Life on Byron Street: The Fruit Stand

Right across a gravel drive from my father’s hardware and garden store sat Tony’s Fruit Stand.  This was very convenient for a kid like me.  I used to walk over to their counter and plop my dime down on it and ask for “10 cents worth of grapes.”  They weighed them out for me, put them in a plastic bag, and off I’d be on my way back to my dad’s store.  Some times I would get hot, boiled peanuts which they put in a foil-lined white paper bag to keep them hot for me. The big, soft, salty ones were the best!

Tony’s Fruit Stand always had fresh fruits and vegetables, but they also had a “cold drink” machine right near the front.  It had fruit flavored “cokes” in it that I preferred over the Coca-colas in my dad’s drink machine. So I’d go there often to get a Fanta strawberry, orange, or grape drink.  Their machine was the type that had a tall, slender glass door on the left that held the bottles in individual compartments; each locked in place with a gate around the neck of the bottle.  When the coins were dropped in the slot, the gate would release so that the bottle could be pulled out.  I can still hear that clinking sound.

Mr. Tony Pizzolato had a cold-storage room where he kept some of his watermelons to market them as “ice-cold.”  And they were!  My dad and he had a friendly competition to see who could come closest to guessing the weight of a watermelon just by holding it in their arms.  I’m not sure if my dad ever got one for free if he guessed the correct weight, but he did win bragging rights!

In the fall of the year Tony’s Fruit Stand would get in a large load of pumpkins which would be stacked in a large pile out in front.  One October day in 1970, Art Kleiner, the photographer for the State Times and Morning Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge, was driving around town looking for a human interest photo for the Halloween edition’s front page.  He dropped by the fruit stand when he saw the big pile of pumpkins out front.  He inquired at the counter if they knew of a school-aged girl who could pose in her Halloween costume while sitting in the pumpkins.  They immediately recommended that he go next door and ask my parents about me.  I was eight years-old at the time.  My mom brought me back home quickly and we threw together a homemade witch outfit, grabbed our household broom, bought a witch’s hat at the Pak-a-Sak down the street and headed back to the fruit stand — all in about 20 minutes!  It was great fun!Not long after this, Tony’s began selling seafood — fresh and boiled.  When that branch of the business took off, he and his sons rented an old gas station up Plank Road to expand this side of the business.  Today his children own and operate Tony’s Seafood Market and Deli, one of the largest seafood markets in the state of Louisiana.  They also produce “Louisiana Fish Fry” brand products.  What started as humble beginnings has turned into a very successful operation.

The original stand is not on Plank Road anymore, but I’ll always remember original Tony’s Fruit Stand with fond memories.

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Life on Byron Street: A Tale of Two Stores

Me with my Pa-pa in front of his toy store (1962)

Besides my house and yard, which were great places to play, I spent most of my time at the two stores of my father and my “Pa-pa.”  The close proximity of the stores to my house and the possibilities they afforded children with vivid imaginations made the two stores natural places to play.

My Pa-pa, W.T. Arnold, owned a toy store called “Arnold’s Toys.”  How many children get to grow up living down the street from a toy store that is owned by their grandfather?  I remember gazing at the beautiful Madame Alexander dolls that were protected behind the sliding glass doors of the display cases.  My brother and I test rode the bikes and Red Flyer wagons in the middle of the store and played with the sample “Mr. Potato Head,” “Operation,” and “Cooties” games. My sister and I played with the “Lite Brite” and “Easy-Bake Oven,” and the little toy piano like Schroeder plays in Charlie Brown.  “Mrs. Beasely” dolls sat high on a shelf over-looking our fun. One of my all-time favorite toys was the “Dancerina” doll which I begged to get one Christmas (and I did). I always remember feeling like I was the luckiest kid in the world to grow up playing in a toy store.

I often spent time visiting with one of my Pa-pa’s employee’s, Mrs. Mac (short for McBride).  She was always so nice and patient with me.  I loved helping her as she put price tags on the new toys.

One especially exciting place to play in Pa-pa’s store was in the ware room at the rear of the store.  It was a dimly-lit three-tier shelved storage room where we would imagine ourselves being on a ship, in a cave, a haunted house, or a space ship.  Two, short, painted boards that were alongside each other on the otherwise unpainted floor in the ware room always served as our trap door that would lower or lift us to a new adventure.

