LET IT SNOW!!

We got SNOW!! This afternoon it started to snow. We have between 3 and 4 inches of snow now!

Fun Friday - Memories of Growing Up

Recently I got one of those e-mails "Remember these things" well one of the things was a picture from Sky King the TV show. I remembered Sky King it was one of my favorite shows on Saturday morning,back in the 1960's. I found a keepsake, which I've kept all these years an autograph of the star of the show. I guess the main reason I kept the autograph was because this was the only autograph I ever got.
I can remember going to the Brainerd Village Shopping Center (remember shopping centers before we had Malls). I think it was before Christmas and Sky King (Kirby Grant) was there signing autograps. Don't know if my Mom took me because I liked the show or we just happened to be there. Anyway I got his autograph!
Here is a link to the Sky King website.
Hope someone else has fun remembering this show.

Treasure Chest Thursday

I'm very lucky to have this flour bag from the Ziegler Mill. I'm not sure who my Mom got this from, but she got one for herself, my brother and for me, her brother also got one and one for his daughter. I thought this was from Jacob Ziegler's Mill but my Mom told me this was from the Mill that belonged to Jacob's brother. When we were looking for the Ziegler house we found the brother's house and Mill which I think is where this bag came from. I've had this for many years but had not thought too much about it until recently when we found Jacob's house. The bag says Decatur, Tenn but the area where Jacob and his brother lived was is not in Decatur. Now I'm wondering why it says Decatur, maybe that was the largest city? Maybe the flour was sold in Decatur so they put Decatur on the bag? Or was there another Ziegler Mill??

I Went to the Reunion - Well ALMOST!!

Back in the 1970's, as I would tell my kids in the ancient days when I was a teen, my Granny decided she wanted us all to go to the Edgemon Reunion. Granny and PaPa, my Mom and Dad and brother, and I, Aunt and Uncle all went. We were ready for the Reunion which for me would be a totally new experience. We had our food ready, and off we go. I guess it may have taken an hour to get there. We were in front of the Edgemon Cemetery; there was a crowd of people there.


We didn't know during that hour ride what my Granny had been doing. She convinced herself not to go! So when we were in front of the cemetery she announced, "Keep going, don't stop!" Why on earth were we not going to stop! You see my Granny was extremely hard of hearing. She said that there was such a crowd there and all her cousins would be talking to her and she wouldn't be able to hear them. "They will think I'm crazy. I don't want to go."

We went on down the road about a mile and found a little church with a covered picnic area and we stopped and had our very own Reunion there. We had fun, ate and then drove around the area. After a while we went back by the Edgemon Reunion and there were only a few people there, one of which was my Granny's sister. We stopped and saw her and walked around the cemetery.

When we went to the cemetery a few weeks ago, I told my family the story and said the cemetery is just as I remember it from that one visit so many years ago.

It is so sad that she wasn't able to hear and enjoy a visit with cousins. I don't think they would have thought she was crazy but she hated not being able to hear. She and my PaPa were both hard of hearing. My Mom and her brother are both now hard of hearing. My Mom has a hearing aid but her brother won't give in and get a hearing aid. It does help Mom but even with the hearing aid she has trouble.

Tombstone Tuesday

Today's Tombstone Tuesday post is the marker for Pollie Edgemon Dugger, born Nov. 25,1857 and died Oct. 19, 1946. She was the sister of my Great Grandmother (Lettie Edgemon Wilson). My Mother said that Aunt Pollie never had any children since she married later in life. She is buried at the Edgemon Cemetery.

Featured Family of the Month

I’m adding a new feature to the blog, I hope it will be enjoyed and also be helpful to me and others.

Each month (I hope!) I’m going to put information about one family at the top of my blog. It maybe information I have with names and a link to the stories I’ve posted. Where I have a brick wall I’ll post briefly the names and the help I need and a link to stories posted.

My desire is to get some feedback on some of the brick walls and to also find others who are researching these families and share what information I have.

Hope this works out. Let me know what you think.

   Samuel and Lettie Wilson with 7 of their 9 children.

Hattie Wilson's School Picture

Today's picture is a school group picture which has my Grandmother (Hattie Ziegler) and a sister, Ella, and two of her brothers, King and Kimble. The original isn't in very good condition but I'm glad I was able to scan the picture, to preserve and share with others.

Homes of Our Ancestors

Left to Right: Eska, Jesse, Edgar (my Grandfather), Nancy and Hiram Kelley (my Great Grandparents)

I'm not sure of the date of the photo. The house was built in 1892. Edgar married Faye Newby April 27,1913 and lived in a small house on the property then moved into this house and cared for Hiram and Nancy in their later years. Hiram died in May 30,1928 and Nancy died March 31, 1931. Edgar died in Feb.22.1929. Faye remained in the house and raised her 6 children. She lived in the house until she could no longer live alone when she went to live with her daughter, Bonnie. Fay Newby Kelley lived to be almost 92. This is the house my Grandfather and Father were raised in. It is amazing the house is still standing today. Hiram was a carpenter and according to what I’ve heard built this house. He must have been a good carpenter! Below is a picture of the house as it was in July 2008. Many changes have been made over the years most after my Grandmother died and the house was sold in the mid- 1980's.

Treasure Chest Thursday

Today's Treasure Chest Thursday is a photo I was  lucky to be able to copy. Front row, first on the left is my Great Grandmother Lettie Edgemon Wilson. This is Lettie and her brothers and sisters. I'm disappointed that I don't have all of the names but it is great that we have this many. I hope if any Edgemon's find this Blog they will e-mail the names of others and of course correct me if I'm wrong on any. The only one I'm sure of is Lettie since I've seen many pictures of her.

Wordless Wednesday

Kizziar Edgemon wife of Kimbal Edgemon and mother of Lettie Edgemon Wilson.
Kizziar Edgemon was my Great Great Grandmother.

Tombstone Tuesday

This is a picture of the marker for my Great Grandparents, Samuel and Lettie Edgemon, along with their obituaries and a picture of them. They are buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Chattanooga, Tn.

Lettie is the daughter of Kimbal and Kizziar Edgemon.

Any Graveyard Experts Help With This One?

While at the Edgemon Cemetery we noticed this unusual grave. I didn't get a good picture, I'm not sure why I didn't think to. Behind the Jane Edgemon marker was an area with large and small stones stacked. In front of the stones were two small markers but you couldn't read them. The legs you see are my son who laid down and tried to read the markers. Between the stacked stones and Jane Edgemon marker is the marker for W. M. Edgemon which I posted yesterday.

Does anyone know if this is a grave? And why were the stones stacked? As we were driving home from the Edgemon Cemetery we saw another old cemetery with another grave?? of stacked stones. I know I'm showing just how little I know about cemeteries. Does any graveyard expert know anything about a grave such as this?

Tombstone Tuesday

This is the marker for W. M. Edgemon, Jr. who I believe is the father of Samuel who was last week's Tombstone Tuesday post. This grave is at the Edgemon Cemetery which we recently visited. An interesting and informative marker, I'm not sure who gathered all the information. The Edgemon Family has a reunion at the site of the Edgemon Cemetery each August. I'm sure there are many family genealogist among the Edgemon's who have recorded information for many years.
This would be my Great Great Great Great Grandfather!

Ziegler Family

I have just a little more information about the Ziegler house and the family history. My Great Aunt Christian Ziegler was born at the store/post office that was on the Ziegler property. She was born Nov. 17,1906. Her parents Will and Sallie Ziegler were living in the store building. I assume that there was no store at that time, because the building didn't look large enough for a family of six and a store/post office. They had three boys at the time Christian was born. At that time people didn't have to live in huge houses with a room to each child, they shared rooms. The boys may have stayed in the house with their grandparents (Jacob and Annabella).


How I wish I could talk to my Grandfather. He was such a quiet man I'm not sure he would have told us anything if we had asked. Great Aunt Christian loved to talk about the family history.


Will and Sallie Ziegler moved their family to Chattanooga in 1907. This information was in Sallie Ziegler's obituary.

Happy 101 Award

Genealogy Fun received the "Happy 101 Award" from Dorene at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay . Thank you Dorene! The recipient of this award is to do the following:

l. List 10 things that make him/her happy.

2.List 10 blogs to which this award is passed on.

Ten things that make me happy include:

l. Spending time with my husband and children.
2. Talking with my Mom about family.
3. Looking at old pictures.
4.Seeing my kids do well in school
5.When my children want to learn more about their family history.
6. Visiting with cousins even if it is by phone or e-mail.
7. Making new genealogy discoveries.
8. Finding cousins I've never seen on the Internet researching the same families.
9.Being blessed to receive old family pictures.
10. I have to put this one in again because it means so much to me - Spending time with my family. It doesn't matter what we are doing, just being together



I would like to pass on the "Happy 101 Award" to these ten bloggers:

l.Joyful Reflections

2 Everything's Relative

3. The Ties That Bind

4 A Twig In My Tree

5 A Tale of Two Ancestors

6 Are You My Cousin?

7 Apple's Tree

8 Kinexxions

9Canada Genealogy, or, Jane's Your Aunt

10 The Internet Genealogist
Hope you visit these blogs! Each is different and I'm sure will be a happy experience.

Ziegler House - If Walls Could Talk!

These two pictures were made in the 1970's of the inside of the Ziegler house.

One of my favorite HGTV shows is If Walls Could Talk. When I'm watching this show I think about the old Ziegler house. I think it would be so wonderful to own this house, although I know that I would never have the patience to own and restore an old house, so it's just a dream. To explore in and around the house and find little things that may have once belonged to my Great Great Grandparents would be a dream come true.

The following is not a dream and it really does seem like something from the TV show. Back in the 1960's two young men went to spend sometime with their grandparents who were renting the Ziegler house! The family was not related to the Ziegler's. They were bored and went into the attic and found a trunk with some old things including a box of letters. Most of the letters were written during the Civil War to Annabella from Jacob and some from Annabella to Jacob.

