Shakin' the Family Tree

Right now, the thought is to have it at St. Joe Freewill Baptist Church's fellowship hall in September.

But that is not firm, and if you want to get in the planning - or just keep up with it - you may want to be part of this Facebook group.

If you are on Facebook, either reply in the comments, send me a PM here, or email me at sharpchick13 at hotmail dot com. I can send you an invite. I'll need your Facebook username.

In any event, I'll post significant updates here.

Hi! Guest Blogger Cristi Broach Hendry here, GGG Granddaughter of James Littleton Burris. My paternal grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Burris “Nana” (1917-1998,) was born and raised in Atkins, Arkansas. Had it not been for the Depression, I might call Arkansas home rather than Riverside, California.

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The Burris family home

JL Burris’ son James Franklin Burris, Postmaster of Atkins, built a family home in Atkins in about 1880 (See photo below. The house has been torn down). My dad was born in that house and I appreciate the fact that the Burris family home is the reason my sister and I have Burris family stuff - a quilt made by Mary’s maternal grandmother, Postmaster Burris’ desk and his Postmaster certificate, and a lovely bureau that may date to the 1800s.



James Franklin Burris II about 1925 or 1930


Frank Burris' service station in Atkins. The Burris home is on the left.

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Introduction to Mary

Mary and her second husband Otis “Papau” moved to San Diego in 1940 with my dad (more on that later). Until 1969, we lived in San Diego too, and we spent a lot of time together - particularly since Mary and Otis had a pool. Mary worked at a clothing store called Walker Scott in the 60s -- a very good job for someone with a lifelong love of beautiful clothes. I can’t remember exactly how tall Mary was -- about 5’2” -- but she wore her clothes like a movie star. Think Rita Hayworth. Otis was 6’3”, and we always said, looked like Gregory Peck (see photo below).

They built a good life in San Diego. My dad spent his teen years surfing and playing volleyball. In the 60s they acquired a charming home with that pool I mentioned - and Otis had Karmann Ghia in his driveway. No matter that the steering wheel became detached on a trip to Arkansas. It was a cool car!

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Mary gets married

When Mary was 16, she married Astor Pettit Broach, also an Atkins family -- son of Margarite Victoria Pettit and William Broach “Ma and Pa Broach”. My father, James William Broach, was born in 1935 when Mary was 17. The Depression was in full swing, Pettit had drinking issues and the marriage didn’t last long after my father’s birth. Mary’s high school classmate, Otis Lamar Hanks (1914-1994) of Russellville, had been carrying a torch for Mary, and was waiting in the wings. They married in 1937. Otis loved Mary truly and deeply his whole life.

Mary Elizabeth's high school class, 1933


Mary Elizabeth Burris, age 4

The Depression

The Depression sent Otis looking for copper mining work in Colorado and my dad, known as “Billy,” stayed with the Broaches in Atkins. By 1938, Mary and Otis returned to Atkins, collected Billy and joined the migration West with so many others. Otis got work in a copper mine in the strangely named Miami, Arizona, where the legs of Billy’s bed had to be set in buckets of water to prevent scorpions from getting him. The wind and blowing sand drove Mary crazy and after a vacation in San Diego in 1940, they said -- this is for us!

War years

In 1940, war was in the offing and defense jobs offered employment - but housing was tight because of the number of people moving to San Diego for the jobs. Otis got a job at Convair and they did find an apartment, but distressingly - the apartment didn’t allow children. Billy lived with another family for the first year, which was understandably very hard on a five year old. Eventually, they found an apartment that allowed children and, after the war, they settled into a paradisical life in San Diego.

Billy in a suit Otis tailored, 1945


James William Broach senior class photo 1952

The good life

Mary and Otis were good at making friends -- Mary had a lively and engaging personality. My impression is that they had a very active social life. One thing that didn’t go exactly right is that my dad eloped after knowing my mom for six weeks. That shocked and hurt Mary - but given that he was 19, perhaps it had more to do with hormones than anything else. When dad called to tell her the news, she told him to come over and my mother should stay in the car until they had talked. And then they welcomed my mother into the family as their daughter.

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No story of Mary Burris could be complete without mentioning she was an artist. Each of her grandchildren has a large canvas she painted hanging in our homes. In later years she took up ceramics, which I have displayed in my garden. I often think about what I can leave artistically for my family. Having a visual reminder of your loved ones is a marvelous thing.

Mary and Cristi, 1959


Mary Elizabeth, Cristi and Vicki

Staying connected

Mary was close to her mother - even though Abigail “Abby” Bailey Burris, by many accounts had a difficult and demanding personality. Mary and her parents visited each other fairly regularly - and considering the distance - that’s somewhat remarkable at that time. Abby and Frank Burris (James Franklin Burris II) never quite got into the beach culture -- included here is a photo of them sitting on the beach at La Jolla in full dress clothes.


