Friday, November 11, 2016

Veterans of my Family Trees on Veterans Day 2016


Honoring Veterans

On the 11th hour of the 11th day on the 11th 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



































                           



Monday, November 7, 2016

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


Monday, October 24, 2016

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

Monday, October 17, 2016

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