Lost In The Sand

Clifton, A River Of Memories, A Companion Volume To A Place Called Clifton
by Michael Hembree and David Moore
Copyright@ 1988
Published by Michael Hembree and David Moore
Printed in the United States of America by Jacobs Press of Clinton, South Carolina
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 88-91200
Pages 168-173

Lost In The Sand
1903 Flood Left Area Mills, Homes, - And Lives - in Shambles
The days following the Pacolet River flood of June 6, 1903, were some of the most devastating in the history of the Clifton community. More than 50 people were killed in the river valley when flood waters roared through the area on that grim Saturday morning. The Converse mill was almost totally destroyed, the factories at N0. 1 and No.2 were heavily damaged, and many mill houses were washed downriver .

The tasks of locating and burying the dead were gruesome. Friends and relatives spent days digging in the riverside sand and searching locations downriver for the missing. Residents also searched the area for belongings, as described by J. C. Garlington of the Spartanburg Herald, who visited Clifton two days after the flood:
"In the midst of the white sand stretching out like a prairie, a dozen men were clustered. One was digging and we imagined that perhaps the body of some loved one was being unearthed. The men were silent and disconsolate. They did not seem to notice our approach, but kept on watching the man who was digging. Investigation showed that this old man was delving into the foundations of his former home. Two feet under the sand he found a wire bed spring and he was carefully pulling the mud out of the springs. He could have found a dozen springs in the debris on the hillsides, but it was the last remnant of his home, and he tugged away to reclaim it. He said he had found a monkey wrench and a hat pin, and he prized them highly ."

Similar scenes occurred up and down the river as the community tried to recover from its worst natural disaster. The flood was like nothing seen before or since in Clifton.

John Cantrell, who worked for Clifton Manufacturing Company and later owned a store in Clifton, was 21 years old and an employee of the No. 2 mill when the flood battered Clifton. In an interview with The Spartanburg Journal in 1957, he remembered some of the drama and tragedy:
"I shall never forget the day nor the terror of our people as long as I live," he said. "The river finally gave way to many days and nights of hard rains. It busted loose. Saturday morning, early, I was standing on a hillside in Clifton #2 mill village waiting for the streetcar which carried people to work. It was about 6 a.m. when suddenly a crowd came running up the car tracks. They said Clifton #3 (Converse) had been washed away and the others were going down. Immediately, we went by carriage to the scene of destruction. We arrived there about 7:30 a.m. The water was high at Clifton No. 1. It kept getting higher. Houses were washing away. At No. 2 mill, I saw people hanging in trees all around. They had climbed there in an effort to avoid destruction in the flood. A man named Ike Wilson was in a tree on the west side of the river. He stayed there from 6:30 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon until the water went down enough for him to be rescued."

Cantrell helped rebuild the No. 2 mill. The flood and its aftermath were stories of regional and national concern. Efforts to prevent a repeat of the tragedy began with studies of the nature of the flood and the storm that preceded it.

The United States Geological Survey of the Department of the Interior analyzed the Pacolet River Flood as part of it's report on "Destructive Floods in the United States in 1903" printed in 1904. Circumstances surrounding the flood are described in detail in the following edited excerpts from "Water Supply and Irrigation Paper No.96, Series M, General Hydrographic Investigations, 11 ":

"A destructive flood occurred in Spartanburg County, S. C., on June 6, 1903. Considering the small area affected by the storm, the precipitation was very large and the loss of life and property great.

"Character of country and streams-In the 24 hours of the storm there was a rainfall of from three and one-half to five inches in the counties of Cherokee, Spartanburg, Greenville, and the eastern half of Pickens, in South Carolina; and in the southern part of Rutherford, Polk, and Henderson counties in North Carolina-a total area of 2,300 to 2,500 square miles. This region is situated on the southern slope of the Saluda Mountains. It does not extend up into the mountains, but includes the foothills and rolling country. About half of it is covered with timber; the remainder is cultivated and pasture land. The surface slopes are such that the water runs off rapidly and there is very little storage.

"The streams that drain this area are Pacolet, North, South, and Middle Tyger, and Enoree rivers. These are tributaries of Broad River and enter it from the west. The upper tributaries of Saluda River, which flow to the west, rose to an unusual height. But little damage was done on them. Practically all the damage was confined to Spartanburg County, S. C.

"The streams mentioned rise within a comparatively short distance of each other. North Fork of the Pacolet heads in Polk County. N. C.; all the others head in Greenville County, S. C. They are characterized by deep, narrow channels with rapid fall. The Pacolet is said to have a fall of 500 feet from its head to Pacolet Mills, a distance of 35 miles. There are no ponds or wide bottom lands to hold back the water in time of flood. The ground was soaked almost to saturation just previous to the flood. So that there was very little ground storage.

"The storm-During the week preceding this flood there was rain over this area almost daily; not hard rains, but gentle, penetrating showers that nearly saturated the soil. On Friday. June 5, 1903 rains fell almost incessantly. In the evening the rain became more violent and continued until 4 a.m. without interruption.

"Weather Bureau reports show that the greatest precipitation in the area in the 24 hours was at Spartanburg, diminishing in amount in every direction from that place, rapidly to the northwest and southeast and gradually to the northeast and southwest.

"About one and one-half miles below was the original Clifton mill, known as No.1. It was built in 1880, and had 27,500 spindles. At this point the rise was not alarming at 2 o'clock a.m. The rapid rise began at some time between half past 4 and 5. After 5 the water rose 2 feet in 10 minutes according to the assistant superintendent. The first thing to be carried away was a large hall. This floated off about 5:45 and was hurled down into the upper corner of the mill, which stood out into the stream. The blow broke in part of the corner of the mill, but the destruction of the mill did not begin until the wreckage from above began to come down thickly, a little after 6 o'clock. Large timbers were then dashed into the projecting corner and the mill began to settle down gradually, little by little beginning at this end. Altogether about 110 feet of the main building and the wheelhouse were totally wrecked. The machinery on the two lower floors was severely damaged throughout the length of the mill by the water, mud, and drift. The dam was uninjured, except for the tearing off of the wooden apron. Fifteen cottages were carried away from this mill village. About 8 o'clock the water began very slowly to fall.

"Clifton mill No. 2, known as Dexter Mill, was a little over a mile from Clifton and was built in 1888, and had 30,500 spindles.

"This mill stood on a point on the left bank. Just opposite the mill the right bank is steep and high, while on the left bank a ridge extends out on the point almost to the mill. Above the mill, on either side of the river, the hills open out, and there the greater part of the mill village stood. Also on the point on the left bank below the mill were many cottages.

"The rise here began to alarm the watchman at 3 a.m., and at 3:30 it began to be rapid. One of the watchmen noticed that the rise was one foot in five minutes at about 4 o'clock. The alarm was sent out among the operatives at once. Most of them refused to realize that they were in any danger and would not make any effort to save themselves and their property until the water surrounded them. There were many narrow escapes, but at least 52 persons were lost here, most of them women and children. There was a deep deposit of sand and silt over the point below the mill where most of the lives were lost. Toward the end of the week following the disaster
this began to crack as it dried. Searching parties kept watch of these cracks, and wherever flies were seen to crawl down them they dug. Several human bodies were found in this way.

"At about 20 minutes past 4 the covered wooden highway bridge was washed down. The cotton warehouses and some of the cottages began to go about 6 o'clock, but the mill stood until 7. At that time the wreckage was coming down thickly from the upper mills. Exactly as at the Clifton mill above, the outer upstream corner was torn down. This mill was L-shaped, a wing extending shoreward from the lower end. When the mill was surrounded by the flood the heavy wreckage from above was hurled into this extension, tearing down the middle of it and practically filling the whole with driftwood. The machinery throughout the two lower floors of this mill was largely destroyed by the sand and drift thrown into it. All the cotton and cloth warehouses here were washed away, 42 of the company's cottages and six belonging to outsiders were wrecked and carried away.

"After bending to the left about the point on which the mill stands the river formerly bent to the right again around a low point on the right bank. During this flood the water overflowed this low point and cut a new channel over it, abandoning the old one. The crescent-shaped island left is about 400 yards long and 100 wide.

"The precipitation northwest of Spartanburg was considerably greater than five inches. The washouts, landslides, and gullies cut by the flowing water indicate that the precipitation over the rain area was probably from 7 to 11 inches in the 24 hours preceding the morning of June 6, 1903. This region is included in an area that Prof. A. J. Henry, of the United States Weather Bureau, states is second in precipitation in the United States. The people who live in that region are accustomed to very heavy rains...

"The flood-There are no gauging stations on the streams on which the damage was done by this flood... The flood of Catawba River of May 1901, which caused great destruction of farming land, had an estimated run off per square mile of 51.8 second feet at the Catawba, N. C. station, and of 44.4 second feet at the Rock Hill, S. C. station. The estimated run off at Pacolet during the 1903 flood exceeded that of 1901 at the Catawba by 70 per cent and at Rock Hill by 100 per cent. It is possible, however, that the estimated runoff at Pacolet is too great. The method of obtaining the mean velocity is not very reliable.

"Destruction wrought by the flood - There was some destruction of property on Tyger River, but the largest amount was on Pacolet River, at Clifton mills and Pacolet mills. The destruction of the Clifton mills is thus described in the report of Mr. B. S. Drane:
'Clifton Mill #3, known as Converse Mill, stood just above the bridge over which the main line of the Southern Railway crosses Pacolet River. It was built in 1890 and 1895, and as completed was a four story mill 496 feet long and 100 feet wide. It was valued at $1,000,000 and contained 50,100 spindles.'

"The river was noticed to be about eight feet above low water at midnight, but did not appear to be rising, and caused no anxiety. At 3:30 a.m., Mr. Kirby, master machinist of the mill, upon going down, saw that the water was beginning to rise into the wheelhouse. Getting assistance, he began to remove belts and ropes, but before any headway had been made, the water forced him to leave. By 4:30 the rise was beginning to be rapid and in a few minutes the water was flowing over the right end of the dam and breaking on the boiler houses and shops. These were wrecked before 5 o'clock. A little after 5 the brick stack, 137 feet high, was washed down with the part of the dam immediately behind it; it fell on the corner of the mill. The mill began to wash down immediately, and the wreck was completed by 6 o'clock. The mill was washed entirely away, except for the three-story picker room. Shops, boiler houses, wheelhouse and 16 cottages were also carried away.

