In Loving Memory of Opal Murriel Hollingsworth (1916-2005)

by

Linda Sue Hollingsworth Littlejohn Robbins, Murriel’s oldest child
Those who knew her, loved her.

Opal Murriel Hollingsworth was a beautiful and loving wife with her husband and a caring mother with her children. It is the case in most families that there are trials and tribulations and problems to solve throughout the years of growing a family. Our family was no different, but in using hindsight, I know that my mom performed a more than admirable job of raising her four children.

Murriel (pronounced Mer-re’ul), as Mom was called the first 70 years of her life, gave up material things for herself, so that we could have what we needed and enjoy more of what the world had to offer. It must have been difficult and challenging, just as it is today, to live within ones’ means and also be able to give of one’s self to the family and community, but she did it.

Mom was born in November 20, 1916 and lived in east Texas in the Antrim community in Anderson County for her first three years. Mom’s parents were very humble, but proud, country folks who mostly were farmers. During their first 26 years of marriage, they rented homes, and at age 46, they bought a home in Liberty County’s Cleveland, Texas with the financial assistance of their oldest daughter. It was this home where their four remaining adult children, their spouses, and 14 grandchildren visited from 1939-1978 and 1980 when Mom’s parents passed away, first her dad and then her mom.

Murriel’s family moved east of Elkhart, Texas on Grapeland Road, also in Anderson County with her family by 1920. Her father was a farmer. She, her older sister, and younger brother went to country schools and helped their mom and dad in the fields and in the home. In 1925, her youngest sister was born. By the third grade, Mom and her family had moved to Montgomery County, west of Conroe, Texas. Next the family moved to Cold Springs, Texas in San Jacinto County where they were active in the Cold Springs Methodist Church. Mom and her older sister graduated from Cold Springs High School age 17. All schools at that time went through the 11^th grade. In the 1930s Cold Springs community had a church and the High School was a four-teacher school. Mom’s older sister was the valedictorian of her class.

In 1935, at the age of 18, Mom attended the Houston, Texas Beauty College and graduated with a beautician’s license. She moved to Conroe and Anahuac, Texas to become a beautician and at one time owned her own shop. In 1940, Mom, age 23, was a beautician in Cleveland, Texas according to the Liberty County Poll Tax (Voting) receipt and lived at her parents’ home.

Murriel met my dad, a young 30 year-old Methodist preacher when he was assigned to a five-point circuit at Lovelady, east Texas after 1939. They married June 23, 1941 when Mom was 24. They married at Cleveland, Texas where her parents had moved. She and Dad spent their honeymoon at the Rice Hotel in Houston, Texas. This began a lifetime of service in the Methodist Church for both of them and also a lifetime of moving. Mom and Dad moved more than 20 times to live in church parsonages in 15 towns, six in Texas and nine in Oklahoma as they served 14 churches and one administrative position during the next 40 years.

Mom and Dad moved to Tomball, Texas where his next pastorate was located. Serving a single church was called a station. Their home was behind the church and directly connected to it with a hallway. The women of the church used the parsonage kitchen to prepare food for the church.

In March, 1942, Dad was assigned to the Linden Methodist Church, Linden, Texas, in Cass County, which is in northeast Texas near Texarkana. Murriel and he had their first child when Mom was 25, a daughter, who was born in the home and was delivered by a local doctor. Both of the baby’s grandmothers came to assist for several weeks. The family shared a milk cow with the Baptist preacher’s family who lived behind them. In April, 1943, at Linden, their second child, a daughter, was born at home who was delivered by the same doctor. Again, both grandmothers came to assist Mom and the new baby for several weeks. A lady who now lived in Tyler, Texas visited with me earlier this year by phone and explained that as a teenager, she babysat me and my next sister when we were one and two year olds. She believed that it was her mom who assisted the doctor in our deliveries as she knew her mom was called on often to assist the doctor.

Dad was assigned to First Methodist Church in Athens, Texas, in Henderson County from 1945-1948 where their third child, a son, was born in 1947 at the hospital. Our mom often dressed her two daughters in the same outfits or similarly, even though we were one year apart and one had brown hair and one had blond hair.

Methodist preachers and their families were assigned churches and locations within a geographical area called a Conference. Dad’s first 20 years as a minister were in the Texas Conference, one of five in Texas, located in east Texas, now approximately east of I-45 and not including Dallas, Texas. His last twenty years of ministry were located in the Oklahoma Conference which coincided with the geography of the state of Oklahoma.

Murriel knew that she would need to follow her husband to each new pastorate with her family. By now, at age 30, she was living in her fourth town after marrying my dad. This would continue with 12 more moves to different towns and churches for almost another 30 years until she was 60.

From 1948-1950, Mom, age 32, and family of five lived in two parsonages, plus a rental duplex in between, in Palestine, Texas. The first home was Victorian style and next door to First Methodist Church on Magnolia Street. The second home was built south of town on Highland Drive. Her family lived in a rented home while the second parsonage was built. Her oldest daughter attended first and second grades at Lamar Elementary School and her second daughter attended first grade there.

The next move occurred in June, 1950 to Galveston, Texas where Murriel, age 34, and her family grew to four children with the addition of a third daughter in 1952. Her husband was transferred to Galveston’s First Methodist Church where they lived for five years. It was an exciting time for Mom and the family with the beach so handy. My mom loved to go crabbing, and we would go to the east jetty and carefully walk out on the slippery rock rubble jetty and try not to fall between the cracks between the huge boulders. We took leftover beef meat and bones to tie a string around and lowered it into the water. Crabs would cling to the bait and we would bring them up.

