52 Ancestors 2021: Week 42: Sports

For the topic of sports - I don't really have any direct ancestors I can talk in-depth about because none of them were interested in sports. My maternal Grandmother was interested in basketball in school (although I don't believe she was on a team), and she also bowled on a league with the county bus drivers in her later years. 

The person I have to talk about when I hear the word "sports," is my late Uncle Jay, my Mom's only sibling. Jay passed away on July 5th, 2014, at just 49 years young. He was born on January 11th, 1965 and was younger than my Mom by two years and three days. 

(This is a picture of a picture, I enhanced it/cleared it up using Remini. It did a really nice job in my opinion.) 

Jay was a sports aficionado. He could tell you just about every player on just about every team in just about every league. Jay particularly enjoyed football, baseball, and basketball. I'm not sure that he dabbled in much other sports like hockey or soccer, but, I wouldn't put it past him watching them. 

Growing up, Jay and my Dad both played peewee league football and Jay played baseball all throughout school. Matter of fact, he was so good, he probably could have gotten a college scholarship to play baseball had he wanted it bad enough. Instead, he decided to go into the Air Force -- a big influence of that was his grades (he certainly wasn't an honors student) and because he had quite an attitude... he thought the Air Force would fix it and make him a better man. Maybe in a way it did... but in another way, it ruined his life. 

I think baseball was Jay's favorite sport to play. He was a natural, honestly. Mom tells me back in elementary school, they had a hard time trying to get Uncle Jay to read. He just wasn't interested in reading Goosebumps or Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys. When the teachers realized he had a knack for sports, they would let him read sports magazines or biographies on ball players. That tickled his fancy way more than anything else did. 

Jay was your typical young boy in my opinion - he loved sports, he loved his family, he loved his friends, and having fun. Growing up, my Dad and he were best friends... long, long before I was ever even thought of, of course. I think it shocked them that they ended up brother-in-laws later on down the road. 

Even on his darkest days, Jay hardly ever went without a smile. If he was feeling down - he could crack open a beer and watch a ballgame, and everything was right with the world again. Part of that was his downfall, though. The Air Force had molded him into an alcoholic, like it does many young men.. When he came home from overseas - he became a Sheriff's Deputy and trained the K9 dogs. Jay was magnificent with dogs... any animal really, but especially with dogs. That was his calling, aside from sports, in life. 

A part of me likes to sit here and wonder what Jay's life could have turned out like if he'd have pursued sports instead of going into the Air Force. What if he had graduated with great grades and got a scholarship for baseball? Football? Basketball? What university would he have went to? Maybe he'd have went to Florida and played Gator baseball; or maybe Tennessee and been a Volunteer! I could see him now going on to play for the New York Yankees or maybe the Chicago Cubs, or even the St. Louis Cardinals!

Sometimes thinking about things like this... it breaks my heart that life didn't pan out that way for Uncle Jay. But then I stop and think that... maybe if he'd have been a professional ballplayer, he wouldn't have ever gotten married (twice) and had three children. Maybe my cousins wouldn't exist. Maybe I wouldn't have ever met Uncle Jay except on Christmas when he'd "finally break away from work" and "get to come home for a holiday dinner." 

I also stop and think of how many times Jay escaped death in the Air Force, being stationed in South Dakota and the Philippines. I think of how many close calls he had as a Sheriff's Deputy and how he put his life on the line every single time he clocked into work. 

So maybe life wouldn't have been much different, or maybe life would have been extremely different.. I don't know. I'm thankful Jay had 49 years on this Earth, but I sure wish he could have had 49 more. I miss talking football with my Uncle. He's the only person who never made fun of me for being a Miami Dolphins football fan. He'd always say -- "just tell them, 'my team is the only team to go undefeated to the Super bowl and WIN' if they make fun of you." 

I realize this blog has maybe deviated a bit from the sports topic, and I really can't help that. I hope this blog gave you a bit of insight on my Uncle Jay though and his passion for sports... because man, was he passionate. I know he has a front row seat now to every ball game he wants to watch... but I sure wish he was still on our couch watching a game or two with us. 

52 Ancestors 2021: Week 41: Changes

When I think about living through a lot changes - I think about my Great-Grandmother, Anna Elizabeth (Thompson) Sandefur. Nana was born out in the Smith Mills area of Henderson County on August 18th, 1916, and she passed away in Henderson on October 2nd, 2001. She lived a lot of life in those 85 years, let me tell you. 

