Ma Miles - The Story Behind the Photo

I saw this photograph for the first time in the late 1990s. Mom gave me several old family pictures for their 50th-anniversary scrapbook. This one was simply labeled: Ma Miles.

Mom rarely spoke of her paternal grandmother. The only story I heard was "she kicked my mother and me out of the house after my daddy died." Mom had no love nor respect for the woman, and quite honestly, neither did I. 

When I first set eyes on my great-grandmother, I knew Mom's story must be true. "Ma" looked like a bitter old woman. Her hair was severely pulled back into a tight little bun. Round glasses framed her beady black eyes. I saw the quintessential evil stepmother who evicted an eight-year-old girl from the only home she ever knew.

Twenty years later, that scrapbook sits on the bookshelf, and I've plunged into the world of genealogy. Research helps me discover the truth about my ancestors. The vital documents and census reports reveal long lost stories that remained family secrets for generations.

Ma Miles Story (so far):

Mary E French was born on 20 JUN 1870 in Blount County, Alabama. She died on 28 MAR 1952 in Falls County, Texas.

Mary was the second child born to Joseph Benton French (1840-1924) and Elizabeth Howle (1846-1890). She had five siblings and eight half-siblings from her father's two subsequent marriages.

Mary married Mitchell Milus Miles on 15 JUL 1888 in Bount County, Alabama. They moved to Robertson County, Texas sometime prior to 1890.

Mary and Mitchell had a total of eight children. However, only four lived beyond the age of ten:

• Gilbert
• Ollie
• Floyd
• Ola Mae

Her husband died in 1917, leaving Mary with three children at home, ranging in age from 13 to 17 years old.

Floyd was my mother's father. From the time he married, his family lived in the same house with his mother and older brother, Ollie. Floyd died in February 1936, just shy of Mom's eighth birthday.

According to Mom, as soon as Floyd was buried, Ma Miles kicked her and my grandmother out. They were no longer welcome in the home. And as far I know, that was the last time my mother ever came in contact with the woman.

However, I'm not sure the genealogy facts back up this narrative.

Mary Miles lived a hard life, much of which I cannot imagine:

• She grew up in the Deep South post Civil War.
• She buried four young children.
• She moved her small, growing family from Alabama to Texas in the early 1890s.
• She started a new life in a community where she more than likely knew few if any other residents.

After her husband's passing, Mary certainly relied on Floyd and Ollie to keep the farm running. The 1930 census shows all of them, including my mother and grandmother, living in the same house. So I'm sure it was a devasting loss when Floyd unexpectedly passed away. She not only lost a son but a vital farmhand.

However, I think family was important to Mary. Census data shows Gilbert, her eldest son, lived but a few "farms" away. He had three girls, the youngest was eighteen months younger than Mom.

Ollie married Jesse Pearl Jackson a short time after the 1930 census. Jessie already had two children from a previous marriage (ages 11 and 13). She and Ollie then added to little girls to their family.

The Miles family endured much hardship, which I believe brought them closer together. They lived in close proximity and seemed to watch out for one another. The research seems to bear out a "what's mine is yours" mentality rather than a "get out and stay out" culture.

Questions still left unanswered:

I have used Genealogy research to help me discover much of Mom's childhood story, but I still have many unanswered questions. 

For example:

• The 1940 census shows Ollie and Jessie lived "two houses away" from Ma. They lived in a house they purchased sometime after 1935. 
• Did they live in the same house with Floyd's family until his untimely death?
• That same census shows Ma Miles now living with her granddaughter Mildred (Gilbert's daughter) and her husband and young daughter. Mildred's family and Ma are living in the same house as they did in 1935. 
• When did Ollie move out and Mildred's family move in? 
• Does this mean Ma, Mildred's family, and Floyd's family lived under the same roof for a year?
• Combining census data from the Miles siblings, I discovered four young female cousins who lived nearby. Cousins I never knew existed:
• Ollie's daughters Jacque (three years younger than Mom) and Billye (five years younger)
• Mildred's daughter Jeanine (seven years younger)
• Ola Mae's daughter Marguerite (nine months younger)
• I always dreamed of being a part of a large extended family with lots of cousins who lived nearby. I just knew we would be playmates for life. 
• Did Mom live my dream for the first eight years of her life?

It doesn't make sense to me why this close-knit family would evict one of their own. 

• Why would they ignore the emotional health of an innocent, grief-stricken eight-year-old girl?
• Why did my grandmother think it best to take my mother to her sister's house in a remote town two hours away?
• Why would this aunt keep an impressionable eight-year-old for three years when she clearly resented her in the house? (another story for another time)
• Why would my grandmother go to secretarial school in the "big city" so soon after the death of her husband? So far away from her family support system?

My current hypothesis:

My grandmother wanted out of this small-town. She had bigger dreams than being a farmer's wife. She was widowed at 28 years old and had her entire life ahead of her. Rather than play the role she was born to play, she used Floyd's death as an opportunity to break free and live life on her terms.

Obviously, I have a lot more research ahead of me. Right now, this is only speculation. But I look forward to the excavation process.