Military Monday: Remembering Nathan Braddy

And so, after a week of looking at ancestors who served in the Civil War, today, Memorial Day, we'll look at the one ancestor which I have uncovered who died during the war. Nathan Braddy was one of the first generation of soldiers to be honored on Decoration Day or, as we know it, Memorial Day.

NATHAN BRADDY

REGIMENT: 48th Georgia

COMPANY: A

RANK: Corporal

ENLISTMENT DATE: March 4, 1862

AGE AT ENLISTMENT: 31

Nathan is my 3rd great grandfather....long way back and not much is known other than small tidbits gathered from US Census records and his Civil War record. Here's what is pretty sure however, Nathan died of Typhoid Fever in Richmond, Virginia, after serving with the Confederacy for only five months.

In the five months that Nathan served, the 48th Georgia saw heavy action in the Battle of Seven Pines, the Seven Days Battles, and Battle of Cold Harbor all of which took place in northern Virginia. 

BORN: about 1831
DIED: July 24, 1862

PARENTS: Believed to be Cullen Braddy and Mariah Thigpen Braddy

SPOUSE: Nancy______

CHILDREN: Mary (abt. 1833-
                       Hillary (abt. 1835-
                       Martilla (abt. 1842-
                       Madelon (abt. 1853-

RELATIONSHIP: Angie Abbate (Mood)
                                  Eucebia Jane Thomas (Abbate)
                                   Mildred Arlene Silas (Thomas)
                                     John Franklin Silas, Jr.
                                       Madelon Braddy (Silas)
                                          Nathan Braddy

Military Monday: John Franklin Silas, Sr.

This week, looking toward Memorial Day, I'll give some background on the men in our family tree who fought in the United States Civil War. By virtue of location you will find men who fought for the Union Army and the Confederate States of America. Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, was established to honor those who died while in either the Union or Confederate Armies during the Civil War.

John Franklin Silas, Sr.

REGIMENT: 22nd Regiment, Georgia Infantry

COMPANY: H

RANK: Private

ENLISTMENT DATE: January 5, 1862
AGE AT ENLISTMENT: 28

GA GENWEB BIO: SILAS, JOHN F.-CO H 22nd GA Infantry Born ca. 1835-6. Died prior to 1912. Married Della _________. She died on September 23, 1919. Enlisted on January 5, 1862 Gardner Volunteers (Warren County). No further record. 1910, 1911, 1915 Tax List, Widow's PensionBook 2,3, RCS2-933, 1902 Voter's List Reedy Springs District.

The 22nd Georgia supported the Confederacy in Virginia participating in action in and around Petersburg, Appomattox, and Manassas and in Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. The 22nd Georgia surrendered on April 9, 1865 with 9 officers and 197 men. Less than 20% of the Regiment survived the War. I'll do no surmising as to how he must have felt or what he must have endured during the years of the war because I am sure there are just not words. The National Park Service has a great website commemorating the Civil War along with tons of articles and pictures. Check out National Park Service The Civil War.

According to John's records he was present for all Muster Rolls except for one in May 1862 when he had been admitted to General Hospital, Petersburg, Virginia on May 26, 1862, He was released on June 2, 1862 having recovered from dibilitas.

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see his Southern Cross of Honor Medal just under his left lapel. The Southern Cross of Honor Medal was awarded both during the Civil War for valor and after the Civil War by the Daughters of the Confederacy to honor veterans. This is one family heirloom I would love to track down!

After the War John lived in Glascock County, Georgia and was recorded as having reaffirmed his allegiance to the United States of America by signing the Reconstruction Oath Book and Returns of Qualified Voters on July 31, 1867.

John married Madelon Braddy after the War on May 21, 1868 and spent his life raising his children and farming on the outskirts of Rentz, Georgia. After over 40 years of marriage, Madelon applied for a Civil War Widow's Pension, indicating that John had died on August 16, 1911. According the records at the Court of Ordinary in Laurens County, Georgia, Madelon applied for guardianship of her daughter Velma on December 10, 1911, another indication that John had recently died. Get that ladies? She had to apply for guardianship of her own daughter because she was a widow. Be glad times have changed!

A portion of John's
 Indigent Civil War Veteran's Pension application.

