Family Christmas

I can't believe it's been almost exactly a year since I last posted to this blog. It's interesting how I have less time to write now that I'm retired. I have gotten involved in several volunteer organizations and find myself getting ready to become President of one of them in May. My only grandchild was born in October of 2021 and lives close by, so he has become the most looked-forward-to part of every week. I joined a DNA study for my Wheat family side that has involved learning how to use WikiTree and keeping up with matches. It has also led to a new friendship with one of my distant Wheat cousins who lives in Kentucky; we communicate by email or text every few days and talk on the phone often. It seems I have something to do almost every day, and I have found I have less ability to multi-task the older I get.

I have to say that I haven't had any genealogical breakthroughs lately either, although I hope to write about one at the conclusion of the Wheat family study. So far, that looks unlikely, although we think we have decided who our common Wheat ancestors are not. What I want to write about today is the other side of my family, the Castle/Smith side. They always predominated at the holidays, because my dad's twin brother, Mack, and almost all my paternal grandmother's siblings lived close by when I was growing up and were always a part of our celebrations. This year was no exception, although so many who were an important part of past Christmases are now gone.

As my son and my brother's daughter have gotten older and started their own families, it has become harder and harder to schedule a time when we can all get together to celebrate birthdays or holidays. This year we finally decided to postpone our Christmas celebration until the afternoon of New Year's Eve. We would all meet at my house for lunch-y snacks, Dirty Santa for the adults, and presents to unwrap for the little ones--my grandson and my brother's granddaughter and grandson. In making our plans for the day, my brother Tim asked if there was anything special we did during our childhood Christmas celebrations. I think he was mainly asking about food, but I reminded him that our Christmas Eve get-togethers with our Uncle Mack's family in the 1950's and 60's usually involved a "program" of readings, songs, and poems, along with food and enthusiastic unwrapping of presents.

We're not talking anything classical here--somebody picked out "Jingle Bells" on the piano, somebody read the Christmas story, but my grandmother always recited a poem that she had learned for a Christmas program at school when she was in 3rd or 4th grade. We marveled that she could recite it word-for-word after 60 years; in fact, she knew 2 or 3 narrative poems by heart that she recited until she was 90, 80 years after she learned them in elementary school. We begged her to recite all of them whenever we got together for any kind of celebration, but I especially loved the one she recited at Christmas about Santa Claus on an immigrant train. Back to that later--

Since Tim was in a nostalgic frame of mind, I decided to create a slide show of photographs from family Christmases--from my 2nd Christmas in 1954 to his daughter's first Christmases in the 1990's. It was when I was looking for these photographs that I found one that was a lot older and would become a great addition to a get-together with our Castle cousins on Christmas Day. It was a professional photograph of the whole Castle family on Christmas Day 1942. That's the other part of this story.

Last year I got together with my cousin Ann's family at a restaurant dinner and then at her house for their family Christmas. Tim wasn't able to come last year, so this year he contacted our cousin Jayne, Ann's daughter, and asked if we could see them Christmas evening. We had both had Christmas with our respective nuclear families earlier in the day, which is why we couldn't do our joint Christmas celebration on Christmas Day, but we could both make it to Ann's for their family get-together that evening. I took the Castle photograph I had found. I don't know if you have done the math, but that photograph had been taken exactly 80 years ago to the day. Only two people in the photograph are still living, and one of them is my cousin Ann, seen at the far right on the front row.

Castle Family, Christmas Day 1942

Ann, Tim, and I were the only ones who could identify the people in the photograph, and none of us were sure about all the little boys. Using information from my family tree on Ancestry, I think I have been able to identify all the children of the 8 Castle siblings that were born by Christmas Day 1942.

So that was Christmas Day. Fast forward a week and my brother and his family were at my house for our Christmas celebration on New Year's Eve. We ate and visited and opened presents, then it was time for the program. It was pretty relaxed, but those that wanted to took turns with their parts of the program. My grandson Jack managed a few toots on a plastic flute; the little ones jingled bells while we all sang "Jingle Bells"; Tim's granddaughter sang her favorite Christmas song, "Last Christmas"; her father, who is from Liverpool, told us about English Christmas traditions; and I read the poem my grandmother used to recite, "Santa Claus on the Train." 

I can't believe I found it! I have looked for it for decades and had just about given up. This time I googled from my phone which gave different results than googling from my laptop. It took me to the blog of a woman whose mother had recited that same poem in a Christmas program when she was in school. The blog included a photograph of a faded and torn copy of the poem. It must have been a Christmas miracle, because I can't find it now using the same search I used a month ago. So--here it is--the poem my grandmother recited from memory 80 years after she learned it and I read to my family on New Year's Eve 2022.

Santa Claus on the Train

On a Christmas Eve an emigrant train

Sped on through the blackness of night

And cleft the pitchy dark in twain

With the gleam of its fierce headlight.

 

In a crowded car, a noisome place,

Sat a mother and her child;

The woman’s face bore want’s wan trace,

But the little one only smiled.

 

And tugged and pulled at her mother’s dress,

And her voice had a merry ring,

As she lisped, “Now, mamma, come and guess

What Santa Claus’ll bring.”

 

But sadly her mother shook her head,

As she thought of a happier past;

“He never can catch us here,” she said,

“The train is going too fast.”

 

“O, mamma, yes, he’ll come, I say,

So swift are his little deer,

They run all over the world today;

I’ll hang my stocking up here.”

 

She pinned her stocking to the seat,

And closed her tired eyes;

And soon she saw each longed-for sweet

In dreamland’s paradise.

 

On a seat behind the little maid

A rough man sat apart,

But a soft light o’er his features played,

And stole into his heart.

 

As the cars drew up at a busy town

The rough man left the train,

But scarce had from the steps jumped down

Ere he was back again.

And a great big bundle of Christmas joys

Bulged out from his pocket wide;

He filled the stocking with sweets and toys

He laid by the dreamer’s side.

 

At dawn the little one woke with a shout,

‘Twas sweet to hear her glee;

“I knowed that Santa Claus would find me out;

He caught the train you see.”

 

Though some from smiling may scarce refrain,

The child was surely right,

The good St. Nicholas caught the train,

And came aboard that night.

 

For the saint is fond of masquerade

And may fool the old and wise,

And so he came to a little maid

In an emigrant’s disguise.

A Century of Smiths in Alabama

Traditional genealogy provided all the information to make this post possible, but the motivation for it came from a DNA match. I had contacted him many months ago because our DNA match of 158 cM was one of my largest 3rd-4th cousin matches, according to Ancestry.com. I could see his tree there, but I still had no idea how we were connected. He had responded to me, and we determined that we had a place in common: Coffee County, Alabama, but I still didn't recognize any of the Coffee-related names in his tree. We let it go, until he emailed me last week to ask if I had made any progress in discovering our connection. I went back to the trees and the Coffee Co. censuses to see if I could. I still haven't made a definite connection between the two of us, but the research inspired me to take a close look at several generations of my Alabama Smiths on the U.S. Census. I actually found one census that I have been searching for for years!

