Garland Kenneth Vincent (1923-2003)-my great uncle
Guest Post: Stories about Minnie Virginia Richards
Grandmother Para
by Virginia Marie Stalls
Grandmother was a lot of fun to be around, and I loved spending at least a week in the summers with her and Grandaddy.
She and he would banter back and forth, and she and the housekeeper would do the same thing. I would just sit and laugh.
I learned a lot from her. She taught me to hold a pencil between my teeth when I spoke because "young ladies don't open their mouths very wide when they speak." She corrected my pronunciation from "git" to "get as in bet." When I had trouble with "W" and "M" learning to write she told me that water starts with "W" and that it would hold water. If you put water in "M" it would fall out. I learned to set a proper table. She would briefly look it over and say that we would have our meal when the table was set correctly. Usually it would be a knife with the blade facing the wrong way. She went to finishing school as a young girl, but I had my own private tutor!
Whenever she went anywhere, including the grocery store, she would be dressed very nicely and wearing a fur coat in the winter. She was definitely patient with me because I loved to stroke the fur.
She took holidays very seriously and decorated elaborately for Christmas. Whether it was Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas the table was full of her special dishes, and she was a great cook. I think my favorite was her oyster dressing with giblet gravy over it. For Easter she and Granddaddy spent time dyeing eggs, and Daddy would gold leaf one for the grand prize of 50 cents, I think it was, for the lucky person who found it.
They lived on Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, TN when I was in junior high school. The owners of the house lived in the downstairs basement. There was a sunroom across the back of the house overlooking the lake. The owners would have parties, and country music stars attended. Grandmother pointed out to me who was there, and I can only remember Little Jimmy Dickens now.
When they moved from Nashville to Memphis I was in high school and would save my money to catch the train to go to visit with them. Later when I was a young adult and lived in Memphis Grandmother wasn't driving anymore. Her friends would pick her up about once a week or so to get together for cards. She would ask me to watch her soaps (Guiding Light, As the World Turns, and Secret Storm) so that she wouldn't miss anything.
Another thing she would ask me to do is to sneak Fate magazine to her and not to let Granddaddy know. She firmly believed in the supernatural and enjoyed reading about it.
She had a lot of plants by the sliding glass door going onto the balcony, and Granddaddy called it a "jungle."
What few stories about her childhood would come out usually at the prompting of my father if he was there. The one story I can recall right now is that as a child she refused to go to sleep until one of the housemen came to her bedroom and played the fiddle for her.
Another story involved a dinner at a Chinese restaurant in New York City. She asked their host what the gristly things were in her food, and he said it was rat tails. She promptly got up, went outside, and proceeded to throw up in the gutter. It's hard to imagine my proper grandmother sitting on the curb in NYC.
She liked corned beef sandwiches and chocolate éclairs a lot. Before I got the call that she had died I had spent the day craving those foods and wanting to shoot pool. She liked to play snooker. That day she and Grandaddy were getting ready to go to Nashville for a political convention. I talked to her the day before she died and she said she hadn't been anywhere in a long time, so she was really excited about going. She had just gotten out of the shower and sat down telling Granddaddy that she didn't feel well, and then she suddenly slumped and died.
Her funeral was a full Catholic funeral, and she is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis with her family around her. There is a monument with the Richards name where her parents and siblings are buried right near her grave. Her headstone is set flat, and Granddaddy is buried beside her.
Gray Stringer
Oh, another one of those ancestors, huh?
Something I continuously notice on ancestry that irks me to no end is when people put up random information that just does not fit with no explanation or source as to where they got the information. And they don’t answer emails asking about their sources. AND ten other people decide that since that person has far more information than they do then they must be right. And I have seen many, many times that they are wrong.
I am only going to present the information that I know. Which isn’t much, by the way.
(this might be a really short post)
I know that Gray Stringer was born sometime between 1807 and 1809 in Tennessee to Larry Stringer and S. Stringer (those names are listed on the death record). Presumably his parents are Lawrence Stringer, of North Carolina, and Sallie Pitt, also of North Carolina. Larry and Sallie married in Tennessee in 1796, according to the Family Data Collection.
Gray married Elizabeth Pitt, who I believe is his cousin, in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky on December 28, 1837. The marriage was officiated by Reverend John Gray (Muhlenberg marriage Book Two).
The one and only census record that Gray Stringer’s name appears on is the 1850 census enumerated in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. He is listed as 41 years old and a farmer. He is living with his wife Elizabeth (age 32 years), daughter America (age 11 years), daughter Lucy (age 9 years), daughter Margaret (my great-great-grandmother, age 7 years) and a boy by the name of Balis Stringer (age 15 years) that I have seen listed on other’s family trees as Gray and Elizabeth’s son, along with a girl named Jennie as their daughter, but I have not seen how they came to this conclusion. Balis is later seen on the 1860 census living in New Madrid, Missouri with William Douglass, a ship carpenter, and his family. Balis is a blacksmith.
