Photos: Martha Jane “Jennie” Misenheimer McAllister, undated.
Courtesy of great-granddaughter Robin McAllister.

 

Left: This framed cotton and felt Blue Star Mother’s Flag belonged to Martha Jane Misenheimer McAllister. It would have been displayed in the front window of her home. The three stars represent three of her sons, Harvey, Ben, and Everette,
who served during WWI. Everette did not survive. The flag is currently displayed
in the Military Room at the Eastern Cabarrus Historical Society Museum in Mt. Pleasant, NC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class list of 1869-1870
Graduation unknown

Birth: 22 Apr 1863, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, USA
Death: 3 Sep 1954, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, USA

Parents:
Jacob J. Misenheimer (1823 – 1888)
Martha Shankle Misenhimer (1827 – 1869)

Siblings:
Abram Crews Misenhimer (1856 – 1857)
Mary Belle Misenheimer Shumaker (1858 – 1946)
Eliza Ann Misenheimer Allman (1860 – 1938)
Charles J. Misenhimer (1865 – 1952)
Cora M. Misenheimer Buchanan (1868 – 1933)
Hattie Misenheimer Barnhardt (1873 – 1926)*
Effie Mae Misenheimer Tucker (1874 – 1946)*
Bessie K. Misenheimer James (1876 – 1939)*
*Half-sibling

Spouse: Robert Lee McAllister (1863-1911)
Married: 23 Dec 1885, Cabarrus County, North Carolina

Children:
Harvey J. McAllister (1886-1957)
Lee McAllister (1889-1962)
Ben McAllister (1891-1960)
Everett McAllister (1892-1918)
Myra Nell McAllister (1894-1903)
Mabel Blanche McAllister Moose (1902-1982)
Robert Brown McAllister (1906-1980)

Burial:
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Cemetery, Mount Pleasant, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, USA
Source: www.findagrave.com,  #30194599.

____________

Concord Tribune (Concord, NC), 11 May 1941, p. 2-5

Tribune’s Minute Biography

Today is observed all over the nation as Mother’s Day. Therefore who could be a more fitting subject for today’s Minute Biography than one who is as far as has been learned, Cabarrus county’s only living Gold Star mother. Mrs. Martha Jane Misenheimer McAllister of Mt. Pleasant.

For Mrs. McAllister’s son, Everette, was killed in action in the terrible battle of the Marne, and his body now lies among the nation’s honored dead in Arlington cemetery.

At the age of 20, Everette volunteered for service in a war that was supposed to “end all wars” and “make the world safe for democracy.” He was sent to Camp American University at Washington D. C. in he summer of 1917. He left for France Thanksgiving day and landed in France on Christmas day. He served as corporal with Company C, Sixth Engineers until his death in July 1918. His body was brought back from France in 1921 and laid to final rest at Arlington.

Everette’s mother, known to her many nieces and nephews as “Aunt Jennie,” was born in Mt. Pleasant April 22, 1863, while the country was torn asunder by civil conflict. She is the daughter of the late Jacob and Martha Shankle Misenheimer.

On the paternal side, she is the granddaughter [sic] of Jacob and Christine Misenheimer of Cabarrus county and on the maternal side her grandparents were Levi and Sarah Shankle of Stanly county.

For a period when educational opportunities were not plentiful Mrs. McAllister was fortunate in having excellent advantages, for she was educated at Tammany Hall, a school located near the site of the present Mt. Pleasant consolidated school and at Mt. Pleasant Female Academy. The former school was in charge of Professor C. H. Fisher and the latter in charge of Professor L. H. Rothrock. Upon completing her schooling, she taught school at St. John’s.

At that time, Jennie Misenheimer, as she was called, was a member of the Methodist church and was its organist.

On December 23, 1885, she was married to Robert L. McAllister of Mt. Pleasant, and soon after her marriage was confirmed in St. John’s Lutheran church in Mt. Pleasant.

Five of her seven children are living in Mt. Pleasant. They include Harvey J., Lee, Ben, Mabel (Mrs. Lee Moose) and Brown McAllister, principal of Coltrane grammar school, Concord. Myra Nelle, a little girl, died at the age of nine, and Everette, as has been mentioned before, gave his life for his country. She has been a widow a number of years and she and her son, Brown, live at the family home in Mt. Pleasant.

Mrs. McAllister is a member of the Cabarrus county chapter of the American War Mothers, but seldom, on account of failing health, attends meetings.

Up until her sight failed a few years ago, Mrs. McAllister liked to do all kinds of fancy work, crocheting, knitting, sewing, quilting and other housewifely arts, and was quite proficient at all of them.

But, most of all, she is and has always been a lover of the outdoors. She has what the early settlers of the community used to call “a green thumb,” referring to her extraordinary success at growing plants from cuttings and seeds. It seems that some people just can’t get plants to grow, no matter how careful they are, while others can just stick a stem in the ground and Mrs. McAllister is one of these. She is remarkably well acquainted with local herbs, barks, leaves, and the like that have medicinal value.

Like her son, Brown, one of her principal hobbies and pastimes is the making of scrap books of various kinds. She has one on wild life and flowers and another in which she has collected age-old adages.

Mrs. McAllister is one of the few people of the community who has kept a definite record of bird migration.

Mrs. McAllister at 78, for she observed that milestone less than a month ago, is greatly beloved by her five children, her many nieces and nephews and cousins, and indeed by all the people of her home community among whom she has lived all her life, thus far.

____________

Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC), 4 Sep 1954, p. 12.

Mrs. Martha McAllister Dies At Mount Pleasant

MOUNT PEASANT, Sept. 3 – Mrs. Martha Misenheimer McAllister, 91, one of the oldest residents of Mount Pleasant, died at her home here today after an illness of three months.

She was born in Mount Pleasant and lived her throughout her life.

Funeral services will be held Saturday at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church here by the Rev. E. Ray Trexler and the Rev. Carl Daye. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

The body will remain at Peninger’s Funeral Home until the hour of the service.

Surviving are one daughter, Mrs. W. Lee Moose of Mount Pleasant; four sons, Harvey J., Ben, and Lee McAllister of Mount Pleasant, and Dr. R. Brown McAllister of Concord; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.