Learning About the Music Our Ancestors Heard, Played, and Sang

            I have a passion/addiction for early American music – most but not all of it bluegrass.  I have found several record stores that stock this kind of music.

            I recently purchased five sets of records – Songs and Ballads of American History and of the Assassination of Presidents, Echoes of the Ozarks Volumes I and II, Wink the Other Eye Volume I (my eternal gratitude to anyone who can locate a copy of Volume II, if there is one), The Right Hand Fork of Rush’s Creek, Dee and Delta Hicks – Ballads and Banjo Music from the Tennessee Cumberland Plateau in the Big South Fork Area, and the Edden Hammons Collection.  These are among some of the most expensive LPs I have ever purchased (though not all are), and because many of them are rare/scarce, I was afraid to play them.  So my husband and I decided to take them to a professional duplication service – we ended up going to a place called Professional Duplications south of Greenville – and get main and loaner copies.  They often provide this service for various church groups as well.

            This turned out very well for us, and was also educational.  The original copy costs $20 per record/CD, and subsequent copies are only $3.

            Starting with Songs and Ballads of American History and of the Assassination of Presidents (here is a link to a description of the record:  https://www.loc.gov/folklife/LP/SongsofAmHist_opt.pdf, and you can hear some of the music at http://www.allmusic.com/album/songs-and-ballads-of-american-history-and-of-the-assassination-of-presidents-mw0000601543), there were a variety of performers, and each gave the provenance of the song, possible alternate lyrics, and where they learned the song.  The first two pieces, Phil Sheridan and The Iron Merrimac, were sung by Judge Learned Hand, followed by The Cumberland’s Crew sung by Captain Pearl R. Nye, The Battle of Antietam Creek sung by Warde H. Ford, The Southern Soldier and Washington the Great sung by Mrs. Minta Morgan.  The rest of the items were sung or played by Bascom Lamar Lunsford:  Zolgotz (about McKinley’s assassin, Czolgosz), Mr. Garfield and Charles Giteau (Garfield’s assassin), Booth Killed Lincoln (sung version), and Booth Killed Lincoln (fiddle version). 

            Echoes of the Ozarks Volumes I and II (Arkansas String Bands 1927-1930) have been both educational and frustrating.  Educational in that I had to look up the lyrics of one song because it was not listed on the album, and frustrating because I still have not been able to sort all of the songs out.  The extra song was “Sally’s in the Garden Siftin’ Sand” on Volume I.  And I never have been able to sort the remaining songs – there’s Hog Eye and Jaw Bone plus Cotton Eye Joe.  Just when I think I have them sorted out, I’ll see a double entry and know that it is wrong again.  Wink the Other Eye is old time fiddle band music from Kentucky – rare classic recordings from the 1920s and 1930s.  The Edden Hammons Collection is historic recordings of traditional music from the Louis Watson Chappell Archive.

            I also have some Smithsonian and Library of Congress collections of early American music (including children’s songs) that I will probably also take to be duplicated. 

            Horizon Records in Greenville has some rare classical records and also a lot of very good contemporary blue grass recordings, as well as knowledgeable staff (I learned that only British releases of the Beatles’ recordings have been remastered, while the American releases have not); however, they do not have that many historical records for early American music (I’m sure aficionados know where I got the historic recordings above; the same place has a number of LPs of one of my favorite Quebecois fiddlers, Jean Carignan).  There are two other stores in Greenville that sell LPs – BJ’s on Augusta Road, and a smaller store around the corner from Consignwerks on Laurens Road.

The Husband Who Wasn’t

… or, “The Wrong Husband.”  (Like Wallace and Grommit:  “They’re the wrong trousers, Grommit… and they’ve gone wrong!”)  I have been researching the second family of my great-great grandfather George Floyd, because I had an Ancestry DNA match with a descendant of George Floyd and his second wife, Elizabeth Jane Norris through their older daughter Mary Etta “Ettie” Floyd.  Ettie married Charles Eugene DuBose, and one of their daughters was named Lorene DuBose.  A number of family trees give the name of Alvin Matthews Avrett as Lorene’s second husband.  There is a Lorene listed with Alvin Avrett on the 1940 census, but based on that census, she would have been born in 1916, not 1907, which according to all family trees was the date of her birth (we do not have a date of death, but since she may have moved to California, it may be possible to find her date of death there).

