Searching for Billy Walker - Part 4

 

The year 1899 saw the death of Winifred Walker.  Her husband Isaac died nine years earlier. And now I wondered about that mythical note of condolence written by William Walker listed in those family notes.  While it was a nice thought, it was doubtful at best . . . but I decided to poke around and see if I could find anything that might have given rise to that belief.   Again, I was astonished to find that not only did it exist, but that it had been published in the Frankfort Review newspaper.

Since several subsequent censuses indicated that William could not read or write despite  going to school off and on, I have to assume that he had help, maybe from Cordelia, writing this tribute.  As Winifred's descendant, I admit I am filled with emotion when I read this knowing that William was treated kindly and with love.  There is a warm heart and loving nature hidden behind her stern exterior.  The image of them taking her body from the train station with relatives and friends walking behind, including William, is also powerful.

Around the same time, the Walker and Golden families moved to Kansas City . . . as the family notes said they did!  Now I thought it might be difficult to follow them, but it turns out that the families always either lived together or next door to each other and between the Federal census, the Kansas State census, and the City Directories for Kansas City I was able to find William and his family.  When they left for Kansas City, William and Cordelia had eight children. They settled in at 1012 Oakland Ave. along with her parents and her sister's family.  There were 17 people in the one house.  The house has been torn down now. I know because I looked for it using Google Maps hoping to help me visualize that many people in one house, but all that is left is an empty lot overgrown with grass and weeds.

A few months later, Cordelia's father, the listed head of the household, died.  The American Citizen is a newspaper that served the African American population of Kansas City along with several other newspapers, but the availability of them online is limited.  While the 1900 census indicates that they rented the house, later census records state that that John's wife Letitcia Golden, owned the home.  She and her extended family, including William and Cordelia, lived there for many years. Tommie arrived in the family about 1904 but sadly died of pneumonia in 1907.

When I found a January 1902 article about William in the Frankfort Review, My reaction was shock, sadness and disbelief. To try and verify it I immediately looked on the Kansas State Historical website because I knew they had prisoner listings for the state prisons.  Sadly, I found a William Walker from Wyandotte county who had committed highway robbery in 1901. So it looked like it was true.  The only bright spot to this record was that it indicated his record  included a mugshot.  So assuming it to be William, I sent off for his prison record -- along with a $20 check of course. When it arrived, I tore it open and instantly looked for the mugshot.  Now, I paused . . . because I was looking at a big burly black man who claimed he was from Australia and had been sentenced to 20 years but was let out in 1912.  My William had his toes frozen off as a child and was supposed to be blind in one eye.  This couldn't be him, could it? What are the chances there were two William Walkers from Kansas City who committed highway robbery in the same manner in 1901?  I realized that it was possible since there were multiple men named William Walker living in Kansas City at that time.  I made a weak effort to find out but discovered little more.  After that my research on William went into an extended hibernation.  

Recently however my interest has been rekindled, and I don't really know why. I think Black History month makes me think of William. I have always wanted to write William's story, but I kept waiting until I found "all" the answers then I finally admitted to myself that it may never happen so on a whim one morning I started to write. 

I have now found William and Cordelia in the Kansas City Directories along with Federal and State census records as follows:

1902 - Walker, Wm (c) driver r 1012 Oakland

1903 - Walker, Wm M (c) janitor  r 1012 Oakland

            No Cordelia listed but Tommie was born Abt. 1903-04

1904 -  Walker, Wm M (c) cook  r 1012 Oakland

            Walker, Cordelia (c) laundress  r 1012 Oakland

1905 - Walker, Wm (c) lab  r 1012 Oakland

            Walker, Delia (c) cook  r 1012 Oakland

            

1905 - Kansas State Census shows all the people living at 1012 Oakland Ave.  It was a busy place!

1907 -  Walker, Wm  lab r 1012 Oakland 

             Walker, Delia  cook  Home Hotel  r  1012 Oakland

1908 - Walker, William  lab r 1012 Oakland

            Note: Cordelia does not show up but several of his children are working

1909 - Walker, William  lab r 1012 Oakland av

            Note: Cordelia does not show up

1910 - Walker, William  lab  r 1012 Oakland av

            Note: No Cordelia

1910 - U.S. Federal census gives another glimpse of the household and includes Cordelia working as a dishwasher in a lunchroom while William is listed as having no job.

