These little communities in Alabama...

Have you ever been to the Henderson Community?  In Pike County, Alabama?  I lived thereabouts in 1970-1972.  

Now I see some of my ancestral trails found their way to that location, also!  But of course, well before that time...
 
So, on Page 33, Beat #9, on the 22nd day of June, in 1870, we will see what was going on with the 1870 Census in Henderson and why I care.  
I am accessing it via "findmypast.com", today
.
Head of Household, (Line 20; Dwelling # 266; family # 266):  HUGGENS (one of several variations for that name!)...anyway: Jas. J. HUGGENS is the head of this household.  He is 37 years old and was born in Alabama.  James is married to Lidia/Lydia, who is also age 37.  Lydia is also a native of Alabama.  Their son is John C. Huggens, age 14 and born in Alabama.  
(Note to self:  Don't forget to view this family in earlier and later censuses!)
 
James and Lidia/Lydia Huggens have a daughter, also: Elizabeth, age 13.  [Look in other census records to find out if there were other children who may have passed away previous to 1870); Betsy/Elizabeth, was born in Alabama.
 
Living with the family, in the same household is John Stagner (line 24), age 83, a farmer, born in South Carolina.  His wife, Betsy is age 73, also born in South Carolina. 
Their daughter (we have to assume that this is a daughter...if she wasn't I think there would be a notation), Sarah J. Stagner is age 34 and was born in Alabama (line26) . 
 
From this information, we can also assume that the Stagner's moved from South Carolina to Alabama about 35-37 years previous to 1870.  There is no statement saying what relationship the Stagner's are to the family of Mr. Huggens, but we can hypothesize that James Huggen's wife, Lydia,  is the daughter of John and Betsy Stagner. Nancy R. Stagner is their daughter, age 32, born in Alabama also (Line 27).

Before we go any further, where can y'all view this census page?  I gave you the page number above or you can search using the Huggens/Huggins name.  Get a free account at www.FamilySearch.org.  

Choose "SEARCH", then pick "Records".  Or to be more specific it would be "Search Historical Records", if you are prompted.  I entered "Huggens" and in addition  I specified, under Life Events, "RESIDENCE".  The place is  Pike, Alabama, United States and for the date, I entered 1870 because I want to see the Huggens family entry in the 1870 census in Pike County.  Let's see if it works!
 
And yes, it does.  When I hit the Enter button on my computer, the very first record to appear is the 1870 Census for the Huggens Family.  Click on the link(s) and join me on this page (33)!  Be sure to check the page and make sure that there aren't any other relatives.  While you have the census page up on your screen, check at least 2 pages before and after that page 33.

I know from other census records and other "other" records that this family (Huggens, Stagner) has this relationship with me:
 
John Stagner was my 4th great grandfather. 
His daughter, Rebecca Stagner, married Gray Jernigan Worley.  In the 1870 Census, she is listed with her husband, while her parents and siblings are shown living with Mr. Huggens!  She married in 1839.
 
In 1845, Rebecca Stagner Worley gives birth to my second great grandmother, Matilda Jane Worley, in, where else but Pike County, Alabama.  

Matilda married Friedrich Nicholas Kolmetz.  Mr. Kolmetz was born in Germany (Fehmarn). 
They, Matilda and "Fritz",  became the parents of my Great Grandmother, Alice Melissa Kolmetz who married William Sherman Givens.  

They were the parents of my grandfather, Richard "Ludd" Givens, who lived in Niceville. 
My mother, Opal, was his daughter!  Verified, by the way with the DNA stuff that I've done!
 
I could just go and live in Pike County, Alabama and just research my family ties from that area!  I have a feeling that it would be a long stay! 

