Richmond

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Tooth Saga, Episode 3

Today’s visit to the dentist was rather uneventful.  Something for which I am grateful.  The last few visits were memorable enough I found the dentist joking with the assistants in an inside joke sort of way.  Nice to know I may have made some of the office lore.
Today’s visit was pretty simple.  Remove the temporary filling once again and prepare the tooth for the crown.  The numbing of the tooth went pretty much as it is supposed to.  He only gave me one shot today.  Even though the outside of my jaw was still mostly in contact with my brain, I wasn’t about to take another chance of him hitting the nerve again.  In the end it didn’t hurt too bad, it was just the pulling of the gum away from the tooth and cauterizing it that was a bit painful, but I didn’t go white knuckled.
I did not appreciate the time the material was in my mouth for the impression.  I didn’t realize it, but I was drooling down the side of my cheek while Dr. Spitzer chatted about what the purpose is of the different military bases in Virginia.  I did not notice until I felt it running down my neck and then tried to wipe myself up with my little bib.
He visited with me about Germany and where best to find authentic German food here near Richmond.  Apparently the best place is out north of Charlottesville at some little place called The Bavarian Chef.  Perhaps we will have to celebrate when I have the crown and I need not worry about any more dental work.  On second though, maybe we better save our cash in order to pay for the long series of dental visits.  It is conforting to know my money will go to a worthwhile cause for the dentist; helping to pay for his Mercedes.  While dwelling on I will consider the feeling of gums trying to recuperate from being ripped away from the side of the tooth.
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Pulaski Roots

Speaking of roots, I had a dental appointment on Friday.  Due to Measles as a baby, I have ameliogenesis imperfecta with several of my teeth.  Basically, some of my teeth have deformities.  One of which is that the nerve in one tooth reaches quite a bit higher than normal.  Also linked with the deformity of the drugs (legal!) I took in the early 80’s, those teeth are weaker and more susceptible to problems.  Many, many years ago I had a filling put in the tooth that touched on that high reaching nerve.  Over the years that nerve touching the filling, in addition to a slight tapping from the tooth having moved (from squash racket trauma about 2000), and just normal advancement of time that root has decided to pass away.  Yes, I am the owner of a slowly dying tooth.  I have been placed on antibiotics to keep the nerve from getting infected as it decays.  In the next few weeks I will experience my first root canal. 

