HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY

I am not fortunate enough to still have my grandparents, but, as a tribute to both sets, here are photos of them.

Ruben and Blanche Ewing Dean, about 1940

Ruben and Blanche lived in Franklin Pennsylvania, where my mother Louise was born.When I was about 13, my other and I started visiting over the summer. Some of the best memories were going to their house on Myrtle  St. Baking with her, and walking around the town.

Harvey and Mamie McCall Pickens, about 1935

Harvey and Mamie first lived in Tampa, where I was born, and my father Hershel. We lived close to them, then we later moved to Bradenton, they soon followed. My memories are always of the beautiful lawn they had, cooking with Nana , in the vegetable garden with Papa picking the things he grew.Even later, even as I was a teen, visiting them was a joy. Most young people can not see the benefit of spending time with grandparents, I certainly did.

HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY!!!!

SURNAME SATURDAY

WHAT’S IN A NAME

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR MOST UNUSUAL FAMILY NAMES?

COUSINS.…ALTHOUGH THIS IS ONLY BY MARRIAGE

SNOW, ONCE AGAIN, MARRIAGE

GRAVES….MARRIAGE AGAIN, DOGGONEIT!!!!

BOONE…NOW THERE IS SOMETHING

MAYBERRY… MY FIFTH GREAT GRANDFATHER, G W MAYBERRY

GROSS…MY FOURTH GREAT GRANDMOTHER, I THINK THEY WERE VERY CLEAN PEOPLE

MERRY….AN INCREDIBLY HAPPY FAMILY THAT MARRIED MCCALL

EVEN A SMITH IS IN THERE, ALL FAMILIES HAVE ONE I BET

AS YOU CAN SEE THESE ARE NOT FUNNY. ALL NAMES HAVE MEANING. LOOK UP THE MEANING OF YOUR SURNAME. IT IS QUITE INTERESTING.

PICKENS.……

The meaning of Pickens come may come from a profession, such as the name ”Carpenter” which was given to woodworkers. Many of these profession-based family names might be a profession in another language. Because of this, it is essential to know the nationality of a name, and the languages used by its ancestors.

©FANNIESYOURAUNT

FOLLOW ME FRIDAY….ON A WILD GOOSE CHASE

YOUR INFORMATION COULD BE WRONG

I have death certificates for several ancestors in Texas. I have several from Florida and Pennsylvania. Where do some of the tree makers on Ancestry get their family information? It seems some grab at twigs and branches just to try to make a tree!!!

It gets very frustrating when a leaf appears, and I look at the clue and there is no way this is the same person. Keep in mind, many names were similar. Family names were inherited through male and female. But, you need to look at ages, locations, siblings etc.

I try to compare at least three census records before I attach it. Then, I may also review the entire census in a community to verify other members of the same last name living there. Census records were not used in the same way they are today. Getting a name spelled correctly, well, it was phonetic. And you were lucky if the person had good handwriting at all.

When doing your research

DO

1. Compare census records, from previous years

2. Look at family members in all the census records, siblings, initials, dates of birth ages, on the record itself

3. Look at the marriage status of individuals, M/WD/ S…and many times the persons who married lived near each other, check an earlier census

4. Follow locations…people did move, but, usually was from one state to another or around a county, they kept it local, no cars in the 1800′s. They travelled slowly.

5. Look at family members in the community

6. Use death records and family info to verify

7. Use cemetery details for facts on dates and family members buried locally

8. Use surname message boards and state/county sites as well.

DO NOT

1. Attach a record because the name is the same

2. Record without verification/ cross referencing facts

3. Assume there was only one marriage

4. Get lost in the trees that are posted

5. Copy a tree

For those of us who create a family tree, it is vital information is not taken without communication. It takes years to gather all we have. While we do not mind sharing, it is more fun to connect with the person. Who know, you may find long-lost cousins as I have. If you are an Ancestry.com member, you can easily email for facts, photos or hints.

I have had several mysteries in my family with misspellings of names. Manny, Mamie and Mollie….my hunch of Mamie was correct. I found the obit.

Lumy, Lumley, Lummie and Lumnia….follow the records, Lumley was right.  I have the death record.

Good luck in your search, and I wish you all the answers.

