Sympathy Saturday

    Sympathy Saturday will be where I share the obituaries and my condolences for members of my family tree who passed recently.  When you get to be a certain age, you begin to read the obituaries every day.  As the days go by, you read about more and more of your friends and family members who have died.  You compare their age to your own and get a jolt. "That could have been me." 

    For genealogists, checking obituaries and visiting cemeteries is as normal as breathing. I learn so much from an obituary, i.e., maiden names, parents' names; children's' and grandchildren's' names, funeral and burial locations, sometimes even a cause of death.  I want to learn these things not for any purpose but to put it on the family tree for future generations to see and learn about the family that went before them. I admit, most of these relatives I have never met, but I think it is important to share that they were here on this Earth, and they were important.

    So I am signed up with at least three funerals homes from Swainsboro, Vidalia, and Wrightsville to get daily notices of obituaries sent to my email.  Every day, I peruse them and with the help of the family tree, figure out who is related to me and add any new information to the tree.    Some weeks there are several, and some weeks there are none. This week there is someone who actually passed away a few weeks ago.

Official Obituary of

Danny Beasley

October 28, 1946 - May 29, 2026

Danny Beasley, 79 of Panama City passed away on May 29, 2026. He was born on October 28, 1946, in Emanuel County, Georgia.

He proudly served his country in the United States Air Force as an aircraft mechanic. Following his military service, he dedicated 35 years to Lockheed Martin, where he retired as a respected launch supervisor.

A passionate musician, he was a founding member of Danny and The Breakaway Band and shared his love of music with countless audiences over a span of more than 60 years, continuing to play as recently as last year.

He was also a proud member of both AM Vets and VFW, reflecting his lifelong commitment to service and community.

He is preceded in death by his wife, Mary Beasley; parents, Hilmer and Mary Beasley.

Those left to cherish his memory are his son, Bryan C. Beasley; grandson, Brendan C. Beasley; nephews, Richie Breedlove and Nathan Foskey. He is also remembered by his sister, Donna and husband Hugh Foskey, along with 100’s of friends.

A Final Farewell will be held Thursday, June 4, 2026, from 2:00 until 3:00 pm. Mr. Beasley will be laid to rest in the Parker Cemetery on Friday, June 5, 2026, at 2:00 pm.

Heritage Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Danny Beasley.

    - https://www.heritagefhllc.com/obituaries/Danny-Beasley?obId=48559337

    When this obituary showed up in my inbox, I had no idea that I was related to him.  However, I always read obituaries carefully because a clue could be in any name mentioned, i.e., parents, grand-parents, siblings, in-laws, etc.  That is what happened here.  Nothing was clicking until I saw his brother-in-law's name. It sounded familiar.  Sure enough, he was in my family tree - related to me through the Drakes. This lead me to do some more digging and checking with my knowledgeable cousin, Loraine, and I discovered that I am also related to him and his sister through my Page line!  Believe me, it is a small world in Emanuel and Johnson counties!  

Please join me in offering condolences to Danny's family and holding them in the light.

Friday's Faces from the Past

 

Isaac B Bush

1777-1836

Edgefield, Edgefield, South Carolina, USA

Wedding Wednesday

 

German Washington 'George' Gardner

10 May 1866 - 18 Jun 1938

on his wedding day with his second wife,

Susie Patrick

07 Aug 1883 - 14 Jan 1970

They were married on April 22, 1910 in Clinton, Hinds, Mississippi, USA

George's first wife and the mother of his 7 children had been dead for only 2 months when he remarried.  

Newspapers.com, Simpson County News, Mendenhall, Mississippi, Thursday, April 21, 1910, Page 5.

Tombstone Tuesday

 

Elizabeth Dora "Lizzie" Morris Campbell

04 Mar 1928 - 23 May 1972

and her husband,

George P. Campbell

14 Jun 1922 - 20 May 1972

West View Cemetery,

Wrightsville, Johnson, Georgia, USA

photo taken by Liz Tapley, 08 Sep 2013

Mappy Monday

 

Johnson County Highway Map, 1932, State Highway Board of Georgia, Held by Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia, Digital Collection: County Maps, Surveyor General, RG 3-9-66

    My family's roots run deep in Johnson County, Georgia.  Since it's Monday, I thought I would try to show a map of  the general areas where three of my ancestral families settled.

