Geneva and Roy at the 2006 Boyd Family Reunion

My cousin Geneva passed away yesterday, Thursday, August 19, 2010 after a long battle with illness. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Cheryl and Raynold as they make their arrangements.

I think my most vivid memories shall always be of her smiling face as we gathered at the many family occasions over the years. At our many reunions and at the funerals where we gathered to say our good byes to the loved once we would miss, Geneva always had a smile for those of us who could be there and a kind word to send back to those who couldn’t. Thinking back…I do not recall a time when she did not have a smile on her face when we were all together.

Geneva will be missed…

As details of the funeral become available I will post them here…

Memorial Service will be held on Sunday, August 29 at 2:00pm at:

So, now that we have visited Friendship and Bryant Station it’s time to try and find McCann Cemetery. McCann is the only one of the cemeteries on our list that is not marked at the road. Since it’s been over a decade since we last visited it, I was worried we might have trouble finding the cemetery. Once we got close though, my memories from that earlier visit snapped into focus on the landscape of the day and I new where we were.

McCann Cemetery

The drive into McCann is actually across a private field. It’s nothing more than two dirt tracks through some very high grass. It makes you hope you aren’t mistaken and trespassing on someones private land. Through two unmarked field gates, across a dry creek and around a stand of trees you travel before you actually see the cemetery…

Doing some research on this cemetery I have discovered that it is thought to have once been in Bell County before the borders of the counties shifted. It is said most of the folks buried here are thought to have lived around Rogers, Texas in that county.

There are five graves here that interest us. Two belong to Sherry’s Great Great Grandparents Louis and Betti Tippit. Louis was killed while breaking horses at Bryant Station in 1885. Betti died nine years later and their three daughters went to live with Bettie’s brother Redden Johnson who was running a hotel in Buckholts at the time.

The third grave we are sure of is where Josie Bell Bales was laid to rest in 1914 at the age of two. She was Sherry’s Grandaunt. The story is that she ate a green pecan and died of the poison.

The final two graves here are not known to be of her family, but the name of the two boys buried here is the same as a family name that is rare in this part of the country, so they are probably related, just unproven at this point.

As with the other cemeteries we visited, the wildflowers were in magnificent bloom here. Since we were here the last time someone has been busy cleaning and clearing. When we were last here Josie Bell was almost covered with overgrown bushes. I was almost not able to find the grave up against the fence…Today the cemetery is clear and cleaned…Peaceful and beautiful…

The shot above isn’t of Sherry’s relatives, just a general shot of some of the early graves at McCann Cemetery.

McCann Cemetery Listing

Minerva Community Cemetery

It was time to head for the Minerva Cemetery and Sherry’s Grandparents and Step-Father’s resting place. All of the cemeteries we had visited so far had been on Sherry’s Dad’s side of the family, now we were switching over to her Mom’s side. Sherry’s Uncle Jackie take care of the upkeep on this one so after our visit we were planning to swing by and visit for a while before heading toward Brenham for the night.

Minerva, Texas is where Sherry spent a bit of time growing up. Minerva is like a whole lot of small towns in Texas…It once was larger than it is now…

MINERVA, TEXAS. Minerva is on U.S. Highway 77 six miles south of Cameron in central Milam County. It was named for Minerva Adeline Sanders, who donated land for a railroad station when the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway built through the area in 1891. A post office opened in 1892. A shallow oilfield was discovered near Minerva in 1921, prompting a small boom; oil production peaked in 1927, with a gross yield of 455,985 barrels for the year. Though the oilfield continued to support a small refining operation, Minerva remained a largely agricultural community. The town lost its rail service in 1959, when the Texas and New Orleans abandoned the section of track between Cameron and Giddings. The Minerva post office was discontinued in the mid-1960s. Two churches and three businesses marked the community on county highway maps in the 1980s, when the population was reported as sixty. It was still reported as sixty through 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lelia M. Batte, History of Milam County, Texas (San Antonio: Naylor, 1956). Margaret Eleanor Lengert, The History of Milam County (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1949). Milam County Heritage and Preservation Society, Matchless Milam: History of Milam County (Dallas: Taylor, 1984).

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. “,” http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/MM/hnm48.html (accessed April 28, 2010).

The shadows were beginning to get long when we pulled up here…

But, again, the peaceful setting, the freshly painted fences, the wildflowers blooming…All demanded we spend time wandering through the whole cemetery and not just visiting Sherry’s family. After a bit of walking the heat of the day was starting to become a bit much so we headed for the car. I had to stop and snap a shot that I first snapped over thirty years ago when I was first here for Sherry’s Step-fathers funeral before we were married…

We headed for Sherry’s Uncle’s house for a visit. That is when we heard that Sherry’s cousin had been up in Milam County that day doing the same thing we were. Visiting cemeteries…Visiting ancestors…We also were told about the last cemetery…One we didn’t know about before that point where Sherry’s Great Grandparents were buried…Since it was getting late and we really wanted to see this cemetery we had been unaware of, we said our goodbyes, received directions, and hit the road one more time…

San Andres Cemetery

On the map this cemetery is called San Andres. Sherry’s Uncle called it Lebanon. No mater what it’s called it looks as though it’s just been found and is being reclaimed from the woods that grew up around it. But find it we did…And it was before the light was completely gone…

So The trip was a success all around. We found all of the places we were looking for, added a new site to our list of places to visit whenever we are in the area, and enjoyed a beautiful late spring day in the country. Blue skies, wildflowers and spring greenery…What more could a person ask for on a road trip?

