Teresa McRae
Arlene Lorraine 2Author
It has been awhile since I’ve posted anything. I am still working on my novel, which I have re titled the never ending story. Little humor there. I have also been lately thinking of a fictionalized version of my grandmother Arlene’s life story. It is a sad tale. In the spirit of this thought, I decided to recycle this post.
This is my grandmother, Arlene Lorraine Urquhart. She was born in Middlesex, Mass in 1919. Her parents were Nellie Mae Ward and Hebert Urquhart both of Nova Scotia, who immigrated to Mass in about 1900 and married in 1903.
Sometime in 1938, Arlene became involved with a man and became pregnant. Rumor has it that this man was a priest or seminarian. Anyway, in April of 1939, my mother Jackie was born. (see previous post).
Arlene went to Tampa, Florida sometime before of after Jackie’s birth. In 1940 she married Vincent Usher and had another child, Juanita. This marriage only lasted a couple of years. Vincent had adopted Jackie, but Arlene left anyway in 1942, leaving Jackie and Juanita with Vincent. She would see them from time to time. I have this information from Juanita, but I believe it was sporadic, where Juanita was concerned and possibly Jackie went to live with her at times during her next marriage to Omer Blackshire.
Juanita told me that she lived with Vincent, her father always and never with Arlene. Jackie told me she lived with her mother sometimes.
In 1943. Arlene married Omer and had eight more children.
I have contact with two of my aunts from this marriage, Jan and Laura. I have received quite a bit of information from them. But it seems at some point, they were surrendered or taken by DFS, Department of Family Services and went to group homes. I was told that they were not kept together but reunited later as adults.
This is Omer and Arlene. Jackie is the child sitting at the far right and Jan is the child between Omer and Arlene. When Jan sent me this picture, she said it was one of only a few she had.
Two more children were born after this picture was taken. Not long after that, Omer and Arlene divorced, the children went to the group homes and Jackie who was older by then, was on her own and got married to my father. She was 17.
I don’t know much about why Arlene was, well, the way she was. I can speculate that it had something to do with having parents who were much older when she was born, maybe. There was also a brother who died at the age of 9. I don’t know what of. I have not been able to find the death certificate yet. I have also heard that Arlene may have had a drinking problem as an adult. I do know that her mother, Nellie had emotional issues.
Unfortunately, none of her living children, of which 6 remain, know very much about her. She didn’t stay around very long.
She may have had a later marriage to a man in Georgia in 1957, which only lasted a year as she died in 1958 at the age of 39 of Ovarian Cancer. Jackie, my mother, said she got to see me one time before she died. I don’t know if this is true or not.
I do know that Arlene seemed to lead a very sad life. She was always on the move and leaving children behind. I make no judgments, but I just could not imagine leaving my child behind. My baby is almost 21 and lives 2 houses down from us, for now, at least. Still, my mother gave up me and my sister and brothers. Our father, Harry, I don’t think was capable of caring for us, as he had drinking problems of his own. That’s a story for another time.
Still, we ended up o.k. Our lives are a testament to the fact that you can break the cycles of your past.
I wish many things in our displaced lives had been different.
I use to take Jackie in when I lived in St Pete, Fl.
I even bailed out a boyfriend of hers that was in the Palm Beach jail, at least I think it was Palm Beach. Gave them a place to stay until they got on their feet again. My Father always told us kids that we owed a lot to Jackie because she took care of us more than she should have had to. In my aging years I would like to start doing a history of our family background.
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I am curious about a man that lived in our home in St Pete that we called Uncle Harry. He was an older man and was always dressed to the tees, however he hardly ever went out of his room. I remember he use to have one of us kids walk with him to the store when he went out to get his cigars.
Loved his cigars. I think he actually owned the house we lived in when My Father was married to Marguerite Shook, her maiden name.
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He was either Harry McRae Jackie’s husband or his father. Most likely jackie’s husband. Harry McRae was my father. I knew him for a few years before he died. There were 4 of us children from that match.
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Don’t think this man could have been your father as he did not drink at all. You said your father had a drinking problem.
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Hi Wayne. I have a tree on Ancestry with quite a lot of information on Arlenes genealogy. I will be bringing it to Florida with me when i visit in a week or so. If not, i can add you as guest on my account. I just need your email. What i have been stumped on is that Jackie told me we were French Canadian on Arlene’s side. I can not find any French. I have found Scottish, Irish and English. Do you know about this. Also wondering if anyone knows who Jackie’s father was.
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Have you had any DNA genealogy done.
It might help to determine the direction of DNA that you hold different from other members of family?
By the way I live in Tennessee. Left email address on other comment.
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Ok. I have done my maternal DNA and general DNA. It had helped a lot but i cant connect to who Jackies father was. Maybe i will at some pt. thanks for the email. I will list you as guest on my tree. Its under Teresa Marie McRae. My birth name.
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I was under the impression that Juanita and Jackie had the same father. I would have asked her the many times she came to my home in St. Pete. had I thought different. I vaguely remember my father taking me and my brother Ronnie over to Tampa to visit Juanita, my memory fails me if Jackie was there then. This was many years ago.
tomblackshire@netscape.net
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No. The story is that Jackie was a product of an affair Arlene had with a seminary student on Massachusettes before she came to Fl. I think vincent usher may have adopted her but not sure. Anyway, this is what i have heard but who knows.
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All my father said was she had had a rough life entirely.
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I heard that also. What a shame and then to die so young.
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Do you remember her, wayne?
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Very much so, she came to my house in St Pete on numerous occasions. I even bailed out one of her boyfriends (husband possibly) and let them stay at my home until they got back on their feet. I would feel more comfortable telling you what I do know in a regular email rather than in this type of venue.
If you agree send me a email to the email I put in the comment.
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