Veterans of my Family Trees on Veterans Day 2016

Honoring Veterans

On the 11^th hour of the 11^th day on the 11^th month in 1918 an armistice between Germany and the Allied nations during the Great War known as World War I was established. This day was known as Armistice Day. This day has transformed to an official holiday to honor all members of the United States Armed forces now called Veterans Day.  I would like to honor ancestors on my trees who were in the armed forces. My research has not allowed me to identify all the veterans past or present.  They however are not forgotten.  Grateful for their service. God bless them all. Let’s support our living veterans.

    

Name	State of Residence	Enlistment Date	Branch of Service	Rank
Gerald R. Hollins		16 Sep 1969-1 Sep 1993	US Air Force	Master Sergeant (E-7)
Roy Jefferson-Lampton		1990-2000	US  Army	Sergeant
Eddie Brumfield Jr.		19 Mar 1969	US Air Force	Airman
Bertha Bearden	Mississippi	17 Feb 1943	US Women’s Army Corp (WAC)	Sergeant WWII
Charles David McEwen		09 Dec 1941	US  Army	Private WWII
Chris Seay	Mississippi	03 Dec 1943	US Army Air Forces	Sergeant WWII
Wiley Caston	Mississippi	23 Jan 1943	US Army
Wallace Caston	Mississippi		US Army
Cicero Caston	Mississippi	10 Dec 1942	US Army	Private WWII
Claude Sibley		25 Sep 1942	US Army	Private WWII
Earche Raymond Banks	Louisiana	19 Feb 1946	US Army	Private
Eddie Dunlap		28 Jan 1953	US Army
Eddie Lee Osby	Mississippi	14 Apr 1943	US Army	Private WWII
Edward Lee Elam	Illinois	14 Sep 1966	US Army	Private Viet Nam
Elijah Brumfield	Mississippi	28 July 1918	US  Army	WWI
Woodrow Brumfield	Mississippi		US Navy	WWII
Jethro Gatlin	Mississippi	28 July 1918	US  Army	WWI
Ernest Benjamin Strickland Sr	Tennessee	23 Mar 1941	US  Army	Sergeant WWII
Thomas Claude Strickland		29 June 1949	US Army	Corporal Korea
Florziel Jefferson	Mississippi	20  Aug 1942	US Army	Private WWII
Freddie Donnell	Texas	31 Mar 1916	US Army	Private  WWI
Howard Lee Graves	Louisiana		US Navy	WWII
Willie Graves	Louisiana	22 Feb 1943	US Navy	WWII
Jasper Graves	Mississippi	5  Mar 1918	US Army	WWI
Sylvester Hill	Ohio	2 Jun 1942	US Army	WWII
Iddo Brent Jr	Mississippi	17  Aug 1942	US Army	Private WWII
Isom Brumfield Jr	Mississippi	20 July 1943	US Army	Private WWII
James Edwards Sr	Mississippi	03 Aug 1942	US  Army	Private WWII
Jessie Caston Jr.	Mississippi	13  Dec 1945	US  Army	Private first class
Martin William Watkins	Texas	14 Sep 1951	US Army	Corporal Korea
Mattie Donnell Hicks		10 Mar 1946	US Army	Major WWII KOREA VIET NAM
Rodolph Knight Jr.	Louisiana	10 June 1960
Leamon Jefferson	Louisiana	27 July 1944	US Navy
Thomas Cornelius Brumfield	Louisiana	19 Feb  1943	US Army
Thad Brumfield	Mississippi	20 July 1943	US Army	WWII
Owen Brumfield	Mississippi	16 Oct 1942	US Army	WWII
Virgil Downs	Mississippi	1 Mar 1951	US Army

                           

Edward Lee Elam Sr
US Arm Private

Chris Seay
US Army Air Force Sergaent

Wallace Caston
US Army

Gerald R.Hollins
US Air Force Master Sergeant (E-7)

Cicero Caston
US Army Private

Ernest B. Strickland Sr.
US Army Sergeant

Wiley Caston
US Army

Bertha Bearden
US Womens Army Corp (WAC) Sergeant

Jamed Edwards Sr
US Army Private

Willie Graves
US Navy

                           

Eddie Brumfield Sr. Part 2 In His Own Words Early Years

https://youtu.be/R8tqsSdqQJk

Eddie Brumfield Sr. Early Years Part 2

Eddie Brumfield Sr. born in 1917 grew up in Pike County, Mississippi. In the Part 1 video, Eddie talks about his parents and grandparents. He discusses growing up and working on the farm. At the age of seven or eight, he attended school  which was a long walking distance from home. The school used the "white folks" old schools books.  The stories in books such as Baby Ray, Little Boy Blue ,  Lucy Locket, and Epaminondas  didn’t make sense to him at the time. He left school in the fifth grade to work to help the family.  

As a child he experienced tragedy with his second oldest brother Milton Brumfield killed at the age of 12 years old and a childhood accident of his brother Thad Brumfield. John Williams a family friend took him and his siblings hunting and fishing. He had an adventure at 17 years old going to the Mississippi Delta; arrested for loitering near a white neighborhood resulting in a short experience on the chain gang. 

