52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy, Week 11 - Illness and Injury

Week 11: Illness and Injury. Describe your childhood illnesses or injuries. Who took care of you? Did you recuperate in your own bed, on the couch in front of the television, or somewhere else?

This challenge runs from Saturday, March 12, 2011 through Friday, March 18, 2011.

I was rarely ever sick as a child. I never had any of the usual childhood diseases for my era. You read that right, no chickenpox, no measles, and no mumps. Even when mom thought I had finally contracted chickenpox or measles in junior high, it turned out not to be the case. To this day, I've not experienced the delight of those childhood diseases, and I definitely don't want to experience them at this point in my life.

While I rarely ever got sick, whenever I did it tended to be weird stuff. First there was the aforementioned time that mom thought I had the measles or chickenpox. That episode was one of the few times I got to stay home from school due to illness. You see as only the second generation that really had a chance for education and with both of my parents being teachers, I didn't get to stay home for any and every little thing and I have the perfect attendance awards to prove it.

Back to the suspected measles or chickenpox. After two days of being home and feeling like my head was going to explode with every move I made, mom finally hauled me off to the doctor. The verdict was we don't know what it is but it's definitely not the measles or chickenpox. In college, I would have a similar episode minus the pounding headache and again, it wasn't measles, chicken pox, or the shingles, which my best friend and roommate thought it was. Years later I learned since I had never had chicken pox, there was no way it could have been shingles.

What other strange things have happened? Constipation. Yes, that's another you read that right. Constipation in an of itself isn't terribly bad except in my case, I had two episodes in my young life (elementary school) that if the folks hadn't called the doctor, I probably wouldn't be here now to tell you about them. The first episode was the worst. None of the usual remedies (enemas, laxatives, prune juice, Castor Oil) worked. The main thing I remember is being in my bed for days, not wanting to eat, and whenever I did it would just come right back up. After about two days of this, my parents were worried and for some reason I remember dad being more worried than mom. My doctor basically lived at the end of our street and came almost as soon as mom called. Without being graphic, let's just say that the blockage was removed with my doctor's assistance. He told my folks that it was a good thing they called when they did and that none of the usual things would have ever worked. After my second near fatal episode, I was sent to the hospital for x-rays to see if there was anything wrong. My doctor told the folks there was nothing wrong and that I was just being lazy. How dare he? Anyway just in case (I think my doctor was already tired of removing the blockages), I was put on a prescription for the problem for the remainder of elementary school years after which I never endured another episode of near fatal constipation. As added precaution, mom also made sure I had a tablespoon of Castor Oil each morning as well as a glass of prune juice each day.

Outside of my usual bouts with colds and the accompanying bronchitis, which I still have to deal with, there were no other serious illnesses that I remember from my childhood.

As far as injuries, I had the usual dings and scrapes that come with being a child but nothing like broken bones. I think the worst was when I jammed my thumb when daddy was trying to teach me how to roller skate.

So there you have it, an almost idealistic childhood from an illness and injury standpoint.

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52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy is hosted by Geneabloggers and was created by Amy Coffin of The We Tree Genealogy Blog.

I've Been Recognized

To all my loyal readers and to all those who voted for Georgia Black Crackers,

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Georgia Black Crackers has been recognized as one of Family Tree Magazine 2011 40 Best Genealogy Blogs.

I now know how Grammy award winners feel, because I have a range of emotions. I'm thrilled, ecstatic, honored, speechless, and humbled by the recognition. I wonder if the other 39 blogs that were recognized feel the same gamut of emotions?

Once again, thank you for the recognition and be sure to check out the other blogs that were recognized.

Photo Op With Tony Burroughs

Yesterday, Robin Foster, Saving Stories and About Our Freedom, and I attended Tony Burroughs' presentation,  Finding Your History, at the Hughes Main Library of the Greenville County, SC library system. Following the afternoon session,  I got my trusty copy of Black Roots signed by Mr. Burroughs, then Robin, her friend Carla, and I had our picture taking with Mr. Burroughs.

