On This Day in Family History - March 31

 Twin sisters Lottie and Luttie Thomas were born 31 March 1892

They were the daughters of William G. and Jeanette Durren Thomas

William was the brother of my great-grandfather Charles Thomas

Lottie Thomas married Sam Stephens. As far as I know, they did not have any children. I don't have any pictures of Sam.

Luttie Thomas married Fred Frazee.

They had four daughters - Juanita, Claudine, Mary Lou, and Barbara

This is the only picture I have of Juanita. It was taken in 2003. She is holding her great-grandchild.

This is a picture of my dad with Mary Lou and Barbara.

I don't have a picture of Claudine.

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I don't have any pictures of Lottie or Luttie as adults -- that I know of. I have one picture that I wonder if it might be them. 

I kind of doubt if the two women dressed alike are Lottie and Luttie, because the older couple in the photo are Fords -- Charles and Effie Ford. I believe the younger couple kneeling might be Otho and Fiina Ford. If any of my relatives who see this can tell me for sure who these people are, I surely would appreciate it.

On This Day in Family History - March 30

 Wathada Jewell Burford (my mother) was born 30 March 1936

Photo: Lester and Cleffie Hicks Burford, Wathada

There's a story behind this one. The photographer had told her to keep real still and don't move while he was taking her picture. And then he told her to look to the left -- well, she figured out how to (1) keep real still, and (2) don't move, and (3) look to the left...

On This Day in Family History - March 29

 Ronald Gene Burford was born 29 March 1944

Ron was the youngest of my mother's three brothers 

Here is what Mom wrote about Ron -

My youngest brother, Ron was born in 1944 while we lived on South Fair Avenue.  He was born the day before my eighth birthday just a couple of hours before midnight.  Mama told me he was my birthday present and I took it seriously.  He always ‘belonged’ to me.  Mama and I had some trouble over that later when he was a toddler and I just wouldn’t put up with her punishing him in any way.  If she scolded him, I would pick him up and love on him.  She gave me to understand that I had to quit doing that.  So from then on, when Ronnie got into trouble I would just walk outside knowing that he would follow me, and then I’d pick him up and love on him somewhere out of Mama’s sight.  Ron always said he grew up with two mothers, and that was true.

Here is what Cleffie (Ron and Wathada's mother) wrote about him -

And then one day, when the baby was about a couple of months old maybe, why we had company -- my husband’s sister and her family came over to visit for a few hours, and the baby was laying there on the bed, but he was awake and so my husband’s sister was kinda playing with him there a little bit, and he was laying on his stomach and kinda like he was going to slide off the bed or something only we was hold of him.  Anyway she patted him on the bottom pretty good several times you know, just petting him, and sounded like she was spanking him and my daughter said, “Don’t -- don’t do that! You’ll hurt him, he’s tender!”  

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By the time the next one, the second son, was a year and a half old why we came to Michigan.  My parents had already moved up here by that time, so we came and we were sitting there in the house one day and my mother -- I hadn’t paid any attention because I was used to it -- the youngest son, the baby, was sitting there in the little rocking chair and he was just humming away.  He couldn’t talk yet -- he had a little difficulty getting where he could talk where you could understand him, but he finally did.  Anyway, at that time he just couldn’t talk very good at all.  So he just hummed.  And he’d sit there in that chair and just hum and hum every tune that he knew, and that was all of them that the kids sang.  But this one was, one certain one was “A Bicycle Built For Two”.  And he sat there humming that and I wasn’t paying any attention because you know, I was use to him doing it, he’d done it so long.  And my mother noticed and she said, “I want you to listen to that kid.”  I said, “What?”  She said, “He sang that tune just as good as a grown person.”  And I said, “Yeah, he’s been doing that a long time.”  She just thought that was something else.     

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The following 2 photos were taken in 1974

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Ron Burford died in 1981, at age 37, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

We sure do miss him.

On This Day in Family History - March 28

I don't have pictures of any of the people who have birthdays or other occasions on this date, so I decided to do something different. This stems from a project I started (and then abandoned) for a birthday present for my mother. Instead of doing what I originally intended with these pictures, I'm going to post them here. These are pictures of paintings by Wathada.

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I'm starting with my very favorite of all. This painting is from a photograph of my dad and my son Christopher feeding the seagulls at Santa Barbara, California. The picture was taken in 1983, when Christopher was 3 years old. (In the photograph there were a bunch of condos in the background.)

To go with this one, Mom painted another one of my son Casey. It was also from a photograph taken at Fairhope, Alabama. The photo was taken in 1986, when Casey was 3 years old.

Here are the 2 paintings as I have them displayed in my bedroom.

I have 2 more of Mom's paintings also hanging in my bedroom.

On This Day in Family History - March 27

 Dallas Miftlin "Dale" Miller was born 27 March 1852

Dale married Alice Ford Miller

Alice Ford Miller was a sister to my great-grandmother Nancy Ford Thomas

Dale and Alice Ford Miller were the parents of five children -- Audie, Carrie, Harriet, Isadora, and John Cleveland.

Photo: Audie and Alice Miller. (Audie died of tuberculosis at age 24.)

Carrie Miller died age 6 months. I don't know her cause of death, and I don't have any pictures of her.

I think this is Harriet Miller with her mother Alice, but I'm not sure. 

Harriet Miller married Cleophas ("Cliff") Girard. 

This photo is -- Cliff & Harriet ('Hattie') Girard, Audrey Cushman, Marjorie Girard and her husband Harry Swartout. (Cliff wasn't really transparent -- haha. This is the only picture I have of him.) 

I don't have a picture of Isadora ("Dora") Miller. She married Andrew John Cushman. They had two children -- Audrey and Pauline. Pauline was born prematurely and died at birth, and Dora died just hours later, from tuberculosis.

Photos: Andrew John Cushman, Alice Ford Miller and Audrey Cushman

John Cleveland Miller married Giulielma Hoxie and they had 3 children -- Jerry, Preston, and Allan. Giulie died shortly after Allan's birth, and Allan was raised by Effie and Harry Wieland. 

Photo: Giulie and John Cleveland Miller

Photo -- Jerry, Allan, Preston Miller. (I don't know who the little boy is.)

Photo: Miller family - BACK Giulie, William Ford holding Preston Miller, John Cleveland Miller, Alice Ford Miller FRONT Audrey Cushman, Alice Virginia Girard, Marjorie Girard, Jerry Miller. William Ford is Alice's father. The two little girls in the middle in the front are Harriet's daughters.

On This Day in Family History - March 26

 Stephen S. Gibson was born 26 March 1843

He married Frances Louise Dixon

He fought for the Union Army in the Civil War.

Stephen and Frances Gibson had a daughter, Mary Ann Gibson. She married Charles Warren Chapman.

Mary Ann and Charles had a daughter, Ruby. She married Henry Matthew Cummings.

Ruby and Henry had a son, Avery Bryon ('Bill'). Avery married Ila Leo Orrell.

Photos: Avery Cummings, Ila Orrell Cummings

Avery and Ila had a son, Henry E. Cummings -- also known as "Captain Hank"

Captain Hank is a colorful character whom my mother came into contact with during her research on the Gibson family history. He has written at least two books about the history of the Gibsons. 

I have autographed copies of both of these books, although I have yet to actually read them. However, I have used some of the information in the books (just today) to locate the graves and what information is available on the FindAGrave and FamilySearch websites.