Mariah At The Wheel In Oklahoma

I am not saying that Mariah was the only one at the wheel because I know that a higher power had first dibs, but I swear she had a hand on where she wanted to take me.

Mariah knew that I was going back to Phoenix and may get on my job looking for her. I keep saying that I am done looking for her but I don't think she believes it. I had settled on the fact when I went to Utah that she did not want to be found. Everyone who knows me also know that I have a Mariah fetish so saying I am done is a big deal for me.

We were in Oklahoma City for the home going services for Al Mitchell, the father of my daughter Tish and grandfather of her two children Taylor and Tyler.
Lorie,the next door neighbor and friend helped drive the grands and I to the city and for that we are eternally grateful.

She could have chosen to be doing a million other things. My daughter had gone up earlier in the week and we knew that some of the pain would be relieved if her children were near. Lorie sensed that and shared her feelings.

We had a nice drive going, settled in at the hotel, attended the services and now it was time to drive back home. My daughter had a standby airline ticket for Monday but we thought it better to have her come back with us.

Someone mentioned that granny would be anxious to get back to her computer and genealogy.. That was the first mistake made. She, meaning Mariah must have heard those words...Computer and Genealogy

First off my daughter always sets her alarm because she has to get up, ready herself for work, and get Tyler ready for school. The same thing goes for Lorie the neighbor and for Taylor the college kid.

We discussed hitting the road leaving for Phoenix from Oklahoma at 8:00 o'clock Sun Morning.

That meant getting up early, having a good breakfast and be on our way. The car was filled with gas and all bags were packed except for the things needed in the morning.

Why did all three forget to set their alarm? If my sister had not called about 8:30 A.M. we would all still have been sleep. Sluggishly we did what we had to do and started on our way. My first vision was a Nana-nana-nana being whispered in my brain and thoughts; (Mariah, she's at it again I silently said)

We were headed to I 40 and we all relaxed knowing we could take the 40 West all the way to the Heber Arizona turnoff and head on home to Phoenix.

The road was so smooth. we passed Tinker AFB and pointed to the old planes that sit out front.

As we drove on, Lorie and I started to count all the casino's we wished we could stop at. We jokingly talked about taking bathroom breaks at them all and putting a nickle in the machines on the way out.

We passed signs that I had become familiar with in my genealogy circles. Signs such as Eufala Oklahoma, where i reflected on the Hutchinson's who had come from there to Phoenix.

The sign that said Muskogee turn off, was where I thought about my friends the Stevenson's who also came to Phoenix.

When I saw the sign Cherokee I thought about Angela Walton Raji and her research with the Five Civilized tribes. Ft Smith was another sign we saw, that reflected Arkansas and I again thought about Angela because that was her home town.



As we were driving along an amazing thing happened, Tyler my grandson needed to go to the bathroom. He said that he could not wait.

If there had been a tree near a house and close to the side of the road I wonder if he still could not wait.

My suspension is that he would chose the back of the tree instead of the lil house that some of us used way back in the day

As we looked for the nearest exit after crossing the beautiful lake Eufala we saw the Checota turnoff and headed to the facilities.

After we stretched, got back in the car, and headed back to the Interstate, my daughter stared at the sigh and said, "Are we headed in the wrong direction, we are supposed to be on the I 40 West not East."

Did I hear that "nana-nana" sound again in my head. You bet I did! Mariah was at work again. She had her hands on the wheel.

I suspect that she even knew that that wheel was not a wagon wheel and all the bumps in the road was not country roads with holes in them.

All those pastures with the one lone cow standing by themselves and the rest were all huddled further down had turned into cows all lumped together as a group.

Mariah more than likely planned that too.

All the lone standing oil wells had become numerous. Those should have all been sighs to let us know the direction was wrong, but noooooo, Mariah had the wheel.

Speaking of oil wells, this is a picture of grands standing in front of a working well smack dab in the middle of a grocery store parking lot.

No signs of Altus, Weatherford,or Chickasha turn-offs I was familiar with because Mariah was at the wheel; the wheel of my mind that is.

When I did not blame Mariah for all my troubles she was elusive, so now that I blame her, she is more elusive than ever.

What's a 3rd great-granddaughter to do? How can you compromise with that nana-nana sound I think I hear in the recesses of my mind? What happened to my favorite saying about not letting anyone rent space in your head?

