Pattie Allen HAIRSTON

HAIRSTON.org ID#155, b. October 1868, d. 2 January 1935
Father*Dr. Peter Constantine HAIRSTON1,2,3 b. 9 Jun 1823, d. 7 May 1889
Mother*Wortley Virginia MOSELEY b. 25 Oct 1831, d. 11 Feb 1902
Birth*Pattie Allen HAIRSTON was born in October 1868 in Lowndes, Mississippi.4 
She was the daughter of Dr. Peter Constantine HAIRSTON and Wortley Virginia MOSELEY.1,2,3 
Census 1870Pattie Allen HAIRSTON appeared on the 1870 census of Dr. Peter Constantine HAIRSTON on 16 June 1870 in Lowndes, Mississippi.2
Census 1880Pattie Allen HAIRSTON appeared on the 1880 census of Dr. Peter Constantine HAIRSTON on 23 June 1880 in Lowndes, Mississippi.5
Photo


(left to right) - Peter's daughter Sally Staples, Dr. Peter C. Hairston, Peter's daughter Pattie Allen, family friend Miss Moina Evans, Peter's wife Wortley Virginia Moseley Hairston, Miss Emily Elizabeth Ervin (sister of Virginia Antionette Ervin, second wife of Peter's son George William Hairston). 
Marriage*Pattie Allen HAIRSTON married William Sterling TURNER on 14 June 1893 in Lowndes, Mississippi; book 17 page 157.6 
WillIn Wortley Virginia MOSELEY's will dated 20 March 1896 in "written signed & published at the family residence Magowah", Lowndes, Mississippi, Pattie Allen HAIRSTON was named as an heir; Lowndes County Will Book 2, page 372-378. FSL #5835940 image 222.7
Census 1900She appeared on the 1900 census of William Sterling TURNER on 13 June 1900 in Beat 4, Lowndes, Mississippi.4 
Census 1910Pattie Allen HAIRSTON appeared on the 1910 census of William Sterling TURNER in 1910 in District 48, Beat 4, Lowndes, Mississippi.8

 
Census 1920Pattie Allen HAIRSTON appeared on the 1920 census of William Sterling TURNER in 1920 in Ward 2, Columbus, Lowndes, Mississippi.9

 
Residence*Pattie Allen HAIRSTON lived on 9 August 1928 in 1475 Linden Avenue, Long Beach, California.10 
Census 1930She appeared on the 1930 census of Bryan W. MCCOWAN on 11 April 1930 in Long Beach, Los Angeles, California.11

 
Death*Pattie Allen HAIRSTON died on 2 January 1935 in Long Beach, Los Angeles, California, at age 66. Listed as Patricia Turner, spouse initial are W. S., age 60 (not correct), county code 70 Los Angeles, state file number 1163.12 
Obituary*Her obituary was in the January 11, 1935 issue of the Macon Beacon. "Death of Mrs. Pat Hairston Turner." 
Anecdote*Written 1992 by Carolyn Hairston Blair Henderson

This is to tell you what happened to Aunt Pat Hairston Turner, (Pattie Allen) and her branch of the family.

Aunt Pat was the youngest child of Dr. Peter Constantine Hairston and Wortley Moseley. She and all of her brood were fun loving and funny. Everybody loved them. She married Uncle Will Turner. They lived in Dr. Peter's house in the Prarie, next to the Nick Hairston house. Dr . Peter and Nicholas Edward were brothers, 2 years apart and lived all their lives next to each other. George William, son of Dr. Peter married Mary Watt Hairston, daughter of Uncle Nick and Kizzie Staples.

Aunt Pat had 3 girls, Patsy, "Trixie", Wortley "Wort", Montague "Monty", 2 boys, William and Pete .

