Two New Year's Road-Trippers and a Van.

See also my website, https://anniebee4history.wixsite.com and my other blog, AnnieWritesAbout!

Happy, and Hopeful, 2021 to you all!!

Marty and I spent New Year's Day on the final leg of a cross-country trek in a van we had loaned to Marty's colleague Brian, who had borrowed it to transport equipment from California to his home in Savannah, Georgia. We flew to Savannah on Christmas Day, visited briefly with Brian and his wife, then headed west.

Savannah is a very charming town, and it was fun to go on a few walks in the historic district. Of course, we had to visit the childhood home of the great author, Flannery O'Connor!

A number of Marty's ancestors, from his paternal grandmother's Cheek family, are buried in Georgia, just outside of Augusta, so we stopped at two cemeteries on our way out west. From my research, I know that the surname Cheek (originally spelled Cheke) is from England, predominantly the Essex and Hampshire regions and the Isle of Wight. It appears that Marty's line of Cheeks came to America from Essex in the late 1600s and settled first in Rappahannock, Virginia. Following the Revolution, the Cheeks were living in South Carolina and then moved to Georgia soon afterwards.

The above photo is from the cemetery at Carroll's United Methodist Church in Carnesville GA. I am intrigued that the grave markers for Marty's Revolutionary War ancestor, William Cheek, and his family are fairly new. Will attempt to find out who had these stones placed.

[Above and Below: Historic markers for Carroll's United Methodist Church.]

This second historic marker at Carroll's Church has piqued my interest, because it names as one of the church's founders a person named L D Prickett. As reported in a blog post from 2017, Context in Historic Sites and Old Books--Frontier Life Along the Monongahela River, I am a descendant of Captain Jacob Prickett of Virginia, so I must research L D Prickett's identity to see if he is connected to my line of Pricketts!

In the photo above, Marty is standing in the old section of Laurel Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Cornelia GA. In the foreground on the right are the tombstones of his great-great grandparents, Preston and Martha Cheek.

On our way to visit my sister Denise and brother-in-law Frank in Arkansas, we spent a night in Tupelo MS and explored Elvis Presley Birthplace Park, where we took photos in front of Elvis's boyhood home and the Assembly of God church where he first became interested in music.

After an overnight at the home of Denise and Frank, just west of Little Rock, we picked up I-40 and headed back toward California. We had a Plan-B route in mind in case we ran into a snow storm, but the only snow we saw was a bit on the ground in Flagstaff AZ and on the distant Sierra mountains as we got closer to home.

While it was my turn to drive, Marty took a bunch of photos of southwestern scenery. This one, taken near the AZ-CA border, is my favorite.

Interstate 40 ends in Barstow CA, where my father and youngest sister Jessica live, so we were able to spend an hour or so checking in with Dad on New Year's Day, before heading the rest of the way home. Dad is still feisty at 87 and seems to have done well during the pandemic. He has a few close friends, and Jessica, to keep an eye on him.

As stated in my previous post, we have been very fortunate during all the pandemic madness. Marty's stagecraft union has had very little work to offer, but Marty has managed to stay a bit over-employed designing video-editing workstations for Netflix.

My genealogy work has been hampered by lack of access to libraries and physical archives, so I have spent a lot more time practicing piano, writing music, reading, knitting, crocheting, cooking, and housework. Besides the gift of having Marty around, I have been able to sing frequently with our church choir for live-streamed services and a few funerals, so I haven't felt lonely.

As much as we have tried to make lemonade out of this viral lemon, it cannot be over soon enough. I'm sure you all agree!

Stay safe and spread kindness!

Annie

"Our human compassion binds us the one to the other--not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future." -- Nelson Mandela

My 2020 Grateful List.

Dear Readers,

The monstrous challenges that the year 2020 has wrought notwithstanding, many positive things have happened to me this year. Here are some of them:

😊 No one in my immediate family has contracted that wicked virus.

😊 I got to meet a number of wonderful distant cousins as a result of my genealogy activities -- some of them in-person. They are all lovely people who have become terrific collaborators as well as good friends.

😊 During October, I got to take one of my legendary road-trips "back east" to see my sister Denise and her hubby Frank in Arkansas, and then spend time in Kentucky and Ohio meeting with some of the above-mentioned cousins, along with some cousins that I have known for a while. As usual, I mostly camped and worked alone. This time, I stayed away from strangers, had limited contact with relatives, and felt safe the whole time.

😊 One newly-met cousin has inherited a family Bible, and she agreed to collaborate with me on the publication of family info that is written in its pages. We completed the project, and copies have been distributed/donated for the use of researchers. 

Here is the link to the pdf copy downloaded to Internet Archive: 

Harbin Hawkins Ford Family Bible, transcription and analysis

😊 Also during the road-trip, I was able to re-visit the grave site of my great-granduncle Elmer Romans, for whom a Veterans grave marker was finally placed during June of this year. I placed a flag next to the marker and took the photo below. He is buried near many members of our Romans family in Highland Cemetery at Fort Mitchell in Kenton County, Kentucky.

Great-Granduncle Elmer had a son named Elmer Jr (nicknamed "Buster") and a grandson named Elmer David (nicknamed "Bubba") who were both military veterans themselves, with VA markers on their graves in Concord Cemetery in Polk County, Arkansas. The grave markers of these cousins of mine both needed some maintenance, which I was able to perform during the October road-trip. Buster's marker was muddy and mossy, and Bubba's was half buried and covered in pine sap. Here are the photos I took of them, after doing some cleanup and placing flags.

