Unforgettable

 

One of the most unforgettable people in my family tree is Miss Georgia Weston Morgan (18 Dec 1869 - 4 Dec 1951) a daughter of my great-uncle Dr. Robert Withers Morgan of Lynchburg, Virginia.

Little is known of Georgia's early life, but at the age of 29 she enrolled at Randolph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg and began a formal study of art.  Upon graduation, she was appointed an assistant professor there. 

In 1909 or 1910, she accepted a scholarship to the Academie Julien in Paris, France, and shared a studio with other artists on the Boulevard Raspail.  There she perfected her technique in producing miniature portraits.   The neighborhood was immortalized in Ernest Hemingway's novel "The Sun Also Rises," in which he wrote " . . . Boulevard Raspail always made dull riding . . ."  It is also home to a controversial Rodin statue of Balzac swathed in a large cape as he stands guard over the city's prostitutes.

Unfortunately, Georgia was forced to abandon her work in miniatures due to rapid eyesight deterioration and turned to larger media as outlets for her creative talent.  It was at the nearby Restaurant Bound that she met Pennsylvania artist Birge Harrison, a major influence on her work.  She made his book "Landscape Painting" the standard text in her later teaching career. 

Four drawings, three miniatures, and three sketchbooks survive from Georgia's days in Paris and are preserved in the archives at Randolph-Macon.  

She returned to Lynchburg at the outbreak of World War I and set up a studio on Church Street where she gave private lessons.  Her "Blue Door Studio" was for many years a favorite gathering place for the city's art community.  

In 1915, she also resumed her career as a college professor, joined the faculty of Lynchburg College and taught courses in painting, drawing, art history, interior decoration, and crafts.  

Over the years, Georgia's work was featured in several exhibitions at Gloucester, Massachusetts; New York City; and Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia.  But, her first major domestic exhibition was at St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1920.  

She was a charter member of the Lynchburg Art Club, serving as its president for several years.  And, in 1932, was a founder of the Lynchburg Civic Art League, which sponsored an annual exhibition of work by local artists--a tradition that continues to this day.  

Miss Georgia never married or had any children of her own.  But tales of her travels and eccentricities have survived for us all to enjoy today.  Some of the most repeated tales are about her lack of concern for fashion.  She frequently kept spare paintbrushes in her hair and wore her paint spattered smock well beyond the confines of her studio.  

First-time visitors to her studio had to be warned never to drink tea there, because she also used her teacups to clean her paintbrushes.

Most famously, she never refused an invitation to Sunday supper with her brother Peyton's family--especially if fried chicken was on the menu.  When she thought no one was looking, she would sneak a piece or two into her purse "for later."

Georgia's legacy is celebrated annually with a memorial art show in Lynchburg.  For more information on that, check out this link: https://lynchburgartclub.org/georgia-morgan-art-show.

Chosen Family

 

If you've been working on genealogy for any amount of time, you have probably employed the FAN research strategy.  (FAN is an acronym for Friends, Acquaintance, Neighbors.)  Basically, if you get stumped while trying to find information about one of your ancestors, you start looking at the folks in their life.  No man is an island, after all.  Even if these FANs aren't identifiably blood relatives, they still moved in the same circles.  And it's possible they generated records that mention your mystery ancestor.

I am such a genealogy geek that I often find myself working out the ancestry of my own FANs, to see if we might be (at least distantly) related.  I have been pleasantly surprised on more than a few occasions.

Here are a few:

• My college roommate and I are both descended from William and Elizabeth (Littlebury) Worsham of colonial Henrico County, Virginia.  That makes us 9th cousins, 3 generations removed . . . not exactly "close family," but, hey, it counts!
• One of my mother's longtime friends also turned out to be my 9th cousin, 3 generations removed.  We both descend from a French Huguenot named Robert Brasseur who settled in Maryland in the 1600s.
• The mistress of ceremonies at Pine Castle Pioneer Days (a local heritage festival that I help organize each year) turned out to be a slightly (very slightly) closer relative: my 9th cousin, but only 1 generation removed.  We both descend from a lady named Catherine Hubbard (1660-1706) by her second marriage.  Interestingly, by her first marriage, Catherine is also the ancestor of the comedian Oliver Hardy.   

It's kinda cool to think these people we have chosen to be a part of our lives are also distant cousins!

Black Sheep

 

I am pleased to introduce one of the black sheep in my family: my third-great-grandfather William Wright "Dink" Patrick.

Dink was born 9 October 1838 in Camden County, Georgia, a son of John Patrick and the former Mary Elizabeth Robinson.  Sadly, his mother was killed during a Seminole raid when Dink was a very small child, in 1840.  After this, his father remarried to his late wife's sister Malinda "Linnie" Robinson, but Dink was not raised by them.  Instead, he went to live with his grandparents Wright and Ellender (Jernigan) Patrick.

When he was 19 years old, Dink enlisted at Mellonville for service in the Third Seminole War as a private in Robert Bullock's Company of Independent Florida Mounted Volunteers.  He was described as standing 5'8" in height, with a florid complexion, blue eyes, and light hair.  The company's muster rolls note that Dink's horse was lost in service on 15 Feb 1858, and he had to be remounted (presumably at the company's expense).

A few years later, on 14 September 1861, Dink enlisted at Sumpterville, Florida, to serve as a private in Company D of the 1st Special Battalion of Florida Infantry.  The details of his service have not survived.  But, after the Battle of Olustee, his unit was mustered-in to Confederate service as Company E of the 10th Florida Infantry Regiment.  This newly organized regiment was expected to follow General Joseph Finegan to join the Army of Northern Virginia.  Apparently, this prospect did not appeal to Dink.  He had signed-up to defend Florida against the Yankees, not Virginia; so, he refused to report for service and was listed as a deserter in Confederate records beginning in May 1864.  (He would later claim that he had not deserted, but was home on furlough . . .)

The decision not to go north with the Confederates probably saved Dink's life.  His younger half-brother Dickie Patrick was not so fortunate and was horribly wounded at the Battle of Jonesboro in Georgia in August 1864.  This did not reflect well on Dink, with some even calling him a coward.  His own niece Drucilla Johns Tyler certainly had no respect for him, recording these scathing words in her memoirs:

"He was worthless, shiftless and lazy. He married into a respectable, proud-but-poor family. Somehow, he got a small homestead and got a house on it. I don't know how, for he was never known to work. They had 9 children and, quoting Little Sister in Laddie, 'not one of them ever offered to die.' They lived by visiting the neighbors at mealtime. They didn't know what it was like to have a square meal at home. About the time the last child was born, they had lost the little old home and moved to an old, abandoned house nearby."