1911 - Walker, William  lab  r 1012 Oakland av

1912 - Walker, William  r 1012 Oakland av  Notice he no longer lists a job.

            

 

I did not find William listed in any city directories after Cordelia's death in 1912 at 1012 Oakland Ave.  Did he move in with one of his adult children? Did he also pass away?  These are questions with no answers.  I contacted the person who manages Cordelia's memorial at Find A Grave, and she said that the records for this cemetery are in a mess so she had not seen anything for William. 

And so his story ends.  I kept hoping I would find out when he died and where he was buried but it has not happened.  This part four may be way more detail than anyone wants to read but I wrote it for myself and for other descendants of Isaac and Winifred Walker who want to know what happened to the child they took into their home. 

 I don't know what kind of man he turned out to be . . . religious, loving, kind, generous, hardworking, moody, lazy, or angry.  I do know that he was NOT a thief and that the reporter at the Frankfort Review was wrong. If that paper was still in business I would demand a retraction! 

I hope William has descendants . . . lord knows he had enough children . . .who would also like to read his story.   

And I will continue to search for that law.

Searching for Billy Walker - Part 3

  The next time I find Billy in a record is in the 1880 Federal census . . . actually I think he is in there twice.  There is a William Walker (B), age 22, working as a farm laborer for the Hugh Trosper family in Rock Township.  Remember. . . the Walker family also lived in Rock Township.  According to the census, he was born in Missouri and his parents in North Carolina.  This census was taken on  08 Jun 1880 and he was identified as single.

But wait, a William Walker (B), age 22, is also listed as working herding cattle for the Lee Hambilton farm in Guittard Township. This William Walker is listed as being born in Arkansas and no information about parents.  This census was taken on 02-03 Jun 1880 so could this be the same person working two jobs?? It was also two different census enumerators.  How many black men named William Walker age 22 and single do you think lived in this sparcely populated area of Kansas in 1880?  While we will never know for sure, I believe that they are the same person -- our Billy, who grew up to be William and with the surname of the family who took him in.

 Several years ago, I made a genealogy research trip to Marshall County, Kansas.  I have always intended to go back but life got in the way.  One of the places I stopped was at the Marshall County Historical Society research library and museum located in the Historic Courthouse on Broadway.  They were very nice and patient with me as I asked asked millions dozens of questions and found many records for my many ancestors who lived in Marshall County. 

It turns out that 1880 was a busy year for William. The most surprising record that I found was the marriage record for William and his wife Cordelia Golden. I gave the record a "golden" border just for her.  There is just one little problem.  Do you see the name of the groom?  Yeah, it says William Watkins. Oh, dear! They insisted that it could not have been a mistake, but anyone who has worked with genealogy records know that mistakes happen.  All of the subsequent census records indicate that this is William Walker, and I couldn't find a William Watkins anywhere in the area. The 1885 Kansas State census lists Cordelia married to William Walker with two children, Garfield, age 3 and Sadie, age 1 living next to her parents. It is interesting that in a 4-5 year span of time William is 4 years older but Cordelia is only 2 years older. Hmmm. . . there are several explanations for this.

 But by the 1895 Kansas State Census, they had moved into the city of Frankfort and their family had grown considerably.  In addition to William and Cordelia, there was Sarah/Sadie, Freddie, Henry, Willie and David.  Garfield was no longer there.  That pesky problem with Cordelia's age is still around but I will let you do the math!  Hint: Garfield was older than Sadie.

But 1895 wasn't done with the William Walker family yet.  The state census was taken the first day of March 1895.  Then look what happened the end of July!!

Welcome Phebe and Nettie!   

Between the 1885 and 1895 census records William occasionally showed up in the local newspapers.  He worked with his brother-in- law, Will Piner and must have been a regular church goer because he was baptized in 1893 in the river by the railroad bridge.  Lucky is the family historian whose ancestors lived in a small town because everyone and everything  makes it into the newspapers!

