Week 3 52 Ancestors... Favorite Picture with a mini Hero story.

 Well not my favorite of all but one I love. 

When Aine was 6 months old, we had just moved to an apartment, because of our rental agreement of no children with our duplex. Why I love this picture is the interaction of the Hero and Aine. They are both in Heaven now, and always had a loving relationship. When he was starting to fail in his health, he laid down in the back of a Suburban and endured the bumpy roads, just to have time with her and her 8 children. I am so glad we made that trip because it was the last time she got to see him. It meant alot to her.

52 Ancestors Week 1 Family Lore

 When I was young, there wasn't any stories told. Never thought about it. The adults kept their conversations to themselves and my cousins and I romped outside in joyful bliss.  

When I grew older and was taking classes that asked about family origins, I asked my dad's mother what our family's heritage was... Dutch, or English... Her favorite answer was "Dutch, Devil, and dog..." 😕Well, that didn't help. So I would press her, and her answer would be we are Black Dutch... I was pretty sure we didn't have any Negro in our background, so I decided to search on my own. I was in my teens.  It would not be until I was much older and had become a genealogist I would find what she was alluding to, and understood her mysterious method of telling me what she thought was true. 

Black Dutch was a term was adopted [by some people] as an attempt to disguise Indian or infrequently, tri-racial descent. We lived in a small town next to an indian reservation. My grandfather had been a blacksmith and was well known. My older cousin was derogatory toward the old indian men who would get drunk and sit by the bank on the benches outside. I don't think she knew the belief in my grandmother's family that they had indian blood from the 1600s. I am pretty sure that my grandmother was the only one who had any knowledge of the efforts of her mother's family to prove that they were of Native American Descent. There were some by the name of Self that were accepted into the Choctaw Tribe, but it appeared it was through marriage. 

We tried autosomal DNA the time period of the 1600s was too far back to pick up Native American DNA. So unless a wild find in records comes forth, it will remain Folklore. #52 Ancestors

Introspective Glance into the Author

 Once upon a time, two young people fell madly in love, married, and within the year had their one and only child. A little girl who would grow to love her family and extended family and become a gatherer. 

 

Her father would tell her that during her infancy, her parents were so poor, that they had wall paper for walls in a big square room, and an outhouse for bathroom... The first winter, he would have to break the ice crystals off her blanket where her breath had frozen. Then when she was a toddler, she lived through the devastating event of her father having his leg cut off in a logging accident. Unknown to  him, it gave her inner fortitude watching his recovery progress as well as how he conducted himself through life, never feeling sorry for himself and helping others. In her beginning school years, she saw her mother finish college and begin teaching, and her father go to trade school and become head of the heating and air conditioning department at the local College.  When she learned to drive, she and a close friend, who travel through the state of Oklahoma to see where family lived and learn about her roots. Although she had grown up knowing her many cousin, and aunts and uncles, it was a discover for her as she sought out areas on her own and developed her relationship with them by herself. This was the beginning of her deep love of family and desire to hold them close. She moved away to another state to become a registered nurse and fell in love to marry in an area that was 10 hours away from friends and family.  At first it was lonely, but as her own family grew to 6 children, she wanted them to know her family. Her parents moved to live near by so her children learned from her and their father the joy of having family close by. She and her husband would alter Thanksgiving and Christmas with the families. When she began studying about Family History and how to do genealogy, she was elated and began reaching out to all she knew to discover anything she did not know. She was blessed that some shared family treasures she did not know about and some shared stories that she was amazed to learn about. It was glorious time, her husband would take her on trips to visit earlier areas that early ancestors had lived in. Her love of Family continued to grow. When Facebook was introduced to her, she was working with FamilySearch to create Pages for each of the Untied States, and various Countries. This gave her an idea to create her own families Group that would allow for reaching out to new found cousins that because of circumstances of separation, she had never gotten to know until as she had worked on her Family Trees, and blogged and they connected. This has been a joy in her life and her children now are excited to find where their distant cousins are and have fun with them...

