52 Ancestors January Wk#4...CURIOUS

 Week 4 ~ Prompt ~ CURIOUS

It's the nature of a 'Family Historian' or Genealogist...curiosity that is.  Are you curious to know what it means to be a 'Curious Person'?  I was!  Who knew it was definable and fitting?!!  

1.Eager to learn or know; inquisitive (okay that's reasonable)

2.Prying; meddlesome (oops, that's a bit negative, but has some merit) 

3.Speculative interest (yes, otherwise wouldn't bother)

4.Attention to the inexplicable, highly unusual, odd, strange and done with painstaking accuracy and focus on detail.  (Nailed It) 

Meet my Second Great Grand Aunt Palmyra J. Akin Thedford. 

This photo of her was in my Great Grandmother Martha Jane Marley Carroll's Photo Album, and even though her  name was barely legible on the back, I somehow couldn't bring myself to admit that anyone could be named Palmyra.

Honestly, I really wanted this photo to be of my Great Great Grandmother Mary Josephine Leatherwood Marley, as I didn't have and couldn't find a photo of her anywhere. 

You would think Martha Jane would have at least one picture of her own Mother.

Finally, I resigned myself to the fact that it was not Josephine, and put it in the back of the 'Old Photo Album'.  However, the name really stuck in my head and Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to give it a Google! 

Did you know that Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria?  

In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria located in an oasis northeast of Damascus and southwest of the Euphrates.  

It had been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as the 'Bride of the Desert'.

Interesting, right? But still who was she and what was this portrait doing in my Grandmother's Album?  

Curiosity did not kill this 'Cat', and eventually her kinship and non-Syrian heritage was revealed..in an odd, prying, meddlesome manner through Ancestry.  If nothing else, I can chew a single waving leaf to pulp.

She was the Aunt of my Great Grandfather Stephen Bennett Carroll.

Born Palmyra J. Akin on November 7, 1845 to Stephen B. and Catherine Ann Akin Carroll.

Raised in Dyer County, Tennessee

Married John A. Thedford on January 9, 1867

Mother of Naomi B. Thedford born in 1876

Moved to Cleburne City, Johnson County, Texas

Died June 17, 1912

Buried Cleburne Memorial Cemetery, Cleburne, Texas

Brick Wall chiseled down one brick at a time 

leading to Great Grandfathers Carroll ancestors and my Tennessee Roots.

And to Cousins now Friends on Facebook...pays off to be Curious!

52 Ancestors-January Wk#3...FAVORITE PHOTO

 Week 3 ~ Prompt ~ FAVORITE PHOTO

In 2004 I inherited my Great Grandmother's Photo Album from her Grandson, my Dad's first Cousin.  He inherited it from his Mother who was the youngest daughter of Martha Jane Carroll.  That name was the only thing he knew about the Album which was more than I knew about her or any of her ancestors, parents, siblings and families with the exception of my Dad's generation.

The entire Album was a Genealogists 'Brick Wall'.  

The 1890-1910 Photo Album was full of unidentified pictures, cards, and a few fragile clippings.  One photography studio setting photo had her name and description of children on the back....obviously written by the photographer. 

After long hours of online searching for anything in her name, a birth record, marriage record and even a death record...none found, I turned to my Aunt Irene's somewhat all over the place in time, hand written family history notes.

There it was...Martha Jane Marley (daughter of E.S. Marley and Mary Josephine Leatherwood ?)  Thankfully...no question mark after the name Marley. In addition...Married in Cleburne, Texas, Jack County.   Her notes included the names of Martha Jane and Steven B. Carroll's children, their birth dates, and the death date of great grandfather Steven and the fact that he was buried in Cleburne. One of those children was my Grandmother who had given her Maiden name Carroll to my Dad, Willard Carroll Pittman.  The pieces began to fit together.

Her studio setting Portrait became my FAVORITE PHOTO. At last I had not just one maiden name, but two...Marley and Leatherwood.  Both names opened a flood gate of Family Histories dating back to the American Revolution and the identities of people from the inherited Album. 

And in turn led to the establishment of my Ancestry Family Tree

The Pittman-Carroll-Marley-Leatherwood Family Tree

 My first Genealogy Blog

Tracks of My Texas Ancestors

and a greater respect for

Irene's Old School Genealogy Record Keeping!

52 Weeks-January Wk#2...Favorite Find

 Week 2 ~ Prompt ~ FAVORITE FIND

There have been hundreds of surprising even shocking 'Finds'.  It's hard to narrow down to just one, but in keeping with Irene's research done before the Internet, I'm going with her positively, no question about it identification of her Great Grandfather....my 2XGreat.  

First, though, she made me take an Oath of Truth and Dedication as the next Family Historian.  So on a stack of Bibles I swore to continue her research and stay true to the Family History.  I swear I tried, but some things just did not add up.

