I've made some wrong assumptions about the Allens

Just when you think you're making great progress, you have to go back and fix the things you mistakenly assumed along the way! I've thought for years that I had figured out some things about my orphaned grandmother and her parents. I had neat little stories worked out in my head about how things must have happened. Now I've got some new information and am having to backtrack on a couple of things. 

I have to admit that it has put a mild damper on my enthusiasm. My revised stories concern the following:

1. 1. My grandmother's supposed orphanage upbringing in Paris, Texas. 
2. 2. My grandmother's father and his famous horses. 

What I KNOW about my grandmother's childhood: 

• Her parents were Augustus Dozier Allen and Eva L. Bosworth. 
• Her given name was Ethelyn.
• She was born in July 1893 in either Illinois or Iowa (likely Illinois).
• They moved to Wichita, Kansas around 1900 during a real estate boom.
• Her father worked for the Kansas Bureau of Immigration, then B. D. Allen Real Estate.
• They had a family photo made around this time, which my grandmother kept all her life. 
• They were together in Wichita as a family in 1903 per the Wichita Eagle newspaper, along with her mother's brother, R. R. Bosworth and his family. 
• By 1904, her mother Eva was listed as a widow in the city directory. 
• Her father, A. D. Allen, married Emma Schindler in 1905.
• In 1907, A. D. Allen started a real estate company at 121 Douglas Avenue in Wichita.
• In 1909, A. D. Allen was president of the Wichita horse show. 
• A. D. Allen owned two American Saddlebred horses in the famous Rex Denmark line.
• From 1907 to 1910, R. R. Bosworth and three of his grown children died of TB. 
• In 1910, A. D. Allen made a trip to South Texas. 
• In 1911, Eva died in Fort Supply asylum in Woodward, Oklahoma (est. in 1908). TB?
• My grandmother changed her name to Teresa Marie at some point. (after a favorite nun?)
• Between 1912 and 1915, there is evidence that A. D. Allen lived in Tulsa, Dallas, & Fort Worth.
• In 1915, a personal ad sought A. D. Allen, last seen heading from Fort Worth to Canton, OK.
• In 1916, Teresa, with friend Maude, lived and trained as a nurse at St. Vincent's Sanitarium in Sherman, Texas.
• In 1917, A. D. Allen was declared insane by a judge in Wichita and committed to an asylum.
• A. D. Allen died two weeks after admission to Osawatomie State Hospital, Miami, Kansas.
• In 1919, Teresa put a want ad in the Wichita newspaper looking for her father. 
• In 1919, Teresa graduated from Paris Sanitarium school for Nursing in Paris, Texas.
• In 1920, Teresa worked as a nurse in Oklahoma City; lived in a boarding house with Maude.
• By 1922, Teresa was living in Waukegan, Illinois and working for an ENT, Dr. Jolley.
• In 1926, she married my grandfather, Horace Calvin Crofford.

My mistaken assumptions:

First of all, I thought all along that Ethelyn was sent by her father to an orphanage in Paris Texas since that is where she attended nursing school, though I wondered why he would send her so far away. I assumed it must have been the St. Joseph boarding school in Paris, Texas, run by the Sisters of Mercy and headed by Mother Theresa Muldoon. WRONG.

I recently ran across a doctoral thesis about the TB plague in Wichita and the social services involved in managing its effects on the city, including managing the many orphaned children. In this thesis, there is mention of a Sisters of Mercy Catholic Orphanage in Wichita that burned down in 1912. It would make SO much more sense that my grandmother would have been placed in this orphanage rather than so far away in Texas. I have not been able to learn anything more about this orphanage. More research is needed. The devastating fire is well-documented. By1912, my grandmother would have been 19 years old and probably no longer in any orphanage.

The second assumption I made was in identifying A. D. Allen's famous horses. A biography of A. D. Allen told of his ownership of two horses, Rex Denmark and Midnight Denmark. In very recent research (last week), I learned that A. D. Allen owned Rex Denmark, JR. (!), NOT the famous Rex Denmark who sired the most famous horse in Saddlebred history, Rex MacDonald. I had also mistakenly recorded the second horse as Midnight Rex, the grandson of Rex MacDonald, but it was actually Midnight Denmark, a totally different horse. They are all certainly related, I'm sure. 

