Barham Siblings-Atkins, AR 1919

Descendants of Thomas Franklin Barham and Theodora "Dora" Hazeltine Willis Barham

Description with photo: 1919 Homeplace of Dora & T. F. Barham. Near what was the ball field in 1995, Atkins, AR

1^st Row-left to front -Very front- Boys – Berlin Kinder, s/o of Lillie Barham & Andrew Kinder, Haskell Vest s/o Eliza Barham & Alex O. Vest, Burgess Brashear, s/o Amanda Barham & Tommy Brashear.

2nd Row-Children including babies on laps - Marie Barham(Shadell Fields), d/o of Dora & T.F., Avis, d/o of Willie & Myrtle, Alta, d/o of Willie Myrtle, Johnnie Barham, d/o of Pearl Dunn & John Jackson Barham

3^rd Row – Myrtle Dalrymple Barham, Pearl Dunn Barham, Lillie Barham Kinder, Catharine Vest Young(little girl) d/o  Eliza & Alex Vest, Eliza Barham Vest, Amanda Barham Brashear holding Lucille Brashear Jackson

4^th row – Willie Barham holding Nola Barham, Willis Barham holding his sister, Doris Barham, John Jackson Barham with daughter Oleta behind him(hand on his shoulder), Andrew Kinder, the girl behind John & Andrew is Lila Kinder Gill, Alex Oakland Vest holding son, Coyne Vest, Violet Brashear Williams and Tommy Brashear, sitting on the end behind Amanda. 

Note: Tommy Brashear was Maggie Brashear Dunn's brother and Andrew Kinder was Charlie Dunn's 1/2 brother.

These are the three younger Barham sisters.

My grandma, Marie, Fay, and Ruth. Brother, Donald came along a few years later.

A few years ago a dear cousin from Arkansas emailed several photos to me. Many do not have a description. I will post the photos as often as I can. Hopefully, people can be identified. Since a Barham married a Kinder it could lead us to a photo of Emily Singleton Dunn Kinder.

Love,

Territory Mom aka Jill

Happy Birthday to My Mom

Here she is with Miracol on her face during a slumber party.  Merle Norman was new back then.  That is a roll away bed to the right.  To me they were so comfortable.

 

Here she is with a friend looking pretty as always.

 

On a picnic with her aunt and mom.  I think they stopped to eat on their way to a revival.

 

Here she is with her grandma, Mama Baker, her aunts and cousins.  Someone got in trouble for scribbling on this photo.  Did your grandma have a cloth picture of the Last Supper on her wall?

 

Here she is with her mom on Easter Sunday.  So pretty.

 

My mom shares her birthday with her great grandma, Mary Florence Webb Friels and her brother's first grandchild.  My uncle shares his birthday with my mother's first grandchild.  I know, so cool!  This is also the anniversary of her great grandparents, Charlie Dunn and Maggie Brashear Dunn. 

 

Family. 

 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Have a great day.

Love,

Me

 

For fun Check out my beautiful sister

Some of My People - The Ramseys of Texas

David Crockett Ramsey, II or Jr. with wife and daughters

Have you been watching Who Do you Think You Are?  We love watching it.  Very interesting how so many family histories are simliar.  After I watch the show I always check my emails to see if I have another family match on ancestry.com. 

Last week I did hear from a Ramsey relative who sent me more information about the family that he received from a relative in Arkansas.  The Ramsey/Ramsay family date back to Scotland.  In my branch the first Ramsey to arrive in America from Scotland was Samuel Ramsey.  He was born in Scotland in 1721 and died in Onslow County, North Carolina in 1768.   So it makes me an 8th generation Scottish immigrant.  Can you hear the bagpipes playing?

Anyway my Ramseys settled in North Carolina, then moved through Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas.  From Texas they scattered like a covey of quail.  The Ramseys have always been a mystery in my family.  Until about 10 years ago when I finally found Malissa Ann Ramsey my great great grandmother.  I got her name from a relative then found her on the 1880 Clay County, Texas census.  She was the oldest daughter of David Crockett Ramsey, Jr./II and Mary Elizabeth Lambert.

Someone sent me the above photo a few years ago of Malissa/Melissa with her parents and her sisters.  She is the one on the right of her father and her mother is on his left.  She looks old to me.  If this photo was taken when one of grandparents died in Texas then she is between the ages of  27 to 32.

I know this is Melissa because I have seen that look at family reunions.  Just kidding, no I'm not.

Before I received this photo I did find Melissa's grave.  The problem I had in finding her was that she had been married twice after my great great grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Baker had died.  Surprisely she is buried with the rest of the family in the Dixie Cemetery, near Loco, OK which is on the Stephens County / Jefferson County line.  She just has a marker, "M.A. Baker".  She is buried next to her daughter-in-law's grandparents, the Friels.  Her first husband, Baker who I descend from is buried in the Lindale Cemetery in Bowie, Texas next to Melissa's grandparents, the Ramseys.

I could go on and on about the Ramseys and Bakers so I won't.  I would like to know the names of the sisters and I know someone out there will help me.  One thing about this family David, Jr. named his daughters after his sisters, confusing to say the least.  Also, there is a photo of David, Jr. and his sons which I have lost.  I hate it when computers crash.

Have a great day and if you are in Oklahoma the next 3 days are good fishing days.

Love,

Territory Mom

Happy Birthway Margaret Evelyn

I found this photo in my great grandma's old cigar box and I asked my grandma, "who is this little girl"?  That's Margaret Evelyn.  So, I ask, "who is Margaret Evelyn"?  I wish you could hear my grandma's scratchy voice when she yells, "she's Roscoe's DAUGHter".  Like I was supposed to know this already.

Anyway, she is my grandma's cousin, the daughter of my grandma's uncle Roscoe Blaine Dunn and Esther Jackson Dunn.  She was born in 1931 and over the weekend Margaret Evelyn turned 80 years old.

Isn't she lovely?

She is named after her two grandmas, Susan Margaret "Maggie" Brashear Dunn and Minnie Evelyn Jackson.  Her mother died when she was very young and she and her brothers were sent to live with Roscoe's sister, Ruth Evelyn Dunn Paddock and her husband Herman in Oklahoma.

Margaret, Lawrence, Aunt Ruth and Harold traveling from Comanche, OK to New Mexico so Ruth could preach the gospel.

(Not pictured: CH and David Dunn)

Margaret's family gave her a surprise birthday party on Sunday.  Her son read this article from an old Ann Landers column to her:

What a legacy: Aging without Complaint

Dear Ann Landers: Here is an old clipping of a prayer from your column. It has yellowed with age, but has enduring wisdom that can help another generation of readers.

 Please run it again. ----F.W. in Worcester, Mass.

Dear Worcester: That piece is at least 25 years old, but it is still filled with insight. Thank you sending it on. Here it is, for "another generation."

Please God

My Children are grown now, and I have wonderful grandchildren. I love them all, but please, God, let me remember that I have lived, loved and enjoyed this life. Do not let me take away from their enjoyment by complaining about every ache and pain. I have earned them all.
Please keep me from mentioning my swollen joints, stiff knees, poor eyesight and anything else that isn't as good as it once was. Let me remember that I have enjoyed a full and wonderful life, and have been blessed in so many ways. Now is not the time for me to begin complaining.

Please let my mouth be closed while my ears are open to hear the fun they are having. Let me remember that I am still setting an example for them, and that if I keep quiet, they will forever think that I never had a single ache or pain in my life, and that I miraculously escaped the ills of old age.

They will, in later years, remember me with pleasure and say, "I wish I had her genes. She never had anything wrong with her!"
That, dear Lord, will be the best legacy I can leave them.

A beautiful legacy began when Margaret Evelyn was born in 1931.  Other historical events from 1931 can be found here.

The Empire State Building was completed in 1931.

Born in 1931:  James Earl Jones, Hope Lange, Larry Hagman, Regis Philbin, Oklahomans, Mickey Mantle and Billy Vessels.

 Also born in 1931:  Angie Dickinson, William Shatner, James Dean, Olympia Dukakis, Leonard Nimoy, and Robert Duvall.

For other famous birthdays from 1931 go here.

If I hadn't started this blog I would have never known Margaret Evelyn.  Her son contacted me after reading this post.  Now we are all friends on Facebook and I can wish Margaret Evelyn a happy birthday.
Happy grandma's day.
Love,
Territory Mom

Oklahoma To Me . . . 15th Verse

Me (cir 1965)

Oklahoma to me . . .

is the joy you feel of being born here

 and of your children being born here

Love,

Territory Mom

Not My Hands

My daughter gathers eggs every day, if possible.  We are working on a chicken coop so right now the eggs could be anywhere, but she always finds them.  She brought some to me and told me to make a cake with her eggs.  So I did.

As I was cracking the eggs in the bowl I noticed my hands.  They were not my hands.  I know what you are thinking, but they were not my mother's hands either.  It was almost surreal looking at my hands as they cracked fresh eggs.  Did they belong to my great grandmother?  Maybe.  She moved her husband and child to Oklahoma to be a farmer.  From what I understand it was her decision.  As you know they spent most of their lives in Comanche where my great grandma had a garden, cattle, chickens and always wore a white lace collar.  She gathered fresh eggs every morning and fed her chickens in the evenings.

Maybe Pearl was helping me make a cake for my family.  Thanks Pearl.

Happy Grandma's Day.

Love,

Territory Mom

Old School Photo?

My great grandma Nancy Pearl Emily Dunn Barham on the left

My grandma gave this picture to my mom a few years ago.  At the time she told us who the other people in the photo were, but we can not remember.  I thought at first it might be one of my grandma's sister and her beau, but I'm not sure.  The woman on the right could be the school teacher with another student.  She is wearing a wedding ring and it looks like they are looking at school books.

It was definitely taken in Arkansas because my great grandma was already married with one child when she moved to Oklahoma.

Old photos are kind of creepy.  Look at the boy or man under the building to the left.  Creepy. 

Let me know what you think.

Love,

Territory Mom

P.S.   This was my first post about my great grandma.

One Face of America

Nancy "Pearl" Emily Dunn Barham

She is my great grandma and one of the reasons I started searching for my roots

Susan Margaret "Maggie" Brashear Dunn

She is my great great grandma and she is the main reason I started searching for my roots.

They are the faces of America.  We all have a story and yours needs to be told.  You do not have to make it public but it is important to perserve your family history.

There is a new show called Faces of America on PBS where Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "explores the ancestry of 12 talented Americans".  The 2nd episode airs tonight on PBS at 7:00 pm. central.  You can watch the 1st episode online.  The show will on every Wednesday night until March 3rd. 

Enjoy.

Love,

Territory Mom 

Negatives From An Old Kodak Brownie Camera

I received an email from my new found cousin and it stated, "I remembered I had some negatives from an old Kodak Brownie Camera". I was so excited. I'm all about the old photos.

Anyway, he had 99 negatives from the 1940's and 50's in a safety deposit box. He graciously had them developed and email them to me. Below are the first photos he sent me:

Cousins

l, Inez Smith and r, my grandma

When my grandma saw this picture she said, "Inez always had store bought dresses."

More cousins, my mom is in the center

The men folk: sitting: C.H. Dunn. L to R: John Barham(my great grandpa), Herman Paddock and Harold Baker (my grandpa)

This photo was taken before my grandpa became a preacher. He always looked the same age to me. Herman Paddock and his wife Ruth Dunn Paddock raised their niece and nephews. I spoke with one of the nephews and he called him "Dad" and said that "he was the greatest man to walk this earth". I don't think you can get a better compliment than that.

Happy Grandma's Day,

Love,

Territory Mom

When They Were Young

This is John & Pearl Barham when they were young. I think it was their engagement or wedding photo. The picture is in a frame and sits on a table in my grandma's house. I took a photo of the photo. I think it turned out okay.

Have a great day.

Love,

Territory Mom

Old Family Photos

I have a new cousin in California. He found this blog by searching the Internet for old family names. He has been sending me old family photos that I'll share with you from time to time. Below are my great grandparents, John Jackson Barham and Nancy Pearl Emily Dunn Barham. It was their last formal portrait and everyone in the family should have a copy of it, but this one is unique to all the others.

John & Pearl Barham

On the back of this photo is my great grandma's handwriting. This will make my mom cry.

Have a great day.

Love,

Territory Mom

Old School Photos

When my grandma was a little girl her family lived at Olustee for a short time. This is the school photo from that time, the late 1920's. Back in the day when all the grades were in the one room school house with one teacher. My grandma is standing in the second row first from left. One of her sisters is standing behind her, the one with the glasses and white hat, isn't she cute. Her other sister is sitting in the very middle on the front row. Surprisingly most of the kids are smiling, unusual for old photos. Check out the boy on 2nd row with the big hat. You know he was proud of that hat. What a great photo.

Territory Mom

Grandma's Day

This is my grandma when she was a girl in the late 1920's. We call her Ma, which is what my son calls me. Tuesdays are going to be "Grandma's Day". A day to share a story about your grandma or a story your grandma told you. I chose Tuesday because when we would go to my grandma's we had to get up early on Tuesdays and go with her to the women's prayer meeting. After the prayer meeting the ladies would quilt. Ma taught me to quilt.

Territory Mom