Tuesday, April 29, 2014

52 Weeks of Sharing Memories - One Ringy Dingy Two Ringy Dingy

This post is part of the 52 Weeks of Writing our Memories by Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy who has challenged us to write our memories for our future generations.

We had rotary dial phones when I was a kid, one in the kitchen, one in the den, and one in my parents' bedroom. Instead of saying the telephone exchange when asked for our phone number, we'd say "Cherry 2..." or "CH 2..." instead of saying "242." We've had the same phone number since the 1950s. I used to be able to remember our neighbor's number across the street because we called them so often to see if they could come out to play, but I don't remember it anymore. I think their exchange was "Cherry 4."

Here I am having tea next to my toy phone.
This isn't what our phone looked like. I can't find the photo I wanted to share.


Every time the phone rang, my siblings and I would rush to answer it first. It was rarely for one of us, but we liked answering the phone and finding out who was calling. Whenever someone called for my mom, I'd ask, "Who was that? What'd she/he want?" I was so nosy! I still catch myself about to ask her even now!

Close-up of a rotary dial phone (R. Sull. Dhscommtech at English Wilipedia, 2008. 
Wikipedia Creative Commons)

We kids didn't stay on the phone long when we did use it. It was mainly to see if our friends could come out to play, but we usually walked over to their house instead. If a friend called while we were out playing, our mom would say "She's/he's outside." That was the clue to come on over!

Sometimes we'd call our dad at work and ask him to bring home some food item (as in, candy or cereal!) from The A. S. Pendleton Company wholesale grocery warehouse. Instead of calling him at work to ask him when he was coming home, I'd sometimes wait for him at the end of the driveway.

When our mom started working for our dad after we were all older and in school during the day, we'd call her to complain about something one of the other siblings had done. I'm sure she'd "loved" that! We'd issue threats of "I'm calling Mama!" or "I'm calling Daddy!" to try to get our siblings to do what we wanted or to get them to behave. Sometimes all I had to do was pick up the receiver and act like I was about to dial to get the desired results from my siblings!

Sometime in the 1970s, my parents got touch tone phones to replace all of the rotary dials. Things sure have changed. I use my mobile phone 99.9% of the time now.

Catherine

52 Weeks of Sharing Memories - 10th and 11th Grades

This post is part of the 52 Weeks of Writing our Memories by Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy who has challenged us to write our memories for our future generations.

Tenth grade was my first year of high school in 1969. The Valdosta High School building on Williams Street was built in 1922, and my parents went to high school here, too! I remember the wood stairs were worn from decades of students trampling them. I took Latin, Spanish, home economics, bookeeping, typing (even though I already knew how to type), and the other usual courses. I don't remember having a favorite. The Wildcats are the football team, the band is called the Marchin' Cats (my dad was one), and the colors are black and gold. I loved going to the games but not to watch football. I was watching the boys and I liked to watch the band perform!

A 1920s post card of Valdosta High School where I attended 10th through 12th grades.
The building burned down after a football game in 1977 (the football stadium is adjacent).


As I've written before, I didn't like school very much, and I couldn't wait for the day to be done. I was a fish out of water. Very shy. An introvert. As usual, I hated the school lunches. I'd save my lunch money and buy chocolate peanut clusters candy at the Sears candy counter in Brookwood Shopping Center over on Patterson Street behind the school. I'd try to eat it all before my mom picked me up. She had to go to two other schools to pick up my siblings before she came to get me, so the car was always full of kids and noise, and I didn't want to share my candy or get in trouble for not eating lunch! I think she knew.

Not sure when this was taken but probably late 60s. I might have still been in junior high. 
The stuffed dog on my bed was a radio!

A friend of mine and I were sent home from school one day for our dresses being too short. We'd been cruising the halls looking at the 12th grade boys sitting in their classrooms when one of the teachers (I think it was Mr. Copeland) came out in the hall to see what we were doing. We were promptly sent to the principal's office who told us to go home and change. That didn't stop me from wearing short dresses. I used to hide in my closet and hem up my dresses and skirts.

I think it was 10th grade when I went to New York City on Easter weekend with my dad and oldest brother. We rode the train which I loved, and we stayed at the Algonquin Hotel in New York. What a beautiful hotel! We went to several plays, and especially went to see the play 1776 that my dad's friend Emery Bass was in. I met actress Kim Hunter at brunch at Emery's apartment on Easter Sunday. She told me I should be a model! (I was too chicken to pursue something like that. I don't like being "on stage.") We got back to town the following Monday, and my mom made me go to school that day to finish out the day! I didn't like that at all!

