Author Extraordinaire….part two

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Lori Crane

The last time I wrote a blog about writing, I was in the middle of writing a ghost story that came from a dream I had. I’m still in the middle of it. Sometimes you just get side-tracked, ya know? During that process, I took a little vacation down to Mississippi to take pictures of ancestor’s headstones at cemeteries (Yes, another time-consuming hobby). While at a little cemetery in the middle of nowhere taking a picture of my 3rd great grandmother’s headstone, my husband, who gets dragged around incessantly on my jaunts, asked, “Now, who is this again?”

“What do you mean ‘Who is this?’ This, sir, is my great great great grandmother, Mary Ann Rodgers, daughter of Hays Rodgers, wife of Rice Carpenter and William Jolly.”

“Well, what’s her story?”

“Mary Ann lived through the Civil War and a typhoid epidemic and lost about SEVENTEEN family members to one or the other in an 18-month period. She was a strong and amazing woman. Just a taste in chronological order: she lost her brother and sister-in-law to typhoid in October 1862 leaving 5 orphaned children. In December 1862, her father died of typhoid. On December 31, 1862, her husband was killed in the Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. On January 30, 1863, she lost two of her sister-in-laws, her husband’s sisters. Three days later, her 1-year-old son died. A month after that, her mother died. She survived hunger and pain and loss the way none of us could even imagine today. We would be devastated today if we lost one family member. We would need anti-depressants if we lost two at the same time. How did she survive that kind of loss without going insane?”

“What happened to her?”

“Well, her husband Rice had a sister, yes, one of the sister-in-laws who died in January, who left behind a widower and four children. His name was William Jolly. In 1864, they married.”

“In those days, a woman needed a man to farm, and a man needed a woman to raise the children.”

“Yes, but it became more than a marriage of convenience. They were together for 26 years until his death, and they ended up having three children together, so they must have like each other. And, she lived a long life and died at the age of 70.”

“So, you come from very strong stock, eh?”

“Apparently. The women in my family had some serious backbone.”

“That’s a great story. You should write it down.”

Hence, my new historical fiction novel “Okatibbee Creek.” It is currently at the editor, and I hope to have it published on Amazon.com in December.

Back to the ghost story, right?

No, it turns out that one of the 5 orphans of her brother and sister-in-law had an amazing story as well. I’m currently working on my new historical fiction novel called “An Orphan’s Heart.”

Maybe I’ll get back to the ghost story after that.

Maybe not.

If you feel so inclined, please join me on the “Okatibbee Creek” fan-page on FaceBook. The story’s time-line and other surprises and information are available on that page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Okatibbee-Creek-the-novel/369862926416517

Ancestry – or Why I’m So Jacked Up – 3rd Great Grandparents 1&2

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Lori Crane

If you’ve never considered the exponential growth of your ancestors, let me break it down for you. You have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents and 32 great great great grandparents. Considering I’m at the section of my blog containing 32 great great great grandparents, I think I’ll just write a bunch of blogs and not try to put them all into one.

That being said, this blog is about my great great great grandparents:

Mary Ann Rodgers Carpenter Jolly and Rice Benjamin Carpenter.

Rice Carpenter was born to Benjamin Carpenter and Nancy Rice in Greene, Alabama on 15 Aug 1828. He was the eighth born of ten children, with six sisters and three brothers. The five eldest children were born in Franklin, North Carolina. The five youngest were born in Greene, Alabama. In 1834, family and friends (Richardsons, Alfords, Sanderfords, and Tutts) moved on a wagon train from Greene Co, AL to Lauderdale, MS for the low-cost land and fertile soil.

Rice married Mary Ann Rodgers in MS in 1846 at the age of 18.

Rice and Mary Ann had five children; Martha Lettie “Mattie”, Benjamin Hays, William Travis, Charles Clinton “Charlie”, and a son whose initials were M.F. William Travis died in 1856 at the age of two, and M.F. died at the age of one in 1863.

Rice was a farmer for a while, but by 1860 became a merchant, and he owned a general store in Marion Station, MS, which is now known as Marion. During the Civil War, he signed up for the 41st Mississippi Infantry, Company C, in 1862 and left Marion Station in May. On 31 December 1862, Rice was killed in battle at Murfreesboro, TN.

Mary Ann Rodgers was the tenth child of Hay Rodgers Sr and Mary A Scott. They had fourteen children; including two boys who died in 1834 at the ages of eight and ten of either an illness or an accident (Mary Ann was six years old at the time), and they had three sons who died in the Civil War between 1862 and 1864.

