A to Z Challenge – U is for U.S. Military

What better way to preserve history and honor those who have come before than to be an active member in societies? I never understood what societies did until I became a member of a few. What they do is preserve and honor tradition. They don’t allow ritual and sacrifice be forgotten. The groups I belong to are service organizations, dedicated to promoting patriotism and history, and they follow strict rules of tradition.

I belong to the United States Daughters of 1812 under my 4th great grandfather Hays Rodgers who fought for the Mississippi Militia. He was assigned to Capt Evan Austill’s company of volunteers in Maj Sam Dale’s Battalion to fight against the hostile Creek Indians.

Here is the U.S.D. of 1812’s purpose copied from their website:

The U.S.D. of 1812, founded in 1892, is a volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving and increasing knowledge of the history of the American people by the preservation of documents and relics, marking of historic spots, recording of family histories and traditions, celebration of patriotic anniversaries, teaching and emphasizing the heroic deeds of the civil, military, and naval life of those who molded this Government between the close of the American Revolution and the close of the War of 1812, to urge Congress to compile and publish authentic records of men in civil, military, and naval service from 1784 to 1815 inclusive, and to maintain at National Headquarters in Washington D.C., a museum and library of memorabilia of the 1784-1815 period.

(photo: Hays Rodgers)

I also belong to the Daughters of the American Revolution under my 5th great grandfather Joseph Culpepper who fought for the 3rd South Carolina (Rangers) Regiment.

A little piece of their purpose from their website includes: The DAR, founded in 1890 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit, non-political volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education for children.

If that’s not enough to do, I also belong to the United Daughters of the Confederacy under my 2nd great grandfather Joel B Culpepper who fought for the 63rd Alabama Infantry Co K .

The UDC exists to (from their website):

To collect and preserve the material necessary for a truthful history of the War Between the States and to protect, preserve, and mark the places made historic by Confederate valor
To assist descendants of worthy Confederates in securing a proper education
To fulfill the sacred duty of benevolence toward the survivor of the War and those dependent upon them
To honor the memory of those who served and those who fell in the service of the Confederate States of America
To record the part played during the War by Southern women, including their patient endurance of hardship, their patriotic devotion during the struggle, and their untiring efforts during the post-War reconstruction of the South
To cherish the ties of friendship among the members of the Organization

(photo: Joel B Culpepper)

I am honored and blessed to be a small part of these organizations and to carry on the traditions of the women who served before me.

A to Z Challenge – S is for Slavery

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Lori Crane

S is for Slavery

That title may have raised a few eyebrows, and I apologize. With my recent genealogy research, I have been thinking a lot lately about slavery. Not as in bad or good, or as in a concept of the past, but as in the actual people involved in the process—the slaves and the owners and their lives and relationships.

My family hails from the south—All Of Them. We’ve been in NC, TN, MS and AL since the 1600s. I think all but one of my greats, 2nd greats, and 3rd greats were born and raised in the south. And just like the majority of southern farmers, nearly all of my family owned slaves until 1863ish. What got me thinking about the topic in depth was recently finding a 1750 will of a grandfather who owned 800 acres and left at least 40 slaves to his descendants. 40? What a major financial investment and responsibility that was.

I also have other family history:

…a 3rd great grandfather who gave his slave 80 acres following the emancipation, and his descendants still live on that land to this day, next door to the grandfather’s descendants.

…a great uncle who sold his farm in 1865 to a black man named Tom Stennis. Later I found that this was a former slave of Adam T. Stennis, who bought my 4th great grandfather’s land in 1869.

…that same 4th great grandfather had $8000 of wealth in land and farming equipment in 1860—and had 13 slaves. Generally, a slave would sell for $1000 or more at an auction, so this was not a cheap or frivolous purchase. He was well-to-do with $8000 of land and livestock, but he had most of his wealth tied up in $13,000+ worth of slaves. Those are 1860 prices. I looked it up on http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/ and found the relative value of $13,000 in 1860 is up to $45 MILLION today. Holy Cow!

I am not negating the abuse of slaves at the time nor the emotional attachment people of today have to this issue. This is not a debate on whether slavery was good or bad. As intelligent human beings, we can all agree it was/is bad. I am, however, finding more and more evidence that the white plantation owners took good care of their slaves following the emancipation. So, that’s what got me thinking about it…on a human level.

If you own livestock, you probably don’t love them, but you do recognize your responsibility to feed them and take care of them. If you own something rare and valuable like a sports car, you would take very good care of it. If you are from the south, you have a greater sense of responsibility toward your neighbors and community than anywhere I’ve seen on this planet. Everyone knows the kindness and compassion of southerners is unsurpassed.

