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.