Sentimental Sunday - 2016 Perkins Family Reunion (June 17 - 19)

Wow, it's hard to belief that it's already been a month since I posted about my mother and I being excited about heading off to Arkansas to meet the descendants of my Great Grand Aunt, Penny Rome Perkins. As a reminder, Aunt Penny was my grandfather's, Oscar Lucillous "LC" Hosch, aunt and the younger sister of his mother (my Great Grandmother), Sallie Rome Hosch Coleman.

Outside of hearing about my Great, Great Grandparents (Wyatt and Alice Rome) and Granddad's Aunt, by marriage, Mamie Rome, and granddad's first cousin, Henry Rome, I don't ever remember hearing much about other relatives on the Rome side of the family. But thanks to old fashioned research as well as the Internet, I was able to determine what happened to this branch of the tree and have written about this previously.

While at the family reunion and also via the family's family reunion site, I learned that my Great Grand Aunt and her family ended up in Arkansas thanks to her father-in-law, Bill Perkins. Bill was born into slavery in Georgia. After emancipation, Bill saved then traveled to Arkansas where he purchased 40 acres of land and set up a grist and saw mill. Arkansas was selected because Bill had heard things were better in Arkansas than they were in Georgia. At some point in time, Bill became ill and sent for his son, Wesley Perkins, Aunt Penny's husband. Bill died in 1917, leaving all his assets to his son Wesley and as they say, the rest is history.

Via blogging, as well as Ancestry, I've had contact with several of Aunt Penny's descendants during the past 5+ years. So, as stated in my previous post, when mom and I found out about the 2016 Perkins Family Reunion. we just needed to go, even though it was on the same weekend as the Hosch Family Reunion.

So without further ado, here is a short pictorial story of mom and I meeting our cousins for the first time.

My mother meeting her 2nd cousin, Willie "Bam" Perkins for the first time at the Friday Meet and Greet. I have an entire other post that I need to dedicate to Cousin Willie "Bam". Seems that he is an famous Walmart Greeter.

Willie's father, Willie "Lane" Perkins, would have been my grandfather's first cousin.

Cousin Regina, who I also met at the meet and greet is my 3rd cousin 1X removed. Her dad was my 3rd cousin. Cousin Regina was funny. When I asked her who she was, she started spouting off all these names that I had never heard of. I had to slow her down and explain, who we were and that we didn't know them, yet.

Saturday, at the picnic at Perkins Park (part of the 40 acres that Bill Perkins purchased), we met even more cousins (some we actually met on Friday but I don't have any pictures of them from the Friday Meet and Greet).

Mom meeting her 2nd cousin Troy Perkins and his wife. I've been in contact with cousin Troy's sister, Viola, for several years. Cousin Viola is the one who passed on the information to us about the 2016 Perkins Family Reunion. Unfortunately, Cousin Viola was not able to attend, so I didn't get a chance to meet her in person which also means I don't have any pictures of her.

Mom and her 2nd cousin, Essie Mae

Cousin Essie Mae's sister, Unfortunately, I keep forgetting her name.

Cousin Essie Mae and her children, who would be my 3rd cousins

Cousin Kirk Perkins and his sister, Annette Perkins  Jones. They are my 3rd cousins. Cousin Kirk was one of the organizers and requested that I do a short speech on how I connected with / found this branch of my family tree.

Cousin Rhea, the oldest living of Aunt Penny's descendants, mom, and me. Cousin Rhea is mom's 2nd cousin.

This is cousin Dawn, my 3rd cousin 1X removed, and yours truly. Cousin Dawn and I have been in communication for several years through Ancestry. She is cousin Essie's granddaughter and agreed to help me procure her grandmother's DNA. Yes I came to the family reunion equipped.

Pictures of Aunt Penny's husband and 9 of her 11 children. Sadly, there was no picture of Aunt Penny. Looking at the pictures of my grandfather's first cousins I could see the family resemblance. Several of my cousins would tell me that I looked like someone and mom and I were doing the same.

