Thursday, April 30, 2015

Prosper-52 Ancestors~Benjamin Thomas Thames

      My paternal Great Great Grandfather, Benjamin Thomas Thames (1854-1931) is the subject for Week 17 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2015 Editon from Amy Johnson Crow. This week's blog prompt is ~Prosper.
      Benjamin was born 24 May 1854 in Clarendon County, South Carolina and was the son of Thomas Lemuel Thames (1827-1863) and Rebecca Hannah Stukes (1830-1870). The 1860 Clarendon County, South Carolina Census shows the family living in the White's Bluff community. His father, Thomas, was an Overseer.
      Life most likely was good for Benjamin and his sister Susan until the outbreak of the Civil War. Benjamin was 7 when his father enlisted and left to join Hampton's Brigade. Sickness affected Thomas for most of his time in service and he eventually was sent home where he died in March of 1863.
   The War took a toll on the whole family. Benjamin and his sister Susan went with their mother, Rebecca to live in Augusta, Georgia. What took them to Georgia, I have not determined.
 Benjamin's life changed again when in 1870, his mother died. He was 15 and his sister 17. The family story is that they were placed in homes and were sent to work in the cotton mill. This story is shown to be true as they are found living in different households in the Augusta, Georgia 1870 Census and each has cotton mill factory as their employment.
   A Thames family member is said to have gone to Augusta to bring the siblings back to Clarendon County, South Carolina. Benjamin worked the land and Susan in the home.
   Not long after returning to live with his relative, Benjamin took a job at a local sawmill owned by Benjamin Reese Gibson (1824-1907). It was while working there that he met his future wife, Margaret Frances "Fanny" Gibson (1854-1929), the daughter of his boss.
   Ben and Fannie were married about 1872 and became the parents of 9 children. Census records show that Benjamin eventually farmed his own land. Other sources indicate that he was involved in his community by holding a Sunday School in his home before a church could be built and that he was a well loved by friends and family.
  A family picture taken about 1910 shows that Benjamin Thomas Thames overcame the struggles of living through the Civil War and being orphaned at an early age. He did indeed prosper.

Benjamin Thomas Thames and Family
About 1910

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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

52 Ancestors~Ruth Baker Early~My Longest Living

 Week 16's blog prompt for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2105 Edition is Live Long.
  A search of my data base found that my longest living ancestor- at least that I know of-is my maternal Great Grandmother, Emma Ruth (Baker) Early (1901-1993).

Emma Ruth (Baker) Early
1901-1993
    Ruth was the 10th and last child of Arthur Wellington Baker and Martha Victoria (Bradford) Baker. She grew up in the Sumter County are of South Carolina.
   At the age of 20, Ruth married Jubal Ransom Early. They were the parents of three girls. Ruth and Jubal made their home in Columbia, South Carolina where Ruth worked for the W.P.A. and then for Tapp's department store for many years.

 Ruth died at the age of 92 from congestive heart failure.

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Sunday, April 26, 2015

This Week On My Family History Calendar

April 26-May 2



April 28~
   Arthur Wellington Baker (1857-1940), my paternal Great Great Grandfather was born in Sumter County, South Carolina 158 years ago. He was the third child of Alpheus J. Baker (1824-1917) and Mary Ellen (Jones) Baker (1826-1865).

  My maternal Great Grandmother, Beulah Mae (Price) Roberts (1897-1980) would be celebrating her 118th birthday on this day. She was born in Bath, Aiken, South Carolina to Bertrand Campbell Price (1876-?) and Bessie Mae (Eargle) Price (1878-1943).

April 30~
  This day would have been my 5th Great Grandfather, John Dargan's (1749-1817) 266th birthday. He was the son of Capt. John Dargan (1726-1766) and Mary (Strother)  (1729-abt. 1808) and may have been born in the Prince Frederick Parish area of South Carolina. 

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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

52 Ancestors Week 15~ Azile

    How Do You Spell That? is the theme for week 15 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2015 Edition.
  While many of my ancestors had interesting names, my maternal Grandmother Azile Juanita Daughrity Roberts Sullivan (1921-2009) may have the most unique first name.
   Pronounced aa-zuh-lee, she was constantly telling people how to say and spell her name. It was often confused with the Azalea.
 Her husband, Frank, used to tease her and call her uh-zil-uh.

  No wonder her sisters called her Sue!

