52 Weeks Challenge-Week 13...Liberty Bond Paid In Full

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Week 13  ~ prompt ~ In The News

~click on pictures to enlarge and read articles~

  Your Family and Country are forever grateful for your sacrifice for our Freedom.

You are remembered in the Pittman Family Tree my 1st cousin 2x removed. 

**Daniel - Cobb County Times August 15, 1918 Memorial Service Held for Daniel W. Pittman
Many Attend Services at Macland on Sunday in Honor of First Cobb County Boy To Die in France.  Last Sunday morning at eleven o'clock, hundreds of Cobb county citizens gathered at the Methodist church at Macland to attend the memorial services I honor of Daniel Weyman Pittman, the first Cobb county boy to be killed in action in France.
    The little church was filled to overflowing when Rev. Frank Jenkins, the pastor, began his memorial address, which pulsated the sympathy for the bereaved and loyal friends to our government in this crisis.  Mr. Watson of Dallas, rendered some special music for the occasion.  Daniel Weyman Pittman was the son of Isaac M. Pittman, one of the best known citizens of that community.  Young Pittman was a graduate of the Seventh District A and M College of Macland, and had many friends throughout that section of the county.

 

52 Weeks Challenge...6 Sons & 6 Daughters=12 Twigs To Family Tree

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Week 12  ~ prompt ~ 12

Marley Brothers

Sons of Elisha S. and Mary J. Marley

Brothers of Great Grandmother Martha J. Marley Carroll

      As with most large families of the late 1800's and early 1900's it was not unusual to have 12 or more children.  Certainly there was no test to reveal the gender of a child before it's birth. 

     Imagine my 2x great grandfather's pleasure at the delivery of  his sons, "Thank you Lord for another namesake son and farm hand.  My 2x great grandmother, on the other hand, was obviously thankful for having a supply of hand-me-down suits and grateful for her five daughters to help with laundry and cooking for her hearty boys.

     I am thankful for this photo of my 2x Great Uncles from my Great Grandmothers Photo Album for the Branch and Twigs it added to my Dad's maternal family tree.

Pittman Sisters

Daughters of William H. and Louisa Walker Pittman

Nieces of Great Grandfather George W. Pittman

     William Howell Pittman was a Veteran of the Civil War serving as a Lieutenant in the Georgia First Regiment Infantry.  He and my Great Grandfather George Washington were Volunteer Soliders in the Confederacy, and after the War the Veteran Brothers headed West.  Both found their way to West Texas.  George Washington settled in Ward County where the Sixth Generation of his decendents reside today.  William Howell settled in Eastland County where he and Louisa raised Six Daughters.

     This 'Branch and Twigs' on my Dad's paternal family tree produced a plethora of research information dating back to Colonial America and the Revolutionary War.  It revealed the incredible journey of my Pittman ancestors' settlement in Georgia after the Revolution through the Civil War and their migration West to Texas and New Mexico.

     These 6 sons and 6 daughters and their descendants have made a Family Tree filled with  more Cousin Twigs and Leaves than I will ever be able to count.

 

Sepia Saturday 461...Let's Dance

     Back in the day...1965...we contorted our bodies to do all kinds of arm flaying, leg bending, torso twisting and head bobbing...and called it dancing.
     The Twist!  Now in Texas it was not unfamiliar except it had an 'er' added and instead of putting on Cubby Checker's 45rpm we ran for the cellar. 
     Come On, Baby, Do the Loco-Motion.  My cowboy Dad said that was just Loco, and reminded him of a bucking bronco he once had named 'Loco'. 
      Mashed Potato Time !  Seriously, who didn't love mashed potatoes!  They were a stable at our supper table along with a skillet of fried chicken dripping gravy. 
     Moving on...literally...I can't repeat what my Dad said about the Watusi, the Monkey and the Jerk.  All of which I learned and practiced with American Bandstand streaming through our Rabbit Ears antenna and black and white Motorola.  So Groovy...The Dance Styles of the 1960's...take a look on You Tube.

And at these photos from my 1965 Senior Prom 

I know...right...everyone dancing the Monkey

....except my Typing teacher and her husband the Principal.

So Old School Rockers.

It's 'The Senior Prom'!

Tradition dictates the basketball court be draped in crepe paper with a tinsel spinning chandelier.

Tradition again....Prom Pictures in the living room. 

That all important Prom Dress dated not only by the ruffled styled skirt

 but by the Lamp Shade of the day.

