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Biography/History:
Joseph Carruth Flowers
Joseph Carruth Flowers was born in McComb, Pike County, Mississippi, on January 3, 1900. He was the son of Dr. E. W. and Julia Carruth Flowers. At the age of eighteen, Flowers entered the United States Navy and served three years. After being discharged from the navy, Flowers enrolled at Millsaps College in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, and completed a bachelor of science degree. He returned to McComb where he worked as a salesman for various retail concerns. Flowers became the secretary-manager of the McComb Chamber of Commerce in April of 1931. He worked for the federal Emergency Relief Administration in McComb and in Meridian, Lauderdale County, at the county and district director levels from 1932 to 1935. Flowers also married teacher Mary Lee Gunter of Choctaw County, Mississippi, in the 1930s. The couple had a daughter, Nancy.
Flowers became state director of the National Youth Administration, Federal Security Agency, in Jackson in September of 1935. He was subsequently promoted to assistant regional director of the NYA, which oversaw occupational training for young people. Flowers became a rating specialist with the Veterans Administration in Jackson in January of 1944. After leaving the Veterans Administration, Flowers worked with various Jackson banking or credit firms until his retirement. Mary Lee Gunter Flowers died on April 16, 1972, and was interred at Hollywood Cemetery in McComb. Joseph Carruth Flowers died on November 3, 1988, and was also interred in Hollywood Cemetery.
Avent-Cook Family
Planter William Ruthvin Avent was born on October 9, 1821. He was the son of Benjamin Ward and Mary Eley (Ely) Avent of Yalobusha County, Mississippi. Avent married Rebecca J. Hervey in the mid-1840s. The couple had four children: Edwin Ruthvin (b. June 9, 1849), John Lawrence (b. April 15, 1857), Henry, and Alice Winifred. Rebecca Hervey Avent died on October 1, 1858. William Ruthvin Avent married his second wife, Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Lawrence, around 1860. The couple resided in Yalobusha County. Avent enlisted in Company A, Third Regiment, Mississippi Infantry (state troops), around 1862 and served until after February of 1863. The Avents had three daughters: Bessie Imogene, Mary Cotton (b. June 28, 1864), and Augusta (Gussie) Carolina (b. May 1866). William Ruthvin Avent died in Yalobusha County on December 24, 1878. Mary Elizabeth Lawrence Avent died on February 16, 1905.
Mary Cotton Avent married William S. Cook on September 25, 1890. The couple settled in Water Valley, Yalobusha County, where Cook worked as a salesman in a dry-goods store and his wife worked as a teacher. The Cooks had three children: Ehren (b. February 1893), Louise (b. September 1895), and William Hiram (b. December 25, 1897). Mary Cotton Avent Cook died on March 25, 1944, and was interred at Oak Hill Cemetery in Water Valley.
Augusta (Gussie) Carolina Avent married George Charles Goodwin on February 23, 1908. The couple resided in Water Valley where Gussie Avent Goodwin worked as a teacher. The Goodwins had no children. Gussie Avent Goodwin died on December 24, 1943.
Scope and Content:
This collection consists of papers of Joseph Carruth Flowers of Jackson, Hinds County, and McComb, Pike County, Mississippi; papers of the Avent-Cook family of Yalobusha County, Mississippi; and miscellaneous family papers. The Flowers papers contain a federal job application, correspondence, legal documents, bills, and class notes dating from 1931 to 1951. The 1951 job application details Flowers’s career as a United States government employee. Included with the application are letters concerning Flowers’s employment at the Veterans Administration in Jackson. A folder entitled "J. C. Flowers-HOLC" [Homeowners’ Land Corporation] contains correspondence and legal documents relating to property that Flowers owned in McComb. Folders entitled "Meridian ERA" and "McComb ERA" include correspondence, reports, and bills documenting Flowers’s work with the federal Emergency Relief Administration and the National Youth Administration from 1933 and 1937. The class notes are from social science courses that Flowers took in 1935, and they include syllabi, test questions, and related journal articles.
The Avent-Cook family papers consist of genealogical materials, correspondence, diaries, a membership book, a family Bible, and miscellaneous family materials dating from 1862 and 1966. The genealogical materials include Daughters of the American Revolution applications of Louise Cook Ford and Elizabeth Fisher Watkins Key, marriage certificates of William R. Avent and William S. Cook, biographical information on Benjamin F. Avent, and typescripts of genealogical information regarding members of the Benjamin Ward Avent family. The correspondence contains incoming letters to Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Avent, Mary Cotton Avent Cook, and Augusta (Gussie) Carolina Avent Goodwin. The letters relate news of family and friends. Of interest is an 1862 letter addressed to Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Avent from her husband, William Ruthvin Avent. The letter was written while Avent was serving in Company A, Third Regiment, Mississippi Infantry (state troops), and he discussed the possibility of obtaining a furlough. The diaries were kept by various members of the Avent family, including Augusta (Gussie) Carolina Avent Goodwin, from 1882 to 1926. The membership book is from the International Seamen’s Union of America and is inscribed William H. Cook. A circa 1888 family Bible contains inscriptions and newsclippings about various members of the Avent-Cook family. The miscellaneous materials include a hand-painted wedding portrait of William S. and Mary Cotton Avent Cook and an insurance policy of William S. Cook.
The miscellaneous family papers contain printed and handwritten materials, a portrait, and a photograph album dating from 1906 to circa 1933. The printed materials consist of an advertising booklet on the presidents of the United States, a magazine illustration, and a newsclipping. Of interest are a copy of a 1906 book entitled Embroidery Lessons and various embroidery patterns. A 1912 portrait of a man and a handwritten recipe for strawberry preserves are included. The photograph album, which probably belonged to an Avent-Cook family member, apparently contains vacation scenes.
Series Identification:
Box 1, folders 14-19
Box 2, folders 1-4
Box 1, folders 1-13
Box 3
Box 1, folders 20-24
Box List:
Box 3, family Bible, ca. 1888.