I have learned in life the joy comes from the ordinary things we do and the joy of being connected.

Thank you Amy Johnson Crow for your persistence in getting people to write. I have been trying to get back to blogging. I hope I can hang on this time.

#52ancestors 

A Familiar Question for me These Last Few Years "Where has all the Time gone"

Well, this is what happens when you think you pushed the publish button, and didn't. I have been busy with my FamilySearch Mission working on the War of 1812 files, and  helping my 5 children and the 34 grandchildren. Yes, I procrastinated doing what I tell others to do....Write their family stories.

The last blog post I made was 3 years ago! So much has happened since 2019 and I feel almost overwhelmed when I contemplate what I have seen and done. This is an opinion piece, my thoughts, add yours in the comment section if you want. 

My youngest son would say "my world has gone to Hell in a handbasket" ( 😁😂well not in those words because he is not from that generation, but you get the gist of the matter) . 

Last year when the medical world lost its soul, I lost my oldest daughter, Aine. I lament because there are so many things she still had to do, but she was so overwhelmed with life, the disease COVID was able to take her from us. 

What has brought me here was a thought about my sweetheart Aine and time. She tried to control her "time" by making beautiful planners. Mother of 8 children, an absentee husband ( he worked for 20 days at a time miles and hours away), she wanted to make sure all was taken care of. Her youngest had to be at therapy 2 days a week 40 minutes away. There was homeschooling to be done, and she was driven to make sure they were taught well.  She was a writer and that creativity permeated her life.  Those planners were very important to her, and because she loved beautiful things, she put time and thought in to how they were organized, what they looked like and how functional they were. I think we all have a need to have control over ourselves and circumstances, but some more that others. 

This is an example of her life as she wrote on Facebook... "Russell just left for 20 days and my living room looks like Grandpa Joe's after his stroke (chapter 2 of my book) - it's filled with towers of boxes taped shut labelled with black magic marker written in bold letters. Like my protagonist, I haven't the heart to go through them. Funny how fiction can reflect a warped reality. I need to go write something fun. 😛"

"For Love" was the only book she publicly published and she used her pseudonym TexasBlu

I have an email file of chapters for a book I so wanted her to finish. Time was not on our side.

This is what she said about her family.  "I am grateful to be the mom of 8 great kids. I love their personalities, their wit, their kindness, their talents, their uniqueness, their charity for others... and each other." So there you have it "Aine's Family" she was grateful for you and she loved each of you.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year... Memories and Present History Report.

First, I want to Thank anyone who has dropped by to read my posts. It does make it feel like it was worth taking the time to research and to share my findings as well as my stories.

I am not a Christmas card person; I have never been one to send them. I have cousins, my aunts, my in-laws, and my mom who were great at sending cards. They would always include a little of their family history as a letter tucked inside or feelings of love written on their card. Those I kept and put in their history. This will be my Christmas letter (inspired by Carol over at Reflections from the Fence to do so).

Christmas has become a bit sad for me as the older generation has passed. No one to share their memories. My sweetheart went home the morning before Christmas Eve. It does make for bittersweet memories. My heart goes out to those experiencing the feeling of mixed feelings of gratitude for those they have lost and sadness of not having them with them.

A bit of my history with Christmas Cards, it was my mom’s thing. Even in the world of her dementia, she found joy in Christmas. Her eyes would light up as the carolers would sing the Christmas songs. It was a ritual that I would bring a box of cards so she could still sign her name and a small thought, sometimes just “I love you”. She really remembered who she was sending it to. I loved that moment of respite from her usual feelings of anger. 

