Richmond: Ground Zero

My father's family has deep roots in the Richmond area of Virginia.

The Powells were living in Henrico County since before the Civil War. George James Powell and Mary Ellen Stevens married and lived in the Brookland area of Richmond, east of "Brook Turnpike." In February 1870, their property was listed for sale by auction in the Richmond Dispatch. After George passed away around 1870, Mary Ellen continued to live in Brookland (per 1870 and 1880 U.S. Census) with her young sons, including Jefferson Monroe Powell.

Marie Louise Judd married Jefferson Monroe Powell after moving to Richmond from New York City. They lived and raised their family in the Dumbarton area of Richmond. Marie Louise was active in the Bethlehem Baptist Church on Penick Road; there is a monument to her near the front of the church.

John Adam Zaun Sr. married Elizabeth Wellner and settled in the Dumbarton area of Richmond soon after arriving from Germany via Philadelphia. They had a daughter, Louise, and three sons, John Adam, Charlie Wellner, and Henry Phillip.

John Adam Zaun Jr. married Georgia Powell and lived for many years on Penick Road in Dumbarton. Their home was on the SE corner of Fernwood and Penick (left side of map below). Bethlehem Baptist Church is in the top right corner of the map; most of the family is buried in this church cemetery or in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Richmond. Three of their children Pauline, Jimmy, and Agnes raised their families in Richmond. (William moved to NJ, and Ernest to Norfolk).

George Abbott and Ida Rene Bryant, from New Jersey and Southhampton County, Virginia respectively, joining their lives in Richmond. Their daughter Jacqueline Delmar Abbott grew up in Dumbarton near Ernest Earl Zaun. They lived near their families in Dumbarton after they married until the Depression forced them to move to Norfolk to find work. Their daughter Miriam Edith Abbott married Herman Lukhard and lived in or near Richmond all her life, as did their youngest daughter, Audrey.

The next two generations of my family made regular pilgrimages from Norfolk/Va. Beach to Richmond to visit family, and some of us still do! 

Note: my mother's maternal family also originated in Virginia. Research is ongoing, but the Allen family also owned property near Richmond as far back as the early 1700's, ironically intertwining in later years with my father's family. One of my mother's paternal ancestors owned a plantation near Yorktown at the time of Jamestown, around 1634. 

Mayflower

Here is the line of descendancy from our Mayflower ancestors, John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley:

1. John Howland m. Elizabeth Tilley (1624, Plymouth)

2. Hannah Howland m. Jonathan Bosworth (1661)

3. Ichabod Bosworth m. Mary ________ (after 1710)

4. Benjamin Bosworth m. Anne Collins 

5. Benajah Bosworth m. _____________.

6. Joseph Bosworth m. Lucinda Hopkins

7. Orlando Marcus Bosworth m. Eliza Ann Applegate

8. Eva L Bosworth m. Augustus D. Allen (1883)

9. Ethelyn (Teresa) Allen m. Horace C. Crofford (1926)

10. Virginia Crofford m. John Zaun (1950)

11. Teresa Zaun m. Michael Austin (1976)

I would like to give a brief summary of each of these lives and follow their migration through the generations across our country. 

John Howland was born in Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire, England to Henry and Margaret (____) Howland. Elizabeth Tilley was born to John and Joan (Hurst) Tilley and baptized in 1607 at Henlow, Bedfordshore, England. Elizabeth sailed to Plymouth on the Mayflower with her parents when she was only 12 years old. Gov. Bradford wrote an account of the voyage, telling about John being thrown into the sea during a storm. John managed to hold onto a line and was pulled back on board with a boat hook. John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley married on March 25, 1624 at Plymouth. Their children were: John, Jabez, Isaac, Desiree, Hope, Elizabeth, Lydia, Hannah, and Ruth. John died at Plymouth in 1672/3. Elizabeth died at Swansea in 1687 at 79 years old.

Hannah Howland, born in Plymouth, married Jonathan Bosworth in 1661. They had 8 children: Mercy, Hannah, Elizabeth, Jonathan (died at age 10), David, John, Jabez, Ichabod, and Jonathan.

Ichabod Bosworth was born in March 18, 1676 at Swansea. He first married Sarah Stacey and had six children, the first three children dying in infancy. After Sarah died in 1710, apparently in childbirth, Ichabod married Mary ______ and had four more children: Sarah, Jonathan, Benjamin, and Joseph. Ichabod was a blacksmith in Rehoboth for a time, near the border of Bellingham, Mass and Cumberland, R.I.*

Benjamin Bosworth (Bozworth) was born in either Mendon or Bellingham ca. 1716.  He married Anne Collins at Providence, R.I. on October 23, 1743. Benjamin owned land in Scituate, R.I. He died on November 16, 1790. His son, Benajah, was his eldest and administrator of his estate.

Benajah Bosworth was born ca. 1744. He enlisted in the army in 1775 and joined Crary's troop from Rhode Island. His wife is unknown (perhaps Bucklin), but the 1800 census shows a wife, 5 sons, and 6 daughters.

Joseph Bucklin Bosworth was born in Providence, R.I. in 1790, the 3rd or 4th son of Benajah. He is by far the most interesting character in this family line! He served as a musician in the War of 1812. He migrated to Ohio and became a highly respected minister in the Mormon church, directly under Joseph Smith (see Joseph Smith's diaries). He married Lucinda Hopkins on May 17, 1815; they had eleven children: William, Elvira, Albert, Miles, Giles, Carlos, Orlando Marcus, Omer, Benejah, Malon, and Joseph Bucklin, Jr. Joseph and Lucinda lived most of their lives in Copley, Ohio. Joseph died in 1850 of cholera while visiting his son Miles in Peoria, Illinois.

Orlando Marcus Bosworth was born April 19, 1825 in Summit, Ohio. He joined the military and fought in the Mexican War. He married Eliza Ann Applegate on February 3, 1853 in Schuyler, Illinois. They had three children: James (died at infancy), Richard, and Eva. Orlando and Eliza resided in Littleton, Illinois. Orlando died on November 6, 1884.

