And now for something a little different.

My big sister introduced me to Middle Sister wines...because I AM the middle sister.  I just found out that the web site (http://www.middlesisterwines.com) lets you take a quiz to see what kind of middle sister you are!  Here's my result:

You're a Smarty Pants. Yeah, you know who you are. You were the first one to raise your hand, finish the test, and make a million. If only you weren't so tall, beautiful and well-dressed, we'd really hate you. Seriously, anybody would be lucky to have you as a friend. You complete us. Because you always have lots of Smarty Pants Chardonnay to share and if we ever travel abroad you speak five languages.




Well I can't say it's all true, but I am often the first to raise my hand and finish the test.

Continuing the family from yesterday....

Jennings Motley Jeffress married Susan D. Finch.  He actually had three wives and Susan was the middle one.  I didn't know about her until fairly recently.  I found Jennings Jeffress's will in which he gave his daughter Susan Emma Jeffress (my great-great grandmother) "her Mama's gold watch and all the silver spoons marked F".  That was the first hint that her mother's name began with "F".  The will was part of a chancery record that I reviewed at the Library of Virginia.

Then I found indexed marriage records for Jennings Jeffress.  He first married Margaret "Peggy" Moseley in 1812 in Charlotte County, second Susan D. Finch in 1812 in Charlotte County, and third Jane Pettus in 1841 in Mecklenburg County. His will mentions his wife Jane, which further supports  that she was his last wife.

During the past month, I was looking through a book that the Virginia Genealogical Society had published that indexed marriages from the Richmond, Virginia, papers. I was actually looking for a Jenkins and noticed the name Jennings.  That led me to the microfilms at the Library of Virginia where I found the following notice of the 21 November 1827 marriage of J.M. Jeffress and Miss Susan D. Finch, the only daughter of Thomas Finch, all of Charlotte Co.  This was published in the Richmond Enquirer on 22 December 1827.

Sadly, I also found in the Richmond Enquirer dated 25 February 1840, the obituary for Susan D. Jeffriess, wife of Capt. Jennings M. Jeffriess on 13 February 1840.

And, also the obituary for Capt. Jennings M. Jeffress appeared in the Richmond Enquirer on .
7 May 1852. He died suddenly on 22 march 1852 in Clarksville, Virginia.

 

Not a 5th-great grandparent, Thomas Jeffress was merely a 4th-great grandparent and this is his will.  The will was proven in Lunenburg County, Virginia, on 12 August 1822. Again, I obtained this copy from the Library of Virginia's microfilm, Lunenburg County Will Book 8 pages 241-242.  He mentions his "beloved wife" but does name indicate her name.

The will mentions children Lucretia, Jennings, Polly, James, Eliza, Nancy, Lucinda, and Jane, in that order.  Because he further mentions that Jennings and Lucretia will inherit land from their grandfather, I assume that they had a different mother than the other children.  At least one SAR application paper lists Jennings's mother as a Ms. Motley, which makes sense because his middle name was Motley.

Thomas Jeffress's son Jennings Motley Jeffress married Susan D. Finch, whose daughter Susan Emma Jeffress married James W. Love, whose daughter Mamie Elizabeth Love married John Graham Barnett Sr, whose son John Graham Barnett Jr married Gracie Allen Van Pelt, whose daughter Jean is my Mom.

Thomas Jeffress's other son James Jeffress married Nancy Moseley, their son Edwatd A. Jeffress married Sally E., and their son William Arthur Jeffress married fanny Dorsey Price, and their daughter Sarah Burton Jeffress married my Uncle Jim Alexander. I believe this is the case, but I haven't proven it beyond a doubt!

So Mom & Sarah were descended from half-brothers, but they were both 3rd-great-granddaughters of Thomas Jeffress.

James Robertson & Rachel Phair are another set of 5th-great grandparents.  This is James Robertson's will, which was proven on 13 December 1819 in Campbell County, Virginia.  James Robertson is a proven DAR patriot.  He provided "two beeves" in payment of taxes to the new government in 1782 in Bedford County (Campbell's predecessor).  I retrieved this copy of the will at the Library of Virginia from the microfilm copy of Campbell County's Will Book 4, pp. 219-220.

James and Rachel's daughter Isabell Robertson married John Gibson, their son John Gibson married Grace Taylor, their daughter Ann Eliza Gibson married John M. Alexander, their son James W. Alexander married Sally Belle Gibson (now I know it was really Sarah Isabella), their son, John Addison Alexander married Janet Fultz, and their son Jack was my Dad.  From John & Isabell Gibson on down to my Dad, the family lived in Rockbridge County, Virginia.