In 11th grade, there were so many students that the school was divided into two sessions. I think I went in the morning during 11th grade. I'm not sure. I know in 12th grade, I went in the afternoon, which I hated because I didn't get out until 4:00 p.m. I don't remember much in particular about 11th grade and what I do remember blends in with all of my high school memories. I do remember feeling the increasing teenage unhappiness and rebellion and the longing for independence.

Catherine

Monday, April 28, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - #17 Mary Floerl

My paternal 4th great grandmother Mary Floerl was born in Effingham County, Georgia, on September 19, 1767, to John Floerl and Hannah Brandner. I don't have very much information about Mary yet. Her father arrived in Georgia in 1741 with his parents as part of the Salzburger immigration from Austria and settled in the Salzburger community of New Ebenezer in Effingham County. Mary's mother was born in Effingham County, but according to some family trees on ancestry.com, Mary's maternal grandparents Mathias Brandner and Mary Horl were Salzburger immigrants. Mary had at least one brother, Israel.

Effingham County, Georgia, as of 1825 (map from http://www.randymajors.com/p/maps.html)

Mary married John Casper Waldhauer, another Salzburger descendant, on May 12, 1786, probably in Effingham County. She gave birth to ten children over about a 20-year period: John C. (after 1786-1881), Elizabeth (1792-1870, my 3rd great grandmother), Charles (1792-?), Mary Catherine (1794-1874), William (1797-1837), Susanna (1799-1823), Israel F. (1801-1874), Salome (1804-?), Margaret (1805-?), and Tabitha (1807-1817). (I'm not sure I have the correct information on all of the children.)

Mary died on March 27, 1825, in Effingham County. Her husband John died five years later on March 10, 1830.

Catherine

This post is part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by genealogist Amy Crow at No Story Too Small.



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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - #16 Elizabeth Waldhauer

Elizabeth Waldhauer is my paternal 3rd great grandmother. Born on August 25, 1792, in Effingham County, Georgia, to John Casper Waldhauer and Mary Floerl, she was one of ten children. The siblings I have listed for her are John C. (1785-?), Charles (About 1792-?), Mary Catherine (1794-1874), William (1797-1837), Susanna (1799-1823), Israel F. (1801-1874), Salome (1804-?), Margaret (1805-?), Tabitha (1807-1817).

The Waldhauer and Floerl families were Protestant Salzburgers from modern day Austria who came to Savannah, Georgia, beginning in the 1730s because of religious persecution in their country. Elizabeth's grandfather Jacob Casper Waldhauer fought for his adopted country during the American Revolution. By the time Elizabeth was born, the war had been over for about ten years.

Elizabeth probably grew up in New Ebenezer, the Salzburger settlement in Effingham County. When she was 17, she married Christian Herman Dasher, of another early Salzburger family, in Chatham County, Georgia, on March 30, 1809. Elizabeth gave birth to at least eight children: Sarah Ann (1814-1888), Margaret Amanda (1822-1880), Susan Catherine (1824-1901, my paternal 2nd great grandmother), Savannah Catherine (1825-?), William H. (1827-?), Ann Elizabeth (1829-?), Georgia Ann (1833-1880), and Mary Gertrude (1835-1894). I'm not sure all of the information I have is correct. Savannah isn't mentioned in Christian's will. The 1820 Effingham County federal census has one son under the age of 10 and one daughter under the age of ten. The daughter may be Sarah Ann, but I don't know who the son could be. I found a note in my dad's papers that says Elizabeth and Christian had six sons who died young or in infancy.

After Lowndes County, Georgia, was formed from Irwin County in 1825, this area became well known for its prosperity and drew the Dashers and Waldhauers here, as well as other Salzburger families whose names are still in this area. Elizabeth and Christian moved to Lowndes County sometime in the early 1830s. Christian is noted in History of Lowndes County Georgia 1825-1941* as one of the planters living near the county seat of Troupeville during that time, and Elizabeth's brother Israel was also listed among these planters. Her brother John moved to Lowndes at some point. He's buried next to Israel and both are in the same plot as Elizabeth and Christian in Sunset Hill Cemetery in Valdosta.

The Dasher-Waldhauer lot in Sunset Hill Cemetery in Valdosta, Georgia. From the left: John C. Waldhauer, Israel Waldhauer, Christian Dasher, and Elizabeth (Waldhauer) Dasher.


