52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Mother's Day

This post is part of Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks for 2018. The prompt for the week of May 7, 2018, is Mother's Day.

Mother’s Day was this past Sunday (May 13). We took Mama out for brunch. Not everyone in our large family was able to come with us but we still had a table full—11 in all. It was nice to sit with family for a meal. We don’t get to do that very often. 

My mother, Leona Redles Pendleton, and me not long after I was born

Three generations: my mother holding me, and her mother, Leona Roberts Redles, is on the right 

I’m my mother’s oldest; that means I made her a mother first! Ha! But that didn’t make me her favorite. Mama doesn’t have any favorites; at least she never acted like any of her five children were her favorites. That’s a good thing, I think. At brunch, I teased my son that he was my favorite son (he’s my only son). And he said I was his favorite mother. Kids!

I hope Mama had a great Mother's Day!

Catherine

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Close Up

This post is part of Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks for 2018. The prompt for the week of April 30, 2018, is Close Up.

I feel like I know my maternal grandfather, William Liming Redles, close up, because of the letters and documents he left behind that were saved after his death by his wife, my grandmother Leona Roberts. I don’t have such a volume of information on any other ancestor written in his or her own hand. My grandmother saved the letters Will wrote to her, even after he requested that she destroy them. I’m glad she didn’t listen. Stubborness runs on the Roberts side. 

My maternal grandparents Leona Roberts and William Liming Redles

I believe attention to detail runs on the Redles side, at least in Will’s case. Maybe that’s part of the reason Will made the Marines a career. It fed that part of his personality, or made it useful. I wonder if attention to detail can be passed down in our genes. I certainly have it, and one of my children and one of my grandchildren have it, too. I was told once it’s my greatest strength and my greatest weakness. I can’t see the forest for the trees, to use a cliche. In reading Will’s letters, it seems he picks apart detail after detail, focusing on the smallest of things. He was bossy as an older brother to two younger sisters and as an older husband to a much younger wife. I suppose my younger siblings, my children, and my grandchildren would say I'm the same way.

My dad had started a novel about the father-in-law he never met (Will died in 1932), but the book was never published. The story starts out as Will (Trent in the novel) lays dying, and then his story is told in flashbacks through letters from his sisters and friends, letters to his wife, and military documents. My dad changed all the names. I’ve wanted to write a biography about Will, but it will only interest my immediate family, if even them. And it feels like such a monumental task to get the details right (as much as I love detail). 

Rather than repeat what I've written about Will before, please take a look at my previous blog posts:

My Maternal Grandfather William Liming Redles
Church Record Sunday - The Baptism of William L. Redles
Sympathy Saturday - Scrapbook of a Death
My Granddad's Philadelphia

Maybe I’ll do like my dad, and write a work of fiction about my grandfather. I do find his life fascinating. 

Catherine

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - The Old Homestead

This post is part of Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks for 2018. The prompt for the week of March 26, 2018, is The Old Homestead. I thought I’d write about the old plantation for this topic instead, because I’ve always wondered about the exact location of the land that belonged to my maternal 2nd great grandfather Remer Young, and I received some photos of some of  the people Remer owned before the Civil War.

Remer Young owned a plantation in north Lowndes County Georgia in an area called Mineola. According to a post on findagrave.com about the "Old Young Plantation" (author unknown), a portion of the land was originally part of the estate of Francis Rountree. In 1841, Michael Brady Jones bought Lots 36, 56, 82, and 83 in Land District 12 from Rountree’s estate. The following year, in 1842, Jones sold the land to Matthew Young. Young sold these lots plus two others (Lots 36, 56, 57, 81, 82, and 83) to Remer Young in 1857 (see the map below). By 1860, Remer had acquired more land, totaling 6,000 acres: Lots 36, 37, 56, 57, 81, 82, 83, 102, 103, 128, 129, and 149 (see map below). 

I don't have a citation for this map. I saw it at the South Georgia Regional Library in Valdosta laid out on a table in the genealogy room. There's no information on the map or date. I've marked the Remer Young property: yellow for the lots he bought in 1857, red for what he owned as of 1860.

The land includes a slave cemetery, noted in Church and Family Cemeteries in Lowndes County, Georgia 1825-2005 Part 2 as “Northwest of Valdosta: Approximately 1/2 mile northeast of junction of N. Valdosta Road and I-75, on what was formerly the ‘Young Plantation.’ No Markers.” The findagrave posting adds that the cemetery is about 300 yards northeast of the intersection of N. Valdosta Road and I-75 in a stand of trees, but sometime in the 2000s, the trees were cut down and a subdivision established. I wonder what happened to the cemetery?

The 1860 U.S. Slave Schedule for Lowndes County, Georgia, Districts 663 and 1200 (ancestry.com), shows that Remer Young had a total of 88 slaves in 17 “slave houses.” That's about five people per small cabin. The oldest person was 56 years old and the youngest was only two months.

