Another cousin contact

Hi Leslie...this is for you, special.

I am so thrilled to have been contacted by you here...my second cousin I think...cause we have the same great grandparents on my mother's side of my ancestry, Eugenia and Charles Miller!

I hope you got my email.
I did a bit of searching for records for your family, and have at least found some birthdates which I have added to my personal/private ancestry family tree.

I think we met when I traveled one summer with my 2 oldest boys and briefly stopped in San Antonio.

I can imagine you've a lifetime of stories to share, and I will be patient, but do want to hear all!

For my other cousins, who share the same grandparents on my father's side...it's absolutely amazing, Pat, Chris, Cindy, Sandra and Claudette, to connect with you all as well.  I'm not on Facebook as much as I used to be, but am still busy blogging here!

Leslie, if you want me to be your Facebook friend, I would like that also.  The only warning I can give is that I'm a bit "far out" as people used to say in the 70s. In the 21st Century, I don't know how to describe myself.

I've been like one of those lost relations...since I admit I'm the one who never stayed in the same place for long.  Yet now I've lived 7 years in Black Mountain, NC and have met so many people whose entire families haven't moved away from these mountains and valleys.  They are always amazed when I say I was born in Texas, raised in St. Louis, and have spent my adult life between Florida and North Carolina, mainly.

I have been making pottery again since retiring, and occasionally sell some.  I have 3 children spread around (all adults by now) and 6 grandchildren.  I've been single most of my adult life, and love living with 2 cats.  Ahhh, so relaxing to come home and have a quiet house where I can be the introvert that I truly am.  I read a lot, am active in my church, have some friends who also make pots, and some friends who like to take day trips around NC where I take photos for my blogs.

Beauty is...

A family picture on someone's front steps.  The women have their pretty hair, their pretty frocks, their lipstick probably.

Does that make them beautiful?  I wonder...
I'm submitting this to Sepia Saturday this week.  There will probably be some other bloggers who are more successful at following the topic.



the men have sweaters, ties and my grandfather has a hat.  But the women don't have on hats.  And maybe one is holding a purse as if she's going somewhere.  But I don't think so.  I think they just came out in the cold just to take their picture to remember this event.  Maybe Christmas, maybe Thanksgiving.

The photo is cited in the album from the back row, from left to right is Chauncey, George (my father) unknown man (listed as Billy Seaman) and then in the hat, Poppy (George Rogers Sr.).
In the front on the left is my mother, then Zulie (Julie?) Winslow (Seaman) then "Aunt Jim" (a woman I don't know) then my grandmother Ada Rogers.

I am unable to find any interest in the prompt for Sepia Saturday this week...showing a woman getting her hair done and a manicure.  I haven't indulged in that kind of vanity much in my life.  Most of my hair exploits were done at home, and I've never had a manicure by someone else.  Not that I'm proud of that, just these are such frivolous ways for me to spend my time, energy or funds, that I just don't see the point.

There were some years when I used makeup daily on my face, changing with the current styles.  There were years I colored my hair, or curled it, and certainly would have it cut and styled occasionally in order to fit into a professional life.  But I became an artist in my 30's, and that was where my heart was...to make beauty that would be shared with other people.  So I, myself, wasn't the canvass that I chose to work upon.

Back to figuring out who is in the above picture.  My parents (before me obviously) and grandparents.  Chauncey is my father's brother.

The Zulie Winslow and Aunt Jim and Billie Seamans are related.  It looks as if Aunt Jim would be Zulie's daughter.  Why is she called Aunt Jim then?  And is she married to Billie Seamans?

My grandmother did have a sister, who was called Stella Winslow


Here are at least 2 of the same women, with my grandmother being in the middle, and supposedly her sister on the right side of the photo.  That leaves the brunette on the left, who is beginning to look more and more like a daughter of Stella, or at least a generation younger than the floral clad sisters.

OK, I'm going to take a stab.  The Zulie in both of these pictures is Stella's daughter.  And the guy in the back is probably her brother Billie Winslow.  He was definitely in my father's generation.

