Gone Without A Trace

I'm going to try to do a little blogging again using FREE sources since I let my Ancestry subscription lapse. It wasn't worth the money for what little "new" I was discovering anymore. I still have access to my tree and any pictures I've uploaded and that helps as I learn to build my tree and use Family Search for more than just random searches. I'm using a few prompts from Genealogy Photo A Day for the month of September. Today's prompt will be a combination of the first three days of September:  SURNAME, MAIDEN NAME, and PARENTS

The focus of this post will be my 4th great grandparents James H KOSIER and his wife Adaline.

The reason for SURNAME is because in the 7 sources I have for James his surname is spelled:

1. C-O-Z-I-E-R 1850 Ancestry transcribes it as C-A-Y-I-E-R and Family Search C-A-Z-I-E-R
2. K-E-I-S-E-R  1860 Ancestry and Family search both transcribe it the same
3. C-O-S-I-E-R  1870 Ancestry and Family search both transcribe it the same
4. K-O-S(Z)-I-E-R  1880 Ancestry and Family search both transcribe it the same 
5. K-O-S-S-I-E-R Texas Muster Roll 
6. K-O-S-I-E-R  Texas Voter Registration 2x

The reason I chose this couple for MAIDEN NAME is the fact that I have Adeline's maiden name as HOWARD but I don't have any sources to verify this. I have yet to find any marriage records for them.

And lastly, PARENTS, because I don't know who either of their parents are.

The first time I find James and Adaline, is the 1850 census for Knox County, TN. They are living in dwelling # 1115 and they are family #1124. Their last name is looks to be spelled C-O-Z-I-E-R. Family Search has this name transcribed as C-A-Z-I-E-R. Enumerated in their household is a daughter Elizabeth (7), son John H (5), son William E (3), daughter Mary A (7/12).

James is a laborer on the 1850 census, surrounded by farmers. The value of his property is considerable less than the others on the page at 350. Neighbors are: CHILDRESS, GIDEONS, WHITE, and MAY to name a few.

By 1860 this family has moved to Red River, Texas. He now lists his occupation as farmer but again the value of his estate is considerable less than the others. He now has seven children: Elizabeth (17) John (15), William (13), Mary (10) and new to the family are Loretta (8), Evaline (6), and James (2). All children were born in Tennessee indicating they hadn't lived in Texas for more than two years, tops.

Knowing that this family is in Red River Texas in 1860 leads me to feel confident that the following Muster Index Card for James KOSSIER  is my ancestor.




Voter Registration for Red River County, Texas, dated 9 July 1867,  entry 545 shows a J H KOSIER followed by a (546) James KOSIER both state they had only lived in the state and county for seven years. Both men were born in Tennessee. I believe J H is John Howard, the eldest son of James and Adeline.

By 1870 James and Adeline have moved to Johnson County, Arkansas. James and his wife are family #8 The three oldest children have since married and are living on their own nearby, enumerated as family #'s six, nine, and ten. The children remaining at home are Mary (20), Loretta (17), Eveline (14), James now going by Robert (12) and finally my ancestor Zulema (9). Texas is her birth state. James property value is about the same as his neighbors. His occupation is farm laborer. One thing of note about this census is that under the heading Constitutional Relations, both items are marked. He is a US citizen older than 21 and his right to vote has been denied or abridged on other grounds than rebellion or other crime.





In 1880 James and Adeline are living in the neighboring county of Madison, Boston Township. They still have Evaline and Robert living at home. William is living next door with his family.

After 1880 I can no longer find James and Adeline nor several of their children.

1900 census

Elizabeth and Franklin Lafayette Stewart --  Lee, Johnson County
John Howard Kosier unknown but his son Hugh was born in Winthrop, Little River, AR in 1888
William E Kosier died 1895 It is rumored he and his wife died of typhoid fever weeks apart.
Mary and Joseph McCallister unknown
Martha Loretta Acord unkown, husband Thomas died in 1886 in Franklin County, AR
Evaline Kosier unkown
Robert James Kosier unknown but living in Hill, Johnson County, AR in 1910
Sarah Zulema and John Turner Acord -- Hill, Johnson County, AR

This little family unit often has left me with more questions than answers. Where did everyone go after 1880? I've even tried finding the Kosier siblings via their young children who were born in the late 1870's-80's and sometimes even they are missing without a trace. If you have any answers or theories to provide on these families I'd love to hear from you.

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

Yearbook Memories

I wanted to do a quick post with a few snippets from yearbooks past involving my family.

I'll start you off with this page from the 1975 Prairie Grove Yearbook, mentioning my paternal grandfather, Charles Nall, for being on the school board.



