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 on any image to enlarge.

In 1918 Cleo Nelms, the third of the six surviving children of Jesse and Fannie Lee (Grimes) Nelms, was born in Barbour County Alabama but the family moved to Montgomery about 1904.

Her mother worked as a seamstress in the early years of her marriage. Her father, Jesse Nelms was a bartender in Barbour County. Later he worked as a dining car waiter on the train between Montgomery and Alabama. For several years he sang in several groups that performed both on the train and at events. He also sold insurance. He must have made a good living as he sent his daughters to college. Cleo to Fisk and her older sister Bessie to Howard. Youngest daughter Fannie to State Normal School through to a college degree. All three of them taught school.

The “Spanish flu” epidemic hit Alabama first in Huntsville in September of 1918. By October it had spread south to Montgomery. On October 22, more than 12,000 cases were reported in Montgomery.

The reaction reminded me of what we went through during the first few years of the Covid epidemic – schools were closed, masking was recommended, businesses were closed. Gatherings were discouraged.

People worried about the months of school students would be missing and urged them to CATCH UP! There were no computer classes so students didn’t have any school work to catch up on.

There was a discussion of whether the teachers should continue to be paid while they were not in the classroom. It was decided they should be or they might give up teaching and find other work. The Edelweiss Club had meetings in November and December of 1918 and continued during the New Year to meet. As far as I can tell they all made it through their pandemic alive.

You can read more about it here, a short piece 1918 Influenza in Alabama

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 on any image to enlarge.

Besides working as a notary public and then as secretary/bookkeeper for the family Loveless Undertaking Business, Bertha Loveless also kept up a busy social schedule, both entertaining and singing at programs and weddings and with the Harmony Quartette. I wish I had a recording of them singing, but I did find a copy of an old 78 record with Geraldine Farrar singing one of the songs.

They were very active during 1918 and 1919 and after that, I can find no mention of them in the newspapers. At any rate they were once very popular and here are a few more clippings from that time. Perhaps it’s like what happened in the early 1970 when the radical groups faded away as people burned out, or started families and went in other directions.

Bertha’s father was one of the founders of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and a deacon before his death. Rev Martin Luther King JR. was pastor at Dexter Avenue in the 1950s. I noticed a few names that I recognized in the program above. Lowndes Adams was a good friend of my grandfather. Janie Adams was his sister. Lucile Caffey and Lorine Farris were Edelweiss members.

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.

Bertha Lovelace was born in 1890, the third and youngest living child of Henry Allen and Lucy (Arrington) Loveless. There were eight children born. Five died of convulsions, measles, pertussis, bronchitis, croup and hepatic obstruction before they reached their fourth birthday. After his first wife died, Henry Allen married again. He lost his second wife and 9th child in 1915. His third wife survived him.

In 1908 Bertha took the teachers exam along with my grandmother Fannie. They both passed but neither taught. They both worked in their family business. For Bertha that was the Loveless Undertaking Company. In 1911 the Loveless family incorporated the H. A. Undertaking Company. They went on to become one of the biggest undertaking companies in the Montgomery African American community. I found Henry Allen Loveless very interesting and I am sharing a bit more about him below.

March 7 – Bertha Loveless Entertains

            Miss Bertha Loveless entertained the Edelweiss Club at her home, March 7^th. All the regular club members were present, besides several invited guests. A delicious luncheon was served and all present expressed themselves as having spent a very pleasant evening.

As her father seems to have hijacked this post there will be more about Bertha Loveless and the Harmony Quartette tomorrow.

Every meeting of the Edelweiss Club included a delightful luncheon of some kind. Sometimes it was a salad, sometimes an ice, sometimes a two course luncheon.

I wish I knew what the delicious foods prepared were, but I do not. I looked at some old recipes and realizing that most of these meetings occurred in the evenings after work on a weeknight and that they did not have cooks to prepare the delightful treats, they or a female relative must have prepared the meal. What delightful luncheon can I find?

Dyanne Dillon of the blog Backsies is What There is Not suggested in the comments for “C” that congealed salads may have been on the menu. In the cookbook “Dainty Desserts for Dainty People” by Knox Gelatine, published in 1917, I found not only desserts but main dish recipes like the one below.

My sister suggested pimento cheese sandwiches and my daughter suggested cake. These delights will be covered in future posts.