Mom and Dad loved seafood of all kinds. In those days, a favorite way to prepare fish fillets was to deep fat fry them in deep electric fryers that had recently come on the market. Mom and Dad also took us to Gaido’s on Sundays after church where our favorite fish was fried shrimp. In contrast with today, we eat mostly grilled or broiled fish. Other Sunday outings included riding the Port Bolivar free ferry operated by the Department of Transportation, Dad driving the car up on the upper seawall at the east end of Seawall Boulevard, going to Carnation’s for ice cream, driving to the airport at the west end of the island to watch the airplanes come and go, and driving on the hard sand beach at the west end of the island.

During our time in Galveston, Murriel saw that the older daughters took piano, art, gymnastics, dance, and voice lessons from members of the church or in the community. It was the fashion of the time for women and girls to wear hats and gloves when we were dressed up, and our Mom and we followed that custom. Mom also saw that we ate meals on a regular schedule, with breakfast, dinner, and supper the names of the three meals as was common in those days in the South. She also taught the children to say, “Yes, m’am, no, m’am, yes, sir, and no, sir.” as did her mom. Cursing was not allowed in our home, and we could not play cards or go to a movie on Sunday.

The oldest daughter went to three schools in Galveston. The first was San Jacinto Elementary in the third and fourth grades in 1950-1952 when our family lived in a two-story Victorian home next to First Methodist Church at 1920 Sealy that was built before the 1900 storm and survived. The second school was Alamo Elementary near the home we lived in at 4420 N ½ Street in the fifth and sixth grades. The third school was Lovenburg Junior High in the seventh grade. My mom enrolled the three oldest children in swimming lessons at the then new Ball High School Swimming Pool and the oldest daughter began band in the seventh grade. The youngest sister was born in 1952 during one of the fierce storms that frequent Galveston.

1955-1957 saw the another transfer for Murriel, age 39, and her family to Grace Methodist Church in Houston, Texas in the now historic Heights area. The first parsonage was a frame home on Yale Avenue south of the church with an extra bedroom addition. The second home was a newly built parsonage one block east on Heights Boulevard south of the Heights Public Library. The oldest daughter and her next sister walked to Hamilton Junior High School at the north end of Heights Boulevard. The oldest daughter took Driver’s Ed in the ninth grade to receive a Texas Learner’s Permit. The two daughters would walk home and sometimes stop at a hamburger stand that might have been an early Whataburger because the hamburgers tasted the same. The sisters participated in the church choir and the oldest sister was in the school choir and was a member of Rainbow Girls. Mom had distinctive opinions about Elvis Presley and her oldest daughter was not allowed to see him when he came to Houston.

1957 was a historic year for Mom’s family. Bishop Angie Smith of the Methodist Church (an elected position) asked my dad to transfer from the Texas Conference to the Oklahoma Conference where the bishop’s brother A. Frank Smith was also a bishop. My dad agreed to the transfer, so all of our family’s roots from the eastern half of Texas were uprooted to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to the Crown Heights Methodist Church. Mom was 41. In those days people, particularly men, did not give up the opportunity to move within an occupation, profession, or company for possible fear of not advancing, so our family made the change.

Oldest daughter and next sister attended Harding High School in the 10^th and 9^th grades where both sisters were in Pep Club and the oldest daughter took Driver’s Ed. Some students who took Driver’s Ed the same semester already were driving their cars to school that they parked in the parking lot. Her younger brother and youngest sister attended Emerson Elementary School. Mom was the dutiful pastor’s wife and led women’s functions in the church and entertained church members in the home. The children were active in the youth groups and choirs in the church. It was nice to visit often with Dad’s oldest brother and his wife because they had moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma early in their lives in the 1930s.

Murriel’s eighth location at age 42 was 1958-1960 when her family moved to Duncan, Oklahoma’s First Methodist Church. The family lived in two locations: one a smaller frame home with a detached garage and the second, a two-story home with a non-livable basement. At the first home, Mom and the children helped to hang out the clothes after they were washed. On one occasion, they had to quickly gather the clothes in because the sky had turned a weird, sickly shade of green with increasing winds that signaled the approach of a strong storm and possible tornado. That was in the days before one could see the weather forecast on the computer or warnings on the radio or TV. At the second home, Mom presided again over entertaining functions in the home for church members. She also gave a formal tea for her oldest daughter’s high school graduation. It was in Duncan that the two older daughters were active at school and in church. The oldest daughter performed in school choir and the second daughter was editor of the school yearbook. Both daughters were in the active youth group at church, sang in the youth choir, and had fun at the after Sunday evening church service youth group dances in member’s homes. Also at this time, the two older daughters began dating.

From 1960-1966, at their ninth location, Mom, age 44, Dad, age 49, and the three younger children moved to Woodward, Oklahoma for Dad to become the Woodward District Superintendent of the Methodist Church, an administrative and guidance position. From their home, he and mom traveled to 35 churches that stretched from the western edge of Oklahoma’s Panhandle to east of the Panhandle in the Woodward area. It was during these years that the second daughter and son graduated from Woodward High School in 1961 and 1965 and the oldest daughter and second daughter attended and graduated from Oklahoma City University, a Methodist university, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Their oldest daughter married in 1965 in Dallas, Texas when Dad married his daughter and her fiancé at University Park Methodist Church. The family participated as members of the wedding party.

In June, 1966, Murriel, age 52, and Dad, age 57, moved to their Lawton’s Centenary Methodist Church, 704 S.W. D. Avenue, Lawton, Oklahoma for one year with their youngest child, Deborah as their tenth assignment. I recall visiting there with my first husband, and the garage doors would go up and down unannounced as their automatic signals would be set off as nearby Fort Sill was performing maneuvers with the same frequencies as armaments were shot.

From 1967-1970, El Reno, Oklahoma was my dad’s next pastorate and eleventh location at Wesley Methodist Church at 101 S. Barker Avenue where the parsonage was next door. The home was a one-story with a livable basement. I recall that my brother came home from the Vietnam War and stared often out the front door when we visited there. My dad also would barbeque on the grill outside in his suit and hat. As usual, Mom, age 51, belonged to the Women’s Christian Service group, lead in it. and Vacation Bible School, Sunday School, and entertained women’s groups at the parsonage. Their youngest daughter graduated from El Reno High School in 1970. A significant change came about in the Methodist Church in 1968 when it became the United Methodist Church.

