Lou Grace Baird Pegram
b. 5 Jul 1899 Freeport, Harper, KS
d. 9 Jan 1976 Charlotte, Mecklenburg, NC
m. 9 Dec 1917 Kansas City, Jackson, MO
Parents
William Edward Baird (1868-1948) Alice Ann Enlow (1862-1909)
Lou Grace Baird was the second born child of William Edward and Alice Ann Enlow Baird. She had one older sister, Susie, and one younger brother, Gail William. All three children were born in Kansas and somewhere between 1905 and 1909, the family moved to Cass County Missouri. This small family suffered an immeasurable loss when Alice Ann Baird died from Bright's Disease, now known as nephritis, in 1909. Lou was only 10 when her mother passed away.
I wish I had more information about Lou’s childhood, but I’ve pieced together a few details. It appears that once her mother passed, she went to live with relatives in Kansas. The Federal 1910 Census and the 1915 Kansas Census show her aunt, Amy Elizabeth Enlow Shapland and her uncle, Thomas D Shapland, living in Freeport, KS. Based on the article to the right written in 1914, Lou was in school in Freeport, KS, likely with the Shaplands and had just returned to Pleasant Hill, MO. I’ve heard loving stories about these two and it warms my heart to know that “Aunt Lib” was like a mother to Lou Grace.
The Pleasant Hill Times, Pleasant Hill, Missouri · Friday, May 01, 1914
Lou's journey as a young woman began at Longview Farm, where she met Alexander Hodge Pegram, the man she would marry on December 9, 1917, in Kansas City. This city lay just a short distance from her father's farm in Polk, Missouri. Shortly after their wedding, Hodge was called to serve in the war, leaving Lou alone as she prepared to welcome their first child in December 1918. Lou and Hodge eventually had five children, with three surviving into adulthood. Among them was Anna Lou, who was to become my grandmother. Their children were:
Edward Hodge Pegram - b. 3 Dec 1918 Pleasant Hill, Cass, MO; d. 18 Jan 1981 Asheville, Buncombe, NC
Anna Lou Pegram Heafner - b. 16 Apr 1920 Pleasant Hill, Cass MO; d. 26 Nov 2011 Cherryville, Gaston, NC
Thomas Winchester Pegram - b. 8 Apr 1921 Pleasant Hill, Cass, MO; d. 9 Apr 1921 Pleasant Hill, Cass, MO
Thomas Murray Pegram - b. 20 Dec 1931 Steele Creek, Mecklenburg, NC; d. 6 Mar 2010 Charlotte, Mecklenburg, NC
Lelia Elizabeth Pegram - 26 Nov 1933 Steele Creek, Mecklenburg, NC; d. 6 Mar 1935 Steele Creek, Mecklenburg, NC
About 1926, Lou and Hodge packed up their children and belongings to move to where he grew up as a child, Steele Creek located in Mecklenburg County North Carolina. Though they remained tied to Missouri, traveling several times to visit with family and friends, it was here they remained raising their children.
(left article) The Pleasant Hill Times, Pleasant Hill, Missouri · Friday, December 14, 1917