The 1850 census of Coffee County, Alabama, has always been the starting point for my Smith family research. It lists Mary E. Smith, age 37, as the head of household, with her children Synthia A., age 18; John, age 16; Jackson A., age 9; Minor J., age 7; and Stephen A., age 4. Stephen A. (Albert) is my great-grandfather. Family tradition said that John Smith was his father (later confirmed by a son's death certificate), but unfortunately, John was apparently dead before the 1850 census. Smith researchers could never identify which John Smith, even among those in Alabama, was the father of this family. 

This time, using a combination of Ancestry.com and HistoryGeo, I think I might have found the right John Smith. First, I did a little research into the origins of Coffee County. I discovered that Coffee County was created in 1841 from Dale County. Thinking that possibly the Smiths lived in the part of 1840 Dale County that became Coffee County in 1841, I compared the four John Smiths that I found on the census in 1840 Dale County. 

One John Smith was 30-39, had a wife 20-29, a son under 5, and another 5-9. No daughter who would have been Cynthia's age in 1840.

Another John Smith was a male 80-89 with a wife 70-79.

Another John Smith was 50-59, had a wife 40-49, and one male 15-19. No children who would have been Cynthia or John, Jr. in 1850.

The fourth John Smith seemed more likely than the others. He was, surprisingly, age 60-69 (more about that later), and in his household were a female 20-29 (his wife?), who was in the age range that Mary would be; a male under 5 and a male 5-9--either could have been John, depending on birth dates, census dates, or faulty memories--and a female 5-9, who could have been Cynthia. If this is our family, one of the sons is missing in our trees; he could have died before the 1850 census or if he was the boy 5-9 in 1840, he could have been old enough to be out on his own by 1850. (We only have six children listed in our trees for this family--Moses C. comes along after 1850--but on the 1900 census Mary says that she had 7 children, so an extra son is a possibility.) 

I decided to utilize HistoryGeo to see if I could try to prove that this is our John and his family. I couldn't find a John Smith as first landowner in Dale or Coffee counties. Using names that were listed on the same page with the probable John Smith on the 1840 census, I looked for them as landowners in Coffee County in the same area where Mary E. Smith lived in 1850. I found Desire Tilman, Allen Lightfoot, Sampson Carpenter, and James Harrell living in Township 7N, Range 20E. I found Mary's neighbors on the 1850 census--Prescoats, Donaldsons, Richburgs, and Lindseys-- living in adjoining Township 6N, Range 19E.

Landowners in area where John Smith lived on 1840 census

John Smith's neighbors on 1840 census (7N 20E) adjacent to
Mary Smith's neighbors on 1850 census (6N 19E)

So, I think it's definitely possible this John Smith on the 1840 census in Dale, soon to be Coffee, County is my John Smith. However, it's also possible the Smiths were not living in Alabama at all in 1840 or that the match-up of adult female and children's ages is a coincidence. And what do I get out of finding John Smith on the 1840 census, since there is so little information there? Well, for one thing, I get his age and a revised birth date, and along with those, some things to ponder. 

Did Mary really marry a man 35-40 years her senior? John's death date is iffy; the only date I have found was from an application that Cynthia made for her husband's Civil War pension in which she stated her father died in 1845. (Cynthia would have been 13, so old enough to remember.) All we really know for sure is that he does not appear as head of household on the 1850 census. Mary was born about 1812; if John was born even as early as 1800, he would have been only 45-50 at his death. Not impossible, but I wasn't really surprised by the fact that he could have been much older. While I doubt I'll be able to follow my John Smith back to his state of origin even with a new birth date, if I find a likely candidate, I won't necessarily eliminate one that could have been born as early as 1775. It's also possible that a man of this age had a first family, with whom I would have a half-relationship, possibly shown by DNA. I also toyed with the idea that this John Smith is Mary's father-in-law. Another option to ponder. 

In 1860 Mary still appears to be living in Coffee Co., Township 6N, Range 19E, with Prescoats and Donaldsons as neighbors. Another possible clue as to her family origin occurs with this census. Next door to Mary's family is Miner J. Williams, age 42, born South Carolina, with wife Martha, age 40, and six children. On this census Mary's second oldest son is Jefferson, age 17; on the 1850 census he was listed as Miner J. For years I wondered if Miner could be Mary's brother and her son Miner's namesake. At that time I didn't even know what Mary's maiden name was; later I would find it listed on her son Andrew Jackson Smith's death certificate as Williams. I still have no proof that Miner was Mary's brother, just a message from another Ancestry user that stated that many Prescott, Donaldson, and Williams families migrated to Alabama from South Carolina at the same time.

1860 census of Coffee Co. AL
Mary Smith next door to Miner J. Williams

I can't find Mary on the 1870 census. One of my Alabama cousins who still lives in the area recently told me that he thinks a small area in the Dale/Coffee border area was missed in some census records, but he didn't say in what years. Another possibility is that she had married and is listed with her husband, but that seems unlikely. I don't find her again until the 1880 census in Pike County, living with Cynthia. (More about that later.)

The 1870 census of Pike County is the first one in which Cynthia uses the surname Linsy (spelled many different ways even in the same area--Linzy, Linsey, Lindsey, Lindsay), and later her children, Amanda and Willis, use it also. On the same pension document in which she gives her father's death date as 1845, she also claims to have been married to Jordan Lindsey. It seems unlikely that she was. 

Jordan Lindsey Sr. was born about 1806 in Georgia and appears on the censuses of 1830 and 1840 in Dale Co. and on the 1850 and 1860 in Coffee Co. with his wife Elizabeth. (Amanda was born in 1850 and Willis in 1853.) Elizabeth didn't die until 1860. Jordan died sometime during or immediately after the Civil War. One of his sons, also Jordan Lindsey, was born about 1840, too young to have been Cynthia's husband or the father of Amanda and Willis. Jordan Sr. claimed the late Jordan Jr.'s "arrears of pay" as a Private in the 18th Alabama, C.S.A., stating that he died "without leaving widow or child" that would be entitled to his pay. It seems likely that Cynthia, whether having had a relationship with Jordan Lindsey or not, claimed his name for her children after his death and after her move to Pike County.

On the 1870 Pike Co. census Cynthia, age 35, is head of household #263. She gives her name as Smithy Linsy, and her children's names as Amanda, age 15, and Willis, age 13. They all appear younger here than they should be, as the ages given on the 1860 census were 28, 7, and 6. I know no reason for the move from Coffee to Pike County, but this is where they will remain. Next door to Cynthia at household #264 is John T. Harrel/Harvill, age 63, with his wife Nancy (Duck), age 51, and children, including a widowed daughter and her children. Their daughter Jane, age 14, will eventually marry Willis Lindsey. At household #265 is Alford Harrel, probably son of John and Nancy. Remember my DNA match at the beginning of this post? These are probably his ancestors, but that doesn't explain our DNA match, since as far as we know, the families are only connected by the marriage of Willis and Jane, neither of whom are our direct line ancestors.

