The Pruitts

Let's face it:  We know so very little about WJM's mother -- or her side of the family for that matter.  Here she is, circa 1905, with her with her firstborn, Elizabeth Isabelle Marion, Dad's sister Aunt Belle, as we knew her (who was eleven years older than Dad).  The sartorially splendid young man, for now, remains unidentified.  As for Grandma Katharine Marion (it feels odd calling her that because we never knew her, not unlike how the Janusch-Marion-Stagg offspring must feel about Grandma Martha Marion), we're not even sure if her first name is spelled with a "C" or a "K" (I've seen it both ways.) The truth is, because she died long before any of us were born, and because Dad was so tight-lipped about his family, we'll probably have to content ourselves with whatever facts we can glean from birth, death, and census documents, and that rare and random story about her that we may have heard when we were kids, and can still conjure up.  At the same time, in geneology, hope DOES spring eternal.  Through research and dogged persistence and maybe with a little luck thrown in as well, you never know what might be out there. (After all, at this time last year, Linda hadn't yet connected with Clyde Findley, Jr., Belle's son, who passed on a treasure trove of letters and photographs, including the one above.) With regard to the Pruitts, there are so many unanswered questions and there is so much to learn that the crumbs we do manage to scrape up will be, as it were, icing on the cake.  So for now, that's how we'll leave it, with anticipation that "the rest of the story" -- or at least a part of it -- is still available in some way, shape, fashion, or form.

The Pruitt Line

Linda searched out this document well over a year ago, but I paid it little heed until just recently.  When I took the time to read it closely enough to realize what it is -- the family of our paternal grandmother, Katherine Pruitt Marion -- I was astonished at how much information it contains.  Even a quick glance is quite revealing -- she was one of 13 children!  Her parents (our great grandparents) both died in 1914 in Alabama, just before WJM and Jerry were born. His name was Miles Lundanic (or Ludavic?) Pruitt (thank god THAT wasn't passed down to any of us), and her name was Annie Estelle Dumas -- a most-decidedly French name.  Grandma Kitty's (yes, Katharine Pruitt is listed here as Kitty) siblings include, among others, Willie, Lillie, Maggie, Aurora, and Julia.  And check out some of the middle names:  LaFayette, Antoinette,  Fontaine, and Florence.  Again, tres French  Wow.  We also have our great, great grandparents listed here: Miles' parents were Samuel Pruitt and Eliza Smith and Annie's parents were Jeremiah Dumas and Isabelle McIver.  So this Irish, English, French, and Scottish conglomeration is all part of the Marion genetic recipe.

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A sad day all the way around...

I've been holding this document -- which Linda tenaciously tracked down on our trip to the Deep South last February -- until

this very day, December 13, 2009:  81 years  exactly after our Grandmother Katherine Pruitt Marion finally succumbed to cancer

in Mobile, Alabama.  Sons Billy and his twin  brother, Jerry, had just turned 14.  As this death certificate notes, G'ma Marion had

been under treatment for bladder and rectal cancer at Providence Infirmary for some two months, and she was 49 years old.

Note to all:  Keep up with those colonoscopies!

wom