Richard Thomas Memories

THE BRIDGE

While we lived there us kids would go out north of Hartford to the mill pond and go swimming at the bridge.  We would ride our bicycles out to the bridge and ride them off the end of the dock into the water.  After we were through swimming we would dive down to the bottom and get our bicycles.  I could dive off the cross bars of the bridge about 15 feet from the water but some of the older kids (I was about 10 or 11 years old) could dive off the top of the bridge about 30 feet to the water. The current was so strong and I was so small I couldn’t swim up stream so I would swim down stream until got to shore and would walk back up the road to the bridge.

Richard Thomas Memories

REFRIGERATOR

This is where we lived when we got our first refrigerator.  Up until then we always had an icebox and had ice delivered. It had legs of about 12 “high and the box was about 24” X 24” x 36 “ high with a round compressor unit on the top.  

Richard Thomas Memoirs

HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY

This house was on the west side of Hartford, Michigan about across from where Galati’s Pizza is now.  This house only had one bedroom so my father closed in the front porch and that’s where Bernarde and I slept. 

I call this place “the house by the cemetery” because it was across from the cemetery.  One night I was walking home from a scary movie and when I got at the cemetery gate opening someone said something and I looked and saw two ghosts! But it was two of the Yeats girls with white blouses cutting through the cemetery on their way to town.

One night I was coming home from a movie in the rain on my bicycle and hit a light pole on the corner by the cemetery and almost fell in front of a semi truck. It was a close call. 

PHOTO: Richard (front), Bernarde, Bill, Christie

Richard Thomas Memoirs

PHOTO: Richard Thomas

When dad would milk the cows he would take the milk to the basement and run it though our cream separator so my mother would have cream to churn into butter.  We also raised a big garden and mother canned.

I remember one time around Christmas my father came home from work and started to take off his boots on the back porch and fell down in the process.  It seems that they had a few drinks after work celebrating Christmas.  Well, after he fell down he said to himself, “Well then I will take you off sitting down”.  I never remember seeing my father take a drink.

To Clarify

 Okay, it seems like it might be confusing for me to be jumping around from one branch of the family to another. So I guess I'll try to be more consistent and stick with one subject at a time. Since my last post was about my dad's family, I'll stick with it for a while until I come to the end of excerpts from that book (Secret and Resolute). Then I'll switch to one of the other books (When We Were Irish) and go through it consistently before I move on to the other book (The Woods Is Full of 'Em).

Then I'll switch to one of the other books (When We Were Irish) and go through it consistently before I move on to the other book (The Woods Is Full of 'Em).

Mrs. Kime

Richard Thomas' memories...

Another one of my childhood adventures was when we lived down the road from Mr. & Mrs. Kime, I was five or six years old.  We had an old gray horse back then, so I would go out in the barn yard and get this old horse by the soft spots in his nose and lead him into the barn so I could stand on the manger to bridle him. Then I would lead him out to the wagon and I would walk up the tongue of the wagon, leaning on the horse until I was on the wagon, then I would get on the horse and go up the road to Mrs. Kime's place, about half a mile. I could get off OK but when I got ready to go home Mrs. Kime would help me get back on the horse. The old horse would start for home and sometimes I would lay down on his back and he would take me home.

PHOTO: Ethel Kime

This is also the place that the bees got us.  We were cultivating the garden using the old gray horse to pull the cultivator.  I was riding the horse when all of a sudden we were in a nest of bees.  Well.... I jumped off the horse and took off running.  Bernarde took off in the other direction and we forgot the old gray horse.  Well, you know the bees didn't seem to bother that horse.  I don't remember if Bernarde or Dad went back for the old gray horse. 

* * *

I don't think I've had occasion before now to post pictures of Ethel Kime. (By the time I came along, we called her "Grandma Kime"). 

PHOTO: Ethel Kime, Christie Thomas (my grandmother), Edith Davis.

These three women were the mothers of three of the young men in the picture below, which was taken on Bernarde Thomas' 17th birthday. (Bernarde was my dad's brother.)

PHOTO L-R: Richard Thomas, Bernarde Thomas, Bob Goodrich, Christie Thomas, John Robertson, Bill Thomas (my grandfather), Russell Kime, Roy "Bud" Davis, Bill Galbraith.

Russell Kime was the son of Ethel Kime. Bud Davis was the son of Edith Davis.

Here is the last picture I have of Grandma Kime. This would have been about 1974. She lived to be 98 years old -- born in 1889, died 1988.

Nicholas Gibson

Probably the 2nd most famous of our Burford/Gibson/Gard ancestors, Nicholas Gibson was the son of John Gibson (see previous post). There are a plethora of articles on the internet about Nicholas Gibson, and they all differ in many important details, starting with his date of birth. Nicholas Gibson's date of birth is sometimes stated to have been 08 May 1777, but it is recorded elsewhere (including his tombstone) as 1765. I favor this earlier date for several reasons. First, his mother, Anne Gibson, daughter of Chief Shikellamy, was killed at the Yellow Creek Massacre, which took place in April of 1774. 

Secondly, Nicholas Gibson is said to have been captured by Indians when he was eight years old. If he was born in 1765, he would have been 8 years old at the time of the Yellow Creek Massacre, which would be the probable occasion of his abduction. (One source stated that he was sold back to white settlers at age 16, for the price of a barrel of whiskey.) There is some doubt as to whether this story is true or not. Many supposedly legitimate documentations of Nicholas Gibson's life do not include the story of his abduction at all. (And, as previously mentioned, many "reliable" sources insist he was not even born at the time of the Yellow Creek Massacre.)

Lastly, Nicholas served in the Revolutionary War as a private in the Virginia Militia. If he had been born in 1777, he would have been too young to serve in that war.

So... make of that what you will.

* * *

Nicholas married Lydia Sink in 1795 and they had 11 children, one of whom was James W. Gibson, the father of Smith Gibson. Smith Gibson was the father of Asa Gibson. Asa Gibson married Adaline Lucretia Gard and was the father of my great grandmother, Lora Gibson Burford.

PHOTO: Nicholas Gibson and Lydia Sink Gibson

I don't have a picture of James Wilson Gibson.

PHOTO: Smith Gibson and his 2nd wife Emily Stanley (front), Asa Gibson and his wife Lucretia Adaline Gard Gibson (back)

PHOTO: Lora Gibson Burford and Alexander Oscar Burford

My Third Birthday

Memories of Cleffie Hicks Burford --

My Third Birthday

The first thing I remember as a child is the day I turned three years old.  It was the eighth day of August, 1920.    

When I got out of bed that morning I went into the living room but no one was there.  I walked on into the kitchen and there was my mother stirring something in a bowl.  My two sisters, Ruby, age eight, and Irene, age 5, were sitting at the table watching.  Of course, they couldn’t wait to tell me it was my birthday and that I was “three” years old!  They were all excited!     

I asked what was in the bowl my mother was stirring.  When they explained that it was my birthday cake she was making I got excited, too.  When they told me all the plans for the day I got more excited and by the time they had finished I felt as though I was at least a foot taller        

I don’t remember much of anything else that happened that year, but this was my birthday and that made it an important day!  (At least that’s the impression I got from my sisters.)  All the plans for the day were centered around my birthday.  All this just for me!  It must be an important day!        

We lived in the country during this period of my life.  Our closest neighbors lived about three hundred yards down the road.  They had a girl named Mae and a boy named Gilbert. Their last name was  Rudolph.  I remember walking with Ruby and Irene down to their house to invite them over to our house in the afternoon to help celebrate my birthday.  I was walking on air as I skipped along the path by the garden fence, Ruby in front of me and Irene behind.        

