On July 4, 1864, the day that my great-grandfather turned five years old, the town that he lived in, Marietta Georgia, fell to Union forces following a nearly two month-long series of battles and skirmishes in the vicinity of the town. The war was literally at their doorstep but from my perspective this is where the story ended for James Monroe Dobbs and his family … Continue reading The Third Man
As I continue to scrounge through the newspaper archives I am finding all sorts interesting little tidbits about my 19th century ancestors. Specifically, my Southern ancestors on the side of my maternal grandfather, Jimmy Dobbs. One of my most recent finds regards my great, great, great-grandfather David Dobbs, a colonel in the Georgia militia and plantation owner in Cobb County Georgia. It appears that he … Continue reading Chairman David Dobbs, a Never Van Buren-er
This post was first published about ten years ago. It is pretty amazing when you think about how we keep in touch with friends and family today. It is equally amazing when you think that social networking sites have only been around for a few short years. The “Internet” came about in the early seventies, but was not until the mid-nineties when most of us … Continue reading Before Facebook, There was the Cigar Maker’s Journal
My father, David DeBacker, was a hospital administrator and both he and his father, a doctor, were proponents of what some folks would call “socialized medicine.” In the 1972, he gave a speech at a conference in San Antonio Texas in which he essentially predicted that we would have something like Obamacare by the year 1980. I found the following article, dated February 4, 1972, … Continue reading My Dad Predicted Obamacare in 1972
This is really strange, but the other day, I received a letter from my sister-in-law. In the envelope was the photograph shown below and a letter saying that Susanne’s aunt in Korea wanted me to have the photograph. I do not recall but Suzanne seems to think that I gave the photograph to her father after we were married in Korea in 1979. The photograph … Continue reading Mom and Dad 1967
After discovering that I have free access to the library edition of MyHeritage, it would appear that I have caught the genealogy bug once more after an almost decade long hiatus. I have been finding little trinkets of family history in something as basic as a city directory . According to Wikipedia, a city directory is a listing of residents, streets, businesses, organizations or institutions, … Continue reading Dallas City Directories
Ever since I discovered that I have free access to a number of on-line archives through the local Clark County Library, I have been doing a lot of exploring and tonight I feel like I have struck gold. Tonight, I stumbled across the Newspaper Archives and the first person that searched for was my paternal grandfather, Leopold Joseph DeBacker. My grandfather was a medical doctor … Continue reading The Case of Dr. L. J. DeBacker
Using a little detective work, I believe I have found the family of one of my great-great grandmothers in three 19th-century US Census records. The mother of my great-grandmother Helen Spiegel Dobbs was previously found in two US census records: 1870 and 1880. She died sometime between 1880 and 1887 (the year her husband remarried). She is found in the 1870 census in Savannah, Georgia … Continue reading The Mysterious Case of Sophia B.
According to its Wikipedia article, the origins of Memorial Day are complex. There is debate as to whether Memorial Day (or Decoration Day as it has been called) begin in the Confederate South during the American Civil War or was started by the Federal veterans organization the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in 1868. Knowing about this controversy, I am reminded each year at … Continue reading Memorial Day Remembrances
This photograph is interesting because there are multiple inscriptions written on the back. In one hand that appears to be that of either my great grandmother or great grandfather, is written “August Spiegel children”. Then in another hand is written “Dorothy and Laverne Spiegel – taken September 1918”August Spiegel was the youngest brother of my great-grandmother. He was born in Dallas and according to my … Continue reading Spiegel Girls
Gathering Leaves 