The Adams Family

I have discovered who the Dixon cousins were from my previous post.  My great-grandmother's sister, Martha Adams, married Samuel Dixon in December 1839 in Rockbridge County. They had at five children born in Virginia: Sarah, James, Mary, Martha (Mattie), and John.  Martha Adams Dixon was my third-great aunt as follows:

Martha Adams (1813 - 1893) 3rd great-aunt

James Adams (1788 - 1857) Father of Martha Adams

Nancy Lyle Adams (1826 - 1893) Daughter of James Adams

Sarah Isabella Gibson (1854 - 1920) Daughter of Nancy Lyle Adams

John Addison Alexander (1884 - 1923) Son of Sarah Isabella Gibson

John Addison Alexander Jr (1919 - 2002) Son of John Addison Alexander

Nancy Lynn Alexander Daughter of John Addison Alexander Jr

Martha Adams Dixon died October 14, 1893, in Tipton, Iowa.  According to an obituary posted on her FindAGrave Memorial (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48823890), she was preceded in death by her husband and all but one of her children. (Tipton Advertiser 19 Oct 1893 page 3) The obituary also says she was the oldest of a family of eight, suggesting that Aunt Mag and Aunt Mary referenced in her daughter’s letter were probably her sisters; and Uncle Tom Lindsey could have been her mother’s brother.  I’m still working on that. The obituary goes on to say that Martha’s “early life was spent in her native state, but in 1854 moved with her husband and family to Tipton where she had since resided. She has been an invalid since 1882 and has known what sorrow and trouble mean, yet in the midst of it all she bore herself patiently and maintained a cheerful and hopeful spirit. This she was enabled to do by her faith in God and the trust which she exercised in her Savior and his promise to her. She united early in life with the Presbyterian Church and remained a faithful and consistent member to the close of life. She leaves a daughter and one brother in this place besides other relatives and friends who will miss her presence and sorrow in her absence.”

By the time Mattie wrote her letter in 1866, her father had died. Her sisters Sarah and Mary each married but had no children; her brother James married and had at least two children; but I found no evidence that Mattie or her brother John married.  With so many family members dying before 1900, it is understandable that family connections were lost.

For the record, I also am related to Samuel Dixon; he was my 3rd cousin 4 times removed as follows:

Samuel Dixon (1812 - 1864) 3rd cousin 4x removed

Sarah Paxton (1792 - 1834) Mother of Samuel Dixon

Samuel Paxton (1748 - 1807) Father of Sarah Paxton

Elizabeth McClung (1724 - 1773) Mother of Samuel Paxton

William McClung (1698 - 1784) Father of Elizabeth McClung

John McClung (1731 - 1817) Son of William McClung

Margaret Alexander McClung (1755 - 1839) Daughter of John McClung

Phebe Tate (1789 - 1846) Daughter of Margaret Alexander McClung

Robert Tate Willson (1812 - 1885) Son of Phebe Tate

Ida Virginia Willson (1855 - 1949) Daughter of Robert Tate Willson

Janet Ingles Fultz (1888 - 1954) Daughter of Ida Virginia Willson

John Addison Alexander Jr (1919 - 2002) Son of Janet Ingles Fultz

Nancy Lynn Alexander Daughter of John Addison Alexander Jr

Who ARE these people? 

I have a stack of new-to-me old letters that I am deciphering and I see names of Aunt so-and-so and Cousin so-and-so of people who are not in my tree!  These letters provide tantalizing hints of relations long lost to our family. 

My great-grandmother Sallie Belle Gibson Alexander kept a stationery box containing letters, receipts, cancelled checks, and other items.  The oldest date is 1866, so I will start with that simple letter. I have transcribed it below the images.

I think the Aunt to whom this was addressed may have been my great-great grandmother Nancy Lyle Adams.  Her first husband, David Addison Gibson, died in 1862 leaving her with three young children, including my great-grandmother Sallie and her brothers John and James. In 1866, the children would have been school-age  and Nancy Adams Gibson would have been a widow "living alone" as referenced in the letter. Nancy remarried in 1868 to William Irvin who died in 1871, leaving her once again a widow until her death in Rockbridge County in 1893.