I don’t remember if there were other children who lived in the neighborhood or not.  If there were, I’m sure they were invited, too.  But I don’t remember of any other houses that were close to us except a little house across on the other side of the road about a hundred yards down that sat empty a lot of the time.  Sometimes a family would move into it and stay awhile and then move somewhere else.  Also, there was a big house across from the Rudolphs.  The Leggett’s lived there and I believe they had a child or two at that time.        

Even though I can’t remember all the little details, I do remember how I felt.  It was one of the happiest days of my life, and whatever else we had to eat that day, I’m sure one thing was good cold watermelon.  We had a big patch of watermelons and we dearly loved to eat them. My father would cool them in a big tub of cold well water for a few hours.  Well water is lots colder than water from the tap that we have now-a-days.

PHOTO L-R: Ruby, Irene, Cleffie, Elvin, Evalee

This picture was taken somewhere around 1923 (Evalee was born in March 1922). I have several copies of this photo, and on the back of one of them is written "we had been eating watermelon."

More about Stoughten Corners school

More memories of Richard Thomas (my dad)

FIRST SCHOOL PICTURE

This was my first school picture, taken at the Stoughten Corners School at the age of 5.

* * *

I liked to ride my tricycle to school because the school was one mile away. But we lived on a gravel road, so I left my tricycle at the neighbor’s (Mrs. Welcher) just across the field from our house.  I would walk to Mrs. Welcher’s house and ride my tricycle from there because her house was on the asphalt road that went to the school.  

In the winter I would walk to school with the Swisher kids.  There were eighteen of them, but only five or six went to my school.  The others went to school in town. 

In the winter we would take our sleds to school because at noon we would go sliding on a hill near the school.  Because our sleds would freeze to the ground while we were in school, we stacked one on top of the other and would always put Ben Sherman’s sled on the bottom.  We picked on Ben a lot, as I remember. 

I could whip all the boys from the first grade though the third, and my friend, Therald Hammond could whip from the fourth though the eighth grade. 

PHOTO: That's Richard 'whipping' one of the younger boys. Therald Hammond is to the right -- he could whip all the older boys.

Col. John Gibson

PHOTO: Portrait of Col. John Gibson

John Gibson was born 25 May 1740 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and died 16 April 1822 in Braddock’s Field, Pennsylvania. He married Anne Shikellamy in 1763, daughter of Chief Shikellamy Swatana, of the Oneida tribe, and Neanoma, of the Cayuga Iroquois. Anne was born 14 May 1741 in Lancaster, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

From biographical notes by John Griffith on the Find-a-Grave website: “Indiana Territorial Governor. Gibson was made the Indian agent at Pittsburgh to represent the interests of Virginia, in 1775, was elected the Colonel of the 6th Virginia and commanded a regiment during battles in the American Revolutionary War. 

After the war, he was a merchant, a member of Pennsylvania's constitutional convention in 1790, a judge in Allegheny County, (1791-1800) and Major General in command of the State Militia. In 1800, President John Adams appointed him Secretary of the Indiana Territory, serving until 1816. During that time, he was also appointed acting Indiana Territorial Governor, serving (1812-13) and then he returned to his position as Secretary of the Indiana Territory and continued in office until Indiana achieved statehood. After completing his term in Indiana government, he retired to private life in Pennsylvania, until his death at age 81.”

Author’s note: It has been a matter of some confusion trying to establish the correct timeline for John Gibson’s marriage(s) and children. As best I can determine, John and Anne Shikellamy Gibson were the parents of two daughters, Polly and Diana, and three sons, Nicholas, Elliott, and John. Anne Shikellamy Gibson is  reported as having been killed at the Yellow Creek Massacre of 1774. From the information below, I have concluded that John Gibson remarried after his wife’s death, and that his second wife was also named Ann. 

Memoirs of John Bannister Gibson, Late Chief Justice of Pennsylvania by Thomas P. Roberts, Jos. Eichbaum & Co., Pittsburgh, 1890. . . .

