Walking in a Virtual Cemetery

52#Ancestors

Week 17 (April 23-29): Cemetery

Walking in a Virtual Cemetery

By Myra Vanderpool Gormley © 2018

There I was strolling through virtual cemeteries all over the country— updating and adding links and info to Find-A-Grave for my Hensley family. I was doing this from the comfort of my office, thousands of miles removed from where the actual gravesites exist. 

I tracked down the link to my great-grandpa Hensley’s grave at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/47043231?search=true

 And when I re-visited the site (it had been a while), I discovered someone had left this picture of a medal. So I looked again at the only picture I have of him, and while his medal doesn’t match this graphic — exactly, perhaps it solves the mystery and helps to date the photograph.

Civil War Campaign Medal—Army

The Civil War Campaign Medal was retroactively awarded to all members of the United States Military who served during the American Civil War. It was first authorized in 1905 for the 40^th anniversary of the war's conclusion. Originally intended as a commemorative award, it was soon adopted as a military decoration due to its popularity in the senior military ranks, many of whom were Civil War Veterans.

The blue and gray ribbon drape is to commemorate the uniform colors of the Union and Confederate troops. The Army's version of the medal has a profile of President Abraham Lincoln on the medallion while the Navy and Marine Corps version depicts the battle between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. 

The Army Civil War Campaign Medal was established by the United States War Department on January 21, 1907, by General Orders Number 12. To qualify, a soldier had to serve between April 15, 1861, and April 9, 1865. In the U.S. Army, units with Confederate lineage use campaign streamers with the gray edge up and units with Union lineage use campaign streamers with the blue edge up. The closing date was extended to August 20, 1866, date of President Johnson's Proclamation ending the war. 

Although some recipients may have worn some form of the ribbon, the monies necessary to mint and issue the medal were not appropriated by Congress until 1956 – 91 years after the war ended. 

Handed down in our family is a picture of five Hensley brothers and it has long been a mystery as to the date it was taken and there’s some disagreements among family members as to which brothers are pictured therein. There’s no dispute that the one on the far right is Francis Marion Hensley (my ancestor) [1841-1923].

See my previous blog posts about him:

https://shakingfamilytrees.blogspot.com/2014/03/12-52-ancestors-nancy-pruitt-hensley.html

https://shakingfamilytrees.blogspot.com/2014/09/30-long-road-back-to-georgia.html

The photograph of interest must have been taken near Muskogee, Oklahoma where he lived, and his three brothers, who lived nearby are assumed to be included: They are: James (1856-1929), Charles F. (1857-1920) and Ralph (R. M.) 1851-1921. 

The disagreement is whether the other brother in the photograph is George (1835-1912) or Marble John (1851-1923), both of whom lived in Georgia. It appears to me that the men are lined up by their ages, with the eldest (Francis Marion) on the right. If so, next to him was Ralph, Marble John (I think), James and then Charles. Francis Marion would have been about 64, with Ralph 61 and the rest in their 50s, except, Charles, the youngest, who would have been about 48. 

The date of the photograph is probably about 1905-10 and my guesstimate now is that it was taken in 1905 — the 40^th anniversary of the end of the Civil War — and perhaps because of a reunion of those soldiers and the Civil War Campaign Medal, although it is not clear to me that the medal was actually available that early. 

Of course, in genealogy, nothing is always positively, 100% accurate, and I’ve been known to be wrong. If you can verify the men and the date or prove otherwise, let me know.
I'll be in a cemetery -- somewhere.

Stars Fell on Alabama

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Week 16 (April 16-22): Storms

When Stars Fell on Alabama

By Myra Vanderpool Gormley © 2018

The family story passed down in one branch of my Autry/Autrey/Awtrey family is that our ancestor, Absalom, died at age 98 on the night the “stars fell on Alabama.”

Thanks to the Internet today, it is fairly easy to find information about this meteor storm, which astronomers estimate bombarded earth’s atmosphere with more than 30,000 meteors an hour on November 12-13, 1833. It was seen in Alabama and much of the rest of the United States. The sky was literally filled with fireworks and must have been a storm few forgot.

“This storm was an unusually active display of Leonid meteors, specks of debris from the comet Tempel-Tuttle, often as small as grains of sand, that briefly streak across the sky as they burn up in the atmosphere.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_Fell_on_Alabama)

It’s a great story, but we have several Absaloms, and it was not my Absalom Autry/Autrey/Awtrey who died in Alabama the night the stars fell, although mine died in 1833, but it was in Henry County, Georgia and it was in March.

The Family Bible of Isaac Awtrey and Araminta Bankston, who married in 1800, has Absalom recorded as dying March ___1833 in his 83rd year of his age and also recorded is: Lucy (Isaac's mother) Awtrey died 12 Nov. 1818 in her ___ year of her age. The probate of Absalom’s estate was handled by his son, Isaac, in January 1834 in Henry County, Georgia. 

In the 1830 U.S. census of Henry County, Georgia, Isaac Awtrey is listed and in his household is a male 80-90 years of age, which would fit his father, Absalom, who was born 7 June  1750 on the Tar River in North Carolina—probably in Anson County (per his Revolutionary War pension application that was applied for 21 January 1833).

There is another Absalom Autry/Autrey/Awtrey living in Saint Clair County, Alabama in 1830 who is listed in the age bracket of 80-90. He probably is the same one who obtained land there in 1823 (U.S. General Land Office Records, 1776-2015) and deeded same land to this three sons — Enoch, James and George — “for love and affection” on 26 May 1824.

Whether he is the one who died the night stars fell on Alabama, I do not know, but I know when and where my Absalom Awtrey died in 1833.