When Nana was young, she went to school on a wagon led by horses. In the 1920's, my Great-Great-Grandfather, John R. Thompson bought a Model T and I have no doubt that my Nana was amazed at the vehicle. These were the days of no indoor plumbing -- Nana grew up with an outhouse. 

In the late 1940's, Nana had one of the first types of microwaves invented -- Radarange. Imagine going from cooking a TV dinner for an hour and a half in the oven to just a few minutes in a microwave. Well, even in the first microwaves, it probably still took several minutes but less time than the conventional oven. 

Nana lived through the first black and white televisions in the 1930's. She lived through the first color televisions in the 1950's. Nana saw the popularity of the telephone - to the point every house had a corded phone. She lived through party lines, where you'd share the line with six, eight, or ten people. She even eventually saw cordless phones in the 1990's. She also would have seen the invention of the 'car phone' or a 'bag phone' or a 'to go phone.' A predecessor to today's cell phone. 

Nana went from the days of automobiles being scarce to owning an Oldsmobile and driving a school bus for a living. She went from the days where women wore dresses and nothing else to finally owning a pantsuit in the 1980's. 

Nana went from the days that no woman had piercings to seeing women pierce their ears - even getting hers pierced. She went from the days where a woman's place was in the kitchen, that the wife had no job above the satisfaction of her husband and the care of her children.... to women becoming the primary breadwinners in the household. 

My Nana undoubtedly saw the changes in Henderson. She was born during the time of our original L&N train bridge which was in use between 1885-1931. She saw the building of the brand new L&N bridge which was finished May 1931. The old one demolished in 1933. 

My Great-Grandmother would have seen the expansion of roads. She saw the building of the original bridge going to Evansville in 1932. She saw the new bridge, now dubbed the southbound bridge, built in 1965. My Nana saw the days of everyone taking a train or ferry to Evansville slowly come to an end and the motor car became ever more popular. She saw the expansion of some roads going from dirt paths to paved asphalt, from two lanes, to four lanes or more. Nana would have seen the difference between cars being strictly manual transmission to the invention of an automatic. 

Nana would have seen the coming of fast food restaurants like McDonald's, Burger King, Hardee's and more. She would have witnessed some amazing price increases. Milk being roughly 36 cents a gallon in 1916, 48 cents in 1936, 97 cents in 1956, $1.68 in 1976, $2.62 in 1996.. I could go on and on. A gallon of gas in 1916 was 21 cents, down to 19 cents in 1936, up to 29 cents in 1956, 59 cents in 1976, and $1.23 in 1996. 

Nana would have lived through times of "going to town" was a treat and you'd only travel "into town" maybe once a week, sometimes every other week, usually on the weekend.. to literally living in town. She got to see the days of every neighborhood being their own town pretty much. Each neighborhood had their own school, their own corner market, their own hair salon, etc. 

My Nana saw the end of segregation in the mid 1950's. When she began driving a school bus, she was driving kids of all colors and nationalities. It was primarily a rural route, farming community kids. Nana saw Roe vs. Wade in 1973. She would remember Hoffa being the major news case in 1975 when he disappeared. She would remember the JonBenét Ramsey case of the 1990's.

Nana lived through America's involvement in WW1 (1917-1918) and our involvement in WW2 (1941-1945). Her husband, Henry Lloyd Sandefur, served in the Navy in WW2. Nana's brother, Jake, served in the Air Force in WW2. The Cold War -- 1947-1989. Nana lived through the Korean War -- 1950-1953. Vietnam -- 1955-1975. Desert Storm or the Gulf War in 1991. 

And even though she had Alzheimer's and probably couldn't have told you anything about what was going on... she was alive on September 11th, 2001, when the Trade Centers went down. 

She definitely saw a lot of change between the year she was born, 1916, and the year she died, 2001. I can only imagine how baffled she would be at some of the inventions between 2001 and 2021. Imagine having a computer the size of your hand and internet everywhere you go. I'm sure Nana would be floored at the prospect of FaceTime. Tiny vehicles would be another big adjustment for her... back in her day, cars were huge. 

I'm sure I could go on and on for several hours more about the things that changed in her life time, and now since her passing... but I'll go ahead and wrap this blog up. If you're able to -- leave a comment and let me know some of the things you've lived to see invented or the changes you've seen in your lifetime. 