Mary Langley 2017

Now, for a bit of my year… My family of 6 children and 31 grandchildren (before my brother-in-law says 31! I will insert, I have gotten to know my daughter’s two stepchildren and love them too) keep my busy. Aine went to Rome with her husband in March to see the new Church of Jesus Christ’s Rome Temple. I watched her 6 children still at home. I should say 5, the older two work. The youngest is a nonverbal autistic. I was apprehensive at first because of the miles apart and only seeing him maybe once a year the relationship would be considered thin at best. I didn’t have to worry, the older boys assisted in watching him and sometimes interpreting for him. The best part was going to his therapy sessions and learning what they have been doing for him. He has a device that he can choose feelings or words to communicate. He was just starting, but now he is getting better at using it to express himself. That is exciting. They are getting along fine. I was glad to have been able to spend some fun time with Savannah. In August she left on her mission to Denver and is loving it.

#LighttheWorld #givingmachine

Just before I was to come back home, Emily developed problems with her 7^th pregnancy and ended up being life flighted to Salt Lake City for emergency care. Her sweet husband and 6 children were all sick, recovering from the flu. I was glad I had extended my stay with Aine, and that her husband could delay my flight back for a month. The trip down to stay with Emily was not uneventful. My daughter’s windshield wiper went flying off when she turned it on for the snow, to protect the windshield we had to scavenger in the car to find something to go over the loose metal end. We found a stray sock one of the boys had left in the car to fasten over it. We had to travel a good distance to get to a town to get a new wiper blade. My daughter Christina flew up to assist with the sick children and spend time with Emily when she got home. Emily scared us all. All turned out well, I came back home when she was strong enough and she had a cute baby boy about a month later. Scary spring. Tory got glasses AND braces... big deal for her. 

Christina has kept my year hoping. She has the 4 younger children at home and the 4 older ones are making it on their own. Amadeus will leave this coming January for Rexburg, Idaho to go to BYU Idaho. Willie started school this year, and Jamie has started therapy to help with his emotions and coping. I am not expressing that well and it is a story for her to tell. I will say the trip the three of us took up to see the new baby and go by and see my granddaughter leaving on a mission was the hardest I have ever taken. Lexi was baptized. It was a mixed emotion event, excitement that she was being baptized. Sadness because her Grandfather Whitworth just passed away. The funeral was before the baptism.

Edward is doing well. His oldest daughter left in September to go on her mission to Cebu. Marian took her on a trip to New York just after she graduated for her graduation present. My cousin has fallen in love with his son and told him, they would steal him in a minute. I am glad my children have my family to love on them too. The girls are busy performing, playing instruments, and sports.

Cebu, Philippines 

Sarah has had a rough year, that looks like it started off slow and is finishing great. During her husband’s lay off they tried doing Uber Eats. It was not what they had been led to believe it would be. He now has a nice job that enables them to be home much more. Her oldest boy is now 14. He and the baby who is 3 are fast buddies. 

Sean is with a new company and is enjoying working as a foreman on new plumbing construction in Austin, Texas. Downtown Austin is not a favorite of most people to work in and not for him either. He does love the work especially when they do work in historical buildings. He has even worked in the capitol fixing stuff. This fall I went up and he treated me to a delicious dinner at a restaurant that had outside tables with heaters. Fun.

I am president of the Montgomery County Genealogical Society in Montgomery County, Texas for another year. It has been challenging because of finding a place to meet that was consistent. We have, with the help of a stalwart member, fixed up the office that is ours to accommodate holding our meetings there so it will stay the same place. I have been working on a project in my FamilySearch mission to document preserving stuff. It was supposed to be my mom’s and aunt’s family stuff I was given, however, it turned out I was entrusted with a stranger’s stuff to preserve that her family did not want. I had to digitize and categorize pictures, papers and charts. (okay, I just about cried when I found the big box of pictures, especially that she took to time to identify and keep them in family categories. I am in awe of her professional work. Just so sad it was in a trunk in a garage that no one knew of.) I am writing about it and adding what I can to FamilySearch and uploading pictures. I will entrust it to the Society I am president of when I get finished.

With that, I will say Merry Christmas and wishing great blessing for all,

FranE

Mattie Roberts Whitson Was an Awesome Grandmother

I was blessed that my grandmothers were still living when I was growing up and both had quit house-keeping and would come to visit for extended lengths of time. My mom was a teacher, so she especially would love when Grandma Whitson came to stay… and I have to say, some of my best memories of Grandma was helping her in the kitchen.

