Who likes a beach?

OK, I did dig back a bit, and here are photos from a visit to Galveston Beach with my family. Top photos show Uncle Chauncey on left, me and sis on inner tube, and my dad, George Rogers making sure nobody tumps over into the water. The next pair of pics show Grandmother on log with myself and little sis (looks like I was around 6 thus 1948.) Love my Gummy's hat and dress! And gloves?

I'm sharing my beach photos with Sepia Saturday, as one of the keepers of the family mementos,  I thought it would be a nice collection.  Swim on over to see the rest of the Sepians' selections related to beaches HERE.

OK, having a granddaughter who's a gymnast kind of takes my own love of beaches in spirit and blows it - right out of the water!

Now this sheet of scanned photos says it is from 1954, but I'm pretty sure my little sister doesn't look 8, much closer to 4, in which I would have been around 8, thus placing it around 1950. Since we moved from Texas to Missouri that year, it's pretty likely we had one last visit to the beach.  I like that my grandmother and mother allowed their photos to be taken along with us.  This is by a pier which no longer exists in Galveston, TX.

Fast forward a few years, and here's the Atlantic rolling onto the shores of Florida...and what are those big blocky shadows?  Well, try 14-story condos.  That's where I was standing several years ago as a guest.  I sure enjoyed the visit.

My oldest son and 5 of my grandchildren (2 of whom are his)  OK, I admit it's not the beach.

There are frequent thunderstorms in beach areas.

But once the storm is past, the sun returns and it heats back up again

This is one of my favorite beaches, even in February, Myrtle Beach, SC

Another favorite beach is St. Augustine, FL

Don't miss the hardy surfer, this was taken in November, 2011

St. Augustine Beach attracts tourists, a few blocks from where I lived for 4 years, (many moons ago.)

Here is my gymnast granddaughter, all cool and cleaned up for dinner-out with the family, and sharing a lovely sunset over the inland waterway...(in 2012)

Poppy's birthday

Born August 28, 1877.  Died Feb. 1960. Age 82-1/2

George Elmore Rogers, Sr. was my beloved grandfather. He is survived by 8 grandchildren who are living as I write this, and most of them have children and even grandchildren of their own.  I celebrated his life a bit last year, (HERE) but wish to add more this year. 

I'm in an Easter bonnet here, with Poppy, (George Rogers Sr) then Gummy (Ada Rogers, then Uncle Chauncey.  Site is our home in Houstone, TX.  About 1946-7.

George Rogers Information
Listed in 1880 Willis, Montgomery County Census as age 2. George's father, William Sandford Rogers, died at the age of 29, leaving the family with some money, but at about the age of ten, they moved from Willis to Galveston and he had to leave school to go to work as an office boy to help support the family. Some land in Tennessee that Micajah Clack Rogers had owned and had been passed down to William Sandford Rogers, was sold at the time for his widow to live on. Ironically, the people who purchased it, later found coal deposits on this land, making them quite wealthy. Anyway, George learned bookkeeping and became one at the Gulf Fisheries Company in Galveston. After the Galveston Storm in 1900, which he survived, he was pressed into service to stop the looting and pick up the dead. This was about five years before he met Ada. He was a small man, a good dancer, loved to hunt, fish, and sail, but was not considered "suitable" by Ada Phillip's Swasey's family to marry her, but they did anyway.,.

George and Ada were married at the home of the bride's parents in Galveston, Texas, by Dr. Black, Episcopal minister of Grace Episcopal church. They resided in Galveston until 1918, at which time they moved to Meadowbrook Drive in Fort Worth, Texas, where he was employed by the Fort Worth Packing Company as office manager. This began a friendship with the company Manager, Norman Dumbel (sp) that lasted twenty-five years. The family home burned in about 1927, during a re-roofing project. Unfortunately, the insurance had lapsed and the house was a total loss. Among the cherished items lost was a silver-handled walking stick given to Micajah Clack Rogers by Sam Houston and had been handed down in the family. George did rebuild, but the new house as of stone with a slate roof! When the Swift & Co. bought out the Ft. Worth Packing Co. in 1933, Mr. Dumbel started a new Packing Company in San Antonio, and asked George to be his office manager, and so they moved to San Antonio, Texas and lived there until 1942, when they moved to Houston, Texas.