In June, 1970, when Murriel was 54, she and Dad moved to Okmulgee, Oklahoma, their twelvth assignment, where he was the pastor of First United Methodist Church at 302 S. Seminole, Okmulgee, Oklahoma for two years. Okmulgee is in eastern Oklahoma where my children’s great aunt and uncle lived most of their adult lives, taught in the schools there, and were members of the First United Methodist Church. It is also the town where Mom and Dad’s youngest daughter settled with her husband in later years and raised their two children. The Okmulgee Cemetery has several family members located there: the oldest daughter’s children’s paternal great-grandparents where the husband was a Methodist minister for 30 years, the oldest daughter’s children’s great aunt and uncle, and the youngest daughter’s husband, and his parents.

1972-1975 saw Mom’s thirteenth move to Claremore, Oklahoma with Dad to the First United Methodist Church at Claremore and Foyil. It was a significant move in that Mom and Dad chose Claremore, Oklahoma as a place to retire to later in life. It was a momentous decision because Dad did not get to make the move five years later due to his death. Mom really enjoyed the church at Claremore, making many friends who would remain her friends when she retired in Claremore later. After her children grew up and left home, she had begun to work outside the home, especially in elderly care in private homes or small nursing homes where she could sit or work with patients during the night.

In 1975, Murriel, age 59, and Dad, age 65, moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Sheridan Avenue United Methodist Church where the parsonage was next door. This was their fourteenth assignment. Christmas that year was a joyous occasion because their son and his wife from California came to visit, as well as Dad’s oldest brother and youngest sister, along with of their other children, including the oldest daughter and her husband’s children, the second daughter from Washington state, and the youngest daughter’s boyfriend who would later become her husband. There was a beautiful snow on Christmas morning which was very unusual to occur that early in the season.

1976 was the last and final move for Mom, age 60, and Dad, age 65, to Perry, Oklahoma First United Methodist Church, as a Methodist minister and his wife. They had completed fifteen moves to different towns in two states. Dad was in good health until March, 1977 when he had a heart attack while he and Mom were visiting their oldest daughter’s family in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Dad was able to go home to Perry for a short while, but had another heart attack two months later at their home in Perry. He was transferred to St. Mary’s Hospital, Enid, Oklahoma where he lived for a few weeks until his death on his 66^th birthday, June 11, 1977. Mom, her oldest daughter, and family got to be with him in the hospital before he passed away. During the two months when he was gravely ill, Mom took care of the business of having him officially retired as a United Methodist Minister in the Oklahoma Conference at the Annual Conference in June, 1977. His funeral was held at the Perry First United Methodist Church where his oldest and youngest daughters sang several of his favorite hymns as duets during the service. His body was transferred to the Claremore, Oklahoma Woodlawn Cemetery where he is interred with Mom who passed away in 2005.

In 1977, Mom, age 60, as a widow, moved to her home at 300 N. Wortman Place in Claremore, Oklahoma that she and dad had planned to move to together for their retirement. Instead she moved by herself. Her second oldest daughter came from Washington state to help her move in and get organized. For several years, Mom was active at First United Methodist Church, Claremore, Oklahoma, and worked at Picketts’ Plant Nursery and at Aunt Carrie’s Home for the elderly. In her spare time, she walked every day for exercise and had an extensive garden in her backyard. When her oldest daughter divorced in 1978, Mom took her oldest daughter and three children in to her home until they were able to purchace their own home in the same town.

Before the age of 72 in 1988, Mom had a major stroke, but was able to continue living in her home after rehabilitation.

By 1995, at age 78, Mom had developed the beginning stages of dementia with mini strokes, she became lost in her neighborhood, and it was determined that she needed to move into residential care. She moved to the Baptist Retirement Center, Okmulgee, Oklahoma, where she had a two-room apartment and was under the care of her youngest daughter, her husband, and two young children. It was at this time that Mom's middle name Murriel was changed to use her legal first given name, Opal. I have often wondered how strange it must seem to a person with dementia to be called by a new name that was never used before in one's life. I wonder at what point in dementia does one lose the ability to recognize one's own name.

Later in 1995 or 1996 Opal Murriel was moved to the Baptist Retirement Center in Owasso at Mimosa Manor where she had a smaller apartment. At the end of her living in Owasso her older daughter assumed the responsibilities of her financial and medical care.

In 1997 Opal Murriel moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma to be near her oldest granddaughter and her family where she was cared for by them for nine years until her death June 2, 2005 at age 88. She resided at Sterling House Assisted Living facility, Westhaven Nursing Home, and Grace Living Center. It was during those nine years that my oldest daughter, her husband, and their two young sons went to visit their grandmother daily and saw to her needs at that critical time in her life.

Opal Murriel Gray Hollingsworth was laid to rest next to Dad at the Claremore, Oklahoma Woodlawn Cemetery on June 10, 2005. Strode Funeral Home, Stillwater, Oklahoma was in charge of the graveside services. She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, and her husband. She was survived by one son, three daughters, five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. She was also survived by two sisters.

With this narrative, I honor Opal Murriel Gray Hollingsworth's memory for her family and friends who loved her for 88 years. Throughout her life, she showed strength, humor, compassion, and love for those around her.

Wonderful Finds in Austin

What a wonderful four days in Austin, Texas in September, 2009. Not only reveled in a visit with a first cousin and his 94-year old mom (my aunt) but got to touch and copy many genealogical finds that places my maternal grandparents in four different Texas counties from 1893-1980.

