Friday, May 21, 2021

Connecting with Descendants of the People in Your Ancestors' Neighborhood

 The folks on Sesame Street have been teaching the importance of the people in your neighborhood for years. There is even a meme circulating on many of the social media platforms that reminds us that we can "never forget the neighborhood kids or the great times we had."  Where am I going with this?  I want to offer a bit of advice that has helped me in my research and enriched my knowledge of my family.  If you are not in contact with the descendants of folks who were the neighbors of your parents & grandparents, you should be.  You both have stories and in many cases pictures of each other's family.  Have old family pictures of people you don't know?  They may be able to help you figure out the identity of those folks.

About 6 years back I contacted the descendant of one of my grandparents neighbors.  It's been great to share stories that were handed down about the people in the neighborhood and their interactions.  Earlier this week she brought me old photos that she'd inherited--some pictures of my folks and others within that neighborhood.  I've spent  the better part of this week scanning and adding them to my Old Hickory, TN--Dupont tree at Ancestry.  Thankfully the majority of the people in the pictures are identified.  This was a true blessing for me and my family and I hope that once I get the pictures uploaded others with family there can experience that same joy.

Family history research is more than just names, dates and begets, It's pictures and documents which, when analyzed and pieced together weave the stories of the lives of our ancestors. 


Sunday, May 09, 2021

Chapel Hill Tornado Tuesday 10th May 1921 4pm

Chapel Hill Tennessee Hard Hit by Terrible Tornado
About Twenty Buildings Either Damaged, Wrecked or Blown Away

Tuesday 10th May 1921 4pm

Third Storm to go thru Chapel Hill in 40 days

No Fatalities

Mrs Martha Marshall(age 65) Slightly hurt when son Gilbert Marshall's home was blown down
  • Houston & Ligett Inc, Pencil Mill--damaged
  • Lawrence Bros. Grocery Store--Wrecked
  • Elgin Cooper's Store--Wrecked
  • Chapel Hill Creamery--Wrecked
  • Methodist Church--Wrecked
  • Chapel Hill High School Gymnasium--Wrecked
  • Cumberland Presbyterian Church--Damaged
  • Cumberland Telephone Co.--considerable loss
Residential Damages
Blown Down:
  • T. H. Lawrence
  • Mrs. T. M. Lawrence
  • R. N. Shofner
  • Elgin Cooper
  • Gilbert Marshall
  • George Crofton
  • Robert Elder's Tenant House & 2 barns

Residences on Creamery Street badly damaged.

Source:  
The Marshall Gazette Friday May 13th 1921 imaged by TN State Library & Archives
Vol. 44, no. 40 (3 Oct. 1917[9?])-v. 47, no. 35 (1 Sept. 1922)  Image 602 of 1068
digitized by FamilySearch at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-13RM-JXK9?i=601&cat=215743

Monday, May 03, 2021

Bone Cave, Tennessee about 1951--Granny Minnie is shot

The David E Luna Family
Wm R Luna(son of D E Luna by 1st wife) is standing
first from right.  Minnie Acuff Luna is seated holding her son
Bert on her lap in this picture from about 1920 Huntsville AL


 A Facebook thread about a near miss from a bullet brought to mind a story my Mom had told me about my Grandmother, Minnie Acuff Luna.  I'd heard the story many times but called Mom for an interview of sorts.  Mom's parents(Wm Richard Luna & wife Minnie) were living in Bone Cave, TN on C.P Moore's place about 1951 where they were sharecropping.  The house they lived in had a rail fencing around the yard.  My grandmother was in the yard and my mother and her younger brother, Wayne were playing nearby chasing each other around a chair.  Mom's older brother, Ernest Luna and Douglas Deaton(Mom called him "Douger") were down the road talking near a tree that had fallen.  They heard the shot and then Granny told Grandpa she thought she'd been shot.  As far as Mom could remember they thought it was someone hunting on C P Moore property without his knowledge that was responsible for the stray bullet.  Grandpa went to get Florence(C.P. Moore's wife) so that they could get Granny Minnie to the hospital in McMinnville.  The bullet had went in her right leg missing the bone but hadn't exited.  Granny Minnie recovered but passed about 6 years later.  

Source:  This story is from the information I gathered from my Mom when I asked her about what she remembered from the incident.  If anyone else had ever heard about this I'd love to hear from them with any corrections if they have any.  My Mom would have been around 11 years old at the time this took place.