May 23

Col. John Gibson was born 23 May 1740

This is the FindAGrave memorial for John Gibson. He is a relatively famous historical figure from our Gibson ancestry. The Gibsons are connected to the Burford family by the marriage of Lora Gibson to Alexander Oscar Burford. 

There are some fascinating stories about John Gibson and his son Nicholas, which are easily found on a Google search of the internet. The accounts differ, so there is some ambiguity. John Gibson was married to Koonay "Anne" Shikellamy, daughter of Chief Shikellamy, also known as Swatana. He was an Oneida chief and overseer for the Iroquois confederacy. In his position as chief and overseer, Shikellamy served as a supervisor for the Six Nations, overseeing the Shawnee and Lenape tribes in central Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River and protecting the southern border of the Iroquois Confederacy.

Koonay was killed in the Yellow Creek Massacre in 1774. John and Koonay had some children at the time of the massacre -- and here's where the story gets a little muddled. One of the children was a baby, still in a cradleboard on Koonay's back. Most versions of the story say that the babe was taken by the Indians and later returned to John Gibson. Reportedly, Nicholas Gibson, who would have been about 9 years old, was taken by the Indians and lived with them for several years, after which he was traded to some white settlers for a barrel of whiskey.

Well, maybe take a grain of salt with all that. It's a very interesting story, anyway, as is most of the Gibson family history. On the FamilySearch website the Gibson lineage is traced all the way back to Adam's daddy (God)! Big grain of salt. But I love it, because it is so typical of the "larger than life" mystique that seems to run through all the Gibson clan (including my great-grandmother Lora, and all her siblings and all her children -- some of whom I have met in person.)

John Gibson's second wife was Anna Ball. She is buried with him in Pennsylvania. 

May 22

 Bob Burford was born 22 May 1941

Uncle Bob is my mother's brother.

PHOTO: Lester and Cleffie Burford (my grandparents) with their children - Wathada, Morris, Bob and Ron

Happy birthday, Uncle Bob!!!

(P.S. If you want to hear him play guitar, look for his videos on YouTube. He's the BEST.)

May 21

August Carl Friedrich Till died 21 May 1952, age 77

PHOTO: August and Augusta Till

were the parents of Leonard Till, husband of Madge Treat Till 

(sister of my grandmother Christie Treat Thomas)

PHOTO: Madge and Leonard Till

Madge and Leonard Till were the parents of Ralph Till (below)...

Ralph Edgar Till married Joann Marie Lieske 21 May 1955

This photo appears to have been in a card, and some of the print from the card has bled onto the photo.

Ralph and Joann in the middle, Bernarde and Eileen Thomas, witnesses.

Bernarde and Ralph were cousins.

PHOTO: Joann and Ralph Till

May 20

 I started to try to make a collage of pictures of Christopher through the years... but when I started looking through all the pictures, my heart couldn't take it. So here's a repeat of what I posted on his birthday last year...

On This Day in History - May 20

 Christopher Keith Carrigan was born 20 May 1980

That was quite a day...

Photos: 7AM, 7PM

Reminds me of a song... "It was long ago and far away, the world was younger than today..."

Here's the highlights reel...

Well, there's more. Lots more. But it's hard to find a stopping place, so ...

The End

May 19

 Katherine Belle Treat Herdman died 19 May 1962, age 90

Belle was the sister of my great-grandfather Marcus Treat

PHOTO: John and Martha Walls Treat with their children - Belle, Marcus, and Estle

PHOTO: Marcus and Belle

Belle married Ulysses Herdman

PHOTO: Ulysses and Belle Treat Herdman

They had 3 children: William, Hazel, and Faun

I used to go with my grandparents to Ohio every summer to visit Grandma (Christie) Thomas' relatives. Belle was her aunt.

PHOTO L-R: Christie and Bill Thomas, Bob McDonald, Aunt Belle.

Bob McDonald was the husband of Aunt Belle's daughter Faun. We usually stayed at Faun and Bob's house in whenever we went to Ohio.

PHOTO: Bob and Faun, Bill and Christie

(I took the picture)

PHOTO: Belle (right) with her daughter Hazel

PHOTO: Bill and Christie with Aunt Belle shortly before she died.

I have this postcard

The card says "We stayed all nite here the 21st, Madge's & John's & us when Aunt Belle died. Was buried Tues May 22 '62"

May 18

Mabel Gertrude Myers was born 18 May 1900

Mabel was the wife of John Treat (brother of my grandmother Christie Treat Thomas)

PHOTO L-R: Faun and Bob, Mabel, Bill, Christie, John, Madge

Faun was a cousin to Christie and John, Bob was Faun's husband. Bill and Christie were my grandparents. Madge was Christie and John's sister.

John and Mabel Treat had one child, a son, Jack

PHOTO L-R: John, Mabel, Jack, Joanie (Jack's wife), Christie and Bill.

This group photo was taken at John and Mabel's 25th wedding anniversary.

Here is a tagged version of the picture -

FRONT: Christie Thomas, Massie Parker Treat, Bill Thomas, Mabel and John Treat, Mary Myers (Mabel's mother), Richard Thomas.