Originally posted at Coffee Muses

05 April 2010

To Members of the Genealogical Community:

On Thursday, April 1st, 2010, Dr. Rhea Lawson, Director, Houston Public Library, presented a report to the City Council concerning a required reduction of operating hours in all Houston libraries including special collections due to drastic budget cuts city-wide. This proposal had already been approved by Mayor Parker prior to its presentation to council.

Effective April 17th, 2010, open hours at Clayton Library for Genealogical Research hours will be:

• Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 10-6;
• Wednesday 10-8;
• Saturday 10-5;
• Library CLOSED on Friday and Sunday

For some time now, there has been a hiring freeze in the HPL system, therefore, adjusting the total number of hours that Clayton Library will be open does not seem to be a negotiable possibility – even though Clayton operating hours are being reduced from 60 to 41 hours per week. However, CLF has significant issues and concerns regarding Friday closures. Out of town genealogists, especially societies, planning a research trip to Houston, often opt for combined Friday / Saturday research days. We are therefore requesting your support in notifying HPL that if the library MUST close on a weekday, it should be on Monday rather than Friday. Patron sign-in data reflects that Friday is a heavy-use day by Clayton patrons, and Mondays have fewer patrons. CLF believe a domino effect, including an adverse impact on tourism could result from Friday closings. In a time where family history interest is at a peak based on recent television programming such as “Who Do You Think You Are” , access to the Clayton Library’s collection is paramount to continued library growth and funding.

via Clayton Library Friends – HOURS OF OPERATION TO BE CUT FOR CLAYTON LIBRARY, AND PLANNED FRIDAY CLOSING.

I haven’t patronized the Clayton as much in recent years as I once did…On-line research being much easier these days than it once was…But I agree, if you are going to close one day a week, it should be Monday…Not Friday. Make a call…

My take has always been that genealogy is always at best an inexact science…If you can even consider it a science. The further back you go, the tougher it is to “prove” your suppositions. And when every bit of “proof” you have is secondary, or even tertiary, you are really just making an educated guess.

Controversies

Over the years I have been involved in several “controversies” of identity. Most of these controversies come about because in your search for ancestors, the first batch of data you come across contains some piece of what later looks like a mistake. Now that we are publishing our research online, these mistakes take on a life of their own and become very hard to eradicate. The permanence of the many message board posts, early database uploads to different genealogy program sites, even early file sharing among relatives have perpetrated false leads.

The image above is from the 1870 US Census for Travis County, Texas. To date, it is the only document where Caleb Cox was called Philipp that has come to light. It led to a bit of a controversy over the years because many of us treated it as a source for nameing our ancestor Phillip Caleb. I personally might have been slower to accept the census as accurate if I didn’t have another ancestor who dropped his first name on legal documents and census records over the same time period.

The latest question that has come up in my research is the last name of my Great Great Grandmother. The earliest references to come to light named her a Johnson. Now there is evidence that names her a Thompson. My tree on Ancestry straddles the two my making reference to the conflicting data. This has led to me being questioned for my proof…So far I am staying ion the middle while I weigh the merits of all of the data and continue the search for more. As this grandmother of ours lived out her entire life in the 19th century along the frontiers of civilization, there is a good chance that little more in the way of sources will ever turn up…We will have to wait and see.

Changing Patterns Of Research

Prior to the Internet, your search for data was done mostly in libraries and courthouses. Now, we are becoming dependent on the on-line databases. There are problems with this new reliance…The database indexes are not always correct. Many times when I search the databases for ancestors in places I know they were, I can’t find them…But if I spend the time to actually go over the images the data is extracted from I will find the family I am looking for. Often, it becomes evident that the person or persons who did the indexing were misreading the handwriting in the document. You, with your greater knowledge of the family you are searhing for, recognize the names even though they may be hard to read.

Even common family stories can mislead…How many of you have the oral tradition that a few generations back you had Native American ancestors? My family has this tradition…My dad was under the impression that his father or his grandfather had been born in Oklahoma. None of the evidence to date support either of these family stories. I still can’t help but wonder if they might not be based on some truth just further back than the evidence has led so far.

As I continue to do genealogical research, I find myself being slower and slower to accept the initial assumptions…Even when backed up by meticulous research. I am now more aware of the life our data can take on once it’s published to the internet.

Over the past month I have heard from relatives of my mothers grandmother, Della Blair Medford. This Blair line had been mostly unknown until I heard from two different cousins with their own lines. One is sharing photos which I will be posting over the coming days to the database at Boyd-Family.net.

