The 2 "Bertha's"

In my post dated Friday, July 20, 2012,  (click here to read blog post)  I wrote about Harriet Woodard, my maternal great-grandmother.   I also had questions regarding her daughter, Bertha.  I assumed that Harriet had a daughter named Bertha who had died between 1901- 1910 because this Bertha wasn't listed on the 1910 census. I was confused because my late mother and a cousin had given me information for Harriet which included a daughter named Bertha from her marriage to Simon Peter Smith and a daughter Bertha from her marriage to James El Simmons.  I wondered why Harriet would name 3 daughters "Bertha".  I still don't have the answer to that question, but I'm happy to say that my confusion over all the Bertha's has been cleared up, with help from a cousin.

There were, indeed, at least two Bertha's.  The photograph above includes Annie Bertha Smith (standing on left), Bertha Lollita Simmons (standing on right) and Luella Smith (sitting).  Annie Bertha Smith and Luella Smith were the daughters of Harriet and Simon Smith.  Bertha Lollita Simmons was the daughter of Harriet and James El Simmons.  I remember her as "Aunt Bert".  It's her daughter, Sylvia Elaine (Herrin) Knight that helps me with the family history and helped me to clear up this confusion.  Thanks, Elaine!

Harriet Woodard, 1883-1952, Lamar County MS

Robert "Bob" Johnson and wife
Harriet Woodard Johnson

Harriet Woodard, my maternal great-grandmother, was born 13 May 1883 in Marion County, Mississippi.  She was the daughter of Thomas Riley Woodard and Minerva Warden.  

At the age of 17, Harriet married her first husband, Simon Peter Smith, on 04 May 1901 in Marion County, Mississippi.  He was the son of Manson Smith and Elizabeth Ann Reid. From their union four children were born- Bertha, Paul, Louella and Nathaniel.  Family history states that sometime after the birth of their four children, Simon divorced Harriet then, shortly thereafter, married Harriet's blood sister, Mary Woodard.  Supposedly Simon and Mary had six children from their union.  Further investigation into these family stories led me to seek the truth.  As it turned out, the story was indeed accurate.  I will write more about Mary Woodard and Simon Peter Smith in another post.  For this post, I will focus on Harriet.  

Marriage Record- Simon Smith and
Harriet Woodard, Marion County, MS

The 1910 census of Lamar County, Mississippi shows the household of Simon Smith with his wife "Hetty" and children- son Nathaniel, age 7, daughter Louella, age 4 and son Paul, age 3.  The couple had been married 10 years and had 4 children, of whom 3 were still living.  From this information, I assume Harriet and Simon's daughter, Bertha, is the one that died. 

1910 Federal Census, Lamar County, Mississippi, Beat 1, Dist. 0087, pg 16

Harriet and Simon were divorced by 1914 because it is speculated that Simon married Harriet's sister, Mary Woodard, that year in Picayune, Pearl River County, Mississippi.  

Harriet married second James El Simmons, the son of James C. "Jim" Simmons and Celia Anna Yates on 15 December 1915 in Walthall County, Mississippi (source: Hunting For Bears, comp.. Mississippi Marriages, 1776-1935).  James "El" had previously been married to Corrine Elizabeth Graham, the daughter of Albert and Mit Graham.  She died 17 November 1910, leaving 9 children motherless.  Family history states that Corrine died after giving birth to their son, William Houston Simmons.  

In 1920, Harriet and El resided in Lamar County, Mississippi.  El's son from his first marriage, Rufus "Elmore" Simmons, listed as age 13, resided with them.  Harriet and El also had a child together- Woodrow Wilson Simmons, age 3, who later became my paternal grandfather.  Apparently, all of their other children from their first marriages had either married and moved out or they were living with other family members, as they are not in the household of Harriet and El.  

