Monday, December 31, 2018

Time for a new Family Calendar


It is Time for a new Family Calendar!

Each year, for several years, I have made a family calendar for my brothers & myself. As the years have passed I have ordered more and more copies. My cousins and their children want copies. My father, Delbert Keith Brown, was one of seven children so we are a big, ever expanding group. As long as my cousins send me photos, those photos are included.


 The top page of each month highlights the many family activities from the last year: birthdays, graduations, new babies, holidays, apple picking, snowman building, trips, etc. Other times the top page looks back at times gone by or combines past & present.



The bottom page includes birthdays & anniversaries for our family. That includes ancestors who are long gone. 

This year I added a 'Genealogy Spotlight' at the bottom of each page. It highlights someone from our past who was born or married in the month of the calendar. 


Family members tell me they look forward to the new calendar each year. One cousin has told me it makes her laugh & cry. Some folks quickly scan the pages, looking for themselves. Others turn the pages slowly, reading every little item. One family member will only look at one month at a time, setting himself up for 12 surprises a year. 

The calendars are in the hands of family now. 
I hope they learn more about our family.
I hope they enjoy it all year long.

Do you have new calendar?

Related Posts:






Sunday, December 23, 2018

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

20 Dec 1818 - 200 Years Ago - Wedding Anniversary

In looking for inspiration for my blog I looked at December birthdays & anniversaries and noticed three significant Ancestor Anniversaries. This is the third and last. I wonder what a wedding looked like 200 years ago. Was the ceremony performed in a church or their home? Who gathered for the wedding? Was there a special meal following the ceremony?  And I wonder if Edwin & Martha would be surprised to know we are marking their wedding day, 200 years later.


My 3rd great grandparents were married 200 years ago on 20 December 1818.



Edwin Barksdale Alford

25 Nov 1792 NC - 10 Mar 1878 MS
Son of Jacob Alford & Elizabeth Bryant
Edwin served in the War of 1812, in the LA Militia.
He was in the Battle of New Orleans.
After the War he moved to MS.

&

Martha P. Smith

25 Mar 1802 SC - 8 Aug 1861 MS
Daughter of Jeremiah George Smith & Joanna Dillon

Married 20 December 1818 Pike County, MS

They were married for 43 years. They were the parents of nine children.






Sources:
  • Conerly, Luke Ward, and E. Russ Williams, Source Records from Pike County, Mississippi 1798 - 1910 and Misc. Legal and Family Records Pertaining to the Areas of Pike and Walthall Counties, MS(Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1978)92 – 98.
  • Heard, Ruby Alford, Gil Alford. Early Mississippi Alfords(AAFA Action, III, 1990) 35.
  • Williams, E. R., A Potpourri of Historical Data Concerning the Founding Families and Individuals of Washington Parish, Louisiana, 1798 – 1860. (Monroe, LA: Northeast Louisiana University, 1990) 1.
  • NARA, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; Fold 3(fold3.com) Cpt. Wm. Brickham’s Co., LA Militia; Edwin Alford.
  • US Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records, Land. Bounty Land Warrant #75733 for Edwin Alford in Tangipahoa Parish, LA; 12 February 1857.
  • Parish, Ray and June Sartin, Cemetery Inscriptions Pike County, Mississippi 1750 – 1978(MS: Privately Printed, 1979) Page 1.  
  • Agricultural Meeting, Osyka. (New Orleans, LA: New Orleans Times, 8 August 1868) 3; digital image, Genealogy Bank: accessed September 2017.
  • Died (Franklinton, LA: The Era-Leader, 10 December 1914) 4; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed 26 May 2017.
  • Booth, Andrew Bradford,Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands( New Orleans, 1920) Genealogy Gophers (gengophers.com; accessed 2017). 
  • Boyd, Gregory A. Family Maps of Tangipahoa County, Louisiana.Deluxe. (Norman, Oklahoma: Arphax Publishing Co., 2008) 126.
Related Posts:





Friday, December 14, 2018

16 December 1798 - 220 Years Ago - Wedding Anniversary

In looking for inspiration for my blog I looked at December birthdays & anniversaries and noticed three significant Ancestor Anniversaries. This is the second of those anniversaries. I wonder if Jeremiah & Joanna ever stopped to celebrate the day.


My 4th great grandparents were married 220 years ago, on 16 December 1798.




Jeremiah George Smith

23 Dec 1773 SC - 1843 MS
Son of Jeremiah Smith, Sr. & Jemimah Hollis
Jeremiah served in the War of 1812.
He was in the MS Territory Militia.

&

Joanna Dillon

22 Aug 1778 NC - after Apr 1821
Daughter of Richard Dillon & Anne Lawrence


Married 16 December 1798, SC

Jeremiah & Joanna were the parents of 13 children. 
Two of those children are my 3rd great grandparents. My great grandparents, Jasper Pascal Brown & Rose Ella (Brumfield) Brown, were both great grandchildren of Jeremiah & Joanna. They were second cousins.






Sources:
  • The Jeremiah Smith, Sr. Bible, c. 1800 - 1917, Bible in possession of Mrs. W. C. Uhlman, Rte. 6, Tylertown, Mississippi. Copy of pages given to author by Pat (Brock) Smith. Holbrook and Fressenden’s Stereotype Edition of the Holy Bible, Brattleboro, VT, 1825. Original owner: Jeremiah Smith Sr. of Pike Co., MS. Copied by Texana Carter, 27 August 1854.
  • Conerly, Luke Ward. Source Records from Pike County, Mississippi, 1798-1910; 1798-1910; (SC: Southern Historical Press, 1989) 118.
  • Casey, A. E. (2001). Amite County, Mississippi, 1699-1890.Volume 3: The Environs. Greenville, SC: Southern Historical Press, Inc. (Original work published 1957) 497.
  • Compiled Service records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the War of 1812 in Organizations from the Territory of Mississippi; NARA; digital image, Fold3 (fold3.com: accessed Aug. 2017).

Related Posts





Wednesday, December 5, 2018

6 December 1868 - 150 Years Ago - Wedding Anniversary

In looking for inspiration for my blog I looked at December birthdays & anniversaries and noticed three significant Ancestor Anniversaries. This is the first and most recent of those three anniversaries from long ago.

My great - great grandparents were married 150 years ago on 6 December 2018.




Augustus Ceaser Gruissy

 16 May 1840 OH - 8 Dec 1915 OH
son of Christian Gruissy & Mary Grorisclauss

&

Esther Barbara Wolf 

14 Jan 1836 OH - 11 Aug 1906 OH
daughter of John Franklin Wolf & Elisabeth Burkholder


Married 6 December 1868, Stark County, Ohio
They were married for 38 years before Esther's death.

Augustus was married three times. This was his second marriage.



Sources:

  • MARRIAGE: Family History Center Microfilm #897630. 1868 - 1872 Marriage Records, Stark County, Ohio. Page 82. Augustus Gruissy and Esther B. Wolf married on 6 December 1868 by Justice of the Peace J. M. Truly. 
  • 1870 United States Census, Village of West Lebanon, Paint Township, Wayne County, Ohio, Line 27, Page 28. The August Gurnsey family.
  • 1880 U.S. Census, Medina County, Ohio; 1880; Vol 44, E.D. 199, Sheet 41; Line 26; National Archives, Pittsfield Region, Mass., T767Roll48; Note: Augustus Gruissy, Wife Esther, 5 daughters, living in Wadsworth Twp. 
  • Family interviews, Gruissy letters, etc.


Related Posts: