Posts Tagged ‘Jones’

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – My Best Genealogy Moment!

Sherry Stocking Kline
January 2, 2010

Holy Cow!  I just realized that this is the first time I’ve written the date 2010!  I’ve stayed home, stayed in, and haven’t even written a check since Thursday.

The following challenge comes from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings!

Thank you, Randy!

Hey, it’s Saturday Night – time for some Genealogy Fun!! I know – you had a great time on New Year’s Eve, and are just recovering from the holidays, so we’ll keep this one pretty easy.

Here is your assignment, if you choose to accept it (frankly, I’ve noticed that SNGF participation has dropped off in the last month – why? Too much eggnog? Too much work? What?):

1) “What was your best Genealogy Moment during 2009?” This could be a research find, a fabulous trip, a found family treasure, etc. Your choice!

2) Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, a comment to this blog post, or a comment to the Twitter or Facebook status line for this post.

I wish I could say that I had one glorious genealogy discovery, one brick wall that I could gloat on breaking down, one great connection with a new branch that I was elated to locate.  But I’ve been spending what little research time I have helping a couple of other folks and butting my head against a Smith and Jones brick wall in Kentucky.

Maybe it’s time to branch out, and spend a little more time on a little less common surnames??

If I have to choose my favorite genealogy moment, can I do it?

Would I choose the moment that I found a clue I’d missed in my Smith and Jones’ previous research?  One that adds a new county in Kentucky to my research possibilities and who knows, may be just the clue that I need to find the information I want. (What I wonder is how I looked at that and MISSED it the first time!)

Or would it be on August 8th, 2009 when I wrote my first blog post, and found out how little I knew about getting a blog up and going.

Would my favorite genealogy moment(s) be when the genealogy blogging community begin sending blogging tips by twitter, leaving me comments, and sending e-mails to help get me up and running and learn each new thing I needed to know.

And oh, my goodness, the kindness you all extended to me each time you did that!  I’d love to thank each one of you here again, but I don’t want to miss even one of you!  (I should have kept a list.)

The Kreativ Blogging Award – One of my favorite moments…

One of my very favorite moments was being chosen by three different genealogy blogging buddies for the Kreativ Blogging Award!

hank you!  That was an exciting moment for this newbie genealogy blogger!

Surviving Wichita Eagle’s Budget Cuts – again…

Another  moment was to continue to ‘make the cut’ with the Wichita Eagle as they downsized the magazine that I wrote for, then did away with the magazine I wrote for, then included my column along with some of my free-lance writing friends in their “Healthy Living” magazine. Whew!  I sure miss my former editor and mentor and the other  neat people I used to work with, though.

And would it be when I learned that my cousin’s husband was as addicted to genealogy as me?  We’re going to get out laptops together and share family info!

Advent Calendar Challenge brought back so many memories…

And I think the most recent genealogy favorite moments have to be the Geneablogger’s Christmas Advent Calendar Challenge!

Thanks to Thomas at GeneaBloggers, so many old memories came flooding back, making my Christmas season a very special one.  Now many of them are written down to be thumbed back through and added to when I have time.  Thank you, Thomas!

And now, I think I will take time to back up my data, (thanks again for the reminder, Thomas,) then set my New Year’s Research Goals (I don’t make resolutions, I usually break those) and pick a day to re-organize the info that I have (again) so that I know which direction to ride off in!

Happy New Year to you all, and Thank you to so Many!

Hurry little Christmas Card, it’s Christmas time again!

We want to send our greetings before late 2010!

Procrastination, as you know is my greatest skill

So getting this card out every year is a battle quite uphill!

2009 has been so busy, but our Blessings do abound,

We are better off than many, just take a look around

We’ve friends and family who stop by, visit, send cards, and call.

We’ve a warm home, good food, our freedom, blessings one and all.

Mom does well, she does great, she wins at dominoes still!

She still loves bowling, on a Wii it is now, and she’s perfecting her skill

She reads her Bible faithfully each day, seeking storing wisdom to share

Jarrod goes back to college at Friends after the first of the year

When he gets his next job we hope it’s in a town more near.

He moved home in October just in time for Halloween

Trick or treating with his nieces, they thought it was so keen!

