A Different Life II

[Lily&Me]

That's interesting, Mimi.....I would love to know where in MS your great grandfather was from.

My people were in Amite County, and went there from NE TN in 1806.

My fourth cousin down there can tell you all about the local battles, who of our ancestors were wounded or killed right down the road from the home place I have mentioned.....which Grierson and his men cleaned out on their way thru, but for the $800 or so in gold hid in the sideboard and which helped them survive the War.

They weren't burning, then, so the house and outbuildings were left intact.

You'll have to bring what you have of that family history to our meet up in August.....I'll bring mine, and we may find that our ancestors were contemporaries and compatriots.


Maggie

[Lily&Me]

53 degrees here, and lots of boats out on the lake.


Magge

[paiceman]

Two topics:

Dogs and going to the bathroom. Suggest if raining or whatever start using a word whenever you are out with Lily or anyone else with their dog. I teach "Get Busy"; you need to use the word every time the dog does either, every time and say it multiple times. Then eventually you can take the dog out and bingo, they know to go and they then can play or go back in during bad weather. UNLESS you have a Lab like our young one who now goes out and fakes it, just to get back in and warm. Try it, in all my training it has never failed, even our newly adopted 4-1/2 year old picked it up in about a month.

Second, when I first started my career we lived in Gettysburg for 6 years. Right next to a field where there were battles but not part of the National Park. We always found bullets etc, no remains but it encouraged us to study and visit the park every weekend. 600,000 + Americans died in this war, simply astounding each time I think of it. Most of mine were on the South and my wife's seemed to have split.

Enjoy

Bud

[Lily&Me]

Always appreciate those dog tips, Bud.

Gettysburg.....been there, the place we encountered stink bugs for the first time.

I especially wanted to visit Antietam, Franklin and Chickamauga, but we have been to others, and to Andersonville.

My cousin in Southern MS has the "housewife" our cousin who died at the Battle of Franklin carried.....made for him by his sister, with a prayer to keep him safe embroidered on it.

It has bloodstains on it, so we assume those are his, tho from his death or a wound he suffered earlier in the war we do not know.

We also have several dozen letters he wrote home to his father, from wherever he was....including the hospital in Georgia where he recovered from his early wounds.

He writes so optimistically in the beginning, then toward the end you hear of little besides desperation, despair, and near-starvation.

Amazing that his slave buried him, found his way home, and took the men back to recover his body.

So many boys died such horrific deaths, so little of that could be done.

The thing about knowing all that family history, it ties you so solidly to places and events that I don't believe would happen otherwise....they feel to be yours.

A good thing, altho somewhat a haunting thing.


Maggie

[ColoradoLady]

Maggie, it is very sad to realize just how brutal that war must have been....our countrymen, fighting against each other. We can only pray that such tragedy never is visited on our lands again.
My knowledge of my family history is so little, as my grandparents were immigrants from Europe, and much of that history was lost, as I never knew them...folks had passed long before my birth. All I know is that my grandparents were of scotch-Irish and German-Dutch heritage. It must be bitter/sweet to be aware of so much family history.

The photo of your camp site is very pretty. Are you still in Georgia? Where are you headed to next? Safe travels. Evelyn.

[Lily&Me]

I have a wealth of information on my mother's side, due to the life works of a great aunt, but nothing on my father's but the name of his parents and grandparents.

My paternal grandparents came over from Copenhagen in the early 1900's, they had both died by the time I was a teen, and there was no written history.

Amite County, where my ancestors settled, did written compilations of settlers, residents, county events, etc., every 50 years, I believe......where people came from, how they got there, court activities, etc., then put into book form, which my cousin has gotten a full set of for me, and they are fascinating.. A window into time.

I am delighted to have the information, it is way more than most people get, and it ties me to this earth more than a bit, having all that roots information. I'm a bit passionate about it, if you cannot tell.

I am still in Georgia, and going to stay at this campground another week....because, why not? Beautiful site, inexpensive.

