Monday Is for Mothers: Mehitable Leonard (1747 - 1808)

Mehitable was born on September 28, 1747, in Preston in New London County in southeastern Connecticut and was baptized 14 months later in nearby Griswold. She was the daughter of Captain Samuel Leonard and his wife Lydia Stanton, both of whom came from families who had lived in Connecticut for generations.

[Connecticut. (to accompany) Harriet E. Baker's Book of Penmanship & Map. At Mr. Dunham's School Windsor Vermont March 31, 1819. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

Mehitable was only 12 when her parents died within a few days of each other in the spring of 1760. Since Captain Leonard left no will, her two oldest surviving brothers Samuel and Ebenezer were named administrators of their father's estate on June 9th. In the division of the estate filed with the Court in April of 1761, Mehitable share was the 7th item listed.

[Probate Files Collection, Early to 1880; Author: Connecticut State Library (Hartford, Connecticut); Probate Place: Hartford, Connecticut. Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Connecticut County, District and Probate Courts.]

7th Wee Set out to mehitable Lenard the Daughter of the
Said Dec'st a Lot of Said Land Containing about fourteen
acres and is Buted and Bounded as followeth 
(the text here is a long and complicated description of
the boundaries to the property allotted to Mehitable
which I'm not going to attempt to transcribe here)
Wee also Set out to the Said mehitable of the Personal
Estate of the Said Dec'st Sundrey goods to the value of
L49 = 13 S = 0 d at Inventory Price

Existing online records are silent about Mehitable until her marriage to Aaron Baldwin in 1771 but she almost certainly lived with some of her relatives in Preston. After the wedding she moved to Aaron's home in Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut. One of their seven children was one of my maternal fourth great grandmothers Olive Baldwin.

[Ancestry.com. Early Connecticut Marriages [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: Bailey, Frederic W. Early Connecticut Marriages as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800.

Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997.]

Mehitable Leonard Baldwin died on April 6, 1808, and is buried in Joseph Roode Farm Cemetery in Windham County, Connecticut.

[Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Hale Collection of Cemetery Inscriptions and Newspaper Notices, 1629-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: The Charles R. Hale Collection. Hale Collection of Connecticut Cemetery Inscriptions. Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut State Library.]

[Find A Grave Memorial# 84270575. Photo by Nate Bramlett (#46874243)]

The last record we have for Aaron is the 1810 U.S. Census but we don't have a death date or place of burial for him.

It turns out that I wrote an earlier post about Mehitable Leonard. (And I forgot to add the link to Christine's Ancestors' Page--lesson learned.)


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Timney P. Watts (1805 - 1863) - Probate Records, Part 15, Final Settlement

I don't know about you, but I'm certainly happy to come to the end of this examination of the probate records for my 3X great grandmother Timeny P. Watts Warren Phillips. 

Timney died on September 5, 1863, by which time  Lee's invasion of the North had been turned back at Gettysburg (July 1-3), Vicksburg had fallen (July 4), the Mississippi River was in Federal control and the South was on the defensive.  Perhaps events during the months leading up to the Confederacy's final defeat in 1865 are part of the reason why it took 3-1/2 years for the final distribution  which took place in 1867.

Estate of
Timney P. Phillips

J.D. Phillips
     Admr

Final Settlement

Recorded Book 11 Page 353
     C.A. Stanton
          Judge of Probate

Filed in Office   Sinclair[?]
Feb 18th 1867

Set for 2nd Monday
April 1867--

C A Stanton
     Judge
R F Ligon

J D Phillips Admr of Timney
P. Phillips dec'd. in account
current for final Settlement

Admr charges himself as
follows----                       Dr[?]

To Amt of Sale of personal property
on the 15th day of December 1863
and which was in Confederate
Money-------------------     $12175.71

To amt of sale of Real estate
in the                                     $120.00
                                            12295.71

Admr ask to be Credited as following
                                                   Cr
By amt paid  R A Johnston {?]nd  1   394.68
 "     "       "    W D Hall                  2     47.60 
 "     "       "     T H Phillips             3     25.00
 "     "       "    W C Martin              4       6.75
 "     "       "    Henderson & Baith  5       5.00
 "     "       "    J W Webb & Co       6      23.20
 "     "       "    Taxes 1863               7      25.25
 "     "       "    R A Johnston           8     185.60
 "     "       "    R A Johnston           9       80.00                
 "     "       "    R A Johnston          10    200.00
 "     "       "    W H Hodnett          11    183.00
 "     "       "    Court Costs            12      54.00
 "     "       "    Attorneys fees        13      30.00

By amt of Confederate Money on hand 4015.63

[Description : Estate Papers, Phillips, Nancy (Minor) to Piques, Sarah. Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

                             Amt brt forward
By amt paid A Lockwood Guard
=ian for Elizabeth A Lockwood as per recpt $1500.

