The Edelweiss Club

A-Z Challenge 2024, African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry Research, Alabama, Edelweiss, Montgomery Alabama, One Place Study
Some of the members of the Edelweiss Club.

This year am finally going to write about the Edelweiss Club of Montgomery, Alabama.

This will be my eleventh year participating in the A to Z Challenge. I am going to present the lives of some of those women as my A to Z theme.

Who were the members of the Edelweiss Club?  They were thirty seven women who attended the monthly meetings, starting January 12, 1918 and continuing monthly during the school year until  May 3, 1919. Thirty of them were teachers. One was a seamstress. Three worked in family businesses.  The majority of the members were single. Most married as time went on. Some moved out of town.  A good number never married.

Their parents were born in the mid 1850s to the  1870s and would have been teenagers when slavery ended or were born during Reconstruction. All of them came from literate homes. Most of their parents owned their homes. Some owned them free and clear. Others were mortgaged. Their fathers tended to work for themselves as barbers, carpenters and plasterers. Bertha Loveless’ father was an undertaker. Madge Brown’s father was a farmer. Alberta Boykin’s father was a mail carrier. Several lived with their widowed mother or an aunt. At least two were from out of town and boarded. Most had multiple siblings.

There were no more reported meetings after May 3, 1919.

AtoZChallenge theme reveal 2024 #atozchallenge

42 thoughts on “The Edelweiss Club”

  3. Stopping in to take a look at your theme and wish you a happy March and a wonderful April. Can’t wait to read more during April! ♥

    1. Most are from my grandmother’s album. I wish I had asked her about them. I’m sure there are stories there that don’t appear in the records.

      1. But what a wonderful thing to have these photographs. I think of all the questions I would have asked my grandmother had I seen her album while she was still alive!

  6. I’m looking forward to this, Kristin. I’m sure you’ll bring each one of them alive for us. What a noble heritage! I wonder what all their grand, great-grand, and great-great-grandchildren are doing today. . .

  13. That sounds like fascinating research. My mother was a member of a club in Pensacola, formed by her and her friends. They participated in social events and were covered by the local newspaper. You’ve inspired me to look further into this aspect of my mom’s life. Thank you! I look forward to reading your posts about the Edelweiss Club.

    1. I look forward to following your blog during the challenge. I’m sure you have many interesting memories to share with us that will cover even the hard to do letters! Good luck!

  15. I am so pleased you are finally returning to this theme. I was disappointed that you had to set it aside in 2020, but that was a tough time for us all. Looking forward to reading about these remarkable women!

    1. I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it. It was over 100 years ago when it was active for only a few years in Montgomery, Alabama.

  20. Exciting theme reveal! I’m looking forward to following your A-to-Z journey throughout April. Best of luck with the challenge. I’ve restarted my blog and deleted all the old content since I’ve been away for about 10 years and am coming back with the A-to-Z Challenge, hopefully it’ll give me some blog theme motivation and some dedicated readers. My theme is here: https://illusionsofchaos.blogspot.com/2024/03/hello-again-atozchallenge-theme-reveal.html

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