The year 1900 would bring big changes to the William Walker family but that will have to wait for part 4.  It is amazing how long it takes me to write these posts.

Searching for Billy Walker - Part 2

  I have spent quite a bit of time trying to decide how I want to present my findings.  Do I show them in the order they were found . . .or . . . should I present what I know of Billy's life in the order of his life?  I have decided on the latter, but be aware that my research discoveries sent me back and forth in his life often finding events that I did not have enough information to discover earlier.

  I want to begin with a quote by L.P. Hartley.  "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." I believe this is important to keep in mind as family historians. Sometimes the language used by newspapers and individuals or the values they espouse do not seem appropriate by today's standards just as ours will not by future generations.

  I started my research using the information in the family notes that had been passed down. After all, that's all I had, and it turned out to be quite a lot.  My first question was how did he fail to show up in either the Federal Census or the Kansas State census, and this is where I discovered a black hole in my records. While I thought he had slipped between the census enumerations, it turns out that there is not an 1865 Kansas State Census OR an 1870 Federal Census for Rock Township, Marshall County, Kansas online. How did I not realize earlier that all of my Rock Township ancestors were missing the 1870 census? The Isaac Walker family lived in Vermillion Township in the 1865 census but Billy was not listed with the family.  I will update this when I receive responses to my inquiries.

  So the story of Billy Walker begins with his arrival in Rock Township, but, alas, there are conflicting stories.  The first is the one left in family notes: He was hiding in a cave on a farm adjoing the Walker property with other slaves who were making their way north to freedom in Canada. When he became sick and the severe cold caused him to lose several toes from frostbite he was left behind.  He was discovered there by Isaac Walker and taken into his home. It sounded like a family myth, but later, I found two newspaper articles that mentioned this child.  One was published in the Frankfort Review, Friday, 24 Feb 1899, page 4 and subsequently re-published in other local newspapers.  It tells a complicated story of a dying black man asking a Union soldier to find his family and check on them. When he did, he found the child starving and living with a struggling family after the death of his mother. The article then went on to talk about some "pious gentlemen" arguing over the fate of this poor child.  The "pious gentlemen" argued so forcibly that ". . .friends had to separate them to prevent bloodshed". "The result was that the child was adopted into the Isaac Walker family."  I like to think that Isaac was one of the friends and not one of the "pious gentlemen".  Regardless, this story seems very convoluted but maybe the truth is a bit of each.  I invite you to read the lengthy article for more details.

And then there was the 1899 obituary of Winifred Walker, Isaac's wife which also confirms that they did indeed take a young African American child into their family but the circumstances that brought about this event vary. I have tried to determine  how old this child was when he joined the Isaac Walker family. Later records indicate that he was born about 1858, but I believe that he was more than likely a bit older.  Realistically, he probably had no idea how old he was, and I picture him as frail.  

Those newspaper accounts included additional information which led me to a sad and dark part of Billy's life. After he came to live with the Walker's they decided that Billy should go to school.  Winifred Walker had a great interest in schools and had worked with her sister-in-law, Mary McKeever Barrett to organize the first school in Marshall county - the Barrett school.  I haven't been able to definitely determine which school Billy attended yet, but it couldn't have been too far a distance from the Walker farm.  One 1899 newspaper article describes its location as "six miles northwest of Frankfort in what was known as the Walker district".  This would put it near Winifred, Kansas.  "The school district at that time (Abt. 1863-1870) was 15 miles long by about seven wide." While the Walkers and others in the south part of the district felt that schooling would be good for Billy, there were others in the north who violently opposed it.  Now I am going to include a lengthy quote from an 1899 article in the Frankfort Review because I could not do it justice by summarizing it.  So Billy was sent to school, and he was barely seated when people in the north found out about it . . .

Another article written in 1901 by my great grandfather, David B. Walker, for the 15 Nov, 1901 edition of the Marshall County news titled "Early History of Marshall County" describes the events in this way.

