Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Mary Alice Warnick Carter Hamaker of Alabama 1883-1970 #52Ancestors #5

Mary Alice Warnick, known as Alice, was born July 14, 1883 in Alabama or Mississippi, depending on the census you're reading. She was the third of eight children born to George Washington Warnick and Flora Jane Cargo Warnick. She was raised in Jefferson County Alabama around the Hueytown area.

Alice married her neighbor, Samuel Thomas Carter, December 22, 1901.
Samuel Thomas and Mary Alice Warnick Carter

They had a daughter, 'Dessa, about 1903. Alice was pregnant when Samuel died February 20, 1905 in the Virginia Mines which you can read about here. Their daughter Flora Jane was born August 13, 1905.

Flora, Alice and O'Dessa Carter

On July 22, 1909, Alice married James Harve Hamaker.  My mom told me they were married in a wagon by a circuit riding preacher. He raised Alice's two daughters and together they had a son, Roma Neal Hamaker October 12, 1911.

James Harve and Alice Hamaker

Harve purchased land originally belonging to the Huey family and built Alice a house at 3121 Warrior River Road, Hueytown. When I was a child I thought it was very strange to have to go outside on the back porch to access the bathroom. Lights hung down from the high ceilings from a cord. The stove/heater in what I guess would now be a den always had some flatirons warming on it. I remember having the sheets of the bed warmed in winter with those flatirons, before they were piled with tons of heavy quilts.

Flora, Alice and Dessie


My dad supplied Alice with Red Seal snuff. She had long gray hair which was kept in a bun until bedtime, when she would take out her hairpins and brush it. She tatted lace.

Harve, Alice. Roma, and his wife Pearl on vacation in New Orleans 1948

Warnick Sisters. Alice on the left.

Alice is buried beside Harve in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, Hueytown, Alabama. At her funeral, I remember the pastor saying he once thought a small child was trying to open the heavy wooden door to the sanctuary. When he went to help, there was Mrs. Hamaker, who was too weak to open the door. She lived to be 87.


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