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.