On an interesting note, once Dr. Spitzer saw my x-ray of the teeth he quickly noted how long the roots are on my teeth.  Amanda confirmed to me later that during the freak show discussion that ensued my teeth roots were measured at 25 mm long.  Amanda tells me that the normal individual has roots approximately 15 mm long.  The dentist commented how he may have to order some longer tools to work on the tooth.  Whether it was in jest or not, I have come to appreciate how different I really am.  Deep down inside I always knew I was special.  Now I know it is a good 10 mm deeper why I am special.
So we have frantically tried to figure out how we would pay for what a root canal and crown would cost without insurance.  When in the mail today I received an invitation to join the insurance for my work.  As generous as they are, I will now have dental insurance.  Now I just have to find how long of a waiting period I will have with a tooth that has become highly sensitive to hot and cold with slight throbbing from time to time.
Anyhow, on to the story of Pulaski County, Virginia.  My Ross line left Pulaski County about 1912 and headed to settle in Rupert, Idaho.  The daughter, Fannie had married a Phibbs from Pulaski and Carroll County and moved out previously.  Her husband was the Minidoka County Judge in Rupert.  With the opening of the new Sugar Factory at Paul, the rapid expansion of irrigateable farm land, and an economic downturn in Pulaski it was time to move.  James Thomas Meredith Ross who I have written about before followed his daughter Fannie.  His other three children would follow to the west.  James would later settle in the Vernal area.  The Phibbs would eventually end up north of Sacramento, California.  John would roam for many years marrying in West Virginia, Colorado, and Wyoming.  He would die in Alameda County, California.  Robert we don’t really know what happened to other than he died in California about 1944.
While I have written about all of that previously, James Thomas Meredith Ross would leave behind his half brother William Andrew Ross.  William would marry and move to West Virginia.  He lived in Gary, WV most of his life and raised his family there.  He worked in the mines coal mines.  He and Sarah (Sallie) had 12 children.  The youngest of which is Howard Ross born in 1925.
It was Howard we went to visit this weekend.
Howard is the only remaining individual of his family.  He was born in Thorpe, West Virginia and moved to Bluefield, West Virginia many years ago.  He lives in a home perched on the side of a hill on Essex St.  He had 3 children, and a step child he helped raised.  He worked in or with the mines all his life.  His wife past away a few years back and he lives in the home with his grandson and future granddaughter-in-law.
I knew of Howard because he had spent so much of his life pursuing family history.  Grandpa gave me a copy of one of his books he had written about 1972 on the Ross family.  That is how I knew who he was and that he was related.  By the time I came home from my mission I did not expect him to be alive anymore until one day in Twin Falls I was visiting with a missionary who had served in the West Virginia Mission.  I told him of Howard (I knew he was LDS) and the missionary not only knew of Howard, he had his address and phone number.  He gave it to me and I called Howard.
I have looked forward to meeting Howard for several years and of visiting the famous Pulaski County.  The valleys surrounding Pulaski County had already been home to the Graham and other families for over a hundred years by the time Pulaski County was formed in 1839.  There Meredith, Martin, Booth, Shepherd, and other families were well entrenched.  But my main interest was in going to the area where my family left before heading west.
Friday we drove out to Pulaski County and arrived after dark.  We spent the night in a hotel at Claytor Lake just over the border into the county.  The next morning we drove into Pulaski and just got a feel for the town and then headed for the hour and half drive to Bluefield to see Howard.
Bluefield turned out to be what you would imagine a town 50 years ago.  The little streets, little yards, flags on every house, and a good percentage of people sitting on their porch.  It was a lazy, hazy, day in summer.  We wound through the streets of Bluefield following our directions to Essex St.  Wow, as if we were not impressed.  One side of the street was wood and the other side of the street were homes perched on the side of a hill probably 75 to 100 feet up.  This hillside was probably at a 45 degree angle.  We found the home and climbed the steep stairs to the rickety old porch.
I don’t mean to sound negative, but we had entered what you joke about with rednecks.  These homes sat precariously sitting on the side of this hill and had not had any care in the last 40 years.  There was a hand made 2X4 railing up this terribly steep hike and at the top the porch wood buckled with every step.  Howard met us in the open door and invited us in.  We sat there in a relic of the 1930’s with only the television and sofa to remind us we were actually not in the mid 20th century.
Howard sat there talking with us in a most happy manner with his eye patch and asking for us to repeat often what we said.  Moreover, he spoke with that thick gentleman manner which so permeates the old confederate ideal.  His joking ways were jovial and we had quite the good conversation.
I took him with my computer through all the descendants of William Andrew Ross and he updated quite a bit of my information.  We also showed him a number of pictures I thought he would be interested in from my side of the family.  He then told us a few stories.
Uncle Jim (my great great grandfather who went west) had come to visit in the 1930’s where they lived in Gary, West Virginia.  It was the late 1930’s because the family had all gone to attend a Conference of the church in Grundy County, Tennessee.  One of the speakers that morning was Jim Ross, Howard’s Uncle.  The children did not attend but afterward all these people kept coming to his mother and commenting about how powerful Mr. Ross had been in his preaching.  Howard’s mother had to set them all straight that it was not her husband but her brother-in-law.  Howard remembers the day because it was the day he was baptized.  They would meet for the morning meetings and then have a big meal and baptisms in the middle, and go back to conference in the afternoon.
They went back home after the conference and Uncle Jim came and stayed for a spell.  Howard remembers Uncle Jim taking the wash basin out to the fields and coming back with a huge amount of corn.  He then told Howard’s mother to cook all the corn and they would eat it for dinner.  When Uncle Jim found out they did not have any milk, he went out and purchased a milk cow and brought it back for them to have milk.  (This isn’t necessarily all the same night).  Howard remembers that he was so thoroughly struck by how much Uncle Jim could eat.  Howard swears Uncle Jim must have pushed near 300 pounds and that man could eat.  Howard laughs and laughs about how when Uncle Jim left he went and sold the cow and they didn’t have milk for years afterward.
Howard remembers Uncle Jim was missing a finger.  He doesn’t remember which one, but he did ask how he lost it.  Apparently he had been bitten by a spider and as the finger started to rot and decay he finally just cut it off.  The Dr. apparently told him he had saved his life by taking the finger off.
That was about all he remembered of Uncle Jim.  He knew he moved to California after Idaho and Oregon.  While in Fresno he served as a Bishop of an LDS ward for quite a few years.  Uncle Jim was always a Ross to him even though he took the Meredith name back after moving to California.  The timeline in relation to the name I have told previously.
John Ross, or Jack as he was known, also made a trip out to West Virginia to visit.  He came out after his second wife had passed away (my great grandmother) and tried to convince his first wife to marry him again.  She wasn’t having any of that and Jack left empty handed.  Howard never met Hobart Day, Jack’s oldest child with his first wife.
Howard doesn’t remember ever meeting any of the rest of the family.  Donna Phibbs Beachell came out to visit in the 1970’s and spent quite a bit of time with Howard.  They wrote often over the years, some of which letters I mentioned were sent to me in the papers of Howard from John Ross.
Howard was very interested in what I had found out on the Meredith family and I told him what I was pretty sure to be correct.  He related to me more of the stories of what he believed happened to his grandfather but until further information comes out to prove the James Meredith story of the Harvy Ross story, we still really don’t know for sure.  I think mine is pinpointed quite a bit more firmly than his.
Howard then gave us a bit of the history of the LDS church in West Virginia.  He had us drive him down to the Bluefield Ward Building over the border in Bluefield, Tazewell County, Virginia.  He gave us a tour of the building.  We met the Bishop and a few other people.
We went back to the house and he asked that I give a blessing to his daughter, Sarah who lives next door.  She has MS and various other problems that come with smoking, MS, and the redneck lifestyle.  I will tell you now, I was alarmed that 82 year old Howard regularly climbs and descends those stairs out front.  They were so steep I didn’t feel safe especially with an old man struggling up them.  I gave a blessing to a woman who didn’t want it but whose father insisted.  Talk about a little awkward of a position.  We then went next door where he asked I give his future granddaughter-in-law a blessing.  Not only did he want a blessing for her, but the unborn child as well.  That was my first experience I remember blessing a baby in the womb.  Both turned out to be special events.  I enjoyed them and Howard became choked up after the second of the two.  My oil holder had become cracked and did not stay together any more and so we had to make due with a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a small glass bowl.  Under the circumstances it was the best we could do and we were richly blessed on the occasion.
Interestingly, the kitchen is exactly how you would have found it in the 1940’s.  The sink, the ironator, cupboards, and more were all of proper vintage.  Sadly, that was probably the last time they were cleaned.  It was quite humbling to see the faith of this man in such humble circumstances.
We left with my promising to do the ordinance work for his son and him after he had passed away.  He joked, part seriously, that through family history he had prepared the way for hundreds to enter heaven despite his own lack of achieving the same goal.
Amanda and I left and wound our way back to Pulaski County.  There we wound our way through the desolate parts of county roads trying to cross the New River.  We found our way across and went through the little towns of Allisonia, Hiwassie, and Snowville.  All towns of which were heavily populated by those of my ancestry.  It was interesting to drive along and recognize names on mailboxes and say to Amanda, “They are probably related.”
We drove back across the river up to Newbern, past Dublin, and back to Pulaski.  There we enjoyed our dinner, as we had our breakfast, at the Sonic Drive-In with gift cards that had been given to us for helping a lady move into the ward.
Afterward we hit the road to try and make Tennessee for some souvenirs and then across Southern Virginia to other ancestral locations.  We realized we were too far from Tennessee too late in the day to make it so at Rural Retreat (how is that for a name?) we turned and headed east.  We drove through Independence (Grayson County) and crashed for the night in Galax (Carroll County).  Both counties are heavily tied to me as well.  Sunday morning we awoke and made our way to Hillsville (Carroll County Seat), Martinsville (home of the Martins of which I am related), over to Danville, north to Keysville and Farmville, and home to Richmond.
It was a long weekend but very worthwhile.  I really enjoyed getting to see Allisonia, Hiwassie, and Snowville.  Maybe someday we will get to go back.  Maybe Howard will be around when it comes time for us to head back west in a year.
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NGS