😊 The pandemic forced me to give a couple of previously-scheduled Genealogy talks -- one about studying and preserving cemeteries, and one about different ways to approach cluster studies -- via Zoom webinars. They both were very successful, but still I prefer to do my presentations live. The two talks have some overlapping themes, because in both of them I discuss my ongoing cluster study of Straight Creek Baptist Cemetery, which is featured in the graphics for both title slides.

 

😊 The physical closure of libraries and archives has been a push-factor in the increased availability of some online resources for genealogy. I have found many of these useful in the progress of some of my research. Such progress will be reported on this weblog, and in upcoming publications, in due course.

😊 We are ending the year with news that my beloved niece, Carolynn, is engaged to her long-time friend, and recent boyfriend, Nick. Everyone in the family loves Nick, and we have been hoping they would decide to tie the knot before long.

--Annie

"Christmas makes Easter possible, while Easter makes Christmas meaningful." --Ravi Zacharias (1946-2020)

Another Family Legend Meets DNA!

Hearty August Greetings!

Hope you are all enjoying at least some summer fun and staying virus-free!

Our household has been very fortunate during the pandemic. After about a month with none of his usual movie/TV/stage/trade-show work being available, Marty started to get jobs again, as the demand for live webcasts began to grow. Other opportunities have emerged, too, so Marty has stayed reasonably well-employed. His stagecraft union, I.A.T.S.E., is struggling, and it looks like we'll have to pay a lot more for health coverage for a while, but we consider ourselves very blessed to be neither ill nor broke!

Since the middle of March, most of my time has been spent at home redecorating our home office and puttering with other household needs, cooking a lot more, and of course working on my Genealogy projects. I was supposed to have visited the Midwest in the spring for field research and to meet with cousins and colleagues in Ohio and Kentucky, but that has been put off until at least mid-September.

Diggin' Down Into More DNA

Recent entries in this weblog have recounted my search for the mysterious "Tom Ford" who was supposed to be my 3rd great-grandfather. In that case, I was able to take our family's common knowledge about my illegitimate 2nd great-grandfather's disappearing Dad and attach some DNA evidence to his identity. This month, I encountered a scenario that took research the other direction.

It is a good idea to take periodic peeks into our DNA matches, in search of new developments. Recently I was doing just that, when I encountered a close match that mystified me. Most 2nd- and 3rd-cousin matches are easy for me to place in our tree, especially if the matching person has a few grandparents listed as a guide. That didn't work for this cousin. GH, as I will call him, did kindly leave a bit of family tree for me to peruse, but I puzzled with it for a few hours, until one of the names in his tree reminded me of a story Aunt Beverly, my father's sister, has told me. 

[Numbers in parentheses refer to source references at the end of this blog post.]

The (Sort-Of) Lost Uncle

My great-uncle William O'Brien (an elder brother of my paternal grandmother, Mary Jane O'Brien) had served about three years in the British Army during the Great War (WW1) and had been wounded a few times, when the day came that he decided to stop participating in the war. Uncle William acted upon that decision, deserted His Majesty's Army, and assumed the name Sidney Russell.

The family story has included speculation about whether Uncle William switched "dog tags" with a deceased comrade and assumed his name, but that part of the tale is probably apocryphal. 

All we know for sure is that Uncle William took this new name and ended up in the region of Buckinghamshire, England, where he had a relationship with a young lady named Beatrice Billingham. In 1919, the couple married in Buckinghamshire, and their daughter Margaret was born in Birmingham (1,2,3). 

   www.mirror.co.uk    

Post-War Exodus: UK to US

The family of my grandmother, Mary Jane "Jenny" O'Brien, was from Manchester, England. Grandma Jenny's parents, John and Mary Jane, and all but one of their nine children, had been gradually emigrating to the U.S., with her eldest brother John already living in Minneapolis by the time Jenny, her parents, and her two sisters arrived in the U.S. in 1920. Uncle John's home was their first American residence (4). 

Uncle William--now Sidney Russell--emigrated to the U.S. with his wife and daughter, as soon as Margaret was old enough to travel, in 1921 (4). Uncle William/Sidney went on to Minneapolis with his wife and daughter, following their arrival in Philadelphia. His father John O'Brien was already living in Minneapolis. On their ship's passenger list, Uncle William/Sidney named his Minneapolis contact as his father, John "Russell" (5). 

How much contact William/Sidney had with his parents in Minneapolis is not known, but it appears that he wanted to make sure his family knew where he was, and that he and his family were okay. Uncle William/Sidney and Aunt Beatrice stayed in Minneapolis long enough to have a son there in 1923, named Gerald William (6). In 1925, they were living in Illinois and had a third child, Barbara (7).

The Los Angeles Convergence

Early in the 1920s, the O'Brien family abandoned the frigid climate of Minneapolis and moved to Los Angeles. In 1924, Grandma Jenny married my grandfather, John Schaack, in Los Angeles (8). Before the decade was over, the Russell family made their way to L.A., as well.

In 1928, Great-Grandma Mary Jane O'Brien died of breast cancer at age 60. According to the death certificate, she died in her home, 938 East 111th Drive in Los Angeles (9). It is in this same house that her unmarried children Edward and Margaret are shown to be living, in the 1930 Census (10).