This is the beginning of the will of Samuel Downey.  The will was written 2 January 1773 and proven 17 August of the same year in Augusta County, Virginia.  The closeness of dates and the wording at the beginning of the will indicate that Samuel knew he was ailing and, thus, prepared his will.  Samuel bequeaths to his "loving wife" his "house biblle her sadle mare and sadle and a feather bed & furniture & spinning wheel & all her cloaths."  He also gives her two parts of his personal estate.  He gives the 500 acres on which he was living equally to his sons William and Samuel, but states that his wife will have the land during her lifetime.  And he named his loving wife as one of his executors of his estate.  In recording the will, the wife's name is given as Martha Downey.

Samuel Downey & his wife Martha are another set of my 5th-great grandparents. 

In addition to their sons William and Samuel, the will mentions daughters Margaret, Mary Ann, Janet, Rebeca, and Rachel (although not in that order). 

Their daughter Rachel was married in 1779 to John Willson, whose son Samuel Willson married Phoebe Tate in 1809, whose son Robert Tate Willson married Eliza Jane Ingles in 1843, whose daughter Ida Willson married Joseph Fultz in 1887, whose daughter Janet Fultz married John Alexander in 1913.  Janet & John's son Jack was my Dad.

Here are the other two pages of the will found in Augusta County Will Book #5 located on microfilm at  the Library of Virginia.

I was excited to find among my mother's picture, this photo of Archibald Douglas Van Pelt.  He was one of my great-grandfathers and he was captured at Gettysburg during the Civil War.  He was the only one of my great-grandparents for whom I did not have a photo.  So this completes the set! 

After the Civil War, he helped build the Big Bend Tunnel in West Virginia.  According to family legend, his wife, Annie Lettie Swain Van Pelt, returned to Richmond for the births of their children; but they lived in West Virginia or western Virginia for much of their lives.  They eventually returned to Richmond and are both buried in Oakwood Cemetery. Here is their tombstone (Kate was one of their daughters).

These are pictures of my Mom in her wedding gown in 1944.  The picture in which she is sitting appeared in the Richmond Times Dispatch with the write-up of her wedding. And this is her wedding invitation. 

 

Considering that World War II was raging at the time, the picture, invitation, and wedding announcement in the paper seem incredibly normal. There were some differences, however.  For example, Dad requested some time off in-between duty stations to get married.  Actually, his file just shows that he was granted time off but doesn't say why.  And the wedding party consisted of those who were around--especially the groomsmen,  They were not necessarily the groom's closest friends. A special occasion nonetheless.

Samuel Crockett, Jr and Jane Steele are another set of my fifth-great grandparents.  Samuel is also one of my recently-verifed-by-DAR patriots.  The Virginia Publick Claims published by Abercrombie & Slatten indicates that Samuel "furnished supplies" to support the war effort, which counts as patriotic service.
Samuel Crockett was born 11 February 1740 in Baltimore County, Maryland.  He was the son of Samuel Crockett and Esther Thompson.  In 1757, he married Jane Steele.  Jane was born in 1737 in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and died in 1775 in Sullivan County, Tennessee.  Her husband outlived her by 20 years, dying in 1795.  I think he married a second time after Jane died.

I am descended from Samuel & Jane through their daughter, Margaret Crockett, who married John Ingles.  Margaret & John were from Wythe County, Virginia.  John's father, William Ingles, is another of my patriots.  I have talked about him before--he is more well known as the husband of Mary Draper Ingles. 

The maps below highlight Prince Edward County, Virginia, and Sullivan County, Tennessee.  Keeping in mind that northern Tennessee falls under Virginia's western counties, they didn't migrate as far as it sounds.  And if the next generation was in Wythe County, that's not that far away either.

 

My Dad took these two pictures about 1947 or 1948 when he was stationed in Japan after World War II.  He was with the Counterintelligence Corps in the U.S. Army.  The story as I remember it was that he happened to be at the train station when Emperor Hirohito arrived.  Dad seized the opportunity and took these two shots of the Emperor. 

I have seen these pictures all my life, but thought I would post them now because I just saw the movie Emperor last night.  I wish I could ask my Dad more about what he remembers about the Emperor while he was there. 

I did talk to my Mom, who joined my Dad in Japan and lived there from about 1947 to 1949.  She remembers that the Army headquarters was located close to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.  But she spent very little time in Tokyo--only one night.  So she didn't see much there. Mom says that Dad took these pictures before she joined him in Japan.  And she believes he was on duty at the time.

Mom also remembers Japanese people sleeping in the train stations because they had no where else to go.  And she said many towns had large areas that were destroyed.  Also, on a couple of train rides, they went through an area that had been hit by the atomic bomb and it was very devastated.  I assume she is referring to Hiroshima, because it is on the way to Yamaguchi and Fukuoka--two of the places they lived.

  

More treasure from Mom's attic.  This was folded and tucked into an old leather passport holder.  The original measures about 5 inches by 8 inches. It is a classic piece of German propaganda that I assume my Dad found in Italy during World War II. It was intended to demoralize British troups.

I found more on this particular piece of literature at http://www.psywarrior.com/DDTheme.html.  When you get to the page, serach (ctrl + F) for "AI-046-8-44".  That will take you down the page to this pamphlet.