A Study of my Winters Relatives in the 1880 Census

Cole Township Page 65; ED = 180

Enumerated 5^th and 6^th day of July1880

SebastianCounty, Arkansas

Page is stamped “608”

Line 1: Dwelling 554, Family #554

Richard H. Winters Age 30 Farmer Born in Mississippi, Father Born in Tennessee, Mother Born in South Carolina

Mattie A. Age 28 Born in Alabama Father born in Georgia as was her mother

William M. Age 10 Born in Alabama

Ida Age 7 Born in Alabama

Alexander Age 6 Born in Alabama

Margarett A. Age 2 Born in Arkansas

Line 7: Dwelling 555, Family #555

Lewis Winters Age 35 Born Mississippi: Father in Tenn.; Mother in S. Carolina

Mary J. Winters Age 32 Born in Arkansas; father in South Carolina, Mother born in Alabama

Cintha E. Winters Age 11 Born Mississippi

Jessee F. Winters Age 10 Born Alabama

Mary L. E. Winters Age 7 Born in Alabama

Jullie (?) S. Winters (F) Age 4 Born Alabama

Albert C. Winters Age 2 Born Alabama

Martha J. Winters Age 3/12 Born in Feb. 1880 Born in Alabama

Both Richard and Lewis Winters are living in Cole Township in Sebastian County, Arkansas for the 1880 Census. Little Cintha Winters is named after her grandmother, I suspect. I think of the two boys (men), Richard has been there longer than Lewis, as he has a daughter who was born in Arkansas, who is age 2. Lewis has a daughter who is just 3 months old who was born in Alabama. Both of these brothers are farmers.

____________________________________________________
What was life like for my relatives in Arkansas in 1880?

•  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Arkansas#The_New_South

 

• I thought this was a kind of cute webpage--not so much related to the history, but to the kind of weather in the winter months! 

 

• Where were my Winters family members living before they were in Arkansas?  Probably in Alabama!  This according to the 1880 Census data.

 

• The name Winters- Origins?  

2 great reasons to visit a Family History Center

Near Pensacola Bay Bridge, Gulf Breeze, Florida 2019

Are you out in the middle of the lake without a paddle?  Now, this isn't a lake and these fellows have a paddle (of sorts).  However, sometimes in doing our genealogy research, we do feel like throwing up our hands!  We've hit a brick wall and just can't seem to get over the hump and back on the trail.

Well, that is one good reason to go to a Family History Center; conversation and an exchange of ideas often lead to a place we never thought to try!  And the "staff" at the FHC aren't necessarily experts, but they will be glad to listen to you and sometimes offer a different view point will help get you out of the "mire".  

Staff members of the local Family History Center may know of web sites and resources that you hadn't thought of.  In fact, the Family History Center has access to "premium" websites.  Want to research at Ancestry.com, but don't have a membership?  Go to your Family History Center! Want to know what other "goodies" are featured in that "premium" list?  Access this article.

We got your back!

 

 

I will never get my images and/or photos organized!

Here are some examples of little jewels that I have on my hard drive that helps me to identify with my relatives and kinfolk:

• World War II Draft Registration Card for one of my Winters family lines: 
  
  He married my grand aunt, Lula Frances Winters.  They had 12 Children that I know of.  It is fairly obvious to me that he left Walker County, Alabama and traveled to the Midwest where he could earn a living!

• From my husband's Harris and Holding relatives, this unusual name (think A to Z):  a photo of a death certificate:  
  

Exciting new tools for family history are being developed at BYU

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7hqNOQt-2AfeVEpDuc7sCA

Watch seminars/webinars about family history.  The Family History Labs at Brigham Young University are shining a bright light on research and those who are striving to find the key to unlocking our genealogical treasures!

Take this site, for example.  At first glance it might appear to be a parlor game kind of thing.  However, once you get past the glitz and gleam, you will see that pulling records from the dark is basic to genealogical research!  So, it isn't that you are wanting so much to make a connection with Elvis Presley, as you are interested in what types of records/documents/proofs can bring those beloved surnames to the forefront--beloved they are because they are precious to us--they are our history.