For the first couple of decades from the time they settled in the Los Angeles area, members of the O'Brien family lived only short distances from each other. By 1930, Sidney Russell's household was living in the same neighborhood. A perusal of the 1930 addresses of the O'Brien and Russell family members is easily accomplished using Google Maps, since the layout of most of the City of Los Angeles has changed little in the last 100 years. 

Google Map showing the distance between the home of Sidney Russell (315 E 110th)

and Edward and Margaret O'Brien (938 E 111th) in 1930.

The 1930 Federal Census has the family of Sidney Russell living at 315 E 110th Street in Los Angeles, a 1-mile drive from the home in which his mother had died two years before, and where his brother and sister were still living (11).

Google Map showing the distance between the home of Sidney Russell (315 E 110th)

and James O'Brien (9225 S Figueroa) in 1930.

Google Map showing the distance between the home of Sidney Russell (315 E 110th) 

and John and Mary Jane "Jenny" Schaack (914 E 88th) in 1930.

Sidney's home was a 1.9-mile drive from his brother James's place at 9225 South Figueroa, and a 2.5-mile drive from the home of his sister Jenny and her husband John at 914 East 88th Street, according to the 1930 Census (12,13).

Google Map showing the distance between the home of Sidney Russell (230 E 105th)

and Edward and Maude O'Brien (938 E 111th) in 1940.

Google Map showing the distance between the home of Sidney Russell (230 E 105th)

and John and Jenny Schaack (1024 E 107th) in 1940.

The 1940 Federal Census showed the households of Edward O'Brien, John Schaack, and Sidney Russell still residing very close to each other. Sidney's sister Jenny and her husband had moved and were now living less than a mile's drive from Sidney's new residence. Edward still lived in the same house on East 111th Drive, with his wife Maude (14,15,16). Other O'Brien siblings had moved away from the immediate neighborhood, although most of them would remain in California for the majority, if not the entirety, of their remaining lives.

Their father John O'Brien has not been located by me in the 1930 or 1940 census records, partly due to his common Irish name making it difficult to distinguish him from many other men. From the accounts of my father and his siblings, their grandfather was a frequent visitor to their Los Angeles home. The elder John O'Brien died in 1944, and his home address is given on the death certificate as 112-1/2 East 29th Street in Los Angeles (17).

It is apparent that Sidney Russell's children were aware that he had taken an alias, as evidenced by information given by his daughter Margaret C. on his death certificate. She claimed that his parents names were James O'Brien and Sarah; but she was a child when her grandmother Mary Jane passed away, and it is likely her contact with the O'Brien family was minimal, such that she would forget that her grandfather's first name was John, not James. On the certificate, his birth date is given as April 11, 1895, and he is shown to have died at his home at 445 South Western Avenue in Los Angeles on April 2, 1957 (18).

Sidney Russell's birth date on his Death Certificate matches the date of birth for William O'Brien in his baptismal record from Saint Matthew Parish in Ardwick, Manchester, England (19).

Bravery, Love, and Sacrifice

Grandma Jenny reported to her children that she would occasionally spot her brother William/Sidney around the neighborhood, but there was apparently a pact between the siblings that they would protect their brother's alias, and his wife and children, by denying their relationship. Aunt Beverly told me our uncle feared the British government would come after him as a military deserter.

Uncle William did honorable service for King and Country for many months, but he must have reached a point of desperation, in which he was willing to risk his life in order to save it. Had he been caught deserting the British Army, he would have been executed. Clearly, William/Sidney was motivated by love for his bride, his children, and the large family in which he was raised.

To Tie A Lost Connection

What does all this have to do with my mysterious cousin match, GH?

From Ancestry.com DNA Matches for Anne Brenneis.

GH showed up in my DNA Matches on Ancestry as a 2nd or 3rd cousin. The tree he provided revealed grandparents that should have easily led me to where he belonged in our tree, since our relationship is so close. After a few of hours trying to find in my tree the names in his tree, I stopped and wondered whether there was an adoption or illegitimacy issue. Finally, it occurred to me to look at our shared matches. It was foolish of me not to have done this sooner, because the shared matches provided the strongest clue!

From Ancestry.com DNA Shared Matches for Anne Brenneis and GH.

The presence of my sisters in our shared matches was expected, but when I noted that my father's siblings Howard and Beverly also matched GH, it hit me that the tree GH provided contained the surname Russell. Of course! Uncle William!

Below is a tree sketch showing how GH and I are 2nd cousins 1x removed, beginning with our most recent common ancestors (my great-grandparents, GH's 2x great-grandparents):

John O'Brien (1868-1944)    --    Mary Jane Pixton (1868-1928) 

Sidney Russell/William O'Brien (1895-1957) -- Beatrice Billingham (1894-1942)

Margaret Russell (1919-?) -- Earl C. (1917-1980)

CC (b 1945) -- RH (1941-1994)

GH

I will endeavor to share this blog post with Sidney Russell's descendants, because they deserve to know the story.

Stay well, everyone, and thanks for sticking with me for this rather long post!

--Annie

SOURCES:

(1) Birth record for Margaret Russell. "England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007," 1919, Q3-Jul-Aug-Sep, R, p 314; database with images, Ancestry.com; image 69 of 71.

