August 28

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Renue Thomas Wells 1893-1958

Renue L Thomas was born 28 August 1893 in Bangor, Michigan, and died 27 January 1958 in Hartford, Michigan. 

She married Erwin Leslie Wells 22 November 1920.

Renue and Erwin lived in Buchanan, Michigan, for many years. Erwin worked at the Clark Equipment plant, located in Buchanan. When he retired they moved to Shafer Lake just east of Hartford, Michigan, and later to the city of Hartford, until their deaths. 

Renue and Erwin had one child, Melvin Thomas Wells, born 21 October 1921. He only lived one day. They never had any more children.

1939

Renue and Erwin and their son Melvin are buried in the Arlington Hill Cemetery, Bangor, Michigan.

August 28

 MEMORIAL TO...

Audie Miller 1876-1900

Audie Miller was the son of Alice Ford and Dale Miller

The Miller and Ford families were early settlers of Bangor, Michigan.

Dale and Alice had four children - 

Carrie, who died at age 6 months 

Dora, who died in childbirth at age 28 

John Cleveland, who  lived to age 53 

Audie, who died of tuberculosis at age 24

27 AUG 1900

Mr. Audie D. Miller died of consumption at Las Cruces, New Mexico, Monday morning at 10 o’clock, where he went a year since in hope of regaining his health.

He was the eldest of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. D. M. Miller, who are well known in and about South Haven.

Audie Miller was born in Bangor, June 10th twenty-five years ago, and moved with his parents to South Haven at the age of four months, and has never lived away from here until last September when he in company with Frank Wynn went west.

The bereaved family received word last week, however from Mrs. Nora Hagerty formerly of this place, that Audie had grown too weak to start and that she and the many friends he has made for himself there were seeking that he had every attention. Only a short time after a telegram announced his death. The remains are expected here tonight and the funeral will probably be held Sunday afternoon at the Baptist Church.

*     *     *

The photo above is the only one I have of Audie Miller. I don't have pictures of Carrie or Dora. I do have at least one picture of John Cleveland Miller, with his wife Giulielma.

August 27

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Agnes Earle Carter Baker 1913-2002

Agnes Carter was the daughter of John Martin Carter and Amy Tamsett. 

John Martin Carter was a brother of Adaline Carter Arnold. Adaline Carter Arnold was the mother of Annie Arnold Hicks. (So... Agnes was a 1st cousin of my great-grandmother, Annie Hicks.)

Agnes married Elmer Sidney Baker

and they had three children: Melvin Eugene, Harold Wayne, and Roy Glen.

Melvin Eugene died at age 23. (I don't know the cause of death.) The only photo I have of him is from his gravestone.

I was surprised to find that I actually have more pictures of Agnes than I thought -- she isn't mentioned a lot in the family history (no interesting anecdotes, as with some of the other Carters and Arnolds). But she is in several group photos.

Wilma Arnold and Agnes Carter

I did find out one interesting tidbit about one of her sons -- the one who died at age 23. He was married to Elizabeth Johnson (Garrett). 

She was only 19 years old when he died. But his grave has a double headstone with her name on it

Not surprisingly, she married again, so her last name at death was Garrett. She is buried in the same cemetery (Pine Grove) but with a gravestone of her own. 

Neither her gravestone nor her obituary states who her 2nd husband was. There are two Garrett brothers from that community (Ed and Everett) who were married to two Arnold sisters (Verlie and Mildred). Elizabeth had a sister (Violet) who married another Garrett brother (O'Dell). There are two more Garrett brothers from that same family. I wondered if Elizabeth might have married one of them, so I did some research. Both William Garrett and Elizabeth's obituaries mention a son named Elvis -- and neither of them mentions their spouse, which is unusual -- so I assume Elizabeth married (and divorced?) William Garrett. That makes four out of five Garrett brothers who married our Arnold/Carter relatives. 

The last Garrett brother's (Charlie) obituary also does not say who his wife was. I guess that's just a 'thing' with those Garretts. I did some more digging and found out his first wife's name was Una Faye Rains, and his 2nd wife's name was Stella Ruth Ruyle. (Her last name at death was Gay. She had a child with Charlie Garrett that died at age 2 months. All her other children have the last name Gay, and her obituary also doesn't name her spouses.) As far as I know, neither Una Fay nor Stella Ruth is related to us.

 

Well, this is the kind of stuff I do for fun.

August 25

MEMORIAL TO...

David Raymond Burford 1913-1999

Raymond was the first child of Alexander Burford, born in 1886, and Lester was the 10th (of 14), born in 1913. Raymond's son David was also born in 1913, so he was the same age as his uncle Lester in the photo above.