Zulie Winslow did marry a man named Francis Seamans, and their son Billy was born in 1937.  He wouldn't have been a man standing in the back row of this photo...so whoever named his uncle his name messed up. It's unlikely that it's Zulie's husband, Francis Seamans, because he was born in 1897, and the man in the back looks young as my father at least (born in 1915).

So who is Aunt Jim, aka the unamed woman next to my grandmother?  She's of the adult children age, born around 1910-1918.

OK let's just look at the Winslow home in the 1940 census, since that's probably within 5 years of this photo.  My parents married in 1936 and that looks like the coat my mother wore to be married in.

Head of household is 51 y.o. Stella Winslow.
Next entry is her son, William Winslow, age 22.
Next comes Francis Seamans, 43 y.o. son-in-law.
Next comes Zulie Winslow Seamans, daughter of Stella, age 29.
And finally is William Seamans, age 7/12, the grandson.

I may not know who Aunt Jim is yet, but the relationship of Zulie and her husband is clarified.  He's close to her age, but certainly not the young man in the back row of the picture.  It's got to be her brother, William Swasey Winslow, who was born in 1917, and married in 1945.  His wife would be Jane Hughes, who might be the woman in the front row.

The most shocking thing for me in looking at this picture, is that Stella Winslow wasn't part of the group.  She wasn't ever someone I met, but she lived until 1960, the year my grandfather died, in the same city also.  All those years I went to parties and stayed over at my grandparent's house, I never met my grandmother's sister.  I would think she would have been more likely to be named Aunt Jim, but she wasn't in that group at all.

Mysteries of families abound!

SOLVED: My cousin answered my quest.  She remembers her father, my father's younger brother, calling Aunt Jim as Stella Winslow, my grandmother's sister.  So those photos that have some names underneath aren't always to be trusted!  And now I know I had a great Aunt Jim (really Stella Zulieka Winslow!)  Added 9:00 pm, July 13, 2014.

Earliest ancestor birth?

Another early birthday ancestor, on my grandmother's tree.  First, a review of the generations from my parents back through time:

Here I spoke of Capt. Ebenezer Pulsifer. birth: Dec 26, 1773, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts.  death: 7 Nov 1827 in Newburyport, MA

He was father of Lucy Pulsifer Granger. Birth:  Feb 1, 1807 in Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts. Death 23 May 1876 in Galveston, Galveston County, Texas.  (I give a lot of details of her husband George Granger's life Here.)

She was mother of  Mary Hull Granger Phillips. Birth May 6, 1829 in Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts. Death Oct-Dec 1861 in Beaumont, Jefferson, Texas,  (The link is to a blog posted about some of her correspondence before the Civil War.)

She was mother of Zulieka Granger Phillips Swasey. Birth 30 July 1858 in Fort Gaines, Clay, Georgia. Death 21 April 1935 near Rosenberg, Texas,buried in Galveston Texas

She was mother of Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers, Birth: Feb 23, 1886 in San Marcos, Hays, Texas,. Death 2 DEC 1964 in Houston, Texas

She was the mother of my father George Elmore Rogers, Jr. Birth 9 NOV 1914 in Texas. Death 5 JAN 1985 in Houston, Harris, Texas
=========================
Now to look further back
Capt. Ebenezer Pulsifer's father was:
Ebenezer Pulsifer Birth 4 Nov 1744 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, Death 1795 in New York

His father was David Pulsifer, Birth 4 Mar 1716 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, Death 2 Dec 1783 in Bunker Hill, Boston, MA.  And his mother was:  Hannah Brown Pulsifer, Birth 16 Jan 1718 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, Death BEF 1756 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts.  Ancestry is a bit confused about Mrs. Pulsifer, giving 3 different women marriages with David Pulsifer Sr.  (There was a son David Jr. born in 1840 as well.) But since Hannah Brown Pulsifer has three children from her marriage, I'll work with that family for now.  And her family goes back further as well.

