Strong Genes and Eyebrow Peaks

Today's prompt is FACIAL FEATURES 

Below is a collage I made of my great grandmother, Bondell BYNUM and her direct ancestors. 

First off, I consider myself incredibly lucky to have these pictures. The oldest picture dates somewhere around the late 1890's or early 1900's. There is one feature that stand out to me in all of these and that is the way their eyebrows all come to a very sharp point mid-arch. 

Left to Right: Bondell BYNUM, Kinchen BYNUM, Lou Elmer REYNOLDS, Arkansas WOOD

1. Bondell was the second child born to Kinchen BYNUM and his wife Ludia MOORE
2. Kinchen was the first child born to Lou REYNOLDS and her husband John Thomas BYNUM.
3. Lou was the third child born to Arkansas WOOD and her husband Thomas REYNOLDS
4. Arkansas was the youngest child born to Blount M. WOOD and Frances PARHAM

I did a little research and found that a person's eyebrows can tell you a lot about them. According to Chinese face reading, if your eyebrows have high, pointed arches, you are a fun-loving, outgoing person who thinks fast and talks faster. You love to be spontaneous and need near-constant stimulation to keep you entertained and interested. You also have a great sense of humor, but may be over-emotional, at times.

I've looked through pictures of my grandfather and I can sometimes see the same feature in one of his eyebrows but it's not always as prominent. I feel like my mother's eyebrows are both very round. And I feel like mine are more like my grandfather's -- one is sometimes pointy but this day and age with all the plucking and waxing, it's hard to say what my natural eyebrow shape is. But there's no denying the trait in the first 4 photographs.

Grandpa, Mom, Me

Until next time,
Becky 

W is for Written Words

This past week I was fortunate enough to have been given several family documents and letters to go through and scan. My maternal grandfather's first cousin, on his mother's side, brought over an old Family Bible with the copyright date of 1903, an original marriage license from 1893 and several letters and pictures. All belonging to the John Thomas and Lou Elmer (Reynolds) Bynum family. Today I want to share with you one of the letters and add a little bit of perspective into the time frame.

Sidney, Kinchen, John Thomoas, Lou Elmer, baby Grace. about 1903

According to the family Bible, J T and Lou had seven children. The children who are the main topic of this post will be Sidney and his younger sister, Grace, aka Mrs. Herbert A Williams.

Sidney was born on Christmas Eve in 1895 and registered for the draft 5 June 1917.

While carefully looking through the pile of old papers that were lying on my grandparents' kitchen table, I came across this tiny, yellowed, wrinkled envelope postmarked Nov 6 1918 with the address: Base Hospital Ward 12, Camp Pike, AR and it peeked my interest.

Folded and laid inside the worn envelope is a 4 page letter Sidney had written to his sister Grace. It's dated 11-5-18 and begins Mr and Mrs Hurbert Williams....

At the date of his letter Sidney was still single. Grace and Herbert had been married for a little over two years. She married at the very young age of 15. They had a young one year old son named Norman Onis Williams. He had celebrated his first birthday in Aug.

Nearly one month to the day after this letter was written, Herbert would die of pneumonia on December 5, 1918. Then tragically, three months later, Grace would die from wounds sustained when her dress caught fire from the open fire place in the home. She died several days later due to the burns March 3, 1919

At the start of this post, I had only intended to include Sidney's letter, but I think I'll close with an undated letter from Grace to her mother. I can infer the date is between Aug of 1917 and before the winter of 1918 because she mentions her son and the fact that the weather is hot.

Here is Grace's letter.

 

I am so grateful that Stanley and Frances were kind enough to share these treasures with me. It's my hope that they will now live on and be discovered by some direct line descendants of Sidney and Grace.

Until Next Time,

Becky

I was recently given a couple photo post cards that I wanted to include here in this post. No dates but the back of the card on the left says "From Sidney to Mama" "Sidney and K L Bynum". I believe Kinchen is sitting and Sidney is standing. Also - I believe the card on the right to be Sidney on the right with his leg flung over possibly his brother-in-law Herbert Williams. But there is no writing at all on this card. This is just a 'best guess' Herbert married Sidney and Kinchen's little sister Grace in 1916. He was 19. She was 15.

Furniture Man

Today's genealogy prompt, hosted by Genealogy Girl Talks, is #occupation. It took me half of the day before I thought of an ancestor that wasn't listed as a 'farmer'. My 2nd great grandfather, on my mother's side was Kinchen Leroy Bynum. I have written about him briefly, here.

Kinchen was the oldest child born to John Thomas Bynum and Laura "Lou" Elmer Reynolds. He was born 9 November 1893.

Here is the Bible page listing the birth (and death) of the children born to John and Lou. My Aunt Diane is in possession of this treasure.



Here is a family portrait taken when Kinchen was about 10. He is the young man standing on the right. His brother Sidney is standing on the left, and little Grace is sitting on Papa's lap.

Because I love old family pictures and am blessed to have family that shares them on this side of my family, here are a few more of him.

I would guess him to be about 15-17 here:

And here he is with his beautiful bride, Ludia Belle Moore.

Now for the picture that prompted this post, Kinchen's WW1 Registration Card. It even gives his street address. 2004 North 10th Street, Fort Smith, AR. This could quite possibly be where my great grandmother Bondell was born the following year. I also love that it has his signature.

Kinchen says he is employed by the Ballman-Cumming Furniture Co. as a laborer. In the 1920 census, he is still living in Fort Smith, earning a wage, as a laborer for a furniture company.