At the banquet on Saturday night, I connected with another one of Aunt Penny's descendants, Carissa Davis, who I had recently met online through Ancestry.

That's me in the middle and Cousin Carissa on the right.

Unfortunately, the great time we were having had to come to an end. So while the others headed off to church on the final day, Sunday June 19th, mom and I had a goodbye breakfast with our cousin Vonda Perkins Douglas, one of the organizers of this great event.

By whatever means necessary, mom and I plan and hope to keep in touch with our new to us cousins. And somewhere in heaven, I just know that Great Great Grandpa Wyatt Rome, Great Great Grandma Alice Rome, Great Grandma Sallie Rome Hosch Coleman, Great Grand Aunt Penny Rome Perkins, Granddady Hosch and all of Aunt Penny's children where smiling. Just as I find gratification from finding the ancestors, I think I gain even more gratification from locating and connecting with the living descendants of long forgotten lines.

.......

With the exception of the picture of cousin Carissa and myself, all of the pictures posted are owned by me, the owner of this blog.

The picture of cousin Carissa and myself was obtained through Annette Perkins Jones, via Facebook.

The history of Bill Perkins was obtained orally through the presentation presented on Saturday, June 18th, by Kirk Perkins and via the Perkins Family Reunion Site.

Perkins Family Reunion

In less than a week, my mother and I will get an opportunity to meet, in person, descendants of my grandfather's aunt, Penny Rome Perkins. That makes Aunt Penny my mother's Grand Aunt and my Great Grand Aunt.

I wrote about this branch of my tree way back in 2011, Surname Saturday - Perkins. It's hard to believe 5 years have passed since I wrote that post.

 Anyway, cousin, Viola Perkins Haymore, one of Aunt Penny's granddaughters, forwarded the information about their 2016 family reunion to me. Viola, my mother's 2nd cousin, had invited us to their 2011 / 2012 family reunion, also. But we were unable to make that one. This year both mom and I decided we had to go.

Mom. 87 years young, doesn't know how many more of these opportunities she is going to get and since outside her first cousins, she never really knew anyone on my grandfather's side of the family, she wanted to go.

Mom and I are both excited and from what I understand, our new found cousins are just as excited to meet us. I even have a spot on the program, to give a 5 minute presentation on how I discovered this branch of my family.

In addition to meeting my Perkins cousins, I'm hoping that I'll have an opportunity to explore Little Rock some. I've never been to Arkansas, much less Little Rock. Also hoping to do some along the way exploration as we will be driving instead of flying.

Genealogy Goals for 2012

It's the beginning of another year, and like many I find myself reflecting on the past year and contemplating the future.

I didn't get a lot of genealogical work accomplished in 2011. After dad's death, I struggled to get back on track in so many areas of my life. Every time I felt like I was ready to get back at it, I soon realized that I wasn't and needed more time to morn and deal with this huge void left in my life.

But as the year drew to a close, it was like the petals of the flowers feeling the warmth of the spring sun and little by little the petals are opening back up and leading me to rejoin this game called life. So, I find myself tentatively setting goals for the year.

2012 Goals 

1. Attend 2012 African American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) National conference. The conference is being held in my state this year, so how can I not attend. Looking forward to meeting old friends and making new ones.
2. Work with my Hosch cousins and relatives toward having a family blowout in 2013. Much to be done.
3. Hope to finally get everything organized and make sure citations are up to date, etc.
4. Meet some of my new to me cousins, discovered during the past 3 years. Goals are to meet my cousins "Little" Irene, great granddaughter of Grand Aunt, Mattie Henyard Martin, in July and if things work out, maybe meeting my Perkins cousins, descendants of Great Grand Aunt Penny Rome Perkins.  