Hannah Brown Pulsifer's father was: Benjamin Brown, Birth 1669 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, Death 1733 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts

Benjamin Brown's mother was:  Hannah Aslett Brown, Birth 21 Dec 1644 in Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, Death 1721 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts

Hannah Aslett Brown's mother was: Rebecca Ayer Aslett, Birth 1623 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. Death 1671 in Andover, Essex, Massachusetts.  Her husband John could have been Aslebee, or Alley, but Hannah is daughter of Aslett, so I'll go with that family name.

Rebecca Ayer Aslett's father was: John Ayer, Birth 1592 in Suffolk, England. Death 1657 in Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts

John Ayer's father was: Thomas Eyre, Birth 1562 in Bromhan, Wiltshire, England, Death 1628 in England


And John's mother was:  Elizabeth Rogers Eyre, Birth 1549 in Poole, England, Death 1612 in England

Elizabeth Rogers Eyre's father was: John Rogers, Birth 1523 in Poole, England, Death unknown in Bock, Dorset, England.  But he's not the oldest birth record in this line, I only go in this direction because it's another Rogers link perhaps, but I don't know of a connecting link yet.

Back to Thomas Eyre...his father was: Robert Eyre, Birth 1530 in Wiltshire, England, Death 1564 in England

Robert Eyre's father was: John Eyre, Birth 1490 in Wiltshire, England, Death 11 May 1532 in Wiltshire, England

John Eyre's father was: William Eyre, Birth 1444 in England, Death 1507 in England

And ancestry just gave me a new "hint" from other family trees.  So I'll add those names here as well as to my own tree line.

No I won't...I found twenty trees that are so entwined and garbled, I really don't care to weed through the branches and twigs, because they don't all agree.  If I were to find a clearing, I'd probably feel satisfied.  But today it's just giving me a headache. 
 
It's possible William Eyre's father is Thomas Eyre Birth 1399 in Wiltshire, England, Death 1432 in Wolstanton, Wiltshire, England, and his mother is Elizabeth Rogers Eyre, Birth 1403 in Wiltshire, England, Death 1462 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England

(NOTE: Upon reading this in edit mode, I note that I just said William's father died in 1432 when William was born in 1444...BIT OF A MISTAKE THERE!)

I think this is far enough back, though there were mothers listed who gave birth to several children in their 50s.  I don't think that happened.  These must have been men listing these families, who didn't think about how old a woman would be when she stopped having children.  Honestly! OK, I just realized that records of women's birth dates also might be the problem here.

So I am happy if this tree should go back to 1399, or just 1444.  That's a long long time ago.  May all these ancestors rest in peace. 




 

Another Clack connection

Besides the obvious problem with documents frequently confusing the name Clack with Clark, I found this gentleman in early Texas history a few days ago, named Sterling Clack Robertson.
Since the area that Texas History online was talking about was where my Booth ancestors settled, (Hill Country, Texas) I was interested in learning more about its early history.

So I started a new tree over at Ancestry, for the Robertsons.  I just had 2 individuals, Sterling and his son, Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson, and their approximate ages.  So I made up a bunch of things, and punched them in, waiting for Ancestry to provide me source documents as to their real birth dates as well as places they lived.

And they were some kind of cousins of my ancestor Catherine Clack Rogers, who I've spoken about a bit HERE.

I know how unlikely it is that you want to chase various links all over the place, so here's one that I found:

From Handbook of Texas Online:

ROBERTSON, STERLING CLACK (1785-1842). Sterling Clack Robertson, the empresario of Robertson's colony in Texas, was born on October 2, 1785, in Nashville, Tennessee, a son of Elijah and Sarah (Maclin) Robertson. He was given a liberal education under the direction of Judge John McNairy. From November 13, 1814, to May 13, 1815, he served as deputy quartermaster general under Maj. Gen. William Carroll, who went down to fight the British in the battle of New Orleans. After the battle Robertson purchased supplies and equipment for the sick and wounded on their return to Nashville over the Natchez Trace. By 1816 he was living in Giles County, Tennessee, where he owned a plantation. He had two sons: James Maclin Robertson with Rachael Smith, and Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson with Frances King. On March 2, 1822, he was one of the seventy stockholders of the Texas Association who signed a memorial to the Mexican government, asking for permission to settle in Texas. On November 21, 1825, he was one of thirty-two members of Dr. Felix Robertson's party that set out from Nashville, Tennessee, bound for Texas, to explore and survey Robert Leftwich's grant. Robertson remained in Texas until August 1826, when he returned to Tennessee, filled with enthusiasm for the colonization of Texas. He toured Tennessee and Kentucky in an attempt to recruit settlers. In the spring of 1830 he signed a subcontract with the Texas Association to introduce 200 families, and on May 9, 1830, he took in Alexander Thomson as his partner. They brought families to Texas, but they were prevented from settling in the colony because of the Law of April 6, 1830. In 1831 that area was transferred to Stephen F. Austin and Samuel May Williams, but Robertson obtained a contract in his own name in 1834 and served as empresario of Robertson's colony in 1834 and 1835. On January 17, 1836, he became captain of a company of Texas Rangers. Then he was elected as a delegate from the Municipality of Milam to the convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos (March 1-17, 1836), where he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the Republic of Texas. He was stationed at Harrisburg to guard army equipment during the battle of San Jacinto. Robertson served as senator from the District of Milam in the First and Second congresses of the Republic of Texas (October 3, 1836-May 24, 1838), after which he retired to his home in Robertson County, where he became the earliest known breeder of Arabian horses in Texas. He died there on March 4, 1842. His remains were removed to Austin and reinterred in the State Cemetery on December 29, 1935. Robertson was responsible for settling more than 600 families in Texas.

The history of the Robertson colony (or settlement if you will) is pretty long, and here I will give you the link to Texas History Online.

Connection?  Sterling Clack Robertson's mother was Sarah Maclin Robertson, Birth 1758 in Brunswick, Virginia Death 3 Oct 1846 in Nashville, Davidson, TN, and it was noted that she provided the funds for his Texas adventures.

And Sarah Maclin's mother was: Sarah Sally Sary Clack  Birth 1731 in Gloucester, Gloucester, Virginia, Death 9 Mar 1803 in Nashville, TN

And Sally Clack's brother was Col. John Clack,  Birth 9 Jan 1721 in Gloucester, Gloucester, Virginia, Death 1784 in Gloucester, Gloucester, Virginia, who was married to: Mary Kennon Birth 29 JAN 1728 in Gloucester, Virginia, Death 1794 in Brunswick, Virginia

and they were parents of:

Lt Spencer Clack Birth 28 Mar 1746 in Fairfax now, Loudoun, Virginia, Death 09 JUL 1832 in Sevierville, Sevier, Tennessee, who was the father of Catherine Clack Rogers. So does that make them second cousins?  Parents: John & Mary Kennon Clack Children: Lt. Spencer Clack and Sally Clack Maclin  next generation: Catherine Clack Rogers and Sally Maclin Robertson Oh so Sterling Clack Roberson would have been third cousin to Micajah Clack Rogers, the son of Rev. Elijah and Catherine Clack Rogers.  Micajah actually also trooped to Texas with his family...but settled in East Texas rather than the Robertson area in Hill country.

Oh my, all this research into the Robertsons does have a glitch. Mrs. Sarah Robertson has an obit, so she was obviously the wife of father.  But her parents aren't clearly the Maclins in the other sources.  So when I was trying to link Rogers through the Clack connection, there is no Sarah Maclin who married a Robertson.  Shoot. 

But if Texas History Online has the Robertson's connection, and there is obviously the Clack family names in the Robertson explorers, I do believe that connection must exist.  Hi ya cousins, whoever you may be.

My parents pose

May I introduce my father, George Elmore Rogers, Jr.
I will give honor to his life in another post.

My mother, Mataley Mozelle Webb Munhall Rogers

Look for more about her life HERE.

There are more pictures of my father on that posting as well.

These are studio portraits of my parents, way before I came along.  I don't know the cause for their getting these pictures, but they did attend the same high school, Jefferson, in San Antonio, TX.

The pin in his lapel is called the Cross and the Crown, which is an emblem that Christian Scientists identify with.

"B... Studio of San Antonio, Texas," is a confusing name in  the lower right corner.  Buider? Baider? Bieder? whatever...