The names John Downs, Joe Downs , Cal Rayborn and Uncle Gene are mentioned. 

I am excited to be able to share this  interview

In Part 2 video he talks more about his early life.

------The Tree Gardener

Eddie Brumfield Sr. His childhood in his own words Part 1

Eddie Brumfield Jr. In His Own Words Part 1

I have a guest blogger Kerry Shelton, grandson of Eddie Brumfield Sr. He describes why he interviewed his grandfather. 

About six years ago, I decided to interview my grandfather Eddie Brumfield Sr. after listening to a series of interviews on NPR (National Public Radio) highlighting the historical perspective of older Americans. It had been my intention to record my grandfather for some time as a result of my growing knowledge of African/African American history and to learn more of my own personal family history. I thought it might be a good idea to interview Big Daddy, especially since he enjoyed sharing his stories and because I was so impressed with his razor-like ability to recall dates, people and events, even at the young age of 93. I had heard a number of the stories during previous visits with him, but I was aware that there were many more stories of which some family members were aware and others were not. So, in the Spring of 2010, I decided to craft a series of questions, conversation prompts mostly, to help direct me through a series of major periods of his life. Once he started the talking, there was very little I really needed to ask.

Upon completion of the interview, about six hours of video recording, I wasn’t sure what I would do with the information. My initial thought was to just hold on to the video and at some future date, when he was no longer with us, we could gather the family together and relive the stories and celebrate the life of our beloved Big Daddy. Some years later however, during a discussion at family funeral, my uncle initiated a conversation about his young daughter, in elementary school at the time, who had been assigned a school project to interview her grandfather (her teacher, having found out that her grandfather was a nonagenarian, exhorted her to interview him). I informed my uncle that I had the video recording of Big Daddy that I could email to him, but since the file was too big to email, I decided to upload the video to Youtube, and thus publish the information to any and all family and friends desiring to view the living history of Big Daddy. 

.https://youtu.be/V0ALMFMi3-w

-----Tree Gardener

How we are related? Part 2

The Removed, Half , Step and Blend

In the process of determining family relationships, I found the term “removed” when describing a relationship between cousins. First cousins share the same grandparents. Removed means that there is a generational difference between the cousins. What is considered a generation? I found two definitions that can apply. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary a generation is the average span of time between the birth of parents and that of their offspring. The English Oxford dictionary defines a generation as the average period, generally considered to be about thirty years, in which children grow up, become adults, and have children of their own. I have recently found my second cousins because we share great grandparents Gerald Hollins and  Eddie Brumfield Sr. is my second cousin one time removed.

A half brother or half sister means you have one biological parent in common. A step brother or step sister have no blood or genetic relationship. Step siblings are related by marriage because one parent with children married another person with children. Step siblings usually cause the formation of another family tree. 

A blended family is a family consisting of a couple from this and all previous relationships. In my family tree, Liddie and Calvin Caston had a blended family with two sets of children Brumfield and Caston who are half siblings.  

----- The Tree Gardener

How Are We Related? Part one

Genealogy is about tracing the line of decent and relationships within a family. Part of my excitement about family tree is discovering family members. I now know about previously unknown relatives.   I call all my new relations “cuz” because I have not figured out our real connections.  We all know the basic relationships of mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle and grandparents. It often becomes confusing when trying to explain a familial relationship beyond the basics. It is even more confusing when there is a blended or step family involved.  I have decided to tackle and decipher the family relationships in my family tree. I would like to mention the familial designations and terms maybe different in other cultures and countries. 

THE BASIC (five generations)

Every child has parents; mother and father

A child may have siblings; sisters and/or brothers which are other children of the same mother and father.

A child has four grandparents; the parents of the mother and the parents of the father

A child has eight great grandparents; parents of the mother’s grandparents and parents of the father’s grand parents

A child has 16 great-great parents; the  8 parents of the mother’s great grand parents and the 8 parents of the father's great grand parents.    

Aunts and Uncles 

A child may have many aunts and uncles or none if both their parents were the only child of their grandparents.

A child may have aunts and/or uncles which are the siblings of the mother and/or father or their spouses.

A great aunt is the sister of your grandfather or grandmother.

A great uncle is the brother of your grandfather or grandmother

A great-great aunt is the sister of your great-great grandfather or great-great grandmother

A great-great uncle is the brother of your great-great grandfather or great-great grandmother

COUSINS

A first cousin is a child of and aunt or uncle. First cousins have the same grandparents

Second cousin share the same  great grandparents.  A second cousin is the grandchild of  your great aunt or great uncle  

Third cousins share the same great-great grandparents (aka second great grandparent)

Fourth cousins share the same great-great grandparents (aka third great grandparents)

The In-laws

In-laws are relatives by marriage.  Usually the term is used for parents, sister and brother of your spouse. The terms aunt in-law, uncle in-law or cousin in-law is generally not used.  I however used the term cousin in-law. It would probably be proper to say my cousin's wife or husband.

More information to come

-----The Tree Gardener