"The dam here had a section of 27 feet height, 27 feet base, and 11 feet crest. The construction was said to have been hasty and of materials much inferior to those usual on this river. The crest was broken off irregularly to a depth averaging 10 feet for 100 feet from the right bank, and to a depth of seven feet for the next 40 feet. One footbridge and one county bridge, of wood, were carried away from just below the mill.

"Several lines of the Southern Railway were tied up for about a week. The main line from Charlotte, N. C., to Atlanta, Ga., passing through Spartanburg, was broken by the washing away of a bridge over Lawsons Fork of Pacolet River. The Charleston and Western Carolina Railway, also entering Spartanburg,lost its bridge over Tyger River.

"What purports to be a very conservative estimate of the financial loss due to the freshet is given as follows: Clifton mills 1, 2 and 3: $1, 750,000; Pacolet mills 1, 2 and 3: $1,250,000; Glendale mills: $30,000; Mary Louise mills: $18,000; Whitney mills: $5,000; Fingerville mills: $8,000; Tucapau mills: $10,000; Tyger mills: $8,000; two other mills: $20,000; bridges: $15,000; Converse Electric Railway Company: $30,000; Southern Railway Company: $300,000; lands and crops ruined, etc.: at least $6,000; total: $3,450,000.

"These figures do not include the loss due to the interruption of railway traffic, the stoppage of large industries throwing the thousands of operatives out of employment, the loss to the various trades and commercial enterprises, and worst of all, the loss of over 50 lives.

"Lessons taught by the flood - Very heavy storms, covering small or large areas, are to be expected on the southern and eastern slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. Floods much greater and more destructive than ordinary result from these storms.

"Ample unobstructed waterway must be provided for streams through towns. Usually the greater part of the destruction wrought is due to the failure of a temporary dam formed by drift in front of a bridge. Drift of all kinds collecting in front of a bridge forms a dam and raises the water several feet higher than it would have been without the obstruction. Finally the pressure on the obstruction becomes so great that it is swept away, and the resulting wave destroys other bridges and buildings that otherwise would not have been injured. The washing out of a dam by the water cutting a channel around one end of it is often the cause of a great wave that sweeps away bridges and buildings below that otherwise would not have been injured.

"Buildings that can be lifted from their foundations and swept away should not be allowed in the path of a possible flood.

"Mills, power stations, and other buildings on the banks of streams should be protected from the destructive action of drift during high water."

For more, check out my post on the Clifton Mills.

Beaumont Historical Celebration

On 9/11/2010 Beaumont Mill Village had a historical celebration and the Beaumont United Methodist Church. My husband's mother, Peggy, grew up in Beaumont. Stan lived for awhile in Beaumont as a young boy so they have strong ties to the little mill village behind Beaumont cotton mill. So Stan and I took Peggy to the celebration. They had several speakers and then a free hot dog picnic behind the church. There was a representative from the Preservation Trust of Spartanburg, City Councilwoman Linda Dogan presented a plaque that names 9/11/2010 as Beamont Day, the President of the Beaumont Neighborhood Association, a speaker who gave the history of the Methodists in the upstate and especially the Beaumont UMC, and a local historian who gave the history of the mill village. The house behind the church which is owned by the church, was set up with old photos and newspaper clippings as well as old copies of the Beaumont "E" ("E" for Excellence) newsletters.








Beaumont was once a beautiful hill that was part of the Cherokee hunting grounds. It was named Beaumont from the French, "beau" meaning beautiful and "montagne" meaning mountain, "Beau" "mont". It is situated on Chinquapin Creek and was run with steam engines. It is beside one of the railroads that criss cross Spartanburg, which is also nicknamed Hub City for all the railroads that intersect in Spartanburg. We heard interesting stories about life in a mill village. There was Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist churches in Beaumont. Stan and I met at Roselane Presbyterian Church in 1977. Beaumont used to have a park and baseball field and I watched some of the Harris' play softball games there back when Stan and his brothers and sisters played. In fact, when I was a little girl, my Dad was city engineer and he was an organic gardener. The city used to dump the leaves they picked up at the back of the Beaumont Park. We went with Dad in his old truck to get a load of leaves to mulch his garden. The truck got stuck in the leaves and the friction and heat from the muffler and tires started a fire under the truck. He got us girls out safely but the truck was completely burned up!
Peggy (with her back towards me) is a very social person and she remembers everybody! Her children are like that too. They never go anywhere without seeing someone they know.

The little church was full.












For more history on Beaumont, check out my post on Beaumont at:
Beaumont Mfg Co.

The Super by Jim Lehrer

The Super by Jim Lehrer

This was a quick read and I wasn't impressed with the book.

In its heyday, the Santa Fe railroad’s famous Super Chief was luxury travel and celebrities often used it... it became known as “The Train of the Stars.”



