Great Great Grandparents!

It's difficult to package posts about our family ancestry. There is so much and so many to talk about. It's really tough to keep all the relationships straight, so I am going to try and simplify it. Two folks I know very little about are relatively close in time to me. My great grandparents on my Dad's side. 

Great Granddad died before I was born, but I was eight years old when my great Grandmother Wilbanks passed away in Holdenville Oklahoma. I never met her, or really heard anything about her until as an adult I started asking questions. I will use these two to introduce several other members of the Wilbanks family tree, and hopefully you can get some semblance of who they all were. 

My Great Granddad Wilbanks was named Luther, and his middle name was Alanson. He was known by all as "LA Wilbanks". His middle name came from his grandfather on his Mom's side who was named Alanson Forbes (Alanson Forbes' father William was an American soldier in the Revolutionary war, and the War of 1812). 

LA's father, Thomas "Tom" Mitchell Wilbanks,  fought with the Confederate States Armies (Company H, 29th Georgia Volunteer Regiment of the Army of Tennessee). After the war Tom returned home. On December 18, 1866 he married LA's future mother, my great great grandmother, Francis Maria Forbes (remember? Alanson Forbes' daughter!). LA was born on August 31, 1869 in Harmony Grove Georgia four years after the end of the civil war. 

Young Luther had six siblings. Four brothers: William (who was older), Tom, Robert, and the youngest Charlie; and two sisters: Kiziah, and Minnie. He grew up on his parents' farm, and worked there with his brothers. LA's Dad had a wooden peg-leg as a souvenir of the war, so he needed all the help he could get. The Wilbanks' had been farmers since Richard Wilbanks (Woolbanks) immigrated from Wales in the early 18th century. 

You can see Great Great Granddad Tom seated on the left. His daughter Istalena Kiziah, and wife  Francis Maria are seated to his left. Standing are Robert, Minnie celesta, and three brothers Wilbanks. Luther may be the tallest one of the three on the right. I don't know who the woman is, possibly a daughter in law. Charlie the baby is on the far right.

The family worked the farm in Harmony Grove until sometime in the late 1880's when they decided to pull up stakes and move west. This was during the reconstruction period, and life must have been difficult there.

LA's grandmother (my Great Great Great Grandmother Wilbanks), Sarah (Montgomery) passed away in 1885. His grandfather, Abijah Wilbanks, had died 10 years earlier. Perhaps Luther's father Tom decided that with both parents gone there was little left there in Jackson County Georgia for him or his family. Lured by the prospect of a new life and affordable land, they loaded wagons and struck out west for Choctaw Indian territory. 
They may have even participated in the first Oklahoma land rush of 1890. LA and his family eventually settled in a place called Poteau in what would later (1907) become part of the state of Oklahoma. 

Robert Donald Logan was also a civil war veteran. RD, as he was called, fought in the 26th Alabama Infantry Regiment under the famous Confederate general Stonewall Jackson, and was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg (his left thumb was shot off). After the war RD returned to Marion Alabama and soon married Melissa Young. The family farmed and began to raise a family.

The Logan Family L to R Front, Veston, Malissa, Robert Donald (notice the missing left thumb), Edna Mae, Emory. Upper L to R Cora Pearl, William Thomas, Jefferson Davis Burton, Mary Earlie Logan Burton, James Robert Logan. Don't know the dog's name.

A young Great Grandmother Pearl

Cora "Pearl" Logan, was born to RD and Melissa in Tupelo Mississippi on August 5th, 1876. She was called by her middle name, Pearl, and she had an older sister Mary, and two older brothers Veston and James. Two younger brothers,William, and Emory, would be born later. Around 1890, the Logans also loaded their wagon and struck out in search of a new life in the Indian Territory. They settled in Poteau not far from the Wilbanks clan.

The Logans and Wilbanks grew close over the following years. I am sure that RD and Thomas Mitchell spent quite a bit of time reminiscing together as veterans of the civil war. I am also very certain that they were more than a little bit pleased when their two families were bound together by the marriage of their children. Veston Green Logan married LA's sister Kissiah, in 1894. Three years later, in 1897, Luther and Pearl were married.

Veston Logan and his wife Kissiah
with their daughter Irene.

