Lucky Me, Lucky You, Lucky As Can Be!

I attended an event sponsored by the PBS Station in Arizona along with the Arizona Informant and others that showcased African Americans:  Many Rivers to Cross soon to be released in a six part series October 22 2013. 

I was fortunate to win in a raffle the two discs set by the same name, and as soon as it is ready I will receive it in the mail.

I posted on Face book what a good time I had. One of the comments I got was from Selma, a genealogy friend of mine via AfriGeneas, the mother of all the African American Genealogy sites.   She said,” Lucky you Vicky." !

I do agree with Selma, mainly because the luck I have been having lately is making it to the little room down the hall in time and my past track feats kicked in at an older age.  I am blessed though that I am getting up each and every morning. Thanks to God that I am wide eyed the entire day.  

Selma got me to thinking about " Lucky You"; I don’t know any You’s or Youse’s  but I sure know some Lucky’s, Luckey’s and Luckie’s.

In Phoenix I knew Charles Luckie, Gloria Lucky, and David Luckey

I went to school and also worked with David at Western Electric. 

All three of these people may have known each other and all three surnames were spelled different from each other.

I even have some lucky numbers; 123….635….524 and on and on and on. I just wish they would get lucky one of these days on the Pick 3

I am lucky to have forged long time friendships, some sight unseen, like Selma who unselfishly gives her genealogy wisdom to others and to Valencia King Nelson who is the rock of AfriGeneas.  Not to mention Arthur Thomas and Angela Walton Raji who I have met, and did not run in the other direction when they saw me grinning.

For the jazz enthusiast back in the swing era days, Lucky and his Mills Blue Rhythm Band entertained all over Georgia, Alabama and Texas. He was the toast of clubs like The Cotton Club and the Savoy. Joining up with the likes of Ella the great Fitzgerald , Bill Doggett and Dizzy Gillespie and others.

He later moved towards what they called Rhythm and Blues.  A couple of his songs were Shorty's Got to Go, Sweet Slumber and Waiting Just for you.

Oh,  did I mention he was born in Anniston, Alabama in 1910 as Luscious Leroy Millander. 

Luscious and Lucky!  Now how lucky is that combination. Judging by his picture he was quite a good looking man. 

My thought triggered by Selma:

In my research I came across a Lucky Singleton who was from Marshall Texas and lived not that far from my Ancestors. Lucky had a son Major Singleton who lived here in Phoenix and who also had a son he surely named after his father.                                                                                                           Unfortunately Major’s son passed away at the age of 15.

Then there was a Lucky Singleton Jr who married a Roberta Choyce from Marshall Texas. 

                 here is the excerpt of  Lucky Jr and Roberta Singleton  

Lucky, the senior’s un - lucky trip:

Lucky, the Senior, wife  and a few of his family members and neighbors  heard about a plan to go to Liberia for a fee of ten dollars down for each person and the rest within six months after arriving.

 According to the Sunday Edition on February 8^th 1880, The New York Daily Tribune had an article stating that a group of twenty one people arrived in New York.

 Among this group was lucky, his wife and two children, Augustus Singleton, Willie Daniels, Lemuel Manyweather, his wife and child, Lawson Silas, his wife and two children, and Thomas Larkins along with his wife and six children. 

Thomas Larkins actually got the idea of going to Liberia from his brother in law, a chap by the name of Mathews.  He had been in Liberia over two years and sent glowing reports home and suggested that they take the trip as well.  They were surprised when they got to New York that the person who was to have engineered the way from there was nowhere to be found. 

They ended up asking for assistance from the Charities of  Commissioners and Charities who sent them to the King County Alms House as paupers of the state.

They were very poorly nourished and without funds to take care of themselves.

 What terrible luck they were having:   

                                                                                                                       Larkins daughter was left in New Jersey because she had given birth and needed care. Larkins wife died of Pneumonia after they reached the Alms house. 

They were described as from the south, truthful but unsophisticated 

Harrison County Texas must have been a hot bed for emigrating to Liberia. Mathews has another brother who is very instrumental in recruiting people from there. Another group of thirty was supposed to leave from Marshall at   the end of February 1880 and another contingent in March of the same year.

Even though they told the reporter that they had no complaints from bad treatment from whites or lack of work, I find that hard to believe, especially in 1880.

They stated that Liberia was the Promised Land for them and others and wished for a new life in a new home.

After much ado and facts as the folks at the Alms House had given them, the party with much hesitation decided to return back to Marshall. The article does not say when lucky and his family returned to Marshall but they all were assured help getting back home instead of help to Liberia.

Lucky and his family made it back home to Texas where he and his family were seen listed in the 1900 census.

I can imagine for those who research and can’t find their families around this time, chances are, they may have been some of those who actually made it to what they called their promise land.

   

I would hope that Lucky, Mr Larkins and family found their true niche in Marshall Texas and perhaps they even knew my family.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                             

It Is What It Is Names And All

Okay, okay, so I made a mistake and left my computer at home. I didn't take it to Texas with me but I sure thought about it. I had put the charger in one of my bags that I packed along with the USB cord that goes with the camera. I was all set and ready to go.

I was half-way listening to the yak yak of my daughter, grandson and granddaughter as they wined " when will you have time to get on the computer, or Granny, can't you stay off the computer for one day, or " Nanta please".

All I needed at that point was a fiddle to play some sad blues song. So I unpacked my cords and kissed my computer goodbye.

I do know that If I would have had my computer It would have been a late night two fingered keyboard sonata as others were sound asleep. The sounds of tap n enter,tap n enter,tap n enter would make sweet music to my ears.

I could have down loaded all those pictures I captured with my camera to my computer. Well, all those pictures that actually came through.

I hit the off button on at least fifty pictures instead of the button you push to take the pictures. I silently wondered why the flash did not go off work and completely ignored the lack of the long pause of the pictures as they should have held and captured the pose.

When I asked my niece to show me how to go back and look in the camera at the pictures I had taken, her comment was " What Pictures?"

I could have deleted all the email that I accrued all those days I was going to be away.

I tried though to see where I could get on with out to much panic from the crew. I first looked at the computer room at the hotel but they only had two and those happened to be taken every time I walked by.

Later on that day,I looked in the room at my relatives and saw all that gorgeous equipment just waiting for me to ask if its alright if I logged on. (My inner mind could hear the sounds that I heard when we left the house for Texas so I changed my greedy thoughts.) I shook my head so loud trying to get rid of that sound that I got a headache.

I think I was having AfriGeneas, Ancestry, Heritage Quest, Facebook withdrawals. Pages like Black Family Historical Society, Our Black Ancestry, The Texas and Oklahoma Historical Pages, all at the same time cluttered my mind.

I was missing Keith Olberman, Rev Al, all my friends like Sharon Mc who posts tidbits through out the day; The Weather Channel, gobs and gobs of ancestors pictures that people post, all fighting for position in my brain.

Was hope all lost; Not yet:

My daughter bought her computer along with her because she still had home-work to do. So now I had an in. Woo hoo!!!

I could use it when she was not doing her homework. At Last! But, there is always a "but" in these situations.

Just when I was going full throttle, I heard this voice saying, "Mom, I need to do my homework now."
I felt like I was at the Casino, my machine had just started to hit and it was time to go.

As William Bendix used to say, "What a revoltin development this is."

Anyway, the next day, it was time to pack up and head back home. I was feeling pretty good even though we had this long 1100 mile stretch.

We pulled into one of the numerous rest areas and a sign caught my eye.

What!!! Why in the world would the "Internet Teasers" do this to me. Me with no
computer, durn it! Oh well, maybe it was best because I would have made up for all I missed right there in the wide open spaces surrounded by big long haul trucks, cars and three angry people. LOL

My mind then went back to Texas and wondered who may have named their child Texas, or Alabama, or Georgia. Then one of my Genie buddies Georgia Adams came to mind along with a Genie partner Art Adams. So, me being me, I did a search...

My attempt at the search begins with Adams:

The Adam surname is of English Origin thought to be from the first man Adam according to Genesis.

Texas is from the Caddo Indian word " Teyshas" meaning friends. In 1540 The Spanish explorers took it to be a tribal name and recorded it as Teyas or Tejas.


Texas Adams was living in Georgia according to the 1900 Baldwin County Census. Texas was born in Georgia, her father was born in Georgia and her mother Florida. Go figure
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Georgia was named in honor of King George the 2nd of England.

Now Georgia Adams was Williams mother in law of. She was born around 1835 in Alabama according to the Marengo Alabama 1900 Census. Another go figure because both of her parents were born in Alabama.
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Alabama named after the river first called Alibamu and the local Native American Tribe. Alabama was thought to be derived from two Choctaw names Alba and Amo.

Aha, now we have a 1910 Leflore County Oklahoma Census! Alabama Adams was born in Arkansas but both her parents were from Alabama. Now that's one that I can figure.
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Happy Searching if you have a State, County, City, Town, Village or Hamlet named after your ancestor.

My nephew Phoenix will have his namesake story to tell as he rises and makes his mark in the world.

Dime Box Texas to Good Old Arizona

Dime Box is one of those names that I never forgot. I thought that it was a funny name when I first heard it years ago after finding out my friends mother was born there. Texas is a big state and has plenty of names that are intriguing.
I had a chance to dig a little to see where it was located and how the name came about.

