Wordless Wednesday

From 1998 - 2014 we communicated off and on and lived one county over from each other. This past December, we finally met each other. She, is Pat Freeman, 2nd great granddaughter of Matthew Hosch, the last owner of my 2nd great grandmother, Matilda Hosch, and my great grandfather, Barto Hosch.

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This picture is from the the personal collection of the owner of this blog.

Wordless Wednesday - My First Research Trip

Probate Records, Walton County, GA

The picture is part of the personal collection of the owner of this blog and was taken on 15 Nov. 2010 during my trip to Monroe, Walton, GA probate court.



Wordless Wednesday

This is a picture of me and my big cousin, Ann, who was also one of my early baby sitters. This picture was taking at our grandparents' house ca 1962.

I recently discovered Ann's been reading my blog. Partly because of that but more so because she's having health issues, I've been thinking about this picture a lot lately. Hoping that Ann gets a chance to see it and that it brings a smile to her face.

The picture used for this post is part of the personal collection of the owner of this blog.

Wordless Wednesday

Uncle Melvin Hosch and my first cousin Michael from back in the day. Uncle Melvin celebrated his 96th birthday earlier this month.

This picture is from the personal collection of O. Jones.

Wordless Wednesday + Learning New Tasks

The weekend of July 23 - 25, 2010 was the annual celebration of the descendants of my my maternal great grandparents, Cornelius Pierce and Fannie White Pierce. Yours truly actually did a brief presentation on some unknowns about my great grandfather. As part of my presentation I put together a collage using pictures I had on hand of my ancestors and relatives. This was my first attempt at doing this and it was fairly simple to do using Paint. And today, I finally got around to teaching myself how to add a watermark, which I figured out how to do using PhotoBucket.

And here's the finished product.

I think it turned out rather nice. What do you think?

The pictures used to create this collage are part of the personal collections of L. Hosch Evans, O. Hosch Jones, and the owner of this blog. 

Wordless Wednesday

Some of my first cousins visiting with Aunt Lucille.

Do the hairstyles and attire tell you what time period it was?

From the personal collection of L. Hosch Evans.

Wordless Wednesday

My first cousin, Vera, had this tote bag made for mom and her remaining siblings (Uncle Melvin, Aunt Lue, and Aunt Frances) for the 2008 Pierce reunion. The names you see under their pictures are their nicknames.


This picture is from the collection of the owner of this blog.

Wordless Wednesday - Who is She?

Is this the infamous half sister, Mattie Henyard Martin, that only my grandmother seem to know about and thus only our line of my great grandparents descendants have ever heard about?

According to Little Irene, which is what mom and I both call our new found cousin, this picture hung on her grandmother Irene Martin Richardson's wall. There are no dates or names on the picture. Little Irene says some of the family says it's her grandmother's mother and others say that it's her grandmother's grandmother.

Both my mother and aunt Lucille recall seeing a picture of their Aunt Mattie but it's been so long ago that neither can say for sure whether the person in this picture resembles the person in the picture they remember seeing so many years ago.

This week, I talked with cousin Irene about trying to use the power of the internet to try to determine who the lady in this picture is. Both of us figured what have we got to lose. So, we are hopeful that somebody out there sees and recognizes this picture and can tell us who this pretty lady is.

Wordless Wednesday

My first cousin, Bridie Ruth Hosch, in her younger days

From the personal collection of L. Evans

Wordless Wednesday

First Hosch Family Reunion ca early 1960s

From the personal collection of O. Hosch Jones

Wordless Wednesday

The Whipping Tree

From the personal collection of M. Jones, the owner of this blog.

From the personal collection of F. Mathis, owner of MyNolaHeritage

The pictures are from my trip to Savannah, GA this past weekend where I met geneabuds Luckie Daniels, Felicia Mathis, and Sandra Taliaferro. The dark marks that you see on the trees are a present day reminder of the brutality of the chattel slavery system. They are where the leather whip that was used to "discipline" a slave sliced into the bark of the tree as well as the skin.

Wordless Wednesday

Morris Brown College - Class of 1950

From the personal collection of O. Jones

This is a picture of my mother's graduating class. My mother is fourth from the right on the front row.

Due to some shinanigans with their yearbook funds, I believe this picture is all there was for the class of 1950. At the time, my grandfather couldn't afford to get mom a yearbook or a picture. I vaguely remember mom aquiring this copy of her class picture from a classmate, and it is the only picture I ever remember my mother having a custom frame made for.

