Rosemary Popp Wiktorek - Wordless Wednesday

31 July 1925 - 29 July 2012

Remembering Mother

I've always avoided acknowledging the anniversary of my mother's death, but she has been so much in my thoughts the last couple weeks. She died thirteen years ago. Life goes on, full of many ups and a few downs, but we miss her.

This is not a full-life reflection. I've simply gathered photos taken over the last 15 to 20 years of her life that capture one of her expressions. There are many missing. She is more self-conscious than she was away from a camera. She had a look that could stop me cold at 50 feet. I never thought to capture that one. Today, with cell phones and cameras everywhere, I might be able to. I'm feeling a look just thinking about it. I don't have any of her trying to tell a story and laughing too hard to complete it. Nor of her concentrating intently, be it on a bridge hand, a baseball game, or a book. These are not the mother I knew as a child, nor the woman she was before she had children, nor the wife or daughter. But this is the woman I knew and loved as an adult. This is the mother I miss.

Father's Day 2012

Thinking of the fathers and grandfathers who bless our lives.

Day is Done - Memorial Day

In honor of all our family who have served in the military, but especially in memory of those who died during that service.

James Conway, born about 1751 in Prince William County, Virginia and died 28 December 1776 near Trenton, New Jersey. 

Matthew Judson McAdams, born 15 August 1835 in Washington County, Tennessee and died 19 June 1863 at Nashville, Tennessee.

Elisha T. McComas, born about 1840 in Sangamon County, Illinois and died 6 January 1863 at Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Ralph Eugene Williams, born 10 October 1895 in Comers Rock, Grayson County, Virginia and died 9 October 1918 in the Argonne Forest, Meuse, France.

Baba as a Bride - Wordless Wedding Wednesday

My Grandmother, Anna Pereksta, on her wedding day
 17 February 1923
Binghamton, NY

Olena Pereksta Demjan - (Almost) Wordless Wednesday

This is the first photograph I have found of my great-aunt Olena Pereksta Demjan. She is pictured here with her daughter Elizabeta Demjan. The photograph is undated, but was probably taken in the late 1930s/early 1940s. It was taken in Kolbasov, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia). We visited Elizabeta and her family in 1992.

New Sister - Wordless Wednesday

My grandmother, Iva Williams Sawyer, with her eldest daughter and my mother, Carolyn Sawyer, c. March 1929. This is the first picture we have of Mother.

Easter Basket Cloth - Wordless Wednesday

A gift from Pereksta cousins in Slovakia during our visit there in 1990. The cloth is put over the basket of Easter foods that is taken to the church on Holy Saturday to be blessed.

Tools of the Trade - Treasure Chest Thursday

I dug into a box of family artifacts the other day. Things I haven't yet photographed or figured out what to do with.

These glasses were such a find. I don't remember examining them before. They were my paternal grandfather's safety glasses when he was a leather cutter at Endicott-Johnson in Binghamton, NY. I love the hinged screen at the sides.

My family enjoyed looking at the glasses. We're a group of science nerds - some of us with years of experience wearing safety goggles or glasses. So it was easy to find a willing model.

Happy Birthday Sis!

There'll be just a few more spanks today. 

Ivan Pereksa - (Almost) Wordless Wednesday

This photograph of my great-grandfather Ivan Pereksta stands out because of his ill-fitted suit. While it was not uncommon for immigrants to be photographed in borrowed clothes, the stories I heard growing up emphasized how dapper Ivan was. His jobs in the United States were unskilled manual labor, but he wore pressed suits, polished shoes and always had manicured nails. The photo below, taken with my grandmother around 1918, accurately reflects the stories. I suspect the first photo was taken some years later, when he was a bit older and perhaps a bit worn down. The clothes, his posture, gaze and even his mustache are less crisp, a bit gentler.

Ivan Pereksta and Anna Pereksta with Ivan Pereksta,  Photographs, undated. Digital Images.  Privately held by Susan Clark [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], 1986.

'Tis the season - Wordless Wednesday

My great-uncle Phil Sawyer played football

at Milligan College near Johnson City, TN, c. 1919.

McAdams Graves - Tombstone Tuesday

In July I spent several days in Washington County researching and visiting some cemeteries. I especially wanted to find the McAdams graves at Fairview where my McAdams 3rd great-grandparents and Isabella Bryson McAdams Hale, my 4th great-grandmother, are buried.

Our family's McAdams Family Record includes a note at the end indicating ten members of the family are there.

Memorandum made by Thomas McAdams in 1913:

Graves:
Hugh Morrison McAdams, William P. McA, Isabella Hale, Hugh McA, (S. B. Sr son), Ann S. McA, Chalmer S. McA, Cynthia S McA, Thomas C. McA, Ralph E. H. McA, Charlie's baby (Martha).

