Notes for: Sandra ("Sandy") Jane Cheatham

Sandra Jane Cheatham



My mother's father was William Albert Cheatham. (Much of the personal info about William Cheatham comes from letters from his son, Bill Cheatham.) He was born on February 16, 1911 in Chaplin, Kentucky. (By 1916, the Cheathams resided in Bloomfield where William's brother, James, was born.) He first married Stella (Dawkins) Kraus on September 15, 1934 having accepted a wedding offer from the rich widow. She was 40 years his senior. He may have married Stella in an effort to return to the "good life" after having suffered through the years of the stock market crash in 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. They were married for six years before divorcing in 1940.

While married to Stella Kraus, William had fallen in love with her grand-daughter, Bertha Kraus. Soon after his divorce from Stella, William and Bertha were married in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Their children were Estelle and Sandra. Estelle was born in 1940 and Sandra was born in 1941. The marriage was a rocky one and it wasn't long before William moved on to the Washington, D.C. area in 1941. He eventually took custody of Sandra, and Estelle remained with Bertha. His marriage to Bertha Kraus ended in divorce on June 5, 1946. She also regained custody of Sandra in 1949.

William married again in 1948 to Beryl Allen, but this ended shortly afterwards in divorce. On October 1, 1950, he married Sue Elizabeth Terry in Washington, D.C. There were three sons by this marriage: William Terry, Lee Edrington and James Walter Cheatham. William Albert Cheatham was a self-employed radio and television repairman until his retirement in 1976. (Washington Post, January 21, 1992, Obituaries, B7. Also see Death Notices, B10 on January 19, 1992.) His wife, Sue, passed away on January 29, 1987. They had been married 36 years. He died of cardiopulmonary arrest in his sleep at his home near Falls Church, Virginia on January 17, 1992 at the age of 80. Both he and his wife, Sue, are buried in Columbia Gardens Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. (Certificate of Death, Department of Health, Division of Vital Records, Richmond.)

It was shortly after the death of Sue Terry Cheatham that William revealed to his three sons that they had two half-sisters. Bill then began searching for my mom and Estelle, her sister. They made a connection through Grandma Kraus' old house in Louisville that Mom and Estelle were selling at the time. They eventually all got together to meet each other for the first time and had a happy reunion.

My grandmother, Bertha Kraus, was born November 10, 1921 in Saint Matthews, Kentucky. Her mother died when she was born. Various relatives helped her father, Charles Kraus, to raise her. She married (1) William Cheatham, (2) Eddie Handy, (3) Sammy Porter, and (4,5) Norman Spratt. Norman was the only one I ever knew. He was like an uncle to us. We always called my grandmother, "Grandma Kraus." She did not have an easy life, but she was a wonderful woman. I'm glad that I was able to live across the hall from her in the apartment building she owned in Louisville. This only lasted a short time while I did a semester at the University of Louisville in the fall of 1980, but I did get to know her a lot better. There is much more to write about her, but I will save that for a more extensive paper on my maternal genealogy. She died on December 12, 1982 in Louisville due to a heart attack (see death certificate). She is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Louisville.

Her father was Charles Dawkins Kraus (From his death certificate: birth and death dates; birthplace; occupation; parents' names; cemetery; and cause of death.) and her mother was Bertha (Rembold) Kraus. Charles was born on February 21, 1898± in Louisville. He was an automobile mechanic. He died in Louisville on February 17, 1955± at age 56 due to a coronary occlusion. He is buried at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery in Louisville. Bertha (Rembold) Kraus was born on October 13, 1902. [From her death certificate: birth and death dates; names of parents and their birthplaces (states only); place of death; cemetery; and cause of death.] She died on November 11, 1921 at 19 years of age due to a postpartum hemorrhage. This happened after my grandmother's birth. She is buried in an unmarked grave at St. Louis Cemetery in Louisville. Her parents were Edward C. Rembold and Susie Josepha Kost both from St. Meinrad, Indiana. Their fathers both immigrated from Germany to Indiana. Edward's father, Jacob J. Rembold, came to America in 1853 (1900 Census of Daviess County, KY).

