Reading between the lines - Grandma Barbara - Stories from the Tree

The genealogical record is an accumulation of facts - who, what, when and where. This person was born on this date, married some other person on this date and died on this date. Record the essentials, the dry facts and move on to the next person in the line.

But if you read between the lines, those dry facts often tell interesting stories. That's true for Grandma Brown - my wife's paternal grandmother, for whom she was named.

Barbara Augusta Meyer was the first of 8 children born to German immigrants Frederick and Annie Schiebler Meyer. True, Frederick was born in New Orleans, but his parents were fresh off the boat, the "Admiral," and his wife Annie was born in Berlin. They met and married in New Orleans, but by the turn of the century, Charles had a carpentry and contracting business in Houston, where Barbara Augusta and her siblings were born.

In 1910, the Meyer family was living at 3418 Texas Street in Houston's 3rd Ward; Frederick's parents were just around the corner on the same block at 608 York Street. And right next door, at 610 York, were brand-new neighbors George T. and Molly Brown and their children, Ray and Pearl.

George was a railroad engineer and Ray, at age 18, was a railroad fireman. The Brown family previously lived in Mexico, where George and Ray drove trains in San Luis Potosi, Chihuahua, Cardenas and Guadalajara, Mexico. And did I mention that Ray was good looking?

Here's a picture of Barbara, Ray and Barbara's sister Lizzie, taken in 1910.

In 1911, the record shows that Barbara went to work for the National Biscuit Company at their brand-new bakery on North Chenevert, about a mile and a half from home. And she married Ray in August of that same year.

And there is one other item in the facts of Barbara's early life. She is listed in the 1912 Houston City Directory as working at the Magnolia Coffee Company in Houston, putting labels on cans of WABA brand coffee, alongside her sister Lizzie, who had been working there for at least a year. Interestingly, she is still listed as Barbara Meyer, and her address is still 3418 Texas Street.

That's probably just the slow-moving nature of the city directory business. But she did marry a railroad man, and it is possible that she (and Ray - when he was in town) continued to live with her parents for a while.

But less than 5 years later, Ray and Barbara were living in Kleburg, Texas, where Ray is working for the St Louis Brownsville & Mexico Railroad in Kingsville. And 5 years after that, there is another fascinating read-between-the-lines story about this family. I'll tell that story next week.