Mam-ma's Southern Family

As I think about my grandmother on her birthday, I remember that she had been so active with sports after my grandfather died and after she retired from working. She played tennis with friends and bowled in a league. Often when I visited she had tennis matches on the television. She attended many women's tennis matches held at the Oakland Coliseum. I can't remember if I ever played with her. I was so busy with work at the time. Here is a photo of her and her friend, Evelyn at a local tennis court in Pleasanton in 1985. She was 72 years old! I hope I'm still that fit. Copyright © 2017 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has another great meme this week. Our mission this week is to: 1)  The Family History Hound listed 20 Questions about your Ancestor, and I'm going to use some of them in the next few months.  2)  Please answer the question - "Which ancestor gives you the most researching grief?" 3)  Write your own blog post, make a comment on this post, or post  your answer on Facebook or Google+.  Please leave a link to your answer in comments on this post. My Answer  My nemesis is Samuel Johnston, my 3x great-grandfather, who was born about 1816 in South Carolina and died before 1869 in Titus County, Texas. I do have two census records for him: 1850 and 1860 in Yalobusha County, Mississippi, where he appeared with wife, Elizabeth, and children, Isabella, Reuben, Lovina/Laura, George W(ashington), Madison J, David, and Sarah A (1860 only). [1]    I also have tax records in Yalobusha County and a voter...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has a new assignment for us. Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is to: 1)  Julie Goucher, on her Anglers Rest blog, has a long-running weekly blog theme called The Book Of Me.  One of her weekly prompts is about Technology.  We'll use that this week! 2)  For this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - please address these issues: What technology changes did your ancestors see? What technology changes have you seen? Did your family own one of those early changes? - such as television Do you like or dislike technology? What do you think has been the best technological change in your lifetime and historically? 3)  Answer the questions, and share your work on your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or on Facebook or Google+. I have written several of Julie Goucher’s The Book of Me prompts, but had skipped this one. The meme seemed a bit overwhelming to me. So today I’ll focu...

Janice Sellers nominated my blog for the Blogger Recognition Award. Thank you very much! This award also has some rules to follow: FOLLOWING THE RULES Apparently there are a few “rules” for those who accept the award: Thank the blogger who nominated me. Write a post to show the award. Write a brief story on how my blog started. Share two pieces of advice for new bloggers. Nominate seven other bloggers for this award. Comment on each of their blogs to let them know they have been nominated for this award and provide a link to this post. I have thanked Janice here and will do so again personally. How I Got Started On January 15, 2011, I attended a class at the California Genealogical Society led by Craig Siulinski to learn all the ropes to start a blog. I had spoken with him previously about it and was rattling around an idea in my head before coming to the class. So I had an idea and a title, and with Craig's help in setting up a blog in Blogger, it got started. I ...

My maternal grandfather, Tom J. Johnston, Jr. passed away on  11 July 1973.  He was only sixty years old. He died of cor pulmonale due to advanced pulmonary emphysema. [1] He had been a life-long smoker. He was survived by his wife, Pansy L. Johnston, his daughter, Lela Nell Hork, his sisters, Beryl Russell and Mildred Bay, and six grandchildren. [2] Tom had been a member of the Carpenter’s Union and worked at Diablo Valley Community College. His funeral was held at Oak Park Hills Chapel in Walnut Creek and he was buried at Oakmont Memorial Cemetery in Lafayette. [3] His was the first funeral I attended. I was 19. At the funeral home, the casket was open when we got there and I was surprised by how peaceful he looked. I had been a bit afraid of him because he always sounded so gruff when he spoke. Though, when he spoke to his dogs, he was very sweet. Today, I thought I’d share a few photos of Tom and his dogs. [1] State of Cal...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has our weekly challenge lined up: For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I challenge you to: 1)  The Family History Hound listed 20 Questions about your Ancestor , and I'm going to use some of them in the next few months.  2)  Please answer the question - "What ancestor had the most children?  How many?" 3)  Write your own blog post, make a comment on this post, or post  your answer on Facebook or Google+.  Please leave a link to your answer in comments on this post. My story On my father’s side of the family, I have two ancestors who had ten children: Johann Anton Hork & Julia Ann Sievert (my great-grandparents) and John Gleeson & Margaret Tierney (my 2x great-grandparents). On my mother’s side of the family,  I have several families with ten or more children: James Loveless & Linna Hughes had twelve children in South Carolina. Their son, Jesse Lovel...

Randy Seaver from Genea-Musing has again asked us to write about our father or grandfather for Father’s Day: Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to: 1)  Sunday, 18 June, is Father's Day.  Let's celebrate by writing a blog post about our father, or another significant male ancestor (e.g., a grandfather). 2)  What are three things about your father (or significant male ancestor) that you vividly remember about him? 3)  Tell us all about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status or Google+ Stream post. Last year I wrote about my father, William J. Hork here . This year I’ve decided to write about my maternal grandfather, Tom J. Johnston. Cars My grandfather liked his automobiles and both my grandfather and grandmother liked having their photos taken with their cars. We have lots of photos taken with them posing in front of an automobile. Pets ...