BORN: 1834 in Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia

DIED: August 16, 1911 in Rentz, Laurens County, Georgia

PARENTS: Etheldred Silas and Jane Adams

SPOUSE: Madelon Braddy

CHILDREN:  William Silas (1870-1923)

John Franklin Silas, Jr. (1872-1937)
Nannie Olivia Silas (1877-1920)

Albert Nathan Silas (1883-1928)

Edgar Silas (1887-

RELATIONSHIP: Angie Abbate Mood

Eucebia Jane Thomas (Abbate)

Mildred Arlene Silas (Thomas)

John Franklin Silas, Jr.

John Franklin Silas, Sr.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Papa's Fountain Pen

I love it when I pick up a family heirloom, Google a vague description of it, and BAM! there it is, along with some other person's really great research and pictures, a manufacturer's website with history, or a somewhat reliable Wikipedia entry. That happened this week when I dug out this fountain pen that was a treasure from my Mom's family.

The pen is in remarkable condition considering that it was manufactured sometime between 1923-1927. It is a Shaeffer, evident from the markings on the nib and the barrel. Shaeffer, a jeweler turned pen manufacturer, produced the celluloid (early plastic) fountain pen and sold it for about $8.($120 in today's economy.) Fountain pens in those days were notorious for leaking ink, Shaeffer's newly invented lever system (that's the gold lever you see at the bottom of the barrel) helped to reduce ink leakage.

This pen was originally marbled green and highly polished, however, it is believed that many of them turned brownish, as this one did, around the barrel due to a reaction from the sulfur in the rubber that was used for the storage of the ink within the barrel. One more characteristic and a big helper in dating is a white dot on the top of the pen.

My grandmother bought the fountain pen for her father when she was a young lady. I am particularly fond of the small piece of paper with the yellowed tape that was wrapped around the fountain pen. The paper reads: "Papa's pen, I gave it to him." There's no doubt it is my grandmothers handwriting!

John Franklin Silas, Jr., my great grandfather was born in Glascock County, Georgia on February 8, 1872, to Civil War Veteran John Franklin Silas, Sr. and Madelon Braddy. He married Minnie Eucebia Alligood in 1897 and they were the parents of 10 children including Mildred Arlene Silas, my maternal grandmother. John earned his living farming in Rentz, Georgia, and was also a Rural Letter Carrier for the U. S. Postal Service.

John Franklin Silas, Jr.
1872-1937

Mildred Arlene Silas Thomas
1909-1989

Fearless Females: Wisdom

Women's History Month Fearless Females blog prompt: Did you receive any advice or words of wisdom from your mother or another female ancestor?  

Given to me by my grandmother and aunt.

This is the inscription on the inside cover.

Wisdom? Advice?
They gave me THE BOOK on wisdom and the best advice...read it!  

Rentz, the Trees, and Aunt Dib!

I'll deviate from the "Fearless Females" series today since the blog prompt will take me back to an ancestor I have already written about several times. I have had this other story on the back burner for a few weeks and then, today, when I was checking in at Ancestry.com, I realized that it is the anniversary of the death of a favorite grand-aunt and she figures predominantly into this story. So...

One of the things on our list when my sister and I visited Georgia last month was to stop by Rentz, Georgia, the town where our grandmother was born and raised and where we had spent time as kids visiting family during summers. Top on our list was to see if the trees that stood in front of our grand aunt's house (Corrie Mim "Dib" Silas Davidson) were still standing. We knew that the house had been moved, but, we were really hoping that the trees that were centered on either side of the entrance to the house were still there. Trees? Yep, because when the Abbate siblings were teenagers, visiting our Aunt Dib in Rentz, we carved our names in them!

As we approached Rentz I spotted the trees right away. The Rentz Baptist Church was the landmark that made it easy to find them. The church had bought the property where her home stood many years ago. They had built on the land but the trees were still there. We quickly parked the car and jumped out to see if we could find our names and sure enough, after a little searching, we found them.  Fortunately, my sister had carved the year as well as her name giving us a reference point in time. So, 37 years later Ang, Vicki "76," and "Jim" were plainly visible, a little higher and much wider but definitely still visible!

Of  course, returning to Rentz and finding our names on the trees was great fun but the flood of memories quickly took over as we drove around looking for other landmarks that we recalled. There was not much we could recognized as it appeared as though a lot of "downtown" has been torn down or abandoned. We did find the old gas station where our aunt and grandmother were spared in a traffic incident that included "pushing the foot feed" instead of the brakes one day. Yep, they went careening between the pumps and the building but, thankfully, walked away with just a few scratches!

