Friday's Photo: May Wright and Bella Along With Baby, Palma Jean Clark

This was one of those photos I thought would be easy to research, but not so much. 

The baby is Palma Jean Clark, daughter of Marguerite Cook and her husband, Albert Clark of Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Palma was born on 20 March 1936. I first met her [Palma C. Beckett] in 2014 when she graciously allowed me to go through her mother's genealogy files. After learning she had hundreds of old photos, I made the 1,800-mile trip to her home in Texas two more times. 

It appears that Marguerite Cook Clark wrote on the back of the photo. Note that the following is a transcription of a handwritten note from 1936. It includes terminology that was commonly used at the time but is now considered outdated and inappropriate. I’ve preserved the original wording for historical accuracy and context.

Palma Jean Clark
1936-2023

This is 2 mo. The colored friends are working for gramma. You should have seen the pink roses in the background . . . The rest is not legible as parts are torn away. Later, someone wrote the following:

Mae Wright 

Bella 

with Pal 

at 2 months.

 

In 1936, both of Marguerite’s grandmothers were living in Bienville Parish. Her paternal grandmother was Sophronia Pauline Porter Cook, and her maternal grandmother was Laura Frances Bryan Martin. 

Unfortunately, Mae Wright and Bella could not be identified. There were several Wright families in Bienville Parish and the surrounding areas, so I am hoping someone recognizes them as family when I post to the Bienville Parish Facebook groups. 

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

© 2025

Diana Quinn, #1 Diana's Bryan-Quinn Family, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/45260559?cfpid=6334928766: accessed 6 July 2025).

May Wright and Bella, Along With Baby, Palma Jean Clark, photograph, 1936; digital images, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2025. Photos 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.

Friday's Photo: Four Unidentified Photos Found in the Biggs Family Bible

Sue Pierce, daughter of Ina Lou Biggs and Frank Blackwell, shared these photos with me in 2006. They were found in the Bible belonging to her grandparents, James Daniel "Jim" Biggs and his wife, Terrell Little "Bunch" Bryan. Bunch was born in Bienville Parish, Louisiana in 1861 and moved to Erath County, Texas around 1878. Jim was born in Red River, Texas, in 1849 and was in Erath County before May of 1880 when he married Bunch. 

These photos might be from the Biggs or Bryan family. Family names include Bryan, Biggs, Gunter, DeLavan, Wright, Blackwell, and Chapman. 

Identifying old photos is never easy. However, there is always a chance that someone with the same or similar photos will see this and be able to share the identity. Many of my family photos have been identified this way. 

Other Biggs Family Posts

Friday's Photo: The Biggs Family + One in Erath County, Texas

Friday's Photo: Terrell Little "Bunch" Bryan

The Terrell Bryan and Harriet Albritton Family

Flowers and Family - A Letter from Erath County to Bienville Parish - May 3, 1913

Friday's Photo: Ina, Charlie, and Jimmy Biggs of Erath County, Texas

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 

Unidentified photos found in the Biggs family Bible, photographs, no dates; scanned images, from the privately held photo collection of Mary Sue Blackwell Pierce, TX, 2006.

Mary Sue Blackwell Pierce,  "Birth Record of Biggs Family," 1847 - 1939; supplied by Mary Sue Blackwell Pierce, Texas, 2006.