Have you ever seen a Texas County Poll Tax receipt from 1915? A Texas County Road Tax receipt from 1914? A Texas City Water Bill Receipt for 1926? A Texas School District ISD Tax receipt for 1935? A Texas County Personal Property Tax receipt from 1935? A WPA Notice To Report For Work duplicate for 1937? A WWII Rations Book from 1942? A Federal Income Tax W-2 Withholding Receipt for 1944? What a genealogical find. There's more, but I wouldn't want to bore you with all the details. Ha! Ha!

Needless to say, I spent several hours over several days at the copy place but it was all worth it. The moral of the story is: Bless those ancestors who saved every scrap of paper, and bless those ancestors and living folks who did not throw anything away.

Memories of Lamar Grade School

My sister and I grew up for two years in a small town in east Texas called Palestine in 1948-1950. We attended Lamar School when I was in the first and second grades. My sister was one year behind me. I am in the above picture: the first brown headed girl to the far left in the third row. Lamar School was originally constructed by the Palestine School District in 1922 as an elementary school to educate the children of south side neighborhoods. With the advent of the new Southside Elementary, the school was closed. It now houses the Anderson County Champions for Children and the WIC offices.

My sister recalls that she enjoyed the fire drills because the principal would put red bricks in the hallways to block the children from going down that path for the pretend fire.

I recall the playground at the back of the school. It had a piece of equipment that was attached to a tall pole and had four places to hold on to, and then swing yourself around, with your feet kicking out in space behind you.


I took some pictures of Lamar School in July, 2009 and am happy to report that although it is not a present school building in the district, it is used in the community for the WIC program.

Gray Family Connections

There is a wonderful feeling when close and distant family members connect with each other through today's technology. Using http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ Anderson County, Texas Message Board, I have been able to connect with two second cousins who I did not know before. I am a Hollingsworth Gray descendant on my mother's side. One of them is a Brinson Gray descendant on his mother's side and the other is a Simpson Gray descendant on his father's side. We are near each others' ages even though they are first cousins to each other and I am a second cousin to both of them.

They have surnames of Brinson and Simpson, but because their mother and their father were sister and brother, I have a connection with them through my maternal grandfather. The sister's and brother's mother was the oldest sister to my maternal grandfather.

We share a common great-grandfather and great-grandmother who were Richard Lusky "Dick" and Mary Ellisor Gray who I wrote about in an earlier January 2008 post. Their oldest daughter lived from 1878-1924. She married a Simpson who lived from 1861-1942. These two first cousins were born after the death of their grandmother and near to the time of death of their grandfather. The two second cousins did not get to know their grandfather and grandmother.

In my family of fourteen first cousins, including my brother, and two sisters, we were fortunate in the timing of the lives of our grandparents because they lived until most of us were out of high school, going to more school, working, and/or married. Even though my maternal grandfather was a younger brother of my two second cousins' grandmother, he was born 15 years later and lived from 1893-1978. My maternal grandmother lived from 1893-1980.

The miraculous part is that, without today's technology and the Internet, these two second cousins and I would not have made contact with each other. The days of holding family history papers and photographs by one family member are over. The sharing of documents, letters, diaries, photographs, and stories is the only way to go. To do less is to hoard and prevent future generations from knowing about their family history.

Publishing family histories with paper is still important. Locating printed documents or copies of original documents that support and cite genealogy research about our ancestors is critical to telling the facts as they were, without leaving anything out or embellishing the truth, more than it was.

I am grateful for hearing the stories that my relatives recall about growing up, or that their parents told them about their parents. These are the stories that are worth writing down for future generations to read.

One of the second cousins' stories is a memory of attending the father's funeral at Pilgrim Cemetery of their first cousin. Another is about one cousin shooting a bow and arrow into the air and both cousins running for cover when they were young. A third story concerns one cousin loaning his cousin his knife to whittle with while visiting each other.

These are private stories, and to protect the living, no names are given. The stories are told about each other in general terms, and we will leave the details of who told what in the stories to the tellers themselves when they choose to reveal themselves and their stories.

I hope my relatives will read this story. I have sent them email notices about looking at this story and others I have posted here about all sides of my family.

I hope one or more of them will post their own story, short or long, humorous or serious, on this blog about our common ancestors. This is the way we will continue connecting with each other and our future generations.

Other genealogy lovers are also welcome to comment or share their feelings about any of the posts here.

My Great Grandfather Richard L. "Dick", from Alabama and Texas

My maternal great-grandfather Richard L., nicknamed "Dick", was born on August 23, 1853 in Alabama to James Malachi (1830-1922) and Henrietta E. Williams (1828-1897). Dick's family came to Antrim Community in Anderson County, Texas about 1848-1849. His father served in the Confederate States of America Army for four years as a Private in Company K, 22nd Texas Infantry, from 1861-1865.

Dick's life began in Alabama, but he lived about the last 60 years of his life in Houston and Anderson Counties in east Texas as a farmer, mostly in the rural area southwest of Palestine and Elkhart, in a community called Antrim where he and his wife Mary raised their nine children.

By 1870, Dick moved with his family to Houston County, Precinct 5, near Grapeland, Texas. The nearest post office was at Crockett, Texas. Dick, 17, was a farmer, along with his father, James Malachi, 45,  his older brother, John Williams, 19, and younger brother, Benjamin "Bennie" S., 15. His youngest brother, James Frank, was 10. The father's real estate was valued at $500.00 and personal estate was valued at $200.00.

Nancy Smith Williams (1810-1870), 59, born in Alabama, also lived with the family in 1870. She was Richard L. father's mother-in-law. Her daughter was Henrietta E. Williams. The Williams family arrived in the Antrim Community about 1850. 

In 1877, Dick, 24, married Mary Ellisor, 18, whose parents were Joshua Malachia (1833-1876) and Lucy Ann Chaffin Ellisor (1837-1908). By 1880, Dick, still a farmer, 26, moved with his wife Mary, 21, and two daughters, Linnie, 1, and Mary Etta, 6 months, to Anderson County near Elkhart, Texas to Antrim Community.