He never joined his wife's Christian Science Church, but he was a Thirty-Second Degree Mason. Source: cousin Patricia Rogers published 2001 on Ancestry DOT com.

 George Rogers Sr, 70th birthday in 1947, Houston, Texas.  Site, Brockton St. home of the Rogers. Some references to this photo say it's his 72 birthday, but that would have occurred in 1949, and I think this big crowd probably came out for a 70th.

This was an ablum of records that I believe was the Ferde Grofé, Grand Canyon Suite.  As you can see, when you have a lot of relatives and friends for a party in Houston in 1947 in August, you gather outdoors, in the shade.  (Everyone must have been standing behind the camera at this shot)

But Houston wasn't always hot, as seen here the same house in 1949 while Poppy sweeps his steps of snow.

Cousins, Sandra, Barbara, Mary Beth, and Claudette, in 1949 snow in Houston at Gummy and Poppy's home

George and Ada Rogers in San Antonio in the 1930s.

Christmas Dinner, back row: George, Alex, Chauncey, James, and Poppy, front row; Mataley with eyes closed, Donah V, and Gummy (Ada Rogers) Site probably the Rogers home in San Antonio, probably 1930s.

A real treat

Two nights ago I was invited for a rare (only every 20 years) blooming event of a Night-blooming Cereus that belongs to a friend of mine, Linda Metzner.

  She told me it would be after dark.

 But I ended up being on the phone till 9:30 and then was about to go to bed, when I thought, what was I going to do this evening?  OK, better go see that flower of Linda's!

So off I go. There are no selfies in this post!

 Was I ever glad to join some friends and see the 4 different blooms over the next hour, in their glory as they opened fully.

  By the next day they all were closed.

We were a camera crazy bunch that evening!

My first picture with natural lighting...

This lone bloom was hanging off the porch over the railing, out in the wilds...

These three beauties opened before our eyes, getting wider and wider as we watched.  The closed one on the left had opened the night before, and didn't reopen.  This is indeed a once every 20 years bloom occasion!

Because it was night, we were trying every kind of setting with and without flash on different cameras.  We found a really neat technique of using the flashlight setting on one smart phone to illuminate, while another phone could take pictures.

The colors changed from natural lighting to the illuminated photos, or the ones with flash.

Besides my smart phone (used above) I had my trusty Nikon Coolpix L810.  I tried macros, but couldn't get them to work, night portraits, night landscapes, flowers, scenes, etc.  All the strange titled setting combos, and must have finally come up with something that satisfied.  The following are with different settings, and I think I deleted most of the out of focus ones.

What a wonderful experience!  Hail to the Cereus!

Anniversary of Isaac Norman's birth, 1765

Happy birth anniversary, Isaac Norman.

I posted what I knew about him last year here. 

Then in December I drove right through Spencer and Shelby Counties in Kentucky.
I shared that adventure here.  

So I continue to be interested in this great grandpapa.
1782 was the year in which Hannah and Isaac married in Culpeper, VA.

More to investigate.  He lived for a time in Rutherford County, NC.  I live just a few counties over from there.  So it's time for another investigation!

His first two children were born in Culpeper County, VA, in 1785 and 1787.
But by Feb 7, 1788 their third child was born in Rutherford County, NC.
On Dec 30, 1789 another child, Abner Norman, was also born in Rutherford County, NC.

Then strangely enough, On March 23, 1792, Mary Margaret Norman (my ancestress) was born back in Culpeper County, VA, where the Norman family had originated.  And her next sibling was also born there on May 20, 1796.  And the next child in 1798 again born in Culpeper County, VA.

In Ancestry, the places children were born aren't listed as where parents lived, but the census of 1790 has Isaac and his wife living still in Rutherford County, NC.  So they probably had returned to VA after their 2-3 years in NC.  In the 1790 Census, their family is listed as having "2 males under 16, 1 male over 16, 2 females."  Hannah Gage Norman, the mother, apparently wasn't counted at that time. It's unlikely she would have already gone back to VA, leaving a son who was about 1 year old, among the 4 children.

