The Quest

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...

When I started writing about Flora Zogg a few months ago, I reached out to extended family members with whom I hadn’t communicated in years, hoping they had memories to share. After a few email exchanges, I hadn’t received much information other than what my more immediate family had shared. The eldest cousin had already passed, and the younger ones never knew Flora. In one communication with the youngest cousin, we exchanged contact information for her older brothers and she asked for my own mailing address. I didn’t think much of it, until weeks later when a well-secured package arrived in the mail. I couldn’t imagine what it might be, but I opened it eagerly. I gasped as I pulled back the layers of bubble wrap to reveal a glass cup with my great-grandmother’s name inscribed around the lip! I had never seen it or anything like it, and couldn’t believe my dad’s cousin had sent it to me. Since Flora married in 1906, I knew that the cup had to be older than that, as it was inscribed wit...

I've recently joined in a genealogy writing workshop with my local genealogical society. I've clearly not written for a while, and even the things I thought  I wrote about have gone by the wayside. My mother and I took a trip to Virginia last fall to work on all of our lines who came through there (i.e. almost all our lines). Unfortunately, I didn't write at the time, here nor on my travel blog. Ugh.  But there is hope! The writer's group has gotten me started on a path to writing more regularly. The first item up is a series of biographies I hope to write about "the oldest generation's" memories of their "oldest generation." In other words, I want to gather the memories that the current oldest living generation in my family has about the oldest generation that was living in their lifetime. It will be a bit of a challenge, since many of my parents' grandparents died when they were quite young, and many of the eldest cousins have already passe...

On Monday, my parents, pups, and I set out on a new adventure. After the closing on my house, we hit the road for a series of days driving from Texas to upstate New York. Our nights' stays would be at places I found on Airbnb  in Little Rock, near Louisville, and near Erie. When I told people I was moving to New York, most were immediately concerned that winter would be unbearable. Keeping in mind that millions of people live further north than Texas, I was sure I'd survive somehow. One individual, however, responded with, "New York is so beautiful. The green there is the greenest green." I've been pondering green ever since. As we drove through East Texas, I noticed how muted the greens were. Some mostly yellow from the summer heat... some sage from the dust... some a muted evergreen when there were stands of trees. In Arkansas, the green got cleaner. There was less dust, less yellow. Moving through Tennessee and into Kentucky, the green was a little bit navy...

This is one of my favorite graphics I've created over the past 13 years at FUMC Grapevine. It was for the launch of a new worship schedule, which always makes people uncomfortable. I still loved it. I loved the fresh feel of sprouts coming out of the letters in the font. I loved the dirt that keeps you grounded and reminds you that new things aren't always tidy. I loved the promise of what that plant would be or do or produce when it grows up. I loved the bright points of light in the background, each with their own possibilities. And, I loved Isaiah 43:19... partially because of the question it asks: Do you not perceive it? Sometimes it takes a while to perceive - or acknowledge, anyway - a new thing. Sometimes we fight it... deny it... avoid it. And sometimes we throw wide the door and run through. For the past few weeks, my door has been thrown wide, and I'm running through to a new thing. The dates are now firm, the plans in place. So, now the announcement (drum ro...

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...

A few weeks ago I wrote about "Mysterious Myrna." In the course of pursuing that line of inquest, I found myself on the phone for almost an hour with Harvey Derrick. Harvey is the youngest son of R. H. Derrick, Myrna's first husband. He's what I would call a "cowboy poet" and musician in his retirement years. Although Harvey didn't know anything specifically about Myrna, he was happy to know that I had in my possession a number of photos of his family over a 30ish-year period. Here's what Harvey had to say about his father: Your pictures are of my Dad, me and my brother Don. Dad was born in March 1900 in Marnard, TX and everybody called him "Tex." These pictures were probably taken in 1949 when my dad picked Don and me up at his sister, Lottie's home in Granbury, TX where we had been living for a few years. He was living in Tulsa, OK at the time and that is where he took us. He was married at the time and I can't remember what h...

My Great Aunt Myrna Elva [Mason] Winters was single as long as I knew her. Of course, I knew that she was once married, because her last name wasn't Mason anymore. But I was only 7 years old when she died... so "widow" and "single" meant the same thing to me. What was mysterious about Myrna, though, was that after her death we found out she had been married before. In her jewelry box, my aunt Melinda found letters and a wedding announcement. She was married to Raymond Harvey Derrick sometime in the 1920's (the announcement didn't have a date). Back in 2009, I took Melinda's Myrna notebook home. It contains pictures, letters and newspaper clippings. It seems that R. H. Derrick maintained his communication with Myrna's parents for years after they must have divorced. I haven't found any record of a divorce (those records are not available online). I would just like to know about that marriage. What happened? Why didn't anyone talk abo...