Some of us bucked the traditional ruffles, miles of netting and layers of sateen for red velvet classic Audrey Hepurn formal with white elbow length gloves.  Wasn't my date handsome in his match to my red with bowtie, cumberband and boutonniere?  Such great memories and ones we got to relive at our 50th Class Reunion.

  A few changes in 50 years.  Me with less hair and him with more, and both of us with specs.

BTW...he was my date for one memory filled night and friend for life.

My dance partner for life? The first guy in the living room photo!

Here we are...dancing the Cowboy 2 Step...at our granddaughters wedding.

A little later in the evening we danced the 'Funky Chicken'.

Thankfully...no pictures!
Linked to Sepia Saturday 461...Dance on Over!!!
PS...The Hitchhiker was a dance my Dad had the biggest rant about.
 He said, "Sue, DO NOT EVER pick up a Hitchhiker!"

52 Ancestors Challenge...Week 11...Zipity-Do-Da Zilpha's Tribe

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Week 11  ~ prompt ~ Large Family

      Like most Colonial American families, my 5x great grandparents had what we call today a 'bunch of kids' who in turn had 'bunches of kids'.  In the process of researching and analyzing the lifestyle of these early ancestors, I've come to a few ideas why kids were 'cheaper by the dozen or more'.
     First, more workers for both farm and home.  Boys to plow and harvest and girls to spin, sew, bake, babysit and everything else.  Secondly...what else was there to do when it was dark-thirty, candles were conserved, lamps were blown out and kids were put to bed when the sun went down. Lastly, there was the tradition of naming children after paternal's and maternal's times two, favorite relatives and famous people.  
     Of their twelve children, daughter number seven appears to be the only child given a really uncommon name.  Their other children  had relatively simple and traditional names like Martha, Grace, Timothy, and Lucy...so how and why Zilpha?
     As I looked down the list, I noticed several of their children had names found in the Bible like John, Sarah, and Mary.  I had never heard of a Zilpha in the Bible, but I gave it a 'Google' and BINGO...EUREKA...ZILPHA!!!
      Zilpha was the handmaid of Leah and the concubine of Jacob.  Her sons Gad and Asher were the founders of two of the twelve tribes of Israel.  It is Hebrew in origin and means dropping or sprinkling.
     Now I know that John and Mary were not of Hebrew descent, and perhaps they could not come up with another girls name so to the Bible they went.  We've all done it, ya know....the closed eyes and stab a finger to a verse and the first name that pops up is the one.  Can you imagine their hesitation?  I'm sure I would have said, "Once more...for heavens sake".

      Zilpha was born January 16, 1762 in Amelia, Virginia.  She was a young girl during the American Revolution.  Her father and brothers were soldiers and Virginia Patriots.  Zilpha was with her mother when the Tories raided their home and threw Mary Polly off the porch leaving her with a broken hip and a cripple for the rest of her life.
      Zilpha's first marriage was to Blanton Nobles from Edgefield County, South Carolina, with one child, a son, Theodore, born to the marriage.  She is named as Zilpha Nobles in her father John's will written and sealed on April 19, 1782 which casts some doubt on the date of her second marriage to Simon Peacock and puts into perspective the following account of Blanton Nobles.
      In 1780, Blanton Nobles, age 18, was listed in the service of Loyalist Colonel John Fisher's Regiment, Orangeburgh Militia, under the command of Captain Joseph Nobles Company.  Captain Nobles was killed in action that same year leaving his son Joshua and nephew (?) Blanton without their leader.  The following year in September 1781, Blanton and Joshua defected from the Loyalists Ninety-Six Brigade/Stevensen's Creek Militia of South Carolina over to the rebels also known as the Sons of Liberty, of which Zilpha's father John and brothers Buckner, John, James and Phillip were active members.
      After the birth of their son Theodore, Blanton disappeared...according to Nobles Family History documentation.  It is thought that he re-invented himself as Beland Nobles and started a new life in Orangeburgh, South Carolina.  Dates are not included here as they are highly speculative and in direct conflict with dates from the Pittman Family history that are historically documented and correct. 
     In summary, it is probable that Zilpha and Blanton were married sometime in 1781 after his defection from from the Loyalist.  The birth and subsequent history of their son Theodore is not documented in Zilpha's  history...unless...he became Barnabas T. Peacock born in 1782.
      Zilpha and Simon Peacock had 10 sons and 4 daughters.  The last child, son Washington born in 1801 would have been just two years old when his mother died at the age of 41.  Simon lived until 1831 and died in Wayne County, North Carolina at the age of  78.  He and Zilpha Pittman Peacock are the Patriarch/Matriarch's of a long and well documented line of Peacock descendants in North and South Carolina. 
     When Zilpha married in 1782 at twenty years of age, I imagine she had thoughts of at least getting a new last name with a different letter of the alphabet other than 'P'.  But, no....it was not to be...she  married Simon Peacock.  Her initials remained the same...ZIP.