Hinson’s Hardware Employees — (front row, l-r) Aunt Daisy Mae Valentine, Mrs. McBride, Aunt “Boots” Edna Addison, Mrs. Nell (back left) Dale Arnold, (back right) Ray Hinson, my father.

My father, Ray Hinson, owned an adjacent hardware and garden supply store named, oddly enough, “Hinson’s Hardware and Garden Supply.”  Each spring, when the ware room had been cleared of the Christmas season’s toys, my dad would stock it full of used whiskey barrels that he would cut in half to sell as planters.  This was a great idea except for the fact that one could not walk through the ware room without getting totally drunk from the fumes.  It was quite an unusual and powerful smell for our teetotalling family’s noses.

He opened his store on my first birthday in 1963 and he remained in business in that location for the next fifteen years.  His store smelled of grass seed, nails, rubber gaskets and fertilizer.  Have you ever run your hands through a barrel of Bermuda grass seed?  Or bulk sacks of mustard seed?  It’s the nicest feeling.  It’s hard for me to go into a hardware store today without being thrust back into my childhood.

One job I had was to count the change in the old Coca-Cola machine in the back of his store.  I knew where the special key was hung. And how to unlock each compartment all the way to where the Cokes were held.  I had such responsibility!  And yes, sometimes I was allowed to get a Coke out of the machine, just for me.

Local gardeners would bring Daddy bushels of peas, sacks of tomatoes, and other vegetables from seeds or plants they had bought from him. He kept his bedding plants out in front of the store where he watered them every morning.  I still love the smell of moist soil.  At the end of everyday, he sprinkled a dark, green granular substance on the concrete floor before he swept it.  He said it was to keep the dust down.  Sometime I received the honor of sprinkling the “green stuff” on the floor.  It took me a while before I realized I was lured into a “Tom Sawyer white-wash fence” situation.  My dad was a good, honest businessman.  Everyone always said good things about him.

W.T. Arnold (front) at Ray Hinson’s Hardware and Garden Supply

My Pa-pa was a good man, too, and I don’t say that just because he let us play in his toy store.  My grandmother married him as a young widow after he had been kind to her by making sure that she and her two small children had extra ration stamps for groceries during World War II. It didn’t matter to us that he wasn’t our real grandfather, because he always treated us like his own.

I don’t remember having many conversations with him, but I do remember sitting with him in their kitchen at the counter as he spread saltines with “deviled ham” for me and him.  In the summer he would buy an ice-cold watermelon from Tony’s Fruit Stand next door and cut it on a marble slab table in his yard behind his store while we sat in Adirondack chairs waiting patiently for our slices.

He always looked old to me. He was many years my grandmother’s senior, but he never acted old.  He chewed cigars and he loved making coffee for his employees.  On cold days he and his employees took afternoon coffee breaks around the heater in the back of the store and drank the coffee that he had prepared in a French drip coffee pot on open burners in the back “ware-room.” Around Christmas he also boiled whole hams in a big pot on the same burners.  He boiled the hams with apples, bell peppers, onions, and celery.  The aroma would permeate the whole store! (I still boil my hams the same way.)

But my Pa-Pa’s store wasn’t always a toy store.  It was first a Plee-zing Food Store.  I still have the wooden meat carving table he used.  In addition to groceries he sold general store type items and “Esso” gasoline out front (Esso stood for S.O. – Standard Oil, which later became Exxon).

My Pa-pa, W.T. Arnold, standing with an employee in his Plee-zng Food Store on Plank Road (Click the photo to zoom in and read the prices on the shelves.)

My mother as a young girl with an employee in front of my Pa-pa’s Plee-zing Food Store (1944)

His old store is no longer there, but my memories of it will always be.

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Life on Byron Street

My house on Byron Street (1962)

Life was good on Byron Street.  My father could walk to work every morning from our house to his store located on the corner at Plank Road. My grandmother lived down the street behind my Pa-pa’s store, which was connected to my father’s store.  The local fruit stand was next to them.  I could walk to my elementary school which was located in the next block in the opposite direction. The local park was on the far side of my school and my church was a few blocks farther.  The Winn Dixie and Delmont Village Shopping Center where we traded were  two blocks up Plank Road.

My street was teeming with kids to play with, and there were plenty of older residents around to keep an eye on us.  We would play until the street lights came on or until my mother called us home for supper with her police whistle.  I rode my bike with my sister to places many blocks away and did not think twice about my safety.  Nearly everything that was important to me was located in this small north Baton Rouge community of North Highlands. In the 1960′s and ’70′s it was a fun, safe, and pleasant place in which to grow up.

