Posted: May 8th, 2009 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Childhood Memories, Ohio | Tags: goldie, Homer | No Comments »
Here’s an 8mm home movie still showing my grandparents (on dad’s side), Homer and Goldie Stevens. The movie in question was taken on one of our vacations to Columbus, Ohio, probably around 1955 or ‘56, which would explain my absence in the footage. (that’s our shiny new ‘55 Chevrolet in the background) My only memories of my grandfather are from these 8mm films, which have been viewed many times over the years. It’s really a miracle that the film has held together so long, but they’ve now been transferred to DVD, so they won’t be subjected to further wear.
I was too young to remember Homer, but I remember Grandma Goldie well. Goldie was a good person, and clearly the source of my dad’s sense of humor. I was a big fan of the Peanuts cartoons as a child, but our local paper didn’t run the Peanuts comics in those days, so Goldie would mail them to me each week. Neat lady.
I’ve thought of creating an area here at stevensfamilytree.com to house the home movie collection, to make them viewable to visitors online. I would have to transfer the DVDs to MP4 files, and then either put them on YouTube (which would make it easy to embed them here), or embed them directly to a page where they could be viewed with a QuickTime player. I’ll do a little research and see what I can do.
Posted: January 24th, 2009 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Ohio, Vintage Postcards | Tags: cambridge | No Comments »
Aside from history buffs, the word Chautauqua doesn’t mean a thing to people today. But a hundred years ago it was familiar to everyone, and most had experienced them firsthand. So what is a Chautauqua? They were traveling shows that provided both entertainment and enlightenment, the stage hosting lecturers of all types, including evangelists, politicians and comedians. Chautauquas also featured musical acts, theatrical performances and even motion pictures in their formative years. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: January 13th, 2009 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Genealogy, Ohio | Tags: civil war | No Comments »
A rather humorous anecdote regarding my great grandfather’s participation in the civil war has circulated for years, and I decided to see if any evidence existed that might validate the story. The “family legend” holds that Henry Graham Parker (the father in the Ouija Board story) was discharged after being wounded, only to sign up again. That alone isn’t extraordinary, as many soldiers returned once they recuperated from an injury, but it’s Henry’s motivation that makes this story so much fun. Supposedly his stepmother put the recovering Henry on a therapeutic regimen of wood chopping, and he soon decided that dodging bullets held more appeal! I set out to add credence to this tale by finding records that corroborate his “dual service” to the Union. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: January 8th, 2009 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Genealogy, Ohio | Tags: robinson | 2 Comments »
OK, stop me if you’ve heard this one before: I was researching family history one day, with little to show for it, when suddenly I discovered that I may be related to a family of circus “giants”. Really, I’m not making this up. I’m just starting to piece this together, but thought that if I “threw it out there” that maybe I’ll hear from someone who might know more.
This revelation came, as do most revelations pertaining to the Stevens side of the family, from my aunt D.J., who I’ll quote:
“Mother [Goldie Stevens] mentioned James Robinson as her great grandpa. In a very large old, old Bible the name John Robinson was written in a large flowing script with a date that looks like 1899. Lower on the page the name written was Goldie Irene Parker. She would have been 11 years old.”
“We had three old friends that I believe were, in some way, also tied to Robinson. Their name was Kirkwood - John, Mary and Margaret. They had a big farm. John and Mary worked the farm and Margaret was the Court Stenographer in Cambridge, Ohio. Doug and I loved to go to their farm. They subscribed to, I think, every magazine there was. They kept the old ones in their barn loft for us, and we could take home whatever we wanted. Margaret is the one who gave us the snapshot of the Robinson Giants.” [italics are mine] Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: January 2nd, 2009 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Genealogy, Ohio | Tags: goldie, parker | No Comments »
Fragments of family history can be gathered from a number of sources, but one can’t underestimate the value of word-of-mouth. Anecdotes handed down through the generations can be informative, inspiring, even humorous, and contain data that would otherwise be forgotten.