     As it turned out Zilpha's parents were prophetic in the naming of their seventh daughter.

Like her namesake, whose sons became the founders of Two Tribes of Israel,

 Zilpha's sons became the founders of Ten Tribes of Peacocks.

Of Zilpha's and Simon's fourteen children two of them

 had names that started with Z...Zadock and Zilpha.
Bible Naming history repeated!!!    

Bless their Zipity-Do-Da Hearts! 

52 Ancestors Challenge...Week 10...Assumed Bachelor Uncle

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Week 10  ~ prompt ~ Bachelor Uncle

The Missing Life of Jeptha

Born in 1787. Died in 1864. That is all. There's not one record of anything inbetween for John and Lucy's fourth son, brother of Ichabod, Marshall and John.  Not a scrap of information that he was even on the roll of the early census when the count was determined by the number of  Free White Males living in a household.

At the time of his death at age 77, Jeptha surely would have been buried near someone in his family even if he had never married or fathered any children.  He was one of nine children....five younger than he, and with many nieces and nephews who as family tradition dictated took care of old uncles.

Gone But Not Forgotten for old Jeptha, did not seem to be written on any tombstone, either.  Instead it seems he was 'Gone and Forgotten' for his name does not appear in any of the cemeteries that were the final resting places of his family.  There are several that bare his family name and Mount Carmel Methodist Church Cemetery where his parents are buried on land donated by his brother Daniel for the church and cemetery.

So for Jeptha, we will have to be satisfied knowing that his early years were lived much like his brothers, and he grew up with the same values and good intentions for living a Christian life with the idea that he too would marry, have children and grandchildren and be buried in a family plot.  Most likely all of that did happen for Jeptha.  However, there is always the possibility that a completely unforeseen turn of events sent him down a different path...at least at the end of his life.  It was, afterall, during the Civil War.

The one bit of information that hints at the possibility of his death being related somehow to the Civil War is the place of his death....Whitfield County, Georgia.  Whitfield was a hotbed of  skirmishes  in 1864 from January through October, and Whitfield organized almost 20 outfits of Infantry, Volunteer and Guard Units.  Even at age 77 Jeptha could have been in one of the Home Guard Units or a Volunteer fighter at the Battle of Buzzards Roost or the Battle of Nickajack Gap.  Perhaps one day, another scrap of information will be found, and the missing life of Jeptha will be found.  Until then...

Rest In Peace, Uncle Jeptha in your virtual cemetery beside your parents at Mount Carmel.

You may be Gone but You are Not Forgotten in Tracks of My Georgia Ancestors...for as I continue to say....

"Every person in your Family Tree is 'Significant In Time' for there is no such thing as a life not meant for the person living it."

Your 4th Great niece from Texas

52 Ancestors Challenge...Week 9...Life and Death At The Courthouse

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Week 9  ~ prompt ~ At The Courthouse

Mordecai Monroe Pittman

 Jackson County Attorney and County Court Judge 1875-1877.

Jackson County Courthouse - Jefferson, Georgia

     A two-story brick building built in 1879.  It was one of the first post-Civil War county courthouses built in Georgia.  It's courtroom has a Cathedral quilt pressed metal coved ceiling and the building is unusual for surviving with little-alteration since it's construction. (photo public domain Wikipedia)

There have been a good many of my Georgia ancestors who spent time 'At The Courthouse'.  Courthouse records have revealed a few standing in front of a judge for sentencing.  Others for filing on property disputes, will and estate petitions, and various Civil Court issues.       Several have been lawyers with political aspirations through the higher courts of Georgia.  For example my 1st Cousin 4x removed the Honorable Daniel Pittman who wrote a scathing article in the Macon Weekly Telegraph concerning the Congressional Resumption Act of 1875.  His Honor, from the Courthouse Bench' ruled on the case of the Fulton County Greenback Party vs the Congressional Resumption Act.  Read more:  Ordinary Court Judge's Greenback Judgement.

