A to Z April Challenge: U is for Upton

“We need to get together more often and not at a funeral.” How many times have you and a cousin said that? Funerals are much like a family reunion. You can learn a lot about a family just by looking at who showed up. Using my grandparents’ guest books and sympathy cards, I’ll be exploring “Who came to the funeral?”

is for Mary Lee Farrar Upton. She was my mother’s second cousin, daughter of Lewis and Eltar Farrar, first cousin of my mother’s father Orvin Davis.

When my grandfather died in 1963, Mary Lee and her husband Chris went in with her sister Phyllis and husband Donald Carruthers on flowers, a spray of white carnations.

 

The Uptons sent a card when my grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis passed away in November 1990.

Mary Lee was the second child born to Lewis and Elta Farrar. Like my mother, Mary Lee attended Cradock High School.

from 1947 Admiral
Cradock High School Yearbook

Unlike my mother, Mary Lee was in the Glee Club and Drama Club. In the class prophecy, Mary Lee was predicted to be the manager of Woolworth’s. I’m not sure what that said about Mary Lee, but I don’t think that it ever happened.

According to one city directory from 1954, Mary Lee was a clerk for the Commissioner of Revenue.

We often ran into Mary Lee and her sister Phyllis at the mall or at the nursing home visiting their mother and our grandmother. 

With unabashed admiration for my utterly unequal colleagues, I issue this ultimatum for you to unite with umpteen users at the A to Z April Challenge to uncover some uncanny and unconventional blogs that will be unveiled to you.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

A to Z April Challenge: F is for Farrar

“We need to get together more often and not at a funeral.” How many times have you and a cousin said that? Funerals are much like a family reunion. You can learn a lot about a family just by looking at who showed up. Using my grandparents’ guest books and sympathy cards, I’ll be exploring “Who came to the funeral?”

is for Farrar, Lewis Granville Farrar to be exact, the husband of Elta Sullivan, my maternal grandfather’s cousin.

Lewis and family attended the funeral for Orvin Davis in October 1963. They also sent a spray of yellow gladiolas.

Lewis was born in 1898, but I could not find him in the 1900 census.  In 1910 Lewis (11) and his mother Sarah (44) were listed as servants in the home of Edwin Hamilton in Augusta County.  Sometime before 1920, they moved to Shenandoah in Page County where Lewis went to work for the railroad.

My collection of photos indicates my grandfather was always close to his Sullivan cousins, frequently at one another’s home. I imagine Lewis and my grandfather became good friends. 

 

Lewis Farrar in sunglasses, Elta, Orvin Davis,
Laura Sullivan, Pearl Sullivan

Lewis Farrar
Pearl Sullivan Strole, Elta S. Farrar
baby Maxine Strole, Minnie Sullivan Breeden

Lewis and Elta married about 1920 and lived with her parents in Shenandoah for a time. Lewis began working for the N & W Railroad as a car repairman, but by 1930 he was an electrician. They bought a house on Second Street and began their family.

The 1940 census for Norfolk County indicates the Farrars were still in Shenandoah in 1935; daughter Phyllis was 4 years old, so it appears that Lewis and Elta moved their family to Portsmouth in 1936 when jobs for electricians were plentiful at the shipyard. He remained an electrician at the shipyard the rest of his working days.

Lewis died in November 1970. He and Elta are buried together in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Chesapeake, Virginia.

For more Frivolity, Fantasy and Fun, do yourself a Favor and Find your way to the A to Z Challenge. 

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

A to Z April Challenge: D is for Donald

“We need to get together more often and not at a funeral.” How many times have you and a cousin said that? Funerals are much like a family reunion. You can learn a lot about a family just by looking at who showed up. Using my grandparents’ guest books and sympathy cards, I’ll be exploring “Who came to the funeral?”

is for Donald, Donald Ashton Carruthers. The name in my grandfather’s funeral Guest Book meant nothing to me until I saw the card from Kevill’s Florist in Portsmouth, Virginia. Donald and his wife Phyllis, along with Mary Lee and Chris Upton, sent a spray of white carnations.