52 Ancestors 2021: Week 40: Preservation

It's no secret to anyone that I've been working on my own family tree since the age of seven years old. In the going on twenty-two years since the year 2000 (when I was 7), I've worked tirelessly on my own family history and not just trying to fill out branches but also preserve the branches and priceless information. 

A few years back, I put together a Mefford/Bastin family binder. I had the thought of doing a binder for each of my Grandparents - so Mefford/Bastin, Jones/White, Blanford/Nally, Sandefur/Thompson... but... I have too much information. Even now, about three years after putting the Mefford/Bastin binder together - I've now disproved some of my information (through DNA testing and whatnot) so the job is never finished. My binders will never be 'perfect.' 

I house my tree currently on Ancestry and I pay for a monthly subscription (World Explorer.) I also use Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank.com. It's very rare that I utilize FamilySearch or any other archival website. I do utilize our local library's obituary collection and Browning in Evansville.

Of course, I have my DNA on every website (or just about every website). Ancestry, 23andme, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, GEDMatch, LivingDNA, etc. I've got both of my parents on Ancestry and my Dad's tested at 23andme (still trying to get Mom to spit in her kit I bought, ugh.) 

My paid work has really slowed down the work I do on my own tree. In a way, that breaks my heart... sometimes genealogy starts to feel so much like a job, and not a job that I love and enjoy, that I have to step away and work on my own stuff or else I burn completely out and can't do a lick of genealogy at all. 

I'd say my best way of 'preservation' has been extensively researching each and every small cemetery in Henderson County - of course my most in-depth work has been on the Gibson cemeteries in Corydon, KY. Find-a-Grave has really helped me to preserve that information for generations that will come after me. 

My genealogy blog is another great way to help preserve my family history and my families legacy. I get behind in these writing prompts/challenges but, going at my own pace... it really gives me time to think out exactly what I want to write about for that particular prompt. Sometimes I write about the same thing for a second, or even a third time... but I always go more and more in-depth with new details I've found each time. 

I've been trying to get all of my old photographs digitized onto the laptop or my iPhone. I love playing with my old black and white photographs on Remini or MyHeritage. I've had a lot of success with them, to be honest, and couldn't be happier with the results. I've even started sharing some of my photographs to Instagram and TikTok to build a bit of a 'fanbase' for my genealogy, if you will. 

It is my hope that someday I will have a family history book in our local library talking about all the Henderson families of today and their roots to the original settlers. So many of my friends have roots going back in this county to within ten years of its inception but they have no idea. It always hurts me to know that someone doesn't know where or who they came from. 

52 Ancestors 2021: Week 39: Steps

I think this might be the perfect blog to talk to you all about the steps I go through in helping someone with their DNA and finding their biological family. The example I'm going to use today is for Dixie - my 'Granny.' I know she's very open about the process we've used to find her biological Grandpa and she doesn't mind being the guinea pig for my blog as she's a faithful and loyal reader! :)

When I first started talking with Dixie in 2017, she had a very very good grasp of her family tree but, what she most wanted help with was, what she thought was her biological maternal Grandfather and his line. She'd went down a rabbit hole of them being from Australia (due to information on a marriage license) but come to find out, they really hailed from New York. 

We met in person in either late 2017 or early 2018 I think it was (I feel bad for not remembering the exact date. I think it was early 2018 though) and we actually figured out our families are connected. East end Henderson is a small place and come to find out - her younger half-brother was one of my Dad's best friends growing up. My Dad was very well acquainted with Dixie's Dad, and even more acquainted with her Uncle, who taught my Dad how to play guitar. Talk about a coincidence! 

Anyway - we started spending a lot of time together. I told her all about my DNA results in 2018 and how it had been so fun breaking down brick walls with my DNA, and soon after my Mom had tested and that had helped a lot, too. 

Soon, Dixie filled me in on the wonderings of... 'could my Grandma's seven kids each have different fathers?' Her mother, specifically, was supposed to be the daughter of the circus sword-swallower named John "Lucky" Ball. The marriage date of Lucky and Dixie's Mom, Sarah Pauline, match up to Sarah's birthday almost perfectly. 

In November of 2018, we decided to do both Dixie's DNA and her half-Aunt Charlotte's DNA. We knew they were absolutely half-Aunt/half-Niece because we believed Dixie's Grandpa was Lucky Ball whereas Charlotte's Dad was said to be a man named Jack Spearman. 

