Friday's Photo: Millard Ray Latta Pyle

This photo of Millard Ray Latta at 18 months was sent to Sarah M. Bryan,
aunt of Millard Ray's mother Hollon Bryan Latta. Sarah M. Bryan lived in
Bienville Parish, Louisiana and the Latta family in Texas. This photo and
many others found indicate that the Texas Bryans kept in touch with
Louisiana family. 

Millard Ray Latta
Found in an album
that once belonged
to Marguerite
Cook Clark,
 a Louisiana Bryan 
descendant.

Last week, I visited two distant cousins in Texas. Carla, a descendant of my grandmother's Hairston family, and Palma, a descendant of my grandfather's Bryan family. Both had many old photos to share. And, finding old photos of family members is one of the highlights of looking for family.

Funny thing though, both cousins had photos of my father's first cousin, and today's subject, Millard Ray Latta. 

Millard Ray Latta was born on  December 15, 1896 in Erath County, Texas.  She was the only known child of Hollon Bryan (b.1865, Bienville Parish, LA) and James Alonzo "Lon" Latta.  Hollon, my grandfather's sister, died in 1906.  Lon Latta remarried a Mary Dennis in 1907 and lived in the Fort Worth area. 

The photo on the left belonged to my grandparents, Redic and Myrtie Bryan of Seymour, Texas.
The photo on the right belonged to the Joseph B. and Sarah M. Bryan family of Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

Millard Ray was living with Redic and Myrtie Bryan, my grandparents, by 1916. By 1919, she was teaching in Baylor County and later became the principal of a school in Cache Creek, Baylor County, Texas.

This photo of Millard Ray (left), her cousin DeRay Bryan, and DeRay's cousin, Joe Noah, was taken in or near Seymour, Texas. Joe and Millard Ray were both teachers in Baylor County and they corresponded during WWI. This was found in an album that once belonged to Joe Noah. Click here to read Joe's letters to Millard Ray.

Millard Ray Latta married Ernest J. Pyle on October 13, 1921. They had two sons, Shirley James Pyle and Maxwell Westbrook Pyle. She died May 17, 1988 in Le Flore County and is buried in Old Talihina Cemetery in Le Flore.

To read more about Millard Ray, visit my web page Millard Ray Latta Pyle.

Diana

© 2014

Sources:

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn.

Photographs used with permission. From the Marguerite Cook Clark collection.

Photographs used with permission. From the collection of Carla Noah Stutsman.