Sweet Success

So this is a feeling unlike any I have ever experienced -- for the very first time, we have gotten to the point of having ordinance cards prepared so we can do temple work for our ancestors. Honestly, it is incredible, and I know that it will only be that much better when we actually take the names to the temple to do the work!

I can't believe how long it's taken us to get to this point. It's interesting to note how the adversary tries to interfere with this very important work and throws everything at us to try and thwart it. But Mel and I are beside ourselves with excitement at the prospect of doing work for our own family members. Obviously going to the temple is always an incredible experience, but I can't wait to do that work knowing it is benefiting my own ancestors . . . and the coolest part is that because of all the hours we have spent working on family history, we now feel so much more of a connection to them, and this will only enhance that connection. They are no longer just names on a page; they are real people who dance around in my head, who I see in dreams, who I feel urging me from beyond the veil to do their work. I can picture them as part of my family, people who already had their time on earth and completed that part of their journey. I know they are eagerly awaiting the chance to progress, and knowing I can help them makes me so happy. It's truly an incredible feeling.

The Spirit of Elijah is real, and family history work is a very consuming thing. Not long ago I was pretty disinterested in it. I felt like it was a cool hobby for old people and that when I got old I would have time for it. But I have become majorly consumed with this work, and I absolutely love it. If I don't watch it, I can spend hours and hours poring over records and let other important tasks go undone. I LOVE IT! The coolest thing is that I really do feel like my ancestors are urging me on. I feel compelled to get to work and to do it now! It's wonderful!

Turning Hearts

A lot of family history research is looking for specific information about your ancestors.  You have to know birth, marriage, and death information to continue the line.  And a lot of times you can't find much else about them in the existing records.  Sometimes you stumble across some information about an ancestor that reminds you that they are a real person who lived a real life full of sorrow and joy.  

The state of Georgia has a great website with a small sampling of death certificates available to view online.  I only wish they had more years to search.  I stumbled across this death certificate last year.  It is for a little boy named Arthur Timmons Cadle, the son of Arthur Joseph Cadle and Annie Rebecca Lane Cadle.  He is my Granny's (Mable Adora Cadle Price) older brother.  He drowned when he was four years old.

Last November, while in Georgia, I visited my Granny and she and I looked through hundreds of old family photographs and we found this one.  A photo of Arthur Timmons Cadle.  What a sweet little baby he is!  My heart breaks for my great grandmother as I think of how her heart must have broken when he died.

Then, last month while we were visiting in Georgia, Julie mentioned to me that Marmee had told her that Arthur Timmons Cadle had actually drowned in the Augusta Canal.  A couple days later, we found this article in the paper.  Annie wasn't even aware Arthur had gotten out of the backyard.  I've thought a lot about this since we found this article.  It tells a short story about that tragic day.  I try to imagine, and I think I can do a pretty good job, what Annie went through that day.  I want to cry with her for her little baby boy, even though I know they've long since been reunited.  

Stories like this make family history so much more rewarding for me.  I can get a little glimpse into an ancestor's life.  I can understand them more, especially when I recall that none of Annie's grandchildren (which includes my Marmee) ever learned how to swim because their grandmother was too worried about them.  I used to wonder, as a Florida-born girl who adores swimming, why that was?  Now I know.  Now I understand.

West View Cemetery

To help us remember where in the cemetery our 

ancestors are located.

I don't know why it never occurred to me to look for and visit the graves of my ancestors before this trip.  I guess I just always thought they were buried somewhere far away.  When we started looking through the Augusta Chronicle for obituaries, we found that pretty much everybody was buried in the West View Cemetery in Augusta, a place I'd never even heard of.  Three of my great grandparents are there.  My great great grandmother is there.  Several great aunts and uncles are there.  

My great grandparents Carlos Hines Price, Sr. and Willie Gertie Davis.  

Willie actually died in 1972 but that info hasn't been added yet.

Ergo, on Sunday afternoon, our last day in Augusta, Marmee, Julie and I decided to visit the cemetery, despite rainy weather.  We drove out to downtown Augusta to the cemetery located on Division Street, passing the apartment complex where my grandparents, Beamous and Mable, lived when my mother was born.

My grandfather's brother, Carlos Hines Price, Jr.,

 a.k.a. Uncle C.H. who was killed in a car accident

when he was 34 years old.