It was certainly an interesting day here in Richmond.  I was asked to work at the National Genealogical Society’s National Conference.  I thought it would be strange.  After all, aren’t family history geeks supposed to be in the latter end of their life?
It turned out I really enjoyed myself.  I worked with Paul Smart and Paul Nauta.  Yep, there were three of us!  What is more, Paul Smart and I both knew Jennie Smart Nuffer!  I suppose that makes us sort of related.  He is related to Jennie and I am related to her husband Edwin Nuffer.
It was a pretty eventful day.  There were little seminars and lessons going all day.  I helped all the random people that would wander to our booth.  What is a sad disclosure, not one of those people were able to stump me with any question.  I had my own questions in which I asked of Paul & Paul but I knew every answer to every person who asked me one!  To be honest, there were a few questions that came to me after I had already asked the question myself, so I did know those answers as well.
I have to admit, FamilySearch is going to be very impressive in what is to come.  Right now it has its purposes for what I use it for, but Ancestry.com holds most of my time in researching outside the Mountain West.  It appears much of that will be changing this fall onwards.  They announced they are going to redo the site, they are going to make available over 80 BILLION names, and to top it off, they are teaming up with other organizations to literally collect the world’s family history.  They are going to move mountains!  They are going to place the entire Granite Mountain Vault online.  It will be indexed and even images made available.  FamilySearch even went out and helped create a new type of scanner in order to do the scanning at 5 times the speed it takes now.  I believe Ancestry.com will come to a point where they will have come to regret cutting the ties that bound them to FamilySearch.  After all, FamilySearch will provide the same records eventually for free.
I volunteered at the FamilySearch Indexing website a few nights ago.  I have done about 300 names so far in the indexing.  I do have to admit I have too much to do in my own family history to be devoting that much time to the indexing.  I have journals to type, other leads to follow up, and some more cleaning up to do.  The work never ends.  I find it hard not to laugh out loud when someone says their family history is all done.  Right, just like mowing the lawn once means you will never have to do it again.
As if this was not enough, there is more to come!  I really enjoyed my day working in the FamilySearch booth.  I went to lunch with Paul and it was a good visit.  I am thinking about taking a job that would take me down the genealogical researcher path.  He took my information and said he would let me know if he come across something out here I would be interested in.  I certainly hope he does remember me.
In other news, I go to teach the family history class again tomorrow.  I have to admit, this class has done more in their week this week than any other class I have had.  I received probably a dozen e-mails with questions about family history this week from my class.  I am honored, but more thrilled that they are actually doing something.  Good for them.  I truly hope the Lord will bless them for it.  On a bittersweet note, I have been called to the Elder’s Quorum Presidency.  Which means I will probably be released from the Family History Consultant position and Family History Worker.  I suppose we will have to wait and see.  I really had hoped I would never serve in a Presidency again.  Hey, at least I am not President right?
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Rawson Trip to DC

Amanda’s cousin, Jed Rawson, decided he wanted to stop and see Washington.  He made the arrangements to stay with Dennis and Gwen in Springfield.  We went up for Thursday.  We had a busy little day.  We visited the Capitol, Library of Congress, National Archives, Air and Space Smithsonian, Natural History Smithsonian, Washington Temple, FDR Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, and I am sure there is something I missed.  Oh we did stop at the White House too.  It was a busy day and you can see that in the photos.

In other news, Ross Andra had a pretty major heart attach at church last week in Salt Lake City.  I am not sure what doctrine they were teaching but it definitely knocked him over.
I received a phone call last weekend from Iona Mellor in Anaheim, California.  She is my cousin as a daughter of Otto Andra.  It was good to visit with her for more than an hour.  I sent off some group sheets to her so she could return them to me with some more information.  I look forward to hearing back from her.
I posted a blog earlier on the Presidential debate.  Talk about a few people nipping at me since!  Geez.  Relax a little people.
Tomorrow I spend the day working at the National Genealogical Society’s convention here in Richmond.  That should definitely be interesting.  The church made quite a few announcements for it.  They are literally about to move a mountain!  The Granite Mountain!
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Jonas Family Photos

Jonas Family Photos

It has come time for the information regarding the Jonas Album.  There are a couple of generations in there, but like the Andra line, I will not include much information on the living individuals.  Only those familiar with the line will find those photos interesting or of much value.  However, you may be able to figure some of them out by their names.

Some of this information has been given in previous posts.  Particularly in relation to the Coley album and the Lost Trunk.  I do have quite a bit more information in relation to some of these families.  I have told some of the stories previously as well.  I will have to post more later.

