I have always thought it somewhat tragic that Grandpa James' mother died so young. So I want to write about her today. I do not have any pictures of her, nor know what she may have looked like, but because she she was here, I am here. So here goes:
Pearl Watkins was born on December 21, 1896 in South eastern Missouri, most likely Dunklin county or a neighboring county in either Missouri or Arkansas. Her parents were John Watkins and Emma Gibbs, who were married on September 23, 1886 in Bollinger County.
Pearl was the fifth of six children and the second daughter. Her brother's names were Lewis Marvin, OKelley, and John. Her sisters were Grace and Anna Mizell (her mother remarried after her father's death).
Regardless of what exact county she was born in, she grew and lived in the town of Hornersville in Clay Township, Dunklin County, Missouri according to the 1900 and 1910 census. Her father was a farmer and he rented his home which was located on a farm, so she probably grew up doing farm work as well.
As you can see below, Hornersville is a very small community. In 1900 the population was 240 and didn't grow much larger until around 1920, and even then it was only 647.
Hornersville has at present two general stores, a grocery store, grist mill, two sawmills, and a drug store. The leading merchant is Dr. John L . Mathews, who is one of the best posted men in financial and mercantile matters iu Southeast Missouri. Dr. Mathews keeps one of the best stocked general stores south of Kennett, and Pope and McKay are enlarging their business with encouraging prospects.
Hornersville is one of the best trading points in the south end of the county, and its merchants sell thousands of dollars' worth of goods every year. Some of the lands around this town are subject to overflow in spring, none in the county, however, excel it in fertility. These high waters do not come every spring. The waters have not been high enough to inconvenience Hornersville and vicinity since 1886.
It is a reasonably healthy locality, and thus need only two practicing physicians — Drs. E. T. Anderson and Floyd Kinsolving. A daily hack from Kennett brings the U . S. mails. Tom Kinsolving is postmaster.
Mrs. Samuel Edmonston and Mrs. W. N . Cole accommodate the traveling public, and their guests frequently dine on wild goose, duck, turkey, venison steak, frog legs and fresh fish, as this is one of the greatest hunting and fishing centers in the county.
Hornersville has a good church building nearing completion, and in it a Sunday-school, weekly prayer meetings, and weekly singing are carried on for the edification of its people. The people of this vicinity are of the " big-hearted " kind, and if you have occasion to visit Hornersville, you will be met with old fashioned Southern hospitality.
This was the community in which Pearl grew up in. Between 1900 and 1904 Pearl's father died. I am unsure of how, but he left behind 5 children that were seventeen and under. Pearl would have been, at the oldest, eight at the time. Emma remarried December 27, 1904 to Charley Mizzell. Charley's wife, Hettie, had also passed away between the years of 1900 and 1904 and he had 2 children still in the home under the age of 10 (William, age 10 and Francis, age 9). As a side note Lewis Watkins (John and Emma's son) married his stepsister Francis (Charley and Mizell's daughter).
In 1908 another child was added to the family, a girl named Anna. In the 1910 census Emma states that of her 9 children, 6 were living. I am unsure of when the other 3 children were born or when they died because they do not appear on any of the census records.
Charley, too, was a farmer and so Pearl's way of life probably didn't change, though her family life most surely did. She had schooling, because in the 1910 census she could read and write.
Pearl married Alphus James on the eve of her seventeenth birthday on December 20, 1913 in a county in Arkansas. Hornersville is a very short distance from the Missouri/Arkansas state line and so it was not a very far way to travel to marry.
I dont know much about how they met nor the nature of their marriage except that they started off as a young couple, Pearl barely 17 and Alphus was 24. In the 1910 census Pearl was listed on page 2 and Alphus on page 39, but as indicated earlier Hornersville was not a very large town. Alphus in 1910 was also a hired hand, so perhaps its possible that any of Pearl's brothers and he worked together or perhaps he worked on the Mizell farm at some point as help. Unless Grandpa James told someone about how they met, we may never know. If you do know, please contact me :) I'd love to know myself!
A year and couple months later, on February 18, 1915, the couple welcomed their first child named Ruby into their family. Perhaps her name was chosen because of Pearl's own. As far as I can tell she was not named after anyone within Alphus or Pearl's family.
On December 18, 1916, another daughter was born who they named Vercie Marie. She only lived to be 4 months and 23 days. According to her death certificate she came down with Diptheritic croup. Her passing must have been quick as the doctor saw her between the days of May 10 and May 11 and the duration of sickness was 3 days. I can't imagine the pain of Pearl and Alphus. They buried their little girl on May 12.
That same year, Pearl's mother, Emma, died on December 28, 1917. Her cause of death was Lobar Pneumonia and I think it says secondary was intermittent malaria.
There was some joy to come, however, as on April 7, 1918 the couple had their third child, and first boy, Orville (Grandpa). His birth happened just a month and some days shy of the one year anniversary of her daughter and I would think that while it did not diminish her pain on that date, that his birth helped bring joy to her.
The year was 1918 though and the spanish influenza was at an epidemic state. In Missouri the disease peaked in the fall of 1918 and continued to be prevalent through the state during the winter and spring.
According to this site: State officials first reported influenza in Missouri on October 11, 1918, even though the flu had been in the state long before that arbitrary date. By the third week of October, there were 3765 influenza cases and 90 deaths reported from St. Louis, 558 cases and 13 deaths from that month alone. On October 17 in Kansas City all theaters, schools, and churches were closed and public gatherings of twenty or more people were banned.
One Missouri doctor stated "I saw one patient die within 18 hours of this disease and 12 hours after being put to bed. I have seen a number of others menaced with death during the first 48 hours of the disease." He concluded that "the statement that influenza is uncomplicated is, I believe, erroneous."
On October 25, at the age of 21 years, 9 months, and 24 days Pearl was laid to rest. When we visited the Horner Cemetery we found the gravesite of Vercie, but not of Pearl. It is my assumption though that she is buried beside or close to her daughter.
Pearl faced quite a bit of misfortune and tragedy in the 21 years that she lived, but her living was necessary for us all to be here. Both of her children had children, and Grandpa in particular, as we know, had eleven of his own. I wish that I had a photo of her, or an idea of what she may have looked like, or what she may have been like, but it is likely none of that will ever happen. So it has to be enough that we know what facts we do and that she is remembered for them and by them.