I found a clue in a society column in the Wichita newspaper, in an announcement that in 1906, "Mr. and Mrs. A. D. Allen visited Mr. and Mrs. A. Hughes in Mexico" (meaning nearby Mexico, Missouri). Mexico happens to be where the most famous horse Rex MacDonald is buried and a statue erected in his memory. Rex MacDonald's owner was a Col. Hughes. It HAS to be connected. 

Zaun - Powell Timeline - working document

1804 - Harriet Stevens born (became a mother in 1817, at age 13? 15?)

1817 - 1819 - Mary Ellen Stevens born (gravestone says 1817).

1819 - Obediah Powell married Martha Brittain.

1823 - Elizabeth McDonald born (US Dutch Reformed baptism record); parents Alexander McDonald and Sally McIntosh. (NEW INFO)

1825 - George James Powell born in Henrico, Va. 

1840 - Census lists Obediah Powell (carpenter), wife, son (age 15-20), and two daughters.

1840 - John Adam Zaun Sr. born in Germany.

1846 - Elizabeth Louisa Wellner born in Germany to parents, Peter and Elizabeth

1846 - George James Powell married Mary Ellen Stevens, Feb. 3 (Marriage Bonds of Henrico Co.)

1850 - Census lists Obediah Powell, wife "Patsey" and two daughters (no son). Note: a Patsey Powell was on the rolls at Emmanuel Episcopal Church...common nickname.

1850 - Obediah Powell died (per Geneanet).

1850 - Census lists Geo. J. Powell (carpenter, age 28), wife, son, and daughter.

1854 - Frances Josephine _____________ born in Germany. (later, wife of John Bell Powell)

1855 - NY Census Elizabeth Judd, 34. Brooklyn NY.

1859 - John Bell Powell born.

1860 - Census Elisabeth Judd, 39; Mary L, 2. Brooklyn NY.

1861 (or 1857) - Marie Louis Judd born in Brooklyn, NY.

1862 - Jefferson Powell born.

1864 - George James Powell enlisted in Confederate Army in Richmond, Aug. 12. 

1865 - George James Powell captured POW at Farmville; released in July 1865.

1867 - John Adam Zaun Sr. arrives in America, on the same ship as the Wellners (Peter & Elizabeth)

1870 - Census Elizabeth Gray, 48; Mary L, 9. Brooklyn NY.

1870 - George James Powell died & was buried at Emmanuel Episcopal Cemetery, Brook Hill.

1870 - Census - Mary Ellen listed as widow.

1870 - Geo. Powell-Brook Hill property for sale in newspaper, Feb. 11., east side of Brook Tnpk.

1879 - John Adam Zaun Jr. born

1880 - Census - Marie Louise Judd worked for the Sheltons as housekeeper/companion.

1880 - Jefferson Monroe Powell and Marie Louise Judd married in Mechanicsville, June 20.

1882 - Addie Bell Powell born in Henrico, VA.

???? - Jefferson Powell family moves to Iowa, near DesMoines.

1885 - Georgia E. Powell born in Clearwater IA.

1887 - City Directory Brooklyn - Elizabeth M. Gray, physician, 1144 Fulton.

1888 - Harry Bryan Powell born in Henrico, VA

1890 - Archie Hampton Powell born in Henrico, VA

1890 - Georgia E. Powell baptized at Emmanuel Episcopal Church.

1891 - Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson Powell confirmed at Emmanuel Episcopal Church.

1891 - Mary E., widow, residence 713 W. Marshall (U. S. Census, city directory)

1892 - Leonora Costang Powell born in Barton Heights. 

1893 - John Adam Zaun Jr. confirmed at Emmanuel Episcopal Church. 

1893 - Mary E., widow, residence Brook Ave. (city directory)

1894 - Robert Jefferson Powell born in Barton Heights.

1895 - Mary E., widow, residence North Ave near Rogers, Barton Heights. (city directory)

1895 or 1896 - photo taken of Jefferson Powell family at Henrico home.

1897 - Albert Bishop Powell born at Farrington, Hanover Co., VA

1897-1898 - Mary E., widow, residence 722 N. 1st St. (city directory)

1899 - Linwood Page Powell born at Dumbarton, VA

1900 - Mary E., widow, residence 923 E. Main (tailoress) (city directory)

1900 - Census lists Jefferson Powell family; next page, John Adam Zaun family.

1901 - Mary Ellen Stevens Powell died, buried at Emmanuel Episcopal Cemetery. (There are still city directory listings for her at different addresses until 1923. Makes me question all of the city directory listings.)..???

1903 - John Adam Zaun and Georgia Ella Powell married in D.C., ages 23 and 18 (almost).

1903 - Ernest Norwood Zaun born, died in infancy. (Wm Norwood, rector 1868-1885).

1909 - Ernest Earl Zaun born (Ernest Earle Osgood, rector 1903-1923)

1925 - Marie Louise Judd died Dec. 6., age 65. Born in Brooklyn NY Mar. 1st, 1861. Obituary confirms time in the midwest and that her mother was a doctor of medicine.

1935 - Jefferson Powell died Jun. 26, Richmond Memorial Hospital, heart.

Powell Family Brick Wall

George James Powell has been a brick wall in my research for a very long time. I've learned a lot about him but have never been able to find his parents. [See my blog entry for him from June 29, 2015]. With my fellow Powell family researcher, Vicki Powell, we discovered that George was buried next to his wife, Mary Ellen Stevens Powell in the church cemetery at Emmanuel Episcopal at Brook Hill in Richmond. However, his gravestone has a different birth year and middle name. No wonder Findagrave was confusing. His stone says: George Littleton Powell, 1821-1866. It had to be the same guy though. 

On Tuesday, August 18 we met at the picturesque brick church in Richmond. Marilyn, the church archivist, agreed to show us the church registries from 1860. She had already sent photos of the cemetery records to Vicki so we knew that there were several Powell family plots. There were also Powell families that were not related to us. The plot in which George and Mary Ellen were buried had been purchased by an "Augustus Powell." Only church members could purchase plots.

Before this meeting we played around with some hypotheses about George Powell's father and came up with a promising possibility: Obediah Powell. I even found the name of Obediah's wife and parents. We hoped that we would be able to find these names in the church records to confirm the relationship. 

We did not find those names in the church records. 

However, we did learn a few exciting new pieces of information. My sister Holly interjected some helpful thoughts as we studied the registries. We were primarily focused on looking for the Powell surname. Holly wondered if the Zaun name was listed in the registry...? That had not occurred to me. Sure enough, there was our whole immigrant Zaun family and their children, getting baptized, confirmed, and married in the church with the Powells! My great grandmother Georgie Zaun was confirmed in 1891 at age 6; my future great grandfather Adam Zaun was confirmed in 1893 at age 14. 

According to my records, they got married in D.C. in 1903; Adam was 23, Georgie, 18. (Did they elope?)

As we viewed the record of church rectors, Marilyn pointed to the name of a beloved pastor, Ernest Earle Osgood. Holly made a connection - he was the rector at the church when my grandfather Ernest Earl Zaun was born. Hilariously, we found many congregation members had named children after this man.

There was a Zaun plot at the church cemetery, but the one grave marker was broken and the top missing. 

I took many photos of the crumbling pages in the registry books. I also took some beautiful photos in the cemetery. When I got home, I immediately began digesting the information. I posted the cemetery photos on my "Teresa's Family Tree" Facebook page, with captions explaining what we found. I went through the registry photos and marked the names we were looking for. 

I listed every Powell and Zaun name from the Index. There were at least 70 names, some of them listed multiple times. Zaun was also spelled other ways: "Zann," "Zoun," "Zound." I have been working on identifying as many of these names as I can.

We were frustrated in locating some of the names in the various parts of the registry. The page number references were incorrect in some cases, and it became clear that this is a more tedious project than we had time for. But we found some helpful listings:

Baptisms:

Powell, Francis Edward 1919

Powell, Warren Douglas 1919

Powell, Bruce Burnell (George Emmett Powell, father)

Powell, Augustus Littleton     "

Powell, Grace Elizabeth         "

Baptisms: May 11, 1890

Addie Bell (Parents: Jeff M. & M. L. Powell) 

Georgie Ella                            "                                 

Harry Bryan                            "                                 

Archie Hampton                      "           

Confirmands:

Mr. Jefferson Powell May 17, 1891

Mrs. Jefferson Powell May 17, 1891

John Adam Zaun May 7, 1893

Marriages:

Geo. L. Powell & Sarah Atkinson April 22, 1874

Communicants:

Dr. Junius Powell

John Powell

Mary Ellen Powell May 1, 1898

Stella Powell                   "

Mrs. Zaun                        "

Louise Zaun                     "

J. Adam Zaun                   "

John Bell Powell July 26, 1896

Burials:

George Powell March 1870

Francis Edwin Powell Oct 1917?