Aunt Irene's family history was gathered the 'Old School' way...through libraries, historical societies, court and city records and passed down word of mouth from family members. 

At the TOP of the Pittman Family Branch, Irene had traced as far back as Rene Marion Pittman from Alsace Lorraine, France who came to America and married a Black Dutch woman...no name. Right off the bat, I'm wondering how a Frenchman...which could be with a name like Rene, got a surname like Pittman which I knew was not French, and how his wife could be Dutch and black. 

Finding Rene Marion Pittman's information on Ancestry was not only a favorite find, but blasted an opening in Irene's Old School Brick Wall that led the Pittman Ancestry all the way back to Colonial America.

Rene Marion Pittman Myth .... Debunked

Rene Marion Pittman was Born, Raised

 and Died in Georgia, USA!

His wife, Mary Anne Howell Pittman was 

Born, Raised and Died in Georgia, USA..
.was not Dutch or Black. 

Link To

Rene Marion Pittman ~ Notable Ancestor

52 Ancestors-Jan Wk#1...Foundation

JANUARY 

Week 1 ~ Prompt ~ FOUNDATION

In an Interview the year Tracks of My Texas Ancestors was started,  I was asked, "What got you interested in or started your family history/genealogy?

It was my first Genealogy Interview and, I thought the questions were going to be harder to answer.  I was prepared to fess up to questions about having ancestors that might have been Wild West Texas Outlaws.

So the question about how I got interested and started was an easy one to answer.  I even have a photo of the two people who inspired, motivated, and gave me my start as 'The Keeper of My Family's History'.

 Meet the 'Foundation First Keeper' aka as the 'Barefoot Genealogist'...my Aunt Vera Irene Pittman Sinks.  She's sitting beside the 'Cowboy Inspiration' for Tracks of My Texas Ancestors...my Dad...Willard Carroll Pittman.

Irene was the oldest of the six siblings and Willard the youngest.   There was ten years difference in their ages with two brothers and two sisters between them. They were Texas born and raised with an appreciation for their Texas Pioneer heritage.

Irene spent much of her lifetime in search of our Family History.  She loved to talk and write about our ancestors, and the information she found in her research.  Her hours of note taking in libraries and the inquiries from Genealogical Societies from Georgia to Texas gave me an abundance of information on which to build our Family Tree in the Technologically Advanced Genealogy Community of the Twenty-First Century.

About Tracks of My Texas Ancestors...Copyrights and Disclaimer

 Welcome to Tracks of My Texas Ancestors
A Collection of Family History and Genealogy Research 
of my
Father's Texas Pioneer Families
Pittman~Carroll~Marley~Leatherwood

Our Family Mesquite Tree has grown deep roots in Ward County Texas where my

Great Grandfather George Washington Pittman journeyed from Georgia in the 1890's.

Mesquite trees grow in twisted and intertwining branches, survive in a difficult environment and produce a bountiful crop of beans, so the comparison to the Pittman/Carroll/Marley/Leatherwood Family is appropriate. Two of these Family names became intertwined with the marriage of Pittman Brothers to Carroll Sisters which produced a bountiful crop of 'Double Cousins', and a long line of descendents throughout the state of Texas and the Southwest.

 

My siblings and I are the 5th Generation of these West Texas Pioneer Ancestors. We were raised where our great grandfather, grandfather and father put down roots. Our Family Geneaology Study and Documentation began with my Aunt Irene who spent countless hours researching Historical Societies from Georgia to Texas. Her many pages of 'Family Group Logs', notes, letters and memorbilia have given me an unprecedented head start.

The primary reason for 'Tracks of My Texas Ancestors' is to have a
Journal/Record for the Present and Future Decendents to:
Always regard with esteem the name they were given with praise and renown that it should endure.

You are invited to read the stories, view the photos, and enjoy the Posts!

Please do not copy or reproduce any part of 'Tracks of My Texas Ancestors'!

The Pittman/Carroll/Marley/Leatherwood Family Tree

is registered on Ancestry.com.

Living Family members names are protected there and here from viewing.

 

The Family Stories are fiction based on fact.
 by
Sandra Sue Pittman..all rights reserved.

The Photographs are from the Author/Photographer's Personal Collection...all rights reserved.

Geneaologist doing research on this Family Lineage please contact

collectintexas@gmail.com

I welcome the exchange of Family History information and photos!

Please direct comments to:
collectintexas@gmail.com

 My Texas Ancestor Post are Archived through
Family Name Label Tabs...Under Header
Titled Tags...On Sidebar
{click on Tabs and Tags and follow the Links}

More Pittman Ancestor History on

All text, illustrations, charts, photographs, etc., property of

 Sandra Sue Pittman McPeak,©all rights reserved.

Updated January 2022