Eugenia Almeda Booth Miller - great grandmother

This week I'm going to focus on the Barbara Booth Rogers family tree.

Being named after her always made me wonder how and why she was so wonderful...though my mom said she had helped raise her quite a lot of her childhood. 

Eugenia Almeda Booth Miller 1873–1936 BIRTH 30 JAN 1873 • Hillsboro, Hill, Texas, USA DEATH 1 JAN 1936 • San Antonio, Bexar, Texas

Here's a partial repost about her HERE 

I was named (middle name thank heavens) after her.
And I was born 69 years after she was.
And I started blogging about my ancestors when I was 69...so I named my blog, "When I Was 69."

Great-Grandfather, Charles Herman Miller

Let me introduce you to Great Grandmother Eugenia. 1873-1936.

She's rather plump, and short of stature.  She usually has an apron on over her daytime dress. Of course when photos are being taken, she usually is in her Sunday best.  Photos were all taken out by the front steps.  Somehow that's where our family chose to represent themselves.

Eugenia and Charles Miller's home, 111 Davis Court, in 1920 & 1930 census San Antonio TX

Her home was in San Antonio, and I don't know that I ever visited it, but perhaps as a child when my own grandmother might have been living there. She and 2 sisters were living there with their father in the 1940 census (after Nanna Eugenia had died in 1936).

Nanna Eugenia had 4 daughters, and a husband from Germany, Charles Herman Mueller (Miller) 1868-1946, who was a conductor for the railroad.  My grandmother was her oldest daughter, who married young and gave birth to my mother, then when her young husband died she may have moved back in with her family.  She remarried and then her second husband also died.  I think my grandmother began drinking about then (if not between her marriages.) 

My grandmother and my mother around 1924

The upshot of my grandmother's double widowhood was that she became an alcoholic in all probability.  And my mother as a child was raised in her Nanna Eugenia's home as much as her own.

Great grandmother Eugenia and my mother Mataley.

So my mother remembered well being with the aunts who were still living with their parents.  She may have even become a teenager in that household.

The 4 Miller daughters, with eldest, my grandmother Mozelle seated in middle

But back to Nanna Eugenia.  My mother's cousins, (children of her Aunt Rowena Miller Rogers) Patricia Eugenia Rogers and Robert Rogers, were younger than my mother was, but there's a great photo of them all dressed up (see below.)  Patsy Jean was the recipient of the first name from Nanna Eugenia in 1929, so when I came along in 1942, only Almeda and Booth were left...according to my mother.  I'm glad I wasn't named Barbara Almeda.  Barbara Booth is stranger, but at least people have just one way to spell it.

Cousins Patsy Jean Rogers, Mataley Munhall (my mother) and Robert Rogers in 1934.

Nanna Eugenia was the daughter of a lawyer Richard Booth, b. 9.23.1846, Jackson County, Indiana, d 5.30.1879 killed by person he was prosecuting, in Hempstead, TX. He married 7.20.1869 (his second w.) Eugenia Almeda Whitty. 1852-1875.  She had been the youngest of 9 children.

The Richard Booth family had 2 older children by his first wife, and then gg grandmother Eugena Almeda Whitty Booth had 3 children.  She died on the same day as her third child's birth and death, when her daughter Eugenia was not yet 2 years old.  When Richard Booth was killed 4 years later, it is pretty likely that his children had already been living with their grandfather's family, William Lewis Booth (also an attorney) in Hillsboro, Texas.  That's also where Nanna Eugenia was born, and married, and had her first 3 of her 4 daughters. Fortunately they all lived to adulthood.

My mother, Mataley, with her mother, Mozelle, and my sister Mary Beth, in St. Louis around 1955

Nanna Eugenia died Jan 1, 1936 from coronary occlusion, with hypertensive heart disease. My grandmother Mozelle was living with her at that time, and gave the information for the death certificate.

If I could meet Great Nanna Eugenia, I would like to ask her about her life in Texas at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th.  I'd like to ask her where everyone slept in a little house on Davis Court.  I'd like to ask her about how it was to raise her daughters, then grandchildren.  I would like to find out what she was passionate about.

This post belongs to the Barbara Booth Rogers Family Tree. Photo shows Mataley Mozelle Rogers, and her mother Mozelle Booth Miller, and my sister Mary Beth Rogers.

