Family Story Matters

Photo courtesy TN 1850s working farm To review the Coleman side of my family tree from a previous post : Joseph (born 1770 - Amelia County, VA)  —-> Daniel (born 1794 - Amelia County, VA)  —-> —-> Joseph C (born 1824 - Rutherford County, TN)   —> —> —> James P (born 1853 - Rutherford County, TN)  —> —> —> —> William L (born 1877 - Rutherford County, TN)   —> —> —> —> —> Walter A (born 1909 - Oklahoma City, OK)  —> —> —> —> —> —> Gleason W (born 1928 - San Antonio, TX) Joseph Coleman I am reasonably certain that Joseph Coleman (born 1770 - Amelia County, VA) is the father of Daniel (born 1794 - Amelia County, VA) my 4x great-grandfather. At the time of his son’s birth, Joseph was 24 years old - so the ages make sense. I am less certain of the identity of Daniel’s mother. Temperance Rogers is an unlikely possibility since she was only 14 years old at the time of Daniel’s birth. ...

Image courtesy of Flickr We currently spend quite a bit of time in Nashville. My eldest went to college here where she met her husband. Our son moved here in 2007 and never left. He is now settled in a suburb of the city with his wife and two boys. Our youngest moved here in 2015 and remained in close proximity to other family members. And my one and only sibling moved here over two decades ago. At the time, no one knew our Coleman family roots originated less than an hour away. Cheatham County is a mere 50 miles from my ancestors' farmland. Coleman Family Tree With a fair degree of certainty, I have traced my paternal roots to the late 1700s. A probable list of my Coleman leniage looks something like this: Joseph (born 1770 - Amelia County, VA)   —-> Daniel (born 1794 - Amelia County, VA)  —-> —-> Joseph C (born 1824 - Rutherford County, TN)   —> —> —> James P (born 1853 - Rutherford County, TN)  —> —> —> —> William L (born 187...

First Quarter of 2022 we planned our first snowbird trip. We recently purchased a Class A motorhome and wanted to try out the RV lifestyle. We planned to stay six weeks on the Texas Gulf (in the small town of Sargent Beach) and then travel to northern Florida for a couple of weeks before returning home to Kansas. In planning this excursion, I noticed Sargent Beach was less than 200 miles from Franklin, TX - Mom's birthplace. I also noticed that we would pass through St. Elmo, AL on I-10 as we headed into Florida. Dad lived here when his mother was diagnosed with Tuberculosis/ This trip seemed the perfect opportunity to do some on-sight genealogy research.  Franklin, TX As luck would have it, I found a property just outside Franklin that allowed RV parking. I thought this would be a great opportunity to experience (to some degree) what life must have been like for Mom growing up on a farm.  We arrived around 3:00pm... set up camp... got a tour of the duck-and-rabbit farm ... an...

The only photo I have of my great-father: John Elias Bryan Sometimes genealogy research answers questions I never thought to ask. I started my research this weekend with the goal of learning more about my great-grandfather: Jack Bryan.  I knew he was a barber in his home state of Mississippi -- he registered for the WWI draft in Memphis, TN -- he moved to San Antonio, Texas circa 1921. However, he seemed to disappear after the 1922 San Antonio city directory was published. I have yet to find any record of his death or burial. He is not listed as living in the San Antonio area after that date. I suppose he could have returned to Mississippi (or Memphis) but I have yet to research that possibility. BUT... you can imagine my surprise when I discovered his wife, my great-grandmother, listed her marital status as "divorced" in the 1930 census! This little fact was NEVER discussed in the family.  After a bit more sleuthing, I reasoned Jack must have died sometime between 1941 and 1...

