My Tapley Tree...and its Branches: Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Where Were They 100 Years Ago?

From Randy over at Genea-Musings:

Dear genealogists everywhere, it's Saturday Night! Time for some Genealogy FUN.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1) Determine where your ancestral families were on 1 January 1913 - 100 years ago.

2) List them, their family members, their birth years, and their residence location (as close as possible). Do you have a photograph of their residence from about that time, and does the residence still exist?

3) Tell us all about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status or Google+ Stream post.

Here's mine:

Tapley:

* My grandparents Lusion Keman Tapley (born 31 Mar 1870) and Nealie Vermell Drake Tapley (born 29 Jan 1895) were not yet married in 1913. Lusion was a widower with four children. His oldest child, daughter, Annie Jane, was living with and being raised by his mother. His three sons, James Tillman, Charles Morgan, and Champ Lusion were only 8, 5, and 3, respectively. My grandfather was a farmer in Johnson County, Georgia. He was mostly likely still living near his mother and siblings on the 58 1/2 acres in the 1326 District G.M. of Johnson County that he purchased from his father for $500 in 1906.

* My grandfather, Charles Morgan Tapley (born 1907) as mentioned above was only 5 years old at this time and was living with his father and brothers in Johnson County, Georgia. I can only theorize that he stayed with his grandmother, Becky, while his father worked the fields.

* My great-grandmother, Elizabeth Rebecca (Becky) Page Tapley (born 08 Sep 1844) had just been widowed two months earlier. She kept busy running her own farm, raising her granddaughter, Mary Jane, and having her spinster daughter, Vianna Bell Tapley, age 27, still living at home. Most of Becky's children, lived right around her, including my grandfather, Lusion.

Drake:

* My grandmother, Nealie, would have been 17 years old. She was living with her parents and siblings in the 395 District G.M. of Emanuel County, near Adrian, Georgia.

* My great-grandparents, William John Drake (born 23 Sep 1857) and Emma Vermell Harrell Drake (born 04 Sep 1867) were living in Emanuel County, near Adrian, as mentioned earlier. In the past year, they had lost two children to typhoid fever. They had probably six children still at home, ranging in age from 17 (my grandmother) down to age 4. William John was a preacher.

Ranney:

* My great-grandparents, Luther Boardman Ranney (born 11 Mar 1870) and Bessie Alice Carter Ranney (born 09 Feb 1883) were living near Elsie, Clinton County, Michigan. He was a farmer. They had two children, Kenneth (age 3) and Alice (age 18 months). Bessie was expecting, and their third child, Ethel (my grandmother), wouldn't be born for another six months.

My 2nd great-grandparents, Comfort Ranney (born 07 Feb 1838) and Mary Margaret Hesser Ranney (born 17 July 1842) were also living in Clinton County, Michigan. As of three years earlier, on the 1910 Census, Comfort still listed his occupation as farmer.

Carter:

My 2nd great-grandparents, Charles K. Carter (born 12 Oct 1843) and Sarah (Sally) Melissa Schoonover Carter (born 13 Jul 1840) were living with their daughter, Bessie, in Clinton County, Michigan, having left Iowa some years earlier to be near their only child. I can imagine them spending their retired days enjoying time with their grandchildren. More than likely, he was still working: helping his son-in-law on the farm while she was busy helping her daughter feed the farmhands, keep house, and watch the children.

Unfortunately I do not have photographs of any of the homes where my ancestors lived. I have stood and had my picture taken where my great-grandparents Tapley's home used to stand. That is as close as I've come. I do not know if any of the homes in Michigan still stand.