An ancestor I'd like to meet, Eugenia Booth Miller

Week 4 (Jan. 22): I'd like to meet...
My great grandmother, Eugenia Almeda Booth Miller. 52 Ancestors, 52 Weeks
 #52 Ancestors

I was named (middle name thank heavens) after her.
And I was born 69 years after she was.
And I started blogging about my ancestors when I was 69...so I named my blog, "When I Was 69."
Then for the fun of it, I looked back from my great grandmother's date of birth another 69 years, to see who had been born 69 years before she was.
I know, a bit strange.
But it connected me to 2 people at least, rather than just one.
Yes I blogged about it.  See that post HERE.

After all, there was the title...which I changed at one point to represent the age I now was. But that meant (I think) that any searches or links would not work, so it's back at "69," even though I'm at 76 by now.

Let me introduce you to Great Grandmother Eugenia.1873-1936.

She's rather plump, and short of stature.  She usually has an apron on over her daytime dress. Of course when photos are being taken, she usually is in her Sunday best.  Photos were all taken out by the front steps.  Somehow that's where our family chose to represent themselves.

Eugenia and Charles Miller's home, 111 Davis Court, in 1920 & 1930 census San Antonio TX

Her home was in San Antonio, and I don't know that I ever visited it, but perhaps as a child when my own grandmother might have been living there. She and 2 sisters were living there with their father in the 1940 census (after Granny Eugenia had died in 1936).

Nanna Eugenia had 4 daughters, and a husband from Germany, Charles Herman Mueller (Miller) 1868-1946, who was a conductor for the railroad.  My grandmother was her oldest daughter, who married young and gave birth to my mother, then when her young husband died she may have moved back in with her family.  She remarried and then her second husband also died.  I think my grandmother began drinking about then (if not between her marriages.) 

My grandmother and my mother around 1924

The upshot of my grandmother's double widowhood was that she became an alcoholic in all probability.  And my mother as a child was raised in her Nanna Eugenia's home as much as her own.

Great grandmother Eugenia and my mother Mataley.

So my mother remembered well being with the aunts who were still living with their parents. And she also remembered some of the details of that life. One strange one that I remember is how the aunts would deal with their sanitary needs when they had monthly periods.  There was a covered bucket under the sink of bloody rags, which were washed out and hung out, and apparently my young mother learned a bit about a woman's life at that time.  She may have even become a teenager in that household, and used the same techniques as her aunts.  Since she didn't ever have a discussion with me about a "young woman's changing body" I guess I remember this as a momentous glimpse into their lives. When I was around 12, I got a booklet, and a box of sanitary napkins, and a talk at our private school which probably included a cartoon film about reproduction.

The 4 Miller daughters, with eldest, my grandmother Mozelle seated in middle

But back to Nanna Eugenia.  My mother's cousins, Patricia Eugenia Rogers and Robert Rogers, were a bit younger than my mother was, but there's a great photo of them all dressed up.  Patsy Jean was the recipient of the first name from Nanna Eugenia in 1929, so when I came along in 1942, only Almeda and Booth were left...according to my mother.  I'm glad I wasn't named Barbara Almeda.  Barbara Booth is stranger, but at least people have just one way to spell it.

Cousins Patsy Jean, Mataley (my mother) and Robert in 1934.

Nanna Eugenia was the daughter of a lawyer Richard Booth, (b. 9.23.1846, Jackson County, Indiana, d 5.30.1879 killed by person he was prosecuting, in Hempstead, TX.) He married 7.20.1869 (his second w.) Eugenia Almeda Whitty. 1852-1875.  She had been the youngest of 9 children.

The Richard Booth family had 2 older children by his first wife, and then gg grandmother Eugena Almeda Whitty Booth had 3 children.  She died on the same day as her third child's birth and death, when her daughter Eugenia was not yet 2 years old.  When Richard Booth was killed 4 years later, it is pretty likely that his children had already been living with their grandparents, William Lewis Booth (also an attorney) in Hillsboro, Texas.  That's also where Nanna Eugenia was born, and married, and had her first 3 of her 4 daughters. Fortunately they all lived to adulthood.

My mother, Mataley, with her mother, Mozelle, and my sister Mary Beth, in St. Louis around 1955,

Nanna Eugenia died Jan 1, 1936 from coronary occlusion, with hypertensive heart disease. My grandmother Mozelle was living with her at that time, and gave the information for the death certificate.

