Friday's Photo: The Bryan Cemetery, Bienville Parish, Louisiana

I needed a short post tonight as working from home is much harder than going to work! Thank you to my distant cousin Jane in Louisiana for this new photo of the Bryan Cemetery. 

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

© 2020

Sources

Photo from Jane Slater. Used with permission. 

From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: Rueben Collier and his wife, Sarah "Frankie" Thomas

The short biography about Reuben Collier was found in the Minutes of the Louisiana Methodist Conference in 1885. 

Reuben S. Collier was born in Coweta county, Ga., October 4, 1851, and moved to Louisiana in 1857. He was converted, and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, October, 1876. He was licensed to preach, on Montgomery Circuit, May 12, 1877, and served Webster Circuit as supply in 1879 and 1880 ; was admitted on trial in the Louisiana Conference in January, 1881, and sent to Sparta Circuit ; to Indian Village in 1882, and ordained deacon that year by Bishop Wilson, and returned to the same work for 1883. In 1884 he served the Sparta Circuit.

Reuben married Sarah Franke Thomas on April 9, 1879 in Bienville Parish. Sarah, born March 2, 1862, was the daughter of Frances L. Wimberly and Benjamin F. Thomas of Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Sadly, Sarah Franke died soon after her marriage on April 18, 1881.  Ruben married Franke's sister, Elizabeth L. Thomas on December 21, 1882. 

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

© 2020

Sources

Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, comp. Louisiana, Compiled Marriage Records, 1851-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.

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.

"Full text of 'Minutes of the Louisiana Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1885 annual session'." Internet Archive. .https://archive.org/stream/minutesoflouisia1885meth/minutesoflouisia1885meth_djvu.txt. Accessed 11 Apr. 2020.

"Sarah Franke Thomas Colier (1863-1881)."  Find A Grave Memorial https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70685418. Accessed 11 Apr. 2020.

Friday's Photo: My Grandmother, Edith Giddens, and her Niece, Evelyn James in Phillipsburg, NJ

This is my grandmother, Edith Giddens, in about 1927. She was visiting Phillipsburg. She might have been living in South Orange, New Jersey at the house on Irvington Avenue with her brother, Charles Giddens, and his wife, Louise Uhde. Sometime the next year Grandma was living in Newark. 

Grandma is standing with her niece, Evelyn James. Evelyn was the daughter of Grandma's sister, Elizabeth Giddens, and her husband, Louis James. The James family was living in Easton, PA in 1923 but by 1930 they owned the home at 28 Reese Court in Phillipsburg. I have other photos of Giddens family standing in this spot. Is this the home on Reese Court? Maybe in the back? 

The home at 28 Reese Court was built in 1900. Recorded on the 1930 United States Census, Louis James, his wife, and their children Dorothy, Evelyn, and John were living in the home. 

Also living with the family was Evans James, father of Louis James. It was reported that Louis James owned the home and its value was $3,000.00.

The house can currently be found at Realtor.com with an estimated value of $105,000. It has one bath and three bedrooms. Interior photos can also be found at Realtor.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

© 2020

Sources

"28 Reese Ct, Phillipsburg, NJ 08865." Realtor https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/28-Reese-Ct_Phillipsburg_NJ_08865_M52668-34670#photo0. Accessed 10 Apr. 2020.

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

From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: Ringgold High School, Bienville Parish, Louisiana - Class of 1935

 This photo of the Ringgold High School senior class of 1935 was found in Marguerite Cook Clark's collection along with the graduation invitation and related papers. I was able to label the photos as the same photo was found in The Shreveport Journal. Unfortunately, in the newspaper article, the second row* only included seven names instead of nine. So, the labeling of that row might be incorrect. If you find a mistake, contact me on my Facebook page or make a comment below. 

Woodrow Sledge, Nealie Woodard, Marven Ferguson

Helen Huggins, Wayne Fuller, Lucille Burroughs

Jack Pope, Eleanor Pietach, Rupert Bryan

Orie Lee, Mrs. Billie Morrow (Sue Ellen Scott), Maxine Locke *

R. W. Lawson, Clytie Corley, Frank Myers *

Virgie Martin, Alice Burkett,  Karl Cook *

Richard Hodgkins, Mable Locke, Jack Wimberly

Edward Gifford, Jacqueline Thomas, Francis Bryan

Principal - Mrs. Clifford Cook Shelby (Marguerite's sister), 

Travis Pate, Mary McDowell

Oma Watson, Charles Cook

Maxine Davis, Percy Thomas, Mrs. Attice Swanson - class sponsor 

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
© 2020

Sources

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.

The Shreveport Journal, Shreveport, Louisiana. 22 Apr 1935, Mon  •  Page 2
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47853979/ringgold-hs-photo-matches-mccs-photo/

Friday's Photo: Francis Gilbert "Bitts" Bryan

Francis Gilbert Bryan
1919 - 1992
Photo from the files of Marguerite Cook Clark. 

Francis Gilbert Bryan known as "Bitts" was the son of Albert Brown Bryan and Ina Mae Cook. Bitts and I are both descendants of Reddick Bryan and Elizabeth Span Regan and would be third-cousins. Bitts grew up in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Born on April 29, 1919,  he was the second of three boys. I've written about his brothers, James Rupert Bryan and Albert Cook Bryan in previous posts.

View a larger clipping including photos
of the students mentioned at
Newspapers.com

I relied heavily on Newspapers.com to find more about Bitts. Francis G. Bryan was valedictorian of his Ringgold High School class in 1935. He attended what is now Northwestern State University and La Salle Extension University of Law. Bitts was a teacher, coach, and assistant principal in Bienville Parish. He was a very active member of the Republican Party in both Texas and New Mexico. 

Bitts was in the United States Army during World War II and after the war, worked as a geophysicist in several states.  He held membership in the Denver Geophysical Society (DGS), a chapter of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG).  

In 1962, Bitts married Elizabeth C. Hille in Denver, Colorado. They had two children. Francis Gilbert Bryan was retired and made his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the time of his death in 1992. He is buried in Providence Cemetery in Ringgold with his parents, two brothers, and numerous Bryan and Cook family members. 

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

© 2020

Sources

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.