Terry, Terry, and Charlie

Where do I begin... so much I have learned today! I invited cousin Charlie Fletcher and his daughter Terry over for lunch today. The idea was that I would share what I have learned about the Bryant family history, and ask some of the burning questions that I hoped Charlie could answer. Charlie is an impressively sharp 91 year old, full of stories about his life and about family.

They arrived at 10:30 a.m. We talked for about two hours before we even thought about having lunch! Conversation went off on many tangents (listed below) which I will explain later in this post.

• The Jamestown Exposition of 1907 on Seawells Farm
• Ocean View
• Asbury Park
• Civil War
• Blackwater
• investment properties

After lunch we got on the computer and I invited Terry to view and contribute to my family tree on Ancestry. We looked at some of the photos, stories, and documentation that I have collected for each ancestor. Then we looked at maps online to learn where the Bryant and Fletcher family farms were located in Blackwater. Though it was already 3:00 in the afternoon by this time, we decided to get in the car and drive out to Blackwater to see the land firsthand.

As we thought, the memories ingrained in Charlie's brain led us to all the places he remembered from childhood. Even though the landscape is dramatically changed, he "felt" that we should turn or veer right there... he knew the names of every family property we passed. We turned off of Blackwater Road onto S. Head of River Road, a small segment of road that probably used to be part of Blackwater Road. We stopped where Charlie thought the Bryant family farm should have been. We pulled in a driveway next to a couple of modern barn buildings. A neat row of ancient cypress trees up to the main road gave a clue that an old driveway had been there. I got out of the car and talked with a girl who was putting horses away in the barn. Her last name was Ehrinzeller and she had only owned the property for a few years. She bought the farm from the daughter of the Wright family (of the Lake Wright Hotel) and had no idea of its history. But Charlie was sure it was the right place. The "old Cox place" was right next door.

UPDATE 9/20/21: Recently I sat down and wrote down a timeline of Bryant family history. I discovered that Charlie Fletcher was not born until after his family moved to Ocean View in Norfolk, so he could not have had childhood memories of the family farms in Blackwater. This put a good part of my research into question! After studying the original deed to the Bryant farm, I learned that it was actually located on the other side of the Cox farm, across Head of River Road. 

Note to my children: This farm, once owned by my 2X great grandfather, is at one end of Head of River Road. At the other end of Head of River Road is the farm where your paternal great grandmother, Mae Kelly, was born. 

Then we drove up the road to Pungo Ferry Road, where the Fletcher Farm had once been. "Pungo Ferry Road ran right through the middle of grandfather's strawberry field," recalls Charlie. The Davis Grainery, next to the original house, was once on a piece of property owned by the Fletchers. We took pictures of where the house once stood, but the only remaining evidence was an old tree (see picture below).

The big old tree stood in front of the Fletcher house, which burned down.
Sadly, the tree fell not long after this photo was taken.

Further down Blackwater Road was the Baptist Church, where we thought we might find some family graves. We were specifically looking for the graves of Eley and Margaret Bryant. Charlie said that his grandfather, Blucher, was the first elder of the Blackwater Baptist Church so we thought we'd check out the cemetery there. We looked at all the oldest gravestones, but no luck. There was a Margrett Jane Fletcher - no idea who she was. But it was a pleasant adventure into Pungo history.

Blackwater Baptist Church

From Findagrave.com:
Margaret Jane was married, first to George A. Gilbert
in about 1880, and second, to Malachi G. Fletcher
in about 1903 (this was Malachi's third marriage).

We stopped at the Blackwater Trading Post, originally owned by the Cox family, where we ran into a native of Blackwater who shared some stories with Charlie. Then we drove down to the Mill Dam Stream where Murray's sawmill had once been. Both families are related to the Fletchers by marriage. Blucher Fletcher was married twice before he married Addie. A daughter from a previous marriage was married to Mr. Murray. Their son, Edgar, lived and worked on the farm with Blucher and Addie (1910 Census). Blucher, Jr.'s step-sister, Margaret, married into the Cox family ("Sis Mag") who owned the farm next to the Bryants. 

Terry and her father, Charlie.

Side stories: 

Sis Mag's adopted son Horace Cox, who worked for Kline Chevrolet, was killed by muggers. 

Margaret's sister Penelope was married to Dr. Murray and lived in the gray house at Boush and 21st Street. 

Now, back to the random topics of conversation from this morning. 

Blucher Fletcher, Sr., purchased 8 lots for $25 each in Ocean View and created a "mini-farm" at Willoughby Heights off 1st View. Blucher built houses on Peachtree Street out of cypress from his farm land in Blackwater. The first house (9337 Peachtree) was divided into apartments and several generations lived under one roof. I believe my grandfather, Ernie Zaun, lived with them for a short time when he first moved to Norfolk from Richmond. The second house (9327 Peachtree) was Addie's "dream house."  Both houses are still standing. Charlie was born on Peachtree Street, and his daughter, Terry, was born in another house on Peachtree Street.

