Happy Birthday Minnie!

My paternal grandmother, Minnie Frances Shofner, was born on this date in 1915 in Allendale, Green County, Kentucky. SOOO thanks to my public school education I know she would have been 100 years old today.

Mystery Monday - Possible Simon spotting

I have a mystery that needs solving and I hope you all can help with it. Are these two men the same person?

The two men on the right are the same person, he is my paternal great-grandfather, Simon P Tharp. The man on the left is found in a picture from a circa 1911 Road Construction I have recently come across. I will hold my thoughts until I get some feedback from some of you.

What do you all think? 

The two men on the right are my great-grandfather, Simon P Tharp.
The man on the left is the suspected Simon.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)
   

Mappy Monday - Oh the places he's lived!

When I started doing research, my dad was still alive and wanted to help, so he would do what he felt comfortable doing. Some of which were: visiting with relatives and talking to them about the family, asking around for copies of family pictures, and going with his father to old home places to take pictures.

One time after spending the weekend with his father, dad came back home and showed me the map below.

Funeral Card Friday - Aunt Emma Tharp Beard

Here is the Funeral Home Card of my great-aunt Emma Tharp Beard. I have posted her obituary here and a picture of her at 4 years old here.

It doesn't state it on the card but her funeral services were held here in Louisville with burial in Upton Cemetery, Upton, Kentucky.

Trivia Fact: Upton is a small town that is officially in both Larue and Hart Counties in Kentucky. Wonder how troublesome that is when tax and car registration time comes around?

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Treasure Chest Thursday - Aunt Emma Tharp Beard at 4 years old

On Sunday I posted Aunt Emma Tharp Beard's obituary here. I thought I would continue with a Treasure Chest Thursday with a picture of Aunt Emma at the tender age of 4 years old. I just think she is soooo cute.

Aunt Emma was born in 1903, so this picture would have been taken in about 1907. According to the 1910 census she was living with her parents, Simon P Tharp and Rhoda W, in Priceville, Hart County, Kentucky.

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Sunday's Obituary - Emma Tharp Beard

 

This is the obituary of one of the sisters to my paternal grandfather, yeah the one that had the doll. My parents cut it out of the local newspaper, the Courier Journal. Stay tune for more postings on Aunt Emma.

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Treasure Chest Thursday - The cutest doll ever !

I've been wanting to do a post about this doll for some time. This doll was my paternal grandfather's.....that's right I said my paternal grandfather. The grandfather that had this doll was Hurley T. Tharp, born 20 Oct 1914 in Priceville, Hart County, Kentucky.

Happy Birthday Grandma

Today is the birthday of my paternal grandmother, Minnie Frances Shofner. She would have been 95 years old today.

Minnie Frances Shofner was born 5 Dec 1915 to Robert William Shofner and Annie Elizabeth Liles. She married Hurley T Tharp on 5 Jan 1935 in Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Kentucky. She died in 1989 after being sick and unable to come and visit us in Louisville for several years before her death, less than a month before I graduated high school. When it happened I found comfort in the thought that this was the only way she would have been able to make it to my graduation. The earliest picture I have of her is this one:

According to the back of this picture this was taken in May 1933. Unfortunately, it doesn't say why she was so dressed up or where the picture was taken.

I actually had a dream that had her in it last night. When I woke up I didn't think too much about it except I knew that I couldn't remember the last time that I had a dream that had her in it. Then when I was doing some work in my genealogy file, I noticed the day.

So Happy Birthday Grandma, I still miss you after all these years.

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Wedding Wednesday - Simon and Wag

This is a picture of my great-grandparents, Simon Peter Tharp and Rhoda Wagner "Wag" Self. I have been told that this is their wedding picture. There is two things that I have always noticed while looking at this picture.

Another conversation with an elderly cousin

Some of you may remember a posting I did back on the 1st of May about my recent phone conversation with Junior Hutcherson, an elderly cousin of mine, and our catching up of family news. That posting is located here for your reading pleasure.

Anyway, the reason I mention this is because Jr called me the other day just to check in again. Well, as always we had a really enjoyable conversation. But again I am amazed at what a wealth of knowledge he is. I casually mentioned something that I noticed on the 1930 census. Well, that led to him telling me how my paternal grandparents meet.

Fantastic Friday – William Bailey Tharp, Sr

I totally made up the category for today, but I figured might as well everyone else does. ;)

Anyway, I  thought I would post a picture from my father's side of the family. You know give them their time "in the spotlight."