This next one is pretty precious to me, because I don't have many pictures of my dad when he was young. Here he is in his 6th grade photo. The first year he was in Prairie Grove.



Here's another one showing my dad and step-dad both being members of the 1975 Letterman's Club

Another one from 1975. Dad was voted 'Best All Around'

1976 Mom was in FTA (Future Teachers of America) and Library Club






1983 my step mom Dawna was in Drama and Basketball

Until next time,
Becky

Mattie Dillahunty -- A Staunch Democrat and Hard Worker!

Today I want to write briefly about my step mother's maternal great grandmother, Mattie Minerva Dillahunty Moore Cravy. I've written a bit about her first husband and children here.

Mattie must have been a strong woman. She endured so much loss in her 94 years on this earth. She buried her parents, siblings, two husbands, and six of her eight children.

When I think back to her story, I think about a post I once read on Facebook about our inner crone.

IN PRAISE OF THE INNER CRONE!

OK, we all know about the "inner child", right? The innocent being who still lives inside of us, who needs and deserves love and care, and whom we sometimes have to channel in order to learn self-compassion?

I'm a big fan of the notion of the inner child. It can be a really healing construct. Once, when I was going through a particularly dark season of self-loathing, I taped a sweet photo of myself (age 2) on my mirror, and taught myself that any harm I did to me, I also did to HER. It made me kinder and more tender to myself. Imagining other people's inner children makes me kinder and more tender to them.

So the Inner Child is a good thing.

These days, though, I spend less time thinking about my Inner Child lately, and more time focused on my INNER CRONE — the old lady who lives inside me, whom I hope to someday be.

Because she's a serious bad-ass.

The really old ladies always are bad-asses. I'm talking about the real survivors. The women who have been through everything already, so nothing scares them anymore. The ones who have already watched the world fight itself nearly to death a dozen times over. The ones who have buried their dreams and their loved ones and lived through it. The ones who have suffered pain and lived through it, and who have had their innocence challenged by ten thousand appalling assaults...and who lived through all of it.

The world is a frightening place. But you simply cannot frighten The True Crone.

Some might consider the word "crone" to be derogatory, but I don't in the least. I honor it. The crone is a classic character from myth and folklore, and she often the bearer of great wisdom and supernatural power. She is sometimes a guardian to the underworld. She has tremendous vision, even if she is blind. She has no fear of death, which means: NO FEAR.

I keep a wall of photos of some of my favorite crones, for inspiration. The photo below is of a Ukrainian Babushka who lives in (get this) Chernobyl. There are a group of such women — all tough elderly peasants — who have all recently moved back to the radioactive area around Chernobyl.

You know why they live there? Because they like it.

They like Chernobyl because that's where they came from. They are natural-born farmers. They hated being refugees.They resented being shunted off their land after the catastrophe. They hated living in the shabby and crime-infiltrated and stress-inducing government housing in the city, and they much prefer the independence of living off the land in the most contaminated nuclear site on earth. They have formed a stupendously resilient retirement community there, in what some would call the world's most terrifying landscape.

Is it safe? Of course not. Or, whatever. After 90 years of hard living, what does "safe" even mean? They drink the water. These women plant vegetables in that radioactive soil and eat them. They butcher the wild pigs that scavenge around the old nuclear power plant, and eat them, too. Their point is: "We are old. What do have to fear from radioactivity? At this age? Who cares?"

All they want is their freedom. So they take care of themselves and each other. They cut and haul their own wood. They make their own vodka. They get together and drink and laugh about the hardships of World War II and the evils of the Stalin years. They laugh about everything, then they go outside and butcher another radioactive boar and make sausage out of him.

I would put these women in a Bad-Ass Contest against any cocky young alleged Bad Ass you've got going, and I guarantee you — the Chernobyl crones would win, hands down.

We live in a society that romanticizes youth. We live in a culture where youth is considered a real accomplishment. You look at a seriously powerful classic crone like the woman in this photo and you see foolish we are — to imagine that the young offer much for us to aspire to, or learn from. No wisdom like the wisdom of survival. No equanimity like the equanimity of somebody who plants a garden right on top of a nuclear disaster and gets on with it.

So these days, when my Inner Child gets all fluttery with the panic of living, I just ask myself: " WWMICD?"

"What Would My Inner Crone Do?"

Ask yourself that same question. See what she tells you.

One thing I can promise you she will never say? She will never say: "WORRY.

She will more likely tell you this: "ENDURE."

Hang in there, all you future awesome crones!

