Eugenia Almeda Whitty Booth

Happy birthday yesterday to my great great grandmother, born in Marshall, Texas Feb 24, 1852. 

I spoke about her life already HERE, another blog post a few years back.
 
Interestingly enough, I posted a facebook sharing about Marshall Texas also, because there is a college there, started quite a while after she had already moved to Hillsboro, Texas.   Here's the Texas Historical Association background about Wiley College, established 1873.  
But here's the info on the largest black college west of the Mississippi from yesterday.

February 24th, 1969 -- Rangers sent to Wiley College in response to student demonstrations

On this day in 1969, approximately 100 Texas Rangers, local lawmen, and state police were dispatched to Wiley College, the oldest black college west of the Mississippi River, in response to a series of nonviolent student demonstrations on the Marshall campus. The students were demonstrating over faculty hiring practices, primitive dormitory facilities, and cutbacks in the intercollegiate athletic program. The lawmen undertook a massive search for concealed weapons in the dorms; the search was fruitless, but the school was closed down for several weeks. Further demonstrations resulted in the school administration's agreement in August to improve living conditions on campus. Wiley College was founded in 1873 and chartered in 1882. In 1907 Wiley received the first Carnegie college library west of the Mississippi. In 1960 Wiley and Bishop College students held sit-ins at the local Woolworth store. Their activities and the local reaction made national headlines. These demonstrations helped integrate public facilities in Marshall. In 2004, Wiley College had a student body of 552 and a faculty of 56, and Dr. Haywood Strickland was president.

 Just kind of interesting that they happened at the same dates... 

It's also of interest that Eugenia was Richard Booth's second wife.  Jemima J. Johnson Booth (1847-1868) had been his first wife.  They had two sons, and the second one died at 4 months of age, while Jemima died the day he was born.  So Richard remarried quickly, with his one son still a child, William Lewis "Willie" Booth (1866-1940). He and Eugenia Whitty married July 20, 1869.

Eugenia and Richard Booth had just three children, with the last daughter dying without even being named in 1875.  Their first son was Edwin Whitty Booth (1871-1924), and then they had my great grandmother (after whom I'm named) Eugenia Almeda Booth Miller (1873-1936).  

Yes, I noticed also that Almeda is sometimes spelled Almetta.  I have no idea which is correct, and apparently neither did various ancestors.  Fortunately (maybe) I received Booth as my middle name.

And sadly enough, Eugenia Almeda Whitty Booth probably died in childbirth in 1875, July 13.

Texas Bluebonnets...every spring in Hill Country.