Drucilla's recollections were not altogether accurate.  Dink married after the war to Sarah Ivey, a sister of former Orange County Sheriff John Ivey.  They may have been proud, but they weren't exactly poor.  In fact, they had a nice piece of property near the old Patrick homestead west of Orlando--part of which Dink inherited.  Over the years, he sold off portions of this land until he was left with just two acres, but this was probably a prudent thing to do with Orlando real estate values skyrocketing beyond what a small family farm could earn.

Anyway, Dink did not end up living in an old, abandoned house.  Instead, he and Sarah retired to a comfortable 6-room cottage in the town of Pine Castle, just south of Orlando.  It was only recently demolished to make way for the new Cornerstone Charter Academy.

In 1902, he applied for a federal pension based on his service in the Third Seminole War.  It took two years of battling federal red tape, but he was eventually awarded the additional income retroactive to the date of application.  In 1908, he applied for a state pension based on his Civil War service, but this application was denied because of the allegations of desertion.  Two years later, though, his federal pension was increased to $16 per month, more than enough to support both him and his wife.

In 1911, Dink made national news when he shared a funny story about himself with a roving reporter.  Apparently, he fell asleep one day while riding his horse through the words near Lake Conway.  Somehow, he fell off the horse's back and directly onto a very confused alligator.  The startled reptile only carried him a short distance before bucking Dink and slithering into the nearby lake waters!

Dink died peacefully at his Pine Castle home on 14 September 1913, age 75.  Despite his reputation as a hapless horseman, deserter; and despite his niece calling him worthless, shiftless, and lazy, his obituary in the Orlando Sentinel concludes, "He was an old resident and respected by all.  He was a Christian gentleman, a devout member of the Baptist church."

So, was he a black sheep at all, or was he simply misunderstood?

Your guess is as good as mine!

Small

 

Playing off of last week's posting prompt of LARGE, it was almost inevitable this week's would be SMALL.  So, I already had material to go on the ancestor with the SMALLEST number of confirmed matches in my DNA clustering analysis.

Her name was HANNAH.  

Here's what I know:

• She was born in Connecticut about the year 1785.
• Her maiden name was EVERETT.
• She was married at least twice, first to a man whose surname has been given as either CHAPIN or CHAFFLIN.
• She remarried about 1818 as the second wife of Thomas Macy of Hudson, New York.
• She and Thomas had one son: William H. Macy (who settled in Florida, my direct ancestor).
• She was living with her son William at Germantown, Tennessee, in 1850.
• She was not living with William's family in 1860.

What I think I know:

• She may be the Hannah Chapin who appears as a witness to the will of John Davis of Chatham, New York, dated 15 March 1814. 
• She was almost certainly the white female aged 26 to 45 who was enumerated in the household of Thomas Macy at Ghent, New York, in 1820.
• She was apparently the white female aged 50 to 59 enumerated in the household of her son William H. Macy at Hudson, New York.

What I do NOT know:

• Her exact birthdate or birthplace.
• Her parents' names.
• Who her first husband was.
• If she had any children by her first marriage.
• Where she was living in 1830.
• When or where she died.
• Where she is buried.

What I know to be FALSE:

• She was NOT the daughter of David EVEREST of Salisbury, Connecticut, as has been suggested by some researchers. Mr. Everest's daughter Hannah (1771-1857) has been well documented as the wife of Jonathan Holcomb and is buried by his side in Mason, Ohio.
• Nor does she appear to be the Hannah Everest who married Luther Chapin at Salisbury, Connecticut, on 1 May 1798; and removed to Indiana.
• She certainly was not the Hannah EVARTS who was born 29 March 1785 to Abraham and Asenath (Dudley) Evarts of Guilford, Connecticut. That Hannah died UNMARRIED on 15 June 1803, age 18.

I've been struggling with this brick wall ancestor for decades now, and would gratefully receive any tips or helpful tidbits!

Large

 

Autosomal DNA is "THE" topic most genealogists are talking about these days, albeit by ZOOM instead of in person.  

As a data analyst by profession, I am most excited about the opportunities to apply all the Excel sorting and filtering tools that I use in my "real world" workplace.  

The latest such opportunity is "clustering," whereby you dump all of your DNA matches into a data file and convert them into color-coded groups based on who is related to each other.  Basically, this is an amplification of the "LEEDS METHOD," developed a few years ago by researcher Dana Leeds.  (Read all about it at https://www.danaleeds.com/the-leeds-method.)

Anyway, I bring all this up because of this week's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" blogging prompt: LARGE.

In examining all of my clusters, I noticed the matches I find from my dad's side of the family outnumber the matches from my mom's side by about a 3-to-1 ratio.  And I wondered why that number was so relatively LARGE . . . pun definitely intended.

Drilling down further, I notice I have at least 7 identifiable matches for each of Dad's 32 third-great grandparents.  But one couple has a disproportionately LARGE number of matches at 126 each: Isaac Timmons and his wife Sarah Davis, who lived at Mount Croghan, South Carolina, in the decades leading up to the Civil War.

If YOU find this sort of disproportionality in your own results, fret not.  This is typical.  There are two main reasons why this happens:

1. Fertility rates.  One side of your family may consistently have LARGE numbers of children, while another side has a history of only one or two children per generation.  The lines with multiple generations of multiple births will obviously produce more potential living matches, but that doesn't mean you inherited more DNA from your most recent common ancestors.
2. Who is taking tests?  Common sense tells us if you have a bunch of cousins from one branch of the family who are testing while very few cousins from another branch are submitting their DNA, the totals are going to be lopsided.  Many factors come into play here.  One group of cousins may be more interested in genealogy because their branch of the family belongs to the LDS church, while another group may have an aversion to DNA testing due to privacy concerns.  But varying participation rates do not mean you have more DNA from one pair of ancestors over another.

These apply to my own results.  In the case of Isaac and Sarah Timmons, they had a LARGE family of thirteen children.  All of these children survived to adulthood (a rare achievement in that era) and all but the youngest boy (who marched off to fight in the Civil War and never returned) went on to marry and produce large families of their own.  By my count, Isaac and Sarah had no fewer than 115 grandchildren!

The Old Country

 

If my latest Ancestry.com DNA results are accurate . . . and that's a BIG IF, since they seem to update their algorithms every couple of months . . . my ethnic origins are in Northwest Europe, and primarily in the British Isles.  More specifically, they currently say I am 48% Irish, 43% English, 4% Scots, 2% Welsh, and (randomly) 3% Swedish/Danish.

While "DNA don't lie," the trick is documenting just how this genetic material hopped the pond and ended up with me.

