To the Feeser Family... and Beyond: 2012

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Amelia Carolyn Farrar - Parents and Siblings

For previous posts about Amelia Carolyn Farrar (Grandmother Smith), check here.

I just love doing genealogy. It is so much fun to me to learn about the people in my family who came before me. I'm pretty curious (i.e. nosy) anyway, so maybe that's why I enjoy it so much. So, on with the fun!!!
This post is all about her parents and siblings. Here is what I know:
Her parents, James Thomas Farrar and Ethel Melinda Tubbs (more on them later), had six children. The first five were girls, then they had a boy. I can only imagine that he was the little "prince" of the family. Here are the children.

1. Susan Velia "Velie"(sp?) - she was born Nov 1893 in Arkansas and died 15 Jun 1961 in Hamburg, Ashley, Arkansas. She never married and had no children. I didn't know her at all, and my mother was only 11 years old, but I'll include a few questions about her life when I do interviews. She is listed on the census records here for 1900, 1910, and 1920. 1930 and 1940 are here. She is listed as a school teacher in 1930, and doesn't have an occupation listed in 1940. She is living with her parents in 1930 and then with just her mom in 1940. Her sister Lelia is living with them both times also.

2. Mary Lelia (Lelia) - she was born 10 Feb 1895 in Arkansas and died 23 Dec 1990 in Hamburg, Ashley, Arkansas. I actually remember Aunt Lelia, I was 13 when she died. She lived in the nursing home in Hamburg the whole time I knew her. My paternal grandmother was the nursing director of the nursing home, so I visited there more often than I would have normally visited. Anyway, Aunt Lelia never married and had no children. Ethyl Amelia Smith (Memaw Ethyl to me) went to see her a lot at the nursing home, and the main thing I remember was the fact that I was amazed to know someone who was born in the 1800s! I thought that was really cool. I don't remember anything more about her. More interview questions... She is also in the 1900, 1910, and 1920 census records here. 1930 and 1940 are listed here. She is listed as a bookkeeper for an insurance company in 1930, then in 1940 she is listed as a stenographer for the abstract office. It is worth noting that at this same time her brother-in-law, Barton Rutherford Smith (married to Amelia Carolyn), was the manager at the abstract office.

3. Nancy Cornelia Farrar
4. Amelia Carolyn (We've met her before)

5. Obelia Maggie -She is listed in the family bible (Mary Lelia had it) that my cousin scanned. I'll try to get those linked soon. She was born Oct 7, 1901, and she died July 19, 1903. I looked in the newspaper for the time, and it looks like it's missing the week that she would've been mentioned. It was the Ashley County Eagle, and some of the pages have been transcribed, and some were lost to a fire in 1914. The week's paper mentioning her may have been lost.

6. James Thomas Benjamin Farrar

James Thomas Farrar and Family - Media Files/Pictures

James Thomas Farrar and Ethel Melinda Tubbs Marriage Certificate

1930 US Federal Census: Hamburg, Ashley, Arkansas, USA (Susan Flovelia and Mary Lelia also)

Arkansas Death Index - James Thomas Farrar

1940 US Federal Census: Hamburg, Ashley, Arkansas, USA (Ethel, Velia, and Lelia together)

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Amelia Carolyn Farrar

     Amelia Carolyn Farrar (Grandmother Smith) was my great-grandmother. I don't remember much about her at all. I was only three when she died, but I do remember my mother talking about her a lot. One of the funniest stories that everyone tells about my Aunt Carolyn revolved around Grandmother Smith being in the hospital in Lake Village, Arkansas near the end of her life (that's just a teaser because I have to ask my Aunt before I actually tell the story. Stay tuned!!).
     My grandmother, Ethyl Amelia Smith, was her only child, and recently I've been wondering why that was. Did she just decide that one child was enough (she had two step children from her husband's previous marriage), so maybe three was enough. Maybe her husband didn't want anymore children (he was older than her by fifteen years, so maybe he thought he was too old for more kids). They were also smack dab in the Great Depression, so maybe that was a factor. I'm not sure what the reason is, but since my grandmother is still alive, I plan to ask her when I go home.
     Also, she never seemed to live anywhere but in the same general area. So I wonder if she traveled much or if she even left Arkansas. (I'm sure she went to Louisiana since it's so close to where she lived in Arkansas, but I want to know about other "travels).
     Grandmother Smith had four grandchildren from my grandparents, and they are all still living. I've asked two of them for interviews specifically about Grandmother Smith, so I'll be getting more information from them. One interview will be a phone interview, the other will be in person next time I'm home summer of 2013. For this first post about her, I copied just the basics from the Family Tree Maker software on my computer. Here it is:

Amelia Carolyn Farrar was born on 13 Oct 1898 in Rawls, Ashley, Arkansas, USA as the fourth child of James Thomas Farrar and Ethel Melinda Tubbs. She had five siblings, namely: Susan Flovelia, Mary Lelia, Nancy Cornelia, Obelia Maggie, and James Thomas Benjamin. She died on 14 Jan 1980 in Hamburg, Ashley, Arkansas, USA (Hamburg Cemetery, Hamburg, Ashley, Arkansas, USA). When she was 24, She married Barton Rutherford Smith,son of Charles Henry Smith and Mollie T. Judkins, on 02 Sep 1923 in Ashley, Arkansas, USA (click here to see the marriage certificate).

Amelia Carolyn Farrar lived in Egypt, Ashley, Arkansas, USA in 1900. She lived in Egypt, Ashley, Arkansas, USA in 1910. She lived in Elon, Ashley, Arkansas, USA in 1920. She lived in Hamburg, Ashley, Arkansas, USA in 1930. She lived in Hamburg, Ashley, Arkansas, United States on 01 Apr 1940. (To see the actual census records or any of the other documents I have, check those out here. You will also notice that her name isn't the same in any of the census' records. I guess the enumerators just didn't know how to spell what they were saying. I think they called her "Melia" which probably sounded like "Me-ler")

Barton Rutherford Smith and Amelia Carolyn Farrar had the following children:

1. Ethyl Amelia Smith was born on 20 Oct 1924 in Hamburg, Ashley, Arkansas, USA. She married Jack Horace Shell Sr. on 02 Jul 1941 in Union, Arkansas, United States.

So let's recap the information I want to get next on Amelia Carolyn Farrar:
1. Interview her daughter (for what she can remember)
2. Interview her grandchildren (all four if possible), and great-grandchildren.
    a. Why did she have only one child?
    b. Did she ever travel anywhere outside of her home area?
3. Find any pictures of her or letters she has written (my cousin, in Austin, TX, has some pictures and an audio recording!! YAY!!)
4. Find her siblings and their children (my cousins)!