Family Friday: Christopher Colbert "Col" Chappell & Wife Cornelia Josephine "Puss" Stanley Chappell

This double portrait of Col Chappell and his wife was posted to her tree by a distant Freeman cousin who's an Ancestry DNA match.* Since my family tree has quite a few Chappells in it, including my 3X great grandmother Sarah Heath Chappell, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Col is also related to me through his father's line.**

Col was born in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, in 1849 and that's where he and Puss were married. They remained in Alabama (where five of their eventual twelve children were born) until about 1882 when they removed to Texas where they lived out their days.

Puss died on 1934 and Col survived her by three and a half years. They are both buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Hall County.

[Posted by their descendant KathyWhitaker51 to her Ancestry family tree]

Here's how we're related:

[Ancestry.com]

*As a 5th - 8th cousin
**I'll have to research his lineage to find out.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

More McDonalds in Anderson County, Texas

This triple portrait of John Bethune McDonald (1851-1928), his wife Susie America Freeman (1867-1958) and supposedly Brice N. McDonald (1901-1986)* taken in Neches, Anderson County, Texas, was posted to findagrave.com by the late Nancy Franklin-Walling Bundrick who found it in The Portal to Texas History.

[John Bethune, Susie Freeman and Brice N. McDoinald [sic], Neches, Texas c. 1900

"The Portal to Texas History" - Anderson County.]

*If the date of 1900 is correct it could be Brice's brother Bethune Freeman McDonald (1892-1937). (The source states that the date could be approximate.)


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Johnnie Belle & Brice Norvill McDonald - About 1908

Johnnie (1894-1984) and her brother Brice (1901-1986) are several more of my distant Freeman cousins.*

[J.B. and Brice N. McDonald shared to Ancestry.com by jimkelly1803]

Johnnie attended the University of Texas, Austin, from about 1915 through 1920. Here's a group photo which includes her from the 1919 yearbook:

["U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; Year: 1919. Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990 (database on-line).

Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.]

In 1925 Johnnie went to Europe although we don't know when she left the U.S. or what countries she visited. The only record I was able to find for her was this returning passenger list showing that she sailed from Rotterdam (on the S.S. Rotterdam) and arrived in New York on September 10th.

[Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897. Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls. NAI: 6256867. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36. National Archives at Washington, D.C. Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957. Microfilm Publication T715, 8892 rolls.]

[Ancestry.com. Passenger Ships and Images [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

Original data: Various maritime reference sources.]

A year later she was teaching history at Central High School in South Houston, Texas.

["U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; Year: 1926. Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990 (database on-line).

Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.]

She and Samuel Charles Ballard (1892-1981) were married on June 24, 1928 and the 1930 U.S. Census found them living with her parents in Neches, Anderson County, Texas. Johnnie was teaching high school while Samuel clerked in her Mcdonald family's general store. Ten years later the couple were living in their own house, Johnnie still a teacher and Samuel was working as a salesman in a grocery store managed by another of the McDonald clan.

As far as I can find out, the couple never had any children.** They remained in Anderson County for the rest of their lives. From findagrave.com we learn that Johnnie was "[k]nown to be active in the East Texas Historical Commission and United Daughters of the Confederacy, John H, Reagan Chapter."

[Samuel Ballard and Johnnie Bell McDonald, photo shared to Ancestry.com by amreece1]

Samuel died in 1981 and Johnnie survived him by three years. They are both buried in the Neches Cemetery.



Here's how we're related:

[Ancestry.com]

**Her brother Brice named his daughter for her.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Sarah Elizabeth Chappell (1830 - 1917)

Sarah's father Abram Heath Chappell was the brother of Sarah Heath Chappell Hardy (my great great great grandmother) which makes her one of my first cousins, four times removed.

[Posted to her Ancestry.com family tree by suzannepatton1]

Sarah was born in Cotton Valley, Macon County, Alabama, and that's probably where she met and married James Campbell Gambill Russell Patton*who had begun his teaching career there and that's where the couple's first child was born in 1851. 

