Reunions album - Carter./Arnold reunion 1983

 

At the Carter/Arnold annual family reunion in 1983. 

Gracie Arnold was the wife of John Davidson Arnold.

The picture of 1st cousins - 

Back row: Ruby Vincent, Noel Arnold, Obie Davidson, Hope Brackett, Verlie Garrett, Ruby Barnett, Arbie Hayes, Irene Barnett. 

Front row: Evalee Jones, Bernice Rogers, Bertha Lee Averill, Christene Riggs, Sylvia Dye, Joan Hays (sitting in front of Sylvia), Cleffie Burford.

Arbie, Obie, Verlie, Joan, Ruby, and Bertha Lee are children of George Ned Arnold. 

Ruby, Irene, Cleffie, Evalee, and Bernice are children of Annie Arnold Hicks.

Christene is the daughter of John Davidson Arnold (and Gracie). 

Sylvia, Noel, and Hope are children of Marlie Arnold. 

Photo: The Arnold siblings - parents of all the cousins in the photo above, George, Annie, John, Marlie, and Etta. (None of Etta's children are in the group photo above, although one or two of them were at the reunion in 1983.)

Photo: John Henry and Adaline Arnold, parents of George, Annie, John, Marlie, and Etta.

John Henry and Adaline Arnold had 44 grandchildren altogether (not counting those who died at birth). George had 13 children, Annie had 9 children, John had 8 children, Marlie had 8 children, Etta had 6 children.

Reunions album - Where is Floral, Arkansas?

There's a little church building and a cemetery there. I don't know if the church is still in use or not. 

There's also an outhouse...

It's 26 miles from Bald Knob, Arkansas (now EVERYBODY knows where that is) to Floral, Arkansas. Just go north on 167 to Pleasant Plains and take a left on 87. Take you right to it.

When I say everybody knows where Bald Knob, Arkansas, is, I'm not even kidding. Here are some pictures I took from the Sky Tower ride at Sea World in San Diego, California, in 1988. See that map of the United States painted on the cement? 

See this close-up of the Arkansas part of that map? Of the handful of major cities noted on the map, look right under the last S in the word Arkansas... Yep, there it is -- Bald Knob. According to arkansas-demographics.com:  "With 2,522 people, Bald Knob is the 120th most populated city in the state of Arkansas out of 540 cities."

Reunions album - Hicks family photos

 

In these photos are cousins Bess, Jack, Odelcie, Ruby, Viola, and Cleffie -- all grandchildren of  John Henry and Malisa Burns Hicks

Top Left: Kenneth and Gladys Wheetley. Kenneth is the brother of Bess Hicks Wheetley's husband, Record Wheetley. Bess is the daughter of Pinkney Hicks ("Uncle Pink"). 

Top Right: Bess Hicks Wheetley with her brother Jack and his wife 'Bill' (Floy).

Bottom Left: Everett and Odelcie Hicks Williams. Odelcie is the daughter of Felix Hicks. Everett is her husband.

Bottom Right: Ruby Hicks Barnett, Viola Hicks Solomon, Cleffie Hicks Burford. Ruby and Cleffie are the daughters of Ulysses Hicks. Viola is the daughter of Nancy Ellen ("Nannie") Hicks Sandefur.

Photo: John Henry Hicks and Malisa Evaline Burns Hicks

 

Photos: Hicks brothers Ulys, Felix, Pinkney, David. Their sister Nancy Ellen 'Nannie' Hicks Sandefur.

Photo: Pearl, Record, Kenneth, Dorisy Wheetley. Record Wheetley (top right) was married to Bess Hicks. His brother Kenneth is in the photo album page above, with his wife Gladys.

Reunions album - Viola Solomon

Viola was a first cousin to my grandmother Cleffie Hicks Burford. Cleffie's father Ulysses and Viola's mother Nancy Ellen ("Nannie") were brother and sister. Viola is pictured here with Cleffie and two of Cleffie's sisters - Ruby and Irene, and with Cleffie's husband (my grandfather) Lester Burford, and with Cleffie's brother Olan and his wife Barbara.

In this photograph Viola is top right. Next to her is her sister Mae Sandefur. Seated on the ground are their grandmother Malisa Hicks and their mother Nannie Hicks Sandefur.

