Celebration Sunday Genealogy Happy Dance

This is my first time participating in this genealogy writing event. I hope to make it a regular feature here.  The purpose of this event is to celebrate our genealogy discoveries of the week.

My discovery this week concerns my third great-grandfather Berry Madison Pressley.  Here is my path back to him:

Me>Madeline Spence>Maggie Pressley>Julius Jared Pressley>Richard Simpson Pressley>Berry Madison Pressley

I found an article in the Pickens Sentinel, Pickens, South Carolina, dated 25 May 1904, regarding the upcoming Old Soldiers' Celebration to be held on 3 June 1904. At this celebration, veterans of the War Between the States were to receive a Cross of Honor. This article lists Berry M. Pressley as one of the intended recipients. I found this article through Newspapers.com. 


Berry Madison Pressley was born 3 October 1824, in Pickens, South Carolina.  He enlisted in service to the Confederacy in 1862 in the 10th Battalion Cavalry.  He died 6 March 1909, in Pickens, South Carolina. He is buried, with a wife on either side of him, in the Sharon United Methodist Church Cemetery in Pendleton, South Carolina.


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52 Ancestors: Philadelphia Isabella Evatt Pressley

     Philadelphia Isabella Evatt Pressley was my maternal grandmother's paternal grandmother and my second great-grandmother. She was married to Richard Simpson Pressley, who was a Confederate veteran and a bounty hunter during the late war. She was born 8 February 1851 and died 9 March 1944. My mama was 5 days old when her great-grandmother died.

     Delphia, as I refer to her, was more than "just" a wife and mother, though that would have been a full life. I've heard that she had about thirteen children! She was also a postmaster. I just discovered this bit of information today after reading the Ancestry.com blog. The post office records are available to learn about the postmasters throughout the United States. Grandma Delphia Pressley was the postmaster of Hickory Flat, Anderson County, South Carolina from 7 May 1883 until 16 June 1888 when John A. Mullinnix took over the job.

     THIS is the kind of dash-filling information that I have been looking for! I have pages and pages of birth and death dates, but not so much in the way of my ancestors' stories. This information gives me a brief glimpse into the life of a woman who bore many children, lived through at least three wars, and lived to a ripe old age of 93. I am very excited to learn this new bit of information about her!

Twisted Sisters - The Pressley Family

If you delve deep enough into the history and stories of your family, you are bound to come across a thing or two that causes you to scratch your head, or even develop a migraine. While working on the relationships of my 3rd great-grandparents, I found such a head-scratching, migraine-causing bit of information.

After my third great-grandmother died, my third great-grandfather remarried. Not a big deal, you say, and I can understand you thinking that. BUT, his second wife is the sister-in-law to one of his sons from the first wife. I have tried drawing this out on a family tree chart and there's no easy way to do it. Factoring in the second wife's parents, and my uncle via my original set of third great-grandparents, and the fact that now sisters are stepmother-in-law and stepdaughter-in-law, it really is a mess for me to try to map out. The image below was the only way that I could figure out to do it. Figuring out what everyone is to each other, in my opinion, is even more mind-boggling.

Pressley Family with a twist!

Berry Holland Pressley was the son of Berry Madison Pressley and his first wife Eliza. Berry Holland married Susan King in 1873. Berry Madison remarried and chose for his wife Tabitha King in 1872. By nature, Tabitha and Susan's children are first cousins. By that same nature, Berry Holland would be a half brother to any children that Berry Madison and his second wife had. So, his half siblings from his father's second union are now not only his half siblings, but are also his wife's nieces or nephews. Berry Madison's grandchildren through his son Berry Holland are also his nieces and nephews through his wife.

That's as far as I ever get because it gives me a headache. I am completely passionate about my family history, but the twisted parts really do a number on my head!

A to Z Blogging Challenge 2013: G is for Grandma Spence and Granny Gunter

I could have chosen to write about the surname Gunter today since it is "G" day. But, April is the birthday month for our grandmothers. Both of mine and one of David's were born in April. I was struggling with what to write today and saw this on Pinterest. It is the inspiration for today's post:

                     

                                 Source: fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net via MryJhnsn on Pinterest

                                                                                                                         

My grandma and granny were two of the most beautiful people that I have known. They were completely different in their way of seeing things, but a great deal alike in their love for their grandchildren. Being born in 1917 and 1921 respectively, they lived through the Great Depression. They knew what it was like to do without and to be hungry. Childhood was hard. One endured a dinner visit at her aunt's home during the Depression, having to watch her cousins eat fried chicken and not being allowed to have any herself because Auntie "only had enough for her own children." Both would give the shirts off of their backs if they thought you needed it. Both lived with tremendous heartache, one having her baby beaten out of her and later losing a son as he served in the US Army in Germany, and the other burying a toddler who died of an infection caused by inhaling an orange seed and mourning the loss of a murdered son and daughter-in-law.

Grandma McClendon, David's grandma, was born in 1910 and was from a family of 12 children. She lost her husband at an early age. She was left to raise three children the oldest of which was 17, and the youngest was 9 years old, while being confined to a wheelchair. Through strong will and determination, she learned to walk again. She outlived two of her children, one of which died in infancy. The hospital nurse held Grandma's legs together as the baby's head was crowning while they waited to switch her from the labor room to the delivery room. Her baby girl died at three days old. The other, her oldest son, died in her front yard. She was a very kind woman and an excellent cook, just like my Granny. I never heard her say an unkind word about anybody, though I heard people being unkind in regards to her. These women suffered much and loved deeply. We were blessed to have them in our lives for as long as we did. Happy birthday to all of our April grandmas!  


We should all have one person who knows how to bless us despite the evidence, Grandmother was that person to me. ~Phyllis Theroux (Quote Garden, 2012)

Fearless Females: March 16 - Lunch, Anyone?

Please visit Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month at The Accidental Genealogist. 

March 16 — If you could have lunch with any female family member (living or dead) or any famous female who would it be and why? Where would you go? What would you eat?

If I could have lunch with any female relative, it would be with my Grandma Spence and my Granny Gunter. I cannot pick just one. These two women were big parts of my life well into my adulthood. Grandma Maggie Pressley Spence passed away on 18 April 1993 and Granny Evelyn Floree Fowler Gunter died 25 March 2010. I miss them both so very much.

   These two women were as opposite as could be in many ways. Grandma was gentle and soft-spoken, and Granny was blunt and abrasive. Grandma helped me in my Christian walk and gave me a love for words and learning. Granny taught me to stand my ground and to appreciate things handmade. They were both the same in that each had a heart of gold and would do anything that they could for someone, especially a grandchild. I was blessed to be loved by two such strong women.
I would want us to eat at Granny’s house because that gal could put on a fine feast, country-style. I loved Granny’s cooking. Grandma was too sick to do much cooking by the time I was old enough to appreciate all that went into putting on a meal. I would help Granny get the meal ready and make sure that Grandma was comfortable.

Then, I would sit down to enjoy a feast of thanksgiving with these two women that I loved most in this world! We would have turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, macaroni pie, sliced tomatoes, pumpkin pie, banana pudding, and lots of other things.

And love, a heaping side order of love.

Fearless Females: March 8 - Aunt Mae's Letters

Be sure to check out Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month from The Accidental Genealogist.  

March 8 — Did one of your female ancestors leave a diary, journal, or collection of letters? Share an entry or excerpt.

Mae Pressley Worley was the sister of Maggie Pressley Spence, my maternal grandma. She was one of my most favorite people on the planet. At the front entry of her house, there was a built-in floor-to-ceiling bookcase with three wings. It was loaded with books as well as Reader's Digest magazines. If you're greeted at the door like that, you know everything else in there is going to be just wonderful and it was.

Aunt Mae and I used to write letters back and forth and I spent some summers with her, too. I loved her dearly, still do. She has been gone for twenty-seven years now. One letter from her survived my childhood, but it did not survive the thieves that removed our storage building from my daddy's property. Many precious family heirlooms were in that building, but I count the letter from Aunt Mae as one of the most precious to me.

Fearless Females: March 3 - Name - Susie Annie Gunter

Please visit Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month at The Accidental Genealogist.

March 3 — Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first name you’ve come across in your family tree. 

My daddy had a grandmother named Annie Black Gunter, the one this blog is named after. He called her “Big Mama”. Annie had a sister named Susie. My daddy wanted me to be named after both his grandmother and his aunt. He really loved both of them very much. Susie Annie was what I started out to be. My final name was Suzanne.

For years I was glad that Suzanne was chosen instead of Susie Annie, but the more I work on the family history, the more I like Susie Annie. I think that it would have been a cool name. As it was, I had no middle name and got lots of grief about that. No one believed that I had no middle name. They figured that it was really something stupid and I was just too embarrassed to share it with them.

The name that stands out to me the most of my female ancestors is Philadelphia Isabella. She was my maternal-grandmother’s paternal grandmother. I often thought that if I had another daughter, I would name her Delphia or Bella – maybe both!- after this great-great-grandmother. I can still hope for a grandchild to carry her name.

I don’t have any pictures of Annie, though I did see one when I was a child. But, I do have one of Philadelphia.

A to Z Blogging Challenge: I is for Isabella

Philadelphia Isabella Evatt Pressley was one of my great-great-grandmothers on my mama's side. I never met her. She died just a few days after my mama was born. When I'm talking about her, I usually refer to her as "Delphia", but I love her middle name "Isabella". The name makes me think of Italy, but our family came to the United States from Ireland over three hundred years ago.

I don't know too terribly much about her other than that she had a major houseful of children. I believe that she and her husband Richard had thirteen children. One of these was my great-grandpa Julius Jared Pressley. My first-born son was named after him.

I do have this picture of her, shared with me by another Pressley-linked relative.