Broadus Robert Connell

Broadus Robert Connell

Granddad J.C. described him to me as a tall man, probably around 6 feet tall. I imagine that he also had a good sense of humor, since both Granddad J.C. and Uncle Doug (Granddad's brother) were both good at making jokes. He valued education enough to sell a valuable horse that would be missed on the farm so that Granddad J.C. would be able to go to college. He himself only had a 4th grade education.

You can see how tall Broadus was compared to other men in this picture. You'd think he would have dressed up a little for a picture, right?

Birth: March 31, 1891
Marriage: April 11, 1914 to Laura Elizabeth Marcus. Broadus had just turned 23 years old less than two weeks before the wedding. Laura was 19 years old. They had 9 children, and here they are in age order, oldest to youngest:

Roddy Broadus, Norman Gonzales, Ivey Kibben, June Lucile, Stephen William, Dorthy E, Julius Clyburn (J.C.), Douglas Marcus, and Betty Joyce. Granddad J.C. is the only one of his siblings still living.

Death: June 24, 1953

1920 Census:

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Broadus worked on his farm and Laura was working as a house wife. Their three oldest children had been born. At this point, they were renting.

Something really neat from this census, when you see the whole page this was taken from, is that there are four families of Connells on this sheet (Frank, Mary, Robert, Broadus) and a family of Sinclairs (we're related to them on the Connell side). Frank Connell is Broadus's uncle, and Robert is his father. I'm not sure who Mary is; I'm guessing that she's some sort of cousin. 

There's a note along the side of the census that says, "These are all houses off from any road except country roads." I'm guessing that everyone in these houses worked on the same general farm. There are also a few African American families on the same census page, probably indicating that they were sharecroppers on the farm. Their last names are Taylor and Joye (or Jaye, I'm not sure). Granddad has told me that he remembers playing with a little boy whose parents were sharecroppers on his familly's farm.

1930 Census:

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 Here you can see that the family has grown from 5 to 8. What isn't shown by these censuses is the birth and death of Dorthy, who was born prematurely in November of 1927 and only lived for 21 days.

On a more positive note, we see here that the family is no longer renting, but own their own home and live on a farm. Broadus was working as a laborer on a county bridge, probably to bring in some extra money for his family.

This census page also has more Connells on it. Broadus's father is there with a new wife (Maggie) and a son who's the same age as Broadus's kids. Broadus's brother Charlie is also there, but the rest of Charlie's family is on the next page of the census.

1940 Census:

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This census shows all of the family members, including Bettie Joyce, the baby of the family. We see that the oldest son has already completed two years of college. 

Another thing we see is that Broadus worked on the farm for his main occupation and Laura still stayed at home. Broadus was a hard worker--he had worked fifty-five hours on his farm in the week before this census was taken. All of his children that were old enough to go to school were attending a school of some kind.

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I found a record for Broadus's passing when I was looking for more information on him on FamilySearch. Unfortunately, no image is associated with the record, so I was unable to glean any additional information from that record.

Lucy Elizabeth Melissa Henize

Lucy E. M. Henize is best remembered for her excellent cooking and generous dessert portions. She ran a restaurant out of her family's home and made the most delicious desserts her children and grandchildren had ever tasted. When she served a piece of cake or other dessert, she wasn't stingy. My dad told me that many times, the widest part of the wedge of cake that she'd serve would be over three inches wide! Many of her recipes are still used by her daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Birth: January 2, 1908
Marriages:

1. March 26, 1927 to Cecil Denver Wallace. They had three children together:
   Cecil Denver Jr, Janet, and Kathleen Raye
2. February 3, 1963 to Lloyd Albert Bohl 

Death: September 1986

1910 Census:

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Something funny from this particular census page is that two other families--in addition to Lucy's family--had a boy named Ora. Since these families are on the same page as the Henize family, I know that they were neighbors. I wonder if there was a prominent man named Ora in the Amelia community that these boys were named after?

This census is very interesting. You can see that Lucy had a lot of siblings (eight siblings, to be exact), and that Lucy was the youngest. The two siblings just older than her -- Bery and Bee-- were fraternal boy/girl twins. I wonder if Lucy ever felt left out? Whether she did or didn't, she seems to have enjoyed being around her family as evidenced by the family reunions they had every summer that Grandma Kathleen remembers very fondly.

Another interesting thing is that although I'm sure all of the children helped on the farm, the older boys were listed as "farm laborers" on the census. You can also see that none of the children that Mollie, Lucy's mother, gave birth to passed away before this 1910 census was taken. She was very blessed for the time she lived in, since medical care and accident prevention weren't as good in those days as they are now.

