Tombstones

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 46  (Nov 15-21)
Prompt: Tombstones
#52ancestors

Time takes its toll on tombstones.  About thirty years ago, I was researching Charles M. McCurley and his family in Smith County, Texas. A visit to the local library led me to Dean Baptist Cemetery where Charles and his wife, Ann Matilda Hines were buried.

 This was before GPS, but I was lucky enough to find a librarian who knew where the cemetery was located.  She gave me detailed instructions. Even with the instructions, I felt lost before we finally arrived at the small country church with the cemetery. It was on a Saturday so there was no one at the church. We carefully opened the gate and begin to look for their tombstones.  As we went down each row, occasionally a car would slow down and check to see what we were doing. I’m sure the locals were looking out for vandals.

 In the very last row, near the back fence we found their tombstones. They were made from what looked like sandstone or some other soft rock. The names were hand chiseled and were very sparing of letters. There were no dates.  Just C McCurley on one stone, and A McCurley on the other stone.  They both had footstones that had no legible information if there was any at one time. The next grave over was J M which I assume was James McCarley their son. 

Photo on the right taken by David Cook.

I haven’t been back to the cemetery in a long time, but a more recent picture taken by David Cook has been posted on FindAGrave.  The picture below shows that time has eroded the stone even more. The stone is laying on the ground either due to vandalism or weather.

Ghost Story

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 45  (Nov 8-14 )
Prompt: Ghost Story
#52ancestors

 My paternal great great grandparents were John Golightley and Elizabeth Caroline Johnston. John immigrated from Sedgefield, County Durham, England and Elizabeth came from Canada.  They had two sons, worked hard, and became successful in Wellington, Kansas. They raised my grandfather, Johnnie.

 It is well known in my family that Johnnie was afraid of ghosts his entire life. I don’t know why or how that started but it played a part in his life’s story. 

 John and Elizabeth owned two houses in Wellington and the farm with the farmhouse between Wellington and Belle Plaine at the end of their lives. One of the houses was a two-story brick home with a basement in a nice part of town. The other house was a small wood frame house at the edge of town which included a gravel pit behind it.

 After his Grandfather’s death, Johnnie was in the basement of the brick home working on the furnace.He heard his grandfather call his name.He tried to ignore it but being skittish about ghosts to begin with he became more frightened as his Grandfather continued to call his name.He bolted from the basement and refused to ever go in the basement again.

After his Grandmother’s death, Johnnie was given a choice of the two houses in Wellington as well as inheriting a part of the farm.   Since he was sure that the brick home was haunted, he chose the smaller less affluent house on the edge of town.

 There is a rumor in the family that John had some oil and/or silver certificates hidden away. Speculation is that they were hidden in the basement of the brick house and that he was trying to tell Johnnie where they were located. 

Lost Bible of Charles M. McCurley

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 42  (Oct 18-24)
Prompt: Lost
#52ancestors

 The time to do genealogy is now. As time goes by clues, stories, and even artifacts are lost.  Thirty some odd years ago, I was researching Charles M McCurley trying to find definitive proof that he was the son of Ezekiel McCarley. I still haven’t found that definitive proof although I have enough circumstantial evidence to feel comfortable in declaring Ezekiel his father.

 However, those thirty years ago, I was trying to track down a family Bible that showed that direct link.  I researched each of Charles M’s twelve children trying to find a descendent who might have a family Bible with the information I needed. Instead I found a family story of loss.

 Sometime after Charles M. and his wife Ann Matilda Hines McCurley died, the children living near them in Smith County, Texas decided to bulldoze their house. It was not in very good shape and not worth saving at that point in time.  According to the story, everything that no one wanted was left in the house to be destroyed with the house including pictures on the walls.  Supposedly there was one of the old antique dome type pictures of family members and possibly the family Bible.

 I don’t know if the story is true or if the Bible that I would have treasured was in the house or even who were in the picture.  I do know that it still makes me sad to think a Bible with the definitive proof I needed was destroyed.

If anyone has any additional information about this, please let me know. 

Belonging to Sarah Violet

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 41  (Oct 11-17)

Prompt: Passed Down

#52ancestors

 I’ve written about Sarah Violet Herndon before because she was difficult to find. She died young at age 34 and my Grandmother loved and missed her mother, Sarah Violet, even after my grandmother became a great-grandmother. It was through her treasures and researching her life that I came to love her. 

 Sarah died when my Grandmother was only 15 years old, but she still left an imprint on the family. She also left several items that my Grandmother passed down. I don’t know what else other members of the family have but I have a quilt and a bowl.

 Grandmother, Gladys, passed the bowl down to my mother, Gwonda, because she looked like her Grandmother, Sarah Violet.  It eventually came to live with me.  Gladys handwrote a note when she passed down the bowl. It states, "Gwonda, This bowl was my Mother's - your Grandmother whom you look a lot like.  Mother"

It is uranium glass and glows under a black light.  Uranium glass can have up to 25% uranium, although most were much less than that. According to Wikipedia uranium glass “fell out of widespread use when the availability of uranium … was sharply curtailed during the Cold War in the 1940s to 1990s. Most are now considered antiques or retro-era collectibles”.

 In doing research on it, several websites indicated that most uranium glass only has trace amounts of uranium and are not more hazardous to use than lead glass. Of course, one website states that leaded glass is not dangerous unless you eat or drink from it.  Others indicated that cutting the glass and sending fine particles in the air would be a very bad idea for both uranium glass and leaded glass. 

 I plan on keeping this beautiful passed down bowl as a display piece and not eat or drink anything from it.

Flower Girl

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 40 (Oct 4-10)

Prompt: Preservation

#52ancestors

 In 1959, I was 5 years old and a flower girl.  My Dad’s brother, Earl, married my wonderful aunt, Elaine, on December 27^th, 1959. I don’t remember a lot about it other than the dress was kind of itchy and I was not comfortable walking down the aisle by myself. Although I did like throwing out the flower pedals.

 About 3 weeks after their wedding, I was a flower girl for my Aunt Vadie on my Mom’s side of the family.  It was much easier walking down the aisle in that wedding because my cousin, DeWayne, held my hand and walked with me. DeWayne was only 6 years old, but he seemed to know what to do.

 Aunt Elaine’s Mother made her wedding dress, and she made me a dress that matched the bride’s dress.  It was white with lots of lace. About 15 years ago, my mother gave me the dress. She had taken care of it all those years and for several years it hung in my closet. 

 In 2013, I earned a graduate certificate in Archival Administration at the University of Texas. I put what I learned to use by “archiving” several family heirlooms as well as using it at my job. The dress is now protected with archival tissue in an archival box. The box that I bought was really bigger than it needed to be, but it worked out okay. I added the Kimono that my father-in-law brought back from Japan for one of his little sisters later.

 My next preservation project is to make archival boxes or envelopes to preserve the handkerchiefs that belonged to both my Grandmothers and my Mother.

Courthouse Road Trip

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 39  (Sept 27-Oct 3)
Prompt: Road Trip
#52ancestors

Road trips are the best. I love doing genealogy in place and finding those obscure records that are still not online.  I started road trips before any records were online. Sometimes to a local library, archive, or cemetery.  The most interesting to me is going to courthouses because you never know what you are going to find.

 Before I tell you about one of my courthouse trips, I must tell you about my husband’s Aunts trip.  They were visiting in a small town named for their grandfather and decided to do a little casual research in the courthouse. When they told the courthouse ladies about their connection to the town and some of their related surnames, one of the ladies told them of an elderly lady in town with the same surname and where she lived. (It was a small town and my husband’s 4 aunts are very personable.) They decided to drop by the lady’s home to meet her. She invited them in. After establishing their direct connections and finding common relatives they all knew, she pulled out albums of pictures which they studied for hours.  Before the visit was over, she had invited them to spend the night which they did. The next morning the aunts fixed breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, and headed out for their next adventure leaving behind a newfound relative.