If I could meet Great Nanna Eugenia, I would like to ask her about her life in Texas at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th.  I'd like to ask her where everyone slept in a little house on Davis Court.  I'd like to ask her about how it was to raise her daughters, then grandchildren.  I would like to find out what she was passionate about.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and I'd love to hear your comments.

Four Miller Daughters

My grandmother's (maternal) family consisted of four girls...

she was Mozelle Booth Miller (before marrying Webb and then Munhall) b. 9 Sept 1897 d. 2 Sept 1960
Her sisters were:
Rowena Eugenia Miller Rogers, b. 23 June 1900 d. 14 Sept 1989
Dorothy Dain Miller Buchanan, b. 24 Aug 1903 d, 11 Dec 1979
Margaret Etha Miller, b. 10 Jan 1909 d. 22 June 1980, who never married.

Christmas 1952, the Miller sisters

Their parents were Charles Herman Miller (posted about yesterday) and Eugenia Almeda Booth Miller (sometimes spelled Almetta) who was born 30 Jan 1873, d. 1 Jan 1936.  They married on 28 Oct 1896 in Hillsboro, Texas.

Eugnia's mother died when she was 2, and her father was killed when she was 6, so she was raised in her grandparents William and Eugenia Booth's home.  Actually it wasn't until 1900, when Charles and Eugenia Miller's second daughter was born, that we know they were living in their own dwelling.

My grandmother Mozelle married Albert "Bud" Webb in 1915, and my mother Mataley Mozelle Webb was born March 26, 1917.  Bud died in 1919.  Mozelle remarried to Frederick Munhall in 1921 or 1924.  Fred died in 1927, not having adopted my mother.  Mozelle spent the rest of her life as a seamstress to support herself.  She was an elegant lady, and her clientele were those who wore high fashions for the bigger events of society in San Antonio.

Mozelle and Mataley Webb Munhall, 1924

Mozelle 1935

Mataley Rogers, Mozelle Munhall in the back, and my little sis, Mary Rogers in front, 1954 St. Louis MO.

I don't have any photos of Rowena Miller, who married Shelton (Robert Shelton) Rogers, a Sgt. during WW I infantry.  They married  in 1927, and had a daughter Patricia Eugenia Rogers, and a son, Robert Jr,. I just found out that Robert Jr. was in the Army from 1951-53.  As far as I know Patsy Jean is still living, having had 4 children and 2 husbands.  Her oldest daughter Leslie, was the one who contacted me about our shared great grandfather Charles Herman Miller.  But I don't know anything more about any of this family at this time. Ancestry doesn't give information on those relations who are still living, usually.

Cousin Patsy Jean Rogers, my mother Mataley, and cousin Bob Rogers 1934.

Great Aunt Dorothy didn't marry until she was 47 years old, to Bennet Hillard "Buck" Buchanan, who had been married before and had 2 grown sons.

 

Dorothy 1926

When Dorothy died in 1979 of lung cancer, she willed her body to scientific study.

Margaret 1927 (but it's possible it was earlier before being put in my mother's album)

Great Aunt Margaret was a favorite of mine, and probably all her nieces and nephews, because she had a young spirit. She taught junior-high school math all her life, until she retired in a small one bedroom apartment in San Antonio.  I know because I visited her with my 2 sons a couple of times, and again later with a boyfriend.  The boyfriend didn't go over too well with her, but she was polite.

I remember hearing how Margaret (and probably her sister Dorothy) would fly to Cuba to gamble back before the embargo...before Castro even.   That wasn't exactly the topic of conversation, but somehow I learned about it while learning to play canasta in the 50s with my grandmother when we visited either in Texas or St. Louis.  There were very few visits, but they did make me feel like I had a family besides the 4 of us in the nuclear family.

I never spent time with Aunt Rowena, though I think I visited at her house at least a couple of times.  I do remember the other three Miller girls liked to drink and smoke.  I especially remember because my teetotler mother was trying to keep my sister and me from being around either the alcohol or continuous cigarettes.  But we enjoyed the stories and the sense that these women liked to have fun.

 Other posts about-
"Grandmommy" Mozelle - HERE
Frederick Munhall - Here, my mother's stepfather
Great Aunt Dorothy - a bit more Here.