My mother's hairdo with a Marcel wave, has a lot of 20s influence.  She was born in 1917, so by the time she looked like this, it was definitely the mid 30s.  They were married in 1936.  I didn't see any pictures of them together before '34. 

This is a contribution to Sepia Saturday, where lots of fun and old (or maybe fun or old) photos are shared.  I can't follow the theme for this week, so am just sharing some pictures that are interesting.

Annie Lou's skiff

(Author's note.  I've since this post found more information which changes that below.  My grandfather and Annie Lou were not orphaned nor raised by their aunt and uncle.  And the middle name of Elmore refers to a distant relation of their uncle, named Elmore Ross, from the Revolutionary War. See newer posts about Annie Lou Rogers Wilson. Note date: May 9,  2015)

Remember there were pirates active in the Gulf of Mexico still at the turn of that century.

Annie Lou Gibbs Rogers Wilson was my father's father's sister, born March 10,1879 in Huntsville, TX, died July 11, 1956 in Hitchcock, TX.  She and my grandfather (2 years older) were orphaned the year she was born and then raised in the home of their father's sister, Alice Luella Rogers Ross and John Elmore Ross.  They might have been their god-parents, because my grandfather and my father's middle names were also Elmore, or maybe there was someone else named Elmore that I have yet to learn about.  Whoever Elmore was will have to be another story.  But perhaps Annie Lou brought Alice Luella's middle name forward also?

Though Great-Aunt Annie Lou was alive in my lifetime, I don't remember ever meeting her.  It's probably because I was just a child, and only interested in childish things.

I found some interesting photos - of her "skiff" and/or a sailboat in Galveston, TX.  They look like they've been in a fire. (My father's family had a house fire in Fort Worth in the 30s). This is the condition in which they came down to me.

October 30, 1904

10-30-1904

Annie Lou's Skiff

10-30-1904

on

Hannas reef

Galveston Bay

In none of these photos do I see anyone resembling a woman of 1904.  But it's  possible.  Maybe the shorter person on the end of the fish display could be a woman dressed as a man.

Who are the other men?
I wonder if Great-Uncle Chauncey is one of them, perhaps the one with mustache and bowler hat, since he owned the bank in Galveston. (He was my grandmother's uncle).

I wonder if my grandfather, George Elmore Rogers is one of them, probably a rather short man, because I do remember that he wasn't very tall.

Incidentally, George Elmore Rogers married Ada Phillips Swasey in June 1905, (my grandparents).  Aunt Annie Lou married Patrick Henry Wilson the next year, 1906, and then they had 3 children.

So this is a glimpse of the life of my great-aunt as a young woman, or at least the men who went fishing with her.

I love that it was called Annie Lou's skiff, meaning probably the rowboat. 

I'm submitting this post to Sepia Saturday this week.
It's about boats after all!

Close or distant relations

I find it interesting that a cousin of some level of remove, has written that my ancestors from Sevierville, TN came to the Americas on the Mayflower.

However, my grandfather, George Rogers, who was a direct descendent from these Rogers, typed by hand, in the 1950s, from the recorded entries in The Rogers Family Bible.

The first entry in the family Bible under the listing of births, deaths and marriages was:

Henry Rogers, c.1741-1794. In American Revolution; of Farquier County, VA, Chatham County, NC, and Sevier County, TN

There are details which came from other sources showing that our branch came from England into Jamestown, VA.  Nothing about Mayflower.

Of course there were lots of wives and their fathers and mothers, and so maybe someone else came from MA.

I do know that I'm a direct descendent of those Tennessee pioneers, wherever they might have originally hailed from.  I've found that the early records in Sevier County were lost in a court house fire, which makes this primary source of information more valuable.