Today, many of the places I remember on Byron Street and in that community are gone or rundown.  It is sad, but I would like to create a montage of my best memories of that area in an upcoming series of posts that will give you a glimpse as to why I enjoyed living there so much. I will also share vignettes that my Mom shared with me from when she lived there in the ’40′s and ’50′s.  I know that one can never go back to the way it was, but I will do my best!

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A Picture is Worth More Than a Thousand Words (Pt. 2)

I am blowing the dust off of these old images of the Broome family and allied family members to reveal the identities and likenesses of those individuals who may never have been seen by their descendants.  I hope that by posting these images and names that some of their descendents will have the joy of discovering more about their ancestors. (The John Thomas Broome family images are seen in the previous post.)

It is also fascinating to see how people lived and what was important to them, so these images are interesting in their own right to be viewed by everyone.  I hope you enjoy them!

Mr. and Mr. Walter Hurt (taken in Memphis, TN)

Walter Hurt was appointed the Postmaster in Winona, Mississippi in 1893 and was the City Editor of the Meridian Dispatch in Meridian, Mississippi according to the 1913 Meridian City Directory.

Mrs. Addie Harvey Hurt – wife of Walter Hurt

Harvey Hurt – son of Addie and Walter Hurt

W. Harvey and Eldridge Hurt – children of Addie and Walter Hurt

W. Harvey Hurt would grow up to run a newspaper in Waynesboro, Mississippi (like father, like son).  He was also instrumental in bringing a hospital to the Waynesboro area.

Sam Harvey – brother of Addie Harvey Hurt (also pictured with his grandparents John and Aletris Broome in the previous post)

Mercy Broome Harvey

Mercy Broome Harvey

Mercy Broome Harvey was the mother of Addie Harvey and Sam Harvey.  She was the sister of John Thomas Broome (from the previous post).

A party at the mouth of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky – 1882

Catherine B. Morgan – sister of Aletris (from the previous post)

Kate B. Morgan Clary Walsh

Kate B. Morgan Clary

A tribute to a lost loved one. I wish I knew who he was. The letters on the back look like MB.  It could possibly be a tribute to Willie who died when he was seven.

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A Picture is Worth More Than a Thousand Words

Images of our ancestors are the golden nuggets of family history.  Often we are not able to find an image of an ancestor, but when we do, even when the image is small and faded, it gives life to their name and dates.  When you look into the eyes of people who lived so long ago, who are your own flesh and blood, it is an ethereal experience that connects you to your past.

One set of pictures I have in my collection of family images is in an old, red, velvet-covered album of the Broom(e) family.  Besides my loved ones, this album is one thing I would grab in case of a fire.  Most of the photos in this album are from 1880-1900, but some daguerreotypes are from before the Civil War. All except a few are labeled, which is invaluable!  Also in my family history collection I have the Broome Family Bible listing many of  their important dates and events.

John Thomas Broom

Aletris Ellen Morgan Broom

The patriarch of this family is John Thomas Broom who was a farmer from Utica, Mississippi.  (The “e” was added to the family name around the turn of the century according to Bible records.)   The year before the Civil War began he married his young sweetheart Aletris Ellen Morgan on October 7, 1860.  He was 24 and she was 13.  They married in Richmond, Louisiana (near Tallulah, LA) which was burned completely by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant before the siege of Vicksburg, MS in 1863.

Born in 1836 John Thomas was the prime age of 26 for military service in the Civil War. John served for more than one year in the Confederate Army as part of the 36th Mississippi Infantry.  He enlisted in March 1862 for 12 months of service, but in April 1862 a Confederate conscription act, or draft order, went into effect that forced men ages 18-35 to serve for at least three years.  In September of 1862 the conscription age was increased to 45.  But a year and two months after his enlistment date, when the 36th Mississippi was ordered to leave Snyder’s Bluff north of Vicksburg and take up defenses in Vicksburg, John deserted and went home.  Maybe he sensed the inevitable defeat by the Union Army because of the advances they were making around Mississippi.  But there were other reasons why many Confederate soldiers deserted their army around this time in the war.