This was before airplanes were the only way to go. This book was set in 1956 when the luxury train was just about to begin it's decline. The Super Chief was the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that went from Chicago to Los Angeles and back. The streamlined Super Chief was the first Diesel-powered, all-Pullman sleeping car train in America, and it eclipsed the Chief as Santa Fe's standard bearer. The Super Chief 1 began running from Dearborn Station in Chicago on May 12, 1936. The Super Chief 2 was the much improved version and began running on May 18, 1937. It could make the trip in 40 hours. It was luxury train travel with gourmet meals.

The Super Chief had dining cars that sat 36. Dining cars almost always operated with a lounge car coupled to them for bar-lounge service and a waiting area when the dining car was full. The height of Super Chief lounge and dining facilities came in 1951 with the new 600-series Dining Cars bracketed by the 500 series Pleasure Domes in front and a bar-lounge-dormitory unit in back (moved from the front of the trains). When Santa Fe rolled out its new "Pleasure Dome"-Lounge cars in 1951, the railroad introduced the traveling public to the Turquoise Room, promoted as "The only private dining room in the world on rails."



The room accommodated 12 guests, and could be reserved anytime for private dinner or cocktail parties, or other special functions. The room was often used by the era's celebrities.



The private dining room called the Turquoise Room on the Super Chief passenger train.


Industrial designer Sterling McDonald created the train’s classic interior Indian designs and themes. Whenever possible McDonald used authentic Native American (many of which depicted the Navajo) colors (such as turquoise and copper), patterns, and even authentic murals and paintings in the train.

He used a combination of rare and exotic woods like ebony, teak, satinwood, bubinga, maccassar, and ribbon primavera for trim through the train giving the Super Chief an added touch of one-of-a-kind elegance.

Onboard crews included train engineers, conductors and brakemen, Pullman conductors, Pullman porters, dining car stewards, waiters, cooks, bartenders, lounge attendants, along with cleaning crews at both ends of the line and maintenance crews en route. At times, during the trains history, there were barbers, maids and valets. The staff aboard the Super Chief, with the exception of the conductors and dining car steward, was black. To be a porter during the depression wasn't a second rate job.


The Santa Fe Super Chief was the next to last passenger train in the United States to carry an all-Pullman consist. The train maintained its legendary high level of service until the end of Santa Fe passenger operations on May 1, 1971.

When Amtrak took over operation of the nation's passenger service on May 1, 1971 it ended the 35-year run of the Super Chief on the Santa Fe, though Amtrak would continue to use the name along the same route for another three years. In 1974 the Santa Fe forced Amtrak to drop the train's name due to a perceived decline in service.

Apple Varieties

Braeburn: Fruit is medium to large, red striped with an orange red blush on a yellow background. The flesh is pale, cream colored, crisp and juicy with a pleasant subacid tart flavor. The overall flavour is sharp and refreshing but with a good balance of sweetness - and never sugary. There is occasionally a hint of pear-drops to the flavour of a new-season Braeburn. Fruits store for four months. An ideal dessert apple fresh or baked, add Braeburn's spicy-sweet flavor to cobblers, tarts, cakes & pies.






Granny Smith: It originated in Australia in 1868 from a chance seedling propagated by Maria Smith, where the name "Granny Smith" comes from. Granny Smith apples are a light speckled green in color, though some may have a pink blush. They are crisp, juicy, tart apples which are excellent for both cooking and eating out of the hand. They also are favored for salads because the slices do not brown as quickly as other varieties. A Granny Smith Apple usually has a slightly more sour, sharp flavor than other apples.





Jonagold: An apple that is both tart and sweet. It’s firm texture makes it one of the world’s most preferred eating apples. It's a cultivar apple that is a cross between a Golden Delicious and a Jonathon.
















Golden Delicious: A cultivar apple that is NOT related to the Red Delicious. Very sweet flavor - eating, salads and apple sauce. Tends toward bruising and shriveling.















Cortland: A cultivar apple that came from the McIntosh and the Ben Davis (a Southern apple). It has a very white flesh and is a good dessert apple. Tangy Taste - snacking, salads, and baking.












Empire: Firm, juicy, crunchy, sweet. They come in September through October and will keep until January. They were developed in 1945 from Red Delicious and McIntosh. Eating and salads








Ginger Gold: Starts out a very pale green, though, if left on the tree, will ripen to a soft yellow with a slightly waxy appearance. The first yellow apple to ripen in the Fall. Doesn't discolor when sliced. Sweet but mildly tart - eating, baking and salads.










Honey Crisp: Tremendously crispy with a real snap. Big, juicy and sweet/tart - great eating apple. But good in the kitchen too.















Ida Red: A cross between an Wagnerapfel and the Jonathan. The idared has a white flesh with a firm body, and generally considered to be tart and juicy, highly flavored-eating and baking for cakes, sauces and pies. Harvested from Sept to mid-October and can be kept til the end of January.







Jonamac: The Jonamac apple is a cross between a Jonathan and McIntosh. The eating quality combines the rich flavor of McIntosh with some of the spiciness of Jonathan. Excellent for cooking, sauce or eating out of hand. When baking, the slices tend to be melting and juicy.