So, Pocahontas is my tenth great grandmother.  If that pops up as you work with Relative Finder, than hover over the pink (because she's a female) link, which takes you straight to FamilySearch.org.  It only works if you have previously loaded this site with what you know about your family tree.   Now, click on "View my Relationship".  My connection to Pocahontas is via the surname "Rolfe".  Sound familiar?  I see that my adoptive dad's genealogy, here, is the key.  So, maybe I'm not a "blood" relation, but because I work with my adoptive dad's family history, I will be sharing this connection with his biological relatives.

At FamilySearch, at the profile for Pocahontas, check out "Sources".  There are, not so surprisingly, 82 sources!  Who knew that history is replete with proof/evidence of associated individuals?!!

If you are interested on the types of records that lead to this conclusion, click on this link:  https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp55422/pocahontas?search=sas&sText=pocahontas

North Okaloosa County: Historic Happenings in July

Some of the historic happenings in north Okaloosa County for the month of July:
  

• 1 July1978: Touch-tone dialing becomes available to Crestview Centel customers! 
• 
  
  4th July 1964: Rhett Cadenhead hits the first ball on the new golf course at Crestview Country Club.
• 6 July 1976: Bob Sikes Library opens in Twin Hills Park in what is now the Crestview campus of Northwest Florida State College.
• 10 July 1996: North County swelters under 109 degree heat, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the area.
• 11 July 1978:  Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners votes to sell the county hospital system to Hospital Corporation of America (HCA).
• 13 July 1885: Mt. Olive School, one of the first black schools in the north county, is organized in Crestview.
• 17 July 1980: Florida Highway Patrol opens Crestview headquarters in what is now a substation of the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office at U. Hwy 90 and S.R. 85.
• 18 July 1892: Post Office opens in Dorcas (closed July 15, 1918).
• 19 July 1855: Post office and stagecoach stop established in Austinville near present-day Milligan but on the east side of the Yellow River. 
• 21 July 1937: The $25,000 Crestview Town Hall and Shirt Factory (aka the "Alatex Building") built by Purl G. Adams is accepted by the City.
• 23 July 1887: Yellow River Railroad incorporated.
• 23 July 1892: Post office opens in Campton (closed 1894; reopened 1905-1910). 
• 24 July 1972: The Laurel Hill School which had replaced the school that burned down in 1931, burns down.
• 26 July 1883: Post Office opens in Holts (now spelled Holt).

 
 Thanks to the Baker Block Museum & North Okaloosa Historical Association for creating and making available this 2017 Calendar.

Twenty Questions

Family Historians need "food" to keep going! Or should I say "clues"?  Either way, it is appropriate at various times in our research and at various points in our sleuthing, to "exercise" our brains.  "Hound on the Hunt" can provide us with those prompts we need to make our brains work a bit!  And inevitably to lead us to more information and/or more questions!

Witness a small sample of my journey into this realm, using the 20 questions:

1.  Which ancestor moved the farthest from their home?
    Where did that ancestor move to?
    Which ancestor lived in the most countries?

    2.  Which ancestor couple had the most children? How many?
    This is a tough one!  How do I go through pages and pages of genealogy and discover the answer?!!  Well, here are some nominees:
    1.  Allen Bishop with Margaret "Peggy" Lewis Bishop had ten children.  They began in Spartanburg, South Carolina with the four oldest children.  Then, they moved to Lawson's Fork, Alabama, where they had four more!  Finally, I have the last two children being born in Bibb County, Alabama.
    2.  Henry Hill DuPree and his wife, Alsey Priscilla Downs Dupree also had ten children!  Most if not all were born in Alabama. 
    3.  George Washington Edge, with his wife, Melissa E. Powell, had ten children in Walton County, Florida.
    
More questions:
Which ancestor lived the longest?
    Which ancestor gives you the most researching grief?
    Which ancestor is the easiest to track down?
    Which ancestor has the most unusual name?
    Who was the first ancestor born in the country you live in? What year was that?
    Which ancestor was a “bad ass”?  What did they do?
    Do you have a famous ancestor? What were they famous for?
    If you could meet just one ancestor who would it be and why?
    What family tradition carries on from one of your ancestors?
    What heirloom do you have that has been handed down through the generations?
    Which ancestor do you admire most?
    Was your ancestor a hero? What for?
    We all have core values; name one core value that you got from an ancestor.
    What was the biggest surprise you found about an ancestor?
    Have you ever been mad at an ancestor? Why?  And finally,
    If you could have any genealogy wish what would it be?  My answer:
 To have the patience to delve below the surface of the facts and explore the how's, where's, when's, and why's of family history!

