It's my blogiversary and I'll post if I want to ...

Peach cobbler, suitable for any celebration--or any day, in my opinion!

Hey, it's my blogiversary!  I've been lax about blogging in the last year or two, though I have been continuing to explore my family tree.  No big excuses, I just work more now than I did a couple of years ago (better for the budget, less so for research/writing time), and lately, I've had a tweaked neck (blame years of flute playing and my iPod touch).  

I find the more blogging I do, the less research I do.  So when I have had free time, it's been more about the research.  This year, one of my goals is to blog a little more (another: "desk-cavation").

(Note: You can blog without being an overachiever.  You still get the benefits of the occasional e-mail from a cousin and also the benefits that come from evaluating your research by writing about it.)

So what was I up to in 2012, genealogically speaking?  Here are some highlights:

• I attended all three days of Southern California Genealogical Society's 2012 Jamboree.  I met more bloggers and visited with others I previously met there or online.  I even saw Saturn (courtesy of a stargazing geneafriend) and chatted up Washington Post associate editor Steve Luxenberg.  His book about unraveling family secrets, Annie's Ghosts, is a compelling and moving read, and he was an interesting and entertaining speaker.  Info for this year's SCGS Jamboree (in June) is here.

At Jamboree, I met a Californian genealogist with ties to Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, Denise Spurlock.  Go read her blog.  I'm a cousin to her Kilpatrick cousins.  Which makes us "almost-cousins," I think.  Yes, small world.  I also met genealogist Kim von Aspern-Parker, who has cousins from my Southwest Louisiana hometown, of all things.  Smaller world!  Go read her blog, too.

• I've gotten hooked on DNA.  I've done more research on my "mystery grandpa" Robert Hall's paper trail (promising but not definitive), but now I'm adding DNA to the toolbox.  Dad's Y-DNA has been in a Hall surname study for a few years now with no close matches, so I got myself a Family Finder test at Family Tree DNA and have been slooooowly putting together who might be related and how.

Since roughly 25% of my genes are from Grandpa Hall (unknown parents), I'm looking especially closely at anyone with a surname list with Hall and/or full of unfamiliar monikers.  This takes a lot of time and patience.  Thank you, Cajun and Acadian cousins, for helping me weed out Grandma (Elia Legere) Hall's ancestry!  Your surnames are easy to spot.  (Trying not to think about Acadian cousins who also have Hall or British Isles ancestry--one problem at a time!)

I got a 23 & Me test for Christmas, and I think I may ask Mom to test, then transfer her results back to FTDNA (for a fee) to help sort out which cousins belong to which side of my tree.  Plus we'll be "fishing in two ponds."  A bonus could be that we extend a few of her lines (the two Smith lines, please? I'm in no hurry to research them!).

• I met another new-to-me cousin in person, a "2nd-and-change" Guidry cousin I enjoyed lunching with, and made a few new "e-mail cousin" friends.  One posted a portrait I think solves a photo mystery (more to come), and another shared some good research on our Hollier and McBride ancestors (his web site is here).

• A Trahan cousin sent me a photo of my great-aunt "Philo," Philomene Stemmans (Stemmann) Weber.  It was the first time I've seen her, at least since I was maybe two or three--I may have met her once.  Thanks!  I'll share it here if they don't mind.

There's more, of course: loads of fun with the 1940 census, death notice and obituary finds on Google News Archive for my McCoys, FamilySearch finds for McCoys and McBrides (updated here) and others, Facebook groups, reading, stories scribbled down from Mom every other time we talk.  I hope to share a bit more with you this year and perhaps next year's wrap-up will then be shorter!

Happy blogiversary also to Thomas and fellow bloggers posting at Geneabloggers--you provide a lot of inspiration and food for thought even when I'm not blogging so much!

And thank you all for reading!

Text copyright © 2013 and photo copyright © 2011 Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

Original post URL: http://mybigfatfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/its-my-blogiversary-and-ill-post-if-i.html

Veterans Day and my Hall family

Originally posted in 2009; worth a repost.  To all our veterans out there, thank you for your service.

For Veterans Day, I'd like to salute my dad, his four brothers and one of his sisters for their service to our country. All five of the Hall brothers of Sulphur, Louisiana, served in the U.S. Navy. How they felt about their sister serving as an Army nurse, I'm not sure, but I'll have to pose that question at the next family gathering!

My late dad, George Hall, served as a fighter pilot in World War II in the South Pacific.


George Hall, c. 1944. Photo privately held by author.

He originally trained on dive bombers, but switched to fighters when he heard more fighter pilots were needed. He flew an F6F Hellcat from the aircraft carrier USS Hancock in 1945, and years later, was still thrilled to see and discuss planes he trained in or flew in the war. Kudos to our family friend who recorded Dad's reminiscences a couple of years ago on DVD.

(By the way, Thanksgiving gatherings are a great time to record family memories! See the StoryCorps website for ideas.)

Dad was following in his older brother Bob's footsteps by joining the Navy. Robert Lee Hall (1920-2003) was a baker and petty officer on the troop ship APA 117 Haskell during World War II, and later on the aircraft carrier USS Boxer. He helped set up bakeries on ships and on various Pacific islands, including New Caledonia, New Hebrides, and islands in the Samoas and Fijis.


Robert Lee Hall, 1940s. Photo privately held by author.

Uncle Bob told his hometown paper 50 years later, "I remember the terrible heat below deck in the ships' kitchens and also in the tropical island kitchens. And sailors. I got so tired of seeing sailors, day after day, year after year, for the six years I was in service." The monotony was no doubt alleviated when my aunt Martha Burch, as his fiancée, took a troop ship to meet Uncle Bob in the Samoas, where they married and lived for a time.

