After consultation with my wise husband, I have determined that I will create one blog for each of the four main ancestral lines of our family. There will be links in the sidebar to a blog for the Horn family, the Walker family, the Parker family, and the Britton family. That way, you can each contribute to the blog which pertains to your relatives, and you won't have to deal with all those other people you've never heard of!
Please bookmark those blogs which pertain to you. I feel like we all have a responsibility to contribute to these family histories. It is easy to comment and share your memories or corrections, and I will then post them to the pertinent posts.
I'll post my latest efforts on each blog, and I hope you'll share any information you may have as well. I'll use it as a place to post pictures so you can all have copies. All you need to do is click on the picture and download it onto your computer. Then you can save and print it, or bring it to a photo shop to have to made for you.
Also, please feel free to make corrections. Many of you are more familiar with your specific ancestors than I am, and I may have some information wrong. Anyway, enjoy!
9 comments:
how exciting leslie! great idea.
yay! i am so glad that you have started this blog. you are such a great example for the rest of us!
Great Idea! Send your new blog to Mark Potter too.
Love and Hugs
I don't know how you do it all, Leslie! What a great idea.
Paw Paw was a dignified man, always dressed to the nines with a sporty hat, but one thing I loved about him was he was never embarrased to talk baby-talk to whatever grandchild was near. He called Mama "Sitter" (which I think was baby-talk for sister) even when she was grown. If we spent the night with him, he'd let us watch him take off his prosthetic leg before he went to bed.
Paw Paw was always in charge, and everybody knew it! Sometimes, when Mama was driving him to her own house, he'd tell her to "turn here, Sitter."
He was extremely neat and clean. I remember that he had this clear, heavy hairbrush that fit in the palm of his hand and he would brush the hair he had left with short little strokes. Even after his strokes, when he was pretty incoherent, the nurses would still hand him that hairbrush and he would brush his hair. Mama used to say he never had to wear deodorant and he took a freezing cold shower very early every morning. (If you spent the night with him, he expected you to get up at the crack of dawn with him.)
His house was an amazing place, with a spiral staircase winding to the third floor. The third floor was always a little frightening to me, and mostly I never went up there, but sometimes I would go up to see this mounted barracuda that was there. I liked to look out the window and see how tiny the rose garden looked from that height. If I thought I could get away with it, I would try to slide down the bannister. (Paw Paw did not like this.) His house had an elevator that was as scary as any theme park ride to me. It had this metal gate that made this screaching noise as you pulled it across and fastened it. The ride from the first to the second floor was an eternity, and I was always so relieved when the door finally opened.
Paw Paw would let me pick roses to take to my teachers at school. I used to wrap them in wet paper towels to take home. He also used to let us look at slides of pictures through these magnifying glasses that were on a stand. (I have no idea how to explain this thing. It was similar to a Viewmaster that kids play with now. It was kept on a shelf in the bedroom that adjoined the master bedroom.)
He always wanted to feed us. He would take everyone to the Holiday Inn where a man in a tall white chef's hat would ask us if we wanted some "Ro-Beef." He would have his housekeeper buy vanilla ice cream and 7-up so we could make ice cream floats. I remember when Wendy's Hamburgers came to town. He had the housekeeper go pick up about a dozen hamburgers and he thought it was the most unusual thing that the patties were square. Sometimes, he would get stuck on certain meals. We ate barbeque every Sunday night for years.
Sometimes, after Mama picked us up from school, we'd go see Paw Paw in his office. He had a secretary named Lois. Lois had a parakeet that she taught to talk. Sometimes, it would fly around the office and land on Paw Paw's head. He would just grin about it. Lois taught the bird to talk, but James would always tease her and say it couldn't talk. So, she taught it to say, "James is a knucklehead." I have a picture of that bird perched on Paw Paw's head.
Paw Paw's yard was a child's paradise. He grew Satsuma oranges, figs (he ate three figs every morning for breakfast) and pomegranite trees. (Leslie, he's standing in front of his orange trees in that picture.) He had a whole grove of oak trees that Grandmother planted. On Sunday nights, we would go watch cows being milked at the dairy. We also used to play a game we called "Don't Touch the Ground" where we would try to make it all the way around the house by walking on a part of the foundation that jutted out. There was a lot of monkey grass surrounding the house. We loved to find lizards and would try to catch them without them releasing their tails. John and Shelby would sometimes hang them from their earlobes. There were also ponds in the backyard that were covered in algea. We caught many tadpoals in those ponds.
I feel very blessed to have had such a wonderful grandfather. He set the bar high and I never wanted to disappoint him. He achieved much in life and was an important man in the community, but I never really knew about that until I was grown. To me, he was just Paw Paw, and there couldn't have been anything more important than that.
Georgia
I enjoyed reading about the walker family history. I am Francis Walker's ( Mrs. E. C. Hall) granddaughter.
Leslie,
Stephen and I were playing on the computer this pm and came across your blog--We really enjoyed. Aunt Carmen is well and will call ya'll soon!!!!
Carrie
My grandfather James Melvin Martin worked and lived in the house by the farm with his wife Belle. My bother and I always liked to help out at the farm. I have been trying to find a good photo of the farm. Any idea where I can find one!
Reeshia
Genivive Walker died on my 6th birthday, the same yr we bought our house on North Dr near the Walker Mansion on Horseshoe. I grew up horseback riding, and stabled my horse for many yrs at Dr. Barkers, directly across Horseshoe Dr.from the Walkers. They were very nice, and allowed us to ride along the bayou on their extensive 'front lawn' and also far back in the cow pastures behind the house. I have wonderful memories of resting in the shade beneath the huge live oaks. Now I'm a grandmother, and again live in my family home on North Dr. I drive past the Walkers home many times a week, and reminisce on the privilege of getting to enjoy this notable family's farm. Kim
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