A Photo Timeline of Mercy Ramsey Carl
November 22, 1911 to June 12, 1940
1911
Mercy's
baby book.
She was born on November 22, 1911 in a little bungalow at 404 West 38th
Street
in Austin, Texas.
An
undated photo of the house where Mercy was born.
A photocopy of Mercy's birth certificate
1912
Mother on left; Mother, Murray and Grandma on right. Few of our photos are dated so the years listed are based on the probable ages of the children.
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1913
Mother and Murray; Mother, Grandpa holding Jessie Mary, Murray. Jessie Mary was born on September 16, 1913. The family was still living in the house on 38th Street. On October 29, 1913, Mercy was taken to the Baker School Mother's Club Better Babies Contest. According to the ‘scorecard', she was 23 months old with blue eyes and light hair. On the form Grandma had put her birth weight at 8 1/2 pounds but her baby book said 9 pounds. She was then 24 pounds and 32 inches tall. She was breast fed for 14 months and slept with her mother. She had no speech defects, was not irritable, nervous or bad tempered. Out of the 1000 possible points, Mercy had 965, presumably making her a better baby!
1914
A family camp-out. Mother looks bald!
1915
Mother, Jessie Mary and Murray swimming; Mother on a family trip to Yellowstone; dressed for winter at 4312. The family moved into their new house at 4312 Speedway in 1914.
1916
Playing in the snow at 4312
1917
Helen Georgia Ramsey was born at the ranch in Eastland County on September 15, 1917; right, the four Ramsey kids all bundled up against the cold.
1918
The photo on the right, taken in the side yard at 4312, was used in nursery catalogs. I think Mother, sitting in the chair on the left, looks like Madeline. From Helen's age, it might have been taken in 1919.
1919
The photo on the left looks so much like a similar one of Madeline and Catherine at the same ages. I'm not sure if it was taken in 1918 or 1919. The image of Mother on the right is from a 1919 class photo. I can almost see myself in that photo.
1920 1921
A winter visit to Mary Dauler and her kids, Little Mary, Bill and Liz possbily in 1920 or 1921. Mother would have been 9 or 10. Mother in the headband is from 1921.
1922
A group photo in front of FT and Belle's house at 4412 Ave B; a close-up of Mother
Ramsey siblings (in the version of the photo with wrinkles removed from Mother's dress!)
1923
According to a note on the photo back above left,
there was
a late snow in April 1923 in Austin. At the age of 12, in 1923 Mercy
could join
the Order of the Rainbow for Girls. I assume she did so because she was
active
in that organization, working her way up to Grand Worthy Associate
Advisor.
1924
Group
photo in front
of FT and Belle's house in 1925 and a close-up of Mother. Interesting
barrette
she's wearing. It appears she's wearing it in the photo below too.
Below, Jessie Mary is on the left and Annabel Murray on the right.
1926
The photo on the upper left was taken from a group
photo of
winners in the Latin Tournament 1926 in the 1926 Austin High School
Comet
yearbook. The photo next to it had written on it "13 years old" which
meant it was probably taken in the spring of 1925, but I'm including it
here since it's the same outfit and was probably taken the same day as
the ones below that were used to illustrate a
newspaper
article on Grandma in 1926. On January 28, 1926, Mercy ‘graduated' from
Allan
Junior High and was admitted to Austin High School.
In the Centennial History of Austin High, Dorothy Watts Dean, a 1927
graduate, wrote an essay on what it was like in those days. She said,
"Many world events had affected our lives. My class had been youngsters
in early elementary school during the "Great War" as it was called
then, or World War I as it is called now. We had memories of the war;
the many friends and relatives who lost their lives and the flu
epidemic that took the lives of soldiers and civilians alike. [Grandma
Ramsey caught that terrible flu but luckily survived.] .. Our lives
were greatly affected by the happenings of the "Roaring Twenties." The
gangsters; the big cities; prohibition and the illegal use of alcohol;
the speak-easies. .. This was the age of the "it' girl: Clara Bow, spit
curls,, short skirts, the Charleston. It was not an attractive period
in many ways. There was no television, few radios, and no air
conditioning. Barton Springs was our main recreational area both for
fun and cooling off. .. In the fall of 1926, Mr. Gullett [the
principal] announced the breaking up of the very selective girls'
clubs. .. He called a group of so-called leaders, girls to his office
to discuss the cliques in Austin High School which he hated. It was at
this meeting that he told us he wanted to establish an organization
open to any girl student who met the one requirement, a B-average."
