Happy Anniversary Reddick and Mary Ann!

I have published a couple of posts about the wedding anniversary of Reddick Smith and Mary Ann Wolstenholme in this blog. This post combines previously published material plus additional data. Both families have presented research challenges, but they remain among my favorite ancestors. Mary Ann's grandfather, the Rev. Hugh Wolstenholme, came to America from England before 1820 as a result of his political views. Reddick Smith's grandfather was John Smith, but which one? Wythe County, Virginia is thought to have been  his home. Until I find out for sure, I will continue to dig and dig and dig. In the meantime, here is my 2022 anniversary post on Reddick and Mary Ann.

Today is the 156th anniversary of the marriage of my great-grandparents, Reddick Smith and Mary Ann Wolstenholme. On the 2nd of August 1866, they stood before Henry Holt, justice of the peace in Davidson County, Tennessee, and promised to “love, honor and obey” each other for the rest of their lives.

I don’t know if they were able to fulfill that promise, but I do know they lived together until Reddick passed away in Hardin County, Illinois. Reddick and Mary Ann must have met during the Civil War when he was stationed in Tennessee. He stayed there when the war ended, they married, and had two children before moving to his family home in Hardin County about 1870.

Reddick and Mary Ann had 14 children, with only about half living to adulthood. My grandmother, Beatrice Mary, was born in 1877 and lived until 1968. When I was a child, she told me that one of her younger brothers, I believe it was Earl (1883-1896), became ill suddenly and his footsteps remained in the dusty field after his death. Several others of the children died as infants.

In 1902, my grandmother married Lycurgus Mino Joyce and had given birth to two sons when they, along with her parents and her brother Ed. decided to move to the state of Washington. Selling everything they owned, they boarded a train to an area where they hoped life would be easier. According to a story told by my father, Reddick hurt his back, didn’t like Washington, so everyone boarded the train and returned to southern Illinois. Reddick died in Hardin County in 1913 and Mary Ann in 1933. Both are buried in Central Cemetery.

Oh, the stories they could tell! I would like to know about Reddick leaving the army each spring to go home to plant crops. I would like to know about the months he spent in Libby Prison before being exchanged. I would like to ask Mary Ann what her life was like in Davidson County. Why did she not keep in touch with her family after she moved to Illinois? Family legend has it that Mary Ann’s father, Hugh Wolstenholme, died on the road between her old home in Tennessee and her new home in Illinois. I've tried for years to find out where and when he died, but I bet she could tell me exactly what I want to know.

Reddick and Mary Ann witnessed many changes during their lives. They saw the birth of the telephone and automobiles and electricity became common. My dad used to relate the story told to him by Mary Ann about the first time Reddick heard a phonograph record, which was played on a wind-up apparatus and was part of a large cabinet. Reddick circled round and round the cabinet then tried to open the back to learn who was sitting inside singing.

Mary Ann was a tall, angular woman with red hair and who smoked a pipe, using Star brand tobacco, according to my father. After Reddick's death, she stayed with her children, rotating from one to the next  until her death. 

All I have of Reddick and Mary Ann are stories originating from Mary Ann, a few documents, pictures and my prize possession, the wedding ring Reddick made for Mary Ann. A jeweler told me a silver coin was placed on a rod and hammered until a circle of the right size appeared. Apparently, this was a common way to fashion a ring when money was scarce. I wear this ring today.

On this anniversary of their marriage, I am thankful for the memories they made for their descendants.

Published 2 Aug 2022, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

My Connection To An Impeached President.

President Donald J. Trump's impeachment currently dominates the news.  He is not the first president to be impeached and may not be the last. My family has a connection to an impeached president.  No, not President Trump; my connection is to Andrew Johnson, the first president to be impeached.

Andrew Johnson was born  into a very poor family 29 Dec 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina. He never attended school and, at the age of 10, he was apprenticed to James Selby to learn the trade of a tailor. It is said that educated citizens would go to Selby's tailor shop and read to the apprentices. One of those citizens was Hugh Wolstenholme, born in England, former Anglican priest, and my great-great-great-grandfather.

