Elnora & the Flour Sack

Elnora Calhoun was born on June 1, 1881 in Wolf Island, Missouri, a township named for a large population of wolves that were present in the area until the early 19th century [3, 9].  Elnora was the eighth of eleven children born to Uriah Raymond Calhoun and Mildred Elizabeth Taylor [9].  The Calhouns were a poor family, with the children working on the farm rather than focusing on schooling.  Elnora left school after fourth grade, and married Ulyssis Otto Ahlfield on Christmas Day 1896, at the age of fifteen [8, 12].

Elnora Calhoun
Elnora Calhoun Ahlfield in approximately 1950.

By the 1930’s, Elnora and Otto were living in the westernmost region of Kentucky, in Graves county [2, 7].  They had parented seven children, though their firstborn, Freddy, had died at age nine [4, 5, 6, 7, 9].  Otto worked on his own account as a farmer, while Elnora ran the home [4, 5, 6, 7].  After the stock market crash of 1929, the American economy had plummeted.  Factories were slowing down production, firing workers, and reducing wages.  Banks were failing, and farmers “couldn’t afford to harvest their crops, forced to leave them rotting in the fields while people elsewhere starved.” [10] Despite these hardships, Elnora’s great niece, Evelyn Calhoun Rogers, remembered her as a “fun lady”.  She reminisced to her daughter, Betty, that the family had taken a trip to visit relatives in Arkansas sometime in the thirties.  Elnora had been embarrassed because the group of nearly a dozen adults and children had to travel together in a single truck.  Joking that she “wanted everyone to know how poor she was”, Elnora made herself a pair of underpants out of an Aunt Jemima flour sack, placing the smiling matron’s face on her rear end [1].

Aunt Jemima
A vintage Aunt Jemima flour sack.

Elnora’s sense of humor would get her through more tough times.  Her two other sons, Willie and Woodrow, would precede her in death, as would her husband, Otto [9].  Elnora passed away in 1974, two days before Christmas, at 93 years of age [9, 11, 13].  She was buried in the Calvary Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Mayfield, Kentucky [9].

How Are We Related?

Relationship Calculator
Family Tree Maker® Relationship Calculator for my great grandmother, Elnora Calhoun, and me.  I have blurred out the names of living individuals, as well as my own personal information.

 

Sources

  1. “Elnora’s Trip to AR in the 1930’s,” posting on Ancestry.com by user Betty Phillips dated 03 Jan 2012, referencing a conversation between herself and her mother, Evelyn Calhoon Rogers, that took place in 2001.
  2. “Graves County, Kentucky.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Oct. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graves_County,_Kentucky.
  3. “Wolf Island, Missouri.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 July 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Island,_Missouri.
  4. 1900 United States Census, Household of Otto Ahlfield, St. James, Mississippi County, Missouri; Enumeration District 0068; Sheet 27B. National Archives Microfilm T623, Roll 875. [Lists Elnora Ahlfield, white female, age 18, married, born Missouri.]
  5. 1910 United States Census, Household of Otto H. Alfield, Graves County, Kentucky; Enumeration District 0071; Sheet 5A. National Archives Microfilm T624, Roll 475. [Lists Nora Alfield, white female, age 26, married, born Missouri.]
  6. 1920 United States Census, Household of Atto Allfield, Pryorsburg, Graves County, Kentucky; Enumeration District 83; Sheet 4B. National Archives Microfilm T625, Roll 571. [Lists Nora Allfield, white female, age 38, married, born Missouri.]
  7. 1930 United States Census, Household of Otto Ahlfield, Graves County, Kentucky; Enumeration District 0013; Sheet 6B. National Archives Microfilm T626, Roll 746. [Lists Elnora Ahlfield, white female, age 46, married, born Missouri.]
  8. 1940 United States Census, Household of Otto Alfield, Graves County, Kentucky; Enumeration District 42-13; Sheet 2B. National Archives Microfilm T627, Roll 1309. [Lists Nora Alfield, white female, age 56, married, born Missouri.]
  9. Find A Grave <www.findagrave.com>, Record of Elnora G “Nora” Calhoun Ahlfield, created by: Ms Betty, record added: Jan 31, 2016, Find A Grave Memorial #157650800. [Birth: Jun. 1, 1881; Death: Dec. 23, 1974; Burial: Calvary Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Graves County, Kentucky, USA]
  10. com Staff. “The Great Depression.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression.
  11. Kentucky Death Index, 1911-2000, Record of Elnora Ahlfield. [Original data obtained from the Kentucky Death Index, 1911-present. Commonwealth of Kentucky, Health Data Branch, Division of Epidemiology and Health Planning.]
  12. Missouri, Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900, Record of Otto Ahlfield and Ella Calhoun. [Original data obtained from Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, comp., Missouri Marriages, 1851-1900.]
  13. Social Security Death Index, U.S. Social Security Administrations Death Master File, Record of Elnora Ahlfield, Number: 402-54-5443; Issue State: Kentucky; Issue Date: 1956-1957.

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