Today brought this photo to my Facebook page…

Along with the photo came this note:

Hi Gary, My daddy Larry Jack Boyd, and Aunt Betty Jo Boyd “Deanhart” or not in this picture they where both at work.
This is a picture of my Dad’s family I’ll start from top left. Willie Dempsy Boyd, Ruby Irean Boyd “Edwards”, (My Grannie) Minnie Irene Lieble “Boyd”, (My Papa) Jodie Richard Boyd, Minny Beathce Boyd “King”, Curtis Albert Boyd, Eula May Boyd “Bradford”, Richard Dougals Boyd, Jodie Lewis Boyd, Bobby Joe Boyd, Mary Jewel Boyd “Simpson”. – Sandy More

You can now create a Picasa account and then your, your siblings, your cousins, and others can upload pictures to the same albums. This should be a great method of sharing family photos, whether they be from the late 1800s or from last week's family reunion.

via Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter: Collaborative Picasa Web Albums.

Now, unfortunately, that doesn’t mean everything is up to date…No, that would be too easy. My Ancestry.com subscription makes it easy to do research…But hard to move the data from the internets to my database. So in the process of chasing some families online I have yet to put the data into my Legacy database so it can be moved here. Bear with me. It’ll happen.

Anyhow, the site is now as up to date as my database is. I’ll try to make a note to update it more often…

Remember…The Username is Guest and the Password is history

View all

Feb. 7, 1980

Dear Mrs. Ralph Olson

You may be surprised to hear from me. I am Laura Bishop Hallister’s daughter an I wondered if you could tell me some about your Mother’s people.

Before my mother passed away she made a trip to South Texas to visit some of her cousins an Aunts. She called your Mother Aunt Sally. Did you see her when she came down there. They had a large family picnic for her but I’ve forgot some of the things she told me.

My Father + Mother both talked a lot about their kin folks but theres a lot I wish I’d written down. I know her father Steve had 6 half brothers and sisters. An your mother was Sally Delana Cox Boyd who died in 1964. Someone had written my Mother.

Steve Bishop married Melissa Cox an Mother wrote to these girls Evelyn and Ruby off an on for years. Would you know them? Which one of the Cox’s was Melissa married to before?

Did you folks live near my Mothers folks at any time.

I’ve always wished we could have afforded a trip down there but we all have had to work for a living an never had the money to go on such a vacation. I would appreciate any information you have on these family matters I love family history. If you don’t know any of this its alright let me hear from some of you.

Your kin from Montana

Ona Mae Juhl

Mrs. B. R. Juhl

This was the first letter. I really do not think Aunt Bessie would have known much about these kinfolk in Montana. I do not have her reply, but from the second letter it would appear she was unfamiliar with any of this family. Laura Bishop was a child of Steven Bishop and his first wife Johnnie Chamberland. It appears that after Johnnie died Steven Bishop married the widow of his half-brother Henry Cox, Melissa Brown Cox.

The second letter reads like this…

March 5, (1980 from envelope)

Mrs. Ralph Olson

Dear Bessie W so glad to hear from you. I know you didn’t know who I was but was surprised you didn’t know any Bishops. Didn’t you ever see Steve Bishop who married your Aunt Melissa? You didn’t tell me which one of the Cox’s Aunt Melissa was married too first?

My Mother Laura Hallister Bishop visited down in Southern Texas I think it was 1954. A cousin or half cousin took her from Austin or Houston by car down there. She stayed over the weekend an they had a large family picnic in the park. She told me who all these people were at the time but I’ve forgotten. These pictures of Aunt Ellen and Aunt Sally were taken then or sent to her later. I knew she went to see these older Aunts. She had lived near by them as a girl because she spoke of them often.

My parents and grandparents (the Hallisters) came to Montana in 1916 homesteaded and went broke. We three older girls were born in Oklahoma. I had four younger sisters no brothers there are 5 of us girls left two of my sisters Aline 69 yrs Ruby 65 an Myself 67 live here in Billings. My youngest sister 50 lives in Colo. Frieda lives in Salem Oregon. She will be 56 yrs old.

Freida has a daughter an son (4 grandchildren). Ruby had 2 boys an 1 girl She has 9 grandchildren 1 great grandchild. Aline has been a widow for over 25 years an didn’t have children. I have been married 46 years an we never had children either

You must be a lot younger than we are to have teenage children.

Mother had your name an address with others in an old address book. I’ll send these pictures to you. Maybe you know some of them they were ones Mother had taken on that trip to Texas. This old snap shot of Uncle Willie Cox and Aunt Alice is one Mother had among her old pictures. I don’t know who the other woman was. When we were kids growing up we’d look throu the old pictures until I that we knew them all. Mother relate stories about ever one. She and Daddy must have been awful lonesome those first years in Montana. Grandpa Bishop visited here in the summer of 1920 I was 8 yrs old an remember him.

I would hope you keep in touch with me I love to know about the kin.

We haven’t had much winter in Montana about 5 inches of snow has fallen since Sunday but it isn’t cold an unusually mild winter. We need more moisture for crops an range land next summer.

You may keep the pictures or give them to someone who knows as I don’t know any of them.

I know Mother went to or throu Lulu Texas where she saw fields of watermelon grown commercially.

Bye for now

Your Montana kinfolks

Ona Mae Juhl

It looks like I have some additional research to do to tie all of these together with my family…more to follow.