Baby Boy Langford

For my last post of 2018, I’d like to remember an infant whose time on Earth was too short. Ninety-two years ago this month, Baby Boy Langford was born on December 22, 1926 to Robert Chester Lankford Sr. and Mendie Octavia Hayes. It was Christmas week and should have been a time of joy and happiness for the Lankford family who lived in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. It was anything but that. Baby Boy Langford was most likely born prematurely and hadn’t fully developed yet so they probably immediately knew he was in trouble. Dr. H. N. Abernathy attended to the baby, but his little body couldn’t sustain life and he died at 6 p.m. on December 26. His death certificate recorded him as “Infant of R. C. Langford” so it’s possible he was never given a name, but I can’t confirm that. Baby Boy Langford was buried at Trinity Cemetery in Charlotte the following day. He left behind four siblings who ranged in age from seven to two and were probably confused by what had happened to their little brother—Robert Chester Lankford Jr., Nancy Lowe Lankford, Mell Thomas Lankford, and William Norris Lankford. His parents would go on to have two more children—Vesta Mendie Lankford and Otis Young Lankford.

Baby Boy Langford would be my 3rd cousin, 2x removed. Our nearest common relatives are my 4th great grandparents, Charles L. Lankford and Miss Moore. His father, whom I believe went by Chester, was originally from Oglethorpe County, Georgia, but moved the family to Charlotte sometime after 1920. Chester and Mendie are buried near my grandparents at Bairdstown Cemetery in Oglethorpe County.

In case you’re wondering why I’ve spelled the baby’s last name with a “g” and his father and siblings with a “k,” I’ll note that those letters are often switched with the names Lankford/Langford. I’ve chosen to use Langford for the baby since that’s how it’s listed on his death certificate. You can even see where a “k” was originally used for his father but then someone wrote a “g” over the “k” in three places. Most of the records I’ve found for his father uses the “k,” so I use Lankford for him and his other children.

Gone, but not forgotten.


References:

• U.S. Federal Census, Bair, Enumeration District 137, Oglethorpe County, Georgia, 1920.
• Infant of R. C. Langford, certificate number 313, North Carolina, Death Certificates, 1909–1976.
• Obituary, Mr. Chester Lankford, Oglethorpe Echo, October 27, 1938.
• Obituary, Otis Young Lankford, St. Louis Post, January 15, 1997.
• Obituary, Vesta M. Lankford Murphy, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 31, 2000.

Photos of Christmas past

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “nice.”

Last week I shared some of my childhood Christmas memories. Well, to be honest, they’re all the Christmas memories I have from the early years. It’s sad, isn’t it. But at least I have a few photos to help keep the memories alive. This week, I want to post the last of the childhood family Christmas photos in my possession. Maybe if one of my siblings has any others, they’ll share with me. Wouldn’t that be nice!

The first photo is my Mama and oldest sister Bonita, who looks like she's probably one year old. That would make Mama about 17. The second photo is Bonita as well.

The third photo is my sister Jennifer. She has a December birthday so Mama would make her birthday cake in the shape of a Christmas tree. Jennifer tells me that's one of her favorite memories. She's about 10 years old in this photo.

This is a photo of four of the five of us, along with two of my cousins. My cousin Harvey is in the blue shirt, standing in the back. His brother Joey is the boy on the left. My brother Michael is sitting beside Joey. I'm in the middle, Jennifer is standing beside me, in the same blue dress she wore in the photo above. And my baby sister Vanessa is sitting in front of Jennifer. This photo was taken in the early 1960s.

This photo is my brother Michael, a budding fireman/construction worker. He looks about the same age as in the photo above.

This photo is the only photo we have of us with my Granddaddy Holland. That's him on the left with me standing beside him. My sister Jennifer is sitting in front of me, then my Aunt Brenda with my youngest sister Vanessa sitting in her lap. My Uncle David is sitting beside Vanessa, my brother Michael standing behind David, and my sister Bonita in the red sweater.

This last photo includes my great-grandmother Hattie (Rhinehart) Shields. We called her Grandma Shields. Mama is sitting next to her with me and my sister Jennifer in front of Mama.

Memories of Christmas Past

Bonita

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “naughty.”

In 1996, my sister Jennifer and I worked with our siblings, Bonita, Michael, and Vanessa to publish some of our “treasured Christmas memories” for our parents. We included photos, some of our favorite holiday recipes, and one grandchild from each family drew a family picture. In this blog post, I’ll share some of those memories, along with some Christmas photos from years past.