A few weeks ago, I shared snippets of Mom's wedding book. She detailed how she and my dad met as sophomores in high school, and how they dated off-and-on until he left for Japan in January 1947. This week the story continues (again, in Mom's own words): He came home in January 1948, but we were unable to understand each other and after a few weeks, we called it quits. Everyone was shocked but I was unable to explain. Gleason entered Texas University in June 1948 and carried a heavy load at school as well as working long hours at the Texas Power Reserve. He still made all As and Bs. We corresponded about once a month and saw each other once that summer and once in the summer of 1949. We enjoyed each other but only as friends. Reagan's class of 1945 was to have its reunion on June 4, 1950, and I sent him the news clipping. He seemed interested in coming and our going to it together. He drove over in his first car - a 1949 black Ford. We both were so proud of it as all our dat...

Over the last few weeks, I've tried to give the childhood account of both Mom and Dad . Both my parents were born in 1928 and both experienced tragic loss at an early age (Mom lost her father to pneumonia in 1936; Dad lost his mother to tuberculosis in 1940). I refer to the years from 1938-1943 as their "lost years."  I know Dad went to live with his father and stepmother shortly after his mother's death -- perhaps in early 1941. I have a newspaper article from 1942 that shows my father and his brother as part of the Victory Garden program in Houston.  Mom's history requires a bit more imagination. The 1937 Houston City Directory shows my recently widowed grandmother living there in an apartment -- I assume while attending secretarial school. This fact, coupled with oral history, indicates Mom must be living with her aunt (my grandmother's sister). The 1940 census confirms this living arrangement in the rural Texas town of Ellinger ("on the west side of ...

  left side: Veron Bryan right side:  Alleyne Jackson A few weeks ago I hinted at the contentious relationship between my dad and his father. The story Dad shared is (mostly) verified by the research. Walter Albert Coleman and Veron Bryan married on November 26, 1926. Walter was 17 years 5 months, and Veron 16 years 9 months. By today's standards, they were mere children. Less than fifteen months later, Gleason Walter Coleman (my father) was born. Dad claims Walter left soon after the birth. However, he returned home to Veron long enough to impregnate her one more time. When Dad was twenty months old, my Uncle Freddie was born. According to Dad, his father was completely absent from their lives until Veron passed in 1940. At that time, her sister contacted Walter to let him know it was time to take responsibility for his children.  Dad and Freddie were sent to Houston to live with Walter and his new wife, Alleyne. Dad referred to her with the same disdain one reads about...

  My father was known as the man with two last names: Gleason Walter Coleman . I knew his middle name was in honor of his father, Walter Albert  Coleman . But I wondered why his parents decided on such an unusual given name. Unfortunately, I never thought to ask Dad when he was alive. I simply assumed they named him Gleason because they liked the name. After all, that is the criteria I used to name my children. After a few months of online research, I stumbled upon my father's birth certificate.   And much like last week's discussion of death certificates , I discovered these documents provide a wealth of useful information. For example: Birthdate and time (20 FEB 1928 at 8:23 pm) His first home residence (1226 Drexel Avenue San Antonio, TX) His father's full name and birthplace (Walter Albert Coleman - Oklahoma City, OK) His father's occupation (Ass. Cowles Auto Livery Service) His mother's maiden name and birthplace (Vernon Bryan - Ripley, MS) His mother's occ...

  As I indicated last week , when I first began this genealogy adventure, my sole purpose was to discover my country of origin. I cared nothing about extended family or historical timelines. I simply wanted to follow parental lineage.  I started with little information. I knew the names of my parents, grandparents, and maternal great-parents. However, I knew even less about my dad's side of the family. In fact, I never met either one of his parents. Dad's mother died when he was just thirteen years old, and I never met his father. Dad had no respect for the man. Occasionally I tried to talk about my grandfather, but Dad would either evade the question or indicate he was a no-good drunk. I distinctly remember Dad telling me the man died of cirrhosis of the liver.  Despite their contentious relationship, I wanted to learn more about this side of the family. However, this proved more difficult than I anticipated. Coleman is a fairly common surname. And even though the 1910 c...