CELEBRATING MOTHER'S DAY

     In 1870, Juliet Ward Howe, author of "The Battle Hymn Of The Republic", was the first in America to want to honor the mother's that had lost sons in the civil war. She was so tired of all the carnage and called on mother's to come to her aid. She wanted an international Mother's day celebrating peace and motherhood. It never came to fruitation but the seed had been planted. A West Virginia women's group led by Anna Reeves Jarvis began to celebrate an adaptation of Howe's holiday. It was to observe and re-unite families and neighbors that had been divided between the Union and Confederate sides of the war. After Mrs. Reeves death, her daughter campaigned for the creation of an official Mother's Day in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace. But it wasn't until 1914 that Woodrow Wilson signed it into observance. The second Sunday in May was decided on for the day to honor all mothers and has remained to this day.


                                                   "A MOTHER'S LOVE"
~based on I Corinthians 13~
A Mother's love is patient, through all her daily work and care.
A Mother's love is kind to all whether great or small in God's Kingdom.
A Mother's love is not jealous, but rejoices in all good things.
A Mother's love is not arrogant or rude, but is humble, mild and modest.
A Mother's love doesn't focus on self, but gives herself to others.
A Mother's love is not irritable, even when frustrations overwhelm.
A Mother's love does not keep track of wrongs; she thinks of doing good.
A Mother's love is happy with the truth, and seeks to share truth with her children.
Never stops being, patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up.
A Mother's love never comes to an end.

     Mother's Day has just passed and I was fortunate enough for all my children to attend my home for a impromptu supper. Although I did most of the cooking, and my husband stated that it should be cooked for me, I think Mother's Day should be for what you want to do. So while I am still able, I will cook. There may come a day when I am not able and the children have to cook for me. Besides, if I do the cooking, it will suit my taste buds and I can do without all the sugar. I still surprise them with what has sugar and what does not.
I was lucky enough to have 3 mothers in my life time. My biological mother, I had for 15 years and then she was killed in an automobile accident. But while her time here on earth, I was loved just like a little girl and treated as such. All the frilly dresses and fancy shoes, taking dancing lessons and piano lessons, taught to cook fancy and sew a straight seam, even crocheting, came from my mom. My mom was a very talented woman. She could make any sort of dress just by looking at a picture. She was a great hairdresser. She drew pictures, with colored pencils or charcoal. She played the piano. She was a great chef and cake decorator. And flowers, she could make beautiful arrangements as well grow the flowers that she put in the vase. I was never that lucky. I really thought my mom could do anything. Except die. That was the shock of my life, learning to live without her. But I did and survived with the help of 2 other women. Ruby Franks Dean and Evelyn Johnson Dudley Beall
      I married in 1962 and met Granny Ruby. She sort of adopted me since my mom was dead. I had been so spoiled that I didn't really know how to do alot of things in the kitchen. Especially make biscuits. She could make the best biscuits that I ever tasted. It is no wonder that I gained so much weight. This was a home where biscuits were cooked every morning and sometimes for dinner. No cold cereal here. I guess that is why Marvin does not eat cold cereal now. Mostly it was gravy and biscuits, with 2 kinds of meat. Eggs, grits or oatmeal, and sometimes creamed corn with sliced tomatoes. I had never eaten those 2 foods for breakfast. I thought they were crazy. Well I set about to learn how to make these biscuits. I thought the task would be easy since it looked so simple. Little did I know. The first ones, I was told that they had to much powder on the faces. Really hurt my feelings, but they tasted good. After about 2 years, I had