McIntosh: Firm and crisp, distinct aroma, red/green skin. Cooks soft and smooth, also a popular eating apple and great for cider. Every McIntosh apple has a direct lineage to a single tree discovered in 1811 by John McIntosh on his farm in Dundela, a hamlet located in Dundas County in the Canadian province of Ontario, near Morrisburg.











Macoun: A cross between the MacIntosh and the Arkansas black varieties. The skin is a dark red with a purplish flush. Its very firm flesh is juicy and snow white, tasting sweet with a hint of berry. A superior eating apple.
Northern Spy: Its skin has green and red stripes when ripe and produces fairly late in the season (mid to late October). The white flesh is juicy, crisp and mildly sweet with a rich, aromatic subacid flavor. Its characteristic flavor is more tart than most popular varieties, and its flesh is harder/crunchier than most. It is a good dessert apple and pie apple, that is also used for cider. Further, the Northern Spy is also an excellent apple for storage, as it tends to last longer due to late maturation and lower sugar content.
Red Delicious: The most widely grown apple in the world. It was overgrown in the 1990's and became degraded. Due to the better storage and transportation techniques we have now, other varieties are more available and the Red Delicious has lost it's popularity. Sweet, simple flavor. Juicy and sweet taste - eating and salads















Rome: Firm mildly tart flavor - Good-quality Rome apples will be firm with smooth and clean skin. The coloring is a brilliant and almost solid shade of red with white lenticels - natural tiny white dots that allow the apple to "breathe". The best apple for baking, but also good eaten fresh & in salads.














Fuji - A Japanese cultivar that was developed in 1932 and brought to the market in 1969 and came to the US in the 1980's. It has a dense flesh that is sweeter and crispier than many other apple varieties. Although Fujis perform well when baked or frozen, they are perhaps best suited for eating fresh or in salads. These apples are extremely flavorful and super sweet. Fujis are very juicy and crisp and are not in the least bit mealy.






















Gala - Excellent for fresh eating. Has a mild, sweet flavor. A very pretty, medium size, conical to round fruit with yellow skin patterned with bright orange-red. Firm, juicy, fine textured, yellow white flesh. are fairly resistant to bruising and are sweet, grainy, with a mild flavour and a thinner skin than most apples. They are also considered to be a very soft eating apple due to their lack of crispiness, well-suited for denture wearers.



All about apple varieties:

http://www.allaboutapples.com/varieties/index.htm

Apple Tips:

• Rub cut apples with lemon juice to keep slices and wedges creamy white for hours.
  Store apples in a plastic bag in the refrigerator away from strong-odored foods such as cabbage or onions to prevent flavor transfer.



• Apples are the second most important of all fruits sold in the supermarket, ranking next to bananas.



• Tens of thousands of varieties of apples are grown worldwide.



• The history of apple consumption dates from Stone Age cultivation in areas we now know as Austria and Switzerland.



• In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage; catching it was acceptance.



• Folk hero Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) did indeed spread the cultivation of apples in the United States. He knew enough about apples, however, so that he did not distribute seeds, because apples do not grow true from seeds. Instead, he established nurseries in Pennsylvania and Ohio.



• Three medium-sized apples weigh approximately one pound.



• One pound of apples, cored and sliced, measures about 4 1/2 cups.



• Purchase about 2 pounds of whole apples for a 9-inch pie.



• One large apple, cored and processed through a food grinder or processor, makes about 1 cup of ground apple.

Genealogy Tips

A Real "Family Tree"!

Here are some of my tips about genealogy!

1.) First step is to contact your relatives. People usually love the attention and love to tell stories about their families (although some may still be reluctant or clam up on skeletons in the closet). If you have parents, grandparents, or be especially blessed to still have great grandparents, spend time with them and ask them questions to prod their memories. Take a notebook or recorder and jot down everything they say. Don't stop with just direct ancestors, talk to aunts/uncles, cousins, great aunts/great uncles, etc. You can ask them questions like:
Who were your grandparents? When and where were they born?

Who were your great grandparents? Did you remember them?

How did you/they meet? When and where did you/they get married?

Where did you/they live? Do you remember an address?


Where did you/they work?


What church did you/they attend?


Where are they buried? Do you remember the funeral?

What school did you/they attend or even how much education did they have?

When and where were you/they born?

Did they have any old family Bible records?


Do they have any old pictures? Can you identify the people in the photos?


Do you/they have any family memorabilia?


But even ask questions like:
Did they have a favorite pet? (My great grandfather had a favorite possum hunting dog and I got a great slice-of-life story about that.)

What were your interests? What were the interests of your grandparents (We call them hobbies now but back then they were usually too busy for "hobbies" but they did have interests like reading, poetry {my Grandma used to cut out poems and save them in a shoebox}, quilting, collecting recipes {again, Grandma cut out and wrote down recipes and kept them in a shoebox that I inherited and I still keep a recipe collection}, whittling, making furniture for the house, fishing {I have a funny story about my great grandfather going fishing on one of the last days of his life}, etc)

Were there any scandals in their neighborhood, community, church?

