Willie Mae McGuire

I have done a lot of genealogy research over the past few decades, but since I retired my research has become much more intense. You might say I'm a little obsessed. The research not only includes my family, but the families of my husband, grandchildren, in-laws, and even a few friends. Most of the time it's pretty routine information; census data, births, marriages, deaths and burials. Sometimes, though, I come across a story that captivates me. These stories won't let me go. They continue to play in my head for weeks or even months. Willie Mae McGuire's story is one of those.

Willie Mae was born sometime between 1900 and 1909 in Waco or Marshall, Texas. It's all so vague because I haven't been able to find any documentation of her birth. She appears in the 1920 U.S. Census with her husband Robert Lee McGuire (a distant relative of my husband) and is recorded as being twenty years of age. In the 1930 census she is listed as thirty years old and the mother of seven children. One year later Willie Mae was stabbed to death. Her death certificate records her age as "about" twenty-two years old. Yes, this young woman was murdered. I don't know by whom, but it was ruled a homicide. Her seven children, all under the age of eleven years, were left motherless.

During the process of this research I've learned that Willie Mae's children were were separated after her death. The older ones sent to live with relatives in Marshall, Texas. The three youngest, however, were sent to an orphanage in Upshur County, Texas. Although I live fairly close to Upshur County, I had never heard of the Dickson Colored Orphanage, as it was first known. According to the Texas State Historical Association, it was later known as the Dickson State Colored Orphanage. I haven't been able to find much information about the children as adults.

I've wondered who killed Willie Mae and why. I wonder if the children knew the brutal way they mother died, and if their lives were made better or worse by the loss of their mother. I do know that Willie Mae's husband, Robert McGuire, was drafted in 1942 and served in the military during World War II. He died in 1968 in Corpus Christi, Texas. I wonder if he ever reunited with his children. 

More about W. L. Dickson and Dickson State Colored Orphanage:
Texas State Historical Association
Recalling the Forgotten: Gilmer residents reclaim Dickson Orphanage graveyard, secure historic designation
Gilmer LDS Third Ward Completes Service Project
Hand-picked History