Genealogy Photo a Day 8: Home

Genealogy Photo a Day is a month-long challenge coordinated by Genealogy Girl Talks.

When the Jolletts started holding family reunions around 1914, they convened annually at the home of James Franklin Jollett in Jollett Springs, Augusta County, Virginia, until his death in 1930. Photos from those reunions offer only brief glimpses of the Jollett home. I can tell it was a two-story white clapboard farmhouse with an addition, likely a kitchen. The roof was tin. Grape vines growing on trellises probably offered some respite during humid summers. The best feature, though, was that the Jolletts possessed the quintessential icon of the American dream home: a white picket fence.

Reunion 1921 - the Jollett sisters and brothers and spouses
Standing: Laura Jollett Sullivan, Sadie Lam Jollett, Ulysses Jollett, Leanna Jollett Knight, Mary Frances Jollett Davis and Walter Davis (my great-grandparents), Sallie Jollett Clift, Victoria Jollett Breeden, Decatur Breeden, James Ira Sullivan
Seated: Will Sullivan, Jack Coleman, Emma Jollett Coleman, James Franklin Jollett
(my 2X great-grandfather) and his wife Eliza Jane Coleman Jollett

I assume the photos were taken in the back yard, but it is difficult to say.

When I get a ride on that Time Machine, I plan to visit the Jollett home place to see for myself.

Look for me on Instagram (@Wendymath27) and Twitter (@Wendymath).

Wendy

© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: All the News That's Fit to Print

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

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is a photo of typesetters. Surely technology for printing newspapers in 1929 was more advanced than when workers sat before a tray of dirty lead tiles to formulate titles and paragraphs. Setting type the old fashioned way was labor-intensive, even for such a brief article as this one recounting the events of one Jollett Reunion:

JOLLETT REUNION

Shenandoah, Sept 5 – The fourteenth Jollett reunion was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. James F. Jollett, near Harriston, Va, on Sunday, Sept 1^st in honor of James F. Jollett’s 94^th birthday.

The members of the family began to gather around the large and beautiful spring about 9 a.m. and continued to come until 1:30 p.m. and it was indeed a great pleasure to see Mr. Jollett greet each of his relatives as they began to gather in and as it has always been in the past they were greeted with a smile and many kind and loving words spoken to them and many tales of olden time were told to each with each hand clasp.

At 1:00 p.m. lunch was spread with GrandFather Jollett offering up praise and thanks to God for the wonderful repast set before him and for sparing his life and each one present so that they may again enjoy the company of each relative and friend.

Business meeting was called to order by President Millard Davis at 2:30 p.m. and it was decided to hold the Reunions yearly at the home of Mr. and Mrs. James F. Jollett as long as the Lord spared Mr. Jollett’s life and permitted him to be present. The meeting opened with the song “Blest be the Tie That Binds” after which Miss Virginia Maiden of Dayton College, Va gave a reading followed by Prayer by Mr. W. J. Sullivan. Mr. James F. Jollett and Dr. A. L. Maiden of Dayton College each gave an address and from the expression on the faces of those present they more than enjoyed each of their remarks.  The meeting then came to a close by singing “God Be with you Until We Meet Again” after which the crowd began to wind their way to their respective homes each promising to meet the other at the next reunion and each promising to try and make the next reunion as near 100 percent in attendance as it is possible to do so.

Probably the oldest photo of a Jollett Reunion
maybe 1916 based on clothing
and assumed ages of those pictured

My grandaunt Violetta Davis Ryan used to say that the Jollett Reunion was THE main event of the year for her mother and aunts. In fact, one oft-repeated family story is that when it was announced that Japan had surrendered thus ending World War II throughout the world, my great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis’s response was, “Don’t you know today is the Jollett Reunion?” World Peace was secondary to Family Peace, I guess.  

The report in the newspaper gives a glimpse into the importance the Jolletts attached to the event. A BUSINESS meeting complete with a presiding officer hints at the formal structure needed to pick a date and place, find someone to offer a prayer, and arrange a program of sorts.