In a previous posting called Earlier Researchers, I stated that if it weren’t for previous researchers I wouldn't have nearly as much information on my families as I do now.

Wordless Wednesday – Harry Washington (Wash) Shofner Obit

This week is the obituary of my grandmother’s brother, Harry Washington Shofner. Everybody called him Wash or Washie. Again, unfortunately, the obit doesn’t give the date.

Ancestry.com has the Kentucky Death Index 1911-2000 which shows the following for "Washie" :

Name:	Harry W Shofner
Death Date:	5 Feb 1972
Death Place:	Nelsn
Age:	72
Residence:	Larue
Volume:	10
Certificate:	4759

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Wordless Wednesday – Robert E. & Artie (Campbell) Shofner obits

This week I have two obituaries to post. They are Robert E. Shofner, my grandmother’s brother, and Artie Campbell, Robert’s wife.

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Wordless Wednesday (sort of)- Annie E Lile Shofner Obit

My grandmother, Minnie F. Shofner Tharp, was very good about clipping out and keeping the obituaries of her siblings and their spouses. The other day I started organizing my pictures. what a task! While going through the pictures that I had inherited after her death, I again found her collection of family obituaries. Starting today and across the next several Wednesdays I will be posting these obituaries. Today I will start with my great-grandmother, Annie Elizabeth Lile Shofner. Most, if not all,

Wordless Wednesday - Martha Palina Jaggers Tharp

This is the funeral card of Martha Palina Jaggers Tharp who was the first wife of my great-grandfather, Simon Peter Tharp.

I have also posted her tombstone on a previous Tombstone Tuesday that can be found here.

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Children of the Tobacco?

I've heard of  "Children of the Corn" but what about these two "Children of the tobacco?"

Treasure Chest Thursday - Dad's horse

Keeping with the theme that I started last Thursday with my grandfather's lion, I am doing a posting of my dad's horse. This horse sat beside my grandfather's lion on the bookshelf in my grandparent's home as long as I can remember.

I have been told that my father played with it when he was a boy. Well, he must have not played with it too much or he was extremely careful with it when he did. Because when looking at it up close it doesn't have a mark on it as far as scratches. It wouldn't get me an appearance on "Antique's Roadshow" that's for sure but for me it is priceless!

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Treasure Chest Thursday - Grandpa's Lion

When I look back on my childhood one of the things that I always remember seeing on my grandparents bookshelf is this cast iron lion. It belonged to Hurley T. Tharp, my paternal grandfather. I was never really allowed to take it down and play with it or really touch it all that much. I do remember it always being on the bookshelf. You know one of those things you don't really notice unless it was moved or missing.

The one or two times that I really showed some interest in it my grandfather told me that he had been given it as a child. Sadly, I don't

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Treasure Chest Thursday - Augustine Warder Royalty

As genealogists we have many "new" relatives that come in and out of our lives as we research. Cousins from different branches of the family and different parts of the country that we connect with through out our years of digging up ancestors. Some you may only contact once, while others may stay in contact off and on for the next couple of years or even decades. This was my cousin Augie.

I found Augie in my early years of researching my father's side of the family in Hart County, Kentucky. The Hart County, Kentucky Historical Society had information that Augie had submitted to a family file on one of my families. I noticed she lived in Louisville, so I contacted her. In our first meeting she was so welcoming, sharing and happy to find another long lost cousin. In addition to all of the cousinly (I just made that word up ;p )love she gave me, she also gave me what has since become one of my prized possessions, a picture of my great-great grandmother, Josephine O'Neal Self. I'm talking about her giving me the original picture, you know the one on the cardboard! Not just a copy of the picture. WOW!

This is the picture she gave me. It is of Josephine O'Neal Self and her son William Younger, called Bulgar, and his family. From left to right, Josephine, Hattie, William Younger "Bulgar", Floyd, Ollie Jaggers Self (Bulgar's wife) and Howard.

As so often happens, life interrupts our best laid plans. I had life changes that caused me to not be a full-time mom and researcher anymore so I lost touch with Augie. But ever so often I would call Augie to find out how she was doing and as before she was always so thoughtful and sweet when we talked. Even though we didn't talk on a regular basis I still thought of her frequently.


On Tuesday I found out that Augie passed away in January of this year. I will miss my cousin. Her obituary can be found at: Augustine Royalty’s Obituary by the The Courier-Journal.

I just thought I would share with you, my new "new" family, information about another one of my Treasure Chests.

Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)