That group ended up being organized along the lines of the UT Orange
Jackets. The organizers ordered 100 maroon jackets for the first group
of girls and were very upset when the jackets that arrived were red.
They decided to call the organization The Red Jackets and the name
stuck even though the later jackets were indeed maroon, the official
school color. Mother was not shown in the very first photo, though she
might have been a member. She was a member in 1928, her senior year.
1927
Photo above left of Mother with her violin, may have been taken in 1926. The middle photo was used in the 1927 Austin High School Comet. The one on the left is another in the series. In the Austin High annual, Mercy's nickname was appropriately “Dynamo” and her ambition was to understand geometry. Mercy played in the Austin School Orchestra as a first violin. She was also a member of the Minnie Fisher Cunningham Literary Society. An article pasted in her scrapbook said she was one of the most promising players in a newly created gym class for junior girls that would play basketball. Below is her report card for 10th grade, 1926-27.
Her report card still had lots of A's on it.
1928
Above left , Mother's senior photo in the 1928
Austin
High School
Comet. Above right, showing Mother, Helen and Jessie Mary, was
published in the Austin paper on June 17, 1928. In her senior year she
again
was a first violin in the orchestra, was president of M.F. Cunningham
Society,
a member of the Red Jackets and was honored for scholastic excellence.
The
graduation ceremony was held on June 1, 1928.
The 1928 Red Jackets
at Austin High School. I think Mercy is the second from the left on the
back row.
Above
left, the
report card from
her senior year at Austin High School. The school only had 11 grades
back then. Right, some bridge tallies from parties Mercy attended in
honor of her graduation. The one in the center shows the casual racism
that was prevalent then.
I think the photo on the left commemorates
Mother's
graduation from high school. In the one on the right, she's
holding a
diploma and wearing the same set of pearls. She
entered UT in the fall and joined Phi Mu sorority. Mercy
met
Ed Carl that fall in 1928 when the A&M Corp came to Austin for the
Thanksgiving
football game. A sorority sister of hers arranged the date. Below,
Mercy's UT athletic season ticket for 1928-29.
1929
The photo above left was from the Phi Mu page in
the 1929 UT
Cactus yearbook, from her freshman year. The next photo was from a
group of
Mrs. Reese's violin students. I'm guessing it is from 1929 because of
the
hairstyle and grown-up look. The bathing beauty shot of Jessie Mary,
Little
Mary Dauler and Mother may also have been from around this time period,
from a
visit up north, as could the photo at right. On May 2, 1929, Mercy was
initiated
into the Phi Chapter of Phi Mu sorority. On September 21, 1929, she
was
installed as Worthy Advisor of Austin Assembly No.5, Order of the
Rainbow for
Girls. She served for four months. A letter in our files
postmarked Nov
21, 1929 was from DAR, the Daughters of the American Revolution,
inviting Mercy
to join the Andrew Carruthers Chapter of the organization in Austin.
Another
letter, dated November 16, 1929 informed Mercy that she'd been
designated a
member of the Grand Cross of Color, an honorary group within Rainbow
Girls, for
all her hard work and dedication to the organization. She was still a
big sports fan. The photo on her season ticket for 1929-30 is
especially interesting because it shows how different her hairstyle was
that year from the previous and following years.
The similarity of her hair in the photo above and the undated ones below make me think the pictures with her best friend, Mae Caller are probably from the same year.
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Two
black and white photos from
Mother's 1930 UT cactus yearbook, from Phi Mu and the Sidney Lanier
Society and
a color
photo that may have been taken around the same time. She stayed active
in Rainbow and in 1930 was elected Grand Drill Leader. She was always
interested in sports so every year purchased a season ticket to UT
games.
1931
Photos
from Mother's
1931 UT cactus, junior class photo and Phi Mu; a color photo possibly
from this
time and a silhouette probably done at a state fair and her UT season
ticket.