(2) Marriage record for Sidney Russell to Billingham in Wycombe. "England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005," 1919, Q4-Oct-Nov-Dec, R, p 146; database with images, Ancestry.com; image 78 of 81.

(3) Marriage record for Beatrice A Billingham to Russell in Wycombe. "England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005," 1919, Q4-Oct-Nov-Dec, B, p 103; database with images, Ancestry.com; image 63 of 149.

(4) Listing for passengers John, Mary Jane (wife), Ellen, Mary Jane (daughter), and Margaret O'Brien, sailing from Liverpool June 1920 aboard SS Haverford, ultimate destination Minneapolis MN. "Pennsylvania, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1800-1962," T840 - Philadelphia, 1883-1945, from NARA roll 136; database with images, Ancestry.com; image 477-479 of 683.

(5) Listing for passengers Sidney, Beatrice, and Margaret Russell, sailing from Liverpool 11 May 1921 aboard SS Haverford, ultimate destination Minneapolis MN. "Pennsylvania, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1800-1962," T840 - Philadelphia, 1883-1945, from NARA roll 142; database with images, Ancestry.com; image 1037-1039 of 1124.

(6) Draft card of Gerald William Russell, naming birthplace of Minneapolis MN and father's name Sidney Russell. "U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947," California, Roshko-Saavedra, from NARA RG147, Box 1570; database with images, Ancestry.com; image 1893 of 2096.

(7) Birth record for Barbara Russell, 11 July 1925. "Cook County, Illinois Birth Index, 1916-1935," file number 6029017, Cook County Clerk; database on Ancestry.com.

(8) Marriage of John Schaack and Mary Jane O'Brien, 30 Aug 1924. "California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," Los Angeles County; database with images, FamilySearch.org; FHL film number 5698423, image 1421 of 2523.

(9) Death record for Mary J. O'Brien. "California County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994," Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co, Death Certificates, 1928; California State Archives, Sacramento; database with images FamilySearch.org: FHL film 5597703, image 308 of 2497.

(10) Household of Edward and Margaret O'Brien. "1930 United States Federal Census," California, Los Angeles, District 560; database with images, Ancestry.com; FHL film number 2339888, image 52 of 83.

(11) Household of Sidney Russell. "1930 United States Federal Census," California, Los Angeles, District 570; database with images, Ancestry.com; FHL film number 2339889, image 42 of 51.

(12) Household of James O'Brien. "1930 United States Federal Census," California, Los Angeles, District 554; database with images, Ancestry.com; FHL film number 2339888, image 21 of 43.

(13) Household of John Schaack. "1930 United States Federal Census," California, Los Angeles, District 535; database with images, Ancestry.com; FHL film number 2339889, image 35 of 65.

(14) Household of Sidney Russell. "United States Census, 1940," California, Los Angeles Co, Los Angeles City, Assembly District 60-1223; database with images, FamilySearch.org; FHL film number 5456510, image 7 of 34.

(15) Household of Edward O'Brien. "United States Census, 1940," California, Los Angeles Co, Los Angeles City, Assembly District 60-1226; database with images, FamilySearch.org; FHL film number 5456510, image 7 of 34.

(16) Household of John Schaack. "United States Census, 1940," California, Los Angeles Co, Inglewood, District 19-331; database with images, FamilySearch.org; FHL film number 5456301, image 25 of 72.

(17) Death record for Jack O'Brien. "California County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994," Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co, Death Certificates, 1944; California State Archives, Sacramento; database with images FamilySearch.org: FHL film 5599879, image 2161 of 2827.

(18) Death certificate for Sidney Russell. “California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994,” Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co, Death certificates, 1957, no 1450-6650, certificate 6516; database with images, FamilySearch.org, FHL film 5597991, image 2863 of 3032; from California State Archives, Sacramento.

(19) Baptism of William O'Brien. “Manchester, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1915,” Ardwick, St Matthew, 1890 Aug – 1905 Jul, page 94, image 51 of 154; database with images, Ancestry.com; from Anglican Parish Registers, Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives.

Further Ford Family Findings!

Greetings from Shelter-In-Place!

Hope you are all staying safe and well, and are not going too crazy at home!

At this time, I was supposed to be in Ohio and Kentucky conducting field research. With that trip delayed until after libraries reopen, there has been much to keep me busy at home. Marty's usual work is not happening, but he has found other avenues for utilizing his many talents. We are among the fortunate, in the midst of our current viral pandemic.

I have spent a good deal of time hammering at some walls that have plagued our family tree, with some success. Much of that work has been related to a previous post I made to this weblog nearly a year ago, A DNA Breakthrough and Conference News, in which I discussed the quest to uncover the identity of the man named "Tom Ford" that family members have claimed was the father of my 2nd great-grandfather, John Thomas Romans.

To recap, I was able to pinpoint a young man named Thomas Benton Ford who had grown up in the neighborhood of my 3rd great-grandmother, Angelina "Adeline" Romans, and was close to her age. Through further study of this Tom Ford's family, I was fortunate to find two DNA matches who are descendants of Tom's father, Harbin Hawkins Ford, through Tom's half-sister. I am currently writing an official genealogical proof for this research and will announce on this blog when it is published.

Originally, as stated in the previous blog post noted above, I doubted that Tom Ford's legitimate son, Edwin Elliott Ford (called Elliott), had had children, because he had been only briefly married to Henrietta Taylor before he died tragically of typhoid at age 24. Turns out, I was incorrect about this!

