Busting Through Brick Walls

I've been lying in my bed in the reclining position for days now, fighting an intense muscle spasm in my neck that just will not respond to all the usual tricks I have up my sleeve. Usually, when I find myself confined to my bed, I take that time to deep dive into my genealogy research. This time, I think it might have paid off. 

Years ago, I began researching my step-mom's side of the family. I quickly encountered a brick wall on her maternal side with her great grandfather, James Walter Moore. You can find my previous blog post about him here. I have gone back numerous times trying to discover who his parents could be and today, I may have just found them. It all starts with a widowed mother, Sarah JONES, living in Bates Township of Sebastian County, AR. She is 40 years old and is listed with the following JONES children:

1. Nittie age 19 born in Texas
2. Walter age 18 born in Texas
3. Littie age 15 born in Texas
4. Susan age 14 born in Texas
5. Clyde age 5 born in Arkansas
6. Elsie age 3 born in Arkansas
   

The first thing I notice instantly are the three names Nittie (I have "Nettie" in my tree), Walter, and Susan. The ages and birth dates all fit for my previous MOORE siblings theory (read the blog I linked earlier).

Then I notice the age gap between Susan and Clyde meaning JONES could be a second marriage for Sarah. Thirdly this family is on the same page as James Walter's soon-to-be wife's family, the DILLAHUNTYS. 

Other things that begin to line up are so many familiar names. Is Littie actually something along the lines of Lettie? James Walter named his daughter Leta. A little more research shows I was correct, Littie's maiden name was not JONES but a marriage record indicates it was indeed MOORE. Now bear with me because "Littie's" name is all over the place in all the records I find her in. Her marriage record gives her name as Lillie. But the entry is directly across from who I believe to be her sister, Nettie. With the records only being a week apart.

See the record for yourself below:

Now remember when I mentioned James Walter Moore's daughter Leta? Her middle name was Grace. The youngest JONES child, Elsie's middle name was also Grace. And she married a MARTIN. Her half-sister, Susie's brother-in-law, Leonard Larkin MARTIN, to be exact. 

Then there's the youngest JONES child from the 1900, Sebastian County, census -- his name being Clyde. James Walter Moore also named his youngest son, Clyde

James Walter Moore eventually moves to Vann, Muskogee County, OK and by 1930 the Clyde JONES family is living there as well, with his mother going by the nickname Sallie rather than Sarah.

Sarah, the mother of these MOORE/JONES children died in 1940 and is buried in Lone Star cemetery in Sebastian County, AR. Her headstone says she was the wife of Lee JONES. Using that information I was then able to his death notice in Fort Smith Elevator published Friday, 11 March 1898. If he was about 25 that would make his birth date around the year 1873.

This lets me look for a marriage record between a Lee JONES and Sarah/Sallie MOORE and sure enough, I found one even if her name is given as MOON instead. (Why is it so hard to get an accurate name?) But notice Miss is marked through and Mrs. is written over it, indicating she was previously married. Also of note, in this record from 1890, Mr. Lee JONES is said to be 30 years of age. So which one do we believe, his marriage record or his death notice?

Regardless, here's the marriage record.

Littie MOORE BUCKNER's death certificate claims her father's name was Thomas MOORE. I wish I had any of her siblings' death certificates to compare because sometimes the informant gives bad information in their time of grief. Was Littie's middle name actually Thomas? And was her mother's maiden name truly JONES before she married Thomas MOORE?



I can't access the actual image of Clyde JONES' death certificate from Burlington, Skagit County, Washington, but the information given is that his full name is Clyde Thomas JONES and that his father's name was Lee JONES and his mother's name was Sally STROUD. His death date was 14 June 1955. 

And that lead me to this gem!

Then searching in that same county, Fayette County, Texas, I find 12 year old Sallie STROUD living with a 29 year old female with the initials E A HART and several young HART children in the year 1870. There's also a 13 year old house servant living with the family. Her name was Sophia McKEEN.

I don't believe E A HART to be Sarah's mother. As there is evidence she was the widow of Lucius Simmons HART and her name at the time of their marriage in 1860 was HUNT not STROUD. So what relation is she?