Now, if the government takes away your ability to make a living, as it did to plantation owners by taking the slaves away, what are you going to do? Easy, you get another job. But what if that action involves 40 people who work for you and depend on you? These were not employees who you hand a pink slip and send on their way. They are your property. Don’t you have a moral obligation to take care of the people in your charge, whether they were birthed or bought? When the slaves were legally freed, where could they go? What could they do?

The most logical idea I thought of was to give them 40 acres in exchange for them still working on your farm. That would help you maintain your income, while at the same time, helping them become free.

I’m wondering if Alex Haley’s “Roots” dug so deep in our collective conscious, that it created in us a mindset that all slave owners were evil, abusive tyrants. Perhaps they were, but I’m finding a lot of evidence to the contrary. This whole issue is swimming around in my head, so please comment if you have thoughts.

A to Z Challenge – P is for Paternal

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Lori Crane

Blogging from A to Z April 2013 Challenge

P is for Paternal

I write sooooo much about my mother’s ancestry line. On her side, I have five grandfathers who fought for the Confederacy, two who fought in the War of 1812, two in the Revolution, and Irish and English ancestors dating way, way, way back. I seldom write about my father’s line, so I thought P should stand for Paternal and I should blog about my daddy’s side.

CRANE FAMILY

My father was Andrew Frank “Andy” Crane Jr. (1940-1994). He was born in MS and died in TN.

My grandfather was Andrew Frank Crane Sr. “Frank” (1903-1979). He married Margaret Azalea Pickett (see Pickett Family below).

My great grandfather was Amos Bolivar Crane (1881-1959). There are still a lot of men named Bo in the Crane family. Amos married Mary Elizabeth “Minnie” White and her family was from Tennessee and North Carolina. I see a lot of Tennessee/NC mixtures in my tree. The state line must have been blurred for a long time.

The woman holding the baby is Minnie White Crane, and the baby is my grandpa Andrew Frank Crane Sr. The woman in the middle is my great great grandma Laura Catherine Morrow White.

My 2nd great was Andrew Jackson “Jack” Crane (1856-1905). He married Martha Jane Mercer, whose grandmother was a Windham. I have the Mercers traced back to 1500 England. They came to America about 1650. The Windhams are traced back to 1665 Virginia, but with a name like Windham, I’m sure they came from England.

My 3rd great was Jeremiah William Crane (1828-1860). He married Sarah Frances Grimes. Her family, the Grimes and the Pettibones, came to America from England in the late 1600s.

My 4th great was Jeremiah Crane (1781-?) born in Georgia. He married Mary Polly Weldon. The Weldon family came to America from England in the mid-1600s.

PICKETT FAMILY

My paternal grandmother was Margaret Azalea Pickett (1919-2005). I have the Pickett line traced back to 1591 England. They came to America around 1600. Some settled in NY and MI, others moved south. I was born in MS and now live in MI. I find it funny that generations later I ended up where my some of my ancestors settled. Maybe I’m not supposed to be in the South.

Her father was Benjamin Berry Pickett (1893-1981). There is a book called “Thunder at Meridian” by Hewitt Clarke that relates a story of a 1923 bloody shoot-out between some moonshiners and a tax collector. One of the men went to prison for killing the tax collector. That was Grandpa Ben. You probably didn’t want to mess with him and his brothers. (Note: My grandmother said the story wasn’t true, but she was four at the time, so how much of the truth did she really know?) Ben married Eula Ouida Keene. I haven’t been able to trace the Keene family at all, but her mother’s family was the Browns. I traced them back to 1775 Georgia. Her grandpa, William Lafayette Brown, was a sharp-shooter in the Civil War, guarding the railroad bridges in Chunky, MS. He was captured and escaped. He allowed himself to be captured a second time to help others escape. He/they did. He had a bounty on his head for the rest of the war. The Browns were married into the Hamrick, Clearman, and Dollar families who have all been in America since before 1700. All came from England except the Hamricks, who were from Germany. (photo: Eula and Ben about 1970.) For more about Ben and Eula click here.

Ben Pickett’s mom was Caledonia Fisher (wife of Joseph Lawson Pickett). I haven’t been able to trace the Fishers back past 1700, because every generation has a Southy Fisher with a kid named Southy and umpteen grandchildren named Southy. North Carolina has more Southy Fisher records than the sky has stars. Too confusing for me to figure out.

