Madness Monday: Katrina + 5

Remembering those lost in Hurricane Katrina due to the madness of both natural and man-made disasters.  Thinking of those who are still rebuilding their lives all along the Gulf Coast.

For news coverage, see: nola.com, al.com, gulflive.com.

St. Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square, New Orleans, Oct. 2009.  Digital photo copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

Madness Monday: Mystery photo edition

This photo was found in a box of photos belonging to my paternal grandmother Elia Legere Hall (1889-1956), who grew up near Scott, Louisiana, in Lafayette Parish.  These could be relatives or friends of hers or her parents (Constant Legere or Légère and Marie Octavie McBride).  I'm not sure of the date (one fashion/costume-knowledgeable friend estimates 1901-1905), but there's a clue to the woman's identity on the back of the photo.

She writes: These little proofs are not very good but thot [thought] it would give you some idea of how we are all looking.  The boys have short hair now and I look much better than in this.  This was made about 16 mo[nths] ago.  But don't you think these three boys of mine beauties? Excuse my vanity please.
It's signed: Pae? or  Pac?  What do you think?  Pat? Initials?  Oh, and yes, I'm sure she looks much better than in that photo--hideous, right??!! LOL

If initials, I'm leaning toward "P.A.C." (Compare the "c" in "excuse" above it.)  The most prevalent "C" names in their area would probably be Cormier, Comeau(x), and Chiasson.  There are also Credeur (Caruthers) and Constantin families in the area.  None of the "C" names are closely related to our family.

Anyone want to guess at dating the photo or the ages of the people in it? 

Surnames of possible cousins: Legere, McBride, Roade, Royer, Devillier, Duhon, Dupre.  Less likely might be nieces/nephews surnamed Babineaux, Guidry, Malapart, Hernandez.  I'm almost certain it's none of my grandma Elia's siblings, and probably not a niece or nephew.  Perhaps it's a former neighbor from the Ossun or Scott area where they lived, or from Carencro, where they attended St. Peter Catholic Church.  I may post this on the Lafayette Parish GenWeb genealogy site in case anyone recognizes the family there.

Thanks for your input!

Madness Monday: My mystery grandpa, part two, or "Eating an elephant."

Note: This post continues my "Madness Monday" post from last week about my "mystery grandpa," Robert Bunyan Hall.

Robert Bunyan Hall and Jerome Guidry, Sabine or Neches River, Texas, abt 1918.  Scan of original photo owned by the Hall family, La., cropped and edited for fading.

Robert listed “George C. Hall and Georgia Burnaman" [Could it be Burnham? Burnam? It's hard to read] as his parents on the application for a marriage license to my grandmother, Elia Legere, in 1918. This is the only George and Georgia Hall with a son named Robert of approximately correct age in the 1880 U.S. Census I’ve found--so far:

1880 U.S. Census, Georgia—Baker Co., ED 2, p. 36, lines 37-39

Hall, George, W, M, 35, farmer, b. GA, father b. SC, mother b. GA

------ Georgia Ann, W, F, 30, wife, keeping house, b. SC? [strike-through and correction], parents b. SC

------ Robert, W, M, 3, son, b. GA, father b. GA, mother b. SC

Following this family in the census, Robert’s POSSIBLE (unproven) parents would be:

George C. HALL. Born in Feb 1843 in GA. George C. died prob. in Quitman, Brooks, GA after 1910.

Residences:

• 1850, Lee Co., GA
• 1860-1880+, Newton area, Baker Co., GA
• 1900, Cairo, Thomas [now Grady Co.], GA
• 1910, Quitman, Brooks, GA

Occupation: Farmer [1864-1880+]; woods rider [probably turpentine industry], 1900; church sexton, 1910.  Civil War veteran [?? listed as disabled on the GA militia list of 1864, but can't find him in pension indexes]

Bef 1868 George C. married Georgia [C? Ann? BURNAMAN?], who was b. May 1850 in SC. Georgia prob. died in Quitman, Brooks, GA after 1910, possibly in 1928 [I have a death record for a possible Georgia who died in a poor house, and who had no relatives listed].

They had the following children:

    2    i.    William (b. c.1867 [in 1870 census] - d. bef 1880 census?)