John Bunyon Hall (1923-2008) was the third Hall brother to serve in the South Pacific during WW II. He worked in the torpedo parts room aboard the sub tender USS Fulton. He was part of a gunner's crew that shot down two attacking enemy planes during the Battle of Saipan.


John Bunyan Hall, 1940s. Photo privately held & digitally edited by author.

Two other living uncles served in the Navy after World War II, and one of my aunts was an Army nurse.  To respect their privacy, I won't name them here but will just say how proud we all are of all our relatives who have served in the military! Happy Veterans Day!

Explore your family's military history.  Talk to relatives, find out more about requesting military personnel files here and check out free records available at familysearch.org, for a good start.

Text copyright 2009 & 2012 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.  Photos courtesy of Hall family.
Originally posted at: http://mybigfatfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/veterans-day-and-my-hall-family.html

Treasure Chest Thursday: Great-Grandma Maggie's Quilts (updated)

Sampler quilt by my great-grandma Maggie, made from samples of men's suit material.  1930s or earlier, Marsalis (Crossroads community), Claiborne Parish, La.

Today I'm "treasuring" a quilt owned by my mom and made by my great-grandmother Maggie Elizabeth McCoy Stevenson.  I'll have to ask Mom where Maggie got the suiting material for the quilt, perhaps from a local merchant's sample book.

My mom & sis took several family quilts in 1989 to be photographed for the Louisiana Quilt Documentation Project.  You can see four more photos of Maggie's handiwork here; more quilts from across the country can be found at the Quilt Index website.

10/6/2012 UPDATE:  Mea culpa.  The quilt above is by Maggie, but the pink one previously pictured here apparently is not.  Not all the family quilt photos Mom sent me were labeled, and I confused my mom's grandmothers.  I've removed the pink quilt's photo until I verify its creator (probably Etta Cotter Pate).

This time I plan to send my mom large printed thumbnails of the photos with questions jotted next to them on the paper instead of attempting to describe the photos over the phone (the hazards of long-distance family history gathering!).  I'll post more quilt photos in the future, after I verify the info as much as possible!  Genealogy is always a work in progress, yes?

Text copyright © 2012 Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.  Photos copyright © 2012 J. Marler, all rights reserved.  Read more "Treasure Chest Thursday" posts at Geneabloggers.

Memorial Day: Remembering Ulysses Sonnier

Ulysses Sonnier, circa 1942.  Courtesy of the Sonnier family, Lafayette Parish, Louisiana.

This Memorial Day weekend, I've been thinking about a second cousin I never got the chance to meet.  Ulysses Sonnier ("you-LEASE" in Cajun French) was the brother of my Sonnier cousins of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana.  He was born to Jean Baptiste ("John B.") and Aline (Legere) Sonnier on Sept. 1, 1922, the ninth of their 14 children, in the small community of Ossun, near Scott, Louisiana.

I didn't know him, but I can tell you that his family spoke Cajun French as well as English (probably more French at home), were devout Catholics, and lived in a rural community of farmers near a larger college town.  He attended a local elementary school where, in the '20s and '30s, he probably was punished if he spoke French instead of English.  The 1940 census indicates that he completed high school.

The Sonniers attended Sts. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Church in Scott, where many family members were christened or married, and where several are also buried in the small cemetery.  If he were like other cousins in the area, he probably had plenty of farm chores, but may have enjoyed fishing and hunting in his spare time.  Social activities revolved around the church and visiting with relatives.  His maternal grandparents Euclide and Eugenie Legere lived very near and he probably saw them quite a bit, along with other relatives who lived in the area. 

A muster roll I found on Ancestry.com gives Ulysses' Navy enlistment date as July 14, 1942, at the age of 19. (He may have joined the Naval Reserves before then.)  Two older brothers may already have joined the Army by that time; they also served in World War II, while a younger brother served in Korea. Ulysses was an Aircraft Machinist's Mate 2nd class who was assigned to the Pacific escort carrier U.S.S. St. Lo (CVE-63). 

The muster roll reports the date he "was first received on board" as April 18, 1944, so Ulysses would have been aboard the carrier to support the invasion of the Marianas and the epic air battles now known as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," as well as the invasion of the Philippines.

Just after that action, Ulysses and the St. Lo's task group faced overwhelming odds on October 25, 1944, when a large Japanese force was spotted approaching the Leyte Gulf.  The small escort carriers, then off the Philippine island of Samar protecting transports and Gulf beaches, were no match for battleships and other heavy-duty vessels--no large-scale American backup was nearby--but somehow they prevailed, though with losses, in the "Battle off Samar."

The battle was, for the most part, over in about three hours, and the Japanese ships were retreating. But according to the official action report, the sailors of the St. Lo had no more than about half an hour to ponder their unlikely victory before everything plunged into chaos once again. With watches in place, a few St. Lo planes and a couple from damaged sister carriers were being landed on deck, refueled and reequipped with bombs.  There was even a chance for those in combat since 0700 to have a cup of coffee and breathe again, when antiaircraft fire was heard, an alert went out, and two minutes later at 10:53 a.m., a kamikaze pilot struck the deck of the St. Lo.  The plane and its bombs exploded, triggering several more explosions, fires and the eventual sinking of the carrier.  Just when it seemed the crew could celebrate a David-and-Goliath-type victory, an attack by one Japanese pilot changed everything for the St. Lo, its crew, their families, and for the Sonnier family back in Louisiana.

