MARY "MOLLIE" O'CONNER FOX

     This is a story about my 5th great grandmother, Mary "Mollie" O'Conner.
     She live in a coastal town in Ireland with her parents. A large ship was anchored on the coast and the men on the ship put up a big swing and invited the girls to come aboard to swing. The next thing the girls knew, the ship with them on board was way out on the ocean. They were to far to swim back to shore. All these boys and girls were to be sold as indentured servants in America.
     While they were on the ship, Mollie got awfully sick and they thought at one time that she was dead. She was tied on a plank and they were fixing to throw her overboard but there was a man on the ship who had known her father in Ireland and he would not let them because he did not think she was dead. She really did revive in time to keep from being buried alive at sea.
     This man who saved her life got her a job at a hotel as a chamber maid after they landed in America. The port where they landed was possibly Charleston where Charles Fox's father, Henry Fox III had a law office.. Mollie wrote back to her mother and told her where she was and asked for a passport so she could return home. Her mother was afraid that she might really die if she tried to cross the ocean again so she wrote Mollie that she had rather know that she was alive and be where she could write to her than to risk crossing the ocean again. Mollie is said to have come from a very good family and she was educated. They have proof of this as she could sign her name instead of making an "X" on legal documents in 1785. South Carolina census records suggest that Mollie was most likely born in 1740 to 1750 time period.
     One night John Charles Fox spent the night at the hotel where Mollie O'Conner worked. He left his pocketbook at the hotel and Mollie found it the next morning and gave it to him when he came back. Their courtship began then and there. They were married and had three daughters named Nellie, Betsy and Katy and a son named Matthew was born in about 1766 in Abbeville, South Carolina. Their father fought in the Indian War and was captured by the Indians. The family learned afterwards that he was brought to Alabama and tortured to death. They supposed that it was at the Flat Rock in Clay County, Alabama.
     Their daughter, Betsy, never married and after her parents death, she went to live with a nephew. One day she was left at this home with a little boy while they went to town. While they were gone the boy went to a neighbor's house crying and saying his Aunt Betsy was asleep and would not wake up. When they got there, they found that she had dropped dead.
     In the days of Mollie and Charles Fox, the white people were divided into Whigs and Tories. The Whigs were the better class. The Tories were friendly with the Indians and they went about raiding the cribs and smokehouses of the Whigs. One day they went to the Fox home while Charles was about a mile away from home. They ordered Grandma Fox to fry all the ham and then they started throwing out the corn to the horses. Betsy and Katy would throw it right back into the crib and fought the men until the Indian Chief made the men leave the corn alone, saying the little girls were very brave, and that they needed their corn for bread. One of the Indians picked up little Agnes Ables, who was the daughter of Nellie Fox Ables and marked around her hair with his knife as if to scalp her. Betsy ran for her father and he followed them and killed fourteen Indians. Later, as was told before, the Indians caught him and tortured him to death. The torture was done with pine splinters under his fingernails and setting them on fire.

This original story was by Kaye Stoneking and revised by Frances Parris.
Parts of this story is from Bertie Maude Hayes, the great, great, great, granddaughter of Mary "Mollie" O'Conner and was handed down through the family.

GRANDMA'S APRON

I don't think our kids know what an apron is or was when our grandmothers used them.
The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few and it was easier to wash aprons than dresses cause aprons required less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees along with peaches. I was ready to help gather nuts for candy. Ma Jones made the best hickory nut candy ever. And pecan pies, can't match that taste to anything today. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes.

REMEMBER:
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.
And in this day and age, they would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. But I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron-but LOVE...... and I miss all those hugs and teacakes that grandma made and all the tea parties.

My grandmother who I called Ma Jones had 2 dresses, 1 for Sunday and 1 for everyday. But she had quite a few aprons that I dearly loved and she made them out of flour sacks. The first project that I learned to sew in Home Economics was an apron and I never forgot how proud I was when it was finished. My grandma was not around to see it and neither was my mom so I had to show it off to my Aunt Josie and she loved it and gave me some material to make her one. She knew how to sew, but she just wanted to help me learn different ways. I miss her.