Joseph Jonas
10 Jan 1859 – Frenchtown, Monroe, Michigan
23 Jun 1917 – Richmond, Cache, Utah

Married
Nov 1883 – Logan, Cache, Utah

Annetta Josephine Nelson
18 Nov 1864 – Logan, Cache, Utah
23 Dec 1907 – Provo, Utah, Utah

Children
Margaret Jonas
17 Jun 1884 – Logan, Cache, Utah
17 Sep 1904 – Thorpe, Kittitas, Washington
Mary Nelson Jonas
17 Jul 1885 – Ellensburg, Kittitas, Washington
21 Sep 1899 – Ellensburg, Kittitas, Washington
Rosa Nelson Jonas
5 Sep 1886 – Ellensburg, Kittitas, Washington
20 Feb 1951 – Preston, Franklin, Idaho
John Nelson Jonas
14 Aug 1888 – Ellensburg, Kittitas, Washington
19 Dec 1918 – Richmond, Cache, Utah (Influenza)
William Nelson Jonas
2 Dec 1889 – Ellensburg, Kittitas, Washington
14 Apr 1972 – Murray, Salt Lake, Utah
Joseph Nelson Jonas
19 Nov 1893 – 19 Nov 1893 – Ellensburg, Kittitas, Washington
6 Sep 1932 – Ogden, Weber, Utah (electrocuted)
Annetta Josephine Jonas
12 Aug 1896 – Ellensburg, Kittitas, Washington
12 Aug 1896 – Ellensburg, Kittitas, Washington

Christian Andersen (married previously to Caroline Mathilde Halverson)
9 Oct 1873 –Christiania, Akershus, Norway
9 Aug 1957 – Ogden, Weber, Utah

Married
29 Jun 1904 – Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Rosa Nelson Jonas
Information listed above

Children
Rosetta Mabel Andersen (married Vordis Rio Cazier)
23 Oct 1905 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
9 Jun 1981 – Townsend, Broadwater, Montana
Christian Cyrus Andersen (married Florence Zelnora Child)
21 Dec 1907 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
7 Jul 1980 – Ogden, Weber, Utah
Annetta Cleone Andersen (married Christian S Miller)
24 Nov 1909 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
19 Jun 1981 – Ogden, Weber, Utah
Merlin Andersen (married Ruby Harris)
20 Sep 1913 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
30 Dec 1998 – Westpoint, Davis, Utah
Verla Jonas Andersen (married Howard Wayment Lythgoe)
16 Mar 1917 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
22 Jun 1999 – Ogden, Weber, Utah
Arvie Jonas Andersen (married Dorothy Dean Hobbs)
30 May 1921 – Lewiston, Cache, Utah
22 May 1990 – Ogden, Weber, Utah

John Nelson Jonas
Information listed above

Married
5 Jun 1912 – Logan, Cache, Utah

Nellie Armina Jonas
26 Jul 1889 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
11 Dec 1953 – Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Children
Calvin Anderson Jonas (married Viola Florance Chapman)
6 Aug 1913 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
17 Jun 1991 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
Melvin Anderson Jonas (married Doris Everts)
31 Mar 1917 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
16 Jul 1944 – San Marcos, Hays, Texas (drowned, married Doris Everts)
Armina Anderson Jonas (married Don Farnes)
5 Mar 1919 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
30 Mar 2011 – St George, Washington, Utah

William Nelson Jonas
Information listed above

Married
6 Jan 1921 – Logan, Cache, Utah

Karen Marie Thompson
31 Oct 1892 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
13 Jun 1980 – Murray, Salt Lake, Utah

Children
Delwyn Thompson Jonas (married Myrna Mae Bowman)
4 Jan 1922 – Logan, Cache, Utah
10 Dec 2003 – Murray, Salt Lake, Utah
Maynard Thompson Jonas (married Lois Rae Lemmon)
9 Apr 1923 – Thatcher, Franklin, Idaho
31 Jan 1997 – Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Gaylen Thompson Jonas
14 Mar 1925 – Logan, Cache, Utah
19 Sep 1944 – Peleliu, Palau Islands
Vaughn Thompson Jonas (married Dorothy Wiley)
7 Sep 1926 – Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
8 Aug 1991 – Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Carvel Thompson Jonas (married Beverly Clayton and Barbara Williams)
17 Sep 1934 – Sandy, Salt Lake, Utah
Still living
William Thompson Jonas
22 Oct 1937 – Murray, Salt Lake, Utah
23 Oct 1937 – Murray, Salt Lake, Utah

Joseph Nelson Jonas
Information listed above

Married
6 Sep 1916 – Logan, Cache, Utah

Lillian Coley
26 Aug 1898 – Lewiston, Cache, Utah
11 Feb 1987 – Layton, Davis, Utah

Children
Joseph Herbert Jonas (married Hilma Grace Erickson)
14 Aug 1917 – Richmond, Cache, Utah
23 Jun 1993 – Ogden, Weber, Utah
Spencer Gilbert Jonas (married Viola Amelia Cole)
10 Dec 1920 – Burley, Cassia, Idaho
26 Aug 1996 – Ogden, Weber, Utah
Irwin John Jonas (married Mary Elizabeth Popwitz)
2 Sep 1921 – Thatcher, Franklin, Idaho
11 Jul 1944 – Lowe, France
Wilburn Norwood Jonas (married Colleen Mary Andra)
15 May 1924 – Lewiston, Cache, Utah
14 Mar 1975 – Burley, Cassia, Idaho
Ellis Seth Jonas (married Geraldine Pitcher)
6 Sep 1926 – Lewiston, Cache, Utah
12 Aug 2012 – Smithfield, Cache, Utah
Evan Reed Jonas (married Lona Rae Jensen)
4 Sep 1928 – Ogden, Weber, Utah
4 Feb 1999 – Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Lillian Annetta Jonas (married Ray Laurence Talbot)
15 Jul 1930 – Ogden, Weber, Utah
20 Feb 2009 – Layton, Davis, Utah
LeReta Mary Jonas (married Lowell Hansen Andersen)
1 Aug 1932 – Ogden, Weber, Utah
Still living

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Special British Visitor

There are blessings to losing one’s job. You don’t have to ask for time off
in which you can do random things you might not otherwise do. Yesterday was
one of those opportunities. 

