The Montgomery Advertiser
February 16, 1911
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Feb. 23, 1911
discovered by Larry Smith
I received some much needed help from my cousin Beverly Espy Dayries. Here are some notes she had on Josephine. I made some minor changes/additions to Beverly's notes, but the bulk is what she shared verbatim via e-mail. Thanks Beverly!
According to The Espy-Espey Genealogy Book Volume 1, Josephine was born 21 Aug 1910 and died 14 Feb 1911 during the whooping cough epidemic. So she would have been between 5 and 6 months old.
She was the fourth child. Her siblings were John Jr., Major and Frances.
These dates and the statement that she died from whooping cough during an epidemic were also stated in the McLeod Family tree seen on ancestry.com. The owner of the McLeod Family tree is Lawanna. Lawanna is the person you wrote who lives in Crestview and had visited Watty in Headland. Watty also said Josephine died from whooping cough.
She died in 1911. Source - ancestry.com - publications - when searching John Espy.
Josephine is buried at the Headland Baptist Church cemetery.
The note re her death was in The Dothan Eagle Feb. 15, 1911. Years ago your grandmother Edith had some pictures that must have been taken from the Espy House when it was being cleared out. I don't recall who was there, but I remember she had several colored pictures in a size about 8 x 10. They were of the open empty casket where Josephine would be placed and also of the closed casket. She asked if anyone wanted the pictures. Everyone there felt sad at seeing them, and no one wanted to keep them. It was likely Edith's intention to dispose of them since no one wanted to keep them. Granny loved pictures. At one time we had a couple of similar sized and colored pictures of my grandfather John Espy's casket - covered in flowers. They were stuck in a large book. The last time I saw the book was in 1962, when Mother and I were moving from West Benson St. in Decatur to Azalea Circle. Bud and I were not yet engaged, but he helped move stuff from one house to the other that we were able to. If the book survived a flooded basement at Azalea shortly after Bud and I married in Aug. 1962, it could possibly be in our attic. If it survived the flooded basement, we would still have it - either in the attic at Azalea or somewhere at our house.
1 comment:
Thanks for including the poem about Josephine. I had never seen or heard of this poem before.
Do you know who wrote the poem about Josephine? Unless someone knows differently, I would guess that it is by Mary Tarver Carroll, who was married to Granny Espy's brother Oscar Carroll. I believe that they lived in Ozark, AL. Mary Tarver Carroll wrote some poetry. Somewhere I have a poem she wrote to Granny for a Christmas card. She was well known for writing several books - biographies - mostly aimed at teenagers. One was about Aaron Burr. Another was about Oglethorpe. I have copies of the two books.
Beverly
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