The Shumates - We Are Family, ca. 1905

Left to right:
Clay Porter Shumate, Pattie "Sittie" Shumate, Harriette Mary "Hattie Mai" Shumate, Martha Belle "Mattie" Shumate, Francis McLean "Mackie" Shumate, Virginia Shumate, Louise Shumate, Mai Belle Shumate

This is an amazing picture.   When we first saw it about a year ago we didn't know who these people were.  Were they Moran relatives?  Friends?  A club?  But now, after a year of sorting through things it became clear that this was a picture of Virginia Shumate before she was married to Kent's grandfather, James H. Moran III.  She's the third from the right.

What is more amazing is that it became clear that some of the other folks look familiar too.  And then like a light bulb going off over my head it was obvious to me that this was a group picture of Quincy Shumate and Nathan Shumate's children.   

In a nutshell, Quincy and Nathan were brothers, born in Kentucky.  Quincy married Louise "Lou" Elizabeth McLean and had five children: Porter, Pattie, Harriette Mary, Martha Belle and Francis McLean.  Quincy and family moved to Newbern TN sometime in the late 1800's.  His brother Nathan stayed in Kentucky in the Rockcastle County area.  Nathan married Margaret "Maggie" Jane Adams and they had three girls: Mai Belle, Virginia, and Louise.  Their mother died in 1896 and their father married Annie Elizabeth Purcell.  The three Shumate girls were not happy with this arrangement.  We think Virginia, Louise and Mai Belle moved to Newbern to live with Quincy sometime after their father remarried.  The girls did not get on with the new wife.  Nathan died a few years later in 1899.  The 1990 Census records show the girls living with Quincy in Newbern. 

Clay Porter Shumate married Pauline Prather.  He moved to Temecula California and married Mary Ethel Martindell in 1913. He died August 8, 1918.  I don't know where he is buried. **Updated Sept 8, 2014.  He's interred at Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego California.  It is unknown at this time what happened to Mary Ethel.

Pattie "Sittie" Shumate may have been married to a man with the last name of Newman.  I know that later she was married to Selwyn Dennis Tucker and they lived in Memphis.  

Harriette Mary "Hattie Mai" Shumate was married to Allison M. Tyler.  Allison died in 1914 and Hattie Mai married Charles Bowden Kingry.

Martha Belle "Mattie" Shumate married Harry Lester Baum. They divorced in 1936 and he married another woman.  I have not yet found when or where Martha Belle died and is buried.

Francis McLean "Mackie" Shumate married James Vernon Thomas.  Sometime around 1919 I believe Mackie and James divorced.  She married Thomas Ogilvie MacPherson and lived in California.  A letter from Charles Kingry to Virginia Shumate has a lot of family history in it including the fact that Mackie attended the funeral services of her sister Hattie Mai in 1956 and that Mackie was living Banning, California at that time.  Check out the link for Thomas Ogilvie MacPherson III.  Until now I didn't realize how he fit into the Moran puzzle.

Virginia Shumate Moran married James Henderson Moran III in 1911 in Dresden TN. 

Louise Shumate married Joseph Clay Durway.  You can read a bit more about her here.

Mai Belle Shumate married Newton Temple Harris Sr and lived in Texas.  You can see a picture of Mai Belle here taken on Mother's Day 1952.  She has a vase (one of a pair) that her father Nathan had given to her mother before they were married in 1882.  We have the matching vase, albeit at some point in history it was broken but was still a cherished memento.  It was made by Webster & Brothers and is stamped "hard white metal".  The pattern number is 44.

There is so much more to say about this family and will be!  Some of it has been said before in this blog so if you're interested be sure to use the search function or feel free to browse the archives.  Check back soon, I'm always adding new information.

The Shumate Sisters, ca. 1905

I think this is one of the pictures ever.  The poses are playful, the dresses, hats, furs, and gloves are charming.  I can't imagine having to wear all of these things everyday.

We feel certain these young ladies are Virginia, Maibelle, and Louise Shumate.  They were all born in Kentucky, probably in Garrard or Rockcastle County, but were orphaned.  Their mother, Maggie Adams Shumate, died in 1896 and their father Nathan McClary Shumate died in 1899.  In 1900 they moved to Newbern Tennessee to live with their uncle Quincy Shumate and his family.

Virginia married James Henderson Moran III in Dresden TN in 1911.  Maibelle married Newton Temple Harris about 1907 in Tarrant County Texas.  Louise married Joseph Clay Durway. They also lived in Tarrant County Texas.

The Last Shumate Sister, Louise Shumate Durway

Back of Louise Shumate Durway's headstone.

I am always on the lookout for the Shumate name as it relates to my husbands family.   Louise Shumate was the third and last daughter of Nathan McClary Shumate and Margaret (Maggie) Jane Adams of Rockcastle County Kentucky.






According to census records she was born about 1891.  Until a few days ago the last place I could track her was in 1900 in Newbern Tennessee.

Mrs. Newton Temple Harris (Maibelle Shumate)
Mrs James Henderson Moran (Virginia Shumate)
Mr. Joseph Clay Durway
Gratefully acknowledge your kind
expressions of sympathy in
their bereavement.

After the death of her parents Louise and her sisters, Virginia and Maibelle, lived with their uncle Quincy Shumate and his wife, Lou Porter, and their children: C. Porter Shumate, Hattie Mae Shumate, Pattie Shumate, Francis (Mackie) Shumate, and Martha Belle Shumate.  Many people even list Louise and her sisters as daughters of Quincy rather than being his nieces.

Front side of Louise Shumate Durway's headstone. According to the writing on the back, the numbers
correspond to the sender of each floral arrangement.  Joseph Clay Durway sent #1, Virginia Shumate Moran sent the astors marked #2, another Durway sent the flowers marked #3 and #4 is Becky's Bouquet.

I came across some photographs many months ago along with a calling card that said Mrs. Joseph Clay Durway.  The photographs were of a grave and headstone that said Durway.  Another photo showed the headstone but flowers were in front of it and I didn't pay much attention to it because I didn't know any Durways  and didn't know where they fit into the Moran genealogy puzzle.  In addition there were a few other pictures and a bereavement card with some names that I recognized and one I didn't.   I looked closer at one of the photo's two days ago and saw a partial name, Louise XXXmate, wife of Joseph Clay Durway.  Immediately I realized that had to be the lost Shumate sister and that she had married a Durway.

Louise Shumate Durway
calling card

Some quick searching confirmed what I suspected.  However, I am still at a loss as to when the couple was married and when she died.What I do know is that in 1900 she was living in Newbern Tennessee.  By 1910 she was married to and living with Joseph Clay Durway in Fort Worth Texas.  She appears again in the 1920 census with her husband.  She has been replaced in the 1930 as his wife by a woman named Mary Violet Parker.  A search of the Fort Worth City Directories shows Joseph C. Durway living with his wife Mary as early as 1924.  The logical conclusion based on the photographs is that Louise Shumate Durway died between 1920 and 1923.

I imagine that Louise met Joseph when she visited her sister Maibelle who married Newton Temple Harris of Fort Worth. Many of the Moran's extended family moved and settled in Texas including the Scott clan of Gainesville Texas.  One thing I do know is that Louise enjoyed drawing and painting because we also have a piece of her work signed by her. 

Art by Louise Durway.

Update- January 10, 2018

Joyce posted on another entry that Louise Shumate married Joseph Durway in Fort Worth, Texas in June 1909.