MONKEY MUSINGS DAILY OPEN DISCUSSION #54 1/21/10 - 6/18/10

[mariloo]

Northern Rose, as I stated earlier, I have an Uncle with a family Bible and I may take a trip to see what is in it for myself.  I loved my grandad but this story sounds unbelievable.  When he would come to the house, he would tell us tales of his wanderings and we would all sit there with our mouths open.  The story goes his fathe John Underwood owned a logging company in West Memphis, Arkansas and was killed for the payroll being it across the bridge.  I assumed that would be to Memphis, TN.  He had two boys, my grandfather John D. Underwood and James Underwood.  They were put into an orphanage.  The perpetrator was caught and someone held my grandfather on their shoulders to watch this man be hung.  I cannot imagine.  I do not know this man's name but I have been trying to find records of hanging back then and the reason for it and I have not gotten anywhere.  I find stats but no other information except for racially motivated lynchings.  I am stumped so I will go visit other family members and gather a little more information and re-post.  Thanks

[can]

CBB - I hope you and your son stay safe and warm.  Hopefully there will be no power outages.  I think I remember you saying your son is in an apartment.  Do they have generators?

Also does your son have a walking frame to assist him?  My brother broke his pelvis and has one of those frames/walkers and rails were installed on his bed so he can now get himself out of bed to that walker and into the bathroom.  Doesn't sound like much but it is progress that gives him some independence and dignity that he appreciates.  Also his wife can now leave him alone for short periods.

Take care CBB.   

[can]

Bearly - now when that word is typed at SM it will come out as ++++++ 


Test:

The fire was +++++++ by the water

Smoking will +++++ your growth

Yep....it works.  That "R" word is no longer available at SM

Great idea Klaas.  Thank you Klaas and bearly.

[mariloo]

CBB - I hope you and your son stay safe and warm.  Hopefully there will be no power outages.  I think I remember you saying your son is in an apartment.  Do they have generators?

Also does your son have a walking frame to assist him?  My brother broke his pelvis and has one of those frames/walkers and rails were installed on his bed so he can now get himself out of bed to that walker and into the bathroom.  Doesn't sound like much but it is progress that gives him some independence and dignity that he appreciates.  Also his wife can now leave him alone for short periods.

Take care CBB.   

Where in the world are you with all that bad weather.  I am in MS and it is cold and rainy but I hope no ice will form.

[Northern Rose]

My grandfather was John D. Underwood and I believe his brothr was James Underwood.  There dad was also John Underwood even though my grandad was not a Jr.  I have heard the orphanage was in Memphis and burned up.  I hope it was not during Georgia Tann's reign.  The story bout her is she illegally took kids and adopted them out and destroyed records.  I am hoping this was before her time.

Have no idea if these are yours but only John with father John and brother James  I found in 1880 census in Arkansas:

J. UNDERWOOD   Household

        Male   
    ________________________________________
    Other Information:
        Birth Year   <1847>
        Birthplace   MO
        Age   33
        Occupation   Farm Hand
        Marital Status   M <Married>
        Race   W <White>
        Head of Household   J. UNDERWOOD
        Relation   Self
        Father's Birthplace   ---
        Mother's Birthplace   MO
    ________________________________________
    Source Information:
        Census Place   Eleven Point, Randolph, Arkansas
        Family History Library Film   1254055

        NA Film Number   T9-0055
        Page Number   87D 

James UNDERWOOD   Household

        Male   
    ________________________________________
    Other Information:
        Birth Year   <1879>
        Birthplace   AR
        Age   1
        Occupation   
        Marital Status   S <Single>
        Race   W <White>
        Head of Household   J. UNDERWOOD

        Relation   Son
        Father's Birthplace   MO
        Mother's Birthplace   TN
    ________________________________________
    Source Information:
        Census Place   Eleven Point, Randolph, Arkansas
        Family History Library Film   1254055

        NA Film Number   T9-0055
        Page Number   87D     

John UNDERWOOD   Household

        Male   
    ________________________________________
    Other Information:
        Birth Year   <1867>
        Birthplace   AR
        Age   13
        Occupation   Farm Hand
        Marital Status   S <Single>
        Race   W <White>
        Head of Household   J. UNDERWOOD

        Relation   Son
        Father's Birthplace   MO
        Mother's Birthplace   TN
    ________________________________________
    Source Information:
        Census Place   Eleven Point, Randolph, Arkansas
        Family History Library Film   1254055

        NA Film Number   T9-0055
        Page Number   87D 

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

[mariloo]

My grandfather was John D. Underwood and I believe his brothr was James Underwood.  There dad was also John Underwood even though my grandad was not a Jr.  I have heard the orphanage was in Memphis and burned up.  I hope it was not during Georgia Tann's reign.  The story bout her is she illegally took kids and adopted them out and destroyed records.  I am hoping this was before her time.

