Alice Marguerite Thistle

Alice Marguerite Thistle, first of the three daughters of Marguerite Ellen Branson and LeBaron Guy Thistle, was born 11 November 1907 at Mount Bullion, a mining outpost in Mariposa County, CA. Her middle name obviously came from her mother. Her first name probably was derived from two sources. One inspiration was another Alice Thistle -- her father’s sister, at that time fourteen years old. The other was Alice Branson, Marguerite’s first cousin. Marguerite and the latter Alice were close in age and had grown up together just north of Hornitos. Further, at the time the baby came along Alice Branson and husband John Williams were living at Mount Bullion -- a tiny, close-knit community composed almost entirely of the miners and their households -- and John Williams was one of Guy’s coworkers.

Alice came into the world while the economy of the Mother Lode region was floundering. Only at such major deep-rock deposits as Mount Bullion was ore still being profitably extracted, and even there it was a marginal proposition. Not long after Alice’s sister Emily was born in 1912, Guy gave up his career. Many of his and Marguerite’s peers and relatives were fleeing or had fled to the Central Valley or other places where jobs were more plentiful. For example, Alice Branson and John Williams and their children settled on a farm near Manteca in San Joaquin County. Guy and Marguerite tried to make a go of it in familiar territory in Mariposa County. Guy was a real estate broker, a draft registrar, and probably also a notary public. A steady income was hard to come by. Marguerite may have resumed school-teaching, able to leave the girls in the care of her parents, Joseph and Ella Branson. The children -- which by early 1915 included Imogene -- would later refer to that ranch as having been their real home in childhood. In part because of that sentiment, Alice was firm in wanting to hang on to the twenty percent share of Joseph and Ella’s sprawling cattle ranch that she and her sisters inherited, and did so to the end of her days.

In 1918 the family pulled up stakes and moved to Fresno, Fresno County, CA. Guy found employment there as a salesman of life insurance. The city and its environs would be the base for the Thistle clan for many decades to come -- and still is.

Guy’s little sister Alice married Marguerite’s little brother Ernest Elton Branson in 1920. That couple also settled in Fresno County. This helped provide a family presence, though the younger couple resided at the southern edge of the county in the town of Kingsburg. Alice’s aunt Grace Mildred Branson Warner was also a Fresno County resident, residing with her family in the town of Sanger.

As the Great Depression dragged on, Marguerite’s health, which had probably been poor for quite some time, took a turn for the worse. She succumbed in May, 1933. Guy only lived another ten months. This was a dark period for Alice, especially since her grandfather Joseph Branson, who had looked after her so much in childhood, passed away in the summer of 1934.

Happier times were around the corner. Alice married Harold E. Peterson 23 August 1936. The wedding took place in Fresno. Harold was three years Alice’s senior, having been born 9 June 1904 in Waukegon, Lake County, IL. His parents were John Edward Peterson and Lydia Alma Nelson, who had each immigrated to the U.S. from Sweden, marrying in 1898 in Waukegon and producing four children, of whom Harold was the third. (Harold's middle name was probably Edward, after his father, but this needs confirmation.) The Peterson family had come to the San Joaquin Valley during the 1910s, whereupon J. Edward Peterson had initially been a farmer in the Kingsburg area. In the early 1920s he began pursuing other lines of work, such as mill wright. That development had led to the household shifting to the city of Fresno, where Harold had come of age.

Thanks to his father’s occupation, Harold had acquired skills in fabrics. At the time of the wedding his occupation, as rendered in the 1936 voter register, was “awning man,” presumably meaning he manufactured and/or installed awnings. His occupation in subsequent registers (only those through 1944 are available at this time) was “cutter.” This must be a reference to fabric cutting. As far as is known, Harold was employed in similar ways his whole working life. Alice became a housewife and mother. The couple had two children, both born in the first half-dozen years of the marriage.

Alice and Harold spent their lives in Fresno. As the children became older, she worked as a teacher in Fresno County schools. Her career lasted three decades. After they had grown up, the couple’s offspring remained Fresno-based as well. Alice’s sisters were also nearby, though Alice survived Imogene by decades and Emily by many years.

Alice achieved the distinguished age of ninety-four. This was not quite as long a span as Harold, who surpassed ninety-five, but due to the difference in their birth years Alice was a widow for the final few years of her life. Harold died 6 October 1999. Alice passed away 6 April 2002. Both deaths occurred in Fresno. Alice’s remains were placed with Harold’s at Belmont Memorial Park.

Children of Alice Marguerite Thistle with Harold E. Peterson

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