Witness to History (#52Ancestors Week 4)

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Week 4 – Witness to History

This pair of pictures was a runner-up for last week’s Favorite Photo, 

but I decided it would work well for this week’s theme.

First, the background.  Several years ago, I had the amazing opportunity to make copies of old family letters (sent to my 3rd-great aunt, Mollie Sneed) that had been carefully saved for over 150 years.  Among them were letters from Mollie’s cousin Conse Hynds, in which he explained to his Confederate cousin his reasons for joining the Union army during the Civil War, where he had served as a Quartermaster Sergeant.  

 The first letter is dated May 25^th, 1865, Pulaski, Tennessee.  It reads, in part:

            At the commencement of this cruel war I took a decided stand against secession for I did not believe it right and could not believe that it would ever prosper and as I could not remain at home in peace, I embraced the first opportunity offered and enlisted in the Federal army in 1862.  My time is nearly out when I hope to return home to dear friends and kind relations never to be again separated from them by civil strife.

            I am in good health.  I have even had as good health in the army or nearly so as I had at home.  Yet a soldier’s life is a hard one and one that does not suit me and I long to see the time when I will not be needed in the army.  I hope yet to see Tenn. take her stand at the head of States and her citizens honored and beloved as in times of yore. . . .

            I hardly know whether we have differed in opinions about this war or not, but think it probable that we have.  If so, I hope we can once more agree “if not in every particular” at least enough to be true relations.  If either have erred, I think we ought to forgive each other and accept things as we find them and unite in a determination to do better in the future.  Uncle William wrote me word that no bad feelings existed with you toward me and I assure you that I have no cause of any enmity for you and I do hope we may soon meet under happier prospects, than I have known since I joined the army. . . .

 Your cousin

Conse H. Hynds

Sergt. Co. “K” 6^th Tenn Cav Vols

Pulaski, Tenn.

Second letter:

Pulaski, Tennessee, June 13^th 1865

            . . . Pa writes that all the family were well and that times were becoming quite peaceably and things being again to assume their old form.  Brother George is at home.  He has taken no active part in this cruel war.  I think he would be glad to hear from you.

            I accept your suggestion to agree to disagree upon the war, at least for the present.  Therefore will say no more about it.

            I am truly tired of being a soldier and long for the time to come when I can return home.  I cannot say when this will be. . . .

 

 Third letter:

At Home

September 7^th 1865

 . . . I will enclose a couple of photographs in this.  I want you to take your choice and give the other to some of the family, or if you prefer it keep them both.  Let me know your choice & what you do with the one you give away (if you do not keep both) also how you like them. . . .

Your cousin,

Conse H. Hynds

A few years later, I had another amazing opportunity, this time to make scans of an old family photo album.  I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. scanning the pictures so that the album could be returned the next day.  As I carefully removed each photo in order to scan both the front and the back, one photo was stuck tight and difficult to remove.  When I finally got it out, I realized why it was such a tight fit – hidden behind it was another photo, unlabeled, of a young man in uniform!

 The piercing eyes looked familiar to me, so I turned back a few pages to compare it to a civilian photo labeled Conse Hynds.  Could this possibly be a Civil War photo of the Union cousin?  I was on a Civil War reenactors email list with some extremely knowledgeable people, so I sent the picture to the list and asked what they could tell me about it (I didn't want to "lead" them by telling them what I thought).  The answer came back very clearly:  this is a Union Cavalry Sergeant.  BINGO!!

Constant Hardeman Hynds enlisted 20 Jul 1862 in Dresden, TN, in 6^th Regiment TN Cavalry US, Company K; was promoted to Quartermaster Sgt on 03 Oct 1862; and mustered out 26 Jul 1865, Pulaski, TN.  He is described in his military records as being 5’ 7” tall, fair complexion, blue eyes, and dark hair.

 I’m guessing that Mollie thought enough of her cousin that she wanted to keep his picture, but considered it unwise to display a Union photo in a Confederate household, so she tucked it behind another one.  It probably had not seen the light of day since it was placed there in the 1860s!

Favorite Photo (#52Ancestors Week 3)

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Week 3 – Favorite Photo

Since I’m indecisive, I’m sharing two favorite photos.

This family photo was probably taken in the early 1900s, sometime before Laban died in Dec. 1905.  It is my maternal great-great-grandparents, Laban Jasper Loftis and Louisa Chaffin Loftis, surrounded by their children. 

The reason it is one of my favorites is that I only knew my great-grandmother Minnie in her older years (she was 79 when I was born).  Seeing this picture of her as a beautiful young woman gave me a totally different perspective! 

