On This Day in Family History - March 6

 Eva Letson Ford was born 06 March 1859

Eva was the 2nd wife of William M Ford. They did not have any children. (His 1st wife was Edith Carroll. They had one child.) 

Williams 3rd wife was Isadore Halsted. They were the parents of -- Alice, Charles, Nancy, Kate, Stephen, and Effie.

Photo: Stephen, Alice, Nancy Ford

Nancy Ford was my great-grandmother. She married Charles Thomas. 

Nancy's sister Kate married George Adams. 

Alice Ford married Dale Miller

Charles Ford married Effie Harvey

Stephen Ford married Dora Carpenter. I don't have a picture of Dora.

Photo: Kate and Stephen Ford

I don't have a picture of Effie Ford. She married Frank Smith, and they had one child -- Ford Smith. Effie died at age 19, six days after giving birth, of  a combination of  'childbed fever' and typhoid. Frank Smith died a year later, at age 18, as a result of an accidental fall from a horse. I don't know who raised Ford Smith after his parents died. He grew up, married, had children, and died at age 78. I don't have any pictures of Effie, Frank, or Ford Smith.

Unidentified pictures from the Thomas family archives

 

Most of these were in a manila envelope that came from Aunt Renue. 

On This Day in Family History - March 5

 Charles William Thomas was born 05 March 1914

This picture is labeled "Clarence Thomas holding Chuck"

"Chuck" was Charles William Thomas

Clarence Thomas was a brother of my grandfather Bill Thomas

Clarence married Margaret Hughes and they had four children -- Alyce, Hugh, Chuck, and Nancy

Photo: Alyce Thomas with Chuck and Hugh (Chuck is on the left)

Photo: Nancy L. Thomas

*   *   *

Chuck married Johanna (I don't know her maiden name), and they had three children -- Jimmie, Sally, and Jeffrey. Sally died of meningitis in 1938 at age 3 months. Jimmie died in 1941 at age 4. Chuck died in 1978. Johanna died in 1992. Jeffrey died in 1993 at age 40.

*   *   *

I don't have any pictures of Margaret Hughes Thomas, that I know of. I do have quite a few unidentified pictures from the Thomas side of the family. I have wondered if the photo below might be Clarence and Margaret, with Chuck and Nancy...

On This Day in Family History - March 4

 Lester Morris Burford was born 04 March 1913

Photo: Lester Burford, 6 months old

(That's his older sister Helen, holding him)

Lester Burford was my grandfather. I know I post pictures of him every year on his birthday, so I'm going to try to use pictures today that I haven't used before. This year I'll see how many pictures I can find of him and his parents and siblings.

Lester Morris Burford was the 10th child of Alexander Oscar Burford, Jr. (I'm not sure if he was called Alex or Oscar. Do any of my peeps know the answer to that question?) Alexander and his first wife, Helen Virginia Lockard, had three children - Raymond, Edith, and Hazel. Helen Virginia died when the children were still small. Alexander then married Lora Gibson, and they had ten children -- Deb, Helen, Ishmael, George, Killough, Bernice, Lester, Neil, Juanita, and Judy.

L-R: Lester, Juanita, George, Lora, Deb, Bernice, Judy, Helen

(David is Raymond's son)

Back: Lester & Cleffie, George & Willie Mae

Front: Juanita & Mel, Judy & A.D.

This picture was taken at Helen's house in Brinkley (or Hunter?) Arkansas

This picture was taken in Downey, California, sometime in the 1980s

*   *   *

These last few pictures I just discovered within the past year. They were taken in 1952 in Watervliet, Michigan. I found them in a box full of negatives -- on a View-Master slide wheel. We got online and found someone who was able to make prints of them (and even fix some of the scratched-up spots!)

L-R: Deb and his wife Florence, Lester and his wife Cleffie

L-R: George, Lester, Neil

L-R: (back) George & Willie Mae, Neil & Mildred, Lester & Cleffie (Wathada between them), and assorted children and grandchildren. This picture was taken in Lester & Cleffie's front yard in Watervliet, Michigan. George and Neil and Deb were visiting from Arkansas. (Well, I'm not sure if Deb and George lived in Arkansas or Illinois at the time. Neil lived in Hunter, Arkansas.)