Because my street side is on the lake, I can leave my side window shade up as the sun sets, sip a little wine and watch the reflection on the water...and then all night, because why not...when I wake in the night, I can see the moon shining thru the trees, when I get up I sip my coffee and watch the sun rise.

I love it.

The only drawback to this beautiful site is that I must walk a long uphill to get to the bath house, but it's good for my aging bones.


Maggie

[mimiandrews]

My great grandfather lived in Oktibbeha County. I had to look it up to get the spelling. That map of Shiloh is about all I really know about him or his participation in the war. The "tents of the enemy" legend clearly showed which side he was on. I never saw the original map, but I have seen photocopies.

[Lily&Me]

Hmmmm.....very far north of Amite County, and settled much later, per Wikipedia.

Interesting, nonetheless.


Maggie

[mimiandrews]

Wikipedia says Oktibbeha County was formed out of Lowndes County. My grandfather had a brother named Henry Lowndes Muldrow, who had a son by the same name. Wonder how that relates back to the county? I guess Ancestry.com may get some more of my money, now that I'm curious.

[Lily&Me]

I had an Ancestry.com subscription for years, but dropped it last year. It is $185 a year or something now, which I just couldn't justify.

Lots of info to be had, tho, and a number of things I found out that we hadn't previously known.

It wasn't unusual to name counties or roads after a founding family, or someone otherwise important....the first time my daughter and I found the 1818 house in southern MS, perhaps 15 years ago, it was off of a road named for another family member.

It astounds me that, as many times as we went to MS to see my mother's parents, we were never taken to see that house nor even knew of its existence...much less the cemetery behind it, where so many ancestors are buried.

I suspect there were things they didn't want us to know, given the times we were in.


Maggie

[Gearheart]

There was an incident in my wife's family that caused a major rift. A branch of the family left Kentucky in disgust over the treatment of a daughter who married outside the faith. Those who remained behind covered up the incident and even denied the existence of grave sites to change the story.

[Lily&Me]

Yep....I have uncovered a few things, particularly in birth/death and census records, not a part of the meticulous history my great aunt recorded....and which appear to have been intentionally hidden.

Doug reportedly had a great uncle who killed a man who impregnated his sister....

Also, shortly after we began dating, as he was talking about grandparents, I told him of a one room schoolhouse in my town named after a woman who carried the same last name. When he took me home to meet his mother in Iowa some months later, she looked the woman up in her family history....there she was, adopted at age 2, after her parents died in a flu epidemic, by family of his who had moved to Illinois.

His family had no idea how important she was in my area, and we eventually found at the historical center some photos of her for them....with her integrated, barefoot, schoolchildren, in front of her one room schoolhouse....also her obituary with another photo and a list of her life achievements. I loved it.

My great uncle, who died at Antietam, did not come over with the family from Germany....nor is there any birth record in NOLA, where the other children were all born and died...and whose records exist...nor could I find a speck of information as to where he lived and worked prior to the war. He doesn't show up anywhere.

He also went thru the war with an odd, phonetic, spelling of his name, tho he was confirmed to be my great grandfather's brother. Interesting, and a story there somewhere. In Louisiana in the 1800's, it could be a number of things. All who would know for sure are long dead, so the story has died with them.

Another story I uncovered re the birth history of my maternal grandmother.....

It is fascinating to start looking back, as you never know what you might find.

Makes them all more real, knowing a bit here and there.


Maggie

[Lily&Me]

I found this recipe online some time ago, mixed it up and have loved it. Fed it to the grands over Christmas, and they loved them, too.

Whole grains...good for you.

I like that the mix includes the oil, so you only need an egg and buttermilk when you are ready to bake. Very quick, still yummy.

For just me, I beat a large egg, add 1/2 cup mix, then just enough buttermilk to make it moist enough.

Voila!....healthy pancakes for one!


Oatmeal Pancake Mix

Makes 10 cups of dry mix. One cup of mix will make about 6-7 4-inch pancakes.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups quick oats
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 cup canola oil

Mix dry ingredients together, then slowly add the oil til well incorporated.

Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks at room temperature, or indefinitely in the refrigerator or freezer. I transferred to a Ziploc bag for travel in the frig.

