Colorful Family Stories

The Monday before last, a gathering was held at my parent's house because my uncle & aunt were up from Tennessee and mom wanted to gather all of the cousins together for a cookout.  It was a gathering of first cousins on both my Lambertson and Wright side.

It was nice to see everyone again, a few of whom I hadn't seen in quite some time.  The best part of the evening for me was the chance to share some stories on the Wright side with my mom's 1st cousins.

Since the house I grew up in used to be the farm house where my great-grandparents, Virgil and Muriel (Pierce) Wright lived, the cousins had memories to share of the farm when it was a working farm as well as tales of my great-grandparents.  I have no direct memory of my great-grandparents, and the stories I've received from my mother were not the same memories that her cousins shared - partly because they grew up next door and were at the farm more.

It was interesting to hear that my great-grandfather Virgil told my great-grandmother that he had quit smoking, yet was hiding cigarette cartons out in the grain so he could smoke in the barn, to the stories of great-grandmother testing the cousins urine for blood sugar levels (diabetes runs in the family), before allowing them an ice cream treat.  Those type of stories make them a bit more colorful than just names and dates.

Wordless Wednesday : Tiny Dancer

Michelle LeMaster, Alexandria, Indiana, 1978

Found this picture of my little sister from 1978 in her dance costume.

Sugar Grove Cemetery, Wayne County, Indiana : Pierce Family

Francis S. Pierce (1806-1881) my 4th-great grandfather

Rebecca (Page) Pierce (1806-1893), my 4th-great grandmother

Stone sans aluminum foil

Albert O. Pierce and wife Sarah.  Albert was son of Francis & Rebecca (Page) Pierce

View looking back towards the church

These photos were taken earlier this year on a visit to the Sugar Grove Cemetery in Wayne County, Indiana.  My mom, dad & I headed there and into the courthouse in Richmond while working on documentation for mom's application for the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The cemetery was found relatively easily, and is located in a rural area next to the church, which appears to still be in use.  The church was a United Brethren in Christ church.

I have not been able to determine that Francis or Rebecca ever attended this church, but it is possible.  More likely they were living with their son, Albert, at the time of their death and this was the nearest community cemetery.  From what I have found, there are no surviving records of the early church.  

For more on the cemetery, read here.

In order to get a better picture of the tombstones, we used aluminum foil to help bring out the inscriptions.  I feel that this didn't work out too badly.