This is my 12th year doing the A to Z April Challenge. For this year’s A to Z Challenge I am posting an event involving someone in my family tree for that date. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
McCALL-McEWEN WEDDING.
Miss Jeanette McCall, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward McCall, of this city, and Lieutenant Robert A. McEwen, who is stationed at Camp Dodge, were quietly married Monday morning, April 1st, at Des Moines, Iowa. Lieutenant McEwen is a native of Winnona, Miss., and will probably sail for France at an early date.
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Lieutenant Robert A. McEwen did indeed eventually get sent to France after completing his training at Camp Dodge.
I wondered how Jeanette and Robert met when they lived in different states. Then I saw that Robert McEwen graduated from Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Jeanette’s older sister Otillia was a teacher at Mississippi Industrial College, right across the road from Rust College. Jeanette visited her frequently, giving her the opportunity to meet Robert Anderson McEwen.
The couple lived in Chicago after he left the service. He was a dentist and she did not work outside of the home. They had two sons.
Jeanette McCall was my grandmother Fannie Turner Graham’s first cousin. Their mothers, Mary Allen McCall and Jennie Allen Turner, were sisters. She died in 1931 of influenza on top of tuberculosis. She was 34 years old.
You can read more about Jeanette and her all too short life in these posts:
Jeanette McCall McEwen – Death Certificate 1897 – 1931
Jeanette McCall McEwen
Jeanette McCall McEwen – 1897 – 1931
Cousins on the Running Board
You can find more information about Black soldiers at Camp Dodge at links below
Black World War 1 Soldiers at Camp Dodge
Black Officers at Fort Des Moines Iowa
That’s a great photo of Jeanette and Robert. I watched the YouTube video and found it very interesting, as being from Australia, I didn’t know much about this. Looking forward to following you during the challenge. https://jonesfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/
I’m glad you watched and found it interesting!
Kristin,
It is so sad when people die at such a young age especially a woman with children. I wonder how Robert survived after her death.
Jeanette’s sons were 9 and 11 when she died. I imagine it was hard for all of them, but her husband was a dentist and could hire help. Plus there were other relatives in Chicago. Her older sister Otillia was there with her family.
Robert died in 1938 of a heart attack. He was ill for some time before he died and married his nurse the month before he died. The sons were 18 and 15 by then. Strangely, I can’t find them in a census after 1930, although I can find some other records.
The photos of Jeanette are lovely; the earlier one looks very modern – I would have picked the 1970s with the hat until I read on. Very sad she died so young. Tuberculosis was a dreadful killer.
She looks so happy. Tuberculosis appears time and time again as the cause of death during those years and earlier. So sad.
I love the photos too. Are those in your trove of family photos or did you find them elsewhere. Thank you for including the short video about African Americans in the First World War.
The photos of Jeanette and Robert were in my grandmother Fannie’s collection. And luckily they were labeled! The others were on the sites about Camp Dodge that I mentioned at the end of the post. I had never investigated Robert McEwen’s war experience before I was writing for this post.
My favourite is the last photo, it looks so natural and they look so happy. Finding connections and how people met can be challenging but often the clues are just waiting to be discovered. Who would have thought of looking for connections in Mississippi? job well done.
I knew they had to meet somewhere and when I found that little news item saying he graduated from Rust College, I knew her sister had taught somewhere in Mississippi and I thought maybe it was Rust, but reading more I found the colleges were across from each other. Always something new to find.
Happy A to Z! Welcome back! 🙂
That first photo of her is so lovely. And it is so sad hse died so young…
The Multicolored Diary
Yes it is. Now I’m wondering why I don’t have any photographs of her sons.
Well done.
Thank you! Now I’m wondering why I can’t find the sons in any census after 1930, I know they were alive. And why I have no photographs of them. No research without more questions.
I guess I should have visited my sisters more to find my husband… maybe not to late😆
😂 i’d say not too late
And then would she have to die of TB??
Yikes Ayanna! That is not the take away from this post.
really enjoyed this post and looking forward to the month ahead! i like that you included that lil video about Black folks in WWI and your own question (and the answers you found) around how the pair met being from different places, i was also curious about that.
So good to see you here Abeo and commenting! If I hadn’t found that little news item saying he was graduating from Rust, I would have never known. Maybe I should look for the sons on newspapers.com
I love reading the history of your family and I’m looking forward to all of your A to Z posts! I actually read one of the other posts you have linked. She died at such a young age.
Yes she did. I’m so pleased you read one of the other links!
I’m looking forward to your April A-Z postings. This was a good start, and shows me how your sleuthing of ancestors leads to answers (sometimes!) I too wonder what happened to her sons. My guess would be that they moved away.
I was recently contacted by a family member from that branch. I am going to ask her if she knows.
Beautiful photos! I loved the wedding outfit especially. Very sad that she died so young. In the second photo, they both look happy, and I love the way he is standing.
I’m not sure that was her wedding outfit. She may have been in summer dress just looking happy at home in Montgomery. But I like it too.
Thank you for this. World War I history is under-remembered today. That goes double (or more) for the black experience in World War I. I’m happy to learn about this war-time wedding more than a hundred years ago.
You’re in luck! You’ll be reading all about various black experiences during this challenge as we follow my family through both alphabet and dates.
It’s amazing how you brought a photograph to life. At that time, there was not much medical aid and people died at a young age. Now, the life span has increased so much that we have an ageing population to take care of.
There wasn’t any cure for TB or influenza at that time. Her siblings all lived to old age though.
I’m part of that aging population.
I’m back again too – hope I can call in regularly to learn more about your family.
I visited your arches yesterday and today the bells and books! i hope you can call in too, but no worries, the posts will be here whenever you come.
They looked very happy together, what a blessing! I was sad to read she died so young, though. Thank you for sharing her with us.
It was sad she died so young and then her husband died 6 years later. I believe her youngest son was killed in WW 2, also young. The older son seems to have lived to an old age, but I’m still trying to follow the trail and find out.
Jeanette looks the very picture of a blushing bride, hiding behind her hat (though its hard to tell in a sepia photo) and I am intrigued that the newspaper describes them marrying quietly…
They were far from their homes in Mississippi (him) and Montgomery (her) So there wasn’t the big crowd of family and friends that would have attended if they had had the wedding in Montgomery. Hence, quiet.
So sad she passed so young! You have a treasure trove of photos. I wondered if Jeanette was wearing her mother’s bridal dress or one that was made by a female family member?
Jeanette’s mother, Mary was a fine seamstress so I would think her mother made the dress. All of Eliza’s daughter’s were fine seamstresses and Mary was the oldest of Eliza’s daughters. I’m not sure if that is Jeanette in her wedding dress at the top or not.