While my courthouse adventures have never turned into a place to stay for the night, I have had some wonderful adventures.  I won’t mention the name, but I drove 3 hours to a courthouse in Texas to find any mention of a gun battle involving some of my great grandfather’s brothers.

It turned into a dark and stormy day by the time I reached the courthouse. The records that I wanted to search were so far into the past that they had been “archived” in the courthouse attic.  There were no stairs to the attic but there was an elevator. The elevator only ran with the key that a staff member used to escort me to the attic. As we traveled upward, she told me since storms were moving in that if the storm reached us, I should call them to come get me before the electricity went out. She left me in the attic with the phone number in my hand. 

The staff had no idea where a “warrant” might be located, but they did tell me where the land records and court records were located in filing cabinets.  The attic was kind of a maze of filing cabinets.  I found the court records first and the time period which I had determined the gun battle had most likely happened. I found nothing. Then I searched the land records just to see if I could pinpoint the land where this battle over a fence happened. I didn’t find the record of land being bought or sold even though it was listed in the index. I was later told that  it had probably been stolen. 

As the afternoon advanced, I could hear the thunder getting louder. There were no windows, so it was hard to judge just how close the storm was coming.  The louder the thunder got, the louder the birds, until I felt compelled to investigate. I went around several stacks of filing cabinets to see a brick wall about thigh high. I could see over the wall to bare rafters and no flooring. As I started to step over the wall, I spotted the sky in the distance. The entire end of the attic was open to the dark and angry looking sky. The birds were roosting in the attic space near the opening, hiding from the coming storm.

After contemplating for a few minutes, I decided that it was time for me to get out of the attic before I was stranded.  I quickly moved back into the attic archives area and called the staff to come and get me.

I didn’t find what I wanted, and I should probably go back again.  Next time, it will be a bright and sunny day.

Timeline for Edith Ethelda Neese (Sample, Wort, Kerns)

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 34  (Aug 23-29)
Prompt: Timeline
#52ancestors
 

Concept maps can be a visual representation of your goals or research. Years ago I was introduced to mind mapping in a history class.  Now it is often called concept mapping.  A few years ago, I started doing a workshop for college students showing them how to do research planning with concept maps. Then it morphed into genealogy research planning. 

 Concept maps have several benefits. Mostly I use them for planning my research and analyzing data, but when I started doing genealogy presentations on concept maps, timelines seemed to work well.   

 I  prefer creating them with paper and map pencils or markers. Somehow the act of using pencils or markers helps me escape from the box and frees my creativity. I often think of new ways to solve genealogy brick walls when I create research plans with concept maps. I have a spiral sketch pad where I draw my concept maps.  You don't have to be a good artist as some of my drawings are very crude.  Doing it on the computer makes it neater, but doesn't have the same freeing affect for me.

 Below is a timeline concept map created in PowerPoint about my 2nd Great Grandmother, Edith Ethelda Neese. She outlived three husbands and had eight children, all with her first husband, William Britton Sample.

Finding the Evans Brothers

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 32  (Aug 9 - 15 )
Prompt: At the Library
#52ancestors

Librarians and in particular, genealogy librarians and staff can be your most valuable resource.  I'm a librarian and I still rely on librarians and reference staff to get me over brick walls. I have a brick wall that I have worked on for over 40 years.  In 2011, I found a clue that may someday help me break that wall down.                                                                                                                                       

I was hanging around the reference desk at the Dallas library, explaining my brick wall to  Sammie Lee. She asked me several questions about what resources that I had used up to that point. Then she casually said, you know you can search the census on Ancestry.com by first names only. That idea had not occurred to me before. I spent hours searching by using first names, birthdates, and birth location. 

This brick wall concerns 3 brothers, John William Evans, James Thomas Evans, and J.M. Evans.  Searching for the first name John or James would give me too many results to be useful.  J.M. Evans would have to be the one to search.  All of the records that can be connected to John or James only used the initials for J.M., however there are some records for a Jeptha Evans in the same area.  A search for Jeptha produced no likely candidates in the 1870 or 1860 census in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi or in the state of Mississippi.  The 1860 Monroe County, MS census has an Evans family with initials that many of the Evans researchers believe is this family. I have always been uncomfortable with accepting it because the boy's ages seem too different than what is known from other records. Also, the later verified records all indicate they were born in Mississippi. There is some DNA connections to this family but the connection is still unclear to me. This J. L. Evans  may be James Larkin Evans who died in the civil war which would fit the family story of the 3 boys being  orphaned as teenagers.  For many years, I recorded it and continued to search for verification.

 

1860 Monroe County, MS

 

It has generally been accepted that J. M. was Jeptha, however my research indicates that the J.M Evans connected to the other 2 brothers may not be named Jeptha.  His name could be Jeremiah, often listed as Jerry. Tracking J.M. through his marriages and census records, below are names in the census records.

        1880 JereMia (indexed as Jerekia) Tallahatchie Co, MS where 2 brothers are living. age                 28 with wife and children

1900 Jerry M. Evans, Brazoria, TX with 2nd wife and children

 1910 Jess M. or Jep M. Evans;  Calhoun Co., MS with 2nd wife and granddaughter, age 58

Died 1914-1915 buried in Tallahatchie Co., MS

Searching the 1870 census gave no conclusive results, but one possibility. The1860 census was a different story.  Adams County, MS produced a record with 3 boys with the right ages but the wrong last name.   They were living with Eliza Flynn and listed with the Flynn last name.

It is obviously a blended family. There is a John, age 12 and John, age 4.  There is a Mary, age 6 and Mary, age 2.  If this is the correct boys, then they were orphaned prior to their teenage years. Eliza Flynn may be their Father's sister with her married name or their Mother's sister.

 

1860 Adams County, MS 

There are other connections to the Flynn family although none of the names match these names.  For more information about the Flynn connections, check my blog post at: https://lelasgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/3-evans-brothers.html

I spent a week in Adams County researching in the courthouse, the Episcopal and Catholic Churches. Unfortunately, I didn't find land records or probate records that would collaborate my hypothesis that the Flynn boys are actually the Evans boys. In early 2012, my blog details research into an Evans family in Adams County, but I found no links from them to these 3 brothers.  There is more research to do in Adams County.

What do you think?  Am I on the right track?

 

 

 

Finding Bobby Glenn McCarley

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 31  (Aug 2 - 8)
Prompt: Help
#52ancestors

I can't tell you how many times that I've yelled "help" when doing research. When I do, someone almost always steps up and gives me ideas of what to do next or gives me a clue pertaining to a mystery. Sometimes, they just encourage me to keep going.  Liking and commenting on my genealogy posts gives me encouragement to continue writing and researching.

My post on September 16, 2020 was about a "road trip" when my Uncles helped me find the cemetery where an infant was buried in 1938. Before my Grandmother passed, she expressed her regrets in not knowing where her son was buried in Denton Cemetery.  That has caused me over the years to keep a watch out for more information about Bobby Glenn. 

This week, newspapers.com helped me find an obituary for Bobby Glenn in the Marlow Review.  I had not actively searched for one because according to what I was told, he was born at home and his Dad and Grandmother took him to the cemetery to be buried.  I was shocked to discover an obituary and a funeral service while searching for mentions of my family in social clubs in the area.

The newspaper article differs greatly from the account I heard from my mother, who was 8 years old at the time. To my great surprise, it listed a funeral home and a pastor who conducted the service.  Doing a DuckDuckGo search (Google wasn't helpful), I found that Steele Funeral Home filed as a Domestic For Profit Business Corporation  on November 28, 1936. It expired on November 28, 1956.  There was no current online information about the Steele Funeral Home.

