Ancestor Birthdays for March

Happy March birthdays to these ancestors of my descendents!

* Mataley Mozelle Webb Munhall Rogers, March 26, 1917
* Annie Lou Gibbs Rogers Wilson, March 10, 1879 

* Lucinda Benson Gibbs Rogers,  March 28, 1818

* Lt. Spencer Clack, March 28, 1746

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Mataley Mozelle Webb Munhall Rogers, b. March 26, 1917, San Anotonio, TX, (m. 11.21.36  George Elmore Rogers, Jr). d. 2003, Houston, TX. 
My mother.  I will give her a special page, which will be coming soon, probably on March 26!

No wonder I've always considered Friday the 13th a lucky day, my parents passed it on to me!

George and Mataley Rogers, San Antonio, TX 1936?

This picture of my mother sitting on a tree is the basis of my submitting this post to Sepia Saturday for March 23. 

We have trees in a park, and photographers busy catching the "best shots."

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I've already given you about as much as I know about Annie Lou Gibbs Rogers Wilson (Here).

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  Lucinda Benson Gibbs Rogers b.3.28.1818 Union District, SC (married 9.14, 1848 Bienville, LA to George Washington Rogers  b. 2.7.1820 Sevierville, TN, fought in Mexican War, d.1.26.1864?)  She was my paternal grandfather's grandmother.

Just so you think about the travels of Lucinda.  This woman went from South Carolina, and she as well as her brother married into the Rogers family from Sevier County, TN, then moved to Bienville, LA, where she was married (at a rather late age actually) and then to Huntsville, TX where she died on 9.22.1884. She gave birth to 4 children, 2 of whom lived to adulthood.

I always wonder how the Rogers clan got together with the Gibbs, then took off for LA, where many of them settled.  There is a town named after one of Lucinda's brothers, Dr. Jaspar Gibbs. Gibsland is now the celebrated site of the deaths of Bonnie and Clyde.  The Rogers continued into the territory of Texas and settled in Huntsville.

I also believe Lucinda originally received the Rogers family Bible upon her marriage, which has all the records of the family from 1794 to the 1950s, and at that time was in the possession of one of the Gibbs descendents. 

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Lt. Spencer Clack b. 3.28.1746 in Loudon County.VA, d. 7.9.1832 Sevier County, TN. Also from Franklin, Henry & Brunswick Counties, VA.  Trained in surveying and military tactics under Gen. George Washington who sponsored him when he joined the Masons.  

Representative and Senator from Sevier County, TN from 1796-1832.  Member of committee who drafted State constitution of Tennessee.

He married in 1766 to Mary Beavers Clack (name may have been Beauvior changed during French & Indian war) b. 1.12.1745 in New Jersey, d. after 1832 

Their daughter Catharine Clack Rogers (b. 6.23.1778 in Virginia d. 10.30 1850 Sevier County, TN) married in 1794 to Rev. Elijah Rogers (b. May 1774,) the patriarch of the Rogers family from Sevier County TN. and these were grandparents of George Washington Rogers (b. 2.7.1820) husband of Lucinda Gibbs Rogers above)

Erin go Braugh!

Mixing of holidays a bit, but a great Irish movie that I'm watching this weekend...

"Dancing at Lughnasa"
with Meryl Streep, Catherine McCormack and Sophie Thompson in 1930's Ireland.

Here's a lovely clip of the music and dance.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=anzEZz-6vds

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Pottsdam what?

Sepia Saturday asks us to look through our old photos to see if we have anything that meets the parameters (any of them) of a picture of the Pottsdam Conference in 1945.  (Click on the name to see all kinds of other postings)

I went to Wikipedia and buzzed through it's long listing...then found this which made me go WHOA!  (remember Truman abruptly had become President in April of that year when three-term Roosevelt died)  I was just a little girl while this conference was going on, being broadcast only on radio news or printed in the daily newspapers at the time.  It certainly was better news than all that had covered during the war years before. 

On 16 July 1945, the Americans successfully tested an atomic bomb at the Trinity test at Alamogordo in the New Mexico desert, USA. On 21 July, Churchill and Truman agreed that the weapon should be used against Japan. Truman had previously been encouraged by the Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, to inform the Soviets of this new development, in order to avoid sowing distrust over keeping the USSR out of the Manhattan Project. 

 What I didn't know until today follows:

Truman did not tell Stalin of the weapon until 25 July when he advised Stalin that America had "a new weapon of unusually destructive force." According to various eyewitnesses, Stalin appeared uninterested. It later became known that Stalin was actually aware of the atomic bomb before Truman was, as he had multiple spies that had infiltrated the Manhattan Project from very early on (notably Klaus Fuchs, Ted Hall, and David Greenglass), while Truman had only learned about the weapon after Roosevelt's death.(underline by blogger) By the 26th of July, the Potsdam Declaration had been broadcast to Japan, threatening total destruction unless the Imperial Japanese government submitted to unconditional surrender. 

