TOMBSTONE TUESDAY

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY

Almost Wednesday, but thought I would post this anyway.

This is the Red Granite marker for the Patterson family plot in the Rock Cemetery located in Granite, Greer, Oklahoma.

 This is the marker for my Paternal Grandfather's grave.  Jasper born March 12, 1872 and died Aug 29th, 1953. Here is the biography I wrote for findagrave.com:

Jasper Patterson was the son of Greenup Bird Patterson and his wife Elizabeth Wigham Patterson. He grew up as a farmer and is listed on the 1900 census as a farmer in Hays County Texas with his wife Katie Hasson Tadlock. By the 1910 census he was listed as a blacksmith. I remember as a small child visiting Granite Oklahoma and being taken to see a wrought iron gate that he had crafted. His wife Katie died in 1913 from childbirth fever. He married again I'm not sure what her name is but she didn't live long. Jasper raised his kids mostly by himself with the help of family. 1920 census he was living with his oldest son and his wife. In the 1930 census he was living with his oldest daughter and her family in Indianapolis. He was listed as a blacksmith in an iron foundry. But had not worked the day before. (I found an article that referred to the foundry being closed during the depression and resuming production in 1932). 

I met my grandfather in 1949 but he didn't remember my father so don't know much more. I remember my dad getting the phone call telling us he died, but I don't know exact date. A Cousin who went to the funeral told me he was buried in Rock Cemetery.

His children were: Greenup Bird Patterson
Maggie Patterson Ranck
Melvin Davis Patterson
Carter Patterson
Florence Patterson Pendergraft Hildenbrand
John Kenneth E Patterson

[I later requested the photo and got his date of death guess I should re-write the bio]

A side note about the red granite that the town was named for.  I'm happy to have a baseball sized polished ball of this granite that my father had.  Think he must have gotten it when we were there in 1949.  We lived in San Diego County and only got to take a trip back East once with my Dad.  We got to visit with his Brother, Kenneth; Sister, Florence in Oklahoma and Texas; his Sister, Maggie in Indianapolis;  and my Mother's family in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Mississippi.  

As a serious amateur photographer, I have to remember to give credit to findagrave.com contributor, Rita Collvins Mayfield for taking these photos

Sharing Memories: My Second Home - Hi Pass, California

Another surprise photo was a picture of the HiPass  General Store that my parents bought in 1952.   It's not the greatest photo, but you can get the idea.  I'm not sure exactly when they bought it, but I remember as soon as school was out we moved up there that year.  The store included a Post Office - my Dad became Postmaster; a library branch, a gas pump, and living quarters.  It also came with cabins - can't remember whether there were 6 or 8 of them.  At various times we lived in two different ones that were larger than the living quarters.  

There was also an old feed store building to the left of this picture.  I vaguely think we may have sold some feed and hay, but I'm not sure.  This was close to the end of HiPass' life span - not sure when it was removed from the map.  In the early 20th century, it was a popular get away for people from El Centro where it was extremely hot.  With the advent of Air Conditioning in the late 1940's and early 1950's it became economically unfeasable.   It was a fun place to live though.  I loved the horned toads and even the lizards.  I remember coming upon an at least a 4ft long Rattlesnake sunning itself on a wood pile next to the feed store.  That scared me.  I walked away and went to my Mother who told me to go to my Dad.  He was working on the pump up the road and I ran.  I remember my legs quivering after that adrenaline run.  Think the snake crawled under the building - he was gone by the time my Dad got there.

There were lots of life lessons for me to learn in this location.  Our school house was a one room school - one classroom at least - with 11 students.  Our teacher was a widow who had been forced to retire from LaMesa Spring Valley district because of her age.  I think she was 65 yrs.  I liked her a lot.  I was the only student in 4th grade.

We had tenants in some of our cabins.  I remember one woman who I seem to remember helping to teach me to sew.  She was older, on assistance or Social Security, and an alcoholic.   The man I remember was also those three things.  It was my first exposure to Alcoholism.

There was an Indian Reservation fairly close to our town and we had one Indian boy in my school.  Think he was in 7th or 8th grade.  I remember my mother trying to encourage him to stay in school and think she even attempted to get him an interview with the artist Donal Hord, because he was an excellent artist.

