Saturday, January 19, 2013

White Boots and a Shiny Baton

John Holly Williams Collection -- LLF Library
"This girl is posing in her majorette uniform. Her name is Sandra Lee Wesson. This was taken when Sandra was in the 11th or 12th grade at Wesson Agricultural School." -- Library caption.

Could she be a descendant of Col. James Madison Wesson who founded the mill town of Wesson -- home of "Mississippi Silk" -- in 1864 after his mills failed in Bankston, MS?  

Curiosity got the better of me and I Googled her name.  The 1940 Census shows a Sandra Lee Wesson born in 1937 to John J. and Ruby G. Wesson in Saltillo, MS, not far from Tupelo.  Could it be this Sandra Lee Wesson and her family relocated to the tiny town of Wesson in time for her to become a 
majorette in high school?  If so, this picture would likely be from the early years of the 1950s.

After that, the trail went cold and I could not find corroborating information that I even had the "right" Sandra Lee Wesson -- so, I need help from folks who may know more about this smiling young lady from Copiah County.
----- Update: It appears that a Sandra Lee Wesson went on to Ole Miss, where she was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha and in the Class of 1955.  I found another link, thanks to the search engine Dogpile, that provides more information on the later life of the young lady in the photo, but does not actually answer the question whether she is a descendant of Col. James Madison Wesson.  

7 comments:

  1. How do you access the Lonleaf digital online records? I have looked and looked. It is as tricky as, the MDAH site.

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  2. The MDAH site, along with most of the state university sites, is protected from right clicking on most of their photos, but not all of them. They prefer you go through their channels to get copies, even though many (but not all) are essentially photographs in the public domain.

    The Lincoln, Lawrence and Franklin site on Flickr is not right click protected. According to my best sources, these photos are considered to be in the public domain and are of fair use for educational purposes (note that I do not have advertising on this site, so I am in no way "profiting" from their use). In addition, I do my best to credit the source of these photos, as it is only right and fair to do so, especially if someone wants to obtain a copy for their own use.

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  3. I saw this home in Brookhaven. I was hoping you could provide its history.https://www.facebook.com/groups/100390253360535/

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  4. That house is known as Magnolia Manor. It was built by Milton J. Whitworth's son, I believe, in the late 1800s. It has had various uses over the years, including an antique shop and a tea room, but currently, I believe it is back to being a private residence. It was recently spruced up. The last name of the current owners is escaping me.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I knew it had to have significance.
      The link I provided above, is of my own group. Stop by sometime and check it out.
      Thanks agasin!

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  5. http://www.dailyleader.com/news/article_bfe0ad5c-0f6f-11df-8c91-001cc4c002e0.html This says the house is antebellum. I was under the impression it was built after the war, but I could be mistaken.

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