52 Ancestors Week 36: Dry Goods Clerk

Manning David Daughrity, Jr. (light suit)
Dry Goods Clerk
Late 1920's
© Cheri Hudson Passey

   Labor Day is a great time to think about what your ancestors did to support themselves and their families. 
    
 This week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2015 Edition has us doing just that with the prompt Working For a Living. 
   There are several ways to find out about your ancestors occupation. 

    One way is from family stories. My maternal Grandmother, Azile Juanita (Daughrity) Roberts Sullivan (1921-2009) told me of her father Manning David Daughrity, Jr. (1889-1931) working as a clerk in a department store in Sumter, South Carolina. The picture above, given to me by my grandmother, shows David and several other employees. The store was at one time called WM Folsom, Co. and was a dry goods store on Main St. in Sumter, SC. At some point the store may have become a JCPenney's as family members tell of David working there. 

 Military Records can also help determine an occupation.
  This 1917 World War I Registration Card filled out by David Daughrity helps to confirm the family story.  He writes that his present occupation is clerk and that his employer is WM Folsom, Co. in Sumter, South Carolina.

WWI Draft Registration Card
Manning David Daughrity
Sumter County, SC
Ancestry.com image

  Census Records are another way to discover what your ancestor did for a living. In this 1930 Census from Sumter County, South Carolina, David Daughrity's occupation is filled in as being a clerk in a dry goods store.
        

1930 Sumter County, SC Federal Population Census
Image from ancestry.com

   Clues to employment can also be found in obituaries.  David Daughrity's 1931 obituary from the The State (Columbia, SC) includes information about his job working in the dry goods business. It also states that he had been ill and had to retire.

Obituary of Manning David Daughrity, Jr.
The State, Columbia, SC June 10, 1931, pg. 6

     These are just a few examples of how different record groups can be helpful in determining where and how our ancestors supported their families. Newspaper stories, city directories, tax lists, and probate records can also help to determine employment.
 What record groups have you used to discover the occupation of your ancestors?

Are we kin? Please contact me. Together we can find our people.
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52 Ancestors Week 21-Military~Thomas Lemuel Thames

   Many of my ancestors have served in the military. 
  For Week 21 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Thomas Lemuel Thames (1827-1863), my paternal 3rd Great Grandfather is the subject.
  In the 1860 US Federal Census of Clarendon County, South Carolina, Thomas and family were living in Wrights Bluff.
 With the start of the Civil War Thomas joined the Hampton Legion of the South Carolina Volunteers. He was part of the Company C, Infantry Division.  His Compiled Service Record shows that he enlisted on April 15, 1862 in Sumter, South Carolina.

Muster Roll
Thomas L. Thames
March and April 1862
Fold3.com image

 It appears from the Muster Rolls that during most of Thomas' service in the Confederate Army, he was ill. He was in and out of the Hospital in Richmond, Virginia and reported as absent due to sickness several times. One record has him absent-sick with diarrhea. This seems to have been common with the soldiers in Hampton's Legion.

Muster Roll
T.L. Thames
31 Oct. 1862-Dec. 5 1862
Fold3.com image

 Thomas was eventually furloughed and went home to his family in South Carolina. Passed down through the years is the story of his homecoming. It is said that Thomas Thames was so dirty upon his arrival that his wife, Rebecca, made him bathe outside, cut off all his  hair and burn his clothes before he could go in the house.
   The company Muster Roll records the death of Thomas Lemuel Thames as being on 10 March 1863. Although  the cause of death is not recorded, it is thought that he died as a result of the illnesses he suffered during his time of service in the Hampton Legion. 

Muster Roll
T.L. Thames
March-April 1863
Fold3.com image

 Thomas Lemuel Thames left his family, friends and home  for a cause he felt was worth fighting for. He returned home a sick man. His  death left a widow and two children whose lives were forever changed. 
That is the nature of war. 

On this Memorial Day, 2015 let us honor those who fought and died in the many conflicts our nation has been involved in. 
Let us never forget their sacrifice.

Are we kin? Please contact me. Together we can find our people.
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