Funeral of Mary Elizabeth Lester Johnson

Terry Wilemon was kind enough to share these photos of his grandmother's funeral in 1940. Mary Elizabeth Johnson was the daughter of James Isham Lester and Sarah U. Gaither, and she married Napoleon A. Johnson, son of Stephen Johnson and Harriet Caroline Pierce, on January 13, 1880. They had nine children: Minerva Caroline, Mittie Ann, Bettie, Omie, Arvilla, Evie, Dewey (the only son!), Coster and Ollie. The photographs below are rare in that they show the funeral from beginning to end and demonstrate burial customs and practices during the mid-20th century in Itawamba County. Mary was buried at Pine Grove Cemetery, on land that she and Napoleon had donated to the Pine Grove Church of Christ many years earlier.