     Judge Mordecia Pittman, 2nd Cousin 4x removed, and I share a Great Grandfather who was a distinguished and memorialized Revolutionary War Sons of Liberty Solider.
     Lieutenant Mordecia Pittman enlisted in the Confederacy in May 1862 and served in CoE 34th Infantry Regiment of Georgia.  Ten years after the end of the Civil War in 1865 he served as Jackson County Attorney and County Court Judge from 1875-1877.
     With so much of his life spent 'At the Courthouse', it seemed his death was destined to become an 'At the Courthouse' ending as his Obituary revealed.
     Excerpt from the Jackson Herald, March 8, 1896 (Jackson County Historical Society News, Vol.14,No.2, Jan.2007)
Judge M.M. Pitman Dead - Little did we think when we wrote an article in our last issue giving an account of the accident that befell Judge Pittman, that we would be called on to record his death this week.  Honest, sincere, plain spoken, Judge Pittman ha gone to that country from whose bourne no traveler ever returned.  His eyes were closed in death on last Sunday about noon.  He was surrounded by family and friends as the death angel came to that home and bore the spirit of Judge Pittman into realms of eternity.
     Judge Mordecai Monroe Pittman was born October 13, 1828, at Cabin Creek, Jackson county.  He joined the M.E. Church at Jefferson, and at the time of his death was the oldest member.  He united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Boggs February 6th, 1858. To them were born thirteen children, twelve lived to grown, eleven still survive.  
     He was admitted to the bar in 1858. He was Judge of the County Court in 1875.  He had been in declining health for years, and the accident hastened his death.
     Age 67 years, 6 months, 20 days.  Judge Pittman was buried in Woodbine Cemetery.  The funeral obsequies were conducted at the Methodist Church. 
    (Mention made of dignitaries speaking on the life and character of the Judge, and one of the largest crowds ever seen at a funeral in Jefferson, Georgia.  Only surviving child named was son Marcus M. of Cleburne, Texas, who was telegraphed for, and was at his father's bedside when he died.)
     Judge Mordecai M. Pittman was fatally injured when returning from court, February 1896.  His horse was frightened by an umbrella falling from his buggy and he was thrown from the buggy.

52 Ancestors Challenge...Week 8...Three Generations of Family Photos

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Week 8  ~ prompt ~ Family Photo

    
My 3x great grandfather J.M. Leatherwood.  Pictured here with six of his seven adult children. 
     The seventh not pictured was my 2x great grandmother M.J. Leatherwood Marley (family photo below)
     J.M. Leatherwood was a veteran of the Civil War attached to CSA Elmore's 20th Regiment, Texas Infantry.
      He was born in 1833 in Spartanburg, South Carolina and died at age 80 in  Jack County, Texas.
     Known as one of the early Pioneers in that County, his descendants continue to live and farm his original homestead.
     HERE is a post of his early settlement days in Jacksboro, Jack County, Texas.
      My 2x great grandparents and 8 of their 9 children.  Not pictured my great grandmother Martha Jane Marley Carroll (family photo below).  Mary Josephine was born in 1856 in Benton, Alabama and died at age 68 in O'Donnel, Texas.  Elisha S. was born in 1849 in Wilksboro, North Carolina.  He ran away from home at a young age...his whereabouts unknown to his North Carolina family until 1914 when he corresponded with his sister...HERE is that story.
     Elisha and Josephine's children pictured in the portrait have all been profiled and their stories told as a result of their sister's, my great grandmother, Martha Jane's Photo Album...HERE is the Album.  The Marley Family Bible is a treasured heirloom and is in the possession of a Marley great grandson....HERE is the Bible post.

My great grandparents and three of their four children in 1900.  Their fourth child, Mary Ella was born in 1902.  My grandmother Stella, oddly enough, is not one of the children in dresses, but the baby in her mother's lap.  Great Uncles Othello Elisha and Mert Douglas are boys standing beside their father Stephen Bennett Carroll.  This Family Portrait was and continues to be the most important and significant photo in researching and establishing my father's maternal family tree.
     Great Grandfather S.B. Carroll died in 1903 leaving his wife to raise four young children.  At the time of his death they lived in Jacksboro, Jack County, Texas, near her grandfather Leatherwood and parents Elisha and Josephine Marley.  Shortly thereafter, Martha Jane and her children followed the Marley's to Borden County, Texas, where they established a cotton farm.
      Once again, Martha Jane's Photo Album led the way to finding S.B. Carroll's family in Tennessee with one photo in which she had written a name.  That story HERE.

