infant daughter of carlton curry
1913-1913
Life Story
A Brief Moment in Time
A Life Measured in Moments
On August 12, 1913, Carlton Curry and Sarah Williams Curry experienced both the anticipation of birth and the sorrow of loss in a single day.
At their home in the Lawrence community of Newton County, Mississippi, Sarah delivered a daughter who was stillborn. Though she never had the opportunity to grow, speak, or leave descendants of her own, her brief existence remains preserved through the official records created by her family and community.
More than a century later, those records ensure that she is remembered as part of the Curry family story.
Family and Community Roots
Although her life lasted only moments, the details preserved on her death certificate connect her firmly to the Lawrence community and one of Newton County’s longstanding families.
She was the daughter of:
Both parents were natives of Newton County and members of the close-knit African American farming community that surrounded Lawrence.
At the time of her birth, Carlton and Sarah were building their family while working the land that had sustained generations before them. Like many rural families of the era, they balanced the demands of farming with the responsibilities of raising children and maintaining a household.
Their daughter arrived during a period when stillbirths and infant deaths remained tragically common, particularly in rural communities where access to medical care was limited. Yet each loss was deeply personal, affecting families in ways that official records seldom capture.
The Historical Record
The primary documentation of her life is found in her Mississippi State Board of Health death certificate (File No. 15191).
The certificate records that:
- She was stillborn on August 12, 1913.
- A midwife with the surname Williams attended the delivery and certified the stillbirth.
- The event occurred in Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi.
- The certificate was officially filed by local registrar L. C. Price on August 13, 1913.
Most moving of all, the certificate reveals that Carlton Curry served as both the informant and the undertaker.
As informant, he provided the personal details necessary to create the official record. As undertaker, he assumed responsibility for preparing and burying his daughter.
In rural Mississippi during the early twentieth century, professional funeral services were often unavailable or inaccessible, particularly within African American communities. Families frequently carried out many of the responsibilities that later became the work of funeral homes.
The document therefore preserves more than administrative information. It records a father’s final act of care for a child he never had the opportunity to know.
The large “STILL BORN” notation stamped across the certificate reflects the impersonal language of government record-keeping. Yet beneath those words lies the story of parents who prepared to welcome a child and instead faced immediate loss.
Final Resting Place
Following her birth, the infant daughter of Carlton and Sarah Curry was lovingly laid to rest on the very day of her passing, August 12, 1913.
Her burial took place at Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery in Lawrence, Mississippi, where generations of Curry family members would later be interred.
Though no headstone biography survives and no census ever recorded her childhood, her place within the family remains preserved through the historical record and the memory of those who continue to document the Curry family’s story.
Legacy
Family history is not measured solely by the lives that span many decades. It is also preserved in the children whose lives were measured in moments and whose stories survive only through a handful of records and the love of those who remembered them.
The infant daughter of Carlton and Sarah Curry never had the opportunity to leave descendants, attend school, or build a life of her own. Yet she remains part of the Curry family narrative—a reminder that every branch of a family tree, no matter how brief, contributes to the whole.
More than a century later, her existence is still remembered, and her place in the history of the Curry family remains secure.
Resting Place
Union Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery
Photos/Albums
Sources
- Mississippi State Board of Health, Death Certificate No. 15191, Infant Daughter of Carlton Curry and Sarah Williams Curry, August 12, 1913, Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi.
- The death certificate identifies the child’s parents as Carlton (Carleton) Curry and Sarah Williams Curry, both residents of the Lawrence community in Newton County, Mississippi.
- Mississippi State Board of Health, Death Certificate No. 15191; documenting that the child was stillborn on August 12, 1913.
- Mississippi State Board of Health, Death Certificate No. 15191; identifying a midwife with the surname Williams who certified the stillbirth.
- Mississippi State Board of Health, Death Certificate No. 15191; recording Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi, as the place of birth and death.
- Mississippi State Board of Health, Death Certificate No. 15191; filed by local registrar L. C. Price on August 13, 1913.
- Mississippi State Board of Health, Death Certificate No. 15191; identifying Carlton Curry as the informant who supplied the personal and family information recorded on the certificate.
- Mississippi State Board of Health, Death Certificate No. 15191; identifying Carlton Curry as the undertaker responsible for the burial arrangements of his stillborn daughter.
- During the early twentieth century, African American families in rural Mississippi often assumed many responsibilities associated with death and burial, particularly in communities where professional funeral services were limited or unavailable.
- Mississippi State Board of Health, Death Certificate No. 15191; recording the burial at Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery, Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi, on August 12, 1913.
- Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery, Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi; cemetery records and family history place the infant among several generations of Curry family members buried within the cemetery.
- Although no given name appears on the death certificate, the record preserves evidence of the child’s existence and her place within the Curry family lineage.
- Family records, cemetery records, and Mississippi vital records collectively document the brief life and burial of the infant daughter of Carlton and Sarah Curry.
Sources Consulted
Mississippi State Board of Health Death Certificate No. 15191 (1913); Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery Records; Newton County Vital Records; Curry Family Genealogical Research Files.
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