When they got their results -- I worked on Charlotte's first. In 2018, she was 81 years old and I knew time was precious. On Ancestry, I could tell she was matching with a bunch of Barnett's and Leonard's. This Barnett/Leonard couple had 3 sons... any of the three could have been the biological father, so I was at a stalemate for a moment. Until I uploaded Charlotte's DNA to My Heritage. 

On My Heritage, we hit a 'half-sibling,' match and that removed all doubt over which Barnett boy was Charlotte's father. William Barnett had three sons... One had already passed away, one wasn't in good health I heard, and the other was excited at the prospect of meeting his half-sister! 

Charlotte was absolutely elated to be welcomed with open arms into the Barnett family and she soaked up all the love they had to give, and she gave plenty in return. Sadly, that half-brother that was so excited to finally have a sister, passed away some months back. My heart was broken for Charlotte, but she told Granny to tell me, "I don't regret her finding him. I'll take this year and a half of knowing him over having never known him at all." It meant a lot to me to hear that. 

Anyway - Granny's DNA results were a bit harder to decipher than Charlotte's. First and foremost, I could absolutely tell Granny wasn't matching with any Ball's from New York. She wasn't matching New York whatsoever. After messing with her DNA, I confirmed her paternal lines, and her maternal Grandmother's lines... so all these "unknown" matches were absolutely on her maternal Grandfather's side, whoever he may be. 

The first clue to solving this mystery was the fact that she was matching Stone's. Stone is a very, very popular last name here in Henderson County and as luck would have it, I managed two other Stone DNA kits -- my best friend Jessica, and my best friend Dadie. Dixie matched both of them. Albeit they're kind of distant matches but still - without a doubt matching through that elusive Stone line. 

So I started marking these 'unknown matches,' and I started writing down how these matches were related to one another, taking Dixie completely out of the equation. Usually if you find the common ancestors between a good 3 to 4 of your matches, it's a pretty good clue that you, too, share that ancestral couple. 

I found several that descended through Samuel Woodard and Lucinda Liggett. Several through John Jenkins and Margaret Sigler. Then I found my ace in the pocket... several were matching through John & Margaret's son, Willis "Bud" Jenkins who married... Malinda Stone. Jackpot. 

One of their sons, George, married an Eliza Woodard -- Jackpot... Or is it? Double cousins! George's brother, Andrew, married Nancy Woodard. Ugh. So which one of these couples does Dixie descend through? Well. No choice but to look at each child of both Jenkins/Woodard marriages under a microscope. 

I started with Andrew and Nancy's children... and their children.. no one was adding up. I wrote down my best "possible" "potential" candidates and moved on to the children of George and Eliza. Going through each one... none were seeming a possibility. Until I came across the last one. 

George Lloyd Jenkins was born May 31st, 1902, in Henderson County, Kentucky. He was the youngest child of George and Eliza. He was about 5 years older than Granny's Grandmother, Aggie Barron. George grew up in none other than Henderson's "East End," which is where Aggie Barron grew up as well. 

Unfortunately, I was afraid George was out of the running when I found that he married Nellie May Kitchens on May 18th, 1925, in Evansville. They had two children: a son, Donald Waller Jenkins, and a daughter who was stillborn in 1934. 

I decided to look into Donald Jenkins, even though I knew he couldn't be the father, being born in 1925. Just wanted to research him to see if maybe he had any children that might be willing to DNA test or something. I researched Donald and quickly realized he had no wife and no children - he died in Florida in 1977. 

The piece of evidence I found next took away any and all doubt in my mind that I'd found the right biological family. I found Donald's WW2 draft card and the portion that says, "the person who will always know your address," there it is: John D. Byrnes (friend) 54 Holloway St, Henderson. That's Dixie's DAD. 

Now this N.P.E situation was NOT on Dixie's Dad's side of the tree - it was on her Mom's side.... but in the east end, everyone knows everyone, so the Byrne's knew the Barron's long before the marriage of John D. Byrne and Sarah Pauline Ball.. and it just so happened that Donald Jenkins was John Byrne's best friend.

Donald Jenkins was Sarah's half-brother. Now if they ever knew that... that remains a mystery. Sarah never mentioned a word of a suspicion to Dixie nor to Charlotte... and Dixie, who was especially close to her Dad, says he never mentioned anything to her either that he 'suspected' Donald's Dad to be Sarah Pauline's Dad. So this was a total shock when I revealed my hypothesis. 