Randy Seaver of Genea-musing has a new challenge for us this week. For this week's mission we were challenged to: 1)  This is Mother's Day weekend, and I have been thinking about my mother - the family times, the hard times, the wonderful times. 2)  For SNGF this week, write a tribute to your mother.  It can be any length.  What do you remember about her, and what did you learn from her? 3)  Share your tribute or memories in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this post, or on Facebook or other social media.  Please leave a comment on this post if you post something elsewhere. My mother was an only child but dreamed of having a big family. She did. I am the oldest of six children born in the 50s and 60s. She was fun-loving and doted on her children. But I think a big family was a bit overwhelming to her as well. It was a lot to handle, even though she was a stay-at-home homemaker. Childhood Lela Nell Johnston was born 21 August 1934 in ...

Not all records can be found online and this draft card for my grandfather, Tom J Johnston, is no exception. Tom was born in 1912 and was part of the group of men born between 1897 and 1927 who registered for the draft. [1] There were men born before 1897 who also registered for the draft and their cards can be found online at Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org . These cards are often referred to as the “Old Man’s Draft.” So how did I get this card? I ordered the records from the National Archives in St. Louis. Information about how to order is here . There is a special form you fill out for the registrant you’re seeking and when the archives personnel find the record, you’ll receive a letter with an invoice to order the copies. The Registration Card is $7.00 and the Classification Record (including the Registration Card) is $27. [2] Draft Card [3] The date of the registration was October 16, 1940 at Stephenville, Texas. Most of the information on the card was typed exc...

Randy Seaver of Genea-musing has an assignment for us this week: 1) This is March, the month for Fearless Females posts, started by Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog - see her Fearless Females blogging prompts for 2017 at http://www.theaccidentalgenealogist.com/2017/02/fearless-females-blogging-prompts.html . 2) Answer this question for March 16 (I've changed it a bit): If you could have lunch with any female family member (living or dead), or any famous female, who would it be and why? Where would you go? What would you talk about? 3) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a comment on Facebook or Google+. I participated in this blogging meme back in 2012 and wrote specifically about my great-great grandmother, Martha J. Coor.  Click here to see the post. I still wish I could ask her the question. Copyright © 2017 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

I’ve been in Salt Lake City this week conducting some research at the Family History Library where I have been viewing microfilmed images of deed records for Shelby County, Kentucky, where my five times great-grandfather, Robert Lancaster died. I had previously concentrated on the estate records for Robert and wondered why there weren’t any records mentioning his wife, Mary. I have no vital information about this wife at all, so had no idea if she was still alive. However, I found in the deed records a deed recorded on 26 October 1840 between  “Mary Lancaster widow of R. Lancaster of Shelby County Kentucky of the one part and Ellis Lancaster, John Lancaster, Creath Neill & Lenis Ann his wife, Robert N Myers & Mary E his wife, William Lancaster, Josiah Lancaster & Eliza Jane Lancaster of the other part.” [1] The people listed as the “second part” were Robert’s children: Ellis, John, Lenis Ann, Mary E, William, Josiah, and Eliza Jane. It went on to stat...

My maternal fourth great-grandfather, Nathaniel H. Osborne Polly is one of my brick walls. I have written a little about him before when I wrote about his wife, Lydia in this post . I know a little about his life but not who his parents were. His tombstone photo shows a birth date of January 27, 1820. [1] According to the Find-a-Grave memorial for him, he was a “medical doctor, a Judge, a farmer and a gospel minister.”  That’s a lot of occupations. Let’s look at what I know from records I have found. In 1850, he was listed as a “C. Bap. Minister” living in Dallas County, Texas. [2] The “C” might stand for Christian. The Bap. is probably for “Baptist” and the minister is clear. From most of the records I have found on him, he was a minister. In 1860, he and his family were living in Montague County, Texas. The occupation on the census was listed as “M.D.” [3] I can see where the creator of the Find of Grave memorial might think that he was a medical doctor. This M...

One hundred and twenty-three years ago, my maternal great-grandfather, George Warren Lancaster was born, 19 January 1893. [1] His parents were William Carlton Lancaster and Martha Jane Coor. George was the eldest of six children. His delayed birth certificate, dated  6 July 1942 and signed by his father, William C Lancaster, stated he was born in Victor, Erath County, Texas. According to The Handbook of Texas , Victor was settled shortly after the Civil War and was located in western Erath County on Farm Road 2156 a mile south of Desdemona. During the 1890s there were general stores and a post office that was later discontinued in 1907. [2] Here is a satellite map of the area today. All that is left is the Victor Cemetery which is located at the corner of roads 2156 and 357. As you can see, it is clearly farming country and George’s father, William was a farmer. Victor was in the area of Roads 2156 & 357. According to his World War I Draft card, he stated...

Today is a big milestone. This is the 100th blog post I have written and the 6th anniversary of the beginning of this blog. I began the blog on January 15, 2011, through a blog writing class I took at California Genealogical Society, taught by Craig Siulinski. It was something I wanted to do but wasn’t really sure what I would focus on. I finally settled on writing about my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster’s family and this was my first post . In the beginning it was hard to get started. I learned from the Geneabloggers website, that there were blogging memes I could use and I have done that off and on, especially at the beginning. But I finally learned that what worked best was to write about my discoveries as I researched my grandmother’s family. So what have I written in six years? I discovered I have only written four posts specifically about my grandmother: “Mam-ma was a Tomboy” “Fearless Females – Day 12” “Mam-ma 1913-2013” “My Grandpar...