Given this week's blogging prompt, I thought I'd put together a list of my known immigrant ancestors and group them by origin to see if the list mirrors Ancestry.com's current calculations.  Here's what I found:

ENGLAND

• John and Mary Andrews - by 1654
• Joseph Austin - by 1649
• Thomas Ballard - by 1652
• Edward Barker - by 1650
• Robert Barnard - by 1638
• Thomas Barnard - by 1639
• Lancelot Bathurst - by 1680
• Thomas Batte - 1649
• Francis Bell - by 1640
• Sarah Bell - by 1638
• Andrew Benton - by 1644
• John Bidwell - by 1639
• Samuel Blakeslee - 1635
• Robert Bolling - 1660
• William Bradley - by 1638
• John Buckner - by 1655
• John and Sarah Butterworth - by 1652
• Edward Cartwright - by 1671
• Abraham and Jane (Howard) Childress - by 1643
• James Clark - 1637
• Tristram and Dionis (Stevens) Coffin - by 1645
• John Curtis, Jr. - ca 1637
• Samuel Eddy - 1630
• Peter Folger - 1635
• Richard Gardner - 1624
• Nicholas Gassaway - by 1650
• Phillip Goffe - by 1649
• Jane (Drury) Gregory - by 1655
• Roger Groce - by 1650
• Simon Hancock - 1637
• Captain Thomas Harris - 1611
• Joan Harvey - by 1642
• Audrey Hoare - 1621
• Sarah Hopcott - by 1640
• Anthony Howkins - by 1644
• John Hubbard - by 1668
• John Ingersoll - by 1651
• Robert Irving - 1849
• Thomas and Elizabeth Judd - 1634
• Mary Kinsman - 1635
• Abraham Lighthall - by 1719
• Thomas Ligon - by 1649
• Dorothy Lord - 1635
• Samuel and Elizabeth (Scudder) Lothrop - by 1644
• Thomas Macy - by 1639
• Thomas Meakins - 1633
• Nathaniel Merriman - 1632
• Mary Morrill - 1635
• Arthur Moseley - 1649
• John Moss - by 1639
• Thomas Munson - by 1635
• Thomas Newell - by 1644
• Rebecca Olmstead - 1632
• Paul and Martha (Hale) Peck - by 1639
• Phineas Pratt - 1622
• Mary Priest - 1623
• Alice Pritchard - by 1640
• Thomas Purnell - by 1663
• John Selman - about 1668
• John and Abigail (Kimball) Severance - by 1637
• Sarah Shattuck - by 1642
• Sarah Starbuck - 1635
• John Stith - by 1656
• Hannah Stocking - by 1634
• William Thomas - by 1659
• William and Elizabeth Tuttle - 1635
• Moses and Grace (Graves) Ventrus - by 1646
• William and Elizabeth (Warren) Walker = 1658
• William and Alice (Pyce) Wardwell - 1633
• Sarah Wilcox - about 1635
• Abraham Wood - 1620
• William Worsham - by 1640

FRANCE

• Antoine Bonneau - 1690
• Benoit Brasseur - by 1638
• Rev. Paul and Francoise (Durosel) L'Escot - 1701
• Marie Richford - by 1645
• Benjamin and Marie Esther (Dupre) Simons - by 1692
• John Timmons - by 1700
• Jeanne Elizabeth Videau - by 1697
• Pierre Villepontoux - 1693

GERMANY

• Jacob Michael Ittich - by 1710
• Johann Friedrich and Mary Margaret (Metz) Schlemp - 1767
• Johannes Spanknabel - by 1770

IRELAND

• James Cameron - 1767
• Thomas and Bridget (Seery) Conner - by 1856
• Thomas and Catherine (Cloonan) Daley - 1850
• James and Catherine (Cully) Gleeson - 1867
• Elizabeth (Gallagher) Lynch - 1844
• Michael Lynch - by 1841
• Patrick Norton - 1880
• Catherine O'Rourke - by 1849
• Robert and Mary (Holmes) Paddock - 1631

NETHERLANDS

• Harmen Myndertsen van der Bogart - 1631
• Cornelis Anthonisen van Schlick - 1634
• Jillisje Claese Schouw - by 1626

SCOTLAND

• John Hunter - by 1745

WALES

• Thomas and Blanche (Kemis) Gaines - by 1634

Newsworthy

 

How many of you have been admonished about life being more than the two dates that appear on your tombstone, that "it's the dash that's important?"

Trite, yes.  Nonetheless, true.  The stuff that happens between your date of birth and your date of death are certainly more interesting to most consumers of biographical information.

Sometimes, we genealogists forget that as we obsessively track down and record names, vital dates, geographic jurisdictions, and source citations.   We NEEED these to make our nice little pedigree charts and family group sheets look neat and tidy.

But, if that's all we focus on, we miss the whole point and the real joy of genealogy, which is learning about who our ancestors really were.

What were their day-to-day lives like compared to our own?  How did they confront life's challenges, much less unusual circumstances like the one we are currently facing with the COVID-19 pandemic?  Can we learn anything from what they went thru to apply to our own lives?

That's why I love newspapers.com.  This site has really helped me flesh-out my family's unique story.  

Some of the best items I've discovered would hardly be considered "newsworthy" by most folks' standards--like the article above that I snipped about my dad's run-in with a black widow spider at age 11.  But these little details certainly mean something to me, and hopefully will to future generations.  

At least that's what I keep telling myself as I digitally "snip" tidbits like this until the wee hours of the morning . . . 

Happy hunting!

Multiple

 

Tracing a female ancestor can be difficult when she assumes the surname of her husband.  The challenge is greater when she marries multiple times.  Such was the case with my great aunt Hattie Macy Baxter (1874-1954).  After years of research, I have found that she married no fewer than six times.

Hattie was born at Orlando, Florida, on 22 March 1874 or 1876, depending on which source you believe.  Her grave marker says 1874, her death certificate 1876.  Census records are ambiguous, do not confirm the date and vary depending on the enumeration; but do agree she was a younger daughter of my ancestors William and Martha (Twyford) Macy.  Following is a timeline of her life that I have been able to piece together from surviving documents:

• 1880 - Hattie was enumerated as the 6-year-old daughter (thus born about 1874) of machinist W.H. Macy and his wife Mrs. M.J. Macy in the US Census, Precinct 3, Orange County, Florida, page 432d.  She had four older sisters (Nellie, Maria, Kate, and Annie), an older brother Paul (my ancestor), and a younger brother Charles.  Her father and eldest sister Nellie were born in New York, her mother in Tennessee.  She and all the other children were natives of Florida.
• 1885 - Hattie was enumerated as the 11-year-old daughter (again, born about 1874) of machinist W.H. MACEY (note variant spelling of surname) of Pine Castle in the Florida state census of Orange County.  Her eldest sister Nellie had moved out by that time but was living two houses away with her new husband Ed Miller.  Her younger brother Charles had died, and a younger sister Eunice had been born.
• 28 Nov 1889 - Hattie married her first husband George W. Kuhn, Jr., in neighboring Osceola County, Florida.  Depending on the correct year of her birth, she was either 13 or 15 years of age.  Mr. Kuhn, an immigrant farmer from Switzerland, was 31 years old.  This was not a happy marriage, doubtless due in large part to their age difference.  But it did produce one child.
• 3 Dec 1895 - Hattie gave birth in Kissimmee, Florida, to her only known child: Gertrude Pearl Kuhn.  Soon after this, Hattie and George divorced and quickly remarried--George in 1900 to another teen bride, settled in Plant City, Florida.
• 13 Apr 1898 - Hattie (age about 24) married her second husband Charles M. Hansel of Pine Castle.  He was about 40 years old at the time.
• 16 Jun 1900 - Hattie was numerated at Pine Castle as the 25-year-old wife of Mr. Hansel, who was working as a "wood chopper."  Both she and her daughter Gertrude had assumed the Hansel surname.  But this marriage also ended in divorce, soon after the census enumeration.
• 12 Oct 1903 - Hattie (age about 29) married in Orange County to her third husband James Andrew Byrd (age about 68), a man old enough to be her father, if not her grandfather!
• 21 Apr 1904 - Hattie Byrd relinquished dower rights to property her new third husband Andrew BIRD (note his surname was misspelled, hers wasn't) sold in Orange County.  [See Official Records Book 117, page 405.]
• 25 Mar 1905 - "Hattie A. Byrd" was gifted 2.5 acres of land on Lake Conway in Pine Castle by her widowed mother Martha J. Macy.
• 23 Jan 1909 - Mr. Byrd, her third husband, died at age 73 and is buried at the Conway Cemetery in Orange County, Florida.
• 9 Jun 1909 - Less than 5 months after her third husband's death, Hattie (age about 34) married in Orange County to her fourth husband Nicholas J. Evans (age about 57).  According to E.H. Gore's History of Orlando (1949), Mr. Evans came to this area in 1880 and planted an oak grove on the old Macy family property on South Street.  So, Hattie must have known him since childhood.
• 1910 - Neither Hattie nor Mr. Evans have yet been found in the US census enumeration.  Where were they?  Perhaps their surname has been indexed incorrectly . . .
• 30 Jan 1911 - "Hattie A. Evans and N.J. Evans, her husband" sold the 2.5 acres on Lake Conway that she had received from her mother in 1905.  The well-known blind poet Harvey Austin Fuller bought it from them for $285 (worth about $8,000 in today's money).  [See Orange County Official Records, Book 151, page 235.]
• 19 Sep 1913 - The Orlando Sentinel reported N.J. Evans had arrived from Tullahoma, Tennessee, "to rejoin his family here."  No mention was made of Hattie, though she was later known to live at Tullahoma herself (see 1920).
• 5 Mar 1914 - The same paper reported, "Miss Gertrude Kuhn of Orlando is visiting her mother Mrs. Hattie Evans [of Pine Castle] who is ill."  No mention was made of Mr. Evans.
• 1920 - Hattie (age 45) was enumerated as the WIDOWED housekeeper of merchant Holbert Dodd and family of Tullahoma, Tennessee.  Mr. Evans was also living at Tullahoma that year, but alone and also "widowed."  Clearly, they were living separately and may have even been divorced but didn't want to admit it to the census taker?!
• 2 Jul 1928 - Hattie is not mentioned in the Orlando Morning Sentinel obituary of her half-brother George Macy.  The obit only mentions two other half-sisters (Nellie and Annie) and omits not only Hattie but also two other half-siblings Paul and Eunice.  Was this just a poorly prepared obituary, or were these half-siblings purposely omitted due to some rift in the family?
• 1930 - Hattie (age 54) had remarried and was enumerated with her fifth husband Alfred Chastain (age 62), a farmer in Franklin County, Tennessee.
• 6 Mar 1937 - Mr. Chastain died at their Franklin County farm, of "unknown causes."  
• 1940 - Mrs. Hattie CHASTIN (age 66) was enumerated as a widow, still living on her late husband's farm in Franklin County.  Living with her was her "daughter" [?!?] Area CHASTIN (age 12), probably a stepdaughter.  Note misspelled surname.
• 3 Oct 1941 - Hattie is not mentioned as a survivor in the Orlando Morning Sentinel obituary of her sister Nellie Sparkman, indicating they were estranged or had at least lost contact.
• 26 Mar 1942 - Hattie (age 67) married in Franklin County, Tennessee, to her sixth (and last known) husband B.R. Baxter (age 75).
• 27 Nov 1948 - "Mrs. Hattie Evans of Tennessee" was mentioned as a survivor in the Orlando Morning Sentinel obituary of her brother Paul Macy.  She had not been married to Mr. Evans for about twenty years by that point and had since remarried two other men.  This is further indication of Hattie's estrangement from her Florida relatives.
• 11 Jan 1953 - Hattie is not mentioned as a survivor in the Fort Pierce News-Tribune obituary of her sister Annie Ralls, another indication of estrangement from her Florida family.
• 3 Feb 1954 - Hattie died of bronchopneumonia at McMinnville, Tennessee, age 76, according to her official death certificate.  She had been living about an hour away at Lynchburg, Tennessee, until a few months before her death.  This information was provided by her daughter Mrs. Gertrude Bowen of St. Petersburg, Florida.
• 4 Feb 1954 - A very brief death notice was published in the Nashville Banner, naming no survivors, only that "Mrs. Hattie Baxter, 77" of Winchester and McMinnville had died.  She was buried the same day at the City Cemetery in Winchester, Tennessee.

It has taken me years to piece together this timeline of Hattie's life due to her multiple marriages.  Records had to be searched and re-searched not only for her maiden name of MACY, but for all of her husbands' surnames as they were discovered: KUHN, HANSEL, BYRD, EVANS, CHASTAIN, and BAXTER.  Many of these names were prone to variant spellings, which added to the challenge: MACEY, KUEHN, HANSELL, BIRD, and CHASTIN.  The usual "FAN" (friends, associates, and neighbors) research tactics were thwarted by some estrangement from her birth family after her removal to Tennessee.

I may never know the details behind the apparent estrangement.  But a year or so ago, I was able to visit Hattie's final resting place at Winchester--or, should I say, the general vicinity.  I arrived on a Saturday afternoon when no one was available to assist me in finding the exact spot.  Typical, I thought.  Aunt Hattie is still playing games with me, still making it tough to track her down!

Solo

(Or, "How a Strategically-placed Red Solo Cup Led Me to My Revolutionary War Ancestor")

This week's blogging prompt brought to mind one of my favorite genealogy road trip tales.

Back in 2012, when the National Genealogical Society held their annual conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, we stayed just across the state line in the casino resort town of Lawrenceburg, Indiana.  This not only provided some non-genealogy recreational time, but also happened to be a stone's throw from the known resting place of my Revolutionary War patriot ancestor Job Judd (1755-1846).  So, before heading over to the convention center, I was able to get a picture of myself posing with his grave marker.  (Note, it includes a more modern plaque added by the DAR during the bicentennial era.)

