Grandma Inez was as fond of animals as she was of children. Pictured here with my mother you can sense she’s about to speak while my mom focuses on that pup. She instilled a lot of love in all of us for animals. If there are cousins who didn’t own a pet of some kind, I can’t recollect it.
Smiling came easy for her along with her gentle laughter. Being a woman of great faith and very knowledgeable in the Bible were also things in which she was known for. The following clipping is a familiar example of her sense of humor. I hope you’ll enjoy!
Brothers? lol
A little about the clippings and photo….. ELKO is a photography developer from the 1940’s out of Kansas City, Missouri. Photo was taken in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Grandpa’s duty station) during WWII. The newspaper clipping origin is unknown except that my grandma was boarding in various homes during her tenure as a one-room school house teacher in Iowa. Most likely from local papers of the area during the years between 1925-ish through the 1930’s.
in which my great great grandfather was a charter member,
Windmill and Missouri Barns
and past this farm,
you’ll come to Mt. Olive Baptist Church. It was here that my grandfather was ordained as a minister in 1886. He was 39 years of age at the time and served as a pastor here 2 different times. The Versailles Statesman published that as of 1927, he’d married 125 couples, as well as conducted 225 funerals. I wonder how there could have survived all these years 2 Baptist churches so close to each other. This one was originally a log school house but burned and was rebuilt by 1914. It sure wasn’t a good-paying occupation as in 1912 the salary was $100.00 per year, payed by the quarter. No wonder they had to farm as well as be pretty much indispensable for weddings and funerals, prayer meetings, Sunday School, Sunday services and don’t forget the Revivals and Camp Meetings. Not to mention offering various sorts of family counseling for the sick or homebound, marriage counseling, excessive alcohol consumption or treatment of family or neighbors — some of these you certainly didn’t discuss in those days. Such a full time job for so little. As you ponder these things, I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the photos we took as we wandered around the church yard.
Early Photo published in Florence, Missouri’s 160th Celebration. (glad I bought the book back in ’92)
I’m traveling back to my roots this ThursdayDoors. After a DNA test back in May of 2017, I’ve taken the deeper plunge to investigating the paper trail. But there aren’t just paper trails when it comes to these searches. There are places to visit. So the husband and I took a Sunday Drive last weekend since we had temps near 60 degrees and some sunshine. Can’t stay inside on a day like that!
First View
This is Bethlehem Baptist Church in Florence, Missouri. It was here that my Gt. Gt. Grandfather was pastor. Reverend Caleb H. Cramer ministered to this community and the surrounding area for over 50 years of his adult life. This church was home to a whole lotta family members. (You know they had a ton of kids back in the day.) Although I only live 25 minutes away, it’s my first time seeing it.
Front Door Entrance – Newer Doors
When choosing this site for the church, I’m sure the view overlooking the valley was a major deciding factor. “Build your house upon the rock” Matthew 7:24-45 is a favorite Bible verse of mine.
Original Portion of the church
From the State Historical Society of Missouri’s public pdf “Organized in 1846 in the home of Reverend B.F. Dinwiddie. The first services were held in a log building on the site of Harmony School, and the first land was purchased from Henry and Amanda Wagenknecht in 1869.”
I happen to have the Reverend Dinwiddie’s final resting place on the far left of this picture. This was a beautiful view of the valley below here.
Civil War Era Photo of my grandparents
About Grandpa,…..Born 1847 and died 1932. But the years between were a life filled with good works. I mentioned his ministry before and he also served in the Civil war in the Missouri Infantry Volunteers. Usually one thinks of most of the Civil War action beyond Missouri, but we actually had a considerable amount of action here.
Rev. Caleb and Mrs. Nancy Cramer
Wish I could see the twin doors in the background!!
Steeple View
Newer addition
Side door w/ramp
Newest addition to the back
I must say I have my husband to thank profusely. Ron, you’re my hero!! He’s been helping fill out that family tree and it is becoming huge!! Wowza! We’ve gotten back to 1621 in one branch. (I’m such a history nerd)
I was trying to figure out a way to connect this daily challenge with my recent news of the weekend. And ‘by jove I’ve got it”!!! I found a picture that sums up how much I like history……
Maybe you will realize my connection? I am definitely a history buff. Always interested in my ancestry and so with a ‘SALE’ on ancestry.com, it was a no-brainer for me to try a DNA test. First off, I sent in the spit in the vial. This was April 2. A 6 to 8 week waiting period was to be expected. I waited a tad bit longer due to an apparently larger-than-expected batch of tests sent in after Christmas. I guess they did pretty good with their sale. My results came in over the weekend. And without further ado, I present my findings.
My reaction? I had no idea whatsoever about the Iberian Peninsula connection. None. That translates to Portugal/Spain by the way. I mean it was even more than the Irish and Great Britain that I was fully aware of. Someone’s got some splainin’ to do 🙂
Those bottom 3 literally blow my mind too. And whatever happened to the Legend of our Native American ancestry? I think Great Grandma had an ornery streak and was quite the story teller. If you’ve ever had a DNA test done, were you convinced of the results?
Now time to dive in and do the family tree stuff. Stay tuned…….
