Elizabeth Ann Lankford, one of many Lankford’s buried at Bairdstown Cemetery

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “large family.” For this theme, to kill two birds with one stone I chose to write about Elizabeth Ann Lankford. I’m sure if I looked, I could have found someone with a larger family than hers but I’ve been lax about my goal to document the souls buried at Bairdstown Cemetery in Bairdstown, Oglethorpe County, Georgia and this post will cover both.

Elizabeth Ann Lankford, daughter of Charles L. Lankford and Miss Moore, was born January 1822 in Bairdstown, Oglethorpe County, Georgia. She was the third child of five—William A. Lankford, James Meriweather Lankford, Elizabeth Ann Lankford, Curtis Caldwell Lankford, and Robert Chester Lankford. Elizabeth was the only sister of my 3rd great-grandfather, James M. Lankford, which makes her my 3rd great grand aunt.

Other than census records with the rest of her family, I find no other records for Elizabeth until she married William H. Bryant Sr. on December 13, 1841. She was 19 years old and he was 20. I find the records for the location of their marriage confusing though. The database “Georgia, Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1828-1978” has two different records for the location of their marriage. One from Greene County that doesn’t actually show they were married there. The section of the form where the justice of the peace is supposed to write the date they “were joined together in the Holy Bands of Matrimony, by me” was left blank.

Greene County, Georgia marriage record

The other is from Oglethorpe County:

Oglethorpe County, Georgia marriage record

Three other databases show the marriage location as Oglethorpe County:

• Georgia, Compiled Marriages, 1754-1850
• Georgia Marriages to 1850
• Georgia Marriages, 1699-1944

Did they go to Greene County to get the application and then get married in Oglethorpe County? Hard to say 177 years later.

Elizabeth and William had 10 children together—Sarah T. Bryant, Samuel R. (or John) Bryant, Rebecca M. Bryant, William H. Bryant Jr., Alexander Hamilton Bryant, Charles Bryant, Martha Bryant, Eugene Herbert Bryant, Jasper M. Bryant, and Mary Bryant. For a while, I thought there were 11 children because if you go through census records you find 11 named children. But based on the fact that the 1900 census record recorded Elizabeth as having had 10 children with 9 living at the time, I’m now going with 10. I mean, she would have known how many children she’d given birth to, right? One could also argue that the census enumerator recorded the children with different names on several occasions so perhaps that was what happened here. I’m thinking Samuel and John are possibly the same child. I have found no record to prove otherwise. If someone does, I’d love to hear from them.

On August 3, 1850, Elizabeth, William, and their four children—Sarah, Samuel, Rebecca, and William—lived in the 66th Division of Oglethorpe County. The census enumerator marked the column noting that William was unable to read or write. Their home was a large farm made up of 289 acres of improved land with an additional 100 acres of unimproved land. The value of their farming equipment and machines was $2,500. Livestock consisted of 100 horses, 3 mules, 4 working oxen, 2 cows, 11 sheep, and 8 pigs, all valued at $60. Can you imagine what all that livestock would be worth today! The farm produced 400 bushels of wheat, 50 bushels of rye, 500 bushels of oats, 130 bushels of rice, 11 bales of cotton, 52 bushels of peas and beans, 100 bushels of sweet potatoes, 150 pounds of butter, and 5 tons of hay. They stayed busy. But as an overseer, I’m not sure how William was able to keep records for his large farm if he was unable to read and write.

On June 29, 1860, Elizabeth and her growing family of nine children lived in District 238 of Oglethorpe County. The enumerator spelled their last name “Briant.” He also listed a two-month-old unnamed male child in the home. Elizabeth had recently given birth to a son they named Jasper so that has to be him. William was a farmer with a personal estate valued at $300.

On June 1, 1870, Elizabeth and her family lived in Maxeys, Oglethorpe County. She was enumerated as Eliza and was keeping house. William was a farmer with land valued at $2,000 and a personal estate valued at $1,000. Their son Eugene was enumerated as Henry, Jasper enumerated as James, and Alexander as Adam. At ages 12 and 10 respectively, Eugene and Jasper were unable to read and write. Three adult children still lived at home—Sarah (age 27), Rebecca (age 23), and William Jr. (age 21). William Jr., enumerated as a farm laborer, must have been helping on the farm. William Colclough, a 19-year-old male, lived in the home and was also a farm laborer. Three William’s living in the home at the same time. That must have gotten confusing at times!