Eva L. Bosworth (middle name Louise according to family lore) was born in June 1867 in Littleton, Illinois. Her story is perhaps the saddest. She married Augustus D. Allen of nearby Hancock County, Illinois on November 25, 1883 at age 16 (Augustus was 24). They moved across the river to Keokuk, Iowa, then to Wichita, Kansas in 1900. Their only child, Ethelyn was born in July 1893. Eva died in a mental institution at Old Fort Supply in Woodward, Oklahoma in 1911.

Ethelyn Allen (named later changed to Teresa Marie) was born in July 1893, location unknown. Family lore places her birth in Chicago, but that is unlikely. According to the timeline, she could have been born in Hancock County or Schuyler County, Illinois, or possibly in Keokuk, Iowa. Ethelyn lived with her parents in Wichita until around 1903. Sometime after that she was sent to an orphanage or boarding school in Paris, Texas. Her mother was living alone in Wichita in 1904; her father remarried in 1905. There is no further documentation of "Ethelyn" after 1903. The first mention of "Teresa" is in 1916 in Sherman, Texas, where she worked as a student nurse. She graduated from nursing school in 1919 at which time she attempted unsuccessfully to locate her father. She worked as a nurse in Oklahoma City according to the census in 1920. She moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she married Horace Calvin Crofford in 1926. They resided in Waukegan, Illinois where Teresa worked as a private secretary/assistant to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. There they had two children, Horace Calvin, Jr. and Virginia Maude. The family moved to Virginia in search of employment in the early 1940's. Teresa died in 1966 of breast cancer. She never knew anything about her family history or what became of her parents. She never even knew her birthday or birth year.

Virginia Maude Crofford was born on March 3, 1932 in Waukegan, Illinois. She attended school there until 5th grade when her family moved to Norfolk, Virginia. She married John Beverly Zaun in 1952; they had two children, Teresa Jacqueline and Holly Diana.

From England to Plymouth to Ohio to Illinois and Iowa, to Kansas, then Oklahoma and Texas; back to Illinois and then to Virginia... almost full circle.

*Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, v. 23, pt. 1

19th Century Immigrants to America

Most of my ancestors were among the earliest settlers in America, in either New England or Virginia. There are just a few who came to America the most recently. Not much is currently known about their roots in the homeland:

Germany: John Adam Zaun and Elizabeth Louise Wellner, 2X great grandparents
John Adam Zaun was born in Germany in 1837 in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. He migrated to America in 1867 (1900 U.S. Census). On Oct. 25, 1868, he married Elizabeth Louise Wellner, a fellow passenger on the ship from Germany, and they made their home in Dumbarton, Virginia. They had four children, Louisa, b. 1876, Adam, b. 1879, Charles, b. 1886, and Henry, b. 1888.

England: John C. Abbott - 3X great grandfather
Born in England in 1815, John came to America and had a piano-making business in New York City. He married Sarah Godfrey Whitfield, from an old family in New York. He settled in Fort Lee, New Jersey, later opening a hotel/boarding house in Hackensack, where many of his employees lived. He hired workers, including his family members, from New York, Germany, Ireland, and South America to build action parts for pianos in his factory on Lemoine Ave. John and Sarah had three children, Clark Webster Abbott, b. 1842, Whitfield Barrie Abbott b. 1844, and James b. 1868.

Johannes Wandell

Scotland: Horace Crawford - 3X great grandfather
Born in Scotland around 1780, Horace came to America and settled in the Genessee Valley in New York. He married Lois Hopkins, and they had a son, Calvin, who was born in 1806. Horace was a well-known millwright.

3319 Brest Avenue

Due to lack of any remarkable research findings to report, I will take this opportunity to share some personal memories of early childhood.

My parents were only 22 and 24 when I was born. Their first home was on Brest Avenue in Norfolk. We lived there until just before my sister was born. I was five years old. Here is the house today... the crepe myrtles and shrubs were not there in 1959. There also appears to be an addition on the back of the house that wasn't there.

3319 Brest Avenue, Norfolk Va.
Google Maps, December 2016

I have few but very distinct memories of being in this little house...

Sitting at the kitchen table and discussing possible names for my new kitten. I was probably only two or three years old. Apparently, my mind was only on the food because we named the cat Applesauce.

Breaking my leg falling out of the high chair.

Running crying from the kitchen into the bedroom and into my dad's arms (oddly, I associate this vivid moment with breaking my leg but that does not make sense).

Getting a new dog, a beagle named Butch (wonder what happened to Applesauce?).

The mimosa tree in the backyard, in whose shade we lived and moved in the summertime. I remember having a good sized wading pool where all the neighborhood kids came to swim. My July birthday parties were held at a picnic table under that tree.

My friend David who had a prosthetic leg. He had to take it off to swim in my pool.

My friend (Karen I think) who lived across the street and had a mean dog on a chain in her backyard.

The detached garage that my dad built. I don't remember much about the process of building it, but I do remember clearly what it looked like. If you look closely at the photo above, you can catch a glimpse of it.

Santa Claus (a neighbor dressed up) visiting us in our home and scaring me to death.

A Christmas gift - a large robotic gorilla which came with a cork gun. If you could hit the gorilla in the chest with a cork, it would give a frightening roar and flash its green eyes and start moving menacingly toward you. The thing scared me to death! Isn't it just like my dad to come up with a gift like this for a little girl.

The neighborhood bully who told a group of us younger ones about the "bloody bones" in the window of the creepy house on the corner and scared me to death.

I was a timid child.

My friend Rexanne who lived around the corner (the other way from the creepy house) who shared my same exact birthday. We love to connect about that fact to this day. Coincidentally, she was friends with my future spouse in high school.

My cousins living on the next block (Argonne Avenue). I ran away once and called to my Uncle Sonny to help me cross the street. I don't remember this, but my mother says she was very upset with me.