Mary Ann was 18 when she married Rice. December 1862 through March 1863 was an awful time for her. Her father, Hays, died a few weeks before her husband, Rice. Then her infant son, M.F., died a month later. Then her mother died a month after that. At the time of Rice’s death in 1862, she had fourteen year old Mattie at home, and her three sons were eleven, four and one. She was alone, running a store that was more than likely running out of supplies. The Confederate Dollar was losing value. Her children were probably hungry, with no farm or men in town to plant and harvest. She had lost her husband and three brothers to the war. She also lost her parents, her infant, and a host of brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, nieces and nephews to typhoid, which was spreading through Lauderdale County.

In February of 1864, she married William Eades Jolly. William had been married to Rice’s sister, Harriet. Harriet died in January of 1863 of typhoid and left William with four children to raise alone. Mary Ann and William were brother-in-law/sister-in-law, but Mary Ann needed someone to feed her children, and William needed someone to run his household while he worked on his farm. It was apparently a good arrangement for them, as they had three more children together; Alice, Sarah, and John Eades.

William died in 1890 at the age of 72 and is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Union, Newton Co, MS.

Mary Ann died 8 years after William on 18 July 1898 at the age of 70. She is buried next to her youngest son, John Eades Jolly, at Bethel Cemetery, Nellieburg, Lauderdale Co, MS.

Mary Ann had 13 siblings. They were Lewis, James, Allen, Jackson, Susannah, Stephen, William, Timothy, Hays Jr, Wilson, John W, Elizabeth and Martha Jane. If you are a descendant of Hays Rodgers (Mary Ann’s father) or would like to know more about the family, please join us at http://www.facebook.com/DescendantsOfHaysGRodgersSr .

Ancestry – or Why I’m So Jacked Up – Great Great Grandparents (dad’s side)

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Lori Crane

Paternal Great Great Grandparents.

Andrew Jackson “Jack” Crane and Martha Jane “Mattie” Mercer

William Thomas White and Laura Catherine Morrow

Joseph Lawson Pickett and Caledonia D “Callie” Fisher

Thomas Gilbert Lafayette Keene and Sarah Elizabeth “Bettie” Brown

Jack and Mattie married in 1873 in Mississippi. They were both born in Mississippi in 1852. Jack died in 1905 with Mattie dying 40 years later in 1945. She did not remarry after his death. They were the parents of 3 children: a girl in 1874, another girl in 1878 and a boy in 1841 (my great grandfather Amos Bolivar Crane). They are buried at McGowan Chapel Cemetery in Harmony, Clarke Co, MS with all three of their children and spouses.

I do not have any information on William Thomas White and Laura Catherine Morrow, except that they were both born in the 1840s, he in MS and her in AL. They were married in 1867 and had 13 children, with my great grandmother Minnie White Crane being the 10th.

Joseph Lawson Pickett and Caledonia D “Callie” Fisher were born in 1866 in AL and 1870 in MS, respectively. They were married in Aug 1891 in Lauderdale Co, MS and had 5 boys and 1 girl, the eldest being my great grandfather, Benjamin Berry Pickett. They are both buried at Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church Cemetery in Zero, Lauderdale Co, MS. He died in 1910 at the age of 44 and she in 1931 at the age of 61.

Thomas Gilbert Lafayette Keene and Sarah Elizabeth “Bettie” Brown were both born and died in MS. Strangely enough, with a name like TGL Keene, I can find very little information on him. This is about the only thing I have on him. It is a marble plaque hanging in the Lauderdale County courthouse in Meridian Mississippi, showing him the county treasurer 1904-1097.

I do, however, have plenty of information on Bettie Brown. She first married John Thompson and had a daughter, Fleta S. Thompson, in 1885. I do not know what happened to John Thompson, but she then married TGL in 1890 and had 7 children, the 2nd dying at 6 months of age, the 6th being my great grandmother, Eula Ouida Keene Pickett.

Bettie’s father was William Lafayette Brown Jr, who served in the Civil War as a sharp-shooter, guarding the railroad bridges in Newton County, MS from destruction by the Union troops. He was captured and escaped. He allowed himself to be captured again to help others escape, which he/they did. This was in 1862 when Bettie was born. Her birthday is 19 Nov 1862. 100 years to the day before my birthday, 19 Nov 1962.

Below is a transcript of the Brown family Bible.

TGL and Bettie are buried at Oak Grove Cemetery, Meridian, Lauderdale Co, MS.

Bettie was one of 10 children. Below are her brothers, Franklin Carlton and William Harrison (with wife Mary).