My aunt Dorothy Jean Murray is the “go-to person” when researching the Stevens’ family in Ohio, and she mentioned something recently that I thought was rather amazing. Almost as an afterthought, D.J. mentioned that a bit of confusion accompanied my grandmother’s birth. It seems that my grandmother, born Goldie Irene Parker (shown here with my father, Doug Stevens), had the wrong name put on her birth certificate. That’s right, the story goes that her birth certificate read Madge Parker. I don’t have to tell anyone with genealogical experience that records are often peppered with errors, but this is major. What prompted the mistake, and how was it resolved? It’s thought to have been some sort of clerical error, but that is, I believe, supposition. Over one-hundred years has passed, and the details of these events were not preserved with any clarity. I would think that the name would have been promptly corrected, but that didn’t stop me from searching for public records pertaining to Madge Parker. While I was unable to turn up anything, I can’t help but to wonder if a copy of that birth certificate exists somewhere. Who knows, Dorothy Jean might come through again.
Posted: December 12th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Genealogy, Ohio | Tags: goldie, mcmurray, parker | No Comments »
I can’t believe it. I didn’t think that any photographs of my great-grandparents (Goldie’s parents) existed, but then these two, over 140 years old, turn up courtesy of my aunt Dorothy Jean. The photos, studio portraits of Henry Graham Parker and Emily Robinson McMurray, are said to have been taken around the time of their wedding. Having decided to wed prior to Henry leaving to serve in the civil war, they were married immediately upon his return, on August 25, 1865.
These photos add nothing to the nuts-and-bolts of the family tree, but there’s an undeniable significance to connecting a face with a name. It makes the people come alive. Remember my earlier post about the father learning of his daughter’s death from a Ouija board? This is that man, Henry Graham Parker.
One bothersome aspect of the photos are the dates notated on the back, indicating their date of marriage as August 25, 1865. This contrasts to the data contained in the family outline, which gave the date as October 25 of the same year. That’s something I’ll need to quiz Dorothy Jean about. For now I’m still having trouble getting very far beyond Henry Parker on the family tree, and the marriage date doesn’t provide any clues regardless the date used. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 8th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Ohio, Vintage Postcards | Tags: cambridge | No Comments »
A few days ago I wrote of Brown High School in Cambridge, Ohio, the school my father attended in the early ’30s. That post was illustrated with a postcard of the school, a rather ordinary-looking card that I found on eBay. I hadn’t thought much more about that postcard until I came across this photo in dad’s 1931 annual. The similarities were striking, and I wondered if the photo could in fact have been used as a template for the postcard. But while the photo obviously dates from 1931 or earlier, these postcards are usually found with postmarks from the ’40s. Basing postcard art on preexisting photos was commonplace, but would they have used so old a photograph? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: November 29th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Ohio | Tags: byesville | No Comments »
It was many years ago the last time my father mentioned it, and to be honest it could have been the only time. You see, Pop didn’t talk about his personal experiences much, a trait that seems to have been handed down by his father. While few details accompanied the story, I distinctly recall his saying that he and his father saw the wreckage of the Shenandoah, the the first rigid airship built in the United States. Caught in a severe storm on the morning of September 3, 1925, the enormous ship was torn in two by a series of violent updrafts and downdrafts. The control car broke free and crashed near the farmhouse of Andrew Gamary, killing the seven occupants. The stern portion, over 400 feet long, came down a half-mile away and dragged along a treeline, eventually coming to rest on a nearby hillside. The 200 foot bow section, controlled by seven crewmen, remained airborne for nearly an hour, eventually coming down on the farm of Ernest Nichols, six miles southwest of the stern.
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Posted: November 26th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Genealogy, Ohio, Tiptonville, Tennessee | Tags: caldwell, hopson, parker, stevens | No Comments »
It dawned on me recently that many people find this site while looking for relatives, and I haven’t made things easy for them. If someone arrives here after having Googled “stevens genealogy”, or “caldwell family”, they’ll find a frustrating lack of organization. But I must say that I prefer a more casual, “organic” layout, and find that excessive structure only serves to infuse the subject with banality, and genealogy needn’t be boring.
