#52ancestors Post Twenty-One: The Military

Whit Criswell Bryan was stationed on this ship in 1951. He sent this photo to a friend
and on the back wrote, This is the U. S. S. Macon (CA 132) Heavy Cruiser taken
at Gitmo, Cuba.

1350 men - 75 officers
9 eight inch guns
12 five inch guns
Numerous 40 mm and 20 mm
One Helicopter

Whit Criswell Bryan
Dad sent me this postcard from Rome in the early 1960s. 

This week's writing prompt for #52ancestors is Military. I was a child of the military. Dad was a hospital corpsman in the Navy. Big ships and noisy jets were commonplace where we lived.  We carried ID Cards and had base stickers on our cars. We shopped at the commissary and Navy Exchange. And, when sick, visited the dispensary to see a doctor. 


The military determined where you lived and for how long. Dad was in the Navy and our family moved to Virginia in 1956. We never left the area, but Dad was frequently away.  

Dad joined the Navy in 1940 and retired in 1969. He was at Pearl Harbor during the bombing, spent a year with the Marines in Vietnam, and experienced a lot in between.

Whit Criswell Bryan - Vietnam 1967

William Joseph Quinn - Korea 1962

My husband's father was in the Army. His family's experience was very different from mine as they moved frequently; Georgia, Virginia (several times), Kentucky, Michigan, France, and Germany.  

William Joseph Quinn served in Army ROTC at Fordham University and the Army Reserves before entering the Regular Army. He served in Korea, Vietnam, Europe, Israel and in the United States before he retired in 1982.  

Both Whit Criswell Bryan (1920-2001) and William Joesph Quinn (1930 - 2005) volunteered to serve. Both had instances where their lives may have been at risk, but thankfully, both had long military careers and enjoyed retirement. 

Monday is Memorial Day; a day to honor those who gave their lives serving our country in the military. Take time to remember and honor those individuals.

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2018

Sources

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn.

Friday's Photo: My Glynn Family in Maple Grove, A Cemetery in Putney, Vermont

Glynn ancestors - Joseph Albert Glynn, Delancy Glynn, Caroline Almira Glynn, and Nancy Reed Glynn

My mother took these photos in 1979 and surprised me with them a few days ago. I had been lamenting about a misidentified family grave in Maple Grove Cemetery and, unbeknownst to me, Mom had the photos to answer my questions. 

The first grave in this row of Glynn family ancestors is Joseph Albert Glynn, my great-great-grandfather. I liked seeing the photo with the other graves as I now know he is buried with family.

Albert was born in Putney, Vermont and was the son of Joseph Glynn and Nancy Reed. To read more about him click here. 

These next two graves are that of Delancy Glynn and Caroline A. Glynn.  Delancy might be the brother (or maybe a sister) of Joseph T. Glynn, Albert's father. Delancy was in his 40s when he died. 

Caroline Almira was Albert's sister, the only daughter of Nancy Reed and Joseph T. Glynn. She died young. Go to this pin at my Pinterest site to see a brief obituary. 

The last in this line of four family graves is Nancy Reed Glynn, the wife of Joseph T. Glynn. She is Albert Glynn's mother and my 3rd great-grandmother. Her parents were Benjamin Reed and Huldah Pratt of Putney, Windham County, Vermont. I am currently trying to document Benjamin as the son of Peter Reed and a Mayflower Descendant. Nancy Reed Glynn died on April 2, 1854, in Putney.  

Thank you, Mom, for the photos. I will add them to Find A Grave tomorrow.

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2018

Sources

Family photographs and documents from the collection Elizabeth M. Bryan.  

#52ancestors Post Twenty: Another Language

My father-in-law flew the Irish flag and I remember a Irish phrase on a bumper sticker on his car. 

The writing prompt for #52ancestors last week is Another Language. I have not had to deal other languages when researching as I have yet to find ancestors arriving in the US who didn't already speak English. 

Most of my families were probably in America prior to the American Revolution. Most of my husband's family members immigrated to the US from Ireland between the late 1800s and 1930. 

Although the Irish family members spoke English when arriving in the US, it is unknown as to how many also spoke Gaelic. I will never be able to answer this question, but thought I would learn a little about this Irish language. 

The first thing I learned is when we talk about the language of Ireland while speaking English, it should be referred to as Irish. When speaking in Irish, the language is referred to using the term Gaeilge.

Irish Gaeilge/Gaelic, Scottish Gaeilge/Gaelic, and Manx (Gaeilge/Gaelic), from the Isle of Man are all Goidelic languages. These Goidelic languages are one of two groups of Celtic languages, originated in Britain and Ireland, that still exist in modern times. 

