfather, George Walker (185? AR-1933 IL), in Parkin, Cross County, Arkansas. According to their marriage certificate, Grandma Bertha was 26 and Grandpa George was 50. In reality, he was closer to 60! Grandpa George's first wife, Sarah Adams, died prior to the 1910 census, and from that union nine children were born. All of dad's siblings were adults by the time he was born in 1924, and by the time I met him in 1991, they had all passed on. Since my dad was orphaned by age nine, he lived with various relatives until 1941, when he served for 18 months in the Civilian Conservation Corps before joining the US Navy in 1943.
You might say that I've "pieced together" a genealogy for Grandma Bertha. Her origins and genealogy have yet to be confirmed, but the purpose of this blog is enlist the aid of any and all who may find this information familiar.
The death certificate I believe to be for her indicates that she died 18 Aug 1928, from Pellegra (lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in diet) in the then Mississippi State Mental Hospital in Jackson, Hinds County, MS. It also indicates that she was buried "in the hospital cemetery" 19 Aug 1928. Her last place of residence per the certificate was Hushpuckena, Bolivar County, MS. An older female cousin in her 90's remembered she and her brother visiting Grandpa George and his new, young bride in the early 1920's. My dad wasn't yet born, neither did Grandma Bertha appear to be expecting. My cousin said there was a pot of black-eyed peas cooking over the hearth. Grandma Bertha alternately tended the peas, then perched herself back onto Grandpa George's lap. While she sat on his lap, Grandpa George would occasionally spit into the fire and my cousin and her brother worried that some of it would wind up in the peas. Regardless, they being obedient children, ate the peas when placed before them and said not a word about it (the spit). My cousin described Grandma Bertha as being brown-skinned, slender, and with regular features and short, nappy hair. Also, that the newly-wed couple appeared to be very content with each other. Somehow that's comforting for me to know.
Bertha is found living with her widowed grandmother, Lucretia "Crecia" (Sistrunk) Dobbins, in the 1920 census for Maschulaville, Noxubee, MS. On the 1910 census for Beat 1, Attala County, MS, she is listed as a teacher and once again living with her widowed grandmother. Lucretia's name is botched on the record as "Tee or Lee C Mc Donald". Lucretia's second husband was Hiram McDanniel/McDaniel; and the reason I believe this is the right record is because spelng duznt cownt in genealogy research. A widowed Grandpa George was enumerated with six of his children in Beat 3, Attala, MS. One of his daughters, Aunt Martha Jane, was listed as a teacher like Bertha. Perhaps they taught at the "colored" school together and that's how Bertha and George met(?). I could not find Grandpa George in 1920, but Aunt Martha Jane and her husband and children were found in Tyronza, Cross County, AR, with younger brothers Clarke and Prett in the household. Cross County is where Bertha and George were married in 1921.
Working backwards to 1900, the only girl child found that matched my Grandma Bertha was an 8 y/o Mary Dobbins in Beat 4, Noxubee, MS, listed as "niece" in the household of Adolphus Davis, his wife, Martha Jane "Mattie" Grimmett, and their twin baby daughters, Carrie and Clara. I'm sure she was there to help out with the kids. Her grandmother, Lucretia, was also living in Beat 4, Noxubee, MS, with her second husband, Hyram/Hiram. In 1880, Lucretia and her first husband, Alfred Dobbins, were enumerated in Beat 4, Noxubee, MS, with their two children, Warren and Emma. By 1900, Lucretia reported that she was the mother of two, but only one child was living. Since Emma was in the household with her in 1900, that meant that Warren died prior to 1900. That makes him most likely to have been the father of my Grandma Bertha. All of this fits well with me and my research, but definitely has to be confirmed...and I'm sure that one day it will be.
Soooo, who was Bertha's mother? Was her mother related to Adolphus Davis or to his wife? Was Warren Dobbins her father? Was the 8 y/o Mary Dobbins in 1900 really Bertha?
As I mentioned before, this is my first blog/blog post ever and I'm having a little trouble uploading records and pictures, so please bear with me. Until then, you're welcome to read and post comments and/or advice. Thank you.
