Stories from the tree - the petition

Often, a fact or document from the family archives provides a hint of a bigger story. That's the case with this petition made by Barb's maternal grandmother, Anna Black Wesson. A little research of other documents fills out the story. The petition is hard to read, so the text version is provided as well.

The State of Texas
    County of Bastrop, | C. W. Welch a Notary Public in and for Bastrop County, Texas on this day personally appeared Anna Dora Wesson well known to us who after being by me first duly sworn upon her oath deposes and says:
    I am the wife of Marvin L. Wesson, a Corporal in 36th M. P. Company A. E. F. apo 796. I have no means of support except from my own labor and the allotment and allowance of $30.00
per month made by my husband of the Government. I have no position now and no prospect of one in several months. Expenses are very high and the $30.00 per month income mentioned above is insufficient to cover my maintenance expenses.
    In case my husband is released from the army he would be able to properly provide for my support and would do this.
    Therefore I herenow make this application and ask for his immediate discharge if possible.
            Anna Dora Wesson
Sworn to and subscribed before me at
Elgin, Texas on this the 3rd day of May, 1919
            Notary Public
            Bastrop Co Tex 

The petition is straightforward. Anna's husband, Marvin Wesson, is off in the military and the $30 a month that the Army provides for dependents is simply not enough for her to live on. She is asking that her husband be released, so that he can come home and they can get about with their lives.

The date of the petition is important. May, 1919 - 6 months after the end of the 1st World War. Marvin, like millions of other men, had registered for the draft back in June of 1917, when the Selective Service Act was enacted. He was promptly called up for service and before shipping out he married his sweetheart, Anna Dora Black, in December of 1917.

Anna  had been teaching school, and continued to do so. She had a contract to teach 6 and 8/10 of a month in Bastrop County, starting on September 23, 1918, at a salary of $60 per month.

That school year ended in April of 1919, but for some reason Anna's Teaching Certificate from the State of Texas was temporary, and only good until August 31, 1919. So when she says in the petition that she has no prospect of a position, she means that there won't be another teaching job.

Draftees were normally inducted "for the duration of the war plus six months." For many, this meant that by May of 1919, most soldiers were headed home. But for some reason Marvin was not one of those soldiers, so Anna was in dire straits.

We don't know just who Anna presented the petition to, or even if she presented it at all. In any event it was moot, because by August, Anna had joined Marvin in El Paso, Texas. Evidently he had successfully separated from the military about then, because in January, the 1920 census finds Marvin and Anna together, living in a 4-family apartment building, awaiting the birth of their 1st son, Harold in June. Marvin's occupation listed in the census is "street car operator."