Growing up, my grandmother always talked about her cousin Fannie Dotson. I believe Fannie was living in Athens, Alabama, at that time. Unfortunately, I never had the pleasure of meeting cousin Fannie, but I did meet her daughter and granddaughter. Attending a Genealogy Conference in Denver allowed me to meet Cousin Fannie’s daughter Carolyn and granddaughter.
Below is a picture of Carolyn right after her 1944 marriage to Private First Class John Batiste Brooks. Carolyn was an instructor in the Tuscaloosa, Alabama Schools, and John was at Northington General Hospital. John’s World War military draft registration card listed his home as New Iberia, Louisiana, and he was a Southern University student. On the 1940 U.S. Federal Census, nineteen-year-old John lived in New Iberia with his mother, Edith Brooks, and three sisters. Edith was also on his Military Draft Registration Card. The Social Security Death Index has his death as 22 May 1989.
According to Carolyn’s Social Security Application Claims Index, she married twice more, once to a Brown and then to a Crisp. I obtained a copy of her SS5 application back in 2015.
My visit with Carolyn and her daughter meant a lot to me.