The first article above in the 1899 Frantfort Review tells us, "The building has now been razed to the ground . . . yet around this old building clings an incident which gave life to a law now upon the statute books of the state which provides that all children, whether white or black, shall not be denied admission to the public schools of the state."  However, the 1901 Marshall County News article says that the law was voted on BEFORE the attack. Was it a state law or a local law?  I have not yet found that law but I keep searching.  Somewhere else I read that the law came after the attack but for the life of me, I cannot find it now. This is why I wanted to write a blog post.  I needed to document and organize this history because I am not the only descendant who never knew the story of Billy Walker.

In part 3, Billy grows up and becomes William Walker.

 

Searching for Billy Walker. . .

 

I have been searching for Billy Walker since before I knew his name.  

  It started one summer evening when an offhand remark by a newly found genealogy cousin sent me on a quest.  She was a descendant of Isaac and Winifred Walker as am I, and she invited me to her home - 7 hours away -  to discuss our common ancestors and share family information.  I, of course, had no stories to share since my parents divorced when I was seven years old, and I never saw that side of my family after that.  All of my information came from my research, but I am a damn really good researcher and had already found a pile of information about the Walkers and the Barretts. In fact, I smugly thought I had found the whole basic structure of the family and just needed to fill in photos, newspaper articles, and maybe some land information - you know, the fun stuff.  I had already read stories online and even a book about the Walker and Barrett families during those early days of Marshall County, Kansas.

  We were having a great time comparing records. She shared some wonderful photos of my ancestors who had only been names on paper up to that point, and I tried to help with her computer genealogy program. Then that night with papers and photos spread across the floor, she casually said, "I was told that Isaac Walker adopted a black child."  WHAT. . . wait a minute!  I had never seen that in the stories online, in the census records, or in newspaper articles about the family.  I knew they took two boys from the orphan train and that was a shock, but I had never heard about them adopting a black child.  She continued. . ."I heard he had been left behind by a group of slaves that had been hiding in a cave near the Walker farm, and he had frostbite so severely that he lost several toes." Isaac Walker, sometimes called "Free Soil Walker" was a staunch abolitionist who had been raised a Quaker and supported the underground railroad as slaves came through on their way north.  I asked his name but she had no idea and had no documentation. It was just a family story. You know. . . probably not true.

  Time went by and I searched a bit but could not find evidence for this family story. After all it is difficult when there is no name.  Then I made an online connection with another cousin who also descended from Isaac and Winifred and while she lived across the country, she happened to live only one hour from my son and his family.  So the next time I visited, we made arrangements to meet.  As usual, it was so interesting to hear about family squabbles and secrets in addition to some new photos and documents. We chatted for a while, and then she and her daughter smiled at each other and said, "Did you know Isaac Walker adopted a black child?"  My mouth dropped open as I told them that I had heard that from another descendant.  BUT they had notes that had been left by earlier family members!  This was just too much of a coincidence.  There had to be something to this story . . . some bit of truth, and I wanted to find it.

   But now from their notes I had a name . . . Billy Walker!   

  In addition, the note had multiple other tidbits of information.  

• It also said he moved to Kansas City.  Oh dear, I could imagine that there were many men with the common name of William Walker in a town the size of Kansas City. 
• It also said, ". . .this little boy was found in a cave nearly frozen while the rest of the slaves moved on to Canada. They left him behind."  "He was hungry, blind in one eye, and toes frozen off."  While this was not exactly the same, it was very similar to the story from my other genealogy cousin.
• It said that he wrote a letter to the editor expressing sadness and love for Winifred Walker when she died in 1899.  Now this did sound like a myth! 

  I now felt like I had something to work with but, in my usual fashion, I was easily frustrated by brick walls and sidetracked by other interesting family ancestors so Billy's story has languished inside my computer in a folder titled "William Walker".  

 

 His story is not finished, but what I have discovered is more that I could have imagined yet always less than I hoped for.  Research findings in my next posts. . .

