The untimely and tragic death of my paternal great grandmother, Lula Betty (Boren) Trantham, robbed six young children of their mother and a husband of his loving wife. After helping a neighboring and ailing family in need, Lula Betty contracted the illness herself and died on her 33rd birthday. Although Texas would become her final resting place, her heritage was firmly rooted in Mississippi, where she left behind a grieving brother and an extended family to mourn her death.

Lula Betty’s older brother, Luther Henry, had not ventured west when he came of age like siblings Hattie and Tom. Thus, it fell upon him to look after his younger siblings when their parents died between 1895 and 1900. Lula Betty’s niece and Luther’s youngest daughter, Catherine, who still lives in Tupelo, Mississippi, recalled that her father would often say that he had raised “three families”. Married twice with two sets of children of his own, Luther was 25 when he became responsible for raising three of his siblings, one of whom was Lula Betty. Their sister Hattie would later fetch Lula Betty and the baby of the family, Christine, back to Texas where she lived with her husband, James Hancock. It was while living with Hattie that Lula Betty first met my great grandfather, Lutiness Alonzo Trantham.

When I first contacted Catherine, she remembered her father referring to the person I described as “Lula Betty” as “Lurah”. Although Luther died when she was but 19 years old, she has no recollection of her father ever calling her “Lula Betty”. He had even gone as far as naming another daughter “Lurah Christine” after his two sisters who lived in Texas. This revelation came as quite a surprise and makes me think “Lula Betty” might possibly have been a nickname for “Lurah Elizabeth”.

Catherine also helped me uncover the true identify of “Lurah” and Luther’s mother, which had alluded my own mother and me until now. She recalled her father saying that her grandmother’s maiden name was something akin to “Gooch”. Her memory served her well, though, as intensive research on my part revealed that “Gooch” was in fact “Goodger” which probably sounds much the same.

Mary Emma (Goodger) Boren is my paternal 2nd great grandmother and Lula Betty’s mother. She was born about 1852 in Mississippi according to census records and she died about 1897 according to family lore. Mary Emma’s son Tom Boren was a wanderer. After he left Mississippi, he and his young family showed up in census records in both Colorado and New Mexico. His fate was also a bit of a mystery until I uncovered a death certificate filed in Yakima, Washington in 1942. Thomas Ernest Boren’s father was listed as “John Boren” and his mother “Emma Goodger”.

The Goodger family represents a new and unexplored branch of my family tree. Mary Emma, after all, came from somewhere. As I tend to do with all of my branches, I turned to my DNA matches for evidence of my Goodger roots and I was not disappointed. All of their Goodger ancestors passed through Mississippi at some point so I think I am on the right track.

I remember when my grandfather returned to Texas in the late 1990s to put a grave marker on Lula Betty’s unmarked grave. I am glad that he did that. I’ve come to realize that grave markers don’t just mark the spot where someone is buried. They also mark the spot where people gathered to share in their grief and remember the life of a loved one now departed.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: Paternal great grandmother
Common ancestors: The Borens and Goodgers of Mississippi