“He died at Braddock’s Field, April 16th, 1822 and is buried in Allegheny Cemetery. On a flat stone tablet lying upon his grave is the following inscription: 

In memory of  Col. John Gibson, who departed this life on the 16th of April, 1822, in the 82d year of his age. He was amongst the earliest settlers in the western part of Pennsylvania, and  participated in the long struggle for our independence. This testimony of respect and affection is erected by the disconsolate widow.

On another slab is the following: In memory of Ann Gibson, Relict of John Gibson. Was born at Carlisle, Pa., Nov. 15th, 1762, and died at Pittsburgh, July 19th, 1835, in the 73d year of her age.”

 

Grandma Hicks' Funeral

This is one of Cleffie Hicks Burford's memories --

Grandma Hicks’ Funeral

There is one other thing that happened in 1920 that I faintly remember.  My Grandma Hicks died and I remember of us going to her funeral.     

She died in April of that year before I would turn three in August.  She was my father’s mother.  Grandpa had died a little over a year before but I don’t remember that.  But I understood now that Grandma was dead, and I remember of us walking into the church house and there was her casket up in the front not far from the pulpit.  I knew she was in it.    

I remember that I felt a little strange; numb, or tense, or scared, or just not quite comprehending the whole thing.  I know I was very quiet and ill at ease, and I would be glad when we got home again.  I don’t remember anything else about the funeral, I just knew that Grandma was gone.  And the funny part about it is that I don’t remember anything about her before that.  She had been living with Aunt Tot and Uncle Albert.  They said she had eaten a good meal that evening of pork and sauerkraut and whatever else they had.  Later she belched up some of the sour juices and got strangled on it.  I guess she had quite a time getting over it; did a lot of coughing and gasping for breath.  After it was over and she seemed to be alright, she sat down in a chair, got her box of snuff out of her apron pocket and was getting ready to take a dip of it when she fell over dead onto the floor.      

I suppose the ordeal had been too much of a burden on her heart, which wasn’t very strong in the first place.  That’s where my father got his weak heart, he inherited it from her.      

My father never used tobacco in any form even though his parents both used it.

* * *

Here are all the pictures I have of Malisa Hicks

PHOTO: Front - John Henry Hicks, Malisa Hicks, their oldest son David Hicks. Back: Felix Hicks, his wife Ida holding baby Rosie, Ulysses Hicks (Cleffie's father, my great-grandfather).

PHOTO: Front - Malisa Hicks, daughter Nancy. Back - Nancy's daughters Mae and Viola.

PHOTO: John Henry and Malisa Hicks

PHOTO: Malisa Hicks

(Cleffie's grandmother, my great-great-grandmother)

Stoughten Corners School

The Stoughton (“stow-ton’) Corners School was located 1 ½ miles north of Hartford, Michigan and is the oldest school site in Van Buren County, The school started in 1906 as a log cabin and most of the children were Indians. When I started in 1940 it looked just like the above picture.

The school was a one room school with a big coal burning stove in the far left corner, and in the front was the cloak room and restrooms, one on each side of the front door - one for the girls and the other for the boys.  The teacher was Mrs. Dyer.  We had about 20 to 25 kids total, counting the first through eighth grades.

When you were in a one room school and it was your turn to have class you would go up front and sit on a bench in front of the teacher’s desk and blackboard. After your class was over you returned to your desk and did your lesson, and if you needed help the older children would help and also keep you quiet because another class was up front having class.

This picture is tagged with the names of the students. From left to right -- Arletta Traver, Muriel Traver, Jim Traver, LeRoy Haney, Bill Borst, Vance Hammond, George Borst, Carleton Winch, Ruthie Williams, Roger Hammond, George Cotman, Richard Thomas, Therald Hammond.

Gibson Clan

Here is what my mother wrote while she was researching the family history:

“I think I told you about finding the Gards (my Grandma Burford's mother's family). I really fell into that -- those people must have kept good records. I thought there for a minute that I would get back to Noah any minute if it didn't stop.”