Sarah and J.C.G.R. had six children, only three of whom lived to maturity. After her husband's death in 1912 Sarah moved from her home in Grandview, Johnson County, to Waco, McLennan County, Texas, where her youngest son Abram Chappell Patton had established himself as a successful business man and community leader. 

The abbreviated biography in the first paragraph of Sarah's obituary doesn't completely agree with existing information we have for her husband.**

[31 Mar 1917, Page 11 - Waco Morning News at Newspapers.com]

She's buried with J.C.G.R. in Grandview Cemetery.

[Findagrave.com memorial #31497872; photo added by Judi W #46932124]

Here's how we're connected:

[Ancestry.com]

*He's always referred to as J.C.G.R. Patton.
**As you can see he was a well-respected teacher and Methodist Episcopal minister.

[From manuscript at Layland Museum in Cleburne Texas "The Churches of Grandview" and clipping from article written by Al Smith published in the "Texas Christian Advocate," and information given by Mrs. Virginia Heath Freeman, Cleburne.
Posted to her Ancestry.com family tree by suzannepatton1 ]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Violet Cora (Porter) Cook, Her Son Calvin & Dallas Baby Camp - 1927

Violet is one of my paternal grandmother's sisters which makes her my great aunt. As far as I can tell she married a man named Roy or Ross Cook sometime between 1925, when she was listed in the Dallas City Directory and 1927 when Calvin was born in Wichita Falls, Texas.

As you can see in Calvin's birth certificate, his father's given name is listed as Roy (or possibly Ray).

[Ancestry.com. Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1932 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Birth Certificates, 1903–1932. iArchives, Orem, Utah.]

Although Roy (or Ray) Cook isn't an uncommon name and there are several candidates for Calvin's father, I'm not prepared to claim that any of them are the right man.

Baby Calvin only lived for one month and 1 day before his death in Dallas. According to the death certificate he was born prematurely.

[Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.]

What caught my eye was the place of death, Dallas Baby Camp. So I decided to do a bit of research which led me to a 1947 newspaper clipping about its history.

[3 Jan 1947, Page 3 - The Courier-Gazette at Newspapers.com]

I also located this article published five years ago by the Dallas Morning News which gives a more comprehensive overview of the Baby Camp.

[Dallas News powered by the Dallas Morning News]

The next public record for Violet is the 1930 U.S. Census where she's a widow living in her mother's house (along with several of her sisters, including my grandmother and my father).

In the next census ten years later, Violet, now single, was still living with her mother and extended family. She died in 1944 and here's her death certificate which states that she died of encephalitis of 15 years duration which would put the onset of the disease back to 1929. Perhaps that's why in both the 1930 and 1940 federal enumerations no occupation is listed for Violet.

[Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Mabel Myrtle (Bryan) Morriss (1895 - 1991)

Without knowing her story, anyone looking at the 1940 U.S. Census record for Mabel Morriss (one of my second cousins, twice removed*) would have no reason to think that her life was any different from the other farm wives in Cass County, Texas. It seems there's no census category for "tireless pioneer."

[1940 United States Federal Census. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.Original data - United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.:

National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627]

The Bowie-Cass Electric Co-op wouldn't exist without her vision and hard work. This is from the co-op's history page:

The slight, pleasant East Texas lady with limitless hope for the future and belief in her fellow East Texans brought the Douglassville co-op into being almost single-handedly, braving numerous condemnations of the project as "economically unfeasible." A few years back when employees and members of Bowie-Cass Electric Cooperative were asked about the organizing of the co-op, they would reply, "Ask Mabel Bryan Morriss. She did it." 

It all started one warm night in May 1935, as Mabel Bryan Morriss read the latest issue of the Atlanta Citizens-Journal. If she hadn't been too interested in the story about the new-born Rural Electrification Administration and its offer to finance electricity for everybody who could qualify, Mrs. Morriss could have heard the whispers from other pioneers about the obstacles to be encountered along unblazed trails, and the heartaches and rebuffs that go hand in hand with the challenge of leadership.

