Adele Smith - Adele Hughes

Adele Smith [1912-1988]

Webpage by Paul Ridenour

Created 7/11/2010

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Adopted at age 4 by Addie Smoke Hughes and John Randolph Hughes, who were living in Marshall, Texas

Adele was adopted out because her Smith family was so poor

Adele's mother Addie had her as "Addie Dell" on the 1920 Alabama census record to incorporate her name but Adele wanted to be called Adele at some point because she knew that was her birth name

Norma Pee's son Stephen Peay [changed to original spelling] emailed me in June of 2010 as his wife Debbie did a search on the Internet and found Adele Smith and her sister Essie Smith on my webpage - www.paulridenour.com/smith.htm. They had letters indicating that Adele's birth name was Adele Smith and she had a sister named Essie Smith. Adele knew Essie because when Adele was adopted out at age 4, Essie was age 6.

Since June 2010, Norma and I have emailed a lot and she has sent me photos and documents and I have sent her photos. I decided to put this webpage together so that the Smith family that are still alive, will know what happened to Adele after her adoption.

Adele and Essie would never see each other again since her adoption and Adele would never know her Smith family and her Smith family would never know her

I am certain that Adele and Essie and their sister Ora have met in Heaven

Addie Hughes, Adele Hughes [Adele Smith], and John Hughes

Adele's parents [adopted her]

Adele's home, built in front of the home where she grew up, Tyler, Alabama

Adele before and after she was adopted at age 4

Adele dating future husband Guy Melton

Adele

Adele loved animals

Adele in high school

Adele

Adele's husband Guy Melton

Adele's mother and Adele's daughter Norma Melton

Norma Melton

L to R: Adele and Guy Melton, Norma and Andy Pee, Lonise and Milton Pee [Andy's parents]
Andy and Norma's wedding, August 29, 1959, FBC, Selma, GA

Norma Melton Pee

Adele and Guy

Adele's grandson Stephen Peay, his grandfather Guy Melton, and wife Debbie Peay

Addie Hughes' obituary

Adele Melton's obituary

Adoption papers found after Adele's mother passed away

Rev. J. D. Odom worked for the adoption agency Orphan Home Society on 5520 Reiger Avenue in Dallas [Letter dated May 1916]

Letter gives Adele's birth date and says Adele's biological family are "very happy that she is so well situated" and that Adele's older sister Essie [2 years older] was adopted by a family in Sulphur Springs, Texas [an hour east of Dallas]

Typed letter of a handwritten postcard from J. D. Odom in April 1916

Letter says that Adele's birth mother "seems very happy"

Typed letter of a handwritten postcard from J. D. Odom in October 1916

Letter indicates that Adele's older sister Essie Smith was adopted out but "returned" to the Smith family

OHS - Orphan Home Society, 5520 Reiger Avenue, Dallas, Texas

Essie Smith, Adele's older sister by two years

Newspaper article writer Maggie Kennedy wrote about Alice Robards who was helping Norma Pee find Essie Smith for her mother Adele. Alice lived in the Casa View area of Dallas where my parents still live today. I used to ride my bike by her street on Fern. Never knew her of course.

What Adele and her Hughes family never knew, that although they were looking for Adele's sister Essie Smith with this article in 1986, Essie was killed when her boyfriend accidentally hit her with his truck when she was age 21, back in 1931, when Adele was 19. Essie was walking to church with her sister Ora Smith when her boyfriend was showing off and struck her. Of course, Norma Pee now knows this since June 2010.

My family subscribed to the Dallas Morning News so they would have never seen this article. If Nannie Burnett [my grandmother] or Ora Smith [my 2nd great aunt/Adele's sister] or Edna Singleton [my great aunt] would have seen this article in 1986, they would have known it was about their family and they would have tried to contact Maggie Kennedy, Alice Robards, or Norma Pee.

The article also mentions another article four years earlier and that article was titled "Family Tree" and written by Margaret Ann Thetford. It was published by the Dallas Morning News on 4/1/1982. That article must have mentioned Adele and Essie as it influenced Mrs. Robards to help Norma Melton Pee.

Laura Belle Singleton Ridenour Burnett, or Nannie Burnett [Adele's niece and my grandmother], Essie Smith, Edna Singleton [Nannie's sister], and a non-related boy

Essie Smith before she was killed at age 21

Fannie Glausier and sister Emma Leola Glausier Smith, Adele's birth mother

Emma Leola Glausier Smith, Adele's birth mother

Emma Leola Glausier Smith

Emma once shot and killed a black man in her backyard when he would not stop approaching her

Her son Frank was in a car accident at age 17 and he was in the hospital but dying because doctors could not help him. One doctor told her that there is a new drug that might save his life but she could not afford it. She went to the man's house who hit her son and told him "You are going to go down to the hospital and pay for that new drug for my son or I am going to kill you." The man knew she was serious and he did pay for the drug. Frank would live to be 84 years old.