On June 29, 1880, Elizabeth and her family lived in Woodstock, Oglethorpe County. William was a farmer, managing 25 acres of land and livestock. He rented out part of the land to tenants who gave him a share of their crops for using the land. There were seven adults living in the home—Elizabeth, William, Sarah (37), Rebecca (27), Mattie (24), Herbert (22), Jasper (20), and teenager Mary (17). Herbert and Jasper were farm laborers so can we assume they helped their father on the farm? A servant named Rhoda Drake, age 16, lived in the home as well. Their son Alexander (Alex), his wife Lizzie (Epps), and two daughters (Kate and a three-month old infant) lived three houses away. In the early 1880s, Elizabeth’s son William Jr. left Georgia and headed west to Texas. In 1886, he met and married Annie Laura Jones after a short courtship. They had two children, a son named Charles Leonard Bryant in 1890, and a daughter named Mary Lee Bryant in 1892. When Mary was two months old, Laura contracted pneumonia and passed away. William Jr., unable to care for a newborn, left Mary with Laura’s mother, Fannie Catherine Findley Jones, and went home to the Bryant family farm in Maxeys with his son Charles. Years later, Charles would write that “They never lived together as a family again.” William Jr. didn’t stay home long though. He left the family farm again, this time leaving his son Charles in the care of his sister Rebecca, who apparently was still living at home. I’m assuming that this was after Elizabeth had passed away since it was Rebecca who cared for Charles.

An 1894 map of Oglethorpe County shows the Bryant farm in the Falling Creek district, near Bairdstown, just over the Greene County line.

On June 5, 1900, Elizabeth, William, and three adult children—Sarah, Rebecca, and Jasper—lived in the Falling Creek District of Maxeys, probably the one shown on the 1894 map. Elizabeth and William had been married for 58 years. This is the census record that shows Elizabeth as the mother of 10 children with 9 living and the only record I have found that shows the month she was born. At age 79, William was still farming with their son Jasper helping. Sarah and Rebecca were both dressmakers. Elizabeth’s son Eugene and his family lived three houses away.

Elizabeth died in Maxeys on November 29, 1905. She was buried in what would become the family plot at Bairdstown Cemetery. The Oglethorpe Echo reported her death on December 8, 1905:

The grim monster, death, invaded the home of Mrs. William Bryant, near here (Maxeys) Wednesday of last week and claimed her as his own. She was laid to rest in the Bairdstown cemetery Thursday following after appropriate services by Rev J. D. Mell.

You have to walk the full length of Bairdstown Cemetery to get to the Bryant family plot, located at the far-right edge by the woods. Some of Elizabeth’s large family of 12 are buried in the family plot with her and William, together forever.

Bryant family plot

Bairdstown Cemetery is a small, well-kept country cemetery. I’ve walked it many times, usually with my Daddy, and I always make a point of stopping by each of my 3rd great-grandfather’s sibling’s family plots. I’ve researched them enough that I feel like I know them now. Daddy and I have talked about all the Lankford family connections there and I’ve made it a goal to figure them out. Elizabeth Lankford Bryant is one of those connections.

I would love to walk Bairdstown Cemetery with Daddy one more time and tell him the stories I’ve learned about the souls buried there. But Daddy will be 93 later this month and is no longer able to walk the cemeteries with me. So instead, I’ll tell anyone who wants to listen here on my blog. Click here to view other connections to Bairdstown Cemetery.

References

• Certificate of Death, Georgia Department of Public Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, W. H. Bryant, no. 33 20959, Georgia Marriages, 1699-1944.
• Georgia Marriages to 1850.
• Georgia, Deaths Index, 1914-1940.
• Georgia, Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1828–1978
• Map of Oglethorpe County, Georgia, published by Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co. Engravers, 1894; http://vault.georgiaarchives.org/cdm/ref/collection/cmf/id/217.
• Moorman, Pamela Taylor, Bryant Family Connections, June 2007.
• U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedule, Division 66, Oglethorpe, Georgia, August 20, 1850.
• U.S. Federal Census, District 230, Oglethorpe, Georgia, 1880.
• U.S. Federal Census, Division 66, Oglethorpe County, Georgia, 1850.
• U.S. Federal Census, Falling Creek, Oglethorpe, Georgia, 1900.
• U.S. Federal Census, Georgia Militia District 238, Oglethorpe, Georgia, 1860.
• U.S. Federal Census, Maxeys, Oglethorpe, Georgia, 1870.

Happy memories of a beloved uncle

Clark Eugene Lankford

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “bachelor uncle.”

My uncle, Clark Eugene Lankford, was a kind, sweet man. He was always good to me, my sisters Bonita, Jennifer, and Vanessa, and my brother Michael. Bonita remembers that Clark was never sad or mad. He was always smiling and cutting up. Clark came to live with us at our house on Macon Drive in southeast Atlanta, Georgia after he left the U.S. Army. According to his obituary, that would have been 1961. He had spent time in Korea and brought a scrapbook and a decorative pillow home with him. Bonita remembers the scrapbook had photos of Korean women which she believes were thrown away years later immediately after he got married. Ha, my father-in-law had to do the same thing! I remember playing with the pillow in his bedroom. Both the scrapbook and pillow were very decorative.

During the years that Clark lived with us, he gave Mama $10 a week to wash his clothes and make his bed. Mama used that money to buy herself a car. At some point, the car was parked in our driveway or on the street and was totaled after being hit by another car. After the accident, Clark let Mama use his red convertible to run errands during the week. At the end of the week, Mama would wash the car before she gave it back to Clark. He and Daddy were plumbers and worked together for Thompson Brothers Plumbing in Atlanta or Decatur. Clark must have ridden to work with Daddy for him to be able to let Mama use his car. Most days, Mama packed lunches for both Daddy and Clark.

Growing up, we didn’t have the traditional family environment. Mama bent over backwards to make sure we had fun and stayed busy. Daddy on the other hand was a self-described loner. He worked all day and after work he’d spend his evenings working in the yard. We always had beautiful flowers and a big vegetable garden. But when it came to family activities, most times he didn’t participate. So, Clark stepped in and filled the void.

Uncle Ralph Epps, my Daddy Sam Lankford, brother
Michael, Clark, and my grandpa Carroll Lankford. This picture
was taken at  Bairdstown Cemetery, probably the day
my grandma was buried in 1970.

On several occasions, Mama and Clark took us to Shakey’s Pizza Parlor for pizza and beer. Well, Mama and Clark had a beer in an ice-cold frozen mug. The kids got a Coke. We’d stand on the benches underneath the windows to watch the staff make the pizzas. Then we’d all sit down and eat pizza while we listened to the piano and banjo players play Dixieland jazz. We had a ball!

Jennifer remembers that Clark would take any of us who wanted to go to Greene County when he went to visit our grandparents and aunt. He always stopped at McDonalds and we’d sing and play games on the ride there.

During the summer months, Mama went to the farmer’s market and brought back bushel bags of peas for canning. We’d all sit on the back-porch shelling peas until our fingers turned purple. Clark was right there helping us.

On Christmas morning, we couldn’t check out what Santa left us until we woke Clark up. At Easter, he helped us hunt eggs.

Michael, Clark, Vanessa, and Bonita

Bonita remembers Clark emptying the change out of his pockets every night when he got home from work. He’d save the change and every few months, we would sit around the dining table and help him roll it up. She believes he used that money as a down payment on his first house.

Daddy would sometimes take us to the Miss Georgia ice cream parlor on Lakewood Avenue on Sunday afternoons. Clark would go with us.

Every Saturday night Clark went to a dance club in DeKalb County called The Sports Arena. Bonita remembers that it wasn’t a bar, although it may have had beer. Jennifer said they sometimes had wrestling and he loved it. He wanted to take Bonita, but Daddy wouldn’t let him. Clark had a girlfriend for many years. None of us remember her name but she had children our age. Sometimes on Saturdays, he’d take us to her house to play with her kids. We’d go to the park and have picnics with them. Clark would sometimes take her to The Sports Arena on Saturday nights.

Clark eventually moved out into a small house a couple of miles from ours, behind the Southeastern Fair Grounds in Atlanta. On weekends, he’d come pick us up and take us to his house. We’d help him clean his house, cut grass, and wash his car. His house was always immaculate. I remember music playing and still today if I hear the songs “Corinna, Corinna” by Ray Peterson from 1960 or “Return to Sender” by Elvis Presley from 1962, I think of Clark.

In 1970, at the age of 37, Clark married my aunt Alice and they moved to Alpharetta, north of Atlanta. They had twin daughters whom he loved dearly. The night they were born, Mama and Jennifer went to the hospital and sat up all night with Clark. Jennifer remembers that he was a nervous wreck yet so excited. The twins weren’t born that night and at daylight, Mama and Jennifer had to leave so Mama could go to work. By the time they arrived home, Clark had already called Daddy and told him they were born right after Mama and Jennifer left. The girls were the light of his life.

My brother Michael, Clark, and cousin Tim
standing in front of my grandparents grave
at Bairdstown Cemetery. They died less than
three months apart.

When Jennifer graduated in 1972, Daddy wouldn’t go, and she remembers that she cried like a baby. Clark felt bad for Jennifer, so he and Alice attended her graduation. She always remembered him for that.

Clark and Alice eventually moved next door to Daddy in Riverdale, 10 miles south of Atlanta. Daddy and Clark were best friends and they looked out for each other. Those years were comforting for me because Daddy was getting older and lived alone. Alice died in 2004 and Clark in 2009. Both are buried at Bairdstown Cemetery in Bairdstown, Oglethorpe County, Georgia near my grandparents, Carroll and Floria Lankford. Appropriately, when Daddy is called home, he’ll be buried beside Clark at Bairdstown.

We all have great memories of my uncle Clark. For a few years, he was our “bachelor” uncle who loved us, and we loved him. He was like a second father to us.

My thanks to Mama, Bonita, and Jennifer who shared their memories of Clark with me for this post. My sisters remember a lot more than I do!

My son Kevin, Clark, my son Chris, and my Daddy (1995)

Holland ancestor at Appomattox Courthouse in 1865

Leroy Thomas Holland

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “at the Courthouse.”

When I first started researching my Holland line, my mother gave me a sheet of paper with her handwritten notes about several key ancestors in that line. One of the ancestors in her notes was my 2nd great grandfather, Leroy Thomas Holland. This is what she wrote:

Leeroy Thomas Holland, volunteered and served 4 years in Confederate Army of Virginia 1860 to 1864 and was in nearly all of the battles fought in that part of the confederacy. He was registered in the Army under “Company L” Second South Carolina Rifles, Jenkins Brigade. He was with General Lee when he surrendered at Appomattox Court House Virginia April 9, 1865.

I’ve already blogged Leroy’s life story in two separate posts: 52 Ancestors - #8: Leroy Thomas Holland and Leroy Thomas Holland Death Notice. If you read those posts, you’ll see that the dates Leroy served during the Civil War are wrong in her notes—he actually served from 1862 to 1865. He also spent a lot of time in the hospital so probably missed some of the battles. But he did in fact serve in the Jenkins Brigade and was at Appomattox Court House, Virginia when General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865. On April 10, Leroy was issued a parole pass. According to the National Park Service on its web page The Appomattox Campaign, “A parole pass was an important piece of paper. Any confederate soldier who had this pass could use it as proof that they were not a deserter. The pass was also used by paroled soldiers to obtain food and transportation.”

Parole pass (click to enlarge)

Leroy’s parole pass reads:

PAROLED PRISONER’S PASS.
Appomattox Court House, Va.,
April 10th, 1865.
The BEARER, Private L. T. Holland, of Co. L 2nd Regt. of S.C. Rifles, a Paroled Prisoner of the Army of Northern Virginia, has permission to go to his home, and there remain undisturbed.
It was signed by Col. Robert E. Bowen of the 2nd South Carolina Rifles.

Leroy appears on parole list H of an “alphabetical listing of soldiers that were paroled at Appomattox Court House.”

In looking through a box of genealogy related papers last weekend, I came across this pass and knew it had to be my post for the “at the Courthouse” theme since I hadn’t included it in my previous posts about Leroy. The pass would have been important to Leroy and clearly places him at the court house that day.

Reference

• National Park Service, Appomattox Court House, National Historical Park Virginia, The Appomattox Campaign; https://www.nps.gov/apco/appomattox-campaign.htm; Paroling the Army of Northern Virginia, https://www.nps.gov/apco/learn/historyculture/paroling-the-army-of-northern-virginia.htm. 

Henry Clayborn Jones Sr. Family Reunion Photo

I’ve blogged about this reunion photo before but with “family photo” being the 52 Ancestors theme this week, I thought it made sense to post it again since there are still people that need to be identified. This photo was taken circa 1908 at the Henry Clayborn Jones Sr. family reunion held in Between, Walton County, Georgia. Henry Jones Sr. (1) and his wife Sarah Elizabeth Tuck Jones (2) are my 2nd great grandparents.

click to enlarge

Henry and Sarah’s daughter Elizabeth Jones (4) is my great grandmother; Elizabeth’s husband, Thomas Terrell Burnette (3), is my great grandfather; and Elizabeth and Thomas’ daughter Floria Mae Burnette (17) is my grandma. The rest of their children are Henry T. Burnette (5), twins Claudia Burnette (14) and Maudie Burnette (15) (or vice versa), Prince Albert Burnette (16), Eva Drucilla Burnette (18), Luther Terrell Burnette (19), and Willie Lloyd Burnette (20). Claudia and Maudie could be reversed since I’m not sure which little girl is which. Elizabeth had three more children after this photo was taken—Eleanor Estelle Burnette, Samuel A. Burnette, and Julia Virginia Burnette. She had another set of twins born January 1899. One twin died before 1900 but the other twin, a boy named Jesse, survived until at least June 26, 1900 when the federal census was taken. My grandma Floria would have been about 11 years old when this photo was taken.

I don’t know what month in 1908 the reunion photo was taken but I’m inclined to believe it was November. If you look at the photo, all of the men are wearing jackets and the women and children are wearing long sleeves. Henry Jones was born on November 19. My Lankford family used to have a family reunion every September, the month my grandpa, Carroll Harvey Lankford, was born. Had the Jones family gathered to celebrate their patriarch’s birthday and brought in a photographer to document the event?

Of the 70 Jones family members in the photo, I’ve identified (or believe I have) 38 people. I could use some help with identifying the others! I know there are people out there that have this photo. In 2006, descendants of Henry and Sarah Jones gathered to dedicate the newly restored Jones Family Cemetery. After the dedication ceremony, everyone went to a nearby church for a Jones family reunion. This group photo was passed around at the event. Individual family photos were taken that day in 1908, at least my Burnette family posed for a photo so I’m assuming other families did as well.

Thomas Terrell Burnette family, ca. 1908

If other descendants have an individual family photo taken that day, it would help with identification. If you’re reading this and can help identify someone in the photo, I’d love to hear from you.

Sending love via a Valentine V-mail

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “love.”

Last spring, my brother-in-law Randy shared two boxes of correspondence his father Johnnie Marston wrote to his mother Lucile Stacks Marston—340 letters and postcards that began July 1939 and ended October 1945. Johnnie and Lucile were dating when the letters began. He lived in Atlanta, Georgia; she in College Park, Georgia. By today’s standards, that’s a short trip in a car or the transit system. But in the early 1940s when you don’t have a car, nor apparently a telephone, you communicate by writing to each other.

Johnnie Marston and Lucile Stacks Marston

In November 1942, Johnnie joined the U.S. Army to serve during World War II. By December 1942, he shipped to Texas for training at Camp Howze. Johnnie would spend time in Louisiana and New Jersey before being shipped overseas in January 1944, where he served until the war ended.

From the time Johnnie left for Texas until he returned home, he and Lucile spent two Valentine Day’s apart. I’ve transcribed all of the letters and postcards Johnnie wrote to Lucile so have read every one of them. There’s no doubt that he loved Lucile and he didn’t forget her on Valentine’s Day.

Lucile traveled to Texas in February 1943 to visit Johnnie at training camp, so they were together that Valentine’s Day. By the time Valentine’s Day 1944 rolled around, Johnnie was in Italy. He sat down at Noon that day and wrote a letter to Lucile. In the letter, he reminded her that they were together in Texas the last Valentine’s Day. The rest of the letter was mostly general conversation but I’m sure Lucile had a smile on her face after she read these four sentences:

Say, you said in one of your letters that we might have a sister-in-law soon. Tell Mickey I said to go right to it, Ha Ha. One thing, if he does get her, I don’t care if she’s an angel, none of them will compare to you, Lou. I mean that more than I have ever meant anything in my life.