 Sadly, that is the last of Studio Family Portraits.  Fortunately, there are a few Kodak snapshots like this 'Four Generations' photo of my great grandmother Martha Jane, my grandmother Stella, my Dad, myself and two sisters.  It is the last photo I have of Martha Jane. 
     If not for her and 'The Album', our Family Tree would be bare of my Dad's Maternal Branches and Generations of Family Photos.

52 Ancestors Challenge...Week 7...Love At First Sight

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Week 7 ~ prompt ~ Love

     The Club Cafe's booths were finally empty. The customers were all back on the bus and on their way to the next bus stop in El Paso, Texas. The travelers left the Club Cafe in Fort Stockton tables full of burger baskets and coke glasses. Every salt, pepper and sugar shaker was empty, and the silver napkin holders needed refilling.
     Two waitress' stood with hands on hips, wishing they could take a break before the next bus pulled in and unloaded it's hungry travelers.
     Thel and Phyl were Iowa farm girls and had come to Texas to visit Phyl's sister. Best Friends and gals lookin for adventure in Texas, they took the waitress jobs so they could afford to stay in Texas and make enough money for bus tickets back to Iowa.
     So, with no time for a break, they quickly stacked baskets, loaded glasses in the dirty dish cart, filled the shakers, poured sugar, and stuffed napkins. The Cafe was back in order and ready for the next bus load of travelers.
     "Look, Phyl, sailors." Thelma pointed out the window where the uniformed guys had just gotten off the bus and were picking up their duffle bags. "I'll take that one," Thel nodded toward the tall, dark and handsome one who wore his Sailor hat set back and slightly sideways. "Okay, I'll take the other one," Phyl said as she filled the water glasses.
     Sailor Willard, on his way home on leave to Grandfalls, Texas walked into the Club Cafe, looked into the blue eyes of the waitress waiting to take his order, and fell in 'Love at First Sight'. Her name was Thelma, and she was beautiful with those blue eyes, long dark hair, pretty smile and Iowa accent.

     So, Willard and Thelma met, married, had five children, lived in lots of places, and loved each other for forty-two years. Their children had parents who loved and cared for them, who taught them lessons of life by example, and who left a part of themselves to carry on to future generations. 

Wedding Announcement from Thelma's Iowa hometown newspaper...
Thelma Klemish Weds Texas Man
January 6, 1947
Yuma, Arizona
The couple is now residing at San Diego, California where Willard is stationed with the US Navy.

Happy Birthday in Heaven, Mother.

52 Ancestors Challenge...Week 6...Heart~Breaking Down Brick Walls

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Week 6 ~ prompt ~ Surprise

 When one is raised knowing  aunts, uncles, cousins and in my case one grandparent, the sudden influx of a family history can not only be a surprise, but also shocking and heartbreaking.   That is how it was with my Great Grandmother Martha Jane.

     In 52 Ancestors Week 4 she was the person 'I'd Like To Meet'.  After inheriting her 1890's Photo Album and discovering my Dad's maternal family history, there were so many surprises I could...and have...written scores of posts. 

      Still, through all the research, all the photo identifications and stories about each and every person I could make connections to...Martha Jane's life after the release of the 1940 Census was a mystery. 

     Nothing, not a clue as to her whereabouts or when she died.  Not knowing when she died and where she was buried was more than a brick wall...it was heartbreaking.

     I so wanted for her to Rest In Peace along with her ancestors, her Marley parents and siblings, her sons and daughters and their loved ones.  After all, if not for the love, care and savings she put into the Album, I could not have shared our amazing family history with her descendants for generations to come.

      The mystery began to unravel and a few bricks began to crumble with the discovery of the old couple in the picture on the left.  Found in my Mother's Shoebox Album and marked on the back, "Willard's grandmother and old man 1953'.  The story was they had been living together for many years and it was assumed they never married as she never changed her name or used his last name on any legal papers or personal identification.
      Imagine not only my surprise, but also my distress in learning that I had spent countless hours...even years...searching for a great grandmother who did marry the old man and whose last name was used on her application to a sanitarium and subsequently on her death certificate issued by the sanitarium.
      Finally, I could identify the couples photo on the right that was found tucked under another photo in the back of Martha Jane's Old Photo Album.  Her wedding photo from 1942.  Date confirmed and documented from ancestry.com once I knew her last married name.

