Amanuensis Monday

Indenture Contract for William Bean

Dated 18 Sept. 1804

(His 12th Birthday)

With much being said today (and every day) about those who have ancestors who were slaves, I would like to propose that the often overlooked indentured servant was nothing more than a person who was placed for a precise amount of time into slavery.

An indentured servant was someone who legally had no rights during their time of indenture. In the case of my gr-gr-grandfather, he was placed in indenture at the age of 12, actually on his 12th birthday, until he reached legal age of 21.

The following is the transcript of this document:

"This indenture made this 18th of Sept 1804 one thousand eight hundred and four between Jas. Christy owen Neal Robt Johnston and henry McDaniel of the one part overseers of the poor for monroe County and henry Smith of the other part witnesseth that the so overssers doth bind an orphan boy named William Bean aged twelfth years to the said henry Smith of the county aforesaid and State of virginia to Serve the said henry Smith until he arrives at the age of twenty one years, during all which time the Said William Bean Shall faithfully Serve his Master and all his lawful Commands obay he Sall not suffer any Damage to be done to his Said Masters goods without giving him notice thereof he Shall not frequent Still houses or taverns he shall not play at Cards dice or any unlawful game or at any time abscond himself from his masters business without his Masters leave he Shall not commit fornication nor Contract matrimony during said term but as a true and faithful servant shall truely and diligently Serve his Said Master until he arrives at the age aforesaid and the henry Smith in Consideration thereof doth Covenant and agree to have the so William Bean taught the art trade or Mastery of a Black Smith and provide for him a sufficiency of everyt thing thats requiset for an aprentice during the term of his aprenticeship likewise he is to have him taught to read the holy Scriptures planely to write a plane hand and arithmatic through te rule of three which Education he is to be thoroughly acquainted with at the Expiration of his time and also to give him Such freedom dues as the law direct taking Care to have Said aprentice instructed in the Principals and duties of the Christian religion as far as Said Master is Capable In writing whereof the partys have interchangeably set their hands inscribed this day and year above writen Signed Sealed ad delivered in the presents of  - John Hinchman - Owen Neal - Henry Smith - Jas. Christy"

The above document's transcription is verbatim, spelling and grammatical errors intact.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day 2017

My Mother

Lois Velleda (Dreher) Beane

May 11, 1957

In Her Prom Dress

(1938-2017)

Second Mother's Day in Heaven

My Mother-in-Law

Betty Louise (Rotge) Custer

1946

(1930-2003)

Fourteenth Mother's Day in Heaven

God's Masterpiece is Mother

God took the fragrance
Of a flower
The majesty of a tree
The gentleness of morning dew
The calm of a quiet sea

The beauty of the twilight hour
The soul of a starry night
The laughter of a rippling brook
The grace of a bird in flight

Then God fashioned from these things
A creation like no other,
And when his masterpiece was through
He called it simply - Mother.

Herbert Farnham

Black Sheep Sunday

I'm The Black Sheep of the Family by John Anderson

Okay, so I'm playing it lazy this Sunday! Enjoy!

Sibling Saturday - Louis the Stammerer

Charles the Bald

823-877

My 29th Gr-Grandfather

It isn't often when I've been able to trace someone's family Member's back to such early dates. I have one client who I was able to take their ancestry back to the 3rd Century. Usually, unless someone is of notable historical value, you won't be able to. But in this instance, I was able to take my ancestry back to Charlemagne.  (Not that he was such a good guy mind you, but I do pride myself in having found documented proof back that far!)

And here is another of my ancestors. Charles the Bald. Old Charlie was King of West Francia (843-877), King of Italy (875-877) and Holy Roman Emperor (875-877) where he was known as Charles II.

Old Charlie was married to my 29th Gr-Grandmother, the first of two wives, Ermantrude of Orleans (823-869), and she herself, was of noble blood. Together this couple had ten children. The eldest was Judith of Flanders, my 28th gr-grandmother. And next came Louis the Stammerer. (What a handle!) And that is who we will be discussing today.

Louis the Stammerer was born to Charles the Bald and Ermantrude of Orleans in 846. He was their second born child. It is believed that he was born in West Francia (France today). And his name indicates his unique manner of speech, which came not because of speech impediment, but because he was so shy as a youth that when he stood before others, he became quite nervous, and would so stammer.

Louis the Stammerer

846-879

Louis became King of Aquitaine and later King of West Francia (on his father's demise). In the French monarchial system, he became known as Louis II.

In 856 Louis was betrothed to one of Erispoe, Duke of Brittany's, daughters. However, Erispoe was murdered in 857, and thus the contract of marriage was considered broken.

Louis did, however marry twice.

Louis married first to Ansgarde, of Burgundy. With her he had two sons, Louis and Carloman. He also had 2 daughters, Hildegarde and Gisela. Sometime in 869 Ansgarde died. The reason is unknown. Perhaps in childbirth. But that is merely conjecture.

Louis married second, Adelaide, of Paris, about 874. With Adelaide, Louis had a daughter, Ermentrude. He also had a son, who was born five months after his death, Charles the Simple, who also become King of West Francia, after the death of both of his half-brothers.

Louis is said to have been described as "a simple and sweet man, a lover of peace, justice and religion". However, his last act was to lead a march against invading Vikings. It was during this march that Louis became ill and died on the night of 9/10 April 879(because he died in the night, you will see his death date listed as both the 9th and as the 10th of the month).

