James Hairston

(My Maternal Great-Grandfather)

James Hairston and his wife, Mary, produced Clara (born in Winston Salem, North Carolina), Mabel (their second born) and James (their youngest, born in 1903).  James (the father) Hairston lived on Seddon Street and was self-employed at a moving and hauling company, located on Corey Avenue in Braddock.  Clara Hairston, his daughter, also worked as a bookkeeper there for awhile.  James (the father) had a sister named Viney.

In 1937, Mary Hairston died, possibly of pneumonia, and James married Mamie Newton.

My mother remembers very little about her grandfather James, but she does recall that few in the family felt any affection for the new step-grandmother Mamie.