To continue with the typed record from my grandfather, out of the Rogers Family Bible:

Rev. Elijah Rogers  b. May 1774 Farquier County, VA d. 5.11.1841; son of Henry Rogers and Elizabeth Lankford Rogers of New Jersey.  Rev. Rogers was a Baptist Lay Pastor, fought with Col. Dogherty in E. Tennessee Militia against Cherokees, and with Col Dogherty to Natchez to force surrender of New Orleans by Spanish in 1803;  farm located at mouth of Little Pigeon River and French Broad River

 

This marker was pictured on Ancestry.com

A historical note is that the Tennessee forces didn't get to the Natchez Trace until after the war was over and peace had brought a lot of new territory to the United States.

I confess it's much easier to enjoy looking at the names and dates (about all that remains of some of these lives) than to keep track of the names and birthdates of my own close relatives.  I have no idea of the dates of my cousin's children, nor their marriages, nor their children.  So there are a lot of folks I'm related to which I haven't kept track of.

That's my own fault of course.  I left Texas as an 8 year old, and was raised in St. Louis until I left my parent's home at age 21.  Then I married and went off to raise my own family and then was divorced.  I'm sorry that while I was a young single mother with a career (who also went back to college) that I missed out on keeping track of cousins in Texas and Wisconsin.

Sometimes I see other young people doing the same thing, focusing upon the survival and demands of their own family.  Now I've got the time and the interest, and I won't be welcome I fear, by any of these relatives.

So I share what is available either through my grandfather's interest in his ancestors, or from here on the net, and maybe from various old albums of photos.   Since my grandfather was orphaned very young, his interest probably was similar to mine, to fill in gaps with people who had gone before rather than those who were around while we were growing up.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday for this week, and again I have nothing that's a direct inspiration from the photo suggested.  But you know I'll be looking at what everyone else has come up with.

San Antonio house

Once a good idea is born, it should be fed and nurtured.  How about more 69 year olds in my family tree?

Maybe go back another 69 years, beyond Eugenia Almetta Booth Miller's, my great grandmother's birth 69 years before mine.  The next generation back would have been born in 1804. Perhaps still alive during the Civil War.  Next would be someone born in 1735.  That person would have gone through the Revolutionary War, if they were in America at the time, and lived that long.

I do fortunately have documents copied from the Rogers Family Bible which my grandfather typed by  hand as he copied them.  He made 4 carbons, and gave one to my father.  But those records are of my father's family.  So far I've been looking at just my mother's family.

Look at what a neat tie these people's lives have together...some of whom lived 69 years, and what that year of achievement meant, not to mention all the rest of their interesting lives.  And even just having been born 69 years before me, then 69 years before that person...jumping back through our history.

I believe I visited Eugenia Booth Miller's house in the 40's when going from Houston to San Antonio to see my grandmother, Mozelle Booth Miller, who I think lived here herself.  I missed ever meeting Eugenia "Grandma" but I understood that she mostly raised my mother since Mozelle was widowed twice while very young.

I remember arriving in San Antonio at night, and the streets had an interesting drainage system, many of which were flooded.  The fun I remember was driving over humps at each intersection, which sent me bouncing (on the back seat) in a moment of weightlessness.  I giggled, and of course my mother harrumphed, which was her usual comment about my father's driving.  But I do remember that ride as being as good as many an amusement park ride later on.  I also remember later during the day, driving right through several inches of water, over some dam or bridge which was flooded as much of San Antonio was at that time.

If not Grandmommy Mozelle, one of the other daughters (Dorothy Dain Miller or Margaret Etha Miller) might have been living in this home still.  Margaret never married so easily could have stayed in the homestead.  Rowena (the 4th sister) had married a man named Rodgers many years before my mother also married a Rogers.  Since it was spelled differently, everyone assumed there was no relationship.  But I've never tried to trace it.  If you go far enough back, spelling got pretty iffy.

I don't remember my great-grandfather, Charles Herman Miller, who may have been still alive when I was born. I believe he had been a conductor on the railroad.  I did find it strange that my grandmother would never travel by train, but only took airplanes or drove to visit people.  I wonder if he had an train accident or told her something that kept her away from trains.  I personally loved travelling by train as a young girl with my mother from St. Louis to go visit my grandmother and her family in San Antonio.

A map of "The Santa Fé Route" and subsidiary lines, as published in an 1891 issue of the Grain Dealers and Shippers Gazetteer.