Before I Forget

From The Napa Valley Register, page 2, Friday, July 31, 1953:

Lois Ausmus wrote her in-laws of their time in Charlottesville, VA  where her husband was a student at the University of Virginia. Mom-In-Law shared the letter with their local Oregon paper:

From page 9 of The Albany Democrat-Herald paper, in Albany, Oregon.

          In 1913 Elethea Ann (Barton) Miller (1855-1934), widow of Thomas D. Miller (1842-1886), made application for her husband's military pension. Though Mr. Miller had fought for the Confederacy while serving in a Mississippi cavalry unit, his wife was entitled to his pension from the state she was then living. 

          Elethea Miller made her home in Duckett, Howard County, Arkansas according to the pension record. In 1932 she supplemented her pension request, indicating a current address of Mena, Arkansas. 

          FamilySearch has scanned many Confederate pension records. If you've registered with FamilySearch you can find Elethea's application at the link cited below, beginning with Image No. 598 of 1392. 

          FamilySearch is free, and it is an AWESOME database. Do it! Or you can bear with my copies attached here:

Source:  "Arkansas Confederate Pensions, 1901-1929," database with images, FamilySearch : 2 December 2019), Milam, J, A - Mitchell, J, W > image 598 of 1392; Citing Arkansas State Auditor, History Commission, Little Rock.

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939J-TGDP-H?cc=1837922&wc=M617-GP8%3A164379601 


BTW, Thomas Miller's middle name was given on his son's birth certificate. I've seen it spelled phonetically, but will use this spelling until I find a better source. 

          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.

          A Revolutionary War pension record tells me my maternal fifth great-grandfather spent two years with the Continental Army: 

Source: U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900 via Ancestry.com

          Benjamin Carroll served under a Quaker from Rhode Island: Major General Nathanael Greene, who later was nicknamed "The Savior of the South" and "The Fighting Quaker." (No, I did not misspell General Greene's first name).  Because it is difficult to read, here's my attempt at transcribing this Certificate of Pension. 

North Carolina    29759

Benjamin Carroll

Orange, in the State of North Carolina who was a private in the ____ commanded by Captain ___ of the R___ commanded by C. Tanner in the North Carolina: for 2 years

Inscribed on the ___ of North Carolina at the rate of 80 Dollars and no Cents per annum, to commence on the 4th day of march, 1831.

Certificate of Pension issued the 17th day of July ____

     ___ to the 4th of Sept. 34 $280

     ___ allowance ending Mar: 35. $42

           (Total:)    $320

Revolutionary Claim Act June 7, 1832

Recorded by ___: Rice, Clerk 

Book E Vol. ___ Page 49

            Benjamin, son of alleged Irish immigrant, Stephen Carroll, was born in what is today Orange County, North Carolina on Christmas Day 1753. I've no proof of his parents--as yet. But I was happy to learn the name of his bride's father, my 6 X GGrandpa. This marriage bond document shows what Mr. Christian Peeler posted for his daughter, Nancy.  (Click once to enlarge image)

          I think this image is beautiful! Connecting the dots is my idea of fun. Yay Nancy and Benjamin, my fifth great-grandparents! Glad to meet you (even if it is on paper). 

 Source:  North Carolina, Marriage Index, 1741-2004, via Ancestry.com, County Court Records FHL #0823664 and 0418148

          Benjamin lived until the end of January of 1846, and is buried at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I understand that his widow Nancy requested and received his pension from the Revolutionary War. (I will post that later)

          For my Willhelm cousins, here are two images showing our relation to ancestors Ben and Nank:

Come to think of it, she much preferred bright red and hot orange.

          At Squires Chapel in Stephens County, Texas on November 8, 1898, a fight broke out among several men. Shots were fired. Three men killed. One fatality was Roscoe Phillip McCarty. He had accompanied his older brother, John Franklin McCarty, to help John in his personal fight against the Squires. 

May 17, 2019  UPDATE:  Here's another article from a Kansas paper with a slightly different take on the November 1898 killings:

          Roscoe left behind three children--the youngest was only two. His 31 year old widow, Addie Martha, is my maternal great grand-aunt.

          The eldest daughter of Welcome Wilhelm and Mary Ann (Cowan), Addie was no stranger to heartbreak. On this same date just 16 years earlier, yes, on a November 8th, Addie's father had shot a man for insulting his wife. Because he was facing a punishment of hanging for killing Mr. "W. Berry," Welk fled the state. After sending a few letters to his parents, nothing more was heard from him. 

          John F. McCarty, Roscoe's brother, was found not guilty of murder the next year.

          Poor Addie lived but five more years, leaving her children orphaned in 1904.  

          I appreciate "psfraiser1" on Ancestry for sharing some of the news articles about Roscoe's death. She credits Newspapers.com, from which I also downloaded copies. 

Published September 7, 1911 in a Texas newspaper, the Georgetown Williamson County Sun, page 6, via NewspaperArchive.com/

NOTE:  Keyword search "welk" on this blog to see prior articles about my 2xGGrandfather, Welcome "Welk" Willhelm.

Johnnie Blanche married my maternal first cousin--twice removed. But before she became a Willhelm by marriage she was in high school in Comanche, Texas. See her darling yearbook photo in the 1925 Arrow-Head. I especially like her quotation:

You DID know Ancestry is s l o w l y uploading yearbook photos from around the United States. Oh, my! It makes for interesting reading.  #cringeworthy

I'm guessing this was taken on a Thanksgiving Day in the mid-1990s because I recognize Helen's green shirt from when she once visited us on the prairie about that same time. I think they are at Nancy and Larry's home.

          My maternal Great-Grandfather keeps popping up in newly-uploaded papers online.

          On September 13, 1940 a Lamar County newspaper in Texas published this fuzzy photo of Edgar Willhelm standing next to the offspring of a well-known symbol of the Democratic Party. He had just turned 70 years old, and he and his wife, Lena, were living on "Sylvan Pattonville Road" according to the 1940 Federal Census. From The Paris News, page 8, see the clipping along with the whole page:

          BTW, make mine a 1941 Plymouth in cherry red!

          My Great-Grands were living in Santa Anna, Coleman County, Texas, as evidenced by this mention of "E. Willhelm"  in a church newsletter published January 19, 1909. Reading this description of West Texas reminds me of the old greeting, "Hey, how are you? Tell me the price of corn." (Yes, I honestly heard that expression as a kid. It was said with a laugh)

          Archived newspapers from Paris, Texas have several "For Sale" want ads from Ed Willhelm for firewood and vegetable produce. This ad below is from a town outside of Denton, Texas called Decatur and was published in June 1924. I've seen several of these uh, offers over the years, but this ad is a new discovery. But I've long been told that Edgar wrote religious pamphlets and enjoyed debating Scripture.       

          And one more ad Ed placed in The Bartlett Tribune & News, Bartlett, Texas, Vol. 38, No. 43, Ed. 1, Friday, June 6, 1924:

         If anything, my small collection of Ed's name in newspapers has helped me construct a timeline of his many home addresses. (The adjective "peripatetic" has also been used with my Indian Territory pioneer ancestor, Sam Ackley).  I've now learned that he and Lena were living outside of Houston, in Seabrook in 1924. I wonder if he had to part with any ten-spots to these "Sunday isn't Sabbath" advertisements. 
          
          What did YOUR Great-Grandfather do for fun?