An
article published
in 1931 in the Austin paper on Mercy being elected Grand Worthy
Associate
Advisor. It also lists many of her other activities.
According to thank you notes written by students, it appears Mercy did
six weeks
of student teaching in English in the spring of 1932, prior to
graduation. Her
supervising teacher was Mrs. Lander. Even though Mercy spent almost all
her
career teaching in elementary schools, her student teaching was done at
Allen
Junior High. Mrs. Lander wrote, “I am especially proud that a little
girl I
taught in Junior High came back to show me how it could be done better.
Above, Mother's UT senior photo in 1932
Photos from Mother's UT graduation in May 1932. She earned a BA in English with a minor in French. In her senior UT Cactus annual, it was noted she was in the Sidney Lanier Literary Society, Orchesis, Sophomore Cabinet of the YWCA, on the Woman's Honor Council and Cap and Gown as well as Phi Mu. She had been active in many organizations in the university and she continued that after graduation. That fall she began teaching at Baker School. Because she graduated ahead of Uncle Murray, she was the first one in her generation to get a college degree. In August 1932, Mercy was initiated into Chapter 304 of the Order of the Eastern Star.
1933
Above, a pencil drawing of Mother from the Chicago World's Fair in 1933; immediately above, Mother at the fair
A photo Mercy took at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago
Two posters from the Fair
Assorted
cute tally
cards from bridge games Mercy played during the 1930's. Since people
didn't
have television much less the Internet to entertain them, they did
things like
play cards. By 1933-34, she was a member of AAUW, the American
Association of University Women.
The two photos above
are of Mother and her class at Baker School.
1934
Above
left, Mercy went to see Katharine Cornell in "The Barretts of Wimpole
Street" on February 21, 1934. Jessie Mary Ramsey and Julian Cate
married on July 27, 1934;
the
photo above of Mother, from 1934, may be what she wore to their
wedding. She was Jessie Mary's Maid of Honor.
1935
Mother and Mae Caller were best friends, having been together from grade school through college. They were both planning on getting married in 1935 and were to be in each other's weddings. When Mercy broke up with Buck, Mae offered to postpone her wedding, but Mother said no and served as Mae's Maid of Honor. The photo above was taken after Mae's wedding on July 14, 1935. Mother was so hurt by the break-up of her relationship that at the time her wedding and honeymoon would have taken place, she and a group of women friends went on a trip out West. She is second from the right. She didn't waste away. She stayed active in the community and in her many organizations. <>
.
Beta Sigma Phi is an international
non-academic sorority founded in 1931 to assist women during the Great
Depression, it has grown to the 'largest women's friendship' network in
the
world, with 200,000 members in 30 countries. Its motto, and Greek
initials,
means Life, Learning and Friendship.
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Above left, on January 1, 1936, the cousins got together to celebrate the new year. Above right, Mother dressed up in western gear.
Above left, Mother dated other men after Buck but this man is unidentified. From the similarity of the hairstyle in the other photos with the one on the left, I think these proofs were made in 1936.
Also in 1936, she attended the Centennial State Fair in Dallas and saw not only television, but television telephones!
Mercy's snapshot of the 1936 Centennial State Fair in Dallas in August 1936
1937
On
February 20, 1937,
Mercy attended the national meeting of the National Education
Association
meeting in New Orleans. In her postcard back home, she carefully noted
the
number of miles between stops. Right, a photo of Mercy with an
unidentified man
at the NEA meeting on February 21, 1937. She was also a member of the
Texas State Teachers Association.
On April 25, 1937, Mercy and a group of friends and family attended the grand opening of Bastrop State Park.
The next day, April 26, 1937, she had her picture taken with her Baker School class, 3B. Right, a fuzzy close-up.
In our files we have a note Grandma wrote to Mother on May 24, 1937 thanking her for all her help during Grandma's year as Worthy Matron.
In the summer of 1937, from July 8th through August 1, Grandpa, Grandma, Helen and Mother took a trip up east. They visited the Taylors in DC and then went up to Pittsburgh to visit Mary Dauler and her grown children and grandchildren.
But the most exciting news came in December 1937.