Sitting in front of the TV every Saturday morning in the living room, patiently watching the test pattern until cartoons came on at 7:30.

I have other memories, such as visiting my grandparents during these early years, but this is the sum total of my memories about living in the house on Brest Avenue.

John Adam Zaun, German Immigrant

John Adam Zaun was born on September 12, 1840, in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. He is my 2X great grandfather in my direct paternal line.

At age 27, "Adam" left Germany, likely to avoid being drafted in the Prussian Army. He immigrated to America in 1867. Peter and Barbara Wellner and their daughter Elizabeth arrived at or about the same time, maybe even on the same ship. 

"Adam Soun" married Elizabeth Wellner on October 25, 1868, in Dumbarton, Virginia. They became naturalized citizens in 1873 (per 1930 Census). Adam and Elizabeth had four children: Louise Sophie in 1876, John Adam in 1879, Henry Phillip in 1884, and Charlie Wellner in 1886.

There are some inconsistencies. On their marriage certificate, Adam's parents are named as George and Elizabeth Soun in the "same household." There is no mention of his parents on any other document, no other indication that they immigrated to America. On the marriage record, Adam's birth year is given as 1844, which is inconsistent with other records. On Elizabeth's death certificate, her son John Adam, gave her middle initial as "B." He did not know who her parents were.

According to the Richmond City Directory, Adam and Elizabeth lived at 1116 W. Main Street in 1874. Adam's occupation was "paver." Later, his occupation, according to sources, was "farming" on a "Truck Farm." By 1900 they were living on Staples Mills Road. Their son Henry lived with them; their daughter Louise Duckhardt lived next door. According to the 1920 census, Adam, Elizabeth, and Henry lived and worked on a "home farm" on Hungary Road, which today runs parallel to E. Parham between interstate highways 95 and 64.

John Adam Zaun died of heart problems at age 82 on December 26, 1922, at his home in Dumbarton, Virginia. He was buried in Bethlehem Baptist Church Cemetery on Penick Road. 

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Interconnected

So excited to find yet another way that our family lines have criss-crossed... Uncle Herman's brother Basil Lukhard married Edith Powell whose father Harry was my Nannie Zaun's brother!


My paternal grandmother is Jacqueline Abbott

Jacqueline Abbott m. Ernest Earl Zaun

Ernest was the son of Georgia Powell

Georgia Powell had a brother Harry Powell

Jacqueline Abbott's sister was Miriam Abbott

Miriam Abbott m. Herman L. Lukhard

Herman had a brother named Basil

Basil Lukhard m. Edith Powell

Edith was the daughter of Harry Powell


I discovered this while on the phone with Teeny (Herman Lukhard's daughter)... there are so many more stories to glean from living members of the family! There will be a memorial table at the big family reunion in October and a family tree will be displayed.

Flesh and blood

As I record the facts and details of my ancestors' lives, I can't help but think about how these long-gone individuals were loved and remembered in their lifetimes by their children and grandchildren.  They were real, living, breathing, thinking, feeling people who passed their DNA - and their character - to me through succeeding generations.

I had the great fortune to know my father's grandparents and to be close to a large extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins.  My father's family were/are born storytellers... family gatherings tend to be filled with laughter as we repeat stories of our most eccentric or wayward family members.  As a child, I loved them all and thought of all of these characters quite fondly.  It wasn't until I was older that I was aware of the darker side of some of these stories.

I would like to leave a sense of certain ones for posterity, in no particular order...

Jacqueline Delmar Abbott Zaun (paternal grandmother)
My Mamaw....  She clung to family, her lifeline.  She loved her Richmond family and stayed close to them to the end, even though she lived all her adult life in Virginia Beach near her children and grandchildren.  She was lots of fun to be around, and had no trouble relating to her grandchildren and their friends.  She was close to her great-grandchildren as well.  She was the classic redhead, a little spitfire, spunky, sassy, and a flirt with men of all ages... but she was always classy. She kept up her appearance faithfully.  She got up early every single morning, made her bed, dressed up, donned her stockings and jewelry, and was ready for whatever the day would bring.  She had a simple life, with few material possessions, but elegant taste in decor and furnishings.  She read voraciously, and that was the way that she became educated - her formal education only went through the 9th grade.  After her husband Ernie died tragically at the age of 47, she went to work at the lingerie counter at Ames & Brownley Department store.  She had some troubles with suitors in pursuit of her husband's insurance money.  My father had to throw one fellow out of the house by the scruff of his neck.  She eventually became an alcoholic and caused a lot of trouble for her adult children.  At her lowest point, she decided to turn that around.  She gave up drinking, and never went back to it. But she never got over Ernie's death.  They had adored each other, and she never remarried.  She lived with her daughter in a converted attic apartment for a time, and then moved to The Mayflower apartments at the Virginia Beach oceanfront. She was a library assistant, a fixture at the front desk of the 22nd Street Library for 19 years. She was an avid game player, especially Bingo and Scrabble.  I visited her at least weekly to play Scrabble or take a stroll on the Boardwalk. We have many stories about her - like the time she pulled up her shirt at the Thanksgiving dinner table, her ruthless Scrabble playing (I don't have much - I'll just play this "itty bitty" word - and it would be like 77 points), and the "damn dishes" (She was a shameless Indian-giver).  She adored her son Bev - he could do no wrong - but was more demanding and critical of her daughter, Gail. When Bev died, she followed six months later....died in her sleep at age 87, looking beautiful and peaceful after a lifetime of drinking, smoking, and general naughtiness.  Sure she was flawed, but there are many ways I want to be like her.

