Mam-ma's Southern Family

Reuben M. Johnston, my 2x-great-grandfather, was born 18 April 1841 in Alabama and died 4 May 1824. This information is clearly written on the tombstone in Hazeldell Cemetery in Comanche County, Texas, where he lived since the late 1870s. [1] Before Comanche County, he lived in Titus County, Texas, where he registered to vote and pay taxes. [2] Hazeldell Cemetery, Gustine, Texas photo by author 1870s In 1870, he was thirty years old and a farmer. He lived with Catharine, who was nineteen, and Samuel M, who was four months old, born in February of that year. He had no real estate listed. [3] He paid tax on a horse in 1868, [4] 1869, [5] and 1870. [6] By 1871, he owned 80 acres of land valued at $160. [7] No record has been found of the marriage to Catharine, most likely due to the Titus County courthouse fire in 1895 that destroyed all records. [8] He moved to Comanche County sometime in the 1870s. Catharine must have died before 1879, as Reuben married Olivia on 23 December 18...

When my maternal great-grandmother (Lela Ann)’s brother, Hutts Loveless, died on 23 May 1898, he was 104 years old. [1] His birth was recorded on 1 September 1943 as 1 March 1894, to Ebby Loveless and Elzy Rodgers, both living near Greenbrier, Faulkner County, Arkansas. [2] He worked as a farmer in Erath and Lubbock counties until 1949, when he moved to Fort Worth. [3] He worked as a produce manager in retail grocery, working 72 hours a week. Luckily, he was asked extra questions in the 1950 census, revealing that he didn’t live in the current house a year ago. What experience did he have to get this job at age 56? They had three children: Dorothy Nell (1916-2008), Royce Braswell “Buck” (1918-1988), and Erwin Marl (1920-2008). Because my grandmother’s parents had siblings who also married, these children of Hutts were my grandmother’s double cousins. Several newspaper articles were written about Hutts and his wife. They celebrated their 50th Anniversary in 1965, while living in...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again -  Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1) Which of your ancestors or relatives have you NOT found in the Census records and what have you done or are doing to try to find that person? Can AI help? 2)  Identify one or more of your ancestors that are inexplicably missing from one or more census collections.  Why do you think they were not enumerated? Thank you to Marian B. Wood for this SNGF idea. Here's mine: In 1900, I should be able to locate my great-grandfather, George Warren Lancaster, and my 2x-great-grandparents, William Carlton “Carl” & Martha Jane “Dollie” Lancaster, in Erath County, Texas. George would have been 7 years old. His brother, Willie, 5, and sister, Josephine, 3, would also be in the household. The next daughter, Margaret, was born in August 1900. I have searched using all kinds of name variations. I have searched l...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again -  Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1) We all have many names (given, middle, surname, nickname) in our ancestry, whether we know all of them or not. 2)  Do you have "A Name That Runs in Your Family?" Is there a first name — or nickname — that keeps repeating generation after generation in your tree? Share the name, the pattern, and your best guess as to why it stuck. Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for this idea. Here's mine: I have ten instances of the name Dempsey in my grandmother's line. The earliest named Dempsey that I have found is Dempsey Welch , supposedly born in 1725 in Virginia, and husband of Priscilla Perry, who was born in 1731 in North Carolina. I have not yet researched this family personally, but a proposed father of Dempsey was Jacob Welch, but there is no wife. Could she have...

My grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster Johnston, had many leisure activities.  When she was young, just married, she played on a softball team.  She sewed her own clothes. She spent time fishing with my grandfather, Tom Johnston Jr. After he died, she took up tennis. And then bowling, way into her 90s. Finally, after she had to slow down, she took up crocheting and embroidering. She enjoyed her leisure time. #52Ancestors: Week 28 – Leisure Time This is my ninth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow ( https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/ ) at Generations Cafe . I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past . I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. Copyright © 2011-2026 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family, All rights reserved.