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

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