Ernie and Jack Zaun off to a New Year's Party

Horace Calvin Crofford (maternal grandfather)
Baba (pronounced buh-bah)... he was a big man, but there could be no gentler soul.  He deeply loved his family and was devoted to his wife, Teresa.  They were never financially affluent, but their needs were few.  I remember walking hand in hand with him around the block at their 35th Street home in Norfolk, ending up at the corner drugstore to get a nickel ice cream cone. He always had Lifesavers for me in church. He loved to talk about his younger days in the Black Hills of Wyoming.  He tapped his feet as he sang songs of The Old West, and played his mouth harp or harmonica.  He loved maps - he had a drawer full of fold-up maps which he would pull out and talk about the places in the stories he told.  He loved rocks and fossils - he told about Barnum Brown, the famous paleontologist who discovered T-Rex bones on or near his father's ranch.  He especially loved to talk about horses (as I wrote about in a previous post).  He once brought me a rusty bridle bit that he found on one of his trips to see his Wyoming family.  (My dad sanded and spray painted it silver and I still treasure it). I remember him having a jar of "hoarhound" candy on the sideboard which I thought was the most disgusting flavor on earth. After Teresa died, he moved in with our family for a time, sleeping on a fold out bed in our family room. He moved to a dingy apartment in Ingleside where he lived only a brief time before he died in his sleep of a heart attack.

Baba and Me

Herman Lukhard (paternal great-uncle)
Uncle Herman was not related to me by blood, but he was a powerful and influential man, truly a figurehead in every sense of the word. He has been gone for years, but his influence in the family remains. He was a Character with a capital C! I especially see glimpses of him in my cousin David now and then. I wrote about him in a previous post, but will include some personal memories of him here.  I remember him as a highly energetic, driven man, with a quick wit and ability to see humor in most any situation.  We'd do almost anything to make him laugh, but we feared his ire. He was controlling and impatient. If things didn't go the way he thought they should, everyone was sorry. We'd say we're sorry, and he would agree, "yes, you're the sorriest thing I ever saw!"  One time, when I was sixteen, my cousins and I wanted to go to 7-11 (by miles of narrow, winding country road) in a car that he bought for his daughter Teeny.  We trudged across the wide field up to the main house to ask Uncle Herman's permission for me to drive the car.  He made us go all the way back to get my driver's license and show it to him. Once, Robin and I rode with him ahead of everyone else to the "rivah" house. She and I were shooting pool in the sunroom and listening to my new Ray Stevens album (Everything is Beautiful), while he was busy in the kitchen, running in and out of the house getting stuff from the car.  Robin and I heard what sounded like a waterfall. Curious, we went to the kitchen and found it flooded, with an waterfall gushing down the stairs into the garage.  Uncle Herman had put a mess of green beans in the sink, turned the water on to rinse them, and forgot about it. When he saw the flood, it was not a pretty scene.  We helped him clean it up without talking much. A short time later, we heard the sound again.  We ran to the kitchen and it was flooded again! This time, he had put frozen chicken in the sink to thaw. The water was still running and flowed down the steps into the garage.  This time, we were frantic to clean it up before he came back in, but it wasn't easy as we were doubled over with laughter. We told Aunt Miriam about it later, but he was not amused. Robin knew, but I didn't know, that Herman had a problem with alcohol and things like that happened with him.  There were those moments, but he was a beloved Adult Class Sunday School teacher for many years.  I remember visiting his class at the church in Richmond when I was in college, and I thought he was such a commanding presence in front of that large class. People were in awe of him and entertained by his humor. In the midst of a heated discussion, I raised my hand timidly- he ordered everyone else to be quiet and "let the youth speak!" Most of all Uncle Herman loved the land, owning homes and property all over the state.  He loved boats - at the "rivah" house, he had a yacht, a pontoon boat, and several row boats. Boat rides out on the Potomac and the Rappahannock are some of my fondest memories from childhood. Uncle Herman had a running battle with his horse, a huge pinto Tennessee Walker named Champ. Champ was as controlling and stubborn as his owner and they just rubbed each other the wrong way. Uncle Herman never went into the barn without a broom to fend off attacks and we could hear him yelling from a distance. Things were NEVER dull around Uncle Herman, that's for sure.

Teeny, Herman, and Miriam on a visit to Va. Beach

George Wright Abbott (paternal great-grandfather)
Gramp... he died when I was only five, but I do have an impression of a man who was unconditionally loving and maybe a little frumpy (?).  He was adored by his three daughters, and they were devastated when he died.  I think my dad would have been a lot like him if he had lived longer.

Ar Newport Avenue in Norfolk for Gail's wedding

Teresa Allen Crofford (maternal grandmother)
Nanno... she died of breast cancer when I was only 12.  I remember her as an endlessly patient grandmother, playing dominoes with me on a card table in her living room, and even playing "pretend" with a set of plastic horses and cowboys.  She always had a fresh-baked lemon pound cake on a small table at the entrance to her kitchen. She also always had a jar of lemon drop candy. She would make the most amazing cinnamon and butter toast for breakfast. Her home and her clothes had a distinct smell, which lingers clearly in my memory to this day.  I would spend the night with her, along with my cousin Ronney, or my sister and cousin Cindy would spend the night with her. For safety, because of the steep wooden stairs, she would lock our bedroom door from the outside at night, but she would leave two jars on the windowsill, one for drinking and one for peeing. We always feared we would mix them up. I spent a lot of time in church with her, at Tidewater Central Church of the Nazarene.  She was a respected Bible teacher and compassionate "do-gooder." During church services, she would get caught up in the spirit and cry out, waving her hands in the air and sometimes running up the aisle. That was just normal to me. I remember her cleaning up my plate after a steak dinner, eating all the fat that I cut off my meat.  I remember her saving aluminum foil to use again, and saving bread bags. She wasted nothing.  The Depression did that to people.

Anniversary party at 37th Street in Norfolk.
The doorjamb visible behind her in the picture is the one
where our height was marked every year.

