Saturday Night Genealogy Fun — "Heritage Pie" Chart

Tonight's challenge from Genea-Musings is to list your 16 great-great-grandparents, and where they came from, married, and died (I saw this meme on Tonia's Roots). Here are mine:

1. Ransom P. SAUNDERS b. ca 1818 in North Carolina, m. Delilah Beaver in March 1832, N.C., d. 1850 in N.C.

2. Delilah BEAVER b. ca 1810 in Caswell Co., North Carolina, d. before Dec. 1874, N.C.

3. John L. CARRELL b. 25 Oct. 1822, Rockingham Co., North Carolina, m. Julia Ann Young 22 Feb. 1845, Rockingham Co., N.C., d. 17 July 1895 (probably N.C.).

4. Julia Ann YOUNG b. 28 May 1817, North Carolina, d. 6 Jan. 1898.

5. Dempsey LASSITER b. ca 1823, Nansemond Co., Virginia, m. Elizabeth Jane --- before 1846, d. after 1910 (living in Nansemond Co., Virginia in 1910). Dempsey's son William Lassiter was one of my brick walls until a couple of years ago, when I finally found Dempsey and his family.

6. Elizabeth Jane --- b. ca 1825 in Nansemond Co., Virginia, d. before 1910.

7. Henry BAKER, m. Joan Weston before 1882

8. Joan WESTON, b. Nov. 1851

9. Thomas S. MANESS, b. ca 1849? (possibly Moore County, North Carolina), m. Sarah Pandora Wall 25 June 1874 in Guilford County, North Carolina, disappeared in 1875. Thomas is my current brick wall. He disappeared before my great-grandfather was born, and I am the fourth generation looking for him.

10. Sarah Pandora WALL, b. 29 Aug. 1859 in North Carolina, d. 30 July 1930, Randolph County, North Carolina.

11. Thomas Madison ENGLISH, b. 25 Aug. 1827, North Carolina, m. Armecia White after 1870, d. 3 June 1888, buried in Guilford County, North Carolina.

12. Cynthia Armecia WHITE, b. 9 Sept. 1849, North Carolina, d. 30 Dec. 1926 in Randolph County, North Carolina, buried in Guilford County.

13. William Gaston ROUTH,  m. Roxie Bryant. Their children were born in Randolph County, North Carolina.

14. Roxie BRYANT.

15. Jacob Shadrach KINDLEY, b. 26 Oct. 1852, Davidson County, North Carolina, m. Mary Adaline Copple 14 Dec. 1871, Davidson County, North Carolina, d. 30 Aug. 1917.

16. Mary Adaline COPPLE, b. 16 May 1851, Davidson County, North Carolina, d. 18 Oct. 1911.

I've been obsessed with a few of my family branches (like the English family, a portion listed at the top of this blog) and this list shows how I've neglected others. While I hope to fill in the details someday, my near term goals are to finish my English family novel and to break through my Maness family brick wall.

If I drew a pie chart of locations, most of the circle would be filled with Carolina blue, with a little wedge for Virginia. The family seems to go back to colonial days before they start branching out to other countries.

Amanuensis Monday - Archdale, N.C. in 1902

From the North Carolina Year Book, 1902.

Randolph County
Justices of the Peace for Trinity Township were W.N. Elder of Maud, J.F. Mendenhall of Thomasville, B. L. Lineberry of Trinity, E.W. Pugh of Progress, W.M. Wilson of Archdale, and R.E. Mendenhall of High Point.

Public School Teachers: [I'm only posting those in the Archdale area]
Farlow, Miss May, Sophia
Elder, Miss Daisy, Archdale
Bulla, Miss Dora, Sophia
Bulla, Miss Bird, Sophia

Schools and Academies: [none in Archdale]

Ministers not in Towns: [none in Archdale]

Physicians not in Towns: J.M. Tomlinson, Archdale.

Factories, Cotton Gins, Cotton Mills, Lumber Plants, Saw Mills: [none]

Merchants not in Towns: S.F. Wall & Co., Sophia

Saloons: [none in Randolph County]

Archdale
Incorporated in 1874.
Population, 182.
Tax rate, 12 and a half c on $100
Town Officers. MAYOR- H.A. Tomlinson
CLERK- W.M. Wilson
TREASURER- W.M. Wilson
TAX COLLECTOR- John F. White
CHIEF OF POLICE- John F. White
BOARD OF ALDERMEN- H.A. Tomlinson, J.M. Tomlinson, T.S. Folwell, Lee Andrews, W.J. Wilson
PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPT. Miss Sallie Redding.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE- L.C. Andrews, E.W. Pugh, H.A. Tomlinson
POSTMASTER- J.M. Tomlinson
R.R. AGENT- A.C. English
EXPRESS AGENT- A.C. English

Ministers and Churches.
FRIENDS- D.C. Cox, Pastor.

