In 1918 and 1919 thirty-seven young women, friends and neighbors of my grandmother Fannie Mae Turner were members of the Edelweiss Club in Montgomery, Alabama. These are snapshots from their lives, place and times.
Click any image to enlarge
Ulysses Naomi Rodgers was born in 1882, the year after her older sister Lucretia. She had two younger brothers, Gordon and Julian. The family started out in Wetumpka, about 20 miles from Montgomery, where her father was a teacher. By 1900 they were in Montgomery and her father was the pastor of Old Ship Methodist Church. Founded in 1855, before the end of slavery, it is the oldest black church in Montgomery. Their mother did not work outside of the home.
Ulysses and her siblings attended school. The two sisters graduated from State Normal School in 1902. Ulysses began teaching in the public schools while Lucretia taught music from the home. Her brothers went to college. Julian became a lawyer and moved to Detroit. Gordon became a doctor.
In January 1919, Rev. Rodgers died when he fell while working on the roof. He was 61. His widow lived with one or the other of her daughters until her death
Ulysses continued to teach until she married Andrew Cato Brown later the same year. She was 37. He was 44 and the owner, manager of A. C. Brown groceries. They had no children and remained in Montgomery until the ends of their lives.
I like reading your posts, even if I don’t understand much of them.
Love
Locksley at George’s GP World
Glad you are enjoying them even if you don’t understand them.
Ulysses seems an unusual name for a girl.
Very much so. I wonder why they gave it to her.
I was wondering the same thing. Ulysses is a very unusual name even for a man, but I don’t think I ever heard a woman bearing it.
That historic church is amazing — I hope it is landmarked. How unfortunate about Rev. Rogers.
It is landmarked, but I’m not sure if it’s being used for anything. There was talk of turning it into a museum, but hasn’t happened yet.