After further digging in Fayette County, Texas I discovered that a Mr. Balus C STROUD married a Ms. Louisa A HEART in 1864 is this a connection? Baylis STROUD was married previously to a Nancy GILL and can be found with two young children; Walter (age 3) and little Sallie (age 7/12) THIS is her parents!

And using that I find that Sallie STROUD was enumerated twice in 1870. 



Once with her widowed father and brother on page 38. And then again with E A HART on page 44, who would have been her recently deceased step mother's sister-in-law, so her aunt through marriage, both her father's remarriage and then her step-mother's brother's marriage. Maybe she was helping her with the younger children? 

There's another HART connection. Lucius and Louisa HART had a brother named Junius HART who married Lois Antoinette MOORE who was the sister of Thomas Lyt MOORE (see further down below). Lois Antoinette is also who I believe Walter's older sister "Nettie" is named after.

AND as a BONUS there's even a birth record from the GILL Family Bible



And for now the trail ends with a few Thomas MOOREs born around the same time frame all living in Fayette County, Texas in 1870. For now, I don't know which one is mine. But I believe I'm settling on the Thomas L Moore b 1856 in Mississippi with parents named James K and Mary MOORE.

I also believe I have found a memorial tribute and it all starts to make sense, with his daughter's name -- Littie Thomas MOORE, she was indeed named after her father. West Point was a small community that sprang up in the 1880s at the crossroads of the MKT railroad. 




I hope you're able to keep up. I've convinced myself these are indeed the parents and siblings of James Walter MOORE. Hopefully, I've also convinced you.

***********************************************************************************

This is a bit out of order but I also wanted to include the 1910 census where the remaining Sarah aka Sallie JONES family is right next door the the remaining Emily DILLAHUNTY family on Burnville and Booneville Rd. 

Until next time, 
Becky

Goodbyes, Shared Memories and Pictures From Long Ago.

Last week my Great Aunt Frances passed away at the age of  95. She was my grandmother's oldest sister. There was eleven years between them but they were very close, in later years anyway. Frances lived in Texas and like I've written before, Mammy lived here in Arkansas. Mammy would make frequent trips to Texas to visit and there were occasional long distance phone calls that lasted forever (at least in the mind of a young girl who was instructed to be quiet while she was talking). I accompanied Mammy on a few of those trips back home to Texas. I remember very little, but I do remember Aunt Frances' house. There was mint in her back garden that Uncle John B took the time to show me. And the walls in the hallway of their home were lined with old photos.

Two of Aunt Frances' granddaughters reached out to me to share a few pictures they had come across while going through her things. I am beyond grateful that they would think of me in their time of sorrow.  Lisa sent me pictures of myself from the few trips I made down there. A few were from a trip to the nursing home where I along with Aunt Frances' grandchildren visited with Grandma Jones (attached below).  The others were from the trip my Nall family made in 1994 for Grandma Jones' funeral. I attached it to my blog post In Remembrance -- Myrtle Rutherford And there was even one of my Bampy and his air plane! I've attached it to my blog post The Big Move.

I'm in the bottom right corner. Mammy made my dress.

Today Elaina sent me pictures I have never seen before from my Mammy's younger (single digits) years. And of her Daddy, John Arthur Jones, who passed away when Mammy was only 4. I had never seen pictures of him until a few years ago and even then, I it was only one photo. 

I wanted to return the favor by sharing these pictures here so that others may have access to them for years to come.

I remember my Mammy talking about this "house on wheels." She wanted to move it up here to Arkansas so badly. I even remember her having us drive by where it was located on one of our last trips down to Texas. She never got that blue house, but I believe she did get a little trunk that had been stored inside it and it had lots of old flour sacks in it. I think. The memory can be a funny thing some times.






To those who read this, I hope you will enjoy the memories these pictures stir up. That you will cherish your loved ones while you can. And that you will always share any family memories, pictures, and memorabilia. This is how we can assure our loved ones stay alive in memories for generations to come.

Much love to you all.

Until next time,
Becky

Researching Tax Records

I'm doing a little research on my RICH roots, specifically my 4th great grandfather John Wesley RICH. He is one of those lovely ancestors who 1) has a common first name 2) often went by his middle name, occasionally his first name followed by his middle initial, and possibly (according to these records) just his first name and 3) has a son by the same name. These factors can make it a little difficult when using alternate records in placing him. I'm using some alternate records for this post so I can fill in the gaps in my timeline between the 1860 and 1880 census. John Wesley RICH is nowhere to be found for the 1870 census and several of his children are MIA as well.

