Tombstone Tuesday

Picture obtained via photo request at FindaGrave.

Family History Month - Challenge #1

My Childhood Home

The month of October is Family History Month and in honor of the occasion, AfriGeneas is once again doing their Family History Challenge. I really had fun participating in these last year.

The first challenge for 2010 is as follows:


What are your memories about the house where you grew up?


Interpret that question any way you like. Write as long or short as you like. Feel free to post photos to illustrate the story.


Just a couple of rules:


1. Make our lives easier, please! Post your story as a response to this thread so we can keep track of the stories in each challenge.


2. Challenge #1 begins today, Oct 2nd and ends at 11:59 pm CT on Oct 6th.

When talking about the house I grew up in, I always like to point out that the house was build for moi. Before my entry into the world, my parents were boarders in a house that was a few houses away from my maternal grandparents’ house. I’m sure that my parents were probably wishing for a house of their own one day but I don’t know if they had put a plan in place to attain that goal, when they found out they were expecting a little bundle of joy, which would be me.

Even so, I still don’t think it registered with dad that they needed to move. My mother says she had to tell dad that they needed a bigger place if not their own place.

I guess it eventually sunk in because dad applied for a VA loan and plans were soon put in place to build a new home. A lot one street over from my grandparents house was selected (ours would be the second house build on the street) and thus the building of the house for me commenced. I understand during the building phase, mom would often take walks to check on the property and report any happenings to dad.

The house didn’t quite get finished in time for my arrival, so I spent my first 3 months being a boarder with my parents. We eventually moved in and until I went off to college, I spent all of my growing up years in that house.

The house was a typical brick ranch build in the early 1960s and had a full basement, which was often my favorite place to play. The basement was also the social hub of our house and family whether it was hosting birthday parties for me, family dinners, or having friends over (the folks or mine) who wanted to play a little ping pong or shuffle board. (My dad had a shuffleboard lane painted on the floor.)

The back yard was a good size and offered trees that a sometimes tomboy, me again, could climb as well as providing enough land for summer gardens, which my mother loved to do. There were wild bunnies, hoppy toads, and the sweet smell of honeysuckle in the spring time. Even though we were in the “city,” the critters would visit our property and as a result I still have a fondness for them to this day. Yes my hometown and home were the perfect combination of city and country living all rolled into one.

As time marches on, my parents and I must decide what to do with the old homestead. None of us have lived in it since 2005 and yet, neither I nor they are ready to sell it, just yet. For me, the house represents my anchor, my rock, the place I can always go back to if times every really became tough and yet, for a variety of reasons, I don’t think my parents or myself can really envision ever living there, again, although we all contemplate it from time to time.

Finally, as I’ve reflected back on bygone times one more time, it always eventually comes back to the fact that it wasn’t the house that created the memories that I carry in me but the people who lived inside.

This picture of the old homestead is ca 1962. That's me, mom, dad, my first cousin, and my uncle pictured in front.

The above picture is part of the personal collection of the owner of this blog.

September's in the Rear View Mirror

As noted on Georgia Black Crackers, I wasn't very productive during the month of September. I didn't even meet my blogging goals on Conversations with my Ancestors.

That being said, I do think I unearthed a set of 3rd great grandparents on my grandmother's line. I just have to do a bit more work, to build a case for that being them.

Hopefully, I can get more accomplished during the month of October.

Tombstone Tuesday - One Thing Leads to Another

In an effort to catch up on some of my goals for the month of September, I once again found myself going back and forth between Ancestry and FindAGrave in hopes of finding  a tombstone of one of my paternal Ancestors or Relatives to post for Tombstone Tuesday. (Yes, I was working toward achieving my blogging goals for the month.)

Instead, what I found was tons better, a Great Grand Uncle's, Frank Everett, death certificate, Great Granddad Peter Everett's brother. While I had clues all around pointing to his existence, I hadn't put it all together before this morning. Of course, as usually is the case, I wasn't even looking for this this AM when I came across it. In fact, I wasn't even searching for Everetts this morning. I was looking for Hargetts, great granddad's mother, hoping that she had lived long enough to have a death certificate to record her death.

I don't know why I never came across my Great Grand Uncle's death certificate before now. I feel like I've searched the Everett surname plenty of times since discovering great great grandma Vica Ann. Either I never made the connection because I was so focused on other information or it simple didn't surface based on the search criteria I was using at the time. But I think the real reason is I came across this today is simply they, the Ancestors, finally figured it was time to reveal this to me. Today, when I did a search for death certificates, Uncle Frank's death certificate was the first to come up and silly me was still thinking why did that come up I was searching for Hargett. Thankfully, I didn't dismiss it.

