Lost & Found
A distant cousin was recently at the old Fagan ranch on the San Antonio River. Most gatherings there now are to bury our kin, and this was such an occasion.
Finally: Swedes!
Olof Persson Stillé was born in 1610 on this lovely estate [Penningsby Manor/Castle in Ruslagen, Sweden] where his father had a position of some importance.
Tidbits Unearthed
It’s always so interesting to open up Ancestry.com on a Sunday morning and find some new record hint attached to an ancestor.
Go with Grace
9 September 1930 Beeville, Texas – 30 July 2015 Victoria Texas I look into these eyes and see myself staring back. As little girls, we looked so much alike.
Good Advice
I have enjoyed looking at the photos and quotes published by Garden & Gun magazine this month — advice that fathers have given their children through the ages. Some are seriously good and some are terribly funny! “If you ever see a turtle on a fence post, don’t ever think he got up there by […]
John Ford’s Point
Though hobbled by injuries received in the Painted Desert, I was still able to enjoy a photo tour of Monument Valley — a ‘holy place’ that I dreamed of visiting since before I knew exactly where it was. This view of John Ford’s Point was captured as a storm approached the valley. During a recent […]
Hot time in the old town
Wirt, Oklahoma – Christmas Day in 1920 This virtual shanty town was thrown together to house an influx of oil field workers and supporting trades for the big boom at Healdton Field in the early 1900s. It’s written that the second stories of some buildings were brothels. Living facilities were hard to come by, and […]
Goodbye, old friend …
Stephen Paul Turco (1942-2012) Our old Army buddy and Ron’s platoon leader from Fort Hood, Texas. He reminded us often that he was Italian and that he was from Nebraska, two things he was most proud of. Fond Memories Typing Steve’s resume when he was leaving the Army after Viet Nam and returning to civilian life. […]
Thanks to Carlos …
March 27, 1836 Mexican soldados murdered Texicans who had defended the garrison at La Bahia. A few managed to escape the massacre by slipping into the underbrush and then into the San Antonio River. My Irish ancestors (including the grandfather of Lucy Cecelia Fagan) were rescued just before the massacre by a fellow rancher from […]
Remember the Alamo!
It’s been 176 years since the Mexicans scaled the walls of the Alamo in San Antonio, bringing death to about 186 Defenders. On this early morning in Georgia, I am remembering the Alamo story, as I do every year. It’s a story that I love hearing — that I cherish every detail of. Each year […]
Quail Eggs in a Cemetery
Place: Rhea Cemetery | Dewey County | Oklahoma A tiny nest of quail eggs in the grass. These chicks will hatch and be nurtured beside my great-granny’s grave in this old cemetery, with only the tombstones to guard them from hawks and other prey.
Crossing Paths?
Recently, I was working on my family history sites GoogleMap where I mark home sites, cemeteries, migration trails and other venues of interest that help tell the story of my ancestors. It’s wonderful that many photos are now tied to GoogleMap locations, so we can get a visual of the areas! I was particularly trying […]
Lehigh Bank
This lonely building, once a busy bank, is one of a very few left in Lehigh, Oklahoma. It is now a quiet country township of wooded lots, country lanes, and simple homes. Lehigh is in Choctaw Nation, and at one time it was a thriving coal mining community, which may account for this large bank […]
Finding Grandfather
A recent search for ancestors took me (in books) to the site of the Cherokee village of Keeowe in South Carolina, on the path of Mollie of the Wolf clan. Her family was part of the charismatic Dragging Canoe’s followers, and they moved with him to a location on the Tennessee River near Lookout Mountain. […]
Memorial Day … belatedly
[Yes, it’s a small photo … but when you click it, you’ll be linked to the full sized one. And that’s how you’ll be able to see the special things that hold memories of my loved ones.] Where would I start? Perhaps with the small beaded buckskin bag that belonged to Cynthia Jane Fletcher Hoggard, […]
Hastings Shade: Cherokee National Treasure
Tomorrow [February 12, 2010] they will bury my old friend — or maybe his ashes will be scattered somewhere in Cherokee Nation. Perhaps they may even be returned here to Georgia to the old Cherokee homelands. I wanted very much to be at the funeral services near Tahlequah. Getting there would have meant driving through […]
Jewels in Arkansas
They are both gone now, but how can we forget them!? I have never been in a more loving home, full of joy and laughter. I trekked across the country for my first visit with Ollie and Dorothy some years ago, arriving in Arkansas just before dinner time. Directions to the Caldwell Ranch were confusing […]