Early in their marriage, Mama and Daddy lived in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta. While living in West End, Bonita remembers being a star in the kindergarten Christmas play. We moved from West End to our home on Macon Drive in Southeast Atlanta shortly after I was born. Both houses were probably a 10 to 15-minute drive downtown since we were close to the interstate. If you grew up in Atlanta, you probably remember going shopping at the Rich’s Department Store in downtown Atlanta. While there, you had to ride the Pink Pig, a small train that rode around the roof of the Rich’s building. Rich’s was housed in two multi-level buildings that sat across the street from each other. The Christmas season officially began on Thanksgiving night when they lit the Great Tree that sat “on top of the multi-level glass skybridge connecting the main downtown Atlanta store with the Store for Homes across Forsyth Street” according to Wikipedia. Each floor had a choir or music group there to perform. As each group performed, their floor would light up until they got to the top floor which sang “O Holy Night.” Near the end of the song, Rich’s lit the tree and all of the lights from the other floors came back on as the choirs finished the song. It was a beautiful tradition for the city.

Bonita

Bonita on the right

If we didn’t go the Rich’s on Thanksgiving night, we decorated our Christmas tree which was almost always artificial. Jennifer remembers at least one live tree that Daddy cut down from some property he owned in Union Point, Greene County, Georgia. I remember having one live tree that all the needles fell off before Christmas day. You could hear the constant tinkle as the needles hit the packages under the tree. I remember it was completely dead on Christmas day to the point that you didn’t dare turn the lights on for fear it would catch fire. We probably never watered it. We often took the tree down on Christmas night or the next day. When Christmas was over, it was over!

We anxiously waited for the yearly showing of Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. Unlike now, it came on once and if you missed it, you had to wait a year to see it. The photo below isn’t from Christmas, but I imagine it’s how we watched these Christmas specials.

Jennifer, me, Vanessa, and Michael

We couldn’t leave the presents alone and constantly rearranged them. I remember unwrapping my presents at least once before Christmas and then had to make sure I got the tape back on just right so Mama and Daddy wouldn’t know they had been opened. Yes, I was naughty! The photo at the beginning of this post is of Bonita standing in front of our Christmas tree one year. If you look closely, you’ll see a playpen around the tree. Were we that naughty that Mama had to do that? I guess so.

Jennifer, Denise, Bonita, and Michael

Vanessa

The Stewart-Lakewood Shopping Center was near our Macon Drive house. They had a big Santa that waved to all who passed by. The picture below is my family with Santa in the background.

Jennifer, Bonita, Denise, and Mama holding Michael. Mama is probably
pregnant with Vanessa in this picture.

Denise and Michael

Santa at Stewart-Lakewood Shopping Center, Atlanta, Georgia

Bonita played the clarinet in our high school band which played concerts at the shopping center. The photo below may or may not have been taken during one of those concerts but it’s definitely Stewart-Lakewood Shopping Center because I remember the Lerner Shop.

Bonita is in the back row, second person

On Christmas Eve, my Granny and her husband Hoyt drove down from north Georgia to spend Christmas with us. Vanessa remembers she always brought a coconut pie and a carrot cake. After Mama got home from work, we’d sit around the table nibbling on a Christmas ham. Mama kept a wooden bowl in the middle of the dining room table filled with oranges, tangerines, and assorted nuts. Before we went to bed, the five of us got a knee sock from our drawers (we didn’t have traditional stockings) and picked a spot in the living room for Santa to leave our toys. The next morning, we ran to our spot to see what Santa had left us. Lo and behold, our socks would be filled with oranges, tangerines, and nuts and the wooden bowl on the table would be empty. Jennifer remembers that one-by-one we’d empty our sock into the bowl until it was full again. We were able to play with what Santa left but not open any presents until we ate breakfast and the dishes were washed. Mama and Granny cooked a full breakfast of biscuits, meat, eggs, grits, and gravy. They took their time too, dragging it all out. And just when we thought it was time to open the presents, Granny would have to go “move her bowels.” Then Daddy would finally pass out the presents and everything would be over in 10 minutes. They tortured us, but I know now it was just Mama’s way of making her rocking chair memories.

Hoyt Vest, Daisy (Shields) Vest, and Jennifer

References

1. Holiday traditions, Rich’s (department store); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich%27s_(department_store).
2. Summerlin, Donnie, Christmas at Rich’s; https://blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu/?p=1456; December 15, 2010.

When Macon Drive turned into a winter wonderland

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “winter,” so I thought I’d share a blast from my past—several photos from a storm (or two) that left our neighborhood a winter wonderland. I grew up in Atlanta where snowstorms were few and far between. But occasionally we got lucky and one would blow in. I don’t remember but I’m sure the city would shut down and schools probably closed. If I were a betting person, I'd bet that Mama would stir up a pot of hot chocolate—the old fashioned way with milk and cocoa, not out of an envelope. She'd also make ice cream out of the snow. 

We would entertain ourselves sitting at the front window watching the cars try to make it up or down Bromack Drive, the street that came to an end at Macon Drive in front of our house. That section of the road was at a slight incline, just enough to cause problems for drivers. You can see it in the photo below of my Daddy standing by the street in front of our house.

This photo includes my brother Michael, Daddy, and my sister Jennifer. I don't believe this was taken at our house. In other photos, it looks like we were at a park.

This photo is of my brother Michael standing in front of our house.

Another photo of my sister Vanessa and brother Michael that I believe was taken at a park.

This photo is my brother Michael and me standing in front of our house.

When it did snow, all the neighborhood kids gathered at the Rath family house. They lived on Meadow Park Drive, the street behind ours. Their house was at the top of a hill. They were also from Michigan and had sleds! Those that didn't have sleds used cardboard which worked just as well as the sleds. We'd have to station somebody at the bottom of the hill though to watch for cars since the sledders would usually end up in the street at the end of their run. You can see the house in the photo below. That's my sister Jennifer standing in our front yard.

Sweet potato casserole

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “thankful.”

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and one of the dishes on my table was this sweet potato casserole. It’s one that for years has graced many a Thanksgiving table in my family. I remember Mama making this sweet delight when I was growing up in Atlanta, but we called it a souffle instead of a casserole.

Now you might ask what this has to do with this week’s “thankful” theme. That’s easy—every time I make this casserole, I’m reminded of the years Mama came to Virginia and spent Thanksgiving week with me. She’d arrive the weekend before, we’d plan the Thanksgiving meal, and then I’d go shopping. On Wednesday, we’d crank up the Christmas music and spend the day in the kitchen preparing anything we could make in advance for the big feast. We laughed and had a good time while we worked. It was always so much fun. I hadn't made the casserole myself, thinking it was complicated, so Mama taught me how on one of her visits. And it couldn’t have been easier!

Being able to include this dish on our menu yesterday was great, but the true treasures are the rocking chair memories it brings to me every time I make it. And for that, I’m thankful. 

Casserole before baking

Sweet Potato Casserole
2 c. cooked sweet potatoes (about six)
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. butter
Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Topping:
1 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. flour
1 c. pecans, chopped
1/3 c. butter, melted

Bake the sweet potatoes in a 400-degree oven until soft. Once cool enough to handle, peel, and cut up into a large bowl. Add the sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk, butter, and spices then mix together with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into a buttered casserole dish. Mix topping ingredients together and spread on top of the potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly on the edges.

Notes:
If you don’t like pecans, replace the topping with miniature marshmallows (my own family’s preference). If you do that, put the marshmallows in during the last few minutes, turn the oven to broil, and bake until browned. Don’t walk away though. It doesn’t take long and if left too long, the marshmallows will burn.

This is a great recipe to make the day before. Prepare the potatoes according to the recipe and store them in a large Ziploc bag. The next day, pour the potatoes into a buttered casserole dish, add the topping, and bake.

If you look hard, you'll see five little heads in this car.
Mama started making rocking chair memories with us years ago.

Kevin’s Christmas stocking—a new family heirloom

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “random fact.”

My random fact … you CAN right a wrong. Even if it takes years.

OK, I’m stretching the theme to fit my needs this week, but I’m doing this post tonight come hell or high water!

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving every year, we pull the Christmas decorations out. And on that day every year, I’m reminded that I had something I needed to take care of. But the years came and went, and nothing happened. We decorate the house and one of the last things to go up is the Christmas stockings. If you follow my blog, you’ve read the story about my oldest son’s stocking. If you haven’t, you can read about it here. The bottom line is I made a cross-stitched stocking for my first child but never made one for my second. And so, the past few years, Chris has had fun reminding Kevin that he has a handmade stocking and Kevin doesn’t. Chris likes to say, “I’m Mom’s favorite … look what I have, and you don’t.” It’s all in fun but last Christmas, when I heard Chris say, “Hey Kevin” and then repeat his mantra about his stocking, it felt like someone stuck a knife in my chest, and then twisted it. I’m sure other Moms can relate. I felt a tremendous amount of guilt last Christmas. That guilt nagged at me for another week or two until I finally decided I had to right a wrong and at that moment, decided to make a stocking for Kevin. Knowing it would be a huge undertaking, I thought about it for a week. I didn’t want to start something I might not finish. But the nagging feeling stuck with me, so I finally decided to take the plunge, went online and picked out a kit, and then placed my order. I hadn’t done cross-stitch in 25 years, so my next step was to go to YouTube and find a few “how to” videos to refresh my memory on how to cross-stitch.