Over the years she served on the board of directors, as secretary-treasurer, and even donated the land that the co-op's offices occupy to this day. Go read the rest of the story to get an appreciation of how hard Mabel worked to achieve her goal: "John Carmody [the government official in Washington DC] approved the project in August 1937, but his reservations were far from resolved, for he commented even while approving, "I know this thing will never pay out, but this is the only way to get that woman off our necks!' "

The Cooperative currently serves over 36,000 members.

[Originally posted on her Ancestry.com family tree by SummerGBmore]

[From the Bowie-Cass Electric Cooperative website]

You can read more about the Cooperative here, which includes some background on the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). Here's the application form that Mabel had to fill out to start the process:

[Source: East Texas History-Bowie-Cass Electric Cooperative]

*Here's how we're related:

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Celebrations: Fathers Day

The father who raised me: Harold D. Currey (1902-1981).

[Coos Bay, Oregon -1911]

[With son Harold D. Jr., San Diego, California - c. 1928]

[Holding me, San Diego, California - 1947]

[After Mother's death - La Jolla, California - 1980]

My biological father Tracy Stuart Warren (1923- )

[Center, with half brothers, probably Dallas, Texas - c. 1936]

[In the Navy - World War II]

[Probably Corsicana, Texas - c. 1998]

All the photos of Harold Currey are from my personal collection, the first two pictures of Tracy Warren are courtesy of James Turnbull, the portrait was sent to me by Tracy after we contacted him in the late 1990s.




© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Elmer Lee Scarborough (1905 - 1966) - Guitarist & Band Leader

By the time Elmer Scarborough* was 18 he was running an amateur radio transmitting station out of his parent's home in Fort Worth, Texas. According to the 1930 U.S. Census he was still living at home and was working as a pressman for a printer. But by 1932 he had become the leader of a country swing group called the Hi-Flyers** who had a regular program on a local radio station.

[The Hi-Flyers, Elmer is on the left.]

The band made a number of recordings between 1937 and 1941 and I was able to find two of their songs on YouTube.

[Roadside Rag]

[Mable Ain't Able]

The group disbanded during World War II, but reformed in 1946 with Elmer still in charge.

[Fort Worth Star-Telegram Wednesday, Mar 20, 1946 Fort Worth, TX Page: 5.

Source: Genealogy Bank]

Sadly, the reunion lasted only about a year and as far as I can tell from city directories and his 1966 death certificate, Elmer's musical career was over.


*He's my fourth cousin, through my father's Freeman line:

[Ancestry.com]

**Here's Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary's history of the Hi-Flyers, listen to them on AllMusic or buy a CD of some of their music on Amazon.






© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Georgia G. Kay (1890 - 1946) Dramatic Soprano

Georgia Kay, the wife of Henry Thomas Warren (my first cousin, twice removed) was born in Utah, the daughter of an English father and Danish mother. She appears in early records first as Alice M. Kay in the 1900 U.S. Census and then, after her 1908 Wyoming marriage to Franklin L. Arnold, as Matilda G. in the 1910 federal enumeration. I'm not sure when she picked the name Georgia by which she was later known.

Georgia and Mr. Arnold had two children together, the second of whom was born in California in 1910. Since her husband married a second time in Utah in 1919 it's clear that he and Georgia had parted before then.

The costume worn by Georgia on this advertising placard looks like it dates from the early 1920s. Unfortunately I don't know where she was performing although it's likely to have been somewhere in Southern California.

[Posted by Heather Valtee on an Ancestry.com family tree]

Cousin Henry Thomas Warren left his home in Cass County, Texas, for California sometime after the 1920 U.S. Census and Georgia married him in Santa Ana in 1924 and she seems to have ended her singing career thereafter because she claims no occupation in the 1930 and 1940 U.S. Census records.*

She died in 1946 and is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale; he never remarried and eventually returned to Texas where he died in 1976.

