My name is Pam Corulla.
My brother and I recently attended the 80th birthday celebration of our
aunt, Irene Howell, in Yazoo Co.
My parents were Dorothy
Lee House and Thomas Melvin Foster. Dorothy was born in
Yazoo Co. (Mechanicsburg) on Feb 13, 1920, and died in Warren Co. on Aug
16, 2000. Melvin was born in Yazoo Co. on Aug 24, 1914, and died
in Warren Co. on Dec 11, 1993. They married in Yazoo Co. on Feb 16,
1935, and both are buried in Green Acres Cemetery, Warren Co. They
had three children: Dorothy Melba Jan 6, 1937; Billy Roy Jan 24,
1939; and myself, Pamela Kathryn, Apr 27, 1952.
Melvin’s parents were Thomas
Jefferson Foster and Mary Classie Burroughs. The story
goes that Tom Foster changed his name to Thomas Alvin Foster when
he started to school because he had a hard time writing a “J”, but his
name was never legally changed. Tom and Classie had a second son,
Garnett (1918-2001), and they divorced when my father was about
six years old. Tom and Garnett stayed with their maternal grandparents,
Allen and Fannie Burroughs, and other relatives until Tom married
his second wife, Annie Runie Tindol (1900-1989). Tom and Runie
had five children: Hazel Elizabeth, Nellie Doris, Thomas Alvin Jr.,
Annie Mae, and James William. Tom Foster’s parents were George
Theopolis Foster and Sarah Eliza (Lizzie) Irwin Foster.
George was one of eleven children of r John Hugh Foster and Rebecca
Ogden. George’s second wife was Ruth McKee Foster.
Dorothy’s parents were
Ethel Rodgers House (Jan 15, 1893 – May 13, 1943) and Samuel Leroy
House (Feb 13, 1870 – May13, 1947). Ethel was Sam’s second wife,
and I only remember hearing my mother refer to his first wife as Miss
Emma, who died and left Sam with a house full of children. My
mother always said that Sam had 12 children by each wife and that each
wife had three sets of twins! Dorothy was a twin but her twin brother
died at birth. Her siblings that I knew of are Barbara (called Sister
Bob – she also was my mother’s aunt by marriage because she married Ethel’s
brother, Majure or Major (sp?) Rodgers), Maggie, and Roy, who were by Miss
Emma, and Lethan, Dorothy, Dewey, Irene, Catherine, and L.J., who were
Ethel’s children. L.J. House was fourteen when he drowned.
For years the only marker for Sam, Ethel, and L.J. was the old one with
only Ethel’s name. Shortly before my mother’s death, she and Aunt
Irene went together and purchased the markers for all three graves.
Mother always said that Sam was born in Bastrop, LA, and that his grandmother,
who was full blood Indian, raised him. I know very little about Ethel
Rodgers and Samuel Leroy House, so if anyone has any information I would
be very interested to receive it.
There is also a picture
of Reason Williams marker. My parents were not related to
him, but lived with him the first few years that they were married and
always spoke very fondly of him. My mother did the cooking and my
father worked on his place (for fifty cents a day!).
If anyone is interested
in corresponding about the Foster, Burroughs, Rodgers, or House families
or extended families, I would love to hear from them.
Thanks,
Pam
Corulla
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