I have not heard the story of how the family got the news of Ulysses' death, and I do not know exactly how it affected them.  I have only recently come to know a few of them myself, but I wanted to pay tribute to the one relative I know of who lost his life in war, at least in recent memory.  One sister wrote me that they are proud of all their family members who served in the military, and I suspect that Ulysses, and the Sonnier family, would probably echo that sentiment: If he was a hero, then all who served were heroes, whether or not they died in action.  He was, like many other young men from small towns across the country, just doing what needed to be done.  It's a sentiment I have heard more than once from World War II veterans.

At least a couple of siblings have been active in the St. Lo Association, and some of Ulysses' siblings, nephews and nieces have attended its reunions.  Ulysses was survived by his parents, his maternal grandfather, and 12 of his 13 siblings in 1944.  Today, more than 67 years later, three siblings remain who remember Ulysses at age 22, and perhaps a handful of older nieces and nephews, cousins, classmates or St. Lo crew members.  But many, many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, cousins, and other family members will remember his sacrifice and keep his memory alive for years to come.

Thank you to my Sonnier cousins for the use of the photo above and information about Ulysses, and to the several military historians, amateur or professional, who have made info about the U.S.S. St. Lo and the Battle off Samar available online.  Additional sources include the 1930 and 1940 U.S. Census and several military records from Ancestry.com.  Any errors are mine; corrections and clarifications are welcome.  Text copyright 2012 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

Tombstone Tuesday: John & Emily (Morgan) Kilpatrick

John Milton Kilpatrick headstone, Arcadia Cemetery, Arcadia, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, October, 2011.  (Photos courtesy of John Hinton; see bottom of post for copyright info.)

John Milton Kilpatrick and Emily Coleman Morgan are my 3rd-great-grandparents, the great-grandparents of my maternal grandfather Alvin Jasper Stevenson.  In a bit of genealogical serendipity, posting their headstone photos has led to the discovery of a new cousin.

A few months ago, I was discussing Kilpatricks via e-mail with a couple of cousins, and I noticed that that John & Emily were listed on Find a Grave, so I thought I'd request photos of their headstones.  A wonderful volunteer, John Hinton, posted photos within only a couple of days! (This is not necessarily typical or even expected.)  Click the name within each photo caption here to go to their Find a Grave pages.

Anyhoo, when I contacted John again to ask if I could post these photos on my blog, I noticed he had added some surname interests to his Find a Grave contributor page.  One of them was Stevenson (my mom's family).  John was posting photos from North Louisiana (where Mom's from), so I had to ask.  Yes, we're cousins!  Fifth cousins, I think.  Our common ancestor is James Stevenson, Jr.

But back to the Kilpatricks:

John was born 6 Feb. 1824 in Franklin County, Tennessee, and married Emily there on 28 Dec 1843.  He died 3 Apr. 1863 (according to his headstones; one researcher I trust has 18 Apr, so I will have to ask about the source), probably in Arcadia, Louisiana, where he lived.  Granddaughter Loda Duckworth said his father's name was Tom Kilpatrick, but I don't think this has been proven as of yet. (If you're up on the current research of this family, let me know.  I have not done in-depth research on the line.)

Emily Coleman Morgan Kilpatrick headstone, Arcadia Cemetery, Arcadia, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, October, 2011.

Emily was born 28 Dec. 1820 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, to John William Morgan and Sarah Elizabeth "Sally" Coleman. She died 14 May 1899 in either Arcadia or Athens, Louisiana.

John Milton Kilpatrick headstone (older broken stone), Arcadia Cemetery, Arcadia, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, October, 2011.

Thanks to "Tombstone Tuesday" prompts at Geneabloggers (which prompted me to "inventory" my direct line for grave info), my Kilpatrick cousins, Find a Grave, and especially cousin John, I've now "virtually" visited my 3rd-great grandparents' graves, and met a new cousin.  Happy dance!

Want more sources? See my preceding post here.

All photos courtesy of and copyright © 2011 by John Hinton, all rights reserved.  Text copyright © 2012 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Emily Coleman Morgan Kilpatrick

Emily Coleman Morgan Kilpatrick, photo from Hall family collection, probably taken in Bienville or Claiborne Parish, Louisiana.

Emily Coleman Morgan was my 3rd-great-grandmother, the daughter of tobacco farmer John William Morgan and Sarah Elizabeth "Sally" Coleman.  She was born 28 Dec. 1820 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia.  Her family moved to Franklin County, Tennessee about 1833, where she met and married John Milton Kilpatrick.

Kilpatrick was hired by Emily's father to teach him to raise corn; he stayed with the family for four years and ended up growing a crop of Morgan grandchildren as well--including my great-great-grandmother Hannah Kilpatrick Stevenson Dobbins.

(I don't know of any connections to my husband's Northeast U.S. Morgan line, unless there are common roots in Wales, perhaps.)

Emily looks rather formidable, certainly a lot taller than most in my family, though some Stevenson descendants were tall, and a Kilpatrick cousin tells me she has tall relatives. Her fingers are so long! Wonder if she ever played piano?  (Also wondering about Marfan syndrome, though I have not heard of it running in the family.  I'm doubtful there's a death certificate available in 1899 Louisiana; most parishes began recording them in the 1920s.)

Emily's granddaughter Loda Duckworth confirmed her formidability in a memoir: "Grandma was never afraid of anything, not even a bucking horse, she could ride like a man, get on a horse and go out and tend to business as well as any man."  Loda wrote (or told to someone) more colorful history about the family; when I find out more, I'll post a link to read or buy if possible.  I believe it may be part of a published family history.

After brief stays in Mississippi and Texas, John and Emily finally settled for good in Arcadia, Louisiana, just before Christmas, 1859.  John died in 1863; Emily lived another 36 years and moved again to nearby Athens, passing away either there or in Arcadia on 14 May 1899.  She and John are buried in Arcadia Cemetery.

