Laura Lee Kissinger, my Great-Great-Grandmother

Back Row Left to Right: Benjamin Harrison Hall holding Vena Hall, Ada Myrtle Kissinger Hall, Laura Lee Kissinger.
Front Row:  The second child is Mildred Inez Hall Cato. 

This is a letter from my grandmother, Inez Hall Cato.

In it, she talks about HER grandmother, Laura Lee Kissinger.

Here is a bit more information on Laura Lee Kissinger:

Source of Information:  Ada Kissinger Hall (daughter) and Inez Hall Cato (granddaughter) in an interview done by Deborah Carvalho.

Orlando Paden was Lee's first husband. They had two boys, Luther and Arthur. Orlando took the boys to California and left Lee behind. 

Lee began seeing a man named Sowards. They planned to marry but before they could, he died of typhoid fever. He was much younger than Lee. Lee was pregnant with Ada.

Just before Ralph was born, Arthur Paden contacted Ada and mailed her a train ticket so she could visit him. They became very close.

After Ada was born, she and Lee lived with Lee's mother in the woods in a cabin. The old woman died. Inez Cato, my grandmother remembers the old woman's wake. She said, "They had her in a coffin up on two chairs in the living room. There were candles lit and the place was dark otherwise. It was really scary for me. We had to kiss her goodbye and that scared me because she was cold."

That is funny to me, because Ma Cato (Inez) used to attend every funeral in town and she often told me to kiss people goodbye.

When Ada married Benjamin Harrison Hall in 1910, Lee moved around and lived with different friends and relatives.

She was a very hard worker and everyone loved her. She died in Armona, California at an age we would consider young today.  But Inez said, "She seemed like an old woman to me back then."  She was around 75 years old.

And here is a bit more:

Years ago, when I interviewed Ada Hall, she told me that she was illegitimate. This was a shock to her family because in those days, things like this were not discussed.

She said her mother, Laura Lee Kissinger, had been in love with a boy down the road, Thomas Soward. They planned on getting married, but before they could, he died of typhoid fever.

She discovered she was pregnant with my grandmother Ada.

Laura Lee lived with her parents and so when the child was born, and the census taker came around, the grandparents reported Ada as their own child. This is why the census records say she is Laura Lee's sister in some documents.

Anyway, years later, Laura Lee died and her daughters each took some of her belongings.

She was a beloved lady, kind and generous and sweet according to all I've interviewed.

My Aunt Vena kept Laura Lee's black purse.

Forward another many years and Aunt Vena is in her 90's.

She decided to clean out some things and was making a big pile of clothing and items to donate to charity.

She tossed the old black purse on the pile and as it landed she saw a flash of white.

Thinking it had been empty, she picked it up and looked inside.

It was empty, for sure, but she had seen a white flash.

What was it?

She turned it over and put her hands inside each compartment.

She fiddled with it long enough that eventually she saw that the lining had been split and resewn.

She took a seam ripper and opened the lining and there inside was this photo of Thomas Soward, the love of Laura Lee Kissinger's life and mother of Ada.

I love this story.

I love the idea that she carried him with her all those years.

This is a true story.

And now you know.

Here is that photo: