Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Oldest Confirmed Record

 From Randy (my cousin) over at Genea-Musings:

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  What is your oldest confirmed record? What is one of the oldest documents you've personally found for any ancestor?

2)  Share your oldest confirmed record: what it is, where it came from, and what it revealed.

2)  Please share your answers or information as a comment, on social media or in your own blog post!

Here's mine:

By far, the oldest documents I have are deeds I have obtained from the North Carolina Archives.  I have been slowly transcribing them and sharing here on my blog.  

Searching my blog found the oldest being from 1743 between Thomas Avent (1712-1757), the seller and Hosea Tapley (1691-1778), the buyer.  Thomas was my 6th great grandfather; his daughter married Joel Tapley (~1720-~1790) who was the son of Hosea Tapley, 5th and 6th great grandfathers respectively.  

The deed involved 200 acres of land in Northampton County, North Carolina which Hosea purchased for "500 pounds Rock Money." 

North Carolina Archives, Deeds and Mortgages - Northampton County, N.C.,
Book 1, p. 76-77, May 1743

This record revealed to me that the families lived near each other when they were in North Carolina and at that time, they were affluent enough to own that much land.

Thanks to Linda Stufflebean for this topic.        

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 are two.

    Please join me in offering condolences to their families and holding them in the light.

Sheila Tapley Woodle
August 04, 1961 - September 12, 2026

Sheila Tapley Woodle, 65, a longtime resident of Vanndale, departed this life, Saturday, September 12, 2026. She was born on August 4, 1961, in Wynne, the daughter of Richard Henry and Betty Jean Caslaman Tapley.

A 1979 graduate of Cross County High School, Sheila was a homemaker who devoted the last twenty years to caring for her husband. She enjoyed playing cards and dice games, picking pecans, and, above all, spending time with family and friends. Known for her generosity, caring nature, and wonderful sense of humor, she will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her. She was preceded in death by her parents: Richard and Betty Tapley, husband: Fell “Hillbilly” Woodle, and a great grandchild: Riggs Williams. Survivors include four daughters: Kristie Jarrett of Vanndale, Hollie Ray of Pocahontas, Stacey (Jason) Wiley of Searcy, Mitzi (Floyd) Godair of North Little Rock, one brother: Ronald (Joy) Tapley of Searcy, one sister: Becky (Jeff) Gahr of Wynne, seven grandchildren: Lauren Clevenger, Colton Jarrett, Hailey Williams, Addi Jarrett, Kawner Kercheval, Kameron Kercheval, Ryker Marshall, three great grandchildren: Aubree and Judson Williams, Winsley Jarrett, her dog: Dave, and a host of other relatives and numerous friends. Funeral services will be held, Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. at the Vanndale Baptist Church, friends may visit prior to the service from 10:00 until service time. Burial will follow in Vanndale Cemetery. If you would like to assist the family with funeral expenses, please visit Sheila’s obituary page on our website and click on the donation button at the top of the page and follow the instructions. Cross County Funeral Service & Crematory is privileged to handle the services for the Woodle family. 870-587-0565, www.crosscountycremationsandfuneralservice.com

Patricia Ann 'Pat' McDonald Fuqua

February 08, 1954 - September 16, 2026

Graveside funeral services for Patricia Ann Fuqua, age 72 will be held at 3:00 P.M. Friday, September 18, 2026, at Dublin Memorial Gardens. Rev. Milton Thomas will officiate.

Mrs. Fuqua was born February 8, 1954, in Wrightsville, Georgia. She was the daughter of the late Harold Lee McDonald, Sr. and Mary Ann Chalker McDonald. She was a retired nurse at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center. She was a member of Olivet Baptist Church. Mrs. Fuqua passed away Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at her residence surrounded by family.

Mrs. Fuqua is survived by her husband, Mike Fuqua; a son Bryan Monore; 3 daughters, Valerie Brantley (Charles), Michelle Williamson (Jerome), and Amy Self; a brother, Rickey McDonald (Yvonne); 3 sisters, Sandra Sweeten, Susan Kelly, and Elizabeth “Lisa” Goff; 18 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers will be Charles Brantley, Jacob Newsome, Damien Newsome, Jerome Williamson, Timothy Coleman, Michael Stanfield, and Reuben Self.

The family will receive friends from 1:00 P.M. until 2:30 P.M. on Friday, September 18, 2026, at the funeral home.

Stanley Funeral Homes and Crematory/Dublin Chapel has charge of funeral arrangements.

Friday Funny

 

Thursday's Time Capsule

 

William John Drake, my great grandfather, was born on September 23, 1857 in Emanuel County, Georgia. It was the first day of autumn that year. 

If we could step back into a time machine to September 23, 1857, what would we see, hear, and read about? There were striking contrasts of the time: a nation gripped by sudden financial panic, gripped by global news, and yet moving to the rhythm of the autumn harvest. In the South, September marked the beginning of the grueling cotton-picking season. Families, farmworkers, and enslaved laborers alike were working from sunrise to sunset in the fields.  

The Big Headlines: Panic and Progress

The fall of 1857 was a turbulent moment in American history.  If you picked up a newspaper in late September, the front pages were dominated by high-stakes drama:

• The Financial Freefall:  
• In late August, the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company collapsed, triggering the Panic of 1857.  By this time in September, newspapers were filled with frantic reports of failing banks, halted railroads, and spiking unemployment in northern cities.  Down south, plantation owners and merchants were watching in horror as the global and domestic market for cotton began to seize up due to frozen credit, signaling that the economic storm would hit the agricultural south hard.  

• On September 12, 1857, - just a week and half before my great grandfather was born - the sidewheel steamer SS Central America sank in a horrific hurricane off the coast of North Carolina, taking 425 lives and tons of California gold to the ocean floor.  Newspapers were filled with urgent reports of failing banks and halted railroads because these businesses  were relying on that shipment for liquidity.  

• Eyes on the World: 
• Americans were also obsessed with overseas news.  Newspapers all over the country were dedicating massive column inches to the Indian Rebellion (often called the Sepoy Mutiny) against British rule.  Southern slaveholders viewed the uprising through a very specific, nervous domestic lens, often drawing deep and anxious parallels to their own fears regarding racial hierarchies and slave rebellions. 

• A Quiet Spark: 
• Amidst the economic anxiety, a modest event happened on September 23 itself. A businessman-turned-missionary named Jeremiah Lanphier held a midday prayer meeting at the North Dutch Reformed Church in Lower Manhattan. Only six people showed up, but this small gathering unexpectedly sparked the nationwide Third Great Awakening (also known as the 1857 Prayer Revival). As economic panic hit the United States, these daily prayer meetings exploded in popularity, eventually drawing tens of thousands of participants across major American cities.  

The Rhythm of Daily Life

While the country buzzed about the financial panic, everyday life for most Americans moved along at a pace dictated by the season.  

• The Harvest Season: September meant the peak of autumn labor. In the rural South, fields bustled from sunrise to sunset as workers gathered the annual cotton crop. In kitchens everywhere, families were locked in a race against time—canning, pickling, and drying late-summer produce to prep for the winter months ahead.  
  

• The Pace of News and Communication: While the telegraph connected major cities, information still traveled slowly to rural towns via weekly newspapers, stagecoaches, and word-of-mouth at the general store. Evening reading by the glow of whale oil or early kerosene lamps often featured serialized novels, wildly popular at the time, by authors like Charles Dickens or advertisements for colorful "patent medicines."

• Fashion and Home: Outfits were entirely handmade or stitched using relatively new hand-cranked sewing machines. Women wore floor-length gowns with expanding crinoline skirts, while men wore waistcoats, wool trousers, and brimmed hats outdoors.

• Community and School: As the heavy farm work began to ease, children in rural areas prepared to head back to the single-room schoolhouse for the autumn term. Students of all ages learned reading, writing, and arithmetic in a single room from a single teacher teacher using slates and chalk. Social life centered tightly around the church, family music nights with the fiddle or pump organ, and seasonal community gatherings. My great-grandfather was a preacher so I am sure their social life WAS the church.

The History We Never Learned

Writing this time capsule has been a fascinating reminder of how much history hides just beneath the surface. Growing up, we all learned the grim textbook lessons about the stock market crash of 1929 and the deep economic despair of the Great Depression. Yet, looking back at the autumn of 1857 reveals a remarkably similar story of sudden financial panic, global anxiety, and everyday resilience—one that rarely makes it into standard history classes.

Standing on the other side of time, it’s humbling to think that the world my great-grandfather was born into was navigating its own massive economic storms and sweeping cultural shifts, all while families simply tried to put food on the table, harvest their fields, and look out for one another. History isn't just a list of dates in a textbook; it's the rich, complicated, and surprisingly familiar backdrop of the people who came before us.

Happy Birthday, Great-Grandfather! Here’s to remembering the world you stepped into.

Google Gemini assisted in writing this blog post.  I  proofread the information provided and put it more into my own words.

Wordless Wednesday

 This is a "wordless" post not because it is only a photo or image with no words, but because I have no words for this article I found in a 1923 newspaper.  

Newspapers.com, Waukegan News-Sun (formerly Waukegan Daily Sun and the Waukegan Daily Gazette),
Waukegan, Illinois, Friday, July 20, 1923, Page 6

Tuesday's Tombstone

 

Lizzie Lee Schwalls Powell
born 22 Feb 1894 in Kite, Johnson County, Georgia, USA
died 30 Sep 1991 in Sandersville, Washington County, Georgia, USA

with her husband,

Norris Watson Powell
born 26 Mar 1891 in Johnson County, Georgia, USA
died 04 Feb 1971 in Sandersville, Washington County, Georgia, USA

buried in the
Powell's Chapel United Methodist Church cemetery
Johnson County, Georgia, USA

Military Monday

 

Warren M. Bowen
1898-1955

Cpl, Co I, 18th Infantry, 1 Division
World War I

Silver Star and Purple Heart + Oak Leaf Cluster