Mary Williams Hairston

(My Maternal Great-Grandmother)

Mary Williams Hairston attended Calvary AME Church.  She had a brother named Nick Williams, whose wife was named Louise, who lived on Sylvan Street in upper North Braddock.

Mary and her husband James produced Clara (born in Winston Salem, North Carolina), Mabel (their second born) and James (their youngest, born in 1903, shown in the pictures below with his family).

In 1937, Mary Hairston died, possibly of pneumonia, and her husband James, my maternal great-grandfather, married Mamie Newton.

My mother has few, if any, memories of her grandmother Mary. 

Mary’s son – James Hairston – married a woman named Mary (shown above).  James and Mary produced Sonny (the first born, whose name is really James – show above right, standing), William (the second born son, also known as Billy – shown above left, on his father’s lap), and Barbara Jean (shown above right, on her father’s lap).

The three children are my mother’s cousins.