I rode with Amanda down to school and spent part of the morning in the
library working on various little things. We had our lunch together and as
she went back to class, I went to visit the Capitol of the State of
Virginia. See, the State of Virginia had a special guest coming to visit.

I never got to see her while I lived in England, so why not take the time
since she will be in Richmond, Virginia. I arrived at the Capitol grounds
about 12:30 and started to enjoy the weather and scenery. It really was a
beautiful day. It was just like so many of the days I remembered in
England. The sky was overcast but warm. There was a certain humidity in
the air but it was comfortable. There was the slight drizzle that came down
but not enough to make you wet, just enough to dampen you.

In complete coincidence, I leaned against a temporary fence and watched the
people on the hill around the Capitol. I watched the marching band organize
and then they started playing and marched around the bottom of the hill. I
stayed where I was and I found myself pinned between the passing band and
the fence. It was with surprise that when the band had passed this familiar
looking man shook my hand and then proceeded past me a few feet and turned
up the ramp to the stage. I dawned on me who he was, the Governor Tim
Kaine. I was watching the band, it never passed my mind there was somebody
following them. It was obvious with his little entourage passing with him
they were for security. He was there to open the entertainment. Moral of
the story, if you get stuck against a wall, you never know who may shake
your hand!

The music was really quite good. I enjoyed Ralph Stanley quite a bit. I
knew his voice from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. Jane Powell
was a great soul singer and powerful whistler! The whistling was very
impressive. They locked Capitol Square down at 2:30 and nobody else was
allowed in.

As the moment drew closer, Larry Bland and his volunteer choir were working
the audience. I think that was my favorite music in the whole show. It was
actually pretty moving. It was while he was singing, with his gospel choir,
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands that Queen Elizabeth arrived. The
energy of the whole crowd exploded. We were a single mass and were very
drawn to the occasion. I do think the music really helped the tone. The
place where I was sitting I could hear the music loud and clear from the
speakers, it then echoed to me from the state buildings behind me, and also
an echo from the Capitol itself. So I was hearing Larry Bland and the choir
from three different angles all with slightly different timing. The
jumbotrons showed the Queen’s car arriving and the crowd’s excitement. It
was really a sensory overload in many ways. Mr. Bland went onto his
rendition of The Battle Hymn of the Republic which was pretty powerful too.

Finally Queen Elizabeth and Governor Kaine made their way back out of the
Governor’s Mansion towards the Capitol. They came around the side near
where I was. Due to the hill I could only see her about waste up, but it
was exciting. Everything was to be seen on the jumbotrons though, so I
wasn’t overly concerned. We watched her reception by the Chief’s of
Virginia Indian Tribes. She received her gifts and made her way into the
Capitol. I stayed so as to watch her speech to a joint session of the
Virginia Legislature.

At that point, most of the excitement was done and it was starting to
properly rain so I headed for the school to meet Amanda and head home.
Luckily, she finished school just shortly before Queen Elizabeth gave her
comments.

So that was an exciting day. I have applied for several jobs, but nothing
back yet. It was worth it though. How often do you get to see the Queen of
England in Virginia!

 

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Paradise Lost

I think I may have named a previous blog by this name. I hope not. 

There are some new developments in the lives of Paul and Amanda I thought I would share.

We are often warned that gossip can be destructive. It certainly can. My mere association with others and their comments have come to haunt me. I don’t need to go into details as that would prove to further the gossip. My being present during a conversation and comments, which I thought were ambivalent, and even commenting caused things to be attached to my name. As it made its rounds, it found its way to a manager who then called me on the carpet. I tried to explain the situation but my presence that day cost me a great amount of trust.

The next punch came a couple days later. Here is the next rule of lesson for the day. Do not allow the lines of authority and responsibility to be
confused. With the loss of another employee I was asked to pick up the slack. That required access to their e-mail. Rather than giving me access
on my computer it was given on another computer under a manager’s username and password. This is my major mistake. That manager had to sign me in and I was operating on her system. I was awkward with it, but it came back to get me. I had access to a whole host of things. Some of it I had to come in contact with due to the nature of what I was doing. During which, I forwarded e-mails to may account for work, jokes, and other forwards. One forward from that manager’s account included some confidential material.  Well, that cost me my job.

It was the classic one-two. I did find it an honour I was being signed under the manager’s name, but I should have known I would be watched closely and highly scrutinized for what happened there. I should have been more careful in that position to what I might have been privy to. More importantly, I should have just had them move the access for the other e-mail to my computer and I could have totally been safe from this last scenario. I understand their situation, and I can see mine, and if both parties had been wiser, this whole thing could have been avoided.

Well, it has been a learning experience. I now start the job hunt again all over again. Just as I had met with HR to secure a full time position and
everything, I had quite the job search a month or so ago leaving me completely off guard.

Life goes on. I will have to be more careful, watchful, and wise in the future. The lady at the staffing agency told me she thought it was a bit of
a “throw Paul under the bus” scenario, but what is to be done now?

In other news, the Queen is here in Richmond and I am going to walk over and say hello to her. The best part, I don’t have to worry about getting out of work to attend the festivities.

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California Ross Letter

Donna is the granddaughter of Fanny Elizabeth Ross (married Phibbs).  This is my Great Grandfather’s sister.  Quite an interesting find.  Amanda and I were planning on going to out see Howard Ross in Bluefield, West Virginia.  Howard thought after the shootings at Blacksburg we better wait since Montgomery County would be too busy to go sightseeing and visiting.  But prior to going I e-mailed his nephew John Ross who is a doctor in Beckley, West Virginia.  I told him we were coming out and I would like to see him.  I knew Howard Ross had given John all his research papers and I was very interested in a copy of them.  John is a busy Dr and said he would just mail them to me.  So I received a stack of papers about 6 inches high of research letters, notes, and other various things.  This letter was in that stack.  Most of the stack is on Howard’s Adams lines which doesn’t interest me.  So some of the stack is quick moving.  I am glad when I find those things related to my bloodline.

