Barbara Ann McDuff Guttery and Melvin Oakes, 2010
Barbara was raised by her maternal grandmother, Rebecca Bertha White Roberts. Rebecca was the widow of William Edwards Roberts who was born March 27, 1868 and died May 15, 1938. William was born in Raymond, MS, the son of John W. Roberts. John was born in New York City and married Sallie Waits(?) who was born in Mississippi.
Rebecca was born September 24, 1870, and died June 25, 1954. She is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery. She and William Edward were married in May of 1895 in Vicksburg. They had a son, William E. Roberts, Jr. (b. 1898), a daughter Laura Evelyn Roberts ( 1900-1934) and a son John B. "Jack" Roberts (1902-).
Laura Evelyn, shown at right, married William Fair McDuff and they had four children, Rebecca Lee (Quarand)(1923-2015), Laura Evelyn (Graham)(1924-2006), Barbara Ann (Guttery) and William F. "Bill" McDuff Jr. (1932-2000). William Sr. worked for the Illinois Central Railroad. Laura sadly died on July 21, 1934 in Vicksburg one day after giving birth to Barbara. Apparently Barbara's maternal grandmother, Rebecca agreed to raise the four children. In the 1940 Census, William has remarried to Jeanette Lourenia Givens (Sewell), and is a switchman with the railroad and they live in Waltersville, about 3-4 miles away from his children. William died on August 10, 1943, in Vicksburg. He was born May 20,1900, in Pelahatchie, MS. He is buried in Cedar Hills Cemetery in Vicksburg. Barbara would have been nine years old at the time of his death.
Barbara siblings:
Rebecca graduated from Oak Ridge School (no high school at Redwood) in 1939. She was an outstanding student. You can read more about her on the Oak Ridge High School Class of 1939 webpage. She married William Leroy Pilgrim who died in a military plane crash in the Pacific during WWII. She later married Theodore S. Quarand of Bismarck, SD.
Sister Laura left school early, age 15, and married Martin Graham in 1939. Note spelling error of Martin's name in clip below. This says they lived with Laura's father and stepmother. Laura and Martin moved to Austin, Texas where he worked for the city. Laura passed away August 13, 2006.
A few memories: The Robert's house, where Barbara grew up, was a clapboard two-story home with an entry porch. It was next door to a grocery store run by Abraham George. Apparently Mrs. Robert rented the store to him. The downstairs front room was our play area. It had a large fireplace and a wonderful mantle over it. The fireplace had openings on two sides. The backside was into the kitchen area. Coal was stored under the house and contrary to most homes was used in their fireplace. It made for a very comfortable area to play the many games that the McDuff's owned, Monopoly Parcheesi and Chinese Checkers were at the top of our list. We played by the hours. The bedrooms were on the second floor and access was a beautiful staircase with a lovely bannister which we enjoyed sliding down if Mrs. Roberts was distracted. The house had a number of secret passages. You could enter a closet in one room and exit into another room through a small door in the back. There were also trap doors in the floor to the outside. Great for playing Hide and Seek on rainy days. Barbara's older brother Bill would play with us some times, however to be honest he would often break the rules and then try to convince us that he was right. The house had an old cistern in front which was no longer used for water. A feature that fascinated us was a large beehive behind a clapboard on the second floor at the front of the house. One had to be careful, as there was always activity at the hive.
I recall one adventure that didn't turn out as we had planned. Barbara, my brothers Floyd and Donald and I wanted to take a hike to Lake McNutt that was quite a walk across the railroad and through some farmland. We were admonished that under no circumstances were we to get into a boat on the lake. We agreed and were allowed to go. Once we reached the lake and were standing on its edge, a young African-American teenager came up in a boat and asked if we wanted a ride. He only had room for three of us, so we told young Donald that he could not come, a big mistake. There was no straighter line than the one he took to get to our parents and inform them of our action. We were enjoying the boat ride, however the boatman took us far down the lake and then said he had to go and could not return us to our original spot, instead he let us off on the otherside of the lake. McNutt is a long lake, maybe 1.5 to 2 miles along its perimeter. It took a lot of time to get home. The welcoming party was not a happy one. Both our parents and Mrs. Roberts were very angry. Instead of short term corporal punishment which we all would have preferred, they were more creative. We were required for one month to cut grass in dad's auto salvage yard everyday after school. Barbara was given extra household chores for one month. That ended our high flying adventures.
1940-1944 Redwood High School 1st to 4th Grade
1944-1945 St. Francis Xavier Academy 5th Grade
1945-1946 Likely St. Francis Xavier Academy 6th Grade
1947-1949 Carr Central High School
7th-8th Grade
1949-1952 Redwood High School
1953-1957 Southwest Texas Teachers College, San Marcos, Texas. Earned a BA.
Teacher in junior high in Golden, Colorada.
Barbara married Truman Hardy "Pete" Guttery, Jr. in 1958 in Kyle, Texas. At that time Pete was in the US Army stationed in Killeen, TX.He had been drafted in 1957. Pete was born May 30, 1934, in Kyle, Texas. He attended Southwest Texas State College and later received a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Texas in 1962. He served on the Kyle, Texas, city council in 1950s. He taught in public schools from 1963 to 1965. He worked in sales for Singer-Friden from 1968-1972. He was also in the publishing business in Austin for a number of years. He started TexasGolf, an Austin based monthly. He also founded with Bob Barton, "The Hays County Citizen." Later he became a broker for golf courses, Texas Golf Properties, until his retirement.. Pete enjoyed golf, tennis and woodworking, especially making writing pens for friends. Here is a headline from Austin paper "
Barbara taught school in Austin Independent School District until retirement.
She and Pete had two children, Paul Graham Guttery and Bejamin Roberts "Ben" Guttery.
Pete died May 22, 2021 in Austin, TX. Barbara died November 8, 2024 in Ft. Worth, Texas.
Barbara Ann McDuff and Truman "Pete" Guttery Scrapbook
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![]() Bill McDuff and sister, Rebecca McDuff.
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![]() 1975 Oakes-Guttery Clans Front Row: Ben Guttery, Mardie Oakes, Jim Oakes, Sarah Oakes, Beth Oakes |
![]() 1975 Oakes-Guttery Clans |
![]() 2011 |