Lola May Stafford Townes (1899-1953), wife of Herbert Lee Townes Sr. She was born in Union County, IL. They were married on 28 February 1916; Herbert Lee was 32 and Lola was 16. Their marriage certificate lists Herbert Lee's occupation as an "Express Messenger," living in Carbondale, and Lola as living in Pinckneyville IL when she was married. Margaret Hiller was a witness. They must have been married in the courthouse in Pinckneyville (about 20 miles NW of Carbondale). The marriage certificate (recorded 6 March 1916 on p. 606 of Marriage Record) spells her middle name "May." The cameo that begins this paragraph points to Lola at about age four. The actual data for all people in this site is available in GEDCOM files, which can be downloaded and imported into any genealogical program. Just click the file cabinet icon at the right of this paragraph.
In a conversation with William Warren Townes, one of Lola's sons, I asked him why his parents' marriage appeared to have worked out poorly. William thought the Great Depression had destroyed the marriage. The American stock market crashed in October 1929, about 13 years into the marriage between Lola and Herbert. Herbert was a switchman for the Illinois Central, and apparently he was told that, if he wanted a job at all, he would have to work the St.Louis to Kansas City route. He made it back to Carbondale every other weekend. William told me that the Townes siblings were raised in effect by their grandparents, John William and Frances Jane Stafford.
At a meeting 10 September 2000 of the Genealogy Society of Southern Illinois, a Mr. Alvin Griffith (b. 1930) introduced himself to me. Mr. Griffith is the genealogist for Elkville IL. He informed me that he lived in the upstairs apartment of the 616 Allyn Street house in 1952-53. He remembers Lola as a fair but very firm person. He remembers Lola's daughter, Margaret as a "knockout," and one of Lola's sons, Paul, as very handsome.
The first photo in this paragraph shows Lola, at the right, posing with an unknown friend on the front porch of a boarding house she where lived in Carbondale IL, 400 S. Illinois Avenue. I gather she had moved out of the Stafford home. The house is no longer there. Paul Townes identified the photo to me in 1991; he told me Lola was living at this address as a 16-year-old girl when she was courting the 32-year-old Herbert Lee Townes Sr., her future husband. The second photo, probably taken a few years later, shows her holding a small dog. She looks 18 or 19. This one could possibly have been taken at the Stafford farm. I think the dog was named Fritz.
The first photo shows Lola holding her newborn first son, Paul Halcott, in the spring/summer of 1918. Paul, who identified this photo in 1991, would have been five or six months old. The second shows Lola and Herbert Lee as young marrieds, probably taken in the mid-1920s.
Lola May and the critters. The first photo was taken at the northwest corner of the 616 Allyn Street house, and the second at the southeast corner. I'm not sure who the child is, but judging from that curly head, it could well be Lola's nephew, Ernest Floyd Stafford. I think the black-and-white cat was named Little Man, and the yellow cat, Blondie. One of the dogs is Grumpy.
Lola May and the future. That's her soon-to-be son-in-law, Lee Hill Jr. The first shot was taken on the front step of the Allyn Street house in Carbondale IL. They don't look too comfortable with each other. Written on the back of the second photo, probably in Lee Hill Jr's handwriting, is "Mama looks like she was ready to tell me something is she? Makes me kinda sad to see this front porch its my home you know." In that comment you can glimpse Lee Hill Jr.'s (my father) efforts to fit in with the Townes family. He spoke to me many times about coming from the east side of Carbondale, when the phrase "the other side of the tracks" still meant something in the city in the 1940s.
Lola's later years. The first photo shows Lola, probably on the south side of the 616 Allyn Street house. That could be her nephew, Ernest Floyd Stafford, to her left. The second shows her looking rather determined. One of her sons, William Warren Townes, praised her once to me for the amount of housework she got done in a typical week.
This photograph apparently was the favorite of her daughter, Margaret Frances Townes. Again, it was taken from the northwest corner of 616 Allyn, looking north. On the back of this one, Margaret wrote "This is about the best picture of Mom I've ever seen. Isnt she sweet!".
Last Updated 12/22/04