Corrie Mim (Dib) Silas Davidson
Rentz, Georgia
August 1966

My grandmother, Mildred Arlene Silas (Thomas) and her sister, Corrie Mim Silas (Davidson), were close and lived together for a time when they were both widows. We remember that Aunt "Dib" as we called her (her lifelong nickname) burned her trash in the backyard which probably does not sound like much excitement, but, for us "city" kids it involved fire right in her backyard and that was way cool! We were allowed to eat Cornflakes for dinner if we wanted, hung out on her big front porch in the stiffling Georgia heat, and we walked to "town" without escort. Carefree summer days...

Rentz Cemetery
February 2013

So, today is the anniversary of Aunt Dib's death. She was born on December 4, 1902 and she passed away at the age of 77 on March 9, 1980. She was married to Ewell R. Davidson and they were the parents of one child, Jacqueline Davidson (Moore).  She has grandchildren and great grandchildren that still live in Georgia and nieces and nephews all over the U.S. that, to this day, remember a favorite aunt!

Fearless Females: Diary, Journal or Letters?

Women's History Month Fearless Females blog prompt: Did one of your female ancestors leave a diary, journal, or collection of letters? Share an entry or excerpt.

Here's a photo of just a small portion of the collection of family photos, letters, and information that was compiled by my mom, Eucebia Jane Thomas Abbate. Yep, she's the one who started this whole "family history" thing I've got going here. She and I made some pretty interesting discoveries about her family over the years.

I find myself wondering if our descendants will get as much enjoyment reading back over our emails and text messages as we get reading over our ancestors letters? Hmmm, there's something about the handwriting, the old stamps, the kitschy stationery...

Here's an excerpt from a note my mom received from an aunt in 1989. Her aunt would have been about 70 years old at the time. The handwriting is perfect but she must have been having a rough week:

"I got these right away (copies of an obituary) and lost them even faster. I found them in this very envelope. Yesterday Grace brought some chicken and dressing for my lunch. Fifteen minutes later I couldn't find it. How would you feel if you walked into the bedroom and found your food sitting on an old hassock? That's exactly how I felt. Love you, Henrietta"

I think that rather than complaining, knowing this aunt, she was probably laughing at herself as she wrote because I remember that she had quite a sense of humor. I am not sure her age had everything to do with losing her lunch...I bet many of us who younger than she was will admit that we have walked out of a room wondering where we left something too!

P.S. The cute little girl in the picture above is my mom and the aunt was the wife of my mom's uncle, John Owen (Pap) Silas.

Fearless Females: My First Heirloom

Women's History Month...Fearless Females blog prompt of the day: Describe an heirloom you inherited from a female ancestor.  

This lovely Old Colony/Open Lace depression glass butter dish is the first family heirloom I remember receiving. Funny how something once considered a low quality item that was given away with food or gasoline purchases has become so collectible! My aunt, Phyllis Margaret Thomas (Pinder) gave me the dish one year for my birthday. Aunt Phyllis had been given the dish by her aunt (her mother's sister), Winnie Estelle Silas (Lowrance). I did not know Aunt Winnie but I sure did know my Aunt Phyllis, there will be more about her in a post later this month...she's my "social butterfly!"

Winnie Estelle Silas (Lowrance)
1899-1982

Fearless Females: Names and Naming Patterns

So, that was quick, I am officially "caught up" with the Fearless Females blog prompts!

Today, The Accidental Genealogist asks: Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern.  If not then list the most unique or unusual female first name you've come across in your family tree.

Well, I am named for a guy so I am not thinking that I will be the subject here today!  No naming pattern for me either although both of my given names are family names.

BUT! Today's prompt is particularly interesting because last night I realized, for the first time ever, that my mom's name is actually a combination of her grandmothers' middle names.  I NEVER noticed that before, probably because she had such an unusual first name and I have always focused on how in the world they came up with that name. (Not just for her but for the two other female ancestors with the same name as well.)  Her name was Eucebia Jane.  Her grandmothers were Minnie Eucebia Alligood (Silas) and Mary Jane Shepherd (Thomas). Mom always used the name "Jane" and was often called "Janie" by family and close friends. She lived in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood later in life and she loved telling her Hispanic friends that her name was actually Eucebia, she had the "Spanish" pronunciation down just right. She always made them laugh!