9337 Peachtree Street

9327 Peachtree Street, Ocean View, Norfolk, Va.

Blucher Jr. and his son Phillip (Charlie's father) left the farm and got work dismantling the houses on Sewells Point. These homes had been built on the former Sewells Farm by the 13 colonial states for the Jamestown Exposition of 1907*, and the Navy wanted to tear them down and use the land for barracks. [The houses were all moved to one street and became known as Admirals Row].

Charlie remembers his uncle Charlie Bryant (his namesake) visiting their home on Peachtree Street in his chauffeured car. Charlie Bryant's wife Mariah was a wealthy widow who owned several hotels on the beach in Asbury Park in New Jersey. He also remembers visiting my grandparents, Jack and Ernie Zaun, in their home on Mason's Creek Road. The house is still there (cream with two rails). [Note: I can find no evidence of my grandparents living on Mason Creek Rd].

Charlie still has the money that was in the pocket of his great grandfather Blucher when he signed up to go to war. Blucher had described to Addie how he hid behind trees during battle and watched the bark fly off. 

Charlie's aunt Ruth had a mental disability from Scarlet Fever. 

One of Audrey's children was badly scarred on her face from an accident near Charlottesville when Charlie Page was driving. Charlie Fletcher had wanted to ride in the car with his fun uncle Charlie but his mother wouldn't let him.

There was once a streetcar to Ocean View at the Princess Anne County line. Van's Cottages were at the end of the line. Charlie delivered newspapers in this area as a boy. He invested in many properties that were hugely profitable in Ocean View and Virginia Beach, including "Little Williamsburg." [I am trying to find information on these properties].

*The "Norfolk 100" were men who built funds to bring the Jamestown Exposition to Norfolk instead of to Richmond.

Asking the Right Questions

erroneous obit

I had reached a stalemate with my family tree - sketchy details with lots of contradictions and unclear relationships.  I started asking questions, and writing them down.  I identified potential sources of information and tested them out. Answering one question led to three more questions.  I am filling up a notebook with questions!  My notebook has tables, and charts, and maps, and lists... organizing the information in a variety of configurations brings up even more questions.  This strategy has given my research such a giant boost, I can't keep up with all the information I'm digging up!

I started with my simplest question:  Was my great grandfather, George Wright Abbott, the son of Gertrude or Sarah?  Records showed Sarah was his mother, but his obituary named Gertrude (his father's first wife).  I knew Gramp Abbott lived with his daughter Miriam when he died - surely she would have known the identity of his mother?  My potential source:  Aunt Teeny (Miriam's daughter).  When I asked, Teeny told me that her mother Miriam had collapsed when Gramp died and was barely able to function much less write an obituary, so the people at Bliley's Funeral Home wrote it.  So there it is:  the obituary is wrong because strangers wrote it.  Mystery solved.  I am confident in saying that Sarah was his mother.

Another question:  Who was Ida Rene's mysterious first husband?  As far as anyone in the family knew, my great grandmother Ida was married only twice - to William B Butler and to George W Abbott. However, the transcription of her marriage record to William Butler gave her name as "Ida Rena [Bryant] Williams."  So who was this Williams guy?  Also, curiously, Ida and William Butler were married in Princess Anne County, though her family was from Southhampton County.  How did she end up in Princess Anne County? This question took me on an adventure to unexpected places.

from Wikipedia:  Princess Anne County in 1895

I decided that the key was with Ida's twin sister Addie.  I started following tangents on her life.  Addie's grandson Charlie Fletcher told me years ago that the family once lived in Princess Anne County, in the Blackwater area.  So maybe this was the connection to the Williams fellow?  Another Ancestry researcher wrote that Eley Bryant, Ida and Addie's father, farmed the "Land of Promise Plantation" in Princess Anne County.  A search on Google maps proved that Land of Promise Road intersects Blackwater Road in what is now Virginia Beach.  This researcher also wrote that Eley was Southern Baptist - the nearest baptist church at the time was located at the corner of Princess Anne Road and....drum roll....Williams Farm Road. Williams?! Could this be the family?  My mother used to buy vegetables from Williams Farm when I was little.  I still haven't identified Ida's first husband, but I'm getting warmer.  The next step is to search the church's records or the Virginia Beach Courthouse records.

Land of Promise-Blackwater - still mostly farms

The Addie tangent led to answers to other questions that I wasn't even asking.  I discovered that she and Blucher moved to Ocean View by 1930.  She and her mentally disabled adult daughter Ruth lived in the same boarding house on Peachtree Street as her son Blucher, his wife Catherine, and their sons Phillip and Charles. This possibly explains why my grandfather Ernie moved from Richmond to Ocean View when he came to Norfolk to look for work - he briefly lived in a boarding house near Addie.  It also ties in with Charlie Fletcher's stories about growing up in Ocean View and remembering my grandfather there.

This tangent led to yet another discovery, one that has been haunting me ever since my son Adam bought a house on Newport Avenue in Norfolk.  Which house on Newport Avenue did my dad live in as a boy? In a search for my grandfather Ernie's address in Ocean View, I stumbled on his address on Newport Ave in a 1952 city directory - there it was - 4306.

"Gramp" standing in front of 4306 Newport Ave in 1954.

4306 Newport Ave today

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.