Southwestern University, 1929 Sou’wester Yearbook Cover
This weekly series focuses on women who attended and graduated from three Texas religious, private colleges* in the 1920-1929 time period. The spotlight is on the small minority of women who developed teaching careers when it was uncommon for women to work outside the home. I used the college yearbooks (all digitized) to select the women for the research. Check the blog from last year to learn more about using digitized yearbooks for your genealogical research. This series will feature a mini-biography of one Texas schoolteacher each week; today’s focus is Christine Carpenter.
*Abilene Christian College (ACC), Howard Payne College (HPC), and Southwestern University (SU).
The photographs below are divided into her college yearbook photos (top row), 1927, 1928, and 1929.
The second section displays the page from the 1928 Sou’wester yearbook with the details for the Woman’s Building Honor Council of which she was a member.
The next two sections contains a series of articles highlighting her time in the sorority, her desire to complete her masters degree, as a teacher, as a member of the PTA, and obituary that shares the details of her life; see references below.
Mary Christine Carpenter was born 25 June 1908 in Troy, Bell County, Texas, to Meade Aubrey Carpenter (age 29) and Lula Edith Meadows (age 26).[i] [ii] They had married in 1905[iii], in the same county. Her father, Meade, was born in Virginia, and Lula Edith, in Texas.[iv]
Christine grew up in Pendleton,[v] just 4 miles from Troy, about 90 miles north of Austin, the state capital of Texas. At the time she was growing up, the size of town was about 400 people, with a post office, and three churches. In 1910, her father owned his farm, living near other farmers, most of whom worked as farm laborers and paid rent for their homes. Names of these neighbors included William Lusk, Hilbert Hinley, John Epperson, Will Shine, Joseph Neal, George Harville, Ben Neal, Charly Safley, Jessee Forest, and Mack Hale. One can imagine that they may have been fellow church members. Many of these residents from 1910 can be found in the cemetery listing for Pendleton Cemetery.[vi]
In 1918, her father registered for the WWI draft and noted that he clerked for B. J. Carpenter (his brother, Benton), in Pendleton.[vii] By 1920, the family lived near the Pendleton and Troy Road, where he still worked his farm. Many of his neighbors now owned their farms. Christine, age 11, now had a younger brother, Meade Aubrey, Jr., age 5.[viii]
Christine may have attended college elsewhere for her freshman year, as she appeared first as a sophomore in 1927, at Southwestern University, in nearby Georgetown, Texas.[ix] In 1928, she was a junior[x] and participated in the Woman’s Building Honor Council, where their “aim had been helpfulness, guidance, and counsel.”[xi] When she graduated from Southwestern University in 1929, she had attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in French.[xii] She was shown at her parents in 1930,[xiii] but may have moved home for the summer, as she was a teacher in the Miles School District outside of San Angelo for the 1929-1930 school year.
She began working as a teacher in 1935, in San Angelo, Texas, in the Lake View district. While there, she belonged to Delta Kappa Gamma Sorority, and in 1937, she was made president. The same year, she moved over to the San Angelo Independent School District, where she taught at Santa Rita Elementary. She spent many years involved in the sorority, leading programs for the PTA (as a member of the National PTA) and was also a member of the First United Methodist Church, in San Angelo. She retired from teaching at Santa Rita Elementary in 1973. Many news articles can be found in the San Angelo newspapers (via Newspapers.com (with subscription)). She never married but had many cousins with whom she traveled. Searching city directories in San Angelo showed that she roomed with others and did not own a home.
Christine died on 15 October 1989, in Tom Green County[xiv] (where San Angelo is located) and was buried in the Pendleton Cemetery in Pendleton, Bell County, Texas.[xv]
References:
[i] Births (CR) USA. Troy, Bell County, Texas. 25 June 1908. CARPENTER, Mary Christine. (Parents: CARPENTER, Meade Aubrey and MEADOWS, Lulu Edith). Collection: Texas Births and Christenings, 1840-1981. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4LJ1-5D2M : accessed 25 November 2021.
[ii] Census Records. USA. Bell County, Texas. 1 April 1930. Mead A Carpenter and Lula E Carpenter. Justice Precinct 5, Bell, Texas, United States. Affiliate Publication Number: T626. p. 11A. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HP8F-J3Z : accessed 8 September 2023.
[iii] Marriages (CR) USA. Bell County, Texas. 29 August 1905. CARPENTER, Meade A. and MEADOWS, Lulu. FHL microfilm 981,039. p. 404. Collection: Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1965. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV14-CFQD : accessed 16 January 2022.
[iv] Census Records. USA. Bell County, Texas. 15 April 1910. Mead A Carpenter and Lula E Carpenter. Justice Precinct 5, Bell, Texas, United States. Affiliate Publication Number: T624. p. 14A. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M29G-RQR : accessed 16 January 2022.
[v] Texas State Historical Association. Pendleton, TX (Bell County). https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/pendleton-tx-bell-county : accessed 8 September 2023.
[vi] USGENWEB Archives. Pendleton Cemetery, FM 1237, Bell County, Texas. http://files.usgwarchives.net/tx/bell/cemetery/pendltn.txt : accessed 8 September 2023.
[vii] National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). (USA). WWI Draft Registration Cards. Meade Aubrey Carpenter. Registration Date: 12 September 1918. (Birth: 16 September 1873). SN 2184. Collection: United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZ6B-WPW : accessed 8 September 2023.
[viii] Census Records. USA. Bell County, Texas. 1 January 1920. Meade A Carpenter and Lula E. Carpenter. Justice Precinct 5, ED 16, Bell, Texas, United States. Affiliate Publication Number: T625. Sheet A-5. Line No. 13. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH1H-LJD : accessed 8 September 2023.