Matilda Roberts Whitson in New Mexico 

Fran at 15

One precious memory was making a boiled spice raisin cake from scratch with her. She let me help with every step. First, we boiled the spices (wow the kitchen smelled fabulous), then we added raisins to “plump them up” (her words).  While the spices were boiling, we mixed the dry ingredients together.

We did let the boiled mixture cool, and knowing Grandma, I am sure there was something we did in the meantime. She was always busy.  

[While we are waiting on the spices to cool, I will digress and tell another funny memory I have of her. She was, in my father’s words, obsessed with washing clothes. I think she was just obsessed with automatic washers.  😉 Back to the story, she would twist the knob too many times (may have been because she had coke bottle bottom glasses) and my dad would end up having to fix the washer, so he was say…’Mom don’t do any washing.’ Before the day was through, she had done a couple of loads and hung them out on the line. Probably one of the sources of my stubbornness.]

Back to our recipe. After the spices cooled, we added it to our dry mixture, then mixed well. We then poured the mixture in a greased and floured 9 X 13 baking pan and set our timer for 35 minutes. When the timer went off, she let me take the cake out. I was devastated. The cake looked like a ski slope. She just laughed and said, “Sweetie the best tasting cakes are failed ones.” She was right it still tasted great. Never figured out what caused the cake to do that but learned from her nothing was a failure if you found a bright side and learned from the experience.

Years later I wanted to make the recipe for my kids only to discover that Grandma never wrote her recipes down. We lost the best tasting roll recipe because of that too.  I searched cookbooks thinking maybe I could find a recipe that someone else had done that was the same.  Unable to find one, I used my memory and basic cake making skills to recreate her cake.  It was as close as I could get, but the real reason I sought the cake was centered around the memory of being in the warm kitchen after school with my grandmother and just having fun with something great tasting to share with my parents. Ah, days gone by. 

Now the kids have another Matilda Roberts Whitson story. (I have read that the boiled spice cake was invented in the depression when eggs and milk were a premium. 

This was NOT how our turned out.

Boiled Spice Raisin Cake

Ingredients:

Wet mix:

1 cup water

1 cup molasses

2 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 cups raisins

1 cup butter or margarine

1 tsp pure Vanilla

Dry mix:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium saucepan, mix water, molasses, brown sugar, raisins, butter, and the spices. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a separate bowl, mix, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.

Pour into a 13x9 inch glass dish or cake pan that you have greased and floured.

Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake.

You can frost or not. Makes a great breakfast cake (high in iron).

(the vanilla is my addition... I use vanilla. 😀) franE

Sentimental Sunday Find Nancy Phillips Hankins Birth

Nancy Phillips Hankins Obituary

Until I found my 2nd great grandmother's obituary, I did not have any clue as to her birth date or her death date or what her character was. Today, I revisited my ancestor's birth dates on FamilySearch while filling out the questions to ask your grandmother sheet for my grandchildren. I identified that two of my daughters were born on my dad's two sisters birth dates. I was curious as to who else might have been born on another relative's birth date.  Several were really close like my 4th daughter was 2 days away from my dad. My oldest son was 4 days away from mine and 3 from my mom's sister. My youngest son was born on my Mom's birthday. One of my children was born in December. I have not found an ancestor born in December, marriages, just no births. I do have to say that there are many we don't have full birth dates on.

Back to my reason for this story... My birthday is the same as Nancy's. I hope my longevity is as great as hers and more, but mostly I hope there will be nice things said about me like they said about her.  A life goals.

This was a Mother's Day endeavor to practice what I preach and write down my personal information for my grandchildren.
How about you. Have you written down things for your family. Maybe you don't have children, but you have memories you can share about family that nieces and nephews, cousins would love to know.
FamilySearch Blog has some ideas to help.