Digging Up Your Family

Mama’s Stained Glass Cookies–Modified

When I was little my mom and I used to make these stained glass cookies at Christmas. The exact recipe she used has been lost in the past 37 years, so I have had to modify it somewhat.

One of the first things that is different is the actual shape. Mom and I would roll the cookie dough into ropes and form them so they resembled the lead in actual stained glass. That is definitely a way you can do these, however I now cut out the cookie shape and then carefully use a small sharp knife to cut out the center. The other modification is that I had to find a cookie recipe to use. The one I found is by Tupperware, circa 1980, and is called Granny’s Sugar Cookies. My guess is that the recipe card was handed out when someone (my mom) bought Tupperware cookie cutters because the back says “TIPS FOR MAKING PERFECT COOKIES WITH YOUR TUPPERWARE COOKIE CUTTERS”.

Onward!

Mama's Stained Glass Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of butter

1 cup of sugar

1 large egg

2 cups of all purpose flour (plus 1/4 cup for rolling)

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

a bag of Lifesavers (honestly, I can’t even begin to give an amount. It really depends on how many cookies you plan on making, the shapes of the “voids”, the size of the “voids”, etc. use your best judgment and remember that the dough can continue to chill if you have to run out for more!)

Directions:

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the egg and vanilla. Then sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Divide the dough into to two balls and chill for 2 hours.

While the dough is chilling you get to work out some aggression! Separate the Lifesavers by color, place each color in it’s own baggy. Go outside with a hammer and crush those suckers up! They don’t need to be crushed to powder, just into small pieces.

When dough is chilled remove one ball from refrigerator and roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut the dough into your desired shapes. Then, with a very sharp (be careful!) small knife, cut out a void in the center of the cookie (see notes below for more information). Likewise, you can just roll the dough into ropes and form into the desired shapes.

Place the cookie cut outs on silicone bakeware, parchment, or greased cookie sheet. Carefully put desired colors of crushed Lifesavers into the cookie’s void, keeping as much off the cookie as possible and spreading out to all corners. You can be as creative as you like with mixing colors!

Bake cookies at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Let cool completely before removing.

Notes: the cookies will puff up some, so make sure that the void is large enough to still be seen after baking. I always figure the very first batch is a tester batch to see how well they turn out, then I make changes based on that. To cool the cookies quickly to avoid waiting to long between batches, place potholders on a shelf in your refrigerator and move the cookie sheet directly from the oven to those potholders and chill for about 5 minutes. It is also a good idea to keep the cookie dough chilled until ready for use to make it easy to roll out.

Pam’s Cheese Wafers

This week I am posting recipes for the holidays!

A distant DNA cousin, Susan Gilliamsen, sent me this recipe for her mother’s cheese “straws”, but they are actually VERY yummy cheese wafers! Susan says:

Christmas wasn’t Christmas without Cheese Straws when I was growing up in the south. It was my adopted mother, Pam, who instilled the tradition. Her recipe is basically the classic southern version.

Susan Christmas 1965 Susan says: The pic is of me at 6, Christmas morning 1966. Probably the first year I got to help with this recipe. I love the “Elf on the Shelf” sitting on the tree!

What I found interesting about this recipe is that I had never heard of sprinkling sugar on cheese straws. I am here to tell you that it is really good.

Pam's Cheese Wafers I used Susan altered version of rolling the dough into logs before chilling.

Ingredients:

3/4lb. of butter (3 sticks, cubed)

1lb. of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

pecan halves and sugar for topping

Directions:

Sift flour into a large bowl and blend with salt and cayenne. Blend cut up butter and shredded cheddar with flour mixture until dough is smooth and color is uniform. (Susan says: My mother did this by hand, exhausting! I use a stand mixer.)

Chill dough for several hours to overnight. When chilled, preheat oven to 325 & roll dough to approx 1/8" – 1/4" thickness, slice into small rectangles (like a wide half strip of bacon), scratch tops of slices with a fork to rough up surface. Arrange on baking sheet lined with parchment about 1/2" apart. Set a pecan half on top of each slice if you like (Susan says: is traditional, but I prefer mine without the pecans). Bake 10-15 min, until lightly browned (Susan says: the thinner your slices the shorter the bake time of course, watch these, they’ll burn on you in a heartbeat!). Sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar as soon as they come out of the oven, while still hot, then remove to a cooling rack.