Jessie Freeman was born in 1888 in Montgomery. She was the eighth child of Rufus E. and Alice (Larkins) Freeman. Two of the children died young. Jessie’s mother died before 1900, when we find Jessie living with her Aunt Mary and two younger sisters. They were attending school. She graduated from St. Normal school in 1911 and started teaching at Cemetery Hill School the following year. She was 24 years old.

“The Cemetery Hill school building (for colored pupils) was erected in 1888 at a cost of $2,100.  Subsequently the Council expended about $800 dollars more in furnishing and improving the building. This building is well located on the hill just south of Oakwood Cemetery, where the city owns several acres of valuable property. The building has seating capacity for 300 students and the property is valued at $3,000.” The Montgomery Advertiser Montgomery, Alabama · Friday, May 29, 1891

There were three fires that burned African American buildings in January 1913. Cemetery Hill School, which burned to the ground, Swayne School that was not a complete loss and the Negro Lodge Hall. There was talk of arson, and the fire marshal decided that the Swayne School fire and the Lodge fire were of incendiary origin. The Cemetery Hill School fire was ruled accidental with the blaze beginning in the basement and spreading upwards to the roof until the whole building was engulfed. Windy conditions fanned the fire. No one was injured in any of the fires.

The cost of replacing the building was estimated at $4,000 ($2,000 covered by insurance) and $800 for the desks, black boards etc. The school relocated temporarily to a church building and seems to have been rebuilt in a timely fashion.

Jesse Freeman taught second grade at Cemetery Hill for several years and then taught fifth grade at Day Street School for several years. By 1919 she was teaching eighth grade at Booker T. Washington school where she taught until her death at age 60.

“The Edelweiss Club was entertained last Friday evening by Miss Jessie Freeman. After whist the members of the club were served to a delightful luncheon. The guests were Misses Alice Snow, Lucile Caffey and Ophelia Peterson. The prizes were won by Miss Juanita Davis and Miss Annie Wimbs.”

I wonder what constituted “a delightful luncheon”? Sounds like a good topic for the letter “D”.

Fannie’s younger sister Daisy graduated from State Normal School in 1912 at age 20. She began teaching the following year at the State Normal School. She taught several years in Selma, Alabama and had to board there, only coming home for holidays and summer. In 1919 she was assigned to teach at Booker T. Washington elementary school, right next door to her home.

I wonder if she was happy about that or if she was sorry to lose the the freedom she probably had and the friends she had made in Selma. Her lost love, Duncan IRBY was in Selma, which could have made it harder or easier to leave, depending on if she had already refused his proposal of marriage.

A Short History of Booker T. Washington School

“Booker T. Washington School Named for one of the nation’s premier educators, Booker T. Washington School began through the efforts of an expanding Swayne College. Its large enrollment forced Swayne’s officials in 1916 to erect a new building which they named for the great educator. And even larger enrollment propelled officials in 1925 to add a junior high department with the same name. Three years later, the Montgomery Industrial School, which had been sold to the city, became a part of the junior high department and the site of the first high school. In May 1940, 88 students became the first graduates, and, in 1948, the old Swayne building was demolished to make way for the new $250,000 high school at Union and Grove Streets. A dedication program was held on 3 April 1949, and an auditorium-gymnasium was added in 1954. Only two principals – Pro. J. A. Edwards, who resigned in May 1942, and former basketball coach and teacher, C.T. Smiley, who assumed his duties in September 1942 – served the school. The school’s nickname was Yellow Jackets and its colors blue and gold. It was known for its excellent faculty, students, school spirit, marching band, and athletic teams.” Information from Alabama Historical Association markers 2003

Although Booker T. Washington school was built to relieve the horrendous overcrowding at Swayne School, there were 100 students to a classroom at the time with some on half days and still all of the African American students that wanted to attend school were not able to squeeze in, almost immediately Booker T. was also overcrowded. According to an article in the Montgomery Advertiser of October 2, 1917, “Negro Schools Crowded

At the negro (sic) schools, there is hardly room for the proverbial one more. Booker Washington school, which includes the three schools – old Swayne school, the new eight-room brick building and a cottage in the school yard; there are 1,022 pupils. Day street has an enrollment of 556; Cemetery Hill, 292, and Vesuvius, 124.”

More about Swayne School when we get to S.

Many African American schools were named after Booker T. Washington, who rose from slavery to be the head of Tuskegee Institute, in Tuskegee Alabama. You can click on his name for a look at his autobiography.

More posts about Daisy Pearl Turner

Daisy Turner Dead at 70. Nov 24, 1961
Daisy Turner and Duncan Irby
Joe Turner – Land, Mules and Courts