Gray Stringer passed on October 6, 1857 in McLean County, Kentucky. The cause of death was apoplexy, which really could have been almost anything.
According to the 1860 census, Elizabeth was widowed, but she and Gray had three more children before he died: daughter Virginia J (age 8 years in 1860), Sally M (age 6 years in 1860) and John S (age 3 years in 1860).
It’s pretty sad that I don’t have any other information to write about him. Maybe someone out there has some stories!
Frigidaire Electric Refrigerator 1931
Introducing the 1931 Frigidaire Electric Refrigerator! It’s porcelain inside and out! I wonder how heavy it was?
The porcelain is lifetime, but the refrigerator is only guaranteed for three years…
I would like to have one of these in my kitchen!
More Thoughts On Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers
I had a revelation last night while perusing the census records for the Summers family that may be a stretch, but in some ways it makes perfect sense (whether or not my idea is truth or not, I don’t know yet…more research will need to be done, but…).
So we already know that I have not been able to locate Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers on the 1870 census, even though she was supposedly born in March of 1870, presumably in Stewart County, Tennessee, and the census for that year in Stewart County wasn’t enumerated until August. And we already know that the woman everyone thinks is her mother, Amanda M Summers, shows up on the 1870 Stewart County census living with her parents sans Lizzie.
But what if that particular Amanda Summers is not Lizzie mother?
According to Lizzie’s death certificate James Franklin Summers and Amanda Summers are her parents. And according to the Proctor family James Anderson Proctor is her father. I’m not really sure why this idea has arisen, unless Lizzie, Leona or Leon told people that was the case. And I’m not saying that Leona and Leon aren’t, I’m saying that I don’t think JA Proctor is Lizzie’s father.
This post also touches base again that just because a death record or census record says something it doesn’t make it true.
Facts according to the census records:
1850 is the first year that the Federal Government required that all persons living in a household be accounted for by name on the census records (prior to 1850 certain states here and there listed each individual family member, but it wasn’t required and those are separate state census records, not federal).
In 1850 Pink and Emily are living in Stewart County, Tennessee with their children (born by the time that census was enumerated): Thomas (age 10 years), Rebecca (age 8 years), James (age 5 years), Green (Greenberry, age 2 years) and Francis (Mary?, age 2 months). (note: the Summers family lived next door to the Cathey family, as in Archibald Cathey and his parents. Archibald is the supposed father of William Glenn Cathey who is future husband of Lizzie).
In 1860 Pink and Emily are living in Stewart County, Tennessee with their children (born by the time that census was enumerated): Thomas (age 20 years), Rebecca (age 18 years), James (age 16 years), Green (Greenberry, age 12 years), Mary (Francis?, age 11 years), Amanda (age 9 years) and Louisa (age 7 years).
In 1870 Pink and Emily are living in Stewart County, Tennessee with their children that are still at home (presumably the others have moved out) and two children that I cannot say for certain are their children, since they should have been on the 1860 census with them if they are (but they weren’t): Greenberry (age 23 years), Amanda (age 18), Clementine (Louisa?, age 16 years) and the two that don’t fit in at all: Anderson (age 15 years) and Rufus (age 13 years). (note: who are the parents of Anderson and Rufus? The census for 1870 doesn’t give how each person is related to head of household, like the 1880 census does. I haven’t yet found them on another census, but I am still looking).
Ok, so now we get down to the 1880 census. Pink has by now passed (haven’t found him on the 1850-1885 Mortality Schedule yet, though). Emily is head of household living with her children: Greenberry (age 32 years) and Amanda (age 28 years). Both Greenberry and Amanda are still Single. Also in the household are the three children *thought* to be Amanda’s: Lizzie (age 10 years), Leona (age 6 years) and Infant (Leon, age 1 month). The three children are listed as Emily’s grandchildren. There is also a boarder listed by the name of Ritchard (age 19 years) that also has the last name Summers (unless the enumerated just didn’t feel like getting his actual last name).
After 1860 Thomas, Rebecca, James and Francis/Mary are no longer found (at least not easily, since I have not yet located them).
After 1870 Louisa (Clementine?) has married and can be found with her husband, last name McMillan. Anderson and Rufus are not found. Pink has passed (as Emily is listed as widowed in 1880).
After 1880 Emily and Amanda are not found. They have presumably passed, also. There is no census for 1890. I have not yet been able to find Leon on the 1900 census, though in 1902 he married Lassie Burton Bellar in Stewart County, Tennessee leading me to believe he probably lived with Greenberry and not James Anderson Proctor. Both Lizzie and Leona married on August 26, 1889 and can be found on the 1900 census with their husbands.
So I am going to present two common theories about Lizzie’s parents to the readers (one less common than the second):
Amanda M Summers, daughter of Basil Pinkney “Pink” Summers and Emily Jane Duffel, and James Anderson Proctor, the man Amanda married in late 1880, are in fact Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers parents.