This was the last photo of Martha Jane and her daughters, my Great Aunt and Grandmother.  Several months after, her daughters committed her to a State Sanitarium Hospital.
     It was a matter of putting two and two together, gleaning land holding records, and the sanitarium death certificate records.  It all added up to the unfortunate and saddest tearing down of a brick wall encountered in all of my family history research.
      The circumstances of her being committed are understandable as the daughters could not care for their mother who was diagnosed with senile psychosis...known today as alzheimers.
      As it turned out, the 'Old Man' and Martha Jane had been taking care of each other for several years with both of their mental health declining.
     The 'Old Man' died a year or so after he and Martha Jane were separated.  He died in the Texas Home for Confederate Men.
     Martha Jane lived 8 years in the State Hospital.  She died of heart and renal failure at age 86 as stated on the death certificate along with the contributing condition of senile psychosis.

She was buried at the State Hospitals cemetery along side her sister. 

Yes, another Heart~Breaking Down Brick Walls.

52 Ancestors Challenge...Week 5...Microfiching At The Library

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Week 5 ~ prompt ~ At The Library

     Many hours were spent 'At The Library' researching our Family Tree.  Notes were written on backs of junk mail, notebook paper, envelopes and slips of paper.  Letters were written revealing bits and pieces of information found 'At The Library'. 

     All by my Aunt Irene.  

     Her hours of note taking in libraries and the inquiries from Genealogical Societies from Georgia to Texas have given me an abundance of information on which to build our Family Tree in the Technologically Advanced Genealogy Community of the Twenty-First Century.

     So, after many hours of  21st Century Technology and Online research, I was back to Irene's 20th Century research center...'At The Library'...looking for a step-great grandmother revealed through online Civil War research, and a death certificate.  Irene's research gave no clues that her widowed grandfather had a second wife much less how their union led to a generation of double grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. 

Look who I found Microfiching 'At The Library'. 

FORT STOCKTON PIONEER August 23, 1918
DIED
Mrs. G.W. Pittman, of Grandfalls, who only recently had come here for medical treatment, died very suddenly from organic heart trouble, at the Riggs Hotel, Saturday evening August 16th.

The remains were prepared for burial by Undertaker W.H. Bird, after which they were taken to Grandfalls, Sunday afternoon and interred in the cemetery at that place. 

The funeral services were conducted by Reverand M.O. Williams, pastor of the Methodist Church, of which church the deceased was a devoted member.
A husband and two children, who reside in Grandfalls, are left to mourn her loss.

Obituary for Mrs. George Washington Pittman...Nancy Anne Carey Forkner Pittman.  Born...April 23, 1854 in Monroe County Tennessee to John E. Carey and Ellen M. McAllister.   Died...August 16th, 1918 at the age of 64 in Fort Stockton, Pecos County, Texas.  Survived by husband George Washington Pittman and two children....who turned out to be granddaughters. This I knew from the 1910 Census that listed Maime 4 years and Tillie 1 year, and who at the time of Nancy's death would have been 12 and 9 years of age.  Who and where was the Mother of these two granddaughters?   Why weren't Nancy's SIX children she reported as having given birth to in the 1900 Census, listed as surviving her or preceeding her in death?   Questions for another 52 Ancestors Week.

        For now, the 'At The Library' Obituary Revelations!!

     The Riggs Hotel where Nancy died had a special place in my life, too.  As a former member of the Fort Stockton Historical Society and Board Member of the Annie Riggs Museum, I spent many hours there.  What a special moment it was for me when I read that my Great Grandfather and Step-Great Grandmother had stayed there exactly 95 years ago to the day that I Microfiched the Obituary!  I could hardly wait to get back to Fort Stockton and the Annie Riggs Museum to find their Signatures in the August 1918 Registry.

The remains were prepared for burial by Undertaker W.H. Bird, after which they were taken to

Grandfalls, Sunday afternoon and interred in the cemetery at that place. 

That place being the Tamarisk Cemetery.  Another Special Moment to realize that another of my Pittman Texas Ancestors can now be officially laid to rest with other Family Members including George Washington Pittman's Grandsons and Great Grandsons.

Rest in Heavenly Peace

Nancy Anne Carey Forkner Pittman

April 23, 1854 - August 16, 1918

You are fondly remembered in the Pittman Family Tree and History

as documented in Tracks of My Texas Ancestors.

52 Ancestors Challenge...Week 4...All Children Brown Eyed

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Week 3 ~ prompt ~ I'd Like To Meet

I'd Like To Meet my Great Grandmother Martha Jane Marley Carroll....Again!

