Martha Flora Jane (Smith) Gilmore & Family Photo

GRANDMA JAMERSON'S NIECE AND FAMILY
MARTHA FLORA JANE (SMITH) GILMORE & FAMILY

This photo says on the back that it is my great grandma Flora Ann (Pierce) Jamerson's sister's daughter (her niece) and family in Arkansas. I've identified her as Martha Flora Jane (Smith) Gilmore. (See family outline below.) Pictured left to right: Dewey, Kelsey Monroe, John, Minnie (standing), Martha Flora Jane (Smith), June and Iva Gilmore.

My Great Great Grandpa Morgan Pierce and wife Martha Jane (Hines) Pierce lived in Scott Co., AR in the early 1860s at least. They appear on the 1860 Scott Co., AR census as Morgan Price, instead of Pierce as it should be. Morgan spent time in Lincoln Co., MO then down to AR and I believe went back and forth between MO and AR several times. Three of his children ended up marrying in Newton Co., AR. Morgan and Martha’s children were:

Matilda b. 1849 Lincoln Co., MO (m. Unknown, possibly a Funk?)
John Robert b. 1855 Lincoln Co., MO (m. Charity Davis, Newton Co., AR)
Flora Ann b. 1858 Lincoln Co., MO (m. Willis Franklin “Dock” Jameson/Jamerson Feb. 11, 1875 Lincoln Co., MO)
M.T. “Bud” b. Mar 1860 Scott Co., AR (Could his name be Morgan Thomas?)
Mary Ellen b. 1865 AR (m. Nathaniel Smith, Newton Co., AR)
Lydia Francis b. 1868 AR (m1. Bernard Patrick Flanagan Jan. 10, 1884 Lincoln Co., MO; m2. Jesse Hamilton Newton Co., AR)
Salvader Theodore “Vade” b. July 1871 Lincoln Co., MO (m. Rilla Jane (Powelson) Jeffries Lincoln Co., MO)

I descend from Flora Ann (Pierce) Jamerson. The name is spelled both with and without the “r” through the years and with my grandpa’s generation the “r” stuck (except with his brother who kept the spelling Jameson).

The family in this picture is the daughter of Flora’s younger sister, Mary Ellen (Pierce) Smith. Mary Ellen married Nathaniel Smith and they had a number of children, all born in Newton Co., AR. With the birth of her last child, Nathaniel Smith Jr., Mary Ellen died. She was found dead in the home with the youngest two girls, Rebecca Sarah Annie and Martha Flora Jane there with her. They probably did not understand what had happened to their mother. Her husband Nathaniel died the same year. Their children were parceled out to other families to raise. Annie went to a cousin Emaline “Tony” Barnes Eddings and her husband, as well as her brother William A. Smith. Martha Flora Jane went to the John Liles family.

Contributed by Patty (Jamerson) Archer