Thanks to newspapers available through MyHeritage.com, I found young Mr Ford's obituary, which provided not only the news that he had a daughter born December of 1910 (same as my Grandpa C.P., mentioned in previous blog entries), but also named the parents of Elliott's wife, Henrietta. Yay!

The Bourbon News, Paris KY, Volume XXX, Number 4, 13 Jan 1911.

My next task was to follow the movements of Henrietta Taylor Ford and hopefully learn the name of Baby Girl Ford. Further poking through The Bourbon News led me to more info about Henrietta, including the name of her daughter (Lelia Jane Ford, called Jane) and Henrietta's brief marriages to Joseph Gay Mitchell and then Forest Reuben Eyer, with whom she and her daughter were living in Lee IA on the 1920 Federal Census. 

Henrietta stayed married to Mr Eyer for some years and still resided with him in Kansas City MO on the 1930 Census, but Jane was no longer in their household, leading me to believe that she may have married. Henrietta's fourth husband appears to have been Charles Hunter Dishman, whose obituary from 1968 states that she was still his wife at the time of his death. At this time, I have no further vital information about Henrietta.

Jane Ford is found in the 1930 Census to be the wife of Bradford Preston Young and living in Pittsburgh PA. In the 1940 Census, the two were still married with a son. This marriage did not last, however. Mr Young remarried in 1961, lived his final years in Arizona, and is buried with his 2nd wife Norma, who died in 1982.

FindAGrave.com, memorial #157339425.

There are as yet no signs that Jane married again. I am still in search of further records for her. She lived into her 90s and is buried in Kansas, with her maiden name on the grave marker.

FindAGrave.com, memorial #75762562, photo by Jaunice Hess.

--Annie

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten we belong to each other."--Mother Teresa

Anti-Viral Wishes and the Cultivation of Caring

Greetings, Friends!

Today, while grocery shopping for my mother-in-law Aida, I attempted to gauge the prevailing "vibe" of the places I went. Over the weekend, I was annoyed at the hoards of hoarding shoppers and chose to avoid stores. Today, I had the strong feeling that the people shopping were looking out for each other, although we have been urged by our government to practice "social distancing" to help arrest the spread of the nasty virus that has disrupted so much of our world's business. When something bad affects all of us, we tend to unify. I am taking comfort in that.

Our church is now observing our traditional strict pre-Easter Lent that involves a vegan diet (with shellfish allowed), longer services, and a quieter, more contemplative daily life. Church buildings are currently ordered closed for public services, but many, including ours, remains open for individuals to come and pray. Our clergy are still conducting services every day, although they are closed to the congregation. Fortunately, modern technology allows easy access to webcast services. Churches may be closed, but prayer is intensified.

History Months
During February and March, we pay special attention to Black History and Women's History, respectively. I have found myself pondering the unfathomable losses to American society over the last few centuries because some people in our past believed they could legitimately rob other people of their God-given right to self-determination and development of their talents and interests. If we look around at the marvelous accomplishments of black people and women in recent years, it is easy to conclude that there is no counting the cost of oppression.

During my childhood, I was exposed to the bigoted ideas of several family members, which left me perplexed. We were being taught in our schools--where we studied and played with kids of many colors and backgrounds--that everyone is equal in the mind of God and the eyes of U.S. law. How could these relatives I loved say such awful things? The saying "old habits die hard" partially explains such uncharitable attitudes but does not excuse them.

Ironies and Turn-Arounds
Mom came of age in the 1950s. She told me she longed for a career in the Air Force after having taken part in the Civil Air Patrol. But the prevailing attitude of her family was that respectable ladies got married and raised children. Mom married Dad when she was 19. They did not have children right away, so Mom worked at a bank in downtown L.A. for the first four years of their marriage. Both Dad and Mom have told me their early years as a working married couple were very happy. Their income was good and they had a lot of fun together. 

They never told me my arrival in 1961 was the end of their fun, but Mom admitted to missing her job outside the house. Two more daughters and a divorce later, Mom was back to work. Dad stayed involved with us for a while, but he remarried and had more children and could not handle two demanding households. The situation was difficult for both families. Dad blames himself for that, but there are many blessings attached to that complicated situation.

In Dad's absence, a very tight bond developed between Mom and we three sisters. The love, respect, and high degree of trust that exists between Denise, Cynthia, and I is a direct result of that bond. I would not change that for anything. Nor would I wish to be without cherished relationships with siblings and other relatives resulting from Dad's second marriage. In the end, it does not matter much how we end up with certain people; it is what we make of those relationships that matters.

As Mom neared the end of her earthly life, surrounded by her devoted daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, she declared that the crowning achievement of her life, that brought her the most satisfaction, was being a mother and grandmother.

A favorite photo of Mom with one of us, probably Denise

Mom's mother, who we called Grandma Shug (for "sugar"), was strong-willed and often locked horns with men in the family who dared to challenge her opinions. Dad had trouble getting along with her. Mom, and other women in the family, sometimes tip-toed around her. She was sometimes tough with me, too, but I so admired her!

Grandma holding me (in red) and my cousin Robin, 1962

Grandma was a bit ahead of her time. Two of Grandma's great-grandfathers had fought for the Confederacy and one had held slaves, but you could not tell from her attitude. I remember conversations with her in which she denounced people who did not like "hippies." As long as people behaved decently, she did not care how they dressed or what color they were.