Stay tuned for 3rd Great Grandparents (mom’s side) and the story of the Carpenters and Rodgers who fought through the Civil War and suffered through typhoid running rampant through their community. Or, you could just read my upcoming novel “Okatibbee Creek“ which tells the story of Mary Ann Rodgers’ ordeal in vivid detail. It will be available at Amazon in Dec 2012 in paperback and kindle. (…shameless plug)

Side note: Mary Ann Rodgers’ brother, Wilson Rodgers, died in the Civil War in 1864 and his widow, Sarah Jane Graham Rodgers, eventually remarried. She married Lofton Evans Fairchild. (That is on my mom’s side.) Lofton’s brother, George W. Fairchild, married the above Fleta Thompson, daughter of Sarah Elizabeth “Bettie” Brown and her first husband John Thompson. (That is on my dad’s side.) I think that makes me my own cousin 14 times removed. 🙂

Ancestry – or Why I’m So Jacked Up – Great Great Grandparents (mom’s side)

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Lori Crane

My Great Great Grandparents on my mother’s side were:

Joel Bluett Culpepper and Mary A “Mollie” McFarland

William Henry Blanks III and Martha Lettie “Mattie” Carpenter

John Francis Burke and Nancy Didama “Damie” Spencer

John Thomas Howington and Florence J Smith

Joel B Culpepper and Molly McFarland

Joel B was born in Clarke Co, MS in Jan of 1847.

At the age of 17, he was active in the Civil War and was a member of Company K, 63rd Alabama Infantry. He was captured by Federal Forces and held as a prisoner of war at Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island until the end of the war.

After his release, he returned to Choctaw County, Alabama and married Mollie in 1870 and had 6 children: Mary Eudora, William Samuel (my great grandfather), Joseph Floyd, Rev Andrew Bluitt, a son who left home early, and a daughter who died young. Some were born in Sumter County, Alabama and some in Alamoucha. (See photos below of Mary Eudora, Joseph Floyd and Andrew Bluitt. See partIIa for photos of William Samuel.)

From Culpepper Footprints on the Sands of Time by Jean Culpepper Smith:

When Miss Minnie Dorrough, a retired school teacher of Sumter County Public Schools, was asked if she remembered the Culpepper family, she replied: “Yes Maam, I remember Mr. Joel Culpepper, he lived about two miles up the road from us. He worked in the saw mill business with Mr. Bill Woodall. He left this community and moved out beyond Meridian to Collinsville. Also, I remember two of his sons, Sam and Floyd. Sam came back and visited one Christmas. He had quite a romance going with a girl in the community, Ella Yarbrough.”

After Mollie’s death in 1908, Joel B lived with his children until he entered Beauvoir (1910), where he lived until his death.

Joel B. Culpepper died at Beauvoir in Biloxi, MS. He is interred at Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Kemper County, MS. He entered Beauvoir Soldiers Home under his rights as a Confederate soldier on April 7, 1910 at the age of 65 and died there on November 11, 1911.

Picture below: Daughter Mary Eudora and her husband Will Saterfiel. Front row l to r: Dewey Oliver Saterfiel, Will B Saterfiel, Mary Eudora Culpepper, baby Alma, Joel B Culpepper. Back row l to r: Evie Mae Saterfiel Hodges, Indeola “Necie” Saterfiel Byrd, Willie Carlos Saterfiel, Adie Joseph Saterfiel . Joel B, Will B and baby Alma are buried at Zion Cemetery, Kemper Co, MS. All others are buried at Pine Grove Cemetery in Lauderdale, MS.

Side note: I ordered my grandparent’s marriage license from Lauderdale County, MS, and the name of the witness was “D.O. Saterfiel!” Dewey Oliver Saterfiel was my grandfather’s cousin. I often forget that these people actually knew each other. 🙂

Family notes: Evie married George Hodges, son of John Wesley Hodges and 1st wife Mary Etta Davis. Adie, married Mary E Hodges, daughter of John Wesley Hodges and 2nd wife Hulda Ethridge. Willie, married Carrie Hodges, daughter of John Wesley Hodges and 3rd wife Mary Ann Moore. Lots of Hodges/Saterfiels in that family. Baby Alma only lived to be 4 years old: Jun 1907-Feb 1912. Father Joel B entered Beauvoir shortly after this photo. After Will Saterfiel’s death in 1925, Mary Eudora married George Watson in 1929.

Joseph Floyd: Joseph Floyd married Ora Wedgeworth and had 8 children.

