Before I Forget

Tonight I was adding sources to my Abshier ancestors and found this little cutie. The photo was taken about 1906, I'm guessing.

Angelina Davis, a Findagrave volunteer/researcher, generously shared Austin Cody Abshier's photo to his memorial page. Isn't it precious?

He was born December 10, 1901 to Hannibal Cameron Abshier (1870-1954) and wife Lillie Inez Palmer (1874-1957) of Liberty County, Texas. His World War II draft card indicates he worked for Gulf Refining Company:

He married Edna DeBlanc in 1920, and they had at least three sons. Austin only lived to see 60 years before his death in Beaumont, Texas in 1962.

For my cousins reading this, Austin was a 1st cousin-once removed to our direct ancestor, Sylvina Abshier. (Which makes him my paternal 2nd cousin--twice removed). 

          To quote BuzzFeed, 'What a month this week was!'  A week that brought Watergate memories to those millions of us who watched that scandal unfold 46 years ago. 

          Addressed to both the US House and Senate on August 12, 2019, the Whistleblower's letter was finally released to Congress. And to the public. It's a whopper:

             “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”

20 Oct 2019 Update: Elta and Longfellow in a Napa newspaper published 1952.

For Iris and Ray, who lost a good friend this week. 

Tom was in NYC hat horrendous week in September 2011. Bless him!


A few articles from Newspapers.com of Tom and his family, beginning with the stork that "brung" him:

His parents' wedding announcement:


Tom made an appearance in the children's BIRTHDAY column for several years. Here's one example, when he turned NINE:


The Eagle Scout is honored with Boy Scout's highest award!


See three pages showing news about his dad, mom, and brother:

Sorry. Can't lighten the images to make his family clearer.


While attending college in Kentucky, he was in a play as a character named BirdBoot:


Here's to you, Tom! 


-- I appreciate Diane W. for sharing Tom's story. 

The DNA Detectives Facebook group has a fun calculator for those who've shared their autosomal raw data to one of the leading genealogy/genetic companies and now receive notifications of shared chromosomes with strangers. A few thousand new cousins, that is. 

This is a handy guide unless your family suffers from endogamy.

I use"suffer" because cousins marrying cousins can only complicate your quest to determine kinship with one of your GGG-Grandparents' descendants.

Aye, there's the rub.

          I never met my maternal great-aunt's husband, Fred Steeves, but my mother enjoyed talking with him when visiting her aunt. Said he told many stories about his work and travels outside North America. Best of all, Elta said Aunt Bea seemed very happy with Fred.

          Fred was also photogenic. I was happy to find this article in Newspapers.com this morning:

          Fred missed his 103rd birthday by twenty days:


--  The first article was published in the Napa Valley Register in Napa, California on Friday, August 19, 1988, p. 12.

Many states are digitizing death certificates and uploading images of older deaths to genealogy databases. North Carolina is one such state.

230+ years ago my mother's ancestors lived in Davidson and Montgomery counties, North Carolina. This was long before her branch split and moved to Texas. Several had moved after fighting for the losing side in, you know, THAT war. This year I was surprised to learn from Ancestry that I have many many cousins still in those same two counties. 

One day while browsing death records of these distant cousins, I did a double take on one death certificate. See the cause of death? The handwriting makes it difficult to decipher:

WTH? I immediately went to newspaper archives in search of articles.

An ugly story unfolded. A particularly horrific shock for their families, I would imagine.


Was it murder or murder-suicide?  I found no further news articles. 

Euphemia, my paternal first cousin 3x removed, and her husband David Calhoun Palmer (yes, in his native South Carolina "Calhoun" was ubiquitous) had three known children: Thaddeus, Lillie, and a female. I've just learned of their children and am adding them to my tree.

But, horrors! I found a link to a brief memorial of the nameless third child. Girl Palmer is only known as "Mrs. E. C. Moore." She is accorded no given name other than her husband's initials. REALLY? Was this data copied from a grave marker or a cemetery list of burials? Why has she no name, I silently scream? 

No headstone picture has yet been uploaded. But a kind volunteer shared her death certificate. (Texas is marvelous about sharing birth/death certificates online, did you know that? How else could I have learned of the several gunshot victims on my mom's side).

Good gravy, the State of Texas in 1920 did not require her first and middle names even on her very own death certificate. No informant's name is given. She was only 42. Not a widow, yet the form didn't ask her husband's name. Or did they? 

The fireworks are getting louder in our neighborhood this 4th of July evening. For now, I will put aside my search for the good missus' name. I will find her in a census at another time.

UPDATE:  Her name was Lela.

She and several siblings appear on the 1880 Fed. Census with the surname "Smith." Yet it lists her as the daughter of D.C. Palmer and his wife, Euphemia. Where the heck did "Smith" come from? Just another silly census vagary, I imagine.

But, hark! Another record surfaced showing a December 18, 1901 marriage in Matagorda, Texas.  Miss Lela Palmer married Emmett C. Moor. But keeping with the exasperating use of initials, Mr. E. C. Moor hides behind that spelling.

Not to worry! The 1919 City Directory for Brownwood, Texas SAVES THE DAY! It lists names, addresses, AND phone numbers of both their home and their cafe. I can smell those hotcakes now!