 Helen Shelton (paternal great aunt)
"Aunt" Helen... she was my father's aunt, but the relationship has proven to be complicated from what I have learned in my research.  She stayed with my dad's family in their tiny apartment in Norfolk as a teenager due to an unhappy home life (i.e. stepmother), sharing a bed with my dad who was still a young child. She and my dad remained very close. After Helen married, she lived in Richmond with her beloved "Dickie" but visited us often.  She was beautiful inside and out. She resembled Elizabeth Taylor in looks, exuding sweetness, humility, and love.  I remember her with much affection.  It was quite a shock to find out that her father Earl was born 3 years before his (supposed) father married his mother. As I said, it's complicated.

I am sitting on Aunt Helen's lap at the house on Witchduck Road
with Mamaw and my dad.

John Adam Zaun (paternal great grandfather)
Poppoo.... my oldest son is his namesake.  We made the pilgrimage to Richmond a couple of times a year to visit my great grandparents in their tiny house on Penick Road (see previous post "Our Women"). He died when I was 15, so I did not have a deep relationship with him, but I remember him fondly.  He was always sitting in his big easy chair puffing on his pipe, his gnarled fingers caressing the wooden lid of his tobacco jar.  I loved the smell, and I absolutely cherish the possession of his tobacco jar with the worn-smooth lid and the smaller jar for his matches.  It still smells of his tobacco.

In the yard at Penick Road.

Ernest Earl Zaun (paternal grandfather)
Pampaw.  This man is remembered as a wonderful man by everyone who knew him.  He died of complications from a botched gall bladder surgery at age 47 - I was only 4 1/2.  But I have distinct memories of him.  I recall sitting in his lap in the big green recliner in the den of his Witchduck Road house.  He would put a bandage on one finger of each hand and do the "Fly Away Jack, Fly Away Jill" trick that would have me completely mystified.  I remember walking around the yard holding his hand as he explained about every plant and tree in the yard.  He was one who told me that crabapples were not actually good to eat.  I can almost hear his words in my head.  I recall clearly the brand of peanut butter I had at their house when I was little, and I remember the flavor of their toothpaste. The sheets that are on my bed right now remind me of the pattern of his pajamas - it's the reason I bought them. Strong associations! I remember him telling me a story about tying a string to his big toe while he slept so that he could rock my father's cradle without getting up.  He was a football coach and Boy Scout leader to countless boys - now old men who still talk about him reverently. He was a bookkeeper at Dalton and Bundy Lumberyard in Norfolk.  I still have his leather covered measuring tape.  I have never heard a negative word spoken about him.

Mom sitting in Pampaw's recliner in the den at Witchduck Road.

Georgia Powell Zaun  (paternal great grandmother)
Nannie... I have already written quite a bit about her so I will be brief here.  She is the one who got me started on my family tree.  From her bed, she told me everything about her family that she could remember and I wrote it all down.  I was barely in my teens!  So happy I did that.  She was a quiet, but loving person.  I know her best through the letters she wrote to me and to my dad when he was little.

This is probably not a finished post.... check back later! And to repeat myself, I covet your comments on any of these posts.  If you have a story to add to what I have written, please share it in the comments below!

Family Tree - paternal grandfather (5 generations)

This is my paternal grandfather Ernie Zaun's family tree.  Part of this tree doesn't go back very far because my 2X great grandfather John Adam Zaun came straight from Germany. I know where he was born, but cannot identify his parents.  My burning question to him would be, why would you come to a new country at a time when it is embroiled in a Civil War?  My 2X great grandmother Elizabeth Wellner came over from Germany with her parents on the same ship with Adam Zaun.  I found them on an immigrant passenger list, but that is all I know about them.  My great grandmother Georgia Powell ("Nanny") came from an illustrious New England lineage which includes a Governor of Connecticut and First Settlers of Hartford.  I can trace her ancestry back to the earliest colonial days in the Judd and Bradley families.

My grandfather Ernie's paternal side was from Germany as I mentioned. His mother Georgia's paternal side was from Ireland and England; her maternal side was from England and Scotland.  There are previous posts telling the stories of George James Powell, Mary Louise Judd, Orrin Bishop Judd, and Elizabeth MacDonald.  

Marie Louise Judd, 1859 - 1925

Connecting with a newfound cousin on Ancestry has re-ignited interest in researching my great-great grandmother, Marie Louise (Judd) Powell.  Marie Louise has the same relationship to my new cousin Kerrie!

Marie Louise Judd Powell > Georgia Powell Zaun > Ernest Earl Zaun > John B. Zaun > Teresa Zaun Austin 

Marie (called Louise) was my Nannie's mother:

Marie Louise's Parents and Childhood

Marie Louise was born in Brooklyn on March 1, 1859 to the well-known Rev. Orrin Bishop Judd and his second wife, Elizabeth*.  Her vital records indicate that she was born in 1861, but I have concluded that this is a mistake, deliberate or otherwise.  I say this because she was listed on the 1860 census as a 2 year old, on the 1870 census as an 11 year old, and on the 1880 census as a 21 year old.  If 1861 was her true birth year, of course, she would not have even appeared on the 1860 census.  Marie Louise had an older brother, Orrin B., and a younger sister, Addie.  Also living in their home were two of Elizabeth's children from her previous marriage to E. C. Gray, Esq. - MacDonald Gray and Leonora Gray.

Note: Leonora, according to the 1870 census, was "deaf and dumb" and spent some time in the Hartford Retreat for the Insane, which was "an upper-class, resort-like facility." Mention of this daughter was made in Elizabeth's testimony during her divorce trial as reported in the New York Times, April 19, 1868.

Elizabeth MacDonald Gray Judd, Marie's mother and my 3X great grandmother
(photo courtesy of Kerrie Stone, via Ancestry.com)

Scandal!

The Judds had a cultured but tumultuous home life.  There was a highly publicized divorce in 1868 between Orrin and Elizabeth that was front page news in many major New England newspapers. Terrible accusations were made in their very public testimony against each other, including physical violence.  Elizabeth's children were taken from her. Orrin then married the "other woman" Susanna Reynolds and moved to New Jersey with Louise and Addie. The 1870 census gives Orrin's occupation as "farmer" which may be a clue about his fallen status after the divorce.  Orrin and Susanna had four sons, one of whom died young. Elizabeth went to live in Brooklyn, New York with her daughter and son-in-law. (Her son-in-law, Harry Tift, had testified in her defense at the trial, giving an eye-witness account to the cruelty that Elizabeth endured from Orrin). 