Ruth Osgood Powell Nov 1917?                      

There are many questions that still stand or that arose from our findings:

Who is George Augustus Powell (nephew of Cora Lee who was the daughter of "Tump")?

What plot did Jefferson Monroe Powell purchase? 

Who is the Augustus Powell who purchased plot 62? (He is not buried there)

George Powell was buried in 1870; he died in 1866. Was he moved? Maybe he didn't die in 1966... the gravestone is our only source of death date and we know it has errors. 

George and Mary Ellen's stones look to be made at the same time; what is the story?

(My hypothesis is that George's remains were moved to the church cemetery in 1870 when the farm was put up for sale... see newspaper listing for Feb. 1870. The grave markers were probably not installed until after Mary Ellen's death in 1901, which is why they match. It also explains why George's gravestone has errors; it had been decades since his death. Note: the whole family was illiterate).

Who is buried in the Zaun plot? The plot is owned by Kelley. The Zaun grave was for an infant.

Who is Stella Powell? could it be Josephine Estelle (1880-1903)?

When did the Powell and Zaun families move their membership to Bethlehem Baptist Church on Penick Rd?

Postscript: Must be in the air! Just got an email from a cousin Kerrie Stone, who is a Powell too. She too has been working on researching the Powell family this week. She sent a bunch of photos and newspaper clippings about the Powell family, including photos I'd never seen of my GG Georgie. She visited Bethlehem Baptist Church this week while we were at Emmanuel Episcopal Church doing the same thing! I am drowning in new information. 

Fortunately, the Virginia Beach Genealogical Society is presenting a class soon on organizing materials. 

Significant events in American history that touched our family

1620 Mayflower

We are descended from at least six of the original Mayflower passengers. Through the Abbott-Whitfield-Godfrey families, we are descended from Stephen Hopkins and his daughter Constance. Through the Allen-Bosworth families, we are descended from John Howland who married Elizabeth Tilley, and Elizabeth's parents, John and Joan Tilley. There may also be an ancestral connection to William Brewster, but I haven't been able to confirm.

1624-1664 New Amsterdam established, founded by the Dutch West India Company-family stories prove to be exaggerated.

Dutch settlers establish a colony, purchasing Manhattan from the Indigenous people and determining the layout and identity of the region. A wall was built across lower Manhattan under Dutch Governor Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch Governors before New Amsterdam was taken over by the British. Family lore says that the original Wandell settlers had a farm on the site of what is now Wall Street and helped to build the wall, but the dates are difficult to reconcile. Johannes Wandell didn't arrive in New York until the 1700s. Another family story boasts that when the pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock, the Stillwells were there to sell them hot dogs! (a reference to them settling in Gravesend which became Coney Island). This is impossible as Nicholas Stilwell wasn't even there until 1645, 25 years after the pilgrims came.

1628 Augustine Warner arrives in Virginia, brought by Adam Thoroughgood. 

Augustine and his wife Mary Townley were the grandparents of George Washington. They are also ancestors of Queen Elizabeth II, Meriwether Lewis, Robert E. Lee, and George Patton. Augustine was a prominent planter and politician. His grave is at Warner Hall in Gloucester, Virginia. Queen Elizabeth visited the home of her "American Cousins" when she came to America. We are direct descendants of him through his son Augustine II and Mildred Reade (whose father was Governor of Virginia) and their daughter Elizabeth, who married John Lewis. John and Elizabeth's son Colonel Charles Lilburn Lewis sold Chemokins plantation in Hanover County and moved to Goochland. Their offspring were connected to the Randolph and Jefferson families of Virginia. This is not a genealogical link, but a cool coincidence:  Herman Lukhard who married my great aunt Miriam Abbott worked at Chemokins as a teenager - 300 years later!

1636 Providence, Rhode Island founded by Roger Williams

Roger Williams came to America with his new wife Mary Barnard from London, England in 1631. The young clergyman was welcomed to the new colony in Boston by Governor Winthrop. He would not join the congregation at Boston because of their support of the Church of England. As a Separatist he joined the pilgrims at Plymouth. There he befriended the natives and wrote a book about their language. During heated controversary about the King giving away native lands, he fled in exile to the Narragansett country of what later became Rhode Island. He founded the first Baptist Church in America. We have a double descendancy from Roger Williams through his son Daniel and his daughter Mary.

