Wednesday, January 21, 2015

52 Ancestors:Tough Woman~Beulah Mae

      My maternal Great Grandmother, Beulah Mae Price Roberts (1897-1980), lived a hard life that was filled with hardship and the loss of loved ones. She must have been a strong, Tough Woman- perfect for the bog prompt for Week 3 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2015 Edition.
  


Beulah Mae Price Roberts Wedding Day Age 17
Beulah Mae Price Roberts (1897-1980)
Wedding Day-Age 17
28 June 1914
©Cheri Hudson Passey
      Beulah Mae, the oldest of at least 6 children, was born 28 April, 1897 in Bath, Aiken, South Carolina to Bertrand Campbell Price (1876-____) and Bessie Mae Eargle Price (1878-1943).
     Beulah's father "Cam" worked in the Textile Mills of South Carolina and Georgia, moving frequently to go where the work was. He was not the best employee and was without work from time to time.
    The family was extremely poor. While living near Camp Jackson, Columbia, South Carolina, Beulah helped her mother make lunches to sell to the soldiers. Brother Frank Earle Price (1904-2002) tells of their father bringing home cross ties to burn so that they could have a fire to heat the house.
   Beulah met William Treadford Roberts (1894-1959) while her family was living in the Columbia, South Carolina area. They eloped on 28 June 1914 and over time became the parents of twelve children. 
  Although her husband also worked in the Textile Mills, Beulah's life became more stable as they lived in Mill Villages in both North and South Carolina. William became an Mill Supervisor and for a time during World War II, Beulah worked in the Mills as well. The family was eventually able leave the Mill Villages and build their own home.
 The large Roberts family home in Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina was built in the late 1940's and is still lived in by a Granddaughter.


Beulah Mae Price Roberts 60th Birthday-1957
Beulah Mae Price Roberts (1897-1980)
60th Birthday-28 April,1957
©Cheri Hudson Passey
     Beulah's life was one of many losses. In 1922 her father, Cam Price, disappeared. He joined family members at a Church Revival in Columbia, South Carolina and then was never seen or heard from again.
    A baby brother,Willie L. Price (1902-1902), died at the age of 5 months, sister, Nellie Pearl Price Booth (1910-1927), died in childbirth and brother, David Daniel Price (1904-1937), was killed when the car he was a passenger in was hit by a train. Her mother, Bessie Mae, died in 1943 and then just ten years later another brother, George Washington Price (1905-1953), died from Multiple Sclerosis.  
    Death was never far away from Beulah. Of the twelve children born to the Roberts family, only six survived their mother.
   Baby Edith Marie Roberts (1926-1926) died from pneumonia at 4 months.
   An unnamed Baby Girl was stillborn on 21 Feb. 1927
   William Treadwell Roberts, Jr. (1928-1928) died just a few days before he turned 4 months.
   Edman George Roberts (1922-1943) was listed as Missing In Action and then declared dead after his plane was shot down during WWII.
   Gilbert Ernest Roberts (1921-1944), my Grandfather, was killed in action on Peleliu Island while serving in WWII.
  Wilbert Lewis Roberts (1918-1944) was killed in action in Italy during his service in WWII.
 Then, in 1959, husband William died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of  65.  


Beulah Mae Price Roberts and Frank Earle Price Roberts Granitteville Cemetery
Beulah Mae Price Roberts and brother Frank Earle Price
Visiting Graves of their mother Bessie and brother David
Graniteville Cemetery, Graniteville, Aiken, South Carolina
©Cheri Hudson Passey
 So much loss, so much pain for one person. A "tough woman"? 
She would have had to have been.



Are we kin? Please contact me. Together we can find our people.
Thanks so much for stopping by!


   

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