Afraid I wouldn’t finish, I decided to keep my project a secret. That way, if I didn’t finish the project, they wouldn’t know, and couldn’t harass me about it. I told my husband Charlie and asked him to keep the secret. My goal was to finish the stocking by November, in time to give to Kevin for his birthday.

The kit arrived mid-January and I got to work. Every night after dinner, I’d lock myself in the bedroom and work a couple of hours. After a few days of this, the kids took notice and started asking what I was doing. They kept asking. I told them I was working on a secret project but that didn’t satisfy them. Finally, one day, Kevin asked me again, and with a straight face, I looked him in the eye and told him I was watching porn. You should have seen the look on his face! It was priceless. He looked at me, and said “well alright then,” then turned around and left the room. He didn’t ask me again! Later, it became a joke—Mom’s working on her secret project—and they left me alone.

I was warned that the gold thread was hard to work with and it was

I started the project mid-January and typically spent two to three hours on it every Sunday morning and evening. During the week, I worked at least two hours Monday through Thursday evening. I took Friday off to work on my Living in the Past blog and then finished up the week working two to three hours on Saturday morning and evening. I also spent at least three full days working on it as well. Charlie and I estimated that I spent at least 400 hours on my secret project.

The pattern was hard to read for my old eyes, so I had to enlarge it to three sheets of 11” x 17” paper. I made a second copy for outlining. I also made a few notes on the pattern, including a reminder to add Kevin’s name across the top. My worst nightmare was finishing the red bar across the top and then realizing I’d forgotten to add his name!

I enlarged two copies of the pattern -- one for the x's and one for outlining

My eyes were strained, arthritis started creeping into my left index finger and thumb, and the tips of those same two fingers became sore, but I was determined to keep working. I made it through the winter months. Winter turned into spring and I still spent my evenings locked in the bedroom. I even took the stocking on my spring trip to Georgia and got some work in. As spring turned into summer, it was no longer a question of whether I’d finish the stocking. At that point, I knew I would. Now it was a question of when. I couldn’t let up because I knew I needed to allow time to have someone complete the project. All along the way, I worried about how I was going to get the finished product sewn into a stocking since I don’t sew. A friend gave me a couple of ideas but then one day my daughter-in-law mentioned a local alteration shop she used, and my ears perked up. I goggled the shop and determined it was a viable option. Feeling better after that, I worked harder. I finally made the last cross stitch on August 15. That night, I washed the finished product after everyone had gone to bed, and then took it the next day to Tang’s Alterations in Manassas. A week later, I was able to declare my secret project as DONE! I can’t tell you the relief I felt at that point. But unfortunately, I had to keep the stocking hidden and my secret quiet for three months. No victory dance for me until last weekend.

The stocking is beautiful and is the newest Murphy family heirloom. I hope the wait for worth it for Kevin.

Finished product before going to Tang's

The back and handle are red velvet

The seamstress added an inside pocket for money

The inside is red satin

P.S., what do you think Chris’ reaction was? Well of course … mine is bigger! Ha Ha

P.P.S., my daughter-in-law told me the three of them thought I was building a condominium for my Elf on the Shelf Athya. She said they talked about taking bets.

Lost relatives from Pennsylvania

I've been traveling as well as working on a special World War II letter project so don't have my usual ancestor timeline prepared this week. So instead, I'll share three photos from the collection of my husband's grandmother, Bertha Edna Smith. The children and young men in these photos are unknown to me. They were more than likely friends and/or family members of Bertha's and probably lived in or near Apollo, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. If not, Apollo, then in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. I estimate the photos were taken in the early 1900s to 1915. If you recognize anyone in these photos, I'd love to hear from you.

Share your photos and make a difference

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “frightening.” This week's post is a stretch of the 52 Ancestors theme but I'm going with it!

If you read my weekly blog posts, you know that I periodically share photos from my husband’s uncle Ralph Murphy’s slide collection. If you’ve missed them, you can check them out here:

Water sports at Tygart Lake 

Nutter Fort, West Virginia Soap Box Derby

Warner’s Skyline Drive-In Theater

Vintage Christmas photos

52 Ancestors – no. 40: Anna B. Church – (week 24) (Anna (Church) and Everett Evans photos only)

Uncle Ralph’s slide collection, which dates from 1947 to 1984, contains wonderful photos of family members, friends, co-workers, and their travels. Unfortunately, many of the people in the photos are unidentified. Uncle Ralph passed away in 1998 so is no longer here to help with identification. On my husband Charlie’s last visit with Aunt Jean, he took printed copies of some of the slides. She enjoyed seeing the photos again but was unable to remember who most of the people were. So, I’ve made it a mission to share these photos on my blog in hopes that someone will stumble across them and recognize a family member. I’d love to be able to put names to the faces looking back at me.

