We just completed a 30-day cruise. We flew from Dallas, Texas, to Sydney Australia. It was a 16-hour flight. Quantas is a nice airline. There was a local craft market in walking distance from our hotel; a nice park ; and it is a beautiful city. After spending a day in Sydney, we boarded the Golden Princess to begin our cruise. I wondered how we would handle 20 plus sea days but it was great.
Here are some photos from Sydney: the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and an ibis.
My husband and I just returned fro a 10-day trip to the Holy Land. What an extraordinary adventure. There were 29 of us who flew to Tel Aviv. We were met by our guide and driver. The bus trip reminded me of the old movie, “If It Is Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium.” It was intense, and we covered a lot of territory, not only in miles but in time – Old and New Testament. Here are a few of the photos that were taken. I took hundreds of photos.
My cousin, Connie, and I were talking about her Mamma who was my Aunt Nora. We were discussing her house in Macon Georgia. I had Googled the address but the satellite view showed little except for trees which are forty years older than the last time I was there. Mamma lived on the corner but there was a small house behind it her house where her son and his family lived. Behind that house was a fenced in area with a horse.
During the summer my parents sent my brother and me to the “country” away from Queens, New York. This was an opportunity to visit and know our family and have a change of scenery. On some days we would pile into her car and go to the Farmers’ Market. She would buy butter beans, black-eyed peas, beans, and corn. She would plunk us kids (four or five of us) into the living room each with a bowl of a vegetable and we would shell the beans and peas and snap the beans. The hulls would end up in grocery bags. While we were shelling and snapping, Mamma would be scraping corn for creamed corn. By the end of the day, there were plenty of bags of vegetables in the freezer.
Mamma had a fig tree outside of her bedroom window. She made great fig preserves. She would buy pears and make pear preserves too. My cousin mentioned a brand name of fig and pear preserves that she says taste almost like Mamma’s. There was a huge magnolia tree in front of her house at the end of the porch. There was a swing on the porch and it was frequently in use. From the swing, we could enjoy the flowers that were growing. On the side of the house, was a weeping willow. It provided a lot of shade when we were outside playing.
We often played card games too, war, old maid, and at least once, 52 pick-up. Roller skating was always a treat. In New York we skated on the paved sidewalks but in Macon, we went to the indoor rink. Round and round we would go to the pop music of the day. Often couples would skate together in a dance. We would take the bus into town once or twice and take in a movie.
My cousin and I weren’t on the phone long as her son was there and he and his wife were getting ready to leave. After a while she returned my call and told me that she and her son were talking about Mamma’s house. He remembered the house and going to our cousin’s wedding and even recalled what he wore. She laughed because she made his outfit on Mamma’s pedal sewing machine. I remembered it vividly although I had never seen it used.
Thanksgiving memories passed from one generation to the other.
We celebrated Veterans Day in a big way this year as it was combined with the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI. There was a wreath laying and as the banners of the fallen soldiers of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars were walked to the remembrance wall with a soldier and an American Heritage scout, the scout then placed a poppy in a wreath. At the end of the program on the courthouse green, the courthouse bell was rung. After the ceremony, there was a program in the courthouse telling the story of the the War in story and song. It was performed by the Chesterfield Twinning Association in verse and included the songs “Danny Boy” and “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.”
Here is a link to an article in one of our local newspapers.
About the bell, it is a new bell. The original courthouse bell was installed on the original courthouse in 1749 when Chesterfield County was created. The bell was conserved recently and placed in the museum. I am told that the bell is older than the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
Chesterfield, Military
Piecing together the family history of the ladies in our line is not always easy. Years ago my contact gave me a lot of information about Patience Harris. She knew about a diary and letters. I have never seen these items so I cannot document my ancestor’s story.
From the information I do have, I know that Patience was born around 1786 in North Carolina. By 1807 she was married to Elisha Smith Kirksey. They were married in either Iredell County or Montgomery County, North Carolina. They moved to Georgia around 1820.
In 1800 the census of Turner Harris of Montgomery County, NC list four females ranging in age between 10 and 25 and two males in that same range and one male 45 and over. I would surmise that he was that male in the over 45 category and in 1790 in the same county, Turner Harris is listed with three males under 16; three males 16 and over; and 5 females. From a comparison, I would offer that Turner’s wife, mother of the children, passed away between 1790 and 1800.
The oldest son of Patience was named West Harris Kirksey and her youngest son, Andrew Jackson Kirksey, named a son Turner Harris Kirksey. These are recurring family names in the Harris family.
There was a stone marker in the Uwharrie National Forest but it went missing. According to the card found in the Asheboro Library, the children of Turner were William, West, Nathan, Arthur and Isham. As I mentioned earlier, the 1800 census lists four daughters, but how do you prove who they are?
NOTES:
Card file of the Asheboro Library in Randolph Co, NC thanks to Lea Morris for this information
From Essex England to the Sunny Southern USA, Harris Family, Robert E. Harris,
1790 Montgomery County NC Census, Page: 404; Image: 560, Ancestry.com
1800 Montgomery County NC Census, Page: 478; Image: 26, Ancestry.com
1850 Jasper Georgia; District 46, Page: 90B; Image: 420, Ancestry.com
Family Source: Bobbie Meyer von Bremen
