Returning a Piece of History

This a genealogy post.

Our family cemetery where my 3rd GGrandfather who was in the Revolutionary War is buried has somehow changed names of the years.

Someone slapped up this sign

Patsy Mitchell Golladay Cemetery many years ago?

The cemetery has always been Mitchell Cemetery, named after my other 3rd GGrandfather who owned the land it was on, the first burial being in 1834.

The gentleman at the local monument company and I came to the same conclusion,

in the 1970's many cemeteries were read in preparation for the Bicentennial.

If a cemetery did not have a formal sign out front, who ever was reading it just gave it a name.

Patsy Mitchell was my GG Uncle's wife? There is only one Golladay buried in the entire cemetery?

Cousin Fred and I have been on a mission to get it back to the original name.

We started at the Courthouse, the name there was still Mitchell.

Then we spoke to the Cemetery board members, that was fine with them as well.

So cousin Fred couldn't wait to rip that sign down and proudly bring it to me!

There it sits in my laundry room at 1515

It is a piece of history.

Well here is what our family did

A new official marker!

I had the put the established date on the front with my 3rd Great Grandfathers name on it who came to Coles County IL in 1828.

We have it up 4 feet so you can see it when the beans and corn come up.

On the back I had them put the information about my 4th GGrandparents who are buried in the field just south of the cemetery. He was in the Revolutionary War and she is the Aunt of Sam Houston of the Alamo.

I even got the Find a Grave people to change the name on the website.

It is a sense of accomplishment Fred and I are so proud of.

My 4th 3rd 2nd and Great Grandparents are all buried there and I want to make sure it is recognized for that, for future generations of our family.

A Family Coincidence

This is a picture of my Great Uncle Max and Aunt Esther

Max was 2 and Esther 4

Nov 1910

I never knew the bear was a prop

Nov 14 diary entry of their sister

Now look what I found when comparing notes with my

5th cousin

Our common ancestor is my 4th and her 5th Great Grandparents 

 

her Dad and his siblings

same chairs

same tea set

Same BEAR!

How funny the Mitchell family ended up in the same town and at the same photographer for a tea party.

What a sweet coincidence!

Just thought you would enjoy

Adam and Elizabeth McMachen Mitchell

My Line                                                                                       Cousin Jane's line

John Mitchell                                                                               Robert Mitchell

Martha Mitchell Galbreath                                                           James Mitchell

James Galbreath                                                                           Luther Mitchell

Max and Esther Galbreath                                                        William Mitchell

                                                                                                    Harry Mitchell

I was so taken back when I notice the similarities

Hope you get a kick out of it too!

Ann

Yard Sale Finds and More

Last weekend I was at 1515 for a long weekend.

No cousins in town..just me so I had to make my own fun.

Yard sale down the street from a sweet retired couple, cousin Marty and I had been there in October a couple years ago, and they had antiques.

they are selling their home and moving to Florida so everything was 

50% off...so this tray was $1

I love this lemon wedge plate with pink roses and white hydrangea's.

so it was $5

Bavarian

a bone dish marked $1 so it was 50 cents

I use them to put my reading glasses in

It was a busy weekend

New Farmers market to visit

Friday cousin Fred and I went driving through the country and to a state park for lunch

We went to a cemetery where my 3rd Great Grandmother is buried

My Father's side of the family starting in 1836

my cousin who came to the Riot her ancestors

But NO

I looked just past it and saw this, screamed and scared cousin Fred

Jane Devers in my Maternal 3rd Great Grandmother

and there she was.....all by herself next to my Paternal family members?

I had her will, but she died in a neighboring county. Would of NEVER thought to look her.

The twins were in Canada but I had to call and tell them.

If you genealogy you know I just crashed through a huge brick wall.

This was Friday the 13th

another weird thing

Fred told me he had just restored my Great Grandparents

cylinder phonograph, "I wish I had the receipt" he said.

