Another blog update

Just a note to mention I tweaked my new Surnames page (linked at the top of the blog) by adding a few families who represent the spot of German heritage in my blog's title, and changing some links for a few surnames to be a bit more user-friendly.  By the way, I'm a complete novice at German research, so that could make for eine kleine blog fodder.  (I only know those words because of Mozart, from my flöte playing and musik study.  Je ne spreche pas der Deutsch ... or something like that.)

To my Resources page (also linked up top), I added a link to some La. historical newspapers online (under my "most frequently-used" Internet resources at the top of the page) and a few links for African-American online research.

Hope you find these pages useful.  Let me know if you have any suggestions.  Thanks!

Blog update

Just a note to point out the links to new pages on the top of my main blog page. I added a "Disclosures" page to make the FCC happy (though I don't have much to disclose, really, despite the word count), and--much more fun--a "Surnames" page with a little info on some of the lines I'm researching (some a little more than others), with asterisks next to surnames with at least one slave owner for whom I have info, and links to related blog posts or lineages I've outlined.  Enjoy!

William Hadden will excerpts

I recently came across some notes given to my family by my cousin Zola Scott Hardy, who extracted info from the will of William Hadden, my 4th-great-grandfather, of Jefferson County, Georgia.  Here is a transcription, with Zola's notes in parentheses & my notes in brackets.

Extracts from will of William Hadden
Jefferson Co. Ga. 20 Dec. 1813
died 22 Nov 1819

I, William Hadden of the Co. of Jefferson, Ga. ...

Item #1. my dau. [daughter] Sarah Clements tract of land lying on (looks like) Chevises Creek granted to Samuel Gordon [possibly Wm.'s wife Mary Gordon's father Samuel] containing 150 ac. [acres] & reserving 200 ac. ...
[There is a "Chevises Creek" in SC deed books I found through Google books.  I wonder if this land is in Edgefield County, SC?  There is a "Cheves Creek" in that county on Google maps.]

Item #2. ... to my two sons Gordon Hadden and William Hadden tract of land lying on the Ohoopie in Wash. [Washington] Co. cont. [containing] 287 1/2 ac.

Item #3. ... to my son Thomas Hadden that part of tract of land on which I now live, lying on Reedy Branch & to the west side of the rd. leading to Hutchins's land toward Ogechee River following the old rd. until it strikes Bothwell's line ...

Item #4. Mary Hadden [wife] the remaining part of the tract of land on which I now live ... after her death it to be divided bet. my son Thomas Hadden and my dau. Mary Hadden my son Gordon Hadden my dau. Margaret Hadden & my son William Hadden ...

Item #4. [sic, should be #5?] my negro man Abram & negro woman Esther & whole of my stock of horses, cattle & hogs, together with my household & kitchen furniture & plantation tools shall be retained in the hands of my executors herein named for the use and support of the said family for five years from date hereof [late 1819? He died 22 Nov. 1819] & after the expiration of 5 yrs. to be divided as follows:
     Household & kitchen furn. equally divided bet.
     my wife Mary Hadden
     [my] child: Margaret Hadden
                    William Hadden
                    Gordon [Hadden]
                    Mary [Hadden]
      and the negros & stock share and share ...
 (Here does not mention daughter Sarah Clements.)

[Of the daughters, Sarah Hadden m. James CLEMENTS; Margaret A. Hadden m. Beniah S. CARSWELL; Mary Hadden m. David COTTER.]

I nominate and appoint my beloved wife Mary Hadden, Exectrix [sic] & Mr. Samuel Clements [possibly related to Sarah Hadden Clements' husband] exector [sic] of this my last will ...

Witness: John Lawsons or Larsons (hard to read)
               Isom MClendon (maybe McClendon)
               Andrew B. Lawson

Extracted by: Zola Scott Hardy, a 3rd great granddau. of Wm. Hadden through his dau. Mary Hadden who md. David COTTER . [Mary] later md. in Stewart Co. Ga. Samuel Garrett [23 Feb 1840].  Find no later record of Mary Hadden Cotter Garrett.  Three of her children came to Ringgold, Bienville, La. area: son William Hadden Cotter b. 1825 who md. Elizabeth Ann Farress [Faress, Farris] 19 June 1856 Bienville [Parish], La., dau. Sarah Jane Cotter md. John Hide [or Hyde?] Scott 18 Feb 1846 Stewart Co., [GA],  dau. Mary David Susan Cotter md. David Jackson Crumpton Stewart Co. Ga.

"Friend of Friends" Friday: Hadden will, Jefferson Co., GA

"A friend of friends" was a password used on the Underground Railroad.  My "Friend of Friends" posts on slavery-related records were originally inspired by Sandra Taliaferro's essay here.  For more of my posts, click here or see others' posts at A Friend of Friends and on Fridays at Geneabloggers.

I recently came across some notes given to my family by my late cousin Zola Scott Hardy, who extracted info from the will of William Hadden, my 4th-great-grandfather, of Jefferson County, Georgia.  For today I'll transcribe the portion pertaining to those enslaved and will transcribe more later.  Click to enlarge the image; partial transcription is below, with my notes in brackets.

 

"... Item #4. [sic, should be #5?] my negro man Abram & negro woman Esther & whole of my stock of horses, cattle & hogs, together with my household & kitchen furniture & plantation tools shall be retained in the hands of my executors herein named for the use and support of the said family for five years from date hereof [late 1819? He died 22 Nov. 1819] & after the expiration of 5 yrs. to be divided as follows:
     Household & kitchen furn. equally divided bet.
     my wife Mary Hadden  [née GORDON, daughter of Samuel GORDON & Sarah (HOGG?)]
      "  child: Margaret Hadden [Margaret A., m. Beniah S. CARSWELL]
                    William Hadden
                    Gordon
                    Mary [m. David COTTER]
                [Note: Item #1 mentions daughter Sarah Hadden, who m. James CLEMENTS.]
      and the negros & stock share and share ..."