On the other hand, the 1930 and 1940 censuses both indicate that the wife of John D. Sappington, born 1906 in Arkansas, was the right age to have been born in 1907. The only wife listed for Alvin Avrett is Geneva Y. Burton, and they were 72 and 65 when they married on 25 June 1985 in Henderson, Texas; this was probably a second marriage for both, and probably followed the death of Alvin’s wife Lorene.  Another date and location of their marriage is given as 30 August 1969 in Dallas County, Texas, when they were 56 and 49 – perhaps they divorced and remarried?

What is even more confusing is that the Alice “Lorene” Bourland Avrett listed on Findagrave is the daughter of William Hansel Bourland and Alice Jones and was born on 24 October 1910 in Dallas County, Texas – obviously not our Lorene.

Only a Few Clues

I was recently inspired to work on the line of Josephus James “J.J.” “Joe” “Jode” Norman when I found a DNA match on Ancestry DNA who turned out to have a lot of information on Josephus Norman’s daughter Emma Elizabeth, for whom I previously had very little information.  As has been the case with many other Norman researchers investigating the family of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman, I relied heavily on Inez Cline’s “Norman Family History” for the general outlines of this family.  Apparently Inez Cline was not a member of this family, but became interested in it due to the numerous connections with other Garland County families such as the Powells, Westons, Kinseys, and Joneses.  Right after Josephus Norman is listed, there appears to be a page missing, so there is very little information on his family.

When I got to Josephus’ daughter Ola Norman, I had only her appearance on the 1900 US Federal Census for Precinct No. 3, Fannin County, Texas (accessed 4 Aug 2008 on Ancestry.com).  However, I also had a “Note to Self” indicating that I should look into Ola Norman m. John Kanard in Fannin County; daughter Hellen born there in 1933.  I believe this information was taken from the Texas Birth Index for “Hellen Kanard” on Ancestry.com (I had input Ola Norman’s name as the mother in the form for the Texas Birth Index to find out whether she had married or had any children).  As it turned out, Ola May Norman had married a John R. H. Kinnard in Bryan County, Oklahoma on 22 June 1932 (Oklahoma, County Marriages, 1890 to 1995, on Family Search, accessed through Ancestry.com on 13 Mar 2017). 

Although I knew that a lot of Normans had gone to Oklahoma to get married, I wasn’t quite sure why they did so and whether or not Ola Norman had actually done so, so I wanted to dig a little deeper.  When I input the information for Hellen in my family tree on Ancestry.com, I was lucky to find another clue in addition to the Texas Birth Index clue:  the 1940 census for Justice Precinct No. 1, Fannin County, Texas, which contained the following information:

1940 US Federal Census, Justice Precinct 1, Fannin County, Texas, ED 74-6, p. 4B, 15-16 Apr 1940

Line 71 Stimpson Road 83 R $3 Yes

Winkler, J. L. Head M W 36 M No 9 TX Same place Yes Yes - - - - 56 hrs worked

                        Laborer Farm PW 25 wks worked $150 No 56

            Lillie Wife F W M No H-1 TX Same place No No No No 0 0 No

            Sid Father M W 68 Wd No 4 TN Same place No No No No U 0 $252 No

            Leonard M W 21 S No 7 TX Same place No No No No Other 0 No

Kinnard, Helen Cousin F W 7 S No 1 TX Same place

There Helen is listed as a cousin of J. L. Winkler.  As it turns out, Sid Winkler, the father of J.L., was the informant on mother Ola May Kinnard’s death certificate!  (Standard Certificate of Death of Ola May Kinnard, 37065, Texas State Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, accessed 14 Mar 2017 on Ancestry.com)  I suspect that the Winklers may have been maternal relations of John R. H. Kinnard, which would have made J.L. his cousin and Sid his uncle.  Unfortunately, John Kinnard does not appear in any other family trees.  A few trees erroneously have a Leonard B. Norman as Ola’s husband. 

I have no further information on Hellen Kinnard.  She may still be alive. 