There is an old photograph of George Jenkins on Ancestry, and when I showed it to Granny, she and Charlotte both said he resembled Sarah Pauline. Granny showed me an old photograph she had of Donald Jenkins, and she said, "You know, now that I think on it.. I do see the family resemblance." 

This is a perfect story of 'your next door neighbor just might be your relative,' honestly. This is also a prime example of solving a case like this using not 'extremely' close DNA matches. Donald Jenkins never had kids - and George Jenkins, as far as we know, never fathered anyone else. So Dixie will never have a 'half Uncle' or 'half Aunt' DNA match through George, and she'll never have a 'half first cousin' match through Donald having kids. I had to solve this mystery using mostly 2nd cousin 1x removed matches at the time. 

George Jenkins passed away in 1966 in California. I firmly believe he had no idea he was Sarah Pauline Ball's father. If he had been - I doubt he'd have liked his son, Donald, knowing the family, thinking the 'secret' could have gotten out. No, I fully believe George believed Aggie's child was her husband, Lucky Ball's. The dates did line up, after all. 

George, the father, pictured above. The photo comes from a relative on Ancestry. 

A photograph from Granny's collection - her mother, Sarah, on her wedding day in 1943. She was only 14 years old when she got married. She looks 24, doesn't she! She obviously was a mature, attractive young lady. 

Again, from Granny's collection. Her Grandmother, Agnes "Aggie" Barron. Aggie ended up dying from cervical cancer, that I suspect could have came from HPV, when she was just 46 years old in 1953. The woman lived a lot of life in 46 years, having seven children with at least nine different men. (Two men she was married to, and they believed they had children with her, but surprise -- they didn't!) 

After finishing with Charlotte's and Granny's DNA - we've done the DNA of three more of Granny's half-first cousins since 2019 to 2021. We figured out that the child immediately after Sarah Pauline, Rosemary, who also had the Ball last name - she was not a Ball, either (shocker, lol) but instead an Ervin. I made this connection through the half-first cousin matching a half-Uncle. Took away all the hard work. The biological father ended up being, again, an East End Henderson native. The families had known each other for years.

Next we decided to work on Aggie's firstborn child. There had been really no whispers on who the father of Thomas Elbridge Barron (he got his Mom's maiden name) could be. Granny's theory was that possibly someone from the Catholic Church that Aggie attended might have been the father, that's the best lead we had to go on. 

I could tell this half first-cousin (the daughter of Thomas Elbridge Barron) was matching a lot of Hunter's, Hester's, Gibson's, Church's... these are well known Henderson/Union/Webster county families -- and after piecing it together, I realized the father was Wickie Hunter. Wickie was a name known in the east end of Henderson, too, and he never had anymore children (that we know of) so again, this is a case of having to use 2nd cousins and further to decipher. 

The last one we've worked on was Granny's half-Aunt, Helen Ruth; her son was kind enough to test for us to solve the mystery. Helen was interchangeably used the last names Ball and Spearman, but, we knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was neither. I started finding a lot of Bumpus, Cherry, and Shepherd DNA matches and these families are NOT native to Henderson County. After piecing everything together -- I figured out the biological father was a man named George Franklin Bumpus. 

George was born in Stewart Co, TN and died in Hopkinsville, KY. How he and Aggie met one another, we're unclear on. My guess was probably at a club dancing and they decided to have a one night dalliance. George Bumpus married at least once by 1953 when living in Tennessee again, but they never had children. So again, this DNA mystery was solved using 2nd cousins and further; there will never be 'closer' DNA matches. 

Now we've got two more children of Aggie to go.. and we're certain they aren't Ball's or Spearman's either. We're hoping one of the children of the youngest son will test... and on Aggie's youngest daughter -- we're going to have to test a great-grandson of hers. So I'll be looking for a biological Great-Great-Grandfather... that's a genealogical needle in a haystack so to speak. That one will be a challenge, but a fun challenge. 

Thank you for reading about the steps I followed to solve these DNA mysteries and hopefully I can update y'all on what I find on Aggie's two remaining children and their biological fathers. The suspense is killing me on who the biological fathers are!! 