That said, I do not know who Mattie Dixon or her mother or Sallie and Mary who were probably her sisters.  I also don't know Uncle Tom Lindsey, Aunt Mag or Aunt Mary. I suspect they are on the Adams side of the family, about which I know much less than the Gibson side. More to research!

 

"Tipton Cedar Co. Iowa

December 21st 1866

Dear Aunt,

After a lapse of time I set myself to drop you a few lines to see whether you are still in the land of the living it has been about four months since I answered your letter. I have almost given up in despair. I am in hopes when you receive this epistle you will certainly answer. We are all enjoying general health this evening and hoping you and your little family are all enjoying the blessings of life and that is good health. Oh what a blessing. We have had some very cold weather but it has not come to the worst yet. We have had some sleighing but not good.  I had the pleasure of taking a sleighride one evening I went to church. Oh Aunt how I wish you and your little family were here with us this evening. What a pleasant time we would have. I would not mind losing one nights sleep to have a talk with you. Oh what would I give to see you and all my relations but I fear I will never have that pleasure.  Well Aunt we all at home this evening with the exception of Sallie. She is in the town of Tipton.  Mother and Mary are knitting and has been playing the jewsharp. We are having quite an interesting time. John is going to school I expect to start next week if no preventing providence. I hope to have a pleasant time.  I suppose Cousin Sallie & John are going to school. Where did you spend your Christmas.  For my part I spent mine at home. It has been so long since I heard from you I thought I would drop you a few lines. I would like to know how you are getting along have you any one living with you now. I should think it would be very lonesome living alone. I want you to write soon and give all the particulars how all our relations are getting along especially Uncle Tom Lindsey. I am in hopes when I hear from him he will be enjoying better health. Is there any marrying going on in Virginia. There is no end to the marriages in Iowa and still no signs of stopping. There was three couple married last week all acquaintances of mine. I wish  them all the joy and happiness imaginable. Have you seen Aunt Mag lately. How are they prospering. I hope well. Tell Aunt Mag not to think she is slighted because I have sent my photograph to Aunt Mary. Tell Aunt Mag to be patient a while longer and she will have the pleasure of looking at my pretty face until she is tired. I will expect some of the family in return. Now Aunt if you don't answer this letter I will have to send you another pen and paper.  I want you to write soon and give all the particulars for I long to hear from you all once more. You were going to better the next time but instead of doing better I think you are getting worse. All join in much love to you all and accept a portion of my love to you. Answer immediately. 

From your niece, Mattie Dixon

Parted friends again may meet

From the cares of labor free

Crowned with mercy oh how sweet

Will eternal friendship be – Mattie”

The things I find in my house.  This jewel is a letter from my cousin Bobby Alexander announcing the birth of his first born son, Jason.  The postmark is Lawrence, Massachusetts, September 24, 1975.  Bob was an artist and cartoonist and, at the time, worked for the Lawrence Eagle Tribune.  The photos tell the story.  He wove details into every part of the card.  Also note  the "check the box" on the envelope.  Rex & I had just married in May and the term Ms. was fairly new then. 

Enjoy these. 

 

  

 

   

Apologies to Ben.  If there was one for you, I did not receive a copy.

I thought I had posted about this photo before, but I couldn't find anything in a search of my blog.  So I am assuming I only posted it on Facebook in the past.  Anyway, this is a photo taken on the front steps of the farm house I used to live in (from age 2 to 9) in Fairfield, Virginia.  The house had been in my Dad's family for a while...not sure how long.  But it is the first place I remember living. 

Fairfield, VA, 1959

Pictured in the front row are (left to right) my sister Cathie, cousin Carol, brother Graham, me, cousin Bruce.  On the left middle are my Aunt Eleanor and my Mom holding my sister Sally.  In the back row are my Dad, cousin Dorothy, Grandma Barnett, and my aunt Ruth.  The picture is undated, but I estimated it was taken in 1959 because Sally was born in the summer of 1958 and she looks about a year old here.  Also, I was never sure who took the picture.  Likely candidates were my uncle Bill (Ruth's husband) or my Uncle Marcellus (Aunt Eleanor's husband).  However, a couple of days ago, I stumbled across the following newspaper article.