So for this family I really only had three clues:  Hellen’s entry in the Texas Birth Index, the record of John R. H. Kinnard’s and Ola Norman’s marriage in Oklahoma, and the 1940 US Federal Census.

The Case of the Two Wives: Using Ancestry Suggested Documents to Sort Out Wives

I have had two cases of double wives lately that caused quite a bit of confusion: Both Ancestry and the family trees I was able to connect to indicated that two different wives of two men – George Arrington and Eldon Clide Clement – were one and the same person. Yet there was very strong evidence in both cases that there were definitely two separate wives.

 Case # 1 – George Washington Arrington (7 Oct 1895 (1,2) to 7 Dec 1977 (3,4)).

First wife – Freddie Gertrude Warren (born July 1898 in Tennessee (5), died before 1940).

According to the Collin County, Texas, Marriage Index, 1800-2010 Record, accessed on Ancestry.com, they married in 1916.

They had three children:

Modine – born 5 Nov 1918 in Texas and died 29 Jul 1919 in Farmersville, Collin County, Texas from a fall. (6) The informant on the Death Certificate was W. H. Warren, and this would later give me a clue as to which Warren family Freddie belonged to.

James Weldon Arrington, born approximately 1927 in Texas (7), no further information.

Myra Jean Arrington, born approximately 1927 in Texas (same source as for her brother James Weldon), no further information. (Getting this Myra Jean Arrington sorted out from the daughter of George’s brother Eugene Grey Arrington, also named Myra Jean, also born 1927 in Texas (8), was another matter – Ancestry kept suggesting the wrong document (only one) for her.

Second wife – Mattie Niece Bratton, born 18 Jan 1898 in Missouri (9, 10)

Although Ancestry suggested and continues to suggest that Mattie Niece Bratton and Freddie Gertrude Warren were one and the same person, and they were born in the same year, there were some important differences. There were the names, to begin with, and places of birth also differed: Missouri for Mattie and Tennessee for Freddie.

It was the appearance of Jennie Hughes as the sister-in-law of George Washington Arrington that served as indirect proof and eventually led me to the discovery that Mattie Bratton was not only not Freddie Warren, but showed me who her family was – she was the daughter of Addison Lowery Bratton and Cora Charlotte Worley. When I clicked on the name of Jennie Hughes in the 1940 census, one of the suggested documents was the 1900 census, which showed both Jennie and Mattie as daughters of Addison and Cora Bratton. Both the 1920 (12) and 1930 (13) censuses showed Jennie with her then husband, Delbert E. Hughes, and the 1930 (13) census showed her with her son Neal, who appears with her on the 1940 census with George and Mattie Arrington.

Once I had Mattie in the right family, all sorts of information popped up for her, including the California Death Index, which showed that she died 20 Feb 1990 in Anaheim, Orange County, California. (14) It also provided her maiden name/father’s name Bratton and mother’s surname Worley. Moreover, a glance at the family trees on Ancestry revealed that Bratton researchers were aware of her marriage to George Arrington, and even had pictures of him that I had not seen. The 1920 (15) and 1930 (16) censuses revealed that Mattie had been married before, to an Isaac Nevit Barto and had children Lucille Fern Barto and Jack Barto from that marriage.

Meanwhile, I still had no date or place of death for Freddie Gertrude Warren. Searches in the Texas Death Index and Texas Death certificates turned up nothing. A glance at family trees on Ancestry indicated that all agreed that her father was John Bence Warren, but some had her mother as Lula J. Davidson and others gave Mary Tennessee “Tinnie” Hammons, though only Lula shows up on the 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses. Freddie’s brother Wallace H. Warren also appears on the 1900 and 1910 censuses; since he must have been the informant W. H. Warren on Modine Arrington’s death certificate, this is how I knew which family was Freddie’s.