Abortion has been at the forefront of social debates for as long as I can remember... my entire lifetime, for sure. Most people separate this debate into two sides: Pro-Choice and Pro-Life. But what is one to do if they are both  pro-choice and pro-life? In fact, my faith tells me that God is both pro-choice and pro-life. I would venture to say God is pro-choice because he* - to a fault - always lets us choose. But he also created life, and therefore I would imagine is pro-life. And so the debate goes 'round and 'round. Every life has value. Every woman has the freedom to choose what to do with her body. Let's look at the politics. The Republican party stance is: "The unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed." Republicans oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion or to fund organizations that perform or advocate abortions. It says the party will not fund or subsidize health care that includes abortio...

So I passed off the Edgren family, and found myself wandering around in cyberspace with no particular place to go. Luckily, Colby was on Facebook posting about his search for a connection within his family leading back to Thomas Stone, signer of the Declaration of Independence. What a noble cause to undertake on July 4th. Of course, I couldn't let that comment go without sticking my nose right in the big middle of his business. So I'm starting to try and trace the Stones to make a connection... or prove there isn't one. So if anyone knows who the parents of Matthew Robertson "MR" Stone are, please holler! It will save us some legwork. Matthew Robertson Stone :   Feb. 9, 1836 ( Tennessee) -  Feb. 7, 1917 ( Higgins, TX) m.  Kansas (or Cansas) Elizabeth Gault Stone (1855 - 1931)

It's been a long time since I've found something really exciting in my own family tree. I have been working on mine long enough that all that remains are unfinished rabbit trails, dead-ends and holes. There are no more easy answers for my family tree... or at least none that I've found recently. But since I've been working on the Edgren family tree, I've been able to find some facts that the family didn't already know. I love that! There's nothing quite like being the first person to reveal a set of names that no one has heard before. I think that's why I like working on other people's trees. It's much more fun to start with nothing and gather a lot of "new" information for people than it is to search and search for some tidbit that you never saw in your own tree. Maybe I'm just lazy and prefer the easy "finds." Not maybe; definitely.

I've been searching for our family in the 1940 census... have found some. Will wait for search to be available for others. My, what has changed in the last 72 years. My great-grandparents' home was valued at $2,000. I've seen pictures of it... it was not  a dive. Also found out this weekend that some of the other Dingler descendants settled in Sidney before  the Bryants moved to Texas... wondering if they even knew that their distant cousins were in the same teeny tiny Texas town?? They must have.

About two years ago, mom and I went on a trip to Georgia to research our ancestors. I was amazed to find that one of the descendants of my great-great-great-grandfather was still living on the family land. And that the home Oliver Gaines Barron built was still standing! This descendant was Thelma Pate. She was in her 90's, but still welcomed us into her home, shared stories and information with us and took us to see the homeplace. I will forever be grateful that I was able to spend that small bit of time with Thelma. I have thought of her often, hoping that one day I might get to go back and visit her again. I found out today that I won't get that opportunity this side of heaven. Thelma Pate went on to bigger and better things on Thursday, December 15, 2011. Thelma Jackson Rooks Pate, 98, died December 15, 2011. She was born on June 24, 1913, in Campbell County, just across the Chattahoochee River from the County Line area of southeastern Carroll County where she lived all her...

If it weren't for my tight family connections, I wouldn't know my second-cousin-once-removed Bryan and his bride Kendi. (Most people don't , I'm told, have a clue about their second-cousin-once-removed.) I find Bryan and Kendi interesting because they are so cute... so young... and sooo doing just what they want to. Some people wait their whole lives to do what they love. These two dove in right out of college. Bryan is a photographer (among other things) and Kendi is a fashion blogger (among other things). The family grapevine tells me that Kendi has bought a dress shop on the square in a suburb of DFW. Who does that? Especially at such a young age? Umm... I guess people who are brave enough to live their dream. Now, I haven't really talked to Kendi about this venture, but I can only assume that running her own shop is a dream of hers. And I admire that. Have a dream. Do it. I used to dream about doing some things. In fact I have a whole list of things I wante...