During the 1940s, when Mom's family lived in Mississippi, they took into their home a black lady and her children after her husband abandoned them. Grandma treated this lady and her kids like family and let them stay until they got on their feet. Grandma was also part of a committee that raised money to help supply their local black school. When the school district spent the money on a gym for the white high school instead, Grandma was livid. 

Grandma died suddenly of a stroke just weeks before her 59th birthday (too bull-headed to take her blood-pressure medicine, according to Mom). Having just passed my 59th birthday at the beginning of this month, I am mourning her a bit more recently. 

Stay well, everyone! Let's keep taking care of each other!!

Annie

"Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one." 
--Bruce Lee

Remembering Grandpa C.P. On Birthday 109.

Hope you all have been having wonderful Holidays! 

In addition to New Year's Day, we have Old-Calendar Christmas (aka Russian Christmas) coming up on January 7th, which we prefer to call Nativity of the Lord. Eastern Orthodox festivities associated with Nativity are full of old-world, joyful solemnity that is exquisitely beautiful, and yet reflects the poverty of spirit of Christ and his earthly family, as well as the countless generations of poor people over the centuries who have been touched by the Grace and Hope of Christmas. 

Marty and I are very casual about Western, Gregorian-Calendar Christmas on December 25th. Marty has fun wearing a Santa hat and lets his white beard get fluffy, and we like spending time with family, but we don't party or shop very much. The Brenneis family has a tradition of making ravioli. I usually bake pumpkin pies for the family and dairy-free breads (cranberry-orange, zucchini-walnut, banana, and pumpkin) for our home. I make batches of Martha Stewart's recipe for cranberry sauce with cognac. Also try to sneak some fish dishes into the family gatherings.

Speaking of fish, the main subject of this article was an avid fisherman. The day that I am writing this (December 28th) is the birthday of my maternal grandfather, Clarence Everett Pryne, known by friends and family as C.P.. He was born 109 years ago, in Eagle Township, Brown County, Ohio. He passed away in 1985, when I was 24, and I'm grateful for all the years of contact with him. The older I get, the more I identify with Grandpa C.P. In my opinion, I've always resembled him, both physically and in personality, more than any other relative. In a previous post from 2017, Mom's Home Town, and C-SPAN for Genealogy, I related some of my favorite memories of Grandpa C.P.

Here is a picture of Grandpa when he was about 3-1/2 years old. Grandpa's brother, Aaron, had died earlier that year of TB at age 6, so it had to have been a melancholy time in their home. He's dressed so oddly here and could easily be mistaken for a little girl, especially with the bow in his hair. Wish I knew the name of the dog.

Speaking of Grandpa being mistaken for a girl, here I am at age 5, already looking a lot like C.P.!

These days, I look a lot more like his mother, Great-Grandma Lou.

Even in her 50s, she had a mischievous look, didn't she?

Grandpa C.P. was a very dapper, yet fun-loving guy. Here we see him in the late 1930s, standing behind Grandma Dorothy and my mother, Bonnie.

This is a nice picture of C.P.(L) standing near a bright, shiny car with his wife's youngest brother, Elmer. We called Uncle Elmer "Whitey," because he was the only sibling in his family with blond hair.

Here are Grandma and Grandpa playing on the beach, probably shortly after they moved to California in 1951. Love this photo!

Here's a sweet family photo, probably also taken in the early 1950s. Pictured, L-R, are Bonnie (Mom), Grandma Dorothy, Grandpa C.P., and twins Joanie and Jimmy (the only person in this pic still living). Grandpa seems to be having the most fun, once again!

My memory has always associated trout with Grandpa C.P. and Grandma Dorothy (known by the kids as Grandma "Shug," short for "sugar"). They had a hillside get-away in the southern Sierra mountains, near Lake Isabella and the Kern River. Trips to our grandparents's get-away were called "going up the hill." Both nearby bodies of water were great places to fish, and my grandparents loved to go fishing! They had their favorite spots along the Kern, but they were not averse to taking a boat out on the lake to fish. Most of my memories fishing with them were on the river, and river trout has remained my favorite fish to this day.

C.P. "up the hill" in front of their mobile home in 1968,

having laid out the day's catch, by size.

In the early 1970s, Grandpa C.P. and Grandma Dorothy both retired from General Dynamics. They sold their place "up the hill" and bought a place in the Kern River Valley, right next door to Dorothy's older sister Elva. Here's a photo from the valley property, with C.P. apparently taking a rest after sawing some lumber for Aunt Elva, who stands behind him.

Aunt Elva was always one of my favorites, because she was another musician in the family and was always very welcoming to us. Elva had played piano for silent films when she was a teenager and also loved to sing in church. My mother's sister Joanie was a gospel singer, too. Mom could sing, but she was more of a music fan than a performer. Mom loved dance music, like big-band, rock, and country, but she had a set of classical music records and played them quite a bit. Mom got me started listening to Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky, and also let me have many years of music lessons. Mom didn't like Elva's piano playing, because she thought Elva "banged" on the keys. I liked playing Aunt Elva's piano because some of its notes were way off kilter, and I would make up tunes based on the worst of Elva's piano keys.

