Roots

My daughter Lauren asked me last night how long it generally took me to find a piece of family information on the Internet, once I started looking. I told her the truth: If I don't find it within about 10 or 15 minutes, I may not find it at all, or I may spend weeks before I do.

The Internet has simplified so much. When I started blogging about my Alawine roots, I remarked that it had taken me days, weeks, even months of sitting in libraries, winding microfilm, shifting microfiche around, poring through books.

Now, I just have to subscribe to certain web pages and start clicking. 

However, there are still times when the glitches hit. Yesterday afternoon was one of those times. It had to do with finding a Thead ancestor named John Oscar Lovett. 

He was in Mississippi in 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920. (For those of you who don't know about 1890's United States census: It burned, almost completely. Not much use looking for anybody in that year, at least not on a census record.) 

However, though John Oscar SAID he was born in Mississippi, I can't find him back past 1880. The frustration I felt last night was intense.

Here's a photo of him, apparently taken some time after maybe 1945 or -50. (In choosing that particular time range, I'm judging by clothing.)

He's buried in Lauderdale County, and everyone knew he was married twice; the first wife died in childbirth. But last night I discovered that there was an even earlier marriage than that one, to Lillian Denton, who also apparently died. So, surprises for genealogists are still out there!

While I enjoy having time off from school and take a day trip today for fun, here's a beginning family tree to help you sort out who's who.

And, by the way, where you see David White (right side) having lines to both James and Green Berry, that's accurate: both were his sons. 

Next post: Lottie Belle Lovett. 

Ælfwine

 

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day, and, though it's late, I thought you all might like to glance at a few of our moms (and grandmoms, and great-grandmoms, and so on) from years ago. And let's think about the way most of them had to do laundry. 

I look around my own kitchen right now and see my dishwasher, my microwave, my stove and refrigerator. As my food cooks this evening, I also have the AC blowing in my face, and my fans are stirring up a hurricane.

My own mother actually did wash clothing in the spring, at least for a while--and I'm not referring to the season here; I'm talking about the sort of spring you find in the woods, where the water seeps (or sometimes gushes) out of a slope. Considering what people had to do just to appear somewhat clean, is it any wonder that they changed only their detachable collars but wore the same dress or shirt more than one time?

Doing laundry in 1901

Anyway, here's laundry in the 1880's:

And at the bottom of this post, look at all these mothers, and remember that, if they themselves didn't scrub clothes by hand, their mothers or grandmothers probably did.

I've included a couple of links for you to glance at while you relax in comfort in your kitchen and the dishwasher chugs along.

http://www.oldandinteresting.com/history-of-washing-clothes.aspx
http://www.dishwasherrequired.com/laundry-in-victorian-times/

Anna Thead of Theadville, MS

Annie Moriah Brown

Janis Boyles Wilson and her mother Beulah

Maggie Evalina Skinner Alawine, mother of 16

Mark Thead's mother

Robbie Harmon Thead and granddaughter Erin Thead

Mary Thead Olhausen

Mark Thead's maternal grandmother

Ælfwine