Wordless Wednesday - Wedding Day

Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Knox

From the collection of O. Jones

This is a my oldest aunt, Elmira "Marie" Hosch Knox on her wedding day.

Momma often called Aunt Marie her second momma. When they were growing up, Aunt Marie, who was 16 years older than mom and was the oldest, was often left in charge. Mom hated that when they were children but in their adult years, especially in Aunt Marie's later years, there always seem to be this special bond between them. By the way, Aunt Marie's wedding dress was made by none other than her little sister, my momma.

Until Next Time!

Wordless Wednesday - Isn't she Beautiful

Grand Aunt, Effie Irene Pierce Jackson

1893 - 1951

My grandmother's sister

Scanned from 2006 Pierce Family Reunion Program

Wordless Wednesday

From the personal collection of P. Hardin

Also located with the Jackson County GA Historical Society

Was he grandmom Matilda's nephew?

Until Next Time!

Wordless Wednesday

From http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/poster/09poster_lowres.jpg

Wordless Wednesday - The Unknown Babies - Who are They?

From the collection of Lucille Hosch Evans.

Not So Wordless Wednesday - Private Wheeler Sharp

Pvt. Wheeler Sharp

1895 - 1971

Aunt Lucille, finally let me have access to some of her pictures, which included some picture postcards she had retrived from my grandparent's trunk after my granddad's death (1978). This was one of those. Luckily for me, a couple had names written on the back.

Back of Picture Postcard of Wheeler Sharp

As we were going through the pictures, my aunt said that this was some of momma's people but I don't know how they were related. So, we have the beginning's of another mystery on grandmom's side of the family.

First, a few things of interest that I noted about the writing on the back of the picture.

• 
  
  It was noted that Pvt. Wheeler died in 1977 (he actually died in 1971). My grandmother died in 1966 so obviously she didn't record this. My grandfather died in 1978 but that doesn't look like his handwriting and by this point in time, my grandfather's mind wasn't what it used to be anyway. The writing sort of looks like Aunt Lucille's but I can't imagine her spelling Cincinnati like that. So, who noted Pvt. Wheeler's death and how did they find out he died?
• 
  
  There appears to be 3 different handwritings on the back. There is the barely visible recording of the Wheller Sharp name near the top, the person who seem to know him as Bubba and recorded his death and where living / died, and then the much more visible Priv Wheller Sharp.

Well, I started doing a bit of research on Priv. Wheeler Sharp and here's what I can tell you

• In 1920, he lived in Walton County, GA. He lived a couple of houses away from my grand aunt Effie Pierce Jackson and her family. He was married and had no children
• In 1930, he was living in Cleveland County, NC. Yes, the same area my grandparents migrated to as well as a few more of the relatives. In fact, in 1930 he was living beside another set of cousins, the Durdens. I still have not determined how the Durdens are related.
• Sometime after 1930, he migrated to OH.
• And if you remember my almost cousin, Stella, Priv. Sharp, if related, represents another shared line with Stella.

I decided to order of copy of Pvt. Wheeler's SS5 application to determine who his parents were and how he might be related. Have also contacted Stella regarding Priv. Wheeler's children. Are they still living? Does she have contact with them? Etc. Etc.

While I patiently wait for the requested item, I'll continue to see what I can find out about Priv. Wheeler, as well as continue to work on my Hosch ancestral line.

Until next time!

Wordless Wednesday - Mother and Son

One of the benefits and joys of doing this blog has been my mother and I sitting down and looking through old pictures. Some I've seen before and it's like I'm seeing them again for the first time and other's I just don't recall seeing before although my mother has had them all along. This picture would fall into the latter category. This is a picture of my grandmother, Mary Pierce Hosch, and my Uncle Willie Felton Hosch. Uncle Willie is one of many Willies on the Hosch side of my family but was named after my grandmother's brother, Willie Felton. One of the reasons I like this picture is the illusion it creates. It's not that Uncle Willie was that tall but that grandmom was that short (under 5').

Until Next Time!

Wordless Wednesday - Green Bethel High School, Class of 1945

This is a picture of my mother's graduating class. My mother is the shortest, smallest person on the front row. (She only weighed 95lbs when she headed off to college. Too bad I didn't take after her.) Can you guess who her best friend might have been? Hint: She's on the front row and stands in stark contrast to mom.

Two of mom's teachers were still living during my lifetime. One, Ms. Ball, standing directly behind mom, use to come visit us all the time. I think mom must have been one of her favorite students.

Updated on 09/20/09 - Mom corrected me. She was in the class of 1945 instead of 1944, so there was a small correction to the title of this post.