Tag Archives: #Jeanette McCall

Jeanette McCall McEwen – Death Certificate 1897 – 1931

Allen, Investigations, ,
4744 Langley. Jeanette on stoop with son Robert with google maps photograph.

I received Jennette McCall McEwen’s death certificate in the mail this week.  I wrote about her earlier here and here.  Here is the new information I gleaned both from the death certificate and from a re-reading of other documents I have for this family.

According to both the 1920 census and Robert junior’s birth certificate, the family was rooming at 4744 Langley in Chicago, IL.  See a photo of the house above.  Little Robert was born at home on January 2.  Robert Sr. worked at the post office.

Provident Hospital

On December 16, 1923 second son, Raymond was born in Provident Hospital, one of the first black owned and operated hospitals in the United States.  Robert Sr. was a dental student while Jeanette continued to work inside the home.  The family had moved to 652 E. 46th St.

By the time of the 1930 Census Robert Sr was a practicing dentist.  Jeanette was not working outside of the home. When I first found Robert and Jeanette in the 1930 census several years ago, I wondered why they had no children because I had heard that they were the parents of two boys.  After looking at the neighbors I found that 10 year old Robert Jr and 7 year old Raymond were living as lodgers in the apartment of Harry and Zada McClatchey.  At the time I thought it must be a mistake, but after looking at the death certificate I realized there was a good reason for the boys to be out of the home.

Jeanette died at home of influenza on December 27, 1931.  The informant, the person who gave the personal information on the certificate, was her older brother Leon Roscoe McCall.  Her doctor was her brother-in-law Joseph Howard, MD.  He had begun treating her on Christmas day, although she became ill on the 20th of December. A contributory cause was “phthisis pulmonalis” or consumption.  Jeanette found that she had tuberculosis in February of 1930. The Census took place in April. Robert and Raymond were probably out of the house to keep them from being infected.  She had been unable to continue to do her usual work as a housewife since July 1931. Jeanette McCall McEwen was buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Cook County on December 30, 1931.  Now I’ll send for Robert McEwen’s death certificate to see if he also died of tuberculosis.

 

Jeanette McCall McEwen

Allen, sepia saturday
Cousins Annie Lee and Jeanette with their sons.
 With youngest son.
  Jeanette and husband Robert


Jeanette was born on February 18, 1897 in Montgomery, Alabama. She was the youngest of the six children of Edward and Mary (Allen) McCall.  Her oldest brother, James McCall was the blind poet in She was owned before the war by…. Her father, Edward McCall, was the cook and turn-key at the city jail. Her mother, Mary Allen McCall, was a seamstress.  Jeanette attended Alabama State Normal school, a primary through high school for African Americans in Montgomery that all of her siblings and cousins attended.

Jeanette’s best friend was Stella Brown, who later married her older brother Roscoe McCall. Jeanette attended Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi and met her husband, Robert Anderson McEwen there.  By 1920 Robert and Jeanette were married and living in Chicago as roomers.  On January 2, 1920 she gave birth to her first son, Robert Jr.  Robert Sr. worked at the post office.  By the time their second son, Raymond, was born  on December 16, 1923, Robert was a dental student.  Jeanette did not work outside of the home.

By 1930 Robert was a dentist.  Jeanette died December 22, 1931.  I do not know the cause of death yet. You may see another photograph of Jeanette here.  Robert remarried before 1938 to Ethel, last name unknown at this time. He died June 29, 1938.   You can see more car related (or not) Sepia Saturday offerings here.