Later that day, Johnnie sent Lucile a V-mail letter in which he hoped she “had a grand Valentine Day.” For those of you that have never heard of V-mail, short for Victory Mail, it was a process used by the United States military during World War II to ship huge quantities of mail to and from soldiers overseas. Letters were written on standard sized paper, photographed, and then transferred to microfilm for shipping. Once the microfilm made it to its destination, the letters were printed and cut to a 4 ¼ x 5 ¼ inch piece of paper. This freed up space and weight for other cargo needed for the war. Johnnie sent Lucile quite a few V-mail letters during his time in the Army. Johnnie’s Valentine to Lucile in 1945 was another V-mail, sent from Italy on February 7, 1945.

But Valentine’s Day wasn’t the only time Johnnie expressed his love to Lucile—he told her he loved her in every letter he wrote to her. Continue reading for some of the memorable love quotes from Johnnie to Lucile.

December 24, 1942
Darling, I know the 27th of this month is our anniversary and I hate to be apart from you. But that is something we cannot do anything about, as you know. Being as I haven’t got any money, I cannot get you anything to show I really care for what time we have spent so many happy days together. But you know there is no one else that will take your place with me, you know I would give anything in this world to be with you at that certain date, and as soon as I get my basic training, which won’t be long, I will be home for a while. I am sure I will.

January 5, 1943
Can’t you write a letter a little bit longer or are you worried about me so bad that you can’t think of what to write? Darling, don’t worry about me because I will take care of myself. Let me do the worrying for both of us.

January 9, 1943
Uncle Sam may have me, but you got my heart. I love you: check that.

February 21, 1943
Honey, the radio is playing now, and the song is “I don’t want to set the world on fire.” That’s me. I just want to keep that flame you got in your heart for me always there. What about it, will it stay there? I hope so.

October 17, 1943
As for me the doctor said there wasn’t anything wrong with me except just love sickness and he wasn’t wrong about that either.

July 26, 1944
Darling, this picture of you I just received, you look so tired and worried and your face looks so thin. Gee Honey, please watch your health and take care of yourself. I wouldn’t know what to do if anything happened to you. You have just got to believe me Lou. God knows how much I love you, and how many times I have told you that. So, Honey please take care of yourself for me. Will you?

October 4, 1944
Gee Honey, all I look forward to now is getting back to you and taking care of you and I pray to God every nite to help me get back to you. You and you alone is what I want to see again. You are all I have and only God knows what would happen to me if anything shall harm you or take you from me.

July 27, 1945
You talk about getting the blues, you shall know how I feel. Robert and Cecil are home and me thinking what a time they are having. Get what I mean? It hasn’t been long since they were home before they come home this time. But me, it has been twenty months or more, going on two years and I been lucky to come through what I have. Sometime, or rather a lot of times, while the war was going on over here, I just give up all hope and would get to thinking that I didn’t care what happened to me. But I would get to thinking about you and knowing that you were waiting for my return. I would do my darn’est to get through whatever mess I was in. It was tough Lou. But you can say and be telling the truth that it was you who pulled me through this war with Germany. Whatever I did, it was for you. Well that’s that and Honey, war is no glory either.

August 10, 1945
If you are sick, I am sick. If you are well and happy, I am well and happy. To die for you Honey would be a pleasure.

What woman wouldn’t love to hear her husband say those words to her?


References

• Personal collection of letters written by Johnnie Marston to Lucile Stacks Marston dating 1939 to 1945.
• V-mail; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-mail.
• Arbuckle, Alex Q., c. 1942-1945 V-Mail, Handwritten letters, smaller than a postage stamp; Mashable; https://mashable.com/2017/03/19/v-mail/#4f2Jr2P04OqI.

Atomic bomb test number 6

Earl Murphy's Navy ID card photo

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “surprise.” At first, I had nothing, but then on January 26, my husband decided to go through one last box of papers that belonged to his father, Earl Murphy, and he found a couple of surprises.