Marya and Marc stay busy with college, pets and family,

They help out with errands, yard work, even trimming trees.

Little Chloy’s a hugger, a giggler, a wiggler supreme,

Savvy’s a sweet pea, a songbird, with a head full of dreams.

They have gap-toothed grins and skinned up elbows,

And love Candy Cane City, cartoons, and Christmas shows

Jordyn Savannah is seven, she loves second grade

She does well in school; with her memory she has it made.

Chloy is six now & loves her teachers and friends at school

She’s still getting the hang of learning each rule.

Sherry writes & researches; has more opportunities than time

The hardest thing this time of year is writing this rhyme!

Blessings come along each and every day,

But my favorite words to hear are “I love you, Gramma Shay.”

We hope you’ll stop in, say “hello” if you come through our town

We’ll sit a spell and visit when you come around.

We ask God to Bless You and keep you healthy, happy, and well

Throughout this New Year till we ring next New Year’s Bell,

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Dear Genea-Santa

Sherry Stocking Kline
December 5th, 2009

Thanks to Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings we can let the kid in us out to play tonight while we write our letters to Santa!

Hey, fellow geneaholics, it’s Saturday Night, and time for lots of Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission: Impossible music), is to write a nice letter to Genea-Santa Here are the directions:

1) Write a letter to Genea-Santa and ask for only ONE thing. It could be hardware, software, a missing family Bible, a record that you desperately want, etc.

2) Tell Genea-Santa what a good genea-girl or genea-boy you’ve been this past year and give examples.

3) Exhibit your posts on your own blog, in a Facebook post commenting on this note, or in a Comment to this blog post.

So – go forth and write your letter!

Dear Genea-Santa!

Thank you for all the great Genealogy gifts you have given me this year, the impromptu family gatherings we’ve had, the marriage licenses I’ve found, and tombstone photo I located on DeadFred.com, and most especially my Twitter and Blogger friends who have welcome me and helped me join their genealogy community!

And Please, Santa,  help them get their genealogy wish list this year.

Who was my Great-great grandfather Jones?

Santa, I know times are tough right now, and even Santa and his elves are cutting back.   So, the one thing I’d love to know, the one record I’d like to find, is who was my Great-grandfather Willis Washington Jones’  father?

I promise I’ve tried to be a good little genea-girl this year, Santa, and tried to help others when I knew an answer to a question, tried to encourage other genealogists when they were running into brick walls, and forwarded neat information on Twitter.

I wrote a “how-to-get-started-doing-genealogy” blog post to help someone interested in locating their ancestry. I also brought home a box of ‘orphan photographs’ from a garage sale to try and locate a good home for them. (Still working on that!) And I was asked to help locate a living relative/descendant so someone can return some photographs and memorabilia. (This has proved to be tough! Several deaths and no living descendants thus far.)

I’m sorry Santa that I didn’t get more tombstone photographs uploaded to DeadFred.com.  I promise to do better next year, Santa, and I’m sorry that I got a little behind keeping track of the births, marriages, and graduations in my dad’s side of the family.

Santa, I promise that I will start sending out new questionnaires along with my Christmas card!

And Santa, along with the butterscotch cookies and milk I’m leaving out for you, I’m giving you a large economy size bottle of Tums ‘cuz I just read that you have to eat 87 million cookies on Christmas Eve…

Thank you, Santa!

Sherry

Tombstone Tuesday – J. R. U. Crabb – Barren County, Kentucky

Sherry Stocking Kline
November 24, 2009

Here is my Tombstone Tuesday:

J. R. U. Crabb, husband of Elizabeth Laird Crabb Buried in Glasgow Kentucky Cemetery, Barren County

J. R. U. Crabb, Buried in Glasgow Cemetery, Barren County, Kentucky

As shown on the tombstone:

J. R. U. Crabb
Born: April 14, 1838
Died:  Nov  1, 1920

Our Father is gone but not forgotten.

If I have all my facts right, and if my mother is right, too, then J. R. U. Crabb buried in the Glasgow Cemetery, Barren County, Kentucky, is my step great-grandfather. Mom was always told that Elizabeth Crabb was her grandmother, and Elizabeth was J.R.U.’s wife.

