The 200th Post of Jones Family Matters!



Photo Credit:  PD Photo.org

When I began writing this blog in May 2009, I didn't know how much I would grow to love it.  I worried about having enough material.  Would I ever figure out how to position images?  Would anyone even read it?  Would my family care?

I found that genealogy is never finished.  There are always new discoveries.  I learned that I am much more attracted to finding out who my ancestors were and not nearly so interested in dates and charts. My foggy idea that the blog could serve as "cousin bait" has definitely proved to be the case.  Not only has it helped me forge new relationships with my first cousins, but I've discovered third and fourth cousins I did not know existed.  Martha Darby Rutter, Betty Arnett, Barbara Pharo and the Biedermanns are just some of the cousins who come to mind.

I've become a better researcher.  In striving to tell the story as accurately as possible, I've found myself reexaming records, searching for missing pieces, and actually toppling a couple of brick walls.  I've submitted three articles to genealogical journals for possible publication.  I was just notified that my latest submission will be published in the Ohio Genealogical Quarterly making it three for three.

I discovered that I have a real interest in and love for historical context.  Thanks to my diverse ancestry, I've become much more knowledgeable about German, English, Welsh and Irish history.  Since I'm a 5th generation Jones in Cincinnati, I've become even more appreciative of the city of my birth.

Lately I've even convinced a couple of relatives and friends to have their DNA analyzed for both health and ancestry information.  I've stayed on top of some of the latest software advances such as google+ and  I am scheduled to teach a series of classes on family history blogging at our library in the fall.  I've become much more involved in my local and state genealogical organizations and now been accepted into four lineage groups and one group for Civil War ancestors.

And probably the most unexpected thing -- through Geneabloggers (a group of almost 2000 bloggers writing about their family histories) I've met new friends -- friends whose work I admire.  I look forward to every one of their posts. I'm amazed that these contacts are spread throughout the United States and beyond.  There is great diversity among our group and I've been exposed to traditions that are foreign to me.

So blogging has become a passion for me -- and I owe much of it to those of you who have taken the time to read and comment on my posts.  I look forward to the next 200 posts.

Betty's Box - Part II

As mentioned in the previous post, my second cousin Betty and I have yet to meet in person.  Last May Betty started scanning in pictures from her mother's box.  One of the first priceless pictures she sent was this one of her family.  From left to right are pictured Don, Edith Jones Hodges (sister of my grandfather Fred Jones), Wyvetta ("Betty"), Mary Lee and Betty.  Betty told me that she is the only one in the picture who is still living.  She also has a younger brother, John Patrick, known as "Pat" who was not yet born when the picture was taken.  It is the elder Betty who was responsible for holding onto all of the documents and pictures in "The Box."

There were several "priceless" pictures in Betty's Box.  One pictured my grandfather, Fred Jones (Pop) with his two siblings:  Edith and Leo.  I had never seen a picture of him as a young boy.

 

Edith, Leo, and Fred 

Britton Wainright and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Darby had two daughters and a son who lived to be adults.  There are numerous posts on this blog about Britton (you can use the search function to read about him) who died of heatstroke while traveling with a unit of Home Guards to confront John Morgan of Morgan's Raiders.  He left a widow and three children.  One of his daughters, Rachel, is the great-grandmother of both Betty Arnett and the descendants of Fred Jones.  I was such an admirer of Rachel and never thought I would see a picture of her.

Because Ruth was the older of the two girls, we believe that from left to right are pictured Rachel, Thomas, Ruth, and their mother, Mary Elizabeth Darby Wainright.  Rachel was "Pop's" mother.

Through the wonders of Ancestry, I've also been in contact over the years with another cousin, Rhonda.  She descends from Ruth's side and was able to help with the identification of the grandchildren of Mary Elizabeth from the Hutcheson/Hutchinson side of the family.  Ruth Wainright married a Hutchinson.  One of her sons was a photographer and took this picture.  The Hutchesons lived in Evansville, IN.  Through a "cousin collaboration", we were able to identify all six of Mary Elizabeth's grandchildren.  Moving in a clockwise direction from the bottom are:  Mary Olive Hutchinson, Charles "Fred" Jones, Mary "Edith" Jones, Leslie T. Hutchinson, Thomas Harvey Hutchinson, and Leo Wainright Jones.

