It's a "two-fer" - two months in one post
So here it is the last day of October 2021. Here in America, we call it Halloween but
back in the old country, or Scotland for my heritage it was Samhain, a great
Celtic Pagan festival.
But I'm not here to talk candy, witches, ghouls, goblins, or
your random all-American kid that is actually a psycho killer. I'm here because it's time for the birthdays. This month or should I say months, I
purposely waited till the last day of October to post both October and November
birthdays. The reason for this is
twofold; first next month is very busy as Thanksgiving consumes a very large
part of my life because my birthday falls around that and it is the best family
holiday of all of them. And today
October 31st is one of my most crazy uncles’ birthday's. Now I don't normally include uncles in this list,
but I have to this time. Uncle Frank, as
we knew him was a character to say the least. I'll say more when I get to him in the list.
So as always, I'll start with wifey's family and first step
way back on the 2nd of October was her maternal great grandmother Fanny Alice
Barfield she would have been a whole 144 years old, having been born on 2 October
1877.
Then on the 13th of October we have one of those special
event days four we have two of wifey’s fourth great grandparents a husband and
wife born on the same day Christeana Jacoby would have been 235 years old and
her husband Thomas Rule would have been 234 years old. Christeana was born in 1786, and Thomas in
1787.
Then we jump to the 16th of October, and we find Nathan
Louis Barfield, wifey’s second great grandfather, he was born in 1842 making
this his 179th birthday. Wait,
did we just say Barfield two paragraphs ago?
Why, yes, we did – that was Fanny Alice his daughter.
The last one we have for October for wifey is William Jonah
Keith, Sr., 181 years old. He joined the
family in 1840 and is another second great grandfather.
We'll finish up wifey's tree with one for November. On November 6th Caroline Susan Porcher just
203 years young. Caroline was born in
1818, in Charlestown, SC the daughter of Dr. Francis Porcher, and is wifey’s
second great grandmother.
Going to jump over to my family tree now and in October we
have quite a few.
First up Eleanor Adaline Taylor but one of my paternal great
grandmothers. A beautiful young lady at
163 years old. Eleanor was born 4
October 1858. She married Samuel W.
Campbell on the same date that wifey and I were married. Just 99 years before us!
 |
| If you look closely, Eleanor and Samuel are sitting in the swing with the granddaughter Adeline between them. Photo taken by my grandfather, Herbert J. Campbell about 1918 in Milesburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania. |
Next up on the 6th we have two. Johannes Westbrook at
366 years old (1655) and Libni Taylor 251 years old (1770). Both of these gentlemen are also on my
paternal side. Libini is a fourth great grandfather,
and a great grandfather to Eleanor, pictured above. Johannes is a seventh great grandfather.
Now were gonna jump to the 15th of October and Maritje ten
Eyck born 15 October 1682 which makes this seventh great grandmother only 339
years young.
Finally on October 31st we have a possible 10th
great grandfather, Claes Nicholas Janszen de Witt. I say a possible ancestor since he was born
in 1589 in either East Frisland, or Amsterdam, and before the time when
surnames were in common use, especially in what we now call the Netherlands, it’s
anything but a solid connection. At 432
years old he would be the oldest person on October’s list.
I promised you Uncle Frank – born Halloween day 1933,
Franklin Talmage Hicks. I don't remember
a whole lot of Uncle Frank as I am the youngest of my family. My older siblings would tell me stories of
how he would hide in crypts in the big cemetery in Columbia SC on cold nights. He would then jump out at people as they came
by in the morning and scared the living daylights out of them. All I remember of Uncle Frank, sadly was he
was an alcoholic, but that does run all through my families. But when we would go visit all my aunts and
uncles, which I had to every time we went up there, just my mother and myself
go over to see Uncle Frank, who was usually living with a sister. Mom would sit there and talk to her sisters
while Uncle Frank would take me into his back bedroom and pull out a bottle of
four roses whiskey and take a big drag off of it and say don't ever do this
kid. I'd like to say I took his advice
to heart but not entirely.
My brother tells me a story which our oldest sister
confirmed that Uncle Frank spent ten years in the South Carolina state
penitentiary in Columbia SC. We don't
know what he was in for my brother did ask him one time when he visited him in
the prison. All he would tell my brother
was that he was covering for our mother and one of the other sisters. So, if he took a fall for something two of
his sisters did, which I don't honestly believe entirely but don't discount it
either, it wouldn’t be all that surprising.
He was a good guy. All my three
older siblings tell me great stories about him although we do have conflicting
stories of why he was missing fingers on one of his hands. I believe it was his right hand, but I don't
remember, he told me it was fireworks but according to my older brother it was
a blasting cap that went off. It's
entirely possible that he lost those fingers doing whatever it was that ended
him up in prison. That I can believe!
Now, let's get on to November for my family, and we're going
to jump back to my mom's side.
Henry Flowers Dozier 210 years old, a third great
grandfather. He was born on the 2nd of
November in 1811. Also on the second was
Margaret Elizabeth Shuler, a third great grandmother, in 1787 234 years old. She is on my paternal side.
On November 12th we find the oldest person for this this
post. A tenth great paternal grandfather,
Pedro Marton Gonzalez (Gunsallus/Gunsalis/Consolis/ etc…). From what I’ve been able to locate, he was
born 12 November 1546 in Spain. He would
have celebrated his 475th birthday.
On the 16th of November 1694 his great great grandson, my sixth great
grandfather, Manuel Gonsalus, Jr. was born that would be his 327th birthday. The family had immigrated to the colonies by
this time, and Manuel was born in what is now New York.
The last ancestor I have for this post is yet another Gunsalus,
Elizabeth 225 years old. Here’s an
interesting fact. Elizabeth, my third
great grandmother, married her first cousin, John Wesley Gunsalus. Elizabeth’s father, Emanuel Gunsalus and John
Wesley’s father, Richard Derrick Gunsalus were brothers. Elizabeth was born 24 November 1796 in Centre
County, Pennsylvania.
I will close with just one more birthday one that's not
normally listed because this person is still living. Namely me! My birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year. Since Thanksgiving is one of those hoildays
that does not have a firm date on the calendar my birthday does not always
coincide with the holiday, but this year it is so that means I get to be Turkey;
and probably have to cook the Turkey as well.
But it's not as bad as my 18th birthday. My 18th birthday was also a Thanksgiving Day
birthday and I was in basic training and I pulling KP (for those that don't
know what KP is that's kitchen patrol). So,
on my 18th birthday I was washing dishes cleaning up other people's mess. Which actually is how I spend most of my
birthdays since I've been married – cooking and cleaning. Hey! there's a lot worse that I could be
doing.
Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed it and I'll do my best
to get back to a regularly scheduled post come probably January don't count on
December I got too many kids hanging around to do a Christmas post.
I wish a safe and happy Samhain for each and every one!
Peace,
B
