2020 - Gratitude Day #12 - My Grandparents

 Gratitude Day #12 

Today I am grateful for my grandparents.

It's difficult to imagine that my grandparents were born in the late 1800s. And I knew each of them personally.

My Dad's parents were Richard Lee and Fannie Collier Clemens. Dad was #5 out of eleven children, so I can only imagine how difficult it would have been to raise a family of that size in the hollers of eastern Kentucky. They would raise all but two of those children to adulthood. 

Older brother Cecil had died at three months old from whooping cough. 

Little Betty died while sitting in her big sister's lap in a rocking chair. As she rocked, she would push off on the pot belly stove in front of her, not realizing that with each "push", a pot of beans inched toward the edge.

And, it fell on little Betty. 

This sweet 3 1/2 year old girl suffered for three days before her eventual death. Their feelings on the death of any of their children would be no different than mine today.

I don't think my Dad's family had much money, for it doesn't appear that they lived in one place for very long. I am working on two big projects right now that include ICAPGen renewal, as well as for the First Families of Ohio lineage society. Tracing my dad's family began with him and continuing on back. All I can say at this point is that their life was extremely hard and poor.

But, they made it. It's funny how my sisters and I returned to Olive Hill, Kentucky to look for the house we can all remember making visits to. It was a huge white house with a red roof and a wrap-around porch.

Suddenly it just doesn't seem so huge anymore. My sisters kept asking:

"Where's the apple orchard?"

"Where's the hill grandpa rode a hog on?"

I don't know. I can't help you.

The house on College Hill.

Richard Lee and Fannie Collier Clemens

Richard Lee and Fannie Collier Clemens

My mom came from a good family lineage. I have more memories of her parents than I do of my dad's, for when his parents died I was only about age 5 & 6.

I often wonder how any of my grandparents made it through the 1918 flu epidemic. Mom was the oldest of a large family of boys, and two of those boys were lost during that time. Her aunt Harriett lost three children. It wasn't unusual for people to lose many children or other relatives.

Mom's parents were Corbitt Sullivan Stevens and Bertha Agnes Gearheart. For years I wondered how papa Corb got his name, for we have found no one in the family named either Corbitt or Sullivan. No one. 

So, a few years ago, I asked my uncle if he knew where the names came from. He said, "Sure! It was from two prizefighters!"

I wrote about it here: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8363417267053930444/1144019730923837419 

I am grateful for the good and happy times I had visiting their homes, eating their food, and listening to their stories. They are the ones who connect me with history - my history, their history, American history.

The house built by Corb Stevens, Lawton, KY

Corbitt Sullivan Stevens

Bertha Agnes Gearheart Stevens

It's Only a Little Cup and Saucer

My maternal grandmother was the one I knew the best.

Bertha Agnes Gearheart Stevens, wife of Corbitt Sullivan Stevens

Each year in October, my parents and I made the trip to Kentucky to bring her back to Ohio for the winter. 

My mom was afraid for her mom, for she still heated her house with a coal stove, 

which meant going out back with a coal bucket

during the ice and snow.

She was always ready to go back home in March,

for it was plantin' time.

But, several years before we began to plan for her winter stay, we made trips to visit both her and my grandfather.

Once, during an extremely hot summer visit, 

we had gone "cemeteryin'".

The older folks knew where every one of their kin was buried.

We were so thirsty for something cool to eat or drink,

so we decided to stop at Raybourn's General Store.

It has since burned down. 

But, you could buy just about anything you would ever need...

from overalls, to foodstuffs, to farm implements.

That included fudgcicles.  

The four of us sat in the car slurping away on our fudgcicles 

when "Mawmaw" took me by my eight-year old hand and took me back into the store.

I was just a bit younger than eight in this photo.

There, she proceeded to buy me the prettiest little 

flowered cup and saucer.

It was one of the few things I ever received from her.

I have grown up,

moved several times,

and raised four children...

and that little cup and saucer has survived it all.

The original cup and saucer are on the left,

but through the years I have found a few more plates that 

resemble the same pattern.

