Mam-ma's Southern Family

Hey genea-folks,  it's  Saturday Night  again,  time for more  Genealogy Fun! Our mission from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1)  This SNGF is based on the 100 Word Challenge ( https://100wc.net/ ) that school children are participating in around the world.  They are given a word or phrase to write a story about in one hundred words. 2)  Write a short 100 word story using the phrase ",,,an ancestor I would like to meet..." in 100 words. Why would you like to meet him/her? [Hint:  If you write it in a word processor, you can use Tools > Word Count (or similar) to count words] Here's mine: An ancestor I would like to meet is George W. Lancaster (1839-1919), my 3x-great-grandfather. Born in Missouri, he lived mostly in Texas, except for a stint in Maricopa County, Arizona, where he purchased federal land and then abandoned his wife, Martha Jane (Polly) and family. He and the oldest son, William Carleton, returne...

My maternal grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster, loved to sew. She made most of her own clothes when she was young and that skill came in handy when she was a young adult. She worked at clothing stores, both men and women, and had side jobs doing alterations. It was a great way to make some extra money. I remember her old sewing machine. It was black and had gold lettering on it. I have a few photos of outfits she made. This shot shows the mother-daughter dresses she made. And with this one, I would be surprised if she made these night clothes for their Christmas photo. Later in retirement, she liked to crochet and made us all blankets. When her hands couldn’t crochet anymore, she took up embroidering. Here is a shot of her in the embroidered sweatshirt. #Women’sHistoryMonth. March is Women’s History Month. This is post one of the women in my ancestry. Some will be direct ancestors, and others sisters, aunts, and cousins.  Copyright © 2023 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's South...

I have fond memories of eating catfish my grandfather caught, likely at Clear Lake where they had a cabin in the town of Nice. Mam-ma always prepared the fish by rolling them in cornmeal and egg and frying them. Oh, so delicious! Now, I have never been fishing, so I don’t know much about how to catch catfish, what bait to use, or where the best place to find them at Clear Lake. I never asked my grandfather about how he fished. He may have fished from a boat. However, I found a website that gives tips on fishing at Clear Lake. [1] Besides catfish, largemouth and smallmouth bass, white and black crappie, bluegill and sunfish, and perch can be found in the lake. I learned that catfish prefer warmer coves but are also found near marinas. Live bait, cut bait, or dough bait can be used and some of the best baits are chicken livers, hotdogs, anchovies, mackerel or sardines, and even night crawlers. In this photo, we can see he had a successful day of fishing. This is taken at their hom...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings asks us to “Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.”  1)  Pick an ancestor, any ancestor.  What do you know about them?  What source type(s) do you have for each item? Answer the 20 questions below about your chosen ancestor. Here's mine: 1)  Ancestor's birth name:  Abner Ebenezer Loveless [1] 2)  Ancestor's parents:  Jesse Loveless and Elizabeth Nixon [2] 3)  Ancestor's birth date and place:  8 Feb 1851 in Georgia, likely in Cass County, as that is where the family was living in 1850. [3] 4)  Ancestor's baptism/christening date and place:   likely Baptist, so no infant baptism . 5)  Ancestor's spouse birth name:   Eliza A. Ro(d)gers ; [4] Melissa M. Settle [5] 6 )  Ancestor's spouse paren...

There is a wonderful database available at FamilySearch if you have Mississippi ancestors called “Mississippi Enumeration of Educable Children, 1850-1892; 1908-1957.” [1] I have both Coor and Welch families who lived in Copiah County during that first time span and decided to check out this database. First, before using the search box, I clicked on the “How to this Collection” box, which takes me to the FamilySearch Wiki page about these records. [2] Anytime a new database comes up, it’s a good idea to read up about it. I’ll find out what localities are included, what I would learn from the records, and why the record was created in the first place. This is helpful in case I don’t find my family listed in the return hits. What I learned It was suggested that these records could be used as a substitute for birth records. These listed both white and black students and included the names of the parents and children. They were compiled yearly and helped local governments with fundin...

I have now been blogging 12 years! In the past twelve months, I have written 18 posts about my maternal grandmother or her ancestors. Since this is a very small focus, I have not written many posts. They break down this way: 10 posts were part of the 52 Ancestors theme 2 posts were about locating family in the 1950 census 4 posts were about holidays 2 posts were about ancestral family stories (one for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun!) The two most viewed posts were: Turning a Negative into a Positive Broken Branch: When the End of the Line Families are not Well-Documented This post was highlighted on 52 Ancestors weekly blog: Branching Out - Watershed Mention in Deeds Can Help Place Property This year I will be working on my BCG renewal portfolio and will likely write less as I plan to use my grandmother’s family for one or more of the elements. I’ll share what I write later in the blog. But this won’t stop me from posting anniversary stories or other interesting finds. Copy...

Arthur N. Pauff, the husband of my maternal 2x-great grandaunt, Margaret Rose Lancaster, died on 21 December 1912 of lobar pneumonia. [1]  He was just 39 years old. The notice of his death was on the front page of the  Las Vegas Age . [2]  It begins with “The above brief announcement marks the sorrowful passing of one of the foremost citizens of Las Vegas.” This must have been a sorrowful time for the family, with just a few days to Christmas. He left a wife and two sons, Harry, 11, and Arthur, 9. He also left a thriving business, the A. N. Pauff, Men’s Clothing. An ad in an earlier issue stated how his store was preparing to be ‘handsomely decorated with Christmas trees and a wonderful variety of articles suitable for gifts.” [3] The funeral services were held Monday, December 23. As he was a member of the local masonic lodge, the Vegas Lodge No. 32, F. &. A. M., took charge. The Masonic service was held at the Methodist Church with Rev. Paul B. James and Rev. E.A. P...