[ix] Southwestern University (1927). The Sou’wester, 1927. Georgetown, Texas: Southwestern University. p. 90. Collection: Southwestern University, A. Frank Smith Jr. Library, Special Collections and Archives. https://archive.org/details/souwesteryearboo1927sout/page/n89/mode/1up : accessed 1 September 2021.
[x] Southwestern University (1928). The Sou’wester, 1928. Georgetown, Texas: Southwestern University. p. 64. Collection: Southwestern University, A. Frank Smith Jr. Library, Special Collections and Archives. https://archive.org/details/souwesteryearboo1928sout/page/n63/mode/1up : accessed 1 September 2021.
[xi] Southwestern University (1928). The Sou’wester, 1928. Georgetown, Texas: Southwestern University. p. 130. Collection: Southwestern University, A. Frank Smith Jr. Library, Special Collections and Archives. https://archive.org/details/souwesteryearboo1928sout/page/n129/mode/1up : accessed 1 September 2021.
[xii] Southwestern University (1929). The Sou’wester, 1929. Georgetown, Texas: Southwestern University. p. 46. Collection: Southwestern University, A. Frank Smith Jr. Library, Special Collections and Archives. https://archive.org/details/souwesteryearboo1929sout/page/n45/mode/1up : accessed 1 September 2021.
[xiii] Census Records. USA. Bell County, Texas. 1 April 1930. Mead A Carpenter and Lula E Carpenter. Justice Precinct 5, Bell, Texas, United States. Affiliate Publication Number: T626. p. 11A. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HP8F-J3Z : accessed 8 September 2023.
[xiv] Deaths Index (CR) USA. Texas. October 1989. CARPENTER, Christine. (Birth: 25 June 1908). [Transcriptions] Collection: Texas Death Index, 1964-1998. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JVJX-FXM : accessed 16 January 2022.
[xv] Monumental Inscriptions. USA. Pendleton Cemetery, Pendleton, Bell County, Texas. 15 October 1989. CARPENTER, Christine M. Photo added by Larry Lagut. Find A Grave Memorial: 80683332. https://www.findagrave.com/ : accessed 16 January 2022.
Photographs and Newspapers References (top to bottom, left to right):
Southwestern University (1927). The Sou’wester, 1927. Georgetown, Texas: Southwestern University. p. 90. Collection: Southwestern University, A. Frank Smith Jr. Library, Special Collections and Archives. https://archive.org/details/souwesteryearboo1927sout/page/n89/mode/1up : accessed 1 September 2021.
Southwestern University (1928). The Sou’wester, 1928. Georgetown, Texas: Southwestern University. p. 64. Collection: Southwestern University, A. Frank Smith Jr. Library, Special Collections and Archives. https://archive.org/details/souwesteryearboo1928sout/page/n63/mode/1up : accessed 1 September 2021.
Southwestern University (1929). The Sou’wester, 1929. Georgetown, Texas: Southwestern University. p. 46. Collection: Southwestern University, A. Frank Smith Jr. Library, Special Collections and Archives. https://archive.org/details/souwesteryearboo1929sout/page/n45/mode/1up : accessed 1 September 2021.
Southwestern University (1928). The Sou’wester, 1928. Georgetown, Texas: Southwestern University. p. 130. Collection: Southwestern University, A. Frank Smith Jr. Library, Special Collections and Archives. https://archive.org/details/souwesteryearboo1928sout/page/n129/mode/1up : accessed 1 September 2021.
San Angelo Standard-Times. (1929) Miles Teachers Chosen. San Angelo Standard-Times. 12 May. p. 12d. https://www.newspapers.com/image/779698499/ : accessed 8 September 2023.
San Angelo Standard-Times. (1935) To Study in California. San Angelo Standard-Times. 16 June. p. 18c. https://www.newspapers.com/image/780452003/ : accessed 8 September 2023.
San Angelo Evening Standard. (1941) Lake View PTA Has Home Study. San Angelo Evening Standard. 8 Oct. p. 5f. https://www.newspapers.com/image/779437705/ : accessed 8 September 2023.
San Angelo Evening Standard. (1937) Miss Carpenter Sorority Leader. San Angelo Evening Standard. 19 Oct. p. 4c. https://www.newspapers.com/image/779320344/ : accessed 8 September 2023.
San Angelo Evening Standard. (1939) Kappa Gammas Talk Year’s Activities. San Angelo Evening Standard. 19 Sept. p. 3d. https://www.newspapers.com/image/779333780/ : accessed 8 September 2023.
San Angelo Evening Standard. (1942) Kappa Gammas Honor Mothers at Final Meet. San Angelo Evening Standard. 27 May. p. 4c. https://www.newspapers.com/image/779338045/ : accessed 8 September 2023.
San Angelo Standard-Times. (1956) Delta Kappa Gamma Meeting Set. San Angelo Standard-Times. 7 Oct. p. 27g&h. https://www.newspapers.com/image/787656722/ : accessed 8 September 2023.
San Angelo Standard-Times. (1989) Mary Christine Carpenter. San Angelo Standard-Times. 16 Oct. p. 2a. https://www.newspapers.com/image/788609543/ : accessed 8 September 2023.
Featured image, captured from:
Southwestern University (1929). The Sou’wester, Yearbook of Southwestern University, 1929, Cover. Georgetown, Texas: Southwestern University. https://archive.org/details/souwesteryearboo1929sout/mode/1up : accessed 8 September 2023.