eloise wheaton mccormick
1924-1999
Life Story
Early Life in Newton County
Eloise Wheaton McCormick was born on August 10, 1924, in Mississippi, the daughter of Chester Wheaton and Lennie Howze Wheaton. Following her mother’s later relationship with Hunter Thomas, Hunter became Eloise’s stepfather.
By 1930, Eloise was living in Beat 4 of Newton County, Mississippi, in the household of her mother, Lennie, and stepfather, Hunter Thomas. The household included her older siblings Francis and Flora, as well as younger children Alfred T. and Elvira.
Although Eloise grew up in the Thomas household, Chester Wheaton was her biological father and Hunter Thomas was her stepfather. This distinction is important in reconstructing the blended Wheaton-Thomas family created during Eloise’s childhood.
Eloise came of age in rural Mississippi during the years of the Great Depression and Jim Crow segregation. Her childhood was rooted in Newton County within a large family whose members would eventually establish homes in communities across Mississippi and in northern states.
Marriage to Sam McCormick
As a young woman, Eloise married Sam McCormick, who was born around 1924.
By 1950, Eloise and Sam had established their household in the Southwest area of Jones County, Mississippi. Twenty-five-year-old Eloise was recorded as keeping house while she and Sam cared for their young son, Sammie Lee McCormick.
Their household also included Eloise’s younger brothers, Elbert and Alfred Thomas. By this time, Eloise had moved from being one of the children in her mother’s household to maintaining a household of her own, while still sharing her home with members of the extended family.
A Family Spanning Several States
As Eloise and her siblings reached adulthood, the family that had once lived together in rural Mississippi began to spread across the country.
Some of her brothers and sisters remained in Mississippi, while others established lives in northern cities. Her sister Katie Ramsey made her home in Erie, Pennsylvania, and several of Eloise’s brothers also became associated with Erie. Other members of the family settled in Gary, Indiana.
Eloise followed a different path. Rather than making a permanent move north, her adult life remained centered in Mississippi.
This contrast within one family reflects the different choices made by members of the same generation. Some branches became part of the Great Migration away from Mississippi, while others, including Eloise’s, continued to build their lives within the state.
Life in Heidelberg
Eloise and Sam eventually became closely associated with Heidelberg, Mississippi, in Jasper County near the Jones County line.
Later residential records place the family along Highway 528 and Route 1 in Heidelberg, while other records also connect Eloise with nearby Laurel.
By the early 1980s, Heidelberg was firmly established as Eloise’s home. When her sister Flora Mae Wheaton Moffett died in 1982, Flora’s funeral program identified Eloise as Mrs. Eloise McCormick of Heidelberg, Mississippi.
The accompanying newspaper obituary recorded her name somewhat differently as Eloise McCullum, also of Heidelberg. Unless another record explains the variation, McCullum should be preserved as a discrepancy in the historical record rather than treated automatically as evidence of a different marriage or surname.
The Wheaton and Thomas Family
Eloise occupied an important place within the blended family of Lennie Howze.
She and her sister Flora Mae were daughters of Chester Wheaton and Lennie Howze Wheaton. After Lennie’s relationship with Hunter Thomas, Eloise grew up with younger siblings from the Thomas branch of the family as well.
By 1982, Flora’s funeral program showed just how widely the siblings had dispersed. Katie Ramsey was living in Erie, Pennsylvania; Frances Evans was in Newton, Mississippi; Vielene Haynes and Annell Collins were in Gary, Indiana; and brothers Alfred Thomas, Elbert Thomas, and the Rev. Hunter T. Thomas were associated with Erie.
Eloise remained in Heidelberg, preserving one of the family’s continuing connections to southern Mississippi.
Later Years
Through the 1980s and 1990s, records continued to associate Eloise and Sam with the Heidelberg and Laurel areas.
By then, Eloise had witnessed a considerable transformation within her own family. The large Mississippi household of her childhood had developed into numerous family branches scattered across several states.
Yet her own life remained closely connected to the Mississippi communities in which she had spent her childhood and adulthood.
Death and Burial
Eloise Wheaton McCormick died on June 24, 1999, at the age of seventy-four.
She was laid to rest at Oak Bowery Cemetery in Heidelberg, Jasper County, Mississippi.
Her burial in Heidelberg placed her final resting place within the community that had become the center of the later decades of her life.
Legacy
Eloise Wheaton McCormick lived nearly seventy-five years, and her story connects several important branches of one Mississippi family.
She was born the daughter of Chester Wheaton and Lennie Howze Wheaton, grew up with Hunter Thomas as her stepfather, and became part of the blended Wheaton-Thomas family that appears repeatedly in the records of Newton County.
As an adult, she married Sam McCormick and established a family of her own. The 1950 census provides a particularly revealing snapshot of that transition. Eloise was no longer the young girl living in her mother and stepfather’s household. She was now a wife and mother, raising her young son Sammie Lee, while her younger brothers Elbert and Alfred Thomas shared her home.
Her life also represents an important counterpoint to the migration stories of her siblings. Several members of the family left Mississippi and established themselves in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Gary, Indiana. Eloise remained in Mississippi, eventually making Heidelberg the center of her later life.
In this way, the descendants of Lennie Howze followed more than one path. Some carried the family north during the Great Migration, while others maintained the family’s presence in Mississippi.
Eloise Wheaton McCormick was part of that continuing Mississippi branch—a daughter of the Wheaton family, a stepdaughter within the Thomas household, a wife and mother in her own right, and a woman whose life remained rooted in her home state from childhood until her death in 1999.
Resting Place
Oak Bowery Cemetery in Heidelberg, Jasper County, Mississippi.
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1930 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, population schedule, Beat 4, Hunter Thomas household. Eloise, approximately five years old, was enumerated in the household of her mother, Lennie (Linnis) Thomas, and stepfather, Hunter Thomas, along with other children including Francis, Flora, Alf T., and Elvira.
- Family records concerning the Wheaton-Thomas family, identifying Chester Wheaton as Eloise’s biological father and Hunter Thomas as her stepfather. The 1930 census documents Eloise in the Thomas household but does not by itself establish her biological paternity.
- 1950 U.S. Census, Jones County, Mississippi, population schedule, Southwest, Sam McCormick household. Eloise, approximately twenty-five years old, was living with her husband, Sam McCormick, and their young son, Sammie Lee McCormick. Her younger brothers Elbert and Alfred Thomas were also members of the household. Eloise was recorded as keeping house.
- Funeral program for Flora Mae Wheaton Moffett, obituary, 1982, privately held family copy. Flora’s funeral program identifies her sister as Mrs. Eloise McCormick of Heidelberg, Mississippi, and places Eloise within the wider family of Lennie Howze’s children.
- “Mrs. Flora Moffett,” obituary, March 1982. Flora’s newspaper obituary identifies a surviving sister as Mrs. Eloise McCullum of Heidelberg, Mississippi. This differs from the McCormick surname used in Flora’s funeral program and other records and should be treated as a record discrepancy unless additional evidence explains the variation.
- Residential and public records for Eloise and Sam McCormick, Heidelberg and Laurel, Mississippi, 1980s–1990s. These records associate Eloise with Highway 528 and Route 1 in Heidelberg, Mississippi, as well as the Laurel area.
- Death record/Social Security death record for Eloise McCormick, died June 24, 1999, age seventy-four.
- Oak Bowery Cemetery, Heidelberg, Jasper County, Mississippi, burial record or cemetery memorial for Eloise McCormick, documenting her burial following her death in 1999.
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