The News Leader [Staunton, VA], 6 Oct 1959, page 7

As you can tell, the photo documents this visit.  So now I can confirm that it was taken on October 3rd or 4th of 1959, and that it was Uncle Marcellus who took the picture. 

My grandmother's birthday was October 5th, so she was about to turn 75.  Perhaps the visit was because of her birthday.  I don't remember.

After attending a local genealogy conference, I am determined to sort through all my "stuff."  So I started going through some of the boxes that I have.  One of the boxes contains stationery that belonged to my great aunt Draper Fultz.  It contains the following:

• unused postage stamps from (I think) the 1940s through the 1960s;
• envelopes and post cards embossed with prepaid 2-cent, 3-cent, and 4-cent postage; 
• empty envelopes with cancelled postage stamps addressed to her from various people dating from at least 1939-1967; 
• empty envelopes with uncancelled postage stamps addressed to other people; 
• many postage stamps torn off of corners of envelopes;  
• Top Value (yellow) and S & H Green stamps, which were trading stamps; 
• some decorative bird stamps; 
• a book of Virginia ABC coupons issued in 1946; and 
• a few actual letters and post cards with postage stamps.

Historically speaking, the ABC coupons are arguably the most significant item here.  And the philatelists reading this are likely drooling about the uncancelled postage stamps.  But for me, the most exciting item was this post card dated May 15, 1944, that my Mom sent to Draper.  My parents were married May 6, 1944, and spent heir honeymoon in New Orleans before heading to Texas where my Dad would resume his Army duties. So she wrote this to Draper while they were on their honeymoon.

 
 

Now for something truly different and not related to family.  Just a fun find.  I was perusing old newspapers for a project I'm researching and noticed this ad for the Central Mississippi Matrimonial Aid Association. "The only plan that allows a member to marry when he pleases."

 

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038603/1882-06-10/ed-1/seq-3/

I was intrigued, so I looked closer and found the association's charter in an adjacent column. In case you cannot read the print, the association's purpose was to "fraternally unite all acceptable unmarried white male and female persons, and to establish a benefit fund" for members.  Just in case you were thinking that Tinder, OKCupid, match.com, etc. were a new concept...they are not.

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038603/1882-06-10/ed-1/seq-3/

I read in other, later editions of the papers that these were a version of get rich quick schemes. You can view these directly at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038603/1882-06-10/ed-1/seq-3/

#52stories - Week 15 (Apr 12th) - published late

Grandparents.

My paternal grandparents were John Addison Alexander and Janet Ingles Fultz. He died when my father was 3 years old.  She died when I was 2 years old.  So I never knew him and don't remember her.  John Addison Alexander was a farmer and a baseball player.  Family lore says he was asked to try out for the Washington Senators, but his mother wanted him to stay home and take care of the farm.  So he stayed home.  Here is a picture of him with his team.  And another that is a portrait taken in the early 1900s and the last one is of him on the farm.  His face is often obscured by the shadow from his hat.

John Addison Alexander Sr

John Alexander with his son, Jim.

While I didn't know Janet Ingles Fultz, I know she was a remarkable woman.  After her husband's death, she managed to raise three boys and run a farm during the Great Depression.  Before she was married, she taught school.  Family lore says that she attended Harrisonburg State Normal School, now James Madison University. She turned her home into a Tourist Home and rented out rooms to bring in income,  Dad and his brothers slept in one of the rooms in the house. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Here are two pictures of her.  The top one is about 1918 and the bottom one is more likely 1940s.

Janet Fultz Alexander with her son, Jim

My maternal grandparents were John Graham Barnett and Gracie Allen Van Pelt. He died before I was born, so I did not know him.  She was the only one of my four grandparents that I knew and remember.  John Graham Barnett worked for the Richmond Dairy. He also took care of his family.  He built a house next door to his own for his mother and sister to live in.  My cousin, Dorothy, told me that he was a very loving person and he really liked children.  My Mom remembers him taking her with him to visit relatives.  Here are pictures of him as a baby, a young man, and with my grandmother.