In order to clarify my family tree a little, here’s a quick-and-dirty outline of the family: I’m Mark Stevens, born in 1957. My father was Homer Douglas Stevens (”Doug” 1915-2007), and his father was Homer Stevens (1888-1961). Homer’s father was Albert Stevens (1852- ?). Albert’s father isn’t known, although there was a John J. Stevens that’s a possibility. All the Stevens mentioned here lived in Ohio, primarily in Guernsey County. My grandmother was born Goldie Irene Parker (1888-1979), and her father was Henry G. Parker (1840-1914). Her mother was Emily R. McMurray (1846-1930). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: November 25th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Ohio, Vintage Postcards | Tags: cambridge, school, yearbook | No Comments »
This vintage postcard, a surprisingly common card, shows Brown High School in Cambridge, Ohio, probably in the ’40s. Doug Stevens, my father, graduated with honors from BHS in 1934 and went on to attend Ohio University in Athens. Although I have all four of dad’s yearbooks, they reveal little historical information about the school. In fact, the only date I’ve found is the year the school opened, 1909, and that’s only because it appears on the postcard! One internet source reports the building shown here to have been demolished long ago, but when the school closed is unknown. I’ll keep searching, and post any new findings!
Posted: November 17th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Ohio | Tags: goldie, ouija board, stevens | No Comments »
Had this tale reached me a couple of weeks earlier it would have been perfect timing for Halloween, but better late than never, right? Sure, I could have kept it under my hat until next year, but this bit of family weirdness can’t wait. There’s not much to the story, really, and certainly everyone has heard more eerie or horrific tales, but I’m absolutely floored that this sort of thing took place in my family. Dad’s side of the family consisted of miners and farmers, conservative Ohio folk that were known for their dignity and moral propriety. It’s their upstanding demeanor and quiet reserve that makes this tale of the occult truly extraordinary.
My grandmother, Goldie Stevens (born Goldie Parker), was almost seventy in 1957, the year I was born, but I got to know her well enough to see her as guiding force behind dad’s strength of character. Goldie passed on in 1979, and my grandfather, Homer Stevens, died in 1961. I was too young to remember my grandfather, but from all accounts he too was possessed of a character that was beyond reproach. Not much was known of the Stevens or Parkers beyond my grandparents generation, and no prospects for further information were in sight until a few weeks ago. In the course of doing our genealogy research my sister Carol has corresponded with our aunt Dorothy Jean, hoping to add a generation or two to the family tree. Little was gained in that regard, but instead what surfaced was a number of priceless family anecdotes. This one, set somewhere around the year 1900, is centered around Goldie’s childhood and the family pastime, playing with a Ouija Board.
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Posted: November 4th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Genealogy, Ohio | Tags: albert, byesville, Homer, stevens | No Comments »
I’m new at this genealogy stuff, and must admit that it’s proving to be more difficult than I anticipated. How is it that generation after generation of Caldwells, Hopsons, Tunes and Tiptons (Mom’s family) can be found with relative ease, while the Stevens, Parker, Hockenberry and McMurray clans reveal nothing? It’s as though Dad’s family tiptoed through the nineteenth century undetected.
What little information I have on the Stevens Family is thanks to what I will hereafter refer to as “the family outline”, a compilation of data that my sister Carol gathered many (many) years ago for a school assignment. Our Mother and Father each completed a page outlining their place and date of birth, marriage date, occupation, major place of residence, and religion, with similar pages being completed by, or on the behalf of, the other family members. Access to this type of first-hand information should have put us on the fast-track to a genealogical epiphany, but that has not been the case.
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Here’s an 8mm home movie still showing my grandparents (on dad’s side), Homer and Goldie Stevens. The movie in question was taken on one of our vacations to Columbus, Ohio, probably around 1955 or ‘56, which would explain my absence in the footage. (that’s our shiny new ‘55 Chevrolet in the background) My only memories of my grandfather are from these 8mm films, which have been viewed many times over the years. It’s really a miracle that the film has held together so long, but they’ve now been transferred to DVD, so they won’t be subjected to further wear.
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