Charles Augustus Smith, Adele's birth father

Emma Leola Glausier Smith, Adele's mother and with my brother Dale, circa 1956/57

Emma died 12/22/1961, two weeks after my younger brother David was born

My mother Mary Alice Joines Ridenour, Ora Smith [Adele's sister], mom's sister Kathleen Joines Graves, and Emma Leola Glausier Smith with my brother Dale -1956/57

Mamie Smith Singleton Whaley - brother Dale Ridenour, Paul Ridenour [me], and brother David Ridenour

Mamie Smith Singleton Whaley and Ora Smith

Mamie Smith Singleton Whaley, Laura Belle Singleton Ridenour Burnett, Mary Alice Joines Ridenour, Alice Hurst Joines, David Ridenour, Dale Ridenour, Paul Ridenour, and Ora Smith

Nannie Burnett and my dad Robert Stanley Ridenour [born 1936]

Edna Singleton Grubb Wilson - Adele's niece

Edna Singleton Grubb Wilson

Nannie Burnett

Nannie Burnett, Mamie Smith Singleton Whaley, and Edna Singleton

Roy Lawrence Smith [Adele's brother] and his wife Grace

Ora Smith [Adele's sister] and Edna Singleton, Adele's niece

Charles Franklin Smith "Frank" [Adele's brother]

Nita Burris, daughter of Frank Smith above [Dallas June 2010]

Nita Burris and her husband Bob Burris

This is the current location of where Orphan Home Society [OHS] was on 5520 Reiger Avenue. As you can see, it is no longer there. The two apartments [crack houses] are 5510 [on right] and 5526 Reiger Avenue [7/11/2010]

Across the street is 5519 Reiger Avenue [7/11/2010] and it gives you an idea and what 5520 would look like today

Norma Pee has not been able to find out what Orphan home Adele was in but Buckner Baptist Children's Home would be a logical choice

Buckner Baptist Children's Home [7/11/2010]

Nannie Burnett's house on 6108 N. Jim Miller Road. She lived there from 1967 to just a few years ago. Nannie is 95 and this photo was taken on 7/11/2010

Sadly, Nannie Burnett is blind and cannot see the photos of Adele or her first cousin Norma Melton Pee

Nannie Burnett's house is where I spent all of my Christmas Eve's growing up and where I would also see Ora Smith and Edna Singleton Grubb Wilson

Nannie Burnett's old house on Jim Miller is:

3.5 miles east of OHS [5520 Reiger Avenue]
1 mile west of Buckner Baptist Children's Home
5.6 miles east of downtown Dallas
2.6 miles west of my parents

Census Records

1910 [Thirteenth Census of the US] Dallas County, Dallas, Texas

We see Julian A. Singleton and Mamie Pearl Smith Singleton, my great grandparents, have a 4 month old child named Bertha L. Singleton. I only thought they had three children: Edna Marie born 4/7/1910, Otis Harold born 1911, and Laura Belle, my grandmother, who was born 10/24/1914. Who is Bertha L. ? And it appears she would be the same age as Edna.

We also see Charles Smith, Emma Smith, and Essie Smith being 3 months old and living in the same house or next to the Singletons

1920 [Fourteenth Census of the US] Dallas County, Alabama, Tyler, Alabama

We see John and Addie Hughes and their adopted daughter Adele listed as Addie Dell Hughes, age 7

Smith Genealogy

Emma Leola Glausier (11/13/1872 Bibb County, GA - 12/22/1961 Mt. Sylvan/Hopewell Cemetery in Tyler)
Married Charles Augustus Smith (4/12/1867 Roanoke, AL - 12/4/1932 Texas/Hopewell Cemetery) on 10/9/1892 or 11/13/1892
(2nd great grandparents)
(Note: Emma's grandfather on the Glausier side came from Ireland to America at age 19)
Children:

Mamie Pearl Smith (7/1/1893 - 8/17/1972) (Oakland Cemetery in Dallas)

Sarah Elizabeth "Lizzie" Smith (3/29/1895 - 6/30/1909) (Oakland Cemetery)
Note: Never menstruated/surgery/died

Charles Franklin Smith (10/4/1903 Corsicana, TX - 9/3/1987) (Farmer's Branch (Keenan) Cemetery)
Married Hattie Mae Farrell (4/8/1903-3/23/1982 Buried by husband)
Children:

Juanita "Nita" Fay Smith
Married Buddy Wright
Children:

Teresa Jerraine Wright

#2 Husband Bob Burris

Perry Franklin Smith (6/16/1924-10-31/1948) (Killed in plane crash/Farmer's Branch (Keenan) Cemetery

Roy Lawrence Smith (12/1/1905 Ft. Worth - 1991) (Hopewell Cemetery)
Married Grace Tate [census records and given to me by Norma Melton Pee]
Children:

Verlene Smith
Patsy Smith
Buddy Smith

#2 Wife Ruby E. Unknown (1915 - 1998) (Hopewell Cemetery)
Children:

Edna Marie Smith
Laura Pearl Smith

Ora Bernice Smith (8/30/1907 Waxahachie - 5/31/1990)
(Never menstruated/no surgery) (Hopewell Cemetery)

Essie Allene Smith (1/25/1910 - 11/28/1931) (walking to church with Ora/killed by car) (Hopewell Cemetery)
Note: Essie was adopted out of the family at age 6 but came back.