According to legend, Wolstenholme spent hours each day reading to the apprentices as they worked.  Among  the apprentices who listened to Wolstenholme was Andrew Johnson, who was so inspired that he, along with others, accepted an invitation to gather at night to learn to read. And so, the tradition of Hugh Wolstenholme helping  future-President Andrew Johnson learn to read was born. Is it true? Several references in research on the Wolstenholme family indicate it is, but  nothing in the Johnson family references, thus far,  names Hugh Wolstenholme as playing a part in Johnson's education. Some references speak vaguely of a scholar teaching Johnson to read, but they never name the scholar.

Although he was legally bound to serve James Selby until he was age 21, Johnson and his brother, also apprenticed to Selby, ran away after serving only about five years. Andrew eventually returned to Raleigh, hoping to buy out his apprenticeship. When that was unsuccessful, he moved to Tennessee, where his career in politics began.  Johnson became mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee in 1834, served in the House of Representatives and Congress and held various other offices and then was chosen by President Abraham Lincoln to be his Vice President in 1864. When President Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, Andrew Johnson became President, but angered Congress with his pardons and amnesty issued to former rebels.  He endured the impeachment and trial, and was not removed from office. He was the only United States President to be impeached and face a trial until William Jefferson Clinton became the second in 1998.

Meanwhile, Wolstenholme's life took a different path. He left Raleigh and settled in the mountains in far western North Carolina.  In the 1980s, while visiting the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I came across the papers of John Hewitt (1848-1920), who wrote his memoirs, "My People of the Mountains," in 1918. Hewitt was the great nephew of Hugh Wolstenholme.  Since he personally knew his great-uncle, Hewitt is our best source of information on Wolstenholme, whom he described as a "well-known hermit of the area."

When he was age 65, Wolstenholme was described as over "six feet tall, with steel gray eyes and shaggy eyebrows. His dress included a Quaker style hat, corduroy jacket, knee breeches of 'Kentucky jeans,'  buckskin leggings, high-top rawhide shoes and a beaver skin cloak." Few records have been found to verify the details of Wolstenholme's life and this is the only reference found to give his physical appearance.

Wolstenholme had several children, including  a son, also named Hugh, but who lived primarily in Davidson County, Tennessee and was my great-great-grandfather. Shortly before  the Civil War, the elder Hugh moved to Asheville, North Carolina, where it is stated he died in the poorhouse when he was over 100 years old.  The funeral, it is said, was conducted by Rev. Jarvis Buxton of Trinity Episcopal Church and the burial was in Asheville. No proof has been found, however.

Several years ago, I visited The North Carolina Room at Pack Memorial Library in Asheville in the hopes of finding some clue to Hugh Wolstenholme Sr.'s life.  Nothing was found. Even searching for information on  him through another son, Henry Fanshaw Wolstenholme, a tailor in Asheville, yielded nothing new.  I checked county records plus newspapers. Nothing! He is listed on the 1860 Buncombe County, North Carolina census, but not thereafter. On that census he was age 80 and living in the home of Dr. Madison and Isabel Greenwood, who were not thought to be related to Hugh.

So, as I hear about President Trump's impeachment and pending trial, I can't help but think of President  Andrew Johnson and the man who taught him to read. Now, if only I could find proof this happened.

References:

1860 Buncombe County, NC census, Ivy and Flat Creek, roll M653-889, page 336, Ancestry.com.

Papers of Louise Littleton Davis (1890-1994), Tennessee State Library and Archives, AC #1710-29.

John Hewitt. My People of the Mountains, 1918, The Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1980s (full date not recorded).

William S. Powell. "Hugh Wolstenholme," Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press, 1994, https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/wolstenholme-hugh.

"Andrew Johnson," Wikipedia, https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson.

"Of Notable Ancestry," The New York Times, 17 June 1901, obituary of Mrs. Susanna Bradwell Hewitt, mother of the Rev. John Hewett. She was the niece of Rev. Hugh Wolstenholme.

 Published 16 Jan 2020, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

153rd Anniversary of Reddick and Mary Ann Smith

On the 153rd anniversary of the marriage of my great-grandparents, I am re-publishing a post marking their anniversary from three years ago. Since that post was published, several of us who descend from this couple have had a tombstone erected to mark the burial place of Mary Ann. Research on Reddick and Mary Ann continues.


