The Quest

When my Aunt Melinda passed away in 2024, one of the things that was left for me to uncover and redistribute was a trunk full of dolls and doll clothes. I couldn’t bear to part with most of them. I had to look the other direction while placing the ones that were missing limbs in the trash bin. They were precious to her, not to mention the fact that I have an uncanny ability to personify inanimate objects. I had the benefit of not knowing these dolls my whole life the way she did; she would never have thrown any of them away, as is evidenced by the fact that they remained in her estate after her death. Even today, I question whether I did the right thing. What I did do, however, was select my favorite of Melinda’s favorites, bring her home, wash her dress, and give her a place of honor behind the glass of the barrister bookcase, just below the shadow box that contains mementos of Melinda’s life. I have no idea what name Melinda may have given her, which is unfortunate because I name eve...

This post is a continuation of remembrances about Jennie Rachel Gay Robinson (see Part I and Part II ). Jennie’s grandchildren remember her quilts, tablecloths, and affinity for cast iron skillets. She left both completed quilts and quilt tops, each pieced together and hand-sewn. Some still remain unfinished, others have been transformed into their final form by more modern-day quilting methods. My mother's well-used Jennie quilt, often found at picnics. This tulip quilt by Jennie now lives in a trunk in my bedroom. It's one she completed herself, so is too delicate for use. Jennie quilted this top and my mom had it finished for me for high school graduation. I stopped using it regularly some years ago because it can no longer be safely laundered due to the delicate condition of some of the fabric pieces. Other sections are standing up quite nicely! “Grandmother made [a tablecloth] for each of her children when they were married,” Aunt Sharon explains. Often, those...

This post is a continuation of remembrances about Jennie Rachel Gay Robinson (see Part I ). Even as Jennie was gentle and genteel, one of the most prominent recollections of her living grandchildren can be summed up by the words of Robert George Robinson–my Uncle Bob: “She was a small grandmother who dipped snuff.” Without exception, all of the grandchildren I heard from mentioned the fact that Jennie dipped snuff, and my mother’s cousin Willis Knierim (son of Beulah) still has one of her snuff cans. “She was very subtle about it, using a very small Garrett’s Snuff tin and a small wooden stick which she called her ‘toothpick,’” he recalls. “She would always excuse herself briefly and return smacking her lips. When she passed, I asked for and was given the tin by Oran.” The second most vivid recollection among Jennie’s grandchildren was her relationship with her twin, Minnie. “The two of them were very close and when they were together they seemed like a matched set in appearance, manne...

My great grandmother Jennie was born in Vashti, Clay County, Texas on 17 Dec 1879, alongside her twin Minnie. Her parents were John Preston Gay, a farmer and preacher who was born in Tennessee and moved to Texas in 1873, and Dorothy “Dollie” Rachael Cappleman, who was born in South Carolina (the two were married 21 Oct 1874 in Texas).  When Jennie and Minnie were born, their older sister Louisa was almost two years old. Their parents gave birth to a brother John two years later, who didn’t survive infancy. Two years after that, their sister Martha “Mattie” was born, and another two years later their youngest sister Mary Elizabeth was born. The five Gay sisters grew up surrounded by the rich farm and ranchland of Clay County, with their father—who had been ordained to the ministry in 1890—serving as a Baptist minister.  Because of their fathers’ ministry in churches, the girls sang and accompanied themselves: Jennie played the accordion; Mattie (Martha Washington Gay) played th...

Since I wrote the post about genealogy writing, it's really bugged me that I didn't write about our Virginia trip. Mother and I had planned for years to make it to Virginia, where many of our family members first landed in America long before the American Revolution. We knew it would be one of our toughest trips to find actual information, but we had high hopes.  Starting out at my home in Troy, we drove south through the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland on our way to Virginia. We took a little side-jaunt to look at The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, America's first Saint of the Catholic Church. The only reason we knew this was here (besides the billboards on the highway) was from a historical information marker at the Mason Dixon Welcome Center at the Maryland state line. Our first stop of the trip was Culpeper, Virginia, land of our forefathers. We arrived to our Airbnb in the early evening and had some great dinner at a local Italian R...

My mother and I recently returned from an amazing genealogy trip through the south (see my travel blog for details). As we were driving home, we counted up 13 family lines that we touched on... Thomas, Brevard, Jetton, McKnight, Robinson, Deering/Dearing, Gideon/Giddens, Dickey, Crow, Vandiver, Cox, Russell (on Dad's side), and Clack (for Cheri). I might even be missing one. One of the exceptional things about this latest venture (besides finding SO MUCH good information) was the amount of help we received from expert genealogists. The cousins we were meeting up with are experts in their own right, but we encountered genealogy librarians, DAR representatives, local experts, and volunteers of genealogical societies that were beyond generous with their time and expertise. One thing I realized is: I want to be them. I want to be the person who goes out of their way to pull piles of files for people in order to connect them with their family. I don't know what will come...