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Wordless Wednesday 6/2/21
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At the Cemetery – Week 21 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
“Libraries of Marble”
“The term cemetery comes from the Greek, and means, literally sleeping place.” (http://www.colorado-cemeteries.com/cemetery-traditions.html) For some, cemeteries are sacred places. For others, they may be a peaceful place to meditate and reflect, while for many they are a good source for information which is why they may be referred to as “libraries of marble” in the genealogy world. Growing up, my immediate family did not have any tradition for visiting cemeteries. However, when we moved to Bartlesville when I was 11, this was a very important practice for my grandmother, Alta May Watkins. She took us to the cemetery with her on holidays to remember her family members and ancestors. It was always a very solemn occasion.
When I was in high school, one of best friends lived near a very old cemetery. We would occasionally walk through the cemetery and examine the gravestones. I found it fascinating. Later, I took a writing class at Coffeyville Community College and one of our assignments was to go to a cemetery and select a gravestone. We were instructed to use whatever information we could find on that gravestone and create a story about that person. This is one of those assignments that I always remembered.
Next week, one of the people I will be focusing on is Thomas McElroy. It was quite a find to discover the gravestones of Thomas and his wife Elizabeth O’Rea McElroy.
Cousin Bait – Week 20 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Connecting with the Anthonys
As the family historian, my goal is to uncover as many stories as possible and bring our ancestors to life. A few years back my mother and her cousin spent time sending family photos back and forth trying to identify as many relatives as possible. My mother then asked me to do some research and see if I could find out if her grandmother indeed had twins as her mother had heard but really didn’t know. This started me on my genealogical journey.
Ancestry research has become very popular. There are many free as well as paid sites that allow people access to information that just a few years ago was very difficult to come by. A term bandied about particularly among amateur genealogists is “cousin bait.” This refers to “throwing out a line and seeing what we catch.” What information can you put online so that you can attract “research cousins” and share information and make connections. Sometimes people post on various forums, add their family tree to sites like MyHeritage, Ancestry, or FamilySearch, or create a blog. (The sharing part is important. At my last Genealogy Club meeting, one of our members expressed frustration over people who just want his tree in order to make it their own. This man has spent 30+ years doing research and has joined several organizations that required specific documentation that was often very hard to come by. He just wants people to share what they have discovered and documented.)
The Anthony family is my mother’s maternal side. My grandmother was Anna Agnes Anthony but most people called her Annie. As I was doing research, I was hooked by a family tree I found on MyHeritage. It is a privately held tree so not all the information was public. I had never heard of the owner, but I recognized many names so I contacted the owner. He is definitely a relative who has been involved in genealogy research for 30 years. The most amazing part is that we discovered that we live in the same city so we are in the process of making plans to meet for lunch.
I also recently connected with my mother’s cousin and discovered a treasure trove of family photos that my uncle had sent my mother on a CD. He had taken a lot of time to label the photos. (My mother only had a tablet, not a computer so she didn’t even know what she had.)
I’m looking forward to researching the Anthony’s and learning more about my German heritage.
Mother’s Day – Week 19 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Best Mother’s Day Present Ever
I was born on Mother’s Day, May 8, 1955. My mother was a very young mother. She and my dad were married on June 13, 1954 when she was barely 16 and I was born 12 days before her 17th birthday. She told me that she thought she knew everything about having and raising a baby and was convinced that her mother didn’t know anything.
My mother was born on May 20, 1938 in Vallejo, California to Malcolm McLeod and Anna (Annie) Agnes Anthony McLeod.
My mother had a difficult childhood (she recently told me that she could remember her father smiling only once when she was a child). My grandparents divorced (I’ll write more about my grandfather in a future post) and my grandmother was totally unprepared for raising two children completely on her own. Because of this, they moved frequently and were focused on survival. My grandmother tried to maintain an optimistic attitude.
As a child, my mother spent many summers with her cousin and her husband, Trudy and Jim Elwood. Since my grandmother was so much younger than her sister, Barbara, Trudy and Jim were more like an aunt and uncle to my mother. She loved spending summers with their family (she and their daughter remained close until my mother’s death). My mother decided that when she married, she would pattern her life after theirs.
As a young mother, my mom took her position as a housewife very seriously. In those days, there were few conveniences. Our family only had one car and one bathroom. We didn’t have a dryer so clothes, sheets, and towels were hung up outside to dry. There was no permanent press so one day a week was dedicated to ironing (when clothes that needed to be ironed came out of the washer, my mom would roll them up, put the wet clothes in a bag, and put the bag in the refrigerator until ironing day). There was no microwave, no dishwasher, and no disposable diapers.
Daily, my mom would make the beds, prepare three meals a day, wash the dishes after each meal, wipe down the bathroom (deep cleaning once a week), clear clutter, and dust and vacuum as needed. Spring cleaning was a sacred ritual.
My mother stayed busy raising me, my sister Becky who was born on February 17, 1959, and my brother Billy who was born on August 13, 1961. She was also active as a room mother, involved in PTA and girl scouts, and went to women’s Bible study weekly as well as attended church three times a week. She liked to bake, crochet, and sew. In later years, reading became a passion.