On this day 150 years ago, Mary Ann Wolstenholme and Reddick Smith stood before Henry Holt, a justice of the peace, and promised to love, honor and cherish each other for the rest of their lives. There were no guarantees their lives would be easy and hardships were almost certain.

Born in 1842 in Gallatin County, Illinois, Reddick Smith enlisted in Co. F, 131st Illinois Volunteer Infantry. After leaving a hospital in Millikin's Bend, Louisiana without permission, he was captured by the Confederates and sent to Richmond, Virginia before being paroled in July 1863. Later he enlisted in Co. G, 6th Illinois Cavalry and participated in the Battle of Nashville on 15 December 1864. After the war, Reddick left his company in Alabama and returned home to southern Illinois. Yes, he deserted again. The charge of desertion was later removed from his records by the War Department.

Reddick settled in Goodlettsville, Davidson County, where Mary Ann was living. On 2 August 1866, he used a coin and hammered it over a rod to form a ring and placed this ring on Mary Ann's finger.  I wear this ring today. 

Reddick and Mary Ann had 14 children: Rebeckah, Edna, Susannah, Henry Clay, Sarah, Caroline, Mary Beatrice (my grandmother), Francis, Giles, Earl, Morgan, Herman, Edward and an unnamed child who died as an infant. Nine of these children lived to adulthood.

Reddick and Mary Ann stayed in Tennessee until after 1870 and then moved with their three children, Rebeckah, Edna and Susannah,  to Hardin County, Illinois. Except for a brief stay in the state of Washington in the early 1900s, the Smith family remained in Hardin County. Reddick died there 14 April 1913 and Mary Ann died 7 January 1933. Both are buried at Central Cemetery.

Reddick and Mary Ann are among my favorite ancestors and have been the most interesting to research. One of my current projects involves getting a Tombstone to mark Mary Ann's grave.

Published 2 August 2019, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Tombstone for Mary Ann Wolstenholme Smith

When my great-grandmother,Mary Ann Wolstenholme Smith, died in 1933, our country was  at the lowest point of the Great Depression.  Money was scarce and placing a tombstone on Mary Ann's grave was out of the question. Fortunately, my dad, who was 20 years old when his grandmother died, attended her funeral, remembered where she was buried and passed along that information  when I became interested in genealogy. It is one thing to know where someone is buried and another thing to have that burial spot identified for future generations.

Mary Ann lived with her children, rotating  from one household to another. She told stories to my dad and his siblings about growing up in Davidson County, Tennessee, but either Mary Ann or my dad "fluffed up" the stories of her background. Census records show her family lived a simple life. Whatever the circumstances were, my dad spoke highly of her and she was an important part of the family.

I have always felt a certain affinity for Mary Ann and wanted to get a monument to mark her grave. My generation is the last that will remember where she is buried. When we are gone, there will be no one who knows where she is buried. So, at our last Joyce family reunion, I mentioned what I wanted to do. Several cousins spoke up and offered to help.

A little over a month ago the tombstone was set and there will be no doubt where Mary Ann is buried. She rests beside her husband, Reddick Smith, in Central Cemetery in Hardin County, Illinois.  This was very important to me and I feel like Mary Ann and her family are pleased.

Published 8 December 2016, Western Kentucky Genealogy  Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Happy 150th Wedding Anniversary, Reddick and Mary Ann Smith!

On this day 150 years ago, Mary Ann Wolstenholme and Reddick Smith stood before Henry Holt, a justice of the peace, and promised to love, honor and cherish each other for the rest of their lives. There were no guarantees their lives would be easy and hardships were almost certain.

Born in 1842 in Gallatin County, Illinois, Reddick Smith enlisted in Co. F, 131st Illinois Volunteer Infantry. After leaving a hospital in Millikin's Bend, Louisianna without permission, he was captured by the Confederates and sent to Richmond, Virginia before being paroled in July 1863. Later he enlisted in Co. G, 6th Illinois Cavalry and participated in the Battle of Nashville on 15 December 1864. After the war, Reddick left his company in Alabama and returned home to southern Illinois. Yes, he deserted again. The charge of desertion was later removed from his records by the War Department.