PO Box 1894
Burney, Ca  96013
Aug. 13, 1985

Dear Howard,

Your letter arrived in the mail yesterday.  I have also wondered about Nancy Adeline’s life but it is very hard to understand from our perspective.  It’s hard for us to really understand  the hard life they had.  I find people today do not very often understand what I tell of my life as a child in a small town farming community in Idaho.  And that was only 50 years ago and I’m still here to tell about it.  We lived on a small two acre place with no running water and we had an outhouse.  All drinking water had to be carried from the neighboring farm where they had a well.  And all water for washing or bathing was carried from an irrigation ditch that ran along one side and down one portion of another side before it went through a culvert under a road to the farm across the road.  We did have electricity and we had electrically run appliances such as a wringer type washing machine and a refrigerator.  Also, living here in Burney which is about 250 miles from San Francisco I find people who think of San Francisco as “Sin City”, but I grew up there and love it.  There are somethings I don’t like about the city and it is always changing, but I have many good friends who still live there and also many cherished memories of my life there.  There are murders and drugs and everything that I abhor and do not want in my life right here in this small remote mountain town of Burney.

I say all this as I think its very hard to put ourselves into the scene or time and place that Nancy Adeline lived.  My mother’s father’s mother was
also born out of wedlock in Carroll County Virginia.  Her maiden name was BOLT and I had heard she was born out of wedlock before from her own son.  I didn’t think to question him I knew him to be a good man and honest.  He had served as a Missionary for the church and prior to that when I was about twelve years old had lived with us in San Francisco.  He was divorced from his first wife who came to our home and raised a ruckus one night while he was there.  After he came home from his Mission he married again.  This time to the divorced wife of his own brother.  His brother had a problem with drinking.  Aunt Bertie’s children, and she had fifteen, can’t seem to accept her decision.  I was told when we were visiting Carroll County in 1972 the following “The Bold women were beautiful blue eyed blonde women and considered the most beautiful women in the area.”  I was also told my great grandmothers mother was never married.  But the census records indicate she had four children.  She also had at least one or two sisters who never married but had some children.  I recently asked John Perry Alderman, is a Federal Judge at Roanoke.  But he was District Attorney of Carroll County and had his law offices with his father also John Alderman when we were visiting there in 1972.

Life certainly can get complicated can’t it?  While someone in the future may be able to construct some of my life from a few legal documents I know they would not be able to know all about me.  My life has been full of things that are not written down.  It’s also true of the Bible and that is
why there are so many religions with each on interpreting according to their own interpretation right?  I hope all this makes sense to you.  At any rate I cannot judge Nancy Adeline (SHEPHERD) ROSS nor can I judge my other great grat grandmother Adeline BOLT.  I understand you are a little closer to the situation than I am in that Nancy was your father’s mother.  And your family name hinges on the truth.  I really have no answers except the few legal documents that we uncover.  I have no knowledge as to who is the older, your father or my great grandfather.  I only saw James Thomas Ross Meredith on the one occassion a few months before he died in Fresno, California in 1951. His mind was very clear and he told us a little about his life.  Such as he had been born out of wedlock and that his real father was James Meredith who had adopted him when he was about 4-6 years old.  He also said the courts gave him the name James Thomas Ross Meredith.  He said he was raised by his real father.  I do not recall his telling anything about his brother or even knowing that he had one until years later.  When he went to the temple for his Endowment and had an Endowment done for Damey Catherine Graham he gave his birthplace as Snowville.  The Temple Index Bureau tells me there was no sealing done.  He did tell us that he reverted to the name Ross in order to save his mother from embarrassment with the Missionaries.

When he was married his name was listed as J.R. Mearideth and his death certificate shows James Meredith with his father as James T Meredith.  But all of his children were brought up as Ross and his sons brought their children up as Ross.  He didn’t go back to the name Meredith until years
later.  Damey Catherine’s death certificate gives her last name as Ross and she died in 1933.  So it was after that time.  Evidently, Nancy Adeline also lived with James and Damey for sometime while they were living in West Virginia as my great uncle John Phibbs whose mind was also very clear when I interviewed him about 1958 remembered James Rosses mother.  Uncle John was a friend to the Ross boys Uncles Bob and John Ross in particular and said he lived with the Ross family for a time.  He thought she was about 90 years old and that couldn’t have been, but then many young people believe old people to be much older than they actually are, right?  He said she was a strong old lady and could carry heavy sacks of coal and or potatoes slung over her shoulders.  I’m convinced most of us are weaklings compared to our ancestors even if we are much larger in general.

Mrs. Clarita Morgan said, she believes Nancy had an incredibly hard life. She said women were put in jail for having children out of wedlock.  She
also said James was taken away from Nancy when he was bound out to James Meredith.  She got this from the Count Orders Book of Pulaski County.  She just stated that Nancy was in the poorhouse at that time.  Mrs. Morgan’s husband became critically ill last spring and she has promised me as soon as she can to get back into the records for me.  She has seen the original will of Frederick Shepherd and said while it mentioned his wife Elizabeth there was no mention of any children.  I have recently sent her more information regarding the marriages out of her own book showing the marriage of John Shepherd to Levica Martin naming his parents as Felty and Elizabeth Shepherd, as well as telling her that we believe that John was a brother to our William Shepherd as well as Levica Martin being a sister to Nancy Martin Shepherd.  I also sent her the copy of the records from the Tennessee Civil War Veterans on Calvin Sheppard.  You will note that it is copyrighted and not to be reproduced.  But it gives a good description of his family that we would find hard to get anywhere else.  I spoke to Mrs. Morgan after that and she said “Why that Shepherd/Sheppard Family is a very old one here”.  She then said “It is hard to imagine that he treated Nancy like he did.  Meaning that he took her son but didn’t marry her.”  She also told me she has some more information for me but has not gotten back into the records yet.