Next week on "Tombstone Tuesday," I'll tell you how a photo request regarding her turned into a bit of genealogical serendipity.

Sources: Memoir of Loda Duckworth, excerpts in my possession; Arcadia Cemetery transcription by Maxine Morgan (no relation to my Morgans, though her husband is a Cotter cousin) at USGenWeb Archives; U.S. Census records; Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002, at Ancestry.com; Findagrave.com; original research of Mary Urban (note: her research is well documented, despite the lack of sources at that link); additional notes in my possession from others. Please note that Emily's family is a work in progress.  Questions, corrections, additions? Contact me at hallroots [at] sbcglobal **dot** net.

Copyright © 2012 Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.  Read more "Treasure Chest Thursday" posts at Geneabloggers.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Dad's Tombstone Tuesday and a treasure chest of memories

Note: This began as a Tombstone Tuesday, but being about my dad, it ended up as a Treasure Chest Thursday kind of post.  And yes, it was my "blogiversary" a few days ago, and I'm still here, but as I had the flu last week and now a cold this week (bleah!), the festivities will keep.

 

George Constant Hall headstone and military burial marker, Antioch Cemetery (within Big Woods Cemetery), Edgerly, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Nov. 2011.  Photos courtesy of cousin Janice M.  (My (living) mom's info is on the other side, so I'm just posting Dad's half of the stone.)

My dad died two years ago Tuesday.  It was the night the New Orleans Saints won the championship that sent them to the Super Bowl.  He wasn't really responsive that night, but I'm sure he hung around just to find out how the game ended before he left us; we had the TV on & kept updating him on the score.

I want to tell you so much about my dad; where do I possibly start?  He was complex, like most--well, many of us humans (I can be a bit cynical about some of them), but also a man of simple, "old school" tastes and values.  

In the last year or so of his life (he had terminal cancer but managed to hold it off for 2 1/2 years on chemo in his late eighties), I delighted in, um, "showing him off" to a few people.  I know that sounds condescending, but he was, at times, a real "character" and enjoyed telling stories, whether it was Cajun jokes at my wedding in California or to his newly-discovered first cousins once removed in Louisiana, or World War II tales of derring-do to anyone interested in the war or in planes (he was a fighter pilot in the Pacific and loved, loved, loved flying). 

He blossomed in late life as a bit of a raconteur with his Baptist church's choir, the "Agin' Cajuns," who toured area churches and occasionally went on out-of-state concert excursions.  And he could be a real ham, too.  It occurred to me a few years ago that maybe I got the performing gene (I studied music in college) from him, only I break out in a cold sweat if I actually have to talk in front of a group of people; give me a flute & I'm fine.

I didn't think of the date Tuesday until I was doing genealogy research and came across an obit for someone who died last January.  I thought, "Hmm, he died a year after Dad," then I remembered.  I was a little sad, but mostly I just miss him in certain moments here and there when I think of him: in seeing a trailer for the movie "Red Tails" and thinking he really would have enjoyed watching the fighter plane footage, in joking about "evening up" some leftover cake with my husband.  (Dad had a habit of late-night snacking on sugary food he wasn't really supposed to eat; when caught, he'd say, "Oh, I'm just "evening up" this cheesecake.  Look at how ragged that edge is there!")

And then sometimes his words come out of my mouth or I hear his voice in my head (not as scary as it sounds).  The other night I was ready to eat dinner and my husband told me to go ahead and start while he finished using the microwave.  And before I knew it, I heard my dad's voice saying, "Yeah, I'll wait for you like one hog waits for another!"  Which I promptly repeated to my hubby, who laughed.  We already have a constant joke about Dad's saying, "that's good eatin'" about almost any critter you can name, catch/shoot and throw sauce over.

Other mealtime Dad-isms that come to mind every time there's a holiday gathering (I suppose because it always seemed to follow saying grace aloud and that's when that usually happens), are "Grab it and growl" and "Take some and leave some."  I'm guessing Dad may have been repeating my Grandpa Hall's words.  When you have seven kids in the Depression, you definitely have to grab food you want before it's gone and you might have to remind them to leave some on the table for others!

Those are just a few of the things that make me think of him often.  There are still many stories to tell about him:  I have to tell you about the time he and his brother were interrupted fishing by a truck flying off the interstate into the pond (they couldn't save the man but they did meet the Governor), Dad's "pet" alligator (yes, alligator), his penchant for cooking steaks on the car manifold while traveling, his incredible generosity and much, much more.

I miss his stories, the twinkle in his eye, his growly drawl, hearing a joke for the third (or fifth, or seventh) time, his flirting with his nurses or waitresses or whoever new was in the room (it was completely harmless, though), even his stubbornness.  (Yeah, I inherited that.  It's the Cajun/Irish-ness, I think.  But it comes with tenacity, too, not a bad inheritance.  It certainly impressed his doctors.  How many late 80-somethings do you know who fish and garden and ride an exercise bike on chemo?  He even fished once while wearing a chemo pump.  He put it in a plastic bag.)  I probably got his sense of humor, and his storytelling influenced me a lot, I'm sure.

We butted heads at times, but that became less as we both grew older.  In searching for clues about my grandpa in the last 20 or so years, I have somehow also come to understand my dad a bit more.  A year before he died, Dad told me something that let me know he had finally come around to understanding me, as well.  He had an episode of internal bleeding so bad I was told to fly home to Louisiana immediately because they didn't know if they could stop it.  I stayed a few weeks and when I left, it was very emotional because, though Dad was better, I wasn't sure I would see him again.  I might not make it home in time the next time. 

