Friday, August 5, 2011

Pardon me.....



My second great grandfather's pardon for taking part in the Civil War as a Confederate soldier, as well as a muster roll with the alternate spelling of his name.

Photos courtesy of Footnote.com

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Accurate Information (or so you thought)


I was overjoyed to find the marriage record of my grandparents online. Upon further review (raise eyebrows here), I was rather shocked at what I saw. Everett, my grandfather, is listed as being 26 years old in September of 1928. Actually, he was born in 1900, so he was 28. That's not the best part. My grandmother, Virginia, is listed as being 18 years old. She was born in November of 1913. You do the math.

It was already known in the family that Virginia was so young when she got married, however, we didn't know that they had given false information to get married.

Another interesting find is either they were married or their marriage record was filed on September 17 of that year. My mother was born on September 17 fourteen years later.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Tombstone Tuesday - Hilda P. Johnson


The sweet lady who lived across the street from my family when I was a little girl, Hilda P. Johnson, was better known to us as "Gan gan". Having her around was like having another grandmother. I can still picture her setting up her drying rack over her furnace grate, wearing her kerchief on her head, her apron and her flowered houseshoes. She was the person who taught us our New Year's superstitions and to this day we make sure a male person crosses the threshold first.