The above are the McAdams' graves as they come in the cemtery at Fairview, Washington County.

I assumed it would be relatively (pun intended) simple to find the row of McAdams graves. Indeed, it wasn't all that difficult. Fairview is a small cemetery about four miles northwest of Jonesborough. But most of the gravestones have vanished. Only the markers for my McAdams grandparents and that of their infant granddaughter remain. Without their grandson Thomas McAdams' 1913 note I would have had no idea who else was buried there.

Detail of Cynthia S. McAdams Marker
In Loving Memory 
of Cynthia s. McAdams
Born
April 30, 1817
Died
Oct. 20, 1874

Thomas C. McAdams marker
In Loving Memory
of
Thomas C. McAdams
Born Dec. 5, 1806
Died
Jan. 1, 1881

The markers were almost impossible to read, but I was able to make out the names and dates for Thomas and Cynthia. The baby's marker at the end of the row was more difficult, and I did not get a good picture of it, but the first letter of the name is "M" and the last name is McAdams. 

The other McAdams family members, with information from the family record,  buried here are (from right to left in the above photo or south to north at the cemetery) 

• Martha McAdams, infant daughter of Charles A.H. McAdams and Alice Nave McAdams and granddaughter of Thomas C. McAdams. Marker standing.
• Ralph Emerson H. McAdams, 16 Jun 1881- 15 Jan 1882, infant son of Robert Newton McAdams and Maggie Good McAdams and grandson of Thomas C. McAdams.
• Thomas C. McAdams. Marker standing. 
• Cynthia S. McAdams. Marker standing.
• Chalmers Stephenson McAdams, 16 Feb 1853 - 14 Dec 1873, son of Thomas C. McAdams.
• Ann Shaw (Duncan) McAdams, 6 Feb 1813 - 7 Jul 1861, sister-in-law of Thomas C. McAdams.
• Hugh S. McAdams, dates unknown, son of Ann Shaw McAdams and nephew of Thomas C. McAdams.
• Isabella Bryson McAdams Hale, 14 Sept 1776 - 1 Jun 1855, mother of Thomas C. McAdams.
• William Plummer McAdams, 14 Mar 1843 - 18 Apr 1844, son of Thomas C. McAdams.
• Hugh Morrison McAdams, 30 Nov. 1838 - 14 Jul 1840, son of Thomas C. McAdams.

Totuskey Creek - Wordless Wednesday

Totuskey Creek, in Richmond County, Virginia, is where James Meredith and his uncle Joseph Meredith had a store in the 1830s. It is where Margaret Meredith, my husband's 2x great-grandmother lived after her father and step-mother died.

Margaret Meredith Palmer - Tombstone Tuesday

Mrs. M. Palmer
Wife of
Jas. A. Palmer
1824-1889

Margaret Meredith Palmer lies in the small graveyard at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Kilmarnock, Virginia. The land the church and graveyard are on was originally part of Clifton plantation, the Palmer home.

Palmer Hall, the original church at St. Francis de Sales.

Her son John A. Palmer and his family are buried near her under a series of large markers.

Margaret Lee's Petition for Freedom, 1795 - A Friend of Friends Friday

On my summer travels I was able to spend two days reviewing late 18th and early 19th century court records in Washington County, TN. Much of the material was dry and of little use, but there were enough fascinating papers to keep me motivated.

One case struck me immediately - to the point where I photographed both documents in the file and started some quick research on the spot. It has haunted me since. One of the few blessings of my decision to publish all possible slave records from my family is that this is NOT a case related to my family. I'm sure as I work through the records I will find other especially tragic and troubling records. But none could be more explicit or horrifying than the case of Margaret Lee who in 1795 begged the Superior Court of Law in Washington County for her freedom.

The court records are owned by the Archives of Appalachia and I do not have permission to publish the photographs or a full transcription of the documents. Fortunately Loren Schweninger's The Southern Debate Over Slavery: Petitions to Southern county courts, 1775-1867 (University of Illinois Press, 2008) includes Margaret Lee's petition on pages 59-60 and is available on Google Books. It is embedded below.

Briefly, Margaret Lee's petition states that she was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Thomas and Descinda Lee (her mother's name could also be read as Lucinda) who "altho' of a Black hue, had the Happiness to be born free people" and that in about 1774 she was kidnapped from the town docks by Samuel Latin, chained, and thrown into the hold of a ship he commanded. She was taken to Maryland where Latin enslaved her. When she attempted to make the case that she was freeborn, Latin sold her to George Johnson who in turn sold her to Francis Hawkins who in turn sold her Dutch Boyles of Frederick County, Maryland who in turn sold her to Samuel Gammons of Sullivan County, Tennessee. During her 20 years of slavery Margaret Lee bore at least two children, Abraham and Maria, who are named in her petition and in the order to Samuel Gammons to appear before the Court.

