Archive for the ‘Barren County’ Category

by Sherry Stocking Kline
February 23, 2010

When I snapped the photo of this stone in the Caney Fork Cemetery at Temple Hill I knew from our KY cousins that they were part of our family, but we didn’t get into just how, and census research this week along with other previous research has shown exactly how he ties into the family.

039 - James L. & Nancy J. Hawley - Caney Fork Cemetery, Barren Co, KY

On The Stone:

HAWLEY
James L
24 June 1850
09 January 1929

Nancy J.
09 March 1849
03 August 1925

James is the son of John and Mary (Whaley) Hawley, and John is my great-great grandmother Virginia (Hawley) Smith’s brother.

John and Virginia Hawley are the children of James Hawley.  James was  born 11 AUG 1781 in Stafford County, Virginia, and died about 1842 in Falls Creek, Sullivan County, Tennessee.

Nancy J., James L. Smith’s wife  may also be a part of our Smith family.  Her father’s name was W. W. Bell, and her mother was Margaret Smith, but digging into Margaret’s family will have to wait for another day!

What fun it is to put together the puzzle pieces, then double check and make sure they ‘fit’ where I’ve placed them!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
13 April 2010

I snapped this Tombstone for a couple of reasons. One, I hoped he was family, and Two, it just caught my eye.  It stood there, and though it said  “Gone, but not forgotten,” it seemed, well, lonely.

And like some tombstones that you see, it just made me wonder, who was he?  Why is he buried there all by himself?  What did he  do for a living? What did he die of?

All those questions ran through my mind, but I guess first and foremost, was the question, is he part of my family?

Julian Jones - Caney Fork Baptist Cemetery

On the Stone:

Julian Jones
1863 – 1932
Gone But Not Forgotten

Today I don’t have those answers, and even though he is buried near my Smith family stones, I don’t have the answer to the  “is he family” question.

But it’s a puzzle that I plan to solve!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
06 April 2010

This week’s Tombstone Tuesday is my Mom’s Great-Aunt Bettie Crabb.

Bettie Crabb's Stone - Glasgow Cemetery, Barren County, Kentucky

On The Stone:

Bettie Crabb
Oct 15, 1866
Oct 31, 1932

What you can’t see in the photograph here is that Bettie is buried next to her father, J. R. U. Crabb who died 11 years before she did.  (Bettie never married.)

For a few years, J. R. U. and Bettie’s mother, Elizabeth Laird Jones Crabb lived on a farm in Sumner County, Kansas, just east of Milan, Kansas.

Bettie’s mother Elizabeth, died and is buried there, far away in the Milan Cemetery, Sumner County, Kansas.  You can see her tombstone here.

Sometime after Elizabeth died, J. R. U. and Bettie returned to Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky, to be near Bettie’s sister, Sally Crabb Mayfield, wife of George. Sally and George are buried in the Glasgow Cemetery, Glasgow, Kentucky, also.

The photograph below shows Bettie and J. R. U.’s  place in the cemetery next to each other:

L - R: Bettie Crabb and father J. R. U. Crabb Stone - Glasgow Cemetery, Barren County, Kentucky

Our new-found cousins, Dennis and Nancy (Bertram) Bush who so kindly showed us around Barren County, told us that just a couple of years earlier, some man picked this spot, and this tree, to hang himself…  Gave me shivers then.  (Still does.)

Related Posts (also included in the Text):

J. R. U. Crabb’s Tombstone

Elizabeth Laird Jones Crabb Tombstone

Milan Cemetery Listings, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

by Sherry Stocking Kline
March 12th, 2010

Here is my almost Wordless Wednesday, a photograph of my Great-Aunt May Breneman Jones Willey in front of her son’s family’s home in Minnesota.

1959 - May Breneman Jones Willey - age 79

May’s parents were Constantine “Tom” and Salinda (Rose) Breneman. May’s first husband was Evan Jones, son of Willis W. and Martha Ellen (Smith) Jones. Willis W. and Martha Ellen originally came from Kentucky, and moved to the Midwest, living in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.

Evan and May’s son’s name was Kenneth Jones. Kenneth and his wife Lois had five children: Lawrence, Lynn, Patty, Charlie, and Kenny, and I hope one of the children, or even their children find this post, and will leave a message.

I have many happy memories of visiting Aunt May and their family in Minnesota, and we would love to re-connect with them.

Sherry Stocking Kline
February 20, 2010

It’s Saturday night!   Time for some more Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Randy Seaver!  He wants us to tell him about our genealogy “Happy Dances!”

Sounds like Happy Dance Party fun to me!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Happy Dance, Ah-ha Moments or Genea-gasms!

Hey, it’s Saturday Night (again), time for some Genealogy Fun! Your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to: 1) Think of any number of genealogy events or moments that make you have a genealogy happy dance, an ah-ha moment, or a genea-gasm. 2) Tell us about them in a blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a comment on Facebook.

I didn’t even know there was a Corson book!

Here we go! I just did  a Happy Dance this past week.  When I was doing a few minutes research on my own father, I found he was listed in the  Corson Family Book!

I didn’t even know there was a Corson book!  I love family history books, especially the kind that adds in some tidbits about the people, like what their occupation was, and if they served in the Civil, Revolutionary, War of 1812, Spanish-American War, etc, etc..