*Henry was a street car conductor.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Texas and the Civil War

Half of my eight great great grandfathers fought in the Civil War. One, Willet O. "Dick" Worden, was a private in the Iowa 24th Infantry, and of the three who were Confederate soldiers*, two were in Texas and I've never been able to locate them in online military records.

So when this email from the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) arrived in my inbox this morning I jumped at the chance to learn more about what happened in Texas during the war.

Of course I don't expect to find any mention of those ancestors who reputedly enlisted in Texas regiments, but since we do know where they were living at the start of the war this information may help me focus on likely military units they would have served in.




*They were John Warren Avery (of Mississippi); the Texans were J.T.S. Warren and Abner Webb.



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Frances L Turner (1827 - 1851)

When my third great aunt Francis Turner married my third great uncle Benjamin Blanton Freeman in 1844 the couple weren't the first members of their respective families to be joined together. Her older sister Elizabeth "Lizzie" and his older brother Henry Hill "H.H." had gotten married four years earlier and were to become my great great grandparents through their daughter Nancy Elizabeth, known as Nanny.

[Ancestry.com. Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: County Marriage Records, 1828–1978. The Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia.]

Francis only appears in one Federal Census record (in 1850) and she'd already had three children in the six years of her marriage.

[Year: 1850; Census Place: Subdivision 65, Newton, Georgia; Roll: M432_79; Page: 514A; Image: 440. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

Another son was born in December, 1850, and it's believed that Francis died around that time but no date is known for certain.

A few days ago Christine and I was discussing how quickly the names of parents can be forgotten and the 1925 Texas death certificate of her son Josephus (J.C.) is an example of that, although his information is more complete than some. His father's name is recognizable while his mother's given name is correct, but her maiden name is listed as "Tonnel". The informant is listed as "Hosp Chart" so perhaps J.C. was the source?

[Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.]

The parental information for his brother Richard Turner Freeman's death certificate two years later is complete and correct, undoubtedly due to the source of information being his cousin (and my great grandmother) Nanny Freeman (Mrs. James Chappell Warren).

[Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fashion Question? Whoopee Booties - The Style Success of the Season

Do you think one of your ancestors might have worn these in 1929?

[Sears Roebuck catalog, Fall 1929 - from the witness2fashion blog on Wordpress]

I found this image on one of my favorite blogs: witness2fashion which is a great resource, especially for "ordinary" clothing styles of the 1920s and 30s.*

I can picture my paternal grandmother Letta Estella Porter (1901-1974) donning a pair, though it doesn't appear that's what she was wearing in this snapshot taken in Dallas, Texas, on August 18th of that year.

[Courtesy of James E. Turnbull III]

*The blog also covers clothing styles of other decades as well.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Mercy Ann Darling Webb Walsh's Obituary - 1915

We have my great great grandmother's 1915 obituary thanks to research done by Findagrave's member Gayle Neuhaus, a resident of Winnetoon, Nebraska. Gayle added a transcription of it to Mercy's memorial, adding her source so I was able to locate a scan of the original* from The Creighton Liberal:

[Source: Digital Archives of the Creighton Public Library]

