I love vacations! I have so many things planned, namely relaxation. Relaxation is at the bottom of the list, this vacation. I am captain of my Relay for Life Team, Too Inspired to Be Tired. I am the ceremonies/activities/entertainment chair for the Relay committee. On top of that my day job is a Second grade teacher. Whew! I am tired just typing all of that.

One of my favorite things to do when I have free time and my thoughts are not centered around lesson plans and students is to research my family tree.

Last night I logged on to Ancestry.com and started using their “Hints” feature and found some information on a branch of the family tree I have been researching for a while.

My Great-great grandfather, Gustaf Eliason (1846-1928), had 13 full and half-siblings. Several of his half-siblings settled in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Well last night, I found two of his half siblings, Elias Oscar Eliason and Ulrika Eliason Johnson. I was also able to find Elias Oscar’s wife and children through his naturalization papers. I also found the obituary and death certificates for him, and his son Carl.

I am excited to see what I find next!

On this date in 1940, my grandmother, Nettie Pearl Stites, married her first husband, Roy Lee Fogle.

Some families hide their secrets or would rather not think about the past. Mama and Roy were married for about 7 years. They never had any children and divorced in 1947.

My grandmother related this story, which I need to find the manuscript of the story in her own words: Roy was abusive. I am not sure if it was continual or a one time thing, but Mama was hit on the side of the head. She later developed blackouts, which was later diagnosed as Petite Mal Epilepsy. She had surgery in November of 1963. She told the story that she awoke to the news of President Kennedy’s assassination.

Mama was a very outspoken woman. I miss her bluntness. She never hid anything about her marriage to Roy. In fact, she has many pictures of her with him, his brother J. C., and my grandfather Hiram.

I treasure every story and picture I see, and every memory. They explain a lot of who my grandparents were and what led them to be the people they were when I came into the world.

Roy died of cancer in 1975. He had remarried and had a son, I believe, with his wife, Frankie.

My grandmother passed away on October 23, 2007, at the age of 83 in Visalia, California.

Happy 99th Birthday to Clarence Horton! Hope you are having a party in heaven!

Clarence was the son of William Thomas and Minnie Stites Horton. He was born in Arkansas. He married Pauline Gibson and had 8 children.

I never met Clarence or Pauline, but my grandmother Pearl knew Pauline aka “Sissy.” I think my Aunt Hazel also knew him.

Clarence passed away April 22, 1999 in Van Buren, Crawford, Arkansas at the age of 82.

This is my Great-Aunt, Alema Otelia Anderson Minghetti. She was my grandfather, Hiram’s, sister. She was born on this day in 1928. Her parents were John Frederick and Alice Mathilda Eliason Anderson. John was 51 and Alice was 44 when Alema was born. She joined Hiram Eugene (5) and Kermeth (4) when she was born in Shafter, California.

My grandfather, Hiram, would call her every year on her birthday. I remember that my grandmother, Pearl, would remind him to call his sister.

She was an amazing artist, who would send us handmade cards. I think I still have all of them. She also painted many pictures. I have one displayed in my home.

She was a deaconess in the Lutheran Church for many years. She met Charles Church “Chuck” Minghetti and was married in August of 1969. They did not have any children. They took care of her mom, Alice, from the time they married until my great-grandmother’s death on December 26, 1979.

Chuck and Alema lived in San Luis Obispo, California, not far from the Mission. It was a Spanish style home. One memory that stands out is a trip that my dad and I made to visit them in the early 1990’s. I think it must have been about 1993 or 1994. I know that it was before my dad got sick (story for another entry).

I have been interested in my family history since around 1992. Anyway, back to my memory: Chuck and Alema loved to travel and meet new people from all parts of the world. On one trip they traveled to the Seattle area to visit some Anderson cousins. She had a tape of one of her grandmother’s sister’s (Christine Johnson Anderson) grandchildren telling about her life and journey to America. To me it was a priceless family heirloom. How I wish I had that tape. I am not sure what happened to the tape after the deaths of Chuck and Alema.

Alema passed away on August 1, 2009 at the age of 81. I miss her and Chuck a lot.