RELEASE DATE: APRIL 5, 2009
KINSEARCHING
by
Marleta Childs
P. O. Box 6825
LUBBOCK, TX 79493-6825
[email protected]
The Leon County Genealogical Society is issuing its "last call" for submission of family history articles to be included in the new book, HISTORY OF LEON COUNTY, VOLUME II. Any family or individual who has ever lived--no matter how long--in the Texas county is eligible to send in material. If you submitted a family history article to the first volume published in 1986, now is the time to "update" changes, which may include births, marriages, deaths, new discoveries, and corrections to errors or omissions in the previous article. Tales ("tall or otherwise") about people, animals, and places in general and photographs are also welcome. For more information, write to the Leon County Genealogical Society, Inc., P. O. Box 400, Centerville, TX 75833 or e-mail [email protected].
Genealogists seeking the latest information about relatives living in Ochiltree Co., TX, or in Balko, Beaver Co., OK, will be interested in the 8 January 2009 issue of The Perryton Herald, published in Perryton, TX. The newspaper lists 115 births and 72 deaths of residents in 2008 in those two places. On page 7-A, the paper provides the names of the parents and child, the sex of the child, and date and place of birth. On page 2-A, the newspaper furnishes the name of the deceased, age, and date and place of death.
Charles N. Ferguson, 811 South Market, Shawnee, OK 74801 would like to correspond with Shirley CHADICK, who submitted the FERGUSON data below, or with anyone who descends from William Marion FERGUSON, b. ca. 1831 in Cole Co., MO, and d. February 1883 in Harrison Co., TX. His mother was Jane GRAGG, who was b. in 1798 in Kaskaskia, Northwest Territory. Who did William marry? His children were
Francis Marion, b. ca. 1847;
James Wesley, b. ca. 1847;
William Riley, b. ca. 1849;
Monroe, b. ca. 1850;
John, b. ca. 1852;
Amos, b. ca. 1853;
Sarah R., b. ca. 1856;
Coleman, b. ca. 1858;
Richard B., b. ca. 1861; and
Charles N. FERGUSON, b. ca. 1869.
Family researchers appreciate the detailed data usually found in newspaper obituaries in the latter part of the twentieth century and in the present century. Death notices before that period did not generally provide many facts about the deceased. In addition, the language of the past was often "flowery" or, perhaps at times, even eloquent. Serving as an example, this death notice, titled "obituary" in the newspaper, is found on page 1, column 4 of the 9 April 1926 (Vol. II, No. 52) issue of the Southland News, published in Southland, Garza Co., TX:
"On our beautiful Easter day at 1:30
the Death Angel came into the home of Perry BURRROWS (sic) and cast a
shadow of grief and sorrow over the hearts of all by calling the spirit of Mrs.
Francis (sic) BURROWS back to the God who had given it." The rest of the
"obituary" contains very "flowery" rhetoric and a poem written by "Mrs. T. L.
K," but does not furnish any more personal data.
(Editor's Note: Surnames in the above notice are
capitalized for emphasis.)
Genealogical information often turns up in unexpected places. An example is Gregory Schaaf's article, "It's a Family Affair: Artistic Generations," which appears on pages 38-41 of the September/October 2008 issue of the magazine, Native Peoples. Since several generations of the same family have sometimes sold their merchandise at the Indian Market in Santa Fe, NM, the author tells the story of the ancestors and descendants of skilled artists Angie Reano OWEN and Barbara GONZALES. On page 16 of the same issue, the regular feature, "Passages," lists recent deaths of individuals from various tribes in MT, NM, and OK.