Photo Friday - Emma

Emma Jollett Coleman

1 Feb 1863 Greene Co VA  – 10 Apr 1945 Shenandoah Page Co VA

Mary Frances Jollett Davis
Jack Coleman and Emma Coleman

Emma was the oldest sister of my great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis, thus my great-grandaunt. She had been critically ill for two days. 

It would be interesting to know how Emma’s mother’s name was reported as “Tracey” in the obituary. It was actually “Lucy Ann.”

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Speak Softly and Carry A ...

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

Big stick.

A man with a cane in the company of a woman in this week's Sepia Saturday prompt reminded me immediately of a photo of my 2X great-grandfather and his second wife. Old age had clearly set in for James Franklin Jollett and Eliza Jane. That was a serious walking stick.

James Franklin Jollett and Eliza Jane
Jollett Reunion 1929

A few years before, he sported the typical cane with curved handle.

Jollett Reunion 1927
James Franklin Jollett with his children from youngest to oldest
Ulysses Jollett, Victoria Breeden, Sallie Clift, Mary Frances Davis,
Leanna Knight, Laura Sullivan, Emma Coleman, Burton Lewis Jollett

Look closely and you can see the same stylish version just inside the frame of James Franklin’s older brother John Wesley Jollett and his wife Sarah Elizabeth.

John Wesley Jollett and Sarah Elizabeth
courtesy Jan Hensley

But canes weren't just for men. In her declining years, James Franklin's oldest daughter Emma Jollett Coleman also relied on a cane. 

Jollett Reunion no later than 1934
The sisters from youngest to oldest
Victoria Breeden, Sallie Clift, Mary Frances Davis,
Leanna Knight, Laura Sullivan, Emma Coleman

See who else is raising CANE at Sepia Saturday.

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Flower Power

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

Look at all those flower-print dresses in this week’s Sepia Saturday prompt.

This photo of my great-grandmother and her sisters taken at one of the Jollett reunions is certainly a good match.

  

Jollett Sisters 1939
Laura Sullivan, Victoria Breeden, Sallie Clift, Mary Fances Davis,
Emma Coleman seated

And this one too.

 

Jollett Sisters 1934 at the latest
Vic, Sallie, Mary Frances, Leanna, Laura, Emma
(hard to see the print but it's there!)

One hold-out though was Emma Jollett Coleman, the oldest sister. According to family legend, she followed the Dunkard faith and always dressed in dark clothing.

ALWAYS? Where did that story come from? Ever since I was a child, I pictured Emma as some old serious and gloomy person who was not much fun.

However, several photos of Emma in light-colored print dresses have altered my view.

 

1929
Mary Frances Jollett Davis
Jack and Emma Jollett Coleman

4 Generations 1923 Jollett Reunion
Emma Jollett Coleman, James Franklin Jollett
Minnie Coleman Maiden, Virginia Maiden

And Emma was smiling. Even in her dark dresses.

No one would ever accuse my grandmother of being “gloomy” due to how she dressed. In the 1960s she rocked the flowery moo-moo.

 

My grandparents Orvin and Lucille Davis
one of Grandma's MANY moo-moos

My mother and I also did our part to rock another trend of the decade: floral-print Villager a-line skirts with pin tuck blouses. Villager was pricey. Because Momma was such a skilled seamstress, we both could dress to impress in our floral pastel Villager knock-offs.

 

Mary Slade and moi at the Manassas Battlefield 1967

At our wedding in 1973, the hubster and I were right in style, but I thought my aunt was really a showstopper in a floral print gown. She was definitely bold and ahead of her time.

At Sepia Saturday, everyone is dressed and ready to impress with delightful old photos and stories.

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

James Franklin Jollett's Kids: Emma Coleman

As part of my “Genealogy Do-Over” efforts AND to force myself to get crackin’ on my James Franklin Jollett book, Jollett Reunion, I will be researching and writing brief biographies of James Franklin, his wives, and his children.