Reddick settled in Goodlettsville, Davidson County, where Mary Ann was living. On 2 August 1866, he used a coin and hammered it over a rod to form a ring and placed this ring on Mary Ann's finger.  I wear this ring today. 

Reddick and Mary Ann had 14 children: Rebeckah, Edna, Susannah, Henry Clay, Sarah, Caroline, Mary Beatrice (my grandmother), Francis, Giles, Earl, Morgan, Herman, Edward and an unnamed child who died as an infant. Nine of these children lived to adulthood.

Reddick and Mary Ann stayed in Tennessee until after 1870 and then moved with their three children, Rebeckah, Edna and Susannah,  to Hardin County, Illinois. Except for a brief stay in the state of Washington in the early 1900s, the Smith family remained in Hardin County. Reddick died there 14 April 1913 and Mary Ann died 7 January 1933. Both are buried at Central Cemetery.

Reddick and Mary Ann are among my favorite ancestors and have been the most interesting to research. One of my current projects involves getting a tombstone to mark Mary Ann's grave. 

Published 2 August 2016, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Rediscovering Old Material

It often pays to go through genealogical material more than once. Recently I came across a forgotten envelope full of newspaper clippings from the 1920s and 1930s and later. They weren't new - just forgotten. What a treat it was to re-read them! My grandmother had clipped the articles, mainly obituaries, from the Hardin County (Illinois) Independent but did not note the date on any of them. Fortunately, I can determine the date for most of them.

One clipping is an obituary for my great-grandmother, Mary Ann Wolstenholme Smith, who died in 1933 in Rosiclare, Hardin County. This obituary is especially interesting to me now because I am once more researching her father, Hugh Wolstenholme Jr. and his family. Hugh was born in England ca 1818/1819, came to America ca 1820 and lived many years in Davidson County, Tennessee. I know he visited his daughter, Mary Ann  and her husband, Reddick Smith, but I have not found the date or place of his death.  My goal for the next six months is to determine where he was after the 1880 Davidson County census and where he died. Family tradition has it that he died while traveling between Tennessee and Illinois, but I have never found proof.

Mary Ann lived with her children after her husband died in 1913. She would stay first with with one child and then another. Apparently, she entertained her grandchildren with stories of growing up in Goodlettsville, Tennessee not far from Nashville. It is a good thing she did as she does not appear on the 1850 and 1860 census records even though she was born in 1848. Her stories provide the only view of her activities before her marriage to Reddick Smith in 1866.

So, the Wolstenholme family is back on the research list and I hope to have something to report periodically.

Published 1 July 2016, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

What a Year!

No more New Year's resolutions for me!  I make them and then I break them. From now on I am going to focus on what I have accomplished during the past year and think about, but not transcribe, what I would like to accomplish during the next 12 months. Fair?  I think so.

I continued to work on my Wolstenholme family during 2015. My 3rd great-grandfather, Hugh Wolstenholme, remains a bit of a mystery. Oh, there is a lot of information to be found about him online, but very little seems to be documented.  If you type his name into Google, up pops a long article on  NCpedia . How impressive is that!  The traditions are wonderful, but are they true?  I have been trying to prove or disprove them for some time and have not had much luck. It seems he just didn't leave many courthouse records and, naturally, there are no cemetery records.

Hugh Sr. participated in England's last revolution in  Pentrich in 1817. Because he took the wrong side during this fight and because he did not want to share the fate of his cohorts, Hugh fled England for the United States, leaving behind his wife and young children.  A big event is planned in 2017 to commemorate this revolution. I was honored by being asked to write a chapter on Hugh for a publication on the participants in the revolution.  What a thrill it would be to attend this event!

In July, we went to Pack Memorial Library in Asheville, North Carolina to see if they had anything about old Hugh. Because he was so colorful and his life so eventful, I was sure there would something, but, alas, there was not one thing found in their loose files or in a book of local history.  In fact, I left a biographical sketch of his life for their files. Maybe another Wolstenholme descendant will visit the library and see that sketch. 

One of the traditions about Hugh Sr. says that he taught (later President) Andrew Johnson to read when Johnson was just a poor apprenticed tailor in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is said Hugh visited his tailor shop when Johnson later moved to western Tennessee. I have found references to Johnson being taught to read while serving as an apprentice in a tailor shop, but the tutor is never named.

