1935 :: Natal Day

On this date in our family history . . . the 18th day of June . . . in the year 1935 . . . which would have been her 53rd birthday . . . Emma Patience Muston nee Nettles was probably remembering with fondness the gathering on the previous Sentimental Sunday which was held in honor of her upcoming "natal day" . . . the report of that birthday celebration is copied below . . . this Emma is the paternal great-grandma of the Keeper of this family history blog (who is being held by Emma in the following heritage collage) . . . 

The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 20, 1935

Cole Springs, June. 17. -- Mr. and Mrs. B. Hickman and children, of Austin, spent the week end with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Moore, the occasion being the natal day of Mrs. Emma Muston. Her daughters entertained in her honor Sunday, June 16, at the Muston home.

The date falling upon Father's Day seemed fitting as Mrs. Muston has been both father and mother to her family. She was left a widow by the death of her husband with seven little girls, the youngest a tiny infant. By frugality and perseverance she has reared this family, giving them both school and social advantages. She is one of the fortunate mothers who enjoy the complete devotion of her children as they are constantly planning to make life fuller and sweeter for her. A beautiful cake decorated with fifty three candles, adorned the festal board, which contained an abundance of choice viands.
 
The children attending were:

• Mrs. Emma Rodgers and children, Audrey, Charlie and Eleane, and
• Mr. and Mrs. Jake Pounder and children,
• Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Jones and baby, of Pleasant Hill,
• Mr. and Mrs. Dean Quinney and children,
• Mr. and Mrs. Bernice Taylor and family, of Lexington, and
• Miss Gladys Muston.

Mr. and Mrs. Ben Beynolds of Houston were unable to attend.

Mrs. Muston's mother, Mrs. M.A. Nettles, a brother, J.A. Nettles, wife and daughter, Carrie Belle of Lexington, and Mr. John Taylor were the other guests who attended.

Sentimental Sunday :: Mother's Day

Our Adorable Mom!

ca. 1951

Sentimental Sunday :: Easter Sunday at Goldfish Pond

On Easter Sunday in the year 1931, our Grandma Elizabeth was at Goldfish Pond with her baby boy . . . a baby girl would join the family the following January . . . that baby girl grew up to be our Mom . . . 

On that long ago Sunday, Elizabeth captured the above snapshot of one of the goldfish, saying that it was "partly out of the pond after a piece of popcorn" . . . this Goldfish Pond was apparently a favorite place for an outing for this little family . . . a few years later the following snapshot was taken . . . 

This is our Mom and her brother, sitting on the edge of Goldfish Pond . . . this would have been mid-1930s . . . mayhaps on another Easter Sunday . . . 

More than three hundred years before the above images were captured on film, that little body of water was known by another name . . . Ingalls Pond . . . 

Near this pond was the home of Edmund Ingalls, one of the founders of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts . . . this pond can be seen on the following map . . . towards the right . . . and in the bottom third of the image . . . 

Map of Lynn and Saugus : settled in 1629

On an unspecified day in the month of March in the year 1648 . . . Edmund Ingalls would meet a watery death when the horse he was riding fell through a faulty bridge while crossing the Saugus River on a journey to Boston from his home near Ingalls Pond . . . this Boston Street crossing can be seen in the bottom third of the above map . . . to the far left . . . 


This Edmund Ingalls is said to be the 5th great-grandpa of President James Garfield . . . he is the 7th great-grandpa of American author, Laura Ingalls Wilder . . . and as a result of on-going research regarding the ancestors of our Mom, just this past week this same Edmund Ingalls was revealed to be the 10th great-grandpa of the Mom of the Keeper of this family history blog . . .

The genealogy and history of the Ingalls family in America

Other blogposts regarding the same Edmund Ingalls . . . 

• Barbara Johnson from Wisconsin
• Cow Hampshire
• Historians out & About
• My Maine Ancestry
• Nutfield Genealogy
• Omah's Corner

1920 :: T.W.A. Smith Hopelessly Ill Ends Life

Thursday, February 12, 1920

Smith Family

43 Prospect Street

Biddeford, Maine

T.W.A. Smith, Hopelessly Ill, Ends Life

1955 :: Death of Berta Mary Henry

On this date in our family history . . . it was a winter's Tuesday in the year 1955 . . . the 6th day of December . . . when Berta Mary Henry nee Sharp died at her home on Scarbrough Street in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas . . . her funeral was held on the 7th . . . and her obituary was published in the local newspaper on the 8th . . . this Berta Mary is a maternal great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . 

The Rockdale Reporter
December 8, 1955 

Mrs. Edgar Henry dies Tuesday at home here

Mrs. Edgar Henry, 82, died at her home here Tuesday morning after an extended illness.

