Bluebonnet Country Genealogy

I haven’t been posting much or doing much reseach in the past few weeks. There have been some other, non-genealogy things been going on in my life of late, and there’s just not enough hours in the day, it seems! But I have been reading my Google Reader every day, and I’m trying to keep up with our oh-so-active geneablogger community, be it from afar. I hope to soon be back in the thick of things!

Terry Thornton over at Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi recently posted the results of his Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You challenge. I have been really surprised that I haven’t read much about Terry’s Herculian efforts and the wonderful job he did with presenting this introduction/overveiw of so many genealogy blogs and bloggers! Personally, I think Terry is amazing! I can’t imagine the amount of time and work he put into this little project, and I really want to thank him for a job well done! Most of the blogs I already subscribe to, but several were new to me, and now I have an even longer list to read each day! There is so much incredible help and great information that these blogs offer, and my Google Reader is one of my major research tools!

Again…Thank You, Terry!

This is a reprint of a post from June 23, 2007. It is about the newspaper articles that a very kind RAOGK researcher found and sent to me concerning the death of my great-great grandfather…

After I found my great-great grandfather Crist H Carrico in the Online New Mexico Death Index, I then sent an email through the organization Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) to a researcher in Lea County, New Mexico. This very nice gentleman, David, immediately wrote me back with the name of the cemetery where my gggrandfather rests, as well as the exact location of the grave and the fact that it is unmarked. He then asked me if my gggrandfather was a veteran. It seems that David does a lot of research on Spanish-American War vets in New Mexico. He told me that if we could prove that my gggrandfather was a Vet, then the Veterans Administration would provide a headstone free of charge!
I don’t have a lot of info on Crist Carrico, but his 1930 US Federal Census enumeration does list him as a veteran of the Spanish-American War! How exciting! I have sent off for a copy of his death certificate: possibly with that I can contact the National Archives and maybe get his war record.
No one should be buried in an unmarked grave, to be forgotten about for all time! Perhaps we can rectify that situation with my gggrandfather.
Well, David has already broken down this long-standing brickwall for me. However, the next day I received another email from David, this one containing 3 NEWSPAPER ARTICLES dealing with the tragic death of Crist Hays Carrico!!!

As I read these articles, I was absolutely dumbfounded! My gggrandfather died a horrible, grisly death that was quite well documented and no one in my family seems to know anything about it! My great-grandmother is even mentioned in one of the articles (”… awaiting the arrival of a daughter Mrs. John Stanley…”).
I am on vacation this week, so one thing I plan to do is visit my grandmother and show her these articles. She has always denied knowing much of anything about Crist Carrico. I don’t think she’s been fibbing to me all this time. I think probably my great-grandmother never told anyone, more of that “black sheep” stigma again.
I just wonder what could have happened in the life of my great-great grandfather that changed him from that handsome and distiguished-looking gentleman, once a railroad engineer, in the photo to a drunk man wandering down the road in the middle of the night in search of the next bar, only to be run over and killed…
Many, many thanks to David from RAOGK for all his kind assistance. I am also a RAOGK volunteer, and people like David make me very proud to be one!

Click on the image to see the larger, readable newspaper article. Go to the top of the page and click on “ALL SIZES”.

This little guy was introduced to me by Terry Thornton of Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi.

Looks a bit like my 2nd great-grandfather, Isaac Turner, don’t you think?

Thanks, Terry!

Ok, Terry, you asked:

Why genealogy? What unseen force compels me to spend hour after late-night hour trying to decipher census enumeration sheets that were “completed” by the child-now-adult with the worst handwriting of his entire fifth-grade class? Do I really have nothing better to do than stumble about an old weed-entangled, chigger-infested rural cemetery looking for the final resting place of the wife of my great granduncle, the man who deserted his motherless children and fled to South America, never to be seen again? Is it really that important to figure out if Great Grandfather Stanley’s birthdate was December 25, 1894, as his published obituary states, or 1896, as his headstone displays? What about Dad’s grandmother? Was she really of Cherokee Indian descent? And what of those 5 husbands that she buried? Don’t forget that second great granduncle, the guy who robbed all those banks in Wyoming and Montana in the 1890’s? After dying in a hail of bullets during his final attempted robbery, where is he now buried? Oh, to find his headstone!

Why Bluebonnet Country Genealogy? Texas is the geographic center for all of these characters, the end of the road for some, just a beginning for others. All are tied in some way to the Lone Star State.

The Texas Bluebonnet, the Lupinus Texensis, is the original Texas settler, the magnificent survivor, the colorful promise of another world, a new and brighter tomorrow. That’s what my ancestors sought as they entered this land, a better life for themselves and their offspring. As historian Jack Maguire so aptly wrote, “The bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland, the cherry blossom to Japan, the lily to France, the rose to England and the tulip to Holland.”

I write this blog to tell the stories of the Texas Bluebonnets, both the flower and her people.

Terry’s instructions were:
I. Post an article on your blogsite with the subject heading:
GETTING TO KNOW ME, GETTING TO KNOW (insert name of your blog here)- Gotcha!