Nancy Martin Shepherd, could have been married to her daughter Charlotte’s father Jackson Bryant.  Those records would evidently be in North Carolina. I’m trying to check the 1850 Census for Surrey County at least I have it on order.  I’m wondering if I can find William and Polly (Bayes) Martin there. Do you know?  I recall you also had Nancy Adeline as possibly born in Ashe County North Carolina.  Until I find them and a  marriage record for William Shepherd to Nancy Martin or Bryant, I don’t know too much.  It appears from earlier records that William was married in the 1840 Census with a family. But who can tell for sure perhaps they were both married before they married each other.  William Shepherd is listed in Pulaski Co., in 1850 with wife Nancy and two children older than our Nancy Adeline.  They are William Shepherd and Charlotte also listed as a Shepherd.  But we find from Charlotte’s marriage record while Nancy Shepherd was her mother her father was Jackson Bryant.  But William Shepherd the son disappears and we don’t know if he is also Nancy’s son or if he is William’s son from a former marriage.  Until we can find more evidence that remains a mystery.  But it is great that we have Calvin’s record telling us who his parents are and also mentioning his grandfather William Martin.  And it is apparent from that record that William Martin was married before he married Polly Bayes.
None of this is unusual there were some divorces in those days but lots of people died much younger and of all kinds of diseases in those days that we don’t have now.  And many people remarried.

I also believe that the Census Takers were not qualified to always know whether a person was “Idiotic or wahter.”  I have two adopted children and both have Cerebral Palsy.  People as well as Doctors have labeled them. Cerebral Palsy, therefore mentally retarded for years.  It isn’t necessarily so.  David will be 20 years old in October and he walks with a limp and is called Moderate Cerebral Palsy.  Since he was in an institution for mentally retarded from 3 years until 12 and 1/2 years he picked up some traits which appear to be those of a mentally retarded person.  Had he been in a home with a loving family all those years he would probably not have had those characteristics.  I’ve had a young woman who has Cerebral Palsy and lived with her family who was married and had a child and worked for the Cerebral Palsy Office in Oakland, California tell me, “Oh yes people always think we are mentally retarded.”  It’s obvious to me that is not so.  My daughter Noel (pronounced as Noelle) is called Mild Cerebral Palsy and it is not apparent to most people that she has any anything.  I think it is between that person and the Lord.  I am not angry at you for any of your thoughts and I understand it is normal to wonder about all of these people.  But it is also FASCINATING to find whatever information we may be able to find regarding our ancestors.

Charlotte’s last name was shown as Martin though and that does lead one to believe she was born out of wedlock.

The John Perry Alderman that I mentioned before has done a wonderful job of research spending over 25 years and is publishing books on the Carroll County people.  I have his book called, CARROLL 1765-1815 THE SETTLEMENTS. I have found several of my early lines in there the
SHOCKLEY’S-BOLT’S-FRANKLIN’S-WORRALL’S and the NEWMAN’S.  He did it from the Deed Books the Will Books the Census the Marriage records as well as documented information that has come to him from descendent sources.  It is all well documented.  My PHIBBS FAMILY didn’t come into Carroll until the 1840’s from Guilford County North Carolina and he doesn’t know much about them.  But I have some Guilford records on them and I belong to the Guilford County Genealogical Society.  In addition to all of this I am gathering information on my fathers lines.  His father’s is in Central Pennsylvania and his mother’s is a Vermont and New England Family.  As well as doing research on my hunsband’s family.  His Perry family came from Ohio after 1855 to Iowa from there to Kansas after 1882 to California by 1910.  His Warrren line from somewhere in Virginia (wife born Germany) to Ohio to Missouri to Washington to California.  Another Vliet from Virginia to Illinois to Kansa to Washington Territory, Mrs. Vliet’s – Wheeler Family, her father came from South Carolina and mother from North Carolina their older children were born in Tennessee but their daugher Louisa my husband’s children were born in Tennessee but their daughter Louisa my husband’s 2nd great grandmother was born in Illinois where she and Garrett Vliet married. And on his mothers side her father came from Sweden and luckily some
relatives over there have sent quite a lot of that information.  Then his mothers mothers line Beard came from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to  Ohio to Indiana to Iowa to Missouri and finally to California before 1880.  His third great grandfather Beard was born in Sept. 1799 in Pennsylvania and died in the 1890’s near Fresno California.  He is buried in an old Pioneer Cemetery at a place there called Academy, there had been a school there that was the Academy.  He also has ancestors who were married in Santa Clara County California in 1856, the husband was born in Ohio in the late 1820’s and his bride in Iowa in the 1830’s.  Well enough of that, but I am working on all of these lines.  Plus helping a few friends here and there.  That story you told me of the woman who killed her baby.  I have heard that before and the story was told by Grayson and Laura (Adams) Graham.  They said it was Mary (Graham) Deane.  I would have to do some digging to be sure of her married name.  It may have been Dean (this is correct).  They said she overlaid or rolled over her child in the night and it died.  That was a fairly common occurance, with babies sleeping in the same beds with their mothers.  Mary was a sister to Grayson and my great grandmother Damey Catherine Graham.  It was a tragic incident.

I hope this is of some help to you.  It appears Nancy Adeline was never married to anyone but Harve D. Ross.  I agree the marriage was undoubtedly commsumated.  After all they were listed as living together with her parents in 1860.  Obviously, Nancy was capable of having dhileren and could have born them.  Perhaps the trouble lies with Harve unless he is actually your father’s father and anything is possible including that not everyone gets pregnant right away.  It is possible Nancy Adeline worked as a domestic in the Meredith home and was forced into an uncompromising position.  Women were treated like chattel in those days and I don’t know if her parents were still living at that time or if they had left Pulaski County.  She was listed as you said with her Aunt Levica and what had become of John Shepherd.  Were these men in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.  It is said that Damey Catherine Graham’s father William Addison Graham was enlisted at age fifteen three days before the War ended.  I can find no record of him through the National Archives but then they can’t tell me about William’s father Robert A Graham either who also served from Pulaski County.  Mrs. Morgan says she has records of those from Pulaski County.  I have also checked with Richmond as they may have been in the local militia.