I still have Fisher cousins living on Fisher land in MS, and they have tons of stories about my 3rd great grandpa William Thomas Fisher and his escapades during the Civil War. He married Ann Butler. There is a story that he went down to New Orleans to get her a slave woman to keep the house. While he was there, he saw a young black boy and asked the slave traders what they were going to do with him. They told him they would throw him overboard for the sharks on the way back. He took the boy home and raised him as his own. The boy stayed by his side during the Civil War and fought for the Confederacy. William gave the boy forty acres when he set him free, and the boy’s family still lives on the land to this day. Note: Yeah, William’s dad was named Southy and his son was named William Southy. Ugh. (photo: William Thomas Fisher and Ann Butler on their wedding day.)

Just for kicks, here’s my great great great great grandpa Southy Fisher!

Well, that’s it. Not as interesting as mom’s family, but some good stories nonetheless. With all these English ancestors, I feel the need to go have a cup of tea.

A to Z Challenge – M is for Morris

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Lori Crane

Blogging from A to Z April 2013 Challenge

M is for Morris

My post about James C Howington caused a bit of a stir when I mentioned his great grandfather Robert Morris signed the Declaration of Independence. Therefore, here is an entire post devoted to Robert Morris.

My sixth great grandfather was Robert Morris Jr., signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of the Confederation, and the U. S. Constitution. Also, wearer of a stylish tricorn hat!

He was born in January 1734 in Liverpool, England to Robert Sr. and Elizabeth Murphet. He had 4 brothers and 3 sisters. His father was a tobacco merchant, who traded extensively with America and moved to America when Robert was a small boy. Eventually his father sent for him, and he arrived in America in 1744. While he studied in Philadelphia, his father resided in Maryland and died in an accident when wadding from a ship gun being fired in his honor, struck and killed him. I am not sure what happened to his mother. There are records of an Elizabeth Morris dying in Liverpool in 1778, but biographies of Robert say upon the death of his father, he was left an orphan at the age of 15. Those reports say his mother died when he was two, and he was raised by his maternal grandmother until he moved to America.

Following his father’s death, he served as an apprentice to a merchant in Philadelphia and upon the merchant’s death, he entered a partnership with the merchant’s son. It was called “Willing, Morris & Co.” and would last until 1793. One can understand he was trying to make a living from the goods he was shipping so was NOT happy with the tariffs and taxes Great Britain placed on those goods. They vastly cut into his profits. He signed a non-importation agreement with other merchants of Philadelphia that they would no longer trade goods with Great Britain. This must have been a considerable financial sacrifice.

By 1775, the colonist had finally had enough and wanted a separation from the British government. Later that same year, Robert was elected to the Continental Congress that met in Philadelphia (not in Washington D.C.). War was brewing. The Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, but the actual signing didn’t take place until August 2.

During the war, he was instrumental in securing funds to supply the soldiers, including loaning 100,000 pounds of his own money and financing 80% of all bullets fired in the war.

Following the war, he was instrumental in creating the national bank. He was then appointed Senator for Pennsylvania, and in 1789, President George Washington appointed him Secretary of the Treasury, but he declined the office.

Unwise land purchases led to his bankruptcy in 1798, and he spent a few years in debtor’s prison. Following his release in 1801, he led a quiet life and died in relative poverty at the age of 73 in 1806.

There is not much detailed information about his private life, but he married Mary White in 1769, and they had 5 sons and 2 daughters. She probably had no idea that her husband would commit treason against the Crown and there would be a storm of war ahead of them, and certainly had no idea he would spend three years in prison, but she stood beside him through the good and bad until his death.

He is buried in the family vault of Bishop William White, his brother-in-law, at Christ Church churchyard in Philadelphia.

I am a member of many patriotic organizations including the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Daughters of the American Revolution. There is a group called the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. I guess I should check that out.

A to Z Challenge – K is for Kin

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Lori Crane

Blogging from A to Z April 2013 Challenge

K is for Kin

I began studying my ancestors as a teen, starting with my mom’s family. My mom was a Culpepper. There are a lot of Culpeppers out there with records dating back to English Lords, Sirs, Sheriffs, and Justices of the Peace, so they are not hard to trace. With the invention of the internet, it became easier and easier.

The Culpepper name, originally Colepeper, is believed to hail from Sir Thomas de Colepeper, born 1170 in Kent, England. ‘De’ meaning of or from; ‘Cul’ meaning bottom (in French); and the family was from Pembury, originally known as Pepenbury, so the full translation is ‘of the bottom of Pepenbury.’ Makes sense. Eventually the ‘de’ was dropped as it fell out of fashion.

