Mam-ma's Southern Family

My mother died in 1992 and as I began working on the genealogy of her family, I got to thinking about where she came from. My mom was born in Stephenville in Erath County, Texas in 1934. Her mother, my Mam-ma, was still alive at age 82 years old, and in 1995, I asked her if she’d like to take a trip to Texas to show me where she and Mom lived. She thought it a great idea. I purchased our plane tickets and she made arrangements with her niece, Sandra Hall, to pick us up from the airport and stay the night with her, and then drive us down to stay with her brother, RD Lancaster, in Stephenville.  Me with Hal and Sandra We only stayed four days. In hindsight, I wished I had had time to do some real research in the library in Stephenville and check out the historical society and the library at Tarleton University in town. Since doing newspaper research, I would also go to the genealogy library in Dublin. But I was still a rookie genealogist and didn’t think of these things. However, R...

When I began researching my Mam-ma’s family, I wanted to go to Texas to see where my mother and grandmother grew up. I broached the subject to my grandmother and she agreed to go on a trip to Stephenville with me. The year was 1995. My mother had been gone three years already and I had been working on genealogy research for probably two years. As I worked on Texas research, I really wanted to visit the places my mother lived. Mam-ma was willing, especially as I paid our way, and she made the arrangements for the places we would stay: the homes of her niece, Sandra, and her brother, R.D. My great-uncle, R.D. was great. He took us all around Stephenville, stopping at each of the houses where they lived. It seemed they moved a lot, looking for better or cheaper places to live. Some were in town and some out in the country. When my grandmother was born, her father was still trying to farm. But it didn’t work out and he learned to fix cars instead, which had a steady income. I kept no...

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow . I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past . I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. My first trip to a county courthouse was in Stephenville, Erath County, Texas. It was at the beginning of my genealogy research experience and I was not very careful about where I obtained information or what was the best method to use. I had made the trip to Stephenville with my grandmother, Pansy Louise (Lancaster) Johnston, whom I called Mam-ma, in order to visit the places in town where my mother, who had passed away three years before, grew up. We stayed with her brother, R.D. and sister-in-law, Barbara Lancaster, who lived outside of town. R.D. drove Mam-ma and me all around Stephenville, with me sitting in the back seat. It was not the best place to see where you were going. Looking out the...

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow . I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past . I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. In October 1995, I took my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster Johnston, whom I call Mam-ma, on a trip to Stephenville, Texas, so I could see where my mother grew up. My mother had passed away on 2 Feb 1992, so I couldn’t take her, or even ask her about her early life in Texas before moving to California. I hadn’t started my genealogy adventure until after her death and I have such regrets now. So I thought the next best thing would be to take my grandmother to Texas where she could show me first-hand some of the places they lived. I paid for the trip, and she made the arrangements with family as to where we would stay. We were picked up from the airport in Fort Worth by my grandfather’s niece, Sa...

I'm planning a road trip to Arkansas, specifically Faulkner County and Little Rock, to do some genealogy research on my grandmother's Loveless line. Places I plan to visit: Ouachita Baptist University, Special Collections, in the Riley-Hickingbotham Library . Here I hope to learn more about my great-great-grandfather, Ebenezer Loveless, who was a Baptist minister. They're open 8 to 5 and an archivist will be there to help me. University of Central Arkansas where the Faulkner County Historical Society has their holdings. Not only did the Loveless family move to Arkansas from Georgia, but so did the Rodgers and Nixon families. Hendrix College has a genealogy library and the Faulkner County Library has a genealogy section. T he Faulkner County Museum will also be a great place to stop to learn about local history. This museum is open Monday through Thursday from 9 to 4. I contacted the director of the museum and she plans to be there the day I arrive to help m...