Friday, December 20, 2024

52 Ancestors - Week 52 - Resolution

 52 Ancestors – WEEK 52 – Resolution

By Cynthia Keefer Patton 

Here we are at the end of this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. I feel good about my participation. I ended up posting 27 blogposts. I learned a lot. I cried a lot. I had to think twice about what I posted taking into consideration of living relatives.

I definitely expanded my research. I reached a larger audience of genealogy clients and friends. I am happy I have left albeit a small footprint in the forever web of stories. I hope they still exist in some form 50 years from now, but who knows. Where were we 50 years ago in terms of the types of media we used to share our stories?

My resolution for the year 2025 is to continue this journey, but with a little moderation. I will pick my favorite prompt each month and write 12 blogposts.

My second resolution is to shift away from client work and focus on my own family story--making me the client.

My third resolution is to continue seeking ways to preserve and share our family stories with repositories and historical societies in the areas that our family came from.

My wish for everyone is a Happy and Prosperous New Year and much success in tracing your family roots and telling their remarkable stories.


 

Friday, December 6, 2024

52 Ancestors - Week 50 - Chosen Family

52 Ancestors – WEEK 50 – Chosen Family

By Cynthia Keefer Patton 

I am the lucky, lucky mother of an adopted son. Our chosen family. When I tried for 10 years to conceive, but suffered two ectopic pregnancies, tubal repair surgery, and attempts at in-vitro, my late husband and I arrived at the conclusion that we would add to our family through adoption.

Of course we had worries. What if the child didn't love us? What if we didn't love them? What if our family didn't accept this child? Would my husband feel differently than about his two biological children?

I was young and headstrong and nothing could deter me through the process. There was a lot of paperwork, costs for healthcare for the bio mother. Legal documents, waiting, heartache, and more waiting. Part of our journey including allowing another pregnant girl to live in our home for three months as she awaited the childbirth. This kept the costs down overall for all the adoptive parents working with our private agency.

We were blessed to get to know a wonderful young woman and watch her life altering decision to give her little girl to a waiting couple. It allowed us to see all sides of the process. 

I prayed on New Year's Day of 1988 that my dream to become a mother would be fulfilled that year. In anticipation and with faith I furnished a nursery and bought tiny baby clothes. I kept this close to my heart, not sharing with many others. The girl living with us gave birth in early September and not five days later after we said goodbye to her at the bus station, we got the call that our child--a baby boy--had been born.

He would have had to have been conceived late December or perhaps even New Year's Eve. God is good and there are no mistakes. My chosen family grew to include his lovely wife, my sweet grandchild, my daughter-in-law's mother, and so many more people.

PS I couldn't have loved anyone more, his father adored him, and he has been a total blessing in my life.

Thursday, December 5, 2024

52 Ancestors - Week 49- Handed Down

52 Ancestors – WEEK 49 – Handed Down

By Cynthia Keefer Patton 

On of my favorite things to "hand down" are recipes. With each recipe comes a flood of memories. Who made it, where we ate it, what the house smelled like while it was cooking. My late husband Shephard H. Patton, Sr. loved to cook. He cooked Southern and Cajun specialties because he was born and raised in Southern Mississippi.

While going through some boxes (yes 14 years since he passed away) I came across a notebook with some handwritten recipes. He wrote like this, mostly block letters. Not ever cursive. He loved this dish and we had it on a lot of Mondays. That is a New Orleans thing. Wash day. IFKYK.

I miss him a lot. He was a great man. Make these and I promise you won't regret it. PS You can use any type of sausage, even turkey sausage.



Saturday, November 2, 2024

52 Ancestors - Week 45 - Colorful

52 Ancestors – WEEK 45 – Colorful

By Cynthia Keefer Patton 

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Ireland. A definite bucket list item, based on my ever-changing Irish heritage (currently at 18%, with Scotland jumping up to 34%).

To say the least it is colorful! The hues of greens and blues actually hurt your eyes. While we were there we say four rainbows breaking through clouds with a brilliant sun. No wonder the connection about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is linked to the Irish culture. 

We took a couple of tours that taught us all about the history and peoples of both Northern Ireland, U.K. and the country of Ireland. I really loved how colorful the country was.


Dunluce Castle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland


Friday, October 11, 2024

52 Ancestors - Week 43 - Lost Contact

52 Ancestors – WEEK 43 – Lost Contact

By Cynthia Keefer Patton 

All my life I remember my mother telling me about her baby brother Melvin. How she missed him. How she really didn't get a lot of time living with him in their home because she married so young. How she wished he would keep in contact with her more.

She tried, but for whatever reason he was elusive. She only got occasional updates from our Grandmother Mahanna (Nana) on his whereabouts. We knew he married several times. We knew he had some daughters. We knew he lived in New York. We knew he worked as a fireman. My little brother Kevin Keefer also worked as a firefighter and Mom often commented on how "alike" he was to her own brother. His quiet reserved demeanor and his overwhelming kindness for others.

I was doing some broad searches on the Mahanna name last week and came across his obituary. I was looking for my cousins information, hoping to plan a reunion in the coming years. So I wasn't shocked to see he was gone. But sad. I also found his most recent wife's obituary. They had relocated to North Carolina from New York and that is where he spent his final days. 

Melvin Mahanna and older brother Donald, Jr. (home from his time in the service) Personal photo in possession of author

I wish I had known my Uncle Melvin better. I wish I had known his daughters. I hope I can contact them and try to overcome our lost contact.