By 1900, Dick, farmer, 47, lived at Elkhart, Texas in District 8 Enumeration District, Justice Precinct 2, Voting Precinct 5, with his wife Mary and children, Linnie, 19, James, farm laborer 16, John Edward, farm laborer, 13, Luna Lenora, 10, Ethelinda, 8, Richard Lusky, 6, Bennie C., 3, and Nora Azalee, 1. Dick stated he was unemployed for 4 months. Daughter Mary Etta was not listed in the US 1900 Census.

By 1910, Dick, farmer, 56, lived with his wife Mary, and daughters Luna Lenora, public school teacher, 20, Ethelinda, 19, Richard Lusky., farm laborer, 17, and Nora Azalee, 16.

I am indebted to second cousin Ivey Maurice Brinson, whose grandmother was Linnie Simpson and whose great-grandfather was Richard L. "Dick".

Ivey Maurice's grandmother and my grandfather, Richard "Lusky", were older sister and younger brother. Maurice shared the photographs of Dick, Mary, and their descendants and information about the Antrim Community and School in Anderson County, and Antrim Cemetery in Houston County, Texas that he, his sister, and father helped to maintain for many years.

The story here is not documented with citations. However, correct and proper citations are located in my Ancestry Family Tree as well as in Legacy Family Tree. I photographed many Antrim Cemetery headstones in July, 2008.

The home of Richard L. "Dick" and Mary Ellisor, no known date, Antrim Community, Anderson County, Texas. From left to right: Richard L. "Dick", John Edward (known as John Ed), unidentified, and Robert "Rob" Little

Headstones of R. L. (August 23, 1853-February 7, 1917 or 1920) and Mary (December 30, 1858 or 1859-1943) at Antrim Cemetery  Houston County, Texas. 

Left photograph: Richard "Lusky", (1893-1978), my grandfather; John Edward "Ed" (1886- ), Gramma Mary Ellisor (1858 or 1859-1943), Mary "Etta" (1880-1950), "Luna" Lenora (1889-1971), Ethelinda "Ethel" (1891-1965, and "Nora" Azalee (1898-1964).

Center photograph: Jasper Simpson (1861-1942) and his wife Linnie Simpson (1878-1924), Ivey Maurice Brinson's grandmother, on their wedding day in 1900.

Right photograph: "Luna" Lenora, Richard "Lusky", my grandfather, and Ethelinda "Ethel", no known date.

Antrim Community School Children in 1920, Anderson County, Texas. Fourteen of the children were mine and Ivey Maurice Brinson's ancestors.

Note: I recall my mother, Opal "Murriel" Hollingsworth and her sister, my aunt Nora "Azalee" Snow talking about their relatives and calling them by these names: Aunt (pronounced "Aint") Etta, Aunt "Aint" Ethel, and Uncle Ed. I recall when I was a child that I visited most of these relatives, but did not realize the significance of asking questions about their lives. The only one I know to ask now is my second cousin Ivey Maurice Brinson, whose mother told him many stories about his ancestors.

What I Have Learned About Pauline Wheeler Robbins

Pauline Wheeler was born January 1, 1864 to James and Sarah Larose Wheeler, in New York. Pauline Wheeler’s father, James Wheeler, was born in Montgomery, Orange County, New York to Elisha Pearl and Phebe Wheeler. Pauline's mother, Sarah Larose Wheeler was born August 12, 1839 at Riverhead, Suffolk, NY to Joseph and Charity W. Hudson Larose. Pauline's maternal grandfather Joseph Larose was born in Venice, Italy (no date given) and Pauline's maternal grandmother Charity W. Hudson Larose was born July 1, 1814 at Riverhead, Suffolk, NY.

Notes:
LaRose is sometimes spelled as Larose. This family's name appears more often in Suffolk County, Long Island Genealogy Records as LaRose. Suffolk County is the largest county on Long Island, New York.

Pauline Wheeler’s birth date given as January 1, 1864 is the date given in the 1900 U.S. Census when Pauline Wheeler was committed to the Napa Insane Asylum in Napa, Napa County, California. My opinion is that the date might have been manufactured since Pauline’s mind may have been such that she may not have known her exact birth date, or whoever entered the record into the 1900 U.S. Census made up the date to satisfy the records. Note in November, 2011. After visiting with several other genealogists, it may be that Pauline Wheeler Robbins was destitute after her father's death and did not have a source of income. She may have also suffered from depression which can be common after the birth of a new child. Pauline had a second child name Ida Pauline Lockwood. The father's name Lockwood has not been sourced, but there was a Lockwood who lived on the same block as the Wheeler family lived in San Francisco.

The 1870 U.S. Census lists Pauline (Paulene) Wheeler as being born about 1864 and age 6 by August 16, 1870 to James and Sarah Wheeler with brother Bradford and living in Astoria, Queens, New York. The post office was Astoria, Long Island. It lists all family members as being born in New York, James as a lawyer, with $6,000.00 real estate value, and $500.00 personal estate value. It lists the mother Sarah’s father as foreign born. I have discovered that Sarah's maiden name was LaRose or Larose in the Long Island Genealogical Society online database and her father was

The 1880 U.S. Census lists Pauline Wheeler as being 16 and living in San Francisco, San Francisco, California in what I suppose to be a rooming house with apartments owned by Mr. Alfred Rix, listed as the head. There were 38 people living at the rooming house besides the 5 Rix family members, but including the 4 James Wheeler members, James (Jas.), wife Sarah, daughter Pauline, and son Bradford. Pauline’s birth date is still listed as about 1864. She was listed as at school. The 1880 U. S. Census was taken on June 2, 1880. Another question arises? Alfred Rix was also listed as an attorney. Did James Wheeler possibly work at the same address as Alfred Rix? Not a top priority question, but one to think about since they were both attorneys. The street address is 745 Pine Street.