Oh yeah, I prayed, talked, dug through, shuffled papers, let it alone, came back to it; got help from those who were not Mariah groupies and those who were; I prayed some more, left it alone again and again. Just last week I said I was done for good with my genealogy research where Mariah was my focus point. After all, I had other people I could research.

I could look into my Burks,Dickerson/Dixon's,Lester's,Griffiths Daviss/Davis,Sims or numerous other Texas ancestors. Others like Ware,White,Cooper,Jefferson,and Pierce over in Grimes and Fayette County Texas.

I could even continue reading one of my favorite books by Randolph B Campbell titled "A Southern Community in Crisis; Harrison County Texas, 1850 - 1880" that I rely on for information.

Ha, but she blew it when she took the wheel and took us 120 miles out of the way.


I am back on the chase Mariah even though I don't know your maiden name for sure. I think its Wells but verifying that is as hard as finding you in 1870 and 1880.

Just so you know that I say what I mean, I am outing you again. You were found in the 1900 and 1910 census in Harrison County Texas.

1900 Census partial lines

1910 Harrison County Census Partial lines

I could put the whole census page up but I want to single you out just like you have been trying to trick me for the last twenty plus years.

You were married to Lawrence Taylor and had one son Joseph who was the stepson to Lawrence.

Mariah, you were born between 1840 and 1854 according to the census in Texas. If I can find you in 1870 and 1880 I could narrow that down but you have the upper hand on that one. For now that is!

Ducking as I say "Nana-nana-nana" back at you and Oh, I love you much and you can take that to the bank MARIAH!!!

Big Time Texan Sticking To The Story

Curses Foiled Again Or That's My Story And I'am Sticking To It

I had barely gotten to bed . The clock read 3:45 A.M. and only one eye felt drowsy enough to let me drift off.


With a start I jumped up, looked around and saw my daughter looking at me. My first question to her was, What time is it?

I had fallen asleep on the couch and she was sitting on the love seat reading the paper and sipping coffee. I keep saying "she" but my daughter's name is Latisha.

Anyway, she told me it was 9:30 A.M, took another sip of her coffee, and looked back down again at the paper.

Since I was still groggy I asked her if she had a pen. She reached down in her purse, pulled out a pen and tossed it to me.

I wrote down 147 then headed to the little room to get ready for the rest of the day.
I didn't want to seem so excited so I casually went to the computer, turned it on and waited for the AfriGeneas chat room to open.


Wondering If I made a mistake I went back to where I had placed the note that had the number 147 on it and expanded it to 149.

Finally, Art Thomas, Angela Walton Raji, Selma, Valencia, Seventies Soulchild and a few others came in. We started talking about topics like DNA, US Colored Troops, current research finds, All roads lead to Virginia with a few laughs thrown in.

I looked at the clock. Did I see a 145? Durn-it, I may have written down the number wrong again so back to my notes. I changed my number from 147 to 145.

After chat was over, I finally relaxed and went about my business of connecting my numbers to my jumbled thoughts. My jumping up out of my sleep was because of that number 147.

There was this book that I have by Vivian Lehman and Edith Smith called No Land,Only Slaves. Volume 4 Harrison, Hunt, and Kaufman County Texas. Deeds and conveyances are in in this particular book and I look at it quite often. This book was in my dream.


In my dream I saw the book opened and thrown out in the front yard all dirty and trampled on. This was not my front yard but a yard that was like a rolling hill with really green grass. I was heart broken and upset in this dream.


Looking around and screaming out, Who stole my book, Who in the ^%$^ stole my book?

I picked up the book and saw that half of the pages were torn out and the binding was ripped out in places.

Who tore out the pages in my book, I screamed!

I don't remember what happened next except there was a person who I had never seen before said something like " they left 147, see".


I looked down at the pages of the book,and that is when I woke up.


In my nervousness all I could think of at that point was Mariah, my elusive 3rd great grandmother. My brick wall Mariah, My Texas Wind Mariah, My Harrison County Grandmother the 3rd Mariah who loves to play jokes on me.

Was this the clue I had been looking for? Did I finally beat her at her own game? After all, I hear others say in this genealogy arena that the ancestors will speak to you when they are ready.

I started to stick out my chest because I now know that my dream was a sign. I am so Confident thatI think that was why I was taking my time to get my book and look at page 147.

It was quiet in the house as I slowly turned the page to 147.