                  Obituary**
   Mrs. Mercy Ann Walsh was born on
the eleventh day of May 1835 at
Harvard, Courtland County, N y
and died Oct. 29, 1915 at Creighton
Nebr being 80 year 5 months and 18
days old
   In 1858 she was married to Abner
Webb of Jones county, Ia. Soon after
their marriage they moved 
to Collen County Texas
where was born to them a son
J.D. Webb who resides in Winnetoon.
When the country was in the throes of
war in the sixties her husband re-
sponded to the call of the South and
laid down his life upon the altar of 
his country.
   In 1864 Miss Webb married Joshua
B Walsh in McKenny Collen county
Texas from which place they moved
to Iowa in 1866. To this union four
children were born all of whom are
still living. Two sons F B. and J
S Walsh reside at Boulder, Colo.
Mrs Kitty May Pierce of Idaho and
Mrs Dr. Hazen of Creighton, Nebr.
During her entire life she has been
very healthy; and knowing she had
lived beyond her allotted time here
on earth she came to Creighton to
spend her last days with her daugh-
ter and also that she might at her
death be buried in the Millerboro
churchyard by the side of her hus
band  Mr Walsh served thorought
the Mexican was for which a pension
was received by his wife. He also 
fought under Gen. Jackson against
the Indians of Florida.
   For forty years Mrs. Walsh was a
member of the Church of God and
was very faithful in and to her reli-
gious beliefs. The funeral services
were held Sunday Oct. 31st at the 
home of Mrs. Hazen, Rev. Joseph
Stanford pastor Methodist Church
officiating  Internment was at Miller-
boro  Six of her grand sons, Claude,
Elmer, and Waymond Hazen;
Herbert Fred and John Webb, acted 
as pall bearers  Thus laid at rest 
a soul that feared God
                --------------
       CARD OF THANKS
   We sincerely desire to thank all our
friends and neighbors for their help
and expressions of sympathy. In the
sorror that has come to us in the
loss of our mother and grandmother.
   Dr. and Mrs. Hazen and family.
   Jess and Nora Webb and family.

This is very exciting because, although bits and pieces of Mercy's life with her first husband have come down to us, this is the closest we've gotten to the story she would have told about herself and her son (and my great grandfather) Jess Webb was one of the sources of the information printed here. Here's a portrait of Mercy that belonged to him:

[Courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy. The handwriting is probably that of my grandmother Anna Delilah Webb Slater.]

Especially interesting is the statement that Mercy and Abner Webb moved to Texas shortly after their 1858 marriage.*** Abner's maternal grandfather Jesse Sill died in November of the previous year, leaving him a bequest of $300; could it have been the expectation of this money that encouraged the couple to relocate? If so, I'm afraid they were to be disappointed because at the time of Jesse Sill's death the country was experiencing a severe economic "panic" and his diminished estate wasn't settled for a very long time.

We've never been able to locate Mercy in the 1860 U.S. Census although we know that Abner was employed as a carpenter by attorney Fred L. Gates**** in Collin County on June 7, 1860 (less than six weeks before his son was born). Several sources has claimed that son Jesse David Webb was born in Galveston but not this obituary.

Although there's no record of Abner's military service (on either side*****) here it's stated clearly that his sympathies were with the Confederacy.

Thanks again Gayle, for finding this and posting it where I could find it.


*Looking at the obituary as printed, it's clear that whoever set the type wasn't particularly skilled and/or didn't proofread it carefully.
**Several corrections are in order: Mercy Darling was born in Harford in Cortland County, NY; McKinney is in Collin County, Texas.
***There's a transcription of a Jones County Marriage Book which lists the date of their marriage as November 6, 1856. Because it's not the original, that date could be an error.
****Gates later rose to the rank of a Captain in the 16th Regiment, Texas Cavalry (Fitzhugh's). Two other regiments included men from McKinney: 6th/15th (Consolidated) Regiment, Texas Volunteers; and 6th Regiment, Texas Cavalry (Wharton, Stone's).
*****I've even seen some claims that Abner served with Sherman on his march through Georgia.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: In Cameron County, Texas

The little girl in these photos is Eugenie Evelyn Jackson (1930-1998), the stepdaughter of a paternal third cousin, once removed, Eugenius Nesbit Freeman Jr.* who married her mother in 1936. School and newspaper records for Eugenie and her older sister Jessie show that they commonly used the Freeman surname but gave their correct maiden name when they got married.

I've identified the car as a 1932 Plymouth Coupe (note the rumble seat) and Eugenie looks to be about four so the photo dates to about 1934/35 and may have belonged to her birth father John I. Jackson.

According to the relative who posted these pictures, Gladys was the name of Eugenie's doll.

[Both photos shared to one of her public Ancestry.com family trees by agadobetty]

*As far as I can tell, E.N. Freeman (as he preferred to be known) never had any children of his own.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.