Elizabeth Ann (Bess or Bessie) Carter Smith Carson (2/7/1897).
I'm looking for any information concerning the family or life of my
great-grandmother, Elizabeth Ann Carter Smith Carson. Please contact me if
you have any information that you think might be related to Bess, her
parents, etc. My email is: irnjawdangel(a)gmail.com.
Thanks!
Jamie Smith
Here's what I know:
According to the Social Security Death index, she was born February 7, 1897
and died March 16, 1967 (in Michigan).
For most of her life, she went by Bess or Bessie. She married by
great-grandfather, James Elias Smith, sometime before 1918. At that time,
James Elias Smith registered for the draft in WWI and had Bessie Smith
listed as his wife.
By the time she was 18 or 19, she had lost her left arm and right leg due to
blood poisoning. She was dark complexioned and my dad says that she was part
Native American, but he doesn't know how much so or from what side of the
family. Below are two links to pictures of my great-grandmother in 1942 with
my aunt Patricia.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c395/irnjawdangel/aug42riversideca.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c395/irnjawdangel/ElizabethAnnCarterSmi...
According to the 1920 Census, Bess lived in Little Rock, Pulaski County,
Arkansas and had been born in Arkansas. According to the same census, her
parents were born in Kentucky and Tennessee. In the 1930 census, which
places her in El Paso, TX working for an Earl Barron, it says that her
parents were born in Kentucky and Missouri.
An old family photograph of her father shows his name to be William Shurman
(sp?) Carter. He was approximately 96 years old (to the best of my dad's
knowledge) in 1956, making him born in approximately 1860. In 1956, he lived
in Texarkana, AR, but I have no idea how long he had lived there or where he
lived before that. He is fairly light complexioned, similarly to my father
(the young teenager on the left), so I assume my great-grandmother's
complexion and Native American heritage come from her mother's side of the
family. I could be wrong, of course. Below are links to pictures of my
great, great grandfather:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c395/irnjawdangel/img362.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c395/irnjawdangel/img359.jpg
Sometime between 1927 (after her 7th and last child was born) and 1930, my
great-grandfather, James Elias Smith, disappeared/died. I'm not sure if his
family ever really found out what happened to him. During that period,
Bessie Smith moved her family to El Paso, TX. Her children stayed in the El
Paso Protestant Children's Home and she worked as a house servant for Earl
Barron. Sometime around 1936, she married again, this time to an A.R. Carson
of Port Arthur, TX. She lived there for a number of years and after his
death, moved to Michigan to live with my great-uncle Edward Charles.
Her children are/were: James Everett Smith, Sr. (my grandfather), Clara
Nell, Mabel Irene, Edward Charles, Annie Laurie, Wilma, and William Carter.