Dime Box is a little town in lee County Texas. I am told that the name came from a local tradition before the federal post office was located there.
The small community was named Browns Mill at first and settlers deposited outgoing mail and a dime in a small box inside of Joseph Brown's office
for a weekly delivery to Giddings.

There was also a community by the name of Brownsville and mail was being mixed up between the two towns.

The post office in Browns Mill closed in 1883 and reopened a year later.
The Town so I am told was renamed Dime Box to eliminate the prior confusion regarding the mail deliveries. Old Dime Box transitioned into New Dime Box.

There was however no confusion when a little baby by the name of Christina was born in Dime Box to Homer and Ola Mae Haislip, the proud parents. Some folks spell the name Heslip.

Ma Stine is what I called her as well as everyone that knew her. I first met Ma Stine somewhere around 1956 or 57 when I went to her house in Mesa Arizona
with a couple of her children.

It was on a Monday and I went to hang out there until it was time to go skating.
Over time I met all of Ma Stine's children from the oldest sons Willie and Robert Lewis to the youngest son Arvis.
The girls were Ruth, Dorothy, Alice, Helen and Carrie.

Over the years the relationship grew, not only with the children but with the parents as well.


Ma Stine was married to a wonderful man known as "Chick" whose real name was Adolphus Hicks. He was also a character and he worked hard to feed his family. He also had a green truck and would use it to haul food scraps to feed the hogs that he raised.


From Mesa the family moved to Phoenix and so did all the laughter and good times.
In the household was Ma Price, Ma Stine's mother. She was a wonderfully spry lady who had us in stitches as well.

I do believe to this day that it was the camaraderie that the whole family had was the reason people loved being around.

I did not really know how to drive but in my haste to get over to the Hicks house,
I did the unthinkable when my mother went to sleep. I took her car!!

It was a white Chevy stick shift and I jerked all the way to Hadley street just so I could get in on the fun. When it was time for me to go back home, Carrie had to drive me back and Arvis followed in his car.

Needless to say I had stripped the gears and I can still see my mother trying to figure out what happened to her car. Did I own up? Noooo, No, Noway, not until many years later! You know how they used to say that they would knock you in to next week. Well,next week would have been to soon for me to try and make my way back to earth if I had confessed.

I gave Ma Stine my phone number just in case she needed me to take her somewhere if the kids were busy.

I got my call on several occasions when night time hit. I didn't mind one bit because I loved talking to her.
I found out later that she had me sneaking her over to the Po Keno House. I don't think she thought her daughters wanted her to go and play that poor mans bingo.
She loved going and playing even though she could not see very well later in life.
She would get her keno slips and her bottle tops and listen to the caller call them numbers out loud. B and that's a 5, or I and make that a 15. !!!

Most of the time when I would take her, I would sit back in amazement and watch the folks laugh and talk until the next time they met.

As I was thinking back and reminiscing, I decided to see if I could find them in Dime Box in the 1910. And boy did I hit pay dirt.


The 1910 Census for Dime Box Lee County lists Christina at age one enumerated with her grandparents Ruben and Mary J E Hornsby. There is another grandchild Henry who was two years old. The other children of Reuben's were Nelly,Dave,Isabella,Clinton and Henrietta Freeman. Also listed in the household was mother Christiana Mitchell who was eighty seven years old. I am not quite sure if this was Reuben's mother or Mary's mother because of a source I also found has Mary Elizabeth listed with a maiden name of Mitchell. I am wondering if this is who Ma Stine was named after.

I did not see Ola Mae and Homer in the house hold but they may have been out working somewhere.
I did find fifteen year old Homer though in the 1900 Census in the household with his parents Benjamin and Emily Heslip. Also listed were Benjamin Jr, Willie, Arther, Ida and Robert his siblings.



The next time I saw Christine was in the 1920 census. Since people traveled around for work it was no wonder that the Hornsby's were found in Fayette County Texas.



Same scenario but this time Christina is listed as nine years old, and in the household are children David, John C, Sylvia Davis and her son Willie. There is also a boarder by the name of Samuel Brazell living with them. The Hornsby's must have went looking for work in a group because there are several Hornsby families living several houses down.

When Christine's mother Ola Mae married William Price, her second husband, they moved to Arizona taking along nineteen year old Christine and her infant son William McDuffy. I found them living in Goodyear Arizona in 1930 where William J was a Laborer in a cotton camp. I was surprised, because I was thinking they would have been in Mesa.



Last stop Phoenix! The journey has been well worth it. Ms Christine Hicks sure caught my attention. She started off making a mark in Texas and ended up leaving a legacy in Phoenix Arizona. Well done Ma Stine, well done.