Feel free to contact me at hallroots **at** sbcglobal **dot** net if you are working this line; I don't have a lot of info but am happy to share what I have.

Copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

Tombstone Tuesday: Edward Malapart

Edward Malapart, 1899-1962, St. Peter Catholic Church Cemetery, Carencro, Lafayette Parish, La., 19 Nov. 2007.

Edouard or Edward Malapart was the son of my (half-) great-aunt Marie Idalie Legere and her husband, Jean-Louis "Louis" Malapart, of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana.  He was born 25 Aug. 1899 in Lafayette Parish, La. (probably in the Ossun area near Carencro--there's still a Malapart Road there) and died in 1962, though I don't know the exact date.  I don't know if he ever married or had a family; he's listed in the census as a farmer.  Idalie (Eudalie in some records) died in 1901 when her children Edward and Irma (b. abt 1901) were still quite young.

If you're related, drop me a line at the address on my blog.  I'd love to know more about Louis & Idalie Malapart and if any photos of them exist.

Photos/text copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

Hurricane Rita, five years later

 Sulphur, Louisiana, Oct. 2005, post-Hurricane Rita. (The tree fell in front of the house, thankfully, not on it.)

As a child, the solemn tones people imparted when speaking the names Audrey, Betsy, Camille no doubt formed my sense of the power of hurricanes at a very early age.  I don't remember how old I was when I learned that I should go into the hall closet and shut the door if a tornado was approaching, or into the hall at the very least, shutting all (wooden) doors behind me so as to be away from all windows.  It just seems like something I always knew, like knowing where to duck at this moment if the earth beneath my feet begins to tremble out here on the West Coast.

No doubt the collective community memory, if not the actual experience, of these storms, saved many lives when people evacuated Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas before Hurricane Rita in 2005.  And if stories of dead cows found 20 miles inland where they were pushed by Hurricane Audrey's 1957 storm surge wasn't enough to send residents packing, the still-fresh news footage of Katrina's aftermath to the east should have converted even nonbelievers.

Hurricane Rita hit the Louisiana/Texas border five years ago today.  I was in California worrying about my family back home in Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas.  I don't remember ever actually evacuating ahead of a hurricane in the 25 or so years I lived in Louisiana, only battening down the hatches and stocking up on canned goods and such.  But Mom & Dad and other relatives actually got out of town for this storm, even though they live about 40 miles from the Gulf Coast.

Staying away from home for almost 2 weeks was difficult (Calcasieu Parish, my family's home, was officially "closed" due to the lack of electricity in most areas, passable roads and potable water in some.  Cell phones, message boards, and e-mail relayed reports on local damage from those who stayed or sneaked in), though it probably paled to cleaning out the putrid freezers and fridges, everyone's least favorite chore, when they returned. 

My parents were lucky that only a few trees were downed (and fell away from the house instead of on it) and roof shingles damaged.  Many people came home to worse.  Some still have repairs left undone, and others cannot afford to return to the coastal areas due to stringent new building codes and expensive insurance premiums.

Some call this the "forgotten" hurricane, because news coverage of it was much less than for Katrina.  I suspect, however, that Rita and Ike will be the "Audrey" in the minds of my nieces & nephew and their children in the way that Audrey was the cautionary tale for my generation, told by those old enough and lucky enough to have lived through it.

Copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Cross Roads champions, an update

Last August, I posted a photo of the 1924 Cross Roads School male basketball team, whose names were not written on the photo.  Here is a possibly clearer version (click to enlarge) and happily, some names to go with it:

Cross Roads Basketball Team, Rural Champions, by Langdon Photo, Claiborne Parish, LA, 1924. Scan of original photograph owned by the Hall family of La., slightly edited for clarity.

Back row, L-R: unknown coach, Isaac "Floyd" McBride, Spurgeon Pate, Ernest Cardwell, unknown coach, unknown man to far right in hat.
Front row, L-R: Cullen Lary, unknown player, Joyce Cowser, Theron Harmon, Simpson Harmon.

Crossroads or Cross Roads is a community near Athens, in Northwest Louisiana.  My grandmother, Edna Maud Pate Stevenson, a teacher, was coach of the girls' team the same year. My mom found a list of names dictated to her by my grandmother many years after the photo above was taken. She had spelled Cullen's name "Leary" but it is "Lary" in the census and Social Security Death Index, and Floyd is "I. Floyd" or "Isaac" in online trees, but another photo of him online confirms that it's him.

My McBrides are from South Louisiana, so I doubt Floyd's a relative.  Spurgeon, however, is a distant cousin of mine through the Pates.  Ernest Cardwell may be a cousin to Georgia Cardwell of the girls' team photo I posted last week, and Joyce Cowser is probably a relative of Sula Cowser on the girls' team.  Theron Harmon is the brother of Winnie Harmon of the girls' team, and also Janie Harmon, a "special friend" (as my mom would say) of my grandfather Alvin Stevenson before my grandmother came along.  Simpson Harmon may be their cousin; he could be the "Harvey S." Harmon in Claiborne Parish in the 1920 census, but I'm not sure.  The other female Harmons are probably cousins as well.

If you have young men or teachers who lived in Ward 6 of Claiborne Parish in the 1920 census, you might check the photo to see if your relative is here.  Let me know if you can add any names to the photo or clarify the relationships.  You can contact me at: hallroots **at** sbcglobal **dot** net.

Copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.