Marian Flowers, Carolyn Bostain, Margaret Ann Trail, Carole Dwinnell. (Courtesy photo)
Press release
The Rootseekers Genealogical Society had their September meeting at the Tri-County Library in Mabank. They had their yearly bragging rights that gives anyone a chance to brag about one of their ancestors.
Mary Beth Haley spoke of Hazel Beckham who was born in Smith County in 1905 and was reared in Swan, Texas. When she was 6 years old she fell from a buggy and bruised her knee. It eventually led to osteomyelitis and amputation of her leg above the knee. Hazel attended an all-female college know as the College of industrial Arts in Denton, now known as Texas Women’s University. She promised herself when she graduated she would help handicapped people because of all the help she had received. She set her goal to help the blind and developed a program for the blind. As director of the program for the adult blind of the state, she started, supervised, and directed lighthouses for the blind, placed home teachers for the blind in communities and personally assisted in locating those persons in need of services.
Carol Dwinnell spoke of her ancestor who founded Hackensaack, New Jersey. Her ancestor David and his wife Marie Sohier DesMarets in 1682 purchased a large tract of land in New Jersey from the Tappan Indians. The land was between the Hudson and Hackensaack Rivers. There David established the Hackensaack Village and in 1684 built the French Church of Kinderkamack on a portion of the DesMarest Land. Adjoining the church was the French Cemetery and Marie Sohier DesMarest was the first to be buried there having died of Small Pox. David died on October 16, 1690. The cemetery has a Historical Marker put there by the Bergen County Historical Society, there is also a sign that was placed by the David DesMarets Chapter of DAR.
Stella Sikes spoke of her parents who were raised in South Carolina, had eight children two of whom were born in SC and the rest in Athens. They only had vacations every five years or so since there were so many of them and naturally they went to SC to visit relatives. They would all pile in the station wagon with luggage on top and pulling a trailer loaded down with more luggage. Her dad would not tell the relatives they were coming he wanted to surprise them. One of her favorite stops was her great Aunt Stella’s cottage near Bluffton, SC. It was within walking distance to the beach and had a big screened in sleeping porch that they put cots to sleep on. Another favorite was her great Uncle Nell. When she started her research on him she found out his son committed suicide and then three months later his wife committed suicide.
Harry Hogue spoke of an aunt who died in 1904 and no one in the family ever knew or question where she was buried. While doing his research he found her in Rock Hill Cemetery, 15 miles from where he lives. This also told him where his Granny and Papa lived at that time.
Marian Floweres spoke of her grandfather Richard Manning Cantey who grew up in the low country of SC on Cherryvale Plantation. It burned in the late 1950’s and is now under a runway of Shaw Air Force Base. During the War Between the States General Sherman used Cherryvale as his base of operations. Her grandfathers Aunt Jane was about 5 years old when she approach Gen. Sherman and ask when are “all these damn yankees” going to leave.
Margaret Ann Trail showed a handmade wooden book that was given to her great grandmother Nettie Bone Frazier which contained the family trees of her and her husband, Byron Ephraim Frazier. The history of three generations dating to the early 1800s contains some photos. Both of Nettie’s parents were deaf and dumb. Nettie was born in Indiana in 1876 to parents who where from Ohio. She married in Tennessee, then moved to West Texas in 1905 when Margaret Ann’s grandmother, Lola Terry Frazier Thompson was 12 years years old. Nettie died in 1967 at age 85 and is buried in Throckmorton. The history is filled with names, birth, marriage dates and places, but the mysteries are who is that woman who made that first family history and why that family moved where.
Carolyn Bostain talked about her second Great Grandfather John Manuel Horton who at the age of 17, a civilian, along with his brother in law James Davis age 29 a conscript private in the Confederate Army were captured in Huston, Texas County, Mo and delivered at Gratiot Street Prison in St. Louis, Mo. The duration of their stay is unknown or why they were in Huston, Mo or why they were sent to the prison or when they got out. Carolyn’s research found them in White Co. Ark on the 1880 census, so they did get out. Family lore has it that John’s sister often brought food and pies to her brother and husband. One day she brought women’s clothing in the bottom of her basket in which they dressed and walked out while she was visiting with the guards and serving them pie.
Geneice Morris bragged about her Great Grandfather John Lihue Fox who was a sharp shooter in the Confederate Army in the Civil War stationed in Tenn. After the war he married Nancy Charlotta Brown. Geneice has the dough bowl and rolling pin that he presented to his bride on their wedding day in 1865. The dough bowl and rolling pin were carved from a tree he felled. She also has their kitchen clock, an oil lamp and his brass bullet mold he carried in the war.
The Rootseekers Genealogical Society are having a “How To” Workshop at the Tri-County Library in downtown Mabank on October 7, 2017. Our speaker will be Carrie Woolverton who is a certified genealogist, family historian, author, and researcher. Registration starts at 8:30 and workshop lasts until 3:30 pm. There will be short breaks and a bring your lunch or go out from 11:30 to 12:30. For more information call 903-432-9140