The house burned about 1914. Uncle Will died. Aunt Pat lived at one time with Dr. & Mrs. S. L. Hollingsworth, the parents of Mary Alice who married first John "Peter" Hairston and second Leonard Gibson. Pat married John Cope. They had a child born about 1919, the same year that I was born. She was deaf, couldn't talk and had no mind. John Cope deserted Pat. Wort had married Chandler Dee. Son Dee was born that same year and Martha later on . Mother always told about how she took me and son Dee to the Presbyterian Church to be "baptized". Wortley was pregnant so couldn't go. The Hairstons were Presbyterian. The Blairs were also Presbyterian. John Cope had some sisters in Calif. and they told Pat to come out there and they would help her. Many many years later he tried to get Pat to marry him again, she said that she never liked warmed over soup. She went to Los Angeles in the early 1930s or earlier. She was darling to look at and a precious personality. Everybody loved her. She worked at Bullock Wiltshire, a very fine department store in Hollywood.

It wasn't long before Aunt Pat and "Monty" followed Pat to Calif. Soon Wort and Chandler and their two children went also. About 1932 my Mother, Laura May , and I went to join them. Mother adored these cousins, especially Pat. When we got there, Monty had married a man named Mac McGowan. He worked in the oil fields. It was the depth of the depression. Nobody had a job but Pat and Monty's husband . They all lived in an old house together. We stayed a short time with them. Aunt Pat couldn't handle "Little Patsy" so Pat found a home for her and she moved into an apartment with Mother and me. She had lots of beaus. She got a few parts in movies as an extra. We lived one block from Paramount Studios . I went to Santa Monica Blvd. school. I walked past the Hollywood cemetery every day going to school and played in the cemetery. Lon Chainey was buried in the Mausoleum and it was said that a lady in black visited him every day. We would peep in the Mausoleum every day in hopes of seeing her, but we never did.

During this time, Mother's brother Nick, returned from Nicaragua. He had left Military School and joined the Marines. We took him to see the new "talking pictures". They were all the rage. He was stationed at San Diego. Our apartment had a bed that pulled down out of the watk, it was called a Murphee bed. He came to see us ofter and it was great fun. He loved to dance and have a good time too. I was about 10, so Mother and Pat were about 30 and Nick was about 24 . Mother was in love with Ben Cotton, whom she married later. He came out there too. He couldn't find a job. Times were so hard. Mother's sister, Wortley, had her second baby and died in childbirth. We started back to New Orleans with Papa Cotton in his open touring car to drive back. The dessert was too hot to drive in during the day and too cold at night. Mother and I finally had to catch a train.

We stayed in New Orleans with Ben Bachus, Betty, 3 yrs. old, and the new baby, Ben Jr. They had a grand black cook, Amanda, and a white woman, Miss Annie Montgomery from Jackson, Tenn. Ben and Wortley's neighbors, the Kimseys, had found her to help Wortley. We stayed until school was out, maybe 6 months, then we all went to Crawford. Mama & Papa, my Grandparents, raised Betty & Ben with Miss Annie's help. She was so sweet. I loved her. She would let me sleep in the bed with her because I never liked to sleep alone.

Mother had the hot foot to go back to Calif., which we did. It took a week on the train. Read her letters that describe these train trips . We went to see Mattie Bell Ledbetter in Denver. She is a sister of Cousin Claire Ledbetter Gibson, Leonard Gibson's Mother. In Calif. we would rent an apartment in Long Beach for the summer. They were all living there then. I could stay at the beach all PM long every day. They had life guards. There was no crime and no fear. How wonderful! Pete Turner was in Calif. He doubled for Tom Mix. He got hurt and died very young . William went to the Florida Keys and married and died there. Patsy married many times mostly wealthy, thank goodness. One she divorced, one died and the last one outlived her by just a little. She died from cancer after a glorious happy life. Thru good times and bad times she was always so happy and fun to be with. She came to visit us many times. She came home for my High School graduation in Columbus and stayed a long time. Ric thought she was the cutest thing he had ever seen . He asked her once how old she was, she said, "You come on out here in the dark and I'11 show you how old I am". We remained close to them all our lives.The last time we saw Pat, she and Mac McCreaeley were on the "Mississippi Queen", a river boat on the Mississippi River. Broughton and I took Mother to Vicksburg to meet them. We spent all day visiting with them. Pat had cancer real bad then. Mac's mind had gotten bad but they still traveled to the very end. When she died, he never realized she was gone and kept talking to her, so Wort wrote us.