Notes from Susan: I, out of laziness mostly, have altered the rolling out process a bit (a lot!). I roll the dough into "logs" before chilling. Once chilled I take out the log(s) and slice into "coins", rough up the "coin" surface with a fork, skip the pecans and keep the sugar sprinkling. The size of your "log" will determine the width of your coin of course.

I still have some in the fridge to make! They really are so very good!

Mrs. Lorena’s Chewy Cake

This week I will be posting recipes for the holidays!

Stephanie Miller, one of the sweetest people I have ever met, sent me this recipe to try out. She may not be blood family, but she is certainly family to us! Stephanie writes:

When I was 16 and worked at a Chiropractor’s office this little lady named Mrs. Lorena Roberts used to come in every week. She was so tiny, but each week she bought us this cake she called Chewy Cake. I have had this recipe since 1977 and don’t know how long she had it before that but she made it for everybody. It was soo good.

Mrs. Lorena's Chewy Cake

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter

1 1lb. box of dark brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 cups self rising flour

Shredded coconut and pecans (Stephanie says: to your liking – she never gave me a specific amount but I used like a quarter cup chopped nuts and a half cup coconut.)

Directions:

Melt butter and sugar. Cool. Mix in other ingredients. Pour into a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. When done, cool, cut into squares and serve.

Notes:

I actually ended up making this recipe twice, because I kind of messed up the first time. Here is what I found works (at least, it did for me!): melt the butter, then add DARK BROWN sugar and stir until smooth, then add the vanilla to it. Have the flour ready in a mixer. Once the butter/sugar/vanilla combo is melted and slightly cooled, start mixer and add the combo. Once that is blended well add the eggs one at a time. Lastly, add in pecan pieces and coconut. I sprayed baking spray into a 2.2 quart Pyrex and baked for the given time. It will puff up and when it cools it will fall some.

It is very, very delicious! And very, very rich!

Thank you, Stephanie!

What’s Going On

In the past month or so I have had a lot going on, and I hope that it will start to calm down after the holidays. I took 2 months off from school because a) I needed a short break, and b) so I would have time for research. And research I have been doing, though I have been jumping back and forth between trees. Anyway, what I have been up to:

1) I had a mishap a couple of months ago with photographs to post at The Georgia Anna Project. My son got his hands on some photographs and mixed them up. So I will need to go back through and separate them all out (currently some of the Pennsylvania photos are mixed in with the Vermont photos, but luckily I remember which group most go in). Last month I did post new photographs that I purchased from a little shop down the road here and at least one of them is from Brooklyn, New York. The name of that gentleman is Edward Shields. Go check it out!

2. I got started on a new genealogy blog, Beyond the Indian Rolls, dedicated specifically to American Indian heritage and genealogy. This is a special project that came up due to my Granddaddy’s friend William Hendrix Yernipcut. I have started researching his family and I have to say it is really interesting! The information takes a while to compile, but I am really excited about it.

3. When I get frustrated with my own family tree I find that it is nice to have a different family to work on. SO, I currently have several trees I started for a few friends. Some of the surnames include:

– Gorman, Carroll, Morton, Flynn

– Kelly (includes adoption)

– Moreno, Martinez, Escalante

– Rucker, Harris, Windom, Walden, Stonestreet, Head, Cole

– Strange, Henderson, Orr, Bailey

– Nichols, Powell, Salmon, Rickman, Armes, Sullivant

4. In addition, I am still working on my tree and still trying to solve some mysteries:

– The exact date of death for John Spencer DeMumbrie. If you remember, I decided that he died sometime between May 1, 1875 and September 4, 1876 (that post is here). I am still looking to narrow it down!

– Who did Peter McQueen kill? I had found a newspaper article that listed the murdered man’s last name (that post here) and I set out to figure out who it could possibly be. Here, you can see an example of my in depth, extremely technical research:

I had come to the conclusion that it must have been John Flowers, b. abt 1814. Unfortunately, though, it isn’t. I was able to get in touch with one of his descendants and she confirmed that he didn’t die until 1869, four years after Peter killed the man. So who was it? Both her and I have gone through the Flowers families in the area (Choctaw County, Mississippi) and every single male can be accounted for, either through death in other years or appearing on the 1870 census. Sigh.

