Week 14 - Dinner Party for family

If you held a dinner party and could invite 12 family members (living or deceased) who would you invite?

When I first started with the writing prompt, I wasn't thrilled with the topic. I was having a hard time finding who I wanted to invite other than potentially my grandparents who I would love to have time with now that I am an adult. I was interrupted during this writing task by my dog Foxy who wanted her afternoon walk. As I walked down the street, random thoughts started coming to me. 

In genealogy, it is a known fact that it is easier to find information on your male ancestors than your female ancestors; so I want to spend this special time learning more about the women in my family. 

My sister Shirley was recently the featured speaker at an afternoon tea for the woman's group at her church. Suddenly I had a theme for my party, an afternoon tea. 

All the women would be invited to bring any special recipes and or handicrafts to share.

Here are the 12 special invitees. In addition, I would invite my sisters and cousins who were interested to share in the very special party.

1.          Bertha McDowell Reppel — maternal grandmother

I was in the 4th grade when Grandma Reppel died so I don't have many memories of our times together. I have never heard a bad word about Grandma from anyone. My father (her son-in-law) loved her and always spoke very highly of her. He also said she was a good cook. I don’t remember her cooking except that she made homemade plum jelly. I know she embroidered linens – after she passed away, I was given a few of the linens that she had embroidered. I would love to have learned how to embroider from her; my Aunt Bobbie’s embroidery work is exceptional. I also have one of her quilts.

2.          Maude Powell Gates — paternal grandmother

I was a freshman in high school when Old Mama passed away. She had been sick for several years prior to this. I would love to have had some adult time with her. During the depression, she was a baker for the Phoenix Country club. Her specialties were cakes. She made the angel food wedding cake for my parent’s wedding. My mom said she made the best lemon meringue pies.

3.          Gertrude Fix Powell — paternal great grandmother

Gertrude was known as Mom Powell by her grandchildren. During the depression, my father he stayed with her for a year or so when my grandparents were working at the Phoenix Country Club. She was born in Illinois. Her grandfather was a German immigrant; perhaps she can share some of her German heritage with us.

4.          Miriam Irish Roberts — my maternal 4th great grandmother

Miriam was born in Maine in 1777. She and her husband moved from Maine to West Virginia, then to Ohio and finally to Iowa. When they left Maine, they left two of their young sons behind with family. She would have had to feed her family during their long treks as well as on the frontier in the early shelters and log cabins. She would have been responsible for clothing her family as well. 

5.          Rhoda Donegan McDowell — maternal 2th great grandmother

Rhoda was born in Iowa in 1840. Her mother died when she was just 8 years old. When she was about 12 years old, her father placed her into an indentured servitude while he left for the California Gold Fields. She was rescued by her maternal uncles who loved and cared for her until her marriage at the age of 23. She and her husband Vincent left Iowa for the Colorado Divide where they homesteaded. Rhoda ensured all of her children were well educate.

6.          Cynthia Webster Boyles — paternal 4th great grandmother

Cynthia was born about 1794 in N.C. She married James Anderson Boyles who was a Methodist Preacher. They lived in Mississippi. I would like to ask if she is related to my husband great Grandfather Marshall Boyles

7.          Melanie Breitel — maternal great grandmother

Melanie was born in Alsace in 1858. She was 42 when she gave birth to my grandfather Robert Reppel. She and my grandfather lived in Paris in the last 1800’s. I would love to hear more about her life, but I might need my cousin Marie-Laure at the table to translate the French/Alsatian to English.

8.          Nancy Estes —  maternal great grandmother

Nancy was born in 1816 in Illinois. After she married my great grandfather Garrett, they moved to Indiana, Missouri and Iowa.  Garrett is one of my brick walls.  Perhaps in addition to learning more about her life, she could help shed some light on Garrett’s ancestors.

9.          Elizabeth Boyles Collins — paternal 2nd great grandmother

Elizabeth was born in 1841 in Perry, Alabama. She married Leroy George Collins. During the civil war Leroy was a rebel soldier and gone from home. I would be interested in knowing how Elizabeth was able to survive during his absence.

10.     Dorothy Wallace Waite — Burt’s mother

Dorothy passed away when Burt was just 22; he was barely an adult. Times were tough when Burt was young; after his parents divorced his father cut all ties with his two children from his first marriage. Burt’s mom ran a child care nursery and lived with his god mother Margaret Gwaltney to make ends meet. According to Burt his mother supported him in whatever he wanted to achieve.

11.     Mattie Shear Waite — Burt’s paternal great grandmother

Mattie was born in 1845 in New York. She migrated with her family to Michigan before 1850. She was my very first genealogy challenge. She first married Burt’s great uncle Henry Agustus Wait who was killed at the end of the civil on the sinking of the Sultana. She then married Burt’s great grandfather and had 5 children with him. They were divorced in 1890 in Kansas. She and the kids then moved to Illinois and then to Chattanooga, Tennessee. I know nothing of her ancestors.

12.     Mamie Boyles Wallace Kitts — Burt’s maternal grandmother

Mamie was born in 1896 in Florence, Alabama. She married Ira Cleveland Wallace in 1911 when she was 15 years old. She gave birth to 4 children before their marriage ended in divorce. She married a second time in 1923 to Adolph Agustus Kitts. After the death of Burt’s godmother Margaret Gwaltney, Burt inherited her photo album. None of the pictures were labeled. I would love for her to be able to identify the people in her album as most of them have remained a mystery to us.