Friday's Photo: Anna Laura Martin and Joseph Linford Martin

Anna Laura Martin, born in 1902 in Bienville Parish, died 1998 in Alpine, Texas.
Joseph Linford Martin, born 1902 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, died 1990 in 
Ringgold, Louisiana. Both are buried in the Wimberly Cemetery in Bienville Parish. 

Last Friday, I posted some photos from the Mary Martin Smith collection of Anna Laura Martin. This week, I have photos of Anna Laura Martin and her husband, Joseph Linford Martin. 

Although Anna Laura, from Bienville Parish, and her husband, from Tennessee, shared the same surname, it does not appear that they are related. 

The top photo was from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark and was taken of the couple when celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in 1970. 

I love the photos of Anna Laura and Joseph Linford when they were young. The hairstyles and clothing in these photos suggest that they were taken around the early 1920s. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2024 

Anna Laura and Joseph Linford Martin, digital image held by D. B. Quinn, from the privately held collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2023. Photos and documents were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas, on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. 

Anna Laura Martin and Joseph Linford Martin photos, photographs, ca. 1904-1924; scanned images from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Martin Smith, Alaska, 2004; original images photographed between 1973 and 1993.

Laura Decker, "Laura Ann Martin Decker," public tree, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/114525353/family/familyview?cfpid=350132377968&dtid=100 : accessed 9 February 2024). 

Friday's Photo: Another photo from Grand Bayou Church, Bienville Parish, Louisiana

This photo comes from the collection of Mary Virginia Martin Smith. The "alm" seen in the caption indicates the photo belonged to her mother, Anna Laura Martin. Anna Laura Martin and her sisters Emma Alice and Mary Virgie are identified in the photo. 

The photo is said to be from about 1914. The man at the piano is the same one in a previously posted photo dated 1911 and seen at this link - #52ancestors Post Twenty-Nine: A Choir in Bienville Parish

I have enlarged portions of the photo; however, the details are not very clear. Mary Smith photographed photos belonging to various family members between 1973 and 1993. These scans were made from printed photos before 2004. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2024 

A Grand Bayou Sunday School Group, photograph, ca. 1914; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Smith, Alaska, 2004; original images photographed between 1973 and 1993.

Friday's Photo: Edna and Mary Anne Sledge

This photo is from the collection of Mary Martin Smith. Mary's grandmother was Mary Anna Sledge who married Thomas Jefferson Martin II of Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Mary Anna was his first wife, and she passed away in 1918. 

If this Mary Sledge is Mary's grandmother (I could be wrong . . . ), who is Edna Sledge? 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2022 

Edna and Mary Anne Sledge, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Smith, Alaska, 2004. 

Friday's Photo: John Sledge

This photo came from the collection of Mary Virginia Martin Smith. She wrote that this and other photos marked with "ne" were from a photo album given to her mother, Anna Laura Martin, by a Sledge cousin, Niler Edwards of Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Although Mary wrote Niler, the cousin's name was probably Nila. The album originally belonged to Nila's father, Henry Collin Sledge. 

John Sledge was the brother of Henry Collin Sledge. I have seen his name written as John A. and John Aaron. While looking for information about the community of Iverson, John Sledge was seen in some of the records. I know that he was a merchant and postmaster. According to information at Find A Grave, he was married three times. His first wife, Sarah, was the daughter of Miles L. and Sarah Lawson Bryan who may have been closely connected to my Reddick Bryan family of Bienville Parish. 

Looking at other photos in this collection, I saw two unidentified photos that looked very much like the man in the above photo. What do you think? 

John Sledge's obituary with an additional, but very fuzzy, photograph can be seen here. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

.

Diana

© 2022 

Sources

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24290958/nila-edwards: accessed 22 July 2022), memorial page for Nila Sledge Edwards (22 Jun 1893–10 Jun 1969), Find a Grave Memorial ID 24290958, citing Providence Cemetery, Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by Nancy E. Collins (contributor 47113696).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97619397/john-aaron-sledge: accessed 22 July 2022), memorial page for John Aaron Sledge (12 Apr 1840–14 Apr 1924), Find a Grave Memorial ID 97619397, citing Old Castor Cemetery, Castor, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by KC (contributor 46825020).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106989397/sarah-sledge: accessed 22 July 2022), memorial page for Sarah Bryan Sledge (15 Jun 1842–28 Dec 1883), Find a Grave Memorial ID 106989397; Maintained by Samuel Taylor Geer (contributor 46925792)Burial Details Unknown.

JPERSONAL, The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana), 20 August 1898, p.5; database with images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106091932/j-a-sledge-of-iverson/: accessed 22 July 2022).

Narrative about 110A and the rest of Part 5, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Smith, Alaska, 2004. 

Sledge Photos 117, 122, and 127, photographs, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Smith, Alaska, 2004. 

Southern Postal Matters, The Times-Democrat (New Orleans), 7 March 1902, p.4; database with images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106091792/john-a-sledge-postmaster/: accessed 22 July 2022).

Friday's Photo: Captain Joshua Sledge of Bienville Parish, Louisiana

A few weeks ago, I posted photos of the children of Captain Joshua Sledge and his sisters - Friday's Photo: Three Bienville Parish Families - Sledge, Martin, and Bryan. This week, I am posting additional photos of Captain Joshua Sledge. These are from the collection sent to me by Mary Martin Smith.[1] She is pictured in the photo below with her uncle, Captain Joshua.  

Captain Joshua Sledge, born in Van Zandt County, Texas, was the son of Milton James Sledge and Sinthia Nolan. He married Catherine Lillian Cowart of Bienville Parish in 1904. They are buried in the Springhill Cemetery in Ringgold.[2]  

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

.

Diana

© 2022 

    1. Captain Joshua Sledge photos, photographs, n.d.; scanned images held by D.B. Quinn, 2022, from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Smith, Alaska, 2004; original images photographed between 1973 and 1993.

    2. Laura Decker, "Laura Ann Martin Decker," public tree, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/114525353/family/familyview?cfpid=350132377968&dtid=100 : accessed 9 January 2022). 

Friday's Photo: Nell Alene Woodard of Bienville Parish, Louisiana

Last week, I posted Friday's Photo: A Martin - Woodard Family Gathering. Here are two additional photos of Nell Alene Woodard, daughter, of Willie Bessie Murph, and her first husband, Joseph Allen Woodard that were found in Mary Martin Smith's collection. [1]

Nell looks to be about ten years old in the first photo giving it a date of approximately 1915. 

The second photo is assumed to be taken after her marriage to Loyd P. Elliott in 1926. [2]

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

.

Diana

© 2022

    1. Nell Woodward Elliott photos, photographs, n.d.; scanned images, from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Smith, Alaska, 2004; original images photographed between 1973 and 1993.

    2. YouDee20012001,"Marler Pate Corley McCoy Family Tree," private tree, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/973847/family/familyview? fpid=-626224692&fpid=-626224692&usePUBJs=true: accessed 20 Januaray 2022).