To make the pancakes: whisk together 1 cup of mix, about 1 cup buttermilk, and 1 egg. Let stand to thicken while the griddle preheats. Bake as for any pancake.


Mel's Kitchen Cafe (Mel's Kitchen Cafe | Tried and True Recipes, Baby!)

[Al and Missy]

Hello Maggie,

Glad to see you out and about. Better than snow and ice back home! What campground is that by the lake? It looks really beautiful. We love sites like that. Last year we found one in High Point, NC. A city park right in town settled around a lake. Only stayed one night as we were dropping the trailer off at Out of Doors Mart for some repairs. We may be heading up that way in a week or so. No firm plans yet, but looking for good places to stop.

Al

[Lily&Me]

Hi you two!

This is the McKinney COE near Acworth, GA, just northwest of Atlanta a bit.

It is a beautiful and well maintained campground, as all the COE's I have ever been to are.

There is another open all year, west of Gainesville, that I was going to head to today, but decided to stay here another week instead....colder up there, and it is cold enough here, I also have good cell signal here and a few basic tv channels out of Atlanta. Might head toward the Gainesville one for a few days next Sunday.

I like keeping up on the news, and feel very cut off without cell for very long. I can do off the grid, but prefer not for two weeks. I have those here....known is better than unknown.

My kids and I stay in close touch, and I like being able to Skype with darling daughter on Sunday mornings.

What can I say...it's the age we live in.


Maggie

[ColoradoLady]

Maggie, I would be inclined to tarry a while as well. It is a lovely site. One of the nice things about retirement....the ability to stay or go...as the mood strikes. How do you find the places you camp....Allstays...Pocket earth? (I am not as experienced traveler as you...not even close). Just learning now! Evelyn.

[Lily&Me]

The AllStays app, also Passport America's app.

I mark the location of the one I am heading for on Pocket Earth, but they don't shoe campgrounds.


Maggie

[nensihart]

Sounds like it's just damp.... Hopefully the sun will come out soon and everyones spirits will lift.

Good you went out with Lily, she will get a urinary infection if she holds it too long. Thank-fully our puppy will
go out in all kinds of weather and all I have to say to her is go PeePee, but maybe I should say Get busy like one of your friends suggested,
It sounds much better especially if we ever do go on the road, Right now our neighbours are far, far away!

Thank-you for keeping me in the loop for the Memorial weekend, It would be nice to meet other women and their Airstreams,

Cheers for now.

Nensi
Vancouver Island, B.C.
Canada

[Gearheart]

My brother uses "hurry up" as his training command to get on with it.

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by nensihart

Sounds like it's just damp.... Hopefully the sun will come out soon and everyones spirits will lift.

Good you went out with Lily, she will get a urinary infection if she holds it too long. Thank-fully our puppy will
go out in all kinds of weather and all I have to say to her is go PeePee, but maybe I should say Get busy like one of your friends suggested,
It sounds much better especially if we ever do go on the road, Right now our neighbours are far, far away!

Thank-you for keeping me in the loop for the Memorial weekend, It would be nice to meet other women and their Airstreams,

Cheers for now.

Nensi
Vancouver Island, B.C.
Canada

We have had sunshine all day again today, so things are drying out a bit....lovely to watch come up in the mornings....and now it's starting to go down. .

I have the perfect spot for this time of year, but if it were summer the sun beating on you late afternoon would be hot.

Tonight we are to have a low of 20 degrees, tho, so microfleece and I will be sleeping together.

Lily knows what "go potty means", and she's pretty good about going on command when we are traveling and stop for a break.

She never does anything in the house or the Interstate, so I can't complain too much...she just gets out in that rain and it's...."I can hold it mom..I ain't squatting in this mess" ....and, she refuses.

Keep the Shirley Valentine gathering in mind, Nensi....not a one of us has ever met the other, so it should be great fun getting acquainted.

There is another member from up your way we would like to get come down, too, but don't know yet.

It will be great. Whenever is a bunch of women gabbing and sharing stories not a good time.


Maggie