Dad told me something that day that stays with me now: "I wish you could stay a little longer.  I feel like I'm just getting to know you."  Now maybe it sounds a little sad that my dad was just getting to know me at 45, but I've lived in California since I was 25, and our phone chats were never exactly heart-to-hearts (Mom's department), so it was really more like: "Hey, I'm seeing you as your own person now, not just my daughter.  And I like what I see."  I think that was better than all the "I love yous" that he ever said to me.

I started this blog for fun, as an experiment and a way to share some info with family and possibly connect with cousins researching the same lines, and hey, maybe eventually solve the Grandpa Hall mystery!  After Dad died, blogging became a bit of therapy at times, a way to remember him.  I wish I had shown it to him, but his spirit is in it, with every story I tell about him or his side of the family (Mom gets less mention because I want to respect the privacy of living relatives--though she's thrilled whenever I write about her ancestors).  I guess I'll just have to keep writing about Dad to tell you all out there more, or perhaps I'll learn to edit digital video so one day I can post a clip and you can hear him tell a story or two himself.

Miss you, Dad.  Love you always.
--Liz

p.s. You know why a kiss over the phone Internet is like a straw hat?  'Cause it's not felt.  That one's for you, Dad. :)

© 2012, Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved

New/updated Louisiana records on FamilySearch

FamilySearch.org has added quite a lot of new (and free!) Louisiana genealogy records in the last few months, in case you haven't noticed.  (You may have to sign up for a free account to view some records, and some collections are partially complete and/or not yet indexed, but fun to explore nonetheless.)

My dad's 1942 draft card (front), found in “Louisiana, First Registration Draft Cards, 1940-1945" on Familysearch.org

From the FamilySearch home page, you can browse by location.  Click on "USA, Canada, and Mexico" and scroll down the page to the Louisiana records.

(The collections are alphabetical by state/province--mostly.  If you're new to the site, browse around the page after exploring La. & then U.S. groups to make sure you don't overlook something useful.)

In September alone, FamilySearch has added or updated Louisiana-specific genealogy collections for:

• Civil War service records for both Confederate and Union soldiers (indexed)

• World War II and later draft cards: (Click on "browse images."  Links of broadly indexed groups will appear.)
     First Registration, 1940-1945, in progress, currently comprising surnames Davis - Linton statewide.
     Second Registration, 1948-1959, in progress, with groups posted by draft board number. The numbers correspond to an alphabetical listing by parish (1 = Acadia Parish, etc).  The highest board number currently posted includes a group of cards from Ouachita Parish.  Within each parish, names are in alphabetical groups.  You can estimate where in the group your relative may appear and enter a number in the image # box at the top of the page then click "return" or "enter"; try checking about halfway numerically, go by 100s, 50s, etc.  It takes time and patience but you may find some great info.
    Tip: Record the address info you find here as you prepare to search for your relatives in the 1940 U.S. census, available online to the public on April 2, 2012.

• New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945 (Click on browse.  There are links for two time periods, within which the lists are broadly indexed by date.  In spot-checking a couple of time period links, I'm finding 1900s records linked to 1800s headings. Oops.  Hopefully this will be worked out.)

• Orleans Parish 2nd District Judicial Court Case Files, 1846-1880 (In progress.  Indexed by year, then file number, currently from 1851 to 1873.)

There are more Louisiana-related genealogy collections; these are just the records added this past month.

You'll also find more genealogy records applicable to Louisiana relatives under "United States," such as the World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, also called the "Old Man's Draft" (it was for men of ages 45-64), which is now indexed.  In the last few days, several new groups of Confederate records have been added under "United States," as well as a number of other military collections. Can't wait to explore more.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Arthur Hernandez family

Arthur and Estelle Catherine (Legere) Hernandez family.  Photocopy of original portrait, Hall family collection. Probably taken 1902-3 in Lafayette, Louisiana.  L to R: Back row: Marie Una, Leo Alcée, Antonia. Middle: Maria on father Arthur's lap, mother Estelle holding baby Raphael Sidney. Front row: Pierre, Hypolite. (Links go to their pages, if any, on the Find a Grave website.)

The Hernandez children were my dad's first cousins, though they were about a generation older.  I wrote about Arthur and Estelle in more detail here.  Not pictured are Lucia, who died in 1900 at age 6, and younger brothers Samuel and David, born in 1903 and 1905, respectively.  Our mutual cousin Ashton Legere sent my family this photocopy and identified the children; if anyone has a better copy, please contact me.  

Copyright 2011 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Cotton mill chimney in Arizona, La.

Chimney remaining from the post-Civil War cotton mill in the Arizona community near Homer, Louisiana.  Photo courtesy of and copyright 2011 by reader Linda [last name withheld for privacy].

One cool thing about having a genealogy blog is that you occasionally hear from new-to-you relatives with whom you can collaborate.  An unexpected delight is when a reader like Linda connects with you and you end up with a piece of your family's history.

Linda saw my blog post about James McCoy, my great-great-grandfather who moved from Delaware to post-Civil War Louisiana to work in the first cotton mill west of the Mississippi.  Her family now owns the land where the mill once stood, and she was wondering about its history.  I gave her some suggestions about where to look up land records (the Claiborne Parish Courthouse, federal General Land Office records, and Arphax Publishing's "Family Maps" volumes) and sent her links with a bit of history about the Arizona community and its cotton mill.  And in return, Linda graciously sent me this photo.  She says the chimney once had a bronze plaque on it that apparently was stolen.