Anyway, while we were lurking around the sleepy town square, the local barber approached me to find out what all the hubbub was about.

As it turned out, he was the head of the local historical society and had a bunch of material in his shop that he graciously offered me to review.

I was most interested to know why Job's widow Mary (Andrews) Judd was not buried by his side.  Or, was she buried there without a marker?

The barber knew the answer off the top of his head.  "Oh, she's not buried here," he explained.  "She moved in with one of her children after Job's death and is buried at a church near their old family farm."

I asked him if he could supply me with directions, and he gladly obliged:

1. Take the paved road out of town until it dead-ends, then turn left.
2. Follow the signs to the town of Napoleon, but don't blink when you get there or you'll miss it.
3. The road forks on the other side of Napoleon, stay on the south fork.
4. That'll put you across the county line into Ripley.
5. Keep your eyes peeled for County Road 900.  There is no stop sign, so be careful.  Turn left.
6. The road will be paved for a fair piece, but then it turns to gravel.
7. Then it turns to dirt.
8. Then it cuts down to one lane and you'll think you're lost.
9. Just before you're ready to give up and turn around, you'll see a RED SOLO CUP tacked to a tree.
10. That's where you'll turn left down a rutted path.  It'll look like the ruts end at a creek, but keep on driving.  The water's shallow.
11. When you get to the other side, keep driving a short distance until you see a pretty little church at the foot of a hill.
12. The cemetery sits atop that hill, where the original church once stood.

Challenge accepted,

Turns out, the church was so hard to find because it was once part of the Underground Railroad.  After hiking up the imposing steps to the site of the original church (founded in 1843), the reward was this magnificent view:

And, after wandering around a bit, we did find Mary's final resting place:

Mission Accomplished (courtesy of a genie angel and one red solo cup)!

#52Ancestors

Middle

This week's blogging prompt of "middle" had me stumped.  Middle of what?  I guess it was chosen because we are approaching the middle of the year, a year we all probably wish was closer to the end . . . So, what angle should I take?  Maybe, an ancestor who was a middle child?  Then it occurred to me that a study of MIDDLE NAMES would be interesting.  

So, I sat down and tallied up all the middle names used in my family over the last five generations.  It was a fun process for a genealogy geek.  Some of the people I knew had used their middle names in lieu of their first names.  Most of the names were clearly masculine or feminine, but many were surnames or otherwise gender neutral and have been handed down to both male and female descendants.  Several of my 2xgreat grandparents either had no middle name, or I've only been able to find a middle initial.

Anyway, here's the list of all the middle names I collected, in alphabetical order:

Adeline

Agnes - traces back to my 7xgreat grandmother Agnes (Rives) Walker, who lived in Virginia in the early 1700s, and is still in regular circulation among her descendants.

Alan, Alice, Annie, Barco, Barry, Baxter, Bernice, Blakesley, Bonner, Caroline, Claire, Curtis

DeSales - attributable to St. Frances DeSales, patron saint of writers.  (Like this one!)

Diane, Edith, Edward, Elaine, Elizabeth, Ella, Estelle, Etta, Flowers, Frances, Francis, Franklin, Fred, Grace, Henry, Inez, Jane,  John, Joseph, Josephine, Lobban

Lorenzo - popular among my Methodist relatives, attributed to an itinerant preacher named Lorenzo Dow who evangelized the South in the early 1800s.  Many baby boys were named for him.  For more info, check out this post.

Lowry, Macy

Madison - supposedly inherited from one Mrs. Faith Hanna who died in Anson County, North Carolina, in 1841.  I have not been able to confirm Madison was her maiden name, but it has certainly been perpetuated among her descendants.

Margaret, Mary, McClure, Oscar, Pate, Patrick, Paul, Peter, Roxanna

Swinney - my own middle name, origin explained in prior post.

Thomas, Vincent

Virginia - traces back to my 3xgreat grandmother, who went by the nickname "Ginny."

Wahnita, Wayne

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Unexpected

One of my hobbies is to try to reunite old photographs with living descendants.  Whether in an antique show, flea market, or garage sale, I always seek out old photos.  If I find any with enough identifying information and the price isn't too high, I'll buy them and take them home to begin my genealogical sleuthing.

Recently, I attended the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in St. Petersburg.  I wasn't expecting to find any vintage photos there, but was pleasantly surprised to find the exhibit hall full of all kinds of ephemera--not just books!

Anyway, I bought a handful of old photos, including the one pictured above.  It appealed to me because it was taken in Florida.  The reverse states it is "J.H. Cooper and Family, Antioch, Florida."

It did not take me long to identify the couple, as they pop up regularly in census enumerations and have findagrave memorials.  They were James H. Cooper and his first wife Frances, taken about 1900.  I believe the two children are Johnnie and Olive.

The unexpected surprise was Frances's maiden name: JERNIGAN.  This is one of my direct Florida pioneer lines.  It did not take me long to identify Frances (1857-1912) as my second cousin five times removed.  She was a daughter of Elias Jernigan, granddaughter of Isaac Jernigan, and great-granddaughter of Martha (Deas) Jernigan, the earliest known member of my family to live in Central Florida.

So, this little gem has already been reunited with a living family member!

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Handed Down

One of my most prized possessions is the old Springfield pocket watch pictured here.

It is in workable condition, but missing its original glass face.  Inside is inscribed the name of the original owner "E.M. Blakesley," a railroad engineer who acquired it about 1897.  The movement is a Bunn Special with 21 rubies.

My 3xgreat grandfather Edson McClure Blakesley (1845-1931) was the original owner.  He was a veteran of the Civil War, having served with Company F of the 145th Ohio Volunteer Regiment.  After the war, he moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he began a career in railroading, eventually becoming an engineer based in Kansas City.  He used this watch daily towards the end of his career, and the gold plating is worn in places where he grasped it to check his progress against railroad time tables.  

Grandpa Blakesley retired to Florida in the early 1900s, living first at St. Petersburg before settling in a little house on Mills Avenue in Orlando.  When he died in 1931, this watch passed to his only surviving child, my 2xgreat grandmother Lola (Blakesley) Morgan.

Lola, or "Mammy" as she was known within the family, had lived with her father during his last years.  But, after his death and the loss of his pension income, she could not afford to keep his house on Mills Avenue.  The Great Depression forced her to move around quite a bit, renting small bungalows in the College Park area before going to live with her younger son William Swinney Morgan, Jr.  When she died in 1954, the watch was handed down to him.

William was my great grandfather.  He was a veteran of the US Army Medical Corps, having served in France during the First World War.  He worked many years at the Orlando Post Office, eventually managing the south station on Michigan Avenue.  But, by the time he inherited the watch, he had started a second career as a homebuilding foreman for the Wellborn Phillips Company.

When William died in 1960, the watch was kept in the old family home on Muriel Street by his second wife, my step great grandmother Erma (Barco) Morgan.  Shortly before her death in 1995, she handed the watch down to her only son (my great-uncle) Richard Barco Morgan.

Uncle Richard handed the watch down to me along with some other family memorabilia about ten years later, when he downsized and moved into a retirement tower downtown.

Recently, the "Antiques Roadshow" came to the Orange County Convention Center and I was able to get a ticket entitling me to bring up to three items for a free appraisal.  Of course, this watch was one of the things I brought.  I was a little disappointed to find it was only worth about $100 in its current condition, maybe $300 if the glass cover was restored.  But, to me it is priceless, because it reminds me of all the precious people who have served as its steward since 1897.

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Wedding

June is the month for weddings, so this week's blogging prompt from 52 Ancestors is appropriate.

I thought I'd use the occasion to share this old wedding photo of my great great grandparents, taken in Kansas City, Missouri, on 22 September 1889.

The groom was William Swinney Morgan (1863-1917), son of James Lorenzo Morgan and the former Martha Virginia Brown.  (His parents were second cousins, descendants of Revolutionary War patriot William Jones.)

The bride was Lola Estelle Blakesley (1872-1954), daughter of Edson McClure Blakesley and the former Mary Elizabeth Blakesley.  (Her parents were cousins once removed, descendants of Ohio pioneer Amasa Blakesley.)

So, when I get endogamous results among my DNA matches, I know who to blame . . .

Anyway, William and Lola were next door neighbors in Kansas City.  Yep, he literally married the girl next door.

As the story goes, he had grown tired of driving cattle along the Chisholm Trail and was looking to settle down.  

She had been working as a lady's maid, and had been swindled out of her savings by some charlatan they met at church.

So, William worked some magic to convince the charlatan to give them their money back, perhaps with interest.  Complete details on just how he was so persuasive have been lost to history, probably a benefit to posterity.

This, of course, made William not only Lola's next door neighbor, but also her hero.  And, they quickly tied the knot.

Sort of romantic if you overlook the endogamy and vigilante justice  . . .

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Uncertain

Recent advances in autosomal DNA research have broken down a lot of old "brick walls" for genealogists.  But, in my case, it has also created new mysteries.  One of them is the paternity of my 3xgreat grandfather John Jackson.

There were already several questions marks about John before DNA results entered the fray.

First, was his birth date.  Different census records give conflicting ages.  They best I can say is he was born some time between 1805 and 1810.  

Second, is his birth location.  The 1850 and 1870 census enumerations indicate he was born in New Jersey, but the 1860 schedule says Ireland.

Third, I have no idea when or where he died.  He disappears after being listed as a day laborer in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1870.

Examination of DNA clusters over the last year or so yielded several matches between known descendants of this mysterious John Jackson and the descendants of a Caroline (Jackson) Provost.  

Research by Caroline's descendants says she was born about 1812 in New Jersey.  She married 31 December 1831 in Middlesex County, New Jersey, to Frederick Provost (1809-1876) and moved to the vicinity of Rochester, New York.  Later, about the time of the Civil War, they left New York to settle in Michigan.  Caroline died in Detroit on 13 June 1899.

Centimorgan comparisons combined with this information leads me to believe Caroline was John's younger sister.  But, I have not been able to confirm this theory with documentation . . . add this one to the pile of "further research needed!"

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Tombstone

This image of a tombstone in the middle of Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, Tennessee, was taken in 2005, and appears on the park's Wikipedia page.

It was erected in 1891 in memory of my great aunt Martha S. (Twyford) Mann and her husband Robert, who died within a few weeks of one another that winter.

A google search led me to this 2008 article about the stone, with clues on how to locate it.  And, last year, I attempted just that.

The thing is, Shelby Farms is the largest urban park in the country.  With 4,500 acres, it is five times the size of New York City's Central Park.

The bottom line, we spent the better part of a warm May day hiking through the park's woodiest, most remote section on our mission to find the stone.  But, despite the clues provided, our search was fruitless.

I think part of the problem was in the time of year.  We were searching in late spring, when the foliage in the woods was at its fullest.  The photo was evidently taken during the winter, when all that foliage had gone dormant and left the stone more visible from the hiking path.

Nonetheless, the hike is one I will never forget.  It was hot, and it took longer than we anticipated.   But, we saw some unparalleled natural beauty and enjoyed encounters with several deer.  And, because of that, I will always think fondly of this long gone great aunt and great uncle.

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Travel

If you're like me, the ongoing pandemic has had you under quarantine for the better part of two months.

One of the many disappointments associated with this situation is this is usually the time of year that I undertake a "Genealogy Vacation."  It's been a tradition for me and my mom to take the week before Mother's Day to take a road trip to one of the places where our ancestors lived.  We were going to go to Mississippi and Louisiana this year, but we cancelled those plans for obvious reasons . . .

Anyway, it's kind of cool that this week's blogging prompt is "Travel."  It has me reminiscing about all the place we have seen over the years:

2009 - NGS Family History Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina; with a side trip to Guilford Courthouse National Military Park to walk the battlefield where my ancestor William Jones was killed in battle during the American Revolution.  Unfortunately, it rained that entire day, so we had to stick to the visitor center . . .

2010 - cancelled at last minute, can't remember why . . .

2011 - NGS Family History Conference in Charleston, South Carolina.  We took the train up from Orlando, and were met at the station by friends who had driven up earlier in the day.  It was great having friends there with a car, because we were able to visit the Battery at our own pace.  I was able to see the French Huguenot church where my ancestor Rev. Francis L'Escot was pastor during the colonial era.

2012 - NGS Family History Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.  We stayed across the state line in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where we indulged in a little riverboat gambling and enjoyed resort accommodations.  The bonus was my Revolutionary War patriot ancestor Job Judd is buried in a cemetery in the nearby village of Bright, so we were able to pay our respects.  Then, we literally went chasing after a red solo cup thru the woods to discover his wife Mary (Andrews) Judd's final resting place along the Underground Railroad Trail.  I may have to dedicate a separate post on the red solo cup thing . . .

2013 - Cancelled due to my change of jobs, although we did make a quick run down to Palm Beach where I had to attend a work conference.   My aunt went with us, and we had a great time playing tourist after I got out of the conference.

