Jimmy Injured Cranking his Car, 1934

James Joseph McCall

28 Jan 1898 NY - 25 Mar 1944 NY

Husband of Marion Coyle McCall

Son of Daniel McCall & Elizabeth Noye

My Great Uncle Jimmy

Jimmy & Marion circa 1940

My cousin, Pat Brady, found this newspaper report of Jimmy breaking his wrist while cranking up his car. It is an accident that would not happen today because it has been decades since cars had to be started with a crank. I'm sorry my uncle was hurt but it is an interesting report!

Source: Newspapers.com

Daily News (New York, New York) · 5 Jan 1934, Fri · Page 427

Noel Fortenberry, 106 Years Old MS

Noel Adolphus Fortenberry

9 Aug 1910 MS – 24 Jan 2017 MS

Son of William Adolphus Fortenberry & Ada Ophelia Warner

Husband of Emmer Gene Holmes

My 3rd cousin 2x removed

This obituary gives a wonderful story of Noel's long life in Tylertown, MS. It is filled with generations of genealogical information, including his father homesteading in 1890 and Noel farming the same land for decades. Read about Noel & his very full family tree.

  

Noel Adolphus Fortenberry 106, of Tylertown, died Jan. 24, 2017, at Diversicare Nursing Home in Tylertown surrounded by his family.

Visitation is 10 a. m. Saturday at Hartman-Hughes Funeral Home in Tylertown with services to follow at 11 a. m. Burial will be in the Oral Missionary Baptist cemetery. The Rev. Gerald Scott :Guy” Burke III of Indianaola will officiate. Mr.  Fortenberry’s great grandson, Austin Coleman Fortenberry, will do a reading and the Rev. Gerald I. Penton will offer a prayer.

Pallbearers will be his grandsons, Dr. William Coleman Fortenberry, of Madison and Clairborne “Clay” Holmes Magee of Chelsea, Ala., and great- grandsons, Jacob Hamilton Fortenberry, William Jordan Fortenberry, Larry Louis “Tripp” Taylor III and Wilson Morris Taylor, all of Madison.

Mr. Fortenberry was born Aug. 9, 1910, and was the son of the late William Adolphus Fortenberry and Ada Ophelia Warner Fortenberry.

Except for the past two years, he lived his entire life in the home in which he was born and farmed the same land his father homesteaded in 1890. In his early life, he grew cotton and corn and cultivated his crops using a mule. In 1948 he transitioned from row crop farming to dairying. He dairy farmed until he was 65 years old and then spent 41 years in retirement, much longer than many people spend working.

Mr. Fortenberry was an avid quail hunter in his youth. He kept up his yard and drove himself to town to buy groceries until he was over 100 years old. Mr. Fortenberry met his wife, the later Emmer Gene Holmes Fortenberry, at a shivaree for one of Emmer Gene’s brothers in the New Zion community. They were married in 1933 and were married 78 years at the time of her death in 2011.

Mr. Fortenberry was saved in 1927 when he was 17 years old and joined Oral Missionary Baptist Church where he remained a member until his death.

Mr. Fortenberry was preceded in death by his parents: his wife: seven sisters, Ovie Ophelia Fortenberry Patten, Ollie Olivia Fortenberry May, Lillie Fortenberry McKenzie, Effie Fortenberry Magee, Velma Fortenberry McKenzie, Jessie Fortenberry Pope and an infant brother William Willis Fortenberry.

He is survived by his children, William Eugene Fortenberry, and wife Judy and Lu Ann Fortenberry Magee and husband Gene, all of Madison, and Larry Noel Fortenberry and wife Janice of McComb: grandchildren, Dr. William Coleman Fortenberry and wife Stephanie and Judith Cheryl Fortenberry Taylor and husband Larry, all of Madison, Kimerly Alaine Magee Hester and husband Rex of Memphis, Tenn., Clairborne “Clay” Holmes Magee and wife Sarah of Chelsea, Ala., Lindsay Leigh Fortenberry Burke and husband Guy of Indianola and Larry Kenneth Fortenberry of Alexandria, La.: great- grandchildren, Austin, Jacob and Jordan Fortenberry, Tripp, Wilson and Allie Taylor, all of Madison, Evan and Addison Burke of Indianaola, Ann Reece and Stella Magee of Chelsea, Ala., and Brecon, Hallie, Ava and Blair Hester, all of Memphis.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Mary’s Residential Training School, 6715 Highway North, Boyce, LA 71409.

The family wishes to express their heartfelt thanks to the staff of Diverseicare Nursing Home in Tylertown for their excellent care the past two years.

Source: Noel A. Fortenberry. (McComb, MS: Enterprise-Journal, 26 Jan 2017) A03; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed Sept. 2019.