There was a funeral home listed in the local town so I sent them an email knowing that if I was very lucky that Steele Funeral home might have given their records to another local funeral home when they went out of business or they might know where the records were located. Sometimes a descendent of the original owner still has the records in their attic, basement, or barn.

I received an email the very next day telling me that they did have a file on Bobby Glen and they included a contact phone number for the person who had the records for Denton Cemetery.  Today, I received a copy of the funeral record for Bobby Glenn. It didn't have much information that I didn't already have, but did confirm the details in the obituary and included the cost of the funeral.  Their record stated that he was buried in Denton Cemetery but not which plot. 

I was disappointed to learn from the keeper of the Denton Cemetery records that Bobby Glenn is not listed on the plot map of the cemetery.  However, he was very helpful in looking for him.

Some of the information conflicts with what I was told by my Mother and Grandmother (Gladys McCarley), but it is possible that Bobby Glen was born at home and when he passed, he and his mother were taken to the hospital in Marlow, where he was declared dead. I still have hopes of someday knowing  Bobby Glenn's exact resting place.

With the help of my Mother, Grandmother, Uncles, Tara at Callaway Smith Cobb Funeral Home, and Charles, keeper of the Denton Cemetery plot map, I have been able to learn about an infant born too early.  

Bobby Glenn McCarley

Born: May 21, 1938 probably at home, near Central High, Stephens County, Oklahoma

Died: May 21, 1938 at hospital in Marlow, Oklahoma

Buried: May 21st 1938 at Denton Cemetery, Stephens County, Oklahoma

  FindaGrave

 

 

 

 

Logging Teams

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 30  (July 25- Aug 1)
Prompt: Teams
#52ancestors

This is a picture of a log team in Mississippi, probably around Sunflower, MS.  Ira Lee Evans had several logging camps and teams of mules before "The Great Depression".  He lost most of his business during the depression.  

The team driver pictured is Cushfoot. I don't know if that is his real name or a nickname or even if it is spelled correctly but he worked for Ira Evans for a number of years hauling logs.

 

Ira's oldest son remembered Cushfoot because he was always kind to him even though as he recalled he was mostly in the way when he did get to go to the logging camp. Son enjoyed riding the mules and in the wagons while he was still too young to do any actual work. 

 Ira eventually moved his family to Oregon where there were still logging jobs to be had.

The Day My Grandparents saw a UFO

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 29  (July 18-24)

Prompt: Fun Fact

#52ancestors

 I've mentioned this before but it is one of the most fun things that I know about my paternal grandparents, Johnnie and Eva Golightley. 

 My Grandpa was a story teller. He loved nothing more than sharing  the fun things that had happened to him or other family members. I loved hearing the stories of how he and my Dad were truckers when my Dad was young.  Dad got his commercial driver's license when he was only 15 and then went with Grandpa when he was long haul trucking. Dad started driving a gravel truck before he was 15 but that is another story to tell.

 My new husband and I were visiting my Grandparents in Oklahoma when my Grandpa told us this story (among others) sitting around their kitchen table. 

Early in their marriage or perhaps it was while dating, my Grandparents were traveling between Wellington and Belle Plaine, Kansas, when they saw something very strange.  A farmer on a tractor was plowing a field, going up and down each row as they normally do. Directly over his head about thirty feet in the air was a round saucer looking object. It was going up and down the rows with the farmer who did not seem to be aware of the object.  My Grandparents pulled over to the side of the road and watched the farmer and the object as they moved up and down several rows. Then all of a sudden the object shot straight up into the air and disappeared. 

Grandma was standing at the kitchen sink, while we were all seated at the kitchen table. She was always the rock of the family, the one who could be counted on at all times. I looked at Grandma and raised my eyebrow in a quizzical manner. Even though she was standing behind Grandpa and he couldn't see her, she carefully nodded her head.  It is possible to think that Grandpa might exaggerate to tell a better story, but my Grandma wouldn't.  I know they saw something that day.

