Gussie's Friend , Gertrude

 This photo has been in my grandma Gussie Pierce Hunt's things for quite a while. Probably taken about 1926. Not knowing anything about the people in the picture, we just saved it .My father was thinking that it may be some kinfolk he didn't know.  

Tonight I solved the mystery. I knew from the back of the card, that it was Gertrude, Mable and Lucille Hickman.  

I went on Ancestry.com and searched. I found Esther Gertrude Hickman . She was from Burke County, Ga, so then I had to figure out how she knew my grandmother, as the Pierces were from Wayne Co and Gussie later lived in Brunswick, Glynn Co. Burke county is near Augusta, Ga. 

I found Gertrude's father, Joseph Washington Hickman and on his profile, I found that the three girls are sisters. 

Looking at the 1930 census for Glynn Co, I then discovered that Gertrude and Lucille worked in the dining room of the Oglethorpe Hotel and so did my grandmother,Gussie.The causeway to St. simons had opened in 1924 and in 1926-1927, work had started on Sea island, the Glynn Island Casino and The Cloisters. I imagine this boom to the economy drew these girls, and others, in from other rural places where jobs were scarce. 

Then I discovered that the girls had boarded with my grand aunt Susie and uncle Corbett Slaughter. He was a policeman in Brunswick.  

Dad saved the photo thinking the girls were cousins. No kin at all. So the mystery is solved after all these years. (http://www.glynngen.com/history/oglethorpehotel/)