As I don't want to lose the picture record, I think we'll just have to have one more post from "Betty's Box".

Betty's Box - Part I

Wyvetta "Betty" Hodges

One of the advantages of an Ancestry membership is that they will notify you if someone else is researching a member of your family tree through Ancestry.  Last spring I was notified that someone was researching a member of my Jones branch.  Since I'm not shy, I tried to contact this person through their "Member Connect" option.  Through Ancestry, you can contact the other person without revealing any personal information.  They can choose to get back in touch with you or ignore your request.

As it ended up, "Betty" was my second cousin.  She was visiting a sister-in-law who was sharing her research with Betty.  Betty suggested to her sister-in-law that she search on a member of her family, which led to a connection in mine.

We share the same g-grandmother, Rachel Wainright Jones. Rachel was the mother of my grandfather, Charles "Fred" Jones and Betty's grandmother, Mary Edith Jones.  That makes us second cousins.

Betty's mother was named Wyvetta.  (Wyvetta is pictured above on a boat trip she took to Louisville with my grandfather, Pop, and her cousin, Edith). Wyvetta's cousin, Leo, was unable to say "Wyvetta" and instead called her "Mybet."  As a result the entire family started calling her "Betty."

Wyvetta married Harold Joseph (Ruflow) Hodges who worked in construction.  In 1949, he moved the family to Florida, moving from one side of town to the other depending on where the work was. The family often returned to Ohio during the summer where her father was easily able to get employment.

My newly-discovered cousin is also named Betty.  Her maiden name, "Hodges" is part of my family's folklore.  The Hodges had a reputation for "not staying put", especially in Betty's mother's generation.  If it was said that you were "one of the Hodges," it meant that you weren't one to stay in one place.  My Dad would always say that his sister, Margaret Ann, was "either dying or going on vacation."  This characteristic made her "one of the Hodges."

Betty Hodges Arnett was the person conducting this miscellaneous search on Ancestry who ended up being my second cousin.  We exchanged email addresses and phone numbers and the pieces started falling into place.  Betty remembered my grandparents, Norine and Fred, and their home on Eastern Ave (now Riverside Dr).   Her mother had a car and during the summer she would often bring Betty and her siblings to Cincinnati from Owensville to go swimming at the LeBlond pool located close by. As a child Betty remembers my grandfather's visits to see his sister, Edith Hodges. There was nothing Pop preferred more than a Sunday drive. My cousin, Fred Breving, remembers with fondness being one of Pop's frequent companions on these drives.

During our phone conversations, Betty told me of a box that had belonged to her mother.  "Betty's Box" had been moved from place to place throughout her childhood.  It contained labeled family pictures and copies of pages from her grandmother's family bible.  THIS IS ONE IF THOSE TIMES THAT FAMILY HISTORIANS LIVE FOR!!!

Betty, who lives in Florida, scanned in copies of the family bible and other pictures contained in the box.  As I had spent several years trying to prove that my gg-grandfather, Britton Wainright, qualified as a member of "First Families" in Hamilton Co., Ohio, I almost viewed her scans with fear.  My documentation had been accepted by the Hamilton County Genealogical Society.  What if I was wrong?

Imagine how excited I was to discover that her grandmother's bible entries completely agreed with what I had found?  I was able to enlarge the scans and make transcripts of the documentation.  I still get goose bumps when I think of the experience.  Pictured  are the scans Betty sent to me.

In addition to the three scans posted, there are three additional scans. It it difficult to read them in this form, although I love picturing the information just the way Mary Edith Jones Hodges entered the information into her Bible. Should you be interested in all of the scans with their transcriptions, email me and I will send you the file (khreed@cinci.rr.com). In the next post, I will share some of the precious pictures stored in "Betty's Box."  I'm sure Edith Hodges would be very surprised that we are all able to view her record keeping -- and I will be forever grateful.