Pictures, What do you think?

Jane, Mary Ruth Sparks' granddaughter tells me, "She (her Mom) did start remembering stuff...Mary Ruth's dad was supposedly a surgeon but by the time my mom came along he was either deceased or divorced. My mom remembers staying for a time with Mary Ruth's mother in or very near Marshall and thinks her name was Julia." I'm beginning to think this is my Mary Ruth as well. This memory came from about 70 years ago. Julia, her sister, lived with her mother, Emma, in Shreveport, not that far from Marshall. Julia's husband is not there, one of those men I can't find, and Julia is a nurse. Mary Ruth's dad actually died before 1920 and was a carpenter. I think she is remembering Mary's sister more than Mary's mother.

Then Jane sends me the first picture. On the back it says, "Deryl and Mary Sparks, January 1929. Not a very good picture to see facial features I suppose, but I'm not sure she looks like my Mary. Then again, the second picture is about 20 years after the first one. There are a lot of people I wouldn't recognize 20 years later.

Then she sends me one of her mother as a teenager. I do think that could be Mary's daughter.

What do you think?????

Marriages of a Mary Ruth Gulledge (not neccessarily mine)

I set out searching for a marriage of Mary Ruth Gulledge to Sparks or Wooliver so I searched family search, and the county sites of Gregg and Upshur. Gladewater happens to be in 2 counties. That could throw you off for awhile looking for records.

I received the marriage license from Jefferson, Marion County, Texas, for Deryl and Mary. They were married on Jan. 13, 1929.

As you can see above, there were 2 marriages of a Mary Ruth Gulledge in Gregg county. One in Upshur County. A Mary Ruth Gulledge married Hosea Burks on Jan. 1, 1934. A Mary Ruth Gulledge married Jack Watson on Aug. 15, 1935. Mary Ruth married L. J. Wooliver (spelled Wolliver) in Upshur County on Feb. 9, 1937.

Are these all the same Mary Ruth?????

I know that L. J. Wooliver is my Mary Ruth because that was her name when dad married her.

Why can't I find any of these men? Can't find them in the census or death indexes. Wooliver is not even mentioned in the 1937 Gladewater City Directory although M. R. Wooliver is. Wonder if I could find them in the divorce record?

I did find a divorce record for Gulledge and Sparks, but it seems to be missing some details. Deryl filed first, but Mary Ruth received the divorce from Deryl and he was not present. No baby mentioned either. How can that be?

and the drama continues...

So I set Mary Ruth Gulledge aside for awhile and went off finding other ancestors until I get this message on ancestry.com.


"I have been searching for a Mary Ruth Gulledge who was married briefly to Deryl Perry Sparks. They are listed in the 1930 Lake Charles LA census and had a daughter less than 1 yr old. At some point they returned to East Texas (Marshall, Winnsboro areas) and divorced. The daughter stayed with the Sparks family and she never saw her mother again after about 1936. Is it possible that your Mary Ruth Gulledge in the picture is the same person? Any response would be appreciated! Thanks!"

I paused for a long time, then looked back at Mary Ruth to see what I DO know about her. She had lived in Lousiana. She had lived in the Marshall area. Dad met her in Gladewater at a cafe that I assume she ran. He met Mom at a cafe she ran as well. Food is important to the Elmore's. I DIDN'T know where she was in 1930. I had found her mother, sister and nephews, but not her. The birthplace on the Mary Ruth Sparks census says Missouri, which is correct. Her parent's birthplaces are not, but it's been conflicting on previous documents as well.

So, my answer was "Interesting. Well, I suppose it's possible." Now I'm back to searching for the real Mary Ruth Gulledge once again.

How old is Mary again?

Now that I know Mary's maiden name, her father's name is James "Jim" Gulledge and her mother's name is Emma, I am able to find her in at least 2 censuses, 1910 and 1920. But wait a minute! According to her death certificate and her tombstone she was born in 1916. I guess she wasn't. She was born in 1907. I'm sure I have the right family. The obituary helps prove this as well. Mary was 9 years older than my dad thought she was, or pretended she was. My cousin said, "She was older," so I assume he knew that, or maybe not.

I couldn't find Mary in 1930, but her mother is living with Julia, her sister, in Shreveport, La. I see that Julia has married someone named Weldon and has twin boys Loyd and Floyd. She is listed as a nurse, head of house, but it says married, not widowed. Where has her husband gone?

the search continues...

I finally found Mary and Carlton's marriage certificate at the Delta County Courthouse. I only found it because I went there personally page by page. It wasn't listed in the index. So they were married on August 3, 1946. Her name was Wooliver. Searched everywhere for a Wooliver in census records. I couldn't find her death certificate either. I knew they lived in Charleston, TX, when she was sick and that she was buried in the Charleston Cemetery. How could there not be a death record in 1951?

Finally, my cousin says, "Well, I think your dad took her back to Louisiana right before she died to visit her family." And there it was. She died in Shreveport, LA. Her maiden name was not Wooliver, but Gulledge! So she had been married before....

I have to ask myself why did Dad have to take Mary, as sick as she was, and I've been told VERY sick, to Louisiana to see her family one week before she died. Why didn't they come to see her?

In Search of Mary Ruth Gulledge

This is all I knew of my dad's first wife, Mary Ruth Elmore. I knew that she died of cancer in 1951.

We had a few of her plates and a couple of her kitchen pans. Sometimes Mother would leave the pan on the stove too long and it would burn, and we'd all laugh and say she was trying to burn up Mary's pans. But she would clean it up and use them again.

But, that was all I knew, probably because I never thought to ask.

to be continued....