  

The Youngest Son Runs Away

David Barrett Walker

David Barrett was the youngest son of Isaac and Winifred Walker.  In 1856, at age ten, he traveled with his family down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi and Missouri  rivers to St. Joseph, Missouri and then overland by ox drawn wagon, settling on the west fork of Vermillion creek in Marshall county, Kansas.  Other family members from their Quaker community in Cadiz, Ohio also settled nearby.  In Kansas the family hoped to find a home free of the evils of slavery, but, there was no peace. The Kansas Territory was an early battleground with a violent tug-of-war between pro-slavery southerners and the free-state abolitionists.  How often did Davy, as his mother called him, hear his strong willed father and uncles rage about the future of Kansas and the immorality of slavery. And when his father and older brother enlisted in the Eighth Kansas Infantry did he beg to join them?  At fifteen it must have chafed to be left behind with his mother and three sisters.  Did his father tell him that his job was to be the man of the house and look after the farm and family? It was the end of September when they left and enlisted in the Eighth Kansas Infantry, Company G.  There was still plenty of work to be done on their sixty-five acre farm.

Yet, only a little over three months after they left their home to fight for their beliefs, the family received word that Isaac had broken down while returning home with the body of Thomas. David took an ox team and went to the aid of his father.  Together they brought Thomas home to Barrett.  We don't know how long his father Isaac stayed after the burial of Thomas, but the indication was that it wasn't long before he returned to his unit . . .  leaving David behind a second time.  I imagine his mother holding her remaining son tightly to her.  I would have.

But the misfortunes of war were not finished with the Walker family.  In the Spring of 1862 a caisson ran over Isaac's ankle, crushing it, and he was discharged for disability on March 20,1862 at Leavenworth, Kansas.  Isaac remained in the hospital for two months before he could travel back to his farm and family. Information traveled a slow road in 1862.  When did they learn that  he had been injured . . . but was still alive?

It was during this time that Davy ran away from home, enlisting in the Thirteentieth Kansas Infantry at Leavenworth.  Was it planned or a spur of the moment decision made as he walked behind the oxen plowing the fields?  A biography of his son Carroll, tells us, " He went from Frankfort in company with Dick Fairchild, of Barrett, Kansas. David B. Walker was without shoes, and as a prospective soldier he utilized the law of necessity and took a pair of boots belonging to a traveling man and which had been set outside the bedroom to be shined."  Don't you love how my family can explain thievery as a noble and necessary act?  Is it any wonder Carroll became a lawyer.

Below is the enlistment paper of David Barrett Walker.  It was part of a newly available database from Ancestry.com.  You will notice that sixteen year old David avoids the thorny problem of "Consent in Case of Minor" by simply lying about his age.  David traveled with his regiment until the battle of Pea Ridge and then was discharged in Van Buren, Arkansas November 23, 1863 "per S.O. no. 302"  According to one story, he was wounded and honorably discharged for disability, and since he drew a pension this rings true, but. . .   I just want to know what  "S.O. no. 302" was. Other soldiers on the Adjutant General's report are listed as discharged for disability, why not David?

Side one

 

Signature from enlistment paper

Late in 1863, David returned to his Kansas home and found it neglected, and dilapidated due to his father's condition.  While he had been away, his mother had been left with the care of her invalid husband, three daughters and the responsibility of making a living.  She plowed the land and raised what crops she could.  Later in her life she told a writer, "Davy was always a good boy to his mother.  When he was at the front, he always sent me his wages.  It was not a great sum, but it seemed a great deal in those days, when money was so scarce and hardship so plenty."  Beginning again, David helped his family rebuild the farm. When David married his cousin, Annette Barrett, he took a homestead near his parents and also worked at a saw and grist mill in Barrett operated by his uncle, A.G. Barrett, his mother's brother.

David went on to become a well respected member of his community, but I wonder if he ever replaced the shoes he "borrowed".


As you can see, I come from hardy stock . . .  even if we are opinionated on occasion.

Notes:  I had to choose which of two enlistment papers I would include.  Both had the same number and information so it is the same person, but one of them did not have his signature.  Instead it had "his mark" between the David and Walker. When I checked the 1860 census, he was listed as attending school at age 14 so I assumed that he knew how to write his name.  Subsequent census records identified him  being able to read and write also.  Seems unusual.

