Margaret Wray Borders was born on 12 Nov 1915 in Shelby, Cleveland county, North Carolina. She was daughter of Coleman (1893-1965) and Johnnie Sweezy (1889-1988) Wray, and in 1921 was joined by a younger brother, Curtis Lee Coleman Wray (1921-1976). Their father labored on farms while their mother worked as a washwoman. After two years of high school, Margaret took up work as a maid in private homes. In 1940, she was live-in maid for a bookkeeper, his wife and their three children, ages 10, 5 and 1. The census shows Margaret Wray working 50 hours per week--10 hours more than her bookkeeper employer--and 52 weeks of the year. For that she earned $208. Bookkeepers, get out your calculators.
Margaret Wray earned $4 a week.
That's 8 cents an hour.
Around 1944 Margaret Wray married Roosevelt Borders, chauffeur for the former Governor of North Carolina, Oliver Max Gardner. Prior to their marriage, Borders had lived with the Gardner family at their home in Shelby, and he continued to travel with the former Governor to Washington, Baltimore, and New York. That may be why in 1944 Roosevelt and Margaret are both listed as employees (Roosevelt as chauffeur) at an address in the affluent neighborhood of Short Hills, NJ.
By the next year, though, Roosevelt and Margaret are back in Shelby, NC, living at 405 Frederick, with Roosevelt now working as a bellman at the Cleveland Hotel. In March of 1945, a scandal ensues when Roosevelt and a 42-year-old white woman named Dollie Williams are accused of engaging in "immoral conduct" at the Cleveland Hotel. Dollie Williams is sentenced to a year in the women's division of the North Carolina penitentiary and Roosevelt Borders is "sent to the roads" for eight months.
By the next year, though, Roosevelt and Margaret are back in Shelby, NC, living at 405 Frederick, with Roosevelt now working as a bellman at the Cleveland Hotel. In March of 1945, a scandal ensues when Roosevelt and a 42-year-old white woman named Dollie Williams are accused of engaging in "immoral conduct" at the Cleveland Hotel. Dollie Williams is sentenced to a year in the women's division of the North Carolina penitentiary and Roosevelt Borders is "sent to the roads" for eight months.
Margaret Wray Borders makes application for a Social Security number.
I could find no evidence of whether Margaret and Roosevelt took up life together again after his sentence. He is back in Essex county, New Jersey, when he dies in 1952 at the age of 49.
Margaret Wray Borders lives 38 more years and dies at age 74 in New York City.
May her spirit rest.
May her spirit rest.