    3    ii.    Robert (b. c. 1877, shows up with parents only in 1880 census)

George/Georgia HALL census sources [some ages/places vary.  Still, I think it is the same couple throughout]:

• 1870 GA—Baker Co., Newton p.o., p. 68, line 6
• 1880 GA—Baker Co., ED 2, p. 36, line 37
• 1900 GA--Thomas Co., Cairo [now part of Grady Co.], ED 89, Sheet 5A, line 3
• 1910 GA--Brooks Co., Quitman, ED 16, Sheet 2A, line 47.  [A Tom Hall, listed as black, is living next to them.  Who is this?]

As far as George’s parents, he is included in the 1850 Census in Lee Co., GA, in the household of Lucinda [HALL] Millican [with his probable sister, Amanda Hall] and in the 1860 Census in Baker Co., GA in the household of H.H. Hall.  The book “History of Baker Co.” lists Lucy & Henry Holcomb Hall as siblings. George is not listed in the book.  I think he may be a nephew or cousin of these Halls, but have no proof yet.  I've looked at microfilm of Baker Co. estate records and haven't found anything.

 Elia and Robert Hall, Oct. 1946, Sulphur, La.  Grandpa, I think, is looking smugly at me from this photo, chomping on his cigar and thinking, "You'll never find me!"  Just you wait, Grandpa, just you wait!

Interestingly, my parents visited Newton, GA, on vacation once and someone told Dad he looked like the Halls who owned a local grocery.  Why they didn't run right over there and question them immediately, I don't know!  But they didn't, and struck out in local records.

George and Georgia do not seem to have had property.  Perhaps there are poor house records.  

And our DNA is loosely grouped with other Halls whose ancestors were mostly from Virginia.  Should I start over there?  There are no George & Georgias there in 1880, though maybe one of them is there and widowed or remarried with a son Robert age 2 or 3.

As far as Robert, I've scoured city directories, but need to scour more.  There are few Robert B. Halls, but many Robert Halls to rule out, perhaps by following them in census records.  With many Southern states and counties he could have married in (see last week's post for his previous wives Carrie or Corrie Williams and Jessie), I'm not sure where to start again.  I've already chased down and ruled out a couple of other possible wives.  I think I've ruled out the only real Spanish-American War record lead I had.  Sigh.

I need to pull back, examine what I've already done, re-focus, and make a to-do list.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.

If you've heard of any of these families or have research ideas for me, leave a comment or drop me a line at hallroots (at) sbcglobal (dot) net.

Copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan

Madness Monday (well, Tuesday): My mystery grandpa (part one)

 Robert Bunyan Hall, affectionately known as my "mystery grandpa." Unknown medium/artist [colorized photo?], c. 1940s, Louisiana, owned by the Hall family in La., digital photo by Liz Hall Morgan, Feb. 2009.

My first "Madness Monday" post concerns my biggest brick wall--my "mystery grandpa," Robert Bunyan Hall.  Grandpa Hall never told his kids the names of his parents, and they eventually learned not to ask.  He's one of the reasons I became interested in genealogy when I was young, and I've researched him off and on for more than 25 years.  If you're knowledgeable about Virginia, Georgia, or Spanish-American War records, or just like helping others bust up brick walls (ironically, Grandpa was a brick mason), read on.  I have put him aside for the last few years but am ready to take a sledgehammer to his big ol' wall again.   Would you like to help?

Brief stats on Grandpa:

Robert Bunyan [a.k.a. Bunyon, Bunion] HALL

b. 18 Mar 1878, in Richmond VA, area, or possibly 1877 in GA.
General whereabouts and life before Oct. 1918 unknown.
m. Elia Legere 26 Oct. 1918, Lafayette, LA.
d. 20 Nov 1952, Sulphur, Calcasieu, LA,
Occupation: Brick Mason, Railroad Worker, Contractor

Possible residences before Oct. 1918: Beaumont, Orange, or other cities in TX [worked construction at Gulf refinery; may have worked on railroads in LA/TX]; worked for Wacheson [sp?] & Henigriff in Westlake, LA in 1918 and may have worked in Lake Charles or other LA cities; Atlanta [worked for George Fuller Construction], Stone Mt., GA; Savannah, GA; Louisville, KY; Nashville, TN; [worked on Louisville & Nashville Railroad]; Richmond,VA; Baltimore, MD.