J. R. U.’s daughter, Bettie Crabb, is buried right next to him in the cemetery in Glasgow.

This is a beautiful cemetery, with a small Civil War fort, Fort Williams, at the top of the hill, and the tombstones run up and down along the sides of the hill.

72 - Fort Williams Memorial Marker, Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky

72 - Fort Williams Memorial Marker, Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky

Fort Williams has a cannon, and there are several memorial markers that tell the story of the battle that was fought there on October 6th, 1863,  and you can look out over the tombstones from nearly everywhere in the Fort.

81 - Nancy Bertram Bush,  KY & Norman Kline, KS

81 - Nancy Bertram Bush, Glasgow, KY & Norman Kline, Wellington, KS

We spent an hour or two locating family graves, and spotting other names that may have been family as well, so I came home with several ‘extra’ tombstone photographs for research purposes.

Because there were flowers on one family gravesite (indicating to me that there were people living nearby who brought flowers) I was later able to track down some other family members thanks to a few phone calls and the kindness of several Kentucky businesses, the South Central Kentucky Cultural Museum, and new-found family members.

That evening we watched the sun set from the fort and it was beautiful to look out over the tombstones on the rolling hillside in one direction and in the other direction watch the lights of the city begin to twinkle on far below us.

The city of Glasgow’s website has information and aerial photographs of Fort Williams here.

You can read more abut the J.R.U. Crabb family and see information extracted from the 1860 census here.

For a time, J. R. U. , his wife, Elizabeth (Laird) Crabb, and their daughter Bettie lived on a farm just east and a little south of Milan, Sumner County, Kansas.  I know from reading the local newspapers for that era that J.R.U. had cattle.

Elizabeth died on their farm near Milan, Sumner County, Kansas on July 30, 1912, and at some point in time before his death J.R.U. and daughter Bettie returned to Kentucky where J.R.U.’s other daughter, Sally Mayfield lived.

You can see Elizabeth’s tombstone, located in the Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas, and read her obituary here.

And oh, yeah, if you’ve googled one of the names in this post, leave a comment and contact info!  We need to talk!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Willis Washington Jones – Most Recent Unknown Ancestor

Sherry Stocking Kline
November 21, 2009

For me, it’s a sniffly sneezy, Saturday night. I’m on the mend, but Kleenex still needs to be on stand-by.

Here is our Saturday Night Fun Challenge from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings!  Have Fun!

Hey, genies, it’s Saturday Night, time for some Genealogy Fun!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (where’s my Mission Impossible music…drat, lost it), is:

1) Who is your MRUA – your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor? This is the person with the lowest number in your Pedigree Chart or Ahnentafel List that you have not identified a last name for, or a first name if you know a surname but not a first name.

2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently? Why don’t you scan it again just to see if there’s something you have missed?

3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your MRUA?

4) Tell us about him or her, and your answers to 2) and 3) above, in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or a comment on Facebook or some other social networking site.

My most elusive mysterious ancestor and the brick wall I most want to break down is my Great-grandfather, Willis Washington Jones.

What do I Want to Know?

Who was his father. If his last name wasn’t Jones, it would certainly be a lot easier.

If I could find a marriage license/record for his mother and father, it would certainly be a lot easier.

If he had been on a census with a Jones mother and father, it would be a lot easier.

Here’s What I Know, and What I Think I Know…

He was born in Kentucky, according to his death certificate and most census records, though one granddaughter thought he was born in Illinois.   He may have been born in Barren, Edmonson, Hart, or possibly even Metcalfe County and he died in Sapulpa, Oklahoma.

Reviewing some of the following  info for Willis, I see a couple of gaps I have that I can probably fill without too much travel involved.

But if anyone out there has a lot of Jones’ family info in one of the above counties, I’d sure be interested!  I’ve nearly come to the conclusion that I need to gather all Jones’ info for those counties in that era, and see if I can by process of elimination figure the puzzle out.

I do have one question that I would like an opinion on, on the 1860 census that my great-grandfather Willis is on, (see below) he is listed at the very bottom of the list, and not with what I believe are his half–siblings.

Any comments would be welcome! Does that mean that Elizabeth is probably not his mother. (Either an obituary or death certificate names her as his mother, and yet, never a mention of his father.)

She, her husband, and one of her daughters also moved to Kansas, and lived near Willis for a time.

