Family Tree info for Farmer Kitty and others

[Blackbird]

Would be interesting to see if one of those cold case places would try to investigate.

 

[Pepperwolfe]

Most of my family on both sides has been researched except for some branches on my Dad's side. I've tried asking around some of the older relatives but no one could give me answers. one of the problems we have is suppposedly Native American in our family but no one could tell me anything about it. Of all places, I stopped in a welcome center for that state on the way up and picked up a brochure on Native American history and found out they were outlawed in that state until the 1950s. Most of them beforehand either left or lied about who they were during census time.

 

[country lady]

Yes, Lauderdale county. I wouldn't be interested in digging up a body but I am curious about his life. We tend to think of these people in today's terms. Most of my great-grandparents were born during the Civil War so probably some of them could neither read nor write. Survival was the struggle, I'm sure. The last three grandchildren I know of this man are now 88, 91, and 93; they were children in 1931.

In those days, I would guess most small farmers rented so he was a poor man, no reason there to knock the ole boy off. It was also during the Depression. In his last days he went from son to son and had no home of his own. He had six living grown sons. My grandfather died young in an auto/train wreck in 1930.

I've enjoyed reading the posts about other families. It was a hard life our ancestors led. They must have been a hardy bunch.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

It WAS a hard life they lived. I have profound respect for what they did with what they had. Not having the social safety nets that we have today left many in dire straits, which you see with your g-grandfather living in the home of his children. This was especially true in the Depression era as families had to join together just to survive. When I've worked with friends on their family trees, that whole boarding issue is the hardest thing for people to wrap their heads around. Back then, there were no unemployment or disability support systems. Your only options were to appeal to family or live at a poor farm.

CL, do you have access to census information? If they were being honest, it should be listed on their census records whether they could read or write. By the looks of your location listing, you don't live too terribly far from where he died. If you can squeeze a visit to the courthouse in, check the criminal records on him. It's amazing what sorts of things landed in criminal files, especially in smaller towns. They can provide some pretty good clues - such as one man in my family convicted of wood stealing in January in Illinois. He had no other criminal records except for that, which tells you that either he got away with a lot or he stole that wood out of desperation to keep his family alive.

If you don't have access to census records, PM me and I'll be glad to take a look for you.

 

[country lady]

Thank you, yes I have a wonderful genealogy room in my local library. I also have downloaded a lot on my own. I have a ton of records on family, laterally as well. It amazed me how the family moved around, even to Arkansas, where my mother was born. That's another interesting story.

A couple of years ago my mother made a small comment which I followed up on. It turns out that her maternal grandparents were first cousins. I guess it was a family secret (until I came along). ha. The nice lady at the library said that was very common in those days. She also said widowed men and women really had to remarry for economic reasons.

The women on my mother's side lived to be very old--my mother was 89 and died last year. So, cousins marrying didn't hinder that. However, the last few years my brother and 3 of his 4 children have Factor 5, which I never heard of. He seems to believe it is genetic.

My paternal grandmother ran a boarding house for young men in the 1940s. She knew most of their families and was like a mother hen. She scolded them when needed, and fed them huge home-cooked meals. That probably wouldn't work today.

Genealogy is really interesting, warts and all. Sounds as if you have done a lot of research.