As the years progressed and we grew up, my mother decided that she wanted to focus on herself more. She always valued education and decided that she wanted to get her GED. She passed her tests and was awarded her GED on October 1, 1977.
After this accomplishment, she decided that she wanted to take some college classes. She took typing and a literature class. One of the books she read for this class was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. She talked a lot about this book because it was something she would never have read on her own and gave her lots to think about.
She also decided that she would like to work outside of the home. Her first job was as a home health aide, then she moved on to retail and worked at Read’s Department Store which she really enjoyed. Finally, she became a bank teller which she did for years. She made many good friends and kept up with many of her customers after she retired.
My dad died unexpectedly on November 10, 1982 at the age of 52. My mother then became a very young widow at the age of 44. She was not prepared emotionally or financially for this and it was a very difficult time for her.
As she worked through her grief, she met Ralph Bernal and married him on January 12, 1984.
Another surprise was in store for her. My mother then became a much older mother. My youngest sister, Angelina, was born on October 4, 1987 when my mother was 49. Being an older mother had its own set of challenges but my mother was convinced it kept her young and gave her a new purpose in life.
My mother had many phases in her life. She experienced many challenges and periods of unhappiness, but she also overcame many of those challenges and found happiness and peace. Unfortunately, she struggled with many health issues at the end of her life, but she left a legacy through her children and grandchildren.
My mother’s focus was always on family, church, and community. She was a “people person” and enjoyed her connections.
Crime and Punishment – Week 18 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Family Justice, 1456
In 1456 there was ongoing conflict among England, Wales, and the Welsh Marches which was an area that bordered England and Wales. The Welsh Marches were created earlier by King William. He granted Marcher Lordships which allowed the lords to rule as they chose and not be accountable to the king. This encouraged a state of independence that the English did not appreciate. The conflict that resulted from this often resulted in violence. These were indeed tumultuous times.
On Easter Day, 1456, Watkin Vaughn was shot through the heart by an arrow at Bredwardine Castle.
Welsh laws traditionally proclaimed that that it was the “duty of kinsmen to respond to the death of one of their own.” (https://vilgage.blogs.bristol.ac.uk) In keeping with this tradition, William Herbert (half-brother of Watkin) and Walter Devereux avenged the murder of Watkin. They found the six culprits and convinced the local citizens to conduct a trial and convict them of the murder. Family justice was achieved when these men were hanged.
In a twist, the wife of one of the men who was hanged sued because she thought her husband was innocent (after all, he pleaded not guilty) and wanted members of the Herbert, Devereux, and Vaughn families prosecuted for his death. John Glover was from Kent, England. He married Agnes Southwyn in 1435. The lawsuit was unsuccessful. In fact there was great local support for the family and friends of Watkin Vaughn.
“Watkin Vaughn was commemorated by praise poets and avenged with impunity.” (Judging a Hereford Hanging by Professor Gwen Seabourne) Watkin was famously memorialized in an elegy “a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead” by Hywel Swrdwal.
Our line runs through John Watkins of Court Robert, son of Richard Watkins and Jane Edmunds Watkins (located in the center of the pedigree). On the pedigree it shows that John was married to Anne, daughter of Sir Charles Jones. However, our line goes through John’s first wife, Agnes and their only son, John.
Favorite Place – Week 17 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Bugscuffle
So how did Bugscuffle get its name? The origin began at Tate School. (In the late 1800s, Mr.Tate donated land for a school and a cemetery.) One theory claims that during a pie supper at the school, Homer Coker lamented that they were inundated with bugs and it was “just a regular bugscuffle.” Another anecdote maintains that a man was passing by the school and exclaimed that the students were “scuffling in the dirt like bugs.” Regardless, it is definitely an interesting name and stokes the imagination.
Bugscuffle was a rural area near Strickler, Arkansas. It basically consisted of the school, a cemetery, church, and Bugscuffle Road.
Bugscuffle Road today is on the U.S National Register of Historical Places. Bugscuffle Road was one segment of the Butterfield’s Overland Mail Company from 1858-1861. According to https://encyclopediaofArkansas, “it was the longest stagecoach line in world history at approximately 2,812 miles and was a major factor in the settlement of Arkansas and the American West before the Civil War. When gold was discovered in California in 1849, bringing over a quarter of a million people to the West Coast, there was a huge demand for transporting mail and passengers. At the time, the usual route was by boat, either around South America or with an overland crossing in Panama, both of which were time-consuming, expensive, and dangerous. After California threatened to secede if a faster mail service was not established, Congress voted in 1857 to subsidize a mail run from the Mississippi River to San Francisco. It required that mail be safely carried in twenty-five days or less.”
My great grandfather, Marshall Vandyke, was a farmer and the family lived in the Bugscuffle, Strickler, and Cove City area of Arkansas for several years. His son Elliot Cecil was born in the Bugscuffle area in 1907 and died in Bugscuffle in 1917. Marshall died in Bugscuffle in 1922. Both Elliot and Marshall are buried in the cemetery.
When I heard that some of my ancestors were from Bugscuffle, I was intrigued by the name. I’m looking forward to visiting in person this summer when we are in the Bentonville/Rogers area for our nephew’s wedding.