Author: D. M. DeBacker

Afficiando of comix and cartoons.
DeBacker

Atchison People Will Be Interested in an Omaha Item

Searching through newspaper archives, I discovered something about my paternal grandmother, Geraldine O’Malley DeBacker, that I did not know. Apparently, she was a singer of enough renown to have that mentioned a few times in her hometown newspaper. I found the following item in the August 29, 1918 edition of The Atchison (KS) Daily Globe. My father’s mother, Geraldine O’Malley DeBacker, died the year that … Continue reading Atchison People Will Be Interested in an Omaha Item

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History

He Was Mean to His Slaves

In the 1920s, when those who had been adults during the War between the States had almost all gone off to either their great reward, some fallen to damnation, or some like my great, great-grandmother Mattie J. Dobbs, were languorously lingering through their ninth decade on God’s green earth, their sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, and grandchildren now felt that they could speak more freely about … Continue reading He Was Mean to His Slaves

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Dobbs

Now That’s What I Call Southern Gothic!

Of late, I have been reading books by Margaret Mitchell and William Faulkner; while at the same time I have been studying the probate records of an ancestor of mine who died intestate 185 years ago. As I am recounting my analysis from said study, I find the need to restrain myself from injecting too much drama into the proceedings laid before me. The ancestor … Continue reading Now That’s What I Call Southern Gothic!

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Family

Photograph of Richard Bannon

A third cousin on my mother’s side recently contacted me after visiting the Gathering Leaves blog. She and I share the same great-great-grandparents, Richard and Henrietta Bannon. When I was growing up, my grandmother had hanging in her living room two portrait paintings that were created around 1914 by an older cousin. One portrait was of my great, great-grandmother Henrietta and the other portrait was … Continue reading Photograph of Richard Bannon

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Dobbs

The Legend of John McMullan

Joel Chandler Harris, author of Uncle Remus and B’rer Rabbit fame, wrote in his Stories of Georgia [1898], “The Revolutionary War in Georgia developed some very romantic figures, which are known to us rather by tradition than by recorded history.” This recalls one of my ancestors who is associated with a “tradition” surrounding his occupation during the American Revolutionary war. I was introduced to this … Continue reading The Legend of John McMullan

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Dobbs

Dobbs v. Prothro

Yet again, I have solved another family history mystery and as usually happens upon solving one mystery, another mystery makes its ghostly presence known. Allow me to present The Case of Dobbs v. Prothro. The Dobbs in this case is David Judson Dobbs (1835-1877), my great, great-grandfather. The Prothro(s) being his brothers-in-law, Wilson and Gustavus Prothro – the brothers of my great, great-grandmother, Martha J. … Continue reading Dobbs v. Prothro

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