In September she had an accident that left her with a broken hip for which she underwent surgery. Later due to shock and other complications of her system she became bedridden and the long illness followed.

Mrs. Henry, as Berta Mary Sharp, was born in Houston county, Texas on November 10, 1873, the daughter of Sam and Nellie Lamar [sic] Sharp. She married Edgar Henry and had lived in and near Rockdale for approximately sixty-one years [sic], having in that time formed many close friendships. Her husband preceded her in death June 26, 1950.

Mrs. Henry was a member of the Baptist church.

Funeral services were conducted Wednesday at 2 p.m. from the Chapel of Phillips and Luckey Funeral Home. The officiating ministers were the Rev. M.M. Fulmer of First Baptist church and Rev. Graham Pugh of First Christian church.

Burial was made at Oak Lawn cemetery with six of the grandsons serving as pallbearers.

The survivors are the following six children: George Henry, Mrs. Ruby Christian, Oscar Henry of Rockdale, Milton and Robert Henry of Sinton, Mrs. Nellie Peebles of Lexington; 18 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and a sister, Mrs. Ida Halyard of Crockett, Texas. A son, Frank Henry, died here on July 8, 1952.

1889 :: Photo of Jerusha

On this date in our family history . . . the 2nd day of December . . . in the year 1889 . . . Mrs. A.F. Smith poses for a photo in the studio of Gardner & Philbrick in Biddeford, Maine . . . aka Jerusha Marilla Barker, Mrs. Smith was born in 1841 in Bridgton, Cumberland County, Maine . . . married Atwood Frank Smith in 1857 in Biddeford, York County, Maine . . . and died in 1899 at fifty-eight years of age . . . this Jerusha is a 2nd great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . 

Mrs. A.F. Smith

Biddeford

Maine

Dec. 2nd 1889.

$3.00

We Stand at the Head

Our Photographs of all kinds are made bet-

ter if possible than before the rush. Certainly

as durable as any in the State. We make

Cabinets for the extremely low price of

$3 PER DOZEN.

GARDNER & PHILBRICK

131 MAIN ST., BIDDEFORD.

Biddeford Daily Journal, March 24, 1888

Sentimental Sunday :: In Memory of Grandma Phebe

Phebe Ann Morse Tripp nee Merrill

1899 :: Death from a broken neck

On this date in our family history . . . the 28th day of October . . . in the year 1899 . . . Josephine Wingfield Henry nee Davis dies of a broken neck in Milam County, Texas . . . this Josephine is a maternal 2nd great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . 

The news of her tragic death was reported in multiple newspapers, including the following article from the November 2nd edition of the Rockdale Messenger, which makes mention of her "gray mare" which is currently believed to be the animal in the above photo* . . . 

Accident - Mrs. W. P. Henry who has lived on the Cameron road, 3-miles from Rockdale for over 20-years left her son’s home on the Dr. A.C. Isaacs farm, about 3-miles beyond her home, to come home and as was her habit, she pushed her buggy animal, a gray mare that she has driven for several years, into a lope.

She drove over the hill at the home of George Banzhaf and turning down the hill, Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Bradly were going from Rockdale to their home beyond Minerva in a light spring wagon, seeing the vehicle coming down the hill near them, pulled their team, a pair of young mules, to one side to give the road, but before the left wheel had cleared the track to the right fore wheel of Mrs. Henry’s buggy struck the hub of the wagon wheel and smashed it.

The woman had probably never seen the wagon or saw it too late to stop, and she was pitched foremost and fell with her head between the left fore wheel of the buggy and shafts and was so held that her hair was wound around the buggy hub and spindle and she was held there until some young man, met the buggy at the gate near the old Ferguson place, more than a half-mile this side of where the accident occurred.

She was dead when found as her neck was broken. She was buried at the Pleasant Grove cemetery Sunday evening. She leaves a husband and five grown children, three sons and two daughters, all married. Brother Henry does not blame the drivers of the wagon for the accident but thinks they should have ascertained the results before driving home.

*P.S. . . . this photo is from the private photo collection of Josephine's daughter-in-law and is not labeled . . . the lady on the left closely resembles other photos of our Josephine . . . enough so for us to think it is indeed grandma Josephine (1842-1899) . . . at this time we do not have any idea who the lady on the right might be . . . 

1915 :: Death of Charlie Muston

On this date in our family history . . . the 28th day of October . . . in the year 1915 (exactly 100 years ago today) . . . Charlie Muston dies in Wharton County, Texas . . . this Charlie is the paternal great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . 