Case # 2 – Eldon Clide Clement, born 21 Feb 1911 in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas; died 1 Sep 1968 in Brownwood, Brown County, Texas. (17)

First wife – Deltha Faye Martin, born 11 Apr 1915 in Milano, Milam County, Texas; died 17 Mar 1937 in Telephone, Fannin County, Texas (18)

Second Wife – Mary A. “Annie,” born 1902 in Oklahoma , no further information. (19)

As in the first case, family trees and Ancestry treated (and continue to treat) these two women as though they were the same person. Despite the difference in ages and states of birth, they could in theory have been the same person – perhaps the “Fay Martin” shown on the Texas Birth Index and in the U.S. Social Security Applications and Claim Index, 1936-2007 on Ancestry.com as the mother of Franklin Don Clement was actually the “Annie M. Clement” shown on the 1940 census – her name could have been Fay Ann Mary Clement or Fay Ann Martin Clement, right?

But the 1940 census showed a curious thing. It showed that the Annie M. Clement on the 1940 census (and in numerous U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 on Ancestry.com) lived in two different counties in 1935: Snyder, Scurry County, Texas for Eldon, and Cross Plains, Callahan County, Texas for Annie M. Five years is not much time to meet, court, get married, and have a four-year-old child (Franklin Don Clement). Although at one point I was convinced that Mary A./Annie M. was not a different person and even deleted her from my Reunion database (because, curiously, a 1930 census popped up that showed a Faye Martin born in 1902 in Oklahoma!), I was now certain that there was no way that these two women could be the same person. When I was able to find a Texas Death Certificate using “Fay Martin” in the search parameters, I was even able to get an Ancestry family tree that gave her correct maiden name: Deltha Fae Martin. She may be the Fay Clement who shows up with spouse E. Clement in the 1933 Fort Worth, Texas, City Directory in the U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 on Ancestry.com.

So I think I’ve learned my lesson. All the evidence has to be lined up for and against the hypothesis that what everyone else treats as one person may actually be two different people. Ancestry often suggests the same records for two different people, but eventually you may be able to sort them out using those same suggested records.

1 World War I Draft Card of George Washington Arrington, accessed at Ancestry.com

2 Certificate of Death 89492 of George Washington Arrington, Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, accessed at Ancestry.com

3 Certificate of Death 89492 of George Washington Arrington, Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, accessed at Ancestry.com

4 Social Security Death Index, accessed at Ancestry.com

5 1900 US Federal Census, District 6, Lewis County, Tennessee, taken 19 Jun 1900, accessed on Ancestry.com 26 Jan 2016

6 Both dates and cause of death were found in the Certificate of Death of Modine Arrington, Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, accessed on Ancestry.com, as was the name of the informant, W. H. Warren.

7 1930 US Federal Census, Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, taken 8 Apr 1930, accessed on Ancestry.com on 14 Feb 2007

8 1940 US Federal Census, Grand Island City, Hall County, Nebraska, taken 10 Apr 1940, accessed on Ancestry.com 28 Jan 2016.

9 Social Security Death Index Record, accessed on Ancestry.com

10 1940 US Federal Census, Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, taken on 4 Apr 1940, accessed on Ancestry.com 27 Jan 2016.

11 1900 US Federal Census, North Salem, Linn County, Missouri, taken on 13-14 Jun 1900, accessed on Ancestry.com 26 Jan 2016.

12 1920 US Federal Census, Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, taken on 19 Jan 1920, accessed on 1 May 2016.

13 1930 US Federal Census, Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, taken 22 Apr 1930, accessed 1 May 2016 on Ancestry.com.

14 California Death Index, 1940-1997, accessed on Ancestry.com 26 Jan 2016.

15 1920 US Federal Census, Precinct 12, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, taken on 5 Jan 1920, accessed 27 Jan 2016 on Ancestry.com.

16 1930 US Federal Census, El Centro Township, Imperial County, California, taken on 4 Apr 1930, accessed 27 Jan 2016 on Ancestry.com

17 Certificate of Death 61494 of Eldon Clide Clement, Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, accessed on 20 Apr 2016 on Ancestry.com.

18 Standard Certificate of Death 14664 of Deltha Fae Martin Clement, Texas State Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, accessed on Ancestry.com

19 Apr 2016 19 1940 US Federal Census, Vincent, Howard County, Texas, taken on 2 May 1940, accessed on Ancestry.com 19 Apr 2016.