--Wathada Burford Thomas

This is a photo from 1908 of the Gibson clan. They are related to me by my great-grandmother, Lora Gibson, who married Alexander Burford. Lora's parents were Asa Gibson and Adaline Lucretia Gard, who were married in 1869. They had fifteen children: Cora (died at age 8), Clara (died at age 5 days), Anna, William, Dora and Lora (twins), Lawrence, Twins (died at birth), Calder (died at age 4), Iva Jane, Stella, Julia, Edna, Oma (died at age 2 months).

PHOTO: Gibson Family Group 1908

BACK: Willie Sayor, Jane Ramsey Gibson (holding Opal Gibson), Dora Gibson Patterson, Lora Gibson Burford (holding Killough Burford), Lawrence Gibson, Bertha Mason Gibson, Anna Gertrude Gibson Kinney (holding Samuel Kinney), Julia Gibson, Stella Frances Gibson, Edna Elsie Gibson, Iva Jane Gibson. 

FRONT: Edith Sayor, William Minter Gibson, Lucretia Patterson, Thomas Patterson, Leonora Gibson, Ishmael Burford, George Burford, Alexander Oscar Burford, Adelbert Burford, John Samuel Kinney, Birdie Elizabeth Kinney, Sarah Kinney, Asa Gibson, Mary Kinney, Adaline Gibson, Helen Burford.

Here are some cropped sections of the photo, so they are easier to see, and I have tagged the individual people in the picture.

Here is another picture I have of some of the Gibson siblings --

Cleffie's Memoirs - The Flu Epidemic

The Flu Epidemic

PHOTO L-R: Irene, Annie holding Cleffie, Ruby

In the year 1918 when I was still a baby a terrible flu epidemic swept this country.  I have heard my folks talk about this many times, as well as other folks.  I don’t know what kind of flu it was.  Back then they didn’t know there was more than one kind, I don’t suppose, but it was an awful thing.  Sometimes whole families would be wiped out.  I’m glad I wasn’t old enough to know anything about it.        

Our family was one of the few families who did not lose any of its members to the flu.  I can only say that God’s umbrella must have been over us.        

I don’t think I even had the flu.  If I did it was a light case, because Mama said I just sat on a pallet on the floor the biggest part of the time when she had it.  Of course, she was right there on the bed where I could see her all the time.  The bed was in the living room where the fireplace was.  People usually had a bed in the living room back then but the rooms were real large.  Usually there was room for two beds in one end and have plenty of room left for the living room area in the end where the fireplace was.

--Cleffie Hicks Burford

* * *

Richard Thomas Memories - The Thar Place and The Forty

I can't decide whether to rotate the posts between the Thomas / Hicks / Burford family histories, or to stick with one all the way through before switching to another. What do you think?

* * *

THE THAR PLACE AND THE FORTY

I don’t remember anything until we lived on the Thar place.  This is where the picture of me on the pony was taken. I was about two or three years old.  

One time I was with my dad with the county truck in Keeler and we stopped at Foster’s store for some ice cream. They had a punch board for ten cents a punch and some times you would win a prize of some sort.  I don’t think we won anything. 

I remember that we would sometimes rent a cottage at Van Auken lake for two weeks in the summer and this is where my dad taught me how to swim. I was only about 4 or 5 years old, as I recall.

Then we moved to a farm just down the road called “The Forty”. This was where we lived when I started school at Stoughten Corners.

* * *

Author's note: Grandpa Thomas taught all of us kids to swim. My brothers and I learned in Van Auken lake, in Hartford. Our cousins, Mick, Greg, and Kim, probably learned in Lake of the Woods in Decatur, which was where they lived.

When We Were Irish

The Burford branch of the family tree is covered in my book When We Were Irish. 

The Burford line itself has not been traced very far back in our family records. However, the Gibson line goes way back -- all the way back to Adam, if you believe FamilySearch -- and the Gard lineage goes back to 1539 in England. Those are also covered in the book. 