2 of Joseph Floyd and Ora’s children: Ruth Jewel and Charles Emmet

Ora’s parents: Howell “Hobby” Wedgeworth and Martha Morrow (Martha’s brother, David Morrow, married Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Rodgers. She was one of the 5 orphans of James Rodgers who died of typhoid in 1862. She was niece of Mary Ann Rodgers.)

Rev Andrew Bluitt and wife Ollie Kitrell. They had two children, both boys.

Andrew Bluitt’s sons, Louis Curtis and William Obie.

William Henry Blanks III and Martha Lettie “Mattie” Carpenter

William was the son of William Henry Blanks II and Nancy Narcissus Young. He was the last born of seven children. He was born in Georgia in 1846 and shows up in the Lauderdale Co, MS census in 1850 at the age of four. He married Martha Lettie “Mattie” Carpenter on 1 Nov 1867 in Lauderdale Co at the age of 21. They had 6 girls, including my great grandmother, Annie Josephine Blanks Culpepper (see part IIa for pictures and stories).

Martha Lettie “Mattie” was the daughter of Mary Ann Rodgers and Rice Benjamin Carpenter. She was the first born and only daughter of 5 children. At the age of 14, her father was killed in the Civil War at the Battle of Murfreesboro in Tennessee on 31 Dec 1862.

Her father’s sister was Harriet Carpenter. Harriet married William Eades Jolly and had 5 children. At the end of 1862 and beginning of 1863, Typhoid Fever ran through Lauderdale Co, MS and wiped out many of the residents. Harriet was one of the fatalities. (Mary Ann’s youngest son, Martha Lettie’s baby brother, was also a fatality.)

In 1864, Mary Ann Rodgers Carpenter and her brother-in-law, William Eades Jolly, married. They had 3 more children. Martha Lettie’s cousins were now her 1/2 siblings, and her uncle William was now her step-father.

Martha Lettie and William Henry are buried at Hickory Grove Cemetery in Laurel, Jones Co, MS. William died at age 74 in 1922 of senility and chronic bronchitis; Martha died at age 84 in 1933 of cerebral hemorrhage.

John Francis Burke and Nancy Didama “Damie” Spencer

John Francis Burke was born in 1847 in Ireland. He is seen in the 1880 MS census living with his wife, Nancy Spencer, and her parents and siblings. Family members say John was a red-headed Irish immigrant, and the 1880 census says he was born in Ireland. Through family stories, he is said to have stowed away on an American-bound ship at the age of 15. He was found by the Captain enroute and was told that he could not be taken back to Dublin. He said, “If I wanted to go back, I would not have stowed away.” He was let off the ship in Miami in 1862. I am still looking for records from 1862 to 1880.

Nancy Didama “Damie” Spencer was the daughter of George Washington Spencer and Nancy Virginia “Jennie” Holdcroft. There are no records of her middle name being Didama, but family members say she was called Damie, a few census read Nancy D, and her maternal grandmother was Martha Didama Gross. Her tombstone reads Nancy Jamie. She was a doctor and road around the countryside side-saddle taking care of her neighbors.

There was a story from my mother that her grandmother was a medicine woman. She said it was Mary Howington’s mother, but as it turns out, it was Mary Howington’s husband, John Patrick Burke’s mother.

John Francis and Nancy Damie married in 1880 and had 6 children, the oldest being my great grandfather, John Patrick (see part IIa for pictures and stories). The oldest, John Patrick, and the youngest, David Edmund, married sisters, Mary and Julia Howington, respectively. John Francis Burke and Nancy Didama Spencer Burke; children John Patrick Burke, George Washington Burke, Kathleen Burke McGee, David Edmund Burke, and daughter-in-laws Mary Howington and Julia Howington and their parents are all buried at Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery in Duffee, Newton Co, MS, along with various grandchildren and great grandchildren, and other Howingtons. Other children, Robert Emmett Burke and Nina Virginia Burke are buried elsewhere. I have not researched John Francis Burke in Dublin, Ireland as of yet, but through family, I was told that his siblings are named the same names as his children, so when I research him, I should be able to find something.

John Thomas Howington and Florence J Smith

John was born in MS in 1853 to James C Howington and Amelia Elizabeth Smith. He was the 6th born of 12 children. In 1892, at the age of 39, he married Florence J Smith. They had 10 children, my great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Howington, being the oldest (see part IIa for pictures and stories). Mary and second born, Julia McKenly Howington, married the Burke brothers, as mentioned above.