    My branch of the Tapley family lived near Fortner Mill Pond which is near Powell's Chapel United Methodist Church. As a matter of fact, that area was named Powell on census records.  This area is between Kite and Bartow (Jefferson County) off Highway 221.  The land had originally belonged to the Solomon Page family but when my great-grandparents married - Jim Tapley and Becky Page, it became Tapley land.  Each one of their married children was given a plot of land so they were all neighbors.  

    My Drake family was from Adrian. Now Adrian straddles the Johnson and Emanuel County lines.  Some Drakes lived in each county, but my line - the children of James William Drake and Mary Ann Brantley - were born and spent their childhoods in Emanuel County.  Unfortunately, I do not know where their land was exactly.  They attended Poplar Springs Church which is in Johnson County.  

    George Schwalls settled outside of Kite near the Tom community.  He and his family attended Minton Chapel church and many are buried there. I do not know the location of their homeplace. Since George is my biggest brick wall, and my friend says he was a spy, I guess way out in the country in Johnson  County is as good a place as any to hide.  

Sunday's Obituary

Randel Gorden Wheeler

July 3, 1956-January 17, 2026

Kite, GA

Kite, GA- Randel Gorden Wheeler, 69, entered into rest January 17, 2026.

Randel was the son of the late Dudley and Sara “Liz” Wheeler and graduated from Butler High School. He enjoyed all types of racing from dirt track, drag racing, and NASCAR. He was an accomplished bowler who had over two 300 games and competed in leagues for many years. He also enjoyed hunting and fishing but most of all he loved his family.

Family members include his children: Tracy Stubblefield and Randy Wheeler (April); grandchildren: Macie Barela (Paul), Shawn Ford, Wyatt Wheeler, Ellie Kate Wheeler, and Gordon Wheeler; brother: Ronnie Wheeler (Wanda); longtime partner and friend: Maye Lowers; and numerous extended family members.

The family will receive friends on Monday, February 2, 2026 from 5:00 until 7:00 P.M. at Thomas Poteet & Son Funeral Directors, 214 Davis Rd., Augusta, GA 30907 (706) 364-8484. Please sign the guestbook at www.thomaspoteet.com.  Obituary courtesy of Thomas Poteet & Son Funeral Directors, www.thomaspoteet.com/obituaries/randel-wheeler

    Nowadays, a LOT of the obituaries I find in my research are online from the funeral homes' sites, especially recent obituaries.  I always check Newspapers.com (a paid site that I have a subscription to) first, but if the obituary is from the last, I don't know, 10 years or so OR it's in a newspaper that is not on Newspapers.com, like the Augusta newspaper, I will not find it.  

    That's when I do a general Google search with the person's name, indicate it's an obituary I am looking for, the year and the state when and where the person died. Most of the time, if nothing else comes up in my results, Legacy.com will.  

    I also have an automatic Google search that goes out and searches for the Tapley and other family names daily and sends me the results.  I am signed up with several funeral homes to receive obituaries every day.  So it is rare that an obituary gets by me.  Oh, it happens, but I catch most of them.  

    I do not recall how I found out about Randy Wheeler passing away.  I did not know Randy, but he was my cousin, and when I found they were having a visitation here in Augusta, I decided to attend.  That's actually a bold move for me.  I don't usually "crash" funerals or visitations, but something told me this was the time.  I enlisted my cousin, Keith, to go with me.  He is always up for meeting people.

    And... it turned out to be a great experience.  We met Randy's son and his wife, his daughter, his grandson, and his brother and sister-in-law.  They were all so gracious and seemed genuinely glad we came.  As soon as we said we were family, we were welcomed.  I am grateful for that reaction and so glad we decided to go.  

    The lesson for me that I have to keep re-learning?  Push myself out of my comfort zone and good things can happen.

Friday's Faces from the Past

 

Laney Alice Minton Tapley

1869-1937