On the positive side of this research, I did learn that Hugh's son, Henry F. Wolstenholme, made uniforms for Asheville Confederate  soldiers during the Civil War. Because they were in the cavalry, the seat of the pants had a double thickness.  That bit of information has been added to my growing stack of interesting trivia.

I have enjoyed the Wolstenholme research and don't get discouraged as there is always something else to check.

In 2016, Seth Flood (died 1778/1779 Henry County, Virginia) is my research target. He is shrouded in mystery and it is time to find out just who he really was.  With a name like Seth and a wife named Comfort, I doubt that he was a native of Virginia. I'm thinking Massachusetts or maybe even New Hampshire.   

The only other thing on my list for 2016 is to slow down and enjoy life a little more. The past year has been far to hectic. I will let you know next year if I was successful.

 Published 1 January 2016, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

A Double Seat for the Cavalry

You learn the darnedest things in genealogical research!  I knew that Henry F. Wolstenholme, son of Hugh Wolstenholme Sr. and brother to my ancestor, Hugh Wolstenholme Jr., was a tailor in Asheville, North Carolina during the Civil War, but a recent check on Fold3 revealed he made uniforms for Confederate soldiers of Capt. G.W. Hays' Cherokee Rangers in July 1861. The names of the soldiers are listed as well as the amounts charged for each item:  50 cents for "striping" pants and $2.55 or $3.05 for a shirt and pants. The cavalry soldiers' pants were fashioned with a double seat. I assume this was for the extra wear.

Now, I am off to see what other treasures I can find!

Published 29 June 2015, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog,  http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Cemeteries Here and There

I spent some time this summer doing what I love to do - visiting cemeteries.  Each cemetery was different, but my favorite was the one where my elusive Wolstenholme relatives are buried.

The first cemetery we visited outside the area where I normally research was the Nashville City Cemetery, but you already know about that visit. The same day we drove to Franklin, Tennessee to see Carnton Plantation, the home of Carrie McGavock, about whom  The Widow of the South was written. This book told of the Battle of Franklin during the Civil War and Carrie's work in seeing that the many who died there were identified and buried properly.  I had a more personal reason to want to visit there. Carrie's husband, John McGavock, had an ancestor who married into my Bostick family and it was fun to think that this distant branch of my family may have visited Carnton Plantation.

A short walk from the house are two cemeteries - the McGavock Family Cemetery and the Confederate Cemetery, the burial place of so many men who lost their lives during the battle in 1864.

Confederate Cemetery

On grounds of Carnton Plantation

On this same trip, we also visited Charleston, South Carolina and enjoyed touring the Circular Congregational Churchyard, located on Meeting Street in downtown Charleston. It is the city's oldest cemetery and contains about 150 tombstones from before the American Revolution.

Circular Congregational Churchyard

Charleston, South Carolina

Mrs. Desire Peronneau, 1740

As much as I loved visiting the above cemeteries, I was thrilled to visit Oakwood Cemetery in Milan, Gibson County, Tennessee earlier this month. I have been researching my Wolstenholme family for some time and have found them to be very elusive. You may remember them from my blog  Here and Here   Early one very hot and humid morning we headed south. After a largely unsuccessful visit to the courthouse in Trenton, we drove a few miles to the cemetery in Milan.  There is no cemetery office or map or anything to identify where people are buried. Find A Grave lists the plot where this family is buried, but there was no way to reference that plot at the cemetery. Nevertheless, we walked until we found it. My family really does exist!

Wolstenholme Family Plot

Oakwood Cemetery, Milan, Tennessee

Henry F. Wolstenholme

My Great-Great-Uncle

Elizabeth "Bettie" Wolstenholme

Sister of Henry F. Wolstenholme

My Great-Great-Aunt

All in all, it has been a successful summer and, if the weather holds, more cemetery visits are possible.