I was shocked to look for more addresses on the previous page 3 in this 1880 U.S. Census San Francisco, District 6, and I found a boarder at a lower number Pine Street address by the name of Arthur D. Lockwood. Could this man, age 23, bookkeeper, have known Pauline Wheeler, age 16, and later become the father of Pauline’s second child, named Ida Pauline Lockwood in 1895-1898? He and his parents were born in Connecticut.

William Walter Robbins went to San Francisco, California in 1887 to marry Pauline Wheeler, daughter of James and Sarah Wheeler, and sister of Charles Bradford Wheeler. William Walter Robbins was from Babylon, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. Pauline Wheeler married William Walter Robbins in San Francisco, California on February 22, 1887. They were married by Reverend A. L. Brewer according to the San Francisco Morning Call of February 23, 1887, page 6, column 8, a local newspaper that is reposited at the California State Library Microfilm Newspaper Collection, Sacramento, CA, no reel numbers. As it turns out, Reverend A. L. Brewer's name is significant because he was also the Episcopalian minister in charge of the San Mateo Orphanage where Pauline Wheeler Robbins' first child, William "Willie" "Robbie" Augustus Robbins will live after his mother Pauline was sent to Napa State Hospital by 1900.

In 1893 Pauline's father died in San Francisco, California. His body was sent to Middletown, Orange County, New York where his sister Emeline Wheeler Mosher received him. There was a small service with family in attendance, and burial was at the Hillside Cemetery where his father, Elisha Pearl Wheeler, was buried. These facts come from The San Francisco Morning Call and the Middletown, NY newspapers.

Pauline's son, William Augustus Robbins, said he was born in 1888 in Babylon, New York, but he also said he was an orphan and was found to live in California at a fairly young age at the Bishop Armitage Orphanage at San Mateo, California. This information comes from the California State Library archives. William Augustus Robbins received a delayed New York birth certificate from his birth at Southside Hospital, Bay Shore, Suffolk County, New York in 1929 when he married Fannie Harriet Love.

In 1898 Pauline had a second child, Ida Pauline Lockwood, as evidenced by the child growing up in California in two girls' orphanages and later marrying as shown in each US Census except for 1890.



By 1900 Pauline Robbins was committed to Napa State Hospital, Napa, California and her two children were raised in two different orphanages, William Augustus Robbins in San Mateo County at the Bishop Armitage Orphanage, California and Ida Pauline Lockwood in Sacramento County, California.

Pauline Robbins remained at Napa State Hospital until her death in 1940.

The 1900 U.S. Census (California: Napa: Napa: District 93) lists Pauline Robbins at Napa State Hospital for the Insane (Patients), Napa, Napa, California, age 36, birth date 1864, taken on July, 13, 1900 (June marked out) birth place New York, Relationship to Head is Patient, listed as married, Residence is Napa Township, Soscol and Coombsville Precincts (Excludes Napa City), Napa, California. Pauline Robbins is #45 on page 22 of 54 in www.ancestry.com's original US Census copy. Her birth place is listed as New York, but her parents’ birth places are not listed at all. She is listed as a housewife, Months Not Employed: 12, Can Read: Yes, Can Write: No, Can Speak English: No. I wonder what caused this her inability to not be able to write or speak English? Was it her physical or psychological condition? Was it medication? Why did she shut down?

The U.S. 1920 Census lists Pauline Robbins (Row 33) at Napa, Napa, California (Juarez Precinct, Napa State Hospital, Enumeration District 56, taken on January 19, 1920), aged 55, born about 1865, birthplace New York, listed as Inmate, listed as Widow, Able to Read: No, Able to Write: No. Pauline’s place of birth: New York, Father’s place of birth: New York, Mother’s place of birth: New York; Able to speak English: No. By 1920, Pauline Robbins was not able to read, not able to write, and not able to speak English. Again, why did this occur? Was it her physical or psychological condition? Was it medication? Why did she shut down?

The 1930 U.S. Census lists Pauline Robbins (Row 29) at Napa, Napa, California (Jaurez Precinct, Napa Township, Inola: Unincorporated Place, Napa State Hospital (Insane), Enumeration District No. 28-12, Supervisor’s District No. 5, April 10, 1930), age 66, birth year about 1864; birth place: New York; listed as patient; Single; Attended school during the last year: No; Whether Able to Read and Write: Yes. Pauline’s Birthplace: New York; Father’s Birthplace: New York; Mother’s Birthplace: New York; Whether or Not Can Speak English: Yes. Why is Pauline able to speak English after 30 years of not being able to speak English at Napa State Hospital? Is this true or did the enumerator copy information that may be incorrect that the hospital staff gave him to copy?

The California Death Index, 1940-1997 lists Pauline Robbins, Female, Birth Date: January 1, 1864; Birthplace: New York; Death Date: June 5, 1940; Death Place: Napa; states No Social Security in Citation.

Her son William Augustus Robbins, who lived in Islip, Suffolk County, New York, paid for her headstone in Vacaville Cemetery, Vacaville, California. Pauline's friends Ralph and Laura Schaefer of Vacaville provided a burial place for her in their family plot.

Her daughter Ida Pauline Lockwood Cerf did not attend her mother's graveside service. She was preparing a dinner for her doctor husband and his business associates. They lived in San Mateo County, California. Some genealogists have offered an opinion that Ida Pauline Lockwood Cerf may have been to embarassed to attend her mother's funeral, even though her burial place was within driving distance of Ida Pauline Lockwood Cerf's home.

William Augustus Robbins' son Kenneth Charles Robbins never knew about his grandparents, William Walter and Pauline Robbins during his parents' lifetime and only found out through the efforts of his wife in genealogy.

Through good fortune, time, the Internet, writing letters, paying for vital records copies, and the assistance of professional genealogists, all, or almost all of the brick walls will come down to provide the true and complete story of Pauline Wheeler Robbins, my husband's paternal grandmother.