15 minutes before he picked me up I was going through one of their boxes..

you know what I am going to say?

I found the receipt for that phonograph from 1916 

right before Fred came, so you can imagine how astounded he was when I pulled it out and said

"here it is"

(I will save for another post)

Saturday I attended a encore performance of the play from the Riot

"A Question of Loyalty" at Lincoln Log Cabin.

Standing room only!

Sunday Fred and I went out for Fathers Day

Monday was lunch with cousin Karen

To end the weekend on Monday I was able to attend the 

Historical Society Founders Day Dinner

and accept an award for our work on the Charleston Riot

It was a great night.

Even better my Paternal Grandfather's 93 yr old Doctor was there.

He said "your Grandfather would be so proud of you"

It meant alot because of my Grandad Winkler I did the Riot Commemoration

Another blessed weekend

and this one was too!

My nephew got married

My husband is so happy when he is with his brothers.

Mr is on the rt and is the baby boy

Thanks for going with me on the journey of the last week!

Ann

There May Be Something In Those Old Letters....

Do you have some old letters at your house?

Written to a deceased relative by another relative you don't know?

They probably do not mean a thing to you.

At the reunion I met a new cousin, Lois from Arizona.

She had never been to the reunion before, but her brother had been coming for several years.

It was a delight to get to know her.

Her Great Great Grandfather and My Great Great Grandmother were siblings.

When she got home she sent me a email.

"I found some letters Annie Galbreath had written to my Grandmother in the 1940's, 

would you like them?"

YES!!!

As you may know my Great Aunt Annie was the keeper of our history and my cousin has given me all her letters, pictures and diaries which we have been scanning.

Aunt Annie 

I am in awe of what she accomplished with just a pen and paper.

We know about our family today because of her.

And here is her 2nd cousin Frank and his wife Greta who she wrote to

these are Lois Grandparents

Lois told me I probably would not learn anything new? 

I was so excited I could not wait to read them.

They start in 1940 before the war, they end in 1945 when the boys are coming home.

It started as writing a letter to learn about family history.

But over the years it turned into a friendship.

They lived about 40 miles from each other but with war rationed gas it might as well of been 400 miles. But they did visit with each other in person.

What did I learn? A great deal. I learned when my Dad was drafted all he wrote about was how much he missed going to school. I did not know he wanted to go to the University of Illinois and would of if he had not gotten drafted in HS and left after graduation.

I also read about how they talked about information they got from another family member.

That person, I just met her Grandson at the reunion this year.

I found out that my family had been in touch with some family in Tennessee, going back to the 1780's.

They talked about the 1767 family bible. They talked about a distant cousin who died in Singapore when he was a Missionary, and that my Aunt had a oil painting of him? 

Where is it? She also had letters he wrote from Singapore in 1838 to the family.

He had written asking about a slave named Phyllis, remembering her under the Walnut tree.

I had someone from the University of Georgia contact me about Phyllis and I did a great deal of research and her there was information about her in a letter in 1941.

So Lois I am so glad you came to Illinois

and so glad you sent me those letters.

See there was something in those old letters.........

alot!

But even better some 70 years later we are all still together.

Family

Snowed in? How about reading a book?

Seems like everyone is snowed or iced in from what I am reading. I guess it is a good time to read a book. If you like historical fiction I have a couple for you to read. Although I am pretty bias when it come to these books...........

This is the story of my GGGGrandfather, his parents, siblings and Grandmother. It was written by my cousin David Bowles.

Until about 4 yrs ago I did not even know David. But as I said in my last post, you need to share the family information and treasures you have with your family for the next generations.

My entire life I have known the story of my ancestors who lived at Guilford Courthouse NC. That had a large farm "plantation"  and large extended family. When the Revolutionary War broke out the fighting landed on their doorsteps into a large battle, The Battle of Guilford Courthouse...it was fought on their farm. My ancestor Adam went of to fight with his neighbors as part of the militia. The family sought refuge in the Spring House, to hide from the British. Unfortunately they were discovered but Adam's mother sat on a truck with all the family valuables including pewter and the bible and told the British solider "Sir, you may kill this old lady if you wish, but I am not moving from this trunk". My GGGGGGrandmother is my hero and admire her so.