In the mid-60s, Mary’s brother, James Franklin Burris III “Jimmy” (1921-1992) and his family visited San Diego. My dad’s cousins, Sharon and Randy, were teenagers and they were totally fascinating to me at 8 years old. Sharon was a cheerleader and actively missing her boyfriend (now her husband Winston) and Randy was a musician (still is). They came packing their own Dr. Pepper (not available in San Diego!) Also remarkable was the fact that Uncle Jimmy built their home AND airplanes. He had a lifelong passion for planes.

In 1973, my dad took us to Little Rock to visit Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Twila. That trip left a deep impression on me. The southern ways, manners, lifestyle -- all so different than California. Gracious, slower, more time for family -- in fact -- life was all about family. My sister, mother and I visited Aunt Twila in Little Rock in 2004 -- and I felt the tug of the south all over again. We visited Atkins too, and Otis’ sister Johnnie Marie was still living there. I recall that after mentioning at the restaurant that we wanted to visit with Johnnie, the word went out and reached her at the beauty salon within a half hour.

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Southern DNA

I treasure the artifacts of southern-ness that our family has held on to after migrating to California -- my Nana was a fantastic southern cook. Once I gave Nana a dessert cookbook and she was shocked. I really should have known that she never used a recipe for a dessert in her life -- the recipes were in her head. Nana and Aunt Twila used to defer to each other on fried chicken -- each said the other was the best cooker of fried chicken. I could never make up my mind. I have picked up some southern-isms in my speech -- y’all just makes sense to me! My dad didn’t stay Billy -- he reclaimed his first name as a teen and became Jim but he is still crazy for the the Razorbacks. Woooooooo. Pig. Sooie!


My thanks to Dee Burris Blakley for inviting me to do this guest blog -- it’s been wonderful revisiting the memories.

Cristi Broach Hendry

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Cristi Broach Hendry is my third cousin, once removed.

If you are connected to the same branch of the Burris family as Cristi, and would like to contact her about this entry, you can either reply to the entry, or email her at:

cristihendry at gmail dot com

Jasper and Julia Herrington house, Clark Co., AR


George W Burris Jr. house, 8th and Crittenden, Arkadelphia, Clark Co., AR


Jo Desha and Maxie Williams house, Russellville, Pope Co., AR. Original construction.


First addition


Last addition


George W Burris Sr house, Russellville, Pope Co., AR. 500 Glenwood, after the family moved to town from the farm.

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This is a Sepia Saturday post.

Head over there for more wonderful sepia memories.

Logo


I loved reading this in The Atkins Chronicle, 23 Jan 2013 issue, at page 3.

75 Years Ago
From the files of Feb. 4, 1938
People of Hector will celebrate the installation of electric power Tuesday, Feb. 22. The celebration will begin at 4 o'clock. J M Danley of Scottsville is in charge of the program. H M Cheek of Hector will deliver the welcome address. Other speakers on the program will be W P Strait of Morrilton, Lieutenant Governor Bob Bailey, Judge A B Priddy, Reece Caudle and E W Hogan of Russellville.

Rural Arkansans have always been last to get most of the modern conveniences.

As early as 1913, Arkansas had, in addition to city and town electrical utilities, an electric utility that connected cities on the power grid.

So I imagine that a quarter of a century later, it was a really big deal for the little Pope County town of Hector to get electricity.

In my mind's eye, I see someone ceremoniously flipping a switch, and I hear the "oohs and aahs."

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Got this photo in my email the other day.



That's my dad, and one of his favorite hunting dogs - a pointer named Rex. The year was 1972.

Dad always loved to bird hunt - back in the day when Arkansas had an abundant quail population.

Before humans destroyed their habitat.

When I was very young, he had English setters. The pointers came later. Dad and his dogs competed in field trials.

And Rex was a very cool dog.

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As I read other blogs, I've noted that most bloggers try very hard to credit information they use in their blogs to appropriate sources, if it's not original content.

It does kind of bug me to see a blogger's copyright symbol displayed on so many old photographs. While I understand that the blogger is probably trying to prevent indiscriminate copying and re-use of photos, just possessing a photo doesn't grant you copyright.

From the FAQ page of the United States Copyright Office:
Copyright is the right of the author of the work or the author's heirs or assignees, not of the one who only owns or possesses the physical work itself. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Who Can Claim Copyright.”

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I am taking the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge, albeit starting a few months late.