In the winter of 1904 to 1905, my 2nd great aunt, Lawson Young Pendleton, came down to Valdosta from Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, to visit relatives in the Valdosta/Lowndes County area, including her sister Catherine Young Roberts (my maternal great grandmother). (Lawson and Catherine are two of Remer Young’s and Mary Wyche’s children.) Lawson brought three of her daughters, Amena, Constance, and Freda Pendleton. 

The day after Christmas in 1904, Freda and Constance visited the Young plantation in Mineola with their uncle John Young, who owned the property at the time. In Confederate Memoirs, Constance Pendleton (1958) describes the visit to Mineola:

The family house was gone, and the place was not being cultivated, but timber was being cut, and there was a sawmill, a small group of houses, and a commissary or store near the railroad station. The overseer’s old house was a little distance away, and the site of the family house at least a mile beyond…A number of old family servants [slaves], too old to work, were living on the place in small houses here and there, and were permitted to draw rations from the commissary, free of charge.

Constance and Freda met several of the people who had been owned by their grandfather, Remer Young: Judy, Easter Johnson, Mose (former foreman of the plantation), Emily Johnson (former dairy maid), William (Wilts) Johnson (Remer’s former body servant), and Nancy (who ran off to the circus after the Civil War but returned). 

Near the end of 2016, my Pendleton/Young cousins from Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, Erik Odhner and Alan Pendleton, began the laborious task of scanning old family photographs. These included some of the former Young plantation slaves taken during the 1904/1905 trip to Valdosta: 

Judy

Easter Johnson

Mose, Emily Johnson, and William (Wilts) Johnson

"Mineola hands" (former slaves)

I'm grateful to my Bryn Athyn Pendleton/Young cousins Erik and Alan for scanning and sharing these photographs (among others) and to Constance for writing about her visit to the former Young plantation. As much as I love maps, seeing photographs and reading written accounts bring the past to life, however painful. 

Catherine

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References:

Clifton, Geraldine McLeod and Dorothy Peterson Neisen, Church and Family Cemeteries in Lowndes County, Georgia 1825-2005 Part 2. Reprinted 2007 by Genealogy Unlimited Society, Inc., Valdosta, Georgia. 


Constance Pendleton, ed., Confederate Memoirs: Early Life and Family History, William Frederic Pendleton and Mary Lawson Young Pendleton. (Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 1958)

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Strong Woman

This post is part of Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks for 2018. The prompt for the week of March 5, 2018, is Strong Woman.

For every female ancestor I considered for this prompt, Strong Woman, I discovered I’d already written about her in previous posts, so I had a hard time coming up with someone unless I went even further back in the generations. And the further back I go, the less information I have and the harder the women are to research. 

Any of my female ancestors who survived long enough to give birth to a healthy child who became my ancestor was a strong woman indeed. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here. In fact, any woman who survives to adulthood is a Strong Woman, whether she leaves behind children or not. 

So as I perused my family tree and looked up a few ladies, I settled on my maternal 6th great grandmother, Amy Goodwyn/Goodwin, for no other reason than I haven’t written about her before nor have I done any research. As soon as I began researching, I found that she’d been married twice and had children by each husband.

I don’t know if the dates of birth and death that I have for Amy are correct. I don’t even remember where I got them, probably from someone’s family tree on ancestry.com before I knew better than to just copy trees. She may have been born on August 31, 1732. A findagrave memorial says she married my 6th great grandfather, Thomas Mitchell, in 1747 and they had seven children: John, Henry, Thomas Goodwin (my 5th great grandfather), Tabitha, Winifred, James, and Richard. Amy’s first husband, Thomas, died about 1762 or maybe before, as she married her second husband, John Raines, that same year, on October 5, 1762. After marrying John, she gave birth to four more children: Thomas, Robert, Cadwallader, and Amy. 

Amy died February 14, 1773, in Sussex County, Virginia. 

Here’s my descent from Amy:

Amy Goodwyn/Goodwin and Thomas Mitchell (my 6th great grandparents)
Thomas Goodwin Mitchell and Ann Raines (my 5th great grandparents)
Susannah Mitchell and Littleton Wyche (my 4th great grandparents)
Thomas Clark Wyche and Catharine MacIntyre (my 3rd great grandparents)
Mary Barry Wyche and Remer Young (my 2nd great grandparents)
Catherine Young and John T. Roberts (my great grandparents)
Leona Roberts and William Redles (my grandparents)
Leona Redles and Albert Pendleton (my parents)

I also didn't find much online about Amy's first husband Thomas. Maybe one day I'll get back to this research.

