Living in the Past: October 2020

Friday, October 30, 2020

Baseball Memorabilia

Today’s post is about a couple of my husband’s treasures—a baseball signed by Mickey Mantle and a 1967 Topps baseball card featuring Mantle.

Signed Mickey Mantle ball and 1967 Topps baseball card

Charlie can thank my brother for the baseball. Michael and my niece attended the 5th Annual Southeast Regional Baseball Card and Sports Collectible Show in Atlanta, Georgia on November 30, 1991. Mickey Mantle was there signing baseballs so Michael picked one up for Charlie at the cost of $25. The picture below was taken that day.

Mickey Mantle (1991)

Charlie started collecting baseball cards when he was 10 using the allowance he earned from doing chores. He remembers a pack cost 10 cents at the time. He, his brother, and their friends spent hours thumbing through the cards. They looked at stats and learned about the players—how long they had played, where they were from, their age. Baseball wasn’t televised much then so that was one of the ways they learned about their favorite players.

They also played games with the cards. One game Charlie remembers was called Flip. He and his friends would sit on the porch and flip the cards out into the yard. When a card landed on top of another card, that person won all of the cards in the yard at that time. Charlie said you had to make sure you weren’t flipping one of your favorite cards! He forgot a few times and lost a couple of his favorites. Of course, they put cards on their bicycle spokes, which ruined them. I remember my brother and his friends doing the same thing.

One of Charlie’s favorite cards was of Frank Howard, a local player who played for the Washington Senators. Years later, our son met Howard through his work. Other favorite cards were Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Johnny Bench, Willie Mays, and Willie McCovey. Charlie said he has about 600 cards from his youth but all aren’t baseball. He also collected football, Batman, Rat Patrol, and even the Monkees cards. He stopped collecting in his early teens, but picked it back up again in his 20s. I remember buying boxes of cards for Christmas presents several years. Today, most of the boxes are still unopened.

I’m sure Charlie considers both the ball and card family treasures.

Friday, October 23, 2020

Jesse Burnette, a family twin mystery

Jesse Burnette is part of a family mystery for me. Years ago, Daddy told me that my great-grandparents, Thomas “Tom” Terrell Burnette and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Jones of Walton and Greene counties in Georgia had two sets of twins. One set lived but the other set didn’t survive infancy, dying weeks apart, cause unknown. The twins that survived were Claudia (Daddy called her Claudie) and Maudie. I don’t remember them, but Daddy often spoke of his aunts. Claudia lived to be 82 and Maudie 96. No one knew anything about the other set of twins, other than they supposedly existed. It wasn’t until I started researching my family that I learned of Jesse.

When the 1900 Walton County (Vinegar Hill District), Georgia census was taken on June 26, the enumerator recorded four children living in the home with Tom and Lizzie—Luther Terrell Burnette (age 5), Eva Drucilla Burnette (age 4, enumerated as Ever), Floria Mae Burnette (age 2), and Jesse (age 1). Jesse was enumerated as their son, born January 1899 in Georgia. Since I know his three older siblings were born in Walton County, I would assume he was as well since they lived there in 1900. One thing that puzzles me though is the enumerator recorded Elizabeth as the mother of five children, with five children living. So, why did he only record four children? Where was the fifth child? Was it alive and living with another family member? Or did the enumerator make a mistake? I may never know the answer to these questions but I do know that Tom and Lizzie had eight more children after the 1900 census was taken—Willie Lloyd Burnette, Prince Albert Burnette, Claudia Burnette, Maudie Burnette, Henry T. Burnette, Eleanor Estelle Burnette, Samuel A. Burnette, and Julia Virginia Burnette. Claudia and Maudie were the only children that were twins.

The 1900 census record is the only record I’ve found to document Jesse’s life by name. Was he a twinless twin when the census was taken? If so, that would mean his brother or sister probably died in May or June and he died shortly after the census was taken. But I can’t prove that.

1900 Walton County, Vinegar Hill, Georgia Soundex Card

1900 Walton County, Vinegar Hill, Georgia census

The 1910 Greshamville, Greene County, Georgia census taken on April 28 does show that Elizabeth was the mother of 10 children with 8 of them living. All of her known children are accounted for in the 1910 record so there clearly was another child. Was it a boy or girl? What did they name it? Was that child Jesse’s twin?

1910 Greene County, Georgia Soundex Cards

Sadly, I have no idea where Jesse or the other child were buried either. I checked several Walton County cemeteries in Find a Grave where other Jones and Burnette family members were buried but don’t find anything. Georgia didn’t start registering births and deaths until 1919 and there are no official birth records before then. So many questions that I can’t answer and will probably never have answers.

References

Birth Records, Georgia Archives, University System of Georgia; https://www.georgiaarchives.org/research/birth_records.
Death Records, Georgia Archives, University System of Georgia; https://www.georgiaarchives.org/research/death_records.
Personal memories of Sam Lankford.
U.S. Federal Census, Greshamville, Greene County, Georgia, 1910.
U.S. Federal Census, Vinegar Hill, Walton County, Georgia, 1900.

Friday, October 16, 2020

Cole Brothers Circus

It’s time to share a few more photos from my husband’s uncle Ralph Murphy’s slide collection. The slides were given to Charlie by his aunt Jean Murphy in 2012 and consist of 15 boxes of slides (thousands) taken by Uncle Ralph, spanning the years 1947 to 1984. Many are scenic shots from their travels across the United States, some are family members, and others friends and co-workers. I converted the majority of the slides to digital several years ago and have been enjoying them ever since.

I imagine most people reading this have been to a circus at least once in their lifetime. I remember going to the Old Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta as a child to see the Yaarab Shrine Circus. The venue was a large building so no tents like the photos in this collection, but still had the same type of acts—clowns, horses, elephants, and tigers.

These photos are the Cole Brothers Circus that came through West Virginia, probably Clarksburg or some city near there. I estimate they were taken in the late 1940s, early 1950s.

In the next photo, you can see signs for some of the sideshows: an armless marvel, Lady Patricia (sword swallower), Major Mite (little man), Joe Lee (clown), and Judy Allen (lion tamer).

If you’d like to see more photos from Uncle Ralph’s collection, click on the links below.

Hidden West Virginia racetrack photos
A boy and his bicycle
The beauty of nature
Ruth Miller
Share your photos and make a difference
Water sports at Tygart Lake
Nutter Fort, West Virginia Soap Box Derby
Warner’s Skyline Drive-In Theater
Palace Furniture Company and Pepsi-Cola—a colorful combination
Vintage Christmas photos
52 Ancestors – no. 40: Anna B. Church – (week 24) (Anna (Church) and Everett Evans photos only)

Friday, October 9, 2020

Kathryn Loretta Burnette

Kathryn Loretta Burnette was the only child of Prince Albert Burnette and Mary Lee Queen. She was stillborn in Greene County, Georgia on November 4, 1934. Prince and Mary buried their infant daughter at Shiloh Baptist Church Cemetery in Penfield.

I don’t know the circumstances of her birth—whether her mother carried her to term or went into labor early. But she existed and today I remember her. She is not forgotten.

Kathryn is my 1st cousin 1x removed. Our nearest common relative would be my great grandparents, Thomas Terrell Burnette and Elizabeth Jones.

Kathryn's parents, Prince and Mary Burnette

Friday, October 2, 2020

Julia M. Young

This blog post is another in a series connecting the dots in my tree to the souls buried at Bairdstown Cemetery in Bairdstown, Oglethorpe County, Georgia.

Julia M. Young, daughter of James L. Young and Alice J. Gorham was born in Georgia on March 27, 1879. There were nine children born to the Young family—Maude Young, Moselle Young, Julia M. Young, Leroy Penn Young, Clyde G. Young, James O. Young, Inda Young, Infant Son Young (born/died 1870), and one unknown child. Julia was the wife of my 3rd cousin 3x removed. We have no common relative.

On June 7, 1880, the Young family lived in District 138 of Greene County, Georgia. Julia’s father was a farmer and her mother a housekeeper. Her sister Maude was the only child in the home attending school. There was a 12-year-old mulatto girl named Chancy Callaway working as a servant and laborer living in the home.

Julia married Joseph Briscoe Davison, son of Joseph Davison and Susan Capers Briscoe, at Woodville Baptist Church in Woodville, Greene County, Georgia on February 20, 1900. Their wedding was reported in The Atlanta Constitution on February 19, 1900:

One of the prettiest weddings of the season will be that of Miss Julia Young, of Woodville, and Mr. Joseph B. Davison, of New Orleans, which will occur at the Baptist church in Woodville on the 20th instant at 6 o’clock in the evening. Dr. B. F. Riley, of the State university, will officiate, and Mrs. J. V. McWhorter will play the wedding march.
The church will be beautifully decorated in moss, palms, ferns, smilax and lilies of the valley. The bridesmaids will be: Miss Clyde Young, maid of honor, sister to the bride; Miss Bessie Davison, Miss Maggie Davison and Miss Pope Maxwell. The groom’s attendants will be Mr. Emmett Lunceford, of Monroe, best man; Mr. C. M. Young, of Athens; Mr. Will Sanford, of Crawfordville, and Mr. S. W. Durham, of Woodville.
Mr. John Durham, Mr. John McWhorter and Mr. J. C. Davison will act as ushers.
The flowers girls are little Miss Russell Davison, Ellener Davison, Ruby Wilson and Kathleen Armstrong.
The bride’s gown will be of white satin duchess trimmed in pearls and applique. She will carry white carnations. The bridesmaids will wear organdle dresses and will carry lilies and maidenhair ferns. The bride’s long vail will be confined by a diamond sunburst, gift of the groom.
Miss Young is a very handsome and charming young woman and has been the recipient of many attentions since her debut.
Mr. Davison is connected with the Illinois Central railroad at New Orleans. Immediately after the marriage the bride and groom will leave for New Orleans, their future home.

Marriage license of J. B. Davison and Julia M. Young (1900)

On June 13, 1900, Julia and Joseph lived on Duffosat Street in Ward 13 of New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. As stated in the wedding article, Joseph clerked for the railroad. They had probably chosen the Duffosat Street house because it was near the shipping yards located along the Mississippi River. If you look at the birds eye view of the area in Google Maps today, you see lots of trains so it made sense for them to live there. Christmas in New Orleans that year was a joyous occasion with the birth of their first child, Joseph Jr. on December 16. Julia and Joseph didn’t stay in New Orleans long though. By 1905, they were living in Atlanta, 298 Central Avenue to be specific, where Joseph had taken a job as a clerk for the Bell Telephone Company. It’s possible Julia had moved back to Georgia to be closer to her mother who may have been ill. Sadly, Alice Young died in August 1906. She was buried at Bairdstown Cemetery in Bairdstown, Oglethorpe County, Georgia on August 14. In 1907, Julia and Joseph lived at 30 Augusta Avenue in Atlanta. Joseph worked as a traveling salesman for the Frank E. Block Company, a wholesale candy and cracker company. They still lived there in 1908 when their son Roy Benson Davison was born on May 15.

The unthinkable happened on October 15, 1913 when Julia’s husband Joseph died at their Augusta Avenue home. The Atlanta Constitution ran a death notice that day that unfortunately included several inaccuracies. The first was the spelling of his last name—Davidson vs. Davison. Second, they listed a surviving daughter named Miss Bessie Davidson vs. his two sons, Joseph Jr. and Roy. Bessie was his sister. The third inaccuracy was the cemetery location—Bistown vs. Bairdstown. And the fourth inaccuracy was the death date. His tombstone lists it as October 15 yet the death notice said he died Tuesday night. It could be he died after midnight and they didn’t take that into account. It’s hard to say what happened here but it’s sure confusing!

The Atlanta Constitution, October 15, 1913

Sadly, this wasn’t the only unthinkable event that would happen to this family. Less than two years later, Julia died in Atlanta on July 22, 1915 at the same Augusta Avenue home. Her remains were taken to Bairdstown via the Georgia railway the next day, followed by burial beside her husband at Bairdstown Cemetery. She was 36 years old, the same age her husband was when he died.

I don’t know what happened to Julia but she had prepared and filed her Last Will and Testament in Fulton County on April 15, 1915. Was she sick and feared she was dying? She had two small children to think about. Julia named James Davison as her executor and guardian of the property of her two sons Joseph Jr. and Roy. I believe he was her husband’s first cousin, son of James Davison and Ella Tiller. She named her sister Inda Young as their guardian and requested that Inda receive sufficient compensation from her estate to care for the boys. The will was recorded by George A. Merritt, Ordinary of Greene County, Georgia (and another Davison family cousin) on August 3, 1915. Joseph Jr. and Roy, now orphaned, were 14 and 7 years old respectively when their mother died.