Cynthia Lindsey on 1870 Pike Co. census

I have concentrated on Cynthia's family up until this point because Mary always lived with them, as she will on the 1880, 1900, and 1910 censuses. However, of course, John and Mary Smith had other children, including my great-grandfather, Stephen Albert. In 1870 he was also living in Pike Co. with his wife, Frances, and a daughter, age 1, Sarah. I couldn't find him for the longest time because he is enumerated as Samuel A. Smith. I might not have found him at all, but he is living next door to his mother-in-law, Elizabeth, her husband, William W. Cotton, and the head of household, her son, William A. Mansel. 

The 1880 census Pike Co. census finds Mary back with Cynthia's family. Cinthia Lindsay, age 49, is listed as the head of household #513. And what a household it was--four generations worth. It included her son, Willis Lindsay, age 24; his wife Jane (Sarah Jane Harvill); and their children Lizzie, Thomas, and Malissia; her daughter, Mandy King, age 30; and her children, Cinthia, Jordan, and Willis; and her mother, Mary, age 70. Willis and Jane had married 22 December 1874. Mandy (Amanda) had married Melvin King in 1872. I'm not sure where he had disappeared to by 1880, but in 1891 Amanda will marry William J. Register, her next-door neighbor on the 1880 census at household #512. In 1882 Cynthia will marry James King, probable father of Melvin. Stephen Albert and his family have moved to Lauderdale County. Three of their children, Marry, Willice/Willis, and Martha, never appear on another census, and Sarah, who was age 1 on the 1870 census does not appear either.

Twenty years later and this family dynamic really hasn't changed that much. Cynthia's daughter Amanda has died and Cynthia is raising two of her children, and Willis and his wife have had a few more children. As a matter of fact, by this census Willis and Sarah Jane (enumerated as Sally J.) have been married 25 years. Sally reports that she has had 11 children and 11 are still alive. Almost all are listed with Willis and Sally at household #120: John Thomas, 22; Susy Malissia, 20; Francis, 18; Willis C., 14; William H., 12; Lilla G., 10; Hilary, 8; Archy, 5; Nancy A., 3; and David, 1. Their oldest, Elizabeth, had married George Grantham in 1891. 

Next door at household #121 Sinthy A. King (Cynthia), widow, age 68, is living with her mother Mary, age 90, and two granddaughters, Addie King, age 26; and Mandy L. Register, age 7. Mary reports, as I mentioned above, that she has given birth to 7 children and 2 are still alive. This is interesting as she has 3 living children at this point: Cynthia, Stephen Albert, and Alexander Jackson, who is living in Jefferson County, AL, with his wife, Mary C. (Breggs), and children, Willis, Albert F., Noah W., Mary, and George C. I wonder which one of her children Mary has lost track of. AND WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THE NAME WILLIS? At this point I have counted 5 of them in the families of three of the original Smith siblings: Cynthia, Alexander, and Stephen. *Stay tuned for a future post about Willis Smith, above, son of Alexander and Mary. 

The 1900 census shows that Willis P. Lindsey owns his own farm. HistoryGeo shows him as first landowner in Section 22, Township 11N, Range 20E which he purchased in 1888. In 1901 HistoryGeo lists Cynthia A. King as the purchaser of a parcel in Section 15, Township 11N, Range 20E, and patentees as Amanda Register, Willis P. King, Cynthia A. King, and William J. King. (Remember Willis and William J. (Jordan) King from way back in the 1880 census? They are sons of Cynthia's daughter, Amanda, who married Melvin King.) Cynthia and Willis's neighbors are George Grantham, Jackson W. Register, father of Amanda Lindsey's second husband, William; and William R. Catrett, father of William M. Cartrette, Amanda Register's first husband. People really did marry their neighbors back in those days. 

Land ownership of Lindseys, Kings, and Register
11N Township, 20E Range, Pike Co. AL

Household #87 on the 1910 Pike Co. census, District #0169, Orion P.O., is still multi-generational. Will P. Lindsay is head of household at age 56, with his wife Sarah J., age 54, and children Susie (Susan Malissia), age 30; William H. (Haynes), age 22; Lenna (Lilla), age 19; Hillory, age 17; Arch, age 15; Nancy A. (Addie), age 13; and David, age 10. Puss (Emily Pearl), age 9, and Mary J., age 1, are apparently Susie's children, as becomes evident on the 1920 census. Also included in Will's household are his mother, Smth King, age 81, and his mother-in-law, Nancy (Duck) Harwill, age 92. At household #89 are his daughter, Lizzie (Elizabeth) Grantham, her husband George, their seven children, and hired man, Grady Register. And at household #90--I almost missed them--is Amanda (Register), age 17; her husband, William Cartrette, whom she had married in 1908; Amanda's half-sister, Cynthia King; and Cynthia's daughter, Bertha King, age 5.

In 1910 Stephen Albert, whose wife had died in 1905, is heading his own multi-generational family--children and grandchildren--while running a boarding house in Collinsville, Oklahoma. Alexander Jackson, his wife, a daughter and a niece, are living in Jefferson County, Alabama.

By the 1920 census Willis Lindsay has passed away. A couple of census records in Pike Co. in 1920 show where some of his family members have gone. His son, David Lindsay, just 20, is head of household #66 in Little Oak. Living with him are his mother, Sarah J., age 63; his sister, Susie M., age 38; and Susie's three children, Pearl, Mary J., and J.P. I have not found any marriage records to indicate who the father of Susie's children are, and they go by the surname Lindsay. Next door to them at household #67 is David's sister, Addie, her husband, Charlie Watts, their three children, and Charlie's brother. Also in Pike Co. in 1920 is Cynthia (King), who married Andrew Shaderick Walker in 1914. In their household are their three children, Emie (Emily), Shade, and Willis/Willie, and grandmother Cynthia King, age 92.

I promised you a century of Smiths in Alabama, so we have a couple of censuses yet to go. By 1930 the only one of the original children of John and Mary Smith that is still living is my great-grandfather, Stephen Albert Smith. His sister Cynthia had died in 1922, and his brother Alexander Jackson in 1924. Stephen will live until 1938 and die at age 92 in Oklahoma. 