It seems that Elizabeth and Christian were very involved with their church. According to History of Lowndes County Georgia 1825-1941*, Christian was one of four men who met each Sunday at their homes to study the Bible and the Apostolic Church. After their neighbors began to meet with them, they met at a school to have more room. After a few years, they outgrew this school and built another church. This early church was the forerunner of Valdosta's First Christian Church, the church my dad grew up in.

Elizabeth and Christian's children married into the Wisenbaker, Parramore (my line), Warren, Remington, Smith, and Paine families of Lowndes County. Elizabeth and Christain lived in Lowndes County for over three decades before Christian died on February 20, 1866. Elizabeth died four years later on April 30, 1870.

Elizabeth Waldhauer's headstone in Sunset Hill Cemetery, Valdosta, Georgia. It says, "Elizabeth Dasher Died Apr. 30, 1870, Age 77 Yrs."

Christian Dasher's headstone in Sunset Hill Cemetery, Valdosta, Georgia. It says, "Christian Dasher, Died Feb. 20, 1866, Age 87 Yrs."

Catherine

This post is part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by genealogist Amy Crow at No Story Too Small.



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* General James Jackson Chapter, NSDAR, History of Lowndes County, Georgia 1825-1941 (1942; Reprint, General James Jackson Chapter, NSDAR, 1995), 6, 107.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - #15 Elizabeth Woodson

Elizabeth Woodson was my paternal 4th great grandmother. I know very little about her. She may have been born around 1800, but I don't know where she was born or who her parents were. She married my 4th great grandfather Solomon Jones on September 18, 1816, in Jones County, Georgia, and is the mother of my 3rd great grandmother Harriett B. Jones (born around 1818). Elizabeth had died by 1821, as her husband married Sarah Davis that year in Laurens County, Georgia.

Marriage record for Solomon Jones and Elizabeth Woodson, September 18, 1816 (from ancestry.com, Georgia Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1828-1978)

Jones County, Georgia, as of January 1, 1816, where Elizabeth Woodson and Solomon Jones were married on September 18, 1816 (map from http://www.randymajors.com/p/maps.html).

There's a Solomon Jones in the 1820 Laurens County, Georgia, census. There are one male and four females under the age of 10, two females between 10-15, three females between 16-25, and one male over 45 years and one female between 26-44. This doesn't sound like "my" Jones family. The older male seems to be too old. I have Solomon's birth year as 1790. He would have been 30 in 1820. The older children could be relatives rather than his and Elizabeth's children. Since it's unknown exactly how old the five children under ten were, some of them could be Elizabeth's, but I doubt all of them were hers. By 1820, she and Solomon had only been married for four years.

Catherine

This post is part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by genealogist Amy Crow at No Story Too Small.



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52 Weeks of Sharing Memories - A Special Song

This post is part of the 52 Weeks of Writing our Memories by Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy who has challenged us to write our memories for our future generations.

When I was younger, I would listen to my parents' albums on the stereo in the living room. I'd listen to movie soundtracks like Dr. Zhivago, The Sound of Music, and Shirley Temple; crooners like Andy Williams (I loved his Moon River!) and Tony Bennett; and classical music (while I twirled around the living room like a ballerina). I vaguely remember when the Beatles came to the U.S. My friend from across the street and I loved them! I liked Elvis Presley, too, and loved watching his movies, but my music tastes changed as I got older.

One of my dad's record cabinets filled with his records.
There's another cabinet just like this one full of records.


My favorite song as a teenager was "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf. I loved that song from the moment I first heard it. (I still love it!) Maybe I loved it because I was far from being wild. I know I loved it for the heavy metal (believe it or not). I first heard it one summer in the late 1960s when I was in junior high. I had been invited to go with one of my friends to visit her grandmother in Florida. I don't remember the name of the town. We would go swimming some of the time in what may have been a bay off the coast. There was a long dock with a building covering part of it that had a restaurant in it (or maybe it was a restaurant/bar), and they would play music over the loud speakers outside. I was standing in the shallow end of the water when "Born to be Wild" came on over the loud speakers. I couldn't believe my ears and I couldn't get enough of listening to that song!

Image courtesy of dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


I loved the Monkees when they hit the scene in the late 60s, and I watched their TV show every week. I had a crush on members Davy Jones and Mickey Dolenz. I loved watching American Bandstand and Soul Train on Saturdays. There are many other bands and many songs that I liked during my teenage years. Just Google "popular music 1960s 1970s," and most of what I liked will be listed. I'd listen to pop music on radio station WVLD every night under the covers!