52 Ancestors 2021: Week 38: Fun & Games

I wish I had interesting stories of my ancestors to really go in-depth with for this prompt but, truly, I don't. I do know that my Great-Great-Grandfather, Charles Clarence LaRue loved fun and games - he enjoyed riddles, pranks, jokes.. and that's been passed down through the generations. 

My Great-Grandfather, Richard "Dick" Blanford loved fun and games as well. Matter of fact, his favorite comedian was Jeff Foxworthy - a favorite of mine as well. Joking got passed down to my Grandpa Jady and of course, to my Mom and myself. 

My Great-Grandmother Lorene (LaRue) Blanford was a big fan of Crossword puzzles, I've heard. It makes a lot of sense because my Grandpa, my Mom, and even myself... we each enjoy them immensely. 

My Grandpa Jady is the one who taught me to play so many games -- Checkers, Scrabble, and Clue to name a few of them. Our favorite was absolutely Clue. My Grandpa was so good at that game.. I swear he snuck a peak at the cards, somehow! He was exceptional at Scrabble as well. You'd think he was just 'coming up with a word,' and you'd go to the dictionary to look at up and sure enough, it's a real world. 

We didn't really have any traditions of playing games on holidays or anything like that. I always lived just three or so minutes down the road from my Grandparents so.. we'd play games almost every time I went over for a visit. I actually introduced my Grandma to the Sudoku puzzles in the newspaper and she became an addict playing those. 

Grandma was really good at Excel on the computer, so she figured out a way to make herself a Sudoku puzzle checker spreadsheet to make sure she was working her puzzles correctly. I couldn't explain to you at all how she managed to do it.. I am a complete novice at Excel. It amazed me she was able to figure out how to do it, though. 

Grandma eventually spent the money to get CD-ROM games that we'd play together. Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Wheel of Fortune. Boggle. Scrabble. There's probably more I'm forgetting. We were all really big fans of Trivia style games. Grandma wasn't the best speller so.. she usually lost Scrabble or Boggle to me and Grandpa. If it involved math though, Grandma was a champ. 

She eventually got Bejeweled 2 from a friend of hers and that became my favorite game to play solo. It was strategy and I enjoyed it a lot. Even today, all the years I spent playing that game, has made me an ace at games on my iPhone that are like that. "Match 3" games if you will. 

I'll occasionally play Clue or Scrabble with a friend and I can't help but feel a longing to play again with my Grandparents. Every time I see a Sudoku puzzle, I weep for my Grandma. I can't even bring myself to do Sudoku's anymore. I do still actively play Crossword puzzles and Word Search puzzles. Those are my favorites. 

Sorry that I don't have any photos of us playing games or a whole lot to talk about for this topic. Hopefully the next topic will make up for that. :) 

52 Ancestors 2021: Week 37: On the Farm

When I think of farming and my ancestors -- the number one person who comes to mind is my Great-Grandfather, Richard Jerome "Dick" Blanford. I was fortunate enough to meet Papa Dick when I was a baby - but sadly he passed away just two months prior to my third birthday. 

Dick Blanford was born on November 5th, 1913, in Union County, Kentucky, to Martin Allen Blanford and Mary Agnes Nally. He was the eldest child out of six total - only five surviving to adulthood. 

Dick had a modest upbringing, growing up in the areas of Smith Mills and Corydon in Henderson County. The area known as "Walnut Bottom" in census, actually. Unfortunately, when he was only thirteen years of age - he lost his mother, Mary Agnes, to tuberculosis. I can only imagine how that shaped him as a person. 

On July 11th, 1931, he married Miss Verna Lorene LaRue, the daughter of Charles Clarence LaRue and Carrie Annie Byrd. His brother, Thomas Allen "Tom" Blanford would go on to marry Lorene's sister Opal Lois LaRue. 

Dick and Lorene stuck to the Geneva and Smith Mills area of the county. According to my Grandpa, in his youth, they lived in three different places that burnt down before they settled on the Latta Place. It was a small white house at the very end of Star School Rd in Geneva.. and now it's no longer there. It used to be surrounded by cornfields and bayou. 

After they were older, Dick built a large house on Trigg-Hooper Rd. At this house, Dick did a lot of farming, a lot of raising livestock, and even had an apple orchard. It was at this house that his kids, grandkids, and even some great-grandchildren formed a lot of precious memories. It was this house that I remember very, very vaguely. 