By amt paid James O A Adams as
     per receipt on file            --------------     $1950

By amt paid Isabella Varner 
     as per receipt on file       --------------     $1950

By amt paid L B Phillips
     as per receipt on file       --------------     $1500


The State of Alabama          }
   Macon County                  } Personally appeared before C.A. Stanton
Judge of he probate Court J D Phillips Admr of Timney Phillips dec'd who being
duly sworn says that the foregoing account for final Settlement is just
true and Correct and that the heirs at law are, Thos H Phillips and 
your petitioner who reside in Macon Co Ala, W.R Phillips and L.B. Phillips who
reside in Geo, Josiah Phillips in Texas, Mary E Lane wife of 
Alexander Land in Barbour Co Ala, Martha Adams wife of  James O.
Adams in Pike Co Ala all of whom are of full age Elizabeth
Lockwood who resides               County Ala, also the children
of Thadeus Phillips dec'd, to wit, Elizabeth, Eugenie, Columbiana
and John H Philips who are minors and live in Georgia--
Sworn to & subscribed before me   }
22 January 1867  ------                      }       J.D. Phillips
   C A Stanton Judge of Probate


If I'm reading this correctly everyone received Confederate money which was worthless.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Timney P. Watts (1805 - 1863) - Probate Records, Part 14, The Second Commission

We've already looked at the November 1863 documents arising from the first Commission appointed by the Probate Court to determine whether some of the estate's property needed to be sold. Although it seemed clear that it did apparently nothing was settled because in 1866 another Commission was created. This time the Commissioners were R.T. Davis and John L. Carmichael and the witnesses to be examined were former Commissioner Wesley F. Hodnett and Henry Stanton who lived next to the property in question.

The interrogatories look pretty much the same (although the order is different and only eight acres are involved this time) which isn't surprising because they were written by one of the original lawyers, R.F. Ligon.

J.D. Phillips                        }         Probate Court
  Administrator of               }         Macon County
     Timney P. Phillips Est.  }
               v.                          }     Interrogatories to
 Heirs at Law.                     }     be propounded to
Wesley F. Hodnett and Henry Stanton
material witnesses for the Plaintiff in this
cause.

1st Intr.   Do you know the parties?

2nd Intr.  Do you know the following described
               land situated in Macon County to wit:
               Eight (8) acres off the East end of the South
               half (1/2) of section eighteen (18) Township
               fifteen (15) Range Twenty four (24) adjoining
               Dr. Hodnett and Henry Stanton?

3rd Intr. Do you know of the indebtedness of said
              Estate?

4th Intr. State if it is necessary to sell lands of
              said Estate to pay the debts.

                                                        R.F. Ligon
                                                        Atty. for Administrator

In my transcription of the pages below I've decided to only give the answers of the witnesses because I've hit the wall on this matter (and the handwriting is particularly hard to read).

Deposition of WH Stanton:

1st Int.    Do you know the parties. Ans. I do

2nd Int Do you know the following described land [...] Ans. 2nd I do

3rd Int  Do you know of the indebtedness of 

said Estate

     Ans. 3rd I do not 

4th Intr. State if it is necessary to sell lands
of said Estate to pay the debts
                                  Ans 4th Not knowing if any
debts I can't say.
                                     WH Stanton
25th day of Oct 1866 at WH Stanton store in the County of  Macon

[Estate Papers, Phillips, Nancy (Minor) to Piques, Sarah. Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

Deposition of W F Hodnett:

1st Int.    Do you know the parties.

Ans. I do

2nd Int Do you know the following

described land [...]?

Ans. I know the land referred to

3rd Int  Do you know of the indebtedness of 

said Estate [...]?

     Ans. I know of some indebtedness

          of said Estate which cannot be

          paid without selling the lands 

          above described.