Listed in his regiment was an Elias R. Fairchild who survived and mustered out at the end of the war.

My resources for this post are:  Family obituaries,  Ancestry.com database "Kansas, Civil War Enlistment Papers, 1862, 1863, 1868", family photos, History of Marshall County Kansas, Kansas and Kansans, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kansas, 1861-1865. Vol. 1. , and  Portrait and Biographical Album of Marshall County Kansas

Isaac Walker Enlists in the Eighth Kansas Infantry

  According to his obituary, my gr-gr-grandfather Isaac Walker, was a man of strong convictions and beliefs. When I mention this, I have been told, on more than one occasion, that it must be an inherited trait.  He died in 1890.  His lengthy obituary, written before a family paid per word to tell the community about the life of a loved one, gives a glimpse of both his personality and soul.  I love the opening, which described him as a man who, ". . . imbibed the principles of physical and mental liberty".  Yet . . . at age 48, after a lifetime of struggle, with a farm to work, a wife and family, he and his oldest son, Thomas, enlisted in the Union Army. . . Company D, 8th Kansas Infantry.

Why?  According to his obituary, "Mr. Walker. . . was an aggressive worker for reform.  Beholding  a struggle between races or classes, he always took sides with the weak against the strong.  An Abolitionist of un-compromising zeal, he was for years a part of the underground railway whose passengers were traveling from slavery to freedom."  Did the Quaker beliefs  of his family that he learned as a child  influence this? . . .most likely.  But the Border Wars began in the Kansas Territory many years before the first shots were fired at Ft. Sumter. From 1854 forward the pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces were engaged in a bloody battle for possession of Kansas.  Finally, on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state.  Then only three short months later, the war which had been simmering across the land became official, and the first Kansas regiment was called up on June 3, 1861.  Isaac Walker and his oldest son Thomas enlisted and mustered in September 28, 1861 at Lawrence, Kansas.

The Isaac Walker family in 1860 - a year before the war.

The Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry was recruited specifically for service within the state and along the Missouri border.  Isaac wanted it known that he was fighting "those damned Copperheads at Marysville" referring to the large number of South Carolinians who had settled there. It had been violent battle for Kansas to enter the Union as a Free State and the state had many southern sympathizers still within it's borders. An invasion of Kansas by the huge number of Rebels massed in Missouri was considered inevitable so the various companies were scattered at different locations around the state. Company D was sent to Iowa Point on the Kansas-Missouri border.  There they camped, waiting for the Rebels, waiting for the battle, waiting . . . and waiting.  Enthusiasm gave way to boredom as the monotony of camp life took it's toll.  It was a severe winter, and sometime in December, Thomas, age eighteen, and a soldier of only three months, contracted measles and died.

Isaac had promised his wife he would look after their son and, after his death, was determined that he would take his son's body home to his mother and burial in their hometown of Barrett.  A kind and generous man loaned him a team of ponies and a wagon to make the long ninety mile journey home over the barren prairie.  What thoughts and emotions must have consumed him as he made this heartbreaking lonely journey where tears could be shed with only the sun and stars for witness? What conversations did he have with his son laying in the back of the wagon?

When Isaac was but 10 miles from home. . . only a day's journey . . . he broke down and could go no further.  He was emotionally weary and physically broken from his long travel and insufficient food. He felt he could go no farther on this sorrowful journey.  A settler who lived nearby noticed his distress and rode over and asked if he could help.  Word was sent to the family and his younger son, David B, came with an ox team to support his father.  Together, they brought the body of the young soldier home for burial.

Committed to the cause, Isaac returned to his regiment until a short time later he was disabled when a caisson ran over his ankle, crushing it and putting him on crutches for the rest of his life. A heavy burden for a farming family.  During this time, his only remaining son, sixteen year old David Barrett, my great grandfather, left home enlisting in Company G, Thirteenth Kansas Infantry.  Only a wife and three daughters were  available to tend the farm.

Proudly, Isaac's family remembered him as a man " . . who worshiped at the shrine of deeds instead of creeds and after he had studied a problem and became convinced that he was right, it mattered not to him if he was almost alone, he would stand undaunted against overwhelming opposition".  Wow. . .This sounds so much better than stubborn and opinionated!

