As I was going through stacks of papers in my office, trying to separate writing from genealogy and personal information, I came across a copy of my grandmother's obituary in the Pelham Journal. She died in 1930. I believe this was copied by my cousin Peggy Ann Whitley when she and her mother, my aunt Mildred, went to Pelham and surrounding area researching our family many years ago.
If you are a family historian or if you are interested in genealogy as I am, finding an obituary can be very helpful for your records. I learned several things from this one.
Pelham Lady Goes to Her Reward
Mrs. Lula Robison, wife of W.H. Robison died suddenly at her
home in East Pelham Saturday morning at ten o’clock.
Funeral services were held at the Hand Memorial Methodist
Church Sunday afternoon at four o’clock with Rev. Guyton Fisher and Rev. C.C.
Kiser in charge. Interment followed in Pelham cemetery. Mrs. Robison was widely
known and loved throughout this section and surrounding county.
Her passing was a source of much sorrow.
She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Jones of Grady County
and was borned on September 18, 1870.
She was married to William Robison of Cairo in 1887. Into
this union were borned eight children. The oldest being H.A. Robison of
Blakely, Ga., Mrs. J.M. Blitch of Cairo, Mrs. A.S. Blitch of Pelham, Ga., Mrs.
A. G. Green of Clearwater Fla., D.L. Robison of Albany, Ga., W.R. Robison of
Americus, Ga., Mrs. C.L. Council of Pelham, Ga., Mrs. J.L. Whitle,(Whitley) of Pelham, Ga. She is mourned by a number of
grandchildren, also five sisters and three brothers.
Card of Thanks
We wish to acknowledge with grateful appreciation the many
expressions of sympathy and kindness shown us during the recent death of our
darling wife and mother. Also the beautiful floral offerings.
May God bless each of
you is our prayer.
W.H. Robison and Family
The above was copied from the
Pelham Journal dated November 6, 1930
I copied the words just as they are on the page so borned is what was written. Although my mother had told me that Lula, her mother, died of a heart attack while sitting at the breakfast table, I did not know what day of the week it was. I did not know how widely known and loved she was by the community. I did not know that H.A. Robison, my uncle Avon, was living in Blakely GA at the time, nor did I know that Uncle Rudolph, W.R. Robison, lived in Americus, GA. When I knew these uncles they lived in Albany, GA where I lived.
My cousin, Rob Robison, shared his genealogy records, which included this obit, with me when he came in May. I am so glad to have this in my records now. Thanks to Peggy Ann and to Rob I now have this writing about my grandmother who I was named for but never met.
Mother told me about her father holding her hand and walking to church at Hand Memorial Methodist when she was a child. He was a Methodist and there was no other Methodist church in Pelham. In East Pelham, where she lived, there was a Baptist church which she attended often with her friend, Mary Ella Brock. Hand Memorial is named for J.L. Hand, the wealthy man from up north who came down south and built himself a town. The entire center of the town was a huge building, Hand Trading Company, which my father said carried everything anyone would need, from the cradle to the grave. My grandfather, William Henry Robison, was maintenance man for all of Mr. Hands buildings including the houses where the workers at his cotton mill resided. Mother said her daddy was the best chimney builder anyone could find. That was a talent very much in demand back in those days.
All of the Robison children moved away from Pelham once they married. The two Blitch families moved to Miami, Florida, the Green family moved to Clearwater, Florida.The others ended up in Albany, Georgia where I was born.
Have you ever found some document about your family that you had never seen before?
Do you know much about your family history?
Another post you might like:
http://profilesandpedigrees.blogspot.com/2015/03/old-age-is-treasure-house-of-history.html
My family history is a mystery to me.
ReplyDeleteMy father was a German Jew and made an oyster look garrulous. My mother's relationship with the truth wasn't intimate.
I was in my forties before I discovered I have cousins in the UK. My mother had told me that her only sibling, a doctor, had died because he neglected a melanoma. In fact she predeceased him.
What a wonderful find. I have some old letters written by my father that surfaced long after he died. I cherish them. :-)
ReplyDeleteEC, I am sorry about your mom and dad. But it is never too late to research your ancestors if you want to learn more. You might find some great folks back in the ages. I would want to know why did my mother lie about her brother? Must be a mystery there somewhere. But I am very curious, I'm told.
ReplyDeleteDJan, like you I have a box of letters my father wrote to my mother and they are a real treasure to me.
ReplyDelete