One was the enactment of  the conscription acts which they felt infringed on their rights by their government — which was why they were fighting this war against the Union in the first place.  In addition to this was the 20 slave exemption added to the conscription acts in October of 1862.  This exemption meant that those who owned 20 slaves could go home to help prevent possible slave uprisings.  The slave-owner could then hire someone to fight in his stead. Any man who could afford the $300 price could hire a substitute to fight for them. Therefore the war in the Confederacy by this time had become known as “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.”

John Thomas and Aletris had their first child on August 30, 1861, a few months after the start of the war.  They named him Thomas Sanders Broom after Aletris’ father Thomas Sanders Morgan.  After John Thomas returned home from the war he and Aletris had 9 more children, six of whom lived to adulthood.

Thomas Sanders Broom

Thomas Sanders Broom and his wife Ella Anderson Broom with their children

When Thomas grew up, he converted from his family’s Protestant faith to Mormonism.  His father then disowned him.

Eva May Broom

John Thomas Broom returned home by August of 1863 and the following spring on May 30, 1864, Eva May Broom was born. She grew up and married Craven P. Fairchild on the 10th of December 1884.

The Broom’s second daughter Louisa Broom, died the day she was born on September 11, 1866.

Catherine Octavia Broom was born in Jan of 1869 and died at the age of three.

Their next child was a son, Willy.

John William “Willy” Broome

John William “Willy” Broom was born in December of 1870.  Sadly at the age of 7, he was killed when he was hit by a wagon.

The Broom’s third son Andrew Jackson Broom, born May 3, 1872, was named after Alestris’ brother Andrew Jackson Morgan (who was killed in the Battle of Seven Pines at the age of 16).  He moved to Llano, Texas where he was a border patrol agent.

Andrew Jackson Broom

Andrew Jackson Broom

Andrew Jackson Broom and his wife Lily Mayo Broom and their children

Annie Theodosia Broom was born January 27, 1876.  She married Andrew J. Harvey on the 4th of July 1899.

Annie Theodosia Broom

Luther Dudley “Dutchy” Broom was their eighth child and fourth son who was born on June 16, 1877.  He was my great grandfather.

Luther Dudley Broom

Luther Dudley Broome

Anna Daisy Jacob Broome

He married Anna Daisy Jacob from Reserve on the German Coast in south Louisiana.  They were married in Baton Rouge on 28 Dec 1904.  He was Baptist and she was Catholic, so they were married by a Methodist minister.  He worked for Standard Oil Company (now Exxon) in Baton Rouge.

Clarence Franklin Broom

Clarence Franklin Broome

Albia Jones Broome

Clarence Franklin Broom was born April 25, 1879.  He married Albia Jones December 23, 1903.

Mary Jane Broom

Aletris Broom had their last child when she was 42 years old.  She had a girl born September 13, 1881 whom they named Mary Jane Broom. Something happened to Mary Jane causing her to pass away at the age of 7.  All that is written in the family Bible is the date she died and the time of day: “quarter to four P.M. Sunday eve”.

The old Broom family album contains many more interesting photos of members of Aletris’ family and John Thomas’ families.  But those photos will appear in a future post.

John Thomas and Aletris lived a rich life full of joy, hardship, happiness, and sadness.  Most of the handwriting in the family Bible appears to be hers.  But on the day she died, at age 58, in a shaky handwriting typical of old age, John inscribes her death information in the old Bible: “Aletris E. Broome the wife of J. T. Broome.  Died on the 19 of April 1905 about 8 in the eaving was born 11 of March 1847″.  All other dates after her death were written by him until he died.

John Thomas and Aletris with grandchild Sammy Harvey

John Thomas Broome with Luther Dudley Broome’s children (L to R) Marcia (my grandmother), John Denis, and Katie (taken about 1913)

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Our Family Bible That Was Not Our Family’s Bible

It was found in a drawer of an antique dresser that was given to my grandmother by her friend.  The lady had bought the dresser from an antique dealer in coastal Mississippi who told her it had come from a New Orleans home that was slated to be torn down.  My grandmother eventually gave the dresser and the Bible to my childhood family sometime before 1969.

When we first received the dresser we took out the Bible and looked through it to see what may lie between its pages.  Located between the Old Testament and the New Testament were several pages reserved for the recording of family history.  In brown faded ink were written the names of several members of the Street family.  Also tucked within these pages were three swatches of yellowed white fabric.  Could they have been from the wedding dresses of the three Street daughters listed on the family pages?  In addition to the fabric swatches there were a couple of newspaper clippings and a calling card.