     We met for the first and last time when I was 10 years old.  At that time I barely knew who I was, much less who she was or who her daughter was.  The only three people I knew for sure were my Dad and two sisters.
     Here we posed for a '4 Generations' family photo of my Dad's maternal side of the family.  And, like the photo, all knowledge of my Great Grandmother, Grandmother and their family histories were forgotten. 
     The picture went to a 'Shoebox Album' and the maternal grandmothers were never a topic of conversation with my Dad.  He was raised by his Father and had only siblings as a connection to his mother.
      Connections to Dad's paternal family history was limited to my grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins.  It seemed our Family Tree was a sapling with only two branches.

Imagine my utter astonishment as the recipient and keeper of Great Grandmother Martha Jane Marley Carroll's Photo Album.  If my Dad had any knowledge of his maternal family history he never spoke of it, and ironically, by the time it came to me, I could no longer share it with him or ask questions.  And boy howdy, did I have questions.

     As shown in the photo above, The Album made it's way to me, as it turns out, through both his maternal and paternal family lines.  It's complicated!
     It seems the two families merged with the marriage of Carroll daughters to Pittman brothers.  Making a whole bunch of Double Cousins and a Family Tree that resembles a twisted Texas Mesquite tree. One whose roots run back to The American Revolution and The Civil War to spread it's branches from Georgia, through Tennessee and through out Texas.
     With 'The Album' I earned my Genealogist, Family Historian, Photo Detective, and Sherlock-Sue degree. 
     Not a single photo, newspaper clipping, scrap of paper in The Album had an inkling of identification. 
     The Album itself was deteriorating, but most of the pictures from the late 1890's through the early 1900's were in good condition. 
     Only one gave a hint as to whom The Album belonged.  Only one hinted as to where these people came from.  Only one would begin an amazing journey through my Dad's maternal and paternal history.

A few photos still unidentified, a few questions unanswered, but one thing I now know...

...from whom my Sister inherited her brown eyes!

52 Ancestors Challenge...Week 3...John, Jane and Othello

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Week 3 ~ prompt ~ Unusual Names

Dear John, John, John, John, John,+ Ten More.
Dear Jane, Jane, Jane, Jane, Jane, + Fifteen More.

      Not an unusual name, I know, but it seemed my Dad's Family Tree branches were full of nests that hatched boys named John and girls named Jane.
      Since the First John Pittman born in America in 1726, John, obviously, was held in high esteem and followed the tradition in the naming of 'First Born Sons' who are destined to be called Junior.
      From Colonial John through Civil War John, the Pittman John's led the nation as the Number One Given Guys Name.  This trend continued through the 1920's.  During these Trend Setting years, William ran a close second in the US and in our 'Tree' with Eleven Williams. 
     True to Trend, James, George, Robert, Charles, Joseph, Frank, Henry and Thomas were 'Tree Toppers' as well as 'Chart Toppers ' across the nation.

 Also, not an unusual girls name, never mind that Jane as a Given  Name, only made Number Twenty-Two on the All Time Popularity List.
     Jane The First, Jane Calvert Leatherwood 1746-1764, believed in the 'Family Namesake' tradition.   Her son's were John, William, James, George, and Thomas.  She named two of her daughters after herself or possibly her mother...one was Jane and the other Janey.
  Jane The First in 'Our Tree' was the Direct Ancestor and 4XGreat Grandmother of her namesake Martha Jane Marley Carroll, my Great Grandmother.  Who so broke with naming traditions, that all the ancestor John's and Jane's were likely rolling in their graves.

     So begins the 'Unusual Names' in my Family Trees with Martha Jane's first born son Othello Elisha.  Now Elisha was her father's first name...that was easy to trace, but Othello...not a single one to be found.  

     Her second son Merrett Douglas, though not an unusual name, was the only son declared by a Census Taker as Male.  Othello's name was entered as Othella and declared to be a Female.  An honest mistake I'm sure...especially since both boys were wearing dresses. 
No doubting their gender in later years...Othello (sitting) and brother 'Mert', my Great Uncles, are likely rolling in their graves to this day over the only photo taken with their father in 1901...and them in dresses.  Their father died in 1903.

As to the name Othello.

I seriously doubt my Great Grandmother Janey was a reader of Shakespeare,

and I know for sure he is not an ancestor...

unless he fell far from the nest.

52 Ancestors Challenge...Week 2...Challenged Grandfather

Back to Family Trees in 2019 with '52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks' Challenge.