Sadly, Grandma Dorothy died in early 1975, just a few short years after they bought the valley homestead. She was only 58 years old (my age now), when she had a sudden, massive cerebral hemorrhage. She always seemed to be such a tough lady to all of us, but she wasn't taking her blood pressure medicine properly. Losing her was awful, just awful, and Grandpa C.P. spent the remaining 10 years of his life feeling rather lost.

Not long before Grandpa passed away, I talked with him on the phone for a while. I was finishing up four years of active Navy duty in Charleston, South Carolina (a lovely place!). He was not doing well physically and was living with my mother. We usually talked about what was in the news or on TV, as well as family stuff. During that call, Grandpa and I had our final conversation. The last thing I told him was that I loved him. When news of his passing reached me in Charleston, I was so grateful for the way our last conversation ended. 

We all need to end our conversations with expressions of love, because we may not speak to that person again.

A very blessed New Year to all!

Annie

"My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition." -- Indira Gandhi

Wildfires, Research Trek Report, and Project Updates!

Happy Autumn, Friends!

Marin County, like much of Northern California, is in a weather spell of low humidity and high winds, which greatly increases wildfire danger. Prophylactic shut-offs of our electricity have been inflicted upon us, in order to prevent downed power lines from sparking wildfires. We just got our power back last night.

Our utility company, Pacific Gas & Electric, has been under fire over problems with its aging natural-gas and electricity infrastructures, some of which have not been properly maintained or updated. PG&E's maintenance failures have been blamed for several explosions and wildfires in recent years, and the company is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings. 

One aspect of the situation with PG&E that is not discussed much in the media is the company's inability to clear away trees and other foliage around power lines because environmentalists have prevented them from doing so. PG&E is not perfect, but when many of its customers demonstrate a preference for saving trees over human lives, it seems foolish to keep pointing the middle-fingers of blame in only one direction.

If you've ever been to Northern California, you have a pretty good idea why we love living here. The climate is relatively mild, there is a great deal of natural beauty that we treasure and work to preserve, and we value our neighbors and neighborhoods. The down-sides, such as the high cost of living and high taxes (somewhat mitigated by higher wages), do not outweigh the up-sides for most of us. 

Since I grew up in Southern California, in Los Angeles County (smog central!), I enjoy the much-cleaner air we have here (when there are not wildfires burning). I appreciate living in a place near the water with lots of beautiful trees, hills, and walking trails. It is also nice not to need air-conditioning in our house. If it gets hot (sometimes over 80ºF but rarely over 100ºF), we have ceiling fans upstairs. Most of the year the weather is on the cooler side in Marin County, but without the hassle of snow.

Me walking near the Golden Gate Bridge (barely visible in the background) during a nasty wildfire season last November. Yikes!

The only bummer for me up here is that most of the year we have much higher humidity than in So-Cal (but not as bad as back East!), so I'm frequently fighting frizz in my type-2 wavy hair. Right now, I'm enjoying my "frizz-free L.A." hair with the low humidity, but I could do without the dry skin that goes with it.

Speaking of "back East," early this month I returned from the research trip I wrote about in my last posting, Exciting Plans For Midwest Research This Fall!  Since I've gotten better at planning field-research trips, I was able to keep this one just under a month, even with several stops to visit family.

Walden and Sierra protesting my trip packing by laying all over my clothes!

Having entered I-40 East from my father's home in Barstow, it was a straight shot through Arizona, New Mexico, the Texas panhandle, and Oklahoma into Arkansas. 

One thing I always do when traveling through eastern Arizona is listen to the Navajo Nation radio station (you can hear it at this link: KTNN), which plays classic Country music, Navajo folk and Gospel music, tribal pieces, and commercials that are in both Navajo and English. Love it! 

Of course, in New Mexico, I have to stop for a bowl of local Chile Verde with sopapilla bread (like a puffed-up tortilla)!

It's always nice to take a get off the highway to take a drive through beautiful Amarillo, Texas, too!

One of the highlights of this trip was the opportunity to stay with my sister Denise at her charming home near Little Rock, Arkansas, both on the way East and then heading home West. Her husband Frank was in California still, working at his old job as he applies for new ones in the Little Rock area, so I didn't get to see him. But I was able to meet the newest member of their family, a wonderful tomcat named Rocky. Here is a photo of Rocky making a bed out of my legs, with Denise's other cat Midnight relaxing at my feet.

Like my striped PJs? They're the ones I bought to wear for a musical production of The Pajama Game that I was in a couple of years ago. Wearing them brings back fond memories of doing that show.

With plans to spend about a week in Northern Kentucky and Southern Ohio near Cincinnati, I booked a camp site at Blue Licks Battlefield State Park in Kentucky, which is the site of one of the final battles of the Revolution. The park is within 90 minutes' drive of every place I was visiting in the area, so it was perfect. 

Thing is, I sleep better outdoors in a tent than I do in a hotel room with TV and noisy neighbors to keep me awake, so camping is good for my productivity. There are usually good working showers and bathrooms. Blue Licks had a clothes washer and dryer, too! My tent goes up in less than 10 minutes and comes down in less than 5 (I don't leave it up when I'm not there), and it can withstand rainstorms with little-to-no leakage. On weekdays, campgrounds tend to be populated by RV-ers who have a culture of looking out for each other, and they are always friendly. Weekends bring families, but it's great to see the kids having outdoor fun, and the parents always rein them in by a reasonable hour.

My trusty tent, nicknamed "The Mobile Red-Roof Inn,"

pitched at Blue Licks Battlefield State Park.