Musical Sunday

I have started to build a new Pinterest Board, Music I Like, based on and adding to my YouTube favorites.  The range of music is quite wide:  Eastern European (Hungarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Hutsul, Gypsy, and many more), Scandinavian, Cajun and Zydeco, bluegrass, classical, Acadian, Celtic, classics and standards from movies, and many more.

I'll occasionally feature items from this board on this blog.  Below, Peter Éri plays the "Pe Loc" on flute, Zoltán Farkas and Ildikó Tóth dance. The melody is known from the Rumanian Folk Dances of Bartók.

Enjoy!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has issued his latest Saturday night Genealogy Fun challenge:  go to Image Chef and create a genealogy-related image or item.

Here's mine:

The Lost Weekend

My eyes are bleary, my mouth dry, and there is a throbbing in my head. I’ve lost track of time. I resisted all of yesterday evening, and even into the afternoon today, but then I lost it and made the plunge. And since then it has just been one after another, with no letup.  And tomorrow will be the same – I won’t stop.

The last time it was this bad (and it was worse then, actually) was back in September 2008.

That was when Family Search made the Texas Death Certificates available.

Hello. My name is Greta, and I’m a geneaholic.

This is the weekend that FindMyPast searches are free.

I thought I’d just put in a few terms, check out the website, maybe find a few things.  Didn’t really need the censuses; thought I’d try newspapers.  Some names yielded hits; others gave bupkus.

Then I discovered filters.  So I filtered for the state of Texas and input “Brinlee.”

Bingo.

3030 articles.

OK, so 85% of them are on Rex Garland Brinlee, aka the notorious “Bristow Bomber.”  (Google it – not a pretty story.)

But when you get to the Bonham Daily Favorite and the McKinney Daily Courier Gazette – that’s MY family’s part of the state.  And Genealogy Bank does not have those papers.

And those papers contain my geneaholic’s liquor of choice.  So far:

- Obituaries for most of my father’s family members.

- A story about a Brinlee family reunion (be still my heart!).

- A story about the Norman and Brinlee families in and around Fannin County throwing a big Christmas party for my grandmother and her sister.

- A long article on my father’s eccentric cousins, Bun and Square Brinlee.

- An article on a Brinlee who is an artist.

- Miscellaneous other Brinlee obituaries.

- And an article on my brickwall great-grandmother Elizabeth Brinlee celebrating her 98^th birthday (it was actually probably closer to her 90^th birthday).  It does not mention parents or even siblings, but at least it’s something.

So I’ll binge on as long as I can last.  And then Monday will come.

Featured Family: Family of Freeman Manson Moore and Clarissa Abbott

Freeman Manson Moore

-b. ca 1809, Greenville District, South Carolina

-d. aft 1864

& Clarissa Abbott

-b. 1803, Georgia

-d.

-m. 5 Oct 1826, Newton County, Georgia

---William S. Moore

-----b. ca 1828, Georgia

-----d. aft 1870

---& Nancy A. Dulin

-----b. ca 1833, Georgia

-----d.

-----m. 14 Aug 1850, Henry County, Georgia

---J. A. E. Moore

-----b. ca 1835, Georgia

-----d.

---Sarah Clarissa Moore

-----b. 7 Jan 1832, Georgia

-----d. 8 Oct 1912, New Salem, Rusk County, Texas

---& Houston J. Skinner

-----b. 12 Sep 1829, Newton County, Georgia

-----d. 20 Oct 1904, New Salem, Rusk County, Texas

-----m. 4 Dec 1853, DeKalb County, Georgia

This is the family of one of the older brothers of my great-great grandfather, William Spencer Moore.  The gaps in my knowledge of this family are so big that you could drive a truck through them. With the exception of the youngest daughter and her husband, I know no dates of death and only approximate dates of birth.  Most of my information is based on the 1850 census, when this family was in Henry County, Georgia.  I know absolutely nothing about the subsequent history of J.A.E. Moore, a daughter.  F.M. Moore appears in Henry County on an 1864 Census for Re-Organizing the Georgia Militia; he may also appear on an 1865 tax list and in an 1867 voter and reconstruction oath book, but I cannot be certain that he is the F.M. Moore in question in either case.

If you are a descendant of this family or know anything about them, please contact me!  Just click on the link “View my complete profile” in the “About Me” section on the left side of this blog.