When doing research for the Nutter Fort Soap Box Derby and Warner’s Skyline Drive-in posts, I contacted a couple of people I found on Facebook whom I thought might be able to help with my mission. I first contacted the Nutter Fort Volunteer Fire Department (NFVFD) about one of the photos in the Soap Box Derby collection which included a car clearly marked Nutter Fort Fire Department. I hoped to date the photo and then, if lucky, identify people in the photo. They shared the photo with their Facebook group and while no one recognized anyone, they were able to pinpoint a date and many of them shared memories of past Nutter Fort Soap Box Derbies. They told me they were able to use the photo to help “the younger members of the NFVFD learn about a piece of apparatus that they didn’t know much about and it also served as a great talking point to reminisce about on the Nutter Fort, WV Facebook group.”

The second person I contacted was Sam Caputo Jr., whom I believed to be the son of Sam Caputo, a previous owner of Warner’s Skyline Drive-in Theater in Clarksburg, West Virginia. I sent Sam a Facebook message in January 2018 to identify myself and tell him about the collection of drive-in photos. There was one photo I thought might be his parents, although if I’d thought about it, the photo was probably taken before his parents owned the drive-in. I asked Sam if he minded me sending the photo to him. I waited several weeks for a response but when I didn’t hear back from him, went ahead and posted the group of photos in February. Then finally, on October 9, I heard from Sam who said he didn’t check that account very often. Sam confirmed that he was in fact the son of the previous drive-in owners and he told me

… “the photos that you shared of the projection booth, ticket booth, concession stand, pond, screen and field are exactly as I remembered them as a small child. Over the years some modifications were made by my parents for a variety of different reasons. The most extensive one was the replacement of the screen that you mentioned being destroyed during a storm. I remember the day my dad was notified of the damage, being a small child, it was quite disheartening to see the look on his face. It was the same year his father was struck and killed by a train on his way to work. Unfortunately, I did not recognize any of the people in the photos, and none were of my Mother. My parents were not ones that took a lot of photos, believe it or not we have none. This blog brought a tear to my eye as the Skyline was operated primarily as a family operation which consisted of my parents, my two older sisters, and myself. For the longest time there may be only one person helping in the concession stand and the projectionist that were not family.” 

Sam went on to talk about the drive-in marquee. He wrote

… “Over the years it has been weathered, hit by vehicles, and damaged by storms. I recently replaced some of the facing and was able to salvage the original front and rear of the arrow. I own a small pest control company for 48 years and my office is on the drive-in property. Every day people from the community that remember the drive-in reminded me how the sign was considered an iconic part of the history of this area. Having been said I made repairs keeping as much of the original part of the marquee in an effort to keep the landmark alive.” 

Sam asked for copies of the photos, so I sent him digital copies of all of them. He wanted to

… “create some sort of album to give to my three children as they were the only grandchildren my parents had and were very attached to them and also got to enjoy the Skyline in their younger days.” 

Sam ended his email stating

… “Once again I am so grateful for the work and effort you provided in your blog spot. Had I not seen this, the memory of the Skyline would only have been the photos in my mind.”

That last sentence stood out to me! It’s frightening to think about the photos sitting in boxes under beds, in albums stuck in closets, or who knows where else, stashed away for no one to see. We all need to make a point to digitize and share our photos so others can enjoy them. Especially the photos of past generations.

Ten days after Sam contacted me, he wrote again asking my permission to share my blog and photos on “a couple of Facebook pages regarding growing up in Clarksburg, WV.” He felt they

“would create quite an interest and possibly identify some of the people in the photos.” 

Sam must have posted a link to my Skyline Drive-in blog post because it's been viewed over 800 times in the last few weeks ... way more than normal!  I know there are people out there who would recognize the people in Uncle Ralph’s photos, as well as other photos my husband and I have inherited. I hope someone does recognize a family member or friend from long ago. My determination is even stronger now to continue my mission of sharing these wonderful snapshots of history.

Of course, I can’t post without including a few photos. Uncle Ralph was usually the person behind the camera, but every now and then, Aunt Jean (or someone) took the camera and managed to take a photo of Uncle Ralph. Below are a few of him found in his slide collection.

Raymond Murphy and Ralph

The Murphy brothers -- Earl, Glenn, Ralph, and Raymond

Ralph and his brother Glenn

Glenn and Ralph