L-R: Cerilda, Myra and Jim Yates
This is the only photo I have of my Great Grandmother Cerilda Yates and to me, it’s priceless. After having seven children Cerilda died an unneccesary death from “child bed fever”. What that amounts to is unclean conditions when she was giving birth. We do have a group picture of her surviving siblings taken some decades later, and most of the women look very much alike. Don’t you just love the dress Cerilda is wearing?
The photo is special to me too because it’s the only photo we have of Jim Yates’ younger sister Myra. Myra died from tuberculosis in 1888 when she was twenty-two years old. Jim and Myra had both migrated from Roane County, Tennessee to Howell County, Missouri with their step-uncle Gideon Morrison. Another sister, Lydia, was left behind in Tennessee because she was “too young”. I am not sure what that means, but, in any case she stayed in Roane County and married Clement Clark.
Another mystery is that if you look at the enlarged version of this photo and compare it to the tintype above it looks like both women are wearing the same pin at their neckline. Since Myra Yates was born in 1866, and it is possible this tintype was taken sometime in that era, the woman in the tintype is certainly not Myra. It is possible that the picture is Mary M. Kelsey Yates, her mother.
As a side note, when I was looking through the Missouri digital archives for death records for our Yates family I found two for a Deborah E. Yates who died 22 September 1888. That’s the same date Myra died, so I think that her real name was given. My family is ‘famous’ for going by nicknames and middle names, darn it all. The name Deborah is significant because that was also the name of Myra’s grandmother. Deborah Holmes b. sometime around 1825 was married (1) to Miles Yates, and (2) to William Deatherage Morrison. William D. Morrison was the father of Gideon P. Morrison with whom Jim and Myra had migrated with to Howell County, MO.
******
I am participating in Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt at Genea-bloggers on Facebook. Won’t you join us?!
Week #1: Upload your favorite picture and talk about it on your blog. Answer the who/what/when/where/why of the subject matter and explain why it is your favorite.
From “Jump Start Your Genealogy Blog. 52 ideas. 52 weeks” by Amy Coffin at We Tree (http://wetree.blogspot.com)
I like the idea of the genealogy writing prompt. I couldn’t find out much about my Father’s family. I don’t think I have enough interest to dig for more myself. I’d only get their names. It would be so nice to find out who they were, as people.
Laura, if you ever need some help I’d be happy to do a couple lookups for you. No charge.
Twitter: webduck
I love both of the dresses in the larger photo. And the one in the tin-type, as well, with all the little white buttons! I still think we may be able to connect the Yates family somewhere in Roane County with my line. I’m still looking!
Twitter: JudithRS
I love family mysteries, but they do keep you up at night. I have a similar problem with a photo in my possession and since I originally from a small town, my mother is hunting down the older generation to ask them to look at the photo to give us their opinion on the identies! Crazy family historians!!!
Andrea's Recent post…Weekly Genea-Blogger Prompt #1
A lot of my family (older generations) are called by their middle names or nick names too… which causes confusion when building a family tree, as you well know!
Nikki-ann's Recent post…null