Doctors. J.M. Tomlinson

General Merchandise.
H.A. Tomlinson & Co.
Martin Creasy.

Poultry Yards.
Archdale Poultry Yards.

Ancestor Approved award

Thanks to Rootdigger for honoring Travels with Books with the Ancestor Approved award!

The Ancestor Approved Award asks that the recipient list ten things you have learned about any of your ancestors that has surprised, humbled, or enlightened you and pass the award along to ten other bloggers who you feel are doing their ancestors proud. Here are the 10 things I have learned from my ancestors.

1. Surprised to learn that my ancestor Joshua English had another brother, Thomas. Fellow researchers (and I) had thought Thomas died as a baby because of a confusion with his father Thomas' death.

2. I thought I would never learn why my distant aunt, Elizabeth, never married even though outnumbered by men in a colonial settlement. I was astounded to find out that she had run away and married at a very young age (about 15 in 1751) before immigrating; and humbled that she probably spent the rest of her life not knowing if her estranged husband were alive or dead.

3. Delighted to get a copy of a photograph of my great-great-grandmother, Armecia White English, wearing her Quaker bonnet. I'm just a couple of generations away from that traditional garb.

4. Both humbled and proud, if that makes any sense, that I grew up with Quaker heritage and in the English family, because the odds are against it. There was just one son (among daughters) who died at 34, who had one son who died at 40, and one of his sons immigrated to S.C., and only one of his sons (out of 4) did not leave the Quakers, and so on.

5. That son in S.C., Thomas English, kept his peace testimony through the Revolutionary War, even though all of his brothers decided to fight.

6. Humbled at how the women in our Maness family perservered all alone. At 16, my g-g-grandmother had her only child after her husband left forever. Her mother outlived two husbands. And her little sister was later widowed with nine children (she remarried). These women stuck together and survived and reared their children.

7. Humbled at how hard some people have it. A Wall cousin in Missouri lost his wife and baby within two months. He may have lost an earlier wife, but I'm not sure. He had a stroke later in life and died in a nursing home.

8. Happy to break through a brick wall when I finally found my g-g-grandfather William Lassiter's parents. Apparently he was so much older than my g-g-grandmother that nobody in the family knew enough about him to fill out his death certificate.

9. My family was surprised when I told them about Uncle Wiley Wall (1851-1942) and his family in Missouri. Apparently he had visited N.C. so often, probably by train, that they thought he had always lived here.

10. Humbled by how nice people are: like the librarians and archivists in Ireland who helped me with copies, the couple who picked me up and opened the library for an extra day's research, and the lady who let me see inside her house because my relatives once lived there.

Here are my ten picks for Ancestor Approved blogs:

Amy Coffin's We Tree
Tonia Kendrick's Tonia's Roots
Trent Briles' Briles Information Network
Tina Lyons' Gen Wish List
Jennifer Hudson Taylor's Carolina Scots-Irish Blog
Craig Manson's GeneaBlogie
Deborah Large Fox's Irish Family Research site
Julie Cahill Tarr's GenBlog

I don't know if these bloggers' will accept because of their format, but I really enjoy
Loretta and Susan's Two Nerdy History Girls
and Maureen A. Taylor's Photo Detective

Bush Hill Eve recap

Our first Bush Hill Eve (and 24th Bush Hill Heritage Festival) was a hit. I dressed up in old Quaker garb and it was fun to see people do a double-take when they saw me out of the corner of their eyes. I had been worried about having enough information on my great-great-grandmother, Mecie English (Cynthia Armecia White English Parrish) to stay in character, but I needn't have worried because conversations were short. When I asked people "How art thou?" they just giggled and tried to use "thee" in a sentence. Sometimes they just giggled because their mouths were full - the old fashioned dinner cooked by the ladies at church was excellent.

Bush Hill Eve tonight

I'm excited about tonight, and a little rushed. I'll be dressed up as my great-great-grandmother, Cynthia Armecia White English Parrish, or just "Mecie" English during this Civil War re-enactment. I still need to research her a little, so I can talk about her family and what life was like at that time. She is not one of the characters in my book (too recent), so I didn't know much about her. I found her obituary at High Point library last week, which told me her parents and siblings - yay!

We made a video promo for the newspaper's web site, http://bit.ly/1zWMVT .

After rushing around all day, it will be a challenge to get into the slower-paced, "thee" and "thou" mode, so I can stay in character.

Some of the Civil War re-enactors canceled, but we'll still have the doctor and probably a few others there to man the "hospital." Our modern day church ladies will prepare an old-fashioned meal, Dan Warren will bring some genealogical information, and several historical authors will bring their books (including me). Should be a fun evening!