Since I no longer subscribe to any of my old genealogy subscriptions (Ancestry, Newspapers.com, or Fold3) I'm going back to old faithful Family Search where you can research for free.

Various records I'm looking at are tax records, voter registration, and marriage records indicating the location of children just to name a few. Census records help because being surrounded by wife, parents, children etc we can feel certain we are indeed looking at a record pertaining to our ancestor. The other records, on the other hand, especially when you have a common name, aren't always as reassuring. *I will try to use his name how it is spelled and given with each record.*

I've blogged about John Wesley RICH before. You can find those blogs here and here. 

I want to lay this post out in a timeline:

• circa 1815 birth of John Wesley RICH. Census records indicate the following years: 1812, 1813 and 1815. They all sate he was born in Kentucky.
• 1834 Marriage of Westley Rich to Nancy CREEK in White County, IL (see previous posts for image of record).
• 1838-39 in Arkansas (?) daughter Sarah gives Arkansas as her birth state in two census records. There is an 1837 tax record for a John Rich in Benton County, AR. Unsure if that's him.
• 1840 census record Hamilton County, IL enumerated a Wesley Rich. (one male 5-10, one male 15-20 (this would not be a child), then himself age 20-30 -- two females under 5, and his wife age 20-30)
• 1844 birth of son, Robert Robin in Missouri
• 1846 birth of son, William in Missouri
• 1848 birth of son, Orville Sexton in Illinois/Missouri (most likely Missouri)
• 1850 census places this John W RICH family in Lawrence County, Missouri
• 1852 birth of son, Jeremiah in Missouri
• 1853 Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910 finds a John W RICH in Grayson County, TX
• 1856 Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910 finds a John W RICH in Grayson County, TX alongside an E RICH (a connection to the Ephraim L Rich from this post perhaps?) This particular tax record led me to find a land record for 360 acres along Spring Creek, belonging to a John W RICH 
• 1857 Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910, provides the same information with the exception that now a Nancy A RICH is listed with them as owning 430 acres. Her land record can be found here.  Her land record tells me that John and Elijah RICH (the E. RICH from above) were the chain carriers for the survey of her property.
  
  Before moving on, I decided to look for John W RICH in Grayson County census records and found disappointing results. This is a different John W RICH, who was born in NC around the year 1825. Now to research Elijah and Nancy. I'm having difficulty finding Elijah and Nancy in census records. It's my theory that they are brother and mother to the Grayson County John W RICH.

• 1860 My Wesley RICH and family are found enumerated in Burnet County, Texas. Killian is married and living with his wife on the same page.

We know from census records that the following children belong to John Wesley RICH and from one of my previous posts we know that some of these names or ages aren't always consistent between census years, but we're going to do our best. I feel that Selina and Archilles of the 1850 census were actually Sidney and Arville.

1. Killian 
2. Sarah
3. Sidney 
4. Robert aka Robin
5. William
6. Arville/Orville Sexton
7. John Wesley Jr.
8. Jerremiah
9. Caroline
10. George W.

• 1865 One single solitary military record shows Killian in Colorado County, TX
• 1867 Voter registration shows a J W and Robt RICH in Milam County. Registered to have been in the state for 7 years (1860) and in county/precinct for 2 years. Both names are marked through. Killian is registered in nearby Falls County just (")marks down both columns all the way down. sigh There is also a Robt Rich listed in Collin County that year. His registration states he'd been in the state 9 years (1858) and in the county/precinct for 1 year.
• 1868 marriage record for Arville Sexton RICH to Sarah Jane WILLHITE from Collin County.
• 1870 census I can only find Robert and William married and living with their families and their siblings George and Sidney living together in the same household in Van Zandt County. Arville is enumerated in Collin County.
• 1872 there's a marriage record for Wesly RITCH to Tennie LOVETT from Cooke County
• 1873 there's a marriage record for Sidney RICH to J W SIMONS also from Cooke County
• 1878 there's a marriage record for Caroline RICH to R O HUGES from Johnson County
• 1880 census shows John W RICHE in Lamar County. In his household is his unmarried son George and his widowed/divorced/single daughter Sarah J CARTRIGHT with her children. On the same page is his married daugther Caroline, and his married son William. Killian is enumerate in Collin County, Sidney in Hill County, Robert in Comanche, Arville in Wise and John Wesley Jr. in Collin.
  
  I'm including an image so you can see just how much ground this family covered through these 20 years in Texas.
  
  

I have still been unable to place John Wesley and his wife Nancy, or the following children for the year 1870: Killian, Sarah, John Wesley Jr. or Caroline. But just in writing this post I found Caroline's marriage to Richard O HUGHES so it wasn't all for naught. It's just so frustrating that even after the 1880 census so much of this family just falls off the radar. My ancestor Killion died in 1881 but what about his parents and siblings: Sarah, Arville, John W Jr., Caroline and George, where and when did they die?

Until next time,
Becky.

In Remembrance - Myrtle Rutherford Jones

Family Search has a calendar feature with the option of having them send you a message on the anniversary of birth dates and wedding anniversaries of your ancestors. Today I was notified that my paternal great grandmother Myrtle Lurie RUTHERFORD JONES would have been 120 years old. Honestly, I didn't need the reminder because for some reason her birth date always stands out to me. I'm not really sure why because she lived in Texas and I rarely got to see her. If I had to guess, it's most likely because of the time I spent with my Mammy (her daughter).

Myrtle RUTHERFORD (Grandma Jones is what I grew up calling her) was the first born and oldest child of James Walter RUTHERFORD and Ora Frances McCLUNG. She was born 2 October 1899, in Santa Anna, Coleman County, Texas. *Her obituary says Mount Pleasant, Titus County, Texas -- Where her parents married in 1898* The earliest photograph I have of her is from around 1902. She is standing between her parents. The baby is her brother Jesse Newton RUTHERFORD who was born New Year's Day, 1902 (this helps date the picture).

 The next photograph I have was taken in 1904 when the next baby came along, Glennie Lillian, who was born 1 July 1904. Grandma Jones is standing on the right, Jesse on the left and baby Glennie is in the middle.

In January of 1908, when Grandma was only 8 years old, the family loaded up their covered wagon and headed North to an area known as Antelope Flat, in Foard County, Texas. At this time she was the oldest of four siblings, the baby, Flora was 9 months old.

Around 1912 Grandma's dad, J W RUTHERFORD, gave the community an acre to move the one room school house. Grandma attended school there. According to one of my favorite books, my husband bought me, Between The Wichitas, Grandma wrote that her first teacher was a Mr. Jim Burnson. (page 200).

I can remember this book sitting on the little wooden shelf on the back side of Mammy's brown sink. I didn't inherit it. My wonderful husband bought me one of my own. It isn't in circulation anymore.

Grandma must have met Grandpa John Arthur JONES at that school because according to John's brother Frank they also attended school there for a time. (page 416)

"The teacher at Antelope Flat lived over at Foard City. He drove a one-horse buggy without any top on it. We didn't miss any school days. Neither did the teacher.  Albert Haynie's children, his brother C. H. Haynie, Will Glenn, the Rutherfords, Henry Black, Bullions, Moody had kids in school there. The Joneses also. It was quite a while before we got to know everyone around for we didn't get to visit like they do today."

On Sept 18, 1916, one month before Grandma turned 17, she married John Arthur JONES at Burkburnett, Wichita County, Texas.



In early May 1918, the two had their first baby, a boy. Unfortunately, he didn't survive.  I'm not certain if Grandpa served in the war. There are many accounts of his brother Frank serving, but I haven't found any evidence that John Arthur did. He did however, register. He was self employed 1 mile SE of Truscott.



Around that time John found work with a childhood friend, Walter COODY. The two of them worked for a doctor in Burkburnett butchering and selling beef. They drove a Model T truck. During this time there was an oil boom. (page 334) While living in Wichita County Myrtle gave birth to two more children who born in 1923 & 1925.

I'm not sure when the picture below was taken but I wanted to include it here, since there are so few pictures of Grandpa JONES. It's taken from Between The Wichitas. My grandmother always had dark hair and so did her husband, Charles, but my dad had really blonde hair. According to John Arthur's WW1 registration he was tall with light hair and light blue eyes.



Around the year 1930-1931 John and Myrtle operated the chuck wagon for John's brother-in-law, J. M. CHOWNING's threshing crew. (page 327) They also worked  for the Charles HAMILTON Ranch for some time.

In 1934 the family moved to San Antonio where Johnnie went to work for the Humble Oil Company. Six years later, when their oldest child was 17 and their youngest child was only 6 months old, Myrtle became a widow. John died tragically in a vehicle/train collision.

Grandma then had to support five children ages 17, 14, 5, 3 and the 6 month old baby. She managed to remain in San Antonio for a few years before moving her little family back "home" to Truscott.  She used every dollar she had to buy a home, the old Mrs. Sam TURNER (Ollie Jane CAMPSEY) home, which served as a boarding house. (page 278). She even had to support her little family during WW2 when lean times were made even worse by rationing. My cousin Mike, shared this photo of her ration book with me a few years ago and I thought this is a great place to post it again.




While looking through my book, I noticed on page 50, where they mentioned Grandma chaperoning a hay ride. It said during those days it was an accepted fact that an adult was to always accompany group outings and that Mrs. Myrtle JONES frequently did so. I couldn't imagine with all that was on her plate she still found the energy to want to chaperone events.

"One week the springs of 1942, the boys decided to give a hay ride. They worked Saturday for Carl Haynie to get the use of his wagon and team. Everyone chipped in money and the girls bought food for a wiener roast. 

Mrs Myrtle Jones chaperoned that outing, as she frequently did, taking her young children and sitting calmly by the campfire wile the teenagers played walking games." 

Grandma also worked for eight years in the Truscott school lunchroom. I can remember Mammy telling me that someone gave them a pig and Grandma would feed it using the left over scraps from the school lunchroom. I seem to also remember she did laundry for extra income, but I'm not certain of this last memory.

Here is a photograph shared by my cousin Kaye from 1957. The women are wearing collages so it could have been Mother's Day or Easter.




I remember one trip to Texas to celebrate Grandma's 90th birthday at the nursing home. My Aunts Jeannie and Cathy served a large beautiful cake and there was punch. There was a small mention of it in the Munday Courier. I was hoping for a picture. I was only 9 at the time but I remember it was a big celebration. I did find where her 75th and 77th birthday was celebrated as well.

I've posted on Facebook and even made mention in a blog post that my grandmother, Myrtle's daughter, moved with her family to Arkansas in the mid '60's. I can still remember long distance phone calls between my Mammy and her older sister Frances. I'm sure there were phone calls to her mother too, but what I remember most were the cassette tapes that she would record and mail home to her mother. I even had to record a few (when I was too young to fully grasp why). As the years wore on Grandma JONES' hands became too arthritic to write and her eyesight was failing, long distance phone calls were expensive so to communicate they would mail cassette tapes back and forth. I was lucky enough to inherit Grandma's last tape she sent Mammy. You can watch the video below to listen.

Before she gave up writing all together, Grandma sent this letter. It was in short hand, which it is my understanding, how she would often write. She was 91.  My Dad's cousin Gayle transcribed it for me below.

Grandma died in July of 1994. I remember her funeral well. It was so hot. July in Texas.We gathered at a small white church. They sang 'In The Garden' and she was laid to rest in the Truscott Cemetery where the rest of her family is buried.

The Nalls gathered at the Seymour Motel before the service.
Back Row: Dad (Johnny Nall) Cathy Gardisser, Mitch Nall, Mike Nall, Bampy (Charles)
Middle Row: Me (Becky), Mammy (Sue) Jeannie, Jeff, Jennifer, and Tom Calvert
Front Row: Matthew and April Gardisser, and Jeremy Calvert.

Before wrapping this up, I thought I would include a picture I have of one of her few visits to AR.

Maybe 1981

Until next time,
Becky

The John Calvin Jones Cousins

Another short and sweet post. Today's prompt is COUSIN. I wanted to find a way to share a compiled booklet about my JONES family, affectionately referred to by my grandmother as her 'Cousins Book'. (click link). 

There are a few photographs, stories and a wealth of information contained in the work put together by the Jones cousins. As sometimes happens in works this large there are a few errors here and there (my birth date is wrong) but by and large it is just such a precious thing to have if just for the stories shared within it.

One of my favorite stories is found on page 207. It describes the beloved Buffalo Horn Hat Rack. It was restored and was seen by many at a 1993 Jones Reunion. It says that David Jones (grandson of Frank Jones) was the last named owner of this rack.

The story goes...

While on Sweetwater Creek John Calvin and Leona picked up buffalo horns, still on the skulls. They scraped the horns, polished them with powdered charcoal, rubbed them with a woolen cloth until you could almost see your picture on the horns. Then they mounted them on a horse shoe frame with a mirror inside and used it for a hat rack. Bob Jones said Frank told him the man at the store built the horseshoe frame for Leona to put the buffalo horns on. (possibly Frank Exum. ) The frame is made from an Arbuckle Cofffe box.

A granddaughter of Frank Jones sent me the following photographs of the buffalo had rack. This first photo was taken March 1980, in the home of Frank and Pearle Jones in Plainview, TX. The little boy with Frank is Kay Jones Merkling's oldest child, Joseph Legarde, aged 3.





This second photo shows the "restored" hat rack, hanging in the home of Chuck and Ella Mae Jones, in Plainview. This photo isn't dated.



Here is an updated Table of Contents to the Jones Legacy.


Until next time,
Becky

Brothers Working Side By Side

The prompt for today, September 5th, is BROTHER.  This post will be short and sweet.

Below is a video provided by my Great Uncle Bo and his wife Bette. They shared it at the 2018 NALL family reunion and my cousin Angie shared it with me on Facebook. I took it and added annotations so we would all know who is who and I thought this was the perfect prompt to share it on my blog.

This is my Great grandfather Rufus Nall working cattle with his sons, grandsons, and brother-in-law, Art FOSTER. This wasn't too many years after moving onto Blue Mountain, Prairie Grove, Washington County, AR from around Benjamin, Foard County, TX.  To read more about the move from Texas to Arkansas, you can read this post.

If you find the video above to hard to see try clicking here.

At about minute mark 1:24 you can see Grandma Nall's house in the background. That means something to me, because it lets me know I have helped work cattle on that same ground. We had a corral and headchute by that time, but it still is something special to me to have been blessed with that experience.

P.S. If you're curious, like me, as to what Rufus' brand was, it was the Bar N.





Until next time,
Becky

An Old Fashioned Mother

The kids are all back in school and with my most recent botox treatment making many tasks feel impossible these days, I have found myself back in the recliner scouring the Internet for any more tidbits on my ancestors that I have yet to uncover. My favorite thing to search are old newspaper articles. It gets a bit tricky though because there are often so many typos and spelling errors.

There's a great free newspaper archive from Texas Tech University, I've mentioned it before. They changed their website a while back and I couldn't get to the newspaper search, but I was finally able to get it to work a few weeks ago. Today, of course, as soon as I start to type my blog, it has become glitch-y. We will see how far I get before deciding to come back another day....

This time I'm searching the Foard County News for any records on my NALL/FOSTER ancestors.

Today I found where my great grandmother Willie Belle competed in the County Interscholastic Meet and won second place in arithmetic. There of course was a typo and her name was given as Winnie Belle, but I'm 99.99% sure it's her. Claytonville was a very small rural community. Grandma would've just turned 15. The article is from March 1930.

Foard County News 28 March 1930

 I also found where in May of that same year, Grandma, portrayed the Mother, in Walter Ben Hare's 1917 play "An Old Fashioned Mother".  How fitting. I know she was the great matriarch of our NALL family. I was actually able to find an online copy of the play. Just click on the title to take a look at it yourself.

Foard County News 16 May 1930

I'm not certain when this picture of Grandma was taken, but I imagine it was close to 1930. If you were wondering what she looked like back then.

Just to give you an idea of the severity of the typos, below is the Birth Announcement of my grandfather, Willie Belle's first born, Charles Bryant Nall, who was born 13 May 1935. To Willie Belle (Foster) and Benjamin Rufus Nall. There is a town called Benjamin, where my grandfather attended school, so I think that part is right.

Foard County News 06 June 1935

I'll go ahead and wrap this post up. I'll come back and add direct links to the newspaper articles, if the Texas Tech website ever comes back up. It really is a great resource when it's working. The trick is getting past all those typos.

Until next time,
Becky