Post by Brian on Jan 29, 2014 9:49:36 GMT -5
12/27/07 at 05:45 PM
Maria
Marie was due to graduate 6 months after the murders...Class of 1930. But if she was 3 or 4 months pregnant when she was killed she would have been due to deliver her baby at the time of her graduation. If she was pregnant then she would have been "REAL" pregnant during those next 6 months. If she was still a student in school when she was killed would she have been able to remain in school long enough to graduate? Or would she have had to drop out when she began showing big time?
Maria
12/27/07 at 07:02 PM
Angel71242
I bet she would have had to drop out. I wonder how they would have explained her pregnancy to people - if Charlie
was the father.
Angel71242
12/27/07 at 07:13 PM
Maria
Ouch, that would have been a tough call to make. Good question Angel.But if the stories we've heard are accurate, some people already knew Charlie was the father of her baby. It's been said she told her friend Ella Mae Johnson. I know another one of Marie's friends, Dorothy Watts, had already quit school to help on her family's farm.
Maria
12/29/07 at 04:15 PM
Michael818
Yikes! that would have been terrible to have to reveal it. Back then, it would have been seen as a shame to be unwed and pregnant anyway, but the FATHER being HER father?
My Mom remembers a girl who had to leave school from her school in the forties for an abortion. The girl died.
Michael R.
Michael818
12/29/07 at 04:26 PM
Maria
But if the story is true that Charlie Wade was going to take Marie away to marry her to save her and her family from the shame then everyone would have thought it was his baby and though it would have been early at least she would be a married woman when the baby came. She still would have had to quit school I imagine.
Maria
12/29/07 at 04:30 PM
Michael818
Good point on that. Still, It probably would have been obvious to anyone who thought about it that the baby was made BEFORE they were married. Still would have been a little scandalous back then, though it's an everyday thing now. Yes, the poor dear probably would have had to quit to stay home. The facets of sadness to this family's story are boundless!
Michael R.
Michael818
01/14/08 at 06:17 PM
Maria
Stella Lawson didn't finish school either. She quit sometime around the seventh or eighth grade. Most of the girls back then ended up getting married and having children so beyond being able to read and write and add numbers there probably wasn't much purpose or motive for girls finishing school unless they knew they wanted to become a nurse or teacher.
Maria
01/14/08 at 08:39 PM
doodlebug
If Marie and Charlie Wade had married, she would have most likely dropped out regardless of her condition or how advanced it was...she would have been a wife then even if not a soon-to-be mother.
The deeper I delve into genealogy the more it's becoming apparent that unwed mother's weren't as uncommon as
you would think....it seems to be no less common than today. There may have been more of a stigma attached, but it
happened over and over again, to very very young girls. At first I was shocked by the number I found, until I noticed
that it wasn't uncommon to marry at 13 or 14, so why would it be unusual to get pregnant at that age? Heck, if you
think about the number of people living in very close quarters, they probably knew more about sex by 12 than we
knew by 21!!
doodlebug
01/15/08 at 09:54 AM
Maria
It seems that everyone back then who dropped out of school did so for the same reason, to help out with the work on the family's farm. Except for the occasional pregnancy reason. Stella dropped out because her father got angry with her teacher. Abe Heath didn't stay in school long enough to graduate due to being needed on the farm. Same reason given for Dorothy Watts Montgomery dropping out. But Abe Heath's sister Lizzie graduated. Inez said that the school colors for Germanton School back then were dark blue and gold. Ruby Wagoner Savage graduated. She made her dress for graduation herself and it really was pretty from what I can tell in the photo of her where she modeled it. Elsie Kiger Warren graduated. She was in Maybell's class and was good friends with Maybell. She was one of a very few who was driven to school each day as opposed to walking or riding the bus. I don't know this for certain but I bet Arthur had already dropped out before the murders.
Maria
01/15/08 at 10:53 AM
Angel71242
I agree that Arthur had probably already dropped out too - to help out on the farm I bet.
Angel71242
01/15/08 at 01:43 PM
Angel71242
Did the old Germanton School have graduation exercises with caps and gowns like they do nowadays?
Angel71242
01/15/08 at 02:12 PM
Maria
I had to call someone real quick before I could answer your question Angel!! She said that indeed they did have graduation exercises then as they do now, that she remembered the thrill of tossing her tassel to the other side. She said that on Sunday night they had the Baccalaureate address at the school then the next day they had the graduation itself.
Maria
01/15/08 at 02:48 PM
Angel71242
Thanks Maria!
Now here's another one for ya!!! I noticed that day that you and Doug and my husband and me went to the Old Germanton School that they had a basketball court. Did they play competitively do you know and did they play any others sports there?
Angel71242
01/15/08 at 02:59 PM
Maria
I know they played basketball competitively. This lady who attended that school told me that she wanted to play
basketball sooooooo bad but her mother wouldn't let her because the girls uniform was a real real short skirt. Talk about old fashioned morals!!!! I don't know about whether they played baseball competitively but they played it at least during recess because I saw a baseball field behind the school.
Maria
01/15/08 at 03:02 PM
Angel71242
How did you see a baseball field in all those woods and grown up weeds? I only saw what looked like a jungle!!!
Angel71242
01/15/08 at 03:08 PM
Maria
It was on another trip I went there on before you and I did. it was in the winter but I remember these wooden steps that led down an embankment and the person I was with pointed out the baseball field and I could see one of those base things and she said she use to play ball there when she went to that school.
Maria
01/15/08 at 03:09 PM
Angel71242
That's cool!!!!!