His obituary confirms most of what I was told: https://www.27east.com/southampton-press/melvin-j-mahanna-of-north-carolina-and-formerly-of-north-sea-dies-june-26-2176721/   


52 Ancestors - Week 42- Full House

52 Ancestors – WEEK 42 – Full House

By Cynthia Keefer Patton 

Many of my paternal families had large families. There were LOTS of children. There MUST have been full houses where people congregated, ate, and slept. One of the families was Abram S. Keefer married to Susanna I. Miller. I am not certain but think his middle name may have been Stabutz or Stouffer which was his mother's maiden name.

    Abram S. Keefer, born 7 Mar 1847, Saltlick Township, Fayette, Pennsylvania. Married Susanna I. Miller, born 14 Feb 1854 in Pennsylvania in 1871. She died on 2 Oct 1925 in Bullskin Township, Fayette, Pennsylvania. Abram lived 17 more years and finally passed at the age of 95 on 17 Nov 1942 in Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. They had the following children:

  1. George Washington Keefer, 1872-1931
  2. Benjamin Franklin Keefer, 1874-1950
  3. Elizabeth Keefer, 1876-1952
  4. Minerva Keefer, 1878-1948
  5. Daniel M. Keefer, 1880-1942
  6. Cyrus M. Keefer, 1882-1910
  7. Jacob Miller Keefer, 1884-1962
  8. Grant Edward Keefer, 1886-1962
  9. Sarah Jane (Sadie) Keefer, 1889-1957
  10. Nevada Mae Keefer, 1892-1980
  11. Harry Abraham Keefer, 1894-1976
  12. Ethel Blanche Keefer, 1896-1976
  13. Anna Manilla Keefer, 1898-1984
  14. Lloyd Austin Keefer, 1901-1963
When he died, his obituary named off his large family. A full house.


The Daily American, Somerset, PA, 20 Nov 1942, p. 2; newspapers.com


Thursday, September 26, 2024

52 Ancestors - Week 39- Homestead

52 Ancestors – WEEK 39 – Homestead

By Cynthia Keefer Patton

I was fortunate enough to be given land by my in-laws when my first husband, Shephard Patton and I decided to move back home to southern Mississippi to live on the Patton place in rural Harrison County.

When we first arrived in late summer 1984, the land needed attention--old fences, dilapidated barns and a corn crib from maybe the late 1800s. There was also the timber house of the original couple who obtained the land through Homestead and Cash Entry program in Mississippi. In 1883[1] and 1890[2], Philip S. Patton acquired first 39 +/- acres and then 159 +/-. 

At one time, we had the original homestead certificate signed by Benjamin Harrison, but when my husband died, I passed it on to a Patton family member. 

Philip was married to Cordelia S. Johnson and had two children: Ida Patton, born in 1885 and Oliver Owen Patton, born in 1890. Ida married and left the homestead moving only 5 or 6 miles away to an area called Orange Grove. Oliver never married and stayed with his parents through their death. When he was old, my father-in-law, Luther R. Patton (his first cousin, once removed) looked in on the aging Owen. Family lore says he took him to cash his pension checks, brought him groceries, and drove him to the doctor’s office.

As a reward for his kindness, Owen left all the land to Luther. Over the years some land was sold off to support farming operations and pay taxes. When we received our portion, it was 120 acres including the location of the original house and barn. At one time the area was called Finley, and the cemetery up on the ridge above our land was the “Finley Cemetery” now owned by the county.

We spent quite a bit of money to move the old house off the 5 acres where we were to build our forever home down to what we called “the back 40” which belonged to my husband’s brother Luther R. “Ronny” Patton II. It stood as a reminder of times gone by but fell to further disrepair over the years. We stored items in it, and there was some of their original furniture, but time and the humidity of the deep South had ruined it all. In a sad stroke of fate, Hurricane Georges knocked it off its foundation and blew off the tin roof. We had to raze it and haul off the remains.

We worked the farm hard for many years. We grew soybeans, raised cattle, and built ponds. We raised our son. We lived and loved and prospered.

We tried to hold onto as much land as we could, but hard times and loans coming due to farm equipment meant selling some of the land. When my husband passed away, my son and I decided to sell the house we had built and over time I parceled out any remaining land. All that is left is 1 acre with a duplex on it. My son and his wife rent it out as an AirBnB. We can visit there and treasure our memories.

Shephard is buried up on the hill in Finley on a plot next to his mother Florence D. Patton, her husband Luther, Philip, Cordelia and Owen Patton[3]. We purchased headstones for all of them so time would not forget.



[1] Philip Patton (Harrison Co, MS) patent no.35898; U.S. Bureau of Land Management, “Patent Search,” digital images. General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch: accessed 26 Sep 2024).

[2] Philip S. Patton (Harrison Co, MS) Homestead certificate no.4439; U.S. Bureau of Land Management, “Patent Search,” digital images. General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch: accessed 26 Sep 2024).

 [3] Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89905654/oliver_owen-patton: accessed September 26, 2024), memorial page for Oliver Owen Patton (3 Mar 1890–21 May 1962), Find a Grave Memorial ID 89905654, citing Finley Cemetery, Gulfport, Harrison County, Mississippi, USA; Maintained by Ed Stallings (contributor 46921758).


52 Ancestors - Week 52 - Resolution

  52 Ancestors – WEEK 52 – Resolution By Cynthia Keefer Patton   Here we are at the end of this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challeng...