For years the Bible sat on top of the dresser in our living room. Each Christmas Eve my siblings and I would take turns reading the Christmas story from it by candle light.  Its yellowed pages and old cover just added to solemnity of the occasion.  After my siblings and I grew up, the old Bible continued to wile away the years in my parents’ home.

Since moving away and rearing my own family I have gained a keen interest in genealogy, history, and old things in general and that made me begin to wonder about the old Bible.  How old is it? Who was the Street family?  When did they live?  In these days of the internet and its abundance of information I realized I could probably find some answers to these questions, or at least understand more than I did.

My first quest was to find out when the Bible was printed and who published it.  In Roman numerals on the title page the date was listed as 1847 and the publisher was J.B. Lippincott & Co.*  I then began to research the the names in the Family Record pages.

On the first page were Nicholas and Penninah and their marriage date of 19th September 1841.  Their birth dates were also listed as April 11th 1814 and August 29th 1816 respectively.

On the following page their children are listed as:

Florida Jane Street born 25th July 1845 and married May 23rd 1867

Mary Hunnewell Street born 29 Sept 1846 and married Oct 23th 1866

William Rupell Street born 17 Nov 1847 (died 7 December 1847)

Gertrude Alice Street born Feb 17th 1851 and married Dec 11 1870

With this information I began my search.   Through census records I discovered that this Street family lived in Columbus, Georgia and that Nicholas was born in Connecticut.  He had moved to Georgia from Connecticut sometime between 1850 and 1860.  His wife Penninah was born in Florida.  Their oldest two children were born in Georgia and their youngest was born in Connecticut.

Further research revealed that the roots of this Street family go back to the early days of America.  The progenitor was one of the founding families of New Haven, Connecticut.  (New Haven is the home of Yale University.)  He was also named Nicholas Street.  The Massachusetts Historical Collection has a letter from Rev. John Davenport, the founder of New Haven, to John Winthrop, Jr., stating that Rev. Street was installed in New Haven on November 23, 1659.  Several other family members I discovered in this family’s line were pastors as well, and some were soldiers and patriots.  Many generations of Streets lived in New Haven.  Some Street families still do.

Because of my research into this family and because of the sentimental value I have for this old family Bible, I feel like my family and the Street family have a kinship.  I would love to know how this Bible made its way into the dresser drawer of a home in New Orleans, Louisiana.  But to do that I would need to know the married names of the three daughters.  I have searched all resources available to me at this time.  If you are a member of the Street family from Connecticut or Georgia, I would love to hear from you so that this mystery of the family Bible can be completely solved!

*J. B. Lippincott & Co. was an American publishing house founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1836 by Joshua B. Lippincott. Joshua Lippincott’s company began by selling Bibles and other religious works then successfully expanded into trade books, which became the largest portion of the business. — Collection 3104  J.B Lippincott Company Records – Historical Society of Pennsylvania

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My “History” Mom

Anna Claire Guice Hinson

My mother would get excited about history — especially Louisiana History — and her excitement was contagious.  She often said that she was glad to be from Louisiana because its history was so fascinating.

She was also an excellent teacher.  Many of her students considered her their favorite even if she was a stern educator who demanded quality work.  She taught history to Baton Rouge-area eighth graders for over 15 years and she wanted her students to not only know the stories of history, but to understand each story’s significance to their lives today.

…as a friend of Gov. Huey Long

…as an early Louisiana settler

She’s the only teacher I knew of who would dress up as an historical character for the entire class, assume the nature of that character, and only answer to that character’s name for the whole day.  It was not uncommon for her to stand on a chair or her desk to teach — if it fit her character.  The kids loved it!  And they learned to love history as well.

…as the pirate Jean Lafitte

Growing up with a mom like this instilled firm values and principles in our lives.  Every holiday we flew our flag.  We knew how to display it properly, fold it properly,  and care for it properly.  We learned to respect the office of President of the United States even if we didn’t agree with his political persuasion. We honored veterans and soldiers, as well as those who died fighting for our freedoms.  We went to 4th of July celebrations.  We watched patriotic shows and movies like Yankee Doodle Dandy (I highly suggest you watch this one for a patriotic shot in the arm!) We went on a family trip to Washington, D.C. where we toured the Capitol, met our congressman, saw everything one would expect to see, plus Mount Vernon and nearby battlefields.  I still have fond memories of that vacation. I have also attempted to instill these same values in my own children by doing these same things.