Florence was born about 1876 in Newton Co, MS. I am having trouble finding much on her. I think she was a Choctaw Indian. In 1830, when the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed, the Indians either moved to Oklahoma or changed their names to assimilate into the white, European culture. I think her father changed their names to Smith. Therefore, there are no records of her or her family before her marriage on 1 Aug 1892. Her age is listed as 16.

John Thomas and his parents are buried at Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery in Newton Co, MS. Florence is buried next to him in an unmarked grave.

Stay tuned for Part IIIb(dad’s side) and Part IV showing how almost an entire generation was wiped out by war and disease.

Ancestry – or Why I’m So Jacked Up – Great Grandparents (dad’s side)

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Lori Crane

My father was a Crane.

His dad’s parents were Amos Bolivar Crane and Mary Elizabeth “Minnie” White.

His mom’s parents were Benjamin Berry Pickett and Eula Ouida Keene.

They will be mentioned in this post in that order.

My great grandfather Amos Bolivar Crane.

My great grandfather was born 11 Nov 1881 in Mississippi and died 9 Nov 1959 in Mississippi. That was a few years before I was born, so I did not know him.

He was the son of Andrew Jackson Crane and Martha Jane “Mattie” Mercer. He had at least 2 siblings, both sisters, and he married Mary Elizabeth “Minnie” White on 10 Aug 1902 and had 6 children, 2 girls and 4 boys (including the oldest, my grandpa Frank Crane). “Bo” is still a popular name in the Crane family.

Below: Amos Bolivar Crane’s headstone at McGowan Chapel Cemetery, Lauderdale Co, MS

My great grandmother Mary Elizabeth “Minnie” White

Minnie was born in 1884 in Mississippi and died there in 1964. I was born in 1962, so I’m assuming I knew her at some point. She was only 79 when she died and may have been around when I was an infant.

She was the daughter of William Thomas White and Laura Catherine Morrow. She was the 9th child born of 12.

Below: Mary Elizabeth “Minnie” White Crane headstone at McGowan Chapel Cemetery in Lauderdale Co, MS.

From left to right: Minnie’s sister Maggie, Minnie, baby Frank Crane, mother Laura Catherine Morrow White, Minnie’s sister Nannie, Minnie’s aunt (Laura’s sister) Narcissa. Photo is about 1905 and is from the library of my dad’s cousin, Jewel Sims.

My great grandfather Benjamin Berry Pickett

Though I did not know the Cranes, I did know the Picketts. Grandpa Ben was born in 1893 and died in 1973. He was the son of Joseph Lawson Pickett Sr and Caledonia D “Callie” Fisher. He was the oldest with 4 brothers and 1 sister. He married Eula Ouida Keene in 1916 at the age of 23 and had 3 children: Howard, Azalea, and Fleta Clarice.

There is a book by Hewitt Clark called “Thunder At Meridian,” that is the story of the local Choctaw Indians in 1695, through the white European settlers, and into the 1960’s with the Civil Rights Movement. One chapter is devoted to a 1923 bloody gunfight between the local law and some moonshiners. A “revenuer” or tax collector was killed in the gunfight and the moonshiner went to prison for murder. That moonshiner was my grandpa, Ben Pickett. The book does not say how long Grandpa Ben was in prison, but he served his time and was released.

1923 must have been a very hard year for his wife…

My great grandmother Eula Ouida Keene

Photo: Eula with children Howard and Azalea, mid 1920s, probably ’23 or ’24 by the ages of the kids.

Eula was the daughter of Thomas Gilbert Lafayette Keene and Sarah Elizabeth “Bettie” Brown. She was born in 1899 in Mississippi. She was my devoted pen-pal as I was growing up, and I still have many, many cards and letters from her. I also have very fond memories of spending many summers with her. She had chickens, a new calf every year, a nice garden, and was always working on a quilt. It turns out those quilts were for us great grandchildren. There were 6 of us, and we all received one on our 16th birthday. I still have mine hanging on a wall in my guest room.

Her mother had married her 1st husband at the age of 18 and had one daughter, Fleta. At the age of 27, she married Eula’s dad, TGL Keene, and had 7 children, Eula being the last girl. There were 14 years between Eula and her 1/2 sister, Fleta, and even though Fleta married by 1903 and moved out of the family home, it is obvious the two had a special relationship.

In 1920, Fleta had a daughter and named her Eula.

In May of 1921, Eula had a daughter and named her Fleta.

