Showing posts with label AbrahamLincoln. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AbrahamLincoln. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Austin Gollaher and The Lincolns at Knob Creek




Benjamin Austin Gollaher
copy made for me in 1998
 by Lou Lucas
I was going through my old files of articles and photos that were copied for me back in the summer of 1998 by Lou Lucas and I found an old typewritten transcription of a 1953 newspaper article that I'm pretty sure came from her. I looked around on the Internet and when I was satisfied that this article was not already in circulation, I decided that because it's such an engaging interview, I would carefully transcribe it again and post it here for all those Abe Lincoln and Austin Gollaher researchers. Much of the information herein has been told in other articles, but some details are new. Once again however, the date of 1889 and Austin's age of 91 years do not match up with what we know. Austin Gollaher was born in 1806 so he could not have been 91 years of age in 1889. I think the last two numbers of the year were transposed in The Citizen or transposed by whoever transcribed it, and should have read 1898.



From The Citizen, Brinkley Arkansas, Thursday, February 12, 1953:

Seldom told tales in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Yellowed with age and with edges frayed from much handling through the years, a clipping from "The LaRue County" paper printed in 1889 has lain within the leaves of the family bible in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Austin Melvin near Hunter, Arkansas, several decades. 

The principal of the article was Austin Gollaher, maternal grandfather of Mr. Melvin.  It was passed on to Mr. Melvin by his mother and has recently come into the possession of one of his daughters, Mrs. Otis Freeman of Hunter.  Mrs. Freeman is a sister of Garvin Melvin and Beckham Melvin of Hunter, Nate Melvin and Mrs. John Nelson of Brinkley, Mrs. Green Devasier of Palestine, Arkansas and Mrs. Lee Johnson of near Owensboro, Kentucky. All these last names are great grandchildren of Mr. Gollaher.

There is a picture of the aged Mr. Gollaher included in the article but which cannot be reproduced on account of its dimness due to the age of the paper. 

Mr. Gollaher relates some interesting incidents seldom told in the life story of one so great as was our former president, Abraham Lincoln.  Being a boyhood friend of Abe Lincoln, Mr. Gollaher was enabled to give first hand information as to his early years of poverty and hardships.  This gives us a more sympathetic understanding of the courage of this youth who overcame the obstacles of an early life  and emerged triumphant to the highest honor our country bestows; that of President of the United States.

Uncle Austin Gollaher
--------------------
The boyhood playmate of President Lincoln, is nearing the end of life's journey. 

In an humble log cabin, surrounded by the vine clad Muldraugh's Hills, in a quiet and obscure part of LaRue County, lives the venerable playmate of Abraham Lincoln - Mr. Austin Gollaher - or "Uncle Austin" as his Larue County friends delight in addressing him, whenever they meet him at his home to talk over with him the scenes and incidents of his simple childlife when he was a playmate of the lamented Lincoln.

"Uncle Austin" is again a child and a very feeble one physically.  The old gentleman is now rapidly rounding out his term of earthly existence. Ninety-one years of active life has well nigh worn out the machinery that has so long been subject to the orders of his active hand, and he lies in bed a helpless man, to be waited on as if he were an infant.

The Herald takes pleasure in producing this week a splendid picture of "Uncle Austin", which is made from his latest photograph, taken only last week as he lay in bed at home.

Mr. Gollaher has become widely known in almost every state in the Union by reason of the fact that he is the only living playmate of President Lincoln. Hundreds of our daily papers printed his picture and columns of matter, detailing the incidents of his younger life, while the great Magazines - The Century, Scribners, and others have found pages of matter about him sufficently interesting to be given space.  It is not true, however, that Mr. Gollaher related all that has been published.  Far from it.  Much that has been printed was related by him.  The remainder of it is simply the over-ripe of the energetic imagination of the newspaper correspondents.  Mr. Gollaher is a very plain, dignified old gentleman, who has never attempted to arrest public attention by giving publicity to his companionship with Lincoln, nor would he under any circumstances misrepresent or ever exaggerate the intimacy of the acquaintanceship he enjoyed with Lincoln as a boy.

