Rootbound in the Hills #108: 17 October 1989

by Rocky Macy

Remember our story about the Kodak Brownie 2-A box camera that this columnist unearthed in a flea market? It had been purchased new on 27 June 1914 by Miss Alice GIETT of Seneca. It turns out that Miss Alice (Mrs. Alice GIETT McDANIELS), a very bright ninety-year-old, currently resides in Joplin and is a regular Rootbound reader!

Alice and her late husband were long-time residents of the Frog Pond community near Racine, MO. The camera, it seems, went to the highest bidder at her big farm sale last year. Alice told me over the phone that she had used the old box camera as recently as five years ago - and it still worked fine!

Mrs. Theresa BOWERS FORREST (Rt. 2, Box 306, Seneca, MO 64865) is the reader who brought Alice GIETT McDANIELS' whereabouts to the attention of Rootbound. Her letter also contained a query regarding her grandfather, Leonard V. BOWERS. Mr. BOWERS was a Baptist minister, and Mrs. FORREST reports that he helped to organize New Salem Church in Newton County. His wife was Manerva COX of Newton County. Mrs. FORREST is interested in learning where Leonard V. BOWERS became a minister and where he resided before coming to Newton County. She will share information with others who are researching the same individual.

LTC George H. CARLTON (101 Noel, Waxahachie, TX 75165) is tracking Eunice "Nicey" CARLTON who married William Rufus KNIGHT in Jackson County, AL, on 16 Oct 1851. They moved to the Granby (Newton County, MO) area around 1859. Children of the couple included Amanda (Mrs. William MEADOR), Elzie A. (Mrs. Franklin CORMER), Nancy, and William Thomas (married Carrie Alma PERKINS). Rufus was supposedly "bushwhacked by mistake" in January of 1865. Family members are buried in Powers Cemetery. LTC CARLTON will exchange information on this family and their descendants.

And that's not all the mail from Waxahachie! Please read on...

Donna LONAN (201 Avenue C, Waxahachie, TX 75165) wishes to correspond with anyone having a knowledge of Thomas TAYLOR (born 1802, NC). a resident of Tennessee in 1820 and 1830, and southern Missouri in 1840. Thomas TAYLOR was living in Fulton County, AR, in 1850 with his sons, Hampton, Benjamin, Thomas Jefferson, Henry, and Berry. Thomas Jefferson TAYLOR (the son) married Elizabeth GREEN in 1855, and he served in the Civil War from Pope County, AR. Thomas Jefferson TAYLOR was a resident of Baxter County, AR, until his death in 1904.

Donna LONAN (address above) writes a weekly genealogy column entitled Missing Links for the Ellis County Genealogical Society. She will print queries concerning north or central Texas. Correspondence can be sent directly to the Ellis County Genealogical Society at P.O. Box 385, Waxahachie, TX 75165. And remember to mention Rootbound when mailing those queries to Texas!

Harriett K. WALTERS (1203 South 4th Street, Effingham, IL 64201) received a response to her recent Rootbound query from a reader in Phoenix, AZ! She is researching Abraham and Elizabeth (MENDENHALL) YORK of Newton County, MO. Tradition has it that Elizabeth died in 1891 and is buried in Neosho. Is that right. Harriett would like to know!

Now that the Ozark foliage has begun to turn, foretelling the passing of yet another season, wouldn't it be a great time to take pen in hand and begin preserving those family memories for the next generation and beyond? Keeping a journal or diary only takes a few moments a day, but those little daily memories, once written down, become a legacy that will reach across time and space to touch and brighten the lives of countless others. And who better to tell your story than you!

Send those queries to Rootbound in the Hills in care of this newspaper. Barring an accidental bushwhacking, we'll be back next week - same time, same place!

Happy trails!