accomplished the task. Then she set to teaching me how to make quilts. On a treadle sewing machine, no less. I couldn't sew a very good, tight seam by hand. There was alot more to it than I thought. I knew how to sew, and that helped a little. It takes some time to cut enough pieces to make a quilt top. The first one, I was lucky in that Ruby had a top ready. Since it was cold weather and we needed it in a hurry, she decided to hand turf the quilt. A turfing needle is not like a regular needle. It is about 3 inches long and has a larger eye to put in larger thread. This was cotton thread that she got at a chenille bedspread factory. So to start, you have to have a lining and filler, then the top. For this particular quilt, she didn't use batting but an old threadbare blanket. She said it would work better in a hand turfed quilt. It wouldn't bunch up after washing. The process is this: with a long thread, you sew a seam through all layers. Each stitch is about 3 to 4 inches apart. After the whole thing is done, you go back and clip between each stitch and tie the ends in a knot. This makes knots all over the top. You then hem around the edges and you have a very warm quilt. After I finished, I was thrilled that I had made this project. So I decided to make a smaller one for my baby, Jimmy. I later learned to make a quilt by the process of a quilting frame. But it never thrilled me as much as the first one because the top was made by Ruby's mother, Katie Eller.
     Over the years, Granny Ruby was there for me in so many ways. She never forgot my birthday and would bring me some little something even if it was a candy bar to let me know she remembered. She watched my children while I worked at night. I never had to have a babysitter. When ever we would have a dinner, Rhonda had to make the slaw. I still make it today, the same way that she liked it. She died in 2006 and I miss her.
     Miss Evelyn, I met at the Krystal before she ever married my dad. When I stayed with her, we would get up at 4:30 in the morning to be at work by 6 am. She called me her personal beautician. If ever a little grey started showing, we would put on the auburn. French twist hairstyles were popular at that time so this is how it would be fixed. Everyone bragged on her hairstyle. I can recall her saying," I have a personal beautician." I also remember one Christmas when I sat up just about all night so that the Barbie Dream house would be ready for Deborah when she woke up the next morning. Evelyn had given out of energy by the time we got to that project. After she married my dad, she did not show the least bit of difference between the children. They were all hers and she would fight for you in more ways that one. I remember once when I lived in Rome, Jeff was playing in the backyard and the neighborhood children started throwing things at each other. One boy threw a piece of glass and hit Jeff right between the eyes. He needed stitches so I called Evelyn. She came right over and took him to the emergency room. When she came back, she proceeded to go and talk to the child and his mother. Well an argument erupted from this and I thought it would become a fight. Evelyn told her right quick that they better not mess with her grand babies again or she would call the police to take care of the matter. She was intolerant of injustice in any form. We lost her in March of 2011 and I miss her so much. I still remember the trip she made to my house once to bring my children some clothes. I wasn't at home, and the door was locked. I had gone to the store for some reason but I was cooking pinto beans for supper. Evelyn said the smell was so good, that she almost tried to climb through a window. She said the only thing that stopped her was a police car rode by. I would sometimes cook her beans when I visited her. And she would make egg salad when she knew that I was coming to her house. David went hiking one summer with his son so I went to Evelyn's house to stay all night. She thought that she still had to wait on me and I could walk better that her. She loved her family more than anything except my dad. I will see you again in the hereafter. You filled a void in my life when I really needed a mom.