Catherine


Monday, April 14, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - #14 Sarah Adams

Sarah Adams, my paternal second great grandmother, was born on January 15, 1829, in Sumter County, Georgia. Her parents were Lucy Ivey and Rowell Adams, and her siblings were George, Mary (b. 1825), Celia (b. 1838), Henry (b. 1840), and Lucy (b. 1843).

Sarah married my second great grandfather William Jackson Brown in 1847 in Sumter County. She gave birth to ten children: Thomas Jefferson (1847-1923), William Franklin (b. 1849), Elizabeth (b. 1851), James Andrew (b. 1852), Mary (b. 1855), Sarah Cecille (b. 1858), John Berry (1863-1930), Henry Washington (1863-1933, my great grandfather), Willis Jackson (1864-1941), and Robert Joseph (b. 1867). The online Georgia digital marriage records is missing the books that would have their marriage record.

By the time of the 1860 census, Sarah and her family, her parents, and her sister Mary and brother-in-law William Hardin had moved to Covington County, Alabama. On their farm, Sarah and William grew wheat, corn, rice, tobacco, cotton, peas, and barley. They had at least one horse, some cows, pigs, and "other cattle." They churned butter and made molasses from sugar cane. Sounds like they had a very busy farming operation going! They had a total of 120 acres at this time, with 40 acres of it improved. William received a patent for this land in 1861.

Sarah and William J. Brown's land is outlined in red (aerial from Google Earth and section and quadrangle lines from Earth Point, labels added)


The approximate location of Sarah and William J. Brown's land is outlined in red and was southeast of Andalusia, Alabama (aerial from Google Earth, labels added)

They were all still living in Alabama after the Civil War as of the 1866 Alabama state census. About a year after that census was taken, Sarah died on September 12, 1867. After her death, her parents Lucy and Rowell Adams moved back to Sumter County Georgia and were there at least by the 1870 census. Sarah's sister Lucy Ann is living with them. Next door to her parents is Sarah's sister Mary and brother-in-law William Hardin and their children. Sarah's husband William and their children stayed in Alabama.

I haven't discovered where Sarah is buried. William lived out the rest of his life as a widower.

Catherine

This post is part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by genealogist Amy Crow at No Story Too Small.



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Sources used:

1850 U. S. Census, Sumter County, Georgia, population schedule, District 27, dwelling 1046, family 1046, Rowell Adams, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 January 2014), citing NARA microfilm publication M432.

1860 U. S. census, Covington County, Alabama, nonpopulation schedule, p. 21, line 20, William J. Brown, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 April 2014), citing NARA microfilm publication M279.

1866 Alabama State Census 1820-1866, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 January 2014), citing Alabama Archives and History microfilm publication M2004.0008-M2004.0012, M2004.0036-M2004.0050, and M2008.0124.

1870 U. S. Census, Sumter County, Georgia, population schedule, Militia District 993, dwelling 687, family 685, Rowell Adams, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 January 2014), citing NARA microfilm publication M593.

Bureau of Land Management, digital image, Patent 24186 for William J. Brown, dated September 10, 1861 (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ : accessed 24 August 2010).

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

52 Weeks of Sharing Memories - 9th Grade, Love it or Hate it?

This post is part of the 52 Weeks of Writing our Memories by Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy who has challenged us to write our memories for our future generations.

Did I love or hate 9th grade? I hated school in general by the time I got to 7th grade. I felt like a fish out of water. I hated my hair, my clothes, my glasses. At least I no longer had my braces by 9th grade, and I had stopped wearing my glasses unless absolutely necessary (like in the movie theater). I struggled academically, too. I didn't do my homework unless forced to. It took me until 12th grade to realize that I could make all As if I studied. This became a game in college.

I had to take pre-algebra in 9th grade because I did so poorly in 8th grade math. I didn't do well in that class either. One of my fellow students told me I looked smart, so she didn't understand why I had made such a low grade on a test. The class I enjoyed the most was English because I love to read. Mrs. McLaurin was my 9th grade English teacher. I don't remember who my other teachers were.

Image courtesy of tigger11th / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One thing I remember about 9th grade is the substitute teacher for Mrs. McLaurin's class doing a chart of the class cliques. She asked us to choose a certain number of people in the class we'd most like to sit by. Then she showed us the chart. I was shocked to learn that the people who I thought were my friends chose other people! Another blow to my fragile self esteem.

Catherine


Sunday, April 6, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - #13 Mary Barry Wyche

Mary Barry Wyche was my maternal second great grandmother. She was born on March 27,1827, in Thomas County, Georgia, to Thomas Clarke Wyche and Catherine Barry MacIntyre. Mary's siblings were Martha Susan (1829-1864), Elizabeth Hannah (1832-1858), George Archibald (1833-1934), Catherine Caroline (1836-1929), Thomas Lawson (1838-1844), and Alice Maud (1840-?).

