He wasn’t a trail blazer, nor did he do anything that would bring him notoriety. He is a member of the Asa Martin Ramsey family and deserves his place in history. One of the things that I have found in researching the matrilineal and patrilineal lineages is they were farmers and hard workers. They didn’t leave a long paper trail; however, they left enough of a trial that I can identify them and write about their lives. Percy Ramsey is one of those family members. Percy Ramsey was born June 8, 1882 in Holmesville, Pike County, Mississippi to Eliza Jane Ramsey. His father was Asa Martin Ramsey. Percy had a twin sister Bertha. Possibly Percy was born before his sister, but I will never know. He was named first in the list of children on the census but that isn't proof that he was born before Bertha.
Percy is a grand uncle that I know very little about. He didn’t marry, and as I researched the Ramsey Clan and looked at records for the family Percy was living with his parents when he was old enough to be on his own. I began to suspect there was a disability of some kind and he cannot work or serve in the military. After researching further, that suspicion was verified. He was disabled. On his U.S. World War 1 Draft Registration Card I found out that he had a deformity. What kind of deformity it isn’t described?
The draft registration card has a physical description for Percy Ramsey. He was tall, slender, blue eyes, and light color of hair. It states that he is otherwise disabled on the Draft Registration Card R. He registered in Carter’s Creek Precinct in Pike County June 5, 1917.
He is dependent on his parents since he has a deformity and is unable to work. Percy is living at home with his mother Eliza J. and father Aaron. His parents are getting up in years now with his father being seventy and his mother sixty-five. Percy in twenty-seven years old on the 1920 District 105, Beat 3, Pike County, Mississippi Census. Whatever Percy’s deformity is, he isn’t able to live alone or work to support himself.
By 1930 things have changed in the Ramsey family. Asa has died and Percy is living with Henry and Eliza Jane on Price Town Road, Beat 3, Pike County. His occupation is farm laborer and the industry is farm and he is an unpaid worker. Henry states that he owns the home so I conclude it is probably Asa and Jane’s home. Percy wasn’t a veteran and didn’t serve in the war. But with a deformity he would be able to serve.
Asa died 19 Sep 1929, and by the 1940 census Eliza Jane has died. She died in 1933. Therefore, by 1940 Percy is forty-eight years old and living with his brother Wallace and his family, and Henry his older brother who has lost his wife. Percy did go through the eighth grade in school and he can read and write. That is a plus for him. In 1935 the family lived in the same house they lived in on the previous census. Percy isn’t able to work and has no income from work. Apparently, he is dependent on his brothers for his financial support. He doesn’t have support from other sources. The Ramsey family went through the great depression, and I can only imagine how difficult it was trying to make a living and support that many family members.
Percy died March 5, 1962 in Pike County, Mississippi. He is buried in the Cavalry Cemetery in Pricedale, Pike County, Mississippi. The one fact that I have found in researching the Ramsey family is, they lived in the Pike County, Mississippi area their entire lives. When Asa came to Mississippi from Missouri with his father and siblings, his father died from a disease that hit the camp where they were staying. Asa and the other children survived, moved on, and settled in the Pricedale, Pike County, Mississippi areas. That is the place where Asa and his beloved Eliza Jane died, and Percy their son died there in the area as well and is interred in the cemetery there.
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