Marie Louise and Jefferson Powell

Daughter Addie Bell wrote that Marie Louise met Jefferson Powell when she was living on her father's estate on the "Mechanicsville Turnpike."  There are multiple possibilities for this location; there is a Mechanicsville in Connecticut and one in Virginia, near Richmond, among others. I could not find a "Mechanicsville Turnpike" by that exact name in Connecticut, however.  The Connecticut turnpike mentioned in this article could be referring to the Hartford Pike, the Providence Pike, or the Plainfield Pike:

Mechanicsville Turnpike, Connecticut: "When Brandy hill first assumed its inspiriting name is beyond the memory of descendants of the oldest inhabitant. Tradition refers it to the bursting of a brandy hogshead upon the hill, and it may be inferred that the great outflow of liquor at Starr’s tavern during the days of turnpike opening, helped to make it permanent."

Whether Marie met Jefferson Monroe Powell in Connecticut, New York, or Richmond has yet to be determined. At the time of the 1880 census, she was single, living in Richmond, Virginia, and working as a companion and housekeeper for the Shelton family. She married Jefferson that year.  By 1900, they were living in the Brookland district of Henrico on the western end of Broad Street - this district includes the historical sites of Bethlehem Baptist Church and Glen Allen School. The Powells had eight children:  Addie Bell (1882), Georgia (1885), Harry (1887), Archie (1889), Lenora (1891), Robert (1894), Albert (1897), and Linwood (1899).

Could this be the Broad Street Road home in Henrico? I have concluded that this photo must have been taken around 1898. Jefferson and Marie Louise Powell are seated. Georgia is the oldest girl in a white dress. Addie Bell must be the one standing at the gate supporting the young child on the fence. The old man standing behind Marie Louise is unidentified.  He could not be either George Powell or Orrin Judd. Jefferson's father died shortly after the Civil War, and Marie's father died before some of these children were born.

Clearfield, Iowa

What in the world were the Powell's doing in Iowa!? My great grandmother Georgia was born in Iowa, according to certain records.  Other records indicate she was born in Virginia.  I have always wondered about this strange fact! I thought that Iowa had to be an error since all the other Powell children were born in Virginia, but this birthplace appeared in several important documents. The answer may lie in Marie's obituary which says "With the exception of a few years spent in the Valley of Virginia and in the Middle West, Mr. and Mrs. Powell have always made their home in the vicinity of Richmond." My great grandmother could have been born in Iowa after all! (Her son Bill's birth record named Clearfield, Iowa) If so, then the Powells' "Middle West" years were sometime between 1882 and 1887 based on the birth dates of Georgia's older and younger siblings who were born in Virginia.  I have not been able to find out why the Powells temporarily moved to Iowa.

Marie Louise (center) and her family at Afton Mountain, 1923. My great grandmother is the girl to her right.

Marie Louise and Jefferson Monroe Powell

Marie's life and character

There is no better way to describe Marie Louise than by her own daughter's words:

In attempting to portray something of what Mrs. Powell's stay among us has meant, one is convinced of the emptiness of words.  She was a wonderful character and exemplified in a wonderful way the life of our master.  There is scarcely a person who knew her who was not on different occasions the recipient of her kindly ministry.  Hard work has been her common lot, but never did she allow this to stay the progress of her mind.  She was not content to "live by bread alone" but was ever mending her storehouse of knowledge and enlarging the scope of her spirit.  She was for many years superintendent of the Primary Department of the Bethlehem Baptist Church Sunday School and always a faithful worker in all departments of her church.  She was very fond of children, and the young people of the church and community have greatly profited under her teachings. So her religion was not to creed or bouok [sic] but the teachings of Christ and service for her fellowmen.  Though a community servant in the highest sense of the word, never too busy to lend a helping hand, yet she never neglected her home responsibilities.  Rather, it was there she reigned supreme and never was there a more faithful wife or mother, one ever ready and willing to sacrifice for the welfare and good of home and God. thoughtful of their every material need and even more anxious about their spiritual welfare, she adorned her home with a spirit of unselfishness and tenderness that causes, not only the members of her household, but all those who know them to reverence and adore her.

Jefferson Monroe Powell (in 1932) standing beside a plaque honoring his wife, Marie Louise, at Bethlehem Church on Penick Road.  See previous post about Bethlehem Cemetery.

Bethlehem Baptist Church:   It reportedly served as a first aid station during the Civil War, burned about 1870 and was rebuilt. A brick Gothic style church opened on July 25, 1909. On November 3, 1920, this structure burned. Members dedicated the present building, located on Penick Road, on November 6, 1921.

Marie Louise's grave, early 1926.

Marie Louise's grave today.

*Interesting note on Elizabeth MacDonald Judd:  According to Addie Bell, Marie's mother was a "doctor of medicine." This does not fit with other information on Elizabeth - she was described as a poetess and a occasional contributor to periodicals.  She was a writer for the New York Tribune according to the newspaper itself. This information did ring a bell with me however; I remember my Nannie telling me about the old portrait of a woman that was hanging in the back bedroom of the Penick Road house.  She said that the woman, her ancestor, was one of the earliest female doctors in America.  I am curious to find out who this woman was...it was probably not Elizabeth.  I think it must be an earlier ancestor.

Note: Newspaper accounts of Elizabeth's suicide were a case of mistaken identity. Retractions were posted later. 

Georgia Ella Powell and Census Issues (resolved)

My great grandmother Georgia Ella Powell (Nannie) married John Adam Zaun (Poppoo) in 1903.  She had five children: Pauline, Bill, Ernie (my grandfather), Jimmy, and Agnes.

