Today the NJ and VA cousins came together on the farm in Old Church, Virginia.
Matt - the great grandson of William Bryant and Bonnie Abbott - drove down from NJ for a genealogy conference in Richmond, and the chance to get together with a matriarch of the Virginia faction of the family was too good to pass up. I, Teresa - the great granddaughter of George Abbott and Ida Rene Bryant - arranged the visit and brought lunch.
The three of us, Matt, me, and "Teeny" (Miriam - granddaughter of George and Ida), spent the afternoon sharing family lore, pictures, and recollections. Though, memory loss was somewhat of a barrier to reliable information, I believe there were some insights gained from our visit.
Teeny recalled a memorable visit to New Jersey when she was in high school. As a real southern belle, she was a novelty attraction for her northern cousins. The more they made over her, the more southern she became, and her cheerleader type personality became exaggerated. She claims the New Jersey girls were all mad over the attention she drew from the boys, and she just reveled in it. It was the first time she experienced such personal power.
She remembers that at least one of the boy cousins came to Virginia to visit her after that, but can't remember names or details. Matt remembers his aunt Mary telling about going down to Virginia where she visited one of the family grocery stores. She must have visited the Lukhards in Richmond, probably in the 1950's, who were heading up a household of multiple families at the time, including George Abbott and Earl Butler and family.
Matt showed us old photos of his family members, in particular his father Lawrence, and his "Nan," Margaret Bryant Weismantel. Margaret was the daughter of William and Bonnie Bryant. Matt told stories about the tumultuous relationships between William and Bonnie. William evidently caused a great deal of trouble for the family. He was an alcoholic who finally ended his days in an institution. Bonnie threatened to bury him in the midst of all the Abbotts in the cemetery family plot so that he could be tormented for eternity (which she did).
There was another story about someone in the Virginia family stealing the Bryants' valuable colonial patent for growing peanuts out of William's luggage on a visit to Virginia. Maybe he sold it. Or it might have been one of the Butler boys who took it. Anyway, as a result, the New Jersey family did not have a great impression of the Virginia folks.
We told Teeny about some of the things we had learned in our research. I'm sure Teeny does not remember any of it, but it was entertaining at the moment! I reminded her about the framed photo of the Episcopal church she had given me - how I had discovered it was a postcard send from Matt's great grandmother Bonnie to her sister May. I gave the postcard to Matt. We found another framed postcard on Teeny shelf, but the people pictured on it were not identified. There was another photo of a family in front of an old home in Richmond, also not identified. I took photos of them for future research.
We told stories about Aunt Miriam, as she was our link to the Abbotts and Bryants. Miriam never knew what drastic thing Herman was going to introduce into their lives. She just adapted to whatever he wanted. We talked about the alcoholics in the family, how as kids we just thought our family was crazy and fun. We also talked about George "Gramp," and how on his deathbed he had asked Teeny to name Barry after his father Whitfield Barry Abbott - and he didn't even know she was pregnant much less that it was a boy!
We talked about the animals. We told how Uncle Herman would try to raise his own supply of food for the grocery store. Those ventures did not work out - the turkeys all suffocated in the back of the truck by piling up in one end. The hogs were sent to slaughter, accidentally including Robin's pet pig. Farm life was hard work. I recalled seeing Junior work out in the fields at night, driving the tractor around with the headlights on after working all day in the store.
We talked about Uncle Herman's love of real estate. He had owned several different properties on the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. There were always lots of family members gathered in these homes, which he generously shared with all of us. This discussion led to telling Matt about Tangier Island, which he had not heard of before.
We ended our visit with a tour of the farm. We left Teeny's at about 3:00 without thinking of taking a single photo.
PS Barry told me that he has a photo of Whitfield Barry Abbott. He will send me a copy of it. He also told me about a mix up regarding the family plot at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Apparently people aren't buried where they're supposed to be. There should be an empty plot, but they don't know which one it is.