1920 Federal Census, Lamar County, Mississippi, Beat 4, Dist 101, Pg 2

Where were the children of Harriet and Simon Smith in 1920?  A check of the Simon Smith household that year gave me the answer.  In Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi, "S.P. Smith" is head of household with his wife, Mary, and children- son Nat, age 18, daughter Luella, age 14, son Paul, age 9, daughter Annie Bertha, age 6, son Walter, age 3 years 9 mos. and a boarder, M.D. Smith, age 19.  From this information, I conclude that this family was that of Simon Peter Smith, Harriet's ex-husband.  Their children resided with Simon and his second wife at that time.  I can speculate that Simon moved his family to Jefferson Davis county to secure employment there.  The census listed his employment as "wood chopper" for a log company.  On that same page of the census, nearly every male listed of employment age worked for a log company.  Obviously, the logging industry in Jefferson Davis county provided wages to several households then.

1920 Federal Census, Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi, Beat 2, Dist 75, Pg 38

I have questions concerning Annie Bertha, the 6 year old daughter from the 1920 census.  She would have been born about 1914.  Who was her mother?  Was it Harriet or Mary?  

In 1930, Harriet and El are again listed in Beat 4 of Lamar County.  From their union, two more children were born- son Andrew, age 6, and daughter Bertha L., age 3.  Their son, Woodrow W., who was 13 was also included in their household.  Living next door to the couple was El's son from his first marriage, Walter William Simmons, who had married Callie Cordelia Madden.  

1930 Federal Census, Lamar County, Mississippi, Beat 4

Note that Harriet and El named their youngest child Bertha.  This child is Bertha Lollita Simmons, born in 1927.  If I am assuming correctly, Harriet and Simon had a daughter named Bertha sometime between 1901 and 1910 who had died (see 1910 census notes above).  I also suspect that Annie Bertha, born about 1914, was Harriet and Simon's daughter.  What was Harriet's obsession with the name Bertha? Was she close to someone named Bertha, such as a family member?  Or is the information regarding their names incorrect?  I will have to follow up on this.

Update:  February 8, 2017- The confusion over the Bertha's has been cleared.  Click on link to The 2 Bertha's below for story.

Harriet's husband, James El Simmons, died 28 December 1927.  He was laid to rest in Grantham Cemetery, Lamar County, Mississippi.   There is presently no grave marker.

On 13 July 1939, Harriet married her third husband, Robert "Bob" Johnson, the son of Wilson "Babe" Johnson and Elizabeth G. "Betty" Fillingame.  Bob had previously been married to Sarah Herrin, the daugher of William H. Herrin and Sabra Crawley.  Sarah died about 1935, leaving Bob a widow.  There is a strange twist in the family tree with the union of Harriet and Bob.  Let me explain- three years prior to their marriage, on 04 July 1936,  Harriet and El's son, Woodrow Wilson Simmons, had married Bob and Sarah's daughter, Susie Johnson.  Because of that fact, I suppose the families had close ties beforehand.  In other words, Woodrow and Susie became step-siblings after the marriage of Harriet and Bob in 1939.  My late mother, Lula Sue Simmons, was close to her "grandpa Bob" and "grandma Harriet" when she was a youngster and has fondly written of them in her memoirs (see Memoirs of Lula Sue Simmons).  

Marriage Record- Robert Johnson and
Harriet (Woodard) Simmons, Marion County, MS

Harriet and Bob remained together, residing in Lamar County until his death on 25 August 1952.  According to his death certificate, Bob died of sudden death, cause undetermined, but questionable coronary thrombosis (blood clot in his heart), secondary to a history of heart disease.  The death record states he was 76 years old at the time of his death and that he had lived in Baxterville, Lamar County, Mississippi for 35 years. 