The title of the book is explained in the book's preface, and that's where I'll start today.

These excerpts are from some of my mother’s emails while she was in the process of tracing our family history.

PREFACE

“I don't think I will ever dig up any Irish ancestors because I don't think we have any of those. (After my whole life-time of being Irish, I don't know if I can adjust to being English or not!) Our Irish friends told me last year that Burford is not an Irish name, and they thought it was an English name. So I thought that whoever our ancestors were, they probably went from England to Ireland sometime in years past and lived there (and probably married Irish people), until they came to this country on a boat. So a few weeks ago, when I decided to track them down back to whichever one came over here on that boat, the first thing I did was check name origins at some website on the Internet. (That website seems not to exist any more now!) Sure enough, Burford was definitely an English name. Gibson is a name that originated only in Scotland, and it even told which area of Scotland. So Grandma Burford's father's family did originally come from Scotland. But her mother's family (those Gards) came from England. I have them back to 1559 in Poundstock, England. Some of them came from Devonshire. So as far as I can tell, nobody in our ancestry originated in Ireland.”  

– Wathada Burford Thomas

“I have never even considered trying to do a family history of the Gibsons or of Grandma's family, whoever they were. I would have just assumed that I wouldn't get anywhere with that. But I have always wondered about the Burfords, I guess because the Burfords told so many different stories about how and when they came to this country from Ireland. Well, as far as I can tell, nobody came from Ireland at all -- they all came from England except possibly the Gibsons -- Gibson is definitely a Scot name, so I suppose they came from Scotland originally. And Burford is an English name. And the Gards definitely came from England – Devonshire and some other place that I can't remember right now. Morris said Daddy has always told him that his grandfather came from England to Canada, then from Canada to this country... Wouldn't it be amazing if the story my daddy told about this was the only true story any of them ever told???” 

– Wathada Burford Thomas

“I have decided to keep on being Irish.  For one thing, I never stopped feeling like I was Irish and I still believe I am Irish.  And I was looking through my family history a week or two ago, trying to find something and I ran across something that warmed my heart and made me feel warm and happy all over!  There was a couple of people in one of my histories who were born in Ireland.  So I might have at least a smidgeon of Irish in me.  I'm going to look that up again sometime, but it doesn't matter what I find out about it - I am going to keep on being Irish the rest of my life.  I feel like I'm Irish.  I even look like I'm Irish.  Of course, I guess I look like I'm English too, but I am IRISH  Inside and out and I intend to stay that way.  So that's settled.”

--Wathada Burford Thomas

PHOTO: Wathada Burford Thomas

* * *

The final tally included the following facts –

In the Gard lineage our records begin in 1539 in England. The first Gard born in the USA was Joseph Garde, born about 1650 in Connecticut. All the generations before him were born in England.

George Gibson (1704-1771) was the only ancestor born in Ireland, apparently. All the Gibson generations that we know of before him were born in England. And George Gibson’s youngest brother, John Gibson, was born in North Carolina, USA, about 1720. So it seems there may have been a short sojourn in Ireland somewhere in the transition from England to America.

The earliest Burford we have on record is John M Burford, born in 1795. He was born in North Carolina.

So in spite of the fact that we grew up knowing we were Irish... well, turns out it just ain't so.

Cleffie's Memoirs

While my parents were researching their family histories, my grandmother (my mom's mother) wrote out some of her memories to be included in the records. PHOTO: Cleffie Hicks Burford writing her memoirs.

These became part of my book The Woods is Full of 'Em, which includes information about the relatives and ancestors in the Hicks, Arnold, and Carter branches of the family tree, along with some other families closely associated with ours.

* * *

The Night I Was Born

  I have heard my mother tell about the incidents surrounding my birth on August 8, 1917.  I was born about two o’clock that morning.      