BACK: Madge Till, Elmer Myers (Mabel's father), Leonard Till holding Eddie Heinze, Mabel's brother and his wife (I don't know which brother), Ed and Ruth Heinze (holding Rita), Bernarde and Eileen Thomas (holding Mick), Mary Till (holding Doug), Junior Till (holding Cindy), Marcus Treat, Jack Treat.

May 17

Elmer Lee Owen died 17 May 1918, age 26

This is the picture that's on his gravestone.

Elmer was a son of Paralee Carter Owen. Paralee was a sister of my great-grandmother Adaline Carter Arnold.

PHOTO: sisters Adaline, Ellen, Paralee Carter

The back of the picture says this was taken "at the Arnold homeplace in Banner, Arkansas"

This is what my great-grandmother, Annie Arnold Hicks, wrote:

Aunt Parlie’s (Ma’s sister) oldest son died of heart trouble at about 25 years old in southern Arkansas, around Athens, Arkansas in 1916.  Just a small place probably doesn’t show on the map.  He was a school teacher.  His name was Elmer Owen. 

This is what my grandmother, Cleffie Hicks Burford wrote:

Melinda Paralee Carter Owen, wife of David Jackson Owen, had a real good disposition and could sew or make anything by looking at a piece of finished work or a picture of it.

Paralee married David Jackson Owen 4 November 1899 in Couch, Oregon County, Missouri.

Here is what one of the Carter cousins wrote about Paralee and David --

They had six children.  The first three boys were born in Missouri, Elmer, Perry, and Clyde.  Perry died in infancy.  In 1896 the Owen family, David, Parralee, Elmer and Clyde started out on a move to Texas with a two-wheel cart and a mare and a few belongings.  They arrived at Dutch Mills, near Stillwell, Oklahoma in Indian Territory about the first of October.  They stopped there to await the arrival of their fourth child which was John Thomas, born 4 October 1896.  As soon as Parralee was able to travel they were on their way to Texas.   They arrived in Denton, Texas in the spring of 1897.  They tried farming for awhile but times were so hard they decided to try finding something in Arkansas.  They and David’s brother, Jim and his family started out in three covered wagons the middle of November, 1904. The entered Arkansas near DeQueen the first of December.  David and Parralee and children settled at Athens, Arkansas.  Living conditions were much better there. Cotton was their main crop.  Before this move to Arkansas, two more children were born to David and Parralee, Ola Mae born in 1899, and William Jackson in 1902...

  Elmer Owen died at about age 26 and Clyde at age 14, so only three of the Owen children married and had families. Melinda Parralee Owen visited her Carter relatives in Cleburne County, Arkansas a few times but her children and grandchildren never knew or didn’t pass down any information about the Arkansas kin.  The Arkansas kin remembered her as having a  great personality. Parralee died 24 March 1943 of influenza in Athens, Howard County, Arkansas. 

This is the only other picture I have of Elmer Lee Owen

May 16

William G Thomas married Jeanette 'Nettie' Durren 16 May 1890

 

PHOTOS: Nettie Durren Thomas, William G Thomas

William G Thomas was a brother of my great-grandfather Charles Thomas.

He was a barber in Watervliet for many years.

PHOTO: William G. Thomas in his barber shop. 

I don't have a closeup picture of William except the one from his obituary, which is grainy because it's from the newspaper.

13 Dec 1945

WILLIAM G THOMAS

William G Thomas, age 83, veteran Watervliet barber and dean of the local North Woods Dear Hunters from this area, dropped dead in front of his home on Park Street shortly after 8:00 o’clock Thursday morning as he was leaving for downtown to open his barber shop in his customary manner. Two local youths who chanced to be passing at the time helped carry the heart attack victim into his home. Dr. F W Brown was summoned immediately but announced that life was extinct when he arrived a few minutes after being called.

 

William G Thomas, known affectionately as “Bill” to his many friends in this locality would have been 83 years of age had he lived till this coming January 29. He excited much admiration by reason of his being a remarkable man for his years. Only a comparatively few days ago he returned from his annual deer hunting expedition to Northern Michigan. Born in Bangor township on 29 January 1863, the son of Washington L and Harriett (Walker) Thomas. He came to Watervliet in 1895 and has been engaged in the barbering business here continuously since that time with the exception of a few years spent in the vicinity of Cadillac. He was a life member of Henry Chamberlain Lodge, F&AM, and had served as a member of the Watervliet City Commission.

 

Besides his wife, Jeanette, he is survived by four daughters: Mrs. Sam Stephens of Lansing; Mrs. Frank Scheler and Mrs. Gus Treichel, Benton Harbor; and Mrs. Fred Frazee, Watervliet. Six grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren also survive. Preceding him in death were two sons, Don and Ralph Thomas.

 

Thursday evening the body was removed from the Hutchins funeral parlors to the home where it may be viewed by friends until Sunday noon when it will be taken to the Congregational church. Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday under Masonic auspices. Rev Clifford W Hilliker will officiate. Interment will be in Watervliet cemetery.

PHOTO: Will Thomas' hunting camp (I think he is the man in the middle)

PHOTO: Will Thomas (right) and his son-in-law Fred Frazee (left)

PHOTO: brothers William, Arthur, and Charles Thomas