Georgia Ella Powell > Ernest Earl Zaun > John B. Zaun > Teresa Zaun Austin

I have vivid memories of my great grandparents and great aunts and uncles in Richmond. My father was deeply attached to his relatives in Richmond and we would make at least one or two trips a year to visit family.  I knew my second and third cousins as well as most people know their first cousins!  But there were no children our age around when we visited Nannie.  While the adults sat and talked in the stuffy little house on Penick Road, my sister and I would wander around outside looking at the fish pond and all the cement animals in the yard (chickens, squirrels, frogs, etc.), or  we would run up and down the white board fence with the playful palimino pony across the road.  In the house, there were a few old toys - an ancient iron canon that was my father's childhood toy, a grotesque grinning rubber frog, and a beautiful cloth doll that became a black mammy when her skirt was flipped upside down.  Not much for children to do there, so we had to work hard to entertain ourselves.  I don't remember eating or drinking anything while we were there either - I can't imagine children of today enduring such a visit!

Visit with Nannie at Aggie's house, December 1964

[Click Here] to read a previous post and view photos of the house on Penick Road.

I am so thankful that even as a child, I had the presence of mind to talk with Nannie about her family, and to get information for our family tree.  I remember her lying in bed with tears streaming down her face because she could not recall a brother's birthday, or the name of a sibling who died shortly after birth.  I wrote all of her information on a cardboard family tree which I still have.

In researching the Zaun family on Ancestry, it is easy to confirm the name and dates of people because I knew them personally. However, a curious detail has come from my research.  In the 1930 census, it says that Georgia was born in Iowa.  IOWA?  I can find no documentation of her parents ever living in Iowa. Furthermore, the 1930 census is inconsistent, showing Iowa as the birthplace of Georgia on her record and on Pauline's, but shows her birthplace as Virginia in the records of her other children, Ernie, Bill, Jimmy, and Agnes.

1930 Census:  John A. Zaun, Georgia E., Pauline, John A. Jr., Agnes, Jefferson M. Powell; boarder, Johnson Campbell.
Above, see: Earnest Zaun (my grandfather), Jacqueline, and John B., age  3 mos.

The 1920 census consistently names Iowa as her birthplace in all the individual records for her and her children:

1920 Census:  Adam J. Zaun (he was called Adam), Georgia E., Pauline W., William J., Ernest E., John A. Jr., Georgia A. (Agnes) 

Could two different census takers 10 years apart be wrong?  The 1930 census information could be dismissed because of inconsistencies, but the 1920 census is clear.  If the information is incorrect, why would both documents contain the same error?  But unless I find another kind of proof, I have to conclude both census documents are incorrect.  The 1940 census gives Virginia as her birthplace:

1940 Census:  John A. Zaun, Georgia, John A. Jr.

Evidence proves that her parents, Jefferson Monroe and Marie Louise Powell, lived in Richmond in 1880 and again in 1893, but I can find no record for Georgia's birth year, 1885.  It seems highly unlikely that Jefferson and Marie would go briefly to Iowa and have a child, then return to have their other children in Virginia... DRUM ROLL.... but they did!

UPDATE! July 11, 2015:  In Marie Louise Powell's obituary, which I just obtained from a cousin on Ancestry, it says that the Powells lived for a brief time in the Valley of Virginia and in the "Middle West!"
So an Iowa birthplace for Georgia Ella Powell now makes sense.

John Beverly Zaun

My father died way too young.  He had been having some heart trouble for a while, but he should not have died when he did.  The doctor found some abnormalities in a stress test and sent him home anyway instead of admitting him to the hospital.  He did not make it through the night.  His untimely death had a grievous impact on everyone who knew him.  He was one of those people whose deep love of family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers created powerful bonds of affection.  He captivated everyone around him with his penchant for storytelling, friendly teasing, and his uncanny ability to relate to most anyone.  

John, or "Bev" as his family called him, was born in 1930 in Richmond, Virginia.  During the Depression his father, Ernie, moved to Norfolk to seek employment, leaving his wife and young child to stay with family.  Ernie rented a room in a boarding house on 10th Street in Ocean View, finding work as a bookkeeper at Dalton and Bundy Lumber Company.  Mother and son later joined him in Norfolk.  This was a traumatic move for them as family ties to Richmond were strong.  There were frequent letters and trips between Norfolk and Richmond that continued into succeeding generations.

Richmond kinfolk. Top:  John, Teeny, and Dee.  Middle:  Zaun family.  Bottom:  Dee and Bev.

The Zaun family lived in an apartment on 35th Street where John attended J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School, Blair Junior High School, and graduated from Maury High School in 1948.  He was a boy scout (Ernie was the scout leader).  He built his own motorbike, which fell apart underneath him in the street, as witnessed with glee by his then future wife and friend from a school window.  His close friends were inseparable - Harold Thumm, Bobby Brockington, Streeter Morrisette, and Bobby Twiddy.  

John "Bev" and friends in Norfolk

After graduation from high school, John and his friend Bobby Brockington took off for Florida.  They worked in Miami for a time as switchboard operators for a hotel (where, as it turns out, they unwittingly arranged "business" appointments for prostitutes).  I remember him telling a story about falling asleep at the wheel of his early model automobile and driving into a swamp.

with Bobby Brockington in Miami

For two years, John went to a technical institute, Norfolk division of the College of William and Mary.  He got a job with WTAR-TV as a cameraman in the beginning days of television.  He was promoted to videotape technician, and eventually became an engineer.  He retired as the chief engineer of WTAR and WLTY radio after a 40+ year career with Landmark Communications.  He approached his job as he did everything else in life - with optimism, commitment, and passion.  

  

TV commercial filmed at our house.