If any readers have had experiences similar to this story in your family history, I would appreciate your comments about how you approached the mental institutions for help to find out about your loved one who spent so much of their lives in a mental institution.

Final Tally for the Genea-Bloggers Group Games Competition August 22, 2008

Final Tally for the Genea-Bloggers Group Games Competition August 22, 2008

I continue to forge ahead on most all of the tasks for the Genea-Blogger Group Games Competition and am ready to report my final tallies in each category. I have worked diligently each day to make progress.

Go Back and Cite Your Sources!
I have added, checked and rechecked 20 more genealogy records for a total of 50 records in our family’s Robbins, Love, Gray, Willis, and Cogan surnames. I used the online How to Cite Sources by John Wiley.
*Completed 50 citations = Platinum Medal

Back Up Your Data!
I completed the backup plan in the earlier part of the competition and reported about that on the HollingsworthRobbinsFamilyTree.com blog.
My latest completed task is that my hard copies and photos are in waterproof containers in our safe room.
All my data is backed up on a 2.5 GB external hard drive.
*Completed 3 tasks=Gold Medal

Organize Your Research!
I previously reported on and completed tasks A, B, C, D, and E.
*Completed 4 tasks = Diamond Medal

Write, Write, Write!
I previously reported on and completed tasks A, B, C, D, and E.
*Completed 4 tasks = Diamond Medal

Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness!
I previously reported on and completed tasks A, B, C, D, and E.
*Completed 5 tasks – Platinum Medal

*Total Completed Tasks: 1 Gold, 2 Diamond, and 2 Platinum Medals

I will stop at this point because we begin our trip Saturday, August 23, 2008 to a family reunion with four sibling cousins’ families in AR, three whom we have not seen for 25 years. After that, we will attend a grandson’s basic training graduation in MO. I’ll have my laptop so I can “tune in” to the Austin Family Blog for the Medals/Closing Ceremony and not miss any action. As we wind our way home we’ll stop by most of our six children’s homes in KS and OK.

I have enjoyed meeting new genealogy friends on Facebook and will continue to blog and participate in Carnival events after my return. The tasks have forced me to “try” to use my time more wisely, but I still find that there are so many fantastic detours, twists, and turns as I research by myself and with others, that I have to work hard to stay on track and focus like the Olympians in Beijing.

Thank you Miriam, Thomas, and footnoteMaven for leading the way for the Genea-Bloggers.

The Man I Wish I Had Known

William Augustus Robbins was his name. He was the father of my husband, Kenneth Charles Robbins. His life ended too soon on May 6, 1948 with intestinal cancer at the age of 60 in Islip, New York when his only child, his son, was almost 16.

Robbie, as his family and friends knew William Augustus, was born to William Walter Robbins and Pauline Wheeler Robbins February 18, 1888 in Babylon, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.

No one knows how William Walter and Pauline met, but I surmise that it was in New York. Pauline, his mother, had lived in Astoria (Newtown), Queens, New York with her family in 1870, but by 1880, her family had moved to San Francisco, California. Reverend A. L. Brewer married his parents in San Francisco on February 22, 1887.

Robbie probably lived at 528 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco when he was 2 years old in 1890 but by 1900 at the age of 12 he was an orphan at the Armitage Orphanage in the Second Township of San Mateo, California. He or someone knew he was born on Long Island and his parents were born in the United States. However, the orphanage did not know his age. It was at this time that his mother, Pauline Robbins, was committed to the Napa State Hospital in Napa, California as an inmate and spent the next forty years until her death at that insane asylum. No one knows why the father, William Walter Robbins, did not come for his son.

By 1910, Robbie was 22 and living at 2624 Bancroft as a student and registered Republican voter in Berkeley City, Oakland Township, Alameda County, California. By some miracle or fate, Robbie was a student at UCLA during this time and received his degree in Civil Engineering in 1914.

After his graduation, Robbie sailed to Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, where he was employed by the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company at Puneme, Maui, Territory of Hawaii as a clerk.

On July 31, 1917 Robbie registered for WWI. The 2nd Hawaiian Infantry was organized at Hilo, Territory of Hawaii on July 1, 1917. Robbie was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Territory of Hawaii. On September 16, 1918 he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant. On January 4, 1919, Robbie was a member of Rosko Company “B”.

In 1920 Robbie at age 31 moved to Wailuku, Maui, Territory of Maui to live with 3 other roommates. Also in that year Robbie was initiated into the Membership on April 10th as a Worthy Noble of the Imperial Council of the Ancient Arabia Order.

By 1924 Robbie departed Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii on November 5, 1924 on the S.S. Wilhelmina and arrived at San Francisco six days later on November 11, 1924.

Somehow and somewhere between 1924 and 1929, Robbie moved again to Long Island, New York to be near other Robbins family members where he was a licensed land surveyor in the Islip, New York area. During those years he met a young lady named Fannie Harriet Love who was a 1925 graduate of Syracuse, New York where her family lived. On June 29, 1929 they were married in Syracuse, New York and began their life together in Islip, New York for the next 19 years. Robbie was 42 and Fannie was 28.

The years between 1929 and 1948 were difficult due to the Great Depression and the coming of WWII, but with their love for each other and love for their families, they did their best. A college degree did not insure that work was always available because people did not have money to buy land and build homes. During the WWII years, Robbie supplemented the family income by working at the Grumman Airplane Factory at a nearby town on Long Island.

In 1932, their only surviving child, a son, was born into their home. He was their pride and joy. He was lucky to have two parents who loved him. In those years of growing up, the family owned only two homes and always lived in the same town. Kenneth always said of his father that he never lost his temper and always spoke with a soft voice.

It was Robbie who paid to have a headstone for his mother at the time of her death so far away in Vacaville, California. Even though his life began as an orphan, Robbie made the most his life with education, adventure, love, and caring for those in his family and his community through his church and his service organizations.

