Saturday, September 10, 2011

A road trip to North Louisiana and Kentucky

Hi! 

I'll be on a genealogy road trip this week to do research for a client.  We'll be hitting northern Louisiana, Bienville Parish and surrounding areas... then to hit central Kentucky.  I'll try to pick up a document on my own family from time to time, stop to stop.... and maybe some photos! 

I'd love to get a photo of the area in Union Parish where my great great grandmother Keziah Griselda McClanahan Barr Book Yossett's, 3rd husband Charles Braun Yossett was shot and killed.  The post before this one tells the story!  I'll try find the court record while I'm there... wouldn't it be great to read the testamony?  Maybe the whole story from Keziah's point of view?  Well, that's what I'd love to do while I'm up there!

We leave Sunday, September 11, and return Sunday, September 18th.

That's it for this time lil blog post!  Wish me luck!

Lisa

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Family Trees, Blood Trees or Step-Blood Trees, they are all My Trees and I love the shade they give us all!

Wow, what a strange statement this title is, eh?  What do I mean?  Good question!  My father, Abner Hilburn Gilmore passed away when I was 11 years old.  I was the youngest of 4 children my mother and father had in their 32 year marriage.  Over the following couple of years later my mother met Jerome Edward Barringer and they married December 1, 1974.  Jerome aka Jerry Barringer had no children with his late wife and was thrown into a family dynamic which he had no experience in with two simple (?) words, “I Do”.  He suddenly had 3 grown children, 3 grandchildren and a "teenage girl".  *G*  From what I remember, I didn't know what to call him, it couldn't be daddy... dad wasn't right either, yet calling him Jerome, Jerry or Mr. Jerome wasn't going to work...  Please remember this was in the early 1970's and as a teenage girl of the 70's he became "Pops"!  I don't know what he ever thought of it, but it stuck all through the years.  My 3 siblings called him Jerome, our children called him Paw-Paw or Big Paw-Paw, but I called him "Pop/Pops".  He had 10 grandchildren and more than a few great grandchildren when he passed away and they all loved their Paw-Paw.  I don’t think any of them realize/realized he wasn’t their biological grand/great-grandfather, unless someone has told them.  He fit into his role as quickly as anyone could have expected him to.  I have missed him terribly since he passed away on August 13th, 2003 after a short illness.  He was legally my stepfather, but in my mind and soul he was my "Pops".  

Jerome was proud of his family and heritage, he would tell the greatest stories about growing up on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain in Lacombe, Louisiana.  He was the 3rd of 13 children of William “Bill” P. and Eleanor Barringer had 13 children, 11 boys and 2 girls.  The kids were expected and did work before and after school, he trapped in the marsh, hunted hogs and did anything else asked of them without question.  That was the way it was in the 1940’s in South Louisiana as it was in many other places around the country. 

William P Barringer’s mother, Mandane A. Pierce was the daughter of Howard A. Pierce and Mandane L. Knight from Sac City, Iowa.    She married James M. “Captain Jim” Barringer in 1900.  James M Barringer was a Schooner captain which carried passengers and cargo from New Orleans to the North Shore destinations of Lake Pontchartrain.  We hope to add more facts about Grandpa Barringer in the near future, as for now we’d like to share what we have on our Peirce line! 

I had begun working on my mother and fathers family history in the late 1980’s and it was natural to gather the names, places of dates for “Pops” family as if they were simply another branch of my biological family tree.  That is when I heard more stories about Granpa Pierce and Granpa Barringer, and what stories they are! 

Howard A. Pierce was born in Livermore Falls, Maine and was a very well educated and traveled man.  I’d like my cousins of this branch of my family tree to help me write about this man and his life and travels…. We will add photos and more stories about these fantastic men and women. 
I’ll post some photographs of the land that was bought about 1898 for a dollar an acre by Howard A. Pierce on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain in Lacombe Louisiana. He was told of the 1000+ acres of land while talking to men at a boarding house in New Orleans.  He was told he could get there via a steamer across the lake, he wrote an article about it to the Sac City newspaper.   I hope to post the article here soon.  The land Granpa Peirce and Granpa Barringer bought in the 1890's and early 1900's is no longer in the family.  Their presence is known by the naming of several streets, such as Mandane Drive, Louise Drive, and Eleanor Drive.  By naming these streets with their wives names they ensured they would always be remembered. 


Muriel "Lucille" King Barringer's street, located at Lake Road and Lucille Drive


Wooden sign for the same street in Lacombe, La.

Remembering Mandane A Pierce and Mandane L Knight













Lake Road, this road leads from the town of Lacombe, La. to the shore of Lake Pontchartrain.  All along this raod is the land that once belonged to the Pierce and Barringer families.  There are always people fishing all along this road... you can see there is a water way on each side of the road.

Corner of Lake Road and Barringer Road. 
The Barringer "Home Place" is just down this road on the left.  
The old home no longer exists
and is no longer owned by the family.


The "dead end" of Lake Road,
Lacombe Louisiana. 
It was a Summer day in the South
and you can see the Thunder Storms that were rolling in!


This is the same place just to the right of the previous photo.  These marshy areas were once full of wildlife that the "Barringer Boys" hunted and trapped on. 








You can probably see why I named this Blog post what I did, eh?  *G*  Please leave us a comment or two and ask any questions you may have!
Lisa,
Proud to be Jerome Edward Barringer’s youngest (step) daughter!