On his death, Louis' realms were divided between his two sons, who became known as Carloman II and Louis III of France.

Family Recipe Friday - Fried Okra

Fried Okra

Borrowed from thekitchn.com

I said this many times on this blog, my dear Mama was not much of a cook. Oh, we didn't starve. She just had a limited repertoire of recipes that she did well. And Mama's fried okra was one of those few things that she could do well!

Mama would take fresh okra and wash it up. Then she'd pat it dry with a tea towel. (What do you mean you don't know what a tea towel is? Child, that's what we used before paper towels!)

Next she'd put yellow cornmeal in a bowl or on a plate. And then she'd mix together milk and an egg. (Mama never did master the use of a whisk, so she simply used a fork to whip it together. Works just as well.)

She'd gather her salt and pepper. Then she'd heat shortening in the skillet, and once the skillet was good and hot she'd dip the okra, piece by piece into the milk and egg, and then she'd roll it around in the cornmeal so it was coated well, and then she'd drop it into the hot grease in the skillet. She'd make sure it was browned completely on one side before turning it onto the other. Then she'd put a clean tea towel on a platter and place the freshly fried okra on it, which she had seasoned generously with salt and pepper. It would take a while to get a whole mess cooked up. And unless you've been in the house, you have no idea how good that okra frying smells!

Mama served it up onto our plates. She and Daddy used hot sauce on theirs. I just liked it with plenty of salt and pepper. It was good!

How - good - was - it?

Well, once you finished eating what you had on your plate, you had to chase your tongue across the table because it was already lapping its way over to the platter just to get seconds!

I guess I thought of Mama cooking the okra because I've been eating a lot of okra lately. I've been eating a lot of veggies since I went vegan! And remembering some of those good recipes that Mama used to make.

Did your Mother have a special recipe that she made particularly well? Be sure to share it with us!

Thriller Thursday

photo taken from imdb.com

Okay, so I'm the first one to admit I am absolutely in love with scary movies! And the reality tv series of paranormal and ghost hunters.

One thing I don't like is gore. No, that's not scary to me. It's just disgusting. The more that is left up to the imagination, the scarier it gets for me! For instance, take the movie Jaws as an example. Everyone was so freaked out by the shark attacking the people that I wouldn't go see it when it came out. I was afraid it was too scary! So I went for 35 years and did not see the movie. I read Peter Benchley's book, and that was scary enough for me! But one Friday night, we were bored and my dear hubby says, "So you've really never seen Jaws?" I told him I hadn't, but that I had read the book. "Well guess what we're renting tonight!"

And off to the video store he went to rent a copy. We settled in for the show. I was so bored, because, number one, it didn't follow the book but in the most minute of ways. And number two, I didn't see anything scary about it!

That is until the old seadog starts talking about WWII, and being aboard the ship that was sunk. You remember the scene, don't you?

The USS Indianapolis. It was sunk by a Japanese sub in shark infested waters. On 30 July 1945 the ship was torpedoed. Of the crew of 1,196 men aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remaining 900 men were adrift in the water for 4 days before being spotted by a Navy plane. Of the 900 who survived the sinking, only 317 survived. And this is the story the old sea captain tells in the movie.

In particular, he told how the men formed a circle and held each others hands, and they faced outward, to better see when a shark approached. They did what they could to stave off the blood crazed beasts. The old sea captain tells of holding onto the hand of his best friend. When dawn approached, he thought his friend had fallen asleep in his life vest. He was gently bobbing up and down in the water. But when the old sea captain shook him to wake him up, he toppled forward into the water. And from the waist down the sharks had eaten him. The old sea dog had spent the night holding his best friends hand, while he was eaten alive by sharks, and because of his own exhaustion he had been totally unaware.

The way he told the story, his inflections and mannerisms in telling the story scared the doodoo out of me! The way he told it, you were there! You could hear the screams of those attacked. You could feel someone letting go of your hand as their body was being dragged into the brine. Now that, to me, was the best part of the whole movie! It sent shivers up and down my spine! I loved it!

It's been years since they made a scary movie that actually scared me, that didn't make me want to throw up from the realistic gore. To me, the imagination is so much better than what they can do cinematically. The last thrilling movie I saw was when Wes Craven's "New Nightmare" came out. (Okay, I said it had been a long time!) When the body on the bed was grabbed from INSIDE the mattress? Oh my! I scared everyone in the house. Because, like the girl I am, I screamed out loud!

What's your favorite scary movie? Let us know with your comment!

*****Did you guess where the place was at from yesterday's Where Am I? Wednesday? No?

The photo was taken in Lystrada, Greece at the Forgotten Temple. Okay, I have to confess, I did not take the photograph. It was from a postcard I purchased there. Has anyone else been there? If you've been to Greece at all, what was your favorite place? What did you enjoy doing most while there? Let us hear from you in the comments.

The Forgotten Temple

Lystrada, Greece

Where Am I? Wednesday

This is the day I choose a photo from my travels, and ask you to guess where the location is. And here is today's Where Am I? Wednesday:

I'll give you a hint, the site is called "The Forgotten Temple".

Anyone been there?

No cheating! Leave your answer only if you KNOW where it is!

Check back tomorrow for the answer!