Back in the 1990s, I traced back to my favorite Culpepper ancestor. I don’t know why he’s my favorite; he just intrigues me. His name was John Culpepper. He was my 12th great grandfather. He was born in 1530 in Salehurst, Sussex, England and died 20 Oct 1612. He owned Wigsell Manor (pictured below) which he inherited from his father William Culpepper. His mother was Cicely Barrett, and much later in my research I found the Barretts, who married into the Bellhouse and Poyntz families, to be just as interesting as the Culpeppers. They were big in politics and owned enormous estates, making Wigsell look like a little cottage. It’s quite possible Cicely married beneath her. Perhaps she married for love. ♥

There are no records of John’s education. He seems to have lived a quiet life. He married Elizabeth Sedley around 1560 and records show they had about seven children. Records for female children are far and few between, but he did have a daughter named Cicely, named after his mother. He was a Justice of the Peace, and the only public records of him are testimonies in Queen Elizabeth’s Privy Council from 1558 to 1592. Following the chaos of King Henry VIII’s rule, bloody Queen Mary’s rule, and finally Queen Elizabeth’s, the country was in political and religious turmoil. That may be why he lived such a quiet life. If you didn’t, you would surely be beheaded or burned at the stake for something.

He died at the age of 82, considerable for the time, and is buried at Salehurst Church as “Johanes Colepeper, armiger, etatis 82.” The word ‘armiger’ means ‘entitled to the coat of arms.’ The Culpepper Coat of Arms graces the church wall near the front door. (I also have it tattooed on my back.) RIP grandpa Johanes.

Update: By special request, here’s my tat.

The bottom is French and means, “I hope.”

A to Z Challenge – J is for James C Howington

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Lori Crane

Blogging from A to Z April 2013 Challenge

J is for James C Howington

James was my 3rd great grandfather. He was born in Wake County, NC on 15 Jan 1823 to Nimrod Howington and Milbury Bradley. He was the second born of thirteen children. He was 5′ 11″ and had auburn hair and gray/blue eyes.

At some point, he ended up in Sumter Co, AL and married Amelia “Ann” Smith on 24 Sept 1843. His son also married a Smith (my great great grandparents), and I heard through family members that she was a Choctaw Indian. The Indians were all but run out of MS and AL in the 1830s following the signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. The ones who stayed changed their names to assimilate into the white European culture. They chose names like Smith, so there is a good chance Amelia was an Indian also.

By 1850, they had taken up residence in Newton Co, MS and had ten children before the start of the Civil War. James signed up with the 5th Mississippi Infantry, Co. A, on 7 July 1862. He was captured 15 Jun 1864 and held prisoner at Rock Island, Illinois. When the war ended, he returned home and they had two more children.

His great grandparents (my 6th greats) were Robert and Mary Morris. I’ll let you look them up yourself, but it is proof we have been here in the U.S. for a very long time. Oh, all right, I know you won’t go look. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. You’ll go look now, won’t you? Yeah, that was my pappy. We seem to have a rebellious streak in our family.

James died around 1880 at the age of 57 and is buried in Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, a few miles from his home.

A to Z Challenge – H is for Hays

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Lori Crane

Blogging from A to Z April 2013 Challenge

H is for Hays

I write a lot about my Rodgers ancestors, but playing just as an important role in the fact that I am sitting here are my Hays ancestors.

My fifth great grandma was Elizabeth “Elly” Hays. She was born just before the start of the Revolutionary War either in Tennessee or North Carolina to Samuel Hays and Elizabeth Pricilla Brawford. Records say North Carolina, but her father was born and died in Davison County, Tennessee, so NC seems strange. Her little brother, Charles, was also born in NC, so it is possible the family lived there for a while. And her paternal grandfather died in NC, so the family definitely had a connection there. I haven’t researched her thoroughly (yet), but it looks like she was the only girl with at least four brothers.

Elly was sixteen when she married James Rodgers in Tennessee on 20 Dec 1790. She birthed twelve children. In 1811, the family packed up and moved to the eastern Mississippi Territory – a place called Alabama, which wouldn’t become a state for a few more years. You know how difficult it is going on a road trip with little kids in the car? Imagine being on a wagon for days with a dozen of the little rug rats and not a McDonalds in sight.

