The trip to Mark’s relatives turned out to be pretty fruitful for his family tree. Although the cemetery book didn’t have much information, his dad had a history book on the area called “Biography and History of Pomona, Howell County, Missouri, 1894-1981, The Town, The People & The Community – Mackey Cemetery Burials from 1856 – 1981 – Herbs, Home Remedies & Old Time Recipes -” by Mary Louise (Snyder) Corman. We dug through the Mackey Cemetery listings for those members of the family that we knew were buried there. The book only gives the birth and death date if available and does not list the parental relation for the most part. I still haven’t read the biographies in the book and I am pretty sure there is more to gain from it.
Dinner was at Mark’s Aunt Berta’s house and was a lot of fun. Aunt Berta lives in a house that her husband had built for a wealthy woman that lived in West Plains, Missouri. The house is full of wonderful antiques with stories behind them. The wealthy lady liked everything to have an aged look and the ceiling was all pressed tin, even the one ceiling light fixture was an original gas light that had been electrified. Listening to the stories Mark’s mom and Aunts told made me wish I had a tape recorder hidden. They laugh and carry on and it is a real trip to be included.
After dinner I pulled out the laptop and got the sisters talking about the family. Memories started flying around the room and I was listening and typing the best I could. They were fascinated with the copies of the census records that I pulled up off of ancestry after borrowing wireless from a neighbor. We found 17 of the 19 children that one relative had and I was amazed they remembered which were half relation and which were whole. The sisters would shout out names and I would find them and the family listing in the census. The Epperson branch was from North East Tennessee and wealthy, they told me that they owned half of the town of Greeneville, although I haven’t found any of that information yet. The Foley branch lived in Strawberry, Missouri and I have found a good deal on them. They put down roots and stayed put for several generations. The Wendel family, from Germany in the early 1800’s, settled in Ohio before ending up in Arkansas and Missouri.
The plan is to print copies off for the family as gifts for Christmas of all of the new information. Mark’s Aunt Gladys has the family bible and will be bringing it with her for Christmas. It was fun watching the family get all excited about the ancestors; they even drug the atlas out to look up various areas where ancestors had lived.