Catherine

The Roberts Family, Christmas Day 1915

I’m so thankful that my maternal Roberts family was fond of taking photographs, especially group photos on holidays. I was looking through digitized copies of my mom’s photos this morning and came across this one taken of the Roberts family on December 25, 1915, on the front steps of the Big House (Known locally as the J.T. Roberts house. Click on the photo for a larger view). Luckily, my mom wrote their names on the back. I would have been able to pick out a few of the people, like my grandmother Leona, most of her sisters, her brother Leland, and her parents, because I knew them (except for her parents, of course) when I was growing up.

The numbers in the list below correspond to the numbers in the photograph:

4th row: 1-Edmund Pendleton (my cousin on my dad’s side) and wife 2-Stella (Roberts) Pendleton, 3-Kathleen (Roberts) Winn (for whom I named my daughter) and husband 4-Abial Winn, 5-Mary (Converse) Roberts and husband 6-John Young Roberts.

3rd row: 7-Maie Dell (Roberts) Covington, 8-Margaret Roberts (later Graham).

2nd row: 9-Henry L. Covington, Jr. (husband of Maie Dell Roberts), 10-Leona Roberts (later Redles, my grandmother), 11-Dinah Roberts (later Parramore, on my dad's side), 12-Edwina Roberts, 13-W. Leland Roberts.

1st row: 14-Henry L. Covington III (son of Maie Dell Roberts and Henry Covington Jr.), 15-John Taylor Roberts holding babies 16-William Edmund Pendleton (son of Stella Roberts and Edmund Pendleton) and 17-John Roberts Covington (son of Maie Dell Roberts and Henry Covington Jr.), 18-Kathleen Winn (later Knight, daughter of Kathleen Roberts and Abial Winn), 19-baby Mary Young Roberts (later Oliver, daughter of John Young Roberts and Mary Converse), 20-Kate (Catherine Young) Roberts, and 21-John Winn (son of Kathleen Roberts and Abial Winn).

Compare this photo to the ones I posted previously: The Roberts Family Circa 1900 and The J. T. Roberts Family—A Group Photo ca. 1936 and see how much this family grew. What a difference a few decades make!

Catherine

Two Parramore Boys Drown, August 4, 1900

A while ago, on one of my many visits to Sunset Hill Cemetery in Valdosta, Georgia, I visited the graves of my paternal 2nd great grandparents, Susan Dasher and Noah Parramore. While there, I photographed all of the headstones on the Parramore lot. 

The Noah and Susan Dasher Parramore family plot in Sunset Hill Cemetery, Valdosta, Georgia

I was intrigued by the headstone for two young Parramore boys—Frank and Herman, sons of John and Martha Parramore. They have one headstone divided into two parts. The dates on the headstones are hard to read, but it appears they died the same day in 1900, and it looks like they are buried in the same grave. 

Double headstone for Frank and Herman Parramore who drowned on August 4, 1900

Later, my Parramore/Roberts cousin Lilla Kate told me Frank and Herman drowned together, and our uncle John Young Roberts, who was just a boy at the time, rushed to town to bring the sad news about his young friends. Lilla Kate said the incident was written up in the Valdosta newspaper, so I headed to the library to look it up on microfilm.

The article in The Valdosta Times is dated Tuesday, August 7, 1900, and titled, “A Double Drowning Saturday, The Sad Death of Little Frank and Herman Parramore.” On Saturday afternoon, August 4, twelve-year-old Frank and ten-year-old Herman were with a group of boys and girls headed to the branch on my paternal great grandfather A. S. Pendleton’s property north of town for a swim. Then several of the boys, including ten-year-old John Young Roberts (son of my maternal great grandparents John T. Roberts and Catherine Young), Frank and Herman Parramore, and ten-year-old Fred and twelve-year-old Albert Pendleton (sons of A. S. Pendleton and Susan Parramore; Albert was my grandfather) and some other boys decided to go to Pine Park. (Pine Park was the fair grounds at the time.) They wanted to swim in the pond there that had been used for diving horses the previous year. 

Location of Pine Park in Valdosta, northeast of the current location of Valdosta State University (Map from Google maps. Boundaries for Pine Park from Streetcars in Valdosta)

A wire had been strung across the pond, and the boys used it to hold themselves up in the water. When Frank, Herman, and Fred were holding onto the wire, it broke. Fred was able to get to shore, but Frank and Herman slipped underwater. Neither one of them could swim.

Some workmen nearby heard the screams of the group of boys and ran over. One of the men dived in to look for Frank and Herman. They had been under water about ten minutes by the time they were brought out. Men from the Edgewood Dairy hurried over and helped with resuscitation, but Frank and Herman could not be revived. They were wrapped in a sheet and loaded on a wagon from the dairy to be taken to town.

