Who Did Bossy Court?

Last June I ran a series of posts on the many suitors of my great grandmother Esther Lee Richardson titled the Courtship of Esther.  Now it is time to give attention to the female interests of Bossy Talbott, the man who eventually won Esther's hand in marriage.

Boss Henry "Bossy" Talbott
Birth Name: Johnnie Hodias Talbott

Bossy's lists of girlfriends is, well, short.  I only know of three. I do not even know the names off all the young women, but I do have their photographs or letters.  These first two young women seemed to want to make sure Bossy had their photographs.

This young woman wrote a note on the back of her photo for someone to "give to BHT".  Unfortunately, her name is missing. The photograph is very small and looks to have been cut from a strip of photographs one gets in a photo booth.


This second young woman seems to have cut herself out of a larger photograph.  On the back she has written "to BHT with my love".   Again, no signature and no identity (and no doubt as to her feelings).

To B.H.T. with my love

These are the only two "girlfriends" of Bossy's that have come to light in the period from before his marriage to Esther in  Nov 1915.

After his wife's death in Jan 1923, Bossy never re-married.  His granddaughter remembers Bossy saying there would never be another woman like Esther.  Bossy did have correspondence with a lady friend around 1930.  Several letters have been found among his letters and papers.  Her name was Virgie D.  In August of 1930, Bossy made plans to meet Virgie at her friend Maude's house on Light St. in South Boston. Virgie expressed her surprise that Bossy has invited her on a date. How long the couple "dated" is not known, but eventually the relationship ran its course. Unfortunately, I have not been able to determine her last name.

More Elliotts Arrive By E-mail

The Genealogy Happy Dance continues!

L to R (front) Cynthia Elliott, Campbell Barnett, Samuel Barnett
(back)  Edward Scott Barnett, Marion Barnett

More Elliotts have arrived in my inbox! Or in this case, Barnetts.


This is a photograph of Cynthia Elliott (1869-1950)  and Samuel Currie Barnett with their children Campbell "Cam" Barnett (b. 23 Nov 1900), Edward Scott Barnett (b. 8 Oct 1887), and Marion Barnett (b. 19 Apr 1893). Both Cynthia and Samuel are buried at the Black Walnut Baptist Church in Cluster Springs, VA. Cynthia is the oldest of two daughters born to Elias Elliott and Panthea Overby.  Cynthia is the sister to my GG grandmother Harriet "Hattie" Elliott.

Cynthia Elliott (seated) and Harriet Elliott

The resemblance between the two women is striking.  I wonder what their mother looked like.

Wordless Wednesday - Summer Fun!

Fun in the Pool!

Elias Arrived By E-Mail

Elias Elliott and His Second Wife Susan Wilkerson

A great granddaughter + a GGG granddaughter + an Ancestry.com query = An Introduction to Elias Elliott

Meet Elias Elliott, my GGG grandfather.

Harriett Ann Elliott was my GG grandmother and the mother of Esther Lee Richardson.  Harriett was the fifth child and youngest daughter of Elias Elliott and Panthea Overby.  The family lived in the Mecklenburg County and Halifax County areas of Virginia and intermarried with my Talbott line.

I have done only basic research on my Elliott line and most of that research has revolved around Harriet Ann Elliott and the Richardson family.  Recently through a query on Ancestry.com, an Elliott cousin and I communicated. Information and photographs were exchanged.

Elias Elliott then arrived in my inbox.

The Genealogy Happy Dance ensued.

Research Updates

I thought I would update my cousins and fellow researchers where I am in my research.  I have been a little quiet in posting my research mostly because I am involved in "community" research.  In some cases I have "lost" my ancestor's trail and am currently researching all those associated with my ancestor.  It is time consuming and tedious at times, but I really like this type of research.  I feel like I truly learn how those in a community interacted with each other.  Of course, I find a lot of collateral ancestors this way as well.  Keep reading.  Things should become clearer (I hope.).

Howard Family Line (Wake, Moore, Lee NC Counties):  This family line is solid back to James Harward of Wake County and King and Queen County, VA before that.  Since K and Q County is a burned county, no records exist from the time that James lived there as as young child in the 1760's.  I'm still hoping that records from areas of the country that the family and neighbors migrated to will surface and shed light on the earlier generations in this line. This line will likely need to join a DNA project to determine which Howard/Harward line is ours.