My beautiful mom Eucebia Jane Thomas (Abbate) at age 19.
The photograph on the television is her mom,
Mildred Arlene Silas Thomas.

New Delineator Recipes

New Delineator Recipes, published in 1930 by The Butterick Publishing Company. This delightful little cookbook was owned by my great grandmother, Minnie Eucebia Alligood Silas.  Since bringing home a few vintage cookbooks that had belonged to my mom I have enjoyed the peek into homemaking in the generations before me.  Cooking is not by any means one of my strengths. We eat at home most of the time but even after 32 years of marriage my culinary skills are pretty lame. Sigh... getting back to this little jewel of a cookbook!  There are all types of recipes and plenty of information and tips in this book that give a glimpse into life in the kitchen in the early 1900s.  From how to properly set and decorate the dining table to the section on "Egging and Crumbing Foods for Frying," most of the recipes are not the type we would use in today's health conscious world!  Here are a few examples of pictures from the book and their captions: 

Canned vegetables provide a splendid variety
for  every day in the year.

Evaporated milk may be used in any recipe which calls
for milk.  The well stocked pantry will contain a
supply of this convenient product.

Cereals, hot, dry, in so many stages of puffiness, flakiness,
steaming goodness and crunchy tastiness, that every
appetite under the sun is sure to be gratified,
satisfied, and perfectly content.

Something tells me that the author of the New Delineator Recipes was trying to convince the "modern" homemaker that she needed to bring some "prepared" foods into the home!  But, if she was not quite there yet, here are a few directions for preparing the main dish, that I gather, was most likely chosen from the backyard:

An old fowl will require at least three or four hours' slow cooking, but a year-old chicken should be done in one and one-half hours. 

In reference to preparing Roasted Goose: Select a goose that is about four months old; an old goose is better braised than roasted.

Any woman knows that the way to figure out which are the best recipes in another woman's cookbook is to look for the pages with spills, tears, and notes.  It is easy to find the favorite recipe in this book.  Check the Family Recipe page on this blog for the One-Two-Three-Four Cake that I know she must have baked because I have heard about it my whole life, and, that page in New Delineator Recipes is covered with stains!

 I love that she wrote her name and address
on the  inside cover of the book!

Minnie Eucebia Alligood Silas was born June 25, 1878 in Laurens County, Georgia and lived most of her life in Rentz, Georgia. Her Dad, Israel Augustus Alligood, was featured earlier this week in the Tombstone Tuesday post.  She married John Franklin Silas, Jr. at the age of 19 in 1897.  They raised eight children, (including my grandmother, Mildred Arlene Silas).  Minnie was known to have loved her chickens and she gave many of them names making it especially hard to choose which ones would be featured in a New Delineator Recipe and spared the dinner table!

This photograph was taken in Miami, Florida at the home of Minnie's daughter Mildred Arlene Silas (Thomas).  

Pictured from left to right:
Back Row: Children, John Owen (Pap) Silas, Rembert Julian Silas, Mildred Arlene Silas (Thomas)

Middle Row: Henrietta Woody Silas, Minnie Eucebia Alligood Silas, Daniel Claude Thomas

Seated: Grandaughters, Eucebia Jane Thomas (Abbate) and Phyllis Margaret Thomas (Pinder), and Great grandchildren, Thomas Bernard Pinder, and Claudia Ann Pinder

The Silas Home
Rentz, Georgia

Grandma Silas, as she was affectionately known to her family, died on May 15, 1955 in Miami, Florida.  She is buried in the Rentz Cemetery, Rentz, Georgia.

Carefree Days in Miamuh!

Mildred and D.C. Thomas
Miami Beach, FL 

"Miamuh," if you've got any history there then you will recognize that pronunciation of the word Miami, the crown jewel of South Florida in the 1920s and 30s. That's how the old-timers and natives (not many left I'm afraid) still pronounce it. All four of my grandparents were transplants to the Magic City. On the maternal side, a young couple from rural south Georgia who, in the mid-1920s wanted to leave the farming communities of their ancestors behind for life in the "big city."  On the paternal side, around 1935, the striking Sicilian whose family had settled in New York after arriving at Ellis Island and his wife, the fashionable young lady from Ohio, along with their two children. Both couples moved to Miami to establish their homes which, in the end, happened to be just one block from each other.