Forget Me Not: William E. Fortenberry, MS 1957

William Eslie Fortenberry

6 August 1880 – 22 March 1957

Son of Jesse Crawford Fortenberry & Susan A. Ryals

Husband of Nora (Fortenberry) Fortenberry
My second cousin 3x removed

 Photograph from Find  Grave Memorial # 93459385

Funeral services for William Easlie Fortenberry, Pike county farmer, were conducted from the Chapel of the Ginn Funeral Home Sunday afternoon at 2. Mr. Fortenberry died Friday at his home in McComb. He was 76.

The Reverend Herman Hays, McComb, Reverend Truly Reynolds and Reverend Enos Branch, Tylertown, officiated at the final rites for Mr. Fortenberry, and interment was in the Fortenberry Family cemetery.

Mr. Fortenberry was born August 6, 1880 in Old Pike County, the son of Jesse and Susan Ryals Fortenberry. He married Fortenberry who preceded him in death by several years. Mr. Fortenberry had lived in this county until six years ago when he moved to McComb.

Pallbearers included: J. C. Lewis, J. J. Gulledge, Bird Martin, Fayette Stubb, Albert Jackson and Earnie Howell.

Mr. Fortenberry is survived by 3 sons, Jack Fortenberry and Wilson Fortenberry, McComb; and Jesse Fortenberry, Tylertown; 2 daughters, Mrs. Elmise Wallace, Fernwood; Mrs. Martha Statham, Daytona beach, Fla.; 3 brothers, George Fortenberry, Easley Fortenberry, and Willis Fortenberry, all of Tyklertown; 3 sisters, Mrs. Dixie Hobgood, McComb; Mrs. Rudy Wood, New Orleans, La. And Mrs. Nell McDaniel, McComb.

He is also survived by 12 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were conducted by Ginn of Tylertown.

Note: The year of William's birth on the tombstone does not agree with the obituary.

Source: Magee, Zuma Fendlason. Selected Obituaries from Louisiana and from Mississippi, Volume I (LA: privately printed, 1976).

Found at the Washington Public Library, Franklinton, LA

Happy Blog Anniversary to Me - - Maybe

Leaves & Branches began in 2010 when I talked to my daughter about genealogy & told her I wished I could reach out to people who may be connected to our family in order to learn more about those people. My daughter showed me options; listened to my ideas; got me set up & showed me how to add new posts. A big thanks to her!

Over the years, I wrote about many different branches of our family and met some distant cousins. We have shared photographs, stories and documents. It has been an educational and enjoyable experience. 

I joined GeneaBloggers & made buddies of fellow bloggers. I enjoyed reading & commenting on other blogs. I learned tips and found support from fellow bloggers.

Recently, I have not been able to comment on other blogs. It rarely works. I often cannot comment on my own blog in response to comments left by visitors. It rarely works. I have checked my settings and do not know how to fix the problem. 

The number of visitors to my blog is down. Maybe it is a result of not being able to comment. Maybe my content or my writing needs improvement. Maybe my layout needs to be changed. Maybe the hours I spend writing my books takes away from my blog.

I need to decide if I will continue my blog. I could use the time to work on my website, Our Leaves & Branches, and the book I am writing, ‘Our Brown Roots’. 

As always with any posts, I welcome comments & suggestions. I do all read comments. 

I shared this last year & here it is again...

Suppose You Were the Only One

Suppose you were the only one who knew:

Your father liked to listen to freight trains passing his house when he was a boy.

At night he’d lie his blonde head down & listen to the trains rattling along the tracks 

and he’d count the long line of cars until he became drowsy and dreamed of trains.

Would you tell your son?

Suppose you were the only one who knew:

Your mother was a fearless freckled girl who loved to roller skate.

She lived in New York City and raced along the neighborhood sidewalks

with her long red hair flying as she jumped the cracks and laughed.

Would you tell your daughters?

Suppose you were the only one who knew:

Your tall dark haired grandfather liked to do magic tricks.

He kept shiny coins ready in his vest pocket and a smile on his face,

ready to make those coins appear & disappear and make children laugh.

Would you tell your grandson?

Suppose you were the only one who knew:

Your grandmother had long strawberry blonde hair.

She washed it with rainwater and brushed it one hundred strokes every night

and when she told you your hair was just like hers it made you feel very special.

Would you tell your granddaughter?

Suppose you were the only one who knew:

Your Irish great grandfather loved St. Patrick’s Day. 

He’d throw open all the windows of their New York City apartment

and he’d pound out Irish songs on their piano as he sang along & music floated out to the street.

Would you tell your nieces and nephews?

Suppose you were the only one who knew:

Your great grandparents in Ohio wrote love letters to each other.

She wrote about sewing and stringing popcorn for the tree & he wrote of planting and carpentry,

And love spilled out between the words. 

Would you tell your cousins?

Suppose you were the only one who knew the family stories.

Would you pick up a pen?

Colleen

Related Posts:

• One Year Anniversary
• Two Year Anniversary