Who better to imagine than one of your ancestors? So for my sister, and stepmom, I hope when you read about Mattie, and if you ever fall on difficult times,  you picture her as your inner crone. As you go through the life, I hope you are able to endure with all the strength of those who have gone before you.

Mattie was born in Sebastian County, AR 9 September 1886/87. She was the 7th child born to Mr. Adolphous Dillahunty and Emily P. Williams. She married James Walter Moore in June of 1902 and they lived in and around Greenwood, Sebastian County, Arkansas, for about 20 years before moving to Webber Falls, Muskogee, OK. Mattie experienced a lot of personal loss in the 1930's burying her husband and several children. She ended up living in Tulare, CA with her sons Adolphus, Leon and Clyde by 1935. After living in California for about 5 years she remarried a man by the name of Mose Pierce Cravy around 1941.

Once again in looking for answers as to who Mattie's first mother and father-in-law might have been, I ran across a few articles, some even includes Mattie's picture! I wasn't able to find the answers I was looking for as far as who Walter Moore's parents were, but I did think the articles below were very interesting.

Tulare Advance Register 07 Nov 1978

Tulare Advance Register 4 Nov 1980

Tulare Advance 6 July 1982

I hope you guys enjoy the articles and if you need to enlarge them, you should be able to click the caption below each article to be taken to the file where there is a ZOOM option.


Until next time,
Becky

Memories From My Childhood (Part Two)

When I was growing up my Dad had the green table in the bottom left corner. I don't remember the chairs. I remember he had wooden folding chairs instead. 

Memories From My Childhood

This was the first bicycle I had at my Dad's house. I remember having a harder time learning how to ride it than a larger one that I had at my Mom's. But I loved Strawberry Shortcake.

Gold Is Not For The Foolish

Today marks what would've been my maternal great grandparents Newell and Zula Stepp's 96th Anniversary  --  April Fools Day. What an odd day to get married. He was 26. She was 19.

A few years ago I stumbled across an article in the Madison County Record about their Golden Anniversary and as they described what Grandma wore, I knew I had the picture to go with it.



My cousin, Carmel, the Mrs. Vernon Sitton from the article, recalls that the story goes that at this Anniversary celebration is the first time their children saw them kiss.

Marriage often isn't about the mushy displays of affection. It's about having a partner you can depend on in sickness and in health. Who will do the hard part of life with you as well as the easy.

Three years ago my grandmother gave me a letter that Grandma Zula had written to Newell while he was in the VA hospital sick with gall-stones.

I will spell things exactly as she did. As you read it remember her accent. And it will make perfect sense. I love that it is written phonetically or using "dialect writing". It makes it come alive and is much more special.

June 3, 1955

Dear Newell, I will ancher your card we got yesterday. Was Glad to her from you and you war better this leves us all just fine and hope you the same. Wish you could see the chickins som of tham ways over 4 lb Miller said we wood sell tham som tims next week. Well John ploud this corn tuesday and wensday mornin then we went up hom me tooter boby doug and Elzada plowed the corn by the orchid but we hant going to plant the others for we hant got time. John plowed the Big corn up thar with his team while Boby (can't read because of folds and fading) corn grown. John is workin in his hay now me and the kids have been bizy most all the time dug and reba went home to tend the thangs. Me tooter wasked then we hoed peanuts and millans Bobby ploud both the gardens tusday Art said for me to try to get the Acord boys to bale the hay I gess will if I can for John said he sure wood had his hands full with both crops to plow do you have eny idy how long you will haft to stay Joe Wilama and Don come up and stad a while last nite and Jean opal and ther kids come up too we need another rane jjohn throd up 4 sweet potato riges and we put out som but thout we wate for it to ? to set the rest. Did Virgle and Loice come to see you and Sherlie thay sad thay was the kids wants to come down thar to see you but we can't come now till we sell the chickins maby Bill and Argie can brang us when thay come home thay will come after them Will thay let kids come up thar Gye said thay wooden. Reba said 1 of the heffers come in up home with a little calf. I'll try t get john to plow the corn across the creek some time next week. I got (... can't read much of this line because its on a fold....) thay said thay was ame to write you so I gess you herd from them well today hant nothin excite to write about so I hush and got feed the chickens so tack care of your self and we doo the best we can about the crops and rasin chickins. Don't no yet whether I put back or not the kids said Hi Dad and they wood luft to see you that goes for mom to so ancher soon love to you from mama and kids."

The Stepp's observed a total of 64 years of marriage before Grandpa passed in 1987.




They lived a remarkable life and raised six remarkable children to carry on their legacy. May we remember them and in doing so, love each other well in sickeness and in health. In the good times and the bad. When it's easy and most especially when it's not.

Until next time,
Becky Drake