Friday's Sentiments

Gone but not forgotten

Dorothy Lavada “Bobbie” Coon was my double first cousin and was born to Irma Kamile Coon my father’s sister, and her father was Morris Clifton Coon brother my mother’s brother. Bobbie as her family and cousins called her, was born 5 September 1934 in Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana the second child of Irma and Morris. Morris Clifton was the oldest child of Clifton and Lavenia “Venie” Coon, and Irma Kamile was the second child of Alice (Lee) Eley. My cousin Bobbie and I were unable to visit while growing up since we lived so far apart. West Carroll Parish, Louisiana and Jefferson County, Texas were miles apart. Bobbie’s father was born and reared in Brookhaven in Pike County, Mississippi. His mother died mysteriously about 1926 and the family was working through their loss. Sometime after her death the family migrated from Mississippi and headed west.

The Coon family migration from Brookhaven in Pike County, Mississippi was after the 1920 census since the family was enumerated on the 1920 census. By April 1, 1930 census enumeration they were living in Ward Four, West Carroll Parish, Louisiana surrounded by Coon and related families from Mississippi.

In 1930 Morris Coon was twenty-one years old living with his Uncle E. “Edward” M. Coon, Clifton’s (his father) brother and cousin Henry Hampton. As I looked at the West Carroll census, I noticed the majority of people living around the Coon family were from Mississippi. Why was that? Life in Mississippi was difficult after the Great Depression. Agriculture was the main income for the majority of the residents living in Mississippi. My Coon ancestors were all farmers with a limited education. There was widespread unemployment, poverty, and lack of food for some families during the Great Depression years. One of the questions on the census was did the family own a radio and the Coon family didn’t own one. Industrial jobs were also impacted by the Great Depression. During those years there was a serious racial divide in the state. Rural schools were affected by the economic difficulties during the 1930s and children suffered because of lack of funding. Most rural families couldn’t afford supplies and were unable to attend school throughout the 1930s explaining why so many of my ancestors had a limited education. I noticed on the 1930 census that Uncle Morris could read and write but he had no school. However, as I looked back at the 1920 District 92, Ruth Precinct, Lincoln County, Mississippi census Uncle Morris had attended school, and he was eleven years old at that time.

Social services in Mississippi during the 1930s were almost non-existent so families had nowhere to go for help. Folks in Mississippi weren’t the only ones suffering all America was experiencing nationwide suffering and deprivation in the 1930s. In 1935 America was dealing with the Great Depression and inching towards World War II. All the events were reasons families were leaving small town Brookhaven in Pike County, Mississippi looking for better opportunities.

Then, by 1935 they were in West Carroll Parish, Louisiana. On the 1940 census Morris Coon was thirty-one married and had three children living in his household. Mary Alice’s birth year was conflicting with the other dates in my mind and I couldn’t understand how the children were born in East Carroll Parish and they were living in West Carroll Parish. True that East Carroll borders West Carroll Parish and Ward 4 is in close proximity to Lake Providence, but I had to resolve these dates and where they were living. It was time for a courthouse research road trip. I made a trip to the courthouse in Oak Grove to research. I hit the jackpot! I found marriage records on several family members including Morris Coon and Irma Ealy (Eley). That was one of those genealogical aha moments when I found those marriage records! I examined Morris Coon and Irma Eley’s marriage certificate and discovered they were married in Oak Grove, September 27, 1930 after the April 1, 1930 census was taken. Therefore, I determined they moved to East Carroll Parish after they were married. The family was living in on 120 Hudson Street, Ward 3, Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana. Dorothy Lavada was six years old on the 1940 census, Aunt Irma was twenty-nine, Mary Alice eight years old, born in 1932, and David Lloyd was three. The census taker listed David as a daughter. This is an example of why it is important to carefully analyze records and verify information found on them. That is the place they were living in 1935 also. Uncle Morris’s occupation was listed as an Ind wood salesman and the industry was firewood. Aunt Irma wasn’t working at that time. They were renting their home at that time and paying six dollars monthly. Prior to the census he worked forty hours. He was self-employed. Mary Alice was in the second grade and Dorothy Lavada and David Lloyd hadn’t started school. 

The next record that I searched for to track the family to determine where they were living was the U.S. WWII Draft Card for Young Men 1940-1947. The Morris Clifton Coon family were still living in Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish when Uncle Morris registered for the draft. He was thirty-one years old, so he possibly signed up in 1940 since he was listed as thirty-one years old on the census. He was born 7 November 1908 in Pike County, Mississippi. I searched for a Social Security Application form for him but couldn’t find one; however, on the Social Security Death Index it show he signed up before 1951.

He apparently signed up for Social Security sometime before 1951 in Louisiana. Therefore, I concluded he signed up and his Social Security card was issued in Louisiana before leaving East Carroll Parish.

The 1950 census has not been made public yet, so I had to look at other sources to track the family’s migration. Five years ago, I made a trip to visit my cousin, Bobbie’s oldest sister, for an interview. She gave the details of their journey from East Carroll Parish to Port Arthur. The trip from Louisiana to Texas was a long difficult journey. Mary Alice said she was in school when they moved from Louisiana and that Uncle Morris worked along the way. Mary Alice said her parents placed her in school wherever they stopped for Uncle Morris to work. They were traveling by automobile and headed west. She said she went to a few schools along the way. She is now eighty-six years old and her memory is unable to recall facts from that long ago. After, interviewing Mary Alice I continued searching for records for Morris and Irma Coon.

By 1953 Morris and Irma were divorced and Morris had a son Morris Clifton, Jr born 12 May 1954 in Santa Monica, California. Morris Jr. died 1 Jan 2003 in Los Angeles California. Emma Delvin Copes was Morris Clifton’s second wife and mother of Morris Jr. In 1953 Morris and Irma’s daughter Lillie Dorothy Lavada Coon was about sixteen and her picture was in the Thomas Jefferson High School Yearbook. Dorothy Coon was listed in the 1953 Port Arthur, Texas City Directory living 2220 Seventh Avenue and listed as a student. Neither of her parents were listed in the directory.

Then 12 June 1954 Lillie Dorothy Lavada “Bobbie” Coon married George Joseph Underhill. They married in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Port Arthur. Father Crosswaite officiated. Like most newly weds they were happy and began their lives as a couple. The marriage record for the couple shows that Bobbie’s name was Lillie Dorothy Lavada Coon. Where did the given name Lillie come from? I don’t know. I only knew her by the name Bobbie. I recall that she had pretty red curly hair and she was pretty. When I discovered picture in the yearbook, she looked like I remembered her.

Morris, Irma and Bobbie are all three gone now but they aren’t forgotten. Memories of them are etched in the minds of their loved ones. Aunt Irma was my favorite aunt out of all the aunts on both sides of the family. She was a kind generous person. In my mind’s eye from when I was a young girl she always was dressed to perfection. She made several trips to Louisiana to visit family, and when I heard she was coming I very excited. My mother from the family stories I’ve heard took care of her brother Morris. He died of cardiac arrest on 8 March 1977 in Silsbee, Hardin County, Texas. Irma Kamile died 7 Dec 2001 in Port Arthur, Jefferson County, Texas. Bobbie their beloved daughter died at the young age of thirty-five 4 September 1969 in Port Arthur, Jefferson County, Texas leaving behind her five children and a family who loved her and misses her to this day.

Bobbie leaning out the window. Uncle Morris with the cigarette 

hanging out his mouth. Aunt Irma was taking the picture. Uncle 

George in the uniform. This photo was taken in Feb 1944 in 

West Carroll Parish, Louisiana. Picture from the author's 

private collection.