Pearl was pregnant again and Marlin, who had worked as a railroad section hand for years, was out of a job. Thomas Granville Gunter, in Ashland, Mississippi. Seven years later, in 1929, Pearl and Marlin were forced to move in with Pearl’s parents, Mr. Marlin Drew took his rage out on her, beating her so badly that Pearl feared he would kill her.īy 1921, Pearl Drew gave birth to daughter Dorothy, and the following year, Pearl and Marlin welcomed their son Marlin Junior. When Marlin drank, he turned violent and would rarely remember what happened in between the drinking and the blacking out.īut Pearl remembered every moment. He used alcohol to help numb his mind when he was haunted by nightmares of what he had seen on the battlefield. Marlin had served his country and came home a changed man. It’s believed Marlin Drew’s battle with alcohol started after the First World War. She had lost the baby she loved and was married to a violent drunk. Pearl was grief stricken when baby Thomas died, just weeks before his 1st birthday.ġ5 year old Pearl felt trapped. They welcomed their first child, Thomas, within less than nine months of marriage, leading folks to suspect the couple had felt pressured to marry when Pearl fell pregnant. Pearl Gunter was 14 years old when she married 23 year old Marlin Drew in 1919.
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