On May 13, 1858 Minnie DeMumbrie was born in Mississippi, most likely in Tunica, to (John) Spencer DeMumbrie (1821-?)and Cornelia A McMillan (1833-before 1870). She was the granddaughter of Jean Baptiste DeMonbreun (1788-1872) and the great-granddaughter of Timothy Demonbreun (Jacques-Timothée Boucher, Sieur de Montbrun) (1747-1826), the man considered the “first citizen of Nashville”.
On the 1860 census in Tunica, Mississippi she is 2 years old and living with her parents on a plantation (value of the real estate was $10,000 and the value of the personal estate was $6000). Her father is listed as “S. DeMumbrie”, a farmer, her mother is listed “C.A. DeMumbrie”. Minnie is listed as “C.A.M. DeMumbrie”. I read my aunt’s post on a genealogy forum that the full name of Minnie’s mother was Cornelia Ann Minerva McMillan. If so Minnie may have been named after her and “Minnie” may have been a nickname. Their neighbors in 1860 were the Owens family and the Roberts family.
In 1870 Minnie (listed as “Clara”) age 13, is living in Tunica, Mississippi with her father, who by now is widowed and listed as a “planter”, and three other people. Jane (Gilcris?) is one member of the household that, at some point, married Spencer. I believe Mary McMillan, listed as a housekeeper, is Minnie’s maternal grandmother. The third person is Ellen Johnson. I haven’t quite figured out how she is related to the family yet. She is listed as 60 years old and no occupation. The DeMumbrie’s neighbors are the Johnson family and the Richard’s family. Included in the Richards family is Jerome Richards, age 14-Minnie’s future husband.
By 1880 Minnie had married Jerome E Richards. The Tunica, Mississippi census for that year shows that she is listed as “C.A. Richards” and she is living with Jerome (a farmer), her son JE (Jerome Jr-Eddie), MH McMillan (her maternal grandmother again, I believe), and three others listed as farm laborers and a servant, or boarders: JA Matthews, Ellis Sholly and Barbara Shipp. Their neighbors are the Bullock family and, if I am reading it correctly, the Shearings family.
There is, of course, no record of the family for 1890.
In 1900 the Richards are living in Memphis, Tennessee. Jerome, by now the Chief of Police for the City of Memphis, and Minnie have five children: Eddie (Jerome Jr), Claud E, Bluford (Napoleon), Clegg, and Minnie (Virginia). Also living in the household are Frank Macon, John Smith and George Smith, who are all three listed as servants. This census also tells us that Minnie is the mother of six children, five of whom are living. The sixth child was George Richards, born in 1892 and died in 1894, no further information on him (buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee). The neighbors of the Richards family were the Kean family and the Piaggo family.
In 1905, on December 4th, Minnie watched in horror as her son, Claud E, shot himself in the parlor of their home. She held him in her arms as he lay dying.
The year 1910 leaves Minnie living with her husband Jerome, now a criminal court clerk, Bluford, Clegg, Minnie Virginia, cousin Dick Richards and servant, Will Knoles (post about him to come soon!). This census, too, was enumerated in Memphis, Tennessee. Their neighbors were the Borner family (if I am reading it correctly) and Old Widow Hall (Jane Hall).
By 1920 Minnie, now reported at age 61 and still residing in Memphis, Tennessee, is living with husband Jerome, son-in-law James Paul Stalls, Sr, daughter Minnie Virginia, son Bluford Napoleon, daughter-in-law Willie D and Nannie Taylor, servant/nanny. Oddly enough James Paul Stalls, Jr, Minnie’s grandson, who would have been 3 years old in 1920, isn’t on the census with them. I wonder where he was? The families that were their neighbors were the Borners and the Maingaults.
I found a property record that shows that Minnie sold a tract of land to a Nannie Brown on January 15, 1927. I can’t quite make out the record, but here is what I was able to get from it:
The _____ 33 1/3 feet of dist Eight, Block “B” of Stephens Subdivision beginning in _____ side of Wicks (Ave?) __5 1/2 feet _____ of H____ road. Hence _____ with Wick’s Avenue _____, 33 1/3 feet. Hence _____ 136 ?/10 feet to use _____; Hence _____ with said _____, 33 1/? feet; Hence northbound 136 8/10 feet to the point of beginning.
I will need to do more research, but I think that this Nannie Brown might be the nanny, Nannie Taylor, listed in the 1920 census with the family.
Minnie DeMumbrie passed away at 8:35pm on November 6, 1928 in Memphis, Tennessee. The cause of death was myocarditis, which, according to the death certificate, she suffered from for 2 years.
Minnie DeMumbrie is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery Midtown, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee.
One story that my mother can remember her father telling her about Minnie: Granddaddy referred to Minnie as his “French Grandmother” and he told of how she would have Will Knoles trap birds (sparrows and such) in the yard. He said that she would keep the little dead yard bird bodies in the ice box. Apparently when he would eat chicken it reminded him of those little birds!
