Lou Mae Hunter

F, #84, b. 7 June 1878, d. 6 March 1952
FatherJames Jefferson Hunter b. Sep 1839, d. 14 Jul 1903
MotherAdeline Gamble b. 20 Apr 1843, d. 26 Jul 1919
     Lucy Hunter was born, 7 June 1878, in Moundsville, Marshall, West Virginia, USA. Her birth was recorded on line 38, page 137 of the 1st District of Marshall County, Register of births. Two images were found, one appears to have been a draft for the second. She was born near Moundsville to James J. Hunter, farmer, and his wife Adda. James recorded the birth. Her name was entered as Lucy, but my mother told me that it actually was Lucy Mae.1,2,3,4,5,6

William Gamble Hunter, Mary Hunter, Retta Hunter, Elizabeth A. Hunter, Lucy Hunter and Madge Hunter were listed as children in the household of Jas. J. Hunter and his wife, Adda Hunter on the 1880 United States Census, in Moundsville, Marshall, West Virginia, USA.7

Lou Mae Hunter married Patrick Joseph Morgan about 1898. They were listed on the 1900 US Census as having been married for two years.8

Lou Morgan and her husband, Patrick Joseph Morgan, were listed on the 1900 United States Census, at 1320 East Ninth Street, in Muncie, Delaware, Indiana, USA. They were listed as the head of household and wife. Also present listed as their child was, Mary Bell Morgan. She was listed as born in June 1878, in West Virginia. She had 1 child living and present. Both her parents were also born in Virginia.8

There was no contact between the Hunter and Morgan families. Other than Patrick the Morgan family was Catholic and the Hunters were Protestant. In 1908 Patrick went to Fairmont to see his mother. While he was there, he got sick and died. Patrick's mother did not tell his wife, Lucy. Then Lucy found out, she went there. The mother would only let her stay until the funeral, then she had to leave. The mother and siblings got his estate and divided it between them, Lucy got nothing. No one in this family ever met a Morgan grand-parent.

Lou Morgan was listed on the 1910 United States Census, at 1329 Main Street, in Wellsville, Columbiana, Ohio, USA. She was head of household and a widow and boarding house keeper. Also present were her children, Maribel Morgan, Frieda M. Morgan, Wilmer Morgan and Etta Morgan. Also present were her mother, Adda Hunter, and Daisy Slater, 16, waitress. They lived in a rented house. [N.B.--Her boarding house was on the same street (within two blocks) of where her sister, Henrietta, had a boarding house in 1900.]9

Lou Mae Hunter married Alpheus Aaron Eaton.10

Wilmer (Bill) Morgan (340) said that once when he was little, he was playing a mandolin; Momma (Lou Hunter Morgan(84)) told him to quit, because he was bothering his sister Etta (341), but he didn't quit, so Momma jerked it from him and broke it into "a million pieces".

Lou Eaton was listed on the 1920 United States Census, at Harper Street, in Clarksburg, Harrison, West Virginia, USA. She was head of household and a lodging house keeper. Also present were her children, Maribel Morgan, Frieda M. Morgan, Maurice Wilmer Morgan, Alice Etta Morgan and Alpha Mae Eaton. Apparently, six others are the boarders at the same address.11

In 1921, Lou and her daughter, Alpha, moved to Morgantown, West Virginia. They remained there only 2 or 3 months. The other children stayed in Clarksburg. Lou worked as a cook, at a boarding-house owned by one of the coal mining companies. This was at a time of labor unrest. The miners were on strike there. The Miners Union was headed by the firebrand, John L. Lewis. The union had threatened to blow up the house. This was because the mine was providing the house to the strike-breakers.

During this time of separation the other three daughters, Maribel, Frieda and Etta, lived in an apartment on Main Street, near Parson-Souders Department Store, in Clarksburg. Maribel was working at Clarksburg Wholesale Company, Frieda was in training to become a Registered Nurse and Etta was still attending Washington Irving High School.

After Lucy came back from Morgantown, about 1922, all the girls lived with her, on Chapel Street, behind the Methodist Church. Across the street lived the family of the future Senator Claude Pepper of Florida. Etta had typhoid fever while here. They moved to the house next door. Then to School Street, for 4-5 years. Freida died there, after being bed-ridden for two years, in 1924.

They next moved to 614 West Pike Street, still in Clarksburg, where Lucy rented out rooms. During this time Alpha worked at the Clarksburg Dairy, where she worked a total of nine years. Both Etta and Alpha later married routemen who also worked at the dairy.