Adele Smith (adopted out by a wealthy couple in Dallas)
In June 7, 2010, I received an email from her family and now I can add the rest here:
Adele Smith was adopted by John and Addie (Smoke) Hughes, of Tyler, Alabama. They lived in Marshall, TX. They moved back to Tyler, Alabama.
Adele's name became Adele Hughes [1912 - 1988] married Guy Melton
Children:

    Norma Ann Melton married Andy Pee
    Children:

        Stephen Peay [changed his name to the original spelling] married Debbie
        Children:

                Connor Peay

NOTE: Charles Augustus Smith's mother was Sara Suggs. His siblings were:
Sophronia Ardolia Smith (married Unknown Herndon), Carrie Smith (married Unknown Vinson), and Fredrick McDowell Smith

SINGLETON, GRUBB, RIDENOUR:

Mamie Pearl Smith (7/1/1893 - 8/17/1972)
Married Julian A. Singleton (Savannah, GA 8/18/1887 - 1915 old Oak Cliff Cemetery) (great grandparents)
Children:

Edna Marie Singleton (4/7/1910 - 7/11/1998) (Grove Hill Cemetery/Garden of Ascension)
Married Armand S. Grubb (10/9/1902 - 1/15/1979)
Children:

Norman E. Grubb (12/24/1927 Dallas)
Married Mary "Hazel" Morrow (6/8/1931 Emory, TX - ) on 7/7/1951 in Dallas
Children:

Gloria Jean Grubb (7/8/1952 Dallas)
Married William T. Yearout, Jr. (8/23/1952 Dallas - ) on 8/18/1972 in Dallas
Children:

Katherine "Katie" Suzanne Yearout (6/18/1979 Dallas)
Married Darel Cantrell (5/16/1972 Garland) on 6/22/1996 in Garland
Children:

Kayleigh Marie Cantrell (12/23/1997 Dallas)

Married Michael Allen (from Wales) on 4/12/2001
Children:

Christopher Richard Allen (7/20/2002 Plano - )
Gareth William Allen (4/22/2004 Plano - )

Jennifer Renee Yearout (2/25/1982 Dallas) married Ryan Minney in 12/1/2001
Children:

Timothy Odell Minney (10/22/2004 - )

#2 Husband Monty Smith (12/31/1956 Dallas) on 6/10/1989 in Point

Randall Grubb (8/15/1959 Dallas)

#2 Husband Clint G. Wilson (1/26/1904 - 8/21/1978) (Grove Hill Cemetery) on 9/12/1939 in Birmingham, AL
Children:

Dorothy Nell Wilson (circa 1928 - ) (Edna's stepdaughter)
Married Unknown
Children:

Ronnie Unknown

#2 Husband Fred Garrett
Children:

Ronnie Garrett (Fred adopted him)
Michael Garrett

Otis Harold Singleton (1911-1927) (Forest Lawn Cemetery in Dallas, close to huge cottonwood tree on Walnut Hill Ln side/had bad heart)

Laura Belle Singleton (10/24/1914 Aubrey)
Married Hugh Stanley Ridenour (6/19/1912 West, TX - 10/20/1976 Redlands, CA) on 10/6/1932(grandparents)
Children:

Robert Stanley Ridenour (9/16/1936 Dallas)
Married Mary Alice Joines (10/8/1936 Palmer) (parents)
Children:

Robert Dale Ridenour (11/25/1956 Dallas) (lives in Mesquite)
Married Becky Moreno (11/6/1959)
Children:

one child

Brian Paul Ridenour (3/12/1960 Dallas) (lives in Garland) (me)
Married Dorothy "Dottie" Louise Doyen (10/13/1962 Texas City) on 11/1/1986 in Dallas

David Carl Ridenour (12/8/1961 Dallas) (lives in McKinney)
Married Sharon Hand (7/7/1962) on 1/10/1987 in Dallas
Children:

four children

#2 Husband W.C "Ferg" Burnett (10/6/1914 - 2/19/1989) (Grove Hill Cemetery) on 10/21/1944 in Santa Fe, NM
Note: W.C. means nothing. His father liked Governor Ferguson of Texas so much, he nicknamed W.C. "Ferg".

#2 Husband George Calhoun Whaley (1894 - 1966) (Oakland Cemetery)