1644 Indian uprising in Virginia; Opecancanough captured.

Nicholas Stillwell fled to Holland from England due to religious persecution and became a soldier for Queen Elizabeth (Queen of Bohemia, The Winter Queen). He married the Queen's lady in waiting, Abigail Hopton in 1630. By 1635, he owned a house and plantation on the "east side of West Creek" (now Felgate's Creek) on the York River in Virginia on the site of the current U. S. Naval Weapons Station. He served in the military in Virginia and aided Governor Claiborne in MD in conflicts with natives. He was instrumental in the defeat of Powhatan Chief Opecancanough in 1644. 

1645 Gravesend charter, Dutch Colony founded by Lady Deborah Moody

Nicholas Stillwell abandoned his plantation and moved to NY closer to the Dutch settlers. He obtained acreage in the Dutch Colony of Gravesend, near the present-day location of Coney Island. 

1659-1663 First and Second Esopas Wars - Indians vs Dutch, New Amsterdam

Nicholas Stillwell, an experienced Indian fighter, served as lieutenant and commander of the expedition again Indians for Governor Stuyvesant. 

1720 Hanover County established, breaking away from New Kent

Robert Allen was the last of the Allens to be born in Hanover before the family began to migrate from to Mecklenburg and Lunenburg Counties in Southside Virginia and to North Carolina. His wife was Elizabeth Young Stokes. Both died in Grandville, NC.

1737 Wall Street developing as a center of trade and commerce.

Johannes Wandell arrived from Holland in 1737. The Wandell family was instrumental in establishing and building New Amsterdam. They became wealthy and well-connected through their shipping business on the Hudson River. Our surnames Wandell, Haight, Stillwell, Hall, Allen, King, and Connable are among the notable names in early New York City. 

1772 Gaspee Affair, RI, Sons of Liberty

Capt. Samuel Godfrey met with the rest the Sons of Liberty at Joseph Sabin's tavern in Providence RI to plan a secret attack on the British ship, the Gaspee, at night. They successfully carried out the attack and set the ship afire. Note: this predated the 1773 Boston Tea Party.

1776 Revolutionary War

1777-78 Continental Army at Valley Forge

Johannes Wandell served as quartermaster under George Washington. According to family lore, he supplied a wagon load of shoes for the soldiers at Valley Forge from his plantation in NY, made by his slaves, from leather that he supplied. Washington personally signed his army discharge papers which are currently held in storage at Washington Headquarters museum in Newburgh NY.

1779 Loyalist Frederick Philipse III arrested for treason and vast land holdings seized. 

Our ancestor, William Haight, was one of many sharecroppers on the estate of Frederick Philipse. When Philipse was exiled back to England, William was able to purchase some of the land. This land is now part of Philipsburg, near Ossining NY. William's hospitality is mentioned in the journal of Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Revolutionary War. 

1781 Jack Jouett’s ride; Jefferson warned. 

1780-1820 Post-War movement west (land)

Charles Wesley Wandell wrote a letter to his sister, Miriam Olivia Hall that he was glad to hear she was coming out west by railroad and covered wagon. 

1803 Louisiana Purchase

1804-1806 Lewis and Clark expedition

1813 War of 1812

1830 Book of Mormon published

1850 American Bible Union is established, breaking away from the American Bible Society and developing a new translation of the Bible. 

1862 Homestead Act

1861-1865 Civil War

1871 Railroad tracks across the Red River; Fargo

1874 Custer’s Expedition to the Black Hills; Gold discovered

1874 Grasshopper/Locust plague

1876 Battle of Little Bighorn

1877 U. S. violates the 1868 Fort Laramie agreement, seizing Lakota and Dakota lands

1883 Railroad connects Danville to Franklin to Norfolk

1885 Iowa State fair, Des Moines.

1888 Railroad extended to Jerusalem from Petersburg

1889 Ghost Dances

1890 Wounded Knee

1896-1916 Sisters Of Mercy establish hospital and nurses training school in Paris, Texas

1899 Railroad extended from Norfolk to Munden Point

1900 Land Rush in Kansas; TB outbreak in Wichita

1908 Old Fort Supply in Woodward, Oklahoma opens as a mental hospital

1912 Saint Joseph orphanage burns down in Wichita Kansas

1916 fire in Paris Texas; Saint Joseph Hospital is spared

1929 Stock Market Crash; Great Depression

1939-45 WWII

FINALLY FOUND THEM! …NOT.