It's not difficult to deduce that Margaret Lee was anything but compliant. Nor that the consequences to her demands for freedom had been repeated sales to new slaveowners. Her 1795 petition was dated September 18th. The order to Samuel Gammons to appear before the Superior Court of Law in Jonesborough on the third Tuesday of March, 1796 was dated the third Tuesday of September, 1795. There are no further records, which to me is the most horrible element of the case. Samuel Gammons does not appear in any Tennessee records that I could find. A free Margaret, Abraham or Maria Lee do not appear in any Tennessee census or United States census that I could find.

I've tried to find records that support Margaret Lee's story. A Thomas Lee appears as the head of family in the 1790 U.S. census living in Salem, Massachusetts. He and the other two members of his family are listed as "all other free persons" rather than white. He does not appear in 1800. The New England Historical and Genealogical Society's American Ancestors site contains records that could belong to Thomas Lee, but I no longer belong and could not access them. I could find no record of a Samuel Latin, though a Samuel Litton appears as in Harford County, Maryland records. A Francis Hawkins appears on the same 1783 tax list. A George Johnson and a Francis Hawkins appear in Queen Anne County, Maryland records, but these are such common names. A Francis Hawkins is also found in Charles County Records. I found no record of a Dutch Boyles in Frederick County, but suspect he was from one of the German speaking families settling the area at the time. Even as I speculate this, I found no record of him in my book of Frederick County Lutheran marriages. A number of people enumerated as Beall in the 1790 census are slave owners, as is a Daniel Boyle.

It would be easy to obsess over the tragedy of Margaret Lee. I've already spent days thinking about her, admiring her courage and hoping against all reasonable hope that she found freedom. I can only pray she found peace.

Source: Washington District, Territory South of the Ohio, Superior Court of Law and Equity, 1785-1811, 3:117, Lee Margaret in behalf of herself and her two children, Maria and Abraham (freedom),1795; Archives of Appalachia, Johnson City, TN.

The Southern Debate Over Slavery: Petitions to Southern county courts, 1775-1867 (University of Illinois Press, 2008)

The Sawyer Homeplace

This painting of my great-grandfather Gee Sawyer's home was painted by a friend of the family, Wanda Samples, probably about 1970. It hung in the house until Gee's last child, Mary Kathryn McKenzie, died in 1996. I was recently able to give it to the current owners of the home.


Source:
Samples, Wanda. Painting of Sawyer Homeplace. c. 1970. Digital image. Privately held by homeowner, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Warrensburg, TN. 2011.

Out for a Stroll - (Almost) Wordless Wednesday

l to r - Annette Clark, Jerry Clark, Iva Sawyer, Bob Sawyer

This picture of my grandparents (on the right) and their friends has always amused me. It was taken in 1925, shortly after they were married in Portland, OR.  They seem awfully dolled up for a picnic or park outing, yet the setting seems to indicate that's exactly where they were.

Slave Division of Thad. Pullen's Estate - A Friend of Friend Friday

This is the part of a series of transcriptions and abstracts of records involving slaves that I copied at the Library of Virginia during my summer research marathon. Eleven slaves were named in the Division of Slaves for the estate of Thaddeus Pullen, who died about 1809 in Lancaster County, Virginia. I abstracted the slave and heir information from the microfilm copy.

From Lancaster County Estate Book 27, p. 339 (LVA Reel #47)

Slave Division of Thadeus Pullen's Estate. 17 February 1817.

To Frances George, late widow of Thad. Pullen
     Bob $400
     Alice $330
     Jerry $130
     Molly $80
             $ 940

To Westley Kirk, by right of his wife who was Elizabeth Pullen, Lot 4
     John at $400
To Enoch George, guardian of Jonathan Pullen, Lot 2
     Charles $230
     Tom $230
To William George, guardian of William Pullen, Lot 3
     Hannah $330
To William George, guardian of Catherine Pullen, Lot 5
     Sarah $330
To William George, guardian of Addaline Pullen, Lot 1
     Jesse $280
To William George, guardian of Nancy B. Pullen, Lot 6
     Ann $330

Submitted by Sp. George, Wm T. Yerby, Danl P Mitchell and recorded at Lancaster Court 19 Jan 1818.

Pullen's widow, Frances George, was the sister of my husband's 3rd great-grandfather, John Meredith. At this time I know very little about the Pullen heirs and where they remained. Addaline did die shortly after this settlement. Jesse likely ended up belonging to another of the heirs. William Pullen remained in Lancaster County until the Civil War. I have not researched him further than that. 

Belle of the Ball - Wordless Wednesday

Iva Belle Williams c. 1918