But there are definitely still Smiths in Alabama, just farther down the line. In the 30's and 40's I found many of Willis Lindsey's children still living in Pike County. Susie, at age 60, is living with her daughter Pearl (Kelly) in 1940. Lenna, who married the hired man, Henry Grady Register, is on the 1940 census. Hillary and wife Katie (Mitchell) are living in Pike in 1930. David, who married Faxie Lee McLeod in 1926, is in Pike on the 1940 census with daughter Mary, son Willis, and twins Herman and Fermon. Addie, her husband, and three children are living in Montgomery. Cynthia King Walker, age 68, is living with her daughter Emmie and husband W.T. Watkins in Pike Co. in 1940. Amanda Register Catrett remarried to I.C. Killingsworth in 1944. I can't find her on the 1930 or 1940 censuses under any of her names, but she lives until 1973. She is buried under the name Amanda Killingsworth in Phenix City, Russell County, Alabama. Alexander Jackson Smith's sons, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Franklin, and Noah Washington, are living in Jefferson County, Alabama, in 1930 and 1940. 

Mary E. Smith, the mother of this expanding brood, died in 1901 and is buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery 12 miles north and west of Troy, Alabama. I've been there. What I wish I had known at the time was that I was only a couple of section lines away from Willis Lindsay's land. I also didn't realize that so many people related to the Smiths are buried in that cemetery. 

Willis Lindsey's land in relation to Mount Moriah Cemetery

Mary E. Smith's headstone, Mount M

Mary E. Smith  1 Mar 1810 -- 17 Sep 1901
Cynthia A. King  Nov 1830 -- Sep 1922
W. P. Lindsey (Willis)  Oct. 8 1953 -- Aug. 2 1911
Sarah Jane Harvill Wife of W.P. Lindsey  Feb. 1855 -- Mar. 5 1930
Cynthia King Walker  Dec. 31 1875 -- Dec. 15 1966 (and dau. Bertha, buried as Walker)
Andrew S. Walker  Mar. 16 1886 -- Aug. 28 1939
Mary W. "Emmie" Walker Watkins (and husband Wiley T.) 9 Apr 1911 -- 15 Jul 2005 
Susie M. Lindsey Grandmother of Daphne Kelly Randall (no dates) 
Pearl Kelly (w/husband Will)  29 July 1900 -- 24 May 1989
Lenna Lindsey Register (and husband Henry Grady Register)  1890-1977
Hilary Lindsey (and wife Katie)  14 Jun 1892 -- 16 Oct 1970
Addie Watts 1896 -- 1945
Dave Lindsey (and wife Faxie Lee)  24 May 1899 -- 18 Mar 1971

Plus Catretts (William M.'s mother and father), many Linzeys (any relation?) and Registers (including Jackson W. and William J.)


Probably everybody's tree is this complicated, but I have my doubts. 

Kindred Souls

The moral for today is one that I have heard over and over: Don't just research your direct-line ancestors but also their siblings (and sometimes even their friends and neighbors.) I've even followed this advice a few times and made some great discoveries. However, if I had followed it in this case, I would have made this interesting discovery a long time ago. 

I have to give the credit to Ancestry's Thru-Lines. I was looking at the descendant lines of the siblings of my 3rd great-grandmother, Priscilla Souls/Soles. Under her sister Elizabeth Soles Faulk, I found the name of a descendant that I have seen for years as a DNA match to me on Ancestry and Gedmatch. 

Here's why I overlooked the discovery I finally made this week. I am always looking for DNA matches that will help me find the parents of my 2nd great-grandfather, John Smith, and this particular match had the surname Smith. I know it's a long shot, but I always take a second look at my Smith matches. Years ago when I determined that the Smiths in Mr. Smith's tree were not my Smiths, I looked just far enough to realize that our match was not through the Smiths, but through the Soles line. I put a Note to myself that Mr. Smith was a Soles descendant and moved right on.

As I said above, this week I was looking at Thru-Lines, and this time I clicked on Mr. Smith's profile pic and looked a little closer at our match comparison. Thru-Lines had highlighted our shared surnames, which included Smith, Soles, and Harris. The Harris made me look a little closer, and that is the lucky part because the Harris surname is not even on the Smith side of my tree. However, it is my grandfather's middle name, and I have always wondered where it came from.

My 3rd great-grandmother's sister, Elizabeth Soles, married Phillip Lemuel Faulk in Columbus County, NC, in 1814. (Again, it's always good to research siblings, especially if you are into DNA matching. This explains why I have so many DNA matches with the surname Faulk in their family trees.) Their daughter, Mary Ann, born 1826, married Edward Harris on 10 January 1843 in Pike County, AL. (My Soles and Simmons ancestors also moved from Columbus County NC to Pike County AL in this time period.) 

Edward and Mary Ann's son, Joseph Warren Harris, born 1847, married Nancy Jane Hinson on 5 December 1867 in Troy, Pike County, AL. Nancy's parents were William Hinson and Martha Ann Pugh. And now you have all the names you need to know in order to understand the significance they had for me. 

On the 1860 census of the Eastern Division, Pike County AL, my 2nd great-grandmother, Elizabeth Simmons Mansell, is enumerated as head of household; her husband, John Mansell, had died in 1845. Her name is spelled "Mansill" on the census, and mis-transcribed as "Mansild." Enumerated with her on this census are: her sons, William, Samuel, and Simeon; her daughter Frances (my great-grandmother), age 11; and twins, age 7, named Pugh and Nancy J. 

1860 census, Pike County AL, Mansill family

More than one mystery is attached to this census record. The most significant one for me is: Who is Frances's father? Since she was born in 1849, four years after John Mansell's death in 1845, he can't be her father--even though she used the Mansell surname on her marriage license. Even the identity of Simeon's father can be questioned; he was born the same year that John Mansell died. However, the big one is: Who were Pugh and Nancy and what happened to them? 

As far as I can tell, neither of the twins ever appear again on any census, including the 1870, in which they would have been 17 and young enough to still be living with Elizabeth. Some explanations come to mind, and I have tried to eliminate each of them through research over the years. Nancy could have married before the 1870 census. Either or both of them could have died. They could have been Elizabeth's grandchildren and enumerated on the 187o census with their parents. Or maybe their surname wasn't Mansell at all, and they appear later under other surnames. Of course, Nancy J. has such a common name that she could be anywhere, but Pugh Mansell, if that was his name, should show up somewhere. He doesn't.

Then--my discovery this week, which gives me even more options. Could Nancy J. and Pugh have some connection to the Harris/Hinson family of Pike County? 

Possible avenues for research:

• The most obvious explanation is that the Nancy J. on the 1860 census with the Mansell family IS the Nancy J. Hinson who married Joseph Warren Harris. Who else would be likely to have a twin brother whose given name Pugh is Nancy's mother's maiden name? Maybe she and her brother were visiting their cousins and got enumerated as Mansills by mistake. However, a couple of facts make this unlikely. The dates are a little off--Nancy J. on the census was born in 1853; Nancy J. Hinson was born in 1849. Her marriage in 1867 makes it unlikely, although not impossible, that the 1853 date is the right one. Another fact makes this explanation even more unlikely. "Jane" Hinson, age 11, appears on the 1860 census with her parents, William and Martha (Pugh) Hinson--no twin brother and no brother named Pugh. Too bad this couldn't be the answer, because I thought I had finally solved the mystery of Nancy J. and Pugh!