The following is part of  a ‘cheat sheet’ that I’ve typed up to take with me when I’m out and about researching.

Willis Washington Jones – Misc Info

Born: Mar. 28, 1853  in Kentucky.

Willis’ mother was Elizabeth Laird Jones (Elizabeth’s parents were Hezekiah Lard/Laird and Patsey Carter.)

I have no idea who Willis’ father is.

I have no proof that Elizabeth married anyone named Jones before she married J. R. U. Crabb.  (5 March 2012 – I have now viewed the marriage  certificate for Elizabeth and her second husband, J. R. U. Crabb and her name is listed as Jones.)  So, apparently Elizabeth did marry Willis’ father,  and either they divorced, or his father died while he was very young.

Willis last name was Jones on the census as a child, and ever after.

1860 Census in Barren County

Is Willis with his mother and a stepfather, J.R.U. Crabb, or is he an orphan taken in by this couple?

1860 Census Page 87 – Metcalfe County, KentuckyPost Office – East Fork4th of July, 1860
Entry 586

J.R.U. Crabb – 28 – Male
Elizabeth
– 28  (1880 census says born in KY, mother born in South Carolina)
Daniel U
– 02
Patsy S – 1/12

Patsy C. Crabb – 60 – North Carolina
Willis Lard – 25
Catherine Piper – 17
Amanda Gooden – 12
Willis Jones – 7  – born Kentucky

I have not found Willis on the 1870 Census

Willis W. Jones married Martha Ellen Smith, daughter of Charles and Virginia (Hawley) Smith on 27 June 1876 in Barren County, KY.

They were married by Minister Bertram at his home. (later, in 2005, a new-found cousin, Nancy Bertram Bush, told me the minister was Ephraim Bertram, a circuit minister.)

Martha Ellen Smith was born Sept 03, 1852. She died on July 23, 1898.

I do not know where she is buried, but believe it to be in Kansas, Oklahoma, or possibly even Arkansas, as I’ve been told they had a strawberry farm in Arkansas for a time.

No one living knows where the strawberry farm was in Arkansas, and I question the person’s memory who gave me that information.  I’ve done no research in Arkansas – yet.

1880 Sound-Ex Edmonson Co., KY, Brownsville Dist.

Jones – Soundex# – is 520
Roll 40 – Kentucky T-570

Jones, Willis White,  Male, 27 years
Jones,  Martha E. Wife Age 28 Born KY
Jones, Evan B Son 3 KY
Jones, Pearl dghtr 1  KY

1880 Census  – Edmonson Co., KY

Jones, Willis white Male 27  married  Farmer
Jones, Martha white  Female 28  married  housewife
Jones, Evan B white Male   3  son
Jones, Pearl white Female 1 dghtr

Willis W. Jones remarried and had more children, and he died Sept 26, 1929 in Sapulpa, OK (this is certain, I have the death certificate), he is buried there, and some of his descendants live there.

1910 Oklahoma Census – Sapulpa  Township  47, 47(There was a third son later, William)

Jones, Washington W.    Hd  Male         Age 57  born KY  fthr  brn US. mtr brn U.S.

Eliza C. wife white  Age 40  # of yrs of present marriage   2  (or 7 not a good copy)

Bessie B age 18  born KY mtr & ftr born in KY
Vechel N. age 6, born Oklahoma  parents  born KY
Richard T age 1, brn Oklahoma parents KY – Willis Lard

This seems like such a lot of information, but hope springs eternal that someone with the answers will find this post, and contact me.

The thing that makes this more unlikely, is that I doubt that my Great-grandfather Willis had any more full siblings who would have the information that I need.

If  you are reading this after googling one of the names listed above, We need to talk! Please leave a comment, so we can share info!  Thanks….

Albert Breneman – Too Young to Die – Tombstone Tuesday

by Sherry Stocking Kline
November 17, 2009

My great-uncle, Albert Miner Breneman, died long before I was born, when his niece, my mother, was about three years old. Albert died as the result of a motorcycle accident at the age of twenty-seven.

Looking at the picture following I’d say he was a fine-looking young man.

Albert Miner Breneman  - Ryan Township Cemetery, Sumner County, Milan, Kansas

Albert Miner Breneman - Ryan Township Cemetery, Sumner County, Milan, Kansas

Albert, the son of Salinda (Rose) Breneman and Constantine “Tom” Breneman, is buried in the Ryan Township Cemetery, a small well-kept cemetery in Sumner County, Kansas, just one mile west of Milan, and about 16 miles west of Wellington on Highway 160.

Albert Miner Breneman

born – March 26, 1888
died – January 10, 1915

Albert, second from the left on the back in the picture below,  had five brother’s and sisters, and one of his sisters, Carrie Esther Breneman, front left below, married Warner LaRue Jones.    

Carrie and Warner were my grandparents.

Children of Constantine "Tom" & Salinda Breneman - Back: Ira, Albert, Harvey, Otto Front: Carrie & May

Children of Constantine "Tom" & Salinda Breneman - Back: Ira, Albert, Harvey, Otto Front: Carrie & May

Albert is shown above with his siblings:

Back: Ira, Albert, Harvey, and Otto
Front: Carrie and May

Whenever I visit the cemetery to leave flowers or take photographs I think how sad it was that he died so young.

Tombstone Tuesday – Daryl M. Jones, Sr. and May (Bastien) Jones’ Stone

Daryl M Jones, Sr. & wife Laura May Bastien Jones   Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

Daryl M Jones, Sr. & wife Laura May Bastien Jones Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

On Daryl and Laura May Jones’ Stone:

Jones

Daryl M. Sr
May 30, 1908 to June 32, 1999

Laura May
Jan 28, 1913 to Oct 25, 1980

Married Aug 20, 1932

Daryl and May were my Aunt and Uncle.

I did not know that May was not her first name until I read her obituary.

May died from leukemia, though she lived many years after she was diagnosed.

Gaylon Jones, buried in Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

Gaylon Jones, buried in Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

Daryl and May had three sons, Daryl Jr, Dale, and Gaylon. Dale and Gaylon are deceased and Gaylon is buried next to Daryl and May.

On Gaylan Jones’ Stone

Gaylan R. Jones

August 26, 1943

July 2, 1979

Dale was cremated and his ashes spread over the ocean where he loved to fish with his wife, Bonnie, who is also deceased.

My Uncle Daryl was an engineer without a degree. If he needed a piece of farm equipment, or needed something fixed or added to, he could most generally make it or fix it, and other farmers came often to have him fix or weld their equipment.  After he retired from farming at age 70, he spent more time doing what he loved, which was ocean fishing near Aransas Pass, Texas.

Grew up on a Farm near Milan, Kansas…

Growing up on the farm near Milan, Kansas, Daryl was an excellent horseman, and trapped for furs to help the family income. He attended one year of college at Wichita State University, but there was no money to further his education, so he traveled to California, worked in the aircraft industry, and came back to the family and farm where he married May.

He could have done well in college and afterward, but I can’t imagine that he would have been any happier than he was farming, living on the farm, and growing crops and building and welding things for himself and others.

Tombstone Tuesday – Warner LaRue & Carrie Breneman Jones

Warner LaRue and Carrie Esther (Breneman) Jones   Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

Warner LaRue and Carrie Esther (Breneman) Jones Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

By Sherry Stocking Kline
October 20, 2009

Warner LaRue and Carrie Breneman Jones, my grandparents…

Warner LaRue Jones was born in Kentucky. Probably Barren County, to Willis Washington and Martha Ellen Smith Jones on March 13, 1880, and died in Sumner County, Kansas on November 1, 1947.

Carrie Esther Breneman Jones was born (I believe in Nebraska. I do not have all of my info here where I can double check), to Constantine “Tom” Breneman and Salinda (Rose) Breneman on Aug 15, 1876, and died Sept 13, 1956.

They are both buried in Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas.

My grandmother, Carrie Breneman Jones, was gifted at painting & hand crafting things…

I never got to meet my grandfather, and I was young when my grandmother died. But I remember that she was extremely gifted at hand crafting things, crocheting beautiful doilies, and pretty doll clothes.  She  taught herself to paint when she was already a senior citizen, and painted very life-like pictures of animals, particularly our families’ registered Ayrshire cattle.

We visited her often, and how I wish I had been old enough to ask the many questions that I now have!