My question now is, why between 1790 and 1792 move the whole family back to Culpeper, VA?  Isaac's father had already died before 1784 when his grandfather (Joseph) died leaving him and his mother, Sarah Norman, some property in his will.  We don't know when his mother died, but she had been alive in 1784.  Isaac inherited "100 acres of land lying on the side of Hickman Mountain," and she received "20 schillings sterling."

Hannah Gage Norman's parents were living also in Rutherford County, NC, since 1782.  There are 2 David Gage's on the Rutherford County Census, same page as Isaac Norman, but not clear who was who.  They were alive until 1800 and 1807 and buried in Sandy Run Baptist cemetery.  Now I can look for that cemetery!  Not as easy as I thought, there's no town called Sandy Run, indeed there are a lot of Baptist churches in an association called Sandy Run...all over western North Carolina.  A few phone calls may help me here.

The last of Isaac and Hannah's children was born Dec, 1805 in Spencer County, KY, which is where Isaac Norman and several of his children, and his wife, are buried.  So the trek back to VA was between 1790 and 1800, when they had moved to Shelby County (to be turned into Spencer Co.) KY.

There's a publication which includes early Kentucky settlers, and talks about the son of Isaac, Lemuel and his son William.  But it would have William being born when Lemuel was 12, according to the birth date that I have from the Ancestry records.

Don't you just love this dates/places/people conundrum?  No?  I've got a headache, so will look again later.

===========

Rutherford county was not formed until 1779 from an older county, Tyron, NC, which no longer even exists.  Parts of Rutherford County later were divided into many other counties...so I'm not sure where the Normans lived, perhaps even in my county of Buncombe, as it originally was part of Rutherford County.

But if I can find the place the Gages were buried, it's possibly the same area the Normans lived.

Anniversary for Cyntha Cannon Rogers 1800 birth

Cyntha Cannon Rogers was born 24 Aug 1800, was wife of Micajah Clack Rogers, and died 24 Nov 1855 in Huntsville, Walker, Texas, US.

I've already posted last year some findings (and frustrations) from Ancestry, HERE.

But she had also been listed when a distant cousin applied to become a DAR member (Daughters of the American Revolution) back in the 1950s.  So I've heard of her at least as soon as I read my grandfather's copy of that information in the 60s.

Now I'm going to give her a proper look.

Her parents were
Catherine Henderson, born in 1778 in North Carolina, died: 15 Nov 1827 in Athens, McMinn, Tennessee
and
William Henry Cannon; born 28 Nov 1771 in Cumberland, Virginia, died: 11 Jun 1868 in Sevier, Tennessee

And Catherine Henderson's parents were: 

Mary Catherine Beavers born abt 1750 and died after 1786
and
William Henderson.  He was born probably in 1741 in Virginia.  He died in Sevier County, TN, date unknown.

William Henry Cannon's parents were:
John Cannon, born 18 Mar 1744 in Caswell, North Carolina; died Oct 1806 in Grass Valley, Knox, Tennessee
 and
Nancy Ann Whitlow, born 18 Nov 1747 in Caswell, North Carolina, and died 01 Jul 1830 in Knox County, Tennessee.  More about her was posted HERE.

Today I discovered 2 siblings perhaps of Cyntha's mother's (Catherine Henderson.)

Cousins Rogers

I share a few pics of some of my cousins who I hadn't seen or talked with until recently. Amazingly enough, they even remember this visit, and that I snored!  Oh dear, but I had terrible sinus problems after leaving Texas.  What a legacy!

Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Dottie lived in Wisconsin (in the 50s) and had 2 daughters at that time.
We lived in St. Louis, MO, and took a trip once to visit my dad's brother and his family.  Thanksgiving 1953.

(l to r) Uncle Jimmy carrying his daughter, Chris, Barbara (me), Mataley (my mother, in back), my cousin Pat, Aunt Dottie and my sis, Mary Beth

Uncle Jimmy, Barbara and cousin Chris showing her sweet face.

Barbara and Mary Beth in warm coats for winter

Christina and Patricia (earlier pictures)

George (my father in white hat) Aunt Dottie and Uncle Jimmy holding Chris, Patricia, me with eyes closed, and Mary Beth (in front)

This Studebaker, behind the group, is a Landcruiser...very modern for the times.  I'll share more about this car on my next post!  Needless to say, my dad really loved it!

I'm submitting this to Sepia Saturday, which has a theme that stumped me.  But wait, these are happy girls, and so are my photos!