In the meantime, John Young Roberts jumped on his pony and rode to town to bring the sad news. He “was so excited that he could hardly talk,” so the family hoped what he told them wasn’t true. Frank and Herman’s father John and Dr. Ben Burton immediately headed for the pond but met the wagon carrying the boys on the way. The newspaper article said, “the grief stricken father stood mute and motionless over them. His frame shook with emotion, but the great grief which had come so unfairly upon him was too deep for tears.” Dr. Burton pronounced Frank and Herman dead, and their bodies were taken to the Parramore home on Central Avenue.

The funeral for Frank and Herman was held on Sunday, August 5, at four o’clock in the afternoon, and their two coffins were put in the same grave. The funeral procession was one of the largest “ever seen here and deep sorrow was felt by all.” The article noted that their mother Martha had had a premonition “of a great bereavement” some time before her sons drowned. She had already lost two children in the month of August (Susie in 1896 and Thompson in 1898). She had told a friend that she dreaded to see that month come. Now, two more of her children had died in August.

I can’t imagine the sorrow and pain in losing a child. John and Martha Parramore lost four children within a four-year time period.

Catherine

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - #42 Catherine Young

It dawned on me the other day that I've been remiss in writing about my maternal great grandmother Catherine (Kate) Margaret Young. I've mentioned her a few times, so I guess that made me think I'd written about her before.

Kate was born on January 25, 1855, to Remer Young and Mary Barry Wyche in Thomas County, Georgia. Her siblings were Thomas Wyche (1846-1870), Susannah Elizabeth (1848-1929), Henry Michael (1850-1914), Mary Lawson (1851-1938), Sarah Hannah (1853-1936), and John Remer (1856-1905).

Remer's uncle gave him a plantation in Mineola, Lowndes County, Georgia, (now a residential and business section in north Valdosta), so the family moved there. Kate was six years old when her mother Mary died. After Mary's death, Remer sent Kate and her siblings to live with their maternal grandparents Catharine MacIntyre and Thomas Clarke Wyche in Thomas County. The children stayed with them until their father remarried to Sarah Frances Goldwire in 1865. The children returned to the plantation in Mineola.[1] Kate's half siblings were James King (1866-1926), Mitchell Jones (1868-1870), Burton (1873-1884), Coma (1876-?), and America Remer (1884-1974).

The children of Remer Young and Mary Barry Wyche, April 4, 1888.
Back row: Hannah, Kate, and John Remer. Front row: Susannah, Henry, and Lawson

Kate married John Taylor Roberts on October 25, 1883, in Lowndes County.

Marriage record for John Taylor Roberts and Catherine (Kate) Margaret Young (from Georgia's Virtual Vault, Marriage Records from Microfilm, Lowndes County Marriage Book 1870-1890, page 73) 

An article in The Valdosta Times dated October 27, 1883, says they were married at 7:30 in the morning of October 25. Then the couple boarded the 10:00 a.m. train to attend the Louisville Exposition. From there they were probably going to visit Kate's sister in Chicago.[2] (This sister was Lawson Young who was married to my paternal great, great uncle William Frederic Pendleton. They lived in Chicago for a few years.)

The young couple first lived at 412 East Hill Avenue in Valdosta where possibly the first six of their nine children were born: William Leland (1884-1864), Kathleen Wyche (1886-1980), Maie Dell (1887-1976), John Young (1890-1953), Stella (1891-1968), Margaret (1893-1986), Leona (1895-1955, my grandmother), Edwina (1897-1969), Mary Remer (1900-1990).

412 East Hill Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia.
The fist house of Catherine Young and John Taylor Roberts.

John and Kate moved their large and growing family to their new home at 206 Wells Street after the property was deeded to John in 1894. This house is known in my family as "the Big House," but it is also known as the J. T. Roberts House or the Wisenbaker-Wells-Roberts House. The original part of the house was built in 1845 by William Wisenbaker. It's part of the Fairview Historic District.

The J. T. Roberts house at 206 Wells Street, Valdosta, Georgia. I took this photo in 2008.
It's now owned by the Valdosta Heritage Foundation. 

This house was continuously occupied by the Roberts family for nearly 100 years. My mother Leona and her sister Catherine also grew up here.

Education was very important in the Roberts household. All of the children went to college (except for Edwina), but not all of them graduated. Kate was the glue that held the family together. Her children knew they could always come back home. She would stretch out on the living room floor for a 15 minute nap and then be off and running again. She never knew how many people would show up for dinner because of the large size of the family, which included grandchildren and cousins. [3]

Catherine (Young) Roberts

John died on January 19, 1920, and Kate died nine years later on June 24, 1929. Both are buried in Sunset Hill Cemetery in Valdosta.

The grave of Catherine (Kate) Young Roberts, June 1929, Sunset Hill Cemetery, Valdosta, Georgia

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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[1] 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.

