Monday, August 1, 2011

Things You Learn In Genealogy - Matches Were Not Cheap

I am a history buff which of course just fuels my genealogy obsession. It's amazing what one learns everyday. I think at some point  in high school every teacher should have each of their students do a year long genealogy project on their family. They will learn more history ( and perhaps develop a love of it) than any other activity.

I am trying to track down the ever  so elusive Winfield Nelson. He was the brother of  my Great (3) Grandfather James Benjamin Nelson. You can read about them here

The person that wrote that article is Joe Hoff Who lives in the New Orleans area . His is still alive , is over 90 , and  till has a REMARKABLE mind that recalls everything. I talked to him tonight. I told him I believe that he and my grandmother are the only cousin left of that generation.

I am hoping that the descendants of Winfield Nelson might be able to shed light on the what I believe to be Ireland origins of the Nelson family. He told me Winfield had a daughter that married a Parker in amite and in fact that family stayed on the original Winfield Nelson land for a very long time.

While researching Parkers of Amite I found this interesting story about some Parkers in Alabama.:

As a child, I would go to Cullman two or three times a year. There
were a few country stores, but they were widely scattered. I can recall
carrying ten dozen eggs to Bremen and getting 6 cents per dozen for them.
I can well recall how scarce matches were when I was a young man.
A little box of about twenty five sulphur matches cost 10 cents. People
kept some fire in their homes all summer long so as to save the cost
of matches. My grandfather, Thomas Barton Parker, boasted shortly
before his death at the age of 93 that he not only never bought a
match but he never had struck one, either.
When Grover Cleveland was president, I homesteaded 160 acres of
land. It was the south half of the ne quarter, and the north
half of the se quarter of section 34, township 12, range 5 in
Cullman County, Alabama. I still own this land.
My grandfather was Thomas Barton Parker. He and my grandmother
Barbara Childers Parker, moved here from York District.

How interesting. I never knew that.

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