One of the young men saved the letters. He became a college professor and then in the early 1990's let a friend borrow the letters, the friend was a History professor. The History professor had his students transcribe the letters and they studied them, the things Jacob said about the battles he was in.

The history professor then came to Tennessee researching the Ziegler family.

He came to see my Great Aunt Christian who was the only living grandchild of Jacob and Annabella. She told him many stories of the family and had copies of pictures of Jacob and Annabella made for him. He in return made copies of the transcribed letters for the family.

I think we all have copies of the letters and it is a true treasure to have them.

Wordless Wednesday - Let It Snow

Let It Snow! I hope we get some snow!

Tombstone Tuesday

Samuel and Sallie Edgemon are the parents of Kimbal Edgemon. They are also buried at the Edgemon Cemetery. The Edgemon Cemetery is on what was once Samuel Edgemon's farm.

They are my Great Great Great Grandparents.

Memories of the Ziegler House

My first visit to the Ziegler house was sometime in the 1970's, I was a teen. I remember my Mom, Dad, brother and I were in one car and my Grandmother and Grandfather were in the car with my Uncle and Aunt. I'm not sure but it seems that my Grandfather's brother and his wife and my Grandfather's sister were in another car.

We drove for what seemed like forever and couldn't find the house. Then my Uncle stopped at a store and asked for directions. He then drove right to the house. The funny thing is that my Grandfather had been telling my Uncle where to turn and my Uncle didn't think he knew what he was talking about.

I'm sure the people living in the house wondered who all these people were in their driveway.
Someone, I don't remember who went up to the house and told them who we were, ancestors of Jacob and Annabella Ziegler who lived in the house in the 1800's. We got a tour of the house which was amazing. I remember that the house didn't seem as large from the inside. There were no closets in the bedrooms. That would stand out in the mind of a teenage girl! There was a building on the property which had been a store and post office. The people had taken boards from the inside of the post office and used them in restoring the house. I think they made kitchen cabinets and a large dining room table. They told us about finding a name, J. A. Ziegler, in the glass in one of the windows downstairs. My Grandfather and his brother and sister remembered that their Grandfather (Jacob) had put his name in the glass. Wonder if the glass is still there?

I don't have the Ziegler family Bible but someone recorded the information from the Bible and gave copies to all of the family. One note in the Bible said, “On August 29, 1879, Jacob August Ziegler and family moved to the Simpson Mill place, 2nd district, McMinn County.” This is something I need to check out, was this the house referred to as the Simpson Mill place. They lived in this house until they died. The house remained in the Ziegler family until 1946 when their daughter Maggie Ziegler Edgemon died.

The top picture is the old store/post office which was still standing in the 70's but is gone now.

The next picture is the window glass with J. A. Ziegler's name in the top left corner.

Genealogy in the Most Unexpected Place!

The wonderful story that goes with the Wordless Wednesday picture really began in the Fall of 2008. My husband was working with a man who was from the area that my Great Great Grandparents, Jacob and Annabella Ziegler, lived. He asked if he knew where the Ziegler house and Mill were. He said yes and gave directions. We were so excited and spent the day looking. Well we found the house but it was not the right Ziegler house and mill. I should say that I went to this house once back in the 1970's when I was a teenager. The house we found was not the house I remembered. My Mom had told me that Jacob had a brother who also had a mill. We took a picture of the house we found in 2008 and Mom said this was the brother's house.

On this same day we found the Buttram Methodist Cemetery (which I found directions to on the internet). This is the cemetery where Jacob and Annabella are buried. My Mom had said that the Ziegler house was not far from the Buttram Cemetery but in which direction??? We looked and looked and found nothing. I knew the house was still there in the early 1990's when my parents made a trip up with some of the family. It had been a plan to go back and search again when we found the time.

In December 2009 my husband was again working with some men from the area and asked the question. Well one man said I drive by it everyday. My husband said I'll buy your lunch if you will take me out to see the house. He was pretty sure that this was the house we looked for since he had seen pictures made in the 1990's. He made some pictures.

When he came home that evening, he said to wait on fixing his food. He went down to the computer and then called me down a couple of minutes later. There on the screen was the picture of the Ziegler house. He said do you recognize this place? YES!! This made my day! This was a cold, gray December day that had been really stressful for me. Really it made my week.
I had done no genealogy for about a month so this was a treat.

My husband had some time off during Christmas and I told him one thing I really wanted was to go and see the house myself. I know he saw it and took some great pictures but there is just something special about seeing it for yourself.

We spent one day going up to see the house. I'm sure my kids could think of lots of things they would rather do but they went and seemed to enjoy. In the Fall of 2008 we were less than 1/2 a mile from the house when we turned around. Wow!

My husband is so sweet to think about asking these men and then finding the house. We also found the directions to the Edgemon Cemetery on the internet and got lots of pictures of tombstones of my Edgemon ancestors. I'll have more on that part of the trip.

I'll post again on some of the things I know about this house.