Click here and go over and see other's posts that might be more on theme this week (scroll to the lists of names and you can click each of them to see what folks are posting).

Surviving

Living in Appalachia, I run into a few Preppers now and then.  That's someone prepared to survive the Armageddon of some attack, or more likely the doomsday from environmental chaos.  They speak of themselves as Preppers (which isn't in spell check yet!)  But they have a web site and newsletter, as well as the magazine Survival.

They even have computers that are designed to survive an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse.)  EMP is the end of our civilization as we know it, without bombs.  Of course it means all our technology stops at the same time, so I'm not sure why the Preppers have computers that could survive.  No electricity, (cept your batteries for a while),  no cars, no planes, (unless they are designed before computers were in them.)



Anyway, why did I bring them up?  I'm watching a Netflix series from BBC called "Survivors."  I had watched some of the post-apocalyptic TV shows made in the US, but not any from England before.  I soon lost interest in the US mainstream TV versions.  Same old soap opera or cowboy stuff just in a different environment.  Not really dealing with survival issues.  So far Survivors has presented some of the realistic problems, but they have some coincidences that are pretty strange.  The few people who survived the epidemic somehow all come together...and all kinds of deaths seem to be so sudden people are still sitting in waiting room chairs at the hospital.  Not many fires or explosions (yet) which were prevalent after Katrina in New Orleans. 




Anyway, I get to turn it off whenever I get stressed.  That's part of why I watch it.  Much easier to deal with than the real life environmental stresses, or the way people are really treating people on the news each evening.  I haven't watched a TV for a year and a month.  I do watch news on the computer every once in a while, if there's something happening in which I'm interested.  Otherwise, my stress level has been greatly reduced, and nothing happening in the world would have been affected one bit by my watching those gory details.

Hey, Russell, here's a granddad...

Aaron John Rogers, born 1265 in Rome, Roma, Lazio, Italy,  died 1356 in Somerset England.  I posted about him HERE before.

And this is the furthest back that the Rogers genealogy goes at this point...or maybe there was another count who lived in Naples.  Mmm, that must have been on a different tree.

Anyway, whether or not this grandfather is truly yours or not, have a great birthday this 16th of August.  I know you're my son, and am so proud of you.  I've loved you since the day you were born!

I think what is remarkable about the Rogers tree is that all these men had a son...until my generation.
And of course you've done the same thing my dad did, had only daughters.  But then, your mom (me) changed her name back to Rogers after her divorce, and apparently a couple of my female cousins also still have the Rogers name.  So what's in a name?

I'll only post one picture of you this year...since I posted so many last year HERE. 

Now which one do I want to post, hummmm...how about this one?

A Taco for 49 cents, and Tai was much shorter than you were, just before we left Altanta for Cumberland Island vacation trip...mid 80s.  It was great fun with you and Tai on several summer camping trips.  Now you both have your own summer vacations...outdoors too!

Have a very happy birthday, son.

Teens in uniforms

"D" Co. '34  What is this?  My mother's album, I think.  She graduated Thomas Jefferson Highschool in '34, I think.  San Antonio, Texas.  That's where she met my father.  If he's on that field, I sure don't know.  He didn't ever serve in uniform, I do know.

Here's my mother, Mataley, on the left. 

Did they write letters to soldiers later when they went to war?  Perhaps.

I personally had 2 soldier pen-pals.  One served in the Air Force in Korea in the 50s.  And the other was in the Coast Guard on isolated duty in the Aleutians of Alaska for a year, and then I married him when he returned to civilization.  Sorry, no pictures remain.  But I did enjoy our correspondences.

Check Sepia Saturday HERE for more about soldiers and writing correspondence.

Feeling sad

It's not every day..two illustrious people died within days of each other, both in the entertainment industry.  I imagine they have met and have put their feet up someplace, and are looking out at some vistas and relaxing, sharing some stories.  If not that...then I know that their energies will live on through the many wonderful memories they left with us. 

Actress, Oscar Nominee, Tony Award winner and Kennedy Center Award recipient Lauren Bacall passed away at the age of 89 yesterday. Her career spanned five decades of prominent stage and film roles.

And this just after the day that Robin Williams committed suicide.

