52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week 13 theme - Sisters.   

These are the 5 McGill girls circa 1900, Edmond OK. My Grandma Hattie and her sisters. Top: Mary Lucinda (Mamie), b. 1876, and Kitty Lela b. 1890. Center: Eliza Amelia, b. 1878. Bottom: Carrie Gladys, b. 1884, and Harriett Emily, b. 1880 (Hattie... my paternal Grandma).

I believe they all were seamstresses and may have made their dress-up blouses. Eliza and Hattie married two of the Griffin boys, who lived about two farms away. We grew up learning that those of us descended from their families were "double cousins". The McGill and Griffin families were '89ers... claiming free land in the Oklahoma Land Run and settling west of Edmond OK. I knew all these lovely ladies and wish I had asked them about their pioneer lives, especially about their grandmother, Lucinda Herrington Frost, who is my "brick wall ancestor". They would have grown up knowing her through their childhood and teen years. Lots to learn about the history of the McGill and Griffin pioneer families.

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 12 Theme - Joined Together

In 1860, my 2Gt Grandfather, John Cooper Easter, was a young man of 19. He had land of his own in Personville, Limestone Co, TX worth $750. And personal property of $1800, probably inherited from his father who died back in Alabama.  John, his mother, and siblings had followed other family members to Texas, ten years earlier. 

Meanwhile, in the neighboring county of  Robertson, Nancy Levinia “Viney”Grant is the 15 year old daughter of the wealthy James Davis Grant. She is shown in census to be a student.  

That same summer, John’s brother, Thomas Texas Easter, and Viney’s sister, Sarah Paralee “Pad” Grant, are married in Robertson County.  No doubt John and Viney met at that time and, although very young, they were married In November of that year, 1860.

Each of the sisters gave birth to baby girls in the next year.  Pad’s daughter, Lizzie, only lived for one year.  Viney’s daughter, Nancy Paralee “Nannie” grew up to be my Gt Grandmother, but much sadness followed these families.

John Easter enlisted in Confederate Service as a Private in 1861, attached to the 12^th Infantry. Family stories say that he came home very ill with typhoid fever, and died June 4, 1862.  His wife, Viney, also became ill and she died just 3 days later, June 7, 1862,  leaving baby, Nannie, an orphan at age 9 months.

Nannie’s grandfather, John Davis Grant, was named as guardian, but soon she was taken in  as a foster daughter,  by Thomas and Pad Easter, her aunt and uncle. Thomas was also a Confederate soldier, a member of the Robertson Rebels.   I don’t know if there was an official adoption, but she was raised by this family as her only known parents.  Pad Grant Easter would bear 13 children, but only Nannie and 4 others would live past infancy or childhood.   The Thomas Easter family moved across Texas to Lorenzo, near Lubbock, where they homesteaded, along with Nannie and her husband, Abner P. Avera.

The tombstone shown above, for Nannie’s birth parents, John and Viney, is in Owensville Cemetery in Robertson County, Texas.… a double stone which I’m sure was designed and placed by Viney’s parents, James D. and Sarah Grant. 

Nannie Easter Avera

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Week # 11 Theme - Flowers

The wildflowers shown here are on land that was once patented by my 4Gt Grandfather, Benoni Griffin  1743 - 1796.  On a visit to West Virginia a few years ago, we found a clue concerning the location of Benoni's land near Arbovale in Pocahontas County. When Benoni settled on this land it was in Bath County, Virginia.  We were at the Bath County Courthouse and found a tiny paragraph written 60-70 years ago.  

"The town of Arbovale is situated on the grant of Benona Griffin & James Rucker, Jr. The set stone corner near the gate of C.O. Wood's store building is a common corner to the two grants mentioned and to the land supposed to be owned by Jacob Rambo. The Arbovale Church is in the Griffin Patent. " 

We drove toward Cass and Snowshoe, where skiers love to adventure in winter, but we were there in the summer when wildflowers were blooming.  Finding the Arbovale Church and, looking to the west toward the Greenbrier River, we could see where Benoni's beautiful view would be.  But now all is fenced off and classified, as it is the location of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory .   
http://www.nrao.edu/directions/greenbank/map.jpg

The enormous Greenbank Telescope is located in that complex.  It can be seen for miles around.  

Just imagine what Benoni and his sons, Jonathan, Samuel S., Abraham, Levi, and daughter Mary,  would think if dropped back into Arbovale 200+ years later. Change is inevitable, but the wildflowers keep coming back every summer.