I guess that little cup and saucer 

would be considered antiques today.

I'm not sure anyone in my family 

will ever want this or appreciate its story.

It may end up at Goodwill...

But, it's little story is preserved here.

And, this is probably why I love and admire dishes 

to this day.

I will stop dead in my tracks when I see lovely old dishes.

Now, I remember why.

Looking for Beulah

I never knew my Great Aunt Beulah.  She died nearly seventeen years before I was born.

While I am usually working on presentations at this point in my life, I occasionally get to work on my own research.  The examples I give at genealogy conferences are usually from my own family.

So, on this rare Saturday that I don't feel the pressure to meet a deadline, I am cleaning up some of my own records.  

I knew Beulah's husband very well, for he was my grandmother's brother.  Uncle Bethel Gearheart had the kindest voice, and always welcomed me up on to the porch.  He lived in Lawton, Carter Co., Kentucky.

I knew "about" Beulah, but didn't really know her.  Family records indicated that she may have died in childbirth.  Kentucky death records are available for that time period, so I looked.

And, I kept looking.  And, kept looking.

I never did find a death certificate for Beulah Gearheart, but I did indeed find one for Beulah STONE.

I can't fathom a reason why Beulah Gearheart's death certificate would be listed under her maiden name of Stone, for she was indeed married to Bethel Gearheart.

Unfortunately, I probably won't ever be able to prove it, for the area where they were married, Elliott County, Kentucky, has suffered record losses due to courthouse fires.  But, since this was my mother's uncle, she knew him and Beulah quite well.  All I have to go on at this time is her word, and her personal knowledge and acquaintance with both of them.

 You can see where her name is filed under Beulah Stone, and her husband's name is Bethel Gearheart.

And, on a sad note, she died of septicemia following the birth and death of her twins girls, Zelma and Thelma.  They were born on 15 Apr 1938, and died sometime in the same month.

My takeaway:  Look under names you wouldn't likely have looked.  Beulah's death certificate is under her maiden name, not under the name of her husband, where we would normally look.  I don't have the answer as to why; I'm just grateful I was able to locate it.

Women's History Month - #5

Onward we go with the lives of valiant women!

March 5 — How did they meet? You’ve documented marriages, now, go back a bit. Do you know the story of how your parents met? Your grandparents?

My mom used to tell me that she and dad met at church.  Then, she would later say that they didn't really grow up going to church.  So, I'm not sure how they met, other than the fact that Dad worked at the limestone quarry where Mom's father, Corb Stevens, was the foreman.

The old limestone quarry at Lawton, KY.  It was later a mushroom factory, where the conditions were perfect for growing mushrooms.

My dad's parents, Richard Lee and Fannie Collier Clemens.  The story about how they met is unknown to me.  

My mom's parents, Corb and Bertha Gearheart Stevens.  The story about how they met is unknown to me.

How sad it is that these people that I knew so well in my life have stories that will never be known to me.  I can only surmise that their love story echoes that of my parents; they married because there wasn't anything else to do.

In eastern Kentucky, opportunities for going beyond the few counties around one's home were few.  You married who you knew; those your parents knew, those you went to school with, those you saw at church, those that lived up the holler.

Oh, if I could just have about five minutes more with each of them!

Remembering the Babies

I have not set out on a quest to discover the forgotten babies in my family.  It just happened.

Little Faye Stevens, youngest sibling of my mother, Ida Stevens Clemens, and the only other girl in a family of eight children.  She died at age 3 of acute lymphatic leukemia.

It first began while perusing the West Virginia Death Records that are available online.  http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.aspx  My parents, along with a couple of my dad's brothers and their families were living in the West Virginia coal camps in Logan County.  I had heard my mother mentioned that her two sisters-in-law had a number of pregnancies, along with a number of miscarriages and premature births.  Each of these aunt supposedly had 18 pregnancies.

I found a number of these premature babies listed, along with children that lived.  My heart began to break, for I saw many causes of death that could have/would have been easily preventable today.  Such causes included rickets, malnutrition, childbed fever and syphillis.