Churchill had been voted out of office during the same conference and Clement Attlee took his place.

Attlee, Truman and Stalin at Pottsdam Conference.

I give you my personal story of someone taking the place of another person.  Not by election, but the way that Truman came into office, by the death of his predecessor.

Albert "Bud" Webb, my mother's father

Albert J. (Bud) Webb (b. July 30, 1891, Huisache, TX, d. 1919)  My mother was 2 years old when he died.

Into my mother's photo album comes the new Daddy in her life.  He had married her mother on March 22, 1924, just before my mother's 7th birthday on the 26th.

 

My mother, Mataley was a creative scrapbooker, and added the mouse here.  But since she probably didn't write in cursive in 1925 when she was 7 or 8, it's possible the scrapbook/album wasn't created until sometime later.  I'm intrigued by the little mouse, and so glad she wrote the dates with the pictures!

Forced Forsythia

48 hours after it was cut and brought inside.

 

My little bit of spring.  No wonder people are talking about their gardens all over the place!

Maybe spring

A rainy Monday means clouds rather than mountains behind my house

My rather healthy vole population might be the cause of this wayward daffodil about 7 feet from any others.  I can't figure out any other way a bulb might have traveled that far on its own.

I'm hoping this is forsythia, because I cut a bunch of stems and brought them inside to force them to flower. 

I've been serenaded by wonderful birds going about their springtime duties.

Ancestors Birthdays for January

A bit retrograde, like Mercury, are the January ancestors' birthdays:
Margaret Etha Miller,
James Winston Rogers
Eugenia Almeta Booth Miller  

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Margaret Etha Miller, (see my blog post about her here)
Born January 10, 1909 in Smithfield, TX.  Great Aunt Margaret was the sister of my mother's mother, Mozelle Booth Miller Webb Munhall. 



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James Winston Rogers was born January 14, 1922
He was a younger brother of my father, George Elmore Rogers, Jr.  Much younger, by 7 years.  We called him Uncle Jimmy.

Married in 1945, (divorced 1980's) to Dorothy Marie Hehlke Rogers, d. 1987 Stevens Point, WI

This picture was from my father's album, which I never knew existed until a few months ago.

(Dad's mother) Ada, James, (my mother) Mataley, (my father) George Jr, and (Dad's father) George Rogers Sr., San Antonio, Texas

4.21.35 (Uncle Jimmy) James Rogers in front, (Uncle) Chauncey and (my dad) George Jr, (Dad's mother) Ada and (Dad's father) George Sr.

James, Ada Rogers, Mataley Rogers, San Antonio Texas.

James, Ada and George Rogers Sr. 1201 Woodlawn, San Antonio TX

George Rogers Sr and his sons, James, Chauncey and George (horsing around!) San Antonio TX

The time I remember meeting my Wisconsin relatives was at Thanksgiving in 1953 when we drove up to Stevens Point from St. Louis.

(Left to right front) (cousin) Patricia, (myself) Barbara, (sister) Mary Beth, (Back) (Dad) George, (Aunt Dottie) Dorothy,(Uncle) James, (cousin) Christine Rogers

Christine and Patricia Rogers (James' children,) are cousins that I've only seen a few times in my life, and now they have children (and maybe grandchildren too)  Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Dottie also had 2 other children, Cynthia and John Fitz Rogers.  I met them once with my oldest 2 sons on a camping trip to Wisconsin.

James Rogers, 1953

Uncle Jimmy was a commercial artist, which somehow was given a second rating whenever I learned about "real art" (like in museums.)  But he made his living doing art for an insurance company (Wassau) for many years.  He was inspirational to me to dabble in various artistic endeavors so my family could say "it may run in the family."

The only picture from this trip with my mother Mataley Rogers in it, center, just behind myself in the coat with collar.  I enjoy the kind of candid nature of these pictures.

James Rogers and brother George Rogers, 1953 (George was around 6 feet, I never noticed James was taller!)

George, Chauncey and James Rogers at their father's burial (George Rogers, Sr.) 1960, Houston, Texas

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Eugenia Almeta Booth Miller (see my past blog post about her here) 
 b. 1.30.1873, 
m 10.28.1896 Charles Miller (Mueller,) 
 d. 1.1.1936. 
 My great grandmother on mother's side, for whom I given the middle name Booth.


I'll try to get the March ancestors birthday published in that month!  No promises!

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!

Watching movies

What have I spent my hours on the couch watching while I'm sick?