Mr. Gollaher has been a strong man mentally and physically.  His large bony frame, upon which there is now not enough flesh to keep it warm, shows that in former years he was a powerful man and his very large head, high, full forehead and expressive eyes indicate great natural ability and had he enjoyed opportunity of improving his natural talents had some fortunate circumstances called him from obscurity, he would have reached far beyond the average prominence accorded man and would have been one of our most noted and useful citizens.  But satisfied with a pleasant, easy going life, and not of an adventuresome spirit, he enjoys the only pleasant memories of his acquaintance with Lincoln and the respect and esteem of all who know him.

Several years ago when the Century magazine was preparing for publication his story of Abraham Lincoln, its editor came to Hodgenville for the purpose of securing data for the work.  He drove out to the home of Mr. Gollaher, secured a photograph of him and spent some time in pleasant conversation with him. Upon his return The Herald asked him his opinion of "Uncle Austin". "Why", he said, "I was delighted with the old gentleman and was favorably impressed."  He said that his great brain power needed only development and opportunity to have made him a great man and that his gentle manners and carefulness of narration impressed on him the fact that every word he uttered was the truth.

Mr. Gollaher has spent his entire life in his present neighborhood and has scarcely ever been far from his birthplace, living a quiet, retired, satisfied life.

Years ago there were living in Larue County several men who remembered the Lincoln  family distinctly and some of them could recall the incident of President Lincoln's birth, among whom were Judge Cessna and Abe Enlow, but they have passed over the river of death, and, as stated, Mr. Gollaher is now the only one who has any personal knowledge of the Lincolns and their Larue County home. 

In a recent interview Mr. Gollaher was asked where the Lincolns lived when Abe was born, and when he moved down on Knob Creek, where Mr. Gollaher lives.

"When his family moved down on Knob creek", he said, "I was eight years old and Abe was five.  It was immediately after they moved that we began going to school together.  The Lincoln family moved to a house that stood where Mr. Nick Rapier lived a few years ago, and my father lived on a farm not far off, which he moved to in 1812.  Our house was on the upper prong of Knob Creek. The house where we went to school together most of the time stood on the pike about where Mr. Jesse Dawson used to live; but the first school house where we attended school together was just across the creek from there, at the foot of the hill.  Abe's father bought this piece of land on Knob Creek for $200, but he did not make any money and could not pay for it.  He had to give it up and then the Lincolns moved away.

"When the Lincoln family moved down on Knob Creek, where had they been living?" 

"They moved down there from a farm near Hodgenville, which everybody now calls Lincoln springs."

"Was Lincoln born at the old Creal place which you said the Lincoln family moved from when they came down on Knob Creek?"

"Yes sir.  My information is that Abe was born there at the old Creal farm.  In fact, I am satisfied that he was.  Mr. Wm. Cressna," he continued, "who was the father of Judge Cessna, and who was well acquainted with the Lincolns when they lived on the Creal farm, told me that Abe was born there.  The way he happened to tell that Abe was born there was in speaking of how poor the Lincolns were, and he appeared to feel very sorry for them, and for Abe's mother especially.  He had been informed by some of the neighbors that Mrs. Lincoln was actually suffering for something to eat.  He went over to the Lincoln house to see about the matter and found that the report was true.  She was really in need of the necessities of life and he told her he would get her something to eat.  He took her a sack of wheat and something to eat the next morning when they told him that a baby had been born to Mrs. Lincoln the night before and Mr. Cessna said that the baby was Abe.

Mr. Gollaher stated that he and Abe were thrown together more than with the other boys in school and that he grew quite fond of him, and he believed that Abe thought a great deal of him.  In speaking of various events of minor importance that he remembered to have occurred in their boyhood days together, Mr. Gollaher remarked: "I was once the cause of saving Lincoln's life."  Upon being urged to tell of the occurrence, he said: "We had been going to school together one year, but the next year we had no school because there were so few scholars to attend, there being only about twenty in school the year before. Consequently, Abe and I had nothing much to do, but as we did not go to school and our mothers were pretty strict on us, we did not get to see each other often. One Sunday morning my mother waked me up early saying that she was going to see Mrs. Lincoln and that I might go along.  Glad of the chance I was soon dressed and ready to go.  After my mother and I got there Abe and I played together all through the day."

"While we were wandering along the branch - Knob Creek - Abe said: 'Right up there,' pointing across the branch, 'we saw a gang of partridges yesterday and they are there yet.  Let's go over there and get some rocks and kill some of them.