[2] Wayne and Judy Dasher. Wiregrass Weddings and Births, Volume 1, The Valdosta Times - April 10, 1875 to December 30, 1893; Berrien County Pioneer October 19, 1888 to March 20, 1891; The Tifton Gazette April 17, 1891 to December 22, 1893. Privately published, 2000. Repository South Georgia Regional Library, Valdosta, Georgia.

[3] Catherine Redles, interview by Catherine Pendleton, Valdosta, Georgia, 2 November 1997; Albert S. Pendleton, Jr., "The John T. Roberts Family," Lowndes County Historical Society Newsletter, V, no. 1:2-3, 1975.

52 Weeks of Sharing Our Memories - Let's Visit Grandma!

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.

My maternal grandmother, Leona Roberts (Redles), died from breast cancer on April 19, 1955, a few months after I was born. Here's a photo of her holding me not too long before she died. I can tell from the photo just how ill she was. (I love the labels my dad wrote on these photos.)

My maternal grandmother Leona Roberts (Redles) and me in 1955.
Taken at the J. T. Roberts house.

She grew up in the J. T. Roberts house. The photo behind my blog title was taken of the Roberts clan on the side porch of that house. After the death of my grandfather William Redles, she moved back to the Roberts house with her daughters, my mom Leona and Aunt Catherine, and lived there with three of her sisters and their families. One of her brothers lived next door with another one of their sisters and her family. Everyone called the Roberts house the Big House (we still call it that). We continued to visit our relatives there for many years after my grandmother died.

I don't remember a lot about visits to my paternal grandmother Helen Brown's (Thomas, Pendleton) house. I remember picking up pecans in the back yard and playing in the front yard. I remember what the inside of her house looked like and the layout. I remember sneaking in her bedroom to smell her Jergens lotion. That scent still reminds me of her. She and my granddad Albert Pendleton Sr. lived in a stucco house on a quiet street--the same house my dad and his siblings grew up in. Below is a photo taken on their front porch.

My mother holding me on the left, in the center is my grandmother Helen Brown (Thomas, Pendleton), on the right is my Aunt Frances Thomas (McLaughlin) holding her son/my cousin Rob McLaughlin (we called him Bobby back then).

I enjoyed visiting Grandmama and Granddaddy (Helen and Albert) and going to the Big House where my great aunts and uncles lived and where Grandmother Leona and my mom and aunt grew up!

Catherine

52 Weeks of Sharing Our Memories - First Loss

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.

The first loss that I experienced when I was young was the death of my maternal grandmother Leona Roberts (married name Redles). I was only a few months old, so I had no idea what was going on. I was born in October 1954, and she died the following year on April 19, 1955.

My maternal grandmother Leona Roberts (married name Redles) and me. My dad wrote, 
"Friday before Easter. Last picture with Grandmother"

The loss that I do remember was my Uncle Big Bubba, William Leland Roberts. He was my grandmother Leona's oldest brother and one of my favorite people. I was nine years old when he died on March 15, 1964, in Valdosta, Georgia. He lived with his sister Kathleen Roberts and her husband Abial Winn, but ate his meals with his sisters Margaret, Dinah (Mary Remer), and Leona and their families next door in the dining room at the Roberts House, what we refer to as the Big House. His invalid sister Midge (Edwina) took her meals at the table and chair in the living room where she always sat. The chair had been raised to accommodate her infliction.

Uncle Big Bubba (William Leland Roberts) is on the right, Nick is in the center, and Tom Preuet on the left. Valdosta Builders Supply was a Roberts family business and was in the field behind the Big House.

I'm not sure I knew what the implications of death were back then. I knew that I would never see Uncle Big Bubba again. I don't remember what I felt when I was told he had died, but I'm sure I felt his loss. Someone I had known my whole life was suddenly no longer there. As far as I recall, he was the first person close to me to die. I didn't go to his funeral. My parents probably thought it best to keep us young children at home.

Uncle Big Bubba was always kind to us children, and as I wrote in my previous blog post linked above, he would sometimes come outside to sit with us in the swing on the front porch. I enjoyed that.

Catherine

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - #22 Phoebe O'Steen Weeks

My maternal 4th great grandmother Phoebe O'Steen Weeks has been a bit of a mystery to me--her name and parentage, that is. I've seen her name as I have it here, and I've seen it as Phoebe Weeks O'Steen. I have her parents as John O'Steen and Ada Weeks. Why the confusion on her name? A recently found cousin on 23andme.com told me that speculation has it that Phoebe was born before her parents were married, so she was given her mother's maiden name of Weeks. Then her name was changed to Phoebe Weeks O'Steen after her parents married.

I did a little research a while ago to see if I even have the correct parents listed for Phoebe. I haven't located a marriage record yet for her parents. I have that Phoebe was born in 1785. A few trees on ancestry.com have her parents' marriage date as 1787, but none that I looked at have any attached records to back this up.