1920 Census:

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In this census, we see that three of Lucy's siblings have moved out and probably started families of their own.   We also see that Lucy's sister Vesta is a teacher working on salary.

As you can see from the records, Lucy's paternal grandfather immigrated to America from Germany. You can also see that her maternal grandmother was born in Indiana. Something striking about the family that Lucy grew up with is that they owned their own farm without a mortgage. This is unique. The families of my other great-grandparents--probably excepting my granddad Broadus, who I haven't researched yet--either rented or owned with a mortgage.

1930 Census:

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1940 Census:

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Something interesting from this 1940 census is that it lists the yearly income of the families. If you enlarge the picture, you'll see that Cecil's yearly income was $1,640. For comparison, a civil engineer on the same page of the census earned $3,000 and a store manager earned $2,400. The clerk at that store earned just over $500 a year. Also of note is that Cecil was a music teacher when his family was young as well as when it was more mature. As you can see, Lucy had not yet started her restaurant; the censuses show that she was a homemaker.

Aside: The restaurant was started when Grandma Kathleen was a teenager.

Pictures-Wallace and Henize

Grandma's home video finally got here! (I've had it for a little over a week now, I just didn't get around to editing it and putting it up). I now have a video editing program, but I can't get it to show more than about 13 seconds of the video. I have managed to get some screenshots from it, so here's a little preview for the video that Grandma sent to me:

Aunt Janet, Kathleen, and G'ma Lucy

John Henry Henize, Mollie Elizabeth Chambers

Julia Anna Peters, James Wallace

Lucy Henize

Aunt Bee (Dora Bedah Henize)

Uncle Paul (Aunt Bee's husband, Paul Liming)

Cecil Jr with pet dog

Kathleen

Janet

Cecil Jr.

Cecil Sr.

Cecil Jr

Kathleen on a scooter

Cecil Jr with Kathleen

Cecil Jr pulling Kathleen and Janet on a sled

Snowball fight: Cecil Jr, Kathleen, Janet

Cecil Jr

"WALLACE MUSIC SHOP" -sign outside their house

Cecil Sr's band

Lucy and Kathleen

Cecil Sr.

Uncle Ralph (Ralph Lawrence Henize)

Aunt Louise and/or Aunt Alverta (wife of Ora Bery Henize)

 I couldn't find a Louise among Grandma Kathleen's aunts unless it was her Aunt Hazel Louise, married to her Uncle Harley. But there's a shot of her Aunt Hazel that shows her a bit heavier than this woman.

Edit: Grandma sent me an e-mail telling me that Aunt Louise was married to Uncle Ralph.

Cecil Sr with pet dog

Janet

Janet making a fish face

Kathleen and Janet with pet dog and cat

Janet and Kathleen

Laura Elizabeth Marcus

Laura Elizabeth Marcus, Granddad J.C.'s mother.

I found this picture among Aunt Lois's Facebook albums. She got the pictures in the album from Uncle Bob.

Birth: August 3, 1894 in Rock Hill, SC
Marriage: April 11, 1914 to Broadus Robert Connell. They had 9 children, and here they are in age order, oldest to youngest:

Roddy Broadus, Norman Gonzales, Ivey Kibben, June Lucile, Stephen William, Dorthy E (I'm guessing the E is probably Elizabeth for her mother?), Julius Clyburn (J.C.), Douglas Marcus, and Betty Joyce. Granddad J.C. is the only one of his siblings still living.

Death: October 24, 1953 in Camden, SC

Here's what I found for her on census records:

1900 Census:

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 So this census record is a little confusing. It shows Henry W and Mattie Marcus as husband and wife, but it shows three Marcus children (Ivy, Lela, and Laura) as children of Harry Mattox. I am guessing that they are really children of Henry and Mattie Marcus and the census taker and those giving him information bungled the record. It will take additional research to find out. Aunt Lois has informed me that Laura's half brother is Ivey, so things fit together. This census shows that both of Mattie's and both of Henry's parents were born in South Carolina. It also shows that Henry worked as a blacksmith at at least one point in his life. They rented their house.

One neat thing about this census that I haven't seen in others is that it lists the birth month and year as well as the age of the person on the census.

1920 Census:

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Here's Laura a few years after her marriage to Broadus Connell. You can see that her name was spelled "Lora" on this census, just as Granddad would spell his first daughter's name when naming her after his mother. Laura was working as a house wife and Broadus worked on his farm. Their three oldest children had been born. At this point, they were renting.

