Mam-ma's Southern Family

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...

Randy Seaver of  Genea-Musings  asked us for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun to: 1) List your matrilineal line - your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you! 2) Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in. My matrilineal line is: Lisa Gorrell Lela Nell Johnston (1934 Stephenville, Texas - 1992 Walnut Creek, California) married William J Hork Pansy Louise Lancaster (1913 Stephenville, Texas - ) married Tom J Johnston Lela Ann Loveless (1896 Conway, Arkansas - 1951 Stephenville, Texas) married George Warren Lancaster Eliza A Rogers (1854 South Carolina - 1907 Faulkner Co, Arkansas) married Ebenezer Loveless I had the mitochondrial DNA test done on my grandmother.  The Haplogroup is U5 which show Northern Europe.  This was not the result I expected.  Family stories always were we have Native ...

Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun has us first figure out how old our great grandfather would be now if he had lived.  Then divide that number by 4 to get our “roulette number.”  With this number, I find the ancestor with that number in my ahnentafel (ancestor) list.  Then we are to write 3 facts we know about that person.  Here’s mine: My great grandfather is George Warren Lancaster , born 19 Jan 1893.  He would be 118 years old today if he still was living.  Divide that age by 4 and I get 29.5.  I’ll round that to 29 making my “roulette number” 29.  No. 29 in my ancestor list is Martha Jane Coor (1873-1942). Here are 3 facts I know about Martha Jane “Doll” Coor:  1.        Martha Jane was born 10 May 1873 in Crystal Springs, Copiah Co, Mississippi to James Madison Coor (1833-1890) and Melissa Ann Welch (1840-1976).  She was the ninth child of ten and was only three years old when he...

Here is the obituary for Lela Ann Loveless.  Actually it is a write-up about the funeral for Lela Ann.  Here is the transcription: Obituary for Lela Ann Lancaster "Attend Funeral for Mrs. W. G. Lancaster" [1]       Several out-of-town friends and friends of Mrs. Warren G. Lancaster, who died last week, were in Stephenville Sunday for the funeral services.       They were:  A daughter, Mrs. Tom Johnson, husband and daughter of Walnut Creek, Calif.; two brothers, W.F. Lancaster and wife, and Earl, both of Slaton;  three sisters and their husbands, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Self and Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Loveless of Fort Worth, and Mr. and Mrs. Walt Fraley of Ropesville.       Other relatives were Mr. and Mrs. Jack Lancaster of Seagraves, Mr. and Mrs. Weldon Tudor of Ropesville, and Bill Martin Hester of Midland.       Out-of-town friends attending were:  Mr...

E. Loveless Death Certificate, 1929, Rotan Co, Texas The last known information about Ebenezer Loveless, the father of Lela Ann Loveless (my great grandmother & Mam-ma’s mother), he was living on a farm in Precinct 1 of Erath County, Texas in 1920 with his second wife named, Malissa. [2]   I began by searching the 1930 census for his children, thinking he could be enumerated with them.  No luck.  So my initial assumption was he died before the 1930 census.  I could not find Ebenezer in Erath county death records.  Where had he gone?  It was a mystery. When the "Texas Deaths 1890-1976" database was put online at FamilySearch , I was in seventh heaven.  This database includes images of the death certificates.  Most of my mother’s family lived in Texas for a few generations so I was able to find a lot of records.  Finding Ebenezer in this state-wide database saved me a lot of time.  Do you know how many counties are in Texas?...

Mam-ma with my mother 1934 Copyright © 2011 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

Margurite Luella Polly (1857-1904) Mam-ma's great grandmother's sister Copyright © 2011 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family