Standing: Burton Lewis Jollett, Victoria Jollett Breeden,
Sallie Jollett Clift, Mary Frances Jollett Davis, Leanna Jollett Knight,
Laura Jollett Sullivan, Emma Jollett Coleman
Seated: Eliza Coleman Jollett, James Franklin Jollett, Ulysses Jollett

This article is informative but a tad confusing. The home “near Harriston” and the “spring” confirm that the reunion was held at Jollett Springs, James Franklin’s home known for its natural springs. People used to bring jugs to fill at his place. September 1 fell on a Sunday in 1929. If the reporter was correct about its being the fourteenth reunion, the first was in 1916. So far so good. The birthday celebration is questionable though. James Franklin’s birthday was in November, so while combining the reunion and birthday might seem likely, in 1929 he would have turned a spry 93, not 94. Of course, that error can be attributed to either a typo or miscalculation by the family spokesperson.

The promise to meet again in 1930 at the Jollett home in Jollett Springs was likely not fulfilled as James Franklin Jollett passed away in June, three months before the annual September reunion. The reunions may have moved to the home of Burton Lewis Jollett in Greene County for a time, but he died in 1934. A summary of the 1940 reunion appeared in the Daily News Record (Harrisonburg, Virginia). Since that one was held at Verbena Park in Shenandoah, Virginia, I suspect Verbena had become the new designated home of the Jollett Reunion.

Opening paragraph of the 1940 article
The rest is just a list of all those who attended.

The 1940 news report is the proverbial “treasure trove” of genealogical clues. Everyone who attended is named. Until I read it, I had always thought the Jollett Reunion drew ALL the Jolletts, not just the children of James Franklin Jollett and their families but also the families of James Franklin’s sisters Lydia Breeden and Lucretia Shiflett, and his brother John Wesley Jollett. However, it appears that the reunion was more focused than that. It was a time for James Franklin’s children to get together.

The two news articles tell me more about the Jolletts. The prayer and singing of hymns reveal their spiritual side.

Arthur Maiden delivering the prayer
James F. Jollett and Emma J. Coleman

4 Generations 1925
Orvin Davis, Mary Frances J. Davis,
Orvin Davis Jr., and James F. Jollett

Photos of family groups and the different generations - especially 4-generations together – are proof of what I have always heard about how close the Jolletts were.

4 Generations 1923
Standing: Minnie Coleman Maiden
Seated: Emma J. Coleman, James F. Jollett,
Virginia Maiden

The "Younger Generation" of cousins 1919
Standing: Orvin Davis, Johnny Coleman, Russell Coleman, Alda Clift, Violetta Davis, Elta Sullivan Farrar and husband Lewis Farrar, James Mitchell Morris with Reba Coleman Morris, Millard Davis and wife Edith
Sitting center: probably Wes and Minnie Sullivan Breeden
Sitting front: Raymond Clift, possibly Vessie Jollett, Leota Sullivan, Velma Davis, possibly Mattie Coleman




The Spouses at a reunion before 1928
Will Sullivan (Laura), Decatur Breeden (Victoria), James Mitchell Knight (Leanna), Sadie Lam Jollett (Ulysses), Walter Davis (Mary Frances), Jack Coleman (Emma), and James Franklin Jollett

Walter Davis died in 1934, so this reunion photo was taken in
or before 1934.  Seated: Jack and Emma Coleman
Standing: James Mitchell Knight, Sallie Clift, Leanna Knight,
Walter Davis, Mary Frances Davis, Decatur Breeden,
Victoria Breeden, Laura Sullivan, Will Sullivan

This new insight into the Jollett family has inspired my next book, which will be called Jollett Reunion. Chapters will be devoted to James Franklin Jollett, his wives, and each of his children. In the coming weeks and months (I hope not YEARS), I will be researching and writing. As in the past, the stories on this blog will be the stories that comprise the book. I am thankful for programs like Blurb so that no one will have to sit at a tray of lead tiles to typeset it.

To see what news others have to share, follow the links at Sepia Saturday.

© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Ugly People

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

This week’s Sepia Saturday commemorates 300 weeks of sharing old photos and stories by recalling the photo that got this group started. While there is no shortage of photos of ugly people in my collection, I decided to follow the prompt even more closely by recalling the photo I posted on my very first blog back in August 2011. Partly because I’m lazy, partly because there is nothing new to say, and partly because it was so darn good the first time, I am simply repeating the story (with a few minor edits) from the post that got my blog started:

Standing: My great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis, Sallie Jollett Clift,
Victoria Jollett Breeden, Laura Jollett Knight
Seated: Emma Jollett Coleman, Ulysses Jollett, Laura Jollett Sullivan

For years, this Jollett family portrait hung above the piano in my parents’ living room. My great-aunt Violetta Davis Ryan had several copies made from a little photo, and everyone who shared her pride in the Jolletts got one. As children, my sister and I heard stories of the Jolletts during every visit with our relatives in Harrisonburg and Shenandoah, Virginia. To children’s ears the Jollett family seemed like characters in a storybook, so mysterious and out of reach. Naturally we willingly adopted Jollett Pride as our own.

Then baby sister’s boyfriend came a’callin’ and snapped us into reality. He entered the living room, took one look at that gold-framed family treasure and said, “Who are all those ugly people?”

Until then, we probably never noticed the glum expressions and the general absence of beauty among the sisters. As my sassy sister noted, “They probably didn’t have Mary Kay.” 

I used to think the Jollett girls and brother were old in this picture. Now I realize they were YOUNG. They were in their 30s-40s, maybe. If that’s a wedding ring on Vic’s hand, the photo was taken after 1902.  The clothing appears to be 1910’s style. Mary Frances’ brother Ulysses died in 1931 at age 44, so that helps date this photo as well. 

Now HERE they are in their late 50s and 60s.

Standing: James Mitchell Knight, Sallie J. Clift, Leanna J. Knight, 

Walter Davis, Mary Frances J. Davis, Decatur Breeden, 

Victoria J. Breeden, Laura J. Sullivan, Will Sullivan

Seated:  Jack Coleman, Emma J. Coleman

This photo was taken at a family reunion probably 1934 or earlier. My handsome great-grandfather looks healthy, but he died in October 1934.

Please visit Sepia Saturday to read more of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

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: R is for Racey

“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 Racey, Leota Clarice Sullivan Racey, to be exact. She attended her cousin Orvin Davis’s funeral in October 1963. She signed in just after her older sister Elta Sullivan Farrar and ahead of her older sister Floral Sullivan Merica.

Leota was the baby of five girls born to Will and Laura Sullivan Jollett. In a time when many girls did nothing after high school except marry, the Sullivan girls found employment.  Pearl taught school for a brief time; Floral was a bookkeeper and bank cashier; and Leota was a stenographer for the family grocery store.

Leota about 1920-23

In 1930 Leota married Forrest Racey, a minister. In 1940 they lived in the Ashby District of Rockingham County, in other words, Dayton. Leota worked as a bookkeeper in the office of Shenandoah College and Conservatory of Music and Forrest was the college’s business manager.

Later Leota was promoted to treasurer, and Forrest served as president of the college from 1956-1969.  He completed the work of the previous president to move the college from Dayton to Winchester.  A dorm was named in his honor.

from GenealogyBank.com
July 11, 1961
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)

As a minister and as a college president, Forrest’s name was in the newspaper frequently. But Leota made the news in 1961 when she and Forrest were involved in a two-car collision. Forrest was listed in poor condition at the hospital following face and back injuries.  Leota suffered a number of cuts and broken jaw, satisfactory condition.

The Sullivans and Davises were always close. Their mothers were the best of sisters, so that affection spilled over to their children as well. Even in their older years, the cousins made a point of getting together with one another.

Left to right: Leota Sullivan Racey, my grandmother Lucille Davis,
Pearl Sullivan Strole, Floral Sullivan Merica, Elta Sullivan Farrar

Leota died in 1981.  Forrest remarried, and the three of them are buried happily ever after in Winchester, Virginia.

