Carnival Blog: GrandMa's Hands

I was an air force brat who unfortunately did not grow up around my maternal or paternal grandparents.
I can however tell you about the last years of my maternal grandmothers life when I brought her to come live with me at the ripe age of 92.
Oh, how I wish I had been around her in my growing up years.
My grandmother Essie Dean Taylor whose nickname was "Nig" was one of the funniest people I have ever been around.

One morning we went to breakfast at Denny's Resturant. I knew she liked bacon or sausage and eggs so I ordered that along with some hash brown potatoes and toast.
Well, sitting next to the salt and pepper was a bottle of Tabasco Sauce. She reached for the bottle but I gentley pushed it back,telling her that it was way to hot and was not at all like the regular louisiana hot sauce she was used to.
I think in her mind this young whipper snapper could not tell her what to do. She looked at me, squinched, and rolled her eyes at me. My grandma grabbed that bottle,and shook and shook and shook.
There was not one spot on her plate that was not red. She then took a big bite.
The next thing we heard was a loud Oh Blankety,blank,blank blank!!! This hot sauce must have been made in hell.!!
Everyone in the vicinity including the waitress laughed so hard that tears ran down all our faces.
The waitress eyes still full of water gave her a fresh plate,no charge.
My Grandma never used her hands to pick up another bottle of Tabasco sauce again.

Another time I laughed so hard was when I took her to the casino.
I really wanted to go that evening and had no one to watch her. I figured that a couple hours would not hurt her or me.
She expressed to me and a friend that went along that this was the first time in all of her 94 years that she had ever been in a casino,
let alone let two women drag her someplace she did not want to go.
She shook her finger at me, then folded her arms and started to pout.
I put a dollar in the machine where she was sitting and hit the spin button.
The next thing I know money started to come out. I reached in to get the winnings and got hit with a hard slap on my hand.
A voice said "If You touch my money,young lady"! My grandmother picked up all those quarters, put them in her purse,folded her arms again but this time no pout in sight.
I'am telling you I could not help but to laugh.

My Grandmother could cook the best seafood gumbo in the whole wide world. I can see those blue crab, lobster and shrimp right now with that touch only she had. My mother Zepher could attest to that because hers was the second best.

My grandmother Essie Dean Taylor Jamison passed away quietly in Phoenix Arizona in 2002.She was 96 years old.
She was the daughter of Joseph and Frances Dickerson Taylor,the granddaughter of Mariah Taylor and her husband Lawrence, and Charles and Elizabeth Dickerson all of Marshall Texas.

Treasure Chest Thursday: 1936 Census Letter

This letter was found in an old logbook from The Little Flock Baptist Church in Navasota Texas. It is from the census bureau stating that they would like all Religeous Bodies in the United States to fill out a report of their congregation, meetings, missions and chapels. I wish that I could have found the schedule that was included on the back of this letter. I also wonder where these records are kept and can they be obtained. Were they destroyed after so many years.

It is so fitting that this letter was found at the time we are asked to send in our 2010 census information.

Wordless Wednesday: J.P. Taylor of Marshall Texas

Joseph P Taylor 1865-1951 Harrison County Texas , son of Mariah Taylor, step-father Lawrence Taylor, husband of Fances Dickerson, father of eight, one of which is Essie Dean Taylor whose daughter Zepher is my mother.
Finding out the name of the natural father of Joseph is an ongoing project with the prospect of finding Mariah in the 1870 and 1880 census or through other means.

Two Cousins, Two Peas in a Pod

L.K. and Zepher Lee: Two cousins, two Peas in a pod. Mama, thats Zepher Lee knows she is just like a gentle breeze on this picture. L.K. knows that when he is through taking this picture he would love to get his hands on that big bow and pull the end, just to see how long it really is.

They grew up, went their seperate ways but still remained best of cousin/friends.

In fact they even kept the same spitfire ways about them. Mischievous, funny, played to their own tune, and lived life to the fullest.

This picture was taken in Marshall Texas in the late twenties. I wish I knew who took them to the photography studio. It may have been Aunt Carmena, L.K.'s mother or mabe my grandmother EssieDean who is the mother of Zepher Lee.

I however would put my money on Frances Taylor their grandmother and my maternal great-grandmother. Oh, not that the parents of these two would not have done it but my instinct tells me who the real boss was.

Lummie Glenn Russel, Sr

My longtime neighbor who we call Big Daddy passed away on the 6th day of March 2010. Big Daddy was a wonderful person who was loved by all the folks in the neighborhood. His family lived diagonally across the street from my house. For years on a Thursday morning this gentle soul would come in my yard and wheel the trash barrel out to the front of my house and bring it back after the trash truck passed. When Big Daddy got a little older and could not take his daily walks he would sit out in front of his house and wave as I drove on my way to work or back home.

Big Daddy married Bernice McCoy in Warren Arkansas and later moved to McNary Arizona to work in the lumber industry. Two of his brothers Jesse and David came with them. After 32 years when the industry slowed down, they packed up and moved to phoenix.

Lummie Glenn Russell Sr was born in Warren Arkansas on the Bradley Lumber Camp. His parents, Dave Washington and Sula Bradley Russell welcomed him on September 26,1907. This man had eleven children. He leaves behind nine of them along with 40 grandchildren, 91 great grandchildren, and 25 great, great grandchildren.