A photo of the entire building as it once existed is posted on the Louisiana GenWeb Archives site here.  There is an Arizona Museum in the area; a Google book search turned up a older guidebook entry that states it is open by appointment only.  On my genealogy to-do list (with a long list of others) is to contact them for info they might have on the mill or perhaps even about my great-great grandpa James McCoy, his wife Rebecca Jane Harrell, and their family.

Text copyright 2011 Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Melasie Hollier McBride portrait

Melasie Hollier McBride (1830-1925), "photo portrait" on paper?, digital photo by Liz Hall Morgan, Nov. 2006.  Original owned by cousins in Louisiana.

This is the only portrait known to me of my great-great-grandmother, Melasie Hollier McBride, daughter of Isidore Hollier and Arthémise Trahan. 

She was born 11 Dec. 1830, probably in Opelousas, Louisiana, where she was christened in St. Landry Catholic Church on 16 Feb. 1831.  She married William McBride in the same church on 20 Jan. 1852, bore him 10 children, and lived to the ripe old age of 94, surviving her husband by 50 years.  A cousin wrote my family in 1990 that Melasie “lost her property during the flood of 1882. At present there is oil on the property; it was sold for delinquent tax payments. She had no income, all was lost in the flood.” She no doubt relied a lot on the kindness of her family, as she never remarried.  She died 19 Aug 1925, probably in the Ossun community near Scott, Louisiana, where she lived with her daughter Octavie's family (my great-grandparents) at the end of her life.

Melasie's children and some of her grandchildren are enumerated here, and I describe the happy  accident of finding her grave while looking for another here.

Sources include Southwest Louisiana Records, "Louisiana Deaths" at familysearch.org--see "Wm McBride [sic]", correspondence from Paul Ashton Legere, and Melasie's headstone at Sts. Peter & Paul Cemetery in Scott, La.  If you find her in the 1870, 1900 or 1920 census, please let me know; I'm still looking!

Photo/text copyright 2011, Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

This is the Face of Genealogy

In which I start off responding to a GeneaBlogger meme/call to action and wind up telling you why I heart genealogy ...

This is my dad, George Hall.  When I was a child, he told me stories of his own childhood during the Great Depression that made it all sound like a Great Adventure, despite being one of seven children with a father who wasn't exactly in the running for "Father of the Year," as I found out later.  My grandfather's refusal to speak about his past, and my amazement to find that my dad didn't know his own grandparents' names, are what set me off on my own adventures in genealogy more than 30 years ago.  I am sure his storytelling ability influenced both my interest in writing and in family history.

This is my mom, holding me, and standing next to my "Paw Paw" Stevenson.  When I wanted to find out more about my mysterious grandpa Robert Hall, my mom was the one who taught me the basics of genealogy and she's still the first person I call with new finds.  Off and on over the years, we found out more about Grandpa Hall, though there are still plenty of questions to answer.

For this GeneaBlogger meme, I thought I'd post photos of my parents and me, because the "Face of Genealogy" isn't just wonderful old ancestral portraits -- it's YOU, it's ME, it's whatever you want it to be.  It can be collecting lots of names and dates if that's what you like, and yes, it might be the stereotypical white-haired little old lady with glasses in a musty library (me someday, probably), but it can also be a kid interviewing grandparents about their lives, or a military history fan collecting records and artifacts about his or her ancestors' service.  It can be a family trip to walk in the steps of your ancestors in their hometowns, or it can also be virtual Google Earth tours of ancestral hometowns that you can save to DVD or e-mail to cousins.  There are many "faces" to this hobby, and it's not just about those long gone.

This is me, on my honeymoon in New Orleans, standing approximately where my Carrière ancestors lived in the 1720s.  For me, genealogy has been solving many little mysteries of who/when/where like a crossword puzzle addict, chasing my "mystery grandpa" through the records, collecting and identifying family photos, finding new cousins and making new friends, sharing with family, brushing up my college French, learning more about the history my ancestors lived through, and dreaming of visiting ancestral homelands in Acadia, the UK, Ireland, and Europe.  Perhaps most importantly, to me, it's preserving stories of my family and the lives they led for those to come.

I've looked up Dutch genealogy words, read about Cajun history, photographed cemeteries, learned new tech skills, joined a Hall DNA surname study, found family history gems in my dad's World War II personnel file, and delighted in visiting where my ancestors lived in one of my favorite cities, New Orleans (and that's just in the last couple of years).  It's a varied and fun and wonderful adventure, this hobby, and I invite you to find your own "face" of genealogy.

Text/photos copyright 2011 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

Tombstone Tuesday: William & Elizabeth (Faress) Cotter, Ringgold, La.

 W. H. [William Hadden] Cotter headstone, Providence Cemetery, Ringgold, La.  Photo courtesy of Maxine Morgan.

William Hadden Cotter and Elizabeth Ann Faress Cotter (a.k.a. Queen Ann Elizabeth Fariss or Farris) are my great-great-grandparents.  William was from Louisville, Jefferson County, Georgia, and "Lizzie" was from Catahoula Parish, Louisiana.  They both died near Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana.  You can see their portraits here or read more about my Cotter line here.  

Elizabeth Ann Faress Cotter headstone, Providence Cemetery, Ringgold, La.  Photo courtesy of Maxine Morgan.

I connected with Maxine Morgan (no relation to my husband's family that I know of) via Ancestry.com, where we discovered her husband and I have Cotters in common.  Maxine, who has contributed quite a few Bienville Parish records to interment.net and USGenWeb, among other sites, graciously sent me these photos and gave me permission to post them here.  Thanks, Maxine!

Text copyright 2011 by Liz Hall Morgan; photos copyright 2011 by Maxine Morgan, all rights reserved.

