Maude Hearn O'Pry
| Nettie Maude Hearn O'Pry
(Historian of the American South) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Born | September 22, 1873 Madison, Mississippi Alma mater: | ||
| Died | September 10, 1964 (aged 89) Miami, Florida Resting place: | ||
| Spouse | Alvin O'Pry
Children: | ||
Nettie Maude Hearn O'Pry (September 22, 1873 – September 10, 1964) was a professional writer who authored the first history ever written of Shreveport, Louisiana, entitled Chronicles of Shreveport and Caddo Parish (1928).
Biography
Born in Madison near the state capital of Jackson, Mississippi, she was a daughter of David Russell Hearn 1841-1925) and the former Martha Jane Mixon (1837-1915). She was educated in public school and by private tutors and the Masonic Institute, located in Sam Rayburn's Bonham in Fannin County in north Texas. In addition to her historical research, she penned magazine articles and radio broadcasts. A member of the Methodist Church, she died four years before the formation of the United Methodist denomination. She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Motion Picture Censorship Bureau,[1] which monitored Hollywood studios from 1934 to 1968 for the promotion of films of a patriotic nature, with emphasis on what General Douglas MacArthur famously called "Duty, Honor, Country!." The motion picture code was adopted by William Harrison "Will" Hays, Sr. (1879-1954), the president of what ibecame the Motion Picture Association of America, who had earlier served briefly as the U.S. Postmaster General in the administration of U.S. President Warren G. Harding.
As member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, O'Pry solicited Confederate veterans in Mississippi for stories of their wartime experiences. She published the veterans' accounts under the title 140 Reminiscences of the War Between the States.[1]
Maude wed Alvin O'Pry (1875-1957) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and the couple had four children: Alvin Kouns (1906-1973); Hardie Dillon (1909-1952); Martha Lee Serio (1912-1986), and Maude Hearn Williams (1913-1993).[1] Alvin Kouns O'Pry was born in Moss Point in Jackson County, Mississippi, and died in Dallas, Texas; his sisters were born in Long Beach in Harrison County on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.[2]
Maude O'Pry died in Miami, Florida, twelve days before her ninetieth birthday, and is entombed at Lakelawn Park Mausoleum in New Orleans.[1][3] According to Shreveport city directories from 1924 to 1934, it appears that Maude and Alvin separated in the late 1920s. There is no record in Caddo Parish of an O'Pry divorce. By 1931, O'Pry claimed to be the "widow" of Alvin O'Pry though the Louisiana state death index shows no such person dying in the 1920s or the 1930s.[4] Instead Alvin O'Pry was living with a second wife, Lela Mae Cook O'Pry (1878-1960), in Morton in Cochran County in west Texas, where he was the city judge at the time of his death in 1957 and had previously been a justice of the peace. He acquired four stepchildren from the second marriage.[5]
Lela O'Pry was previously married to the physician, John William Yeary (1878-1918), a native of Lee County, Virginia, who died at the age of forty in Burnet County west of Austin, Texas.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 O'Pry, Maude Hearn. A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography: Louisiana Historical Association. Retrieved on April 17, 2020.
- ↑ Alvin Kouns O'Pry. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on April 17, 2020.
- ↑ A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography used material for its brief article on O'Pry from family papers and an article written by Eugene Tilleux, Jr., published in the since defunct Shreveport Journal on October 25, 1928.
- ↑ Nettie Maude Hearn O'Pry. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on April 17, 2020.
- ↑ Alvin O'Pry. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on April 17, 2020.
- ↑ Dr. John William Yeary. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on April 17, 2020.