In Volume 2 of Folks Huxford's Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia, he doesn't list Phoebe as a child of John and Ada. In Volume 4, he has a correction for the names of their children and says, "The old Bible record of these births also include that of Phoebe Weeks, born Feb. 22, 1785, she being a half sister to the above [children]." In Volume 10, a descendant of Phoebe's sister Cassandra notes that they were half sisters.[1] So it sounds like there's a possibility that John O'Steen is not Phoebe's father.

According to Huxford's correction in Volume 4, Phoebe's half siblings were Reubin (b. 1788), Ezekiel (b. 1791), Leonard (b. 1793), Bartholomew (b. 1795), Nancy (b. 1796), Argent (b. 1798), Cassandra (b. 1799), Easter (b. 1801). Huxford notes that Reubin was born in North Carolina. After his birth the family moved to Beaufort District, South Carolina, and then moved to Georgia prior to the birth of Easter.[2]

Phoebe married my maternal 4th great grandfather John Roberts in 1798 in McIntosh County, Georgia. She gave birth to 11 children: John J. (b. 1799), Lewis (b. 1802), William P. (b. 1804, my 3rd great grandfather and husband of Sarah Knight), Reubin (b. 1807), George (b. 1808), Bryant J. (b. 1809), Nathan (b. 1811), Stephen (b. 1814), Phoebe (b. 1815), Enoch (b. 1820), and Mary (b. 1826).

Phoebe and John moved from either Bryan or McIntosh County in 1803 to Wayne County when it was formed. They stayed in Wayne County for over 20 years and then moved to the eastern portion of Lowndes County in 1827. In June of that year, they became members of the Union Primitive Baptist Church (also known as Burnt Church) in the part of Lowndes County that later became part of Lanier County. John was an ordained deacon at the church. He moved his letter in 1841 to form Wayfare Church in what is now Echols County, Georgia, because it was closer to where they lived.

Lowndes County, Georgia, as of 1830 (from http://www.randymajors.com/p/maps.html)

In 1848, Phoebe and John moved to Columbia County, Florida, where they died. Phoebe died in 1851 and John died in 1854. They are buried in the cemetery at Swift Creek Church near Lake Butler, Florida. At the time Huxford wrote Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia Volume 1, John's was marked, but Phoebe's wasn't.[3] A headstone has since been placed at her grave.

Columbia County, Florida, as of 1840 (from http://www.randymajors.com/p/maps.html)

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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[1] Folks Huxford, Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia, Volume 2, Patten Publishers, Adel, Georgia, 1961, pp. 228-229; Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia, Volume 4, Atkinson County Citizen, Pearson, Georgia, 1968, pp. 368-369; Huxford Genealogical Society, Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia, Volume 10, self published, Homerville, Georgia, 1998, pp. 551.

[2] Folks Huxford, Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia, Volume 4, Atkinson County Citizen, Pearson, Georgia, 1968, p. 368.

[3] Folks Huxford, Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia, Volume 1, Cooper Press, Jacksonville, Florida, 1966, pp. 240-242.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - #8 Margaret DeVane

My maternal second great grandmother Margaret DeVane was born September 26, 1826, in Bulloch County, Georgia, to Francis Devane and Frances Giddens (yes, her parents have the same name). Margaret was one of at least eight children. Her siblings were Priscilla Ann (1816-1904), Tabitha (1822-1897), Thomas (1824-1902), Rebecca Jane (1831-1859), Patrick (1834-1862), Benjamin Mitchell (1835-1912), and William (1838-1909).

Around 1831, Margaret's parents moved the family to the fertile lands and pine forests of north Lowndes County, Georgia, an area that later became part of Berrien County. This must be where Margaret met her future husband William Roberts. William's parents, William P. Roberts and Sarah Knight, were among the early setters in Lowndes County and were living here by 1825. William was born here three years later. This part of Georgia was being settled quickly during this time, with many new settlers moving in carving out their land and building new homes. Native Americans were seen on occasion, and they sometimes fought with the encroaching white settlers. (The maps below are from http://randymajors.com/p/maps.html with labels added.)

Lowndes County, Georgia, in 1830. It was formed from Irwin County in 1825.

Lowndes and Berrien counties in 1860. Berrien was formed from part of Lowndes County in 1856.

Margaret married William in Lowndes County on June 30, 1845, when she was nearly 19 years old. She gave birth to nine children: Priscilla Ann (1847-1920), Rebecca Jane (1849-1849), John Taylor (1850-1920, my maternal great grandfather), Elizabeth (1853-1936), William Patrick (1855-1922), Benjamin Hill (1858-1936), Francis (1860-1915), Martha Leona (1864-1900, for whom my grandmother was named), and Margaret Beulah (1867-1946).

