On the Trail of the Great-Grandmothers - Finale

To continue our saga, on Wednesday morning, we woke up and dressed quickly because it was about 55 degrees at our top of the mountain campsite. After a quick breakfast, we made our way to town to follow up on a couple of the leads we found the day before.

We had learned that Elizabeth Manning, mother of Kiziah Gregory, was buried at the cemetery near Bethel Baptist Church north of Dawsonville. We found a listing of the marked graves in this cemetery and we thought we could find it. After splitting up we covered nearly half the graveyard when I finally found her stone.

 It is difficult to read here, but the inscription says: Elizabeth Manning, Born March 1807 Died March 1895 At Rest. At the top is a star shaped figure carved into the stone. There is nothing inscribed on the reverse side, but there were flowers placed there that didn't look very old.




After the cemetery visit, we followed up another lead concerning the Mannings. We had found among the land records in the Dawson County Courthouse a deed which transferred land from Margemin Manning and Elizabeth Manning to the members of the Dawsonville Baptist Church in 1871. We wanted to find this site and make some pictures and see what else we could find out.

After driving around town to locate both Baptist churches we determined the one we wanted was actually next door to where we understood the deeded land to be. On the property, located at the intersection of "the two main roads into Dawsonville" which today are Highways 9 and 53, stands Grace Presbyterian Church.

We visited with the church secretary who encouraged us to walk through the building. It is a beautiful old church. The sanctuary has stained glass windows that date to the early 20th century, and a handmade quilt covering the piano on the stage. When we arrived back at the office, our hostess copied a history of the church for us. As we explained why we were there, she said she wanted to add that to their history.

The deed transferring land from Margemin Manning and Elizabeth Manning to the Baptist Church of Dawsonville. 

After our church visit, we decided to head south to the city of Milledgeville, Georgia to follow up on a lead I'd found weeks before. Something I had learned from another researcher I am in contact with online was that Margemin Manning had been institutionalized during the last year of his life. According to this source, Mr. Manning was inmate #0043 and was buried at one of the cemeteries on the grounds of the Georgia Central State Hospital in Milledgeville.  Our goal was to find his grave if possible.

Our trip to Millegeville had mixed results. We found the state hospital, with excellent directions from the town's Visitor Center, but had to drive through a maze of streets around the grounds before we stumbled upon one of the cemeteries. It was Cedar Lane Cemetery and had several gravestones scattered around through the trees and one plot that was obviously different.

The markers in this plot are made of iron with numbers molded into them. Each number corresponds to an inmate's number in the Georgia State Hospital. The markers are spaced about a foot apart and there were about two thousand markers at this site.

There are other cemeteries on the grounds of this institution, but we were unable to locate them. Nor were we able to find #0043, Margemin Manning. I'll do an entire post about this when I find more conclusive information.  We did find the whole thing incredibly sad and were disappointed that while we found Elizabeth's grave, we did not find her husband's resting place.

We headed back north through several towns with gorgeous antebellum architecture to our camp at Amicalola Falls. After a decidedly warmer night in camp, we packed up Thursday morning and headed to Birmingham, Alabama. And anything you've ever heard about Atlanta's traffic is absolutely correct.

In Birmingham, after a bit more trouble with my poor Google Maps, we finally located the Jefferson County Health Department where we were able to obtain a copy of Kiziah Manning Gregory's death certificate, which listed the cemetery in which she was buried. A big construction jam and detour got us to the new I-22 north, which we took to the Dora exit, on our way to the tiny burg of Empire, Alabama.

More exploring in the countryside followed as we found Little Vine Road, which took us to Little Vine Cemetery and Church, where Great-great grandmother Kiziah Gregory is buried. One of the few cemeteries I have every visited that is on a hillside, we walked the entire cemetery, but never found a stone for Kiziah Gregory. Another disappointment, because it is another grave we are unable to locate, but we can be fairly certain from the documents that she is interred there.

We left that little church graveyard and headed back onto I-22 toward Memphis and then on to Melbourne. Overall the trip was productive, in finding evidence of things I had found from other sources, as well as new information regarding the generosity of my great-great-great grandparents. It was emotional, especially regarding the state hospital and the implications of dying there in the late 19th century.

