150 Years Ago Today: The Death of Wiley Powell

     150 years ago today, Wiley Powell died from disease while fighting in the Civil War.  He had already done a stint in the Georgia militia 26 years prior and was 42 years old when he enlisted again. This time he was serving as a replacement for another man.  He almost certainly received payment for his service, and I have to assume that the family needed that money.

     Almost as soon as Wiley joined the regiment, he went into the hospital.  He suffered from rheumatism and tuberculosis and was in and out of hospitals throughout his service.  He was admitted to Lynchburg Hospital No 3, where he stayed for a number of months before he died on 24 Jan 1864.

     Wiley was buried at the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia.  There is a cenotaph for him in Elbert County, Georgia at the Rock Branch Cemetery where many of his family are buried.

Daddy (52 Ancestors)

     Ok, so I missed week one of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge.  But! I figured that I'd do this based on Ahnentafel numbers.  Thus, my week one is the "About Valerie" tab.  Whew... I'm covered.

     So, the #2 person on my Ahnentafel report is my dad.  I have to confess, we got a bit grumpy with each other today.  He was trying to fix my toilet and the part I'd purchased was defective.  His grumpiness lead to my grumpiness... it happens.  But the happy times certainly outweigh the grumpy times.

     My dad was raised in an area outside of Atlanta that was rural, turning suburban.  His family (seven kids!) had a well for water, but by the time he was born they had indoor plumbing.  His parents, who had been born into rural farming families, believed in hard work.  Dad started working for his father's sanitation company when he was 13 and has held numerous jobs in construction and manufacturing since then.  Many times, we've been driving and he'll say, "I helped widen this road."  Sometimes he has some pretty interesting stories about the companies he worked for and the stuff they got away with back when.

     Some of my favorite memories when I was a kid come from spending time with my dad.  He took us to the drag races a few times and I remember the noise and wearing ear plugs.  My sister and I got pink t-shirts that we're wearing in a few random photos.

     He took us fishing one time.  I don't remember where, and I can only guess that we were about 10 years old (8? 12?).  I remember stopping to buy worms and standing on the bank of the lake and casting off.  I managed to catch two tiny fish and we ate snickers bars.

     Dad is also the family chef.  He will take a recipe from the newspaper or a evan a pre-packed meal and will make it his own.  It took me a while to understand why the Hamburger Helper on tv looked so different (and very boring!) than the Hamburger Helper we ate.  He's also willing to take out an ingredient he prefers for my more picky palate.

     I love my dad and I'm glad that he is my dad.  We might have our moments, but as I said, the happy outweighs the grumpy.

The Cabbagetown Photo - Then and Now

     Today I visited the location where an old family photo was taken.  The photo (see below) is of a young man standing by a car in front of a house.  My Grandmama said that this was her Uncle Milton Waters in Cabbagetown (a mill town in Atlanta, Georgia).

     In trying to find the location of the photo, I found myself with almost too many options.  Uncle Milton and his parents lived all over the neighborhood and never appear in the same home from one year to the next in city directories.  Luckily though, the addresses were confined to three streets, all in Cabbagetown.

     When I decided to go in search of the home, I did some advance research.  First, I made an assumption that if it really was Uncle Milton in the photo, he was around 15 years old.  That would place the photo around 1930.  I made a list of all of the addresses the family was listed at between 1926 and 1935 - then I looked them up on Google Maps.

     A lot of the old addresses are no more, or have been heavily redeveloped.  For example, I can pretty much disregard the address where the modern condos and high rises now sit.  Other homes are still there, but have obviously had some remodeling done.  Still, I held out hope that the house in the picture still existed.

     Next, I looked at the homes in detail on Google Maps.  There were a few key features in the photo that I used to try and identify it: the shape of the roof, the fact that it was a duplex (hard to see, but the door on the left is open), that it was built off the ground, and that it wasn't much longer than the length of the car.  I also noted that it was very close to the house on the right.

     One of the addresses, 196 Savannah Street, seemed like a possibility: it was obviously a former duplex (two chimneys and space for a second door), it was built off the ground and had the same type of roof design.  The problem was two fold: the house next door and the address.  The other house wasn't close enough, nor of the correct design.  Considering the ages of the homes, however, it was certainly possible that the other house had been renovated.  The street number was also off; this house was 193 Savannah Street.  But considering that it had been changed from a multi to a single home, it was possible that street numbers had changed.

     This could be the house - but I need proof!

    I decided to review the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Cabbagetown in 1912.  I had previously downloaded these to get an understanding of some of the homes in question and had created an overlay in Google Earth.

     I looked at the two houses in question.  The top house was clearly a duplex with basically the same design as today.  The bottom house though, the one that should have been closer, had obviously undergone serious renovation.  It had previously been a triplex, with the left/top most home pushed back.  Today, that space is a driveway, and that's what clinched it for me.  In the original photo, you can see that the porch is pushed back and that there is more siding along the right side.  Compare the original photo and the Sanborn map and you can see it.

     So today my sister and I went to visit the house and take some photos.  It really neat to walk through the neighborhood where my ancestors lived and visually connect the past and present.

Edit: I didn't mention this, but I left the photo behind on the house's doorstep, with a note saying that it was a photo of my Great-Great Uncle in front of their house.  The home owner actually blogged about finding the photo, and then found this blog post.  Read about it here: Oakdale Onward.

Land Plat for the Heirs of Daniel Crapps

     This is a plat showing the land of Daniel Crapps of Lexington County, South Carolina and how it was deeded to his heirs at the time of his death in 1867.  My 3rd Great Grandmother, Julia Crapps Leaphart, had already passed away when her father died, so her land is marked (section A) for her heirs.

     I'd love to find out exactly where this land was, and there are some clues.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to identify the rivers, even using old maps.  I think if I really want to find the location, I should find deeds and estate records for all of the neighbors shown on the map.  Those might hold more geographical clues.