Then, on December 23rd, 1901 LA and Pearl received a baby boy as an  anniversary gift. They named him after both of their fathers: Thomas Donald Wilbanks. He was the first of three Thomas Donald Wilbankses, and he was of course my Granddad!

Granddad is the tall one in the
bow tie. His sister Nola Jean
 is seated, and he has his arm
 around his baby brother Moody.

Census records show that LA and Pearl were never able to purchase a home, but rather rented a house, while Luther worked as a farm laborer. Later, according to the 1930 census, LA moved the family to Bucklucksy Oklahoma, and got a job as a prison guard at the state penitentiary in McAlester.  Bucklucksy, was a small community just north of McAlester near a place called "Big Tussle". Today, most of it is under Eufala Lake. Bucklucksy is a Choctah word meaning Turtle creek. 

The records also indicate that neither of my Great Grandparents attended school, but that both of them could read and write. Dad once told me that "Grandma Pearl" was adamant that her eldest son Don (Grandad) would NOT be a "dirt farmer"! She and Luther worked hard to send young Don to college at the University of Oklahoma where he graduated at the top of his class in 1922.

Luther lived to be 75 years old. He died on March 22, 1946 and is buried in the Holdenville cemetery. Great Grandmother Pearl died at the age of 84 on May 25th, 1960. She is buried alongside LA in Holdenville.

That is about all I know of my Wilbanks great grandparents. Both born to fathers that served the confederacy during the civil war. Both raised in the south during reconstruction, and then during the rise of Jim Crow and segregation. I am thankful, proud and a little amazed at how the Wilbanks have evolved from slave owners (Thomas Mitchell's father Abijah owned several) to citizens of a different America that, while not perfect, is much closer to the aspirational hopes and words of our founding.

That's All!

Cah comin' 'Poe!!

In January of 2002, Kim and I decided to take a trip with our girls and my folks back to explore some of our family roots. My mom was on oxygen, and still strong enough to travel, so we figured we had better get going. We all flew to Houston Texas and stayed with Mike and Teri while we arranged to rent two motor homes. Looking back, my Dad was 76 years old and a little scary to drive with. However, he did just fine maneuvering the 30 foot class 'A' motor home around with only a few close calls.

 Kim and I thoroughly documented the trip with notes, audio recordings, photos and an occasional journal entry.On Sunday, the 6th of January we were in Arkansas.

"Today was a great day. We stayed in Magnolia Arkansas last night. This morning we woke up to the sun and milder temperatures. After two or three days of freezing and below temperatures, it was a welcome relief.

We lazed around for most of the morning and finally got rolling at around noon. We were hoping to locate the farmhouse of Grammie's Uncle 'Poe (Napolean) Drake. He was married to Grandpa Guttry's older sister Cecil Emeria who died in child birth in 1909. After her death, Uncle 'Poe lived with his "housekeeper" Verna Lawson and raised her kids with his own. They never married, and it was a bit of a scandal according to my Mom. One of Grammie's favorite stories was how when she was a young girl at her Uncle's house, whenever a car was spotted approaching along the dirt road leading to it, Aunt Verna would shout: "Cah comin' 'Poe!"

Our first stop of the day was "JD's Quick Stop" in McNeil. It was a slightly run down gas station/mini-mart and the old man behind the counter was friendly and very helpful. He was a real character. Shaped like a pear with friendly blue eyes, he had a a very large nose and red veined ears. He wore a blue denim ball cap with a large red, white, and blue outline of the U.S. perched above the cap's bill in front. He and Grammie took to each other right away and he very patiently helped her find a phone number for a Mr. James Drake in the nearby town of Waldo, just 5 miles up the road. Mr. Drake turned out to be a cousin of sorts. His grandfather was Uncle 'Poe's brother. After a brief conversation, he gave Grammie directions to get to Uncle 'Poe's farm. Grammie was thrilled as we headed out in search of the old farmhouse.

The directions soon led us off the paved roads, and into the backwoods. The road was an orange clay, and the rain of the past few days had softened it. As we mushed sloppily along in our big RV's, I was concerned that we might have to turn back or get stuck. However, the sunshine had hardened the road up enough that we were able to continue.