1860 census, Pike Co. AL, Hinson family

• Perhaps Nancy J. and Pugh were visiting cousins with a connection to the Hinsons--again, accidentally enumerated as members of the Mansell family. This will require researching other Pugh descendants who could have children of the right age to be the twins.

• They could be Elizabeth Mansell's own children. She would have been 40 at their birth. We still have the problem of who their father was. And why would she give them names more significant for her cousins than for herself? Looking closely at that relationship, exactly how was she related to the Hinson/Harris family? Elizabeth's mother Priscilla and Elizabeth Soles were sisters. It doesn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to conclude that Elizabeth Simmons Mansell was named for her aunt, Elizabeth Soles. Priscilla's daughter Elizabeth and Elizabeth's daughter Mary Ann would have been 1st cousins. Mary Ann's son, Joseph Warren Harris, would have been Elizabeth's 1st cousin, once removed. His wife, Nancy J. Hinson, whose mother was Martha Pugh, would not have been related to Elizabeth Mansell at all. Why would Elizabeth name her daughter for unrelated Nancy Jane Hinson or her son for Nancy's mother, Martha Pugh? How do I even begin to research this?

• Maybe there is an even closer connection between the families than I expected. Don't forget that the naming continues into the next generation with Elizabeth's daughter Frances naming her youngest child Weaver Harris Smith. In fact, in the Smith family's petition to the Dawes Commission for Cherokee citizenship my grandfather is listed as Harris W. Smith. Maybe the connection is with the unknown father of Frances, Nancy J., and Pugh, but who could he possibly be? 

No matter which of these explanations is the right one, or even if Elizabeth and Frances just liked the names Nancy Jane, Pugh, and Harris, there is possibly a much closer relationship between the descendants of Priscilla and Elizabeth Soles than I had previously realized. While Nancy J. and Pugh are still mysteries, at least I now have another direction in which to search. 

Cousin Communication

Well, summer is officially over. One thing you can say about summer is that people seem to slow down a bit. Maybe they have time to check their Ancestry account, or to answer an old email, or to read a blog. In any case, over the last couple of months I have heard from more cousins--from all branches of my family--than I have in the whole rest of the year. Here are some of the things I learned:

From the Pharris/Farris family: 
I'm still trying to figure out how I am related to the Pharrises. My 2nd great-grandmother, Elzina Huff, was born on the Dry Fork of Martin's Creek in Jackson County, Tennessee, in 1826. I have never been able to document the names of her parents, although a lot of trees say they were William Huff and Susannah Toney. The Pharrises were close neighbors, so I have long suspected that Elzina (or her husband, Stephen Roberts, also of undocumented parentage) were somehow connected to this family of Pharrises. Since I also have lots of Embry DNA cousins, I had considered that Elzina might be the daughter of James Pharris, whose mother was an Embry.

To make things even more complicated, I may also have a Farris ancestor. I say "may," because this is another relationship I can't document. However, much research into the puzzle of my great-grandfather, J. A. (Joseph) Wheat, has convinced me that he was the son of Henry Clay Wheat and Caroline Farris. Caroline was the granddaughter of Champion Farris, an early resident of Russell County, Virginia, and Tennessee. Since I had never been able to discover if these Farrises were related to the Jackson County Pharrises, I had decided it was much more likely that my ancestry went back somehow to the Pharrises that were neighbors to my Elzina.

Then I got a message on Ancestry this summer from a DNA match who is a Pharris descendant. We had corresponded years ago when we were both new to DNA. She wondered if I had considered the possibility that my DNA connection to her was through Champion Farris. She had found a reference to Champion Farris that indicated he was in Smith County, Tennessee, the parent county of Jackson County, in 1800-1805; she had some y-DNA results for a Pharris descendant that indicated he also matched some Farrises; and she drew my attention to one of my Ancestry Thru-Lines that indicated that the mother of William Huff was a Pharris. 

This cousin communication definitely gave me several lines of inquiry to consider.

From the Simmons family:
I regularly hear from my Simmons cousin, Sam Casey. This time he shared a newspaper article from the Troy (AL) Messenger, dated July 6, 1921, that he had found on Ancestry. It  read, in part, "T.B. Floyd, 67, youngest son of George Floyd, was in Troy...[and] gave the following sketch. His grandfathers, Luke Simmonds and William Floyd, came to Pike in the Pioneer days, when Indians were still in this section. They had been neighbors in the Carolinas, the state line coming between their residences. Simmons lived in North Carolina and Floyd in South Carolina. Their residences were almost on the line. When they moved to Pike [Co.] some of the children intermarried."

T.B. Floyd article in Troy Messenger
Originally shared to Ancestry by W. Tucker

Sam added, "For this to be accurate, one of Luke Simmons' daughters would have to have married a son of William Floyd. I don't have the Floyds in my data and don't know which daughter this would have been."

So, again, I did a little research. I found Thomas B. Floyd, born 1855, with his father George and mother Patience on the 1860 census in Pike County. I concluded that Patience must have been a child of Luke Simmons (and therefore a sister of my 2nd great-grandmother, Elizabeth Simmons) that I didn't have in my tree. The 1860 census stated that she was 35 so must have been born in 1825, although with her first daughter born in 1838, that didn't seem reasonable. In my list of Luke's children I had a big gap between Jemima, born 1816, and Eliza, born 1827, so there was plenty of room in there for Patience, even if her birth date was earlier than 1825. It turns out I had room for several children in that gap!

Floyd family on 1860 census, Pike Co. AL

When I emailed Sam with the info, he sent back the transcription of the family page from Luke Simmons' Bible with children: Elizabeth, born 1812; Jemima, born 1815; Susannah, born 1817; Patience and Nancy (twins), born 1821; Leonard M., born 1823; Rebekah, born 1825, and Elizur, born 1827. Apparently, when Sam had shared the Bible entries (years ago!), I had never entered the names in my tree. [Maybe because I wasn't sure of the dates? The copyright on the Bible is 1827, so all these birth dates, except maybe for Eliza's, were entered after the fact.]

Because of Sam's email, I was able to add four siblings of my 2nd great-grandmother to my tree.

From the Wheat family:
Actually, this information did not come from a cousin. I got an email from Lee F. who wanted to share information he had received as a result of a purchase of Confederate documents. I am not even certain how he got my email address, but the information he shared helped me add a previously unknown spouse  and children to a 3rd great-uncle on my family tree.

His email read, in part, "A few years ago I bought off ebay some Confederate notes from an old gentleman named John Wheat. He told me the notes came from Robert Wheat and his 2nd wife of Wheatland, Titus County, TX...He said Samuel Wheat was Robert's father and Samuel Wheat founded Wheatland, TX. Samuel was ex-military before coming to TX. Robert was in charge of the home guard during the war. Robert's wife had died. His new wife was the widow of the officer in charge of the regular military in Titus County. Anyway after the war the family moved to Sherman, TX..."

