In June, I posted some family photos and new information I received from Peggy Anderson, a distant relative I connected with online. Peggy’s great-grandmother, Nora Castellaw Hilburn (1878-1941), shown at top left in the photo, was the sister of my great-grandfather, Robert Edward “Bob” Castellaw (1868-1954). Peggy later emailed another family photo, taken in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1940 at the home of James Alonzo “Jim” Jacocks (1864-1941) and Mary Jane “Jennie” Castellaw Jacocks (1866-1946).
When my second great-grandmother, Nancy Miranda Johnson Castellaw (1844-1921), donated land and helped build the first school in Holly Grove, Jennie served as the school’s first teacher.
Top row, l to r: Nora Castellaw Hilburn, Jim and Jennie Castellaw Jacocks
Bottom row: l to r: Nora’s daughter, Edith Hilburn Beloate, and her children Nora and James Howard Beloate in 1940 at their home in Baton Rouge, LA.
Peggy also sent a photo and family stories about Carrye Louise Hilburn Jackson (1908-1957), one of the most memorable relatives from her childhood. Despite a lifetime of physical challenges and illness, Carrye seems to have become something of an “Auntie Mame” to many of her nieces and nephews.
Carrye Louise Hilburn Jackson at age 18 in 1926
Carrye was born Oct. 6, 1908, in Brownsville, in Haywood County, Tennessee. She was the fifth child of Nora and John Thomas Hilburn (1869-1939). Family memories describe Carrye as a sickly child. Based on those accounts, relatives later wondered whether she might have had rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or another chronic autoimmune condition. Because I have not found a medical record that confirms a diagnosis, it is best to say only that she suffered from significant health problems beginning early in life. Family accounts also say she had kidney problems as a teenager, later had a stroke and eventually required an artificial hip.
Thomas Orville Jackson
On June 25, 1927, when she was not quite 19, Carrye married Thomas Orville “Jack” Jackson (1887-1970), a 39-year-old widower with four children. According to family memory, Nora dryly observed that Jack was “marrying a load of medical bills.”
Jack was sometimes called “T. O.,” but most of the family called him “Jack.” The children called him “Uncle Jack,” but Carrye would not allow them to call her “Aunt Carrye.” She insisted they call her simply “Carrye.”
Jack worked for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, and he and Carrye moved from Memphis to Birmingham, Alabama, around 1930.
In the 1940 U.S. census, Jack and Carrye were living at 2815 10th Ave. South in Birmingham. Also in the household was Juanita Jackson Thomas (1922-2015), Jack’s 18-year-old daughter from his first marriage to Beulah Eva Cross Jackson (1891-1926).
Soon after the census, Jack and Carrye returned to Memphis. Around that time, family members remembered, Carrye had a stroke. It was not completely debilitating, but it limited her mobility and required her to use a cane.
Peggy remembered that Carrye and Jack seemed to have more money than many other relatives. They lived in nicely decorated apartments, and Carrye dressed in the latest fashions, including mink coats.
“She was both flamboyant and dramatic,” Peggy wrote. “My sister Anne and I were allowed to go for sleepovers at her apartment when we were little kids. She would take out martini glasses and fill them with Kool-Aid and tell us we were having cocktails. We now suspect Carrye’s glass was filled with the real thing. She also allowed me to have puffs of her cigarettes. Both Carrye and Uncle Jack were fun. Uncle Jack played the piano like a madman. He used to play ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’ over and over for my sister and me.”⁶
Carrye also liked to rename herself. While she lived in Birmingham, she called herself “Jeri.” When she returned to Memphis, she went back to Carrye. Peggy remembered that when one relative decided he wanted to be called James instead of Jimmy, Carrye was the only one who honored the request.
“I guess she could relate,” Peggy wrote.
In the 1950s, Carrye and Jack lived at 1837 Tutwiler Ave., at the corner of McLean Boulevard, across from Snowden School and only a short distance from my own house on Avalon.
In June 1957, Carrye checked into Methodist Hospital in Memphis to have an artificial hip repaired. While she was in the hospital, she contracted pneumonia. She died June 28, 1957, at 48.
Carrye Louise Hilburn Jackson’s headstone at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis
Carrye was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis. Near her grave is a marker for Beulah C. Jackson, who died in 1926. That appears to be Jack’s first wife, Beulah Eva Cross Jackson, the mother of Jack’s children.
The Commercial Appeal, April 30, 1962, 4.
Carrye’s widow, Jack, married for a third time in 1962. He met his bride after moving into the H. W. Durham Memorial home, a nursing home and independent living facility in Bartlett located where a Kroger shopping center is today. She was Florence Lee, age 75, and this was her first marriage.
The newlyweds had eight years together before Jack died in 1970. Florence lived until 1976.
It is easy to see why Carrye remained so vivid in Peggy’s memory. She lived with illness, pain and limited mobility, but family memories do not describe her as pitiful. They describe her as stylish, dramatic, mischievous, funny and unforgettable.
That sounds like a pretty good way to be remembered.
For more of my genealogy research, visit rscottwilliams.info.
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