“Phyllis” and “Mary Lee” are names I know:  my mother’s second cousins. Their mother Elta Sullivan Farrar was my grandfather’s cousin. The Farrars and the Davises both moved from Shenandoah to the Cradock neighborhood of Portsmouth, Virginia during World War II because there was plenty of work to be had at the shipyard.

When I was growing up, Elta was a frequent visitor at my grandparents’ home, so it was a comfort that both Elta and my grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis were in the same nursing home. That is where I sometimes saw Phyllis and Mary Lee. However, I never knew their married names until I studied the cards and guest books from my grandparents’ funerals.

Donald and Phyllis also sent a card when my grandmother died in 1990.  

But what about Donald? Like our cousin Phyllis, Donald was a Cradock boy.

Donald A. Carruthers
Cradock High School yearbook 1950

They might have met in any number of ways – through mutual friends, through church, or even at the local drugstore. At any rate, they married and raised a family in Chesapeake, not terribly far from where I live. 

The year following my grandfather’s funeral, Donald and Phyllis welcomed a baby boy whom they named Richard. Sadly, Richard lived only to age 23.    

Donald and Richard are buried in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Chesapeake, Virginia.

from Findagrave.com
Contributor not identified

Discover delightful displays of daydreams and discourse at the A to Z April Challenge.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

A to Z April Challenge: F is for Floral

This is Day 6 of the A to Z April Challenge.  My theme is women with unusual names although I must cheat now and then or I’ll have a name but no story.

is for Floral.

Floral May Sullivan Merica was my maternal grandfather’s cousin, therefore my first cousin twice removed. 

She was the third of five daughters born to William and Laura Jollett Sullivan. 

Seated: Minnie Sullivan
Standing in the back:  Pearl Sullivan
Standing in front:  Floral Sullivan

Growing up, I always thought it ironic that Laura had a lovely and refined name but she had selected the most old-fashioned old-lady names for her own girls:  Minnie, Pearl, Floral, Leota, and Elta.  On reflection, those were probably cutting edge names in their day while “Laura” had assumed the title of “old fashioned.”

They must have been a fun bunch, judging by the number of photos my grandfather and his sisters had from their younger days spent with their cousins.

Unknown gentlemen
outside the Sullivan gate
1924

While there seemed to be lots of men calling at the Sullivan house, Floral did not marry until late in life.  She completed four years of high school and achieved success as an assistant cashier and later THE cashier for the local bank in Shenandoah, Virginia.

Sometime between 1940 and 1954, Floral married Cletus Homer Merica (now THAT’s a name!).  Those dates are based on the 1940 census when she was single and living at home and a 1954 city directory for Alexandria, Virginia, in which she appears as “Floral S. Merica” alongside Cletus H.

Left to right:  Floral Sullivan Merica, Lucille Rucker Davis (Grandma),
Pearl Sullivan Strole, Leota Sullivan Racey, Elta Sullivan Farrar

There were no children, and Floral outlived her husband.  She died in a nursing home in Chesapeake.  My guess is that this was most convenient for her only living sister and survivor, Elta Sullivan Farrar.

Tombstone at EUB Church Cemetery
Shenandoah, Virginia

For more F Fun, Find your way over to the A to Z April Challenge.  

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: The Gazette

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday photo of the woman factory worker dressed in white brought to mind a beautiful graduation picture of my maternal grandfather’s cousin, Elta G. Sullivan Farrar.

I’m assuming this was a high school graduation picture, taken before 1920.

My grandparents maintained a lifelong friendship with their cousins, and they visited often.  So as a kid, I met a lot of old people.  My memories of most of them are rather dim.  But my memories of Elta are clear because she was just so darn nice.  And friendly.  And cheerful.