I had a snippet of a memory, like a flash in a dream that he was holding me outside on his lap and I could remember looking up at the night sky. Mom said I was remembering watching Fourth of July fireworks out there, most likely on July 4th, 1995.. I was two years and five months old. 

Over the last few years, I've found numerous articles from the Evansville newspaper chronicling when Papa Dick would sell some livestock, donate to charity, or have an auction at his farm. It's been quite a neat trip back in time to see some of the things I have and read some of things I have. 

To this day, we have an aerial photograph of the house and farm on our wall. We have laminated pages from where he made the Features section of the newspaper for his apple cider, hanging on the wall. My Mom lost her maternal Grandpa when she was just 7 years old so she built a special bond, after that, with her paternal Grandpa. I think in his own way, he tried to make up for her not having her other Grandpa. Very much like my own maternal Grandma made up for me not having my paternal Grandma.

Unfortunately, after Dick passed, the farm was lost. Dick knew that all of his everything -- personal, real estate, etc, would have to be sold because he had a kid or two that were too greedy for their own good and nothing would be able to be divided properly and 'kept within the family.' No one would be able to 'keep' anything without another child being jealous of it. Matter a fact, my Mom says he used to proudly wear a hat that said, "I'm spending my children's inheritance." 

To this day - it still ruffles a few feathers that my Grandpa Jady was given the antique roll top desk of Papa Dick's, and it ruffles even more feathers that Grandpa Jady left it to my Mom when he died. I now have two antique roll top desks - one from each of my Grandfather's and I couldn't be happier. A genealogist needs a proper desk...two or three in my opinion. 

I wish I could remember what Dick was like. I don't remember his voice. I don't remember the apple cider or anything like that. I do remember the apple butter and the apple pie.. as my Grandpa continued to make it long after Papa Dick passed away. My Dad still uses the pie recipe to this day. I remember taking apple butter to show and tell in first grade. Back when we could actually take homemade food to school, share it with our classmates, and it wasn't against the law. 

On December 14th, 1995, Papa Dick passed away at his home in his sleep -- he'd battled prostate cancer for many years. He and Mama 'Rene are buried in Saint Louis Cemetery, which I affectionately refer to as "Blanford Memorial Gardens," because the front of the cemetery has a lot of Blanford tombstones showing from the road, including their own. 

If you visit the cemetery any time soon, maybe stop and introduce yourself to one of Henderson County's most influential farmers. Dick loved meeting new people, and he didn't view anyone as a stranger -- a trait his son, my Grandpa Jady, inherited from him. Sit down for a spell and maybe he'll tell you a story while peeling an apple with a pocket knife. You might learn something. 

Fatally Burned: The Short Life of Betty Jean Duncan

Back in August/September when I was working on the Gibson Cemetery - I stumbled upon the tragic death of my 5th cousin 2x removed, Betty Jean Duncan. Betty isn't buried at the Gibson Cemetery, but her ancestors might be. I know her Duncan ancestors are out in the Duncan Cemetery which isn't too terribly far away from Gibson Cemetery. It's out in the Corydon/Dixie area. 

Betty was the 4x Granddaughter of Nathaniel Benjamin Duncan and Jane Rainey -- my 6x Grandparents through their daughter, Susan Duncan who married Berryman Gibson.. Susan and Berryman are of course buried at the Gibson Cemetery. 

Betty was the daughter of Fines William Duncan and Lola C. Farris. She was born on January 19th, 1934. The tragic accident happened on April 17th, 1945 - Betty was just eleven years old. Betty was left home alone with her younger siblings while her father was apparently at work and her mother went down the road a few blocks to a neighbors house. 

They lived at 534 Dixon St, according to an article in the Evansville newspaper. Little Betty went to light a fire in the stove using coal oil. Unfortunately, her clothes ended up catching on fire, and well, the rest is a tragic history. 

Betty was buried in Fernwood Cemetery but has no tombstone. I would say she's very near where her parents are in the cemetery. It's possible she had an infant tombstone many decades ago and it's just 'gone' now, or beneath the dirt a few inches. I'll try to prod for it sometime this spring. 

Corydon, Ky; Insurance Agent Dies

I wasn't unfamiliar with the name Gayle Frasier whatsoever when I was revisiting the Gibson Cemetery back in August/September for a project. I've seen his tombstone a many of times in my life but - I didn't know exactly who Gayle was until I researched a bit more. 