MY STORY OF JOHN YATES BEALL

   I  have started this story many time with no results. Just can't get all my facts together. I have been fascinated with this subject since I found it on the internet about 1998. "The Hanging of John Yates Beall." First of all, let us find out about the name Beall. It is based on the ancient Celtic god "Bel" who was by some accounts similar in nature and function to the Greek god "Apollo." The best known patriarch, Ninian Beall, came to this country as a slave more or less. He was an indentured servant and as he worked, he accumulated land in the Maryland area. He originally spelled his name "Bell" but he was commanded to change it to the older spelling, Beall, when he was sent to the New World in 1653. This was to politically disassociate the members of the clan who supported the Stuarts from the parts of the clan that remained loyal to the Crown.
Variations on the spelling include Bell, Beal, Belle, Bel, and of course Beall-but these are all related families. In fact there can be various spellings of the name in the same family. Much research has been done to prove that all the Bealls and different spellings are one and the same.
      My tale begins with John Yates Beall, a distant relative of mine. He was born at Walnut Grove, Jefferson County, Virginia on January 1, 1834. His parents were George Brooke Beall and Janet Yates. He was studying for the law at the time of his father's death in 1855. So he came home and farmed for the family until the outbreak of the Civil war when he volunteered for the "Botts Greys" and mustered into Company G, 2nd Virginia infantry. After being incapacitated by a wound, he went west and then moved into Canada. While in the latter country, he contrived a plan to liberate the Confederate prisoners at Johnson's Island prison. With this plan in mind, he returned South and solicited the approval of the Confederate authorities. He was commissioned as acting master in the Confederate navy, but was not assigned to command. On his own initiative, he began a series of exciting privateering enterprises along the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, but he was captured in November, 1863, and confined in irons at Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland. until he was exchanged on May 5, 1864. Unable to secure the approval of the government, he went to Canada without orders to carry out his favorite plan of liberating the prisoners on Johnson's Island. On Sept. 18, 1864, with a small band of picked men, he captured the "Philo Parsons" and "The Island Queen" and would probably have reached Johnson's Island, but for a mutiny in his crew and the miscarriage of other plans. He was forced to abandon his project and was captured in citizens clothing at Niagara, NY on Dec. 16, 1864. He was hurried to New York. General John Adams Dix ordered a military commission for Beall's trial, which began on January 17, 1865. He was represented by James T. Brady. The arrest of Beall had not been published in the newspapers and Confederate authorities were unaware of his status. On February 8, the commission found him guilty on all charges and sentenced him to death.
      The story of Beall's arrest and trial then appeared in the newspapers, and efforts were made to save him. Appeals were made by many prominent people, including six Senators and ninety one members of Congress, but President Lincoln refused to intervene and Beall was executed on February 24, 1865.
      There is a legend discussed by Lloyd Lewis that Lincoln was approached by John Wilkes Booth who was a friend of Beall's to save his life, and that the President agreed to do so. But Lincoln changed his mind (the legend goes) when he was approached by his friend and Secretary of State, William Henry Seward, who insisted that Beall's activities had been dangerous to the citizen's of New York State (Seward's state). Supposedly a furious Booth determined to kill Lincoln and Seward for this betrayal after Beall was executed.

PELLAGRA

     While I have been working on my family tree, I came across something that puzzled me. A disease called Pellagra. My grandmother on the Beall side died from this in 1924. As I ran across this on some other death certificates, I decided to find out what were the causes.             Definition:
  "Pellagra is a vitamin deficiency disease most commonly caused by a chronic lack of niacin (vitamin B3) in the diet."   I found this disease mostly occurred in women from about 1910 thru 1930. In the early 1900's, pellagra reached epidemic proportions in the American South. There were 1,306 reported pellagra deaths in South Carolina during the first ten months of 1915. At first, the scientific community held that pellagra was probably caused by a germ or some unknown toxin in corn. Primary research was set up to study this disease in prisoners and they determined a certain diet could cause the condition. By 1926, Dr. Goldberger established that a balanced diet or a small amount of brewer's yeast prevented pellagra. It was also determined that women died more often than men due to the fact that men were the breadwinners of the family and were given preference and consideration at the dinner table. They also had pocket money to buy food outside the household. Women often gave protein foods to their children first. The women would eat what was left, and I had a first hand view of this when I first married as my mother-in-law would always cook for her husband and son the choice foods. Even at breakfast, eggs were given to the men first and if any were left, then the children were feed. Women would eat gravy and biscuits with maybe a piece of fatback. And at other meals, meat parts and choice vegetables were given to the men first, and then the children. Often many families lived in one house and ate together, so the men and older boys ate and the children were feed in the kitchen. The women were always left behind.
     Pellagra no longer stalks the nation as it once did. But during the early part of the 20th-century, pellagra, a disease that results from niacin deficiency killed many poor Southerners. Dr Joseph Goldberger discovered the cause of pellagra and stepped on a number of medical toes when his research experiments showed that diet and not germs caused the disease. He also stepped on Southern pride when he linked the poverty of Southern sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and mill workers to the deficient diet that caused pellagra.
     I wish this research had taken place sooner that that era. Then I could have known my grandmother. My dad had to grow up without his mother. How many other children in the South were in this same situation. My dad always told me that his mom died from pellagra, an iodine deficiency, but this was not the case. Since he was from a family of 7 children, then this mother was often last at the table and would probably eat any leftovers. This is hard to fathom in this day and age but we don't know what took place in that era. It was hard for farmers to make a living unless they had children to work the acres. And after this, the depression of the 30's. We are fortunate to have food today, with access to a store to buy the things we need. We don't have to grow anything except for pleasure. Plus, we have plenty of vitamins and minerals that sold over the counter. Thank goodness for the doctors who took the time to discover and find cures for these diseases.

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.