Thursday, June 30, 2016

Treasure Chest Thursday



These were given to me by mom. She made a turkey in this pan every year. She also used it throughout the year for other things. I remember her getting the roaster and this turkey platter at a Five and Dime store when I was young. We shopped for everything there.  She gave me these after she stopped cooking because I was the only one of the kids that would ever use them.  And yes I did. My husband and I use to make the holiday dinners and have my parents over. They enjoyed coming because I was the only one of the girls to to have family gatherings.

~Trish~

Those Places Thursday



While doing research on my father's mother's dad, James Harve Smith born 23 OCT 1879 Knox County, Tennessee and died 13 JUL 1959 Clarendon, Donley, Texas I discovered that there were still Smith family living in Stony, Texas. So.... I said to my husband, lets take a little drive. Harve Smith was someone my dad always talked about, aka..."Grandpa Harve". My great grandmother, Josie Mosier had been married to Harve just a short time and they had 3 girls , the oldest being my grandmother, and a infant son who died young. Josie divorced Harve and late re-married to a Funderburg brother of my dad's dad. But trying to locate Harve while doing research has been a hard  hill to climb. Finally I did get a breakthrough and I found that he later had lived in and around the towns of Decatur and Ponder Texas. So we took a drive up there and asked some questions of a lady out in her yard. She made a phone call to one of the Smith's who lived in this tiny area. We were invited to their home. We located this fence along the road going into Stony and took a few pictures. After talking and telling all I knew of my Smith side and getting info and photos of their Smith side, I was told that this fence was on property of another Smith relative. I did not get a chance to stop and talk to these people. The building here was an old store that sat just down the road at one time but was bought by this relative and moved onto his property and he has been adding all these  old saw blades, horseshoes, wheels and whole lot of stuff to it.  Love the old windmill. Love to photograph them.


~Trish~


Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Wordless Wednesday


My mysterious Great Grandpa, George Washington Willis. Born 10 NOV 1865 Mississippi and died 5 OCT 1941 Monroe, Ouachita, Louisiana. Great Grandma Sarah Jane White born 28 AUG 1875 Winfield, Winn Parish, Louisiana and died 3 MAY 1965 San Jose, Santa Clara, California.  Married 25 Sept 1894Mineola, Wood, Texas. These are my mother's, mother's, parents. Grandpa, your birthplace is unknown for certain because almost every census gives a different state, however, your youngest son's death certificate says Mississippi.  I have four census and they each give a different state! Are you trying to be elusive for me? Supposedly........Sarah had one son prior to her marriage to George out of wedlock. Or so goes the stories that were told to cousins when we were growing up. The story goes that "Granny Willis" met and fell in love with a married man, got pregnant and then he would not leave his wife. So she married George, possibly under protest. They married, had a family. He raised the oldest boy, Jack Brady,  as if he were his own. That's him behind George. We were always told she was mean and spiteful to her husband George so I can only imagine that you  must have been a ball to live with. Anyway many years later and a few great grandchildren later who do genealogy, we find that that was a story that you most likely made up. And little did you  know that in 1910 you  revealed the truth yourself!!! There it is, the census record shows that you  both had had a previous marriage. Granny, how could you lie about it.  I will always be searching the family tree for any clues. And though I have not found the marriage record for either one of the marriages for you or Grandpa Willis, YET, I will not quit. So thank you for telling the truth in 1910 and for not lying to the census taker. As for Grandpa, I will keep digging until I can locate his birthplace and his parents.....

As far as John Wiley "Jack" Brady,  I have tracked down his real father through the U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index. Shows his father as Kelley Brady and his mother as Sarah White.  His birth date and his birth place, Munroe, Ouachita,  Louisiana, match up.

~Trish~