Published 22 September 2014, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog,  http://wkygenealogy.blog.spot.com/

Surname Saturday - Wolstenholme

Copyright by Brenda Joyce Jerome, CG

May not be copied without written consent

Some time ago I told you about the mystery of my Wolstenholme family of Tennessee. I've been sorting and filing old photos and files and found this photo of Elizabeth Wolstenholme, also known as "Aunt Bet." The same day, while searching Find A Grave,, one of my favorite sites, I came across photos of the tombstones for both Elizabeth (1846-1932) and her brother, Henry, in Oakwood Cemetery, Gibson County, Tennessee. So, on this sunny Saturday, I would like to pay tribute to Aunt Bet Wolstenhome, sister of my great-grandmother, Mary Ann Wolstenholme Smith. Thanks to the internet and people I have met here, my knowledge of the Wolstenholme family has increased greatly.

Happy Anniversary, Reddick and Mary Ann

Today is the anniversary of the marriage of my great-grandparents, Reddick Smith and Mary Ann Wolstenholme. On the 2nd of August 1866, they stood before Henry Holt, justice of the peace in Davidson County, Tennessee, and promised to “love, honor and obey” each other for the rest of their lives. I don’t know if they were able to fulfill that promise, but I do know they lived together until Reddick passed away in Hardin County, Illinois.
Reddick and Mary Ann must have met during the Civil War when he was stationed in Tennessee. He stayed there when the war ended, they married, and had two children before moving to his family home in Hardin County about 1870.
Reddick and Mary Ann had 14 children, with only about half living to adulthood. My grandmother, Beatrice Mary, was born in 1877 and lived until 1968. When I was a child, she told me that one of her younger brothers, I believe it was Earl (1883-1896), became ill suddenly and his footsteps remained in the dusty field, where he was working, after his death. Several other children in the family died as infants. In 1902, my grandmother married Lycurgus M. Joyce and had two sons when they, along with her parents and brother Ed decided to move to Washington. Selling everything they owned, they boarded a train to an area where they hoped life would be easier. According to a story told by my father, Reddick hurt his back, didn’t like Washington, and everyone boarded the train to go back home to southern Illinois. My grandparents would later have two more children, a son and a daughter. Reddick died in Hardin County in 1913 and Mary Ann in 1933.
Oh, the stories they could tell. I would like to know about Reddick leaving the army each spring to go home to plant crops. I would like to know about the months he spent in Libby Prison before being exchanged. I would like to ask Mary Ann what her life was like in Davidson County. Why did she not keep in touch with her family after she moved to Illinois? Family legend has it that Mary Ann’s father, Hugh Wolstenholme, died on the road between her old home in Tennessee and her new home in Illinois. I bet she could tell me exactly where Hugh is buried.
Reddick and Mary Ann witnessed many changes during their lives. They saw the birth of the telephone and automobile and electricity became common. My dad used to relate the story told to him by Mary Ann about the first time Reddick heard a phonograph, which was a wind-up apparatus and was contained in a cabinet. Reddick circled the cabinet and tried to open the back to learn who was sitting inside talking.
All I have of Reddick and Mary Ann are a few documents, some stories, pictures and, my prize possession, the wedding ring Reddick made for Mary Ann. A jeweler told me a silver coin was placed on a rod and hammered until a circle of the right size appeared. Apparently, this was a common way to fashion a ring when money was scarce. I am proud to wear this ring today.
On the 143rd anniversary of their marriage, they are remembered and honored.
Published 2 August 2009, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Tribute To My Grandfather

Joyce and Smith families circa 1906/07 in Washington state. Standing: Edward Smith. Sitting in chairs: Reddick Smith and Mary Ann Wolstenholme Smith. Sitting on ground: L. Mino Joyce holding Lacey Hebbert Joyce and Beatrice Mary Smith Joyce holding Charles Oakley Joyce.

On this Memorial Day weekend, I would like to pay tribute to Lycurgus Mino Joyce, the grandfather I never knew. He was born 3 February 1878 in Hardin County, Illinois and was the son of James Pinkney Joyce and his second wife, Martha Minerva Womack.

L. Mino lost his mother when he was only a year old and then, when he was three years old, his father died. He was reared by his older sister, Joanna, and lived near the old Iron Furnace in Hardin County.

On 10 December 1902, L. Mino Joyce married Beatrice Mary Smith in Hardin County. By the time their second son was born, they were ready to start a new life in another area. They sold all of their property and, with Beatrice's parents and younger brother, traveled by train to Washington state. The picture above was taken during their short stay in Washington. L. Mino's father-in-law became homesick so they packed their bags and returned to Hardin County.