He did claim to be from the Richmond, Virginia area (we can't find a birth record; based on the 1880 census, he may be from GA) and that his family owned a grist mill.  At least one of his children thought he mentioned a sister named Fanny, and that she may have died young.  His children remember various places in the South he may have mentioned and where he may have lived (outlined above).  He said he was in the Navy in the Spanish-American War (we can't find a record of a Robert B. Hall born in either VA or GA) and that he went to Johns Hopkins at one time (no record in the school archives).  He said he worked on the railroad (but too early to have a railroad retirement record), as a bricklayer, and as a contractor.  He claimed Irish roots, and was Protestant.

He met my grandma Elia Légère in Sept. or Oct. 1918 in Orange, TX, through her brother-in-law, who knew him only as a fishing buddy he met on the Neches or Sabine River.  They married soon after (I wrote about their relationship here) and we know his whereabouts (Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana) from then on, but his life from his birth c. 1873-1878 until 1918 (He and Grandma both died in La. in the 1950s) is almost a complete mystery to us.  Well, the only answers we've found so far, anyway, just lead to more questions.  To wit:

1.  My mom (brava!) found his application for a marriage license to marry my grandmother (Elia Légère), on which he entered his parents' names as "George Hall" and "Georgia" [Burnaman? Burnam? Burnham? -- it's hard to read].  Oh, and a previous wife (deceased) is listed: Corrie [or Connie, Carrie??] Williams.  (My father and his siblings, by the way, had never heard of any other wives, living or deceased.)

Notes: I can't find a George and Georgia Hall (or G. Hall) with son Robert (or R.) of approximately the correct age anywhere in the 1880 census except Georgia.  Nothing in Virginia looks right to me.  I should perhaps go back and check for one spouse alone or remarried with Robert.

Williams??!!  Really, Grandpa???  Couldn't you have married someone with a slightly less common name?  I've barely tried looking for her.  "Williams" is worse than "Hall" for searching!

No marriage records for Grandpa in the Orange or Beaumont, TX, areas where we know he lived.  No Cora/Corrie/Cornelia/Cordelia or Connie/Constance or Carrie/Caroline Halls who died in Texas so far who died by/before 1918 that I've found who fit.

2.  I found his WWI draft registration not long after they became available online--here's the image:

It lists his full name [middle name probably misspelled by the draft board], his birthday, March 18, though the year [1873] is off [it's 1878 in other records], and his description ["medium" height and build, "blue" eyes, "light" hair] fits.  He's a natural-born citizen, working as a bricklayer in Lake Charles, LA, for Wacheson [sp?] & Henigriff in Westlake, LA.  This all makes sense. 

But wait!  He has another wife!  "Mrs. Jessie Hall (wife), Box [579? 577?], Beaumont, Texas."

 

The kicker?  This record is dated Sept. 12, 1918.  What's the big deal?  Robert married my grandmother on Oct. 26, 1918, just over six weeks later.  What happened to Jessie?

Notes: Could she have died in the 1918 flu pandemic, between Sept. 12 and Oct. 5 or so?  I can't find her in Texas death records so far.  I'd like to access Sept./Oct. 1918 Beaumont, Texas, newspapers for possible obituaries or lists of those who died from the "Spanish flu," but I don't think they're online for that date.  I know Lamar University in Beaumont has them on microfilm; maybe I can request them through ILL or via LDS.  
Or: did she die, they divorced, or could he have just left her?  Or maybe they were not officially married? Were they separated?  He did sometimes travel to get work, so living apart doesn't necessarily mean they were separated.
Would the Beaumont post office have archives of box holders back to 1918?  Or was this a rural route box?  How do I find out?  Would it be on a map, if a rural route?

3. My dad took a Y-DNA test for me a couple of years ago.  We're in a Hall DNA study group, but no one has come closer than matching 22 of 24 markers (we tested 37 markers; our closest match tested on only 24) yet--meaning our nearest common ancestor was probably 18-20 generations ago, most likely in the British Isles, perhaps Ireland.  Maybe as more folks join, we'll find a closer match.

Interestingly, the others preliminarily grouped with us have roots going back to Virginia in the 1700s, so maybe Grandpa actually was telling the truth about being from Virginia.  And now at least we know Grandpa was really a Hall, and not a Dillinger or a Capone! (though the jury's still out on whether he was in trouble with the law--which would explain why he didn't discuss his past... )

More to come, including notes on Grandpa's parent-candidates in Georgia...  
UPDATE: Read Part Two here.


If you have ideas, please leave a comment or drop me an e-mail at hallroots (at) sbcglobal (dot) net.  Or stay tuned for more info.  Thanks!


Copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved