Wedding Wednesday: Newby-Trowbridge

CHARLES LEE NEWBY to IDA MAY TROWBRIDGE 

May 25, 1892

Charles and Ida Newby were my maternal great grandparents. The witnesses, Milla and Henry McMullen, were Ida's sister and brother-in-law. This beautiful certificate is a page from Ida May's 1891/92 Bible which was likely a wedding gift to Ida and Charles from her parents.

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Tombstone Tuesday: Elza C. and Florence P. Scott

Elza Chandler Scott (birth name CHANDLER) 1895-1969
Adopted son of Ottway Norville and Mary Cordelia (Arnold) Scott
Florence Polly (Melvin) Scott 1903-1989
daughter of Michael and Edna A. (Metcalf) Melvin
buried Evergreen Cemetery, Louisville, Jefferson Co., Kentucky

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Amanuensis Monday: A Convenient Marriage-Part 2

After the widow Florence Polly (Melvin) Moore received the letter from suitor Elza Chandler Scott (whom she'd never met in person), she quickly shot off a reply to him which she tucked into another letter to her friend Mrs. Reed because it was the time of the Great Depression and she had only one stamp. This is her reply to Mr. Scott:

                         March 29, 1931

          Mr. E. C. Scott.

                 Dear Friend:

                          Will answere

your letter with pleasure, I

am certainly sorry if I gave you

a bawling out because I

did'nt intend to do so, I was

glad to get the photo of you, and

to tell the truth about it, I

dont think you would spoil

my appitte, but I may spoil

yours. I am sorry but I cant

find a photo of my self. I

have some that were made

about 3 years ago. but I

look quiet differant now.

if every thing is OK, I think

I will see you in a few days.

lets hope so anyway.

I am 27 years old, a widow of one

year & 2 months, 5 feet 1 1/2 in tall

weigh 102 pound. Blue eyes light

complected & auburn hair. and

I have a daughter nearly 9 years

old. I love children and it is

a pleasure to be with them

especially with nicely raised

children  Mrs Reed spoke real

well of you and the Boys, Jack &

Mrs Reed are real nice people

I think as much of them

as I do my own people. they

have certainly treated me

nice, I have the head ache so

bad to day I cant hardly write.

so please excuese this short

letter, may be we can arrange

every thing when I get

their, so please answere this

as soon as possible, Mr & Mrs

Reed are moving to Latonia

will you go with them or

will you stay where you are,

so you have just bought a car

it doesent matter if it

isnt a swell one, times are

to bad to put so much money

in a car are any thing. I all

way try to save for a rainy

day, but havent had any

thing to save for over a year.

but after the rain the sun

all ways shines, so I hope it

will soon shine for me.

I am sorry I havent a picture

of my self at present, but

may be you wont be

disappointed when you

see me. I think I will

be there Sunday the 5th if

everything works out allright.

I will be looking for an

Answere in a few days. please

write, good bye good luck.

             your lonesome Buddie

                    Florence Moore

                       2206 - Standard Ave

                            Lou

                               Ky.

the reason why I am putting

this in Mrs Reeds letter

because this is the only

stamp I have and I

can't get any till tomorrow

Apparently Florence arrived in Cincinnati on Sunday, April 5th as planned and she and Elza must have gotten along famously just as Jack and Mrs. Reed predicted because on the following Saturday, April 11th.....

Marriage License of Elza C. Scott and Florence P. Moore
dated April 11, 1931

And 29 years later....they were still happily married....

Florence Polly and Elza Chandler Scott - May 1960

....til death they did part in June of 1969 with the passing of Elza, age 72. (No children from this union.)

Click here to read Part 1

Thanks go to my sister-in-law Rose, who has allowed me to keep and preserve these historical family artifacts!

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Sunday's Obituary: Mrs. Rose L. Logsdon

ROSE LEE (MATTINGLY) LOGSDON

August 1, 1886 - September 1, 1973

My husband's paternal grandmother, daughter of William M. and Lou Ann (Grimes) Mattingly, wife of Joseph Leslie Logsdon who died at the age of 25 in 1919.

This clipping was among the items my sister-in-law placed in my care a few years ago. There are two other obituaries dated September 13, 1973 on Rose Lee's FindAGrave memorial that were taken from the Louisville Courier Journal. This clipping may be an earlier obituary from the same paper or it may have come from another newspaper.

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Funeral Card Friday: Florence Marie (Smith) Logsdon

Marie Logsdon 1919 - 2000

Marie was the daughter of James Ignatius and Emma Josephine (Ray) Smith. She was the third wife of my husband's father, J. Harvey Logsdon and stepmother to his four children: Anita, Rose, Buddy, and Mike. They were married 38 years when Harvey preceded her in death in 1988. Marie had no children of her own.

Florence Marie (Smith) Logsdon circa 1950s

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Tombstone Tuesday: Joseph H. and Marie (Smith) Logsdon

Joseph Harvey Logsdon, son of Joseph Leslie and Rose Lee (Mattingly) Logsdon
md. third wife Florence Marie Smith in 1950
  dau. of James Ignatius and Emma Josephine (Ray) Smith
buried Calvary Cemetery, Louisville, Jefferson Co., Kentucky

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Amanuensis Monday: A Convenient Marriage-Part 1

In March of 1931 my husband's maternal grandmother, Florence Polly (Melvin) Moore, had been a widow for just a little over a year and she had an 8 1/2 year old daughter. Her friend, Mrs. Reed, knew of a widower with children of his own who was looking for a mother for them as well as a companion for himself, so Mrs. Reed decided to try and play match maker. This is the first of two letters in my possession that followed after Mrs. Reed set things in motion.

                   March 27, 1931

                  3029 Woodburn Ave.

                  Cincinnati, O.

Miss Florence Moore:

        My Dear Miss Moore:

                     I suppose I really

deserve the slight bawling out

in the letter you sent Mrs Reed

Well my dear lady I have been

figureing and making plans and

wanted to be sure of my step

before I had a definite understanding

with you. If I can find

a Photo of my Self I will enclose

it in this missle. I want

to be perfectly frank and plain

with you so am going to

look forward to meeting you

with great pleasure. I have

not been a widower but

4 months but life with out a

companion is one continual hell

for me. I have 3 boys Florence

who need other care besides

that which I can give them

Of course the two older ones

can take care of themselves

mostly but the youngest needs

a mothers care and teaching.

Now if I can arrange it and

I think I can will you be

willing to come up and

look the situation over and

then we will see what can

be done. understand I dont

want to make a slave of you

or any one. More a companion

and "buddy" than any thing

else. To tell you a little more

about my self. I am 37 years

old and I think I know what

life is all about. I am not "tall

dark & handsome" but I dont think

I would spoil your appetite by

having to look across the table at

me every morning as the saying

goes. I have just purchased

an auto not a swell one of

course (because I cant afford it)

but one that we can have lots

of pleasure out of this summer.

Jack & Mrs Reed say they think

we would get along famously

so my interest in you is

growing daily. Now if you

care to answer this I will

be looking for an answer also

looking forward to the day I

see you in person.

    will close for this time

                (over)

Hoping to hear from you

soon   I remain yours in the field of lonesome men

                      E. C. Scott

                        3029 Woodburn Ave

                           Cincinnati

                               Ohio.

P.S.

Please send Photo of yourself.

                       E. C.

 Part 2 will be posted next week and will be Florence's reply to Elza Chandler Scott and the outcome of this correspondence.

Click here to read Part 2

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Treasure Chest Thursday: WWII Souvenir

My husband's parents, Harvey and Florence (Moore) Logsdon, had been married less than two years. Harvey was stationed aboard ship with the Navy during World War II and it was near the end of his tour. He was anxious to return home to his young wife, toddling daughter and infant son in Louisville, Kentucky. This silk souvenir, measuring about 5" x 5", was tucked inside a letter Harvey wrote to Florence dated August 17, 1945...

Excerpt from the letter where Harvey mentions the enclosed panties...

"Well Honey I got you a pair of pants and I will send them in this letter. I thought they were pretty cute."

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Wordless Wednesday: Harvey and Florence Logsdon

My husband's parents:
Joseph Harvey and Florence Edna (Moore) Logsdon circa 1943

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Sentimental Sunday: We Are The Story Tellers

The Story Tellers

    "We are the chosen.  In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors; to put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family their story and to feel that somehow they know and approve.  Genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts; instead, it is breathing life into all who have gone before.  We are the story tellers of the tribe.  All tribes have one.  We have been called as if it were in our genes.  Those who have gone before cry out to us:  Tell our story, and so we do.   In them we find ourselves."    .....Unknown author

I love that quote, it couldn't be more perfect.  

Cheers to all  the dedicated family historians, genealogists, and geneabloggers out there and to all those in my own family; in particular, those of the Wallen ancestry of which I am a fourth generation family history preservationist; from great grandfather Oliver, his daughter Sula, his grandson Charlie, and now to me, the great granddaughter. We were chosen. We are The Story Tellers. 

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Treasure Chest Thursday: Sons of a Trackless Forest

I am the very fortunate owner of a fairly rare hardback book "Sons of a Trackless Forest - The Cumberland Long Hunters of the Eighteenth Century" by Mark A. Baker. To quote Mohican Press: "'Sons of a Trackless Forest' is a 6 1/4" x 9 1/4", 992 page, 8 chapter work that includes a foreword by artist David Wright (who also created the cover illustration), a preface, an introduction, 10 appendices including original document transcripts, interesting end notes, and an index. There are 159 illustrations including 18th century maps, 19th century letters and illustrations, and various items from the Morgan collection. This extensively researched tale of the Cumberland long hunters is an impressive work on an integral element of the colonial era; those "sons of a trackless forest" who are deeply ingrained in the American psych."

So, why am I so fortunate? "Sons of a Trackless Forest", as of July 2002 and after only two print runs, is out of print. Despite a plan stated by the author in September of 2005 to first revise and then reprint the book in mass market format by 2006, that has not yet happened even though Baker has a very large audience impatiently waiting in line for it. The hardback book originally sold for $60 but a used copy up for auction on eBay earlier this year sold for a whopping $350! My fortune happened back in 2005 when I placed a bid on a copy of this book on eBay. My top bid was $190. The bidding quickly went up to over $260 and I was outbid past my comfort zone. As luck would have it, the person who won the bid decided not to pay and the seller immediately relisted. I watched and waited...no bids..no bids. The starting price was $60 and free shipping. In the last seconds I placed a bid, again for $190. To my complete amazement, no one bid against me and I became the new owner for a mere $60! When the book arrived I saw it was in near mint condition except for a tear in the dust jacket. I was elated!  

Daniel Boone

"Sons of a Trackless Forest" tells about the early Long Hunters such as Daniel Boone and several others who are lesser known. Among it's pages is the fascinating story of the long hunter Elisha Wallen (b. 1732), brother of my 6th great grandfather, Thomas Wallen. This book has a larger compilation of facts about Elisha Wallen than any other publication that I'm aware of. The author, Mark A. Baker, is also a living history re-enactor and a regular columnist for Muzzleloader Magazine. He is widely recognized as one of the foremost authorities on 18th century woodsmanship, and he had the distinct honor of teaching actor Daniel Day-Lewis how to load and shoot a musket while on the run, for the 1992 film "The Last of the Mohicans". 

Daniel Day-Lewis in "The Last of the Mohicans"

My treasured copy of "Sons" is NOT for sale!

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Sula (Wallen) Splitek - Our Family History Trailblazer

Sula (Wallen) Splitek
1903-1994

Sula was born July 7, 1903 in Wabd, Rockcastle Co., Kentucky. She was the daughter of Oliver Morton and Sarah Frances (Davis) Wallen, the wife of Frank Fulton Splitek, the mother of Blossom Joanne, the twin to Thomas Miller Wallen and sister to three other brothers: my grandfather William and the twins, Homer and Hobart. She was an Educator at Elsinore Navy and Military School in Elsinore, California, a member of the Order of The Eastern Star for 50 years and a member of Faith Baptist Church in Wildomar

Sula was the first that I know of in our family to become interested in genealogy. She was the first to reproduce her father's diary although she took many liberties with it by leaving out parts and making minor changes. She made many copies of her typewritten work and sent them around to various family members and it was my father's copy that sparked my interest in genealogy. My father's first cousin Charles was also inspired by the copy he received from his Aunt Sula and he and I would later team up and become inseparable cohorts in the Wallen family quest for nearly a dozen years.

Sula's family group sheets were, and still are, priceless. She wrote letters and traveled all over the country to get information from family members about their spouses and children, information that paved the way into some of the family that I would never have known existed otherwise.

Sula died October 7, 1994 at the age of 91 and is buried in Elsinor Valley Cemetery in Lake Elsinor, Riverside Co., California alongside her husband Frank who preceded her in death in 1977.

Frank Fulton and Sula Susan (Wallen) Splitek

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Hardship in Christoval - 1905/06

My paternal great grandparents, Oliver and Sarah Wallen, left Kentucky for Kempner, Texas in early January 1905. They stayed in Kempner from January to mid November of the same year and then headed westward again to Christoval, Texas. Oliver took the buggy and went on ahead of the rest of the family in order to secure a place to live. The others would come by train when he sent for them. As he traveled, Oliver noted in his diary each and every town he came to and the distance between them. I recently clicked my way down the roads he took to Christoval via Google Earth street view. Everything was flat, dry, brown...and desolate looking, and I'm sure the road wasn't paved in 1905.

About two weeks after reaching Christoval the rest of the family was sent for and they arrived a few days later at the train station in San Angelo, 19 miles north of Christoval. There was Oliver's younger brother Jesse, Sarah, my 5 year old grandfather Willie, and the 2 year old twins Sula and Thomas. Sarah was about 5 months pregnant and I wonder if she knew at that time that she was going to give birth to another set of twins.

Christoval Baptist Church today
 via Google Earth

In Christoval, Oliver had searched in vain for a place to live. There was nothing available, or at least nothing they could afford. Mr. Ramsey, a kindly man from the Baptist Church where Oliver was to preach, offered them a one room "house" on his property. It was 12 feet by 14 feet, the size of a modern day bedroom. They pitched a 10 foot by 12 foot tent outside and that was their kitchen where Sarah would cook all their meals. Oliver doesn't say if the tiny house had any windows or if the floor was wood or dirt. I have a feeling it was never meant to be a house but rather a tool shed since the Ramseys had to clear it out before the family moved in. Oliver said: "It looks like living in a rail pen."  And I don't know what they did for heat in the Winter. Jesse didn't live with them, he had a place of his own. Maybe two adults and three little children slept all together in one bed to keep warm. 

Not the Ramsey "house",
but probably similar in size.

They lived in this house for 10 months, from November 29, 1905 to September 14, 1906, through winter, spring, and the heat of a Texas summer. It is where Sarah gave birth to the twins Homer and Hobart, and for the next six months after that there were seven sleeping in that little hovel. Once, they had to move out quickly as the river, just 30 feet away, flooded. Years later, Sarah told her daughter Myrtle that she picked cotton too, besides caring for the children and the constant sewing and washing of their clothing, and the cooking and keeping the small house up. She said she would be so tired after picking cotton that she would literally fall through the door into the house in sheer exhaustion.

The family attended Christoval Baptist church several times a week and Oliver preached there on a regular basis. Through all the hardship they never wavered from their faith in God, for that is where they found their strength.

Jesse, Sarah and the children
at Oliver's tomb.

In mid September 1906 Oliver moved his family to a two room house about 45 miles south of Christoval in Sonora, Texas. Even though his health was very poor, Oliver continued to preach in that town until he died just three and a half months later, in January 1907. He died almost exactly two years after leaving Kentucky, his twin boys having just turned 9 months old. Oliver was buried in Sonora and Sarah and the children returned to Kentucky a little later that same year.

Oliver's brother Jesse remained in Texas. He died there in 1917.

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Tombstone Tuesday: The Runyans of Rose Hill

It's been 33 years since I've been out to the Rose Hill Memorial Park Cemetery in Tampa, Florida to see the tombstones of my maternal grandparents. I have no excuse for this neglect as I only live about 20 miles from there, and I dearly loved my grandmother and granddaddy. My mother's sister was buried with them, but I didn't know Aunt Lela. My brothers and I didn't even know she existed until we were in our 20s. But that's another story. 

I had photos of the stones taken by my mother after Aunt Lela died in 1996 but they were bad photos and I've wanted to get out there and get new ones to post to their FindAGrave.com memorials.  I finally did that yesterday. I called ahead to Rose Hill and they said they'd place an orange cone at the stones and to come into the office and someone would show us on the wall map where to go, maybe even lead us over if someone was available, but as soon as we drove through the entrance I knew where they were, even after 33 years. I knew all along that I would remember.

First, my grandmother died and I remember being at Rose Hill for the burial. I was not quite 20 years old and it was the first funeral I'd ever been to. Then, I was a new mother and my granddad died. My son was 7 months old. I was glad Granddaddy got to see and hold (and nearly drop) his first great grandchild. I remember going to the funeral home and seeing him there in the casket and thinking..."This is the first dead person I've ever actually seen."...and I squeezed his hand. I don't remember his burial for some reason, but I know I was there.

Lawrence Everett Runyan
born St. Patrick's Day 1893 - died Thanksgiving Day 1978

Then, 18 years later, my mother got the call that her sister Lela had passed away. Mom had to be responsible for having Lela's cremains shipped to Tampa from Indiana and all the arrangements for her burial. There was no one to help her with the decision making. No one to discuss Lela with. Not even Dad really, because he never knew Lela either.

I don't remember what my grandmother's original stone looked like. Maybe it wasn't much. I'm not sure why Mom decided to have a new stone made with her mother and sister together. I wish I could ask her about that, but I guess I'll never know that story.

Mary Fern Runyan 1893-1972 ~ Lela Custer Runyan 1918-1996

I'm glad I made it out to Rose Hill finally. I didn't know that writing this blog post would make me feel so sad though.

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