There are five vowels and thirteen consonants in the Irish language and word order in sentences is very different from English. While we might say A boy saw a dog yesterday, in Irish it would be Saw the boy a dog yesterday.  

Irish is not anything like English or other languages you might learn at school. Click here to listen to a weather forecaster speak fluent Irish. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2018

Sources

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn

Elementary Course of Gaelic. Web. 21 May. 2018. <http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/ionnsachadh/ECG/>.

Irish Language - Wikipedia. Web. 21 May. 2018. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language>

#52ancestors Post Nineteen: Drucilla Rhodes - Learning about my 3rd Great-Grandmother on Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day!

I spent a little of today (and yesterday) learning about my 3rd great-grandmother, Drucilla Rhodes. We each have 16 third great-grandmothers and Drucilla is one of eight I am able to identify. 

I am a descendant of Drucilla from my mother's Giddens family, this is how Drucilla is connected to me. 

Drucilla Rhodes married Edmond Bradshaw

Luellen Bradshaw married George Giddens

Charles Giddens married Mary Lucy Glynn

My Grandmother

My Mother

Me

I have seen Drucilla's name written as Drucilla, Drusilla, and Druzilla. And, have seen three different Drusilla Rhodes in the same area of North Carolina. The names may be the same, but the approxmate ages help to sort them into the correct families. 

Repairing Cemetery Stones in Bienville's Bryan Cemetery

The Bryan Cemetery
Near Ringgold in Bienville Parish, Louisiana
Click to enlarge

I posted The Bryan Cemetery in Bienville Parish - History, Photographs, and Disrepair in March. It was sad to see the old stones in need of repair. 

Jane Stewart Slater, a descendant of Reddick and Elizabeth Bryan took photos and contacted Campbell Monument Company. The cost to repair two of the stones is $250. Jane is going to the cemetery with the owner of the monument company to look at the stones and determine how to repair the third stone (cost is not yet known).  I believe the third stone is that of Georgia Ann Frances, but I might be wrong as Reddick's stone is in several pieces as well. If not able to be restored, it will be cleaned up and laid flat in cement.  

As of now we have a promise to fund the cost of the third stone (cost unknown) and another donation. We are currently in need of $200.

Some Bryan family descendants have expressed an interest in helping with the cost.  If you would like donate a small amount toward the cost of the repairs, please click here to contact me. OR, if you are a friend of Jane Stewart Slater,  you may contact her through Facebook. 

UPDATE See the final results at Three Bryan Cemetery Monuments Beautifully Restored in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2018

#52ancestors Post Eighteen: Close Up - Hugh H. Lawson, Ida Stephens, and Belle Stephens

Recently, I posted this photo of some young people who I thought were in Bienville Parish, Louisiana around 1900. However, most of those pictured lived nearby in Red River Parish. 

As last week's writing prompt for #52ancestors was Close Up, I decided to look more closely at Ida and Belle Stevens.  I found they were actually Ida and Bell Stephens, daughters of Samuel Nehemiah Stephens and Ollie Jane Allums.  

At Find A Grave, I easily located Ida as the wife of Hugh H. Lawson and Belle as the wife of Andrew J. Lawson. Hugh H. Lawson was also found in this photo so included him in this post. Hugh and Andrew J. don't appear to be brothers, but with similar family names, I wonder if they were cousins. 

In 1900, Belle (age15) and Ida (age 13) were living at home in Red River Parish. 
Hugh, living nearby with his parents, M.J. and A.J., was 17 years old.  

Belle Stephens Lawson was only thirty-years-old when she died in 1915. Public member trees at Ancestry.com indicate she had eight children between 1902 and 1915. Belle is buried in Springhill Cemetery in Ringgold. Her husband married Clara Earnest Pepper after Belle's death.

Ida and Hugh appear to have been lifelong residents of Red River Parish. More information can be found in their obituaries. 

Hugh H. Lawson 1883-1969
From the collection of Marguerite Cook
Clark - this obituary was held together by
a band-aid so the portion telling about
the funeral is missing. 

Ida Stephens Lawson 1886-1974
The Times, 10 Jun 1974, Mon,
Main Edition, Page 12 Newspapers.com

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana
© 2018

Sources

Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission.

 Newspapers.com.  Web. 11 May. 2018. <https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19931102/found_in_group_photo_mcc_collection/>

Springhill Cemetery in Ringgold, Louisiana - Find A Grave Cemetery. Web. 11 May. 2018. <https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/69041/springhill-cemetery>.