Tombstone Tuesday - Mary T Raque

Mary T Raque is related to my children through their father. We found her grave years ago when we were researching their ancestors. I've always been drawn to how sweet it is that the parents wanted to mark her grave, even though she was only 3 days old when she died.

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

Treasure Chest Thursday - Not just a dress

Back in the 1990's, after I had a couple of years experience at doing research, my father, mother, son and I went to visit my father's 1st cousin, Deloris Tharp Bloxam, who lived in Grove City, Ohio. While there the topic of family research came up and Deloris, who was born in 1929, told me family information that she had heard and remembered. As always, I was extremely thankful to get more first hand knowledge on the family.

While we were talking Deloris asked me if I had anything from my great-grandmother, Rhoda Wagner Self Tharp. I told her no, that nothing had come down to me from that side of the family. She told me to come with her and proceeded to walk to another room in her house. After arriving in the room and several minutes of her getting stuff out of the closet, she hands me this dress.

She then tells me that it was a dress that Rhoda Wagner, "Wag" as she is known in our family, made this dress. Deloris' father, Royce Tharp, had bought and given Wag the material so that she could make a dress for herself.

Well of course I oohed and aahed over it and said how cool it was that she had something from her grandmother....she then tells me that I can have it.

"What? Stop the bus! You are letting me have it. Oh Deloris, I could never have this."

Or something like that was my response. But she insisted on me having it. She said that she had memories that would last her a lifetime of her grandmother but she wanted someone to have it that understood how special it was.

So now, thanks to my wonderful cousin, I am the owner of the dress that my great-grandmother made with own two hands and even wore.

Finding them and their family on the census....great
Knowing where they are buried or having a picture of them.....wonderful
Having something that they owned, made or used......Priceless.

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

Wordless Wednesday - Buffalo High School, Kentucky

Found in my grandmother's things, The High School in Buffalo, Kentucky.

Tombstone Tuesday - Martha Palina Jaggers Tharp

This is a picture of the tombstone Martha Palina Jaggers Tharp. She was the 1st wife of my great-grandfather, Simon Peter Tharp. She is buried in the Wilkerson Temple Methodist Church Cemetery at Kessinger in Hart County, Kentucky.

My grandfather's elderly cousin told me about how sweet Simon was to Paliney, as she called her. She said that Paliney came down with TB and couldn't walk, so Simon would pick her up and carry her wherever she needed to go. He also made her a wheelchair out of an old chair so that she could get around the house.

Thanks for dropping by and hope you can stop by again. ;)

Madness Monday - Can anyone tell me about this paper?

I think the title Madness Monday really fits this piece of paper.

We found this piece of paper, which measures only about 3 7/16" wide by 3 3/16" high, in some of the other papers that my aunt had inherited.

It says "1st class This is to certify that Miss Sarah B Munday left off head on friday evening November 30th 1860 H G W Bradley"  

LEFT OFF HEAD....what the heck! I thought at first it might be a train ticket, but then the word head comes in to play. I looked in the 1860 Barren County, Kentucky census and find that H G W Bradley looks to be listed as a farm laborer. So what is he doing that he is writing a "ticket?"

link to the above census is found on ancestry at
http://search.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbid=7667&iid=4230633_00233&fn=Herbert+G+W&ln=Bradly&st=d&ssrc=&pid=39274494

Does anybody know what this is, or know what this wording means? It has caused me quite a bit of head scratching trying to figure out what this is for.

Any help is greatly appreciated and thanks for stopping by. ;)