Margaret and William eventually moved to the town of Valdosta, the county seat in Lowndes County, where several of their children were living. Margaret died August 18, 1893, and William died in 1903. Both are buried in Sunset Hill Cemetery in Valdosta near several of their children.

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:

Folks Huxford. Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia, Volume V.  Self published, 1967. Second Printing, 1970, 366-367.

General James Jackson Chapter, NSDAR, History of Lowndes County, Georgia 1825-1941 (1942; Reprint, General James Jackson Chapter, NSDAR, 1995), 1-6

Tombstone Tuesday - The Knights at Burnt Church

On a very hot, sunny Sunday afternoon in May, my sister Helen and I went to find the graves of our maternal fourth great grandparents William Anderson and Sarah Cone Knight in the Union Primitive Baptist Church cemetery (otherwise known as Burnt Church) in Lakeland, Lanier County, Georgia. This was exciting! I've never seen the graves of anyone previous to those of our second great grandparents. (Click on each photo for a larger view.) 

Google Earth aerial of the Union Primitive Baptist Church and cemetery (also known as Burnt Church) in Lakeland, Georgia

The headstone of my maternal 4th great grandfather William Anderson Knight at Union Primitive Baptist Church (Burnt Church), Lakeland, Lanier County, Georgia

The inscription on William's headstone says: "Sacred to the memory of William A. Knight, who was born February the 8th, 1778, and died December the 8th, 1859."

The headstone of my maternal 4th great grandmother Sarah Cone Knight at Union Primitive Baptist Church (Burnt Church), Lakeland, Lanier County, Georgia

Sarah's headstone says: "Sacred to the memory of Sarah Knight, who was born February the 16th, 1780, and died November the 28th, 1859."

The Knights first settled in Wayne County, Georgia, where William severed as representative, Justice of the Peace, and Justice of Wayne Inferior Court for several years. In the mid-1820s, they moved to what is now Lanier County but was then Irwin and later part of Lowndes County. He served as the first senator of Lowndes County from 1826 to 1828. The Knights were charter members of Union Primitive Baptist Church, the first Primitive Baptist Church in Lowndes County, which is where they are buried. William was ordained as a minister in 1832 and helped establish several churches within a 100 mile-wide area. In 1850, after the death of Pastor Matthew Albritton, William became the pastor of Union Primitive Baptist Church.  He also served as the first pastor of Wayfare Church from 1841-1854 and 1856-1858, located in what is now Echols County, Georgia.*  (Helen and I also visited Wayfare that same Sunday, because my son was told that we had some relatives there, too.)

Curiously, the inscriptions on William and Sarah's headstones are on the back. Nothing is written on the front. (See below.) I'd not seen this done before. I've seen headstones with inscriptions on both sides, but not just engraved on the back.

The headstones and footstones of William Anderson and Sarah Cone Knight at Union Primitive Baptist Church (Burnt Church) in Lakeland, Lanier County, Georgia. No inscriptions are on the front of the headstones.

I was surprised to find that our third great parents are in this cemetery as well---William and Sarah's daughter Sarah and her husband William P. Roberts.  Sarah and William Roberts aren't buried together. When I saw Sarah Knight Roberts' headstone near her parents, I thought her husband William had to be there somewhere. I found him about 50 feet away to the east.

The gravestone of my maternal third great grandmother Sarah Knight Roberts at Union Primitive Baptist Church (Burnt Church) in Lakeland, Lanier County, Georgia.

Sarah Knight Roberts' gravestone says: "Sacred to the memory of Sarah Roberts who was born Oct. 10th 1809 and departed this life Jan. 21st 1880"

The gravestone of my maternal third great grandfather William P. Roberts at Union Primitive Baptist Church in Lakeland, Lanier County, Georgia

William P. Roberts' gravestone says: "Sacred to the memory of William P. Roberts who was born ...ted this life Dec. 2nd 1852"

There are graves of other members of the Knight family in this cemetery. As soon as I figure out how they connect to my branch, I'll post them.

Catherine

*Folks Huxford, Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia, Volume I. Cooper Press Inc., Jacksonville, Florida, 1966, 160-161.

The Roberts Family Circa 1900

While going through my dad's papers, I found this great photograph of my maternal 2nd great grandfather William Roberts with some of his grandchildren (the children of his son John Taylor Roberts and Catherine Young) taken about 1900 in the front yard of the J. T. Roberts house on Wells Street in Valdosta, Georgia. (We call it the Big House. It's now owned by the Valdosta Heritage Foundation who is restoring it a second time after a devastating fire.)