Week 2 prompt ~ Challenge

C.C. Pittman in 1944 at age 68

      Born in 1875, the third child of a father who returned home to Georgia at the end of the Civil War in 1865. The word 'Challenge' should have been one of the 'C's' in his name.  Had it been, it would have been a foresight to the challenges he would face in his future.
      Given names in that era were most often passed down from a parent, a family member or in grandfather's case, a historical figure or a place.  Columbus Chappell was named for both. 
      Columbus for Columbus County, Georgia, which was named in honor of Christopher Columbus.  Columbus County was significant to his name in that he was the 3x great grandson of a Revolutionary War soldier pioneer and settler of Columbus County located on the Chattahoochee River.  A Ferry on the Chattahoochee was established and named after his ancestor grandfather.
     Through out his life he was known as C.C. Pittman or Chapo.  Perhaps his historical named father, George Washington Pittman, who new the challenges of being named for a well known historical figure, gave him his nickname of Chapo.  However, the name Columbus may have been a foresight into the challenges he would face in the expeditions he would make from Georgia to Texas.




G.W. Pittman in late 1890's

     One of the greatest challenges after migrating to Texas was establishing a life in desolate West Texas.  Chapo traveled there in a covered wagon and joined his father as a dirt farmer.  Having lost all land holdings in Georgia to Reconstruction Taxation and the death of their mother prompted the long and arduous journey to Texas.  G.W. arrived in Ward County, Texas in 1898 at age 55.  His son Chapo followed several years later at age 34 and single.
      The challenges of making a life for oneself as a dirt farmer and being 41 years old in a town where there were few single women, was in itself a challenge.  However, in 1916 Chapo wed 16 year old Estella Carroll in 1916.
     Estella 'Stella' was the daughter of a pioneer widow woman who also arrived in Ward County in a covered wagon with her four children to establish a Homestead.
     Oddly enough, the widow woman herself was two years younger than her son-in-law Chapo. 
     In those days, it was not unheard of for younger women to marry older men especially in areas where there were few single women.


Willard C. Pittman at age 7

      Chapo and Estella had six children between 1917 and 1927.  My Dad was the youngest, and when he was 7 years old his parents divorced.   Perhaps it was the age difference along with the hard living conditions, but for whatever reason she left her 6 children for Chapo to raise.
     Then began perhaps the most significant challenge of Chapo's life...ensuring there would be a next generation.  My father's older sibling sisters helped raise him until they left home to marry.  One older brother joined the Army, leaving Dad and his two years older brother for Chapo to raise.
     Now well into his 60's and more the age of a grandfather than a father, the two boys pretty much raised themselves and became a challenge not only to their aging father, but to their teachers and friends who took to the two boys.
     As soon as he was of age the older brother known as MD joined the Army.  A few years later at age 17, my Dad, Willard, joined the Navy.  Chapo's last child challenge had come to an end.  But his life challenges were not over...they came in the form of grandchildren.  One in particular became his most loved challenge...his grandson, T.W.

Chapo holding grandson T.W. and son Willard C. in 1951

Thank-you Columbus Chappell for taking on the 'Challenges' in your life.

If not for you I would not be me, and one who loves a 'Challenge'.

52 Ancestors Challenge...Week 1...I Was FIRST

Back to Family Trees in 2019 with '52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks' Challenge.

Week 1 Prompt ~ FIRST

Although this Challenge is titled Ancestors, it is suggested that I too will someday be an ancestor.  With that in mind, I will add myself to Tracks of My Texas Ancestors, and when the 'Prompt' fits...as does this weeks FIRST...I will write about myself.  Who knows, maybe someday a descendant or descendant relative will 'Google' me.

There are advantages to being First Born. 

First and foremost...You are Forever your Siblings Boss. 

It is written...somewhere...that as the First Born, you are 'The Boss'.  My Siblings know and understand this Decree of Birth Order!

So, from day one of each of my siblings birth until this day and all days to come it is understood that I was FIRST.

I would have been a very good Only Child.
However, One Year, Two months and Six days after My Birth, Number Two was born.  I got a Brother!

 

Because of him I became a 'Sister' on March 6, 1948. There was plenty of room in the Buggy for us both, but I'm sure I did not Share The Bear.   

Right from the get go, I didn't much like him.

Because of him, MY milk source changed.

Because of him, I became a 'Bottle Snatcher'.

Because of him, I got a Potty Chair and Big Girl Panty's.

Because of him, I did not have MY Mama's undivided attention

...until...

 I learned to say 'Potty and Poop'. 

 

 Because of him, I have always had a 'Protector' and a 'Hero'!