The first surprise was a copy of Earl’s Navy identification card. We have many photos of Earl as a young man but had never seen this card, so it was a new photo. That’s always exciting. My son had a lot of fun with it too. When I sent him a copy of the photo, I didn’t show the right side of the card with the Navy information, only the photo itself. Of course, the photo has the height markings in the background, so my son’s first comment was “Lol looks like a prison photo. He ever get sent to the brigg?” Luckily, we know that’s not the case, at least as far as this photo is concerned.

The second surprise included several newspaper clippings related to explosions on two ships and Eniwetok atomic bomb testing. None of this was familiar to my husband or I, but one thing caught our attention—one of the articles report that after the explosion, the USS Comstock helped rescue survivors. We knew the Comstock. According to Earl’s Naval Service Record, he served on the Comstock from November 5, 1947 to April 12, 1948 and often spoke about it. So, what was the significance of these articles?

The day after finding the clippings, Jeanne Bryan Insalaco wrote about her father and the 1946 atomic bomb tests he observed in Hawaii on her Everyone Has a Story blog for her Week 4 (I’d Like to Meet) 52 Ancestors entry. That caught my attention since I’d just read the Eniwetok news clippings and knew Earl was in Hawaii during that timeframe. I mentioned it to Jeanne on Facebook and she posted several links to stories related to the atomic bomb tests. All very interesting and news to us. We began to wonder if Earl too had observed the atomic bomb tests. It was time to read the news clippings again.

One clipping tells about the Comstock rescuing the crew from the net tender Elder. It reads [newspaper and date unknown]:

RESCUE SHIP NEARS SURVIVORS. The LSD Comstock shown as she approached survivors of the net tender Elder afloat in a lifeboat and rafts (arrow) for seven days following explosions and fire which wrecked the ship. The entire crew was rescued.

Wikipedia tells us that the incident took place on March 11, 1950 which means Earl was no longer on the ship, having served in the U.S. Navy from February 6, 1946 to February 5, 1949. He probably saved this article since it mentioned the Comstock.

Another clipping talks about atomic bomb test number 6. A third clipping tells of Rear Adm. William Parsons arriving to join the A-Bomb staff. Copies of both clippings are below, newspaper and dates unknown.

Neither clipping provides any information to help us understand why Earl kept them and what, if any, significance they had to him. Another clipping tells of an explosion on the USS Duncan and mentions atomic tests at Eniwetok. It reads [newspaper and date unknown]:

LATE NEWS FINAL

BLASTED BY AN EXPLOSION EN ROUTE TO PEARL HARBOR, the destroyer Duncan limped back to Los Angeles harbor from 200 miles out. The blast tore a jagged hole at the waterline. One man was killed, six seriously injured, others less seriously hurt. The Duncan and other naval ships were en route to Honolulu for reported—but not confirmed—atomic tests at Eniwetok—NEA telephoto.

Another mention of the atomic tests at Eniwetok! So, my next search was to figure out the date of this event. Wikipedia is always there to help and in the Service History section of the page for the USS Duncan (DD-874), it reads:

On 1 March 1948 she suffered 2 killed and 14 injured in an explosion on board. She “suffered considerable damage at the stern and the flooding of the after compartment from a hole at the water line.” After repairs at Long Beach, California, the destroyer rejoined the fleet for training until January 1949, when she again sailed for the western Pacific, this time for eight months.

Now we have a date—March 1, 1948—which means Earl would have still been on the Comstock. The Duncan page contained a link to a page about the USS Comstock. In the section “1945 – 1950,” I found the following text:

After operating along the west coast, Comstock trained in the Hawaiian Islands from July 1947. Between 28 November 1947 and 31 May 1948 she furnished boat pool services to Joint Task Force 7 for Operation Sandstone.

Now, what was Operation Sandstone? Luckily, another link to a page on Wikipedia. This page finally confirms that Earl did in fact observe and take part in the atomic bomb tests. It appears that the Comstock supported Operation Sandstone as part of Task Unit 7.3.2 Main Naval Task Unit and it was on a date when Earl would have been on the Comstock. Wow, this was all a surprise to us! And Earl never mentioned any of this.