The joy of a new baby, however, was overshadowed in Sep 1921 when Eula’s father died. Baby Fleta Clarice, whom they called Clarice, developed pneumonia and died the following Spring on 5 May 1923. Eula’s sister, Fleta, then died a month later on 23 Jun 1923 at the age of 38. This was all at the same time as Eula’s husband being arrested for murder as stated above. Her mother then died in 1926, and her husband’s baby brother, Joseph Lawson Pickett Jr, was shot and killed by local police in 1928. All of this before Eula’s 30th birthday.

If things could go from bad to worse, they did. In Sept of 1936, she received the call every parent fears. Her 18-yr-old son had been in an auto accident. The following is an excerpt from his obituary:

Howard Benjamin Pickett, 18, son of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Berry Pickett of Meridian, who was injured in an automobile crash near Newton on Highway 80, died in a Newton hospital late Thursday. … Pickett, who was said to have been driving the automobile when it crashed at 5 a.m., received internal injuries. He never regained consciousness. …The crash occurred when a tire blew out, causing the machine to leave the highway, overturning several times before striking a stump.

Eula Ouida Keene Pickett was a very strong woman. She was deeply religious. She was a kind woman. Now we all know why. She is deeply missed by all who knew her.

Note: I find this interesting. Great grandpa Pickett died 31 Oct. His grandson, my father, died 31 Oct. My wedding anniversary is 31 Oct. Grandma Pickett’s mother’s birthday (my great great grandmother) was 19 Nov. Grandma Pickett’s son’s birthday (Howard) was 19 Nov. My birthday is 19 Nov.

Ancestry – or – Why I’m So Jacked Up – part IIa (mom’s side)

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Lori Crane

The Great Grandparents.

My mother was a Culpepper.

Her dad’s parents were William Samuel Culpepper and Annie Josephine Blanks.

Her mom’s parents were John Patrick Burke and Mary E Howington.

They appear on this page in that order.

My great grandfather William Samuel Culpepper

Sam was born in Alabama in 1874 and moved to Mississippi in his late adolescence. In early 1899, he was living at Tucker Springs.

At age 23, on May 14, 1899, he married Annie Josephine Blanks (1877-1961) of Lauderdale Co, MS and had 9 children.

From Culpepper Footprints on the Sands of Time by Jean Culpepper Smith:

Annie says, “Sam was really a handsome man with rosy cheeks, dark curly hair, and teeth as white as pearls.”

Jewel Culpepper Lowrey says, ” Yes, I remember good times at uncle Sam’s. I remember once when we were visiting and uncle Sam and Papa (Floyd) robbed a big bee tree. They brought a huge pan of honey back to the house.” Charles Culpepper says, “Yes, I remember that pan of honey. I ate my fill and I don’t think I have ever been sicker.”

Sam was a sawyer and followed the sawmill business, sometimes being gone for weeks at a time. The family lived on a farm and the children were taught how to run it. He was said to be a strict but loving father. He enjoyed making music and he had a harmonica and a pump organ. In his old age, the grandchildren would work the pedals for him while he played the organ.

Sam died in 1939 at the age of 65. His death certificate states he died of cerebral hemorrhage caused by hypertension.

Below: Sam and Annie

Note the webbed feet: Sam and Annie’s son Earl Culpepper married Ina Burke (my grandparents). Ina’s mother was Mary Howington, married to JP Burke. I didn’t know a lot about the brothers and sisters of my grandparents when I first started on this journey, so imagine my confusion when I found in Annie’s obituary that her daughter Zeffie Culpepper (my grandfather’s little sister) was listed as Zeffie Howington. Whoa! Wait! What? Howington?? Grandpa and Grandma just collided.

Let’s go back for one second and make a flow-chart. Sister’s Mary and Julia Howington married brothers JP and David Edmund Burke. Mary and JP had a daughter, Ina (my grandma), who married Earl Culpepper (my grandpa). Earl’s little sister, Zeffie, married Mary and Julia’s little brother, Melton. Imagine me trying to explain to my aunt that her Uncle Melton was also her momma’s Uncle Melton. Scoring update: Burke 2. Culpepper 1. Howington 1. However, Julia and David Edmund had two daughters who married two Scarbrough brothers, so the scoring update should read: Burke 2. Scarbrough 2. Tied.

(There is also a story that the Scarbrough brothers spent time in jail for stealing fur coats for their girlfriends. That makes me giggle.)