Standing L-R are Maria (1871-1938), Henry Clay (1881-1948), Martha (1868-1952), Newton (1865-1914), and Polly (1859-1939)

Seated L-R are Sarah (1863-1944), Minnie (1883-1977), Laban (1836-1905), Louisa (1840-1916), Angeline (1874-1932), and Nancy (1861-1934)

 

 

The next picture is of my paternal great-grandmother, Pearl Scruggs McDonald, with her children Dennis (my grandfather), Dimple, and Lyle.  The photographer was Cleve Fuqua, husband of Pearl’s sister Kate.  Pap said he remembered that when Uncle Cleve took that picture, Lyle had a hole in his stocking.  Lyle is not the only one with a hole! J  Since Dimple looks about 3-4 years old, I would guess the picture was taken about 1913-14, presumably in Smith County, Tennessee.

Origins (#52Ancestors Week 2)

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Week 2 – Origins

(surnames withheld for privacy)

My father-in-law, Dave, was adopted as a baby and had always wondered about his origins.  When DNA testing became available, my husband did a Y-DNA test that showed matches with a biological surname of Moore, but we didn’t know where to look from there.  Eventually, Dave agreed to do an Ancestry DNA test.  Using the only clue I had to his origins, I looked for DNA matches with surname Moore.  Our first connection was Nick, a young man who said that his great-grandfather Moore was known to be unfaithful and had probably fathered other children.  However, the time frame was too far back for Mr. Moore to have been Dave’s biological father, so I just set the information aside.

The next breakthrough was a match with a young man whose test manager said the connection appeared to be on his maternal side, so he gave me Linda’s contact info.  Linda remembered that her mother’s cousin had gone though a bit of a “wild phase” when she was young, and the time frame was about right.  She contacted that cousin’s daughter Mari, who agreed to do a DNA test.  The match showed as “close family”, which was the proof we needed that Mari was Dave’s half-sister!  With that information, we could now divide the DNA results into maternal and paternal side 

Next clue was an email from SA, whose mother was a 2^nd-cousin match to Dave.  Since there were no matches with Dave’s maternal surnames, the match should have been on his paternal side, but there were no Moores.  Using SA’s family tree, I made a list of SA’s mother’s parents’ first cousins (who would be the ones to produce a 2^nd cousin).  Her father’s side were all immigrants and not in this country in the time frame we needed, so half of the possibilities were knocked out at once (whew!).  Most of her mother’s side were too old; two possibilities were the right age, and one of them (Carl) was living in the right place in the 1940 census!  However, that still didn’t answer the Moore question, so I went back to Nick’s tree (first match) and took another look.  His Moores were living in the same county as Carl’s parents.  NOW his comment about his great-grandfather made more sense 

If Carl was not the son of his mother’s husband, then his siblings would be half-siblings, which would skew the DNA results.  What I needed was a direct descendant of Carl who would be willing to test for us.

Carl’s mother’s maiden name was L--- (DNA matches with that surname confirmed the connection).  I ordered a book entitled History of L--- Family, and it listed living descendants.  Next up was a bit of Googling and Facebook stalking.  I found Carl’s daughter-in-law and grandchildren (who were listed in the book) on Facebook, held my breath and crossed my fingers, and sent a message to them explaining the adoption situation and that I was looking for someone willing to do a DNA test at our expense.  To my great surprise, I actually got a reply and his granddaughter was willing to test!  Her test came back as estimated 1^st-2^nd cousin to Dave (actual relationship is half-niece; she is half 1^st cousin to my husband).

And that is the (condensed) version of how we solved the question of my father-in-law’s biological origins!

Family Lore (#52Ancestors Week 1)

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Week 1 – Family Lore

After I began researching and learned more about the family of my paternal grandmother (Frances Burgess McDonald), I told her that her great-grandmother’s name was Dorcus James.  Her immediate reply was, “Oh, I’ve always been told that we were related to the Jameses.”  I didn’t realize who she meant until I talked to other James researchers who had heard that we were related to Jesse James.  However, Frank and Jesse James’s family came from Virginia to Kentucky to Missouri (their father was born in Kentucky in 1818), and Dorcus James (b. 1813) was from South Carolina, so I seriously doubt there is any connection.  Most likely, having an ancestor with the surname of James was enough to claim kinship to the famous outlaws. 

My maternal great-grandfather (born in 1890 in Kentucky) was named Frank and his brother was named James.  I have been told that they were named for the outlaws, but that it was intentionally done subtly.

Another bit of family lore, this time on David’s side, is that his mother said a cousin invented the elevator (she gave me this tidbit after we watched “Kate & Leopold”).  She didn’t remember who it was, so I really had no way to research it.  A few years later, she had a DNA match with a cousin who had been adopted and was searching for her family.  Amy lived not too far away, so we were able to meet her for lunch one day.  As we were exchanging information, she pulled out an envelope of pictures that someone in her birth family had sent.  One of the pictures showed Amy’s biological grandfather standing next to a large piece of equipment.  Ruth asked if that was an airplane part, and Amy said, “No, it’s part of an elevator.  My grandfather had an elevator company in south Florida.”  Ruth and I looked at each other and our mouths dropped open.  Amy’s grandfather was the husband of Mary Krajewska, who was Ruth’s father’s first cousin.  So he didn’t exactly invent the elevator, but he did design and build them!