Something really neat from this census, when you see the whole page this was taken from, is that there are four families of Connells on this sheet (Frank, Mary, Robert, Broadus) and a family of Sinclairs (we're related to them on the Connell side). There's a note along the side of the census that says, "These are all houses off from any road except country roads." I'm guessing that everyone in these houses worked on the same general farm. There are also a few African American families on the same census page, probably indicating that they were sharecroppers on the farm. Their last names are Taylor and Joye (or Jaye, I'm not sure). Granddad has told me that he remembers playing with a little boy whose parents were sharecroppers on his familly's farm.

1930 Census:

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Here you can see that the family has grown from 5 to 8. What isn't shown by these censuses is the birth and death of Dorthy, who was born prematurely in November of 1927 and only lived for 21 days.

On a more positive note, we see here that the family is no longer renting, but own their own home and live on a farm. Broadus was working as a laborer on a county bridge, probably to bring in some extra money for his family.

1940 Census:

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This census shows all of the family members, including Bettie Joyce, the baby of the family. We see that although the highest grade of school completed for both Laura and Broadus is only the fourth grade, but their oldest son has already completed two years of college. Granddad J.C. told me that when it was time for him to go to college, his parents had to sell a valuable horse in order to pay for it. Obviously they understood the importance of education, even then.

Another thing we see is that Broadus worked on the farm for his main occupation and Laura still stayed at home. All of their children old enough to go to school were attending a school of some kind.


Laura passed away before my mom was born, so there aren't many people currently living that knew her. I'm guessing that this picture was taken shortly before her passing, since the car in the background looks like the style that was common in the 40's and 50's. I sure am thankful for all the hard work she must have put into her family.

Granddad Jerry and the Grumpy Ram

**This story was previously told with gross inaccuracies. I asked Granddad for the real story, and this is it!

Granddad Jerry grew up on a farm, and he worked hard to keep it up. He had a lot of responsibility there since his father had left and his grandfather was advancing in years. Granddad traded off with his younger brother Jock to make sure the work got done. Jock would come home from school and work all afternoon until Granddad got home from high school in Cincinnati, then Granddad would take over and work until midnight or later until all the work got done. Along with the hard work that the boys completed, there was also more than enough work for the hired hands.

Since there were so many variables in running a farm, some really great stories came from his work there. This one is about an old, mean, and grumpy ram that they kept around as a stud for the ewes.

There was a corn crib in this pasture that people would go to whenever they needed corn around the farm. It could be a tricky business, though, to get the corn, since the ram was very territorial. He would sneak up on people while their backs were turned and try to head-butt them. As soon as you looked at the ram, he'd stop  advancing on you, but you had to always be on the lookout.

Each time that anyone went into his pasture, the ram looked for his opening.

Well, one day as Granddad was doing his work near the pasture, he looked up because he heard some hoof beats. He took the scene in in a moment: One of the hired hands was at the corn crib getting corn, and the ram was charging him! Before Granddad had a chance to shout a warning,

WHAM! 

the ram head-butted the hired hand so hard that he was knocked several feet away, arms and legs sprawled out around him.

And that's the story of the grumpy ram.

Clifford Winspear "Cliff" White

I don't know much about my great-grandfather. Granddad Jerry didn't tell any stories about him that I remember. All I know about Granddad Cliff is that he left his family when Granddad Jerry was a teenager and that he cleaned up his act later and married a nice woman named Ursula. They lived in Florida. I met both of them on a family trip to Florida when I was younger (maybe somewhere between 8 and 10?). All I remember from the time my family spent with them was going to a seaside restaurant and being super excited that I saw a real live pelican fly over the water. I didn't realize then how awesome it was to be able to say that I'd met, talked to and remembered more than one of my great grandparents. So now I only remember one of my great grandparents because I wasn't paying attention then.

Granddad Cliff was named after his father, Clifford Levi White, and his mother, Minnie May Winspear.

Here are some vitals on Granddad Cliff:

Birth: July 4, 1907
Marriages/Children:

1. July 27, 1929 to Josephine Agnes "Jo" Grupenhoff. Cliff had just turned 22. He left when he was about 36 years old.
   Children: Gerald Lee and Roger Thomas
2. About 1958 to Betty. Cliff was about 50.
3. September 1985 to Ursula. Cliff was 78.

Death: May 2, 1997. Cliff was two months away from his 90th birthday.

Census records of Cliff White:

1910 Census:

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From this census, you can see that Cliff Sr. and Minnie were a little bit older when Cliff Jr. was born. Other interesting information is that while Cliff Sr.'s parents were both from Ohio, Minnie's mother came from England and her father came from New York, a city full of immigrants at the time. You also see that Cliff Sr. worked as a "livery man" at a livery stable. If I understand the census taker's shorthand correctly, Cliff Sr. was the employer at the livery stable.