Ok, nevermind…back to the Culpepper/Blanks side…

My great grandmother Annie Josephine Blanks

Grandma Annie was born in 1877 in Louisiana. She appeared at the age of 3 in the U.S. Census in Lauderdale Co, MS and lived there until her husband died in 1939. At some point following his death, she moved to Mobile, Alabama with her son Freddie Lee and his wife Katie. She died in Alabama in 1961 and is buried in Lauderdale Co, MS. That was about a year before I was born, so I never knew her. 😦

Below: 3 of her 9 children (l to r) Frank, Clinton and Fred

(There is also a story of Clinton, the man in the middle in the above photo. In 1922, he married a woman named Eloise and had 2 daughters. Eloise was diagnosed with breast cancer, and Clinton thought he could not live without her, so he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Amazingly, he survived the gun shot wound and his wife survived the cancer, but the marriage didn’t survive the stress, and about 10 years later he re-married. He married a woman named Thelma, who was later also diagnosed with breast cancer. He again put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. He again survived the gunshot wound, but now had the mentality of a child. He could take care of himself and cook a little, but his speech was severely impaired. Thelma also beat her battle with cancer and took care of Clinton for the rest of her life. She died in 1984. He died shortly after in 1985.)

Annie was the daughter of William Henry Blanks III and Martha Lettie Carpenter. She was the third born of six girls. In 1916, her little sister Ora gave birth to her 4th child, William Lenard Bates.

Below: Ora Alice Blanks

Below: Ora Blanks with her husband Shellie Houston Bates and her children, (l to r) Shellie Lamar, Roger Lee, Mary Louise and holding baby William Lenard.

Little William Lenard died shortly after this photo was taken, on 29 May 1917. The family moved to Alabama following his death, but Ora did not recover from the tragedy. She died on 2 Sep 1917 – just over 3 months later. The official cause of death on her death certificate was “Acute Melancholia”. There were also some medical records stating she was having convulsions. I’m not sure what medicine one would take in 1917 to feel better after the death of a child, but whatever it was, it may have killed her.

I had some thoughts that perhaps she overdosed or committed suicide. When I first heard the story, I was very angry for days over the whole situation. I especially felt bad for the small girl in the picture, Mary Louise, who was now 3 years old and without a mother.

As I searched for more answers, I came across a person who seemed to have a lot of information about the family. It turns out this person was Mary Louise’s granddaughter! Mary Louise stayed in Alabama and was raised by her father’s sister in a happy, stable home. She married and had children and live to be 78 years old.

Below: Mary Louise with her maternal grandmother (my great great grandmother), Martha Lettie Carpenter Blanks.

My great grandfather John Patrick “Pat” Burke

The family story was that Pat was a red-headed Irishman, but my Aunt swears she never saw him with anything but white hair. Pat was born in Mississippi in 1880 of an Irish immigrant, John Francis Burke, and Nancy Didama Spencer. (There is a question about Nancy’s middle name. All census records show Nancy D, and her grandmother’s middle name was Didama. There are also elderly family members who swear she was called Didama, Aunt Damie, and Grandma Damie, but her headstone reads Nancy Jamie.)

Pat married Mary Howington around 1914 and had 7 children. He lived in Newton Co, MS until his death in 1958. Their grandchildren in Mississippi still have his fiddle and her pump organ. He played the fiddle for square dances in the Lauderdale Co, MS area every Saturday night.

Note: Pat’s brother, David Edmund, married Mary’s sister, Julia. See above “webbed feet flow chart”.

Below: Pat and Mary Howington Burke

My great grandmother Mary Elizabeth Howington

The story I always heard from my mother was that Mary Howington was a Choctaw Indian. Choctaw’s were from that Alabama/Mississippi area. Howington sounds Indian, doesn’t it?? Mary was born in 1893 in Mississippi to John Thomas Howington and Florence J Smith. I read someone’s blog who was trying to tie her Howington ancestor to the Choctaw Indians also. The problem we are having is that after the signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830, the Indians either moved to Oklahoma or changed their names and assimilated into the white, European culture, making them the first non-European U.S. citizens. The blog ended with the writer stating that her cousin said their Indian heritage did not come from their Howington ancestor, but from his wife, who was a Smith.

LIGHTBULB!! Of course the Indians with names like Lou-a-chubbee, I-ath-le-fiah, and Anah-chi-hat-tah would take generic names like Smith to assimilate into the white culture. Duh! I’m such a dork for thinking Howington was the Indian. Anyway, I’m still struggling with proof of Choctaw heritage. Maybe someday I’ll get it figured out.

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Stay tuned for Why I’m So Jacked Up part IIb – the great grandparents on dad’s side…moonshine, murder, and more webbed feet.