I'll write more in the next few weeks about other research trips I have taken in chasing my great-grandmothers and their heritage. The challenge of discovery, and learning to accept the disappointment, is what makes this journey so rewarding for me.

If anyone has any questions, comments, or suggestions on this or any of my posts, please feel free to leave them in the comments below.

On the Trail of the Great-Grandmothers - Part Two

I guess the most memorable aspect of this road/research trip is having company. I'm not used to having a traveling partner and research helper. It was a real treat to be able to share the decisions, expenses, and searching with someone. And when that someone is Aunt Reta, well, it doesn't get much better. She and I have taken road trips in the past, so I knew it would be filled with enough accidental adventure to make it fun.

For this trip, I had decided to camp for a couple of nights to cut down on travel costs, and to get some camping in this summer. My traveling/research partner (who had initially invited herself along) was game, so we packed up our respective gear and met up in Blytheville, AR. That took me the long way to Georgia, coming from St. Louis, but not by much.

We loaded her stuff into my car at the Wal-Mart parking lot, and Johnny headed back to Melbourne while we took off for Memphis. My little Escape was loaded to the gills with camping equipment and suitcases, but she drove like a champ. With gas stops outside Memphis and Chattanooga, we pulled into Dalton, Georgia around 10:30 p.m.

I'm not certain why, but roads and streets are not marked very well in Georgia. I'm usually pretty observant and pay close attention to signs as well as landmarks, and I've traveled enough with Aunt Reta to know she's a decent navigator. But this time we missed the turn to the hotel and the road took us up a mountain outside of town...no street lights or anything. Even Google Maps was confused, so we turned around and headed back down the mountain and finally found the street just off the exit. It probably didn't take more than 10 minutes, but it was so frustrating. We got checked in and settled for the night.

Next morning after the complimentary breakfast (not bad, for hotel food) we headed east into the north Georgia mountains. Along roads very much like the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks, about an hour later we tooled into Dawsonville, GA. We drove through town about three times, even stopped to ask for directions, before we found the library. (Poor Google, it was trying.)

At the Chestatee Regional Library, their genealogy collection is pretty extensive, with regional histories, family histories, old maps, and such. We were concentrating on two surnames, Gregory and Manning, and hit on them a number in times in various resources. It turns out this trip was worth it. Having that extra pair of eyes looking for stuff helped immensely!  More on the research results in a later post, but I will say it cost me nearly $10 in copies for everything we found.

After lunch, eaten in a middle school parking lot under a nice shade tree, we went to the Dawson County Historical Society office in the old courthouse, which is located in the middle of a roundabout in the middle of town. (Insert photo here)  We had no trouble finding it, as we had passed it about three times already. That office was closed, but we took a look around the old structure which was built in the 1840s and had been restored. It now holds DCHS as well as the Public Defender's offices.

Next we found the new courthouse (Insert photo here) just down the hill from the old one, which was built in 2011. After going through metal detectors (Reta got wanded because she beeped) we visited the County Clerk's office to check on tax records, deeds, and land sales. Here we found the deed of a land transfer by the Mannings that was mentioned in one of the histories we had read, as well as a copy of the marriage license of William P. Gregory and Kisiah Manning.

Here is the license and the marriage book from the Dawson County Clerk's Office records.

 


Upstairs housed the Probate office, we wanted to check on any information regarding the will of Margimin (Migimin, Margeman, Margemin - take your choice as to the spelling) Manning, Ella Gregory's grandfather. We hit pay dirt here, because there was still an extensive file on the probating and dispensing of his estate after his death in 1882. We couldn't have some information in the file, because it was permanently sealed by the state. Why that is makes a fascinating story which we followed up on the next day. Seven dollars in copies later, we had lots of validating information, as well as two more leads to chase.

At this point it was late in the day and we still had to find our campsite and get set up for the next couple of nights. Google Maps and CLOSE watching of road signs led us right to Amicalola Falls State Park. The visitor center had closed but we were directed to the lodge at the top of the mountain (15% climbing grade) to check in. We then climbed higher up the mountain to a beautiful campground.

