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Tag: edith cleo hubbard drake

In the Kitchen

This week’s theme for 52 Ancestors is “in the kitchen”. I thought I could come up with a lot of photographs of my female ancestors in the kitchen. That’s where women spent a lot of time, right? Not as easy as it sounds. I found one photo of my great grandma Edith in the kitchen. One. That’s it. How is this possible?! I’m not so young that I can’t remember “dish lines” at my grandparents’ homes. You know, a big family meal and then who cleans up? Women. One washes, one rinses, one dries, one puts away…you get the picture. I remember that and yet I have no kitchen photographs. (By the way, I originally thought that was Edith’s mom with her in the picture but now I’m not so sure. Can anyone help me identify who is with Edith here?)

I spent so much of my life looking forward to the dishwasher years- a time when the kitchen cleans itself, in part a least. But I never gave a thought to what would be given up for the dishwasher years. Female companionship and conversation. Advice, warnings, sympathy, cooperation, teamwork. Time spent together that turned people into friends and loved ones. We gave up a lot for the dishwasher years. We lost time dedicated to teaching our young daughters about life.

Having a picture of Edith when she’s smiling makes me happy. By the time she met me she wasn’t smiling as much. I miss her very much. I think I’ll write more about this photo and maybe this topic in the future but today I have other responsibilities to take care of. So for now, I leave you in the capable hands of my paternal great grandmother Edith Cleo (HUBBARD) DRAKE.

Edith Cleo HUBBARD DRAKE on the left.

Until next time,

Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

A Precarious, Hayes-ian Kind of Year

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

This time last year I was just starting my research for the last blog post I wrote about my Scottish CHAMBERS ancestors. This past weekend I stumbled into a new quest. I was researching the life of President Rutherford Birchard HAYES (whose HAYES family is also Scottish) when I came across a website (Research & Collections – Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums (rbhayes.org)) where I noticed a link to President HAYES’ pedigree chart. I thought it would be fun to look through his ancestral chart and see if I noticed any familiar names. So I popped open both my parents’ charts and pulled up President HAYES’ chart. It didn’t take long to see some familiar names from my mom’s chart which was very exciting. What was even more exciting is what I found out next.

Before you begin reading though, let’s talk about a familiar New Year’s Eve song, Auld Lang Syne, which happens to be an old Scottish song. Since it’s almost New Year’s again I thought it would be appropriate to sprinkle some of the lyrics throughout this blog post and to give a little history about it. The song was written down for the first time by Robert BURNS about 40 years or so before President HAYES was born. If you happen to still sing it as the old year passes and the new year enters, you may be interested to know that ‘auld lang syne‘ can be translated as ‘for days gone by’ or ‘for olden times’ or ‘for the sake of old times’. It’s a call to remember the past and remember past relationships. For purposes of this blog post I’ll be using the English version of the song so I don’t have to stop and explain things along the way. I thought the song very appropriate for recognizing old relationships and closing out this year’s blog posts. I’ll begin with my mom’s family.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

I’ve written about my maternal 2nd great grandma, Lucinda DOW, before. You can find those posts by going to my blog’s home page at https://daysofourlivesgenealogy.wordpress.com, finding the search bar on the right side of the screen under the header photograph, typing in “Lucinda Dow” and clicking ‘Search’. (Just a hint for this search and others you do online in the future- if you put quotation marks around your search terms the search engine will search for instances of those two words within a few words of each other so that you get better search results.) Lucinda’s quite a character and has been difficult to research at times. My mom’s family connects to Rutherford HAYES’ dad’s family through Lucinda’s dad and on back to Rutherford HAYES’ ROOT/ROOTE family. John ROOT II and Mary KILBOURNE ROOT are President HAYES’ paternal 5th great grandparents and my maternal 13th great grandparents. The surname line goes from my DOW to ELLIS/ALLIS to BRONSON to ROOTE/ROOT. For Rutherford HAYES, the surname line goes from HAYES to SMITH to ROOTE/ROOT. John ROOT was a weaver by trade. If you’re interested in knowing more about John and Mary you can click on over to Janice Harshbarger’s blog, Happy Genealogy Dance, at Happy Genealogy Dance: Allen line: John Root 1608-1684, Immigrant and read more for yourself. We don’t follow her line of descent but we do share John and Mary as ancestors and she wrote an interesting post about them if you want to learn more.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
and surely I’ll buy mine!
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Once I’d finished tracing out my mom’s line as it related to Rutherford HAYES, I learned that Rutherford and I are 6th cousins 8 times removed- meaning we’re 6th cousins separated by 8 generations. ‘Cousins removed’ gets complicated but Jessica Grimaud simplifies it in her article Cousin Chart—Family Relationships Explained • FamilySearch if you want to learn more. My mom’s ancestors connect to Rutherford HAYES’ dad’s ancestors