– Where is the death certificate for Eppie Nettie Willhite Craft? I know from her daughter Cofie’s letters that she was born in August of 1860 and died on January 29, 1938. I am unsure where she died, though I am VERY confident it was in the state of Tennessee. Great-aunt Kat remembers that after Eppie’s husband John died (December 3, 1936) Eppie came to live with them for just a little bit. She doesn’t remember how long, but if we are to believe Henry Corbit Craft on the 1940 census record then it means they were in Houston County, Tennessee at the time. Kat doesn’t remember where Eppie went when she left their home, though I imagine she would have moved in with one of her children (possibly Cofie?). Eppie is buried at Double Springs Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Gibson County, Tennessee (again, I know this because of the letters Cofie wrote), the same cemetery that John C Craft, Henry Corbit Craft, Katie Clady Cathey, Louise Craft, Jesse Porter Craft, Wretha Jane Harris, Maggie Nell Craft, and Woodrow Wilson Phillips are buried.

– And speaking of Craft, I have been working on a few Craft cousins’ trees. Well, I can’t be certain that they are blood Craft cousins, but I can always keep my fingers crossed! I got some interesting information for Frederick Owen Craft that makes all of the previous research done on him (concerning his parents) suspect. I need to figure out where the current information about his parents came from, though, before I can determine which path to take during research.

If anyone has any information about any of this, let me know! I would love to hear what you have!

Basil Pinkney Summers on the Map

I have been working on a few projects lately and failed to update with any information. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t found anything new and interesting!

Many people may have seen this already, but I just discovered these maps of Middle Tennessee, and Stewart/Houston/Humphreys/Montgomery Counties in particular. The main page where I found the link for them is Stewart County, Tennessee Genealogy.

So, the maps are actually postal maps from 1865. They show the locations of nearly every head of household, or at least land owners, in the area. I printed them out so I could scour them without squinting at my screen and I found Basil Pinkney Summers! Well, technically I found a few “Sumers” on there, but one I know is definitely him. The first one I noticed is on the south bank of White Oak Creek.

You will also notice that there is a “Sumers Mill” at the north bank, but I’m not certain as of right now if my Summers had anything to do with that. Basil Pinkney’s grandfather Basil was deceased by 1865, so I don’t really know who this B Sumers is, unless Basil Pinkney owned this land in addition to another plot.

Now, I did find land Basil Pinkney definitely owned.

This land is located on the north bank of White Oak Creek, just downstream from “Sumers Mill”. Something interesting I want to point out here is just downstream from Basil Pinkney on the south bank is “Wid E Sumers”. Basil Pinkney died in 1878, so he was definitely still alive in 1865. I’m not sure who that widow is.

Anyway, how do I know that the north bank B Sumers is Basil Pinkney for sure? Well, land records of course!

This I found on Ancestry. It is a North Carolina and Tennessee, Early Land Records, 1753-1931 for BP Summers dated July 10, 1851 in Stewart County, Tennessee (this location would eventually be in Houston County, Tennessee in 1871). I know, it’s hard to read. The transcription of the location of Basil Pinkney’s land:

…one hundred & twenty eight acres…on the waters of White Oak Creek. Beginning on a small black (illegible) Jeremiah Mobley’s S.E. Corner, thence East one hundred & twelve poles to a black oak, thence North one hundred & seventy eight poles to a small white oak with dogwood & ironwood pointers on Anderson’s South boundary line, thence West one hundred & fifty poles to a stake on Mobley’s line, thence East with his line thirty eight poles to his corner, thence South one hundred & sixty three poles to the Beginning.

So, based on the description it is easy to see that the land described is definitely on the north bank. Since people moved and died over the 14 year period between the land record and the map, it’s difficult to see where exactly Mobley and Anderson where living.

Now, to figure out who the other “Sumers” are!

Sudie Marie King and Robert Cleveland Breedlove

A couple of weeks ago I had contacted Find-A-Grave contributor Anita R Austill (#47729061) concerning the headstone for Cornelius Vaughn (or Vaughan) Breedlove. She said she was going to look up the answer to my question, but in the meantime she transferred his memorial page to me, as well as Mary Breedlove (1873-1890), the daughter of John J Breedlove and Margaret Kate Stringer. Then she said she also had Suddie Breedlove and Robbie Breedlove. I wasn’t quite sure who they were, so I did research before claiming them into my Breedlove line. I found that they are in my family, but not directly. After a bit more research I found enough information to present their stories. It’s pretty heartbreaking.

Sudie Marie King was born May 1, 1917 to parents Grover Cleveland “Cleve” King and Nelia (Delia) “Nealie” Burden. She was named after her aunt Sudie N Burden Caraway.

In the 1920 census Sudie is found living in Magisterial District 1, Rumsey Precinct 1, McLean County, Kentucky. She is shown as Marie King, age 2 years 10 months. Also listed on the census are:

Her father Cleveland King, age 33 years, farmer.

Her mother Nela King, age 23 years.

Her older sister Vivian King, age 4 years 6 months (which, if I have my math right, puts her birthday in August 1915).

In 1923 tragedy struck the King family when Nealie and Vivian drowned on July 13th. From the front page of the Owensboro Messenger on July 14, 1923 (corrections from actual article are in parentheses and not italicized): M’LEAN COUNTY

WOMAN AND CHILD

DROWN IN RIVER

Mrs. Cleve King Rushes To

Her Death In Effort To

Rescue Eight-Year Old

Daughter

Calhoun, Ky., July 13. – While sitting on the bank of Green river at Nall’s landing, near Calhoun, this afternoon, watching her two little girls wade in the river, Mrs. Cleve King saw Vivian, aged eight years, sink beneath the surface of the water. The mother rushed in the river in an effort to save her daughter, but she waded into a step-off in the river and sank in deep water.

Mrs. (King’s) husband was in a field nearby, and a fisherman, who witnessed the struggle of the mother and child in the water, called to him to come to their aid. He thought the fisherman told him to come and help him land a fish. He went to the barn and returned to the river and was informed his wife and daughter were drowned.

The body of Mrs. King was recovered an hour after the tragedy by Bates Turner, of Calhoun. The body of the child came to the surface and was also recovered.

Mrs. King was thirty years of age, and a daughter of Rev. Isaiah (Burden), a Baptist minister of McLean county.

Mr. King is a tenant on the farm of Elmer Nall on the South side of Green river.

Vivian’s death certificate.

Nealie’s death certificate.

Both Nealie and Vivian are buried in the Mount Vernon Baptist Church Cemetery in Calhoun, McLean County, Kentucky. Photo courtesy of Anita R Austill. Transcription:

KING

NEALIE

1897-1923

VIVIAN

1915-1923

Between the drowning in 1923 and 1927 (to stay on the safe side of the year) Cleve remarried to a woman I can only find as Kattie Z. Around 1926 a daughter was born to Cleve and Kattie and was named Frances.

In 1930 Sudie appears on the census living in Magisterial District 10, Hanson, Hopkins County, Kentucky. She is again listed as Marie King, age 13 years. She is noted as being Cleve’s step-daughter, but that was obviously Kattie giving the information. Also living in the household were:

Her father GC King, age 42 years, farmer.

Her step-mother Katie King, age 31 years.

Her younger step-sister Frances King, age 4 years.

On March 9, 1935 Sudie married Elbert Clay “Al” Breedlove in Hopkins County, Kentucky. Al was the son of William Monroe Breedlove and Bernie Victoria Downs. William Monroe Breedlove was the son of John J Breedlove and Margaret Kate Stringer, and the brother of my great-grandmother Lucy Johnson Breedlove. I am fairly certain that my grandfather Elbert Tracey “Shorty” Vincent (born September 22, 1912) was named after Elbert Clay “Al” Breedlove (born March 17, 1912), his first cousin.

On April 27, 1936 Sudie gave birth to a son, Robert Cleveland “Robbie” Breedlove.

Unfortunately, Sudie died that night at 9pm. Cause of death listed as pulmonary thrombosis due to childbirth. The informant listed on her death certificate is her father GC King. Sudie’s death certificate.

Ten months and ten days after his birth and the death of his mother, on March 7, 1937 Robert Cleveland “Robbie” Breedlove died of diphtheria. Robbie’s death certificate.

Both Sudie and Robbie are buried in the Mount Vernon Baptist Church Cemetery in Calhoun, McLean County, Kentucky. Photo courtesy of Anita R Austill. Transcription:

BREEDLOVE

SUDDIE M

1917-1936

ROBBIE

1936-1937

Grover Cleveland King lost his first wife, both children from his first marriage, and his only grandchild produced from that marriage all within the span of 14 years. Cleve passed in 1971 and his second wife Kattie passed in 1982. They are both interred at the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Madisonville, Hopkins County, Kentucky.

Al Breedlove died on September 30, 2000. He did marry again and had at least 4 daughters. His obituary that appeared in The Messenger (Madisonville, Kentucky) on October 3, 2000 states:

Elbert C. "Al" Breedlove, 88, of Evansville died at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, 2000, at Deaconess Hospital.

He was born on March 17, 1912.

He retired from Bernardin Bottle Cap Company in 1978 after 25 years, was a former employee of the Shipyard and Republic Aviation during World War II, and drove a cab for Liberty Cab Company. He worked as a mechanic on motor vehicles and built and raced stock cars at the old Speedrome on Green River Road and Tri-State Speedway at Haubstadt, Ind.

I believe he is interred at Alexander Memorial Park Cemetery in Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana.

Wendell Reed Alcorn

I really should have done this post on September 20th. The 3rd Friday of September is always National POW/MIA Recognition Day. However, to be honest, it didn’t dawn on me to do a post about this until the other day. On my newsfeed I saw that my mother answered a question posed by a particular page asking “how many of you still have your POW/MIA bracelets?” To which I knew she had answered that she still had hers. I sent her a message asking if she ever looked the soldier up and she said that she did. Then I got the bright idea to do a post on him, especially when I found his story.

note: I am currently watching a documentary about the USS Enterprise on the Smithsonian channel called Carrier at War: The USS Enterprise. It has been very informative.

My mother writes:

“In 1966 I had the opportunity to purchase a Vietnam POW or MIA bracelet. As I recall my POW bracelet was $2.00. Along with all POWs and MIAs, LCDR Wendell Alcorn, 12/22/1965, was the individual POW I prayed for and thought about every day. In 1973 the return of POWs was broadcast on TV, and I sat watching and listening for his name as each POW walked from planes back onto US soil. I knew he had to have returned, but somehow I missed hearing his name. Perhaps I merely missed hearing his name because I was sobbing with joy at their return.”

Photo courtesy of The Kittanning Paper, April 6, 2012.

Found at POW Network:

“When nuclear powered USS ENTERPRISE arrived on Yankee Station on December 2, 1965, she was the largest warship ever built. She brought with her not only an imposing physical presence, but also an impressive component of warplanes and the newest technology. Her air wing (CAG 9) consisted of
more than ninety aircraft. Among her attack squadrons were VA 36, VA 93, VA 76 and VA 94. She launched her opening combat strike against targets in North Vietnam on December 17, and by the end of her first week of combat operations, the ENTERPRISE had set a record of 165 combat sorties in a
single day, surpassing the KITTY HAWK’s 131. By the end of her first combat cruise, her air wing had flown over 13,000 combat sorties. The record had not been achieved without cost.

On December 22, the ENTERPRISE teamed with the carriers KITTY HAWK and TICONDEROGA in one of the war’s biggest strikes to date, with one hundred aircraft hitting the thermal power plant at Uong Bi located fifteen miles north-northeast of the city of Haiphong. This was the first industrial target authorized by the Johnson administration. The ENTERPRISE’s aircraft approached from the north and the KITTY HAWK/TICONDEROGA force from the south, leaving the plant in shambles. The day’s casualties were two A4Cs from the ENTERPRISE, an RA5C Vigilante, and an A6A Intruder — six Americans shot down.

One of the A4s was flown by LTJG Wendell R. Alcorn, a pilot from Attack Squadron 36 onboard the ENTERPRISE. Alcorn’s aircraft was shot down about 15 miles north-northeast of Haiphong and he was captured by the North Vietnamese. For the next 7 years, Alcorn was a "guest" in the Hanoi prison system. He was ultimately released in Operation Homecoming on Valentine’s Day, 1973.”

Also on POW Network:

Toluca Lake, CA 91602 Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and spelling errors).

UPDATE – 03/97 by the P.O.W. NETWORK, Skidmore, MO

WENDELL R. ALCORN

Lieutenant Commander – United States Navy

Shot Down: December 22, 1965

Released: February 12, 1973

On 23 November 1939 I entered this world in a rural community near Snyderville, Pennsylvania, located in the western part of the state. I grew up in this community along with my older brother and younger sister. I remember well the many evenings that I would lie in our back yard watching the crossing contrails of the fighter aircraft practicing their tactics overhead. My future was being determined.

I attended high school in the nearby town of Dayton, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1957. My next destination was the Pennsylvania State University where I majored in forestry and was a member of the Delta Theta Sigma fraternity. I graduated from Penn State in 1961.