4th State if it is necessary to sell lands

of said Estate to pay the debts?
 Ans. I consider it necessary as stated 
     in the last answer.
                                     WF Hodnett
25th day of Oct 1866 at WH Stanton store in the County of  Macon

The sale of these eight acres appears to have been the final obstacle to settling my great great great grandmother Timney P. Watts Warren Phillips' estate. Next week we'll see who got what.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Timney P. Watts (1805 - 1863) - Probate Records, Part 10, The Commission and the Depositions

As we saw in the previous post about probate records for my third great grandmother Timney P. Watts Warren Phillips, her heirs petitioned the Court to allow her land to be sold because "Said lands cannot be equitably fractioned or divided between Said Joint Owners without a Sale [.]" and that the Court appointed W.F. Hodnett as Commissioner empowered to take depositions of witnesses. Here's the official Commission signed by Judge C.A. Stanton which was misfiled in John P. Phillips' probate records.

[Description : Estate Papers, Petteway, Ignatius W to Phillips, Nancy. Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

Below is a printed form* describing the process.

[Description : Estate Papers, Phillips, Nancy (Minor) to Piques, Sarah.

Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

[Description : Probate Records, Vol 10, 1863-1866; Probate Records, Vol 11, 1866-1868. Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

Thomas H Phillips       } Petition in Macon Probate Court
Jeremiah D Phillips     } to Sell Real Estate for a division
          vs                       } Interrogatories to be propounded
William R Phillips       } to William H Stanton & Alanson
                           Etal   } Lockwood Material Witness for the
Petitioners
Interrogatory 1, Are you acquainted with Certain lands, Situate
in Said County of Macon, and Known as the South half of the
north west Quarter, and Eighty Acres on the west half of the
South half of Section Eighteen (18) Township Fifteen (15) of Range
Twenty Four (24) being the dower Interest of Mrs Timney Phillips

Interrogatory 2, Are you acquainted with the heirs of John
Phillips? if Yea, name them, which are Minors, can or not
cannot Said land be equatably divided between said heirs without
a Sales? if not, state why not?                       Clopton & Ligon
                                                                      Attys for Petitioners

Depositions of Alanson Lockwood and William H Stanton
witnesses Sworn and examined under and by Virtue of a Comm-
-mission issued out of the Probate Court of the State of Alabama
for Macon County, in a Certain Cause therein depending between
Thomas H Phillips & Jeremiah D Phillips Plaintiffs and
William  R Phillips Etal Defendants,
   The witnesses being duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole
 truth and nothing but the truth, do depose[?] and Say as follows

To the first Interrogatory, they say they are acquainted with the
lands described in Said Interrogatory.

To the Second Interrogatory, they Say they are, their names are 
as follows W.R. Phillips, Josiah Phillips, Thomas H. Phillips,
Littleberry B Phillips; Jeremiah D Phillips, Lucinda I Varner

[Description : Probate Records, Vol 10, 1863-1866; Probate Records, Vol 11, 1866-1868. Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

Martha Adams, Mary Lane, Elizabeth Ann Lockwood, Elizabeth
Phillips, Eugenia Phillips, Columbiana Phillips & John T Phillips
of who the last named five (5) are minors, they further answer,
that Said lands cannot be equitably divided without a sale for
the following reasons (Viz, 1st there is not enough of it, 2nd there is
no timber on it, 3rd there are two public Roads running through
it, with a lane fence to be Kept up
                                                                     A. Lockwood
                                                                    W.H. Stanton
We the Commissioner in the Said Commission named, do hereby
Certify, that the evidence of the witnesses A Lockwood & W H
Stanton, was taken down under Oath & Subscribed by them in
in our presence on the 4th day of November 1863 at Cotton Valley in
the County of Macon State of Alabama, and that we have
personal Knowledge of Said witnesses
                          Witness our hand and Seal
                                            W F Hodnett {L.S}

The living children of John P. Phillips (1792-1852) by both his wives** are named as Defendants in this "Certain Cause." And the first two men, William R. (W.R.) and Josiah***, weren't previously identified as his sons. Because William's name leads the list I'm assuming he's the eldest. It's equally unclear to me who Martha Adams and Mary Lane are as they aren't accounted for in our family tree.

The named minor heirs include Elizabeth Ann Lockwood (1851-1917) the only child of Timney's oldest daughter Elizabeth Ann Phillips and her husband Alanson Lockwood. However the connection of Elizabeth, Eugenia, Columbiana and John T. Phillips to this family are unknown to me at the moment.