On This Day in Family History - March 3

 Velma Lee Barnett married Daniel Parker 03 March 1971

Photo: Dan and Velma Lee Parker, daughter Kimberly Bethanne Parker

Velma Lee is the daughter of Irene Hicks and Doc Barnett

Irene was a sister of my grandmother Cleffie Hicks Burford

Photo: Ruby, Irene, Cleffie

the oldest 3 daughters of Ulysses and Annie Arnold Hicks

Photo: Doc and Irene Barnett with their 4 daughters: (L-R) Velma Lee, Betty Ruth, Bobbie Rene, Melba June (The girls dropped the double names as they grew up, and became Velma, Betty, Bobbie, and June. But when I was growing up I remember all of them being consistently called by first and middle names. Bobbie's real name was Barbara Irene, but she was called by the nickname Bobbie 'Rene.) As far as I know, three of these sisters are still living. Betty Ruth died in 2016.

On This Day in Family History - March 2

 Pearl Sylvester Stoner was born 02 March 1904

Pearl was the son of Esther Alice Parker and John Wesley Stoner

Alice Parker was a sister of my great-grandmother Massie Parker Treat

John and Alice had two children, son Pearl and daughter Fairy Jane

Fairy and Pearl Stoner

 *   *   *

It seems unusual now for Pearl to be a boy's name. But it doesn't seem to have been that rare 'back in the day'. There is another Pearl in the Parker branch of the family tree -- Pearl Elsworth Parker

Pearl Parker was a brother of Alice Parker (so I assume her son was named after her brother).

*   *   *

There are at least two more examples of boys named Pearl from other branches of the family tree, with alternate spellings:

There is a Perl Gibson and a Pearlie Barnett (in the Burford and Arnold ancestries)

Pearl Parker had a brother named Earl

Pearlie Barnett had a twin brother named Earl

Perl Gibson had a twin brother named Verl

Well, those kinds of little tidbits are interesting to me. 

On This Day in Family History - March 1

 

John Thomas was born in 1640 in Pembrokeshire, Wales

Well, I don't know if he was born March 1st or not. But March 1st is a national holiday in Wales -- St. David's Day. So I chose this day to remind myself of our Thomas family Welsh heritage.

John Thomas married Abigail (unknown last name), and they were the parents of George Thomas born 20 August 1681 in Warwick, Kent County, Rhode Island (British Colonial America)

George Thomas married Alice Gorton 20 January 1703, and they were the parents of Peleg, Mary, Sarah, George, Samuel, Alice, John, and Benjamin.

Peleg Thomas was born in 1707. He married Mehitable Tripp in 1725, and they were the parents of  John, William, Sarah, Peleg, and George.

George Thomas was born 26 July 1743 in Rhode Island, and died 1803 in New York. He married Bathsheba Hull in 1764, and they were the parents of Amos, George Hull, Peleg George, Abigail, and Charles.

George Hull Thomas was born 28 August 1767. He married Abigail Vaughan Thomas in 1788, and they were the parents of Rebecca, Langford Green, Harold, George, and David Vaughan.

George Thomas married Adeline Baker, and they were the parents of  Levi, Sylvanus, Andrew, Walter, Oliver, Alvira, George, Washington Lafayette, and Uriah Baker.

The following excerpt is from my dad's book of Thomas family history:

Washington Lafayette Thomas was born April 15, 1827 in Otsego City, Otsego County, New York, and died June 12, 1895 in Bangor, Michigan. He married Harriet B Walker, and they were the parents of Ella, Charles, Arthur, Garland, Erville, William, and Etta.

Photo: Washington and Harriett Thomas

Charles H. Thomas was born was born November 16, 1852. He married Nancy Ford, and they were the parents of Clarence, Roy, Effie, Melvin, Renue, and William Charles Thomas.

Photo: Nancy and Charles Thomas

Photo: Nancy (left) and Charles (right) with Nancy's father William Ford (top center), Roy, Renue, Mel, and Bill, and Roy's daughter Georgianna.

William Charles Thomas married Christie Beatrice Treat, and they were the parents of Bernarde and Richard -- my dad.

Photo: Bill and Christie, Bernarde and Richard Thomas

Richard Thomas married Wathada Burford, and they were the parents of me.

And that's why I am a rare Welsh bit.