In the Cradock neighborhood of Portsmouth, Virginia where I grew up, if you wanted to know what was going on in the community, you didn’t need to read the newspaper or wait for the news broadcast.  You just had to check with cousin Elta.  “Elta the Gazette” – that’s what my grandparents called her. 

Four of the Sullivan sisters
Back:  Minnie Sullivan Breeden
Left to right: Pearl S. Strole,
Elta S. Farrar, Floral S. Merica
about 1901

Who died? Who is getting married?  When is the baby due? The preacher said what?  Elta the Gazette was our source for any and all details that mattered.   My grandmother could be telling about how many flowers were at so-n-so’s funeral and about some store going out of business.  If we asked where she heard that, her answer was usually, “The Gazette.”  Oh well, then, it had to be true.

How Elta managed to gather all the latest news (and gossip) from the local community as well as from “back home” in Shenandoah where she and my grandparents grew up was always the mystery.  Did she have a Deep Throat source we didn’t know about? 

Left: My grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis
Right:  Elta Sullivan Farrar

Maybe Elta’s knack for getting the scoop was just her sweet and engaging personality that made people want to tell her things.   

Be sweet and stop by Sepia Saturday. 

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Tombstone Tuesday: The Sullivans

Tombstone Tuesday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers which asks bloggers to create a post including an image of a gravestone of one or more ancestors; it may also include a brief description of the image or the ancestor.

At Coverstone Cemetery
Shenandoah, Virginia 2011

My great-grand aunt Laura Jollett Sullivan and her husband William J. Sullivan are buried in Coverstone Cemetery (formerly the EUB Church Cemetery) in Shenandoah, Virginia, along with most of her brothers and sisters, as well as four of their five daughters.

SULLIVAN

William J.                             Laura E.

Jan. 13, 1866                       May 30, 1865

May 22, 1942                      July 30, 1947

Close by are the tombstones of their daughters Floral and husband Cletus Merica, 

MERICA 

Cletus H.              Floral M.

Feb. 23, 1899      Mar. 4, 1895

Oct. 11, 1971      Feb. 14, 1987

Pearl and husband Clyde Strole, 

Pearl Strole

June 9, 1891

May 29, 1986

Minnie and husband John Wesley Breeden, 

BREEDEN

Minnie B.             John W.

1887 – 1952         1879 - 1961

and Elta and husband Lewis Farrar.

FARRAR

Lewis G.               Elta G.

1898 – 1970         1899 - 1991

Leota is buried with her husband Forrest Racey and his second wife in Winchester, Virginia.

RACEY

Forrest S.             Leota Sullivan

June 9, 1902       Dec.  24, 1901

June 8, 1988       Jan. 28, 1981

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

A to Z April Challenge: L is for Laura

This is day 12 of the A to Z April Challenge.

is for Laura.  Laura Jollett Sullivan was one of my great-grandmother’s sisters.  She was born May 30, 1865 in Greene County, Virginia and died July 30, 1947.  She married William J. Sullivan in January 1886.  They moved to Shenandoah, Virginia, where they ran a store, and Will served on the town council.  They had 5 daughters. 

Laura and Will Sullivan with some of the grandchildren

Now here’s what I don’t understand.  Laura had a lovely name.  Laura and Will – sounds so modern and refined.  So where did they get the names for those lovely children:  Minnie, Flora, Elta, Lula Pearl, and Leota.   

Whew!  They had some names!  Not the prettiest names on the block, but they were probably the nicest people on the block.  As older women, they were just the sweetest ladies you’d ever want to meet. 

Sadly, I can't remember who is who.  But the 2nd from the left
is my grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis.  The woman
on the far right is Elta Sullivan Farrar.

 

Judging by her smile in so many photos that have been passed down in the family, I’m sure Laura must have been sweet too.

Look at some more Lovely bLogs  at the A to Z April Challenge.

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.