An Exercise of Curiousity

Some while back, I posted a story at Ancestry.com, my account.  I guess it wasn't really a story.  I had come across a "memorial book" from my grandmother's death.

You know, one of those that the funeral home provides for those who have either attended the "viewing" (usually at the funeral home),  or those individuals who have attended the funeral, (at the funeral home or the church).

Alice Settles giving me my first birthday party in the back of her house on the Bayou!

This particular memorial was on the occasion of my maternal grandmother's death.  Alice Settles Givens 

was born 4th of February, 1906, somewhere near Crestview, Florida (Walton County at that time).  

She died 13 January 1956, way too young, too early!  It was an automobile accident.  She passed away at the Pensacola Baptist Hospital.  She is buried at the Early Cemetery, off Hwy. 20, Niceville, Florida.  The Funeral Home was McLaughlin Funeral Home, (funeral home directors: L.E. McLaughlin, L.E. McLaughlin, Jr., Fred McLaughlin, and Maurice McLaughlin).  

The memorial booklet was light blue with an embossed cover and a picture of the "Last Supper" on the front page.  

It occurred to me to record those who signed the pages of the memorial book.  "What's in a Name"?  Each of those signatures represent a life, a person, a friend.  So here is that record.  Reading through the names is kind of like reading the history of Okaloosa County, the history of Niceville, Florida, the family histories of those who lived and loved in those locations. 

So, here is the record of names of those who visited the funeral home and/or the funeral.  Do you recognize any of these names?  If so, please contact me and tell me something about that person.

Keep in mind that some of the people who signed this registry may not have known the deceased (my grandmother).  They may have been friends of the family.

Capt. and Mrs. Forrest A. Dalton, Jr.
Mrs. Thomas Scott
Velma Kilpatrick
Tom and Louise Settles
Mr. and Mrs. Ray Mason
Miss Lillie Hodge
Mrs. George W. Wilkinson
Gloria Ann Wilkinson
Mr. and Mrs. John K. Blackwell
Benjamin F. Whitfield
Mr. and Mrs. Buz Sawyer (Aunt Hazel)
J. W. Clark
Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Reddick
Jack Brewer
Mrs. J.W. Clark
W. R. Reddick
Willie V. Reddick
W. H. Holmes
Mr. and Mrs. Wiley C. Davis
Mr. and Mrs. Courtney
Mrs. Stephen H. Jones
Lavonia Brown
King Kilpatrick (ex-husband)
Mr. and Mrs. John Landingham
Mrs. Ralph R. Holleman
Mrs. Doris Padgett
Mrs. Mildred Peterson
Mr. and Mrs. Bill Helms
Mrs. Pearl Mason
Mrs. Georgia Skufea?
Mrs. Bessie Mason
Mrs Vick Nowling
Mrs. Eva Evans
Maggie Kilpatrick
Lizzie Cain
Earnestine Goodwin
Howard and Vida Nowling
Curtis Padgett
Mr. and Mrs. Quince Holmes
Mr. and Mrs._____ E. Hattaway
Mrs. Clara Spence
Mrs. J. M. Kent
Mr. and Mrs. Claud Meigs
Mrs. Jim Jeter
Mrs. James Parish, Sr.
Mrs. James Parish, Jr.
Mrs. James E. Brown
Mr. G. W. Henderson
Mrs. Reba Boone
Mrs. Burnell Johnson
Miss Estelle Brown
Mrs. Linton Peters
Linton Peters
Mrs. Jack Brewer
T/Sgt. and Mrs. Gus Domorad
Charlie and Amanda Johnson
Edgar Peters
Jose' A. Diaz (Aunt Hazel's Husband?)