social-history
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Black Gold
Texas tea [1]… Or, in this case, perhaps Louisiana chicory? Yep, Oil. That same bubbly that enticed Jed Clampett to pack up everything and move also emitted a homing beacon to the McPhail clan. One Hardin Malcolm McPhail answered the call… at the ripe ol’ age of fifty-four.
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Top This
I’ve been told my Grandfather Weddle’s maternal relatives, the Marshes, weren’t very close. In fact, on the rare occasions that they all got together, they typically spent their time and energy playing “Top This!” [1] You know how that game goes: one sibling brags about their new car, or big bonus, or the latest remarkable…
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Prisoner of War No. 44095
I was digging around the internet for ancestry records when I found these: prisoner-of-war records for Kevin’s maternal grandfather, John Frederick Flatau, a.k.a. Opa.
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Lost Mother… Found
I found Granny’s mother! To be clear, I’m certain that Granny never thought she was lost. But life in the Land of Ancestry Records can be a dangerous place. “Granny” is Nettie Nobia McPhail (McPhaill, McFale—census records show it spelled all three ways), wife to Cyrus Guy McLemore.
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Daniel & the Earthquake
Daniel blew hot breath against his hands, watching it fog into the frigid night. He’d counted on a nice warm bed; instead, he shivered beneath the blanket of boughs he’d scavenged from the banks of the Wabash, wondering even now how he’d fared so poorly on today’s ride. He’d ponied horses many times between the…