Also of note is that the family rented a house that was not on a farm.

1920 Census:

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In this census, we see that Cliff Sr. is working on his "own account" (OA on the far right) as a manager at a garage. This may be a natural transition from the livery stable as the country was transitioning from horses to automobiles as their main mode of transportation. It's also interesting to see that Minnie was working outside the home, even though two-income families were much less common during this time period. The family now owns their house, but has a mortgage on it.

1930 Census (not even a whole year after he and Jo married):

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Since both Cliff Jr and Jo are in this census, I wrote an analysis of this record on the "General Information" page for Granny Jo. I will also copy the information I put on her information page for the 1940 census. Here's the text:

As you can see, the 1930 census was taken soon after Jo and Cliff's marriage. They were renting their place for $35.00/month. One thing that you don't see here is that their neighbors (the rest of the census page) were mostly all renters and small families, as well. Several of the other small families are also newlyweds. Cliff worked as a book keeper and I think Jo was working as a sales lady at a department store. I'm not sure, though, because the image is really hard to read.

Interestingly, one of the questions asked by the census taker was if they had a radio set. This modern couple sure did!
1940 Census:

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In the 1940 census, you see that Jo is no longer working outside the home, but is a home maker (that's what that long line of "no's" followed by an "H" means). They have two fine boys, aged 5 and 3 years old. Cliff is still working at the brokerage, but now is working as a margin clerk (whatever that is). I included the next family on the census, because I happened to know that that is the family that Cliff came from. How awesome is that?

One thing that I didn't see to make note of in the picture of the census is that Cliff and Jo were renting at $25/month and were living on a farm (this information is in the columns preceding their names). G-G-Granddad Cliff (Cliff, Sr.) was also living on a farm, but he owned his house. I'm guessing that this is White Acres. His house was valued the highest of all the owned houses on this census page.

Granny Jo and the Catnappers

Once upon a time in the land of Ohio, there lived a cat. This cat's name was Snowball, and she was very happy at her farm home with the family that cared for her. She was a beautiful fluffy white cat that charmed all those who saw her. Many people were envious of Snowball's owners because they wished they had a cat just like her.

One day as Snowball was taking a walk in the yard, a sinister-looking car pulled up beside her. Before she knew it, a hand reached out of the car and pulled her within. Snowball was the unwilling captive of a strange family!

Unbeknownst to the catnappers, Jo--the mother of the family that owed Snowball--had seen the car that drove off with her pet from the kitchen window. She was pretty upset that they had taken her cat, and she planned on getting Snowball back!

Every day, Jo watched the cars that drove by her house, looking for the car that had taken poor Snowball away. She was pretty sure that the car belonged to someone that drove by her house often, as she lived in a small town. Sure enough, the car came driving by a few days later.

Jo was ready for them.

As soon as she saw the car drive by, she rushed to her car and began the chase! After winding through country roads and bumping over potholes, the sinister car turned in to a driveway. Jo waited for the driver and passengers to enter the house, then pulled in the driveway, got out of her car, and knocked on the door. A woman answered.

Jo got straight to the point. "Where is my cat?" she demanded. The woman pretended ignorance. "Your cat? We don't have your cat." At that point, Snowball entered the room. Jo said, "That's my cat! Come here, Snowball." Snowball came, Jo picked her up and stalked out the door.

They never had a problem with catnappers again.

We Have an Astronaut in Our Family

Karl Gordon Henize is the closest relative I have that is (at least a little bit) famous. He was a NASA astronaut, and logged 188 hours in space. Most of his life work was studying outer space. He is my Grandma Kathleen's first cousin, so he is also my first cousin, but twice removed. He was the son of Grandma Kathleen's uncle Fred Henize, brother to Grandma Lucy.

When he was 66, Karl tackled Mt. Everest. Unfortunately, his lungs were not able to withstand the high altitude (although I'm guessing he had an oxygen tank) and he passed away while climbing the mountain. He had reached an altitude of 21,000 ft. That is FOUR MILES above sea level! I am incredibly impressed that he tackled such a daunting mountain at that age, and even more impressed that he climbed so far (he ascended about 7,200 feet from the base of the mountain).

This website has more information on why he was on Mt. Everest at the time. It says, "He died in 1993, during a Mount Everest expedition. The purpose of this expedition was to test for NASA a meter called a Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (TEPC): testing at different altitudes (17,000 ft, 19,000 ft and 21,000 ft) would reveal how people’s bodies would be affected, including the way bodily tissues behaved, when struck by radiation, and this was important for the planning of long duration space missions.[2] Having reached Advanced Base Camp at 21,300 feet (6,500 m), the expedition was cut short when Henize died from high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) on October 5, 1993."