We two have run about the hills,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

Now that I had my mom’s line down, I decided to finish searching just in case I might find a connection to my dad as well. It only took a few minutes to see that there was a connection between my dad’s ancestors and Rutherford HAYES’ mom’s ancestors! My paternal 13th great grandparents Thomas BIRCHARD and Mary ROBINSON are also Rutherford HAYES’ maternal 5th great grandparents. (In case you aren’t following the bolded words- Rutherford B. HAYES is my double 6th cousin 8 times removed by my mom on HAYES’ dad’s line and by my dad on HAYES’ mom’s line.) I love that both lines converge in Rutherford B. HAYES. Very interesting! My dad’s lineage goes through our HUBBARD line. The surname line goes from HUBBARD to WEDDLE/WEDDEL to WALLING to BLEVINS to BUNCH to BARNARD to BIRCHARD (Thomas and Mary). For Rutherford the surname line goes straight up his mom’s BIRCHARD line. Thomas BIRCHARD and Mary ROBINSON are a very interesting couple. I recommend learning more about them. One place you can learn is at The Chattanoogan: Burchards Were Caught Up In Adventist Trial In Rhea County – Chattanoogan.com. They resided for a time at Martha’s Vineyard. I thought that a fitting residence for the family of a future US president. Margaret Dougherty writes about this couple on her blog, Never Ending Family, at My Family History: a never ending story: Immigrant Ancestors: Thomas Birchard (1595-1657) (neverendingfamily.blogspot.com). One more recommended website with information about Thomas and Mary (ROBINSON) BIRCHARD is at Thomas Birchard, Hartford Founder | Founders of Hartford.

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

So who was Rutherford B. HAYES? He was the 19th president of the United States. He served one term from 1877-1881. Simplified, one of his main jobs was to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and subsequent Reconstruction Era. A task much more difficult than it sounds. Much like our present time, HAYES was living in politically precarious times. His election was at least as contentious as the current presidential election between President Donald TRUMP and former VP Joe BIDEN. Rutherford’s opponent was wealthy Democrat, Samuel TILDEN. Initially, TILDEN won the popular vote but there were several contested state elections. Ultimately, the Electoral College gave HAYES 20 contested electoral votes which made him the winner of the election and President of the United States. However, the “gift” of these 20 votes came at a price. That price was called the Compromise of 1877 whereby HAYES agreed to withdraw any remaining US troops that were protecting Republican officials in the South. This would officially end the Reconstruction Era. In exchange, Democrats would no longer fight Hayes’ appointment as President of the United States. Hayes believed that power belonged with the people, not with the government. He believed in equal treatment regardless of wealth (more specifically, the lack of wealth), social status, or race. He believed the gold standard was essential to economic recovery. He kept order in the US during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. He also kept promises- such as his promise not to run for a second term. He restored people’s faith in the presidency. In short, I think I would have enjoyed getting to know Rutherford. If I could go back in time and enjoy a meal with someone I think Rutherford would be high on my list. There are a lot of questions I’d like to ask him and a lot of things I’d like to learn about him and about our ancestors in common. I love that in Rutherford (as in myself & my siblings) I see the convergence of both my mom’s and my dad’s families.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know my double 6th cousin 8 times removed- former US President Rutherford Birchard HAYES. I hope you make the most of what’s left of 2020 and I wish you prosperity, love, and happiness in 2021. Have a great week and if I don’t see you again this year, have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

For old times. For old friends. For loved ones who came before us and cleared the path for us.

