Lorena Bozeman McClain

Born in 1892 to Alice Stephens and John Thomas Bozeman, she married Charlie McClain in 1908. Alice died in 1894 soon after birthing little John so Lorena had a stepmother very soon after. .

Lorena's sister, Ethel Mae Bozeman, married J. Gibson and his mother was Rebecca Lou Broadway. . Lorena's mother in law was Elizabeth Broadway McClain, a sister to Rebecca Lou. .

Phone calls with Ruby Gibson and Ila Mae confirmed that Charlie McClain and J. Gibson were first cousins.

Ethel died of an allergic reaction to penicillin and ironically all three of my children are allergic to it and so is my youngest brother.

. Lorena and Charlie had several children born in Ramer and their daughter Alice is my granny. . Lorena had a fantastic green thumb and could grow anything, just by snapping a branch from a plant. She made a lot of her own medicines, obviously learned from her family back when they could not afford doctors. I have her old White House Cookbook from the 1800s which includes several of the old home remedies printed in the back. .

Lorena's husband Charlie served in WWI and she must have had some health benefits at the base because I have a newspaper article where she had surgery at Maxwell AFB Hospital in 1955. . Lorena's daughter Alice died giving birth to her third child so my mother, Anne Alice, was raised by her granny Lorena and called her Mother. .

They lived through the Great Depression and many hard times but faith was strong and they survived. . Ruby told me on the phone that Lorena would spend a week each summer with her sister Ethel and bring the children. They shelled peas and butterbeans and just enjoyed the visit. . I called Lorena my granny, churned butter with her and sewed quilts and prayed with her. She took us to Dublin to see Grandpa Charlie's grave, which I cannot find now. She had him buried at Dublin Church of Christ Cemetery for a reason and I can only guess that his parents were buried there and I know Lorena's daughter Lily Mae is buried there by her son and by her own husband. . The church looks new and the woods around it most likly have covered up the many graves we are seeking. .

Lorena was a wonderful person, with long dark hair twisted up into a bun. I loved using her old singer sewing machine with the pedal underneath. We sewed bonnets and aprons together and saved every old piece of clothing to cut up into squares for the quilting. She always wore long dresses with a broach for each one. .

When Lorena died, her son, my Uncle Walton phoned me from Arlington, saying that he was ill and that I would need to make the arrangements, and I made sure that she wore her favorite broach. She had outlived all of her children and four other husbands, and was buried at Memorial Cemetery near each of them. . Mom had saved Grandpa Charlie's memorial book from his funeral in 1949 and many Bozemans and Gibson relatives signed it, along with the Broadways. It is scanned here and available to read. She also saved a tiny booklet where Lorena was paying LNL for burial insurance and Lorena had many many notes in it about who was born or died and even included dates of someone who had a dog bite. Lorena had grandpa's age correct in that booklet but incorrect at his funeral. It is possible she had very little education and sometimes inverted her numbers. . One entry in the booklet, Lorena had written that Watie Bozeman died during cotton picking time and I have no idea who he was, nor the year. .

My family spent several years living in Arizona and mom saved the cards and letters sent by Lorena who always signed her name as Lorena E McClain, Mother.

I had heard that her legal name was Emma Lorena but it does not seem so. Most referred to her as Rena.

Her daughter, my granny, Alice in the next photo, married Cecil Carter, a Cherokee in the following photo:

They had my mother http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kc90853/CherokeeConnections.html

I have a ton of information uploaded on the home page and will continue to add more as I sort thru boxes of pictures and papers that my mom had saved.

Bozeman Lineage: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kc90853/1PeterBozeman.htm

McClain Lineage: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kc90853/CharlesMcClain.html

Alice Stephens Lineage: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kc90853/stephens.txt

Nancy Jane Anderson Bozeman's Lineage to the Mayflower: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kc90853/sellersanderson.txt

Here are some of my favorite websites:

1941 photo (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kc90853/1941lorena.bmp)
1900 family census (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kc90853/Photos/1900EthelAndRenaDaughtersOfAliceAndJohnThomasBozeman)
Home Page (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kc90853/Photos/)

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