Mam-ma's Southern Family

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...