I set about trying to corroborate the information that came from this unexpected source. First, I do have a 3rd great-uncle named Robert Wheat (1819-1901) that served with the Confederacy in the Civil War. I have been to his grave in Grayson County, TX. As a matter of fact, he is the brother of the above-mentioned Henry Clay Wheat. Their father was not Samuel Wheat, but Samuel's brother William.

Next, I tried to find out what I could about Wheatland, TX. I remembered that years ago I read about a community in Texas that had been named for my Wheat family, but I didn't remember where I had read that information. Google to the rescue--although I didn't have much luck at first. There were two communities named Wheatland--one in Dallas County and one in Tarrant County. So I tried Titus County--but neither the Wikipedia entry nor the Handbook of Texas Online mentioned a town named Wheatland in the county. Then I tried "Wheat family Titus County TX," and I found this article about Wheatville, a community founded by William Wheat, that previously existed in the area now occupied by Naples, TX. (The creation of Morris County in 1875 meant that by the time Wheatville ceased to exist in the late 1870's, it was in Morris, not Titus, County.)

The article, prepared by Glenda Brown Scarborough, corroborated many of the statements made by John Wheat. Others, such as the name of the community and its founder, were almost right but not completely accurate. From that article: "Wheatville was indeed the true beginning of present-day Naples, Texas. It received its name from the William Wheat family sometime before 1852." On September 12, 1860, R.S. (Robert) Wheat was living in Mount Pleasant, the county seat of Titus County, with his first wife, Elizabeth (Finn), and their children. Elizabeth must have died not long after. Robert fought as a Confederate in the Civil War with the 33rd Cavalry, Duff's Partisan Rangers.

Sometime after the war Robert married Mary E. (Corprew) Sheppard, the widow of W.B. Sheppard. According to the Wheatville article, "W.B. Sheppard was Captain of the Titus Rangers, a unit organized in Wheatville during the Civil War...W.B. Sheppard died or was perhaps killed in the war and his widow later married R.S. Wheat. R.S. Wheat was a widower and a member of the family from which the town received its name. The couple and their families later moved to Grayson County, Texas." The 1870 and 1880 censuses show Robert and Mary and various children living in Grayson County. The 1870 census included a daughter named Mary Sheppard and the first of Robert and Mary's children, James, who was 3. Two more of their children were listed on the 1880 census, ages 8 and 6.

Robert S. Wheat family on 1870 census, Grayson Co. TX
with step-daughter Mary Sheppard

Before receiving this summer's surprising email from Lee F., I was not aware that Robert S. Wheat had a second wife and a second set of children. Using the information I learned in the Wheatville article, I found the marriage of Mary E. Corprew to Williamson B. Sheppard on January 15, 1885, in Chambers County, Alabama. I had always wondered who Mary Sheppard was and how she was connected to Robert Wheat's family.

Robert's end was rather sad. The 1900 census shows Robert, age 81, living at the North Texas Hospital for the Insane in Kaufman, Texas. His "insanity" may have been no more than senile dementia, but I can't help wondering how he was treated at the hospital. He died in 1901 and is buried in the Hall Cemetery in Howe, Grayson County, Texas, along with his wife Mary, who had died in 1897, and many other Wheats.

Robert S. Wheat grave in Hall Cemetery, Howe, TX
Originally shared on Ancestry by Jan Elaine Biard Thomas

From the Walker family:
Not exactly my family, although my last name was Walker for over 30 years. No, this is my son's ancestry. Several years ago I bought him a DNA test, and this summer he got an email from a Walker cousin, Jimmy. He has a very ambitious goal--to document all the branches of Walkers that descend from Thomas Walker and Marian Sara Jeffries of Fairfield County, South Carolina, and he wanted to know on what branch my son fit.

I had taken my son's Walker ancestry back several generations, and I was able to add a couple more. With the information Jimmy had already collected, he was able to take my son's ancestry back to Thomas and Marian.

In the process of searching for Jimmy's tree on Ancestry, I also discovered that he and I share a little DNA, as well! We think the connection might be with our Reynolds ancestors. On my side my Reynolds ancestor was Priscilla, who was married to Zachariah Wheat. They were the parents of William and Samuel, mentioned above.

This summer I also got emails or Ancestry messages from:
A professional genealogist helping a descendant of my 4th great-grandfather, Benjamin Bell and his wife, Elizabeth Ledbetter. I referred her to my blog post, "Laying Out the Facts." She promised to share anything they discover.

A cousin from my Day/Reed/Patrick side, asking about the Scots heritage of our Patrick ancestors. She still lives in the Chandler/Davenport area, where my grandmother grew up. Contact with her may lead to meeting some of our other remaining cousins who live there.

A first cousin of my dad's on the Smith side, who offered to share some old photos. He shared a story that I also researched. My grandfather grew up in Oologah, Oklahoma, the birthplace of Will Rogers. When I was a kid, I remember being told that the older Smith boys ran around with him. As I grew older and did more genealogy and read more history, I tended to doubt the story. Will Rogers grew up on a big ranch, attended school in Missouri and then a military academy, and quit school in 10th grade. I just wondered where he would have met any of the Smith boys. 

However, my cousin had a variation on that story that I'm sure is true and maybe the origin of the Will Rogers story that my family told. He shared that "Johnny Yokim, a cousin to Will Rogers, was a buddy of Dad's [his father was Albert Smith, my grandfather's brother] and both attended a one-room Indian school. There is a good story here about riding horses to school and they both had six-shooters in their holsters."

Albert was born in 1889, so I tried looking for a John Yokim born about the same time. There are so many ways to spell that name that I didn't have much luck narrowing it down. So I thought of a different way to go about it. I searched Ancestry for Will Rogers' family tree, then searched for John Yokim. Sure enough, Will Rogers' sister May (Mary), was married to Matthew John Yocum, and they had a son named John, born 1893.

So we do have a connection to Will Rogers' family, if not the man himself! And the Smith boys were in Wild West shows too.

Albert and one of the other Smith boys (?)
in Wild West show
Shared by John Smith

The moral of this story: It pays to put your name out there in the genealogy community. Sometimes you reap some unexpected rewards. Check your Ancestry account, answer an email, check out a blog you've been meaning to read (or catch up on.)

Just a couple more summer things before I wind this post up.

I've always been interested in diseases and their prevention since my dad introduced me to a book called Microbe Hunters by Paul DeKruif when I was a teenager. So this summer I have been listening to a podcast called "This Podcast Will Kill You." In each episode the two female podcasters describe a disease, its history, how it operates, and how it's treated. It's been fascinating. In the episode on hookworms, poison dew was mentioned, and I remembered that my grandmother would never let me walk barefoot in dew because I might get some unspecified disease. I still feel guilty when I walk on wet grass barefoot.

