In a previous post, I reported finding that my great-grandfather, James M Dobbs, Sr., had lied about his age on a passport application he submitted in 1918. He was going to the European war zone on behalf of the YMCA, the precursor to the USO. Travel during World War I required approval from the War Department, and the U.S. government was not allowing civilians over … Continue reading International Man of Mystery-Pt. 2
In my search of newspaper archives, I found some curious things regarding my forbearers. Yet nothing has surprised me more than learning that two great-grandfathers were involved in train wrecks that occurred in the 1920s. I discovered these accidents accidentally while searching for something else. Wreck at Gilmore Junction (1921) Patrick A O’Malley (1851-1925) was the father of my paternal grandmother. The O’Malley family lived … Continue reading A Pair of Train Wrecks
Back in December I discovered that my maternal grandparents eloped and were married in Chattanooga Tennessee in July 1925. . It was an extraordinary find that raised the question of how a 19-year-old girl from Louisville, Kentucky came to marry a 23-year-old man from Atlanta, Georgia. Coupled with this is the question of how my mother came to be born in Columbia, South Carolina. Since … Continue reading A Huge Discovery
It seems that after my mother passed away in July, I caught the genea-bug once again following a hiatus of nearly a decade. In the past eight or so months, I have written over two dozen posts on this blog detailing my recent discoveries. These findings have revealed not only new information but also there are certain details in my book that require correction. As … Continue reading Diving into Historical Context
Back in January, I published a post entitled Intriguing Items and in it I discussed some of the mysterious and intriguing items that I had found during my search of the newspaper archives for my Dobbs family in Georgia. One item concerned a mine in Cobb County that was dubbed the Dobbs’ Goldmine and another item was about a plantation located down in Sumner County … Continue reading Carpetbagger or Scalawag?
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
When I watched the 1939 classic film “The Wizard of Oz” for the first time on television back in the 1960s and heard the Tinman, portrayed by Jack Haley, proclaim, “Someday they’ll erect a statue to me,” I said to myself, “It could happen, you know.” I said this knowing that people who become famous for one reason or another might get a statue or … Continue reading The Birthplace of Me
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
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!
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
Gathering Leaves 