"But the branch, which was then a good deal swollen, was too wide for us to jump across, and if we waded we would get our breeches wet, and I knew that my mother would whip me if she caught me with my breeches legs wet for she would know that I had been wading the branch.  Finally we saw a narrow foot log which some men had thrown across to cross on and we concluded to cross it. It was narrow but we were determined to get over after the birds.

"Abe said, 'Let's coon it.'  I went first and made it all right.  Abe got about half way across when he got scared and began trembling.  I hollered to him, 'Don't look down, nor up nor sideways, but look right at me and hold tight.'  But he fell off into the creek and the water was about seven or eight feet deep. I could not swim and neither could Abe, and I knew it would do no good for me to go in after him. So I got a stick, a long water sprout, and held it out to him.  He came up grabbing with both hands.  He clung to the stick that I put in his hands and I pulled him out on the bank almost dead.  I got him by the arms and shook him good and then rolled him on the ground, when the water just poured out of his mouth.  He was then soon all right.

"We were both afraid our mothers would see our wet clothes and we knew what would happen then, so we pulled them off and laid them on the rocks in the sun, which was as hot as it ever is in August, although it was then in June. We talked the matter over while our clothes were drying, trying to think of some plan by which we could keep our mothers from finding out about it. Finally I told Abe that the only way to do was never to tell anybody at all. 'For,' I said, 'if you should even tell another boy, he might tell his mother and she would tell your mother and you would then get whipped; and your mother would tell my mother and I would get whipped, too.'  So we promised each other that we would never tell anybody about it, and we never did for years.  I never told anyone about it until Lincoln was killed."

"Was Lincoln a bright boy at school; did he learn fast and study hard?"

"Oh, yes," he replied. "Lincoln was an unusually bright boy, and went right along in his books as fast or faster than anyone in the school; and he studied hard, although he was young.  He would get up spice-wood bushes and hack them up on a log and put a few of them in the fire at a time to make a light for him to read his books by.  It did not make a very good light, but it was all he had.

"Lincoln was not a good looking boy.  He was ugly and awkward.  He was rather bony and rough looking.  Abe's mother was a rather slim woman and of over medium height.  Tom Lincoln, his father, was not tall.  Abe did not favor him much.  Tom Lincoln had a full face and was heavier than Abe."

In answer to a question as to whether Lincoln had any brothers or sisters, the old man brightened up and said: "Oh, yes, he had a sister.  Her name was Sallie and she was a very pretty girl.  She was older than Abe.  She went to school whenever she could but that was not often."

After a rather pointed question Uncle Austin engaged in a low chuckling laugh and smilingly replied: "Yes, Sallie was my sweetheart.  She was about my age, and, like all boys, I claimed her for my sweetheart.  I guess that was one reason why I thought so much of Abe," he then admitted.  "But when the Lincolns moved to Indiana I did not get to tell Abe or Sallie either good-bye. I wanted to go tell them good-bye but my father would not let me.  When they moved away Abe was about twelve years old and I was fifteen."

"The next time I heard of Lincoln was several years afterward.  I heard that he would make rails during the summer, and with the money he earned would send himself to school in the winter." 

"The next time I heard anything of him was when he was nominated for president. I told the boys that no matter what happened I was going to vote for him if it was the last act of my life because I had played with him when a boy and I was glad that he had gone up in the world and I did vote for him." 

"I am the only person now living in the country that ever went to school with Abe. There were others around here but they are all dead now."

"After Lincoln was elected President he inquired of Dr. Jesse Rodman about me when Dr. Rodman called on him at Washington, and I wanted to go see him, but I did not think I could spare the money.  I always thought I acted a fool for not going.  If I had gone there to see him he would have done a good part by me. He might have made me Judge of one of the Kentucky Courts."


Austin Melvin, mentioned in the news article's first paragraph, is the brother of Mike R. Melvin, my husband's maternal great grandfather.

This is the sixth and final post in a series of six daily blog posts on Benjamin Austin Gollaher. Previous posts on Gollaher (done before this series) can be seen at the links below:


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Monday, September 5, 2011

Uncle Austin Gollaher - The Breckenridge News


From The Breckenridge News - March 2, 1898

UNCLE AUSTIN DEAD.
_____________________

Abraham Lincoln's Playmate Dead, Aged 93, Near Hodgenville. He Was Known Far And Near.
_____________________

      Hodgenville, Ky., Feb 22--, After an illness which kept him confined to his bed for over a year, Uncle Austin Gollaher, the playmate of Abraham Lincoln, died at his home near here this morning. His death was due to old age and general debility.
      He was ninety-three years old. A few months before his death his mental faculties became much impaired, but until that time his mind was exceptionally bright and he conversed freely.
      It was his great delight to relate the experience of his saving Lincoln from drowning and he considered this the greatest accomplishment of his life.
      When this country was young Mr. Gollaher taught school in the Muldraugh Hill section, and though his book learning was very limited, his naturally strong intellect enabled him to perform schoolroom duties in a manner that gave satisfaction to the patrons, and there are many old citizens living in this county who went to school to him in the '40s.
      He was the father of six children, his grandchildren number twenty-six, his great grandchildren forty-five, and his great, great grandchildren sixteen. Mr. Gollaher's entire life was spent in the hills of Larue county.
      The old man had become widely known in almost every State in the Union by reason of the fact that he was the only playmate of Abraham Lincoln. He was a very plain, dignified old gentleman, and never attempted to arrest public attention by giving publicity to his companionship with Lincoln, nor would he under any circumstances misrepresent or even exaggerate the intimacy of the acquaintanceship he enjoyed with Lincoln as a boy.
      Mr. Gollaher had been a strong man mentally and physically. His large, bony frame shows that in former years he was a powerful man, and his very large head, high full forehead and expressive eyes indicated great natural ability, and had he enjoyed the opportunity of improving his natural talents--had some fortunate circumstance called him from obscurity, he would easily have reached far beyond the average prominence accorded to man, and would have been one of our most noted and useful citizens. But, satisfied with a pleasant, easy-going life, and not of an adventurous spirit he enjoyed only the pleasant memories of his acquaintance with Lincoln and the respect and esteem of all who knew him.


Uncle Austin was the maternal 3rd great grandfather of my husband Mike. At the time of this writing, two of those sixteen great grandchildren mentioned in this article were Mike's great aunt, Bessie Elizabeth Melvin, and his great uncle, Charles Walter "Bud" Melvin.


This is the fourth in a series of six daily blog posts I am doing on Benjamin Austin Gollaher. Previous posts on Gollaher (done before this series) can be seen at the links below:





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Saturday, September 3, 2011

Abe Lincoln: Quotes From Old Man Gollaher 1897


From the Morning Herald - March 26, 1897

LINCOLN AT SCHOOL.

A Schoolmate of the President Tells of His Early Life.

Mr. George H. Yenowine contributes a paper on "The Birthplace of Lincoln" to St. Nicholas. Mr. Yenowine quotes the following from an old man named Austin Gollaher, who went to school with the emancipator: "Lincoln was an unusually bright boy, and he made good progress in his books--better than almost any one else in school--and he studied very hard, although he was young. He would get spice wood bushes and hack them up on a log and put a few of them in the fire at a time to make a light for him to read his books by. It did not make a very good light, but it was all he had at night. Young Lincoln was never good looking. He was angular and awkward. His mother was a rather slim woman of medium height. Tom Lincoln, his father, was tall. Abe was not very much like him, for Tom Lincoln had a fuller face and was of a heavier build."

In answer to a question as to Lincoln's brothers or sisters, the old man brightened up and said: "Oh, yes, he had a sister. Her name was Sally, and she was about my age. That was one reason why I thought so much of Abe. But when the Lincolns moved to Indiana I did not say goodby to either of them.

"I next heard of Lincoln several years afterward. It was said that he would make rails during the summer and thus earn money to go to school. Then I heard no more of Lincoln until he was nominated for president. I told the boys that no matter what happened I was going to vote for him if it was the last act of my life, because I had played with him when a boy, and I was glad he had gone up in the world, and I did vote for him!" said the old man.


There is a wonderful old book , "The Boyhood of Abraham Lincoln" written by John Rogers Gore and published in 1921 about Lincoln's boyhood and it was compiled from the narratives of Gollaher. Mr. Gore was with the LaRue County Herald at the time and he interviewed Gollaher over a period of 4 or 5 years before Austin's death in 1898. It can be read on line at the Internet Archives. Our copy is the modern paperback reproduction done by Bibliolife.