Chandler Dee was very successful. He invented a swimming pool filter. He owned his own machine shop. Sometimes they were in the money and again Chandler would drink it all up and they were broke. He was doing well when he died and left Wort comfortable . They came back only once, about 1968. I was divorced and living in Hollandale, Ms. They were in a small camper. Mother came over and we had a good visit. The air conditioner went out in the house I was living in and it was hotter than hell. Mother, Wort and I went to Greenville and stayed in a Motel. Chandler stayed there and sleep in his camper. Later, after he died, Wort came to Starkville and spent a week. She is 3 or 4 years older than Mother but Mother couldn't keep up with her. I spent the week and toured Wort around Columbus to see old friends and the grave of her Grandmother Wortley. She said that she remembered when she died, she was laid out on a couch in a black dress. She had a great visit, never stopped talking day or night. When I got back after all day, I would tell Mother, "Now you listen to her for a while, I'm exhausted."

Son Dee, Wort & Chandler's Son , married, had 2 children, divorced and married again. Wort raised his 2 children . Her granddaughter
takes care of her now. She is in a nursing home, has had a stroke and can't speak, only smiles. Son Dee had a stroke and has been in a wheel chiair for years.

Martha, Wort's daughter was always masculine, unattractive, strange disposition, not like the rest of the family at all. She lived with her parents and worked. Late in life, she fell in love with the married man next door. He divorced his wife and they married. Wort was so embarrassed. They are still together.

After Chandler died, Wort sold her big home with swimming pool and moved to leisure world. She had a ball, boy friends, danceing, games, she did it all. Reminded me of Aunt Pat. She had a boyfriend . They would take Son Dee and me with them to the dances down on the "pike". She would get tickled and wet all over the floor right in the middle of the dance floor. Son and I would sit in a balcony and watch it. We would fallout laughing.

Monty died in a nursing home. As of 1992 only Wort is living of Aunt Pat's children. Mother is 92, Wort always said that she had lied about her age so much, she had forgotten how old she really was. Mother would delight in saying, "Wort is 2 or 3 years older I am."
They had good times and bad times but they were a great branch of the family. I wonder who they took all that fun after. 

Family

William Sterling TURNER b. 17 Jul 1858, d. 13 Jan 1925
Children
ChartsDescendant Chart
Descendant Chart Box

Sources (www.HAIRSTON.org)

  1. [S55] Harden Hairston Family Bible, 1750-1908. The Holy Bible containing The Old & New Testaments: Translated Out of the Original Tongues,.....J. Holbrook's Sterotype Copy., Eighth Edition, Brattleborough, (Vt.), 1817, Library of Virginia - http://www.lva.virginia.gov
  2. [S1870] 1870 Federal Census - National Archives and Records Administration - Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
  3. [S1] Bethel Presbyterian Church Records, Lowndes County, Mississippi.
  4. [S1900] 1900 Federal Census - National Archives and Records Administration - Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
  5. [S1880] 1880 Federal Census - National Archives and Records Administration - Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
  6. [S62] Marriage Records - Lowndes County, Mississippi.
  7. [S96] Lowndes County Mississippi Will Book.
  8. [S1910] 1910 Federal Census - National Archives and Records Administration - Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
  9. [S1920] 1920 Federal Census - National Archives and Records Administration - Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
  10. [S3010] U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938, ancestry.com.
  11. [S1930] 1930 Federal Census - National Archives and Records Administration - Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
  12. [S3333] California Death Index 1940-1997, Ancestry.com.
Last Edited18 Jul 2023