Individual Details

Ida Mae Lowry

(21 Jul 1878 - 8 Oct 1959)

Ida Mae LOWRY DAVIS was a "granny woman", a lay midwife who helped fam i l y and neighbors give birth to their babies. She gave birth to nine c h i ldren. Her first and last sons were stillborn. Her first daughter, W i n nie, and her baby boy,Jonathan "Jonce", died one day apart from compl i c ations of measles and influenza. She worked hard all her life, raisi n g h er children, gardening, taking careof her home. During the Depress i o n, the bank where she and her husband kept their life savings went ba n k rupt. They were able to recover less than 10 centson the dollar of t h e ir money. Jess, her husband, died in 1932. She tied tobacco sacks fo r B u ll Durham, caned chair bottoms and sewed for people to earn a livin g. H e r daughter and grandsons, Bessie DAVIS STACK MIDKIFF, G. W. "Bill " ST A CK and James P. "Bunk" MIDKIFF, lived with her. They all worked t o r a ise a garden, kept hogs and chickens for meat and eggs. She was als o v i olently allergicto bees; she had to quit feeding the hogs because s he g o t stung and nearly stopped breathing from the allergic reaction. I r e m ember her as a tiny woman with thick glasses and a cane, who wore flo r a l patterned dresses with an apron.She would sit in a rocking chair in t h e " parlor" and take her hair down to brush it out. Her hair was so lo n g t hat it touched the floor. I was fascinated and thought she was Rap u n zel all grown up. She dipped Square snuff, using a "toothbrush" made f r o m sweet gum or sassafras twigs. -- MERGED NOTE ------------ Ida Mae LOWRY DAVIS was a "granny woman", a lay midwife who helped fam i l y and neighbors give birth to their babies. She gave birth to nine c h i ldren. Her first and last sons were stillborn. Her first daughter, W i n nie, and her baby boy,Jonathan "Jonce", died one day apart from compl i c ations of measles and influenza. She worked hard all her life, raisi n g h er children, gardening, taking careof her home. During the Depress i o n, the bank where she and her husband kept their life savings went ba n k rupt. They were able to recover less than 10 centson the dollar of t h e ir money. Jess, her husband, died in 1932. She tied tobacco sacks fo r B u ll Durham, caned chair bottoms and sewed for people to earn a livin g. H e r daughter and grandsons, Bessie DAVIS STACK MIDKIFF, G. W. "Bill " ST A CK and James P. "Bunk" MIDKIFF, lived with her. They all worked t o r a ise a garden, kept hogs and chickens for meat and eggs. She was als o v i olently allergicto bees; she had to quit feeding the hogs because s he g o t stung and nearly stopped breathing from the allergic reaction. I r e m ember her as a tiny woman with thick glasses and a cane, who wore flo r a l patterned dresses with an apron.She would sit in a rocking chair in t h e " parlor" and take her hair down to brush it out. Her hair was so lo n g t hat it touched the floor. I was fascinated and thought she was Rap u n zel all grown up. She dipped Square snuff, using a "toothbrush" made f r o m sweet gum or sassafras twigs.

Events

Birth	21 Jul 1878	Surry, North Carolina, United States
Residence	1880	Age: 2; Marital Status: Single; Relation to Head of House: Daughter - Mount Airy, Surry, North Carolina, United States
Marriage	24 Dec 1895	Mount Airy, Surry, North Carolina, United States - Jesse Franklin Davis
Residence	1900	Age: 22; Marital Status: Married; Relation to Head of House: Wife - Mount Airy, Surry, North Carolina, United States
Residence	1920	Age: 41; Marital Status: Married; Relation to Head of House: Wife - Mount Airy, Surry, North Carolina, United States
Residence	1935	Mount Airy, Surry, North Carolina, United States
Residence	1 Apr 1940	Age: 61; Marital Status: Widowed; Relation to Head of House: Head - Mount Airy, Surry, North Carolina, United States
Death	8 Oct 1959	Mount Airy, Surry, North Carolina, United States

Families

Spouse	Jesse Franklin Davis (1879 - 1932)
Child	Winnie Marie Davis (1898 - 1908)
Child	Arthur E. Davis (1899 - 1960)
Child	James Davis (1900 - )
Child	Bessie Virginia Davis (1903 - 1993)
Child	Jesse Franklin Davis (1904 - 1960)
Child	Edward A. Davis (1905 - 1950)
Child	Jonathan Davis (1908 - 1909)
Child	Claude Decauter Davis (1912 - 1949)

Father	James David Lowry (1851 - 1924)
Mother	Virginia Nancy Griffith (1860 - 1926)
Sibling	James William Lowry (1875 - 1945)
Sibling	Arthur F. Lowry (1885 - 1951)
Sibling	Alice V. Lowry (1888 - 1932)
Sibling	Samuel T. Lowry (1890 - 1934)
Sibling	Annie Marie Lowry (1894 - 1969)
Sibling	Charles Braun Lowry (1897 - )

Individual Details

Ida Mae Lowry

Events

Families

Endnotes