Mom's Troubles

Mom has often talked about her childhood. My 2 favorite stories are about times she got in big trouble. One Christmas Mom and Aunt Charlotte had gotten new dolls. Mom's was a doll for a young child with molded on hair. Aunt Charlotte's had "real" hair. When Mom got mad and pitched a fit because she didn't want hers but her sisters, Grandaddy picked up the box Uncle Bud's bb gun came in and gave her a sound spanking with it. The other one was several years later. Aunt Charlotte has been know for most of my life for checking and rechecking under the beds at night before going to bed. On Sunday night her and mom returned home from church after the rest of the family had gone to sleep. The base housing they lived in at the time had an outside door at their bedroom. Aunt Charlotte had Mom go in and make sure noone was in their. Mom decided to pull a prank on her and told her there was someone under the bed. Aunt Charlotte's screams awoke Grandaddy and Mom got in trouble again....and she wonders why Chris and I are like we are!

Granny Gets in Trouble

I love old stories. I guess that stems from having spent a lot of time with older people. When Dad became a pastor, I was still in elementary school...so I was often left in the care of the senior members of our churches when they had to go visiting. I loved to hear stories about their youth or young adulthood...stories like Al & Edna Teston in Lamont, FL who told me of getting married while sitting in the back seat of a car (the justice of the peace walked out to them) or Lori Abell in Lamont who told me of only one person in her family owning a bra. When Lori got married, she borrowed the bra but the cups were somewhat larger than she needed so they stuffed grapefruit in them. When her new hubby got in bed that night, he wanted to know where her bosoms had gone. She told him they were on the table for breakfast the next day....However my biggest regret is not asking my Granny Sizemore about her life...I spent alot of time in my childhood summers and Christmases with her and most of the time it was just the two of us. I have great memories of the time - instant coffee (we never had instant coffee at home), Swiss Miss Pudding Pops in the freezer!!! (yummo!!!) and playing like I was interviewing her. But I never thought to ask her about her childhood or how she and Grandaddy met or what her parents and siblings were like. I did hear a story from Aunt Nancy (her sister) about the time Granny as a young child got in big trouble. Several of the girls were playing on the front porch and Grandpa Ray (Granny's daddy) was sitting in a chair reading nearby. During the course of being little girls, Granny commented about someone's titties coming in nice. Aunt Nancy said Grandpa Ray jumped up, threw his book down and no uncertain terms let my granny know she was not to be talking about things like that.

A Rare Treasure

We are a rare treasure those of us who are born in Florida and are true native Floridians. I always knew I was a 3rd or 4th generation native. I recently found out it may be actually a 5th or 6th generation native. This is the way I tracked it.....I was born to Wanda Sizemore Stokes who is the daughter of Clarence William Sizemore who is the son of Mary Elizabeth Wall Sizemore whose mother is Eliza Robbins Wall - that's 5 generations. I also found census records from around 1880 which have an Eliza Robbins in Sumter County Florida as the daughter of Elizabeth Robbins who was also born in Florida and the ages match up. That would be 6 generations!!!! It is awesome to know that our family is going back to some of the pioneers of the state and county that I have called home for most of my life.......

The Families I am Searching

i have started my search on the families that make up my mom's side of the family tree...the sizemore, wall, ray and reese families...and from there who knows....

Searching for Roots

I love history and have always been interested in the days gone past. So it stands as a logical conclusion that I would be interested in digging into the past that made me who I am. I have started this blog as a way to record the stories and information I find along my journey. Hope you enjoy travelling with me to find out who we are.