USS Comstock (from Earl's Hawaii photo album)

USS Comstock Mast (from Earl's Hawaii photo album)

Earl (from his Hawaii photo album)

Thanks to Jeanne for her timely blog post about her father and his involvement in the atomic bomb tests. If I hadn’t read her post, I probably would have just filed the clippings away and never learned this part of my father-in-law’s military history.

A-bomb-test Operation Sandstone, Event X-Ray detonation, April 15, 1948, Engebi, Eniwetok-Atoll, U.S. Air Force 1352nd Photographic Group, Lookout Mountain Station - Former Defenses Nuclear Agency (DNA), Public Domain.

Earl's United States Navy ID Card

References

1. A-bomb-test Operation Sandstone, Event X-Ray detonation, April 15, 1948, Engebi, Eniwetok-Atoll, U.S. Air Force 1352nd Photographic Group, Lookout Mountain Station - Former Defenses Nuclear Agency (DNA), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1657600.
2. Insalaco, Jeanne Bryan, 2019: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 4 (Jan. 22-28) I’d Like to Meet; https://everyonehasafamilystorytotell.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/2019-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-week-4-jan-22-28-id-like-to-meet/. 
3. Operation Sandstone; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sandstone. 
4. USS Comstock (LSD-19); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Comstock_(LSD-19). 
5. USS Duncan (DD-874); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Duncan_(DD-874).
6. USS Elder (AN-20); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Elder_(AN-20).

Going to the library

Me (about the age I would have gone to Stewart-Lakewood Library)
and my sister Jennifer standing on top of the
Grant Park observation tower in Atlanta (November 1966).
You can see downtown Atlanta in the background.

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “at the library.” I started to write about the time I went to National Archives in Washington, DC and had them pull the Civil War records of Samuel C. Murphy, my husband’s 2nd great grandfather. I wasn’t allowed to carry anything in the room except for the card you inserted in the copy machine to pay for printing. They had lockers for people to store their personal belongings while you were in the record room. Once I got in the room, I remember how exciting it was holding the actual records in my hands. I couldn’t believe they let people touch them. The pages were brittle, and I remember thinking I was going to get in trouble when the first few pages I touched seemed to flake off in my hands. I just knew they were going to walk me right out of that room and lock me up. But then I thought, that’s not really a library so it doesn’t count. Then I thought I’d write about the time I visited the Daughters of the American Revolution Library, again in Washington, DC, in the 1990s. I was just beginning to do genealogy and was overwhelmed by the enormity of the room. I made several trips into DC and found some good stuff there but even though it is a library, decided against that story. Instead, I’ll tell you about my experience of going to the library as a child and as an adult.

I grew up in Atlanta and remember going to the Stewart-Lakewood Library in the mid-1960s. This library was located on Lakewood Avenue, in the corner of the Stewart-Lakewood Shopping Center parking lot, not too far from home. Growing up, I read a lot. With five children in the family I’m sure money was tight, so we didn’t buy many books. Instead, Mama took us to the library. I remember getting stacks of books to bring home to read. During the summer months, the school must have encouraged us to read and keep track of the books we read. When school started back in the fall, the students that had read a certain number of books got to participate in a Coke party. Of course, I’m talking about an ice-cold bottle of Coca-Cola. Coke is a staple in our homes today, but in the mid-1960s, it was a treat to get one, so I always made sure I read enough books to get mine. My favorite books as a young girl were the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read them over and over again. Since it was pre-Internet, if we had to write a report for school, we’d have to go to the library to do our research. I do remember having a set of Collier’s Encyclopedias at home but still needing to go to the library for research purposes. I also remember pulling the long drawers out to look through the card catalogue in search of books. Once you figured out the Dewey Decimal system it was a piece of cake.

As an adult, I discovered the interlibrary loan service and often used my local libraries to order books from other states to research my ancestors. What a great service that is—if you haven’t used it, you should. In addition to books, I’ve ordered microfilm and used the readers and printers at my library to print records. At the time, there was no fee to use this service. You just needed a library card. Today you pay a $3 fee but that’s very reasonable. Ten years ago, I was able to obtain many obituaries from libraries in Pennsylvania and South Carolina by sending a letter with my request, a list of names and dates, and a donation to the library. I always got a response and most of the obituaries. I was thankful for all the help the wonderful librarians gave me.