The microfilmed newspapers of Booneville, Mississippi from 1881 to 1899 have not disappointed. Although I have yet to find the answers I seek to specific questions, I have learned a great deal about my great grandmother Lula Betty Boren‘s kinfolk. With each turn of the microfilm wheel I am offered a peek back into a time long forgotten. Death was no stranger to these folks. Scanning the microfilm is tedious work and my search for any mention of her family is often interrupted by stories that are horrific and gut-wrenching. An estimated 150 people died a day during a yellow fever epidemic in St. Louis. And, entire families in the surrounding communities were wiped out by typhoid fever. With so much tragedy in the news, it’s no wonder I found a brief mention of a former Booneville resident a bit of amusing. He was most certainly still alive as was reported under the simple heading: “Not Dead”.

The names of Lula Betty’s siblings – “D. E.” and “M. D.” – are no longer just initials carved into headstones. The passing of “Daniel Eugene” Boren and “Little Marcus” Boren were announced to the community of Booneville in notices appearing in 1881 and 1884, respectively. The infant Daniel was most likely named for his grieving mother’s brother, Daniel Goodger, and grandfather, Daniel Pearce. And Little Marcus, who was but two-years-old when he died, was probably named after his mother’s great uncle, Marcus Goodger.

An obituary from 1883 confirmed that the William L. Boren who is buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Ratliffe, Mississippi is indeed the brother of Lula Betty’s father, John S. Boren, who penned an emotional tribute to his 32-year-old brother, writing “… he blooms and lives in that home beyond the river of death that is prepared for all the followers of Christ”.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relationship: great grandmother
Common ancestors: Lula Betty’s parents, John S. and Mary Emma (Goodger) Boren, are my 2nd great grandparents