Robin and I discovered that we only live an hours drive from each other. So something tells me we will be seeing each other often.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History - Week 5, Favorite Food

Week 5: Favorite Food. What was your favorite food from childhood? If it was homemade, who made it? What was in this dish, and why was it your favorite? What is your favorite dish now?

This challenge runs from Saturday, January 29, 2011 through Friday, February 4, 2011.


One of my favorite foods is an Almond Joy candy bar. The Almond Joy candy bar was one of my mom's favorite candy bars / snacks, which is how it became one of mine. It was always a special treat that mom bought for the two of us at the end of a long day of running errands, etc. What was and still is so special about Almond Joy was the fact that it was like getting two candy bars in one, so I got a candy bar and mom got a candy bar, too. They were just the right size for having a special treat that wouldn't "spoil my dinner." The other thing that made it so special was the bond it helped forge between me and my mother. To this day, Almond Joy is still probably our favorite candy bar.

The picture of the Almond Joy candy was obtained from the Hershey website.

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52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy is hosted by Geneabloggers and was created by Amy Coffin of The We Tree Genealogy Blog.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Do Some Random Research

This weeks Saturday Night Genealogy Fun exercise from Randy Seaver, Genea-Musings, is

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to follow Chris Staats' rules (from Freaky Friday: Random Research Reports) for picking a random person's name and then doing some online research about that person. Here are Chris's rules:

1. Go to The Random Name Generator and click the red “Generate Name” button at the top of the screen
2. Go to Ancestry.com and enter your generated name in the search box on the main search page. [Randy's add: If you don't have Ancestry.com, go to http://www.familysearch.org// and do it there - it's free.]
3. From the results, your research target will be the first census result for your generated name.
4. Using whatever online resources are at your disposal, see what else you can discover about your random person and write about it. It can be a formal report complete with footnotes, or just a “research story” about what you tried, problems you overcame, or success you had. Maybe you want to create a research plan for practice?
5. Post about it on your blog or wherever you wish, and link here to tell Chris about it. Tell Randy about it too as a comment here or a comment on Facebook or Twitter.

The first name the Random Name Generator generated, Efren McDaniel, didn't produce a result, so I generated a second name, Gloria Bennett.

The first Gloria Bennett that showed on Ancestry was from the 1930 United States census. Gloria M. Bennett is listed in the household of G. Clark Bennet, her husband. She is a white female. Her estimated year of birth is 1889. She was born in California. Her father was born in England and her mother in California. She resides in Chico, Butte, California.

In addition, there is a possible previous marriage as there is an Edith V. Wanless, step-daughter, listed in the household of G. Clark Bennett. (Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Chico, Butte, California; Roll: 112; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 11; Image: 1042.0.)

Additional information:

1920 Census - Enumerated as Georgie M Bennett and listed in the household of Clark Bennett, husband. Her estimated year of birth is 1888. She was born in California. Her father was born in England and her mother in California. She resides in Chico, Butte, California.

Here, Edith, Mr. Bennett's step-daughter, is enumerated as Edith V. Philips. (Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Chico, Butte, California; Roll: T625_94; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 22; Image: 106.)

One World Tree® via Ancestry

• Born 13 Jan 1887 as Georgia May James
• Father: Georgia Marion James
• Mother: Canzanda Isabella Hicks
• Died 25 Aug 1966
• Married George Clark Bennett 9 Aug 1910

Tree source citations are as follows:

Title: California Death Index 1940 - 1997

Author: Ancestry.com
Repository:
Note: Internet
Media: Book

Title: Butte County Index to Marriage Certificates
Author: Paradise Genealogical Society, Paradise, Butte, CA
Repository:
Media: Book
Page: 15

Tombstone Tuesday

Mattie Henyard Martin

25 March 1885 - 18 October 1918

Harris-Jones Cemetery, Walton County, GA

Mattie was my maternal grandmother's older half sister. Per conversations with my Cousin Irene, Cousin Ovella, Mattie's daughter, had this tombstone placed at her mother's grave many years after Mattie had passed.

The picture of my grand aunt's tombstone was obtained via photo request at FindaGrave. 