Gayle was born on February 8th, 1885, in Webster County, KY, to John C. Frasier and Lee Forrest Pressley. (His father is buried in Corydon Cemetery, and his mother is buried in Springdale Cemetery in Sebree.) He had at least three brothers. 

In about 1907 or 1908 - Gayle married Lucile S. Gibson and they only had one son: Ambrose Haywood Frasier. 

It seems the Frasier family jumped around between Corydon, Detroit, Michigan, and Evansville. It was in Evansville that Gayle passed away on May 24th, 1950, at the age of 65. It was the article I found in the Evansville newspaper that clued me into a lot of back story of Gayle's life. He was a local insurance agent, and he was well known in the baseball circles of Western Kentucky. 

Gayle had been a manager of Corydon's Press League champions in the early 1930's, and prior to that, he'd been a player for a many of years. Very neat to learn this tidbit of information! Another famous Corydon resident became to the 2nd commissioner of baseball in 1945 -- A.B. "Happy" Chandler. I ponder if Gayle and Happy knew one another. I can't imagine that they didn't. 

Next time you're out at the Gibson Cemetery - stop and introduce yourself to cousin Gayle. 

The devastating end of Erastus Gibson

Erastus isn't someone I'm unfamiliar with. I've seen his tombstone a dozen times in my life, every time I go out to the Gibson Cemetery.. but I was ignorant to his life's story. Bless this man's heart. This article broke me inside. 

God rest your soul, Erastus. I'm proud to be your cousin -- 1st cousin 4x removed to be exact. 

Erastus was the son of George Harrell Gibson and Cora Francis Young. He was the second of only four children: three boys and one girl. Erastus had married Mary Evelyn Hughes on November 27th, 1912, in White County, IL. They procured a divorce before he left to fight in World War 1, the way I understand it. The article speaks for itself on how life went for Erastus after arriving home from war. 

The next time you're out at the Gibson Cemetery in Corydon.. give some special attention to his grave. He certainly deserves it. Hopefully I can get his tombstone looking new again come this spring. 

Say Hello to Uncle Fagan

James Fagan Gibson was a prominent man in the Corydon community -- he ran the county sanitarium for nine years, and his father had ran it for nine years before him. (I don't believe they ran it consecutively, because his father, John Gregory Gibson died in 1890, then Fagan died in 1911. I think someone ran the county home between Fagan and his Dad.)

James Fagan Gibson was the son of John Gregory Gibson and Mahala Caroline Busby - my 4x Grandparents. That would make Fagan my 3x Great-Granduncle. He was the fourth child out of thirteen. My 3x Grandmother, Vandalia, was number nine out of thirteen. (Rough estimate is thirteen. There might be miscarriages and stillbirths we don't know about.) 

Fagan married Nancy Jane "Nannie" Gibson, his cousin, on April 20th, 1872, in Gallatin County, Illinois. They reared no children. However, they did raise their niece, Minnie Lee Gibson, like she was their own. Minnie's mother, Lucilla, died about eleven months after Minnie's birth. 

It took quite a bit of sleuth work to figure out that Minnie was not their daughter -- a lot of genealogists prior to myself had made the assumption that she was. However, with some heavy handed genealogy and possibly some DNA (to which I don't have access to), it led to the conclusion that Minnie was Lucilla's daughter. We haven't a clue who Minnie's biological father was. 

Fagan was also a member of the Woodmen of the World organization - hence why his tombstone looks the way it does. The best way to describe the Woodmen of the World organization would be like life insurance in today's times. 

From what I understand, the Corydon Sanitarium or "County Poor Farm," was on Diamond Island Rd, just outside the Corydon City limits. After you pass A.B. Chandler Elementary going into Corydon on Highway 60, it would be the next road on your left. The best I understand - the building itself is now gone and there's no traces of the cemetery, either. The only records we have of the burials in the county poor farm cemetery are from death certificates, old records, and family stories. I'm unsure if the land is woods/grown up or if it's a farmers field these days.

Next time you're out at Gibson Cemetery - say hello to Uncle Fagan. A devoted son, brother, husband, and an Uncle who became a Father figure - not to forget, an influential member of the county. 

**His tombstone is one that I definitely plan to get cleaned up in the spring. Behind his tombstone to the right you can see the tombstone of Sid and Mamie (Phillips) Nally. Direct behind theirs is Vannie Louise Thompson.**