My maternal 2nd great grandfather William Roberts with the children of his son John Taylor Roberts and Catherine Young in the front yard of the J. T. Roberts house in Valdosta, Georgia

Starting on the back row, from left to right: William Leland (Big Bubber), Maie Dell, the nurse holding Mary Remer (Dinah), Stella, and Kathleen (for whom I named my daughter). On the front row, left to right: John Young (Little Bubber), Margaret, William (my 2nd great grandfather), Edwina (Midge), and Leona (my grandmother). I love that Uncle John Young is all dressed up sans socks and shoes.

I shared a photograph of these children all grown up in my post Wordless Wednesday: Brothers and Sisters. They're also in the photograph behind my blog title, but you can go to my post The J. T. Roberts Family--A Group Photo ca. 1936 to see who's who.

Finding this photograph was a wonderful surprise!

Catherine

Nearly Wordless Wednesday - Restoring John and Kate's House

A couple of months ago I went by the home of my maternal great grandparents John Taylor Roberts and Catherine (Kate) Margaret Young mainly to just visit the house but to also see the rebuilding progress. A fire on January 30, 2011, gutted the interior and burned off the roof and attic.  The first photograph was taken of the entrance hall in 2008 before it was renovated by the Valdosta Heritage Foundation who is current owner and who is restoring/rebuilding the house as funds allow. The second photograph was taken in 2013 after rebuilding had begun "post fire."

The entrance hall in my maternal great grandparents', John Taylor Roberts and Catherine (Kate) Margaret Young, house in 2008, three years before the January 30, 2011, fire that gutted the interior.

Rebuilding progress of the entrance hall as of July 27, 2013. Don't worry. I didn't go inside. I took this through the plate glass window on the front door. 

For further reading about this great house that we call the Big House (aka the Roberts House and the Wisenbaker-Wells-Roberts House) see The Big House and After the Fire. The photo behind my blog title was taken of the Roberts descendants on the side porch on the south elevation of this house.

Catherine

A 1920s Fashionably Dressed Woman

I must get my attention to detail from my maternal grandfather William Liming Redles.  I've been told it's my greatest strength and my greatest weakness.  My grandfather seemed to pay attention to every little thing! Even women's fashion. In some of the letters he wrote to my grandmother Leona Roberts after they were married, he suggests what clothes she should wear for traveling and visiting, right down to the color and fabric.  He even named several items of clothing that he knew she had. After they were married and while he was on Marine duty in Washington, D.C., he would occasionally send fabric, gloves, dresses, stockings, shoes, and hats to her in Valdosta, Georgia, when she on was on extended visits with her family. 

In a letter dated May 27, 1922, that my grandfather wrote to my grandmother before they were married, I found this newspaper clipping of a fashionably dressed woman.  They had just started corresponding with each other only a few months before. Was he keeping her up to date on the latest fashion in the big cities up north?

1920s newspaper clipping

I wonder what my grandmother thought about that dress! The shoes in the clipping made me think of a photograph of her sitting on the porch of her parents' house, probably taken in the 1920s. My grandfather mentions in a letter to her that his friend Warren Graham (who was married to my grandmother's sister Margaret) had given him a photograph of my grandmother sitting on the front porch. My mom and I wondered if it was this photograph.

Leona Roberts sitting on the front porch of her parents house at 206 Wells Street, Valdosta, Georgia, ca. 1920s

In a January 11, 1922, letter to my grandmother, her brother-in-law Warren Graham quotes at length from a letter that my grandfather wrote to him after seeing her photograph, "...that dress is neat and graceful...I think she is the prettiest girl in all the South...Please tell Miss Roberts to bring both pretty feet to Washington."  

Catherine

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The newspaper clipping, photograph of Leona Roberts, and letter from Warren Graham are from the personal collection of Leona Redles Pendleton, Valdosta, Georgia.  

An Invitation to the White House

A few weeks ago, while sorting through the papers and letters of my maternal grandparents William (Will) Liming Redles and Martha Leona Roberts, I came across an invitation to the White House addressed to them from President and Mrs. Coolidge!

Addressed to Lt. Col. and Mrs. William L. Redles at the

Hotel Roosevelt where they lived when they were in Washington, D.C.

The President and Mrs. Coolidge

request the pleasure of the company of

Col. and Mrs. Redles

at a reception to be held at

The White House

Thursday evening February the sixteenth

nineteen hundred and twenty-eight

at nine o'clock

Strictly Not Transferable

Col & Mrs W L Redles

will please present this card at the

East Entrance

of The White House, Thursday evening

February 16, 1928

9:00 o'clock

The White House

Admit at East Gate

Not Transferable

February 16, 1928

Display on Wind Shield of Car

This was apparently for an Army Navy reception. I found a brief mention of it on the front page of the February 16, 1928, Indiana Evening Gazette on newspaperarchive.com. I wonder if my grandparents went to the reception? I asked my mom if her mother ever mentioned going to the White House, but she said no. Well, I still have a lot of letters to read through to piece their story together. Maybe I'll find out the answer to my question.

Catherine