Tombstone Tuesday: Arthur & Catherine Estelle (Legere) Hernandez

Arthur and Catherine Estelle (Legere) Hernandez headstones, St. Peter Catholic Church Cemetery, Carencro, Lafayette Parish, La., November 19, 2007, digital photo by Liz Hall Morgan.

Catherine Estelle (or Estelle Catherine) Legere or Légère ("Estelle Catharine" in Southwest Louisiana Records and Estelle in census records, but "Catherine" according to her death certificate and her great-granddaughter) was my great-aunt, the daughter of my great-grandfather Constant Legere ("Leger" in some records) and his first wife (of four), Estelle Babineau(x).  She was born 12 Dec. 1867, probably in Lafayette Parish, La.  Extracted death certificate info says she was born in Carencro (in Lafayette Parish), and her birth was recorded in Grand Coteau, at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church (then the nearest Catholic church to the family, in St. Landry Parish).  I think the Ossun community near Carencro, where her parents lived, is a safe bet for her birthplace, but that's just my opinion.

At age 15, she married Jean Euclide Brasseaux on 27 Dec. 1882 in St. Peter Roman Catholic Church in Carencro, but he died not long after their marriage (anyone have a date?) and they had no children that I know of.   I recall noticing Brasseaux graves in a section near (catecorner from?) the Hernandezes, but I did not check for him on that visit.

Catherine married Arthur Hernandez on 2 Dec. 1884 in the same church.  Arthur was the son of Sebastian Hernandez (of Canary Islands descent) and Euphrosine Sonnier (a Cajun).  He was born 15 Jan. 1865, in Lafayette, La., according to extracted death certificate info, where his birth is recorded in St. John Catholic Church (now Cathedral) records.  Arthur and Catherine farmed in Lafayette Parish and also reared 10 children there.  My dad remembered some of his Hernandez cousins, who were a generation older than he and his siblings.

Catherine died 4 Oct. 1930 in Carencro, and Arthur died 4 Feb. 1949 in Rayne, in Acadia Parish.  Their children included a teacher and a doctor.  More on my Hernandez cousins in a future post.

My sources include Southwest Louisiana Records by Rev. Donald Hebert; U.S. Census records and La. Death Index at Ancestry.com; and La. Deaths at www.familysearch.org.  Questions/corrections/additions welcome at hallroots [at] sbcglobal [dot] net.

Text/photo copyright 2011 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

2010 through the rearview & a blogiversary

Tiramisu's the traditional 1st (wedding) anniversary dessert, right?  Divina Cucina, Montrose, CA, 2010.

Happy New Year & Happy Blogiversary to me!

Thought I'd check back in after taking time off during the holidays.  It's my second blogiversary, though I only have blogged with any regularity for the last year.  I'm still here, still doing genealogy, still mentally composing blog posts while driving (making the title apropos), washing dishes (often while listening to a genealogy podcast), or doing other non-genealogical pursuits.  But since my brain doesn't have Wi-Fi, I thought it might help if I got back to the keyboard.  So here are some memorable moments from the past year, (mostly) genealogically speaking:

• Receiving the inaugural Rose Blogger award from a researcher I admire, Lucie LeBlanc Consentino, in January, was a big highlight of my entire year, and wonderful encouragement for a fledgling blogger.  Other blogger-to-blogger awards were fun boosts & appreciated reminders that I am actually read and even occasionally pondered.  Cool!

Dad & me, college graduation, Sulphur, LA, 1989

• My dad's death later that month was certainly the most difficult part of the year, but honoring his life, military service and joie de vivre through my blog has been therapeutic.  I've been mostly private about expressing grief, but I'm proud to be his daughter and I hope that shows in what I have shared about him.  A quiet "thank you" to fellow geneabloggers who wrote about their own losses this year; in sharing your grief, you reminded me I wasn't alone.

• I met a "new" (to me) cousin, who found me due to a blog post about Pie Day in Scott, Louisiana. Andre lives not far from me here in Southern California.  We had a lovely brunch on the beach and have become fast Facebook friends.  I keep threatening to hook her on genealogy, and I need to follow up on that soon with a library visit.  We're 2nd cousins twice removed through the Légère family, which sounds distant, but we're not terribly far apart in age (OK, I'm older), know some of the same relatives and have similar food cravings, being fellow "Cajun expatriates" out here on the Left Coast.
 

"New" cousin Andre Arceneaux & me, Hermosa Beach, CA, 2010, wondering if the curly gene is Cajun...

 • I "met" a few other cousins this year, "met" being in quotes because I haven't yet met them in person.  My term for this is "e-mail cousins." :)  They include more cousins (Guidry, Trahan, Blanchard and others) through the Legeres (I "collect" & enjoy corresponding with descendants of my great-grandpa Constant Legere and other Louisiana Legeres; e-mail me at hallroots [at] sbcglobal [dot] net if that's you), a McBride cousin, and a few Pate cousins.  It's always fun to trade info and/or get acquainted by e-mail or through Facebook w/"new" cousins.  Or to reconnect with cousins you do know.  All you lurkers out there, I don't bite.  (Well, if you're going after the last boudin link, I can't make any promises.)  It was also nice to meet "e-mail cousin" Janice in person this year, my 2nd cousin through the Pate family, with whom I'd collaborated so much I felt I already knew her.

• I published slavery-related records, to warm thanks from bloggers searching for their enslaved ancestors, and to the sound of crickets from anyone not so thrilled that I actually admitted in print that some of my ancestors were slaveholders.  Really, though, if most of your ancestors were white Southerners in the U.S., you probably have at least one slaveholder in your tree.  (And Northern ancestors weren't immune.)  It can be awkward to write about, but by sharing research I've helped at least one person connect the dots to find the likely slaveholders of her ancestors (and therefore resources for finding records of those ancestors), so I think it's worth it.  If you don't feel comfortable writing about that particular skeleton in the family closet, consider contributing the info anonymously via the sites Afrigeneas or A Friend of Friends.