Mary's paternal grandmother was Susannah Mitchell, about whom I wrote in a previous 52 Ancestors post. I mentioned Mary's mother Catherine MacIntyre and Mary's daughter Catherine Young (my great grandmother) in a Fearless Females post about my namesakes during Women's History Month in March 2013.

Mary married Remer Young on May 7, 1846, in Thomas County, and she gave birth to seven children: Thomas Wyche (1847-1870), Susannah (Susan) Elizabeth (1848-1929), Henry Michael (1850-1914), Mary Lawson (1851-1938), Sarah Hannah (1853-1936), Catherine Margaret (1855-1929, my great grandmother), and John Remer (1856-1905).

Marriage record for Mary Wyche and Remer Young, Thomas County Marriage License Book 1835-1865, p. 140, 7 May 1846; digital images, Georgia's Virtual Vault, Marriage Records from Microfilm (http://cdm.sos.state.ga.us:8888/cdm4/countyfilm.php : accessed 5 April 2014).
Mary's husband Remer ran his uncle's (also named Remer Young) plantation in Thomas County. The uncle gave Remer a plantation in Lowndes County at Mineola, which was outside of Valdosta at the time. Now it's a residential and business area in north Valdosta.

Mary was only 34 years old when she died on May 14, 1861. She's buried in the Wyche family cemetery on Mill Pond Plantation in Thomas County beside her son Thomas. After Mary's death, Remer sent their children to his in-laws' plantation in Thomas County for four years. When he remarried in 1865 to Sarah Frances Goldwire, he brought the children back to Mineola.

I found the photograph below in my mom's collection. At first I believed it was Mary Barry Wyche because of what my grandmother Leona Roberts wrote on the back:

Is this Mary Barry Wyche or Sarah Frances Goldwire? See below.

The back of the above photograph:

"Grand Mother Young
Mother of
Kate Young"

If the woman in the photograph is the mother of Kate (Catherine) Young, then this is Mary Wyche. However, if this is Mary Wyche, none of her children look like her, in my opinion. Could this be Remer's second wife Sarah Frances Goldwire instead? Below is a photograph of Mary's children still living at the time it was taken.


Front row: Susan, Henry Michael, Mary Lawson. Back row: Hannah, Catherine, John Remer

Sarah Frances Goldwire died in 1907 when my grandmother Leona was 12 years old, so she would have known Sarah Frances and probably thought of her as her grandmother.

I have yet to visit Mary's grave. The family cemetery is on private land, and I would need to get permission. One of these days, I'll make arrangements to go there.

Catherine

This post is part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by genealogist Amy Crow at No Story Too Small.



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Some of the above information came from: Constance Pendleton, ed., Confederate Memoirs: Early Life and Family History, William Frederic Pendleton and Mary Lawson Young Pendleton. (Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 1958), 153-155, 160.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

52 Weeks of Sharing Memories - Broken Bones and Other Accidents

This post is part of the 52 Weeks of Writing our Memories by Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy who has challenged us to write our memories for our future generations.

I didn't have any broken bones growing up, but I had a few accidents--the usual scraped knees from falling down or falling off my bike, stubbed toes, smashed fingers in doors, cuts and scratches, a run-in with poison ivy. One accident I remember in particular was knocking myself out when I fell from a hammock at my friend's house across the street.

Image courtesy of EA / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My friend's parents had a rope hammock in their backyard that we loved to swing in. We liked to run and flop on it because it would swing higher if we did that. Well, one time (I was in elementary school) I ran toward it, pounced on it, and that's the last thing I remember. Apparently when I jumped in the hammock it swung up in the air and dumped me out. I hit my head on the ground so hard that it knocked me out.

The next thing I remember was walking toward my friend's driveway from the backyard. The look on her face had me concerned. She was asking me if I was ok. What just happened? I didn't feel so good and I felt sort of strange. My head hurt. I was in daze. I started to cry and began walking home with my bike. My friend followed. My mom came out and asked me what happened. I told her I had fallen off my bike because in my daze I thought that must be what I'd done. My friend explained what happened. My mom took me to see our pediatrician. I don't know if we went to his office or the emergency room. My mom was told not to let me go to sleep which of course is what I wanted to do. I had scratches all down the side of my face where it met the dirt!

I'm glad I don't remember what actually happened. I certainly don't remember the pain. I used to remember which side of my head hit the ground, but I don't even remember that anymore!

Catherine