When Christopher Reeve was in the hospital, awaiting a back surgery that had a fifty/fifty chance of killing him, a man burst into his room. He was wearing surgical scrubs, talking in a Russian accent, and said he was there to give a rectal exam. It was Robin Williams; the two men had been roommates together at Juilliard. Later Reeve said of his life-long friend:

“For the first time since the accident, I laughed. My old friend had helped me know that somehow I was going to be okay.”

That's sort of what Robin Williams did for all of us.  Source: Badass Digest

Super Moon enjoyed

 I confess...these are pictures of July's super moon.  For August, too many clouds for the whole weekend long.  But actually the sun is shining right now, so perhaps there will be moonlight tonight...a day after full.

National recognition of our tribe?

More news articles from earlier in 2014 about the Native American tribe of Nansemonds, from whom my Rogers family has descended through my great great grandfather, Col. Richard Bass. I started a year ago HERE, and several following posts are about my Native American connection.

This post also will talk about false pretenses..

Bill to recognize Nansemonds passes committee

Published 9:14pm Wednesday, April 2, 2014

A bill that would extend federal recognition to the Nansemond Indian Tribe and five others in Virginia passed the (US) Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

The tribes also include the Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock and Monacan.

“I just hope we can finally get there,” Nansemond Indian Tribal Association Chief Barry Bass said on Thursday. “It’s been a long, hard road.”

The bill has passed the Senate Indian Affairs Committee before, but a vote in the full Senate has been blocked by senators who believe the tribes should have to go through the Bureau of Indian Affairs as other tribes have done.

But recognition through the bureau’s administrative process requires documentation that current tribal members have a continuous line of descent from the historical tribes. That has been difficult, if not impossible, for Virginia Indians to prove, in part because of Walter Plecker, who was the registrar of Virginia’s Bureau of Vital Statistics from 1912 to 1946. He replaced “Indian” with “black” for the race on many birth and death certificates that passed through his office, ensuring that no official documentation exists for many tribal members to prove their relationship to ancestors.

“Federal recognition of the Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Monacan, Nansemond, Rappahannock and Upper Mattaponi tribes of Virginia is long overdue,” Sen. Mark Warner said in a press release. “Members of our Virginia Indian tribes are both part of the history of the Commonwealth and valued members of our present and should be recognized as such.”

“Committee passage of this legislation is a critical step toward granting these six Virginia tribes the recognition they deserve,” Sen. Tim Kaine said in the press release. “These tribes are an integral part of Virginia’s history and identity, and it is both troubling and tragic that they have never been recognized by the United States, even when more than 500 other Indian tribes have been granted recognition.”

Time for recognition

Published 9:58pm Friday, April 4, 2014

...Virginia has officially recognized Virginia’s Indian tribes, but the U.S. Senate has a chance now to finally make amends with them for Pleckerism. (see above)  Recognition of the tribes in Virginia — the first people Europeans encountered upon reaching the New World and the first people to call this place home — would help restore the identity that a truly hateful and bigoted man began tearing from them a century ago (Walter Plecker)

 Federal recognition would send a message that the nation is also proud of these First Peoples, their heritage and the important place they hold in Virginia’s — and the nation’s — history.

Source: http://www.suffolknewsherald.com/2014/04/04/time-for-recognition-3/
(underlines and bold typeface by BRogers)


I'm submitting this post to Sepia Saturday this week, where the topic does include false pretenses (which is this man's charged offense).  

I'd say Pleckerism definitely qualifies, and certainly was criminal, even unto the seventh (How many?) generations that follow and aren't recognized as American Indians.

...............................................................................................................

I personally find it interesting that still, if a persons parents are white and black, they automatically become black on various pieces of paper.  If American Indian and white, they become American Indian, and if American Indian and black, Pleckerism continues and they are usually considered black.

You don't have to wear a white hood and burn crosses to continue white supremicism. Racism is still an ugly truth in our lives today.  I live in the south still.  

I wonder how things are in the UK and Australia?

Nansemond Indians recognized in parade

 As I mentioned last post, my Rogers family has roots including the Nansemond Indians of Suffolk, VA, a small tribe among those who welcomed the first Western Europeans to the shores of North America in the 1600s.  Chuckatuck is apparently the community where the new American Indian village, Mattanock, will be built by the Nansemonds (see last post).

