Alma McKeever-- Sweetwater Cemetery, Sweetwater TX
N 32° 27.444 W 100° 25.289
14S E 366398 N 3592026
The homemade tombstone for Alma McKeever at Sweetwater Cemetery in Sweetwater TX
Waymark Code: WMPW3K
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/28/2015
Views: 3
A heartbreaking tombstone for a child, lovingly bordered by concrete, with a simple hand-inscribed tombstone reading "OUR BABY."
The tombstone reads as follows:
"OUR BABY
ALMA MCKEEVER
Born 6-29-15
Died 5-23-30"
We are always fascinated by these handmade tombstones. So many times they tell a larger family story, of dignity despite poverty, of frontier hardships, of ostracism, or of a loss so deeply felt that only a handmade tribute can soothe those left behind.
In this case, we have documents from ancestry.com to fill in some blanks.
We found Alma McKeever in the 1930 US Census living at 24 Ash Street in Sweetwater Texas. She and her family are black. She is living in the household of Robert Wilson, with her sister (his wife) Mary and their mother Katy McKeever. They do not live on a farm, and they do not own a radio (questions from the census). Robert is 36, and married his wife at age 26. His wife Mary W. is 33 and married her husband at 23. His mother-in-law katie married her husband at age 18 and is now widowed.
Of the four people in the home, three have never attended school -- only Alma McKeever has had any formal education. At the time of the census, Robert, and Katy are all classified as general laborers in no specified industry, and all worked the day before, as wage workers (not business owners or employers). Mary is unemployed, listed as No. 18 on the unemployment schedule. Robert is a veteran of WW -- meaning WWI.
The other document we found for her is her death certificate.
Alma McKeever was a single black female born 29 July 1915, aged 14 years, 9 months, and 3 days when she died. Her father is Jerry McKeever and mother is Katie James. Mary Wilson of Sweetwater is the person supplying the information on the death certificate. Alma fell sick on 23 April and sought treatment from a doctor. Sge was ill 4 days before succumbing to Tubercular Meningitis with Tubercular Peritonitis as a contributing cause of death. She had been suffering from Tubercular Peritonitis of 5 months, but the meningitis killed her in 4 days. She was buried on 3 May 1930 in Sweetwater.
Date of Birth: 29 Jun 1915
Date of Death: 23 May 1930
Material: Concrete
Web Site: [Web Link]
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