Well, guess what? The unspecified disease is hookworm infection, because hookworms are right there on the ground/in the grass (but only where infected animals or people have pooped) and they can burrow through any bare feet that get close enough. Hookworms were especially prevalent in the South for many reasons and while not fatal, the anemia that resulted from hookworm infection was debilitating. John D. Rockefeller started an education and sanitation campaign in the early 1900's to reduce the incidence of the disease, and it must have made quite an impression on my grandmother. Now that I know why, it's made a big impression on me. I'm going to wear my shoes outside from now on.

The other thing that happened this summer is that this blog passed 100,000 page views. Thanks for reading!

For Maryo

I met a new cousin this week. Well, that's not exactly true. I think we were introduced about 12 years ago at a funeral, but neither of us actually remembers being introduced. We met again when she replied to my message on Ancestry asking who she was. With our 308 cM's of shared DNA, Ancestry had estimated us to be 2nd cousins, but I didn't recognize her name, and she didn't have a tree yet. I told her I thought we must be related on my Smith side because of our Shared Matches.

Her reply affirmed that we are Smith cousins and 2nd cousins, sure enough. Her mother was Billie Virginia Smith Byars, and her grandparents were Owen and Fern (Walker) Smith. Her grandfather, Owen, and my grandfather, Weaver, were the oldest and youngest sons of Stephen Albert Smith and his wife Frances (Fannie). 

To me, our connection is more than just biological, more than just the fact that our grandfathers were brothers. In fact, if it weren't for her grandparents, I wouldn't be here today. In our correspondence with each other Maryo told me that she only knew "bits and pieces," that her sister--who passed away earlier this year--was the one that knew the family history. She wanted to know more about her grandfather Owen and her grandmother Fern. I had a great story to tell her, but I wanted to see if I could find out more before we talked.

Here is the story I already knew. Fannie Castle, my grandmother, got her first teaching job in a one-room school between Owasso and Collinsville, Oklahoma, during World War I. Since her family lived 30 miles away in Red Fork, she boarded with Mrs. Elizabeth Walker in Collinsville during the school week. Mrs. Walker's daughter, Fern, was married to Owen Smith, who ran a soda shop called the Candy Kitchen with his brother, Weaver. My grandmother, the teacher, was introduced to my grandfather, the soda jerk, and they were married in 1918. If my grandmother had gotten a job closer to home, if Fern hadn't married Owen, if my grandparents had never been introduced, I truly wouldn't be here. 

Fern Walker Smith

Fern passed away when her daughter Billie was still very young, and my grandmother and grandfather often spent time with her. Through the years my grandmother kept up with Billie and her son, Roy "Bud" Byars, and many years later I became friends with Bud's wife, Metzie, who was an avid genealogist until her death in 2012. It was at her brother Bud's funeral that I think Maryo and I were introduced.   

We had agreed to talk on Sunday. With a two-hour time difference I was going to call mid-day, which would be mid-morning for her. I stayed up late Saturday night, using marriage and census records on Ancestry to find out more about Owen and Fern and Mr. and Mrs. Walker. If you go all the way back to my very first post on Becky's Bridge to the Past, you will find that this family story was the inspiration for the blog, but that I didn't know much more than the facts I have already given here. I knew that Mrs. Walker's maiden name was Whitmore. I knew that Fern had a brother named Pearcy. I knew that there was someone named Amanda, but I couldn't remember if she was their sister or Pearcy's wife.

So last Saturday night I did a little researching. I found some new facts and was reminded of some I had forgotten. I documented the marriage of Fern and Owen on 16 January 1912 in Collinsville, and of Elizabeth Whitmore and James N. Walker on 31 December 1879 in Benton, Arkansas. By 1900 James and "Lizzie" were living in Valley Center, Sedgwick County, Kansas, with four children: Alonzo, Daisy, Fern, and Pearcy; next door was Oscar Walker, age 32, with wife and daughter. In 1910 J.N. and Lizzie were in Rogers County, Oklahoma. Only Fern and Pearcy were still living at home. Next door was O.U. Walker, about the same age as James; a brother named Oscar?

I got stuck following Elizabeth back to her parents, because I couldn't find her on the 1870 census. James was hard, too, with such a common name, so I tried following his brother Oscar. By using census and Findagrave entries for Oscar, I thought it likely that their parents were William and Virginia Walker of Elm Springs, Arkansas.

I couldn't find the right Alonzo Walker after 1900. I thought Mr. Walker died about 1910, because he never showed up in the census again with Mrs. Walker. However, he remained a rather hazy figure for me; if he died before 1915, my grandmother never knew him, and yet I thought I remembered her speaking of him in a not very complimentary way. I remembered that Metzie had found something out about Daisy, but I couldn't remember what it was. Pearcy died at age 22 in 1916, and I still wasn't sure if Amanda was his sister or his wife. Fern died the same year, leaving Billie who was not quite 4 years old. Billie appeared with Mrs. Walker on the 1920 census, and then Mrs. Walker died in 1926. I couldn't find Billie on the 1930 census.  

I was as ready as I was going to be for my conversation with Maryo. 

Maryo had some questions, and I had a few answers. Some of the answers led to more questions. She had a piece of information that proved to be crucial to further research. 

We talked about her grandparents, Owen and Fern. She was unaware that Owen had been married several times. She only knew about Fern and Rhoda, Owen's last wife, whom we both remembered. I know my grandmother told me he had been married 5 or 6 times (!), but it must have been between censuses, because I couldn't find any other wives' names. However, on the 1910 census (before he married Fern), he was living at the Smith boarding house in Collinsville and was designated as Divorced. As he was 29 at his marriage to Fern, he had had plenty of time to get married and divorced. I told her that the Walkers blamed Owen for Fern's death, and that he had very little contact with Billie as she grew up. Maryo wondered about the date of their marriage and Billie's birth--both in 1912. Was Owen bitter because he had been forced to marry Fern? I could answer that one. Apparently not, as they were married in January and Billie was born in November.

I told her about a photo that Metzie had, showing Owen participating in a wild west show, a popular entertainment of the early 1900's. I have a photocopy that Metzie made for me, and I promised to send it to her.

Owen in Wild West Show (unfortunately, I don't know
which one is Owen)

She wondered who Fannie was. That was a name she had heard and also seen--on the back of a locket that Billie wore. I told her that it could be my grandmother, but it could also be referring to Owen's mother. As his mother died in 1905, she felt sure the Fannie she had heard about was my grandmother. I told her that my grandparents spent a lot of time with Billie when she was young. She wondered how they got together after my grandparents moved to Red Fork. I couldn't answer that question, but my grandmother did. (See below) 

Billie Smith and Fannie Castle

She wondered what I knew about Tom and Ella Arnold, who raised Billie after the death of Mrs. Walker. I didn't know anything. I think that Metzie must have mentioned them to me, but it was one of those things that didn't stick. So, after our conversation it was back to Ancestry to follow up on some leads and tie up some loose ends.