Below is Great Grand Uncle Frank Everett's death certificate:

• The first thing I noticed is that on Uncle Frank's death certificate, the surname is spelled Everetts and not Everett. I'm not sure which way Uncle Frank spelled it but based on other information I had come across, I believe his line spelled the surname the same as our line, without the "S." Given that there is a town in Martin County, NC by the name of Everetts, it would be easy for the recorder of the information to mistakenly to add a "S."
• Uncle Frank died on 20 Sept. 1938 from lobar pneumonia.
• His occupation was farming.
• Uncle Frank's wife, Christina, was the informant for Uncle Franks death certificate.
• She provided that he was 75 at the time of death, which means he would have bee born about 1863. Most of the data that I've found on my great granddad indicates he was born abt 1863, also. So is Uncle Frank great granddad's older brother? Younger? Twin?
• Uncle Frank is interred in Williamston, NC. As a side note, what's with the bulk of my paternal ancestors' death certificates not listing an actual cemetery for their final resting place.
• But the most important piece of genealogical information provided on Uncle Frank's death certificate is that his wife gave his mother's name as Vicy Ann Hargett. Uncle Frank's wife did not know who his father was. My great grandparent's marriage license provides Great Great Grandmom's name as Vicy Ann Hargett. 

Finding Uncle Frank's death certificate led me to some other interesting finds including possible confirmation of a family from the 1870 census that I wrote down almost 20 years ago as possibly my family.

I hope to write about the rest of this early morning saga in the very near future but need to do a tad more legwork, but as of this moment, let me just say that I have possibly peeled back another layer of my Everett line as a result.

So, thank you Uncle Frank and the rest of my ancesters. I couldn't have done it without you.

Sentimental Sunday - Singing Grace

I could be wrong but the paternal side of my family is the only one that I know of that actually sung grace. And during any family singing, of course the two voices that always could be heard above all others was my dad's and Aunt Martha's.

If you are wondering what we sang, here it is:

God is great and God is good,

And we thank him for our food;

By his hand we must be fed,

Give us Lord, our daily bread

Amen

 

So, how did your family say grace?

Genealogical Goals for the Remainder of September - Paternal Lineage

September Goals

Hopefully, this month or shall I say what's left of the month, I will do a better job on the goals for the paternal side of the family.

Research

The first goal is one I'm bringing forward from last month. Actually it's been on the to do list for several months. Praying that I finally get it accomplished this month.

1. 
   
   One of my geneabuds gave me the name and phone number of one of her husband's friends who happens to be a Ewell. I'm ashamed to admit that I've not called him, yet. So, I plan to call this week. There doesn't appear to be a familial connection but you just never know.
2. 
   
   Write Martin County, NC public library for obituaries for Sandy Ewell and William Ewell (great grand uncles), Pennie Ewell Tyner Eley and Mattie Ewell Gorham (3rd cousins twice removed), and Goldie Everett Johnson Hyman (grand aunt).

Blogging / Writing

1. 
   
   Not including today's goals post, three posts to the blog, one of which has to be a written one.

Miscellaneous

Listed on September 2010 Genealogical Goals - Maternal Lineage at Georgia Black Crackers.

August Goals Revisited

I'm feeling like I didn't get as much accomplished on the research on the paternal side as I had planned for. So, let's see.

Research

1. Request probate records for Jesse M. Ewell, Joshua L. Ewell, and Randol Ewell (Martin County, NC). I believe that one or possibly all 3 of these men (father and 2 sons) might have been my Ewell ancestors slave owner(s). Although two of them died after slavery ended, I'm still hoping that their wills, if available, can provide some clues.
2. One of my geneabuds gave me the name and phone number of one of her husband's friends who happens to be a Ewell. I'm ashamed to admit that I've not called him, yet. So, I plan to call this week. There doesn't appear to be a familial connection but you just never know.

1.
I did send away for probate records for Jesse M. Ewell and Joshua L. Ewell. I decided I would wait to request probate records for Randol Ewell. Surprisingly, there were no probate records for Joshua L. Ewell. I've not heard back on my reqest for records for Jesse M. Ewell.

2.
Unfortunately, I've still not managed to get a call to my geneabuds friend. When, I have time, I seem to never think about calling and when I don't have time, I do.

Blogging / Writing

1. Two posts to the blog, one of which has to be a written one.

I did manage to get this accomplished.

Miscellaneous

1. Declutter Office
2. Clean and Repaint my "new to me" legal-sized file cabinet. (I got this from the Habitat ReStore a couple of weeks ago, and it's sepcifically for my genealogy research).
3. Rearrange Office to accommodate said file cabinet

No, I didn't manage to get any of this items accomplished. Hopefully, I'll get more accomplished this month.