Home Aways

Mom lived with several relatives between the time she graduated from school and the time she got married. She lived with Aunt Loretta. She was married to Charles H. Wilson. Like most mothers of her time she lost one child, Charles Bruce. She had four other sons. Harold F., Donald J., William K., and Charles H.

I visited Aunt Loretta in Houston with my parents several times. Below is my mother at Aunt Loretta's house.



Mom with Don, one of Aunt Loretta's boys.



Another picture of Mom and Dad while "courting". Should have been in one of the posts below.



Mom and Dad took care of mother's parents. I think this is mom and dad's house in Almeda, Texas. This is the picture as taken and below is a "close up".



Mr. DeMille, I am ready...



Below is a picture of Mom's older sister Zilpha Wilson Hurt. With Zilpha are her daughters Jean and Hazel. Jean married Barney Thomas and had two son's, Gary and Thomas(Tommy). Hazel married Albert Rehm and had five children, Albert, John, Roddy, and twin girls Marilyn and Geraldine. Shown are the three boys. Marilyn and Geraldine were born after this picture.



Another close up.

The Paternal Side

My last name is Pearson. I know more about my Mother's side of the family, she was a story teller, but I know a bit about my Father's side of the family from just being there.


My Father, John A Pearson was born on May 5, 1904 on a Cherokee Indian Reservation in Talala, Oklahoma. He was listed on the Tribal Roll. He grew up there and after graduating from public school, he worked in the Oklahoma oil fields. His father was James Wallace Pearson who was born in 1874 in Illinois.



Tired of the Oil Fields, he and his older brother, George, went to New Orleans to catch a steamer and see the world. Once in New Orleans they found that it was not that easy to get on a ship. George talked to people that said the place to be was Houston, Texas. They moved there. From there I do not know a lot about what he did and I do not know the years he made these moved in his life.

I do know that Dad got married in 1930, when he was 26. I am pretty sure he graduated in 1923. In the 1930's census He and Uncle George were rooming together in Houston. Dad was soon to be married.

Happy Aniversary Mom and Dad

Today is the anniversary of my parents wedding. They were married June 3, 1930.

The Wedding Picture.

These Pictures are at my mother's cousin Catherine Kitchel's apartment. That apartment still stands on Montrose across from the Plaza Hotel. It is a shop now. Mother had lived there while she and Dad dated. She worked for Dr. Dixon as a nurse and Radiologist.



Off to their Honeymoon.





It is my understanding that my Aunt Geneva, who married my Dad's Brother George also worked in that office. Apparently, as told top by Uncle George, he had met this woman he wanted to go on a date with and asked her to find a date for my Dad so they could double. After the Date, Uncle George asked my Dad how he liked hos date. Dad said it was OK. Uncle George then asked if my Dad would mind if he asked out my Dad's date because he rather liked her. Dad said that was fine because he rather liked George's date. Mom was George's date and Aunt Geneva was my Dad's date that George preferred. So we see the 27-year-old newly weds as they begin their honeymoon. It is also just after the 1929 stock market crash and the early days of the Great Depression. But on this day they are smiling and looking forward to a happy life together. They remained married until my father's death in 1966for almost 36 years, and in my mother's mind the 37 years she lived after his death. They remained married until my father's death in 1966. My mother never remarried. She had many offers of marriage but she always said that she was still married to John A Pearson.

Alta Loma, Texas

The back of the picture below says, "Sally and John's courting days and Hazel in front of Hurt house." The first three of these pictures are taken at the Hurt house in Alta Loma. Alta Loma has since been incorporated with several other small towns and is called Santa Fe. There is more information on this house in Settlements on the Prairie by Jean Hurt Thomas.



This is my dad, John A Pearson and Hazel Hurt, my mother's neice.



Below is my mother, Jennie Salome Wilson, and her niece Hazel Hurt.



The inscription on the back of this picture reads, "Lara Chesser and Bertha Wilson wearing costumes worn at a masquerade and dance." These folks were Baptists and it is the 1930's so I doubt this is a dance in the sense we would think today.



This last picture is of Nana, my grandmother, Bertha Kitchel Wilson, and her Son Bruce's Kids. They are Bruce Jr. and Betty Gayle. I think this is taken in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Hurt or Holt

My mother's sister Zilpha married John Henry Hurt. My memory had transformed the Hurts into Holts and I was not sure why. It turns out that Minneford Kitchel the daughter of Charles Kitchel married Richard Lee Holt. Charles Kitchel had moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas and the Holt Branch of the Kitchel Family Tree grew there.

The Hurt Branch of the Kitchel Family tree stayed in Alta Loma.




The picture above is of Minneford Frances Kitchel. Below is her family. She and Lee Holt are almost hidden in the back.

Richard Lee Holt and Minneford Frances Kitchel were married on August the 17th in Fayetteville, Arkansas. They had 10 children, Richard Lee Jr., Wiley Bruce "Joe" , Evelyn Sue , Charles Wesley, Bertha Faye, Edgar Wayne, Mary Edna, Melvin Ernest, Donald Earl, and Anna Lou.

Evelyn Sue was born on September 6, 1935 and died March 29, 1943. She died from "a fall from the porch swing at Grandpa Kitchel's houe on 3rd Street. She was 8-years-old. Bertha Faye was born premature on December 5, 1939 and died two days later.





Seated in the middle of the couch is Minnie Kitchel, Minneford's mother.



The photo above is taken in Fayetteville, Arkansas. After graduating from School in Alta Loma, my mother lived in Fayetteville for a while. In this picture is (from right to left) Jennie Salome Wilson, Martha Manning, Minneford Kitchel (behind), Ethel Mullenix, and Eva Mullenix.



This is in Arkansas. In Back left to right is Bertha Kitchel Wilson, Roderick D. Wilson, Zipha Inez Wilson Hurt, and Edward Wilson. In front is Jennie Salome Wilson, Jean Hurt, and Hazel Hurt.



This last picture is taken in Claremore, Oklahoma. This picture introduces the Pearson Family. My paternal Grandmother is on the left, then Zilpha Hurt, and my mother Sally Pearson (Jennine Salome Wilson Pearson). I believe that the building in back is the Will Rogers Museum. I am not sure about the woman in the middle being Zilpha, but that is what my mother wrote on the back of the picture. So I will leave it like that until I can be sure it is not so.