My life long dream of flying was finally fulfilled in October 1961 when the U.S. Navy accepted me into the flight training program. On 16 March 1962 I proudly accepted my commission and began flight training. On 14 June 1963 I became a qualified Naval Aviator. After a short tour at the NAVAL Justice School I arrived at Cecil Field, Florida where I joined my squadron, Attack Squadron 36, flying the A4 Skyhawk. Shortly after returning from a Mediterranean Cruise aboard "Saratoga," my squadron joined Air Group 9 aboard the USS Enterprise for a West Pac cruise. My first combat tour was cut short when on 22 December 1965 after twenty days and twenty-nine combat missions, I was shot down and captured in North Vietnam.

I was sustained during those long years in prison by my faith in God, faith in my government, and faith in my fellow countrymen. I knew I had not been nor would ever be forgotten. Upon my repatriation, I was overjoyed to find that these faiths which gave me so much help and comfort were not merely figments of my imagination, but were very true and real.

I thank you great American people for your support, your prayers and for your faith in me. God bless you all.”

According to Military Times, Mr. Alcorn was presented the following awards: two Silver Stars, four Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Prisoner of War Medal.

An interesting side note: I read a newspaper article about Mr. Alcorn written roughly 6 months after his return home that has his name as Ray Alcorn. According to the article the name Ray is a nickname he got in the Navy when people guessed wrong what his middle initial stood for. And it just stuck!

I would also like to take a second to mentions others from the USS Enterprise, as listed on the United States Navy website on their USS Enterprise Memorial Page:

Prisoners of War

LCDR Alfred Howard Agnew

LTJG Joseph Scott Mobley

LCDR Edwin Arthur Shuman III

LTJG Wendell Reed Alcorn

CDR James Alfred Mulligan

LTJG Bradley Edsel Smith

LTJG Frederick C. Baldock Jr.

CDR Gordon R. Nakagawa

LTJG Larry Howard Spencer

< p>LTJG Glenn Henri Daigle

LCDR Robert J. Naughton

LCDR William Robert Stark

LCDR Dale W. Doss

LT Giles R. Norrington

LT Richard G. Tangeman

LT Kenneth H. Higdon

LTJG Richard R. Ratzlaff

ENS Gary Lynn Thorton

LCDR Eugene Baker McDaniel

LTJG William Leonard Shankel

LCDR Phillip Allen Kientzler

Missing In Action

LCDR Kurt W. Barich

LTJG Meredith Carol Loughran

LTJG Charles E. Woodward

CDR Billie Jack Cartwright

LT Edward Frances "Sully" Sullivan

Died In Captivity

LTJG James Scott Graham

LT James Kelly Patterson

Killed In Action

LTJG Paul M. Artlip

LT Michael F. Haifley

LT John Douglas Prudhomme

LTJG Paul Victor Carlson

CDR Harley Hubert Hall

CDR Edgar Arthur Rawsthorne

LT Nicholas M. Carpenter

LT Arthur Sinclair Hill, Jr.

CDR Richard Rich

LT Ramey L. Carpenter

LTJG William F. Kohlrusch

LTJG James Thomas Ruffin

LT Frank Ray Compton

CDR Glenn Edward Kollmann

LCDR Thomas Edwin Scheurich

LCDR Henry A. Coons

ADJ1 Melvin Thomas Krech

CDR Peter W. Sherman

LT Edward Frank Gold

LTJG Richard Clive Lannom

LT Thomas Stegman

Maj Russell C. Goodman

LCDR Max Duane Lukenbach

LCDR John Bethel Tapp

CDR William Ronald Grayson

LTJG Donald Clay Maclaughlin, Jr.

LCDR John Mark Tiderman

LT John Gary Griffith

LCDR Paul W. Paine

CDR Danforth E. White

Killed in the Flight Deck Fire of January 14, 1969

FA Paul Akers

ASH3 Roger L. Holbrook

ABE3 Jacob J. Quintis

AN David M. Asbury

AN Dale L. Hunt

BM2 James C. Snipes

LTJG Carl D. Berghult

AOAN Donald R. Lacy

AN Russell J. Tyler

LTJG James H. Berry

ADJ3 Armando Limon

AN LaVerne R. VonFeldt

AO3 Richard W. Bovaird

AME3 Dennis E. Marks

AN Robert C. Ward Jr.

AE Patrick L. Bullington

ABH1 James P. Martineau

AN John R. Webster

AMS3 James R. Floyd Jr.

