SNGF: Ancestors I Have Met

For this week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun brought to you by Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings:

1) Write down which of your ancestors that you have met in person (yes, even if you were too young to remember them).

2) Tell us their names, where they lived, and their relationship to you in a blog post, or in comments to this post, or in comments on Facebook.

This is an easy and short list for me. (I won’t list aunts and uncles, because there were just too many.) Both of my grandfathers died before I was born.

1. My mother, Grace Madeline Moore (1917-1987). Born, grew up, and died in Baylor County, Texas. Also lived in various parts of Southern California, a few other locations in Texas, McKee’s Rocks, Pennsylvania, Palo Alto, California, and Renton, Washington.

2. My father, Junior Varnell Brinlee (1931-1972). Born in Telephone, Fannin County, Texas, died in Victorville, California. Also lived in other parts of Texas, McKee’s Rocks, Pennsylvania, Palo Alto, California, Renton, Washington, and Las Vegas, Nevada.

3. My paternal grandmother, Sallie Frances Norman (Brinlee) (1892-1984). Born in Talladega, Alabama, died in Ivanhoe, Fannin County, Texas, also lived in Hunt County, Texas.

4. My maternal grandmother, Eula Amanda Floyd (1883-1972), born in Lancaster, Dallas County, Texas, died in Torrance, California, also lived in Baylor County, Texas.

Here’s the heart-breaker: I had one other direct ancestor who was alive during my lifetime: Susan Elizabeth Smith (Bonner Brinlee), (1868-1958). She is my great brick wall. I never met her. Although I was very young when she died and certainly wouldn’t have asked her anything about herself, I have memories of other relatives from those early years; had I met her, I know I would have remembered something about her: what she looked like, how she spoke.