Haley (Halifax and Charlotte Counties, VA):  My Haley family research certainly challenges me to find new ways over, around and/or through this genealogical brick wall!  My current research takes this family line back to Jesse Haley who was born ~1803 in Virginia - likely in Halifax or Charlotte County.  Honestly,  I'm stuck when it comes to Jesse.  I have turned to researching all those with whom he associated.  Interestingly, he did not seem to associate with many other Haleys - at least not in the records.  To learn more about Jesse and hopefully his parentage, I am researching William Cardwell (Jesse's friend) and the Brackett Owen family (Jesse's in-laws and possible blood relations.)

There is another aspect to my Haley family research that I am enjoying immensely.  Sharing stories and identifying photographs with my Haley cousins gives depth to the stories of our generations past. I never even knew most of these cousins before I started my research.

Isn't that what genealogy is about?

White (Surry, Rockingham, Caswell, Granville Counties):  Ahh.....another "brick wall" family.  Let's just say that researching a man by the name of John White in North Carolina (or any other state) is not an easy task.  Now that that's been said, another White family researcher and I have made and continue to make great strides in tracing this line back.  We are confident of this line back to John White who arrived in Surry County, NC sometime in the 1810's or 1820's.  We are fairly certain John White is the son of Cagebeth [Cadbreth, Cajabeth] White Rockingham and Granville Counties, NC. Like the Haley family line, the White family line requires researching the associates, neighbors, and even in-laws to get to the next generation back.  This is a line of research I will definitely be posting more about this summer.

Graduation Season

In the midst of the graduation season, I thought it might be fun to share this...

1935 High School Diploma for Cecil Clara White
of
Dobson, NC

....my grandmother's high school diploma!

School certificates and records can provide a lot of family history information.  See my post Back To School      to learn how I have used school records to "fill in" my ancestors' lives.

Wordless Wednesday - A Long Cold Walk

A long cold walk to milk the cows!
(Talbott farm on Old Cluster Springs Road)

How Much Was Jesse's Property Worth?

Jesse Haley died in the summer of 1869.  His estate included 79 3/4 acres of land in Halifax County, VA  that was sold at auction in 1870 to the highest bidder.  His son Stephen C. "Cas" Haley was the highest bidder paying $3.20 per acre or a total of $255.52.

Dick Eastman recently shared a link to S Morgan Friedman's inflation calculator.  I decided to see just how much Stephen C Haley paid for his father's land at auction in terms of today's money. (Well, at 2010 which is the latest the inflation calculator goes.)

Stephen C Haley would have paid the equivalent of $54.49 per acre and a total of $4345.58 on the land in 2010.  Very interesting!

Recognize This House?

This photograph of a house was found among numerous Talbott family related photographs.  I do not know who lived in the house or what its significance is in our family history.

I  am hoping one of you might recognize it.  I suspect the house is located in Pittsylvania County or Halifax County, VA.  It may have significance to the Talbott, Richardson or Elliott families in these areas.

Or not.

I am open to suggestions or thoughts you might have.

Your Ancestor Might Be In My Closet

A  researcher recently contacted me after reading about a Farson ancestor on my blog.  Nannie Lee Farson was the best friend of my great grandmother Esther Lee Richardson Talbott.

Apparently I have his ancestor in my closet!

I was able to forward him a photo of Esther and Nannie Lee together taken in the late 1910's or early 1920's.  I was able to forward letters written in Nannie's own hand that included her original signature.  He was able to identify more of the friends and associates listed in the letters, thus, filling in more of Esther's life.

This fun exchange with a fellow researcher got me thinking.


If his ancestor is in my closet, whose closet are my ancestors in?


If you have ancestors in the Virginia counties of Halifax, Pittsylvania and Charlotte, I just might have your ancestors in my closet, too.  Esther's letters are often filled with news and location of her friends and cousins.     You never know.  Yours might be among them.

***I posted about the friendship between my great grandmother Esther Lee Richardson Talbott and Nannie Lee Farson recently.

New Feature at Esther's Place

Fun things are happening over at Esther's Place - my online store for custom order heritage crafts.  Besides new items in the store (key chains and necklaces), I will be blogging about fun and creative ways you can share your family history with your family.  I will also be sharing more about Esther Richardson Talbott herself.  After all, she is the namesake for the online store.

Don't worry.  I will continue posting about my genealogy research and adventures here at Are You My Cousin?.  (There are plenty of adventures to share.)

A Mom, A Teen and A Blog

I came across Mission Impossible - Making Genealogy Fun For My Teen recently.  As the mother of teens the title most definitely caught my attention.

Michelle  of Mission Impossible is documenting her year long journey of finding ways to make her son's family history project more interesting to him.  From the National Polka Festival to learn about cultural heritage to planning upcoming oral interviews of family, this mom has her work cut out for her. I'm looking forward to reading more about Michelle's (and her son's) journey.