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April 13 2018

Week 15—Taxes

A Taxing Time in Georgia

By Myra Vanderpool Gormley, © 2018

It is frustrating to lose an entire family between the 1860 and 1870 censuses, but it happens. Tracing Southern ancestors in this time period can be a challenge. Many families were displaced in the aftermath of the Civil War due to the war’s destruction, crop failures, miserable weather, and in Georgia, with the death of about one-third of its soldiers. Records that might solve genealogical mysteries simply are not always extant.

Reuben Kirby and his bride, Nancy Adeline Holley, were married early in 1854 in DeKalb County, Georgia. They appear in the 1860 census in Campbell County, Georgia, with their two young sons, Charles and William. The war comes along and they all vanish.

Campbell County, Georgia, ca 1895

Because Reuben was born about 1823, it is likely that he enlisted or was drafted in the military, but nothing has been found yet to prove conclusively that he participated. Because his parents and most of siblings removed to Alabama about 1860, that state’s records were successfully searched for his two brothers who served in the Confederate forces, but there’s no indication that Reuben moved to Alabama. There is another man of a similar name and age living in Georgia in this time period, but he is enumerated in the 1870 census and does not match my Reuben.

 It took a search in the Georgia Property Tax Digest, 1793-1892 to come to the rescue. Reuben appears in 1849 DeKalb County, Georgia next to his father, John, but with no property at that time. He is shown being taxed on the same 40 acres in 1861, 1862, and 1863 in what was then Campbell County, Georgia. A search in the U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918 was negative for him.

Was he killed during the war, or did he die soon after 1863 (last found tax record for him)? What happened to his wife and two sons? No probate or guardianship papers have been found and none of this family has been located in the 1870 census — so far. In 1880, there is no sign of Charles or William, but a John Kirby, age 18, and listed as a nephew, is in the household of Nathaniel and Edna Humphries in Cobb County, Georgia. Edna turns out to be the sister of Nancy Adeline Holley who married Reuben Kirby. So, if this John Kirby, born about 1862 is a third son of Reuben and Nancy Adeline, where has he been for 18 years, where are his brothers, and how can I make the links?

The Georgia Property Tax Digest for 1890 reveals a Charles M. Kirby and a William Kirby assessed for property in Atlanta, but there’s no proof that they are sons of Reuben and Nancy Adeline. However, a search in Atlanta death records turned up a record on Charles Kirby. He died in 1925 and his death certificate lists his parents — Reuben and Nancy. His obituary in The Atlanta (Georgia) Constitution on 9 March 1925 mentions his wife, two sons, and a brother, Judge J. J. Kirby, of Douglasville (Douglas County, Georgia). The latter county adjoined old Campbell County.  

The Georgia death certificate of Judge John Jordan Kirby has a number of “don’t know” answers, including names of his parents, but with the cause of his death listed as “suicide” in 1932, additional digging uncovered information from a news article posted at Find-A-Grave website:

JUDGE J. J. KIRBY TAKES LIFE IN COUNTY JAIL MONDAY

SHOT FROM .32-CALIBER REVOLVER THROUGH HEART

BRINGS INSTANT DEATH TO DOUGLASVILLE MAN

Monday morning about 9:30 o'clock the town of Douglasville was shocked, when the news came from the county jail, where he was confined, that Judge J. J. Kirby had taken his life by shooting himself through the heart. Judge Kirby had been put in jail several days before on a rum charge. Judge Kirby had been Justice of the Peace here for the past 20 years. He came to Douglasville from Villa Rica. He was twice married and leaves eight grown children by his first wife and one small son by his last wife.

As Benjamin Franklin supposedly said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Both can be invaluable to family historians.

Wading into Murky Waters

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Week 14: Maiden Aunt

 

Wading into Murky Waters

By Myra Vanderpool Gormley ©2018

Sanky doesn’t fit any of the definitions of a “maiden aunt” — especially the “never married,” “prim,” and “old-fashioned” labels. The “no longer young” characterization never suited her either. She was always young — in looks, fashion, ideas and thinking.

She certainly was no maiden either, but what an aunt she was. She was my Auntie Mame (remember the best-selling 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis?) albeit she never married a millionaire. She was the joy of my childhood and young adulthood. Her laughter floods my memory even today.

 I called her Sanky because I was unable to pronounce her given name and she called me “Pup.” From the time I could remember she was always there for me, spoiling me with gifts (large and small), teaching, helping, encouraging and cheering me on — to learn all I could and be all I could be. Sanky taught me to leap over obstacles, conquer fear, laugh at failures, and see the humor in all situations. She never had any children of her own, but she mothered many.

Sanky was an avid reader and a pace-setter — way ahead of the crowd. Dancing to her own beat, she lived life like someone had left the gate open. Married first at 14 to the consternation of the family, she wore makeup, dyed her hair, drove an automobile (she never bothered to ever get a driver’s license) and followed the latest fashions — or created her own. I knew only one of her husbands, although I was aware of her first one — thanks to family gossip.  It would be years after she was gone that I discovered her many other marital records.

My Aunt Sanky about 1929

By the time I was born, she was a successful owner of a large beauty salon and later a grocery store and still later a real estate business, all accomplished with only an eighth-grade education. She worked hard, loved hard, and spread joy and laughter wherever she was. Color-blind, unbiased, and sharp-witted, she gave often, gladly and quietly to many.

Sanky died way too young at 61, but she left me a treasury of memories — plus some genealogical gems that beguile and befuddle as I wade into the murky waters of her past.  I can hear her laughing now.