It does not matter what battles they fought or if they were safe, wounded, or died.  It does not matter whether they died of disease or in battle.  They are heroes who left home and family to volunteer not knowing where the war would take them.

Signature taken from a letter written on behalf of Charles Haslet, a Frankfort soldier  and comrade in the 8th Kansas, in support of his pension application.

Ancestor Approved. . . But Would They Really?

I am speechless very honored to have been awarded the Ancestor Approved by Nolichucky Roots.  While I have seen this on many blogs, I didn't pay close attention to what it was.  Often my blog reading is done through Google Reader, and I miss all of the extraneous awards and links in the side columns.  There are so many good blog writers out there in genealogy land, and Nolichuchy Roots is one of my favorites.  After a bit of investigation and following the link in her blog post - duhhhh - I discovered the following.

Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here began the tradition and said. "As a recipient of this award I ask that you list ten things you have learned about any of your ancestors that has surprised, humbled, or enlightened you and pass it along to ten other bloggers who you feel are doing their ancestors proud.

My dilemma is that I don't read ten other blogs that have not received the award already.  This "passing on" will have to wait for a bit.

Now, on to the challenge at hand.  I am such a haphazard genealogist and I think my list will reflect that.

1.  I have a strong Quaker (Society of  Friends) heritage on my father's side of the family and their obituaries confirm that they were not shy in expressing their opinions. - I wondered where I got that trait!

2.  Whenever I start to feel like life is beating me up, I think of the hardships endured by my ancestors as they traveled to a new world, moved their families multiple times to avoid living  in slave states, and watched helplessly as their children died of diseases such as diptheria.

3.  According to an obituary of my g-g-grandfather I am a direct descendant of Charles Carol of Carrollton, a signer of the Declarationm of Independence, and who had a fortune to lose by signing.

4.  I come from a family of strong women and flawed men. 

5.  Headstones can sink so deep that there is no indication they are there.  Always include a metal rod in your cemetery kit. 

6.  When I traveled to Ireland last summer and walked around a replica famine ship, The Dunbrody, I could not comprehend taking a family on such a voyage in such conditions.  They were allowed on deck only 30 minutes each day to build a fire to cook their bread and dispose of waste.  If it rained, they had to eat the dough raw.  I get shivers as I write about it.

7.  My g-g-grandfather, Isaac Walker, enlisted in Company D, 8th Kansas infantry with his oldest son and when this son contracted measles and died at Iowa point, he borrowed a wagon and horse to take his body home for burial.  After a long journey, he stopped short of his destination, exhausted and sorrowful.  A message was sent to his home by a local settler and his youngest son, my g-grandfather traveled with an ox team to meet him.  Together they brought the body back to Frankfort.  Isaac then returned to his regiment until a caisson ran over his leg and broke his ankle.  He suffered with this his entire life.  He enlisted because he was a staunch believer in the evil of slavery. He acted on his beliefs. His wife plowed the fields and kept the farm going while he was gone.  This makes me proud.

8.  Isaac Walker took two boys when the Orphan Train came through Kansas.  I wish I knew they were treated well, but I haven't been able to discover any information.  I am confused by this information.  It shows that people and relationships are complicated  - then and now. 

9. Lots of the women in my family, sewed for a living. My g-grandmother Mae Allen Moldt owned a dressmaking shop during a time when women did not work if they were married.  She always was a modern lady.  My g-grandmother Mary McDonnell Kennelly was a personal seamstress for Mrs. Potter Palmer in Chicago.  My paternal grandmother, Gertrude McCoy, was a milliner back in the day when every respectable woman wore a hat, and it didn't ruin you hairstyle if you did.  My mother, Gloria Kennelly Perry, sewed every garment I ever wore except underwear and swimsuits.  She was always on the cutting edge of fashion.  My passion for sewing must have a genetic link.  I'm sure it will be acknowledged by scientists any day now.

10. I am more Irish than I realized and my American roots go farther back than I ever imagined.