Big Daddy lived to be 102 years old. Can you imagine how much love this man gave, how much wisdom and knowledge he shared with others, and how great his reward is in Heaven.

RIP Big Daddy

Edwin Nelms Will and Inventory

Nelms in Navasota Texas is one of the lines I am researching. My great-grandmother Sallie White Cooper's sister Anna White Cooper married Fred Nelms. Fred's son Archie married my other great-grandmother Sallie Jefferson's daughter Jessie Lewis. I am trying to make the connection particularly with Alfred on this list.



Edwin Nelms*** Northumberland Va
Edwin Nelms*** Edgewood Plantation - Grimes County Tx

Edwin Nelms will dated 10th day of May 1860. Filed at the Grimes County Courthouse,State of Texas.

Excerpts from will:

I have heretofore given to my beloved daughter Edwina Moss Reagan the following property. The negro woman Ann and her three children(boys) Beverly, Isaac, and Hiram. To my grandson John Edwin Reagan the negro girl Mariah, and to my granddaughter Edwina Reagan the negro girl Texas. To my grandaughter Bettie May Reagan the negro girl Emiline. To my daughter Elizabeth Downing Nelms the negro woman Amanda and her three youngest children boys Gray, Turner, and Moses and all her future natural increase. To my son Everett Presley Nelms my negro boy Dennis. Daughter Catherine Ann Nelms the negro woman Mima, negro girl Esther and their natural increase, Also the negro boys Daniel and Hiram, to my daughter Mary Dianna Nelms negro woman Fanney and her three boy children,Raleigh, Abe, Beverly and all her future increases.


Edwin Nelms Inventory:

An inventory of the property real personal and mixed belonging to the Estate of Edwin Nelms died in Grimes County Texas as given by Mrs Diana M Nelms Executrix of said Edwin Nelms dec'd and appraised by W.R. Thomas and I.H.P. Hill.

Lands: 1362 2/3 acres of land including Homestead Title deeds from Ann L Mitchell for 256 from Y.B. Black for 37 acres from U.F.Base for 1000 acres from O.H.P. Hill for 69 2/3 acres valued at $15.00 per acre.$24,440. 375 acres of land title deed from T.L.P. Moffett valued at $4.50 per acre. 1687.50

Negroes:

Negro woman Malinda about 40 yrs old 000.00
" Margaret 21 " 1250.00
girl Emma 1 " 150.00
boy Anthony 15 " 1000.00
girl Amey 11 " 700.00
boy Isiah 6 " 400.00
" Aaron 6 " 250.00
The above negroes belong to E.M. Reagan
Negro girl Texas 9 years old belongs to 700.00
Edwina Reagan,Jr

Negro man Isaac about 70 years old 000.00
Negro woman Molly " 57 400.00
Negro man Primus " 26 " 1500.00
Negro man Peter " 22 " 1400.00
Negro man George " 20 " 1400.00
Negro girl Esther " 15 " 1250.00
Negro man Alfred " 36 " 1600.00
Negro woman Robertoo " 30 " 1000.00
Negro boy Daniel " 10 " 750.00
Negro boy Hiram about 6 years old 450.00
Negro boy Jerry " 3 " 300.00
Negro man Gordon " 40 " 2000.00
Negro woman Eliza " 38 " 800.00
Negro man Jim " 19 " 1400.00
Negro girl Jenny " 11 " 800.00
Negro boy Litchin(sp) " 5 " 350.00
Negro boy Bomy(sp) " 5 " 350.00
Negro boy Ferdinand " 2 " 250.00
Negro man Jim Bronson " 24 " 1400.00
Negro woman Frances " 20 " 1200.00
Negro girl Martha " 3 " 200.00
Negro girl Cornelia " 1 " 150.00
Negro woman Amanda " 40 " 600.00
Negro man John " 26 " 1500.00
Negro man Joe " 21 " 1500.00
Negro woman Mima " 19 " 1100.00
Negro boy Hamir(sp) " 16 " 900.00
Negro boy Gray " 9 " 500.00
Negro boy Peter Taylor " 11 " 800.00
Negro boy Tinnor " 6 " 400.00
Negro man Sam " 60 " 000.00
Negro woman Eliza " 18 " 1100.00
Negro boy Bill " 16 " 1200.00
Negro woman Fany " 30 " 1000.00
Negro boy Rolly " 8 " 500.00
Negro boy Abe " 6 " 375.00
Negro boy Beverly " 5 " 325.00
Negro man Peter Nelson " 49 " 1200.00


***excerpts from inventory dated October 28, 1863 ***

Stumped Again

Today I again went over the task of going line by line on the 1870 and 1880 census for Harrison County Texas. I think if I don't do this at least once every three or four months I will lose my own personal Guiness record in searching for Mariah Taylor and her son Joseph in the same household.
I was told by more than one person to look outside the box for her. I know that all the information that I have all say she only had one son. The 1900 census and the 1910 census state that. Oral history has also stated that Mariah only had one son. But....I went ahead and looked at all the Mariah's/Maria's and followed them the best I could. I elimated all the ones that I found in and around Marshall. I even looked in Gregg and Panola Counties as well as Caddo Parish in Louisiana. Either all the census records show that both Mariah and/or Joseph was to young or to old.
I cruised Family Search for a Death Certificate and found none. I guess the next stop would be Footnote. Mabe just mabe they may have picked up a missing one from somewhere.