Photo Record
Images
Additional Images [2]
Metadata
Title |
George and Florence Wiser Photograph Collection |
Collection |
George and Florence Wiser Photograph Collection |
Catalog Number |
021PC15 |
Date |
ca.1920-1990 |
Description |
Florence Ethel Nealis (1902-1987) was born on 7 February 1902, to James William Nealis (1873-1969) and Minerva "Minnie" Alba Brown (1875-1959). James William Nealis was born on 27 April 1873 in Henry County, Kentucky, and died on 30 September 1969 in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Minerva "Minnie" Alba Brown was born on 27 November 1875 in Poplar Plains, Fleming County, Kentucky, and died on 6 April 1959 in Jefferson County, Kentucky. They married at the Christian Church in Shelbyville, Shelby County, Kentucky, on 27 November 1895, per their Kentucky marriage bond. Florence, who went by Ethel, grew up in Shelby County, Kentucky, on a farm with her family around the 1920s. Ethel moved to Louisville in the early 1920s after her sister married and moved to Oldham County, Kentucky. Ethel first appears in the Louisville City Directory in 1922, where her occupation is listed as a "weigher" at J. Finzer & Bros. (which was originally Five Brothers Tobacco Works). Ethel would go on to move multiple times prior to her marriage and worked a variety of jobs, including working for U.S. Foil Co. and Laub Brothers Baggage & Co. Ethel married George Joseph Wiser on 28 July 1928 in Indianapolis, Indiana. By 1940, Ethel and George purchased a home at 7507 St. Andrews Church Road. George is listed as a mechanic working at Standard Oil, making $1,200 ($22,800 today). Around 1950, they moved to a stone home on Dixie Highway in Pleasure Ridge Park. At the time, the area was rural with little commercial development. George opened his own Standard Oil gas station and repair garage. He was a much sought after mechanic because of his training and innate sense of motors, electricity, and card. Ethel was the clerk and took care of stocking the little storefront that accompanied the gas station. Both Ethel and George grew up as working class Kentuckians who lived off Dixie Highway for the bulk of their married life. The couple had no children and are buried in Louisville Memorial Gardens West. Images include: 021PC15.01: Florence Ethel Wiser and her husband George Wiser holding a caught fish in front of their home on Dixie Highway around 1950. 021PC15.02: Ethel with her sister, Anna Laura Nay (born 1899), around the 1950s. 021PC15.03: Florence Ethel Wiser and her husband George Wiser in front of their home on St. Andrews Church Road. 021PC15.04-.05: Ethel with her sister, Anna Laura Nay (born 1899), around the 1950s. 021PC15.06: James Nealis pictured by a car in the 1950s. 021PC15.07-.08: Group photo of Minnie Nealis, George and Ethel Wiser, Anna Laura Nay (Ethel's sister) and Elaine Cherry Wood (Ethel's great grand-daughter) on the steps of the Whitney Avenue House in 1956 or 1957. 021PC15.09: Ethel's parents, James William Nealis and Minerva "Minnie" Alva Brown, in the early to mid 1950s. 021PC15.10: James Nealis, labeled March 1960. 021PC15.11: Florence Ethel Wiser and her husband George Wiser celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in 1978. Ethel is also pictured with George [021PC15.13] and Anna Laura around the same time [021PC15.12]. 021PC15.14: Oversized studio portrait photograph of Ethel, ca. 1920 [removed and stored with framed items]. Items scanned include: 021PC15.01 021PC15.02 021PC15.03 021PC15.04 021PC15.06 021PC15.09 021PC15.10 021PC15.12 |
Search Terms |
Families Kentucky Agricultural laborers |