Cedonia & Brice Browder 8-1916
In 1920, closest to the date of the carving, Cedonia F. Browder, age twelve and her brother Brice, age eight, are found in the household of George M. Browder, age thirty-one, and his wife Dell A. age thirty-four. Both Cedonia and Brice are identified as “Meyer” instead of Browder and there’s another individual in the house called Durling F. Meyer, age seventeen, listed as a “step-son”. Ten years earlier, on the 1910 census, Frances Browder is the only child listed in George’s household, with wife Ada, age twenty. Durling is listed in the household of Fred H. Meyer in 1910 with his mother, Della, so it appears Ada died and George remarried, and the census taker mistakenly listed Cedonia and her brother as step-children.
In 1920, the family is living in Montgomery, Alabama and George is listed as an assistant manager in produce, not a profession that lends itself to carving names on a mountain nearly two hundred miles away. George, Ada and Frances are listed in Montgomery in 1910 as well, and the census tells us their address was 312 Goode Street. Since Cedonia would have been eight in 1916 and Brice four, it’s likely their father did the carving, in all probability during a family vacation.
George is listed in a directory from Montgomery, AL in 1915, as a ship clerk and his wife is identified as Ada F. Browder, so he must have married Della later, meaning Brice and Cedonia had the same mother. The directory listing has them on Early Street, which is where they are living in 1920.
The family appears to have moved to Miami, Dade County, FL by 1930. Both Cedonia, spelled Sedonia, and Brice are still in the household. George is listed as a farmer, “working on his own account” and they’re listed in the 48th Ward at 3352 S.W. 4th Street. The Florida Death Index lists George’s date of death as 1948. A Social Security claim lists his date of birth as 20 August 1888 and his date of death as 7 December 1948.
In 1940, Cedonia, listed as “Cadora Wright” is in the household, but the census says that in 1935, she was living in New York City. On a Florida state census from 1935, however, Cedonia is listed in Dade County with her husband, Chauncey Wright. There’s a record from 1940 where Cedonia Browder divorced Chauncey Davis Wright in Dade County, FL. F. Cedonia Browder married Chauncey D. Wright in Dade County in 1930 and in 1956, Frances Cedonia Browder married William D. Black in Dade County. She does not have a profession listed in 1940, but in 1930 she’s listed as a saleswoman at a candy store. The Florida Death Index lists her date of birth as 9 September 1907. She died in Dade County, FL on 4 May 1990, at age eighty-two. On the Florida Death Index, she’s listed as Francis Cedonia Browder.
A passenger listing from Texas shows George Brice Browder, age 48 arriving in San Antonio, TX on 12 July 1959 on American Airlines. His birth date is listed as 21 May 1911 and his place of birth is Montgomery, AL. He lists his residence as 1812 Lynnhave Road, Ft. Worth, TX, and he was arriving from Mexico. In 1940, George Browder, age twenty-eight, is listed as a lodger in the home of James A. Smith in La Grange, Cook County, IL. His place of birth is listed as Alabama and he’s divorced. His occupation is plant maintenence.
George B. Browder married Pauline T. Martin in Miami, in 1947. A city directory from Fort Worth shows him still at Lynhaven Road in 1958 and his wife is listed as Pauline. City directories show him in Forth Worth as late as 1969. The Social Security Death Index lists his date of death as January, 1984 in Fort Worth. The Texas Death Index lists the date as 16 January 1984 in Tarrant County.
I was unable to find an obituary or Find a Grave listing for Cedonia or Brice.
More great research! Very interesting, again…
Thanks!
This is really cool.
George Michael Browder
Is my great grandfather
George Brice Browder (Brice) is my grandfather
Cedonia Browder his sister never had children that I can find & never remarried after Write
Pauline Teresa Martin Browder is my grandmother.
George Brice & Pauline did live & pass away at address 1812 lynhaven Fort Worth TX
They had 1 child, daughter Barabara Ann Browder McClintock
She married Gary Alfred McClintock
They had 1 child, daughter, me
Breezy M McClintock
I have 1 child, son Carver Brice Chappell age 8
George Brice, Pauline & Barbara are all deceased, cremated at Green Haven mosoleum in Fort Worth TX
My great grandfather George M sold produce in Miami FL
My Great great grandfather I think is Frank
If my memory is right Frank had a brother Micheal I’ve met that other side of family.
My grandfather George B moved to Fort Worth TX and opened the Branch out there & started the air streams. I have pics with him & mayor.
My grandfather
My great grandfather &
My great great grandfather were all Masons.
My sons father Ronald Chappell is a Mason.
If you want more information call me
209 505-4374 Bree.
I love reading this.
I’m not sure what happened with Ada & Del
George Brice & Cedonia their mother is Ada
If I remember right. I have all the letters they wrote back & forth
I think one of the ladies was put away in a hospital from what I was told.
I do know a cousin that is from my great great grandfathers brothers side who is a history buff & knows a lot more about this stuff than I do.
I was told the Write guy that Cedonia married was a professional pilot of some sort.
Thanks for the reply. It’s always nice to be of assistance in helping to find family.
Cedonia F Browder is Frances
Ada Frances Browder (born Tew) was born on month day 1890, at birth place, Alabama.
Ada married George Mortimer Browder in between 1906 and 1908, at age 15 at marriage place, Alabama.
George was born on August 20 1888, in Montgomery, Montgomery Co, AL.
They had 2 children: Cedonia Francis Browder and one other child.
Ada passed away in month 1957, at age 67 at death place, Florida.
https://www.myheritage.com/names/ada_browder
I came upon your blog as I was wandering down memory lane, curious to see if whether the internet would reveal information about Cedonia Browder, so I am adding the bit that I know.
I was briefly acquainted with Cedonia in the 1970s/1980s, having purchased two wonderful cairn terrier puppies from her during that period. She was then living alone in southern Dade County, somewhere between South Miami and Cutler Ridge, and seemed to me to be old and quite eccentric. However, she raised winning show dogs, and I understood her to be well known within the national community of cairn terrier breeders for the quality of her dogs.
For me to recall details of her as I do, Cedonia clearly made a mark in my memory as a true character. She was living on property that was even then likely extremely valuable, but was a plot thick with native vegetation—something akin to a mangrove swamp closely surrounding a plain block building where she lived with the dogs. There was no air conditioning in that steamy Miami heat, and few other amenities that I could see.
Cedonia explained that she had abandoned the house where she had lived with her husband so that she could be closer to the cairn terriers. Her husband had died before I met her, but I recall her telling me that he flew for Pan Am Airways (which was an important part of Miami history). My impression was that they were early pioneers in southern Dade County, and either had purchased the land long before, or it was land that had belonged to her father. Had I not been young and impatient to select my puppies, I would have been able to hear colorful stories about that period of Miami history. Cedonia was a serious (albeit offbeat) breeder who lived for her dogs, so was happiest talking about them. But she is a colorful memory from my own years in Miami.
Thanks, Deborah. My intention in posting the story behind some of the carvings was to highlight the real people behind them. Your story is a welcome addition to that. Thanks again.