We set up the tent pretty quickly (directions helped) and got the air mattress inflated and bed made before setting up for dinner. We decided against a campfire because it was so late, and after dinner decided to sit out and read until dark. We didn't make it that long, because as the sun faded, it got colder. And colder. We turned in while it was still daylight, and shivered for a couple of hours before finally drifting off. Before you say it, I had checked the weather forecast for northern Georgia and no mention of nearly 50 degree temps in late June, so I decided against the heavy covers. See, accidental adventures.

More in the next post.

On the Trail of the Great-Grandmothers

There must be a gene that compels certain people to want to be on the move. And I'm pretty sure I inherited it. Throughout my fifty-plus years on this planet, I have always wanted to see as much of it as possible. Circumstances prevented much travel when I was growing up, but we did get to St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, Dallas, and we lived in Kansas for a time (yeah, I know...).

But that has never been enough. When I got the chance after college, I moved to New York. Then trips out west and back east, mostly to see my mom at her various nursing assignments. (Did I mention this urge might be inherited?)  And after I started teaching, I discovered that if you could get enough kids to sign up and pay for a trip, you could go to Europe for FREE! Hot dog! I was all over that. Three times.

That brief rambling leads to my point: my great-grandmothers, who never seemed to stay in one place for too long. And for a family researcher, that means I chase leads and head to unexpected locales to track down documents. Not that I mind that, really. It means I get to see new places, and explore some totally new libraries or courthouses.

So this week, I am off on a week-long excursion to Georgia and Alabama, and I'm taking my aunt Reta with me. I have come to a wall in the online material on these two little old ladies, and have made two trips to Oklahoma looking for documents, so now we're headed to where they were born and lived for many years. Having aunt Reta's eyes on some of these old newspapers and things will help me immensely. Besides she's nearly as curious as I am.

We are looking for any information on my great-grandmother, Ella Elizabeth Gregory Gillihan, who was born on January 29, 1875 in Dawsonville, Georgia, and her mother, Kissiah Rhoden Manning Gregory, born in 1845 in Lumpkin County, Georgia. I have made some connections with people online who have provided some information, but I need the proof, so we're headed there to see what we can find.

I mentioned before that these ladies never stayed very long in any place. Both were widowed when they had young children at home. Once on their own, these ladies moved around the country, living for months at a time with each of their children. That's genius, really. Who's gonna say no?

My next post will probably be next week, after I get a chance to process what I (might) find on this trip. If nothing else, I should have some pretty swell photos to post for you.

An Introduction to Backstories

White River at Calico Rock, AR April, 2017

A backstory is the part of a story a writer creates for a fictional character to explain why the character is the way he or she is, and to give context to the actions of that character in the story. It is that character's history, his or her walk in life. Since in any fictional account we only see one brief point in time when the story takes place, a backstory is essential to the plot of a novel.

I like the word backstory because it is a history. I thought it a good word to title my blog, since this blog will be about the histories of people in my family; not one person, but multiple people, each with a story that deserves telling.

For a little personal introduction, I grew up along the White River in the small town of Calico Rock, Izard County, Arkansas. My family on both sides has been in this county for several generations. My family history has been traced by my aunts and grandmother on my father's side to at least the American Revolution.  We know very little about my mom's family, especially her father's parents, so I have made that my quest. I want to know who these people were, what they did, where they traveled and lived. I am hoping that my mom, my aunts, my brothers and cousins will all enjoy learning about our ancestors and discovering the people who made us who we are.

My goal for this blog is to not only share the factual information and documentary evidence I find of these long gone family members, but to try to develop their stories. Why was Great-grandmother such a traveler? Who was that Cherokee ancestor? Those are the types of questions I want to explore, and hopefully write about what I find. In these stories I also hope to share photos and documents that help to pinpoint these folks in time and place.

In this endeavor, it may be difficult to post with any regularity, especially the stories. I want to make certain each story is factual, and will probably go overboard with evidence, but that is the job of a good historian. So bear with me as I start this new venture, You will learn an awful lot about the Gillihans and Gregorys, but maybe you'll find out more about me, too.