John loved his work but his preferred occupation was fishing.  He always owned some kind of boat - always a very practical boat, no frills - to transport him and a fishing buddy to favorite fishing holes in Back Bay, Suffolk, and Chickahominy.   He loved all kinds of seafood, and was known to cut open a clam he found at the beach and eat it right on the spot.  His lifelong fishing buddy was school chum Harold Thumm, who later became his coworker and next door neighbor.  But John went fishing with whoever would agree to go -  neighbor Floyd Edge, nephew Calvin, or one of his beloved coworkers Joe Perkins, George Ramsey, and Jeff Dane.  Jeff Dane hosted a long-running local television show on WTAR-TV Channel 3 called "Tacklebox" which sometimes featured their fishing adventures.  He also worked on a fishing show hosted by Joe Perkins for many years.  When John first asked Virginia Crofford for a date, it went something like this:  "If I can't find someone to go fishing with me, would you like to go out on Friday?"  She should have known....

Caught his limit.

John's second favorite occupation was tinkering around with anything mechanical or electronic.  He had an impressive, well organized (though greasy) collection of tools, hardware, and gadgets.  Everything was kept for parts, nothing wasted.  He could fix or build most anything, and would attempt any project that caught his fancy.  He even took up sewing once just to prove he could.  His methods were not always the neatest or the safest, but the end product was usually admirable.  

He must have taken some time off of fishing because he married Virginia in April 1952.  They bought a tiny little house on Brest Avenue in Norfolk where their two daughters were born.  In 1959, his father Ernie died tragically at age 49 of preventable complications from gall bladder surgery.  This was devastating to the family and forced John to become responsible for his mother who was naive and inexperienced about financial affairs.  John once physically threw an unscrupulous suitor out of her house on Witchduck Road by the scruff of the neck.  

He was an actively-engaged, fun, and affectionate father.  He was easy to talk to about anything in the world.  His daughters had the best school projects, the biggest backyard bonfires, the most wonderful garden vegetables in the summer, and the coolest recreational equipment of anyone around.  He made us the very first ever skateboards (from old roller skates), piped stereo music to the back porch (before stereos were portable), built a magnificent ping pong table, installed various high jumps and monkey bars between the trees in the backyard, and created pet enclosures for an ever changing menagerie.  The neighborhood kids all wanted to hang out at our house.  

Ride 'a horsie!

His grandchildren were the center of his universe.  He loved them passionately and without reserve, and they all felt it.  It is heartbreaking to think that they could not have had more time with him.  The loss cannot be measured.  

PawPaw in his glory.  

Our Women

This journey can get emotional.  Because of technology, multiple stunning revelations can happen in a very short period of time and create a profound and heartfelt appreciation for the lives of  2nd, 3rd... even 9th and 10th great grandparents that I'd never even heard of before.  These direct ancestors were very real people who lived in houses that I can see up close on my computer.  They loved, and married, and had children, many of whom died at a young age.  Some died in childbirth.  Some women were helpmates to husbands who were prominent leaders in their towns, churches, businesses, cities, states or military.  Others were leaders in their own right, in classrooms, newsrooms, publishing, inventing, and professional careers long before it was fashionable for women to do these things. Some women traveled across the country in a covered wagon and had to defend their homes from Indian attacks.  Some sent their men off to war - French and Indian War, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Mexican War, Wars against Cherokees, Apaches, Lakota Sioux, and other Indian nations, ...WWI and WWII.  Women carefully recorded births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths in their family Bibles.  Some had husbands who had affairs and broke their hearts; I just found out last night that my 3rd great grandmother had her three children taken away from her by her ex-husband. This woman was my Nanny Zaun's grandmother.

It was a nostalgic moment last night when I discovered the address of my Nanny Zaun's home.  We had looked for the house last fall but could not identify it which was distressing to me and to my sister.  We drove up and down the street several times looking for a familiar house.  We finally concluded that it had probably been torn down.  Last night I stumbled on the house number in an old city directory and looked it up on Google Maps.  It took a minute, but soon it was all clear.  The memories came flooding back.  The house is pretty much the same... the yard is more neatly manicured now and the concrete animal sculptures and benches are gone.  There is a garage where the fish pond used to be.  The fenced area across the street where we used to visit the playful palomino is still there but no horse.  Here are some snapshots from the satellite photos:

At the corner of Penick and Fernwood

The reason we had trouble identifying the house last fall is because as children we always came into the house from this side entrance on Fernwood.  We never used the front door on Penick Rd.  

Holly and I spent many long boring hours wandering outside while the adults visited.  The most interesting thing to do was watch the goldfish in the pond right here.  This yard was more overgrown with grass and trees then.  It seemed much bigger than it looks here.  My great grandfather's business was concrete statuary and garden ornaments, so the yard was full of concrete chickens, squirrels, and turtles.

View of the horse's yard across the corner.  The little palomino loved company and would run up and down the fence playing with us.

Entire family at the Zaun house on Penick Road, circa 1953.  Virginia and John Zaun, Joe and Gail Watson, unknown couple. 

This couch backed up to the front window on the Penick Rd. side of the house. My dad and mom (before kids) sitting there with a cousin.  This is where they sat and visited with Nanny and Poppoo for hours and hours on our biannual trips to Richmond.  Mom asked for some of Nanny's glass figurines when she died - the ones behind the lace curtain in the window - but all she got was a box of mason jars.

The picture of the little girl on the steps with a collie was a favorite of mine.  The girl looked like Shirley Temple.  Wonder what became of it?  The portrait in the back room was of Nanny's grand? great? grandmother.  I remember that she looked like me.  That portrait was the only thing I wanted of Nanny's when she died, but some evil step-aunt got hold of everything. Nanny and Poppoo had a small but strange assortment of antique toys that she kept by the hearth - a cannon, a grotesque bullfrog, and a pickaninny doll that had two heads, one black and one white.  I treasure the items that I inherited - Poppoo's tobacco cannister and jar for matches.  The tobacco lid is worn from his gnarled hand caressing it as he sat in his big leather chair and smoked his pipe.

50th wedding anniversary.
I now have the picture frame shown above their heads.  Dad discovered a hidden portrait of four year old Nanny behind the picture in the frame.

In the yard by the pond.  On a concrete bench, of course.