We had no idea where the graves of our family members were located in this enormous cemetery.  Marmee couldn't remember where they were and Granny's memory was reliant upon a bush that had long been cut down.  So, we just started roaming the cemetery streets, scanning the headstones for any familiar names.  It took a while.  A long while.  But finally we located some of the graves we were searching for.  

My grandfather's sister, Jane Price who was 

actually Mrs. Lamar Martin when she died. 

My great great aunt Claudia.  Her daughter Margaret

and my granny were more like sisters than cousins.

Of course, we were not able to locate Annie Cadle, our great grandmother or her mother, Mollie Dunn who are both buried in this cemetery.  And there are several others we couldn't find as well.  Hopefully we will be able to return soon at a time when we can talk to someone at the cemetery office who might be able to assist us.  But for now, we are grateful we were able to find the graves we did.

Good Golly, Miss Mollie!

I love doing family history research and I love it even more when I actually find something.  This is my great great grandmother, Mollie.  That's all we knew.  Until Thursday...

My maternal grandmother is the lovely Mable Adora Cadle.  Her mother was Annie Rebecca Lane (a.k.a. Mama Cadle).  And Annie's mother was Mollie.  That was all my granny could tell us except that she thought her first husband's last name was Parker.  No parents for Mollie, no maiden name even!  This was a challenge and for years Julie and I have been searching for her in vain.  

Then the other night, Julie's husband Chris did something genius.  He subscribed to the Augusta Chronicle archives.  I didn't even know you could do that!  Within a few hours we had a breakthrough on Mollie.

Don't ask me why the headline calls her Mrs. Arrington and not Mrs. Dunn.  Maybe because she'd had so many husbands?  Maybe she was especially proud of being an Arrington?  Maybe the person from the newspaper got confused?  Maybe so that we could make no mistake about her maiden name?  It doesn't matter to me.  I'm just glad we finally found her!

**I should point out that it was Julie who actually found her.  I was scrambling to record the information she was finding so quickly, I hadn't had a chance to do any digging myself.  We make a great team, huh?**

The Davis Family Cemetery

Visiting the Revolutionary War cemetery was cool, but visiting the Davis Family cemetery was awesome.  I've been reading about these people for years and searching for them in old censuses and other records, but it was something totally different to be standing there at their graves.  It just made them more real to me.   

My great great grandfather, Melton Ervin Davis.

His wife, Trudie Greenway.

Their daughter, my great great aunt, better known simply as Aunt Sadie.  This was one of the first graves I came across and I got chills.  I actually knew Aunt Sadie.  I have very vague memories of visiting her and my older siblings remember her very well.  My brother has a quilt she made for him.  (He was always her favorite.)

My great great great great grandfather, William Godfrey Davis, the Civil War hero.  

His wife, my great great great great grandmother Dicie Williams.  

A Delightful Detour

On our journey yesterday, we stumbled across this little gem.  Good thing Julie watches the road, especially since she was driving!  We saw this sign on Hwy 24 and immediately turned around.  The sign led us down a narrow dirt road lined with trees which were draped in Spanish moss.  It doesn't get much eerier.  I LOVE the South!

We were slightly disappointed to learn that none of the people buried in this cemetery died in action during the Revolution, but they were all veterans and their families.  Some of the headstones were very unique!

These were clearly new stones, but still Revolutionary soldiers.  I wonder if these two were twins or something since they were born in the same year.  They also died the same year as well...

I'm so glad we stopped.  I wish we had seen more things like this along the way!

Let's Set the Record Straight

Yesterday was a huge day for family history.  For starters, Julie, Joseph, and I headed out in search of the fabled Davis Family cemetery.  We were confident we could find it as we had directions from two uncles, an aunt, and our mother.  Of course, nobody bothered to mention which way we were to turn onto 319.  Well, duh.  You go right!  (Would've been good to know about five minutes ago...)  The only written directions we had were from 1970 and were as follows: 

"Davis cemetery is located on the right side of the road approximately one mile behind Tarver Price's Store, which is on 319 North."

Oh, ok.  That makes everything crystal clear!  Actually, our family was able to give us great directions and we found it with little trouble.  Here are the directions, for future reference.

From Augusta, take Deans Bridge Road/Highway 1 through Wrens to Louisville.  Stay on Hwy 1 for about 14 miles and then turn left onto Hwy 24 and continue about 5 miles.  Then take a left onto US 221 and go 7 miles to Bartow.  At the blinking light, turn right onto 319 and travel for about 7 miles.  Greenway Cemetery Road will be on the right.  The cemetery is about a mile down the road on the right side.