©FANNIESYOURAUNT

GRANDMA MAMIE THE SPOKESPERSON

I had found Georgia Newspapers online not too long ago. I talked about how I found Mamie McCall’s obit June 12, 1915. In the same year I found an advertisement . It was for Doan’s Pills. My gg grandmother Mamie had been in ill-health for a while. I found a few articles in the newspaper that were of interest….the advertisement for Doan’s, the note of Mamie’s illness and an advertisement by her son, for his blacksmith shop, C R McCall, Blacksmith. Mamie died on June 11th or 12th, 1915.

Times-Enterprise April 7,1915

The advertisement is at the top labeled, ” positive proof ” and  CR McCall blacksmith on the right. C R McCall ran ads from 1912 -1913 in the Times-Enterprise in Thomasville Georgia.

C R must have moved somewhere between 1910 and 1912 to be closer to family. He had two small children to raise. My grandmother, Mamie C McCall was born in 1910, in Ocilla Georgia,and we know that Maude Jeffers left the family sometime after that. C R McCall and children left Thomas county , probably to go with father and sisters to Florida, to start a new life. He later started a blacksmith shop in Plant City Florida.

I also found records of brothers to C R  visiting, back and forth. From Thomasville, to Albany and then to Americus. They were Yvonne, Carl H and Joseph E McCall.

©FANNIESYOURAUNT

AND THE WALL COMES TUMBLING DOWN

MY BRICK WALL, WELL, ONE IS RESOLVED……

I was online the other day, and discovered, that there are some newspapers in Georgia that are available and searchable. Yes, archived newspapers of where my family lived, during their last years in Georgia. I had always thought I could find something on Mamie, wife of John R. McCall, if only I kept searching. She is one of the reasons I do search.

In another post I had talked about finding the other Mamie,  I knew that was her first name. Although, many records in census, show Mannie and also Mollie. My grandmother is named Mamie, so, I knew it had to be! Family names carry on and on, etc….

Clifford R McCall

I knew from census records in Georgia, that John R and family were in Georgia in 1910, in Albany area, Dougherty county. In 1915 or so, I saw that John had moved to Florida somewhere between 1910 and 1920. At the time of the 1920 census, he was living with daughter Lena Gunn and her spouse, Charles Addison Gunn. They lived in Tampa. It listed John R as a widow. I guessed his wife died in 1915, as only to have a point of reference on Ancestry. In hopes there would be a hint….you know, the little leaf that appears.

Now, the obituary I came across today, was a needle in a haystack. When I searched McCall, this is the first article that appeared, 100% match, on only the last name. I think I may have said ” I found her!!  ” No one was here to hear me! It validated her name as Mamie and the last name of Thomas. I had seen the name Thomas before on a death record of one of their children, but, was not convinced. I am now convinced. This is from the Thomaston paper , Times-Enterprise, June15, 1915.

Obit on Mamie Thomas McCall, Thomaston Georgia

I know it is illegble, but, in the regular viewer on the website, I can view it. In order to view them, you must have DjVu a really difficult to navigate system. I am now in the process to see if there is a death certificate. Although, Georgia did not require them until 1919, four years after her death.

WEDDING WEDNESDAY

I AM FORTUNATE TO HAVE MANY PHOTOS OF MANY COUPLES IN THE FAMILY….TIL DEATH DO US PART. QUITE REMARKABLE, NUMBERS OF YEARS PEOPLE STAYED TOGETHER.

Hershel and Louise Pickens 7/23/1960

MY PARENTS, 52 years this year

CLIFFORD RILEY MCCALL AND EDITH DUSKIN MERRY JULY 4, 1917

MY GREAT GRANDPARENTS, 34 YEARS

Homer and Josie Jeffers Bankston, my great grandmother’s sister, Sept 14, 1913

MARRIED 64 YEARS

Harvey and Mamie Pickens , married 1931

MY PATERNAL GRANDPARENTS, WERE 53 YEARS

Ruben and Blanche Dean Sept 20, 1940

MY MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS, 41 YEARS

Theo and Odessa McCall , 1933

MY GREAT AUNT AND UNCLE, 47 YEARS

TOM AND RUTH EWING

MY GREAT UNCLE AND AUNT, 42 YEARS

FRIDAY FAMILY FINDS

YESTERDAY MOM AND I WERE GOING THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHS, THIS DRIVES MY DAD CRAZY……PARTLY BECAUSE, HE CAN’T REMEMBER THE PEOPLE AND PARTLY BECAUSE WE SCATTER THEM EVERYWHERE!!!