I found where many of these young ones were buried, for it was included on the death certificates.  Some made the trip back to Olive Hill, Carter, Kentucky and a couple of others were buried in Logan County.  Even though my parents knew the families intimately, not all of the babies were included in our records.

Another big surprise happened while teaching at a genealogy conference.  I decided to go "live" onto FamilySearch.org and demonstrate different ways of researching.  While illustrating how one can do a "Parent Search", I filled in the names of my mother's grandparents, Benjamin Franklin and Celia Moore Gearheart.

My mother knew this family quite well.  They lived nearby.  She played at their house.  They died when she was well into her adult years.  But, while I was waiting for the screen to load, I was taken by surprise.  There appeared an entry for Matt Gearheart.

Matt.  Who in the world was Matt?

I searched over all of the records I had, plus went into the files given to me by my parents, and there wasn't any Matt listed anywhere.

First of all, Matt is not a name common in my family, or even in that part of Kentucky.

Second, he was born and died the same year as my mother.

Third, I have noticed a tendency that when a child died in New England, they often named the next child of that same sex the name of the deceased child.  That's not always the case in the South.  Many times, that child's name was just not spoken again.  It may have been  just too painful.

I have now come across forty babies.  I have not set out to discover them, for I didn't know they needed discovered.  At times, we may see a gap in the usual number of years between the births of children that may elude to a miscarriage or death.  But, in most of these cases I didn't know to look.  Little Matt was the last-born of a large family.  He could have easily been forgotten.

But, he and 39 other babies are not forgotten now...

My Favorite Free Genealogy Sites

Week 3 – Free Online Genealogy Tools: Free online genealogy tools are like gifts from above. Which one are you most thankful for? How has it helped your family history experience?

This is week 3 of 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy, and I must respond to this one!  It deals with free genealogy tools, of which I am SO grateful for!!

My first and most favorite is www.usgenweb.com, and I use it several times each week.  I have made some of those most terrific finds through the generosity of others who have shared their research.

My first find that sent me into orbit concerned an Adam Gearheart of Floyd Co., KY.  It was simply entitled "Descendants of Adam Gearheart".  It was well written, and confirmed what I felt was correct in my own research.

Carter Co., KY hosts a wonderful site on usgenweb.com.  As a matter of fact, it's one of the best I've ever seen.  I have particularly gleaned many obituaries, for there were many family from Kentucky who moved to this area.   Lots of puzzles have been completed, or at least filled in, because of the vast amount of obituaries that are continualy uploaded onto this site.

Carter County also maintains thousands of pictures in its database.  So, not only do I have obituaries, but faces to complete the stories.  I have enjoyed seeing the family resemblances coming through the ancestral lines.  It also allows me to contribute photos with ease.

My grandparents, Richard Lee and Fannie Collier Clemens.

What would I do without www.findagrave.com?  As much as I LOVE visiting ancestral cemeteries, it's not always easy to do so.  Findagrave has enabled me to go zooming around the United States searching for cemeteries and possible ancestors which may be buried in them.  Again, I have easily uploaded tombstone photos of my own.  Thank goodness for the wonderful volunteers around the globe that contribute to this great site.

Zachariah Johnson/Johnston tombstone, Stonewall Jackson Cemetery, Lexington, VA

My greatest love and gratitude go to www.familysearch.org.  Where do I even begin?  Through the wonderful indexing project, I was able to run across 26 babies that belonged to various family members.  Twenty-six!!!  I truly was not even looking for them, for I didn't know they existed.  But, sometimes we glean help from the other side, for which I am grateful.  These babies were part of a family's history, and now they are included. 

Chester Clemens, my father, as a young baby.  Though he was not lost, several of his nieces and nephews were.  Thanks to FamilySearch, they are not lost anymore.

None of want to feel "lost".  Thanks to these wonderful websites, we can continue our research when we may not be able to afford the paid sites.  Bless the hearts of the good people that continue to volunteer their times and talents to keep them going!