Were you/they ever in the newspaper? (My Dad was in the newspaper a lot in his little farming community because of his high school and 4H activities.) Here is my uncle's notice in the newspaper about his being commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the US Army.


What do you/they remember about school? Favorite subject, favorite teacher, favorite project, girlfriend/boyfriend, best friend, etc.


It's questions like these that prompt a lot of memories and little details begin to come out that are really neat. Not only are you learning about your family but you are flattering them with your attention and making them feel important. So it's a ministry to them as well. I don't know how many times I've said, "I never knew that!" or "I never heard that story before!" and I feel like I've learned a new puzzle piece to add to my family picture. It also brings out details that may help you in your genealogy search. For instance, my grandparents lived and died in Stanly County, NC. But I couldn't find their marriage record. Then I was asking Dad one day how they met and he told me that Papa had gone to another town to find work at a mill and had met Grandma (who had done the same) and they married in that town. That was why I couldn't find their marriage record in Stanly County.


Write it down!! Don't trust your memory. And don't wear them out with too many questions all in one day. Visit them or telephone them often and keep your notebook with you at all times to jot down new information. Even just taking them for a drive will bring back memories to them. Take them back to their home community or where they were born or by the place they worked, or to the farm and listen to the stories that it brings back. Things they thought they had forgotten.


2.) Keep your data organized. You can do it all by hand if you aren't comfortable with a computer but keep it organized. If you do use a computer, print out hard copies and keep in notebooks or files. Keep a record of your sources for each fact. For instance, if you find out their birthday from their own lips, their birth certificate, their marriage license, the 1930 census and their tombstone...then note all those sources with the birthdate. And don't just put "birth certificate" as a source. You want to make a complete note of this source like, "Birth certificate of Sarah Jones, Birth Certificate #12345, Vol II, located at Dept of Health, 123 Any St, Hometown, US" -or- "Tombstone of Sarah Jones, First Baptist Church of Hometown, 456 All St, Hometown, US, GPS N 83.789 W 45.098" -or- "Civil War record of John Jones from Civil War Records of the South, Vol V, by Jack Sprat, Published 2003 by Whoknows Co, pg 246". You want yourself, or anybody else, to be able to find the same record you found.

I keep my databases on the computer but I have also printed out hardcopies in notebooks and I keep backup records like a copy of a census page, copy of death certificate, copy of newspaper obits, copy of pages from books, etc in a file cabinet. I have a file folder for each family last name that I am researching and I put these records in these file folders. My file cabinet is stuffed but I have proof of my facts and it's organized.

Here are some manual forms.







It's also important to try and make copies on acid free paper even if it means bringing it to the library with you and asking the librarian to use your paper when you go to copy or print out or take your print out and have it copied at Kinkos (again asking them to use acid free paper or take your own and ask them to use it) or use your own printer. It's not that expensive from regular office paper. And, if you look carefully, you can find "acid free" on the packaging. If it's not on the packaging, it ain't acid free!

3) If you use a computer software program like FamilyTreemaker or RootsMagic, then make backups of your data often. And "grandfather" the backups. For instance, make a backup and name it "Smith 1 2 2009". With "1 2 2009" meaning the date of January 2, 2009. I recommend you backup every hour if you are really putting in some time on the same day. So the next time you make a backup up, on the same day, you would name it "Smith 1 2 2009 II" meaning the date of January 2, 2009 backup #2; or "Smith 1 2 2009 4pm" meaning the date of January 2, 2009 4pm. Once you've grandfathered a sufficient number of backups, you can start deleting older backup copies to free up your hard drive space. But, believe me! From personal experience (more than once)! Make backups and grandfather them! I've suddenly had corrupted databases that I didn't know anything about and I deligently backed up. But that just copied the corrupted database over the good backup. So I lost the database and the backup. If I had grandfathered the backups I could have gone back to an earlier backup and at least saved the bulk of my work and only lost the most recent data. Both programs have done me this way and it's meant total reconstruction and inputting all the info in again! Since I have thousands of names and sources and data, it was enough to make you cry. At least I had my notebooks and backup printed records in my file cabinets.

Another tip for computer software users is to divide your families into their own files. The first time I started a database I started with myself as the primary person and began to work back on my husband and my family in just one database. So, the first time that the database got corrupted, I lost everything in my family and his. So when I reconstructed I created 4 databases...1 for my mother's side of the family, 1 for dad's, 1 for mother-in-law and 1 for father-in-law. When one of those 4 became corrupted (the 2nd time) I only lost one of the databases and not everything! But this time I have constructed 8 databases with 1 for maternal grandmother, 1 for maternal grandfather, 1 for paternal grandmother, 1 for paternal.... You see, what I mean? Sure enough, just last month one of the 8 databases got corrupted and I lost that database. But I still had the other 7 and I had grandfathered my backups and was able to reconstruct by going back and picking up one of the uncorrupted backups. I lost a couple of days work but not the whole thing. I was able to bring it back up to date using my records in my filing cabinet so I was back up to speed within hours instead of having lost everything! And for the first time, I didn't cry!

Me in a small town courthouse looking up marriage records.