Have no idea if these are yours but only John with father John and brother James  I found in 1880 census in Arkansas:

J. UNDERWOOD   Household

        Male   
    ________________________________________
    Other Information:
        Birth Year   <1847>
        Birthplace   MO
        Age   33
        Occupation   Farm Hand
        Marital Status   M <Married>
        Race   W <White>
        Head of Household   J. UNDERWOOD
        Relation   Self
        Father's Birthplace   ---
        Mother's Birthplace   MO
    ________________________________________
    Source Information:
        Census Place   Eleven Point, Randolph, Arkansas
        Family History Library Film   1254055

        NA Film Number   T9-0055
        Page Number   87D 

James UNDERWOOD   Household

        Male   
    ________________________________________
    Other Information:
        Birth Year   <1879>
        Birthplace   AR
        Age   1
        Occupation   
        Marital Status   S <Single>
        Race   W <White>
        Head of Household   J. UNDERWOOD

        Relation   Son
        Father's Birthplace   MO
        Mother's Birthplace   TN
    ________________________________________
    Source Information:
        Census Place   Eleven Point, Randolph, Arkansas
        Family History Library Film   1254055

        NA Film Number   T9-0055
        Page Number   87D     

John UNDERWOOD   Household

        Male   
    ________________________________________
    Other Information:
        Birth Year   <1867>
        Birthplace   AR
        Age   13
        Occupation   Farm Hand
        Marital Status   S <Single>
        Race   W <White>
        Head of Household   J. UNDERWOOD

        Relation   Son
        Father's Birthplace   MO
        Mother's Birthplace   TN
    ________________________________________
    Source Information:
        Census Place   Eleven Point, Randolph, Arkansas
        Family History Library Film   1254055

        NA Film Number   T9-0055
        Page Number   87D 

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

This is exciting.  It may be.  I am going to print this off and take it home with me.  I will come back online later.  Thanks so very much.  I hope this is him.

[Green Eyes]

You are fast Northern Rose      I was just getting ready to post the link. 

[Northern Rose]

Mariloo, the other thing that I have found is that family lore is sometimes created and told to hide bad things that may have happened back in the day.  Please do not be upset if you find that. When you start rattling family history cages you never know what is going to fall out.  You can email me offline if you wish throwawaymonkey@gmail.com

[Northern Rose]

You are fast Northern Rose      I was just getting ready to post the link. 

When my FIL passed I received 3 huge boxes of genealogy notes as he knew I was subborn enough to continue and am now hooked.  They were headstone rubbing's etc that he spent at least 50 years compiling the old fashion way by going to churches and graveyards.  His history is in Scotland and since his passing I have traced it back to Ireland and am now stuck at the great wall of Ireland where the records were burned or shredded and used for gun muzzle packing.  I then started my own family and am now stuck as I have a pile of records in Polish and Cyrillic Russian that I can not read.  It is a pleasure doing records that I can not only read but exist!

[Green Eyes]

And some times the family lore is to add something exciting to the family tree. 

[Green Eyes]

You are fast Northern Rose      I was just getting ready to post the link. 

When my FIL passed I received 3 huge boxes of genealogy notes as he knew I was subborn enough to continue and am now hooked.  They were headstone rubbing's etc that he spent at least 50 years compiling the old fashion way by going to churches and graveyards.  His history is in Scotland and since his passing I have traced it back to Ireland and am now stuck at the great wall of Ireland where the records were burned or shredded and used for gun muzzle packing.  I then started my own family and am now stuck as I have a pile of records in Polish and Cyrillic Russian that I can not read.  It is a pleasure doing records that I can not only read but exist!

I hear you. I spent years working on ours. But mine are in German & French I have meant so many wonderful family members all over. That we were able to each add some great stuff. 

[Blue Moon]

To all you monkey sleuths:  Where would I start looking for a murder that happened in West Memphis Arkansas back in late 1870's to early 1900's.  Supposed a man was bring paryoll across the bridge to his employees and was murdered.  Supposedly the murderer was hanged w/in a couple of months for this murder.  How do I go about finding the actual documented story?  Can anyone help me??

I am just going to throw out a few thoughts here .... not sure if your in AK or not, but the local libraries usually have the newspapers on archives.  Or... try doing a search for the incident name .... persons name, murderer's name  etc. 

Do you mean look in the local library in the archives for the name?  I am so dumb at these things.  I live in MS.  The company was a logging company and I thought I could search that way.  I keep hitting a dead end.  My great grandfather was the man supposedly murdered.  My grandfather was a kid and states he remembers being held on the shoulders of an onlooker so he could see the hanging of the man who murdered his father.  I don't know if this story was true or not.  I cannot trace my family back past my grandfather because of this as he was put in an orphanage after that and then it burned..  I feel so hopeless.  Thanks for responding to me.