Charles Dawkins Kraus' parents were Charles Kraus and Stella (Dawkins) Kraus. (From her death certificate: birth and death dates; birthplace; married names of two daughters; cause of death; cemetery; and parents' names.) She was born on September 27, 1870 in LaGrange, Kentucky and died on January 11, 1963 in Louisville, Kentucky. She is buried there at Cave Hill Cemetery. She was the daughter of William A. Dawkins and Minerva A. (Stone) Dawkins. I always remember the Dawkins' pictures hanging on my grandmother Kraus's living room wall in her apartment in Louisville; although, I didn't know who they were at the time. Charlie McDonald (Estelle's son) has them hanging in his house in Louisville.

Mom was born in her great-grandmother Stella Kraus's house at 1026 Everett Avenue. She, Estelle, Bertha and William Cheatham were living with Stella. At some point, when Mom was about one and a half years old, her father, William Cheatham, took Mom and moved off. Mom knows that they moved around A LOT, but she only remembers living in Woodstock, Virginia and Washington, D.C. (and maybe New York City) and traveling through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her father got in trouble with people and had to move from place to place. At times, Mom boarded out with people, like a family in Virginia, while her father was out and about. Mom felt happy being with these kind of foster famlies since she felt some stability in her life.

Her mother, Bertha Kraus, came back into her life when she and Estelle visited them in Washington. Mom had thought that her mother was dead. She doesn't know how her mother actually found out about where they were, but it seems that maybe she was getting bigger and more of a problem to handle for her father; so he probably called Bertha (Mom's mother) and asked her to come out for a visit or to get back together. Bertha and Estelle came out and visited for at least a couple of weeks. All the while, Bertha was making plans to take Mom back with her to Louisville. She arranged for a private plane to fly from Washington to Louisville. She talked to Mom and asked her if she wanted to come back to Louisville and Mom said that she did. One day after William Cheatham had gone to work, Bertha, Mom and Estelle got into a taxi or something and took off for the airport. They then flew to Louisville and stayed with Aunt Margie Rembold for a few days. The picture of Mom and Estelle and Teresa (Terry) is from that time. Mom thinks she was about 8 or 9 years old. In order for Bertha to take care of Estelle and Mom, she put them in an orphanage and stayed there for at least a year. Grandma (Bertha) needed time to find a job and a husband so that she could better take care of them. This is when she married her third husband, Sam Porter. They met on a river barge where she was working as a cook. She lived on the barge as it made long trips up and down the river. Sam was also working on the barge. Once she and Sam got together, Mom and Estelle left the orphange and went to live at Belgravia Court. This was an apartment building and they lived on the third floor. It was near the U of L. Grandma worked at Howard Johnson's as a waitress and Sam worked at American Standard. They lived at Belgravia Court for two or three years. She and Estelle walked to school at St. Louis Bertrams and they also went to church there (Mom and Estelle). Mom remembers that that was a good time and she was happy to be in a family again.

After that, they moved to an apartment on Garvin Place which was closer to St. Louis Bertrams. Sam and Grandma were still together. They lived there a couple of years before moving to a house that Grandma (and maybe Sam) had bought at 4101 South First Street. This was quite a ways out from the center of town and was near Holy Name School. They may have lived a year or two there. (Mom and Dad later bought this house off of Grandma in 1960. This was the first house they ever owned. They actually never lived in it, but rented it out and later sold it in 1964.)

In 1954 or so, when Mom was about 13 years old, they moved to Mag Manor. Mag Manor was at 1435 South Third Street in Old Louisville. Grandma rented Mag Manor and made a boarding house out of it. Mag Manor was a pretty big place with three floors and several apartments. There were probably 20 or more people who Grandma used to cook for. Dorothy, an African-American, was the maid. She cleaned and cooked. She and Estelle and Sam and Grandma lived on the second floor. It was probably only six months or so later that Sam Porter and Grandma divorced. Mom finished up at Holy Name School when she was living at Mag Manor, graduating the 8th grade when she was about 13. She attended 9th grade at Loretta High School (Catholic). Mom met Dad in 1956 and they went together for about a year before marrying in 1957. See Dad's Notes for more on their marriage and life together.

One of their first dates was an Elvis concert in Louisville in 1956 or so. They were in the seventh or eigth row right near the front. Mom was fascinated with how all the girls were acting. She spent more time watching them than watching Elvis. The girls were screaming and fainting and making all kinds of funny faces.

Grandma Kraus, Mom's mom, ran Mag Manor for around five years before she bought the apartment building at 1520 South Third Street. She just rented apartments there and did not do any cooking since it required so much work.