• By ordering a copy of Dad's official military personnel file, I uncovered some real gems, including his handwritten application letter to the Naval Aviation cadet program, high school transcript, a photo of him at age 21 (left), and info on his life for several years after World War II.  I've neglected posting this series lately; I'm being too much of a perfectionist about posting concurrent info or photos from his military career with it, I suppose.  I have info from a few sources and the timeline is a little fuzzy to me.  I've been wanting to clarify it by transcribing the DVD of Dad telling stories of his service, but I wasn't ready to watch footage of him for a while.  I'll probably get back to it soon.

• I attended one day of the SCGS Jamboree, the annual conference held by the Southern California Genealogical Society, and had so much fun I hope I can attend the entire weekend this year.  I enjoyed seminars, exhibits, and especially the people I met, including Elyse Doerflinger, Becky Wiseman, Miriam Robbins Midkiff, Thomas MacEntee, Amy Coffin, George Morgan, Drew Smith, Joan Miller, and several others.  I also took home some goodies I'm still exploring and want to write about.

With Becky Wiseman and Elyse Doerflinger at the 2010 SCGS Jamboree

 • Lagniappe:  Contributing vintage family photos for a cousin's cookbook memoir, which I'll blog about soon ... finally making Mom's peach cobbler from scratch (which came out pretty darn great, for someone who is more of a food assembler than a cook) ... visiting the original Forest Lawn for the first time in years ... celebrating our first wedding anniversary ... having fun on the Morgan siblings' (& impromptu Hall reunion) family vacation to DisneyWorld (until the E.R. detour, but thankfully my hubby is fine now) ... and getting cool genealogy Christmas gifts which I'll write about soon.  Hmm... that means I have several things already to write about (besides the backlog in my head and the ones begun in Blogger).  Better get crackin'.

Thank you all for reading and especially for commenting, "liking," and e-mailing!  Wishing us all a wonderful 2011 with piles of rubble where our brick walls used to be--
Liz

Photos/text copyright 2011 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

Saturday Outing: Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA

(In which I am a silly newbie at Forest Lawn but have a good time anyway... )

I was feeling a bit blah today but it was beautiful out (81, woo hoo!), so I tell my hubby I'm going over to Forest Lawn Memorial-Park to look for third-ish cousins I recently discovered are buried there and to enjoy the nice day.  Hubby laughs and replies, "You know, not everyone thinks of a cemetery as a great place to cheer up!"  My reply: "Genealogists do!"

While some cemeteries can certainly be dreary, it's rather great to drive not far from your citified concrete, asphalt and stucco neighborhood and enjoy a serene, pastoral setting.  Here's proof (click to enlarge the photos):

 

 Liberty section, looking more or less NW (top) and S (bottom).

The silly newbie part?  Well, I've lived in Southern California for 21 years, but have rarely visited a cemetery (I have few relatives buried here).  Most of my cemetery research has been done in smallish, easily navigable church cemeteries in Louisiana.  I visited Forest Lawn as a tourist on a family trip once when I was young, so I knew it was big, but WOW, I had forgotten exactly how big!  

Even the map (a PDF is available in search results from the online Interment Locator) didn't get it into my head how big one section could be.  Little Miss Independent just figured: I can follow a map!  Well, yes, I can, but can I find the plots once I find the correct section?  Um, no.  The Liberty section, an older one, is especially large.  I really should have driven right back down the hill/junior mountain to get more specific directions to find the plots of the cousins I'm seeking (Scott and Tullis family members).  But no biggie, I was in the mood to explore, I don't live far from here, and it's not like the cousins are going anywhere! (I did notice the so-unobtrusive-as-to-be-nearly-invisible numbered directional markers and got more info on the way out.  I will definitely get a map of this section itself next visit.)

Ankle brace, anyone? My car's on the far left, if you want to compare the hill's steep grade to the level road.

My cousins are buried on a very steep hill.  Thanks, guys!  I'm not frail or anything, but I have been known to trip over my own two feet when looking at headstones (or a book, or up at architecture) instead of where I'm walking.  Down was harder than up, actually (pine straw can be slippery).  So I made a mental note to take my cell phone next time; thoughts of indelicately crawling up the hill with a twisted ankle, using mini American flags à la rock-climbing pickaxes came to mind.  

Speaking of flags, there were some visible in this section from Veterans' Day. 

We're everywhere!  (Cajuns and/or Acadians, that is.)  Couldn't resist taking a photo--I'm always surprised to see an Acadian name in California.  I don't directly descend from Babineaus, but my great-grandpa Constant Légère married a Babineau/x (Estelle, his first of four wives) in Louisiana.  I'm guessing Albert G. Babineau was Acadian, because most Cajun Babineauxs seem to spell it with an 'x.'  Will have to check Ancestry.com to see if I can find out his story.  His wife, presumably, Marie A. Babineau, is buried next to him.

Some markers I just find touching.  Having recently celebrated my first wedding anniversary with my husband, I thought this remembrance of Edwin Henry Grobe was particularly lovely: "Devoted companion through forty years of marriage, he lives in memory ... his love and kindness a constant and continuing inspiration, as they were each day of the many wonderful years we shared."

And oh, to be remembered for the ages as your husband's "best girl."  So sweet.  Will have to add these to Find a Grave, I think.

The western-facing slopes get beautiful golden light in the late afternoon.  Not a bad place to rest eternally, nor spend an hour on a lovely day, n'est-ce pas?