AOAN Joseph C. Mason

AMS2 Henry S. Yates, Jr.

AN Ernest L. Foster

AMH2 Dennis R. Milburn

AMS3 Jerome D. Yoakum

AN Delbert D. Girty

AN Joseph W. Oates

AEC Ronald E. Hay

LTJG Buddy D. Pyeatt

Killed in the Line of Duty While Serving Aboard ENTERPRISE (CVN 65)

CDR Robert Anderson

MM3 Micah Hill

LT Jack L. Pedersen

LCDR Kurt W. Barich

LT Arthur S. Hill

AA Barry E. Peterman

LTJG Darwin F. Ball

LCDR Jeff Hillard

MM2 Gregory S. Peters

LT Ronald R. Bradley

MM2 Darek T. Hutt

RIO David Hewitt Philo

AN John R. Burch

William Larry Johnson

RMC Larry M. Pope

CWO4 Brashear

CDR James M. Joyce

LTJG Charles Roy

Samuel Walter Clayman

ENS Joseph B. Kelly, Jr.

AN David Frank Sahr

AMS3 Edwin H. Clements

Robert Kelly

EM3 Charles J. Sanders

Clarence Cottle

LSCM Richard J. Kessler, Jr.

MM2 Jason M. Sheets

EM2 David D. Decker

Charles Henry Kruse

LCDR Robert J. Simonic

LTJG Brendan J. Duffy

TN Benjamin R. Lauretta

OSC Patrick C. Smith

LT Joseph Durmon

LTJG Meredith Loughran

AW2 David Stetrom

ATC Richard H. Edwards

AW1 Josheph R. Lucas

LCDR Paul A. Stokes

LTJG Steven Engeman

FA Joseph L. Lyrian, Jr.

LT Edward Frances Sullivan

CDR Lauren R. Everett

LTJG Edward L. Maas, Jr.

LCDR Martin J. Sullivan

ETR2 George M. Fasching

PO2 Marble

LT Edward P. Szeyller

AO1 Vincent Filpi

ENS David E. Martin

CDR Albert J. Thompson

Jesse Benton Forney, Jr.

MACM Steven D. Martin

AW1 Steve Voight

LCDR William A. Hall

LTJG Thomas L. Masten

ADC John E. Webb

DC3 Robert A. Hastings

FN Gary W. Menard

LT Robert Wood

LT James G. Hicks

AMSAN Brian S. Mullen

LTJG Charles E. Woodward

EM3 Michael Bowden

Eric Sauerborn

MA2 Robert F. Miner III

LCDR Robert F. Hansen

ATN3 James H. Dorrell

Breedlove v Bidwell, McLean County, Kentucky

I had thought I was ready to start a post on Cornelius Vaughn (Vaughan) Breedlove, my 3rd great-grandfather, however I am not. I realized that I don’t have a birth date and a death date pinpointed for Cornelius. I did call the church where he is buried and I am awaiting a call back concerning the caretakers of the cemetery and/or the possibility of a cemetery book. In the meantime, I found something that tells me it is possible that Cornelius died prior to 1885. It is a court case concerning land that was purchased, then later the sale was reversed.

Published in the November 18, 1899 Morning Herald (Lexington, Kentucky, page 4):

COURT OF APPEALS

FRANKFORT, Ky., Nov. 17. –Present, Chief Justice Hazelrigg and Judges Paynter, Burnam and Hobson.

Shuck, etc., vs. City of Lebanon, Marion; reversed.

Clark vs. Finley, Surpart, etc., Kenton; reversed.

Breedlove vs. Bidwell, etc., McLean; reversed.

Smith vs. First National Bank, Laurel; affirmed with damages.

Cincinnati Times-Star Company vs. France, Kenton; motion to set aside dismissal sustained, case reinstated, motion for oral argument overruled and time given to file briefs.

Found in The Southwestern Reporter, Volume 53:

BREEDLOVE v. BIDWELL

Court of Appeals of Kentucky. Nov. 17, 1899

JUDGEMENT AGAINST NONRESIDENT-FAILURE TO MOVE FOR NEW TRIAL-HOMESTEAD-RIGHTS OF DESERTED WIFE.

…Appeal from circuit court, McLean county. “Not to be officially reported.”

Action by Bettie Bidwell against Elizabeth Breedlove to recover real estate. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed.