4) If you live close to a good library, go to your library and ask for help on genealogy. If your town is of any size, then you probably have a very good genealogy dept. They will have records on microfilm, computer, books, etc. And, my experience has shown that the librarians are very kind and try to be helpful. If they work in that genealogy room, then they are very knowledgeable and you can trust they know what they are talking about. Even if you live in CA but your family was from SC, your librarian can help educate you in how to do research. For instance, do you know how to find a birth certificate, a census record, a death certificate, a newspaper obituary, a Civil War record, a cemetery record, a Revolutionary War pension record, a will abstract, a deed? I didn't! But the librarian can tell you the resources available, how to find records, how to use microfilm or the computer, etc. Call the librarian in the hometown you are researching and ask them what kind of local records they have, who you need to contact for a birth certificate, is there a website for a cemetery survey of such and such cemetery, etc. Appreciate your librarians, treat them well and cultivate a relationship with them because they are wonderful helps and resources. I try to follow the rules (like signing in when I enter the genealogy room, signing in for the computer, keep my cell phone on vibrate, don't talk loud, etc) and I try to be friendly and courteous and not monopolize their time. This has opened up their wide range of experience and knowledge to me. They have been wonderful helps and have been willing to go out of their way to help me when questions arise! Be sure to thank them and be on the lookout for someway that to help them. For instance, I found a photo on ebay of a local event back at the turn of the century. I knew this would interest my librarians so I forwarded it to them and the library was able to purchase it and it's now framed in our genealogy room. Just a little networking like that benefits both sides. They have helped me so much and I was tickled to be able to help them.

5) Join local genealogical societies. By local, I mean local to your families' hometowns. For instance, I live in SC but I'm a lifetime member of the Davidson Cty, NC Genealogical Society because my grandma's family lived there for generations. I joined for a year and found out how active this group was and found their newsletters were great resources so when it came time to renew, I joined for a lifetime. It's been worth it! I have joined some that haven't been that active or contributed much to the communities knowledge so I didn't renew my membership. But, keep in mind, that may change in the future. New blood comes in, new officers are elected, new ideas surface, new work is done and the genealogical society grows up and you may want to re-join. Your local libraries (again, local to the hometown you are researching) should also have back copies of local genealogical society publications which contain valuable info. Also join historical groups like the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) or the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), Colonial Dames, Mayflower Descendants, etc. You may or may not have a very active chapter in your area. If you do, then it's a great resource and you learn at every meeting. If you don't, then try another chapter or wait awhile and go back and see if it's grown and changed.

6) If your library doesn't have free access to Ancestry.com/Rootsweb.com/HeritageQuest.com or you don't have time to spend at the library using their free access, then get an annual membership if you possibly can (one of the 3). These are invaluable!! You not only get access to records but access to other researchers and their published databases and you might find a distant cousin has some additional information that you didn't have. I've met many a "cousin" online and appreciated their additional information. Always remember that there can be mistakes. Due to typos, illegibility on tombstones or records, wrong assumptions, honest mistakes...their data could be wrong or incomplete but it can give you valuable data and leads.

7) Learn to do Google searches (browser searches). That's right! Type in an ancestor's name, a cemetery's name, a place of work name, a church name and you might find a treasure trove. For instance, last week I was looking for a church address so I could go to the cemetery and find an ancestor. I did a Google search and the church had a website that even included a cemetery survey (bless their wonderful hearts!) which saved me a trip. I have also found cemetery surveys by doing Google searches on the cemetery names. I've found "cousins" that had published their family research and gave me additional information (God bless them). I've found local genealogy websites that have tons of information about the area that I'm researching. By doing Google searches for images, I've found old photos of cotton mills where my ancestors worked, photos of mill villages where they lived, etc. I Google everyday on something. So if you have a computer and are on the Internet, learn how to use Google.

8) When you are using the computer for Ancestry.com, etc then learn how to search using different spellings. For instance one of my family lines is "Reese". So when I'm searching Ancestry.com's 1930 Census records for "William Reese", I have to remember to try different name spellings. Remember census takers back then usually had to spell according to how it sounded to them. So here are the variations I would use to try and find the 1930 census record for "William Wilford Reese":
"William Reese"
"Wilford Reese"
"Wm Reese"
"Bill Reese"
"W.W. Reese"
"Willie Reese"
"Will Reese"
"W. Reese"
"William Reece"
"Wm Reece", etc
And all the variations with Reas, Rease, Reis, Rhys, Rees, Reise, etc.

Another personal example is the name Cohen. Here are the variations I found of that name:
Coan
Cohan
Cowan
Kohen
Koan
Cone
Kone
Blah, blah, blah Come to find out the original name is not Jewish but the Irish "Cowan".

And don't forget first name differences like "Elizabeth"
Elise
Lizzie
Liza
Lisa
Beth
Betty
Eliza
Ellie
Lizbet

And, then there are the typos or illegible handwriting to take into consideration. For instance, whoever entered the records for the 1930's census for Ancestry.com may have just made data entry typo or they were unable to read the illegible handwriting of the original census taker and entered the data incorrectly. The handwriting of the census takers could be very neat or slopppy or have their own characteristics so that their "H" looks much like a "W", etc.