So thanks to these two pages of probate records I have new people to research.



*This form is part of the records for the 1866 petition but it's unlikely that the procedure changed in the meantime.
**His first wife was Ann Nancy Pennington (1798-bef.1827).
***Our tree did have a Josiah Phillips (b.1822) who married my first cousin 4 times removed Martha Ann Chappell but we hadn't connected him to John P. Phillips and Nancy Ann.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Timney P. Watts (1805 - 1863) - Probate Records, Part 9, A Petition, Not a Lawsuit (Yet)

I'm still sorting through various unindexed records for my fifth great grandmother Timney P. Watts Warren Phillips but below is a petition filed with the Probate Court on behalf of the heirs of her Phillips property in October of 1863.*

[Description : Probate Records, Vol 10, 1863-1866; Probate Records, Vol 11, 1866-1868. Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

Timney Phillips
The State of Alabama     }  To the Hon C A Stanton Judge
     Macon County           }  of Probate Court.
The petition of Thomas H Phillips, and Jeremiah D Phill-
ips, respectfully shows, that your petitioners, and William
R Phillips, and Littleberry B Phillips who reside in the
State of Georgia, Mary E Lane wife of Alexander Lane, Martha 
Adams wife of James O A Adams who reside in said County
of Macon, and all of whom are of full age, Elizabeth Lockwood
who resides in Said County of Macon, Elizabeth Phillips, Eugene
Phillips, Columbiana Phillips & John Henry Phillips, who
are minors and children of Thaddeus Phillips, and represent
their Fathers Interest, and who resides in Georgia and
Joint Owners of Certain lands Situate in Said County of Macon
and known as the South half of the North West quarter of Section
Eighteen (18) Township Fifteen (15) Range twenty four (24) and
Eighty acres of the west half of the South half of the Said
Section Eighteen (18) being the Dower Interest of Timney
Phillips, and that Said lands cannot be equitably fractioned
or divided between Said Joint Owners without a Sale
                  Your petitioner therefore prays that proper notices
may be given, and that your Honor would grant an order to sell  Said
Lands
                             Clopton & Ligon atts for Petitioners

The above petition isn't dated but it is immediately followed by this entry which is.

[Description : Probate Records, Vol 10, 1863-1866; Probate Records, Vol 11, 1866-1868. Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

              The State of Alabama
To W F Hodnett, Know you that we, having full faith in your
Prudence and Competency have appointed you Commissioner, and by these
presents do authorize you at Such time and place as you may appoint,
to call before you and examine H Lockwood and William H Stanton
as witnesses in behalf of Plaintiff in a case pending in our Probate
Court of Macon County wherein J D & T H Phillips are Plaintiffs,
and William R Phillips Et al are Defendants, on oath to be by
you administered, upon Interrogatories annexed to this Commis-
sion; to Take and Certify the deposition of the witnesses, and return
the Same to our Said Court, to be held on the 2nd Monday in 
November next, under your hand and seal, witness C A Stanton
Judge of the Said Court at office, this 20th day of October AD one
thousand Eight hundred and 63.
                                                          C A Stanton Judge of Probate
Issued the 20th day of Oct 1863


Paging through the Probate Court records, I saw that naming a Commission to gather depositions from witnesses was a common practice. Next time we'll look at the questions to be asked of the witnesses and the Interrogatories themselves as filed in the Probate Court by W. F. Hodnett.**

And there's still the matter of the suit filed in 1866 which we'll get to in time.

*Note that no mention is made of her oldest son, my great great grandfather J.T.S. Warren, who had already received his inheritance from his father's estate and had moved to Texas in 1852.
**He's been described as a near neighbor of Timney's and we know from bill presented to the court for payment, that he was a doctor who treated her entire household for several years before her death.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Mehitable Leonard (1747 - 1808)

Mehitable was about 13 when her father Captain Samuel Leonard died in 1760 and her name appears in probate records on a list of his named children. Her oldest brother, also named Samuel, had to be appointed as administrator of the estate by the Court of Probate of Norwich, Connecticut, because his father had not made a will.*

[Notes : Probate Packets, Leffingwell, Christopher-Lester, Lucy, 1748-1880. Ancestry.com.

Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Connecticut County, District and Probate Courts.]

In the division of her father's property in Preston,** Mehitable's share included both a 14-acre lot and a selection of goods from her father's personal estate valued at over £49.***

 

[Notes : Probate Packets, Leffingwell, Christopher-Lester, Lucy, 1748-1880. Ancestry.com.

Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Connecticut County, District and Probate Courts.]

In 1771 Mehitable married Aaron Baldwin from neighboring Canterbury**** where the couple had seven children that we know of, including my fourth great grandmother Olive Baldwin (1778-1843)*****

[Book 4; Ancestry.com. Early Connecticut Marriages [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Original data: Bailey, Frederic W. Early Connecticut Marriages as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997.]

There are several Aaron Baldwin's in Connecticut at this time and I'm unsure of my ancestor's date of death. Mehitable died on April 6, 1808, and is buried in the Joseph Rood Farm Cemetery in Plainfield.

As you can see from the map below, Mehitable almost certainly never traveled far from her birthplace in eastern Connecticut.

[Detail from Connecticut From the best Authorities. B. Tanner, del. & sculpt. Engraved for the American Edition of Winterbotham's History of America, Published by John Reid, 1796. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

*It appears that her mother Lydia Stanton died at about the same time so perhaps the younger children found a home with Samuel Jr. and his wife Mary Freeman.
**You can visit Preston Historical Society's facebook page here.
***Captain Samuel's estate was was appraised at over £700 in the inventory completed on April 24, 1760.
****Of course Canterbury Historical Society has its own facebook page.
*****Olive's marriage to Joseph Gates (1776-1854) was one of Christine's most exciting finds last year.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

This Week Is for Mother--Day Six: Bernice Evangeline Grenfell (1902 - 1980)

Although the Great Depression left Bernice and Harold, like so many others of their generation, with a deep-seated fear of a recurrence someday, the Curreys' already conservative attitude toward money meant that they began the era with no debt, the means to produce a lot of their own food (including seafood because of their boat), and because Harold continued bringing home a paycheck meant that they had cash to spend.

Work continued on the homeplace and during the 1930s they added another three lots to their property bringing the total to about 2-1/2 acres by the end of the decade.

Their boat got some upgrades too.

Bernice's grandmother, left a widow for a second time in 1925, lived alone in her house on 69th Street until sometime in the early 1930s when she moved in with the Curreys who installed her in what had been intended as their living room.* And after Grandma Stanton died in 1935** that room remained a bedroom.

In 1935 the patio got a fireplace (and the first sign of Bernice's new nickname "Min" later expanded to "Minnie"***). Also a new Dodge truck found its place in the new garage, replacing the Pierce Arrow, and it was soon adapted for camping.

Next they built a barn, turning their back two vacant lots into pasture for the cow. (The building in the background was a neighbor's garage.)

In 1938 they built a new house at the back of their next door lot but facing 69th Street, originally intended as a rental, but it became the home of Harold's parents.

Sometime in the late 1930s they sold their boat. After Harold's friend Herb committed suicide, owning a boat didn't seem as much fun. So instead  in 1938 they got themselves one of those trailers that were just beginning to show up on the roads around America. (Note that the trailer has been christened "Minnie IV" in honor of Bernice's hated nickname.)

And they traveled around the west during their vacations, visiting Yosemite, Yellowstone, and the Pacific Northwest in the next few years.

And I'm going to leave Mother there, during the happiest times of her life. The story of her life during World War II with the loss of Junior in the last months of that war I'll save for another time.

[Photo taken by Junior probably about 1940, all photos from my personal collection]

Bernice Evangeline Grenfell Currey (1902-1980), the mother who raised me, told me once that she would have like to have been a farm wife. She certainly wasn't afraid of hard work.

I would like to have been her biological daughter.

*Which is why it has a gorgeous cobblestone fireplace on its east wall, something I never understood as a child.
**At the age of 86.
***Mother hated that being called that but it made no difference because that's what Harold insisted on calling her for the rest of her life. The name came, not from the lady mouse as you might expect, but from the wife in the popular comic strip The Gumps.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

This Week Is for Mother--Day Four: Bernice Evangeline Grenfell (1902 - 1980)

A year later the new house had acquired a coat of paint and Harold's shop had been built. He's not visible in this photo, but their son Harold Delbert Currey, Junior, was born on February 9, 1923.