Lou Morgan recorded the death of her daughter, Frieda M. Morgan, who died 26 March 1924 at Mason Hospital, Clarksburg, Harrison, West Virginia, USA; of pulmonary tuberculosis.12

When Lucy needed to find a new place to live, she would leave the children with her sister, Madge, because the landlords would not rent to someone with five children. Once when looking, she left her furniture with Madge. Upon her return, the furniture was sold.13

The following story is from my uncle Bill Morgan (340) about his uncle, John Tubman (331): John was a glass worker. He and his wife, Madge Hunter (82), moved from one glass factory to another. They when from Clarksburg, to Indiana, to Poteau, Oklahoma. He was laid off in Poteau and could not find other work. Bill Morgan, traveled to Oklahoma to help them. They were living in desperate conditions when he arrived. He brought them back to Clarksburg.

The following story is from Margaret Elizabeth Porter (334): She remembered when Bill Morgan and Gertrude and also the children came to pick them up. they came in a touring car and was quite crowded! Madge and Catty had gone on ahead to live with Lou Eaton (84) at her boarding house in Clarksburg, but John Tubman, his daughter Zela, and her children Margaret and "Bud" stayed because Zela had a secretarial job in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where they lived. When she got laid off from that job is when and why Bill Morgan and family went to get them and bring them back to Clarksburg.

Lou Eaton was listed on the 1930 United States Census, at 614 West Pike Street, in Clarksburg, Harrison, West Virginia, USA. She was head of household and a widow. Also present were her children, Alpha Mae Eaton and Maribel Morgan. In addition, her sister, Madge Tubman (82); brother-in-law, John Tubman (331); and niece, Catherine Tubman (10621), were also present.14

The attached photo taken of my maternal grandmother, Lucy Eaton MS Hunter January 1937, Clarksburg.

Multi family photo taken at Grafton Dam, West Virginia, USA, about 1940.

Lou Eaton was in the household of Ernest Cheyne and his wife, Alpha Cheyne, and listed as mother-in-law on the 1940 United States Census, at 1483 Field Avenue, in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, USA. She was listed as 61 years old, a widow and born in West Virginia. She resided in Clarksburg, West Virginia in 1935.6

Lou Eaton died 6 March 1952 in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, USA.1

Lou Eaton was buried 10 March 1952, at Greenwood Cemetery, in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, USA. Her burial plot is, Section 40, Block 36, Group 4, Number 14..15

Family 1

Patrick Joseph Morgan b. Dec 1869, d. 25 Apr 1908
Children

Family 2

Alpheus Aaron Eaton b. 2 Mar 1885
Child

Citations

  1. [S259] Miscellaneous Records, Whitney & Murphy funeral card, in possession of the author.
  2. [S336] 1880 US Census, West Virginia, Marshall County, Post Office of Moundsville, Enumeration District 192, Page 11, Household 101, Lines 25-33. Image obtained from Ancestry.Com.
  3. [S304] Records of Alpha Eaton, formerly, Phoenix, Arizona, her date book.
  4. [S460] Information provided by a Web Page Contributor, Copy of birth certificate provided by Carol Tokay, Knoxville, Tennessee, Summer 2008.
  5. [S566] Website West Virginia Vital Statistics Website (http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.aspx) "Marshall County, Register of Births, 1878."
  6. [S588] 1940 US Census, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan; Roll: T627_1865; Page: 61A; Enumeration District: 84-844, Household 15.
  7. [S336] 1880 US Census, West Virginia, Marshall County, Post Office of Moundsville, Enumeration District 192, Page 11, Household 101, Lines 25-33. Image courtesy of the National Archives, Washington, DC and obtained from Ancestry.Com.
  8. [S461] 1900 US Census, Household 42, Muncie, Delaware, Indiana; Page: 3A.
  9. [S342] 1910 US Census, 3rd Ward, Wellsville, Columbiana, Ohio, Series: T624, Roll: 1162, Part: 1, Page: 240B. Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, Washington, DC, and obtained from ancestry.com.
  10. [S259] Miscellaneous Records, Certified copy of birth certificate of their daughter, number 66507, State of Ohio, dated 8th August 1940, is in the possession of the author.
  11. [S343] 1920 US Census, Clarksburg, Harrison, West Virginia, Roll: T625_1956, Page: 4B, ED: 155, Image: 539. Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, Washington, DC, and obtained from ancestry.com.
  12. [S566] Website West Virginia Vital Statistics Website (http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.aspx) "Harrison County, Register of Deaths, 1924."
  13. [S370] James W. Cheyne, Verbal interviews conducted by the author., The story was took by Alpha Cheyne Roberts, my mother.
  14. [S332] 1930 US Census, Clarksburg, Harrison, West Virginia, Enumeration District 17-8, Sheet 23-A. Image obtained from Ancestry.Com.
  15. [S259] Miscellaneous Records, Whitney & Murphy funeral card, in possession of the author.