OR
Amanda M Summers, daughter of Basil Pinkney “Pink” Summers and Emily Jane Duffel, and James Franklin Summers, brother to Basil Pinkney “Pink” Summers and husband of Tennessee Porter Outlaw, are Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers parents.
Now for a new theory:
What if neither of those theories is correct?
We don’t actually have any proof that Amanda M Summers, daughter of Basil Pinkney “Pink” Summers and Emily Jane Duffel, is the mother of any of the three possibly illegitimate children, Lizzie being the main person we are focusing on here. The only thing we know is that they are listed on the 1880 census as Emily’s grandchildren. James Anderson Proctor was not the person that signed the marriage bonds for Lizzie and Leona, rather it was Greenberry Summers, Amanda’s brother, that signed them. You would think that if JA Proctor were their father he would have signed the bonds. Remember, this was before he married Sarah Hamm and moved to Missouri. This doesn’t mean that Amanda had died by August of 1889, either. Because we have no proof. I have yet to see a document stating exactly where, when and how she died. Basically, there is no proof anywhere of Amanda M Summers even being their mother, nor them ever having lived with Amanda and JA Proctor after their marriage OR of JA Proctor ever having anything to do with them.
We have Lizzie’s death certificate that names her parents as James Franklin Summers and Amanda Summers. Let’s think about this: if we go back to the 1850 and 1860 census we see that Pink and Emily have a son named James. Granted, it doesn’t give us a middle name, or initial, but it is possible that he was named after his uncle. The Summers family tended to use the same given names over and over: Basil, Greenberry, Pinkney, James, Margaret, Clementine, Emily, etc. If James Summers (son of Pink and Emily) is the father of Lizzie then it is quite possible that he married someone by the name of Amanda, or someone who went by the name Amanda, and when it came time to fill out the death record no one knew what her maiden name had been (as a quick example of how a name can escape a census record: throughout Lizzie’s life she is known on different census records as Lizzie, Margaret, and Elizabeth).
Since I cannot find James Summers (as of yet) on any census record after 1860 is it possible that, if he were married to an Amanda and they had Lizzie, that perhaps they moved from one area where the census hadn’t yet been enumerated in 1870 to an area where it had already been enumerated for that year? And is it possible that they had two more children, Leona and Leon, and then both somehow passed before the 1880 census, whereas the children then show up on that census with their grandmother? It is always completely possible that if a scenario similar (or exactly) like that happened, then Amanda may have taken over the maternal role for the children until her marriage to JA Proctor, without actually being their mother.
I know, I know. That’s quite a stretch. But I fe
el as if it is completely plausible considering Lizzie cannot be found on the 1870 census whatsoever.
As for the census records and birth records being correct, I have already gone over the inconsistencies in other posts. But I will give you another grand example:
In 1830, when the census was enumerated on April 2, Amanda M Summers’ brother Greenberry is living with Lizzie and her second husband William “Bill” Green Smith in Hurricane Mills, Humphrey County, Tennessee. The census says he is 84 years old. When he died on November 25 of the same year the death record has his age as 86 years and no one knows who his parents are. The same 1930 census has Lizzie’s grandson, Raymond Daniel, living with them, but Raymond is also shown living in his parent’s household that same year.
So, let’s recap really quickly:
Are Lizzie’s parents Amanda M Summers, daughter of Basil Pinkney “Pink” Summers and Emily Jane Duffel, and James Anderson Proctor?
Are Lizzie’s parents Amanda M Summers, daughter of Basil Pinkney “Pink” Summers and Emily Jane Duffel, and James Franklin Summers, brother of Basil Pinkney “Pink” Summers and husband of Tennessee Porter Outlaw?
Are Lizzie’s parents Amanda M Summers, daughter of Basil Pinkney “Pink” Summers and Emily Jane Duffel, and a man from another Summers family with the name James Franklin Summers? (note: there was at least one other James Franklin Summers out there, but it seems as though he lived in East Tennessee or North Carolina…where Lizzie’s family had relocated from to Tennessee, anyway…I don’t know why I can’t find the webpage that describes where in Tennessee he moved).
Are Lizzie’s parents Amanda M Summers, daughter of Basil Pinkney “Pink” Summers and Emily Jane Duffel, and a Mystery Man?
Are Lizzie’s parents James Summers, son of Basil Pinkney “Pink” Summers and Emily Jane Duffel, and a wife named Amanda, maiden name unknown?
Or none of the above?
A good question to ask, also, is: why were Lizzie and her daughter Katie so adamant that no one find out they were Native American? Tracing back through the families I am unable to find any Native American, with the exception of Tennessee Porter Outlaw who, if I understand correctly, was at some point listed in court records as “Cherokee Woman”. But if, by some chance, Lizzie is her daughter, then you’d think she would keep her considering that she had a total of 13 children, several born after Lizzie’s birth.
It’s all kind of sketchy, huh?
Thoughts? I welcome them! Documentation? I more than welcome it!
