Friday Faces from the Past

Bertha Ruth Ramsey

About three months ago I changed the way that I was researching and have been researching the family unit. I research each family unit before I move on to the next generation. The matrilineal lineage was where I began researching the family unit. There have been difficult genealogical problems in this line; however, I have finally overcome them. By researching the family unit, I now know how each person fits into that family unit. This is a time-consuming process, but is worth the time that is put into it. Last Saturday. October 22, I went to a family reunion. I have researched the patrilineal family extensively. When asked how a who a person was and who was his/her ancestor, I could tell them who they were, name their ancestor, and how a person fit in that family. I have been researching the Asa Martin Ramsey family unit.

The last Ramsey sibling and the youngest of the Asa Martin Ramsey children is Bertha Ruth. Bertha has a twin brother Percy. Bertha Ruth was born January 8, 1892 in Pricedale, Pike County, Mississippi. In 1900 she attended school and could read and write. In 1910 Bertha is living at home with her parents and is nineteen years old.

Then, by 1920 Bertha Ruth has married an Alexander. The Alexander name has popped up in my DNA matches and family trees on Ancestry, but I was not sure how the Alexanders fit into the family. Now, I know how they fit because Bertha Ruth married an Allen Alexander.

There are no Bible records, marriage records, church records, a will or probate records for this family; however, the only record I have is the Federal Census records. There is information on the census that helps in putting a story together about Bertha Ruth. In 1920 Bertha Ruth is twenty-eight years old and married to Allen Alexander and they own their home. Bertha is a homemaker and there are three daughters to the head of the house and living in the Allen Alexander household.  Era May age fifteen, Modena age seven, and then there is five-month-old Wilmer Lee Alexander. They live in District 104, Beat 3, Pike County, Mississippi. The older children are probably step-children since Bertha Ruth is only twenty-eight years old and she would have been thirteen at the birth of the oldest daughter Era May. Allen would have been about twenty-three years old at the time of Era May’s birth.

Betha Ruth is thirty-eight years old by the time the 1930 census was taken and living in the same area, Price Town Road is their address. When the 1930 census was taken, the data on the census shows that she was twenty-six years old at first marriage. Her estimated marriage year was about 1918. The children Era May and Modena Alexander living with her and her husband Allen on the 1920 census would be her step-children. The five-month-old would be her child. She would have been married two years on the 1920 census.

By the time the 1930 census was taken the family has grown with three more children born to Bertha Ruth. Allen was born in 1922, Carl was born in 1925, and Daniel was born in 1929 and all were born in Beat 3, Pike County, Mississippi.  

Bertha completed the fifth grade and lives in the same house she lived in 1935 in Pike County, Mississippi. By 1940 Bertha had another child Lucius Q. Allen is living at home and is now eighteen years old. Living nearby Bertha and her family is Wallace Ramsey and his family and their two brothers Henry and Percy.

Then, by 1940 Lucius was showing up on the 1940 census. He was born December 17, 1931 in Pike County, Mississippi. Bertha’s oldest child would be Wilma Alexander. Bertha’s husband was not a veteran and didn’t serve in the War. However, their youngest son Lucius Q. served in the war in Korea and was killed in action. Lucius was a Corporal in the United States Army. He was missing in action and presumed dead. He died July 8, 1953. He was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy in North Korea on July 8, 1953. He was presumed dead on July 9, 1954. Corporal Alexander was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, The National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal. In the Bogue Chitto Baptist Church Cemetery is a Cenotaph. There is a monument and a cross in memory of Pfc Lucius Q. Alexander. His remains are buried in Honolulu ABMC Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Allen Junior enlisted in the Army November 25, 1940 and was released October 4, 1945. He died November 29, 2007. Wilma died May 9, 2001. She is buried in the Enon, Cemetery, Enon, Walthall County Mississippi. She died in Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi. Daniel is buried in the Calvary Cemetery in Pricedale, Pike County.

Robert Carl Alexander the third child of Bertha Ruth’s was born August 24, 1924 in Pricedale, Pike County, Mississippi, and he died at the age of ninety on September 5, 2014 in Jayess, Pike County. Burial was in Bogue Chitto Baptist Cemetery at Carters Creek in Pike County. Robert C. enlisted in the Army May 19, 1943 at Camp Shelby. He had one year of high school and his civil occupation was unskilled lumbermen, rafts men, and woodchopper.

Daniel Alexander, Bertha Ruth’s fourth child, was born January 14, 1928 in Pricedale, Pike County, Mississippi. He was married to Mary Katherine Boyd. Mary Katherine was born April 28, 1937 in Lawrence County, and died February 16, 1999 in Pricedale, Pike County, Mississippi.  Daniel is buried in the Calvary Cemetery in Pricedale, Pike County, Mississippi along side his wife and other family members.  There is no death date on his tombstone, so he possibly is still alive. If he is he would be eighty-seven years old.

All four of Bertha Ruth’s sons served in the Army. That is a tribute to her family and her country that they served their country. One of her sons gave the ultimate sacrifice to his country.  Their grandfather Asa served in the Confederate Army.

Bertha Ruth Ramsey Alexander died December 14, 1978 in Pike County, Mississippi. She is buried in the Bogue Chitto Baptist Church Cemetery in Pike County. She was eighty-six years old at the time of her death. 

Map from Google Images