Poverty in Texas

As I traced the children of William Dean Rutledge and his wife, Susan Virginia Johnson, I was struck by his daughter Mary's life. She married William Brooker Courtney in Richmond County, Virginia on 1 November 1887 and, like so many others, moved to Texas.

The 1920 and 1930 censuses shows William, his children and some of Mary's siblings working in cotton mills in Texas. Since so many of them were working in the mills, I couldn't help but wonder if they were struggling financially.

Mary's death certificate confirmed my suspicion.

She died of pellagra in 1930, in Bell County, Texas.