This was a time in history when the U. S. was flexing its political muscle and tensions were escalating, leading up to the War of 1812. And little did the Rodgers family know, they were moving into Creek territory. Not only were the Creek Indians fighting the U.S. Government, they had also broken into two sanctions and were fighting amongst themselves. The Rodgers family moved into the middle of a rat’s nest. They were harassed for years by the marauding Indians, taunting them and stealing their livestock, and the final straw, burning down their home.

In 1815, her two eldest sons, Hays (named after momma’s family) and Absolom, joined the Mississippi Militia to help fight off the hostile Creek Indians, and following the boy’s discharges in 1818, the family moved west to Lauderdale County, Mississippi.

Her husband died in Mississippi eight years later, and she moved back to Clarke County, Alabama and probably lived with her daughter Elizabeth. She died in Alabama in 1839 at the age of 65.

Elizabeth Hays Rodgers is the heroine of my coming book “Elly Hays” which is the third book in the Okatibbee Creek Series. It will be released Winter 2013.

Book Giveaway

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Lori Crane

April 4, 1853

She was born in Lauderdale County, Mississippi to James Rodgers and Martha Sanderford Rodgers. She had a five-year-old brother and a two-year-old sister, and two more children would follow her. She grew up in a farming community, surrounded by loving grandparents and more than a dozen aunts and uncles, along with their respective spouses and children. Her father and a slave named Bill built the log home she grew up in. Her childhood was ideal.

In 1861, Mississippi seceded from the Union and Civil War broke out. Though she had many uncles go off to fight in the war, her brothers were too young and her father was too old, so they remained safely at home with her.

In the fall of the following year, a typhoid epidemic invaded her community, killing her grandparents, many aunts, uncles, and cousins, and her parents. Her father died October 12, 1862. Her mother died a few short weeks later.

She was nine.

Her given name was Martha Ellen Rodgers, but she was simply known as Ellen.

“An Orphan’s Heart” is her story.

Happy birthday, Ellen! We honor and remember you on this day, 160 years after your birth.

In honor of Ellen Rodgers’s birthday and the May 1st release of “An Orphan’s Heart,” I am hosting a giveaway. One randomly selected person from all the people who LIKE “An Orphan’s Heart” facebook fan page will be chosen on May 1st to receive signed paperback copies of BOTH “An Orphan’s Heart” and “Okatibbee Creek.” Spread the word to your friends. All they have to do is LIKE the page. No purchase necessary. One winner will be chosen. Winner will be notified on or about May 1st. Prizes will be shipped on or about June 1st. Click here to visit “An Orphan’s Heart” facebook fan page.

okatibbee_cover front

A to Z Challenge – I’m late – Here’s A, B, and C

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Lori Crane

Blogging from A to Z April 2013 Challenge

Apparently people around here are doing fun things, and I’ve been so busy I’m missing out.

The challenge is to blog alphabetically from A to Z through the month of April – excluding Sundays. That makes 26 blogs in 26 days using 26 letters. Okay, I got this! I need to catch up on A, B and C though, so here it is.

A is for Ancestry

I’m an ancestry and genealogy nut. It is a time-consuming hobby that takes over your life and causes you to spend more time with dead people than living people. You voluntarily give up sleep, food, and going to the restroom. The most amazing thing I’ve learned is that life is about those around you, which is in contradiction to the whole researching-your-ancestry process, but we all end up in the cemetery, and we all end up forgotten as time passes. What you do in the very short time between your birth and the cemetery is up to you.

B is for Bars

I spend every evening in bars – not partying, though it is always a party, but playing. I’m a dueling piano player. I tell raunchy jokes, I sing songs with incorrect lyrics, and I lead massive, drunken sing-a-longs. My favorite part of the night is when the audience is hot, and their applause and cheering is deafening. Favorite song: The one with the most tip money on it. Favorite drink: Crown Royal. Favorite toast: “Here’s to relationships. They’re a lot like garage sales. They look good from the outside, but once you get in, you find it’s just a bunch of shit you don’t really need.”

C is for Children

I have two. They are older now and are dating and on the brink of multiplying, so I will have more very soon, I’m sure. That’s enough on that subject.

Check the A to Z Challenge page and join in!!

Lori Crane

award-winning author. musician. cute shoes.

Category Archives: ancestry and genealogy

A to Z Challenge – U is for U.S. Military

A to Z Challenge – T is for Tradition

A to Z Challenge – S is for Slavery

A to Z Challenge – P is for Paternal

A to Z Challenge – M is for Morris

A to Z Challenge – K is for Kin

A to Z Challenge – J is for James C Howington

A to Z Challenge – H is for Hays

Book Giveaway

A to Z Challenge – I’m late – Here’s A, B, and C