As we drove down this narrow dirt road lined on both sides by young pine forests I couldn't help thinking about what it had been like 60 years previously when my mother lived there as a teenager. We noticed a clearing off to the left with a fence and large sign. It was a cemetery, Tick Hill Cemetery, established in 1800 to be exact. We stopped to investigate, stretch our legs, and look for headstones belonging to  relatives.


It was a small cemetery, rectangular and set between unharvested pine plantations. It was well manicured, the grass was cut, and many graves had flowers placed on them. Maggie and Lucy were happy to get out of the RV and do some running. They happily busied themselves reading the gravestones and tidying up the flowers and some of the markers. The rest of us walked around reading headstones.

That's Maggie and Lu on the left arranging flowers.

We found Napoleon Drake's grave along with Cecil's and their children. There were lots of Murphy's and Blacks along with  Barbara Drake "wife of WT Guttry". I have since discovered that WT was William Timothy Guttry, one of Grammie's great uncles (her granddad John Wilson's brother)."

WT Guttry turns out to be one of Great Grandpa Guttry's
 (John Wilson Guttry) brothers, and so Grammie's great uncle.

At one point Kim snapped a picture of me with Grammie standing among the headstones. I have included the picture here. Gram is standing slightly closer to the marker on the left. I think that we had been wondering if it was a relative.

As you can see, we are much closer to the gravestone on the left.

While writing this post, I got curious as to who's name might be on this monument. I enlarged the picture and got a shock to read "Joseph Sanders". This is Grammie's great granddad, The stone on the right is Jane Sanders (Black) his wife. Their youngest daughter was born in 1859 and her name was Murtilla Jane Sanders who married John Wilson Guttry. At the time I think we all wondered if these two Sanders were related to us, but we didn't know the names, birth and death dates. Great Granddad Sanders also fought with the confederacy.  OK, back to the story!

Joseph Sanders was Tillie Jane's great grandfather

Jane Sanders was Gram's great grandfather

Uncle Po's Grave stone. He and Cecil Emeria are both buried here.
She died giving birth to their son Cecil.

"We continued down the muddy country lane, passing harvested pine plantations, and thick overgrown "dog hair" looking for a Drake mailbox. Eventually, we decided we had gone too far and managed to find a place to turn around. We had just about given up when we spotted the mailbox: "Drake". The name was on the back side of the box and we hadn't been able to see it until we reversed course and came back. I called Grammie on our little handheld radio and asked if we should turn. She said: "Let's go for it!"

We turned left and followed this road through the trees until it became a narrow "two track". We could just see an old farm house up ahead in a clearing. I stopped and we got out and approached the house on foot as we were unsure of a place to turn around, or what our welcome would be like.

We were greeted by several dogs of all shapes and sizes. They were more curious than hostile. Kim, Viola, Maggie, Lucy,  and I broke out of the trees and could then get a good look at the old farmhouse. It was bleached gray-brown from decades of sun and weather. Not even a fleck of paint was visible on the old weathered siding, and some of it was even missing, exposing the inside wall to our view. It sat in a two to three acre opening in the pines on a small rising knoll.

The house had rusted tin roofing that was missing in a few places, and at first I thought that it was uninhabited. I looked around for some other structure that would suffice for a residence, but could find none. Then I saw the car and pickup truck parked next to the old place. Seeing nothing else other than what appeared to be an abandoned single wide trailer, we decided to knock. Kim mounted the porch while I hung back with the girls.

The old house looked abandoned until we saw the vehicles.

After a moment, a short round woman opened the door. She had dark hair, and a kindly face. We introduced ourselves, and told her what we were up to. She seemed glad to see us, and we exchanged a few words. Then she smiled and started across the clearing towards the old trailer. "Jimmy!, Jimmy, we got company!". Her husband Jimmy Drake was in the old trailer "fixing it up" to move into. Well, Jimmy turned out to be Uncle Poe's grandson, and after a few minutes of introduction and conversation he exclaimed: "Why, y'all must be Uncle Johnny's kin!" Uncle Johnny was of course Grandpa Guttry (John Graydon).

Verna Lawson was Uncle 'Poe's second wife by common law.
His first, Cecil Emeria died in child birth.