Here is a photograph of their young family. My mother is the youngest child in this photograph, and there was one more child, Fern, born later. Fern died from pneumonia when she was sixteen, and is buried next to her parents.

Warner & Carrie Breneman Jones & children, Floyd, Rose, Daryl M, and Dorothy

Warner & Carrie Breneman Jones & children, Floyd, Rose, Daryl M, and Dorothy

My grandfather, Warner Jones, loved his favorite team of mules!

I can’t resist adding one more photograph that I just love!  Wish I knew the name of the mules, but my mother told me that my grandfather loved those mules very much!

Warner Jones and his favorite team of mules

Warner Jones and his favorite team of mules

The Best Fishing Trip – Ever…

by Sherry Stocking Kline
October 19, 2009

It may sound crazy, but the best fishing trip I ever went on was nowhere near the water and we didn’t catch any fish.

It All Started With a Garage Sale…

It all started with a garage sale. (I do love garage sales.)

Driving by a garage sale late one Saturday afternoon I begged my son to stop so I could feed my garage sale fix.  (no, I have no pride and  he was driving so I begged, maybe even offered a bribe.)

I knew we were too late in the day to get first choice on the good stuff, but we were prime time for getting bargains on the I-don’t-want-to-box-it-up-and-keep-it  leftovers.

Sitting there amidst a lot of stuff we didn’t want was what looked like a really nice fishing reel.  I picked it up, checked it out, and laid it back down.

Which immediately prompted an offer from the owner of the garage.

So I snapped up the fishing reel. When we got back home, my son and I immediately went to my mom’s home to show off our ‘treasures.’

“Looks like a nice reel,” she said, “but it needs new line.” And she, being the veteran of years of pond, river, lake, and ocean fishing, knew what she was talking about.

Take it To Your Uncle Daryl…

“Take it to your Uncle Daryl,” she said, “he can put new line on it and get it ready to go for you.”

Daryl Jones, Sr., fishing at Aransas Pass, Texas

Daryl Jones, Sr., fishing at Aransas Pass, Texas 1908 - 1999

So I did.  My Uncle Daryl Jones, Sr. was pretty much a ‘pro’ at fishing.  Whether it was pond, river, creek, lake, or ocean, he’d fished them all, and he usually brought home the fish that the rest of us call “the one that got away.”

He looked the reel over, allowed that it was an “o.k.” reel, and that I had gotten a pretty “o.k.” deal, kept it, and promised to put new line on it and get it back to me soon.

A couple of weeks later he called me up and asked me if I  had a little time.   He had an hour to kill while my Aunt Elsie, got her hair done.

“Sure,” I said, and when he knocked on my door an hour later my fishing reel was now attached to a pole.

And Not Just Any Pole…

Not just any pole, but the one that his first wife, my Aunt May, who had passed away, had used to catch a shark in the Ocean near Aransas Pass, Texas, where they and my mom and her husband used to spend their winters fishing and being winter Texans.

Awesome!   I was thrilled, and moved to tears, and I tried to talk him into keeping it. But he wouldn’t have it.

“At my age, it won’t be too long before someone will have to put my things in an auction,” he said, “I’d like for you to have it.” (Fortunately, it was some time yet before he passed on.)

Nothing would have it but that he  give me an on-the-spot fishing lesson. So out the door we went to his little Toyota pickup, put down the tail gate, sat down, and he began to show me the right way to cast and reel in, cast and reel in.

That day is a Golden Moment in my memories…

It was fall, and the air was fresh and clean and  just crisp and cool enough to need a light jacket.  The trees were turning gold and red and even the dust motes in the breeze were golden with reflected sunlight.

We sat there, uncle and niece, on a pick-up tail gate in my driveway, dangling our feet, talking about fishing and memories, and casting out up and down the street as if we were actually on a lake, and bonding.

Casting out and reeling in, and hurrying like mad when a car turned down my dead-end street and threatened to run over our ‘catch.’

And enjoying being family on a beautiful fall day.

My Neighbors Thought We Were a Brick Shy of a Full Load…

There’s not a lot of traffic on my street, but I’m sure the neighbors and the occasional ‘foreigner’  (car that didn’t live there) that drove by that day had to be certain we were ‘a brick shy of a full load’, but I didn’t care.