This is the second in a series of six daily blog posts I am doing on Benjamin Austin Gollaher, the maternal 3rd great grandfather of my husband Mike. Previous posts on Gollaher (done before this series) can be seen at the links below:

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Friday, September 2, 2011

Austin Gollaher is 80 - Hartford Republican




 The Hartford Republican - May 3, 1895

SAVED LINCOLN'S LIFE.
______________

An Old Kentucky Gentleman 
to Whom the Nation is Indebted.
______________
 
Austin Gollaher, a playmate of Abraham Lincoln, is 80 years old today. He lives with his son, Thomas Gollaher, on the top of Muldraugh's Hill, three miles south of Hodgenville and the many friends of the old gentleman are helping him celebrate the important event in royal style. Gollaher himself, however, is not permitted to enter very largely into the festivities of the occasion, owing to an unusually severe attack of rheumatism, from which he has been a sufferer for years, and which of late is giving him more than ordinary trouble. His spirits are not impaired by his ailment, though, and he promised yesterday, when interviewed, to "hit his lick with the balance of 'em." For an old man, Gollaher is surprisingly lively in his conversation, due, doubtless, to the fact that he seldom has a chance to see a person from the outside world, and is compelled to make up for lost time when such an opportunity occurs.

Gollaher was older than the martyred President, and consequently remembers many circumstances of their boyhood days. His conversation, however, is rather barren of details, and from some of his stories it is surmised that he has somewhat confused what really happened with what he has heard. There is no disputing the fact, though, that he was Lincoln's playmate, and even the historians have given him brief credit for that honor, but he is practically unknown as the one-time savior of the youthful Lincoln's life. In Nicholay and Hay's life of Lincoln short mention is made of Gollaher, and the fact of his service to the subject of their work is dismissed summarily and not entirely without a suspicion of doubt.

Gollaher's present home with his son is within a dozen miles of where the rescue of Lincoln is credited with having taken place. In all the life of the old gentleman he has never for more than a few weeks at a time been outside of his native country. The house is a commonplace affair of rough clapboards, surrounded by a tin box. The first greeting is from the dogs; then, at the door, you will likely meet the old gentleman, hobbling on his crutches, with a broad-brimmed hat pulled low to protect his failing eyes, and a hearty welcome in his face. He is dressed in heavy woolen garments, rough, but comfortable. His first thought is to invite you to a seat. Like yourself, he is anxious to talk of Lincoln. After half an hour's listening to him you are apt to be disappointed and conclude that after all he hasn't very much to say. Speaking of former visitors he said yesterday: "Yes, I am known somewhat all over the United States. Men come from away off to hear me talk of Abe Lincoln. Years ago a man came here from New York, getting up a history, and wanted to know what I could tell him of Lincoln. He sent me one of them, but it had a lot of things in it that wasn't so.

"It was in 1812 that my father settled near the Linkhorn, (Lincoln) farm, and in a few days Abe and his mother come over to see mother an' me. Abe seemed sullen, and at the first meeting I didn't have much to say to him. I wasn't taken with his appearance. After mother an' me went over to see them, though, we were together quite often, and we got to be great friends. Abe was three years younger than me, an' I had to look after him somewhat. We played all over the hills down on South Fork, and when school took up there went school together. Next year we went to the school over on the other side of the creek, but it wasn't no use for me to try to keep up with Abe. He was great at larnin, and ciphered out and read everything he could find. Down in the creek bottoms there was lots of iron weeds, an' Abe'd gather them to pile on the fire at night to make light for him to study by."


"Well, did you not save his life at one time" How was that?"

"Yes, yes," and his face brightened. "It was when he was fishin' one day. The creek was high, an' we had to coon crost on a log and Abe fell off. Abe wasn't much of a swimmer, an' I got a sycamore limb and pulled him out."

"How old was Mr. Lincoln then?"

"'Bout 9. The histories all say Abe was only 7 years old when he left for Indiany, but he must have been about 9. They wasn't there, though, and of course can't be expected to get everything right."