The following announcement of his death was published in The Rockdale Reporter on the 4th of November . . . 

Tanglewood. Oct. 31. . . . Our community was saddened Friday by the news of the death of Chas. Mustin, a former resident of this community, and at the time of his death was living near Bay City. Frank Mustin, his brother, left Friday to be at the funeral. The sorrowing ones have the depest sympathy of this entire community.

Based on stories told by Charlie's seven daughters, the following has been recorded regarding the time leading up to his death . . . 

As Emma made a final check through the rural Lee County cabin, Charlie was busy hitching up the team (Jack the mule and Bill the horse) for the trip south. Emma had been born in Lee County in 1882, and was not quite eight years old when her Father died there in 1890. This attempt at a new life was probably the first time Emma had traveled this far from her widowed Mother. Charlie was hoping to find gainful employment in the road construction business to help support his ever-expanding family.

Family friends who had already made the trip, and were living and working in Wharton County, included Jim and Polly Hooper, Charlie and Carrie Jensen, and Delbert and Allie Rodgers and their daughter.

Emma and her girls set up housekeeping in a wood-frame house in the community of Taiton (on State Highway 71 eighteen miles northwest of Wharton in northwestern Wharton County). On the first day of September in 1915, Emma gave birth to her seventh baby girl.

Less than two months later, on the 28th day of October, Charlie died unexpectedly -- of "pernicious malaria, comatose form" (as per his death certificate). Charlie was buried in the Nada community (on State Highway 71 in southern Colorado County, just north of Taiton). Charlie's final resting place was an unmarked grave just outside the grounds of a local church cemetery. Because he was not a member of said church, his burial was not allowed inside the "consecrated" grounds, hence, he was buried (in a pauper's grave?) somewhere in the perimeter outside the official cemetery grounds. 

1852 :: Birth of Grandma Mollie

Happy Birthday, Mollie

Sentimental Saturday :: The 10th day of October

Sixty-five years ago today . . . on an autumn's Tuesday . . . which was the 10th* day of October in the year 1950 . . . Miss Roberta Mae Henry became the bride of Mr. Forrest Lee Pounders in a small ceremony held in Freeport, Brazoria County, Texas . . . exactly one year and one month later, I came along as the first of their four children . . . the following photos were taken near the beginning of their journey together . . . 

The Rockdale Reporter

Thursday, October 19, 1950

Roberta Mae Henry

Becomes Bride of

Forrest L. Pounders

A marriage of interest to a wide circle of friends here is that of Miss Roberta Mae Henry and Forrest Lee Pounders, both of Rockdale. The ceremony took place Tuesday, October 10, at 6:45 o'clock in the evening at the First Methodist church in Freeport, with the Rev. Houser reading the double ring service.

The bride chose for her wedding a suit of royal blue gabardine with which she wore gray accessories. In keeping with tradition she also wore something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

Attending the couple were Miss Georgia Faye Henry and Robert Henry, cousin and brother of the bride.

Immediately following the ceremony the couple left for Galveston where they spent a brief honeymoon and later went to Houston to visit with relatives of the groom.

The bride is the daughter of Mr. Robert E. Henry of Sinton. She has made her home here with her grandparents, Mrs. Edgar Henry, and the late Mr. Henry. She graduated from Rockdale High School in 1949 and during her high school career she was popular and took part in all activities of the school. Since finishiing she has been employed in the local office of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company.

The bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jake Pounders. After finishing from Rockdale High School in 1945 he entered the U.S. Army where he remained for some time, seeing service in Japan. He is employed at the Fred Pounders Service Station.

Mr. and Mrs. Pounders will continue to make their home in Rockdale.

*P.S. . . that 10th day of October in 1950 was also the 23rd anniversary of the birth day of my Dad . . . he would have been 88 today . . . 

Wordless Wednesday :: 1936 Death of Eva M. Smith

1912 :: Birth of Elizabeth Marilla

On this date in our family history . . . the 5th day of October . . . in the year 1912 . . . Elizabeth Marilla Smith is born in Biddeford, York County, Maine . . . this Elizabeth is the maternal grandma of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . 

Sentimental Sunday :: Our Wedding

Forty years ago
on the evening of

the 8th day of February

in the year 1975

we were presented

to family and friends

as

Mr. and Mrs. Everhart

. . .

sunrise, sunset

sunrise, sunset

swiftly fly the years

one season following another

laden with happiness

and tears

. . .

Sentimental Sunday :: Remembering Emma

Fifty years ago today . . . on the 7th day of September . . . in the year 1964 . . . Emma Patience Muston nee Nettles dies in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas . . . Emma was a great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . and is shown holding her in the photo on the left in the collage . . .