He's so famous, there's even a Wikipedia article about him!

NASA also has a short bio on him on their website.

J.O. Thompson's first family

I asked my mom's cousin Rita (my 1st cousin once removed) about J.O.'s first wife, Lula J. Hanson. Lula was only 13 when they married (J.O. was a few days away from his 22nd birthday), and she died when she was only 17. While looking at her information, I noticed that she and their two children all died around 1915, and I wondered if there was some sort of tragedy associated with their deaths. This is what Rita told me:

"Their children were Emma and then Leonard. Then in 1919 the great flu epidemic came along and got all three of his little family. Granddaddy about lost his mind. He was studying to be a preacher like his grandfather David Nolan. He took to hoboing on trains back and forth across the country and reading the bible as he went. He read it over and over. I believe that's why our granddaddy had the power to heal. He could stop blood and fire. He told God he couldn't go on and start another family if he might loose them like he lost his first. He asked for the power to heal and God gave it to him. And that is the story of J.O.'s first family."

Amazing story, right? Also definitely a tragedy. I had wondered what had taken J.O. away from his home in Georgia that made him end up in Charlotte, North Carolina, and now I know.

EDIT: Lula, Emma, and Leonard died of measles (source: Grandma Izzy); the flu epidemic came a few years after they had already passed away. When Grandma told me about it, she said, "Isn't it ridiculous that someone died from something as easy to cure [now] as measles?" She seemed to still feel the pain of their deaths, even though she had never met them.

Josephine Agnes "Jo" Grupenhoff

Josephine Agnes Grupenhoff, known to family and friends as "Jo" or "Granny Jo," depending on when you were born and how you're related to her.

Granny Jo had flaming red hair and was an excellent horsewoman. She was a single mother in an era when mothers didn't often have to be single. She raised one of the best men I know and I am proud to be related to her. She was full of spunk her entire life: when she was eighty-six, she dared to water ski, and at another point in her eighties, she broke her wrist while jumping over a bar stool for a game of leap frog that she was playing. She also chased down some cat-nappers in her younger years. What a woman!

Birth date: March 13, 1910 in Cincinnati, Ohio
Marriages:

1. July 27, 1929 to Clifford Winspear "Cliff" White; Jo was 19 years old.
2. October 17, 1986 Edwin C. "Ed" Sutton; Jo was 76 years old.

Death date: October 14, 2009 in Columbia, Maryland. Granny Jo lived to be 99 years old.

Her children were my grandfather, Gerald Lee "Jerry" White and Roger Thomas White, who passed away when he was only 16.

Records of Josephine A. Grupenhoff:

1910 Census

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1920 Census

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There are several interesting similarities and differences found between these two censuses. The similarities are that Frank worked as a trunkmaker in both. You can also see that he owned his house, but was paying back a mortgage at the time of both censuses.

The differences are what are really interesting, though. The most striking difference is that in the 1910 census, it shows that Frank's mother was born in Germany, but the 1920 census says she was born in Ohio. There are several sad differences, too. As you can see, the family is considerably smaller for the 1920 census. Jo's mother and her two sisters Rosella and Clara are missing from the 1920 census. It looks like Frank's mother, Mary, came to help with the house and children after Jo's mother passed away.

Censuses after Jo's marriage to Cliff White:

1930:

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As you can see, the 1930 census was taken soon after Jo and Cliff's marriage. They were renting their place for $35.00/month. One thing that you don't see here is that their neighbors (the rest of the census page) were mostly all renters and small families, as well. Several of the other small families are also newlyweds. Cliff worked as a book keeper and I think Jo was working as a sales lady at a department store. I'm not sure, though, because the image is really hard to read.

Interestingly, one of the questions asked by the census taker was if they had a radio set. This modern couple sure did!


1940:

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In the 1940 census, you see that Jo is no longer working outside the home, but is a home maker (that's what that long line of "no's" followed by an "H" means). They have two fine boys, aged 5 and 3 years old. Cliff is still working at the brokerage, but now is working as a margin clerk (whatever that is). I included the next family on the census, because I happened to know that that is the family that Cliff came from. How awesome is that?

One thing that I didn't see to make note of in the picture of the census is that Cliff and Jo were renting at $25/month and were living on a farm (this information is in the columns preceding their names). G-G-Granddad Cliff (Cliff, Sr.) was also living on a farm, but he owned his house. I'm guessing that this is White Acres. His house was valued the highest of all the owned houses on this census page.