Mariloo, give me the name (or have Klaas to give you my email address) and I will look it up under Ancestry.com.  They have newspapers dating back that far.

[NM]

And we all here share our one big family Monkey tree!

CBB Stay safe.

NR, I was in Scottland for 2 wks and found that Brass Rubbings are popular. A place/stores will have a huge selection of brass plates with a relief of a famous stone work. They supply the paper and crayons for a fee.  I did a really cool, large rubbing of an ancient Pictish stone found some where in Scottland.

[seahorse]

To all you monkey sleuths:  Where would I start looking for a murder that happened in West Memphis Arkansas back in late 1870's to early 1900's.  Supposed a man was bring paryoll across the bridge to his employees and was murdered.  Supposedly the murderer was hanged w/in a couple of months for this murder.  How do I go about finding the actual documented story?  Can anyone help me??

I am just going to throw out a few thoughts here .... not sure if your in AK or not, but the local libraries usually have the newspapers on archives.  Or... try doing a search for the incident name .... persons name, murderer's name  etc. 

Do you mean look in the local library in the archives for the name?  I am so dumb at these things.  I live in MS.  The company was a logging company and I thought I could search that way.  I keep hitting a dead end.  My great grandfather was the man supposedly murdered.  My grandfather was a kid and states he remembers being held on the shoulders of an onlooker so he could see the hanging of the man who murdered his father.  I don't know if this story was true or not.  I cannot trace my family back past my grandfather because of this as he was put in an orphanage after that and then it burned..  I feel so hopeless.  Thanks for responding to me.

Mariloo, give me the name (or have Klaas to give you my email address) and I will look it up under Ancestry.com.  They have newspapers dating back that far.

http://www.ancestorhunt.com/genealogical_prison_records.htm

IDK how reliable this link is...you need to scroll down for the different states. 

You can also look up the census for 1880 - prisoners are listed, look up the name of the person.

[seahorse]

http://traceyourroots.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-family-search-pilot-site.html

Family History For Beginners

------------------------------------------------

[seahorse]

http://genealogytrails.com/ark/greene/arkansaspriasylums.htm

HISTORY OF ARKANSAS

Prisons, Schools , Asylums

Transcribed by : Tina Easley
tina@grnco.net

http://genealogytrails.com/ark/greene/


http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ar/county/greene

********



http://genealogytrails.com/ark/

[Northern Rose]

THE LAST PUBLIC HANGING IN ARKANSAS 1914

So if the story is true that your grandfather was an onlooker, then the hanging was pre-1914

http://www.angelfire.com/ar/sheriffman/hanging.html

[Blue Moon]

THE LAST PUBLIC HANGING IN ARKANSAS 1914

So if the story is true that your grandfather was an onlooker, then the hanging was pre-1914

http://www.angelfire.com/ar/sheriffman/hanging.html

NR, that is an interesting story at that link.  I am a genealogy nut and I love reading old articles, books etc.  I told my son that I know he isn't interested in family genealogy but I am and have quite a collection of books, records, deeds, wills etc. that I am trying to get it all recorded in Family Treemaker and I told him to take everything I collected and donate it to our local Historical Society (I even have it all in a big tupperware bin). 

CBB, it snowing to "high heavens" here tonight.  Still saying upwards of 10" of snow.  I have wood for the fireplace and food in the house so I think we will survive until at least Sunday night when temps are going to get down to 5 degrees.  It sounds like you need a generator just in case you lose power.  Take care.

[Green Eyes]

Hey CBB  How you holding up? Hows your son? 

[crazybabyborg]

So far, so good! It's POURING snow here, but I still have power!   

Mariloo? This is exciting! I love watching the monkey sleuths go to work! They are AWESOME!!

NM!     It's so good to see you!! How are you?

Did someone ask where I was with all the snow? I'm in upper East TN, on the Virginia, NC border. Winters were like this while I was a kid........... lots of snow, but most of my adult life, it's only snowed occasionally each year, and then big snows weren't common. This year has definately been a return to childhood for me, but it's not as much fun when you aren't dying to get the sleds out!   

I have two fireplaces, and my son's house has one........... which is inoperable.    He lives in Mom and Dad's house, which I got after they passed away. Before they ran the direct lines for Natural Gas in the neighborhood, Mom had a big tank put against the house in the back yard and converted the natural wood fireplace to gas. She ended up hating the way the tank looked and had it removed, but never had the installed lines or gas logs taken out. It's occurred to me that I should either have it connected to the direct lines or have them removed so we can burn wood, but I just haven't gotten around to doing it. We have flashlights and candles and blankets and groceries.   

I've been trying to take a picture of the snow............ that's not working out well at night!