Viola Sandefur married William Ralph Solomon in 1928. He died in 1930 and she never married again. They had one child, Nora Ellen. 

Here is the last known photograph of Viola Sandefur Solomon, with four great-grandchildren, before she died 03 February 2000 at the age of 93. 

Hicks family reunion 1976

 From the Hicks family reunion album

I did not attend this reunion, and I'm not sure where it was held. The Hicks family is the family of my great-grandfather Ulysses Hicks, father of my grandmother Cleffie Hicks Burford.

Photo: Nancy Ellen 'Nannie' Hicks Sandefur, sister of the four Hicks brothers in the photo above.

Photo: John Henry Hicks and Malisa Evaline Burns Hicks, parents of the siblings in the photos above.

Photo: Standing L-R - Felix and his wife Ida with baby Rosie, Ulysses. Seated L-R - John Henry, Malisa, David.

Post-holiday quandary

 My next book, I think, is going to be similar to what I've been posting this month -- family photos centered around "occasions" like Christmas, Easter, marriages & anniversaries, etc. I've run out of family stories written by other family members, and I'm too lazy to write my own, apparently. But I still have a bunch of photographs I'd really like to share with whoever might be interested in looking at them. 

So, anyway... What to do here on the blog in the meantime? Well, I have all these photo albums I've put together. Several of them have been scanned. And then after I scanned them I started making digital versions of the scanned album pages with a scrapbook app that I have on my computer. So what I think I'm going to do now is post some of those scrapbook/album pages. Whaddya think?

I'll start with the "Reunions" album. This album consists of pictures from the annual Carter/Arnold reunion in Arkansas, ranging from 1984 - 1994, along with one or two Hicks family reunions, and some Judsonia school reunions. 

I'm not sure if this was actually part of the Hicks family reunion in 1974, or if this little excursion was separate from that. But anyway, this is my grandmother Cleffie Hicks Burford with her two older sisters, Ruby and Irene, and a cousin of theirs, Viola Sandefur Solomon. They went to the place that was -- according to what's written on the backs of the pictures -- Annie and Ulys Hicks' first house after they were married. They were married in 1910. The house is near Banner, Arkansas. Here are a couple of other pictures of the same occasion --

Photo L-R: Cleffie, Ruby, unknown woman, Viola. (I don't know who the other woman is. I think she is not a family member, but someone who lives near where this house was.)

Photo: Ruby and unknown woman.

Happy Birthday, Grandma

 

Today is the birthday of Christie Beatrice Treat Thomas, born 25 December 1903

Exterior illumination

 These are pictures we've taken at a certain place on George Younce Road in Foley, Alabama. They open their display every year on Thanksgiving, and we go every year and take pictures. Every year they add to the display. There are 3 houses on the property, and a barn, and at the end of the road a covered bridge -- all belonging to the Snook family.  

Special Christmas Memories, chapter 4

 

Christmas 1967 was especially well-documented. All of Grandma & Papa Burford's kids and grandkids -- only five of them had been born at that time -- were at their house, and Uncle Bob was taking pictures, and so was my dad (Red). Great-grandma Annie Hicks was there, too. Four generations in one house.

I remember this house like the back of my hand. I swear if it ever comes on the market I'm going to buy it, just for nostalgia's sake! (Well, not really, because I don't want to live in Michigan in the winter.) This picture was taken in the dining room, between the living room and the kitchen. That's Cleffie, surveying the spread. Looks like turkey and dressing... all the traditional holiday foods. 

Photo: Jackie, Wathada, Ron, Lori and John

Photo: Jackie, Cleffie, Wathada, Maxine, Annie

Photo: Annie, Cleffie, Wathada, Dianne -- four generations.

This is probably the best (imho) picture ever taken of Papa Burford (Lester).

Here's a close-up version...

And here's one of Grandma and Papa, taken the same day...

This is just a small smattering of all the great pictures that were taken that day. Ah, memories!

Special Christmas Memories, chapter 3

 

1981, the year we spent Xmas at Grandma & Papa Burford's house (Bald Knob, Arkansas) because at our house the water pipes had frozen and burst.