  It was during “World War One” and my father had been notified that he must come to Heber Springs and take his examination for the military service, along with a lot of other men, of course.  We lived at Banner, and it was twenty-five miles to Heber Springs.  Papa walked every step of the way there and back.  He was gone three or four days at least.          

  He was really dreading the examination and was hoping he wouldn’t pass it.  In fact, he was hoping so much that he wouldn’t pass that he drank several cups of coffee -- “strong coffee” -- just before time for it.  I guess that did the trick because he didn’t pass the exam.  He said his heart was really pounding and acting up from the coffee.  He had a weak heart anyway and that just made it show up.            

  He arrived home around midnight on the aforementioned night, so tired he was almost dead on his feet.  Mama knew I was going to arrive that night, too, but she didn’t have the heart to tell him right at that time.  She wanted him to get a little sleep and rest first.  He did go to sleep for maybe a couple of hours.  But it wasn’t very long till she had to get him up to go tell the mid-wife to come, and then go for the doctor.  He rode a horse this time because he knew he was coming back.  It was fifteen miles to the doctor, who lived at Jamestown.  He was the nearest doctor there was in that part of the country.  Sometimes after a big rain the creek would rise so much it would be impossible to get across but I guess it wasn’t up this time because they made it.  However, it took them a little too long and I beat them there.  The mid-wife had delivered me and I was there to greet them when they came in.          

  My mother had waited too long to send for the doctor and, really, as it turned out, she didn’t need him.  But I’m sure she felt better that he came anyway.          

  Mrs. Tamsett was the midwife.  She was Aunt Jessie’s mother.  Also Aunt Amy’s mother.

 * * *

PHOTO: Cleffie Hicks, 11 days old

PHOTO: Midwife Sarah Tamsett

PHOTO: Amy Tamsett, daughter of Sarah Tamsett. She married Cleffie's great-uncle John Carter.

Sarah Tamsett's daughter Jessie married Cleffie's uncle, George Arnold.

PHOTO: George Arnold and Jessie Tamsett.

* * *

Spoiler alert -- Another one of the Tamsetts, Sarah's sister-in-law, married into the Hicks side of the family. But that's another story for another day.

Richard Thomas Memories

These are excerpts from my book Secret and Resolute. The book is about my dad's side of the family -- the Thomases and Treats and associated families. 

I'm going to start with my dad's stories, because I miss him and it's been quite a while since I read these.

PHOTO: Richard Melvin Thomas

* * *

KEELER

My mother told me when I was few months old we lived in Keeler and my dad would come and get me sometimes and take me with him on the truck he drove for the County. His area was the Keeler township.  Mother said he would change my diaper when I needed it and give me my bottle.  Dad always liked children. 

While living here in Keeler my brother Bernarde said the winter of 1936 that the snow was so deep that he made a tunnel partway from the house to the outside toilet.

-- Richard Thomas

Caveat Emptor

Okay, so... I'm getting bored with photo backs. I want to do something different. Also, I've got a couple of big projects going, separate from blogs and books. I'm trying to wrangle my million photographs (yes, I counted -- there are a million+) into a more organized system, and winnowing the multitudes of duplicates. It's a huge undertaking, and very time-consuming. At the same time, I'm determined to make sure all my photos are labeled, so I can find pictures more accurately with a search.

I said all that to say this --

Instead of creating my blog posts from scratch each day, I'm gonna cheat a bit. Don't get me wrong, I love doing the posts, but I need to budget my time a little better. So what I'm gonna do is use my published books as blog posts for a while. 

For the WoodsFull blog I'll use THE WOODS IS FULL OF 'EM, WHEN WE WERE IRISH, and SECRET AND RESOLUTE. These books, in total, cover all branches of the family tree.

For the HeartBells blog I'll use HEART BELLS, and the three volumes of HYMNOLOGY.

For the Crystianne blog I'm going to continue with my poems, supplemented with the two STORYWORTH books I did for Christopher a few years ago. Those have not been published and are not available on Amazon. They consist of my anecdotes about my own life.