Rush right over to the A to Z April Challenge for some roaring good reads, romances, rhymes, and reviews.

© 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.

Sepia Saturday: Crop 'Till You Drop

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

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt asks Homo Sepians to focus on what is going on in the background of a photo rather than in the foreground. 

In a single photo from about 1934, I spied two happenings in the background that are far more interesting than the intended subject. 

Violetta

My grandaunt Violetta Davis Ryan looks to be quite the woman of the 21^st century on her cell phone while balancing her iPad.

Meanwhile her cousin Leota Sullivan is totally bored.  Now I’m sure there are three women in this photo, but one is headless although Leota and my great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis don’t seem to notice or care.

Mary Frances Jollett Davis, UNKNOWN, and Leota Sullivan

So what was it that the photographer was actually focusing on at the Jollett Reunion? 

My granduncle Millard Davis (right) and a cousin whom I don’t know.

To see what else is happening in the background, focus on Sepia Saturday.

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: On the Road to Bayse

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

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt features two men engaged in conversation along a stage coach route.  Maybe one needed directions.  Maybe they were stretching their legs.  Regardless of the reason behind this animated conversation, stopping on the side of the road is a common occurrence even among my ancestors. 

Left: maybe Minnie Breeden
Leota Sullivan and  Wesley Breeden

And there they are:   two of the Sullivan sisters (first cousins twice removed) and their brother-in-law Wesley Breeden.  Their reason for pulling over on the side of the road was to enjoy a quick lunch.  Leota (in glasses) was tearing into that sandwich.  Wesley appears to be checking his email, but that was impossible; maybe he was studying a sandwich or seeing if his hands were sticky – it’s not clear what he was doing.  I’m not sure who the other Sullivan sister was.  It should be Minnie, Wesley’s wife, but it’s also possible Minnie was taking the picture.

Eating on the side of the road suggests they anticipated a long ride, probably on an out-of-the-way route with limited dining options.  Fortunately, the photo was dated and captioned:  "On the road to Basie 1924."  And just to confuse matters, it is also dated 1923 – on the same photo!

Wesley and Minnie Breeden

Assuming they were traveling to Bayse (the correct spelling) from their home in Shenandoah, they had to cross a mountain.  Today that ride would take roughly an hour.  But in 1923 or 1924, it was probably longer than that, surely long enough to require a stop on the side of the road to stretch one’s legs and grab a snack. 

What was the draw to Bayse?  Likely it was Orkney Springs, a resort boasting numerous underground mineral springs with healthful qualities.

Orkney Springs
photo courtesy of wikimedia commons

Virginia House Orkney Springs Hotel
photo courtesy wikimedia commons

Most of the original buildings which were constructed in the mid-late 1800s still stand.  In fact, the Orkney Springs Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The crowning jewel is the Virginia House, a 4-story hotel with wrap-around porches.  Supposedly it is the largest wooden structure in Virginia dating to the 1870s.

Elsewhere on the property are neatly painted cottages and small hotel-like buildings with names like Maryland House, Pennsylvania House, Williamsburg House, Norfolk House, Arlington House, and Fairfax House.  During the Civil War, Maryland House served as a hospital for Confederate soldiers.

Cottages, Pennsylvania House (3-story)
Virginia House (4-story)
snipped from Google Maps Street View

From its beginnings, the resort advertised heavily in newspapers drawing tourists from throughout the state and beyond, even from New York.  Society columns are filled with the names of respected families who were spending their entire summer at Orkney Springs.

Richmond Times Dispatch April 1923
GenealogyBank.com

Today the hotel is owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia which hosts conferences and retreats and summer camps.  It is also known for the annual Shenandoah Valley Music Festival held on weekends from July to Labor Day. 

Orkney Springs is just as beautiful and well-kept today as when the Sullivans and Breedens saw it in 1923 or 1924. 

Take a ride by stage coach or touring car to Sepia Saturday for lots of animated conversations on this week’s theme.

 © 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.