They invited us into the old house. It was very small with just three rooms: a small living room (about 10'X10'), a little kitchen and a bedroom. It was neatly decorated inside, and we sat in the living room and had a nice conversation. Cousin Jimmy told us how to get to Uncle Poe's old place and warned us of the horde of cats at Gwendolyn Lawson's place right next door. Gwendolyn was Grammie's "first  cousin" (Verna Lawson's daughter). Her house is just a short bit away from Uncle 'Poleon's original farmhouse, and she lived there with her son Ricky.

As we walked out of the house and back out into the yard, Jimmy suddenly looked at Dad and exclaimed: "Hey, you're the movie star aren't ya?" A huge smile spread across Whoa-Whoa's face. Apparently, Uncle Johnny's "Hollywood" son-in-law was quite famous with the Arkansas relatives!

After a few more pictures and exchanging addresses, we left the Drakes and drove to Gwendolyn's house. There we met the cats, Ricky, and Gwendolyn. She was very old and very frail. Her memory was failing but she seemed very happy to see us. At one point Ricky stood up and said: "I think I have something you will want to see." He left and came back with an old sepia tone picture. It was in an old crumbling cardboard frame, and you could see where the mice had chewed up the old frame.

"Maybe you can tell me who this is" he said as he handed the picture to Grammie.  "That's me!" she exclaimed. It was a family portrait of Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle John, Gram, Auntie Lucille, and Uncle Curly. I believe it was taken right after Grandpa enlisted in the Navy and the family was together in San Diego. It was a very exciting moment, reconnecting and filling in memories.

John Graydon Sr, Uncle John, Grammie, Aunti Lucille,
Uncle Curly, and Grandma Pearl

While the folks were visiting, and Maggie and Lucy were playing with the cats, Viola, Kim and I ran (literally since the sky was darkening and threatening to rain) down to Uncle Poe's old farmstead. It too was devoid of paint and from a distance looked much like cousin Jimmy and Janna's house that we had just come from.This was Napoleon Drake's house and barn. Trees and vines grew up through the rotting boards and collapsing roof of the abandoned porch. An old chair, and sofa still sat there facing the driveway. We gingerly mounted the decaying steps to the porch and entered the house. The old screen door, hanging on rusted hinges, still worked perfectly.

Inside there was a lot of old furniture. Mattresses dismantled by time and generations of rodents, an old electric iron, radio, television, and a lot of chairs. Numerous newspapers were also strewn about. One was dated 1982. Possibly this was the year the house had been abandoned. We found a tin of antiseptic powder for live stock still on one of the kitchen shelves. "Dr LaGear's Antiseptic Powder". We couldn't resist taking it as a souvenir. Later we found out that this stuff was manufactured up to 100 years ago, however, we suspect that this can was vintage 1950's.

The good doctor is holding his medicine and
pointing to a wounded bleeding horse.

After breaking through the rotted wooden floor once, we decided to exit and explore more from the outside. The house was large and shaped like a "T" with a generous back porch. What appeared to be a cistern for catching rain water was just off the back side of the house. Behind it were two old out buildings, possibly barns or storage sheds. One was completely collapsed, but the other was relatively intact. The house was set on the highest piece of land in the area, and overlooked a meadow to the front and a pasture in the rear. A small valley and narrow creek could be seen in the distance where some other old houses were clustered.

It wasn't too difficult to imagine the time when this abandoned, ramshackle, and dilapidated old place had been a thriving home. One filled with the sounds of farm animals, children, adults, and the clatter of dishes. And, on special occasions, the sound of a far off approaching vehicle, and the shout of "Cah comin' 'Poe!

Finally the storm arrived with the wind shaking the trees and rain beginning to fall. We all buttoned up and headed back to join the others. It was a great day!

That's All!

An old family legend

George III

Samuel was born on July 7, 1711 in the small English town of Bradninch, Devon (near Exeter). Samuel's family belonged to the Religious Society of Friends, called "Quakers", and were persecuted in England for their dissenting beliefs. Samuel and his family emigrated to the New World in 1717, to join William Penn's colony of dissenters. His parents, George III and Mary, built a cozy log cabin at Boonecroft in 1720 when he was just 9 years old.