Adele's blog is still a work in progress and will continue to be baked up fresh every day. I'm having a lot of fun with it!

I'm just doing all of this for fun. Same reason I published my books -- for my own pleasure. And if anyone else gets some enjoyment from it, too, that's gravy. 

So... here we go.

Treat Family Group

 Treat family group

This is the same group, although not an exact duplicate of the photo above.

Who are all these people?

MASSIE and MARCUS are my great-grandparents. They are the parents of my grandmother CHRISTIE Treat Thomas.

BILL Thomas is Christie's husband (my grandfather). Bill and Chris are the parents of BERNARDE and RICHARD.

JOHN Treat is the son of Marcus and Massie; MABEL is his wife. 

Madge Treat Till (not pictured) is the daughter of Marcus and Massie; LEONARD is her husband. 

RUTH is the daughter of Madge and Leonard; EDDIE is her husband. RITA is their daughter.

JUNIOR is the son of Madge and Leonard; MARY is his wife. DOUG and CINDY are their children.

RALPH Till is the son of Madge and Leonard.

*Since Madge is not in the picture, she might have been the one who took the picture*

I am not 100% certain I have all these names correct. It's hard to discern who the woman to the left behind Massie is -- could be Madge or Mabel.

* * *

This picture was taken the same day. Rita was born in September 1949, so these pictures would have been taken about 1950.

PHOTO: Left to right: Ray, Chris, Bill, Ralph, Massie, John, Bernarde, Mabel, Richard.

(These I'm sure of.)

RAY Treat is the oldest son of Marcus and Massie. He was absent from the first two photos above. (He might have been the one who took the photos. But, more likely, he was late coming to the party -- he was a bit of a free spirit.)

Dorothy's Ring

I've probably posted about this before, but it's dear to my heart, so I'm posting again.

This baby ring was with a little cedar box full of trinkets that I got from my grandmother's things when she passed away in 2004. We didn't know whose baby ring it was, but we didn't think it was hers, because it wasn't her birthstone. None of us remembered her ever saying anything about this ring. So it was a mystery.  

Then in February of last year (2025) I went to a psychic whom I know and trust -- I've been to her several times over the past 10 years, and she has proven the validity of her gifts many times over. So I asked her if she could get any impressions or information about this ring. She told me that it originally was in a box with a white lacy dress (probably a christening gown) for a little girl (not a boy). I don't remember if she said specifically that the baby had died, but she said the parents gave the box to someone else because it was too painful a reminder. That was all the information she was able to get from the ring.

After thinking about it and checking the family history, I have concluded that it must be the baby ring of my grandmother's cousin Dorothy. They were the same age and would have known each other well, as they lived not too far apart. Dorothy's mother was a sister of my great-grandfather Ulysses Hicks. When Dorothy was 4 years old, she was struck by lightning and died. She was, in fact, the third daughter to have died in childhood. I don't have any records of the other two girls, except that they were born and both died between 1910 and 1920. Of the other babies in the family history who died in early childhood, these were the only girls -- the rest were boys. It's possible the ring and dress were used for all three of the sisters. It does have Dorothy's birthstone (January/garnet).

As for how this ring came to be among Grandma's possessions -- I'm guessing that Aunt Tot gave the ring (and the dress) to her brother Ulysses. And most likely Ulysses gave it to his daughter -- my grandmother at some point (maybe after he died it was given to her) -- because she was close to Dorothy when they were children. I've heard her tell the story of Dorothy's death many times.

So I am convinced this little ring, now in my possession, belonged to Dorothy Williams. And I love it even more than I already did before I got any information about it. Unfortunately, it is too small to wear, even on my little finger. I'm afraid I would lose it if I tried. It is brass, and was green when I first saw it, but I cleaned it up and then coated it with clear nail polish. 

Dorothy's ring - before and after cleaning.

I wish I had a picture of Dorothy to go with it, but, sadly, I don't.