David Raymond Burford married Elizabeth Jane Pittman, and they had two children: Sherry Madeline and David Raymond, Jr. I don't have a picture of Elizabeth or Sherry, but I do have pictures of David Raymond Burford, Jr.

Photo: David Raymond Burford, Jr., David Raymond Burford, Sr.

Photo: Back - David Raymond Burford Jr and his wife Georgi. Front - their son Aaron and daughter Sophie.

 

David Raymond Burford, Sr. died 25 August 1999.

August 24

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Dora Hughes Willis Hurlbut 1874-1953

Dora was the second wife of Myrick Henry Hurlbut. Myrick's first wife was Etta Eunice Thomas.

Etta Thomas Hurlbut was a sister of my great-grandfather Charles Thomas.

Dora Hughes Willis Hurlbut was a sister to Margaret Hughes, who was married to Charles Thomas' son Clarence. (I tried to untangle the exact relationships, but failed. Let's just say that Myrick Hurlbut's second wife was a sort of a niece-in-law to his first wife. Close enough.)

August 23

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Nellie Jane Searcy Spain 1915-1991

Nellie Jane is second from right -- with her arms crossed.

Nellie Jane was the daughter of Edith Burford.

Edith Burford was one of the three children that Alexander Oscar Burford, Jr. had with his first wife, Helen Virginia Lockard, before he married my great-grandmother Lora Gibson Burford.

Photo (L to R): Alexander Oscar Burford, Hazel, Raymond, Edith, Helen Virginia.

Edith married Will Searcy in 1909, and they had six children - Laura, Eleanor, Nellie Jane, Bill, Willene, and Jerry. Edith and her four daughters - Laura, Eleanor, Nellie Jane, and Willene, are in this group photo.

Nellie Jane married Eugene Spain in 1934, and they had two sons - John William and Richard Wayne. (The little boy in the photo is not one of theirs.) This picture would have been taken in 1949. The picture below was taken on the same day.

This photo contains Eugene Spain (tagged), and also Richard and John Spain -- but I'm not sure which ones they are. I think John is in back, between the man with the hat and the man with the tie. Based on their ages, Richard is probably the boy behind/between the two younger boys in front.

The rest of the people in these pictures are in some way related to or associated with Raymond and Edith Burford -- in-laws, grandchildren, etc.

August 22

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

John Henry Hicks 1844-1919

John Henry Hicks was the father of my great-grandfather Ulysses Hicks.

John Henry married Malisa Evaline Burns

They had nine children, of whom six lived to adulthood: Ishmael, Timothy, David Anderson, Joseph Pinkney, Nancy Ellen ('Nannie'), John Ransom, Charlotte A ('Tot'), Felix Hallmark, and Ulysses Fillmore. The first three children were born in Alabama, Pinkney was born in Mississippi, and the rest were born in Tennessee.

Hicks brothers - Ulys, Pink, Felix, David

Nannie, Tot

August 21

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Erwin Leslie Wells 1890-1957

Erwin Wells was the husband of Renue Thomas -- sister of my grandfather Bill Thomas.

Remember the picture that I thought was Aunt Renue, but turns out it might be Ruby Dillman -- no relation to us at all? 

Well, here's a picture that I know is Aunt Renue.

Renue and Erwin were married 22 November 1920.

Photo (L to R): Bill and Christie Thomas, Mel and Alta Thomas, Erwin and Renue Thomas Wells.

Erwin and Renue had one child, Melvin Thomas Wells, who died shortly after his birth on 21 October 1921. They never had any more children. 

On the cover of my book about the Thomas side of the family -- Secret and Resolute -- is a photograph that I believe has Uncle Erwin in it. (I'm not certain, but I think he is the man at top right in the photo.)

August 20

 Sorry this is so late. I got so caught up in researching the Naftzger and Hurlbut families that I ran out of time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Nina Katherine Naftzger Hurlbut 1895-1971

Photo: Cecil Myrick Hurlbut and his wife Nina Katherine Naftzger

Nina's father, Jay Dow Naftzger. I don't have a picture of her mother.

Sisters Vera and Nina Naftzger

Vera Naftzger and her husband George Low

Cecil Myrick Hurlbut is related to the Thomas family. His mother was Etta Eunice Thomas, who married Myrick Henry Hurlbut.

Photo: Etta and Myrick Hurlbut, children Ethelyn and Cecil.

Etta Thomas was the sister of my great-grandfather Charles Thomas