City Directories from Fort Smith tell me that in 1925, widowed and remarried, Kinchen now works for Ward Furniture Manufacturing Company as a finisher and by 1928 he had worked his way up to inspector.





In 1930 he is found living in Tulsa, OK where he rents his home and is now earning a wage as a shipping clerk for a furniture company. The Tulsa City Directory from 1931 shows that he worked for the E M Brown Furniture Company.

The thing I want to point out, and hopefully someone can tell me, is that here in my home town, when I was growing up, was a furniture store called Bynum Home Furnishings. My mom used to tell me we were related somehow on my grandma Bondell's side. If you're reading this and know the answer, please let me know the connection.


Until next time,
Becky Drake

Since publishing this, I was informed that my Aunt Michelle has a wardrobe that was built by Kinchen. Below is a picture:

Heirlooms, Keepsakes and Memories

This week the prompt given by No Story Too

Small in the 52 Ancestors Challenge is 'Heirloom'....

I'm super excited about this post. I started by requesting on Facebook that any of my family that had any heirlooms please contact me. The response was wonderful! While some of the items may not have necessarily been passed down generation to generation, they definitely hold a great deal of sentiment for those who now own these treasures belonging to their ancestors.

I'll start with my mother's cousin (that's easier than saying my first cousin 1x removed) Tarona who sent me a picture of a very unusual item that belonged to her grandmother, my great grandmother, Zula Jane Acord Stepp. It is a four eyed bottle opener. A little research shows it was made in the 1940's by Wilton Co. Tarona shared that her mother, Jayne, remembered that Grandma Zula got it after she was married in 1946.

Tarona says:

"When I was really little it kinda scared me and then as I got older I couldn't wait to get a coke so I could use it! It was on the door jam in Grandma Zulie's kitchen......I wouldn't take a million dollars for it."

Another cousin of my mother, Debra,  has Grandma Zula's old Singer sewing machine from 1912

 

My grandmother, Reba, has and old cast iron tea kettle made by Bridgeford & Co, Louisville, KY, 1868.  It belonged to Grandma Zula's maternal grandmother Jane Conner Evans.



My Aunt Diane has the Bynum Family Bible printed in 1884. It was given to my 3rd great grandmother, Lou Emmer Reynolds, who married John Thomas Bynum, from her "Papa" 17 May 1885 when she was only 11 years old. She kept it and wrote in it her birthdate as well as the birthdate of her children. Diane also has my great grandmother Bondell Bynum Melson's thimble.

Another cousin of mine, Mike, has his grandmother, my great-grandmother, Myrtle Rutherford Jones' old WWII ration book:

I have a few treasures of my own and a few people to thank for them. I'll start with my Dad and Dawna who gifted me this past Christmas with my great grandmother Wille Belle Foster Nall's old canning funnel. Then my dad's cousin Angie who so graciously thought of me at the passing of my great grandmother and gathered up a box full of stuff that belonged to her and then made sure I got it. In it was this old standing mixer from Montgomery Ward dated 1963 complete with beaters and two mixing bowls, a serving bowl that still had Grandma's address label she used so that her dish would be returned to her when she brought food to the church potlucks and a decorative plate. The one with a solid round edge is hers. The plate that matches it belonged to my husband's grandmother - it has more pointy edges. I love that I have these two "matching" items from opposite sides of my daughter's family. I also have one of my most treasured items; one of the last Christmas gifts I ever received from Grandma Nall - a handwritten recipe for her chocolate gravy.









From my grandmother Winnie Sue Jones Nall (We called her Mammy), I have a cook book from our church - where she wrote me a sweet note on the worn out cover. It was a gift to me Christmas 2008.




And then there's my Uncle Mike and family who were kind enough to give me the family's old wood cook stove. I remember my Mammy and Grandma Nall cooking on it during a camp out we had in the field below Mammy's house one year. My grandpa, Charles Nall, brought in the big hay trucks for us to sleep on and in the morning we had biscuits, bacon, sausage, chocolate gravy, eggs and hot chocolate for breakfast. It was quite a treat! When I posted pictures of it on Facebook, my great Aunt Dena told me that the stove had originally belonged to her Dad, Rufus Nall, and that he bought it from Chicken Hollar in Farmington because he didn't like the way propane made his biscuits taste. He kept it on the back porch to cook his 'catheads'.

  

  

My Dad has his dad's old Bible. It has my grandfather's marriage date and the names of the witnesses and who married them. They were married by Charles' father Benjamin Rufus Nall and the witnesses were my grandmother Winnie Sue's brother, Edwin Jones and Charles' sister, Mildred (Dena). The handwriting belongs to my grandmother, Winnie Sue.  

  

  

My Great Aunt Peggy shared an heirloom she and my Uncle Dwight have. Dwight's dad, my great grandfather, Newell Stepp Sr. was a machinist in the Army in WW1. He made 5 ballpeen hammers while he was in the Army. He gave one to his commanding officers and brought the others home. A few years ago Dwight was visiting his cousin, Edna McDonald and she had one of the hammers that Newell made and gave to her Mother. She said she wanted Dwight to have the hammer, which he is very proud of. We don't know where the other 3 hammers are. They have Newell's serial number stamped on them, unfortunately its too faded to make out.

  

Another heirloom from my great grandmother, Willie Belle Foster Nall, now belongs to my dad's cousin Tracie. It is her old butter churn.

What family treasures do you and your family members have?

Until next week,
Becky