Friday's Photo:1944 in the Pacific

Whit Criswell Bryan - Chief Pharmacist's Mate - December 1944

In December 1944, 24 year old, Whit Criswell Bryan, was stationed aboard the U.S.S. Adams in the Pacific. Here are some of his photos and information found in his service record about his time on board the ship. 

U.S.S. Adams - Destroyer Mine Layer

U.S.S. Adams - March 27, 1944 - Okinawa - Suicide Plane Damage

Commander D.N. Clay - Receiving the Bronze Star 1944

Sick Bay - U. S. S. Adams 1945

Wednesday, December 21st would have been Dad's 96th birthday. I would have loved to have known more and I know that he would have had some stories. 

I have one story about this ship that he would have been surprised to hear. In 2001, shortly after Dad's passing, I met his second cousin, Nadine Thompson Waugh, in Stephenville, Texas. She told me that her husband served on the U. S. S. Adams during WWII along with a Bryan who was related to some Stephenville Bryans. At the time, I knew little about his military service and even less about his family. It wasn't until a few years later that I realized Dad had probably talked to Nadine's husband while on the ship. However, although Dad knew that his Bryan family once lived in Stephenville, I am sure that he did not know he had Thompson cousins in Stephenville and did not know Nadine Thompson Waugh. 

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Diana
© 2016

Source

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

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #38 Jessie Mae Thompson Hicks, Daughter of Mattie Hairston

The solid lines indicate that the connection to the family is documented while
the dotted lines indicate that direct evidence has not yet been found to
make the connection. Click on the family tree to see a larger image.

Juanita, my second cousin once removed, told me that her father, Floyd Thompson, had relatives named Chapman. At the time, I didn't know if Juanita ever met them, but she did ask me about them several times. 

No Story Too Small

Well, I searched and found some Chapman's in her mother's Cox family tree, but didn't find Chapman's on the Hairston side of the family . . . until yesterday when I found this obituary transcribed at Ancestry.com. 

9/25/1964 "Funeral Sunday for Joseph Young Hicks" 
Funeral services were help at 2pm Sunday in Huckabay Baptist Church for Joseph Young Hicks, 71, Huckababy, who died Friday night in Stephenville Hospital.  Revs. Bob Norris and Oscar Hartsfield officiated with burial in Huckabay cemetery under the direction of Trewitt-Reed Funeral Home. Hicks was born Dec 30,1882, in Huckabay and was a lifelong resident of Erath County.  He married Miss Jessie Mae Thompson April 12,1912.  She died Dec. 21, 1952. Survivors include one daughter Mrs. L.A. Chapman of Stephenville, six grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

This photo  is labeled "Aunt Jessie Thompson's 
only daughter."
Is the woman in the center Frona Lorene?
Photo courtesy of Nadine Thompson Waugh

Jessie Mae Thompson was the only daughter of Martha Elizabeth "Mattie" Hairston Chisum Thompson and John Thompson.  She was born on October 11, 1893 in Erath County, Texas and from census and other records, it appears that she spent most of her life in Erath County. Jessie Mae and her husband, Joseph, are buried in the Huckabay Cemetery. 

Jessie Mae Thompson and Joseph Young Hicks had one daughter, Frona Lorene Hicks who was born on February 12, 1913. Frona Lorene married Leonard Adams Chapman in 1932. 


Juanita did meet her Chapman cousin as both Juanita and Lorene are both in the photo below. Juanita looks as if she is about 10 years old, placing this family gathering sometime in the late 1920s. 

A gathering of Hairston descendants at "The old Noah Place - Dublin Hwy" 
Photo courtesy of Nadine Thompson Waugh

Click on the photo to enlarge.

Diana

© 2014

Sources

Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903–1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

"Jessie Mae Hicks." Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records and Online Memorials. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2014. <http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=HIC&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=46&GScntry=4&GSsr=5441&GRid=24032035&>

"Joseph Young Hicks." Ancestry.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2014. <http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/2288959/person/-1834973339/storyx/75488b06-c0a8-46cd-a334-9c29240d2c27?src=search>.


"Texas, Marriages, 1837-1973," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FXMR-N84 : accessed 27 Sep 2014), J.Y. Hicks and Jessie Thompson, 21 Apr 1912; citing Erath County, Texas, , reference v M p 166; FHL microfilm 1428410.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Justice Precinct 1, Erath, Texas; Roll: 1631; Page: 36A; Enumeration District: 0064; FHL microfilm: 1241631.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Huckabay, Erath, Texas; Roll: T625_1801; Page: 14A; Enumeration District: 1; Image: 32.

Year: 1930; Census Place: Precinct 1, Erath, Texas; Roll: 2326; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0006; Image: 177.0; FHL microfilm: 2342060.