I learned a lot that day, not all of it about how to fish, and the most important thing I learned was to tuck golden memories like this one into my heart to keep forever.


Tombstone Tuesday – Elizabeth Laird Crabb

Elizabeth Laird Crabb - Buried at Milan, Ryan Township, Sumner Co., Kansas

Elizabeth Laird Crabb - Buried at Milan, Ryan Township, Sumner Co., Kansas

The Tombstone Reads:

Crabb

Elizabeth

Wife of J.R.U. Crabb

March 11, 1831
July 30, 1912

Aged 81 yrs
4 mos. 19 DS

Obituary:
Death of Mrs. J. R. U. Crabb    August 1, 1912 – Milan News

Miss Elizabeth Laird was born in Hart County, Kentucky, March 11, 1831, and died at her home near Milan, Kansas, July 30, 1912, aged 81 years, 4 months and 19 days.

Early in life Mrs. Crabb dedicated her life to God through faith in Jesus Christ and united with the United Baptist church in Barren County, Kentucky.  She has been since that time a constant and faithful member of the church.

She was united in marriage to Mr. J. R. U. Crabb, July 11, 1857.  To this union six children were born, of which two died in infancy, one boy at the age of thirteen and one daughter after she was grown.  Two daughters still remain, one is married and lives in Kentucky and the other is still at home.

Mrs. Crabb has been ill for a number of years and everything that cheerful hands, loving hearts and the best of medical skill was done, but all in vain.  A good woman has gone to her reward leaving behind a sorrowing husband, two daughters and a host of friends.

Funerals services were conducted in the Baptist church, Wednesday afternoon at two o’ clock, by the pastor, F. G. Wilkerson.  Interment was made in the Milan cemetery.

The entire community extends sincere sympathy to the bereaved husband and relatives.

And here is part of my mystery, and my brick wall.

Elizabeth was my great-great grandmother. Or was she?

Her death certificate states that she was born in Hart County, Kentucky, and her parents are Hezakiah and Patsy Carter Lard/Laird.

Her obituary mentions the children “born to this union” and does not mention any other children.

The Mother in the census here was given the last name Crabb by the census taker, but note that her name was Patsy C., leading me to wonder if Patsy was actually Elizabeth’s mother, rather than J.R.U.’s.

For a time, even though my mother called her grandmother and we placed flowers on her grave, I could not verify her link to my family, as her son, my great-grandfather, had the last name of Jones.

My great-grandfather, Willis Washington Jones was born in 1853, and by 1860, he is shown here on the census with Elizabeth Lard Crabb and her husband, J.R.U. Crabb.  My mother was always told that Elizabeth was her grandmother, but as Elizabeth died the same year my mother was born, she does not remember her. Her older siblings did remember her, however, and she was always called grandmother by them and by my mother’s mother.

It appears, and records seem to verify, that Willis was her son, either by a previous marriage, or that Willis was illegitimate. (I have Willis’ death certificate, but not here where I am today. I believe that it lists Elizabeth as his mother.)  By the time Willis died, however, he was re-married to a much younger woman, and had begun a second family.

I’d like to be able to solve this puzzle someday, and in writing this, found one clue that I had previously over-looked. Amazing how a fresh look will open up another possible avenue of research!

Brick Wall Suggestions Most Welcome!!

Happy Tombstone Tuesday!

1860 Census
Page #87
Metcalfe County, KY
East Fork Post Office
Entry # 586  586

J. R. U. Crabb,  22,  M, Farmer, `1000 Real Estate Value, 1500 Personal Property Value,
Elizabeth , 28, F
Daniel U,  2, M
Patsy S, 1/12 yrs olf, F
Patsy C. Crabb, 60, F
Willis Lard, 25, M
Catherine Piper, 17, F
Amanda Gooden, 12, F,
Willis Jones, 7, M

1870 Census
Saunders Precinct
Barren Co, KY
20 Aug 1870
Temple Hill Post Office

Crabb, Joseph R. U. 32, M, W. Farmer,  blank, 1200 personal property, born KY
, Elizabeth   36, F, W  housekeeping
, Daniel W.  12, M, W
, Martha S    10, F, W
Sallie A.      8, F, W
Bettie          4, F, W,
Patcy (?) C  70, F, W,  housekeeping

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