Mary Elizabeth or "Georgia Ann " Williams was born in 1918 in Paducah, Kentucky, although the exact circumstances of her birth may never be known as she was born into an unfortunate family environment and was not taken care of or raised by her mother or father.
When she was still an infant of a few weeks, she was found on the doorstep of the home of Cora Trainor on Berger Road in Paducah, Kentucky. The following note was attached to her: "Please take care of my little girl. Someday you will know. My name is Mary Elizabeth. You shall be rewarded." Apparently, at first Cora Trainor (who was later identified as her actual grandmother) was not aware that the infant on her doorstep was her granddaughter, according to a Paducah newspaper article of March 8, 1919.
The incident was reported in the Louisville Courier Journal newspaper as follows: "Baby Girl is Left on Porch: Paducah, KY, - A six-weeks-old girl baby was found by Mrs. Charles Trainor Wednesday night on the front porch of her home on the Berger Road. There is no clue to the parentage of the child. A note asked the finder to care for the infant and be rewarded. The child was neatly dressed. Mrs. Trainor had not decided what disposition she will make of the find." Subsequently Georgia Ann as she was called was raised into adulthood by Cora and her unmarried sister-in-law, Annie Trainor.
Several later references indicated that Mary Elizabeth’s mother and father were actually Lura Elizabeth Trainor and John W. Williams of Paducah. A birth certificate for Mary Elizabeth was created as a "Delayed" document and issued on October 9, 1950 from the State of Kentucky showing Lura Trainor and John Williams as her parents, and stating that she was born on November 10, 1918. According to this birth certificate this was a first birth, legitimate, and was attested to by W. J. Bass, MD, Paducah, KY, on September 23, 1950. He was apparently the attending physician. It was also attested to by F. Swenter, who was Georgia Ann’s uncle, and should have known the circumstances and the actual data concerning the birth. It is believed that the certificate was probably requested by Mary Elizabeth herself.
According to Lura’s obituary, she was married to John Williams on October 14, 1918, about a month before Mary Elizabeth’s birth, but the obituary stated that there was considerable mystery surrounding their child’s birth and the identify of her parents. Lura died at the young age of 26 of tuberculosis, a year after her child’s birth. She died on a Pullman car on a train while traveling to a TB treatment center in Texas. Her obituary further stated just before she died, she asked that God would forgive her and said that she was sorry that she had ever met John Williams.
Georgia Ann married James Thomas “Jimmy" Griffin on November 24, 1947. Jimmy was a native of Stewart County, Tennessee and the son of Plomer and Amanda Jane Vinson Griffin. He was a civil engineer who worked for the Army Corp of Engineers. In January 1948, Jimmy and Georgia Ann moved to New Albany, Indiana, where she worked as a nurse. They lived in New Albany for the rest of their lives. They had no children.
Georgia Ann died on Apr 15, 1992, and was buried in the Kraft Graceland Memorial Park in New Albany along with Jimmy who had died on December 2, 1987.
Tombstone of Mary Elizabeth :Georgia Ann" Williams Griffin
Lura Trainor Williams, mother of "Georgia Ann"
LINEAGE: (Mary Elizabeth Williams was the wife of James Thomas Griffin. James was the son of Plomer Milton and Amanda Jane Vinson Griffin, grandson of James Henry and Martha Alice Futrell Vinson and the great-grandson of Baylous Prent and Amanda Jane Thomas Vinson. Amanda Jane was the fifth child of James, Jr. and Margaret Ethridge Thomas. James Thomas, Jr. was the sixth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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