Angel71242
Maria
Marie was due to graduate 6 months after the murders...Class of 1930. But if she was 3 or 4 months pregnant when she was killed she would have been due to deliver her baby at the time of her graduation. If she was pregnant then she would have been "REAL" pregnant during those next 6 months. If she was still a student in school when she was killed would she have been able to remain in school long enough to graduate? Or would she have had to drop out when she began showing big time?
Maria
12/27/07 at 07:02 PM
Angel71242
I bet she would have had to drop out. I wonder how they would have explained her pregnancy to people - if Charlie
was the father.
Angel71242
12/27/07 at 07:13 PM
Maria
Ouch, that would have been a tough call to make. Good question Angel.But if the stories we've heard are accurate, some people already knew Charlie was the father of her baby. It's been said she told her friend Ella Mae Johnson. I know another one of Marie's friends, Dorothy Watts, had already quit school to help on her family's farm.
Maria
12/29/07 at 04:15 PM
Michael818
Yikes! that would have been terrible to have to reveal it. Back then, it would have been seen as a shame to be unwed and pregnant anyway, but the FATHER being HER father?
My Mom remembers a girl who had to leave school from her school in the forties for an abortion. The girl died.
Michael R.
Michael818
12/29/07 at 04:26 PM
Maria
But if the story is true that Charlie Wade was going to take Marie away to marry her to save her and her family from the shame then everyone would have thought it was his baby and though it would have been early at least she would be a married woman when the baby came. She still would have had to quit school I imagine.
Maria
12/29/07 at 04:30 PM
Michael818
Good point on that. Still, It probably would have been obvious to anyone who thought about it that the baby was made BEFORE they were married. Still would have been a little scandalous back then, though it's an everyday thing now. Yes, the poor dear probably would have had to quit to stay home. The facets of sadness to this family's story are boundless!
Michael R.
Michael818
01/14/08 at 06:17 PM
Maria
Stella Lawson didn't finish school either. She quit sometime around the seventh or eighth grade. Most of the girls back then ended up getting married and having children so beyond being able to read and write and add numbers there probably wasn't much purpose or motive for girls finishing school unless they knew they wanted to become a nurse or teacher.
Maria
01/14/08 at 08:39 PM
doodlebug
If Marie and Charlie Wade had married, she would have most likely dropped out regardless of her condition or how advanced it was...she would have been a wife then even if not a soon-to-be mother.
The deeper I delve into genealogy the more it's becoming apparent that unwed mother's weren't as uncommon as
you would think....it seems to be no less common than today. There may have been more of a stigma attached, but it
happened over and over again, to very very young girls. At first I was shocked by the number I found, until I noticed
that it wasn't uncommon to marry at 13 or 14, so why would it be unusual to get pregnant at that age? Heck, if you
think about the number of people living in very close quarters, they probably knew more about sex by 12 than we
knew by 21!!
doodlebug
01/15/08 at 09:54 AM
Maria
It seems that everyone back then who dropped out of school did so for the same reason, to help out with the work on the family's farm. Except for the occasional pregnancy reason. Stella dropped out because her father got angry with her teacher. Abe Heath didn't stay in school long enough to graduate due to being needed on the farm. Same reason given for Dorothy Watts Montgomery dropping out. But Abe Heath's sister Lizzie graduated. Inez said that the school colors for Germanton School back then were dark blue and gold. Ruby Wagoner Savage graduated. She made her dress for graduation herself and it really was pretty from what I can tell in the photo of her where she modeled it. Elsie Kiger Warren graduated. She was in Maybell's class and was good friends with Maybell. She was one of a very few who was driven to school each day as opposed to walking or riding the bus. I don't know this for certain but I bet Arthur had already dropped out before the murders.
Maria
01/15/08 at 10:53 AM
Angel71242
I agree that Arthur had probably already dropped out too - to help out on the farm I bet.
Angel71242
01/15/08 at 01:43 PM
Angel71242
Did the old Germanton School have graduation exercises with caps and gowns like they do nowadays?
Angel71242
01/15/08 at 02:12 PM
Maria
I had to call someone real quick before I could answer your question Angel!! She said that indeed they did have graduation exercises then as they do now, that she remembered the thrill of tossing her tassel to the other side. She said that on Sunday night they had the Baccalaureate address at the school then the next day they had the graduation itself.
Maria
01/15/08 at 02:48 PM
Angel71242
Thanks Maria!
Now here's another one for ya!!! I noticed that day that you and Doug and my husband and me went to the Old Germanton School that they had a basketball court. Did they play competitively do you know and did they play any others sports there?
Angel71242
01/15/08 at 02:59 PM
Maria
I know they played basketball competitively. This lady who attended that school told me that she wanted to play
basketball sooooooo bad but her mother wouldn't let her because the girls uniform was a real real short skirt. Talk about old fashioned morals!!!! I don't know about whether they played baseball competitively but they played it at least during recess because I saw a baseball field behind the school.
Maria
01/15/08 at 03:02 PM
Angel71242
How did you see a baseball field in all those woods and grown up weeds? I only saw what looked like a jungle!!!
Angel71242
01/15/08 at 03:08 PM
Maria
It was on another trip I went there on before you and I did. it was in the winter but I remember these wooden steps that led down an embankment and the person I was with pointed out the baseball field and I could see one of those base things and she said she use to play ball there when she went to that school.
Maria
01/15/08 at 03:09 PM
Angel71242
That's cool!!!!!
Angel71242