Photo Gallery

$Mattie (Mimi) Bailey Thompson and daughter Ruth Thompson Ivy. Photo taken in late 1950\'s.$ $Saint Katherine Drexel founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament Order and founder of St. Emma\'s Academy at Belmead and St. Francis de Sales Institute at Rock Castle in Virginia.$ $St. Francis de Sales Institute in Rock Castle, Virginia, where my ancestor Hattie Goldson \"Goldstein\" Ivy received her schooling and graduated in 1917. As a high school for black girls, it closed in 1970.$

$Note the highlighted name is \"Hattie Gertrude Goldson\" (not Goldstein)$ $Grandmother Hattie Goldson (Goldstein) Ivy\'s 1917 graduation program (above & below) from Saint Francis in Rock Castle, Virgina. Her name is highlighted in yellow.$ $Our Lady of the Visitation Catholic Church Choir Photo taken about in the 1950\'s. These individuals were teachers, policemen, accountants, office workers as well as blue collar workers. They were excellent role models in their St. Louis communities. Floor: the Ford children Seated (l-r): Joyce Thomas, Pearl Whitlock, Ruth Ivy (3), Willa Mae Hicks. Standing Row 1: Hattie Ivy (5), unknown, Shelly Ford, Ruth Burgett, unknown, Jeweldine Anderson. Row 2: Ben Ivy 3 (2), Joe Thomas, Horatio Thomas, Herron Beckley, Adrian Thomas, Garrett Anderson, Harold Ford, Alphonse Thomas, Napoleon \"Nap\" Valentine, Carl Henry.$

$Melvin James Mitchell, Sr., the husband of Florence Bailey (Mattie Bailey Thompson\'s sister). Photo taken in the 1930\'s$ $Here is a poem (author is unknown) written down in Mattie\'s (Mimi) own hand and found among her possessions after she passed away. It reads: I am divinely led. I follow the right fork in the road. God makes a way where there is no way. The waters of my Red Sea part And I pass over on dry land. I now go forward into my Promised Land. The ground I am in is holy ground. I now expand into the divine plan of my life Where all conditions are permanently perfect.$

$Ruth Thompson Ivy (L) with members of her civil defense squad. Photo taken in the early 1960\'s.$ $Ruth Thompson\'s Honor Roll letter (1941) to her mother from the principal at Sumner High School$

$Hattie G. Ivy\'s step-brother Maceo Noisette - the caption reads, \"From Maceo Noisette Sr. to Maceo Jr.----U.S. Navy 1942 Great Lakes Ill\"$

$A.J. & Mollie (Spencer) Bailey in St. Louis. This photo taken in the 1910\'s before their final separation in 1917.$

$This is Bettie (Spencer) Hurd McClain with her husband Mr. Hurd, it is believed. Photo taken in the 1910\'s in Nashville, Tennessee.$ $Villa Belmead Mansion in Virginia which was converted to the school for black children named St. Emma\'s Military Academy. Though as a high school it closed in 1972, it still stands today.$

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Paulette Ivy Harris

African American author of fiction, children's books, genealogies, plus graphic tees & more.

Always a Blessing in the End

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