 

My first memories of my Grandma Barnett are when she visited us on the farm.  She stayed in the living room and slept on the sleep sofa.  She always had life savers on hand and sucked on them.  I also remember her at her home in Richmond and going to church with her.  She knew all the songs by heart and never looked at the hymnal.  She used to tell me that she had a very long name: Gracie Allen Van Pelt Royall Barnett.  The first three are her maiden name, Royall is her first husband's surname, and Barnett is my grandfather's surname. Here are pictures of her as a baby, a young woman, and one of her as I remember her,  The latter was taken about 1959.

Grandma Barnett and Ruth Barnett Finke

I remember visiting Grandma many times at her house on Florida Avenue in Richmond; it was stucco and the white rubbed off on your clothes and hands when you touched it.  An alley ran behind the house.  Her yard was full of flowers and she had a goldfish pond.  The house had a basement with a dirt floor and a big metal grate in the floor between the living room and dining room through which the heat was blown into the house.  The grate could get very hot and Mom says we all got burned at one time or another on that grate.  There was a swinging door between the dining room and kitchen; I think it might have been a Dutch door.  Her phone was on a telephone table at the top of the stairs and the table had a seat attached to it--these are sometimes referred to as telephone chairs or gossip chairs. She had a wooden Morris chair in her living room that I found fascinating.  I hope one of my cousins still has that chair! She had wooden book cases with the framed glass fronts that would swing forward and slide above the shelf--I think they are called lawyer's shelves.  Later I saw many of those in government offices, but hers were the first of that kind that I had ever seen; and last time I saw them, they were at my Uncle Scott's house.  She had a metal glider on the front porch.  She later had to move in with Ruth's family and then to a nursing home as dementia set in.  One of the last times she visited us in Winston-Salem, she ended up losing her diamond ring.  We were living on Araminta Drive at the time.  We searched everywhere for it but never found it.  We speculated that she wrapped it in a tissue and flushed it down the toilet by mistake.  She was so distraught. The last time I saw her, she did not really know who we were.  She died when I was in college.

#52stories - Week 14 (Apr 5th) - published late

Siblings. I have three of them: my older sister, Cathie; my brother, Graham; and my younger sister, Sally.

Here's an early picture of the oldest three of us.  Sally was born at the time this was taken, but the one picture I have of all of us taken in this sitting is not very flattering of her and she would not appreciate my including it. This was taken about 1958.

Nancy, Graham, Cathie

Cathie tells me she taught me everything I know.  She would return home from school, and I would be her student.  She is also the self-described "experimental" model, which has been somewhat confirmed by Mom not letting me do things that she let Cathie do, like take a bath with your socks on. What could go wrong?  When we lived on the farm, Cathie sprinkled horseradish powder on a slice of loaf bread and gave it to me to eat. She talked me into biting into an unripe persimmon by doing it first and saying how yummy it was.  Let me assure you that unripe persimmons define the word bitter.  And when we were playing cowgirls, she tied me up and pulled me off of a chair, my chin split, and I had to get stitches.  But that's about all of the bad stuff.  We were far enough apart in age that we didn't have that much to do with each other growing up; especially after Graham came along and Cathie started school.  We became closer after we became adults.  Right, Cathie?

Graham is only 17 months younger than I am, so I cannot remember him not being around.  And he's the one I remember playing with the most as we were growing up, especially on the farm where neighbors were not close by.  We explored the woods and creek together.  Once after my Dad had burned some trash out behind the house, Graham was waving a burning stick around and ended up burning my toe.  Also, in the Buena Vista house, he jumped off the wall, yelled "Geronimo" and started chasing me.  I ended up falling and getting a large gash in my leg; you can still see the scar today. I've told both of these stories before.  We also learned about dinosaurs together because he had a set of plastic ones whose names were imprinted on them.  After we moved to Winston, we spent less time together because we had other friends close by.  He thinks he's Mom's favorite.  But he's really only her favorite son. Right, Graham?

