Wordless Wednesday - Frank Banet

Francis "Frank" Isidore Banet

1863-1945

What I Found on The 1940 Census!

All of my life I'd been told my Grandpa Dreher was a farmer, and cabinet maker. Times were tough during the depression, and he even made moonshine at one point to support his family!

But I had no idea that he'd worked for the WPA!

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I guess I was one of the lucky ones yesterday. The Indiana Census was partially up when I got to my computer. And Floyd County was up. Georgetown, the town I was looking for was up, and it was divided into only 2 districts. In town. And Surrounding Town [rural farm land]. I knew I would be looking for out of town, so I went to the Surrounding Town district. And in only about 3 minutes of search time I came across my Grandparents, my Mother and all four of her siblings, not to mention about 35 families that are related as aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. It was a gold mine!

In taking a closer look at my Grandparents....

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There I found Grandpa listed as peron who "Takes Care of Tools" for the "WPA". Now, who forgot to tell me about that??? Including Grandpa when I'd asked????

And there, listed at the very bottom of the family? That little 1-year old is my Mother!!!

I'd always been told, even by Grandma, that she had been the one who always made her family move alot. That they never stayed in one house more than about 3 or 4 years. But here, it says they lived in the same house for five years at least. Quite interesting!

I'd also been told that Grandma finished her education [high school]. One time I'd asked her how, since I knew she got married young. Come to find out? Neither grandparent had. Grandpa is listed as having an 8th grade education, and Grandma only a 6th, I do know that Grandpa never stopped studying his whole life. [I've written previously about his obsession with reading the dictionary!] Both were highly intelligent individuals, so a less than stellar education didn't harm either of them! And they were determined their children would do better than they, and they did!

I am thrilled with the finds I made! And in such order!

The key was in knowing where to look to begin with! And that certainly was worth the look!

Tombstone Tuesday - Frank and Adeline Banet

BANET

FRANK J.          ADELINE J.

1863 - 1945           1867 - 1958

Burial at:

Edwardsville Cemetery

Edwardsville, Floyd, Indiana

Francis Isidore Banet and Adeline Josephine Eve Banet

My great-grandparents.

NYPL Milstein Suspense Trailer

Awesome message!

Amaneunsis Monday - Emmette Beane

This report is a partial Muster Log from the USS Buttress, a minelayer during World War II.

It shows that on the first day of August 1945, on Line 3, Emmette Lorimer Beane, and EM1c [Electrician's Mate First Class] was present. Emmette came on board just shortly after this ship was commissioned and underewent alterations to make it a minelayer. He was aboard until later in 1945, when he was discharged from the service.

Finding Your Roots on PBS - Sunday Review

Tonight's guests were legendary!

Activist and teacher extraordinaire, Geoffrey Canada and brilliant news icon,  Barabra Walters. Both are individuals that I highly admire.

I did not take notes tonight, instead, I simply watched the show for the pleasure of it. And I am so glad I did!

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., always a gentleman and a superb host, certainly outshone himself this evening!

Geoffrey Canada

Having a small amount of working knowledge of the part Canada plays in educating those children who might not otherwise be afforded opportunities to those from more affluent arenas, I have admired his work. But I knew little about the man's history, other than a passing remark that he was raised without his father's influence.

It was a shock to learn Canada knew absolutely nothing about his father's parents. Nothing!

The journey and the story to get back to Canada's great-great-grandfather, Thomas Cannaday, was brilliantly done. Tender and remarkable!

DNA study performed, Canada learned that his great-great-grandfather was a slave that was most likely fathered by his white master in Franklin County, Virginia. Sadly, descendants of that white man refused to perform a DNA test to see if there was a match. I truly hope that they will have a change of heart!

Geoffrey walked the farm, where once, Thomas, his ancestor, must have run and played as a boy. And I could not help but to laugh when Gates asked him how he felt to learn of the white ancestry. His response was comical, "I guess it's a good thing I don't hate whites then!"

Canada stated this is a chapter in our country's history where we must learn to talk about these things, this mixture of cultures and bloods. Today he spoke of his grandchildren's mixed heritage, which included a variety of race and cultural backgrounds, and that we are all mixed.

Well done Mr. Gates, for a superb show!

And then we discover Barbara Walters,

She at first refused to be on the show, because she had already had a professional genealogist learn "all there is to know" about her father's family. So, Gates challenged her to allow him to look into her family. In looking over the previous work performed, he saw a few inconsistencies and decided to begin the research fresh and new.

And what a stroke of fortune for Walters that he did!

Walters family is of Jewish descent. This, of course, she already knew. But the where and when were still a bit of a mystery.

So, the research traced Walters father, Lou Walters, back to when he arrived in this country, and even farther. A Jewish researcher took Gates to the Jewish cemetery where Walters grandparents were buried and there they learned the names of Barbara's great-grandparents. But in searching for documentation, they found that her great-grandfather's name as listed on the monument was only his given name. They traced him back to Poland, and the record of her grandfather's birth, and found the surname for this family was Waremwasser, which literally translated means "Warmwater".

And, indeed, when the family arrived in the United States, they were first known as the Warmwater family. They first immigrated from Poland to England, and from there to San Francisco, California. However, they did not stay, and returned to London for about ten years before finally coming to settle in New York City. This time, they took the surname Walters.

This was quite the incredible journey, easily as great as that taken by Canada, as Walters, did indeed learn something totally new about her family!

At the end of the program, Gates challenged student's of Canada's program to make a guess as to what percentage of their DNA would show that they were African descent, what percent European, and what percent Native American /Asian. Most of the students were surprised to see that they had greater percentages of European ancestry than they thought. Pleasing to see that they all took this information as intelligent individuals. Everyone stating that this information was good to know, so that they knew where they came from. When asked if this information would change them culturally, equally as pleasing, each stated it would not. Their culture is more than the blood that runs through their veins, as is all of our cultures. One young lady summed it up perfectly, "My culture is how I was raised and that's who I am!"

Well done PBS and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

I'll be back next week for another episode!

Sentimental Sunday - All Those Orphan Photos

I am sure I am not alone when I say I collect the photographs of my family. I have, literally, thousands. And, of course, along the way, there have been those photographs which were unidentifiable. Oh, they came from numerous sources. They were, perhaps, found in a box of grandmother's old photographs; or Uncle's tobacco box after he passed away; or tucked in some distant cousins Bible.

I cannot bear to part with any of them, thinking that perhaps one day I will find the identity of these individuals. And so, for the next few weeks, I will be posting some of this collection on Sentimental Sunday's. I can't think of a more appropriate title!