In February 1863, a second child was born to James Franklin Jollett and Lucy Ann Shiflett, a baby girl. Oddly enough, they gave her James Franklin’s middle name: Emma Franklin Jollett.

Like all the Jollett children, Emma attended school and learned to read and write. If she had any aspirations beyond being a housewife and mother, they were not realized. At the age of 17, she married Andrew Jackson “Jack” Coleman on November 26, 1880, in their home county of Greene. That is where they made their home for a few years before a job opportunity with the railroad lured them to the town of Shenandoah in Page County, Virginia, just across the mountain.

Emma and Jack are unusual in the family tree in that they recorded no infant deaths. All five children lived well into adulthood.

The Colemans late 1896 or early 1897
standing: Mattie, Minnie, John F.
seated: Jack holding Russell
and Emma holding Reba

April 1929
Mary Frances Jollett Davis,
Jack and Emma Coleman

The Colemans were apparently quite religious. According to family lore, Emma adhered to the Dunkard style of dress, wearing black or dark clothing in the winter and white or grey in summer. However, photos do not support the claim. Emma looks like everyone else in a variety of floral dresses which may or may not be Dunkard; however, she wore no prayer covering either.

Emma’s husband Jack was often called on to offer the prayer before a meal, particularly at the Jollett reunions. Supposedly he was rather long-winded when asking for the Lord’s blessings. The less devout members of the clan would call out, “Hurry up, Jack. The food is getting cold.”

Other details of Emma’s life are known perhaps to her few grandchildren. I know only that she and Jack raised intelligent and good-looking children. She died April 10, 1945 from a stroke and complications of diabetes.

Reba 

Mattie

Russell and Johnny 

Emma Franklin JOLLETT (1 Feb 1863 Greene Co, VA – 10 Apr 1945 Shenandoah, VA) and Andrew Jackson COLEMAN (29 Jul 1858 Greene Co, VA – 4 Oct 1947 Shenandoah, VA) married 26 Nov 1880 Greene Co, VA

1. Mattie A. COLEMAN (12 Mar 1882 Greene Co, VA – 10 Feb 1978 Shenandoah, VA) and Harry W. ESCUE (4 Oct 1871 Virginia – 7 Jan 1940 Shenandoah, VA) married 22 Dec 1924 Shenandoah, VA
2. John Franklin COLEMAN (9 Jul 1883 Greene Co, VA – 2 Aug 1949 Shenandoah, VA)
3. Minnie Virginia COLEMAN (31 May 1888 Shenandoah, VA – 13 Jan 1981 Arlington, VA) and Arthur L. MAIDEN (31 Aug 1886 Elkton, VA – 27 May 1988 Alexandria, VA) married 17 Feb 1906 Shenandoah, VA
4. Reba Hildred COLEMAN (29 Jul 1896 Shenandoah, VA – 12 Jan 1994 Chesapeake, VA) and James Mitchell MORRIS (9 Dec 1893 Rockingham Co, VA – 24 Nov 1958 Rockingham Co, VA)  married 2 Jan 1913
5. Russell Ulric COLEMAN (29 Jul 1896 Shenandoah, VA – Jul 1962) and Mary Evelyn FLUHRER (1906 Ohio - ) married 5 Jul 1923 Page Co, VA 

Wendy

© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Black Sheep Sunday: Sallie Jollett Clift

Black Sheet Sunday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers asking us to create a post with the main focus being an ancestor with a “shaded past.”

For the record, I don’t believe for one minute Sallie Jollett Clift was a black sheep.  But she has a bit of a reputation in our family lore.  Not deserved, I say.

11 May 1872 - 7 Jul 1944

Those whispering behind her back said she ran a house of ill-repute.  I understand how that rumor got started. 

Sallie and her husband George divorced in 1914.  What’s a woman to do?  She took in boarders.  In 1920 and in 1930, she is listed as a keeper of a public boarding house. 