2014 - NGS Family History Conference in Richmond, Virginia.  We spent a day in nearby Petersburg before making our way to the conference, took some great pictures of the old trading post established by my ancestor Peter Jones.  Our hotel in Richmond was having air conditioning "issues," so we shortened our stay.  But, we did have a great time visiting the conference exhibitors, the Tredegar iron works, and an Irish pub that served up some amazing curry chicken.  The next day we drove over to Campbell County, where my Morgan ancestors lived before the War Between the States; and had an especially great time touring Patrick Henry's "Red Hill" estate.  But, we were dismayed to find NO HOTEL ROOMS available in nearby Lynchburg, due to multiple college graduations.  So, we had to drive 100 miles down the road to Roanoke to find accommodations.  This unexpected detour led us to exploring the town of Floyd, where my great uncle William Morgan lived.  What a treasure trove of family history we discovered there.  That day will definitely require a separate blog post.

2015 - Alabama & Georgia, to visit various sites associated with my great grandmother's ancestors.  (Surnames: Arnett, Bonner, Hendricks, and Rushton.)  It was on this trip that I visited the remote cemetery detailed in a post earlier this year.  On our way back to Florida, we took a side trip to Andersonville National Historical Site, a very moving experience.

2016 - NGS Family History Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  An abbreviated trip, since it was basically in our back yard.  But, we did stay in a great hotel right at the yacht club, and were within easy walking distance of the convention center.  So, we were really able to spend time visiting with the conference exhibitors.  A fun time, but no real family connections to the area.

2017 - NGS Family History Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina.  We had already visited this convention center back in 2009, so the visit to the exhibitors hall was abbreviated.  Then we took a quick jaunt over to Salem to visit the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.  I was able to see an 18th century portrait of my Huguenot ancestor Frances (L'Escot) Villepontoux, furniture made by some of my Macy relatives, and pottery by my Rushton family.  That evening, we made our way to Monroe, North Carolina, birthplace of my great grandmother Sarah (Cox) Morgan.  And, the next day, we spent time locating some family cemeteries--some successfully, and one not so successfully.  This will require a separate blog post, too . . .

2018 - Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.  I had ancestors who fought on both sides of the field, and was able to retrace their footsteps.  We found the locals here to be very friendly, and were glad we followed their dining suggestions and other tips.  From there, we drove over to Jersey City, New Jersey, where my mom's cousin Mary Jo led a gaggle of Norton descendants on a walking tour of the old neighborhood.  It was an amazing experience!

2019 - Elvis Country and More.  We made it to Tupelo, Mississippi, birthplace of The King, on the first leg of this trip.  It was a challenge, because our AC conked out around Birmingham.  Fortunately, it was working the next day, and we had no issues as we made our way to Oxford, Mississippi, to pay respect to William Faulkner.  From there, it was a quick drive up to Memphis, Tennessee, but we stayed just east of the city in Germantown, where my Macy and Twyford relatives lived before the War Between the States.  There we discovered Shelby Farms Park and spent the better part of the next day hiking through its beautiful acreage in a (fruitless) search for a long lost tombstone. The next morning, we visited the headquarters of the Tennessee Genealogical Society and enjoyed the amazing hospitality of the volunteer staff, who dug up a lot of great records for us.  Next up on our itinerary was Shiloh National Military Park, which we discovered was pleasantly devoid of all the touristy glitz of Gettysburg.

And, that brings us to the present sad state of affairs.  No road trip this year.

But, we do have Richmond, Virginia, on the radar for May 2021 . .

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Service

One might expect this week's writing prompt of "service" would result in a post about an ancestor who served in the military.  But, for some reason, my immediate reaction was to blog about my maternal ancestor Elizabeth (Gallagher) Lynch who was "in service" in metropolitan London in the early 1840s.

Elizabeth was born about 1815 to James and Mary Gallagher of County Mayo, Ireland.  Her parents were "spalpeens," poor laborers who migrated throughout Britain in search of employment.  The family were attracted to Westminster, England, by the 1820s, and lived in the cramped housing offered on Adam and Eve Court (between Oxford Street and Eastcastle.)

On 3 February1839, Elizabeth married another poor Irish laborer named Michael Lynch at the old Trinity Church in Marylebone.  (Sadly, the church fell into disuse a century later, and is now operated as a secular "events venue.")  Soon after the nuptials, though, Michael left Elizabeth to go to New York, promising to send for her and their infant daughter Mary Ann as soon as he could save enough money to pay for their passage.

Until she could follow her husband to the United States, Elizabeth had to find some income to feed both herself and the child.  So, she left the baby with her parents on Adam and Eve Court, and took a position "in service to" Lady Maria King, widow of Vice Admiral Sir Richard King, Baronet.

According to the 1841 British census enumeration, Lady Maria lived at fashionable Park Crescent with her three daughters Maria, Fanny, and Elizabeth.  Her sons were either away at boarding school or serving in the Royal Navy.  They were supported by a staff of six domestic servants.  William Isaacs was the butler, supported by footman William Moffatt.  Besides Elizabeth, there were three other female servants: Harriet Ruban, Mary Wickham, and Eliza Barber; but, it is unclear what their particular roles were in the household.

I like to imagine Elizabeth in charge of the youngest King daughter Elizabeth, taking her to play in the private park fronting the crescent.  Perhaps they utilized the pedestrian tunnel under busy Marylebone Road to access the larger Park Square, or Regent's Park to the north.  But, it is more likely that her "service" experience was more drudgery.

Either way, Elizabeth was reunited with her husband Michael just a few years later.  Their second daughter Margaret was born in Brooklyn in 1844.  Two more children quickly followed: James in 1847, and my great great grandmother Elizabeth in 1850.

Unfortunately, Michael drowned in a tragic accident, leaving the family destitute.  But, that story has already been told in a prior post.  (See "Disaster.")

My bucket list includes a commitment to visit Elizabeth's old neighborhood, to walk through Adam and Eve Court; see Trinity Church and nearby Park Crescent; and meander through Regent's Park.  One day . . . 

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Where There's a Will

Experienced genealogists will tell you that wills and probate records are a treasure trove of information about your ancestors.  They can confirm relationships, pinpoint residence, and give you some insights into the way they lived their lives.  Were they wealthy, or destitute?  Were they religious, or agnostic?  Were they farmers or merchants?

Sometimes, you can also find some gems that reveal family dynamics.  Did your ancestor favor one child over another?  Did they give someone a "slap in the face," with a token bequest of one dollar?  Or, did they disinherit someone completely?

Other wills create more follow-up questions.   An example is the will of my immigrant ancestor Robert Irving.

Robert was born about 1812 in the vicinity of Watermillock, in Cumbria, England.  He married 14 February 1835 in the port city of Lancaster to Miss Ann Airey, formerly of Clapham in West Yorkshire.  They quickly moved to the town of Preston, where there was an abundance of work due to its bustling cotton mills.

Robert was a skilled moulder, so his talents were always in demand.  But, the working conditions were oppressive, and laborers had no real political recourse, because they weren't property owners.  Disaffection boiled over by 1848, with the "Chartist Movement." No doubt, the Irvings were caught up in it.  And, when the movement failed, they decided to seek better opportunities in the United States.