Mr. Gollaher has long been a devout Christian, and holds his membership in a small Baptist church on the Louisville and Nashville road, about a mile beyond his home. He has not visited the church since the cold weather began last fall, but still hopes to see it in it's completed state in the spring. The church has long been in an unfinished condition, and the old gentleman has worried considerably over this fact. The funds however, are now guaranteed for it's completion.

Up until the discovery of this article, it has been accepted by most  researchers that Austin Gollaher's birth was in March of 1806. This article indicates the date was actually May 3 (however, the year 1815 would definitely be impossible and is likely a typo that should have read "89 years old today"). This article casts some doubt on the formerly accepted month of birth. 

This is the first in a series of six daily blog posts I am doing on Benjamin Austin Gollaher, the maternal 3rd great grandfather of my husband Mike. Previous posts on Gollaher (done before this series) can be seen at the links below:




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Sunday, November 21, 2010

Boy Hero Saves Life of Young Abe Lincoln


THERE'S ONE IN EVERY FAMILY!


Where is my old friend and playmate Austin Gollaher? I would rather see Gollaher than any man living.” ...Abraham Lincoln


Ah...boy heroes. Doesn't every family have one? But this hero belongs to us all, because without his intervention, we might not have had a President named Abraham Lincoln.

TALL TALES

Back in 1997 my mother-in-law tried to tell me about an ancestor on her side of the family that she'd heard stories about all her life. This ancestor had saved Abraham Lincoln from drowning in Knob Creek when they were just boys. Her details were extremely sketchy and she pronounced the surname in various ways and, well...she just looked like she was telling me a "tall tale". To say I was skeptical would be an understatement. I was not the least bit interested in wasting time on silly stuff....but I was taught to always show respect for my elders so I turned away before I rolled my eyes. I've learned many a lesson about arrogance since then. It is unproductive and unattractive and you often get your nose rubbed.

I don't know how long it was, probably only a week or two, but something made me go digging. Maybe it was my husband Mike saying he'd heard the tale from others in the family. Could there be something to the story? Before long I came up with the man's name, Benjamin Austin Gollaher, and he was Mike's maternal third great grandfather. At that time there wasn't much on the Internet about him but I talked with Mike's cousins who confirmed the story and said they had proof of it.


Later that year we made a trip to LaRue Co., Kentucky and the surrounding areas and we found out all we needed to know. I was relieved that only my husband would see me eat humble pie! He didn't even say "I told you so" because he was just as surprised as I was that the stories were actually true. 


Even Gollaher's tombstone in Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery reflected his friendship with Abraham Lincoln.


Best of all was the newspaper clipping, hand dated 1953. This clipping gives our family our own personal interest story. It not only confirms all the stories but it also shows the pocket knife given to Austin Gollaher by his friend, the young Abe Lincoln and the pocket watch that once belonged to Gollaher. 

In this article's photo are Mike's granduncle C. W. "Uncle Bud" Melvin, his grandaunt Myrtle Melvin and his great grandmother Edna "Eddy" Metcalf Melvin Price who remembers the stories told by her husband's grandfather Austin Gollaher. The article also mentions his grandaunt Bessie (Melvin) Church and it was Bessie's daughter Evelyn who made me a copy of this article. Click the article to enlarge.


There is now a huge assortment of articles on the Internet about Austin Gollaher and his heroic act of fishing his pal Abe from the swollen waters of Knob Creek so I won't bother to repeat those here. Interested persons have only to Google his name and Lincoln's to read some of them. There is even a page for him on Facebook "Austin Gollaher Descendants" where his portrait can be seen and on his Find A Grave memorial is a lengthy biography.

The quote by Lincoln at the beginning of this blog was supposedly said to Dr. Jesse Rodman of Hodgenville sometime before Abe invited his friend Austin to the White House. The story above says Lincoln actually wanted him to fill a position there although I have not heard that repeated elsewhere. All the stories seem to agree that President Lincoln offered to pay for Gollaher's trip to the White House but Gollaher turned him down due to his fear of trains!

The pocket knife and watch were in Uncle Bud's possession for many years but when he died his wife kept the items and we believe her children (Bud's step-children who are not related to the family) now have them. It would be nice to have them back in the family.


[Submitted for the 100th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy: "There's One In Every Family!"]


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