II. Write a short paragraph describing you, your work, and your goals for writing. Why you do what you do is always of interest to readers and it helps readers understand your work.- Maybe not quite short enough, but I think it answers the question of why I write this blog.

III. List the three best of the best of your articles — articles which you’ve previously published and are still available online. Select (using your opinion) the brightest, breeziest and most beautiful from all you’ve written.

My Brightest:

A Scoundrel No More!- The story of how I got to the truth about my 2nd great-grandfather.

My Breeziest:

Wordless Wednesday- The look on my aunt’s face as my Mom and her sister plant kisses on my uncle-to-be…PRICELESS!

And my Most Beautiful:

A hero’s memorial-Although written about a distant relative, this post captures the essence of genealogy: gone, but not forgotten.

Want to get to know me? Read my posts and try to put yourself in those stories, be it as another photograph in Mom’s Red Photo Album, or as a wounded Civil War soldier being treated by Dr N B Kennedy, or maybe just as a little girl riding in a goat cart. All of these people… are me!

I am a proud member of Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) and my act of kindness involves taking digital photographs of headstones in cemeteries in Tarrant and Hill Counties, Texas. A person from somewhere besides Tarrant or Hill County (usually out of state) sends a request to me through RAOGK for photos, and I do my best to find that headstone and get a picture of it, and send it back to the requesting person. It is a lot of fun and it gives me a way to “pay back” the efforts of the many vounteers who contribute so much to the genealogical community.

So, this morning I made a trip to a local cemetery, one that is also the final resting place for many of my own ancestors. It is a quite large cemetery, so my first stop is usually at the office, to get a map for the exact location of my headstone. The ladies in the office are always very kind and helpful, and I certainly appreciate their assistance.

I also stopped by the gravesite of my Uncle Ladd, who died last September. I was very pleased to see that his permanent headstone is now in place. It is a simple headstone, containing on either side of his name the image of a cowboy holding a saddle. Very appropriate, as Ladd was the embodiment of The Cowboy. I think he may have been born 100 years too late:

After paying my respects to Uncle Ladd, I then found my 2 RAOGK headstones (after I waited for a nearby funeral to conclude), snapped the pix, and returned home and emailed the images to the gentleman who requested them.

Tags: Clark

Msteri from Heritage Happens has tagged this blog with the I Love Your Blog award. Actually. she did this a few days ago, but as I’ve said, I’ve been too busy sneezing to do anything lately.

The rules are:

1. Can put the logo on his/her blog
2. Must link to the person who gave the award
3. Must nominate 7 other blogs and link to them
4. Must leave a comment on each of the nominated blogs

So, my 7 favoritest (?) blogs are:

• Family Matters- Denise always has the best info on anything techi that might be of use to genealogists!
• Genealogy Roots Blog- in July of 2007, Joe posted about a database that enabled me to break through (totally obliterate!) a long-standing brickwall!
• Genealogy Reviews Online- the best for general genealogy, Tim touches all bases.
• Shades of the Departed- the one and only Footnote Maven runs a fascinating and energetic blog, filled with amazing images of the past!
• Simply Susan- my cousin’s blog. Nothing to do with genealogy, but still really fun and interesting!
• The Abraham Lincoln Blog- Lincoln is my favorite historical figure, and Geoff presents a lot of interesting tidbits that won’t be found in most histories and biographies!
• Today’s History Lesson- an on-this-day-in-US-history-type blog. Very interesting for general American History. Stuff you don’t have time to learn about in class!

Ruth Anne Hall (me!), age appox 6 months, 1958. Digital scan of original photograph found in Mom’s Red Photo Album. Private collection Ruth Stephens, Benbrook, TX. 2008.

Tags: Hall

But for the past week, I have been absolutley miserable with allergies! The ragweed in Texas is exceptionally high this year, and I wake up with my eyes glued shut most mornings. That, plus sneezing, snotting, itching, coughing..all of which has lead to a sinus infection from you-know-where. Yesterday, I spent the entire day passed out (or at least trying to be) on my couch. then I had to go to work in the evening and was yucky the whole time. So, today I traded with my boss and I’m off today. Dr Peppers don’t even taste good, so you know there’s something wrong with me!

At any rate, I haven’t posted or done much of anything else lately. When I got up this morning, I checked my Google Reader and had 111 feeds to check out! That took an hour or so, but I think I’m caught up, for the moment.

I missed Wordless Wednesday and Carnival of Genealogy. But I’m gonna cheat with Wordless Wednesday…

I have been working some on Mom’s Red Photo Album, over halfway done now!

I’m gonna try to get back into the swing of things. I’m not gonna let Ragweed rule my life!

stanley - rogers (67), originally uploaded by bluebonnetcountrygenealogy.

Stanley-McNiel Wedding, St Marks United Methodist Church, Fort Worth, Texas. May 1968. Digital scan of original photograph. Private collection Ruth Stephens, Benbrook, TX. 2008.