Aunt Pauline is probably the oldest relative that I remember meeting. Not necessarily age-wise, but generation wise. She was the sister of my maternal great-grandfather Julius Jared Pressley. Aunt Pauline and Aunt "Dolly" (the nickname for Margaret Elizabeth) were daughters of Richard Simpson and Philadelphia Isabella Evatt Pressley. Aunt Pauline was their youngest child.
When I was a little girl, we would go to visit Aunt Pauline. She lived in what had been her brother's house (James Franklin Pressley). She lived in the same neighborhood where I grew up just a few streets behind our house. Her street was Vandiver Street. What I remember about her was it seemed like she was a hundred years old. She was a very sweet lady and I think she was one that helped instill the love of the elderly in me. She was also very forgetful. I don't know if it was age, or Alzheimer's, or if she, too, had a brain tumor like my Aunt Mae did.
I called her "Aunt" just like I did Aunt Rose (who was really my grandma's first cousin), but I didn't realize her true relationship to me until I was an adult and further into my family history research. I always just thought she was a sweet older friend of my mama's. As a child, I didn't realize that she really was my aunt. Many Southern children call older people aunt or uncle, even though there are no familial ties.
I remember once my mama gave Aunt Pauline a picture of me and my siblings. She put it in Aunt Pauline's billfold for her. Aunt Pauline kept asking about the picture, where it was, etc. I didn't understand at that point why she couldn't remember. I have had much experience with these types of memory problems since then. My grandma Maggie, the daughter of Julius Jared Pressley, had Alzheimer's.
Aunt Pauline was born 19 September 1894, never married, and died 14 December 1981. She is buried at the Silverbrook Cemetery, now known as the Old Silverbrook Cemetery, in Anderson, South Carolina.
Please subscribe to David's YouTube Channel. Thanks!
Posts
Sounds like a beautiful memory of times gone by.
ReplyDeleteI sure do miss those folks and those moments in my life.
DeleteVery interesting. I knew my Dad's Aunt Vic, she was born in 1897, I think she died in 1987.
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that you got to know your Aunt Vic. Tell me about her, please. I'd love to hear about her. :)
DeleteI got so excited about the subject that I forgot to say to have a great day!
DeleteI love seeing old photographs like this. They are great reminder of the past and how times were. It's lovely that you got to know her a little. I remember my Aunt Lo - who was technically my mom's aunt; but she was well in her 90s when I was young and we would go around for tea time quite often. She died at 101 - after she was out mowing her lawn!! Can you imagine?
ReplyDeleteMy first reply to you disappeared, so here we go again. :)
DeleteHow cool that you got to know your Aunt Lo. I cannot imagine *me* mowing my lawn at 101 years old, but I can imagine David's Great-grandma Bushnell doing it. She died at 104 years old, but was kickin' it right up to the end. As I understand it, she was out planting something and came inside and just dropped right there in the hallway with the seeds still in her hands.
Please tell me more about your Aunt Lo. Did she share any neat family stories with you?
Have a great day!