Cutting Corners

“If person is of African descent cut off this corner”.


In addition to collecting World War I Draft Registration cards for family members, I've been compiling an index of cards for 'persons of African descent' in Labette County, KS. Even though I've looked at many cards before and noticed the lower left-hand corner cut off of many of them, I never thought about its significance. Then I finally looked at a blank form and saw the little triangle in the corner with the instruction to cut it off based on the registrant's heritage. There were three versions of the draft card - A, B and C. Version C did not have the triangle. All three versions did have an entry for Race but I suppose it's easier to look for cut off corners than to actually have to read cards in order to select a race-based group of soldiers, especially when that entry included Black, Colored, African and Ethiopian (I haven't found any Mulattoes in my extracts yet). What ever did they do when they got to the C-cards? What happened to the person whose corner was cut off by mistake? Or whose corner was not?

Anna Stinnett Coker

Anna Stinnett Coker, my paternal great-grandmother, was born in June around 1868 in Arkansas, probably in the Marion County region, and died in Joplin, Missouri on 8 April 1954. She is buried in Parkway cemetery in Joplin. She married George W. Coker in the early 1880s and had seven known children. I don't know much about Grandma Coker. I've heard that I met her as a toddler but I have no recollection of that meeting.

I often wonder what her life was like. First, living in Yellville, then later in Joplin. She outlived her husband and most of her children - Logan died a couple of months after his mother, and Myrtle lost touch with the family; she buried the rest of them, including my grandfather Lonnie. Her oldest daughter, Maud, died of typhoid fever in 1911 and her youngest daughter, Bertha, of tuberculosis in 1926.

I found these death notices in the Joplin Globe:
9 April 1954
Mrs. Anna Coker Dies
Mrs. Anna Coker, 86 years old, a Negro resident of Joplin 60 years, died at 215 o'clock yesterday afternoon in her home, 1920 Furnace avenue. Born in Yellville, Ark., she was a member of Holiness church. Surviving are a son, Logan Coker of Grove, Okla., and four grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be announced by Steven Parker mortuary.

11 April 1954
Coker Funeral MondayFuneral services for Mrs. Annie Coker, 86 years old, will be conducted at 2 o'clock Monday afternoon in the Steve Parker chapel. Burial will be in Parkway cemetery. The body will lie in state at the mortuary chapel until the funeral hour. A resident of Joplin 60 years, Mrs Coker died Thursday afternoon at her home 1020 Furnace avenue.

Happy Birthday, Pop!

UncaBud, The Rambling Man

Uncle Buddy is my mother's brother and was the only son in his family for a very long time; in fact, I'm older than my youngest uncle, Eddie, but that's another story. This one is about the man who expects to have a pot of coffee on when he comes to visit, the man who always seems to be on a road trip, the man who has a Biblical reference for most situations in life. Uncle Buddy says not to think about the weather - that the effects of heat and cold are both in your head and you make yourself suffer unnecessarily when you ponder the ways of Mother Nature. I reckon he's right. (I wasn't whining much at the football game the other day until I found out it was 98 degrees.) UncaBud is also my genealogy resource on the Robinson side of the family. After Ma passed he told me that he never was one for verbally expressing love,but that he thought it was time to start. Now, he ends our phone conversations with "I love you". I reckon he always did. 

Mildred - NOT!

Aunt Ginny's birth certificate said her name was Mildred and that her birthdate was three days earlier than it was. Try explaining that to the Social Security Administration! Let's just say the country doctor had some issues at the time and that all is well now. We know who she is. Virginia Lee Coker, daughter of Pearl, only sister of Harry and Red, surrogate sister and running buddy of my mother. Uncle Tommy called her Bread; was she his Bread of Life, or his Wonder, the other white bread?

Aunt Ginny is the reigning matriarch of the Coker Clan now (and a great genealogy resource!). She has walked this earth for eighty years and has borne both the sadness and joy that comes with that many years. She also bore my father on her back when he complained to my great-grandmother that he was tired of walking.

Her heart and home have always been open to us, still offering refuge when we need it. If you can't find one of us at Ma's house, we're probably at Aunt Ginny's, enjoying the quiet, the air conditioning, or raiding the bar stocked in the 70s and only touched when we're in town (one more Homecoming should clear it out).

We take so many things for granted, especially family. Grandma told me that I could always count on my family no matter what happens and she was right. I am blessed. Thanks, Aunt Ginny, for being part of that blessing.

Born in the Caul

My grandmother told me that Uncle Red was born with a veil, or caul. This is the delicate membrane that encases the fetus. In many cultures, to be born in an unbroken caul is to be marked as endowed with supernatural powers, or to bring luck. It is said that a child born with a veil has the gift of second sight; Grandma said it meant he could see ghosts. I never talked to him enough to know if he thought this was true. He was a man of few words. He would talk to you if you talked to him but I don't remember him ever starting a conversation. If he had a gift for you, he would just hold it out to you, and, maybe, say "Here." There's a rumor that he was once married but I don't know if I'll ever be able to document that. I remember Uncle Red as a reformed drinker who turned to the C.O.G.I.C in his later years. He sat quietly and watched us grow, sometimes sharing the treasure of his smile.

Mrs. Coker

June 12, 2006

My mother, Lois Charlene Robinson Coker, died a month ago today. Her death was sudden; she was gone within the time I got the first call informing me that something had happened to her and the time my plane landed in Tulsa, Oklahoma the next afternoon.

I've been working on family history this week and have missed being able to call her and ask questions about people whose names I've run across in census records or just to clarify some information we had talked about in the past. My hand has reached for the phone several times before I remember that she won't answer anymore.