George and Sallie Clift
with children Vernon and Daisy
who died in a fire in 1897

In 1920, the two boarders listed worked for the railroad.  Now I can see how maybe these men invited women “to see their etchings,” but there’s nothing to suggest Sallie was acting as a madam. 

In 1930, no boarders are listed at all.  Sallie’s grandchildren were there.  I doubt she could run a bawdy house with babies under foot. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

The other reason I don’t think she was a black sheep is that Sallie was present at all the family reunions posing happily with her sisters.  Mary Frances Jollett Davis was a church-going woman who had her own hymnal.  Emma Jollett Coleman dressed in the dark somber clothing associated with the Dunkards, and her husband was the official prayer-deliverer at family events.  I doubt these two would have tolerated Sallie’s presence if she was up to no good.

Standing: Laura Sullivan, Victoria Breeden,
Sallie Clift, Mary Frances Davis
Seated:  Emma Coleman

Victoria Breeden, Sallie Clift, Mary Frances Davis,
Leanna Knight, Laura Sullivan, Emma Coleman

Standing:  Emma Coleman, Laura Sullivan, Mary
Mary Frances Davis, Sallie Clift, Victoria Breeden,
Ulysses Jollett
Seated:  James Franklin Jollett and Eliza Coleman Jollett

Of course, this is just my take on it.  If Sallie was running a brothel, then it’s because she was doing what she could to take care of her sons, daughter, and grandchildren.  Maybe that would make her a grey sheep.

Wendy

Sunday's Obituary: James Franklin Jollett

James Franklin Jollett was my great-great grandfather.  I have heard that he was a sentimental man who would cry when you came to visit and cry when you left.  His granddaughter Vessie Jollett Steppe said he would hold the grandchildren on his lap, cut apple slices for them while teasing and playing with them.  Look at those little cheeks -- doesn't he look like a sweet man?

17 Nov. 1836 Greene Co, VA -
3 Jun. 1930 Augusta Co, VA

During the Civil War he was traveling by train delivering Union prisoners to a camp. One of the prisoners began to cry as they passed his home, and he said he'd do anything to see his family again. Grandpap Frank told the prisoner he was going to step outside to take a smoke. When he came back in, the prisoner was gone. Hmm. You don't suppose ....

Here is his obituary:

James Franklin Jollett of Harriston, Augusta County, a brother of the late Rev. John W. Jollett, of Jollett, this county [Page], and the father of Mrs. A. J. [Emma] Coleman, Mrs. W. J. [Laura] Sullivan, Mrs. D. B.[Victoria] Breeden, Mrs. Sallie Clift, and Mrs. W. B.[Mary] Davis, of Shenandoah, this county [Page], passed away at his home at 2 a.m., on Tuesday in his 94th year.  He had been in declining health for some time on account of the infirmities of age, but was confined to his bed for only a few days before the end, which came peacefully.

In previous years the News and Courier has reported a number of family gatherings held to celebrate successive birthdays of this remarkable old gentleman, who retained his faculties and his capacity to enjoy life far past the allotted time of man.  He was ninety-three years old last November.  Mr. Jollett was a man of marked Christian character, who drew constant joy and inspiration from his religion, and was a devout and useful member of the Brethren church during his long, useful life.  He was born in Greene county and during his earlier manhood moved to Augusta, where he operated his little farm near Harriston for many years, enjoying peace and contentment and the highest regard of his neighbors.  His first wife [Lucy Ann Shiflett Jollett] was from Greene county, the second wife [Eliza Coleman], now his widow, from Augusta.  All of his children are from the first union.  To the list of those at Shenandoah are to be added B. L. Jollett, of Greene County, U. S. Jollett, of Baltimore, and Mrs. Leanna Knight of Nortonsville, VA.  There was a general exodus of all the Shenandoah relationship to attend the funeral which was held from the Brethren church at Harriston and was attended by all of the children.

Source:  The Page News & Courier - edition of 6 June 1930 page 1, col. 2