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.
Gabriella Snow Kelly was not a member of the Edelweiss Club. Her younger sister Alice Snow was. Both were teachers. Gabriella Kelly is here because I needed a “K” . I did a bit of research on her and decided to share it in the research form, along with her obituary which gives us an overview of her life.
Research for Gabriella Snow Kelly
I found that the Mrs. Kelly whose husband, James Henry Kelly, died in Detroit in 1918 and mentioned by my grandfather Mershell in his letter of proposal to my grandmother Fannie Turner, was Gabriella Snow, club member Alice Snow’s older sister. She had married several years earlier and she and her husband relocated to Detroit. According to his death certificate, her husband died of a syphilitic heart attack, probably sudden and certainly fatal. His wife took his body back to Montgomery for burial and never re-married. She taught and died many years later and is buried with him in Oakwood Cemetery.
I also spent quite a bit of time trying to find their house, which, according to the census records, was at 128 Morgan Avenue. I found a Morgan St. way over west along the railroad tracks. And also found a Morgan Avenue in a modern map, where Amanda is located on the 1910 Montgomery map. I surmise that the family lived to the west of the Centennial Community, in the West Montgomery African Community.
Ah ha! I just found the family in the 1910 census and they are living at 128 Amanda! So they do live right near to Edgar Spiegnar, a couple of blocks from Lowndes Adams family home. (These were both friends of my grandfather) I thought she was the most westerly member until I found Jessie Lee Freeman living several block further west, a few blocks East of my grandfather Mershell’s good friend Lowndes Adam’s family home.
A woman named “Alice Larkins” first appears in the 1850 census as an infant, along with her mother “Mary Larkins” and siblings. Alice Snow was named after her mother, Alice Larkins. If this is the Alice Larkins who was Alice Snow’s mother, that would make her another descendant of a free-before-the-Civil-war woman. Alice Snow’s father, Abram Snow, was a carpenter. He died in 1909 at the age of 64.
You have put so much work into your posts. So many names, so many articles, so much history. I applaud you.
Thank you! I’ve been researching these women for years. My main problem has been to cut down the information I share so it can work for a blog post.
I enjoy your posts. They are well researched and written.
Thank you. I’m glad you enjoy them. I enjoyed your puppy poem.
So Alice Snow lived all the way through to 1969–right into our era! She was a strong and highly educated woman. I’m glad she moved back to Montgomery after her husband’s death and then used her education to start such as long and successful career. So when the Edelweiss club was meeting she was already married and living in Detroit. The way you have shown us your research process, we are excited with you when you fill in the blanks of who was living in the houses in your grandparents’ neighborhood.
Yes she was. Her younger sister was active in Edelweiss but she was already gone and by the time she came back it was ending. I did a map with all of them and the churches, etc. I wanted to make it big as a wall so I could see it better. LOL
I agree with previous comments — such excellent and in-depth research. I see why you wanted to wait to write about these impressive women. Each has such a fascinating biography, with so many accomplishments — and their network extended beyond the Edelweiss group, as illustrated here.
I have so much information that I tried to keep it to the specific time period of 1918-1919 but sometimes I do want to share what happened next.
You’re a sleuth! Love it
Me too!