Camping is soooooo good for my travel budget, too! The average site costs about $20 a night. Kentucky State Parks were running a special that week--pay for two nights, get the third one free. I stayed for six nights and loved it!

The main Public Library of Cincinnati was among my first research stops in Ohio. As in most large cities, parking is a pain in Cincinnati. I've learned from locals that it's free to park up in the Mount Adams section of the city, where there is a historic church right next to a staircase that takes you downtown in a short time. Here is my photo of the view of Cincinnati from the top of Mount Adams.

Walking down from Mount Adams is easy and beautiful. The challenge is hiking back up those stairs to where you parked! Next time I climb them, I'll count the stairs.

Before settling in the campground, I drove up to Dayton, Ohio to attend a wonderful hands-on class on cemetery monument cleaning and restoration/preservation at the beautiful Woodland Cemetery & Arboretum. The evening of the same day, I made my customary visit to the Ohio History Center in Columbus, this time to attend a special event highlighting medicine in the 19th Century that included displays of fascinating artifacts and some fun living-history presentations. Very enlightening!

Here's my certificate from the class at Woodland (yay!!!).

In future posts, I'll discuss my progress on the cluster studies I'm doing of two historic cemeteries in Southern Ohio. I had a productive visit with some people in Brown County, where the cemeteries are located, and obtained much information important to my studies.

One thing I always do in Brown County is visit two cemeteries of particular importance to my family. One is Winchester Cemetery, where my great-grandmother's twin brother and mother, both of whom died young, are buried, along with many other relatives. The other is Ash Ridge Cemetery, which was founded by my ancestors and is populated with a great many family members, including my great-grandfather, James Melburn Prine, buried next to his second wife, Madge Morgan (my great-grandmother Lorena Segondollar was his first wife, who is discussed in a previous post, Mom's Home Town and C-SPAN For Genealogy). Their headstones have a nice, healthy plant between them that is prone to overgrowth, so I take a few minutes to trim it each time I visit, so you can read their headstones again.

Before trimming the plant.

After trimming, to reveal James M. Prine (1886-1967) and Madge M. Prine (1903-1960),

inscriptions not very visible in this photo.

Kentucky treks included visits to Owenton and Frankfort to conduct research on my newly-verified 3rd-great-grandfather, Thomas Benton Ford (discussed in the previous post, A DNA Breakthrough and Conference News). More on him later!

I ventured into two more cemeteries to photograph the unmarked burial sites of the two great-uncles who served in World War I that I mentioned in the post, Exciting Plans For Midwest Research This Fall! Great-Uncle Elmer Durestes Romans (1896-1936) is buried near members of his immediate family at Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. Elmer's wife, Essie Smith (1907-1966), is buried in Colorado (don't know whether she has a marker but will try and find out). Great-Uncle Alvin Thomas Romans (1899-1929) is buried with his wife, Marjorie Quinn (1904-1925), who predeceased him, at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati on a lovely hillside.

 Great-Uncle Elmer's burial site, between the two stones in the center

of this photo. Notice the surname on the stone on the left is "Angel."

😇

Great-Uncle Alvin and Great-Aunt Marjorie are buried on this hill,

about 10 feet in front of that large fir tree.

Both of these cemeteries are well-maintained and beautiful. I have contacted them and have been given the green light to arrange for the Veteran headstones. I have also written a song about these two great-uncles. My plan is to record the song, include it in a video about their WW1 service, and begin a campaign to raise the money the cemeteries will require to place the headstones. When the campaign is begun, I will publicize it on this weblog.

Heading out of the Cincinnati area, I stopped near Nashville to tour the beautiful Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's home. The audio tour of the grounds is excellent, and it's nice to take a break from driving to walk around. I recommend Tennessee-native Jon Meacham's biography of Jackson, American Lion, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize.

On the way back to Denise's house, I stopped in the Memphis area on a Sunday and attended Liturgy at the lovely Saint George Orthodox Church, where I made a few sweet friends and was allowed to sing in the choir.

 A nice photo of Saint George Orthodox Church,

from their website.

Another wonderful find in the Memphis area is the Germantown Regional History and Genealogy Center, where I spent a few hours looking through their stacks and chatting with a very nice lady who is a fellow member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Anyone who is researching Southern family history should visit this library in Germantown!

Following another visit with Denise, I continued on to Missouri, stopping in Independence to tour the newly-refurbished Eisenhower Presidential Museum. This was my third visit, but I wanted to see the re-done museum. I highly recommend visiting this site, which includes a tour of Ike's charming boyhood home. There is a beautiful chapel on the grounds where Ike and Mamie are buried. So worth seeing!

In Kansas City, I visited the National World War I Museum and Memorial. Walking through it gave me an overall somber feeling over the brutality we can encounter in this world. Kind of the way I felt walking through the slavery sections of the African American Museum of History and Culture in D.C. when Marty and I were there last year. In my opinion, all Americans should visit both of these museums, and learn from them!

The rest of the way home, the weather turned colder but I didn't encounter any snow this time. I needed to stop in Salt Lake City (of course!), so I took I-80. Here is a photo I took during a leg-stretch in Utah. Gorgeous!

There was a lot to report, and this blog post is longer than I usually write, but I hope you've found it interesting!

Until next time, dear ones!
Annie

"Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither." -- C.S. Lewis (from Mere Christianity, Chapter 3)