Surname Saturday - Perkins

A line in my family tree that I continue to neglect is that of my Rome Ancestors

For the time being, I’m still focusing on trying to penetrate the 1870 brick wall of Jasper and Jane Pierce, 2^nd great grandparents via my maternal grandmother, and the 1870 brick wall of my 3^rd great grandparents, Frank and Venus Everett, via my paternal grandmother. However, when I’ve temporarily exhausted ideas of where to turn next to bring those walls down, I usually begin to focus on other areas of my tree, wondering what became of the various collateral lines.

One of those collateral lines is Great Grand Aunt Penny Rome, my granddad’s, LC Hosch, maternal aunt.

Aunt Penny was one of my Great Grandmother’s, Sally Rome Hosch, younger sisters. Aunt Penny married Wesley (Wes) L. Perkins in Walton County, GA on 22 March 1894.

The 1900 Federal Census, which was the first census after they were married, shows them living in Walton County, GA with the following children: Ruf, Ennis, Wayman, and Maud.

The 1910 Federal Census shows them still to be living in Walton County, GA.

Aunt Penny and Uncle Wes now have nine children: Rufus, Ennis, Wayman, Maud, Calvin, Clifford, Annie, Ophelia, and Ruth M.

After the 1910 census I lose track of Aunt Penny, at least in Walton County, GA, but thanks to Ancestry’s shaking leaves, I’ve long suspected that Aunt Penny migrated to Arkansas. About a year ago, I saw the shaking leaf. My first thoughts were it had to be Aunt Penny. It was just too much of a coincidence that there was a Wesley and Penny Perkins on the 1920 census living in Pulaski County, AR, who were born in GA around the same time as Aunt Penny and her husband Uncle Wesley Perkins and whose children had the exact same names as those listed on the 1900 and 1910 censuses for Walton County, GA and who were also born in GA.

As I focused most of 2010 on trying to bring down those monumental 1870 brick walls on the lines mentioned above, I put Aunt Penny on the back burner. Recently though, my curiosity with regard to Aunt Penny was aroused when I came across another tree on Ancestry that contained the suspected Aunt Penny and unlike a lot of trees I come across on Ancestry, this one actually made sense. As this could possibly be one of my Great Grand Aunt’s descendants, I desperately wanted to make contact, but I needed to be sure that the Penny Perkins that appeared in the 1900 and 1910 censuses in Walton County Georgia was indeed the same Penny Perkins in 1920 Pulaski County Arkansas.

I initially thought about sending away for the SS-5 Application of a Wayman Perkins who died in 1980 in Conway, Faulkner, AR. This could possibly be her son but I decided against ordering the SS-5 and instead went a different route after finding what appeared to be Aunt Penny listed in the Arkansas Death Index. This Penny Perkins died in 1937. As death certificates usually cost less than SS-5 applications, I checked out the Arkansas Department of Health website to get all the particulars on ordering a death certificate. Per the website, death records that are more than 50 years old can be released to the public. Thankfully, this death certificate met the criteria. The cost for a death certificate was $10.00.

When Aunt Penny’s death certificate arrived the week of Sept. 12, 2011, I had literally forgotten about my request for her death certificate. I was excited and didn’t even wait until I got in the house to open the envelope. Sometimes, before you even open an envelope of requested documentation, you just know you’ve scored one for the ancestors. This is how I felt as I ripped open the envelope containing Aunt Penny’s death certificate. Never the less, I still braced myself just in case the information I sought, the names of her parents, was not on the death certificate.

There it is. Her dad is Wyatt Rome. The informant was her son Calvin Perkins. I’m so thankful that Calvin knew the name of his grandfather, my 2^nd great grandfather. I’m also grateful that he saved his 1^st cousin twice removed the expense of having to write for an SS-5 application.

Now that I’ve confirmed the relationship, my next step is to contact the owner of the tree, and try to connect with this forgotten / unknown branch of the tree. Hopefully, I’ll finally be able to record a successful reaching out experience. So far, I’ve not had much success in this department. Wish me luck.