OLD HOME WEEK FRANKLIN PA, 1929

I believe the people were dressed in earlier clothing, perhaps for the event of Old Home week. Look closely, the cars and clothing do not match. Some of the women have on Victorian clothing. I think in 1929, we would have seen shorter styles in dresses. Perhaps like below, which is probably 1927.

NANA AND PAPA

Tin Lizzie!!! You don’t see these every day. Produced by Ford Motor company from September 1908 until October 1927, these automobiles changed the way Americans lived, worked and travelled.

This is my grandmother, Mamie Christine McCall on the left. Although I do not think these are the same automobiles in both pics, they could be. The fenders look a little different. However, my grandfather , on the right, Harvey Hershel Pickens did marry the girl on the left. She looked about 17 according to other photos I have of her, he looks to be about twenty something. And doesn’t he look dapper in his slim pants and boots?

The photo of Nana was taken almost certainly in Plant City, where her father, C R McCall, Blacksmith,  was once asked to work for Henry Ford himself.

“I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces. ” Henry Ford

TREE OF ME

This is only the Pickens side up. It shows the family I discussed on Treasure Chest Thursday.

Pickens tree from me

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY…..MCCALL/DISMUKE FAMILY IN GEORGIA

NANCY J MCCALL DISMUKE

Nancy was the daughter of Joseph McCall and Mary Drenan. Her brother John R. McCall was my 2nd great-grandfather.

After my Georgia trip, I felt compelled to post some of my favorite headstones. There is something haunting, yet serene about old cemeteries, and I really enjoyed being able to trample through some on the backroads of Georgia. I came across four different cemeteries while on my travels. I knew I would more than likely, not find any relatives. However, I did find some familiar names. Just like Drenan, the Dismuke and Dismukes names are sometimes interchanged.

E W Dismukes

From what I understand, my ggg grandmother Mary Drenan ( sometimes Drennan or Drennon ) , was of the Dismukes family. She married Joseph McCall Nov 7, 1850 in Muscogee County. Their two daughters, Emma E and Nancy J. also married into the Dismukes family. Nancy married Joseph T Dismukes. They are located in the 1880 census in Webster County and the 1900 census in Irwinville, Irwin County Georgia. It is said that Joseph McCall died from wounds sustained at Chickamauga.

Attached is a page from Memoirs of Georgia Vol II

Clem E. Cheatham of Dawson he entered the medical college of Georgia, Augusta, from which he graduated, Dr. H. V. M. Miller, now of Atlanta, being then a member of the faculty. After graduating he located in that part of Lee now included in Terrell county, near the present site of Dawson. He practiced there two years and then moved to his present location then known as “Hardmoney,” now Weston. Early in the war between the states he enlisted as a private in Company K, Seventeenth Georgia regiment, but soon afterward was commissioned as assistant surgeon, in which capacity he served until the surrender. He was present at the seven days’ fight around Richmond, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, and the siege of Petersburg. On his return home after the war he resumed the practice of his profession, in which he has been successful, his patronage extending for miles around, even into adjoining counties. Dr. Dismukes was married in 1868 to Miss Nancy J., born and reared in Talbot county, Ga., daughter of Joseph and Mary (Drennin) McCall. Her father was killed in the battle at Kennesaw Mountain, and her mother is a member of Dr. Dismuke’s family. To Dr. and Mrs. Dismukes nine children have been born: Alice, wife of John Sims; William J., merchant, Weston; Forrest S., Coffee county; twin sister of Forrest, died in infancy; Robert Toombs; H. M.; Charles D.; Z. C.; and M. G., these last five at home. Dr. Dismukes is a democrat, and himself and wife are members of the Methodist church, of which he is a trustee.
(Memoirs of Georgia, Vol. II, 1895)
Submitted by Cathy Danielson

MEMORIALIZED IN STONE

COMMON MONUMENTS FOR UNCOMMON VALOR

Whenever I visit a cemetery, I look for those of veterans. Whether it be the American Revolution or a more recent engagement, those who served our country, deserve our gratitude. Here are some headstones of those who served from local cemeteries. Remember them today, especially on Memorial Day and every day.