JONATHAN AND LOUSINDA BARRETT HOOPER

     Jonathan Hooper, son of Andrew and Dicea Hooper, was born about 1820 in Bascombe County, NC. As a boy he moved to old Union County, GA with his parents and settled on Fodder Creek. On Feb. 9, 1854 he married Lousinda Barrett (1837-1911) Family tradition holds that Lousinda was part Cherokee Indian belonging to the Swetland Roll. They lived on Fodder Creek for a while but moved to the Alf Cove (now called the Green Cove) near Young Harris in the latter part of the nineteenth century. They made their living by farming. It is handed down that Jonathan Hooper was small in stature and was crippled. The date of his death is not known, however, he enumerated in the 1880 Census. The legend is told that Lousinda wanted to move west and they started on the journey. Along the way, a wagon wheel broke and Lousinda got someone to fix it as Jonathan was not able to make repairs. Before reaching Catoosa County, Jonathan became sick and died. He was buried along the side of the road in an unmarked grave. None of the family could remember the location.
     After the death of Jonathan, Lousinda married a Ridley. They lived on the head of Byers Creek and they made a living saw milling and farming. Then Mr. Ridley died and was sent out west for burial. "Granny Ridley" was well known for her stubborn independence and refused to live with her children, but she did live near a son on Byers Creek. A story is told (strange but true) of "Granny" killing a bear with an axe that dogs had buried in a gully near her log home. She is buried near a daughter (Mary Ollie) in the Wood Station Cemetery near Ringgold, Georgia.
     The children of Jonathan and Lousinda Hooper are: 1. Milly Ann (1855) who married Alfred Land, 2. WA (1856) who probably died in infancy, 3. Robert Richard (1858-1926) who married first Lou Gene Hunter and 2nd Alice Bryson, Jonathan "Pink"(1861) who married Lou Ivey, Dicea (1863) married James Carroll and moved out west, Green Berry (1865) who probably died in infancy, Mary Ollie (1866) who married William Burns and is buried in Wood Station Cemetery, UA (Gus) (1868) who married Hannah Lou Thomas and is buried in Ringgold, GA, Ulysses Allen (1878) who married Elizabeth Baily and moved to AL.

Relationship to Marvin Lee Burns:
Jonathan and Lousinda Barrett Hooper
Millie Ann Hooper and Alfred Land
Cintha Angeline Land and James Edd Burns
James Jefferson Burns and Ruby Lee Franks
Marvin Lee Burns