[Bernice's younger brother Richard is the man in the bottom right photo, from my personal collection]

Here's a photo from the north side of their property showing their vegetable garden. (Look at all the bare hills around Encanto!)

[From my personal collection]

Over the years more additions were made to the house--a lath house with rock garden, garage, separate bedroom, dining room, and a living room (on the back so it would be more convenient for the Currey tribe who eventually included not only Harold's parents but also his two sisters' families). And both ornamental and fruit trees were planted, and walls, driveways and walks were created.

A year or two after Junior's birth, Bernice suffered a ruptured appendix and lost the child she was carrying. She wasn't expected to survive but the doctors tried the new sulfa drugs on her with great success.* However, she was never able to have another child, so Junior was their all.

The next twenty years were probably the happiest time of her life. This period is well documented and I want to cover it but I'm too tired tonight to do it justice.** Come back tomorrow and I can promise you camping trips, boats, trailers, rental property (a bungalow court on Irving Street), even a barn with a cow!

[From my personal collection]

(To be continued)

*My paternal grandfather, James Chappell Warren, Junior, died shortly after the birth of his only child in 1923 in Johnson County, Texas. From his death certificate we learn what caused his death: "Appendicitis (Ruptured) Operation; Contributing: Peritinitis, general."
**Today my daughter Christine (whose recent absence from posting here you may have noted) underwent laparoscopic surgery to implant a port so that she can begin dialysis soon so I spent the day at the hospital. All went well and she was able to go home five hours after the surgery.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

This Week Is for Mother--Day Three: Bernice Evangeline Grenfell (1902 - 1980)

As we've seen, by 1921 Bernice had survived the rigors of the Seventh Day Adventist boarding school several years before and was attending San Diego High. But an event had occurred in January of that year which changed the course of her life forever when her 72-year-old grandmother married Joseph H. Stanton, an 82-year-old retired butcher and Civil War veteran who had lost his wife a year earlier.*

[Grace Thomas Grenfell and 2nd husband Joseph H. Stanton, undated photo, from my personal collection]

The most immediate change happened when the family moved to Encanto, buying a bungalow at 879 69th Street.** Bernice now took the train downtown to school, via the San Diego and Arizona Railway which ran eight passenger-carrying trains a day. And more importantly, the move brought her into contact with "the Encanto crowd" which included a young electrician, Harold Delbert Currey, who lived just down the street.

[The house on 69th Street before the Stantons moved there, undated photo from the Currey family album in my personal collection.]

[The Curreys' house at 817, 69th Street, undated photo from my personal collection. Note the vacant land across the street.]

[Harold,wearing a dark shirt and with his arms around two girls, is on the right in the middle row. Bernice isn't in this photo from my personal collection.]

But Bernice had a problem--and his name was Joseph H. Stanton. She didn't like her new step-grandfather and he didn't like her either. Each resented the attention Grace gave to the other one.

[Bernice with her grandmother and step-grandfather, undated photo from my personal collection.]

Although her grandmother tried to persuade Bernice to accept the proposal of an "older man"*** she made her own choice, marrying Harold on May 1, 1922.****

[Photo from my private collection--note that Harold's mother was the person who took the photo, having accompanied them. Because part of the writing on the back was trimmed off when the picture was put in the photo album, it's not clear whether his father and one of his sisters went too.]

Although the newlyweds had considered property in other San Diego neighborhoods, I suppose it was inevitable that the lot they bought for their home together was at 6870 Brooklyn Avenue, just across the street from the Currey home place.

[Note that the house, although its address was on Brooklyn, faced east toward 69th Street and the Currey home place, photo from my personal collection.]

Bernice found that she had truly married a family, which will be proved in my next post.

(To be continued)

*There's no reason to believe that this union was other than a marriage of convenience. We have to remember that this was long before Meals on Wheels or grocery stores stocking pre-made meals. By joining their financial resources the couple would both benefit (and he wouldn't have to cook his own dinner).
**The house is still there.
***Mother never told me his name, but said that he was in his 30s.
****Her grandmother's comment on her decision was to say that although she liked Harold very much and had nothing against him (indeed she came to love him), "just look at his family." As an Englishwoman who had never owned property until she and her first husband immigrated to the United States and bought the farm in South Dakota that she still owned, she was very class conscious and considered marrying into the Currey family a step down.

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