Ancestry – or – Why I Am So Jacked Up – Parents and Grandparents

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Lori Crane

That title is a total fabrication. In reality, I come from strong, sturdy stock. My ancestors hail from England, Ireland, Scotland, and places of incredibly hardy men and women in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi. I’ve studied my ancestors for about 25 years and have built up quite a collection of information, pictures, certificates and documents. I need a place to put all this stuff. How about here?

Let’s start with mom and dad…

Father: Andrew Frank “Andy” Crane II 1940-1994. Andy was born in Mississippi and died of complication of a pituitary tumor removal in Tennessee at the age of 54. He married my mom in 1960 at age 19. They divorced when I was small, and he married another woman and had 2 sons. I have no full-blooded brothers or sisters, but I do have 2 half-brothers from his second marriage, along with 2 sister-in-laws, 3 nieces and 2 nephews.

Daddy

Mother: Linda Faye Culpepper 1944-2001. My mother was also born in Mississippi and was 15 when she and my dad were married. She gave birth to me at age 18. After their divorce, she moved to Michigan with her second husband, dragging me to the snow and ice. She made her living as a nurse. She died in Michigan following a fall from her balcony at the age of 56.

Momma

Grandparents:

Andrew Frank “Frank” Crane I 1903-1979 and Margaret Azalea Pickett 1919-2006

Frank and Azalea were both born in Mississippi. He died in Mississippi at age 76, and she died at age 87 in Florida while living with her daughter. Grandpa Frank was the strong, silent type. He was quite a bit older than his wife, and as I remember, was already retired when I was small. “Miss Crane” (she would not allow us to call her “grandmother”) was a nurse. I don’t remember much of them due to my move to Michigan. I only saw them on summer vacations, but spent most of my time there with my cousins (who lived next door) and Miss Crane’s mother (who lived next door to my cousins). Grandpa Frank was married previously and had two boys and two girls in the 1920s and 1930s. He and Miss Crane had one boy and one girl in the 1940s. The girl, my aunt, had three daughters (yes, the cousins who lived next door). Sometime in the early 2000s, my aunt and Miss Crane moved to Florida. Frank is buried in the family cemetery in Mississippi, and Miss Crane has a headstone there also; however, her ashes remain with her daughter in Florida.

Apparently, Ms Crane was not the most “domestic” woman in the world. I heard a story that my mother went to the house and found Ms Crane “mopping” the kitchen floor by using the hose from outside to “wash” it and mopping it out the back door. 😀

Grandpa and Miss Crane

Frank with brothers Horace T. and Thomas Jackson “Tommy”

Earl Wilmer Culpepper 1914-1994 and Ina Inez Burk 1915-1975

“Papaw” and “Mamaw” were both born and died in Mississippi. They married in 1937 and had 2 daughters who were 7 years apart in age. I seem to remember my mother saying there was either a boy stillborn between them or that she was the twin of a stillborn boy. I can’t find any documentation of this, and there is no one left to ask.

My aunt married and had three boys. While my aunt was delivering her third boy, my mother babysat the older two boys. They were 2 and 3 yrs at the time. After spending a week with two toddlers, my mother said, and I quote, “I will never, ever have children.” Nine months to the day after the third boy was born, I was born. Never say never.

Mamaw was a seamstress at the local shirt factory, and Papaw work in the shipping department. She was a fabulous cook, which is what killed her. She died of complications following open heart surgery at age 59. Papaw married a lady from the factory after Mamaw’s death, and we kind of lost track of him after that. He was pretty involved with his new family (the lady had 2 teenage daughters still at home). He loved to fish and hunt and play his guitar and drink. He died following a stroke at age 80. Mamaw and Papaw are buried next to each other in Newton County, Mississippi.

Story: Not only did Papaw like to fish and hunt, there is also a story that he liked to walk down to the swamp in the dark and catch big frogs. I guess one day when he returned, Mamaw was not happy with him for some reason, perhaps just wondering where he had been. So, to show her what he had been doing, he dumped the bucket of live frogs on the kitchen floor. I can just imagine big frogs jumping around the kitchen.

Papaw and Mamaw

Me and my 3 boy cousins with Mamaw and Papaw

Coming Soon: Ancestry – or- Why I Am So Jacked Up – Great Grandparents

Featuring – The Great Grandparents!! Don’t miss the stories of the Irishman, the Choctaw Indian, the moonshiner who went to prison for murder, a picture of baby grandpa, and the sad, sad story of the young woman who died three months after her 10 month old son died. Was it suicide, medical negligence, or as the death certificate says, acute melancholia?

Stay tuned…

Lori Crane

award-winning author. musician. cute shoes.

Category Archives: ancestry and genealogy