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