Last year there was a celebration including Chief Barry Bass...

Chuckatuck looks back — and ahead

Published 9:59pm Saturday, October 26, 2013

This was the...
second annual Founder’s Day in Chuckatuck, VA, with parade and speeches, children singing, and an antique car show....

 Folks lined Kings Highway for the parade to the Chuckatuck Volunteer Fire Department building. The event’s grand marshal, Chief Barry Bass of the Nansemond Indians, dressed in full regalia, and was driven by Jamie Bradshaw....

Fittingly, (co-chair of event, Kitty) Martin said, "Chief Barry Bass of the Nansemond Indians has been selected as the event’s grand marshal.  We wanted him to be a part, because their land is a part of our community,” she said, referring to 70 acres the city recently conveyed to the tribe, where it plans to develop an educational tourist attraction, Mattanock Town, recreating the tribe’s 1600s village that was located near the site.

Invited up to say a few words, Chief Bass said he was honored to have been selected as grand marshal. “It’s great being here,” he said.
Mayor Linda T. Johnson cited the 1600s Native American village the Nansemond tribe plans to build on 70 Chuckatuck acres recently conveyed to the tribe by the city.
“With Mattanock Town coming to Chuckatuck, we are just going to grow and become a very special place,” she said. “We already are, but it’s going to get better and better.”
  http://www.suffolknewsherald.com/2013/10/26/chuckatuck-looks-back-and-ahead/

Mattanock Town

Let's spend a moment or two catching up (perhaps) with the events and connections which I found about a year ago.  The Rogers family, through my great-great grandfather, Col Richard Bass, are descendents of the Nansemond Indians of Virginia, who are currently located in Suffolk, VA.  The tribe has a bit of a problem being recognized by US Congress...still.

But here are some articles the Suffolk News Herald has published in the last year.  I'll limit each day to one topic.

Surrounded by city officials, Nansemond Indian Tribe Chief Barry Bass signs a ceremonial document at the Aug. 17 2013 powwow.

Home again
By Tracy Agnew

Published 8:49pm Wednesday, September 25, 2013A step forward. A swoop of the pen. And just like that, the Nansemond Indian Tribe had its land back.
Except it didn’t happen just like that. European settlers forced the tribe off its land in the early 1600s, and the tribe didn’t start the process of trying to get it back until nearly 400 years later.
Once they started, there were planning meetings. City Council meetings. Unsuccessful votes, and more meetings.
Finally, the vote came. 7-1, but it was enough. The tribe had its ancestral land back.
Then came more meetings, lawyers, more votes. It was a long road to Aug. 17, 2013, when at the end of Pembroke Lane, under a tent, Chief Barry Bass stepped forward along with city leaders to sign his name to a ceremonial document. The actual deed had been recorded in the courthouse two days before.
Gifts were exchanged, here on this ground where hesitant contacts with European settlers resulted sometimes in gift exchanges, sometimes in death.
A monument was unveiled, here on this ground where the tribe’s ancestors once built their longhouses and kept gardens.
A celebratory powwow began, here on this ground where the tribe’s ancestors danced and drummed so long ago.
The mayor and the chief walked into the dance circle side by side, here on this ground where America’s long history of racial hostility began.
Soon the tribe hopes to change the land, which has been a city park for many years, into a development called Mattanock Town, named for its village that was near the site.
Here on this land, there will be longhouses once again. Gardens once again. Tribal crafts once again. A native burial ground once again.
Here on this land, Americans will learn rather than kill. Teach rather than conquer. Contribute rather than steal. Help build rather than burn down.
And the Nansemond Indian Tribe will once again have its own village.
http://www.suffolknewsherald.com/2013/09/25/home-again/ 

Calendar maker

This won't happen for another 850 or so years.

I wonder what wars will be happening then, or what new inventions will enable us to move about the earth and sky.

But having a month with 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays is that rare...assuming this is the calendar we use that far in the future.

And will there still be people around with days having names that refer to ancient pagan gods?

Ah, Woden-day, Thors-day, Freyas-day, and Saturn-day...I think you will have been surpassed by other names by then.  Moon and Sun should still be around.  Don't remember who Tuesday was named after.

Enjoy it, when it happens.  We only really have one day, today.