The National Archives also had nothing on Calvin Shepherd/Sheppard.  The problems which resulted in the Civil War was going on for years before and the effects lasted years after.

I lived in San Francisco during World War II and even though I was 11-15 years old I was aware of much of what was going on around me.  We moved from the small farming community in Twin Falls County Idaho (a dry state) to San Francisco California in early 1942.  I had spent two weeks in California in July of 1941 before I turned eleven.  I was aware alcohol was sold everywhere.  I had never seen anyone drunk until I came to California.

Talk about CULTURE SHOCK.  At any rate it was quite an experience and I will never forget it.  I had a very straight laced grandmother who had never smoked or drank in her life.  But I found out many years later she had been about six months pregnant when she was married.  I don’t love her anyless, she was special to me.  My grandfather her husband like to go to a place called the pool hall.  No respectable woman would be caught dead there. When we arrived in California and the first evening (this being July 1941 and I was 10 years old) and I heard my own grandmother (mother’s mother) Fannie Elizabeth (Ross) Phibbs, day she would go with them to buy liquor.  I was shocked!!!  Many of the family on that side consider me a snob to this day.  It was just CULTURE SHOCK.  My grandmother Fannie and two of her daughters died of Cirrhosis of the liver or alcohol related deaths.  Another who was only six months older than I committed suicide by shooting herself through the head as her father my grandfather did.  She had had an injury and was given some drug by prescription for it but she also drank some and as we know they don’t mix.  Aunt Florence as you will remember is the oldest and she turned 78 in June of this year and she looks better than my 73 year old mother and both of them are very clear.  Mother needs hearing aids for both ears (she was just checked out last week), but we have been aware that
she needs them for a while.  She fought the idea I think it was more the expense than anything.  They have one other sister who is younger who is
still living and she is in good health.  She is Viola and she just turned 67 last month.  There are three brothers also living Bill will be 65 in October
and he is okay.  He had some problems which resulted in his not being able to use sugar and it was not diabetes.  They said he was bad until they found what the problem was.  He dosn’t smoke or drink at all and hasn’t for years.

Then there is Orval, he is about 62/3 years of age, he is dying of cancer of the lung.  I haven’t seen him for years another brother Arthur died of
cancer of the lung two years ago he was only 57 year old at the time.  The youngest brother is Rick and he will be 58 on Dec. 25th, and he is not in
very good shape he is rather crippled up I don’t know what from.  Again I haven’t seen him for years.  But he writes every Christmas and sends a card to me.  The only other brother they had died in 1977 and he Jimmy was the eldest of the boys, he was born in 1916 and he died of the disease that the Baseball Player Lou Gehrig died of.  He was sick for quite a few years, he drank quite a lot and smoked besides.

I’m glad we have the principal of repentance and forgiveness or I’m sure none of us would ever make it.  We have all made mistakes and I’m told by church authorities once we make the proper repentance if need by through our Bishop, we don’t owe anyone an explanation.  It is between ourselves and our Heavenly Father.  So if the Lord can be that gracious to me or any other person who makes a mistke I’m sure he understands Nancy Adeline (Shepherd) Rosses and Adaline Bold’s and my grandmother Dorothy Ketcham (Balis) Beachell’s and my grandmother Fannie Elizabeth (Ross) Phibbs and anyone elses problems and I am glad to leave it up to him to decide since each case is different and individual.

When James Thomas Ross went to the temple in Salt Lake City to be endowed it was June 20, 1935.  He gave his name as James Thomas Ross, born 22 Sept. 1870 at Snowsville, Pulaski, Virginia.  Father was given as James Thomas Ross and mother as Nancy Shepard.  He also gave his baptism date as 17 Apr 1898 and Damie Catherine Graham as born 25 Nov. 1873 born Pulaski Va. died 3 Feb 1933.  Father Wm. Addison Graham mother Elizabeth Miles.  He didn’t give a marriage date but said she had been married to him.  He gave her baptism date as about 1897.  When my grandmother was sealed they took down her information as follows: Name in full Fanny Ross born 18 Nov. 1893 at Radford, Radford, Va.  Father Jas. F. Ross mother Damy C. Graham.  She was endowed 20 June 1923 and her baptism is given as 5 Jul 1906.  I have understood she and her brother James Thomas Ross were baptized the same day at Welch, McDowell, W. Va.  This brother was called Tom Ross, but I have his death certificate and it says James Thomas Meredith aka (also known as) James Thomas Ross born Oct 19, 1895 in Virginia died July 16, 1964 at Los
Angeles County General Hospital.  My grandmother was baptized the same year she was married.  She was married in Dec of 1906.  I have talked to someone in Salt Lake at the Genealogical Society and they said I should write it all down and send it in.  He probably didn’t realize in 1935 how important it would all be to be so accurate ect.  In a book of records kept by my grandfather he gives my grandmothers birthplace as Reed Island, Virginia.

I’ve also worked in hospitals doing nursing ect and I have personally seen people die of Cirrhosis of the Liver and know it isn’t any too pleasant,
I’ve often said I have no illusions.

I’ve certainly written a long letter here.  I hope it is of some help to you.  I’m waiting to hear from Mrs. Morgan again and I hope it won’t be too
long.  And I hope we will be able to gain further knowledge regarding these families.  Mrs. Morgan lives behind a Phibbs relative of mine in Pulaski
City.  They are good friends and she told me to come and stay with her if I get back there.  She also said you are going to write a book aren’t you?  I haven’t gotten to that point yet.  Anyway I had better stop here and get my family fed.

Happy Hunting,
Your Cousin
Donna (Beachell) Perry