Robert "Bob" Johnson was laid to rest in the Caney Baptist Church cemetery in Lamar County next to his first wife, Sarah.  Only three weeks after Bob's death, Harriet followed him to the grave.  She died 14 September 1952 at the Martine? Sanitorium located in Picayune, Pearl River County, Mississippi of complications with pneumonia following a sudden cerebral hemmorhage (stroke).  The death record indicates Harriet had been hospitalized for 9 days prior to her death, which means she was hospitalized on 05 September, less than two weeks after Bob died.  Harriet was laid to rest next to her late husband Bob. My mother told me many years ago that Harriet died of a "broken heart" after she lost Bob. 

Death certificate- Mrs. Harriet Johnson

Additional information gathered from Harriet's death record:  the Informant was listed as Mrs. Bertha Mills, her parents were listed as Thomas Woodard and Minervia Wardeen and her date of birth was 13 May 1883. Funeral arrangements were made by the Colonial Funeral Home in Columbia, Marion County, Mississippi.  

More About Harriet Woodard:

Tombstones:  Harriet Woodard Johnson

The 2 Bertha's

Tombstones: Harriet Woodard Johnson

Photo credit:  USA Patriot (Find A Grave)

HARRETT S JOHNSON

DIED 1952

Caney Baptist Church Cemetery

Lamar County, Mississippi

Listed on Find A Grave

Maintained by Michele Simmons Lewis

Click here for link

Buried next to her husband, Robert "Bob" Johnson 

and his first wife, Sarah Herrin

Memoirs of Lula Sue Simmons: Part 7, More Memories of Grandpa

My Mom dearly loved her Grandpa Bob.  He and his second wife Harriet helped to provide at least some stability to Mom and her siblings.   Since her mother had to work outside the home to help support them, Mom and her siblings were often left in the care of Bob and Harriet.  Mom shared more memories of her grandpa in her memoirs:

One of our game [sic] was playing church in grandpaw's storm pit.  Of couse [sic] Alton was always the preacher.  Because if we didn't want

him to preach he would get mad and leave.  

Gertie and Elton wasn't allowed to leave the yard  they were just toddlers    this is the reason they didn't get into all of the trouble that Alton and I did.

My grandpaw thought it would bring him bad luck if he lefted [sic] to go hunting or fishing with his grandkids crying to go with him.  So it didn't take us long to figure this out.  So when he lefted [sic] and we saw him going across the field to the back woods Alton and I would go running and crying for him to take us.  So instead of taking us back home he would let us go.  He would take us far enoug [sic] that we could hear the sound of the water.  Here he would sit us on a log and we would

have to stay there until he came back.  It didn't take but 2 or 3 trips and we didn't want to go with him again.  Of course later in life we learned why he didn't want us with him.  He was using fish traps and this was against the law and he was afraid Alton and I would tell.  It didn't make the fish taste any different because they were real good when grandma got them cooked.  We would all sit at that old wood table with those old hard wood benches and enjoy collard greens, fish and corn bread.

We would then go to the front porch and relax a few minutes.  I can remember grandpa sitting on the porch under the water selve (?) resting his back against the wall.  He sat there everyday

with his shot gun at his side.  He hated a chicken hawk and ever [sic] time one flew over he would shoot him. He said he didn't raise chickens to feed the hawks with.

Of course there wasn't too much relaxing for us.  On days were [sic] there was no field work there was other things to do.  Wash day was a whole days work with the water comming [sic] from the well and wood for the wash pot

And when all of the fields was planted the fertizise [sic] sacks had to be ripped apart and boiled for hours.  They were used for sheets and panties, slips.  Then we would have to go gather medical roots and tree bark to use for teas.

There were days when Mom's hand tremors made it difficult for her to write.  Obviously, she attempted to write these notes on such a day.  

I truly appreciate my Mom's efforts to write down a portion of her memories, for they mean so much to me now.  As I read her handwritten notes, I imagine her sitting in her chair remembering the days of her childhood.  I imagine her smile when she wrote of the tender moments in those days and I imagine her attempting to hold back her tears when she wrote of the hard times.   

To be continued...