The name Ella Arnold eventually led me to the 1930 census of Stroud, Oklahoma, where Ella was designated "sister" to the head of household, Andrew J. Whitmore. The other members of the household were Andrew's wife Edith and (guess who?) Billie, age 18, designated as "roomer." So apparently Andrew was Mrs. Walker's brother, Ella was Mrs. Walker's sister, and Tom, Ella's husband, had died. With the names Andrew, Elizabeth, and Ella Whitmore, I was able to find them on the 1870 census in Lincoln, Andrew County, Missouri, with parents William and Ann Eliza Whitmore, and a slew of other siblings. (No wonder I had so much trouble finding them as their last name was spelled "Whittemore.") I wasn't positive I had found the right family until I found Ann Eliza on the 1895 Kansas State Census in Wichita, Sedgwick County, living with T.E. (Tom) and Ella Arnold. This seemed to confirm Maryo's recollection of the Arnolds' home in Wichita, which relatives had described as a "mansion." 

I tried to find the final resting place of James N. Walker. There is a James N., born in the same year as our Mr. Walker, buried in Tontitown, Arkansas. Google Maps says that is 2 minutes away from Elm Springs, where he grew up. But this James N. died in 1922. If he is Mrs. Walker's husband, where was he on the 1910 and 1920 censuses? Did he abandon the family, which was the hazy recollection I had from decades-old conversations with my grandmother? 

If I haven't said this before, and I'm sure I have, my grandmother was amazing. I guess because she didn't make family trees and keep meticulous records, I didn't think of her as a genealogist, but she was, and I'm sure she's the reason that I have always been so interested in genealogy myself. In her 80's and 90's when she was home by herself most of the day, she made scrapbooks for her nieces and nephews and wrote about her life in Kentucky around 1900 and her life in Oklahoma in the 1910's and 20's. That is why I shouldn't have been surprised when I found a document answering many of Maryo's questions.

It was in my Smith file, along with a photocopy of Uncle Owen in his Wild West show. I'm the one who put it in the file, but at the time I guess I didn't need all the information it provided. How did my grandmother know that in 2019 I would need to know all about Mr. and Mrs. Walker and their families? Here is the transcription of the 5-page document that she wrote in her beautiful Spencerian script.

Mom's memories of the Walkers
in her handwriting

"In loving memory of a dear fine lady, Lizzie Whitmore Walker. She had 2 brothers, 1 sister: Andrew Whitmore, Frank Whitmore, Ella Whitmore Arnold.

She was married to Jimmie Walker in the 1890's [actually 1879]. They had 2 sons and 2 daughters: Daisy Walker ____?, 'Red' Walker, Fern Walker Smith, Pearcy Walker.

Fern married Owen Smith about 1914 or 15 [actually 1912]. They had 1 daughter, Billie Smith Byars. 

In the autumn of 1915 I went to Owasso Okla. to teach in a one room school. The Walkers lived about a mile east of the school. I boarded with the Pearcy Walker family (wife Mandy & small son 'Pete'). They were making preparation to move north of Collinsville. They told me their in-laws might keep me, so after an interview and looking me over they took me in and made me feel 'at home.' I spent 3 happy years with them. 

During that time I came to know Fern and her baby girl Billie. She told me of her wonderful brother-in-law Weaver Smith-- He proved to be a "super guy"; after a long courtship we were married June 29, 1918. We spent 52 years together before he died. He proved to be all and more than Fern recommended.

While I was living at the Walkers', Fern died of typhoid fever. Billie came to live with Grandma Walker. She was a dear little girl with brown curly hair. I grew to be very fond of her. She spent many Sunday afternoons riding in a buggy with her Uncle Weaver Smith and his girlfriend, 'Miss Castle.'

Weaver Smith and Fannie Castle were married and established a home in Red Fork, then a suburb of Tulsa. Billie spent many vacation trips with us. Mrs. Walker would come down on the Santa Fe R.R. to Tulsa and I would meet them and we would eat at Bishop's on South Main (It was then Tulsa's Best) and see all the movies at the Ritz, Majestic & Rialto. We had many happy times together. In 1916-1917 we saw all the 'old movies' that came to Collinsville. We had a horse & buggy at our disposal and Saturday saw us in Collinsville for lunch and ready for the 'Perils of Pauline' at the 1 o'clock show.

Mrs. Walker was an excellent cook. She taught me how to make Lemon Meringue Pie that is unexcelled. I shall never forget her flaky hot biscuits and homemade strawberry jam and homemade butter.

Lizzie Whitmore Walker and Granddaughter Billie hold a big place in my memory. 

The Jimmie Walker family lived around Cave Springs Ark. Jimmie Walker was Billie Smith Byars' grandfather. He had 2 brothers and 1 sister -- Oscar and Alex Walker were her uncles. The Walkers were the Drug Store owners at Cave Springs for many generations. Jimmie Walker is buried in this area. He died December 4, 1918." [She might have the date confused with Pearcy's death date, which was December 4, 1916.]

Facts my grandmother corroborated or got almost right:

• Mrs. Walker had a brother named Andrew and a sister named Ella.
• She was married to James (Jimmie) Walker and had four children: Daisy, "Red" (who must be Alonzo), Fern, and Pearcy.
• She boarded with Pearcy and his wife, Mandy. (Years later, I was discouraged from naming my unborn child--who turned out to be a boy--Amanda. My grandmother said all she could think of was Amanda Walker, who was a big-boned, country girl, and she didn't want that for her granddaughter's name.) Pearcy and Mandy's marriage license shows her maiden name to be Birdsell, and I found the Birdsells living next door to the Walkers in Rogers County, OK, in 1910. I don't know what happened to Mandy and Pete after Pearcy's death.
• She got marriage dates wrong. The Walkers married in 1879, not the 1890's. Owen and Fern married in 1912, not 1914 or 15.
• The Walkers lived in Elm Springs, not Cave Springs. However, Mr. and Mrs. Walker did marry in Benton County, Arkansas, the same county where Cave Springs is located. There was a brother named Oscar. 
• If I were a betting woman, I would say that the James N. Walker buried in Tontitown with a death date of 1922 is our guy. I think it's significant that he isn't buried with Mrs. Walker, Fern, and Pearcy, who are buried in Collinsville. My grandmother also mentioned the fact that he was buried somewhere else; she just got the place and date wrong.

My grandmother used to tease me about my need to follow the rules; in this case, making sure all the dates and places are correct and documented. She was more in the school of "close enough is good enough." You also have to remember that she was writing down these "facts" at least 60 years after they happened, and she didn't have Ancestry.com, where all the names, dates, and places are at your fingertips. But isn't it great to imagine all of them driving down the brick streets of Collinsville in a horse and buggy to go to the "picture show"?

To genealogists reading this post: While you're filling out your family tree and keeping meticulous records, remember to add some "fun facts" about yourself and the ancestors you remember. To family members--maybe yet to come--those stories will mean more than all the names and dates in the world.