William Glenn Cathey
Are you ready for another mystery? Ok, then! Let’s go!
When I received a copy of the Cathey Family History and Genealogy written by Boyt Henderson Cathey in the mail last week I already knew that my Cathey, William Glenn Cathey, was not in it. I also knew that Archibald Cathey and Isabella Lankford, who are commonly thought to be William Glenn’s parents, are in the book. I had inquired before why William Glenn wasn’t listed with the other children and I was told by John Cathey, the secretary of the Cathey Reunion Association, that William was probably not found until after the book had been written. Which to me is odd, since he is on the census records. No, let me rephrase that…since a William is on the census records. What follows is what I have concerning William Glenn Cathey and William Cathey on the census records that may or may not be the same William.
William Glenn Cathey was born to Archibald Cathey and Isabella Lankford in Tennessee sometime between 1857 and 1864, depending on which source (Reflections From Our Past, A Pictorial History of Houston County, Tennessee © 2001) or census record (1870, 1880 or 1900) you want to believe. The only problem that I have with the 1857 date is that Archibald and Isabella married on February 7, 1857 (according the Reflections From Our Past) or February 8, 1857 (according to Family Search). That does give them plenty of time for Isabella to give birth to William Glenn before the end of 1857, provided that she got pregnant immediately after the marriage. Otherwise she would have had to be pregnant before the marriage since Reflection From Our Past, the source of the 1857 date, also says that Archie and Isabella’s daughter, May Ella Cathey, was born in February of 1858.
So, in the 1870 Stewart County, Tennessee census there was a William (Wm) listed as living in the household at age 8 years, estimated birth date about 1862. Archie, a farmer (of course), and Isabella are listed, along with their other children: Mary (age 12 years), George (age 10 years), Maude (age 6 years), Archibald (age 2 years) and John (age 3 months). So this census gives us quite a difference in the birth year of William, a difference of 5 years, actually, from Reflections.
In 1880 in Houston County, Tennessee we once again find the family with a William, age 17 years, estimated birth date in 1863. Parents Archie (Archable) and Isabella (Izabell) and their children listed: Marella (age 22 years), George (age 20 years), Maud (age 15 years), AK (age 12 years), Walter age (10 years), granddaughter Maud (age 2 years), and Udora Lankford (Eudora, age 35 years) who was Isabella’s sister and is listed on the census as Idiotic.
We already know that William Glenn Cathey married Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers on August 26, 1889, even though Reflections gives the year as 1888 (I’m beginning to see a pattern of misinformation in this book…I would really like to get my hands on the book…the two pages I have seen from it were emailed to me from the Stewart County, Tennessee library).
In 1900 William Glenn and Lizzie are living in Indian Bayou, Lonoke, Arkansas. William, by now is 36 years old and this census gives his birth date as February of 1864. So that is now a 7 year difference from Reflections, a 2 year difference from the 1870 census and a 1 year difference from the 1880 census. William at this point has four children: Riley (Riley Leonard, age 10 years), Arthie (Acra Archie, age 6 years), Georgie (George Arlee, age 4 years) and Katie (Katie Clady, age 2 years). This is also the census that describes William Glenn’s occupation as “tipping block” which I don’t have the foggiest idea what that is (please, I am begging someone to tell me!).
William Glenn Cathey and Lizzie had at least 2 more children before his death: Ludie Mae Cathey and Willie Richard Cathey. There is another Cathey child listed on the 1910 census with widowed Lizzie by the name of Maggie Cathey, though I am still trying to determine if she might be the Maggie Smith listed on later census records (or not, I can’t figure it out yet).
According to Reflections, William Glenn Cathey passed away on July 4, 1906 in Houston County, Tennessee and he is buried in Nolan Cemetery in Hurricane Mills, Humphreys County, Tennessee. Since Tennessee was not required to keep vital records until 1914, there is no death record for him (that I have located). I put in a request at Find A Grave for someone to find his headstone and snap a picture of it for me, but no one has claimed it yet. Of course, I don’t even know if there is a headstone, let alone if he is really buried there.
So there’s another mystery that has yet to be solved. I still can’t figure out why the William on the census records wouldn’t have been included in the Cathey book unless Boyt did the research for the book only from sources other than census records. I also wish I could get better birth and death dates. And I also wish that someone would tell me what “tipping blocks” is for an occupation.
Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers
I keep running across ancestors that make me scratch my head, and then make me want to pull my hair out. This is one of those ancestors (insert Law & Order “bomp bomp” here).
Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers supposedly was born on March 15, 1870 in Tennessee. I say supposedly, because I cannot find her on any census from 1870 and by the time most were enumerated that year she would have been several months old, thus appearing somewhere. And I get that date off of her death certificate and the 1900 census. Where was she? If someone can find her in 1870 I will be forever grateful.