L. Mino had a little farm and also worked as a fluorspar miner in Hardin County. On the 10th of February 1921, he died of lobar pneumonia, leaving a young widow and four children, the two youngest, John Morgan and Mary Arvetta having been born in 1913 and 1914. L. Mino's obituary in the Hardin County Independent described him as a "generous and upright man in every respect; being loyal, kind and affectionate to his family and all with whom he came in contact." He was 43 years and 7 days at the time of his death. He is buried in the Joyce Cemetery near Pleasant Hill Church, Hardin County, Illinois.

A few years before my Uncle Oakley died in 1995, my cousin and I took him to visit our family cemeteries. During that visit, Uncle Oakley described his father as "a good man, an honest man who did the best he could for his family." There is no higher tribute, in my opinion.

What Happened to My Family?

Copyright by Brenda Joyce Jerome, CG

May not be copied without written consent

I have always preached that there is usually a grain of truth in family stories. No matter how flowery or unreal the stories may seem, there is part of them that is factual. Recently I learned this is not always true, but I don’t know why. How do family stories begin?

My father was a wonderful story teller and he could remember things that happened in his youth that everyone else had long forgotten. He was born in January 1913, the same year his grandfather, Reddick Smith, died. Reddick’s widow, Mary Ann, spent the remaining 20 years of her life living with first one child and then another, including her daughter, who was my dad’s mother. According to my father, Mary Ann talked a lot about her youth as a member of a family of means in Davidson County, Tennessee. He told me how Mary Ann’s brother, Henry, and sister, Elizabeth, left Tennessee and moved to Galveston, Texas just in time to drown in the great hurricane of 1900. Reddick Smith, according to the story, attempted to have Mary Ann declared heir to the family fortune after the deaths of Henry and Elizabeth.

I quickly learned this was not a "family of means" as Hugh, father of Henry, Elizabeth and Mary Ann, was listed as a hired hand on the Davidson County census records. Ok, so the truth was stretched a bit. That happens, but it's strange that the story, as told by my dad, never varied. He swore that what he told me came straight from his grandmother, Mary Ann.

Because their last name was Wolstenholme and there are so many ways to spell the name, I didn’t make a great deal of progress on the family. Besides, two-thirds of the family perished in 1900 so my direct line was the only one that had survived and I knew all of my cousins. Right? The time I expended on this family was spent trying to determine the parentage of Hugh, father of Henry, Elizabeth and Mary Ann Wolstenholme.

A couple of weeks ago I was scanning all of the wonderful indices on the Tennessee Dept. for Libraries and Archives website and noticed a Henry F. Wolstenholme listed on the 1920 death index. Surely this could not be Henry, the brother to my Mary Ann as he had drowned 20 years earlier. But, it wouldn't hurt to do more checking so I checked census records and found Henry, his wife, son and four daughters. Elizabeth was also listed. Copies of the death certificates for Henry and Elizabeth confirmed these were, indeed, my long lost great uncle and great aunt.

My dad had explained to me that Elizabeth was betrothed to a fellow who was killed during the Civil War and Elizabeth never married. At least part of that story was validated as she was listed as single on the census records through 1930, just two years before she died. I have a picture of Elizabeth so I know she really existed. With the help of a wonderful lady down in Cordova, Tennessee, I have learned much, much more about this family. She went out of her way to help me find this family from the time I lost them after the 1900 Davidson County census to about the middle of the 20th century. By 1910, they were back in Tennessee - not in Davidson County, but in West Tennessee and they moved around among Lake, Dyer and Gibson counties.

My dilemma is this: Did my great-grandmother, grandmother or my dad make up these stories about Henry and Elizabeth drowning in the 1900 hurricane? Or could they have gone to Galveston, but returned to Tennessee? If that is true, why did they go to West Tennessee and instead of returning to Davidson County, which is in Middle Tennessee? Was there no contact with their sister, Mary Ann (my ancestor), after she moved to southern Illinois with her husband and small children shortly after 1870? I’ve talked to my older cousins and they could not offer an opinion and didn't even know of the Galveston Hurricane story. What should I believe? Were these just stories to entertain a child or was there some truth to them? Have you had instances like this in your family? How did you resolve them?