There were 12 children and 2 of the families communicated all the way up until the 20th century. But we did not know David from daughter Rebeckah until I found the book! The words of my ancestral Grandmother were the same.....how did he know? The words were passed from generation to generation, they had to be true due to the fact our families had not seen each other since about 1810!

Meeting David and becoming true cousins has been a joy to me. He has been able to come to our family reunions in Illinois from his home in Texas. He has shared his wonderful family with me. But the most fun has been doing research with and for him. I love doing historical research. So when he got ready to write his second book he asked me to help with the research which I did and also got to read the book before it was published and edited. I was even able to tell David that his ancestral Grandmother's name was spelled Rebeckah as seen in the 1767 bible that is in my families possession.

This is the finished product. And I have harassed him enough he is now writing another book with my GGGGrandfather John, son of Adam. Once again I have been able to look over documents and help David with historical accuracy. I know it is time for him to move onto his family roots...forging ahead and establishing Texas.

Here is what it looks like when we are doing some work on the book.

David and the girls Lulubelle and Daisy leaving 1515 in July
If anyone of this sounds interesting and your have the wintertime boredom they are a great quick read.
http://westwardsagas.com/
this is his website or he can be found on facebook.


So the conclusion, SHARE your information......even 250 years later it may change someones life! Margaret hid that Bible and in 2006 it helped to write a book and it still exists today.

I Miss You Mom November 11th

Today is a tribute to my beloved Mother. She was my best friend and confidant and I miss her everyday. She was such a strong, loving and generous person. Born in a small town but raised in downtown Detroit during the depression. As a teen she moved back to her hometown and thank goodness she did, so she could fall in love with my father. The love stayed strong during WWII and upon my fathers return from the Pacific and they were married. My Mom was a teacher and the bread winner while Dad finished his degree. After many disappointments they finally had two children whom they cherished and provided a most wonderful childhood for. My Mom was a widow at 52 but made sure we continued our educations. She never complained, she loved life. She spent her retirement going places with her Father who lived to be 91.

The last time I saw her was when I went home for a auction at Decorating Tennis Girls Bed and Breakfast. It was cold outside, but my heart was so warm being near her. That was eight long years ago.

Here's to you Mom you were and are the BEST.

Please also remember out Veterans today, this is the day the Armistice ending WWI was signed. It is also cousin Marty's birthday.

There is always a new cousin around the corner

My passion besides decorating, antiquing and gardening is genealogy. My paternal Grandmothers family has had a yearly reunion since 1906, so this year was #104!!

I am so fortunate to keeping finding those branches of my tree and meeting new people. In July the day before the reunion we had a "genealogy workshop" at 1515. As I looked around, I had people from Colorado, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Indiana and Iowa. We all had one link.....a link that went back to a marriage that occured in 1788. Most of them I had met on line through Ancestory in the past year. To help people figure out who they are, or show them a picture of their great grandfather they have never seen before is pricless to me.

I wonder what my Grandparents think of all these relatives coming back to 1515? Many had child hood memories of the home. Sometimes as I sit in that home.......I just look up and smile.

Here is everyone gathering at 1515

But one couple I met I felt like I had known forever. Bob and Judy on the left. They were meeting his 2nd cousin Cleone and wife Eleanor for the first time. Not to long after this picture they headed off into a cornfield to find their gggrandfathers gravesite. Judy just knew she was going to see Shoeless Joe Jackson or James Earl Jones! Judy said " I'll never look at a cornfield the same again".

Bob had been so gracious to video tape both days. I got the tape in the mail when I got home yesterday. I am anxious to sit and remember.....a wonderful day in July.