If you try every variation you can think of and still can't find the census record, then try other members of the family. For instance, John Doe is married to Jane and has John Jr., William, Mary, and Cansada Doe. You can't find John Doe in the 1880 Census even after all your variation searches. So start looking for "Jane Doe". If that doesn't work look for "Cansada Doe". Now why would I start looking for "Cansada Doe" instead of "John Jr.", "William" or "Mary" Doe? Because a) you've already looked for a John Doe and couldn't find him so looking for John Jr. Is going to be fruitless too, and b) William and Mary are very common names and may take up your time looking at lists and lists of "William Doe"'s to find your family but "Cansada" is a little more rare and you should have a shorter list and save you time. Also remember that girls usually married so if you know their married name, look for them in that 1880 census because old John and Jane may be living with their married daughter. I had this happen with Susan Ann Quinn Cohen. I couldn't find a Susan Cohen to save my life. Come to find out she had remarried after her husband died. Her 2nd husband had died and she spent her last days with her married daughter. If I hadn't looked for that married daughter's family and found a "Susan FOWLER" living with them in the 1930 census with the relationship of "mother-in-law" I would never have found her.

Also, if you find the home of one of the family members, then scan the previous 2 pages of the census or the next 2 pages of the census. Many families lived close together and you can put it together that way.

9) Try to learn some of the history of the hometown area. For instance my hometown area was big into cotton mills and mill villages and this played a big role in some of the famly lines I am researching that lived in my hometown. Another county that my grandma's family lived in had a railroad through it that had a stop in the main town which was also the county seat. There was a newspaper story of how one of my ancestors was killed by a train. He had gone to town and his horse was on it's own heading back home while he took a nap in the back of the wagon. The train hit the wagon and killed him. Another county in my researches had a flood disaster that affected my family line. Another county in my family research is Madison County, NC where they had the Shelton-Laurel Massacre during the Civil War. There was a lot of Rebel and Unionist feuding going on up there. What I learned about the history of the county during the Civil War backed up the passed down stories in my family and I was able to place them in the middle of all that! (Remember the movie Cold Mountain? That's the area!)

10) If you possibly can, visit the area personally. Make a list of the places you want to find. I go cemetery hunting. Here I am in a tiny mountain cemetery taking notes.

I also look for family homeplaces, farms, churches they attended, mills they worked in, etc. This is where the Internet maps help you. If you can find the address with a Google search then you can map it and get directions using Yahoomaps. You can also use a GPS device. Take photos and videos.

Here are tips for visiting the area:
A) Be sure you have addresses and directions. Or, at least, know the general area. I have gone to an area and simply driven the roads to look for cemeteries and gotten out and looked for family names. I have found nuggets of treasure that way. But it's best if you have addresses. So make a list of all the places you want to find.

B) DON'T GO ALONE. Be sure your family knows where you are going and when to expect you home and DON'T GO ALONE. Take your fully charged cell phone and DON'T GO ALONE. For instance, you could sprain an ankle walking in a remote cemetery and not be able to make it back to your car. I'm allergic to bee stings and fire ant bites and need to get medical attention so I don't need to be alone if that happens. I have hypoglycemia and could faint and die if a sugar attack happens when I'm alone. I could get lost and wander around if I don't have a GPS or cell phone. I could be attacked in a lonely cemetery if I'm alone. And, believe me, I've been on mountaintops in the brushes and weeds trying to find old family cemeteries! I could have an accident and be missing and no one know where I am, especially in unchartered territory. So I don't go alone!!! And I might suggest you take physical protection. I'll leave it up to you to discern what I mean.

C) Things to take when you go on these field trips:

Take your cell phone, digital camera, video camera, laptop, GPS, extra batteries.

Take some food and drink so you can picnic if you are walking a cemetery and it gets to be lunchtime.

Take large pieces of chalk so you can brush it over tombstones that are almost illegible with age.

This really works to bring out the writing.

Take a spiral notebook to jot down your notes.

Wear comfortable clothes and sturdy shoes (don't wear sandals). Dress in layers in case it's cool in the morning but heats up in the afternoon. Take a hat and sunglasses.

If you are staying a few days, stop at local places that look like they may be regular haunts to locals like a hometown diner or church, etc. And be friendly and talk to people. Tell them you are in town doing some family research on the "Millers" and see if they know any "Millers" who are still alive or where the "Miller" family cemetery is, etc. Drop by the local library and see what they have and introduce yourself to the librarians. Be sensitive and don't monopolize their time if they are busy but you'd be surprised who will take a few minutes to talk to you and give you valuable information. I've met people who were walking the cemetery at the same time and they stopped and, come to find out, we were distant cousins looking for the same people. I've met people working in the genealogy room at the same time and we strike a conversation and find out we are searching the same line and can share.

11) Be willing to share. I cannot tell you how many people have shared their research with me and how much it has helped! So I try to always be willing to share my research with others. With email I can email someone a photo. I'm trying to put stuff on my website/blog so that I can just email a link to someone who contacts me about info. That way I'm not having to re-type stuff over and over again. None of this costs me anything but time.