These photos of carefree days in Miami Beach were taken during the days after the 1926 hurricane, after the bursting of the real estate bubble in Miami, and after the Great Depression. These were fun times when dreams for young people like my grandparents were beginning to come true again!

Daniel Claude Thomas
Bayshore Confectionery
Miami Beach, FL
circa 1934

Daniel Claude Thomas
Miami Beach, FL

Lena May Stockton (Abbate) on right
Miami Beach, FL

Lena May Stockton (Abbate) (top right)
Miami Beach, FL

L to R:
Victor James Abbate
Victor Carmello Abbate
Virginia Lee Abbate (Thompson)
Miami Beach, FL

Veni, Vidi, Vici

Yep, that’s about it for my Latin vocabulary.  Veni, vidi, vici...I came, I saw, I conquered, believed to have been written by Julius Caesar in 47 B.C. as a comment about a short war that took place in present day Turkey. So, why, the Latin recitation today?  Because, get this, my grandmother took four years of Latin when she was in high school in the 1920s. The 1920s people, seriously, pretty cool, huh?  According to her final high school transcript (which is far too brittle to flatten and scan, sorry!) She aced The Essentials of Latin and Caesar and she got a “B” in Cicero and Vergil’s Aeneid. The Aeneid, 9,896 lines of dactylic hexameter, sheesh!  It’s like The Odyssey and The Iliad, classical, epic, poetry. Now, I know, you all absolutely could not wait for that class! But wait, not only did she take four years of Latin but she also pretty much aced Algebra, Quadratic Equations, Binomial Theorems, Logarithms, and Plane and Solid Geometry. Add to that two years of English, American Literature, English Literature, Medieval and Modern History, English History, United States History, Civics, a year of Biology and, of course, Home Economics. All that in three years, not quite the schedule I would envision for a young woman attending a very rural high school in the 1920s to have mastered.  Oh yeah, and, it was noted on her report card that she was “of good moral character!” There were ten people in her graduating class so we are not talking major high school here. Pretty amazing if you ask me. But wait! There's more! Of course she took a rigorous course of study, times were changing for women in the 1920s. Women's Suffrage was finally successful in 1920 sparking a new age for women and their voice in politics in the United States. To my female friends and family-don't ever pass up an opportunity to vote, it was our great grandmothers who paved the way! (Sorry, well, not really... I'll get off my soapbox now.) Mildred was a young woman in a very interesting time in our history. Mildred (Ball) Arlene Silas, Rentz High School, Class of 1925.

Here’s some more interesting information about Mildred and her education:

From my Mom’s (Jane Thomas Abbate) notes on her Mother: 

"Mother was closest to (her sister) Gladys, who was two years older than her.  When time came for Gladys to go to school, she refused to go unless Mama went with her. Since it was a one room school house; the teacher, Mr. O.K. Jolley said, “just let Ball come, it won’t hurt anything”, so Mama started to school two years early.  It must have been a good thing because Mama finished school with high grades and in those days if you did that you could teach school when you graduated."

Basically she started school at age 5 and finished 11 years later at age 16.

YOU GO GIRL! 

My maternal grandmother, Mildred Arlene Silas was born on March 11, 1909 in Rentz, Georgia. She was the sixth child of John Franklin Silas, Jr. and Minnie Eucebia Alligood. Even though Mildred could have become a teacher after graduating from high school she did not choose that path.  Instead, she married the love of her life, Daniel Claude Thomas, at the age of 16 on July 20, 1925.  They moved to Miami, Florida, in the 1920s and lived there the rest of their lives. She was the mother of two daughters, Phyllis Margaret Thomas (1926-1999) and Eucebia Jane Thomas (1937-2012). She lived to get to know and enjoy each of her five grandchildren. Before her death February 26, 1989 she had six great-grandchildren with two more having been born after her death. Mildred died on February 26, 1989 in Hialeah, Florida. She is buried at Flagler Memorial Park in Miami, Florida where her husband and both daughters are also interred.

Want to try Grandma's famous Apple Salad? Check out the family recipe page.