Azile Junaita Daughrity Roberts Sullivan (1921-2009)

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Sunday, April 19, 2015

This Week On My Family History Calendar

April 19-25




April 19~

   Sixty-eight years ago on this day, Martha Victoria (Bradford) Baker, my paternal Great Great Grandmother, died in Sumter County, South Carolina. She was 84 years old when she died from pneumonia. Mattie, as her family and friends called her, is buried in the Sumter City Cemetery, Sumter, South Carolina.

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Sunday, April 12, 2015

This Week On My Family History Calendar

April 11-April 18



April 13~
  My paternal Great Grandfather, Jubal Ransom Early (1888-1964) died 51 years ago from a heart attack. Jubal died in Columbia, Richland, South Carolina and is buried there in Greenlawn Cemetery. He was 75 years old.

  Mary Alice (Dargan) Bradford (1825-1875), my paternal 3rd Great Grandmother, would have been 190 years old on this day. Born in the Sumter area of South Carolina, Mary was the daughter of  John Milton Dargan (1779-1847) and Samuel James Bradford (1815-1875).

April 15~
   The anniversary of the death of my maternal 3rd Great Grandmother, Martha (Mathis) Dorrity (1820-1905) in Lee County, South Carolina.  Martha died at the age of 84 and is buried in St. John's Methodist Cemetery, Springhill, Lee, South Carolina.

    My paternal Great Great Grandfather, Ransom Taylor Early (1829-1888) was born 186 years ago in North Carolina. 

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Friday, April 10, 2015

52 Ancestors Week 14~A Mother's Love

                                                                                                                               
                                            Favorite Photo


Loretta (McManus) Daughrity (1894-1936)
with daughter
                 Azile Juanita (Daughrity) Roberts Sullivan (1921-2009)
                      


                                                                                Mother and Child

 The bond even more special to me this week as recent events of my life have caused me to pull my children  closer and hug a little tighter. May we all cherish even the small moments.         
         



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Sunday, April 5, 2015

This Week On My Family History Calendar

April 5-April 11



Another one of those weeks where there are not births, deaths or anniversaries in my family tree for my direct ancestors. At least none that I have found so far. Perhaps further research will lead to the first week of April 2016 remembering those who have gone before. 

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Wednesday, April 1, 2015

52 Ancestors Week 12~Different~A Sunday With Family

  Researching newspapers this week lead me to the ancestor(s) for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2015 Edition. The topic for week 12 is "Different". What did I find that was different? Spelling. 

  My search was on the Stafford family of Sumter County, South Carolina during the late 1800's to the early 1900's. Now, you're probably thinking, Stafford?-there's not much you can do to mess up the spelling of Stafford, but it wasn't the Stafford name that I found.
 It was Dortery. 

My maternal Grandmother was a Daughrity. The surname is found in records spelled many ways. 
  Dorrity in the census.
  Dority on Civil War records.
  Darrity on a headstone.
  Daugherty by a collateral line. 

 This new spelling is one I may have never found it if my Stafford and Daughrity families weren't connected in more than one way.
    From a society column on 26 July 1911 I learned that:

County Correspondence
Newsy Letters From Our Special Correspondents
Items of Interest from Sections of Sumter and Adjoining Counties
Sumter County Watchman and Southron (Sumter, South Carolina)
26 July 1911 pg.8
  
Manning David Dorrity (1844-1918) and  Mary Elizabeth (Stafford) Dorrity (1843-1930) were my maternal Great Great Grandparents. They both were born, lived and died in the Sumter County area of South Carolina.  
    Who were they visiting on that Sunday in July of 1911? A search of the 1910 census along with finding his Delayed Birth Certificate lead me to Arthur Franklin Stafford (1883-1960). Arthur was Mary Dorrity's nephew, the son of her brother Franklin Bradford Stafford (1869-1926).  They had traveled about 20 miles from home for a family visit. 

Arthur Franklin Stafford (1883-1960)
Photo Credit: Charles Farmer
Franklin "Frank" Bradford Stafford (1869-1926)
Photo Credit: Charles Farmer

   An earlier search of this same newspaper for the same period for the Dorrity family using known name variants did not produce this search result.  Luckily, due to the association that the Dorrity's had with the Stafford family, I was able to find out that Manning and Mary spent a Sunday with nephew Arthur in July of 1911.
 A hole in a brick wall? No, but just something fun to know.

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