 

Identity of Eliza Flynn

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 26  (June 28- July 4)
Prompt: Identity
#52ancestors

I wrote about the Evans brothers who possibly were living with Eliza Flynn on the 1860 Adams County, MS census in my blog post of Aug 12, 2022.  Who was Eliza Flynn?

Eliza Flynn was born in Ireland in 1830 and was living in Adams County, Mississippi by 1860. The 1860 census doesn't asked for marriage status or relationship to others in the household, but it shows Eliza with 8 children from ages 6 months to 12 years old. She has no occupation listed nor any personal or real estate.  It looks like a blended family since there are two children named Mary and two children named John. That would indicate that Eliza had lost her spouse, and some of those children had lost both their parents.  Eliza was possibly caring for her brother or sister's children as well as her own.  Eliza had a great many stressors in her life. Since she was born in Ireland, it is likely that she did not have much if any family support near her. Besides taking care of 8 children alone, she was likely dealing with grief and a lack of money.

There is not another Eliza Flynn listed in the Adams County census for 1860, so it is likely the following information is about the same Eliza Flynn.

There was a resolution presented at the May 28th, 1867 Natchez City Council meeting, asking the city to provide $25.00 for the immediate needs of a certain lunatic, Eliza Flynn. It passed with the request that her friends take steps at the current probate session to have her placed in the state asylum.

On May 30th of 1867, there is a court hearing with a petition asking the court to declare Eliza Flynn insane. The testimonies of her neighbors state that she had not been able to govern herself since 1862.  The petition states that she is without any relatives.  There is no mention of any children in the documents, nor does it mention how the judge ruled. It is likely that neighbors or relatives have taken over the care of the children by this time.

The Natchez Democrat newspaper on June 6th, 1867 published a notice that Eliza Flynn had been placed on the Quitman to go to the insane asylum in Jackson. 

In 1870, Eliza Flynn was listed in the Insane Asylum in Jackson, Mississippi, however her age is listed as 52 born in Pennsylvania when it should have been closer to 40 and born in Ireland.  Was this a mistake or is this a different Eliza Flynn?  There is also a Bridget  Flynn listed in the asylum. Her age is 42 and born in Ireland. Was there a mistake made in the census records which switched Bridget and Eliza's information?

I have found no other information on Eliza Flynn. She is not in the asylum in 1880, nor apparent in the census anywhere else. I haven't found a death record, marriage record or burial record for her after 1870.

I haven't found any of the 8 children in the 1870 census, but they could be under the last name of the family they are living with or just not in the census at all.  The 1870 census in Mississippi is known for missing a large number of families that were living there. During the chaos of the reconstruction, there were many families who refused to have any dealings with the government or "carpet baggers". Most of the children's names are very common so it is almost impossible to search for them by their first names of John, James, Mary, or Sarah.  I have searched for Jerry and Henry but haven't found any person the right age with the right name in Mississippi. The search is also complicated by the large number of people who are only listed by their initials and last names in this census.

I am puzzled about Eliza's identity and her relationship with the 8 children in her household in 1860.  I have a hypothesis about the identity of some of the children in my August 12, 2022 blog post, if you are intrigued with this mystery. 

General Quitman Ship: Could this be the ship that Eliza was placed on?

From Mother to Daughter

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 20  (May 17 - 23)

Prompt: Textile

#52ancestors

 In years past our ancestors didn't have time for the creative activities that we do now. Their lives were taken up with more practical endeavors. They did manage to use their creativity in creating some of the practical items needed by their families. They sewed  the clothes their families wore, often copying patterns from New York or Paris if they were from the city or needed a party or church dress.  Clothes for daily wear were practical and sometimes they only had a few outfits depending on their circumstances. The cloth scraps were used to make beautiful quilts that often commemorated an event or family. 

My mother had a red velvet quilt with blue velvet pieces that was made from the scraps of material left from making her wedding dress and bride's maid dresses.  The quilt was used on my parents bed for many years. It kept my brothers warm when they slept on an enclosed porch and it was used for picnics and other occasions. Overtime it became faded and worn and was folded and put away.