The first thing I noticed when I turned the page was Book T. My heart started beating faster and faster because Mariah's last name was Taylor.
As I was scouring the pages there were no Mariah's that fit the bill. It was a good thing I expanded my page numbers because I read each and every entry up to page 149. I then went back down to page 145, then 144 all the way to page 140.

Nothing,zilch,nada which means I need another plan!

Now, I am looking at Book A : Starting with every H meaning Harrison County that has the number 140 - 149 in it until I get to the last book for this county.

Example:
Book A Har 145 2 Jan 1838 Hughes, Isaac of Johnson County Ark to his sister-in-law Kerzia Mason of Pope County Ark. Gift. Buck, m, 45; Hannah,F,45* for my love and affection. Wit. Walker,William and Rogers, Jacob of Johnson Co. ARK. Justice of the Peace for Johnson Co. Ark: Powers, Thomas (* Book A, Pages 162-163 Clarksville, Johnson Co. Ark)

Now that my eyes are tired and I need to take a break, I think I will bake some muffins. I just have to remember not to eat them all up in one sitting. Yummy!!


Next time I will go buy me a pick three lottery ticket, number 147.

Mariah and Me Present: My First Presentation

Presentation! What did they mean presentation? I don't know nothing bout birth'n no presentation!!!


A presentation at the Arizona Black Family Genealogy and Historical Society Meeting, you must be kidding me!

Later though I gave in and made a promise to Leafshaker my genealogy bud that I would do my best to comply. I didn't want to flub when one of Arizona's premier researchers was watching me.


The topic had to do with blogging and highlighted with the research technique I used to find and document a Clark family in Logan County Oklahoma.


I swear ggg- grandmother Mariah it had nothing to do with you.

My friend Angela sent me some information to guide me on my way and get started on the blogging side. I stayed up half the day and night trying to put the information in my own vernacular.


But noooo Mariah, you would not let me save it to my computer.

Every time I hit the save button, and went back all my changes I made did not take. After about 5 hours continuously I finally got it saved it to Power Point.

Now I can finally put my presentation on a CD. Smiling, I looked to my left and realized that the drawer/doors to the CD copier was broken.

This one I am not blaming on you Mariah because Tyler your 5th great grand-son had one of his CD's break off inside and we could not get it out.

We neglected to have the drawer replaced and now I really need it. I should have remembered and followed that saying "never put off tomorrow what you can do today."

My next trip was to go and buy a memory stick. I got one on sale at Fry's for nine dollars, bought it home and the durn thing would not even load up down or around.


Not to be undone, I went to Staples and got another brand that I was more familar with. I put it in the USB port and a dog-gone message came up saying "try again later." Heck it was already late!

I know it had to be you Mariah. I have felt you late at night in my presence before, and I know for a fact that you don't want to be found yet.


Time for me to take a break so I headed to the kitchen looking in every cabinet for that bottle of wine from five Christmases ago. You had been in that cabinet hadn't you? I am not getting smart with you, but its awful funny that I could not find that bottle that had your surname Taylor on it. Mighty Strange I must say.


Time was ticking: I started to type and my thumb on my right hand froze up like I had just been in the World Thumb Wrestling Championship and lost.


It was time for me to call a back-up now. I hurried up and got on the phone and called my friend Lil Leaf and asked if I could send my PP presentation to her and put it on a CD.

Yes, she said and with a sigh of relief I hit the send button.

Why thirty minutes later did she call me and say that she could not open it?

It was now around 9:30 at night and I was scheduled for the next day. Our only solution was to send her the slides one by one through the email.

I got my other unwelcomed call around 10 P.M.

As the old folks used to say after almost pulling out my hair, I took to my bed!


Armed with nothing on Saturday I went to the meeting with good intentions. My only solution was to go to my Mariah's Zepher site and read from my last Blog.

Mariah had to follow me there because the computer crashed just as I was getting ready to start.

With bated breathe I started to cold talk about my last blog entry, no power point, no slides, just those twelve pair of eyes looking my way.

Then the computer came back up. Whew!! Finally Mariah, you let me finish.
It was not what I planned but the presentation turned out okay. Thank you God.

Thank you too Mariah.

I also want to apologize for calling you by your first name. I was not raised like that and I kind of look around to the right and left to see if anyone saw me typing.

Oh one those memory sticks I bought that did not work. Well Taylor my grand-daughter came home that evening, put it in the port and the blankety- blank blank things worked on the first try.

Now quit playing with me granny number three and show yourself. (pretty please!)

Love ya!