At the USS Kidd in Baton Rouge

At the Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge

After my mom retired from teaching, she didn’t stop sharing her passion.  Field trips with grandchildren and school groups to historic sites and museums in the region were common. She also created a walking history tour for downtown New Orleans and Baton Rouge that I still use today when taking visitors to these cities.

In the New Orleans French Quarter

I love history and I know that it is in large part because of the thrill she always found in it.  I really don’t understand how people can find history boring.  Maybe it’s because they didn’t have my mom for a teacher.

About history she would say,  “I love it, just love it!”

She passed away in January of 2010 and is sorely missed, but what an example she left for us to follow!

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Melinda’s Branches

If your family intersects with any branch of my family please let me know by leaving a message.  I would love to find present day cousins! (Lines are numbered as generations and families are listed progressively – patriarch to matriarch.)

Melinda Hinson (Holloway)     1

Marion Ray Hinson       —        Anna Claire Guice   2

Rufus R. Hinson — Veronica Strong          C. L. Guice, Jr. — Marcia Broome   3

______________________

Hinson Branch  

Rufus Roache Hinson  3

Hiram Pierce Hinson           —          Ella Bossena Stafford  4

F. M. Hinson — Louisiana Howze    Dr. Fieldon Stafford — Angeline Gartman    5

Strong Branch

Veronica Strong  3

William Dewey Strong           —           Cora Agnes Luc (de Guerre)    4

Charles M. Strong  –  Louise C. Frere        John Oscar Luc  —  Agnes Rhodes    5

Guice Branch

Cicero Louis Guice, Jr.    3

 Dr. C.L. Guice, Sr.                –                 Clara Bryan    4

Elbert H. Guice  –  Angeline Jones            William Bryan — Lucy Ann Duke    5

Broome Branch

Marcia Broome   3

Luther Dudley Broome           —          Anna Daisy Jacob  4

John T. Broome  –  Aletris E. Morgan      Rene D. Jacob — Julia R. Ringwood  5

__________________________

Hinson

Francis Marion Hinson  5

Isham Bracken Hinson — Nancy Brock   6

___

Howze

Lavina Louisiana Howze  5

William Howze  –  Jane Morgan  6

___

Stafford

Dr. Feildon Stafford  5

John Wright Stafford  –  Elizabeth Charlotte Adams  6

                                                                Joseph Adams —   ?       7

___

Gartman

Angeline Gartman  5

        John Milledge Gartman   —         ?        6

  ___

Strong

Charles Matthew Strong   5

Jasper Strong   —   Eliza Julia Nixon   6

William Strong — Abigail Hutchinson    Gen. Geo. H. Nixon — Rebecca Bracey  7

___

Frere

Marie Louise Christine Frere  5

Frederic Adrien Frere — Aspasie Fuselier de la Claire  6

Alexandre Frere — Marie L. Pecot     Agricole Fuselier — Anne Felicite Armant  7

___

Luc de Guerre

John Oscar Luc  5

Jean Gentil Luc de Guerre — Odile Ladner  6

Michel Luc de Guerre – Arsenette Nicaise    Louis  Ladner – Caroline Fayard  7

___

Rhodes

Agnes Rhodes   5

Charles Rhodes —  ?   6

___

Guice

Elbert H. Guice  5

Jacob Guice   —   Susannah Grantham (Sheffield)   6

Jonathan Guice   —   Anne Stump     John Grantham  – Mary Ann ?   7

___

Broome

John Thomas Broome  5

William Broom         —        Jane Cuney Hudson  6

?   —   Rachel Broom   7

___

Morgan

Aletris Ellen Morgan  5

Thomas Sanders Morgan —  Mary (Mariah) Louisa Currie  6

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The Find

I have had innumerable “oh wow” discoveries in my genealogical explorations over the years.  Many of those moments resulted in some pretty incredible stories. But not many of them resulted in the “Oh wow, you’ve got to be kidding me!” moment like I had recently.

I was gathering items for a story I was writing for this blog.  The branch of the family on which I was working had come to America very early on and had landed in Plymouth colony.  But these family members came at least 15 years later than the Pilgrims.  I was content knowing that the members of this branch of my family were “almost” Pilgrims.

Yet while I was collecting illustrations for my story, I came across photos I had taken of an old 18th century Vermont cemetery that I had visited several years ago.  The photos reminded me that I had never tried to research that side of the family’s grandmother who was buried there — Mary “Polly” Bacon who married Benajah Strong.  (Genealogists, don’t forget your grandmothers.  If you tend to get focused on family surnames,don’t forget to research the grandmother’s surname. Some of my most interesting stories have been found by turning down the path of my grandmothers.)

