If you are lucky enough to have or find school records, they can tell you a lot not only about your ancestor but the neighborhood of people they grew up with. That is especially true in a small farming community such as Wilmer, Alabama, where the Pierce family lived.
A Wilmer School class posed for this photo around 1920. Velma Moree Pierce (1913-1993) is number 20 in the photo.
She also identified her classmates by number (as best her handwriting can be made out): 1. Willie Ward, 2. Rufus McKenny, 3. Charles Johnson, 4. Roflow Odorn (?), 5. Louis Snow, 6. [-?-] Lowery, 7. [-?-] Helton or Hilton, 8. Johnny Killgo, 9. Larry [-?-], 10. Jermse Johson (she crossed out Johnson and re-wrote it with this spelling), 11. Lambert Mizzell, 12. Genise Clark, 13. Guy Miller, 14. Thelma Stringfellow, 15. Mary McKenny, 16. Marie Howell, 17. Dextra Lula Lee, 18. Agnes Lazette Brown, 20. Velma, 21. Gladys Meriwether, 22. Preston Howell.
The Pierce, Lowery, Stringfellow and Howell families were all related.
Have you had any luck finding school records for your family?
Thanks for all the pictures and information, Ralph.
ReplyDeleteChild #18: Agnes Lazette Brown; dau. of Alexander and Canzada Emmons Brown
#17: Dextra Lula Lee; dau. of Samuel and Hager Brown Lee
#6 ? Lowery: Would love to know which Uncle this is.
Hope our family members can help fill in the blanks.
Dot,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the corrections and additional info!
I made the changes in spelling for my post.
These are just the kind of contributions I hoped we'd get for the blog.
In the end, I hope we will have a better understanding of the lives of our ancestors and the world of a rural community such as Wilmer.
Ralph