I have just had the most astounding revelation…a major AHA! moment, right here in my bed in the wee hours of the morning! I’ve suddenly, unexpectedly discovered something that has solved one of the most intriguing mysteries of all my years of ancestry research. 

My insomniac self was just now scrolling through some previous posts on my “Teresa’s Family Tree” page on Facebook. I came across this MAP showing the Bryant family farm on Blackwater Road in Virginia Beach. In that particular post I had casually noted my curiosity about the number “11” at the corner of the Bryant property on Blackwater Road. I had even circled it in RED! Oh, Lordy. ELEVEN?!!! REALLY?!! Silly, silly me. Ridiculous, stupid, blind, silly me. What if that is NOT the number “11,” but is actually the markings for the long-sought, elusive GRAVE SITES for my great-great grandparents, the Bryant’s?!! 

Eureka! Bingo! Ding, ding, ding! I’ve been searching for so long and THERE IT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE. I’ve had this map for years. YEARS! This is BIG news! HUGE! What an exciting discovery! How could I have missed that? Eley and Margaret have finally been FOUND! 

So… what now? Do I notify someone?

DISAPPOINTING UPDATE: And… disappointing to find out that I was wrong. It is the number 11 after all and not the grave markings. However, this has led to a potential resource for finally resolving this question. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Their mission is to preserve and protect landmarks and historic spots such as cemeteries and family burial grounds.

Family Artifacts - who will take them when I die?

I have a collection of documents and other artifacts from our family dating back in history to at the least the 1800s. Carpentry and lumberyard tools, Masonic pins, watches, jewelry, books, Homestead papers, and many other vintage items need to be identified and assessed, and most importantly decisions made as to who will take responsibility for them when I am gone. I've thought of creating a photobook of them all, which would be a fairly easy project. But who will take the actual artifacts themselves?

Then there is the awareness that my sister has an equal amount of such memorabilia in her possession. 

I'm getting close to corralling everything. I hope to catalog it all somehow and then educate my sons about the entire collection. Maybe attach a letter of instruction. If my sons don't wish to inherit the items, perhaps my niece and nephews would be interested.

As obsessive as my mother was, there is information she missed sharing with us about some things. She left us a whole bin of random memorabilia with an attached note that said, KEEP FOREVER. It was sad to go through the items in that bin and have no idea what they meant to her. 

This and That: random discoveries that I have yet to process.

 In no particular order:

New information! There was a Catholic orphanage in Wichita, established in the 1880s that burned down in 1912. It was possibly established to handle the number of orphans created by the tuberculosis pandemic.This is likely where my orphan grandmother was raised rather than an orphanage in Paris, Texas, as I have believed up to now. Evidence proves that she did go to boarding school and nurses training in Paris, Texas, but probably as a young adult, not as a child.

A birth announcement in a Kansas newspaper tells of a baby girl born to Mr. and Mrs. A.D. Allen of Wichita in 1911. Did my grandmother have a half sister that she never knew about? Note to self: there was another A. D. Allen in Wichita at that time who owned a shoe store.

Discovered a volume of the complete works of Shakespeare published in 1852 that traveled with my pioneer ancestors to the west in a covered wagon, according to family lore. An inscription says, “H. Wandell, Chicago, 1856.” I have not been able to identify H. Wandell. 

I ordered a large family photo of the Powell family of Henrico. Efforts to match ages and dates have not been entirely successful. Two persons, an old man, and a young man that could be my father’s twin, cannot be identified. My best guess is that they are a brother and nephew of my great great grandfather Jefferson Monroe Powell. Another family photo of a picnic at Afton Mountain has several people that cannot be identified. One older woman, sitting in the middle of the family group could possibly be Jefferson Powell‘s mother, Mary Ellen Stevens Powell. It will take some work to find proof.

Mary Ellen Stevens was married to George James Powell, a POW from the Civil War. His gravestone shows the name George Littleton Powell. Where did the Littleton name come from? Who are George’s parents? 

Burning questions:

The Bryant family used the name Fenton multiple times. Fenton is a common name in other southside Virginia families. Where did that name come from?

Of course, there’s the question of Eley and Margaret Bryant’s graves The graves were still being maintained according to a letter from Charlie Bryant to Bluke Fletcher in 1926, but the property in Blackwater was no longer owned by the family.

Elizabeth Judd… When did she die and where is she buried? Was she the acclaimed doctor from family lore? See her daughter Marie Louise Powell’s obituary.