Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Ruth Poston Papers, Manuscript Collection 2010.3, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Mary B. Kegley in 2010.

Biographical Information

Ruth Ella Poston, born Mary Catherine Carpenter, was born 3 March 1909 to Marian Greenhill Carpenter and John Carpenter of Scioto County, Ohio. She was placed into the custody of George S. Poston and Oma Neal Armbrister Poston of Wytheville Virginia on 4 October 1911. George Poston, born 13 August 1873, was a repair machinist. Ruth Ella Poston was formally adopted in 1918 and an adoption order changing her name (from Mary Catherine Carpenter) was filed on 11 February 1920; at that time the Poston family resided in Scioto County, Ohio.

Oma Poston died on 20 May 1925 in Portsmouth, Ohio from heart dropsy and was buried in East End Cemetery, Wytheville, Virginia. George Poston filed and received guardianship of Ruth on 15 September 1926. Evidently this was done to facilitate a lawsuit for partition of real estate.

George Poston is buried in East End Cemetery, the date of death is unknown. Ruth Poston married Lawrence Pattison of Portsmouth, Ohio and lived in Wytheville, Virginia. She had two daughters, Kathleen Poston Jackson and Betty Poston Polakoff. Ruth Poston Pattison died 23 June 1981 in Wytheville, Virginia. She is buried in East End Cemetery.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of two folders. Folder 2, Correspondence (1912, 1953, 1955, contains correspondence between adoptive parent Oma Poston and the Children's Home in Portsmouth, Ohio; Ruth Poston Pattison and the Scioto County Children's Home, Ohio Bureau of Statistics, and Wytheville attorney S. B. Campbell, relating to her adoption by Oma Neal Armbrister Poston and George S. Poston and her birth parents John Carpenter and Marian Greenhill Carpenter.

Folder 2, Documents (1920, 1926, 1928, 1955, 1981, undated), contains documents relating to lawsuit for partition of real estate and proof of guardianship of Ruth Poston by George S. Poston; documents relating to adoption order and statement in regard to adopted child; and death certificate of Ruth Poston Pattison.