Sally is the baby of the family.  She was born when I was already in school, so I didn't really "play" with her growing up.  She is the only sibling whose actions did not result in my having a scar! One time, we heard a thump, thump, thump; it was Sally tumbling down the stairs.  She was just crawling at the time and Dad was supposed to be watching her.  Another memory on the farm  climbed up on a table and got some matches and lit one.  It dropped on some papers on a table, but I was able to blot out the flames before they spread.  She always seemed happy when we were children and still does today.  We also became closer after we became adults.  Right, Sally?

Growing up, I didn't always appreciate having so many siblings...too crowded in the car, not enough food for seconds, having to share the bedroom and bathroom.  But each of them have added to and continue to add to my life.  Love you all!

Here are a couple more sibling photos.

Graham, Cathie, Sally (see, happy!), and Nancy about 1958 in Fairfield

Nancy, Cathie, Sally, Graham in Fairfield - late 1970s or early 1980s

#52stories - Week 13 (Mar 29th - published late)

Memories in Winston-Salem. 1962-1970.

• I described a lot of my memories of Winston-Salem in my earlier post about elementary school.
• In the summer of 1962, we moved to Winston-Salem and lived at 2408 Ivy Ave.  I shared a room with my older sister.  The house had an attic that was floored and had dormer windows.  We could sleep up there when the weather was right if we wanted to.There was an alley behind the house.  I remember my brother throwing a brick up in the air in the back yard over & over.  Unfortunately, the last time he did it, it came down on my little sister's head. Ouch!  
• We walked to school, to church , and to just about everywhere else; sometimes we rode our bikes.  There was a man a few blocks over that ran a candy store out of his basement.  All the kids went there.  Candy bars were a nickel and there were also lots of penny candy options.
• We went to Burkhead Methodist Church in north Winston.  And when it moved to a brand new building on Silas Creek Parkway, we moved with it.  I was confirmed in the old building.  According to the church website (http://burkheadumc.org/history/), it was called Burkhead Methodist Episcopal Church, South until it moved to Silas Creek Parkway and became Burkhead United Methodist Church. Here's a photo of what the old church looks like now (photo creds to John Zielke on Google maps).  It is now the Ambassadors for Christ Revival Church on Harriet Tubman Dr, but the street had a different name in the early 1960s. The picture below it is the current church (photo from the church website).

• I saw my first fireworks at the fairgrounds in Winston.  I just remember them being very loud.
• We  took vacations to Ocean Isle Beach, NC, a couple of years.  My little sister said of the ocean, "that's a big swimming pool!" We left our plastic bucket on the beach and it washed away.  Mom fussed at us for doing that, but we had no clue that it wouldn't be there when we went back.  Dad taught us to catch crabs with string, weights, chicken necks, and a net; and how to cook and eat them.  We had eaten them before in Fairfield when my Uncle Scott brought some over from Fredericksburg. 
• We occasionally ate at Kelly's Hamburgers after church.  It was kind of like a McDonalds, but I think it predated McDonalds in Winston.
• In 1964, we moved to 205 Araminta Drive on the west side of town.  I had a room to myself because I had always shared a room with a sibling.  Cathie & Sally shared a room, but Cathie left for college in 1966 and that became Sally's room.  Dad built a partition in the basement to section off half the room for Graham.
• In high school, I performed as a majorette with our high school band and others in the region at Band Day for a Wake Forest football game.  We also performed in the Winston-Salem Thanksgiving Day parade.  Dad took this picture of me in the official band uniform before one of the performances.
  

• I don't think I mentioned before that, other than the uniform pictured above, we made our uniforms.  It kept the cost down. We had a white one with fringe (top & bottom), and we wore a white blouse with green pants or gold pants.  We made "suspenders" out of braid that we added to the green pants for a different look.
• I had a pet cat that we had brought down from my uncle's farm. He was an indoor/outdoor cat and lived many years.  I have pictures of him somewhere that I'll add if I can find them. 
• During the summers in college, I worked at Pizza Hut, and as a camp counselor at a couple of day camps.  I also had a job with the city of Hickory one summer and I stayed with my sister.

I will add more memories when I think of them.