Mercy wanted to go see her good friend Mae
Caller Roland in Del
Rio at Christmas. She was going to take the bus, but Ed called her. He
was
driving through Austin on his way back to San Antonio, having been let
out of
the hospital in Colorado. He offered to drive her to Del Rio. She
accepted.
They must have driven to San Antonio first because she spent the night
with one
of Julian's aunts. The next day they drove on to Del Rio and that's
when he
asked her to marry him.
Photos of Mercy taken on October 9, 1937, just a few months before Ed proposed.
Above, Mercy and her sister-in-law, Alice Strong Ramsey. Since Mercy's hair and dress are the same as the pictures above, this photo was probably also taken in 1939. Alice had married Murray Ramsey in September 1931. Mercy and Alice were close to the same age. Alice was born in January 1911 and Mercy in November 1911.
1938
The development date on this set of school photos is March 28, 1938. I assume this is Mercy with some of her fellow Baker School teachers. Mercy is the second from the right, next to the woman holding the old-fashioned milk battle.
Above, another group photo of the Ramsey clan in front of what had been FT and Belle's house in Austin.
In our files is a letter Miss Minnie wrote Mercy
on Feb 5,
1938 saying Ed had shared the happy news of their engagement with her
and Mr.
Carl and welcoming her into the family. Mercy visited Ed in Colorado
Springs in
June 1938. He was still under medical supervision at a veteran's
hospital
because of the tuberculosis he caught while working in a CCC camp in
1936. He
must have been released and they made plans to marry in 1939, but in
the fall
of 1938, he fell while trimming a pecan tree in his father's yard in
San
Antonio and started spitting up blood. Mr. Carl, Sr. drove him to the Army Tubercular Hospital at Legion,
Texas near
Kerrville, north of San Antonio, where he remained for over a year.
That meant
their wedding had to be postponed until 1940. Mother told me that after
Ed's
fall and return to the hospital, she asked Miss Minnie if she should
still plan
to marry him. Miss Minnie said yes because if Mercy didn't Ed would
probably
die.
In a postcard she wrote home while on her trip to see Ed in Colorado, she mentioned some of her experiences. Above, earlier in the year, she'd gotten to see Helen Hayes again, this time in ‘Victoria Regina.'
On
March 2nd, Texas
Independence Day, in 1939, Mercy joined other ex-students to celebrate.
She was a member of the Ex Students Association.
Mother
with her Baker
school classes
The development date on the set of school pictures
above is
Jun 27, 1939, but the upper one is probably from the previous fall term
and the
one on the other is probably from the spring term, 1939 at Baker
School. Mercy
got high marks as a teacher. In June 1939, Mr. Porter, her principal
said, “Her
work is same as before, consistent, dependable and excellent.” In our
files is
a letter from the Pecan Springs School District in Austin dated
4-21-39,
offering her a teaching position the following school year. With it is a rough draft of her reply
in which she accepted the position. In an interview she said after
Baker School she
moved to
Wooldridge, but unless that school was in the Pecan Springs School
District, it
appears for the 1939-40 school year she was at Pecan Springs. I'm
confused by the contradiction.
The development date on the photo above is July 1939. This looks like the cabin where Mercy and Ed honeymooned in 1940. Perhaps they were checking it out! It's interesting that Daddy looks happier than Mother in the pics above and below. But then, she frowned in her school class photos too. Grandma told her not to show her teeth in pictures, but she was able to smile as can be seen in the snow photo.
Mother and Daddy on an outing in August 1939. In the winter of 1939, Austin had another big snow and Mother got to play in it.
1940
The
development date
on the photo above is Feb 6, 1940. Mother had said that after teaching
at Baker School, she moved to Wooldridge Elementary, but the offer from
the Pecan Springs School Board makes it seem she spent the fall of 1939
and the spring of 1940 at Pecan
Springs
Elementary. So I'm not sure whether the photo above was taken at
Wooldridge or Pecan Springs.
Mother's announcement party was on May 18, 1940.
An article on the engagement and party ran in the Austin paper on May 19 with a photo of Mother.
On June 12, Mercy Ramsey and Ed Carl married at the Central Christian Church in Austin. The reception was at her parents' house at 4312 Speedway.