Mam-ma's Southern Family

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...

Here is a photo of the Stephenville High School girls basketball team in 1924. Two of the girls on the team are related to me but not to each other. Circled in blue is Pearl Lancaster, who was my great aunt. She was the sister of my grandmother, Pansy’s father, George Warren Lancaster. The girl circled in yellow is Faye Loveless. She was my first cousin, twice removed. Her father was my great-grandmother, Lela Ann Loveless’ brother, Arthur Loveless. The clipping was sent to my grandmother by her brother, R.D. Lancaster. My grandmother also played sports in high school but this would have been a few years before her time. Someday, I hope to find her yearbook.  Ancestry.com  has high school yearbooks but the earliest for Stephenville High School is 1937. Pansy married in 1933 at the age of 20, so my guess is she graduated either in 1931 or 1932. At Classmates.com the earliest yearbook they have is 1937 also. I will need to research when yearbooks were produ...

This is a blogging theme for the month of March which is Women's History Month.  I'm a bit behind but do want to participate in the daily blogging posts. Day 1:  Do you have a favorite female ancestor? One you are drawn to or want to learn more about? Write down some key facts you have already learned or what you would like to learn and outline your goals and potential sources you plan to check. I would like to know more about my grandmother's mother, Lela Ann (Loveless) Lancaster.  She was born 2 April 1895 in Conway, Faulkner Co, Arkansas to Ebenezer Loveless & Eliza A Rogers.  She married George Warren Lancaster 15 Dec 1912 in Stephenville, Erath Co, Texas.  They had four children; my grandmother was the oldest. My grandmother told me her mother was ill most of my grandmother's young life and that my grandmother had extra chores around the house and she took care of her brothers.  What was wrong with Lela Ann?  She did live until she was 5...

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Texas - Erath County - ED 72-1 - ED 72-20 National Archives I was looking at photos about baseball on the National Archives site when I thought to search for photos about Erath County, Texas, where my grandmother is from.  Up popped maps depicting the 1940 Enumeration Districts.  Wow, that will be helpful when the 1940 U.S. Federal Census comes out in 2012.  There will be no index immediately, so having a map to narrow down which ED to search page by page will cut my searching time down to a manageable level. I believe my grandparents (Tom J & Pansy Johnston) and mother (Lela Nell Johnston) were living in Stephenville, Erath County, Texas in 1940.  The war hadn't started yet, so my grandfather was not yet in the U.S. Navy.  He would be working in some carpentry trade. ED 72-1 to 72-4 There was also a description of these EDs: My grandmother's parents, George Warren & Lela Ann Lancaster, were loca...