W.B. Noe and Jonson & Wickliffe, for appellant. W.A. Taylor and Little & Little, for appellee.

BURNAM, J. This is an appeal from the McLean circuit court, adjudging to appellee a house and two lots in the town of Sacramento, Ky. These facts appear from the pleadings and evidence: Previous to March, 1881, M.A. Bidwell occupied the premises in controversy as a homestead, with his family, which consisted of his wife (the appellee here) and three children. In March of that year he left Kentucky to go to Arkansas, ostensibly to sell the patent right of a shingle machine of which he was the patentee, and never thereafter returned to this state. He left his wife and children in the occupancy of the dwelling house, where they continued to live for several months. Some time in the winter or early spring of 1882, Mrs. Bidwell, with the children, moved to the residence of her brother, and rented out the homestead. In May, 1882, three creditors of M.A. Bidwell (H.G. McEwan, W.L. Bland, and H.B. Morehead) instituted suits in equity against M.A. Bidwell, setting up debts against him, and at the same time suing out attachments on the grounds that he had become a nonresident, and had been absent from the state for more than four months, which were levied upon the property in contest. M.A. Bidwell was brought before the court by constructive service, and at the July term, 1883, of the McLean circuit court, judgment was entered in these consolidated actions sustaining the attachments, and directing a sale of the property. McEwan, one of the attaching creditors, bought it, and the sale was confirmed, and a writ of possession issued to him. Subsequently he sold and conveyed the property to appellant (Elizabeth Breedlove), and she remained in the undisturbed possession thereof until the 18th day of December, 1896, when appellee instituted this suit to recover the possession of the house and lots, and for a reasonable rent thereof, upon the ground that, at the time of the sale of the property under the judgment in favor of the creditors of her husband, he was a bona fide housekeeper, with a family, resident of this commonwealth, and occupied the premises as a homestead, and that it was of less value that $1,000, and alleging that this homestead had not been abandoned by her husband prior to its sale under the judgment, and that she has been continuously a resident of this state all of the time…

What this means, as far as I am understanding it (and if you go to the link and read the rest of it then it will make sense) is that McEwan sold the homestead to Elizabeth Breedlove herself, not Cornelius, and then the sale was reversed in 1899. This makes sense as to why Elizabeth was living as a boarder in the home of Peter Scott in 1900.

We Don’t Lay Down For Nobody

Ed Bondurant made up some postcards to send out inviting Bondurant descendants to the Bondurant Family Association Annual meeting at the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving this year. Unfortunately, the only Bondurants I know are in the BFA and my own family. However, I figure by posting it here I may be able to let other Bondurant folks know what’s up!

BFA website: www.bondurant-family.org

BFA on Facebook: www.facebook.com/#!/groups/142740453048/

Bondurant School of High Performance Driving website: www.bondurant.com

William Brian Buchanan

Last Friday a larger than life person passed after a long battle with cancer. His friends left words of condolence on his Facebook wall describing him: inspiring, loyal, gentle giant, kind, funny, wonderful sense of humor, brave. Many people will never forget his laugh. Or the way he could turn any conversation into something more colorful. As for me, I was able to visit him for the first time in a long time a few months ago. And I am glad I was able to speak to him one last time the Saturday before he passed. He most certainly was loved by many, many people. I hope the funeral home knows how many people are going to show up for him!

Photo courtesy of Kimberly Woods

WILLIAM BRIAN BUCHANAN

Portion of obituary courtesy of McKoon Funeral Home.

William Brian Buchanan “Brian”, 41, of Newnan, Ga., passed away on September 13, 2013 Brian was born in Austell, Ga. on October 20, 1971. He graduated from Mililani High School in Hawaii, attended Austin Peay State University in Tennessee and continued on to receive a Computer Tech degree from West Georgia Technical College in Carrollton, Ga.

Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.mckoon.com

Memorial services will be held Saturday, September 21 at 2:00 pm in the chapel of McKoon Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be given to St. Jude Cancer Research Center: http://www.stjude.org/waystohelp. McKoon Funeral Home 38 Jackson St. Newnan, GA 30263 770-253-4580.

I would also like to take a second to mentions others from the USS Enterprise, as listed on the United States Navy website on their USS Enterprise Memorial Page:

Prisoners of War

Missing In Action

Died In Captivity

Killed In Action

Killed in the Flight Deck Fire of January 14, 1969

Killed in the Line of Duty While Serving Aboard ENTERPRISE (CVN 65)

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