You Just Never Know...

I mentioned in a post last summer that there was more information forthcoming about my Grandma Alma (Earls) Riggs.  In the post I mentioned that on her obituary it listed a deceased sister named Alba.  You just never know what kind of things you find out about your own family...

My Great-Grandfather, Jesse Randle Earls, was born in 1891 and my Great-Grandmother, Mary Effie (Riddle) Earls, was born in 1890.  I could not find their marriage date but evidently it was before 1910.

Jesse Randle (Poppa) and Mary Effie (Riddle) (Mam-Ma) Earls

 I always understood that Jesse and Effie had three children; Jesse Ray Earls (1912), Ether Alma Riggs (1913) and Mildred Pauline Willard Capshaw(1919).  Effie passed away in 1956 from injuries she received in a car wreck at Brandsville, Missouri.  In 1959, Jesse married Ruby (Montgomery) VonAllmen whose husband, Estil VonAlllmen had also passed away in a car wreck.  In 1961, Bonnie Edith was born to Jesse and Ruby.

When I read my Grandma Riggs' obituary, I was extremely puzzled by the deceased sister, Alba.  Everyone I could ask had passed away (I thought) so I searched the internet for any mention of an Alba Earls.  I became "Friends" with Bonnie (Earls) Matlock and out of the clear blue she messaged me some information.  It was in the form of a question asking me if I knew that Alma had a sister named Albie.  This really floored me because it never crossed my mind to ask my "Aunt" Bonnie about it.  Bonnie informed me that Albie was buried in Moten Cemetery, southwest of Mammoth Spring, Arkansas.  It was no wonder I hadn't found any information since I was only searching in Missouri!  I searched findagrave.com with no results but on arkansasgravestones.org, I found a picture of Albie's gravestone! 

Used with permission of mjkane7 - Source: arkansasgravestones.org

The stone reads:
ALBIE DAU (Daughter) OF
J.R.& M.E. EARLS
BORN OCT 5 1910
DIED FEB 15 1913
(Her epitaph is really sweet)
BUDDED ON EARTH
TO BLOOM IN HEAVEN

I do not remember my GGrandfather, Poppa Earls, but I have been told by scores of people that he was a prince of a man.  He was a Holiness Pentecostal Preacher and Pastor and directed the Fifth-Sunday Meeting in our local fellowship of churches.  He was known to the family as Poppa but I've heard Brother Jess, Brother Jesse, Brother Earls and Uncle Jess used interchangeably.  Below are a couple more pictures I found in some of my stuff.

I decided to attach a picture of my Grandma, Alma (Earls) Riggs...known to anyone that really knew her as "Momo".  I was shocked at how much she resembled her Mom and Dad!