MARGARITA (NOT "Margarati") VIRGINIA (RUSSELL) BLOXTON CULP MEADOWS

Her nickname was "MAGGIE" to some (like her third husband, Clyde Meadows), but "MARGARET" to others (like her siblings). She was my grandmother, so I called her "Gamaw", which is what she told me I called her as a toddler.

Margarita Russell was born March 26, 1906, in Ballston, Virginia.

BALLSTON
North Fairfax Drive at North Stafford Street
By 1900, a well-defined village called Central Ballston had developed in the area bounded by the present Wilson Boulevard, Taylor Street, Washington Boulevard, and Pollard Street. More diffuse settlement extended westward to Lubber Run and southward along Glebe Road to Henderson Road.
The track of the Washington, Arlington, and Falls Church Electric Railroad ran along what is now Fairfax Drive; the Ballston Station was at Ballston Avenue, now Stuart Street. Here Clements Avenue, now Stafford Street, divided to pass on either side of an old Ball family graveyard.

May 3, 1910 Census - Arlington, Alexandria, VA
William G Russell 60 PA/MA/VA, M2-11 yrs - Clerk, Post Office
Marion E Russell 29 DC/DC/VA, M1-11 yrs-7 of 7 births
B. Penrose Russell 10 DC
Marion L Russell 9 DC
Harry R Russell 7 VA
Clarence Russell 6 VA
MARGARITA "Margaret" RUSSELL 4 VA
Agnes Russell 3 VA
John Russell 1 VA

Jan 4, 1920 Census - Renting with two other families "Multi-Family Style; 2-4 Unit" (Built 1900/Renovated 2013-Beautiful!-Row House Complex-3 stories plus basement-photo on Zillow) @ 808 East Capitol St NE, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
William Russell 68, Clerk, Post Office
Marion E Russell 40
Clarence G Russell 15
Agnes Russell 12
Julia Russell 7
Thomas J Russell 5
Robert A Russell 2
Harry R Russell 17
Marion L Russell 18, Clerk, Store
MARGARITA "Margaret" RUSSELL 13

She was married at age 16 to my grandfather, Alexander Moncure "Alex" Bloxton, on August 5, 1922, in Annapolis, Maryland. They were married for 17 years and had two living children out of three births. At age 33, she, a Saleslady, was divorced on May 6, 1939, in Arlington, Virginia. Alex' residence at that time was the Blue Ridge Sanitarium, Charlottesville, Virginia. His occupation was Chemist. They had been separated since November 1, 1934. "Desertion" was the divorce cause charged by her. He contested it.

She was married to her divorced second husband, Ralph Culp, circa 1939-1940. He was the great love of her life but didn't commit his life to Christ and work with The Salvation Army until after their divorce. He also went blind later in life.

She prayed and asked the Lord to send her a Christian husband (she told me that Jesus appeared to her at the foot of her bed), and she met Clyde Logan Meadows, who had never been married, shortly afterwards.
They were married Dec 8, 1948, in Marlboro, MD.

Margarita died, age 68, of Metastatic Carcinoma of Lung (cancer) on April 21, 1974, at Palo Pinto General Hospital; residence Rt. 2, Box 140, Pct. 5, Mineral Wells, Texas, where she and Clyde Logan Meadows had lived for 19 years.

In 1937 "Margaret Bloxton", age 31, 1207 Kennedy St. NW, Washington, D.C. (Townhome), sailed on the Monarch of Bermuda with her brother, Thomas Russell, to visit their brother, Harry Reed Russell:

Passenger ID: 9011977271740
Frame: 273
Line Number: 22

MONARCH OF BERMUDA:
Built by Vickers-Armstrongs, High Walker, England, 1931. 22,424 gross tons; 553 (bp) feet long; 77 feet wide. engines, quadruple screw. Service speed 20 knots. 28,373 passengers Passenger, ref. cargo, hull id #5024427.
Built for Furness Withy, British flag, in 1931 and named Monarch of Bermuda.
Sold to British Government, British flag, in 1949 and renamed New Australia.
Sold to British owners, British flag, in 1958 and renamed Arkadia. Arcardia Steam Ship Co.
Scrapped in Valencia in 1966.

Margarita Virginia Russell was married to Alexander Moncure Bloxton on August 5, 1922, in Annapolis, Maryland. They were married for 17 years and had two living children out of three births. She filed for divorce on grounds of Desertion from November 1, 1934 to May 6, 1939, when the contested divorce was granted in Arlington, Virginia. At that time, her occupation was Saleslady, and her residence was with her mother at 906 Webster Street, N.W. (red top today), Washington, D.C. (in the Petworth neighborhood; built in 1907, 1782 sq ft, 2408 sq ft Lot, 3 floors, 5 BR, 2 Bath; value today: $664,954). His was at Blue Ridge Tuberculosis Sanatorium, Charlottesville, VA (1920 to 1978); aerial view, March 2014; occupation, Chemist.

1940 CENSUS at 1209 Shepherd Street N.W., Washington, D.C., renting the house there for $50/month, when she worked as a File Clerk for Federal Housing, 36 weeks in 1939 at $1,260, age 34, 8th grade education, after she had divorced Alexander Moncure Bloxton, the father of her three children (two living), and was remarried by 1939-1940 to Ralph Culp (37), high school grad, Oil Company Truck Driver, 21 weeks in 1939 @ $250, and her son, age 16, Robert Conway Bloxton, Sr., along with her divorced sister, Agnes Russell Rubin (32), Telephone Operator, and nephew, William "Billy" Rubin (12), born D.C. Everyone in the household had lived in Washington, D.C. in 1935, as well.

While we were at Texas A&M University, we were able to spend Resurrection Sunday 1967, which was also Margarita's birthday, with her in Mineral Wells, Texas on March 26, 1967 (which turned out to be the only time in her lifetime that would ever happen, since she died before 1978). I can still see her in her hot pink suit and wide-brimmed hat telling us what an honor--"AWE-nah" in her Virginia accent--it was for her to celebrate her birthday on the same day that her Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection was celebrated! We also celebrated Thanksgiving with her that year and traveled to their home whenever we could get away.

On April 2, 1967, her beloved older sister, Marion, died; she was so upset that she had Clyde send me a telegram that "Marion died today". I never knew her sister, so I thought Clyde's message was that Gamaw had died, and I burst into tears and was still crying when Grant called to tell me that Gamaw herself answered the phone when he called for me to find out what the telegram meant--I was too upset to make the call myself. So we had her with us for seven more wonderful years. She was unique -- one of a kind -- a huge presence in my life.

Gamaw shared with me, while standing in her bedroom in Texas where it had happened, that when she had a heart attack one time, she called out to the Lord, and the roof of their house disappeared, and she saw "the most beautiful blue", which calmed her. She told me she had never told anyone else about that experience. Many years later, Echoe Deibert was sharing in Munising how she was praying at the altar of the Methodist Church, and the roof disappeared. I held my breath, remembering what Gamaw told me.... "And I saw the most beautiful blue," Echoe said. I believe God made sure I got to hear both those matching testimonies so far apart in time and distance as confirmation.