All my love, Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

One of the Tenderest Tough Women I Ever Knew

***Kleenex alert. Sorry- this is another Kleenex alert week.

This week’s theme is “Tough woman”. I struggled to choose an ancestor. Not because I had no choices but because I had many. I am so fortunate to come from a long line of very strong women. I decided to write about my paternal great-grandmother, Edith Cleo HUBBARD DRAKE, since my initial post this year was on my mom’s side.
When I knew Edith, she was old (at least to me as a child- she seemed very old). She was very quiet and very sweet. I never knew her to hurt anyone although I’m certain she administered her fair share of spankings to children and grandchildren. I know that I had many conversations with her although I can’t now recall those conversations. The only specific thing I remember her ever saying to me was when I walked to her house one day to give her a message from my grandmother and when she answered the door she called me “Mechelle” (my cousin). She was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s at that time. I didn’t know that then. I only knew that she knew me and loved me and if she mistakenly called me Mechelle I was not about to embarrass her by correcting her. I loved to go to her house when I was very young and both she and Mark were alive. Mark loved his cigars and was always smoking one. They were affectionate with us and where Edith was quiet, Mark was very jovial and quite a jokester. I can remember sitting on the couch with both of them sitting alongside me and feeling so safe, so happy, and so loved. If my own grandchildren and great-grandchildren never remember anything else about me, I hope they remember being with me and feeling very safe, very happy, and very loved. My biggest regret in regard to Edith is that when she was put into the nursing home I never went to visit her. Never introduced my children to her. I hope she forgives me. I hope many other things in regard to her- but I’ll state those hopes at the end of the post when they will make more sense.
In death, Edith has become even more of a treasure to me than in life and this is what I want to focus on for this blog post. In 2012, God chose to call my son home to Heaven. I sometimes privately refer to that day as “the day of my greatest sorrow”. In the aftermath of trying to figure out a way to deal with all the sorrow, I began to look at my female ancestors with a focus on the ones who lost children. I tried to look at what I knew of their lives and see how they worked their way through the pain and how they lived their life after losing a child. One of those female ancestors was Edith.
The day of Edith’s greatest sorrow was 13 December 1955. Her son passed away at 8:15 that evening. Edith was about 49 years old. I did not know much about her son, C. J., but after my son’s death I began to learn about C. J.’s death and my heart broke for Edith. It helped me to put my son’s death in perspective and I knew that if she could cope, I could surely cope. C.J. was 18 years old and attending high school in Jay, Delaware County, Oklahoma, at the time of his death. He and some friends and relatives were going to a revival. C. J. was driving near Seneca, Newton County, Missouri, when he missed a curve. The truck rolled, pinning him inside. A witness attempted to rescue him but as the rescuer’s hand was on C. J., the gasoline tank blew up and the rescuer was blown away from the truck. C. J. burned to death. It was said that witnesses could hear his screams for help as he was being burned alive. My sweet, loving Edith lived with that knowledge all her life. I cannot even imagine. When Edith was young, she lost one of her younger sisters to death and now her own son was gone. She had a lifetime of loss to cope with.
I understand now why Edith was so quiet. I understand now why she was diligent about reading her Bible and praying daily. I have instinctively coped in so many of the same ways that she did and in some way I think she helped me find my way through the very difficult days by the way in which she lived her life. I know in my heart she prayed for me and for each of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. I know because I pray for mine- present and future. And I know that had she been alive when the day of my greatest sorrow came, she would have wrapped her arms around me, prayed with me, and loved me through it. I love her more because I know that she stored up prayers for me in Heaven and when I needed them, God answered them. A praying Grandmother is God’s gift to families. I hope I’m worthy to take up that mantle and carry on the tradition of my grandmothers. I hope I make them proud. I hope I make Edith proud.
My final hopes in regard to Edith are this. I hope that when she was devastated by Alzheimer’s that one of the things she forgot was the grief and pain of losing C. J.. I hope that at the moment of her death, one of the people on her heavenly welcoming committee was C. J. I hope she is at this moment resting in eternal joy and peace surrounded by the presence of her perfect God and surrounded by the people she loved most and missed most in her lifetime. I hope she is surrounded by eternal, perfect love.
If you are interested, below is a 14 December 1955 Joplin Globe article about the wreck and C. J.’s death. But if you are interested in knowing how she coped with the many losses in her life, pick up a copy of The Holy Bible and read that. Edith’s life was affected by this loss, but her life was defined by her faith in God.



Don’t forget to click on over and read the posts of my blogger chick friends who are doing the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge along with me. You can find them at Down in the Root Cellar and Theology for Mom.

Honoring Edith’s memory. With love, Lisa
~ Days of Our Lives blog

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