A Fish Called Wanda
Mrs. Doubtfire
Sherlock (the PBS series from the last 2 years...can't wait till it comes again)
Casablanca
Happy Accident - love, comedy and time travel (all things I really enjoy watching)
Applachian Trail (National Geographic Documentary)
John Adams (HBO series, I've got one due again from Netflix today)
Butter (excellent!!!)
Safety Not Guaranteed ( more love, comedy and time travel - this is a genre that should be recognized I think)
old West Wing episodes (I love them, they don't have to be in order any more)

I did notice that Well's Time Machine had been broadcast live yesterday, and I saw a few shots from it, but I've seen it so many times, I know what happens next from all the scenes.  OK, but I wasn't in the mood to watch it again.

So while I continue to slowly (dear Goddess it seems so slow) recuperate from bronchitis, I thank my Netflix account for all these streaming movies and old shows.  Of course a few of the above are also in my permanent collection.  I know I want to see those again and again.

Now I'm going back to...another old favorite series, Rosemary and Thyme

Time away

Dear fellow bloggers. I'm sick.  This is the first cold I've had in over a year.  Drat, my system is not used to coughing or running nose.
I'll be away till I feel better.  Missing you all!

Ancestor Birthdays in February

some ancestors' February Birthdays:
William Sanford Rogers
Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers
Eugenia Almetta Whitty Booth

 

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William Sanford Rogers (Known as W. Sam by his son, my grandfather, George Elmore Rogers, Sr.)  
born on 2.9.1850 Huntsville, TX
m. Bette Bass on 12.14.1876,  Willis Tx 
d. 1879 Huntsville TX.  

You might notice how young he was when he died.  His wife died within a year of him, so my grandfather was raised (with his little sister) by W. Sam's sister, Alice Luella Rogers Ross and her husband, John Elmore Ross, who just happened to have also been born on February 22.1850, died-1.14.1918. 
(NOTE: Further research shows it is not true that Bette Bass Rogers died then)

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A woman who was a strong leader in our family.  My father's mom: Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers was born Feb 23, 1886 San Marcos, TX,
m. 6.6.1905 George Elmore Rogers,  Galveston, TX
d. Dec. 1964,  Houston, TX

Ada Rogers as one of two Christian Science Readers for Sunday services in a Houston Texas church. (In the background is Mary Beth Rogers who is honored below)

My grandmother was a Christian Science Practioner for as long as I knew her, which meant she helped sick people without use of medical attention, only with prayer.  It wasn't quite the same as laying on of hands, as there was little drama involved, but the purpose was to use the same powers that Jesus did to have healings.

She raised my father in the religion and he remained a devout Christian Scientist all his life, though he seldom attended Sunday services (at least when I lived with him).

Ada and husband George Rogers

Christmas dinner 1938.  Front row, l to r, Mataley (my mother) Donna V, Ada; back row, brothers: George (Junie, my father), Alex, Chauncey, James and Pop (George Sr) taken at the Rogers home, 400 E. Myrtle, San Antonio, TX

 sisters Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers and Stella Zuleka Swasey Winslow (b. 1887)

The Swasey sisters were the only children of Zuleka Phillips Swasey, whose sister was also named Ada.  

See an older post on my blog about Ada and George Rogers, and a very old photo here.

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Eugenia Almetta Whitty Booth b. 2.24.1852 Marshall TX.  She married 7.20.1869 (his second m.) Richard R. Booth. They were the maternal grandparents of my grandmother, Mozelle Booth Miller Webb Munhall.  I love that I can trace a maternal lineage this far, and actually a bit further.

This is the home 17 year old Mrs. Booth moved into when she married a widower.  Richard had one son who was 3 at the time of the marriage.  They had 3 more children, including Eugenia Almeta Booth Miller, my great grandmother.  I've already talked about her on this blog earlier here.
  

Booth family home, 1855 Hillsboro, Texas

Macro leaves problem

I'm asking (searching) for an answer to the fuzz that has decided to appear right as new leaves pop open on my old gardenia bush.

Gardenia leaves

I brought it inside in October when the first freezes started happening at night.  It sat in an indoor covered porch/studio over most of the winter.  Ha!  She says, because it is still winter, isn't it?

But I moved it into the southern exposure living area where it gets full sun and warmth again about a month ago.  I also fertlized it then.

Flaky things on new growth

Then yesterday I noticed that all the new leaves had little white/transparent flaky things.  When rubbed, they come off easily and look like little shards of glass, but are softer.

If the flaky things are on older leaves (dark green) I sure don't see them.


I have had aphids on this bush last spring, and treated them effectively with regular spraying.  Is this another kind of insect?  Or is it a disease?

None of the gardenia diseases in the various sites on line talk about anything like this.

The rest of the leaves haven't fallen off all winter.  Last year this bush shed all it's leaves and grew a new batch.

This year I did prune it before bringing it back to warmth and sunshine.

Anyone know what this might be and how to treat it?

Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to check other Monday Macro postings.

More of the gardenia bush, showing stems