CHARLES SAMUEL DENEEN 1863-1940

I came across an interesting fact yesterday while working on my family tree. Many new documents have surfaced recently about applications for the SAR and the DAR. I just read one and was amazed at the findings about a descendant of Colonel Samuel Beall and Eleanor Brooke. Their daughter, Verlinda Beall married William Dent. Eventually the line comes to a Charles Samuel Deneen. It was then that I found out that his son had applied to be a member of the Sons of the Revolution descending from Samuel Beall. I decided to do some research on this man. I found a death record that stated he was buried in Oak Woods cemetery in Chicago, Illinois. Well nosey me goes to the web site of findagrave to see if he is listed. As it turns out, he is listed as a famous person. There is a picture of him so I checked out the google website and pulled up his name. This is the information I found:
He was born May 4, 1863, in Edwardsville, Madison County, Illinois with his parents being Samuel Hedding Deneen and Mary Frances Ashley. Samuel H Deneen's mother was Verlinda Beall Moore. She was named for her grandmother. He was the 23rd governor of Illinois and the first one to serve 2 terms. While in office, from 1905 to 1913, he was a Progressive reformer who headed the respectable faction among Chicago Republicans. Charles S. Deneen's father was a Latin professor at McKendree College; he was the grandson of a Methodist minister and the great grandson of a territorial legislature who opposed slavery. His father was an Adjutant in the Civil War. The young Deneen graduated from McKendree College and taught in downstate and Chicago schools before getting a degree from Union College of Law.
In 1891 Deneed married Bina Day Maloney of Mount Carroll. They had 4 children, one of which was born in the Executive Mansion.
Deneen was a short, stocky man with a look of determination on his face. Author Robert Howard states Deneen's standards of integrity and competence were "quite superior" to those of competing politicians. He was a straight-laced Methodist who served nothing stronger than lemonade in the Executive Mansion and invited the evangelist Billy Sunday to hold a prayer meeting there.
Deneen was a hard-nosed administrator and his administration made major changes in state government. Some of the many changes included the state highway commission, started during his administration and the building of 120 miles of experimental highways. Motorists were required to register their cars and pay two dollars for identification plates, with the money going into a road fund. State school appropriations were doubled and more money was provided for the University of Illinois.
Charles Samuel Deneen played an indispensable role in shaping the future of the entire Illinois state park system. He was dedicated to protecting the state's threatened natural resources. He was instrumental in the state's purchase of Starved Rock, located near Ottawa that stands as one of the preeminent archaeological, historic and scenic landmarks in Illinois. Starved Rock was purchased during Governor Deneen's second term. During this time, a State Park Commission was established and Starved Rock was the first state park.
Among the changes made during the Deneen administration was the nation's "mother's aid" law that provided funds for dependent and neglected children. Workman's Compensation and Occupational Disease Laws were enacted; women were limited to a 10-hour workday and mining laws were modernized. The above are but a few of the industrial safety laws his administration promoted.
Robert Howard, author of "Mostly Good and Competent Men, Illinois Governors, 1818-1988", views Deneen as effective, unpopular, and durable. His honesty was never questioned. The people of Illinois benefited from Deneen's considerable accomplishments during his two terms as governor. Unfortunately biographers have overlooked him.
In 1924, the former governor was elected United States Senator. In the Senate, he supported Coolidge on the World Court and other issues. In 1930, he was defeated for renomination in a three-man field.
Deneen also served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1892. He had also been the lead prosecutor in Chicago's infamous Adolph Luetgert murder trial.

Family Tree:
Charles Samuel Deneen IL 1863-1940 m Bina Day Maloney
Samuel H. Deneen 1835-1895 IL m Mary Frances Ashley 1836-1914
William Lyon Deneen 1798-1869 m Verlinda Beall Moore 1802-1855 d IL
Hinton Moore 1760-1828 m Annie Dent 1767-1845 b MY d Illinois
William Camel Dent 1730-1805 m Verlinda Beall 1736-1815 (Maryland)
Colonel Samuel Beall (Maryland) 1713-1777 m Eleanor Brooke 1717-1800Charles S. Deneen died at age 77 on February 5, 1940, in Chicago where he was practicing law. He is buried at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago with his wife beside him.