The Irvings arrived in New York City aboard the ship West Point out of Liverpool on 22 September 1849.   They initially lived in Manhattan's busy 8th ward, near the Hudson River docks, where Robert's skills quickly helped them to rebuild their fortunes.  Soon, they were able to leave the overcrowded 8th Ward to settle across the river in Jersey City, New Jersey.

In Jersey City, Robert capitalized on his skills to establish his own plumbing business, which he passed on to his son and namesake.

Robert made his will 26 May 1886, and it was presented to probate officials just five days later.  So, he must have known his time was short when he wrote it.

The will not only confirmed the names of his surviving children, it specifies the exact plot he owned at "the Catholic cemetery on West Side Avenue in Jersey City."  This was the sort of information I expected to find in the document, and will help me pinpoint his final resting place during my next trip up to New Jersey.

It also contained an unexpected tidbit of new information.  Robert mentions that he owned a farm near Wheelertown in Herkimer County, New York.  It never would have occurred to me to do any genealogical sleuthing in that part of upstate New York . . . who knows what I may uncover there!

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Land

One of my favorite online databases is the General Land Office Records, maintained by the US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management.  (https://glorecords.blm.gov).

It can provide some really great information, if your ancestors purchased land from the federal government.

For example, I knew my extended BLAKESLEY family left Ohio some time after the 1840 census and settled in Illinois by the time of the 1850 enumeration.  By using GLO Records, I was able to narrow that window to 1848/1849.  (See screenshot above.)

I was also able to pinpoint the locations of the property purchases, and calculate the distances between them.  (See illustration below.)  Two brothers Amasa and Warren Blakesley bought land in McHenry County, Illinois, in the spring of 1848.  Their parcels were less than eight miles apart.  In the autumn of 1849, Amasa's son John bought a third parcel about fifteen miles to the southeast.

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Air

I recently rediscovered this yearbook assembled by my grandfather William John Gleeson, Sr. (1914-1967) in 1955, during his service at RAF Manston in Kent, England.

I was a little disappointed that he only included one photo of himself.  (Humility is an inherited trait!)

But, I did enjoy browsing through the "local colour" photos, seeing some of the faces and places that would have been part of his every-day experience over there.  And, there were some interesting facts in the unit histories that gave me a better understanding of the bigger mission he and his comrades were completing during those early days of the Cold War.

Hard to believe this was 65 years ago . . .

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Fire

One of the saddest tales in my family history occurred early on a Thursday morning, 27 July 1893 to be precise.

At that time, my great great grandparents Robert & Elizabeth (Lynch) Irving owned a three-story brick building at 179 Montgomery Street in Jersey City, New Jersey.  The first floor was occupied by Bob's plumbing business.  The second and third floors were occupied by his large family.

Around six o'clock on that fateful morning, the family was awakened by its faithful Scottish terrier.  When Bob descended the stairs from the third floor to the second, he was confronted by billowing smoke.  He quickly raised the alarm, gathered his wife and children and rushed them outside to safety.

Within half an hour, city firemen succeeded in extinguishing the flames.  Fortunately, the damage was confined to the rear of the building, and the Irvings had an insurance policy to recoup the estimated $600 in repair costs.

Sadly, they did not recover their little dog.  He had been suffocated by the smoke.

But, he will never be forgotten.  If not for his urgent barking that morning in 1893, I might not be here today . . . 

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Water

When you live in Florida as long as my family has, you respect water.

Water can be your friend, providing relief from the scorching sun.  Who doesn't have fond memories of taking a dip in the lake, or gulping cool water from the garden hose after a hard afternoon of playing with your neighborhood friends?

But, water can also cause an awful lot of damage.  And, it's better to prepare for the worst if you want to preserve your genealogical records around here.

I can think of two examples from my own family history.

The "good example" was my maternal grandmother Ruth (Norton) Gleeson.  Everyone knew about the little red suitcase she kept in the coat closet at her home in Audubon Park.  In times of crisis, or threat of hurricane, we all knew that suitcase went with us.  Because, inside were all the important family documents, secured inside a series of Ziploc bags.  

My grandmother died in 1995, but that little red suitcase has survived and is a treasure trove of genealogical information.  (Thanks, Grandma G!)

The "bad example" was my great great grandparents William and Lola (Blakesley) Morgan.  He was a cowboy who worked the Chisholm Trail.  She was known for both her penmanship and for being a good listener.  According to family legend, William told Lola all his stories of riding the range from Texas thru Indian Territory to the railheads in Kansas, including a run-in with the legendary Bat Masterson.  She dutifully recorded them for posterity.  When they moved here from Missouri in 1907, they put this precious record along with many of their other possessions inside a wooden barrel and loaded it onto a southbound train.  Unfortunately, that old barrel was not watertight.   You can guess what happened to those precious tales . . . 

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Nearly Forgotten

In May 2015, I made a trip up to Alabama to do some ancestral sleuthing on my great-grandmother Mary Ella (Arnett) Macy.  She was born 16 April 1901 in the town of Roanoke, the youngest daughter of Joel Hendricks Arnett and the former Hildegarde Bonner.

The Bonner side of the family was fairly easy to track down.  They are still prominent in the area, and the local library had some great genealogical resources.  And, they are all at rest in the neatly kept yard of the active Bethel Baptist Church near the village of Welch.

The Arnett side of the family was a different story.  They were all laid to rest at the Old Salem Primitive Baptist Church near the community of Bacon Level.  Unfortunately, the church disbanded in the early 1900s, with the congregation splitting between neighboring churches at Mount Pisgah and Lanett.  

Nowadays, the Old Salem cemetery is all but forgotten.  We would have missed it completely, if not for a peculiarly bent pine tree we spotted from the rugged dirt road.  

It was a bit of a challenge to clamber up the nearly-vertical trail from the road to the rusty old cemetery gate.  If there had been a stairway, it had rotted away long ago or been repurposed.  The view inside the gate was dismaying, at least at first.  The piney woods have almost completely taken over the sacred ground.

But, after a moment or two, I began to appreciate the peacefulness of my surroundings.  It truly was a place of rest for my ancestors, undisturbed by the hustle and bustle of the modern world.  The only sound to be heard was made by my boots as they tramped through the undergrowth in search of any legible stones with familiar names.

I was rewarded.  Tremendously.

I found the stones of:

• my Confederate ancestor Jesse Thomas Arnett (1831-1908)
• his wife Sarah Hendricks Arnett (1834-1899)
• his father Jesse Arnett (1796-1886) who brought the family here from North Carolina
• his mother Martha Robertson Arnett (1798-1881)
• his mother-in-law Cynthia Reid Hendricks, who died near here 31 May 1863
• and several other members of the extended family

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