The Two Annie Laura's

Annie Laura Massengale Collins

Born on June 30, 1882 to William Marshall Massengale and Louisa Elizabeth Kyle Massengale. She married Floyd Amos Collins in 1902 and had one child, Willie Edna Collins. Willie Edna married John Albert Nicholson. Together they had one child, Floy Anna Nicholson. Floy Anna broke the family tradition of having one child when she married Leonard Osborne Sullivan and gave birth to seven children, one dying at birth. Her oldest child, Anna Lynn Sullivan married James Carroll Penny and had three children. I married their middle child, James Carroll Penny, II and had three children. I named my middle daughter Annie Laura after my husband's great-great grandmother, Annie Laura Massengale.  Upon her 16th birthday, Annie Laura was given a ring by her parents. This ring has been passed down from generation to generation and was recently given to my daughter Annie Laura for her 16th birthday, and so this ring has now made a full circle.

Annie Laura Penny

My Papaw Lewis

The Old Clock

My great great grandfather, John Albert Lincoln Widener brought this clock with him to Texas from Arkansas in the late 1800's. It's a Seth Thomas shelf clock made of mahogany wood. After his death, my great grandmother, Arrelsey Ann Widener Stafford, inherited it. After Arrelsey passed away, there was a great debate among her children about who would get it. The clock had stopped working many years before this, but all of her children fought hard over it. Thankfully, my grandfather was the one who ended up with it. The first night that he placed it on his mantle, during the middle of the night, it started working and at midnight, it chimed twelve times, then stopped working again and has never worked again since. My grandpa always said that it was his mother's way of saying that the clock was in the right hands. It sort of spooked everyone  and my sister even says that the clock gives her the creeps, but I think it is a very cool story. The clock is now in my father's possession and I'm hoping and praying that one day I will inherit it.

Wordless Wednesdays

Lotspeich Connection

I discovered an interesting fact yesterday as I was researching my Uncle's family tree for him.  I found out that his ggg-grandmother's name was Sarah Lotspeich.  I immediately recognized the name Lotspeich from my husband's family tree. It's such an unusual name that it struck me at once to go to his tree and look it up. It turns out that my husband's ggggg-grandmother's name is Elizabeth Lotspeich, whose father's name was John Christopher Lotspeich born July 11, 1750 in Frankenthal, Schwandorf, Bayern, Germany.  When I looked to see what Sarah Lotspeich's father's name was, I was excited to see that it was the exact same person, John Christopher Lotspeich who had the exact date and place of birth and who had daughters Elizabeth and Sarah listed.  This new information confirms that  my husband and my uncle are blood related. They share a common ancestor, John Christopher Lotspeich who is my uncle's 4g-grandfather and my husband's 6g-grandfather, which makes them 5th cousins twice removed.

Old Family Letters

This is an old letter written to my great grandmother (Winnie Johnson Parten) from her father (Joseph Green Johnson) during the time he was living with his younger daughter, Maude in Cleburne, Texas. Joseph Johnson passed away the follow June.