MYSTERY OF TWO MARY ANNS

     I have repeatedly tried to find out about Mary Ann Johnson, second wife of Thomas Jefferson Burns, to no avail. I know she didn't come from outer space as she would have had to have parents. Was she born in North Carolina or Georgia as this family lived close to the state line. At one time on the census records, Tom is shown living in one county and the next census record another county. He never moved, the county line changed during a 10 year span. I just read a short story about her that I had never seen before when I googled her name. A daughter of Tom's had asked Mary Ann to marry her dad. Mary Ann was so shocked that she fainted, but she did eventually marry Tom and had 8 children. I never knew about his 2 wives until about 5 years ago when my sister-in-law told me the story. According to Tammy Burns who is the daughter of James J. Burns, her uncle Johnny had told her that his grandmother was Mary Ann Johnson, but Nick's mother was Mary Ann Hullender. Now Nick is the brother of James Edward Burns who was the father of James and Johnny. Four children were born to Tom and Mary Ann Hullender Burns before 1871. A daughter named Sarah Elizabeth came in the year 1871 about November. I don't know this for sure but I think her mother died in childbirth as after this event, Tom married Mary Ann Johnson. So the 1880 census record shows that he is still married to Mary Ann but her age is 25 with children, Abraham, James and Louise and no one was the wiser until a granddaughter by the name of Mary Lou Martin Kile (daughter of Radie Lou Burns Martin) started a family tree and in her research uncovered this fact. After this, it is just speculation as no one knows about Mary Ann Johnson. On the 1900 census record, she says that she is the mother of 8 children of which 7 were still living. This 8 includes John Abraham Burns, 1873; James Edward Burns,1876; Louise A. Burns, 1878; Candius Burns, 1884; Mendie Burns, 1885; Rose Burns, 1888; Jefferson Brisco Burns, 1892; David Sylvester Burns, 1894.Then I find no more record of her, even her death. When Tom died in 1927, he is listed as a widower. 22 years have passed with no record of her that I can find on the internet other than an affidavit for Tom's pension from the Civil War dated September 5, 1905. He is stated as living with his wife and 4 children and is unable to work. He also states that his wife has been sick for over 2 years. I can not find any record of her death or her burial location.
     Then we come back to Mary Ann Hullender. Tom and Mary Ann had 5 children and there are records for all of them. I even found her parents but no burial location. Tom was buried in Zebulon Cemetery close to his son, Nick. Why wasn't Tom buried close to one of his wives. What was the reason for this? This remains a mystery to me as I wanted to save this story for my children. As time goes on, it will be harder to find anything on the family. My children are all Burns' and are a direct line from Thomas Jefferson Burns. Still am not sure if this name contains an "e". Some of the children add it to their names and some don't use it. Children of Tom and Mary Ann Hullender Burns are listed as William Jesse Burns born in 1863; Martha Jane Burns born in 1866; Joseph C. Burns born in 1868; Nicholas Elisha Burnes born in 1869 and Sarah Elizabeth Burns, born in 1871. Nick continued to use an "e" in his name until his death.
     On the 1870 census record, he(Tom) is listed as married to Mary Ann Hullender. She is the daughter of Nicholas Hullender and Elmira Elizabeth Hambright. She was born in 1843 as she is listed on the 1850 and 1860 census record with her parents. On the 1870 census record, she is listed with Tom Burns and they are both stated as 28 years old.

GRANDMA AND SANTA CLAUS

This isn't my story, I copied it from facebook, but what a wonderful meaning for a child to learn. Christmas isn't about getting, it is about giving. Just as our Savior gave his life for us, we should give to one another gifts of love, gifts of prayer and gifts of hope. I hope that I will always share anything I have with others and be a Santa Claus to all. Makes me cry everytime I read it so have a box of tissues handy.

 I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid.

I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping.

For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it.

Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were -- ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

May you always have LOVE to share,

HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that care...

And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!

"ETERNAL FLOWER" in memory of Nancy Caldwell.

     I met a lady in Resaca back in the 70's named Nancy Caldwell. She moved next door to my mother-in-law, Ruby Dean, after the death of her husband. She was such a good person, lending me books to read and cooking extra and sending it to my house. I remember her cooking a fresh coconut cake that was my favorite. I asked her why she gave it away and her excuse was that she was diabetic and could only have one slice. " If I keep this cake, I will eat more than I should." was the reply that she gave me. She was forever giving me cutting from flowers or bringing me bouquets for the house. Her favorites were roses. I still have a smoke bush growing in my yard that came from her. And iris, just about every color of iris that I have, came from her yard in Resaca. She never met a stranger and never talked bad about anyone. Once, on the day that Grannie Ruby's father died in March of 1977, she cooked a complete meal and took it to the home for the family as they were grieving. Fried chicken, green beans, potato salad, cornbread, slaw, turnip greens, and even a chocolate cake and an egg custard, I will never forget all the food. It must have taken her just about all day. You just don't forget people like that who have not a jealous bone in their bodies.  So in memory of Mrs. Caldwell, I wrote a poem for her. I think in some way that she will see this poem where she has gone and know that she is loved. People like her never get their names in the paper or get book written about them. You wont read about her in the history book or in National Geographic but she will forever remain in my heart.

                                     ETERNAL FLOWER
           (in memory of Nancy Caldwell   July, 1996)

I lost a friend the other day
and such joy she brought to me;
just a simple home-made cake
or a cutting from her tree.

She never worried what people said
and went her merry way,
but yet her presence can still be felt
on a warm summer day.

I can see her still in a flower bed
wher jonquils and marigolds bloom,
but the flowers that she is tending now
will outshine the sun and moon.

And now as I sit on my window sill
while the earth takes its morning shower;
a window in Heaven opens for me
and I see her---an Eternal Flower.