By The Moonlight

And at night er'e we go to slumber so light,

We'll watch the moon rise and the stars shining bright.

It is time again to participate in another postcard carnival hosted by A Canadian Family . The theme this time is "light". I confess I had to look through many of my postcards to find one to fit the theme. I'm rather intrigued by the postcard I picked.

This card is addressed to Mr. Jonnie Boss Talbott of Jeffress, VA, my great grandfather. His given name was Johnny Hodias Talbott, but somewhere along the way he changed his name to Boss Henry or just Bossy. This card is the first time I have ever seen the combination of his old and new names used this this way.

The second thing I noticed about this card is that it was never mailed. There is no stamp or postmark. Perhaps it was delivered by it's writer or a friend. The translation is difficult as the writing is faded and with essentially no punctuation. Below is the best translation I have come up with so far.

Helow ahl Boss. How are you by this time O.K. I hope Received your card and was offal [?awful] to here from you and was so sorry that I was not down there to the dancing. You just aught to move here with us. Coming home that day we got home at 1 o'clock. Mr. J W Hopkin did not go home until new years day. From a friend _____L. Torry gave my love to all.

Lastly, I do not know the identity of the sender. In two places, the name ______ Torry appears. I have no Torry listed in my database. There is also a Mr. Hopkin mentioned in the text. Again, I do not know who this might be.

Hopefully one day the mystery of this card will be solved. In the meantime, enjoy the postcard!

Valentine Postcard

I thought February would be a good time to share some of the Valentine's Day postcards that I have. The above postcard was sent to my great grandmother Esther Lee Richardson prior to her marriage. It reads:

Round is the ring

that has no end.

So is my love for you, my friend.

Guess who?

Unfortunately the date on the postmark has faded, so I do not know the exact year Esther received this card. Nor do I know who sent it? Was "Guess who" Boss Henry Talbott, her future husband? Or was "Guess who" a suitor before Boss Henry came into the picture? (Personally I like to think the sender was my great grandfather Boss Henry.)

Confederate Money

Confederate $20 bill (Front)

Confederate $20bill (Back)

One of the wonderful things about researching my family history is that I have become the keeper for many of the family heirlooms. The above confederate money was in a box of my great grandmother Winifred (Winnie) Haley Carr's things. Initially when going through the box I thought someone had dropped a $20 bill into it. I was rather stunned when I discovered that I was actually holding confederate money. I don't know who the original owner of the money was. Winnie (1891-1970) was certainly not the original owner. It could possibly be one of her grandparents. It could also have been from her husband Silas Baker Carr's (1878-1968) side of the family.

The original ownership will likely never be known, but civil war era history came alive in a way I had not yet experienced.

Wordless Wednesday

Lily Gordon Howard

Second wife of Connie M Howard

Tombstone Tuesday

The Reverend Caswell Suggs Harward (note the spelling here is Howard) was my GGG-grandfather. Here is buried in the church cemetery of Baptist Chapel Church outside of Sanford, NC. At the time of his death, the property was actually part of the homeplace for his wife Mary A Thomas Harward's family. There is some indication he may have died of typhoid fever.

Who Is She.....More Clues

I still don't know who she is, but I know more than I did when I first posted. (http://areyoumycousin-lisa.blogspot.com/2009/12/who-is-she.html)

What I've learned since the last post:

*I was able to find the photographer WGR Frayser (both Jr and Sr) in the Danville, VA directories. This photography studio was only in Danville, VA from 1888-1891. That narrowed down the age of the photo quite nicely.

*The woman's hairstyle should also have been a clue to her age. She is wearing bangs which apparently did not come into fashion until the 1880's.

*The card thickness was also another clue. I learned that the 1mm thickness placed this CDV in the 1880-1890's.

Today as I was studying this particular CDV, I decided to take another look at my collection of family photos and see if I had any other CDV's or cabinet cards by the same photographer. I found not one, but two! One of a young man and one of a young child:

Maybe a family group?

Stay tuned.....

Happy 101 Award

Harriet at Genealogy Fun awarded my blog the Happy 101 award. (Thanks, Harriet! ) The recipient does the following:

1. List 10 things that make him/her happy.

2. List 10 blogs to pass the Happy 101 award on to.

So, here goes....

Ten things that make me happy:

1. Spending time with my family. We love playing games, going to hockey games and puzzles.

2. Hearing my older relatives memories about the "good old days".

3. Identifying that "unknown" photo.

4. A productive day in the state archives.

5. Meeting new cousins--from the past, present, online or even in person!

6. Watching Dr Who on Netflix.

7. Couponing.

8. Reading mysteries. (Isn't that what genealogy is all about?)

9. Sharing the family history with my cousins.

10. Connecting the dots from the past to the future for my children.


Now for ten blogs I enjoy.....


1. A Twig In My Tree

2. We Tree

3. A Multitude of -sens

4. Pollyblog

5. Genealogy Fun

6. A Couple Of Bubbles Off Center

7. Genealogy Gems Podcast - Your Family History Show

8. Genealogy and Me

9. Blog of a Genealogist in Training

10. Gene Notes

I'm sure you'll enjoy these blogs as much as I do!