Robbie was buried in the same town where he was born: Babylon, New York. How do I know this much about the father-in-law I never met? It is through beautiful and wonderful conversations with his son, but more so, through the study of genealogy and the information that is available today on the Internet and the help of new friends throughout the country who are willing to help each other break through the “brick walls” of family history.

Genea-Blogger Group Games August 10, 2008

My family's history and heritage is mixed. Both sides of my dad's family came from England and Ireland. In our country they migrated to north Texas by way of Kentucky and Tennessee. My mother's mother's side of my family came from Florida and were Seminole, but not on any rolls, that we know of. My mother's dad's family came from England and Alabama. Both sides of my mother's family settled in east Texas.

My three grown biological children and four biological grandchildren's heritage adds Cherokee through their dad's mother's side of their family. Their biological dad's dad's family came from England to Arkansas in the 1800s and settled in eastern Oklahoma.

My husband's mother's family came from England and Ireland and settled in Hingham, Massachusetts and Chautauqua County in New York in the late 1700s and early 1800s. My husband's father's family was unknown until recently when we discovered who his paternal grandparents were. My husband's three grown children, seven biological grandchildren, and one biological great-grandchild share his heritage.

I got a late start in the games, but have been working these 3 days on several tasks I have finished. This is what I have accomplished since August 8, 2008:

1. Go Back and City Your Sources!

I have checked and rechecked five generations of the Gray side of my family (my mother's father's family) in east Texas to make sure that each person in that line is as fully described as is possible using John Wiley's web site guidance with citations either from census records, birth records, death records, or primary source materials from the Gray family. That counts for 20 citations in the last 3 days for a Silver Medal so far.

2. Back Up Your Data!

A. My comprehensive backup plan for my digital research files is in place with the following:

1. I have Windows folders on my hard drive for each family in my history. I subdivide each family's surname by using more folders with the head of an individual's family name.

2. Sometimes there is enough information to subdivide the individual's full name into periods of time in their life, followed by separate folders that contain the adult children's information about them and/or their family. The wife in each family has a folder with her maiden name from her original family.

3. Examples: Family Folders/Robbins Family/William Augustus Robbins/Birth-High School/College-Young Adult/Marriage-Death. Wife:Fannie Harriet Love Robbins goes in the Love Family Folder with the following subdivision: Birth-High School/College-Young Adult/Marriage-Death. Because each person's life is unique, other subdivisions may be used such as: World War I Years in Hawaii, Teaching Years, Traveling Around the World, etc.

4. There are separate Windows folders according to surname and heads of family names for cemeteries and town histories or family histories.

C. I backed up my genealogy records and other information today including scanned photographs, documents, letters, and associated maps using an external 2.5GB hard drive. It took most of the day, particularly for the photograph backup. I used a flash drive before for backup, but discovered it does not have enough memory.

D. I am organizing each family by surname and then first names by generation or geographical location in eight plastic file drawer cabinet size boxes (15" x 27") with lids at this time. I have discovered that notebooks are best for what I am currently focusing on. I have scanned 10 photographs each day during the contest and will place all original documents in our safe room that is built out of red iron steel for the four walls and ceiling with concrete blocks, 8' x 8' x 8', with shelves built around three sides that keep everything off the floor, or in case of tornado, closed in with a steel door. There is also a fire and waterproof safe in the room. It can only hold about 20 folders with the most valuable file information.

Notes for B and E. What is cataloged is in waterproof letter size file boxes with lids, but not everything is cataloged. It will take me about another year to catalog everything I have been given from my husband's side of the family, so I do not believe that I can complete E. and lose only 1 month or less worth of research. So far I can say that have a Silver Medal and am working on a Gold Medal.

3. Organize Your Research!

A. I have organized 20 hard files into file folders in the file boxes in the last 3 days.

B. I have organized 20 digital files into Windows folders with added labels, metadata, descriptions. I do not have tags. I hope someone will explain what that is to me.

C. I have organized 20 photos into their sheet protective folders in the last 3 days.

D. I am working on organizing 20 digital photos into their sheet protective folders.

E. I have created 20 data entries into my database and have scanned 20 photos and/or documents.

F. I have not created a master list of my files and notified my family members of where it is stored. My middle daughter knows that I use an external hard drive and flash drives for backup and knows where things are kept in the safe room.

I have completed three tasks for a Gold Medal and am working on a fourth for a Diamond Medal.

4. Write, Write, Write!

I have not accomplised anything about Write, Write, Write, during the contest. I will start on that after Tuesday night when we have our neighbors (about 22-24) over for the neighborhood monthly dinner.

5. Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness!

I still have to do the tasks in #5 during the contest time frame. I have done some of these tasks before, but not during the contest. That will begin after Tuesday also.

Linda Robbins

Genea-Blogger Games

I am a latecomer to the Gena-Blogger Games and found out about it this morning on Dear Myrt's email.

I want to participate differently in each category:

1. Go Back and Cite Your Sources! 10 Citations - Bronze Medal
I will use How to Cite Sources by John Wiley. http://www.genealogy.com/19_wylie_print.html

2. Back Up Your Data! Complete Task A and C - Silver Medal
I believe I can accomplish:
A. Prepare a comprehensive backup plan, and
C. Backup all your data (on external drive)

3. Organize Your Research! Complete Any One Task - Diamond Medal
I am on the way in each of these categories, but this will spur me on to complete goals in five of them.
I believe I can do A, B, C, D, and E for a Diamond Medal

4. Write, Write, Write! Complete any one task - Gold Medal
I will try three of the tasks:
A. Summary of what my blog is about;
C. Prepare several posts in draft mode and pre-publish;
D. Write a brief biographical sketch on one of your ancestors.

5. Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness! Complete any one task - Platinum Medal
I believe I can perform one task in each category for a Platinum.

I am new to the Games and am excited to be included in the challenges and the fun.

Thanks for the opportunity. Linda Robbins