My Great Grandmother, Sarah Violet Herndon Sample pieced a wedding ring quilt before 1932 .  My Grandmother, Gladys Mamie Sample McCarley, quilted it sometime in the 1970s. After my daughter was born in 1978, she gifted it to Katharine Meghan.  Gladys was her mother's first and only daughter, my mother, Gwonda Jane McCarley was her first daughter and I was my mother's first daughter. Katharine (Katy) is my first daughter.  This quilt has passed through 4 generations of daughters to the 5th generation daughter.

McCarley: Is there a right way to spell it?

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 15  (April 12-18)

Prompt: How do you spell that?

#52ancestors

 “Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination.”

― Mark Twain

 My Mother's maiden name was McCarley and I have found it spelled in so many ways that I learned very early in my research to look for every possible spelling.  I'll list some of the spellings at the end of the article but first I want to tell you about Charles M. McCarley.  Charles married Ann Matilda Hines in Maury County, Tennessee on April 4, 1835.  His marriage license has McCarley spelled 4 different ways in the one document.  That has to be a record.  It is spelled McCarley, McCarly, McCearly, and McCorely.  Okay, some of that may be the result of poor handwriting skills. The Western Weekly Review newspaper announced his marriage in the April 17, 1835 edition, as Mr. Charles McCarty married Miss Matilda Hines.

  In most of the records after his marriage, his last name is spelled McCurley.  That could be the result of leaving the A open at the top.  I thought, perhaps he just wrote the A in an unusual way that left that gap at the top so it looks like a U.

 Then one day in talking with another descendant, I heard another reason for this change in spelling.  According to this descendant who grew up in the area where he lived as an adult, Charles M. McCarley changed his name to McCurley. It seems that Charles was so mad at another relative that he decided to change his name so he wouldn't be associated with "that relative".  The story passed down through the family didn't include the name of "that relative".  His children didn't change their names as each of their lines are McCarleys.

 As you search for your ancestor, brainstorm any possible way that a name can be spelled because it is likely to be used that way at least once in the indexed records.

 Of course, it is easier to say that the James McCerley who was charged and found guilty of keeping a bawdy house in Maury County, TN in 1849  is not my relative because we don't spell our name that way.  Although it is possible that James McCerley is Charles M. McCarley/McCurley's brother.  Maybe he is the reason Charles changed the spelling of his name.   Charles brother, James, was born in 1811.

 McArley

McAuley

McCarley

McCarly

McCarty

McCauley

McCearly

McCearley (probably from having a fancy curl at the bottom of the C)

McClearly

McCorely

McCurly

McEarly

McEley

McElry

 McKirley

Check it Out

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 14  (April 8-14)

Prompt: Check It Out

#52ancestors 

 April 8th was my Father's birthday and I couldn't help but think of him as I started thinking about this prompt.  He was certainly a product of the great depression. He saved an incredible eclectic collection of things that he might need in the future or had plans to use at some point.  He believed in saving for anything he wanted and rarely used credit cards for things he wanted as opposed to what was needed.

 When he passed away, he was saving to buy a new pickup.  For things that he wanted, not needed, he would hide away any extra dollars that he had or earned  at odd jobs after his retirement.  Mother knew of several of his hiding places, like his old 35 mm camera case.  Mostly she wasn't concerned about his hiding places as the money always turned up when he was ready to spend it or if they had a minor emergency use for it. 

 He had boxes and boxes of old bills and bank statements with tons of old checks under the bed and in the top of the closets.  A  few months after he passed away, Mother started shredding those checks and bills.  Luckily, she went through each envelope as she shredded them.  In the first box, she found several hundred dollars in fives, tens and twenties stuck in different envelopes. For the next year or two, anytime she ran out of cash, she would shred some more.  Then would say a quiet Thank You to Dad.  She knew that he was still taking care of her.

 It certainly paid off for Mother to check all of the paper files Dad had saved over the years.