Southern Graves

Charley Andrew White, the eldest son of Virginia Cathey and Andrew J. White, was born on New Year's Day 1873 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. The world Charley was born into was full of racial tension. He was just 103 days old when the Colfax Massacre took place that year on Easter Sunday, about 80 miles south of his home. As many as 150 men, all but three of whom were Black, were murdered at the Colfax courthouse in Grant Parish, Louisiana—the deadliest incident of racial and political violence of the Reconstruction Era. When Charley was three years old, white men were still undoing Reconstruction Era policies in spectacular fashion. The Supreme Court decided, in U.S. v. Cruikshank , that the federal government couldn't prosecute individuals for civil rights violations; only states could. As Charley grew up in the 1880s, he witnessed the total collapse of Reconstruction Era protections for Black Americans and the solidified rise of the Jim Crow system in North-Central Louisiana...

Just a few days shy of the 116th anniversary of her death. Our Mother Martha B. Wife of H. M. Long Born Oct 5, 1812 Died July 29, 1900 On that bright immortal shore, We shall meet to part no more. Level Creek Cemetery Suwanee, Gwinnett County, Georgia For an added bonus, here's a poem published 1865 in the book, Eighty Original Poems , by John McNair, D.D.  The poem does contain a line from Martha's epitaph, but really I'm posting it just because I like it.  I think I'm drawn to the cadence, as well as the words. UP IN HEAV'N. I have a treasure great indeed Reserv'd for me in time of need -- Which does all other things exceed; A treasure up in Heav'n. I have a house far out of sight, A blessed mansion pure and bright Where I shall dwell in ceaseless light, Exalted up in Heav'n. I have a hope both firm and strong, It is so now, has been so long, That I shall join the happy throng Who shout and sing in Heav'n. I have a faith my Maker gav...

Me, my Mom, and my Aunt. From time to time, when schedules permit, we have a "girl's day." You know the kind - a get together that allows all involved to not only enjoy themselves (usually over food; my Aunt calls it fellowship), but also vent about the good and bad in life. These days are fun. We still have them. The fun really begins, though, when we take a "girl's trip!" These are 1-2 day getaways to a not too distant destination. This is number one of a series of posts in response to genealogy blogging prompt #5: Genealogy on Vacation. When I read genealogy blogging prompt #5, I chuckled. It reminded me of a few trips in which I dragged my Mom and Aunt to cemeteries. Then I realized something: I have dragged them to a cemetery on EVERY girl's trip we've taken! Had to blog about it. It all started a few years ago when my aunt just had to get away. I mean, she HAD to get away. It was that, or she was going to "nut up" (as w...