Surname Saturday

Confirmation of a Surname, a Marriage, and Family Lore

While I regroup and decide on my next plan of attack in trying to determine the last slave owner of my 2nd great grandparents, Jasper and Jane Pierce, I thought I would briefly revisit my great grandmother Fannie.

Since I’ve not written about Grandma Fannie in awhile, some of the basic background with regard to her various surnames is as follows:

Henry – This is the surname handed down by my grandmother concerning her mother’s maiden name.

White – This was the surname handed down by grandmom’s siblings, Ossie, Evelina, and Roy. Prior to 2009, I had never heard of the White surname.

Sanford – This was the surname that the descendants of my grandmother’s older half sister knew Grandma Fannie as.

Amazingly, I’m slowly confirming all of my great grandmother’s surnames.

First there was the White surname. This was Grandma Fannie’s surname at the time she married my great grandfather, Cornelius Pierce, in 1889. I wrote about this discovery in 2009.

During my research trip to Walton County, GA probate court (November 2010), I was finally able to confirm the Sanford surname when I found the marriage certificate for one Fannie Pierce and B. F. Sanford. I do wish that GA marriage certificates gave more information but based on research to date as well as the stories handed down by my grandmother and other descendants, I’m confident that this is my great grandmother and that she married B. F. Sanford after the death of my great grandfather.

To repeat the story handed down from grandmom, after Cornelius died, Great Grandma Fannie had stated that she was not going to marry again because of how great granddad had treated her. (Based on family stories, I think Great Grandpa Cornelius was a ladies man.). However, not too long after Cornelius’ death (14 May 1910), there was some man hanging around and Great Grandma proceeded to try to get her girls married off. However, grandma never did complete the story and never divulged this new man’s name or even if Fannie remarried although I guess it’s sort of implied. Years latter, and after my grandmother had passed, we learned of the Sanford surname when some of Grand Aunt Mattie’s children came to visit.

So, this only leaves one surname to prove or disprove and of the three, it’s the one that presents the biggest challenge and yet, based on family lore, and circumstantial evidence I believe it existed, too and while I’ll continue to try to find Grandma Fannie via the White surname, my gut still keeps telling me it’s the Henry or versions there of that will help me to locate her prior to 1889.

The picture of the marriage license for my Great Grandmother to B. F. Sanford was taken on November 15, 2010 by the owner of this blog. The marriage license is located in Book K, page 124, Walton County, GA Marriage Records, Colored.

Motivation Monday - Can I Apply FlyLady Methods to Genealogy?

I along with a lot of my fellow genealogists / geneabloggers have organization as one of our main goals for 2011. This, along with Weight Loss, always seems to be at the top of my list of goals for each year.

In order to meet this goal in life and in genealogy, one thing I’ve decided to do at the start of 2011 is revisit the FlyLady method / principles of organization. Several years ago, when I applied the Flylady to my everyday life, the methods / principles seemed to have an effect on me. But since I have a tendency to get bored, easily, I ended up dropping it and have been struggling ever since. So today, I’m recommitting to applying the FlyLady principles / methods in all aspects of my life including genealogy.

The FlyLady method is fairly simple; it’s just a matter of doing it. In fact, I think a lot of what she says is just common sense but it sure helps to have a bit of nudging, instructions, and motivation from her and the rest of the FlyBabies.

As I reacquaint myself with FlyLady and get back in the grove, I’ll discuss how I’m incorporating FlyLady into my genealogical organization efforts.

Household Chore 1 – Shine Your Sink

Under the FlyLady system, shining your sink is the first household chore. Why is this the first chore? As FlyLady explains it, if you’ve struggled as long as some of us have in this area, you need to feel a sense of accomplishment. When I did this years ago, I really didn’t think she knew what she was talking about but surprisingly that little accomplishment lead to more and more.

So, how do I plan to make this fit a specific chore in genealogy? This one’s an easy one. Instead of shining my sink, I’ll be shining my desks.

Sentimental Sunday - Star Search Contestant

Approximately 23 years ago, there was a little girl with a big voice that appeared on Star Search.

1988




Well, that little girl, who is my 2nd cousin once removed, is all grown up now and still singing her heart out.

May 2010



The videos of my cousin were obtained via Youtube.