Samuel Senior

Samuel's older brother, Squire, had come to the colony four years before he and his parents arrived. He was 15 years older than Samuel, and had begun his own family. He had a son, Danny, in 1734. More about him latter.

Sam's big brother Squire

On March 22, 1736, Samuel and his wife Elizabeth had a son. They named him Samuel Jr. He was two years younger than his cousin Daniel. The elder Sam died only nine years later at the age of 34. Young Sam was sent to be raised by his uncle James.

He became interested in the trade of gunsmith, and over the years learned this task well. After his first wife and infant son died, he married Jane Hughes (actually a cousin) in 1766. This created somewhat of a stir, but things settled down eventually. Jane and Samuel began building their family. They had nine children together, of which we will learn more about number four, their son William born in 1774 on the eve of the American revolution.

By the time of the Revolutionary War, Samuel Jr. was running a gunsmith shop on the Potomac river in Fredrick Maryland. He manufactured and sold gun locks (the part that includes the trigger and hammer) to General Washington's Continental Army. Unfortunately, he had to pay in gold bullion for his materials and labor, while he received payment in Continental Script. This essentially drained his fortune over the course of the war. 

Sam Junior, gunsmith and patriot

Shortly after the war, Samuel and his family moved to Kentucky with his cousin. He and Jane remained there the rest of their lives other than one aborted trip down the Mississippi to establish a new settlement.

Sam Jr's fourth child, William, married Nancy Wilson in Kentucky in 1804. He was a farmer, and held slaves. He and Nancy had a baby girl that they named after her grandmother Jane Hughes in 1811. Not a lot is known of their lives, but in 1836, when daughter Jane was 25 years old, she married a man named Herod P. Turner. It turns out that these two would become my Grandmother Margaret Ellen Red's great grandparents. 

In the early 1960's, my Dad was breaking into the acting business. Suddenly his dream of becoming an actor, intersected with a family "legend" that he had heard from his mother Margaret, and her sister Rose. The rumor was that he was directly descended from the great American frontiersman: Daniel Boone. One of the networks was developing a TV series about Daniel Boone starring the actor Fess Parker. When Dad got wind of this, he called on his mom and auntie Rose to help him verify the family legend, Maybe it would help him land a good role in the new series.

Dad may have had this "character" picture taken as part of his effort
 to land a part in the Daniel Boone program.

There began a letter writing campaign to the "Boone Family Society" for help in making the connection. It continued for months, maybe a few years. I have several of these old letters, from the Boone Family Society, saying they could not find a connection, and others from my grandmother's Uncle Barry (guess who Uncle Fluffy is named after) in Oklahoma insisting that there was one. Looking through the hand written letters, I found mention of a "Great Grandmother Jane Hughes Boone" as being the link. However, that was where the trail went cold. It seemed that it was just the name "Boone" and that there probably was some connection, but it could not be verified. 

Fast forward over 50 years, and add the internet, some very powerful genealogy search engines, and a little luck. 

Starting with the old letters and handwritten notes that I retrieved from my parents house after they were gone, I have spent more than a few hours at the computer scratching my head and looking through lots of previously unavailable records. Of course it turns out that Great Grandma Jane was Jane Hughes Boone who married Great Granddad Herod P. Turner. Now you can go back and add the last name "Boone" to the story above. Remember the little boy Danny? Sam junior's first cousin? That little boy "Danny", the elder Samuel's nephew, was the great Daniel Morgan Boone! 

Col. Daniel Morgan Boone

So, bottom line is that Daniel Boone's granddad, and my 7th great granddad are that same emigrant Quaker, George Boone III. The man who left England with his family in 1717 to pursue freedom, and start a new life in the American Colonies.

And what about the rest of the trail? Well, Herod and Jane had many children including one James A. Turner. James grew up and married Ellen Adair Carey. They also were fruitful and multiplied. Their youngest daughter Lula Hughes Turner married a man named James Erle Red (who's great grandfather George immigrated to America from Ireland in 1771). They had two daughters: Margaret Ellen and Rosemary. Margaret is my Dad's mother, and Rosemary is my Auntie Rose! 

I think that you know...the rest of the story!

That's All!