I love a ‘peek through the window’ of their lives…

And while I just love filling in the blanks on ancestral charts, I love it even more when I find a newspaper clipping, story, or a family history that gives me a peek ‘though the window’ into their lives.

Corson was the maiden name of my Dad’s grandmother, Margaret “Maggie” Corson McGinnis. And this is a line I’ve just simply not researched much at all, so this may be a fantastic springboard for further research.

Most of my “Happy Dances” haven’t been posted about yet, but that sounds like a fun course of future action!

More Happy Dances…

The Day the Genealogy Serendipity Angels Smiled… is one of those moments when you really believe in Genealogy Angels.  The day I called the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center, hoping to learn a bit about our family history, and connected with a real, live, living cousin.  It just doesn’t get any better than that!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
February 16th, 2010

William Arthur Smith - Smith Cemetery, Temple Hill area, Barren Co, KY

I photographed this child’s stone in a small Smith Family Cemetery in the Temple Hill area in Barren County, KY. (the same cemetery as this Tombstone Tuesday post).

William Arthur Smith photograph - Barren County, KY

On the Stone:

William Arthur
son of
M. H. & B. C.
SMITH
July 27, 1910
Nov 2, 1915

Taking the photograph, and looking at the stone, I had to wonder, who was this handsome little five-year-old boy so obviously loved by his parents?

How did he die?  Was it one of the many illnesses that were fatal in that era, and are so treatable now?   Did he fall from a horse?  Was he a “blue baby” a  heart defect that is so treatable now, but eventually killed it’s victims even in the 1940′s?

I did do a little quick research to try to learn who his parent’s were, and if they were related to ‘my’ Smith’s, but that question wasn’t easily answered.

So, on another day when I have more time I will set out and hope to solve at least some of these mysteries.

RELATED POSTS:

Tombstone Tuesday: Lute and Sabina Smith Ruby’s parents.

J. Thomas and Nancy A. (Smith) Harrison down the road a few miles in the Caney Fork Baptist Church cemetery. They may (or may not) be related.

Warner LaRue Jones Tombstone. Warner was born in Kentucky to Willis and Martha Ellen Smith Jones.

George W. Smith & wife Lucy’s Tombstone

The Day the Serendipity Genealogy Angels Smiled

by Sherry Stocking Kline
February 2, 2010

My Tombstone Tuesday is Ruby L. Smith, buried in a small Smith Family Cemetery, Barren County, Kentucky, near the Temple Hill area.

Ruby L. Smith - buried in the Smith Cemetery - Temple Hill, Barren County, KY

On the Stone:

Ruby L. Smith
Mar 15, 1901
Jan 15, 1919

According to the Kentucky Death Record information I found online, Ruby was the daughter of L. H. and Sabina Smith.

What Did Ruby Die of?

She was so young that I had to wonder, what did Ruby die of at the age of not quite eighteen?  It was shortly after Christmas and the New Year?  Did she have flu?  Pneumonia? An Accident?

To get to this small cemetery, we crossed a bridge over a shallow but fast-moving creek that was rushing down the hill, then drove up a long, shady lane where the trees met overhead in places.  This seemed like a road, but it was narrow and may actually have been the home’s private driveway. It led past a home, past the small cemetery, and back to a field.

The home and the cemetery were on a hill that sloped away to a rolling little valley on the west (I think it was west, but I could have been turned around!) The cemetery was located past this home along the lane.

My first thought was that the home was deserted, as neither the yard  nor the cemetery had been mowed for some time.  But looking again at the photograph of the home that I took that day it’s obvious that there are flowers on the porch along with outdoor furniture.

I Kept Thinking About Snakes…

We parked our cars and hiked through the grass to the stones, (I kept thinking about snakes…) and all the time I was hoping to find names that I knew were “ours” but that day, it wasn’t to be.  That day, none of the names were familiar, so we went on down the road where we did find my mother’s great-grandfather’s farm, and then on to the Caney Fork Cemetery where we found numerous family members.

This cemetery’s proximity to other Smith’s that were our family leads me to believe that these Smith’s are related, and I was able to carve out some time today to do more research on this family.

From the death records that I’ve located today, Ruby is the daughter of last week’s Tombstone Tuesday, Lute H. and Sabina Smith.

Drat! The Name Fits But the Dates Do Not…

According to Lute’s Death Record, he was the son of William Basie Smith. (I’ve not done any fact-checking on these facts yet.)    There is a William in my Charles Smith family, but the dates are simply wrong for Lute’s father to be my family’s William.

I’m disappointed, but this small cemetery is very near to my great-grandparent’s farm, Charles and Virginia Hawley Smith, in the Temple Hill area of Barren County, Kentucky, and while they may not have been related, there is a good chance, too, that they were.

Another puzzle to solve, for another day, but as of today I have more clues to work with!

Other Related Posts:

Tombstone Tuesday: Lute and Sabina Smith Ruby’s parents.

The tombstone of  J. Thomas and Nancy A. (Smith) Harrison is just down the road a few miles in the Caney Fork Baptist Church cemetery. They may (or may not) be related to each other.

Warner LaRue Jones Tombstone. Warner was born in Kentucky to Willis and Martha Ellen Smith Jones.

George W. Smith & wife Lucy’s Tombstone

The Day the Serendipity Genealogy Angels Smiled