I researched her and my grandfather’s names and found a genealogical record that took her line back five generations!  That was awesome enough in itself — until I began working my way backward through the generations.

Each successive generation gave me more clues about my family.  As expected they all lived in the New England area.   But then I came across town names in which I was unfamiliar —  Barnstable and Yarmouth in Massachusetts.  I looked them up on a current map and found both towns were located on Cape Cod. The families were living in these towns in the mid 1600′s. That’s even a closer connection to Pilgrims than the family members about whom I already knew.

Then I went back to my research.  I looked at the fifth generation back from my grandmother and my heart gave a jolt! The word “Mayflower” jumped off the page at me.  I looked again to double check. Yes, that’s what it said! I looked further and the amount of information on this man was boggling — in genealogical terms when all one may normally uncover is a death date!

Did my eyes deceive me?  Was one of my grandfathers really a Pilgrim?  Yes, he was.  His name was John Howland.  He was not just any Pilgrim, but the one who fell overboard during a storm and was miraculously recovered.  (More about him in a future post.)

I sat there in my chair dumbfounded.  I felt like I had just opened a treasure chest and found it full of gold.   A Pilgrim.   A Mayflower Compact-signing, Thanksgiving Day Pilgrim.  The same Pilgrims everyone reads about in elementary school history.

I can’t believe it.  What a find!  I am not “almost” a Pilgrim.  I AM a Pilgrim!

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Cousin Quandary

Is that person in my family my fourth cousin, or my second cousin twice removed?  I have to admit that as a genealogist and historian, I did not really understand how to figure out my relationship to others in my extended family. Sad, I know.  But recently I decided to figure out this puzzle by doing a little research. Here is what I found out.

To figure out the relationship of you and a cousin, imagine a multi-sided pyramid with your common ancestor (example: Mary) at the top. The number of sides of the pyramid depends on the number of children your common ancestor had — in this case, two (Mary’s son and Mary’s daughter).  Each step down the pyramid is a generation away from your common ancestor.  Place yourself on the correct generation “step” down from Mary and do the same for your cousin in question (ex. Mary’s great, great grandson) by placing them on another side of the pyramid on their correct generation “step.”

Mary

Mary’s son         Mary’s daughter

Mary’s granddaughter        Mary’s grandson

Yourself                                              Mary’s great grandson

Your son                                                           Mary’s great, great grandson

I learned that people directly across from each other are “numbered” cousins, by how many generations away they are from the common ancestor, minus one. For example, Mary’s granddaughter and Mary’s grandson are 1st cousins.  They are two generations away from Mary, but are “first” cousins.  ”Yourself” and Mary’s great grandson are 2nd cousins. Your son and Mary’s great, great grandson are third cousins.

But people in different generations (different levels) are “removed” cousins.  So “yourself” and Mary’s great, great grandson are 2nd cousins, once removed. Make sense?

I recently discovered that I was related to many notable people through a common ancestor.   This research information helped me figure out my relationship to them.  I hope this will help serve as an illustration to our question.

Three of these notable people are Princess Di and Prince William, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Our common ancestor is Elder John Strong who came through Plymouth colony in 1635 — about 15 years after the Pilgrims.   He had 18 children by his wife Abigail Ford. Sixteen children lived to adulthood.  I descend from their son, Jedediah Strong. Princess Di descends from their son, Thomas, and President Roosevelt descends from their son, Ebenezer.

Place Elder John Strong at the top of a pyramid and place each of his children on a different side of a 16-sided pyramid.  As one descends down each step on each side, the relationships become clear.  Princess Di and I are each 11 generations away from Elder John Strong, so we are 10th cousins.  (And thus, I am tenth cousins, once removed, from her son, Prince William.) But Pres. Roosevelt is only 8 generations away from Elder John Strong, so he is my seventh cousin, three times removed. These numbers should equal the number of generations away (+1) from the common ancestor for the youngest person in the relationship.

Princess Di (10) = Melinda (10)

Roosevelt  (7) +3 away equals 10 = Melinda (10)

Prince William (11) = Melinda (10)+1 away equals 11

I am so glad I finally figured this out!  If you have any questions, let me know. And as far as a claim to the throne of England, I don’t think I have one.  But I may go have a cup of tea!

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