Moments in Time

Zula Runnels Johnson
1889-1935

They say picture is worth a thousand words.They make life stand still for a moment. I have hundreds of pictures. and they all have a story.  I probably never will uncovered all the details or their stories, but I don't think keeping them stored away in a database does the people whose lives I research justice. So, I've decided to share some of the pictures of people who may or may not be related to me, but whose lives and stories were intertwined with the lives of my ancestors. 

Mamie Johnson Martin
1904-1978

Monroe Johnson, a distant cousin, was born in the Magnolia Springs community in Jasper County, Texas in 1880. In 1901 Monroe married Zula Runnels. Together they had six children: Carrie, Charlie, Bertha, Mamie, Willie, and Evelyn. I have found pictures of Monroe's wife, Zula, and three of their daughters: Bertha, Mamie, and Evelyn. The daughters have a remarkable resemblance to their mother.

Bertha Johnson Thomas
1903-1964

Evelyn Johnson Armstrong
1910-1932

Cameras of that era took some time to be adjusted and focused. I know that photographers in those days were strict about how their subjects posed, but I'm still taken aback by the unsmiling faces. I wonder what their lives were like and what they were thinking. There is a sadness in Zula's eyes. The slump of her shoulders and the slight tilt of her head suggest a weariness that she is holding. Bertha, on the other hand, looks glamorous and sophisticated, while Mamie's stern appearance and impatient glare chills me. My favorite picture is of Evelyn. She looks so put together, poised, self assured, and confident. She could not have been much more than a teenager. Her clothes suggest the picture was taken in the late 1920s or early 1930s. She died in 1932.