 The Indians often tried to buy Alcohol.  It was against the law at that time, and there were quite a few car accidents and sometimes they would be under the influence when they came in the store.

My parents put the property back on the market the next year.  I returned to Bostonia Elementary for 5th Grade.  My Dad had to commute for several months, before the property sold.  Mom and I returned to our home on Hwy 80.  We had rented it out.  I remember some of Mom's things that were stored there walked off with the tenants.  At least they didn't trash the place.

Sharing Memories: My First Home

Sharing Memories: My First Home

I remember my first home fondly.  Actually, it was technically my second home.  My parents purchased the house on nine acres before I was born, but it needed a lot of work.   So, I was told we continued to live in a house on 35th St in San Diego for six weeks after I was born.

This is the view from the Hwy 80 side.  I believe that the Interstate 8 Westbound Lane probably goes straight through this house location.  I remember this front porch as being solid concrete.  This photo looks like wood - so that must have been part of the renovations.  My parent's bedroom and the bathroom were, in the end, facing us.  My bedroom was next to it, and I had to go through their room to the bathroom.  There are two doors onto the porch - one behind the tree opened into the living room, and the one behind the first porch support opened into my parent's bedroom.

This view is looking east.  The living room was a large room in the front part of the house.  I don't remember a porch on this side of the house.  It was all enclosed, and the kitchen was in the back, adjoining the living room.  I do remember the front being elevated like that, and that area was enclosed and used for storage.

This view looks southwest towards the back of the house.  That looks like a wood stove exhaust pipe, but I don't remember a wood stove.  I believe a cement slab was added along the left portion of the building and it was screened in.  There was a door from the kitchen (about where the window was) which entered the screened porch.  There was a hillside not too far back.  They built a lath house most of the length of the left side of the house.  Had a fish pond at the east end of the lath house.   Off to the right and back a couple of 100 ft, we had a chicken house.

This is the way I remember our home.  I would guess this was taken about 1947.  You can see our water tank up the hill directly behind the right side of the home.  The small building to the right was my Brother's Bedroom.  No bathroom.  John was 13 years older than me, and he joined the Navy at 18 years old, so he was gone from home by the time I was six years old.

This is a shot of a Google earth map of where our home was.  The blue line is supposed to represent our property line but is probably way off.  The cut-out in the bottom left was a one-acre parcel we didn't own.  So... it was probably smaller, and the whole thing may not have been quite that wide.   We owned 9 acres, and it really did look like an upside-down Utah.

Found another picture of a home I lived in, but that will be for another day.

A Brick Wall Falls - Hooray!

I've been a member of ancestry.com for many years, but I've never been able to find my mother and my half brother in the 1930 census.   About a week ago I finally found them, listed as Freeman.    Although my Mother said she was married, I was never sure.  She used the father's name on the Birth Certificate and here on the census.  and my brother John is listed as Frank Jr.

Six degrees of separation or less

My cousin's son. Just found this video. I don't know this side of the family very well. California to Mississippi was just too far when I was a child and as a young family. Made contact through my genealogy research. Don't think he is competing these days. This was almost 7 years ago, but his fame lives on.

The Carothers Carolla - Memorable X Games Moments  This didn't work 10/2018

The Caraothers Carolla - Memorable X Games Moments

Brick Walls have been falling.

One of my "cousins" had a cemetery listed for my great-grandfather. I'd looked on findagrave before, but could never find him or his first wife, my great grandmother. So... I checked out the cemetery and was looking at the other Strunk's because George and Dillie weren't there. Then I saw a headstone in the background that I could almost read. I emailed the contributor - she checked and created memorials for me with a good photo attached. YEAH!!!!

Remembering Mother

I loved my Mother dearly and she was an affectionate, loving mother. Her early life was good until her father died when she was 13 years old. I don't think she had a really hard time financially, but emotionally there were scars. Her mother was ill and her sisters (9 & 12 years younger) went to live with Grandparents in a different state and she went to a boarding school.

My brother was born when she was 17 years old and she was a single mother. She trained to be a nurse (her Dad was a Dr and there were other Dr's in the family). She became a Practical Nurse (todays LVN).

In 1933 she, my brother and a cousin traveled to Southern California where she met my Dad, a Sailor, and they married after a whirlwind courtship. I wish I had asked more questions about their trip across the USA.