Graham – Grandma's Trunk

Week 14 – 52 Ancestor Challenge – The Maiden Aunt or Bachelor Uncle

Uncle Albert by Lu’s fig bush at Bunger, Texas

Albert Ichabod Driver, Uncle Albert, died in 1951, 11 years before I was born. While I never knew him, I’ve heard about him all my life.

Albert was the oldest son of John and Weltha Driver, born in 1871, he was only two years old when his family left the Nacogdoches, Texas area and headed West. In 1874, the little family settled in Parker County near the town of Weatherford, where Albert’s younger brother, Henry, was born, near Long Creek. In 1875, the family moved again, this time to the little town of Graham, where they would spend the rest of their lives.

As a young man, Albert was engaged to a girl named Etta Cunningham. Albert suffered from asthma and fearing he’d be a burden to her, he eventually broke their engagement. His brother, Henry, went with her for a while but he met Louise Smith while visiting their Mother’s family in the Coleman area and married her.

In the early 1930s, oil was discovered on the family’s land, a few miles South of Graham. Albert’s mother, Weltha, was a frugal woman, the family had lived through lean times and she believed in patching the patches on her clothes to make them last longer. I’ve often wondered if this was because of an incident where a cow ate her new dress on their journey West….. Albert and his sister-in-law, Louise, would do the laundry and would “hang Weltha’s worn out dress up in the ringer” then they would pull back and forth until the dress was beyond repair. This was force Weltha to start wearing a new dress instead of “saving it.”

Albert never married and spent a good deal of his life farming with and looking after his parents. He cared for them until their deaths. Anytime I’ve heard relatives speak of Uncle Albert, the fondness is apparent in their voice. His appearance was kindly and warm. Many times I have thought about how his life might have been different if he would have had access to the modern miracle of rescue inhalers.

#52ancestors

Whispers from the Past…..

Week 8 – 52 Ancestor Challenge – Heirloom – Baby Days

A few years ago I came across an item I didn’t even realize I had. Forty-plus years of research will do that to you. I found my Momma’s Baby Book. Mary Ruth Grantham was born 11 Apr 1927, she would have been 91 this year.

I was so excited to find this little treasure. I never in a million years would have thought it existed. Inside the worn cover I found such treasures.

Her first word was Daddy when she was six months old. Her daddy died a few months before her fourth birthday. My favorite entry for her First Words were “Blates like a sheep at 10 months”. Her daddy raised award winning sheep and all her life she missed him. Momma had an older sister, Norma and one of my favorite pictures is of them together. Momma was such a little butterball. She always had the sweetest smile.

My grandma was an interesting woman. She was widowed at the age of 28 with two little girls. She raised them through the Great Depression with the help of her family. I’ve often wondered how those events shaped her as a mother. I never would have dreamed she would have kept a record of my Momma’s milestones as a baby but I was even more surprised to find a tracing of Momma’s hand.

#52ancestors

Whispers from the Past…..

Week 6 – 52 Ancestor Challenge – Favorite Name – Weltha Josephine Owen Driver

“A name, of course is like a piece of clothing, isn’t it? It gives you an impression right away.” James Salter

I never knew my great-great-grandmother, Weltha Josephine Owen Driver. She was born 30 Sep 1851 in Alabama and passed away 17 Sep 1932 in Graham, Texas, 30 years before I was born. Wealthy, as she was known to her family, was the oldest daughter of Albert Owen and Martha Collinsworth.

She appears in the census as “Wittly”, “Wilsy”, “Weltha” and “Wealthy”. She was married to John Allen Driver on March 22, 1869 in the tiny community of Etoile in Nacogdoches County, Texas at the home of her parents.

I always thought she had the most interesting name, I mean who names their daughter Wealthy and why? There are 229 names that mean Wealthy however, I could never find the meaning of the name Wealthy. Eventually I did find out that her great-grandmother was named Wealthy so finally I knew “why”.

In 1875, Weltha, John and their sons, Albert and Henry migrated from Long Creek, near Weatherford, Texas to Young County. While laying in supplies for the trip, John saw some dress material in a store in Weatherford and bought a length for Weltha.

She was so proud of the new dress she made from that material, and even more pleased because John had taken the time to pick it out for her. Shortly after they began the trip to their new home, little Henry became ill and John and Weltha would take turn about carrying him as they walked along side the wagon. One night after making camp it began to rain. Weltha wanted to keep the cool air off Henry so she drew the wagon sheet up tight and hung her new dress up to block any air from coming in. In the morning, Weltha was heartbroken to find that during the night the cow had chewed her new dress.

I have often wondered if being named Wealthy or the incident with the cow influenced her personality. She was very “frugal”. Even though they were “well off” for the time, she would wear a dress until it was so worn out her daughter-in-law would intentionally get it hung in the washer ringer and would then tear the dress apart so Wealthy would have to start wearing a new dress.

#52ancestors

Whispers from the Past…..