So, by all accounts she was born to mother Amanda. In 1870 Amanda is found in Danville, Stewart County, Tennessee living with her parents, Pink (Basil Pinkney Summers) and Emily (Duffel) Summers, and her siblings, Greenberry, Clementine, Anderson and Rufus. The census was enumerated on August 12, 1870. So where is Lizzie? The census also states that Amanda is Single. Not Widowed. Not Married. Not Divorced. Single. So from this we can gather that Lizzie was illegitimate. Well, if she actually existed at that point, I mean.
In 1880 Lizzie finally shows up on the census enumerated in June 1880, either on the 15th or the 5th, it’s kind of hard to read. By now Houston County, Tennessee (ca. 1871) had been formed, part of it from Stewart County, and that is where they are shown living. Amanda is now living with her mother (Widowed), her brother Greenberry (Single) and a 19 year old boarder named “Ritchard”. Also living in the household are Amanda’s THREE children: Lizzie (age 10 years), Leona (age 6 years) and “Infant” (Leon Edward, age 1 month). Amanda is still Single. Not Widowed. Not Married. Not Divorced. Single. Which means that all three of her children were illegitimate.
So who was Lizzie’s father? Did all three of Amanda’s children at this point have the same father?
After 1880 we don’t see Amanda on the census records. She apparently died in 1889, after having married James Anderson Proctor late in the year of 1880 after his first wife, Paralee, died of consumption in February the same year. Lizzie married William Glenn Cathey August 26, 1889. Depending on exactly when Amanda died (which we don’t know…the Mortality Schedules were also destroyed for the years following 1885 along with the 1890 census…sigh), I think that the marriage may have been set up. On the same day, by the same person, Leona also married. Lizzie would have been 19 years old and Leona would have been 16 years old. Amanda’s brother Greenberry had signed and witnessed both bonds for the marriages. James Anderson Proctor remarried for a third time to Sarah Hamm (Sallie J Hams on Family Search) on December 26, 1889 in Montgomery County, Tennessee. I don’t know where Amanda’s other illegitimate child, Leon, is at the time but I am assuming he stayed with Greenberry. Her other children that she gave birth to after marrying James Anderson Proctor continued to live with him, moving to Missouri with him later.
In 1900 Lizzie and William Glenn Cathey are in Indian Bayou, Lonoke, Arkansas. Will’s occupation is shown as “tipping blocks”, which if anyone knows what that is, please enlighten me. Lizzie is at home with their four children: Riley (age 10 years), Archie (age 6 years), George (age 4 years) and Katie (age 2 years). Katie is their only child born in Arkansas.
In 1910 Lizzie shows up on the census as Elizabeth Cathey, widowed, living in Humphreys County, Tennessee. Apparently William Glenn Cathey died in 1906 (and is buried in Nolan Cemetery in Humphreys County, Tennessee near Hurricane Mills), though I have yet to find proof of his actual death and I have not seen his headstone as of yet. The children living with Lizzie are: Alvy (Acra Archie, age 16 years), Arlee (George, age 13 years), Katie (age 12 years), Lorine (Ludie Mae, age 7 years), William (Willie Richard, age 4 years) and Maggie (age 2 ½ years). All of the children also carry the Cathey surname. I had seen one source that pinpointed Lizzie and William “Bill” Green Smith’s wedding to a specific date in 1909, but we can see that as of April 27, 1910 Lizzie was not shown as having remarried, nor had she changed her last name to Smith. There were two Smith families living on either side of her, but neither of them had him living in their household.
I still haven’t seen exactly when Lizzie married William “Bill” Green Smith, but I am hoping to find it, or have it shown to me, soon.
By 1920 they had married. Lizzie and Bill are living in Humphreys County, Tennessee with their children: Maggie Smith (age 9 years), Luda Pearl Smith (age 7 years), Walter James Smith (age 4 years), Arlee Cathey (age 24 years) and Willie Cathey (age 14 years). So, I guess I can ask the obvious here: Maggie Cathey in 1910, Maggie Smith in 1920? Were they the same person? If so then she lost 3 ½ years somewhere along the way. And if they are the same person then she was illegitimate since Lizzie and Bill were not yet married by her birth. Two other scenarios for her birth: Maggie Cathey was a different Maggie and William Glenn Cathey is her father, thus making his death date NOT 1906 or Maggie Cathey’s father is a “mystery man” (much like Lizzie’s father). If Maggie Cathey and Maggie Smith are not the same person, then what happened to Maggie Cathey? On a separate note, Ludie Mae, one of Lizzie’s daughters with William Glenn Cathey, is living next door to the Smith family with her husband, Cam Daniel.
In 1930 Lizzie is living in Humphreys County, Tennessee with Bill. Their son, Walter James (age 14 years), is also living with them. The other two people listed as living in the household are Ludie Mae’s son Raymond (age 3 years, ALSO listed as living in Ludie’s household!) and Lizzie’s uncle, Greenberry Summers (age 84 years, though his death certificate for the same year says 86 years).
The census records end there (for now…they are released every 72 years, so next year in 2012 the 1940 census will be released…yay!).
Bill Smith died October 5, 1946 of lobar pneumonia at Western State Lunatic Asylum (as it was known then) where he had been for 26 days (he only had pneumonia for 3 days before his death).
At some point, from what my mother and I have been told, Lizzie lived with her daughter Ludie Mae. I am not sure if that is where she was living when she died or not. From her death record I know she was living in Waverly, Humphreys County, Tennessee.
Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers died in at Weakley County Hospital in Martin, Weakley County, Tennessee on October 20, 1952. The cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage due to hypertension. She is buried in Crockett Cemetery, Hurricane Mills, Humphreys County, Tennessee along side her husband, William “Bill” Green Smith.
Going back to the matter of Lizzie’s father: the Proctor family, for some reason, wants to claim Lizzie, Leona and Leon as James Anderson Proctor’s children. I’m not sure why they want that. I figure it would be more savory to say that JA Proctor was nice enough to take into his home this woman with three illegitimate children rather than say that he was such a bastard that he cheated on his first wife and fathered not one, not two, but THREE children with some other woman. Lizzie’s death certificate says that James Franklin Summers is her father. James Franklin Summers, at least the one I know about that is connected to the Summers family, is Amanda’s uncle, her father’s brother, who was, at the time of Lizzie’s birth, married to Tennessee Porter Outlaw. There were plenty of other James Summers that lived in Tennessee, in or near Stewart County, in 1870, also. When I inquired at the Tennessee Archives about Lizzie’s parents’ names having been written in on the death certificate Chuck Sherrill sent me an email saying
“Regarding the handwritten addition of the names of Mrs. Smith's parents, it appears to me that someone reviewed this certificate after it was typed and noted that there was missing information. This reviewer marked the omissions with a star. Someone then went back and obtained the needed information and wrote it in by hand. Whether that additional data came from the original informant (Walter Smith), or from some other source, is not clear.
I looked through about 50 certificates surrounding this one and found only one other with a red star on it. That person did not die at the hospital. I had thought the review might have been done by hospital staff, but apparently it was done at the Health Department.”
So either way, we still have no clue who Lizzie’s father was. And I can’t honestly say that Amanda Summers was Lizzie’s mother, either. Why, you ask? Because so far my autosomal DNA that I submitted has not matched anyone that is related to the Proctor family. If any of the descendants of James Anderson Proctor (and his Proctor Family) and Amanda Summers (and her Summers family) or their children submitted DNA, I would match up to them somehow. So far, nada.
We also understand that Lizzie may have been Native American. Neither Lizzie or her daughter Katie wanted anyone to know that they were “Indian”, going as far as to keep themselves covered from the sun in order to not tan. Another time my grandmother, when she was young, repeated a derogatory remark she had heard from her father about Native Americans to Lizzie. Lizzie turned around and backhanded my grandmother off the porch.
Let’s recap:
Who was Lizzie’s biological father?
Who is this mysterious Maggie Cathey?
When did William Glenn Cathey die?
When did Lizzie marry William “Bill” Green Smith?
Is there anyone out there that can answer the mysteries of Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers?
Wordless Wednesday: Ruthie May Craft and Martha
My Grandmother, Ruthie May Craft, and my aunt, Martha Lynn Hardwick.
Mom’s Scrapbook:Unto These Hills-Vintage Booklet
(disclaimer: I was in no way compensated for this post. I did this on my own, only gaining permission to use the images.)
This booklet was stuck in my mom’s scrapbook. I have been waiting to get permission from the Cherokee Historical Association before posting it (in other words, I didn’t steal, so you shouldn’t either). I’m not sure exactly what year this is from, but I’m thinking about 1959. It’s a little piece of history about a pretty large piece of history.
Unto These Hills is an outdoor dramatic reenactment that tells the history and legends of the Cherokee people and the events of the Trail of Tears. The play takes place in Cherokee, North Carolina. The season is over for this year, but for more information, including dates, prices and other current information visit Unto These Hills at Cherokee, North Carolina. You can also contact the Cherokee Historical Association by calling 866-554-4557, emailing them at travel@nc-cherokee.com or snail mail them at PO Box 460, Cherokee, North Carolina, 28719.
(note: I have added an index at the end with the key people involved in the making of the retelling back then. some of the names listed may be the same (such as Bob and Robert), but they are listed separately with the corresponding page numbers.)
Enjoy!
Front Cover
Inside Front Cover
Page 1
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Page 37
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Page 39
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Page 42
Inside Back Cover
Back Cover
Index
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Archer, John M 17 |
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Arneach, Molly 16 |
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Arneach, Lloyd 6, 7 |
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Bartee, Charles 7 |
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Beck, Samuel E 17 |
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Bennett, Kelly E 16, 17 |
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Blankenship, Randolph 7 |
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Blankenship, Roy 17 |
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Blythe, Jarrett 17 |
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Bookout, Cloyd 7 |
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Bowman, Mack 39 |
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Buchanan, Bob 7 |
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Buchanan, Harry E 1, 14, 17, 19 |
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Buchanan, JR 17 |
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Buchanan, Robert 7 |
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Burian, Grayce 6, 11 |
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Burian, Jarka M 6, 8 |
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Catolster, Gary 7 |
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Catolster, Jo Ann 6, 11 |
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Catolster, Phyllis 7 |
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Chovitz, Meyer 6, 7, 10 |
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Coble, Keith 6, 7 |
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Crossett, William 6, 7, 10 |
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Crowe, Berdina 7 |
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Crowe, Charles 7 |
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Crowe, Richard 6, 7, 9 |
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Cucumber, Luzene 7 |
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David, Harry 3, 37 |
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Davis, Suzanne 5 |
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Dayton, RG 17 |
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Deagon, Donald D 6, 10 |
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Dixon, Barbara 6, 7 |
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Dixon, Bill 7 |
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Dixon, William 6, 7 |
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Douglas, Chas E 17 |
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Eichers, Bruce R 5 |
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Eisenhauer, Leigh 6, 7, 11 |
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Farrar, Anna 6. 7 |
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Farrar, Katie 7 |
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Ferebee, Percy B 14, 17, 18 |
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Fetch, OA 17 |
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Fitz-Simons, Foster 4, 6, 9 |
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Fitz-Simons, Gordon 7 |
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Fitz-Simons, Marion 6, 9 |
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Fitz-Simons, Sean 6, 7 |
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Fuller, Carol 7 |
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Fuller, Jessie 7 |
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Gault, Lynn 13 |
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Gloyne, Lula Owl 13 |
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Gupton, Larry 6, 7 |
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Hagan, John 6, 7 |
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Hagan, Peggy 7 |
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Harlan, Dorothy 7 |
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Harlan, Earl 6, 8 |
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Heazel, Francis J 17 |
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Hill, Frances 7 |
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Hill, George 7 |
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Hipps, Joe 5 |
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Hodges, Luther H (The Honorable) 16 |
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Holliday, Polly 7 |
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Holloway, Tom 6, 7 |
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Huger, Beakman 17 |
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Hunter, Kermit 2, 24 |
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Jackson, Walter 17, 39 |
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Jackson, Walter Jr 6, 7 |
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Ja |
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Jennings, Joe 31 |
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Johnson, Calvin 6, 7, 12 |
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Junaluska, Arch 6, 7 |
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Ketler, Bob 6, 7 |
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Ketler, Robert 12 |
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Kilpatrick, Jack Frederick 4 |
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Larch, John 13 |
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Ledford, Lula 7 |
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Ledford, Roselene 7 |
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Ledford, Velma Jean 7 |
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Lindberg, Suzanne 6, 7 |
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Lott, Bob 7 |
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MacFarland, Mary 7 |
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MacFarland, Robert 7 |
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Mardis, Robert F 13 |
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Martin, James 6 |
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Martin, Leroy 17 |
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McElveen, Hayward 7 |
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McElveen, William H 6 |
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McFarland, Bob 7 |
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McFarland, Lyndall 6 |
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McFarland, Mary 6, 7 |
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McKee, William D 17 |
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Myers, Carolyn 6, 7 |
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Nappier, Pat 7 |
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Neely, Newton 6, 7 |
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Nunnery, Louis 10 |
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Nunnery, Louis 6, 7 |
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Owl, Ralph 17 |
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Owle, Irvin 7 |
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Owle, MacArthur 7 |
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Owle, Sam 6, 7, 10 |
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Parris, John 15, 33 |
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Patton, Sadie S 17 |
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Potts, Bob 6, 7 |
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Quick, James 6, 7 |
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Quick, Jimmy 7 |
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Quinn, Carolyn 7 |
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Randolph, Larry 7 |
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Ray, Charles E 17 |
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Reynolds, Les 6, 7, 9 |
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Ross, Frances 7 |
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Ross, Jessie 7 |
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Saunook, Harley 6, 12 |
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Saunooke, Cain 7 |
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Saunooke, Margaret 7 |
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Saunooke, Pearl 7 |
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Saunooke, Solomon 7 |
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Scott, James 6, 7 |
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Selden, Samuel 17 |
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Sequoyah, Amoneta 7 |
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Smith, Delbert 7 |
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Smith, Nancy 6, 7 |
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Smith, Osceola 6, 7 |
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Sneden, John 6, 7, 10 |
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Sneed, George 6, 7 |
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Sneed, Richard 7 |
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Sneed, Thomas 6 |
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Sneed, Tom 7 |
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Spears, Sherrill 7 |
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Standingdeer, Kenneth 6 |
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Street, James 35 |
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Taylor, Collins 6, 7 |
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Taylor, Goliath 7 |
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Taylor, Jonah 7 |
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Taylor, Sam 6, 7 |
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Teeshatuskie, Richard 7 |
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Thompson, Arsene 6, 8 |
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Thompson, Catherine 7 |
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Thompson, Jeff 6, 7, 8 |
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Thompson, Nannie 7 |
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Thompson, Robert 6, 11 |
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Tramper, Cindy 7 |
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Tramper, John 7 |
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Tramper, Mary 7 |
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Treat, Donald 4, 6 |
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Trotman, William 8 |
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Trotman, William C |
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Tyndall, JB 6, 7 |
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Underwood, Tom 39 |
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Upchurch, Jo 6, 7 |
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Van Horne, D 7 |
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Van Horne, David 6, 7 |
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Wahnetah, Billy 7 |
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Watson, William 6, 12 |
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White, Carol 15 |
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Williams, Bob 7 |
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Williams, Robert 6 |
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Winfield, Anne 7 |
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Wingfield, Anne 6, 7 |
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Woodard, Roger 7 |
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Wynn, Earl 6, 8 |
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Yarborough, Phyllis 6, 7 |
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Youngbird, Rebeccah 7 |
John J Breedlove
(note: birth and death records were not required by law in Kentucky until 1911. it is fairly hard to track down exact birth and death dates prior to that year unless an obituary, Bible record or doctor’s notes were kept. in some instances a birth may be written down in a church register or a book kept by an attendant. death records were often kept in Bibles and church registers, and sometimes if a doctor attended at the time of death he may have recorded the date. anything that requires legal filing, such as a marriage, can usually be easier to find, but not always)
John J Breedlove was the son of Cornelius Vaughan Breedlove (about 1812-about 1880), a farmer, and Elizabeth Crissman (about 1815-?). He was born in Todd County, Kentucky on August 7, 1848, the fifth of, I believe, seven children.
The family was still living in Todd County, Kentucky 2 years after John was born. On the 1850 census John is shown living with his father, mother and siblings: William F (age 15 years), Jesse T (age 9 years), Henry J (age 7 years), Mary A (age 5 years) and Sarah E (age 8 months).
In 1860 the family starts getting a little sketchy. First off, the name recorded for the family is “Breadlove”. It is also just their initials that are written, rather than their names. John is 11 years old and living with his parents and siblings. The other children listed are: Wm F (age 26 years), JT (age 20 years), HJ (age 18 years), MA (age 14 years) and VACF (age 3 years). Ok, now I realize that another sister had been born, as far as I know, in 1859. And her name on other census records is Nancy. So who is VACF? And what happened to Sarah E?
Sigh.
So, I hunted down John J Breedlove in the 1870 census and I *think* that I found him. That year there is a John Breedlove listed as living in Logan County, Kentucky with the Beauchamp family. There is no occupation written in for him. There are other boarders living in the house, but I can’t really figure out how he came to live there himself.
Another document I am still hunting down is his marriage to Margaret Stringer. From what I understand they married sometime around 1869/1870.
In 1880 John shows up in McLean County, Kentucky with Margaret and their children: stepdaughter Emma (age 11 years), daughter Mary Jane (age 7 years), Ona L (age 5 years) and William M (age 3 years). This census has Emma’s surname as Breedlove, but I think it might actually be Moore, as we see on later census records that John has a stepson by the name of Benjamin A Moore.
No census record available for 1890. (of course)
Apparently having set down roots, the family is still living in McLean County, Kentucky in 1900. On this census it is shown that they are living with two children that had been born during the previous 20 years: Lucy J (age 18 years, my great-grandmother) and Drusy (Drusie, Drusey, Druse, age 15 years). This census also states that Margaret is the mother of nine children, five of which are still living. I don’t know if the two children that are no longer living are accounted for or not. I also don’t know if they are John’s children or if they are children from Margaret’s previous marriage(s). I do see that John and Margaret have two grandchildren living with them in 1900, Magnola Lovell (age 4 years) and Mack H Lovell (age 1 year), the children of Lulu Breedlove and Jim Lovell. I’m not certain if Lulu is a nickname for one of the daughters accounted for or a different daughter all together.
The last census that John J Breedlove is found on is the 1910 census. He is living with Margaret and stepson Benjamin A Moore (age 47 years). John is a farm operator, as is Benjamin. The family is still living in McLean County, Kentucky.
John J Breedlove suffered a tragic death 2 years after the 1910 census. On October 12, 1912 in East Sacramento, McLean County, Kentucky he was killed when a sawlog, the largest and heaviest part of the tree, fell on him. I believe his death may have been instantaneous because no doctor attended to him. I cannot give an exact location of burial. The death certificate has the initials of the cemetery as M.E.C. Sacramento.
One of the more interesting stories of John J Breedlove’s life was told by his daughter, Lucy J Breedlove, to her grandson, Roger Vincent. Lucy said that John was good friends with Buffalo Bill (William Cody). Whenever Buffalo Bill would travel through Kentucky he would always stay with the Breedlove family for a few days. John and Buffalo Bill would hunt together during his stays!