Mam-ma's Southern Family

Tonight my grandmother's battle with the kidney failure has ended. I spent most of the day with her as she struggled to breathe. She was pretty much out of it, never opening her eyes when the caregivers performed the every two hour shift to prevent bed sores. I sat with her, holding her hand, and praying. When my sister relieved me at 7 pm, I knew the time was near. I am very glad that she was there at the end. However it is very sad that she will not be celebrating her 100th birthday on November 19th. She had been so looking forward to it and was proud to tell people she was going to be 100. Hope you are at peace now, Mam-ma, and am enjoying the reunion with your parents, your brothers, and your daughter. Copyright © 2013 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

Randy Seaver of  Genea-Musings  has challenged us to find where our ancestors were living on 1 Jun 1863.  This was very challenging but lots of fun.  I found that I need to do land research to learn more about exactly where my ancestors were living!  I have no photos of their residences.  Here are my mother's side of the family: My third great-grandmother, Elizabeth (McCormack) Johnston (1814-1891) was living in either in Oakland, Yalobusha Co, Mississippi (where they were living in 1860) or in Mount Pleasant, Titus County, Texas (where they were living in 1870).  Her husband, Samuel Johnston died sometime between 1860 & 1870, location unknown.  My second great-grandfather, Rueben Mack Johnston (1841-1924) was living in the household. My third great-grandparents, Benjamin W. (1822-??) & Amanda A. (Haley) Jones (1827-1904) was living somewhere in Rankin County, Mississippi. The story told about Benjamin was he died from an illnes...

    Today would have been the 60th anniversary of the my parents wedding.  Lela Nell Johnston and William Joseph Hork were married on 19 April 1953 in Concord, Contra Costa County, California at Queen of All Saints Catholic Church.     The accounting of the wedding was in the Contra Costa Times on 23 April 1953.  Lela wore "a street-length dress of antique white taffeta with unpressed pleats fashioned in the full skirt. The bodice was designed with three-quarter-length dolman sleeves, Peter Pan collar and self-covered buttons. She chose an ice-blue lace picture hat with open crown and matching silk gloves. Her white shantung slippers were adorned with tiny flower sprays on the toes."     She also "borrowed" pearl earrings belonging to her aunt, Mrs. Hal Johnston.  Her maid of honor was Barbara Boyenger, a friend who lived in Concord.  Barbara wore "a dusty pink silk shantung dress and white linen slippers. Her corsage was white ...

Six grandchildren, c. Summer 1967 Copyright © 2013 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

Randy Seaver, a blogger at Genea-Musing, has created a wonderful blog theme called Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.  Here is today’s mission: Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to: 1) Determine where your ancestral families were on 1 January 1913 - 100 years ago. 2) List them, their family members, their birth years, and their residence location (as close as possible). Do you have a photograph of their residence from about that time, and does the residence still exist? 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. ______________________________________________ Here is the location of my family in 1913.  This is my mother's side of the family.  I have no photos of their homes.  Most of the sources are from the 1910 census. My grandfather, Tom Johnston was living with his parents, Thomas Newton Johnston and Nell L Hutson in Com...

My grandfather, Tom J. Johnston Jr was born one hundred years ago on 7 October 1912 in Gustine, a town in Comanche County, Texas. [1]   His parents were Thomas Newton Johnston and Nell L. Hutson.  He was the third child of five, having two older sisters, Beryl and Mildred, and two younger brothers, Hal and Luther.  His mother, Nell died 14 Jul 1919 at the young age of 31.  Tom was only six and half years old and his youngest brother, Luther, was only eighteen months old.  It must have been very hard on his father to raise five children without a mother. He married my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster, on 15 December 1933 by the Justice of the Peace in Gustine, Comanche County, Texas. [2]   They had one child, Lela Nell Johnston. He served a short time in the United States Navy, leaving after four months with a medical discharge due to an ulcer. [3]   The family was living in Idaho at the US Naval Training Center, Farragut, Idaho.  T...

Randy Seaver's "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" is always a blast to read and do.  Today's post is about listing your Matrilineal Lines.  This is my mother, my mother's mother, her mother's mother, etc.  When one has their mtDNA tested, this is the line that is tested and whose genes are passed down to me. Me: Lisa Suzanne Hork My mother: Lea Nell Johnston (1934-1992) My grandmother: Pansy Louise Lancaster - Living My great-grandmother: Lela Ann Loveless (1896-1951) My gg-grandmother: Eliza A. Ro(d)gers (1854-1907) I had my grandmother tested and her halpogroup is U5. My mother's father's matrilineal line is: My grandfather: Tom Johnston Jr (1912-1973) His mother: Nell Hutson (1888-1919) His grandmother: Sarah Helena Selman (1858-1916) His great-grandmother: Amanda Deborah Oldham (1822-1880) I have not had this line tested.  My mother had no brothers, so I need to have one of her male cousins do the y-DNA test. My father's mother...