52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week #19 theme is Food and Drink.  

We were always told that our maternal Grand Daddy, R. E. (Dick) Avera, had a candy store in Frederick Oklahoma.  His only child, Bess, our mom, even told us that the name of his store was the Queen Bess. This week in a newspaper dot com search for Frederick Oklahoma, I found this 1929 ad. So now we know that the name of the store was Candyland and he served food and drinks, and ice cream, at the soda fountain, as well as the candies he made himself on big marble slabs.  Queen Bess was one type of candy he made. Oddly, my mom didn't like chocolate much, but in later years he always presented family members with Whitman's Sampler candy boxes. And we often keep up that tradition today. 

 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

Sixteen Great Great Grandparents

Paternal Gt Gt Grandparents:
1. William Griffin. b. 27 Mar 1812, Bath County, VA (later Pocahontas, WV). m. 25 Oct 1838, Pocahontas Co., VA. d. 4 Nov 1889, Edmond OK OK. Nationality - Wales, England

2. Elizabeth M. Rodgers. b. 4 Aug 1818, probably Madison Co, VA. d. 16 June 1903, Edmond OK, OK. Nationality - probably English, some Dutch

3. William J. Terry. b. 11 Apr. 1812, England. m. 12 Sept 1836, St. Luke's, Old Charlton, Canterbury, Kent, England. May 14 1863, Macon Co., IL. Nationality - English

4. Charlotte Clarke. b. 5 Oct 1806, England. d. 8 Nov 1890, Clackamas Co., OR. Nationality - English, possibly Irish.

5. Patrick McGill. b. bet. 1782-1790 Ireland. m. before 1835 probably Carleton, Ontario, Canada. d. Between 1852 - 56 Ontario, Canada. Nationality - Irish.

6. Mary _____ . b. About 1814, Ireland. d. About Apr 1856, Johnson Co., IA. Nationality - Irish.

7. Elias Carlos Frost. b. 19 Dec 1826, Berea, Cuyahoga Co., OH. m. 5 Oct 1850, Johnson Co., IA. d. 3 Jan 1907, Perry, Noble Co., OK Territory. Nationality - English

8. Lucinda Harrington. b. 26 Jan 1828, New York. d. 11 Feb 1900, Perry, Noble Co., OK Territory. Nationality - English

Maternal Gt Gt Grandparents:
9. Hardy Richard Avera. b. 5 May 1825, Mississippi. m. about 1845 in Wayne Co., Mississippi. d. Sept. 1907, Texas. Nationality - Scotch-Irish

10. Martha Caroline McLeod. b. June 1829, Mississippi. d. Jan 1910, Texas. Nationality - Scottish

11. John C. Easter. b. 1841 in Athens, Limestone Co., AL. m. 19 Nov. 1860 , Grant's Prairie, Robertson Co., TX. d. 4 June 1862, Grant's Prairie, Robertson Co., TX. Nationality - English.

12. Nancy Levenia Grant. b. 21 Mar. 1845, Pontotoc Co., Mississippi. d. 1862, Grant's Prairie, Robertson Co., TX. Nationality - Scottish

13. Francis Asbury Cochran. b.15 Jun 1817, South Carolina. m. 1849, Tennessee. d. before 1880, Arkansas. Nationality - Scottish

14. Sarah Ann Lowry. b. 24 Mar 1833, Union Co., South Carolina. d. 21 Sept. 1878, Fairview, Hopkins Co., TX. Nationality - Scotch-Irish

15. Robert Dillard. b. 1807 Henry Co., VA. m. 15 Sep 1840, Ralls Co., MO. d. 18 Feb. 1868, Jefferson, Marion Co., TX. Nationality - English

16. Elvira Elizabeth Chitwood. b. 1821, Spencer Twp., Ralls Co., MO. d. after 1883, Cooke Co., TX. Nationality - English

My nationality would be from the British Isles. Over 50%, English, with a dash of Welsh. 31% Scotch or Scotch-Irish. And 12.5% Irish. 12 of the 16 born in the United States. 2 Ireland, 2 England. I hope to publish DNA percentages soon.