I started this blog to share - photos, memories, documents, places and people - with other people.

Freely sharing was important to me because of the sharing of information I experienced in the early years of this journey when I asked for information.

On surname message boards. Hard to believe, but I still find posts of my own from 1999 on some of those boards.

Distant cousins found the blog in Google searches. I correspond with several of them still. All the other bloggers were right.

If you build it, they will come.

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In the last few months, I've started getting emails that go something like this:
I am making sure that this e-mail doesn't bounce. I am researching a possible family connection in Arkansas. (That's the actual text of a message I found in my inbox this morning.)

I always reply to those, to let them know the email address is still good. Sometimes, there is a distant family connection.

Sometimes, people have seen how Arkansas-intensive my tracks are on the internet, and they just need help with their own trees.

What can I say? I'm a Scorpio, and always intrigued by a mystery.

Even when it doesn't have one of my own surnames on it.

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You know how people say that they hope they don't find out they unwittingly married their own cousin?

I've always figured that somewhere downline - closer to my generation - I'd find out someone was a cousin of their spouse.

I decided last week to start looking at my nephews' and niece's families on the *other* sides of their families.

I started with my niece. Her father's surname is Rankin.

Started with her dad and went backward.

After about 3 hours, I sat here grinning like a fool.

Her dad is my 4th cousin, twice removed. The connection starts in 1877, when John James Rankin married Margaret Ann Lemley in Pope County.

Margaret Ann was the daughter of Ephraim Lemley, Jr. and Cynthia Elvira Burris.

So my niece is also my 4th cousin, three times removed.

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Of course, I didn't stop with the pedigree.

I'm looking for bits and pieces of information that give the third dimension to the names, dates and places.

Turns out the Rankins (and their allied families) were quite the movers and shakers in Perry County, AR.

And some of its earliest settlers.

The Rankin family will have blog posts of its own.

August 10, 1969 was a horrific day for Charles R and Geneva L Ketcherside.

They lost their home in a fire, and with it, 6 children.



Randy L Duvall, b 27 Sep 1958 (son of Geneva and her first husband, Lee Duvall)
Connie L Ketcherside, b 20 Mar 1962, and her siblings
Aaron R, b 13 Nov 1963
Sheila K, b 20 Jun 1965
Dennis R, b 18 Oct 1966; and
Michael R, b 29 Oct 1967

She posted in a thread with requests for information about William Burris, born 1782, and any descendants.

She thinks her g-g-grandfather, John Crockett Burris, died in Texas...if she's talking about John Crockett Burris who was the grandson of our brick wall William, then...

That's not exactly the way it went. See this entry for photos of his gravestone, and that of your g-g-grandmother, Sarah Ann Harrelson.

They are buried, with three of their children, in Ford Cemetery in Pope Co., AR.

And none of John's siblings died in Morgan Co., AL.

(Yes, I know the prompt is Mystery Monday, but I have time to write about it today. Go with it, please.)

Dad called me the other night. One of his local genealogy buddies had called him and read him a newspaper article from August 1882, where a couple of guys had busted out of the Dover jail in Pope County. The posse was hot on their trail.

One of them was a Burris. The other was a guy named Goodner. When the law caught up to them, Goodner was shot, and Burris gave it up.

No first names in the entire article.

So Dad went the next day to the Pope County Library and looked through microfilm for a couple of hours.

Found another article. It talked about Goodner and Burris. No first names.

I found a snippet of an article from the Arkansas Gazette dated 1 Aug 1882, where it gave Goodner's first name as John. It said he was wanted for shooting a sheriff.

And that's all we know.

But the Burris had to be one of ours, and from one of the articles, we know the manhunt centered around land very close to our homeplace.

My Burrises sure had a lot of secrets...

Another descendant of a family that emigrated from Tennessee to Pope County, AR contacted me last night when she found my online tree and from there, this blog.

She is a Duvall descendant. Duvalls married into my Burris line throughout the years after all the families settled in Pope County.

And she remembers going to Decoration in the 1960s at St. Joe Cemetery, too.

I love it when this happens.

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Just a reminder to those who stumble on the blog while they are shakin' their own family trees.

You can right click and save copies of the photos posted here.

Seriously.

While I was at my dad's house, I took pictures of some more of his pictures.

What we believe to be the first building that became St. Joe Freewill Baptist Church - where my g-g-grandpa set up a Sunday school under a brush arbor until they could get a building - and the very beginning of the cemetery, way over to the right.



St. Joe as I remember it when I was little kid, going to "Decoration" on Mother's Day...

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There's a very nice, modest brick building there now.

And a much larger cemetery.




This is a Sepia Saturday post.