The Wm. H. Alexander Family

William Hays Alexander was born May 11, 1880 in Jackson County, Indiana, and died October 10, 1928 in Seymour, Indiana. He was the son of John and Amanda (Atkins) Alexander. He married Olive Ellen Martin, daughter of Samuel Martin and Margaret Hovis. She was born December 25, 1885 in Jackson County, Indiana, and died January 21, 1975 in Seymour, Indiana.


Children of William Alexander and Olive Martin are:



Della Mae Alexander, born September 4, 1904 and died June 6, 1996 in Seymour, Jackson County, Indiana. She married James Jaynes.







Gladys Alexander, born March 30, 1907 and died Jan 1973 in California. She married Joseph A. Taylor.








Merril Harris Alexander, born September 11, 1909 and died November 6, 1931 in Seymour, Indiana. He married Bertha Manning.








Lucille D. Alexander, born 20 October 20, 1913 and died in April of 1987 in Seymour, Indiana. She married Arthur Gerth.







Opal Louise Alexander, born 16 January 16, 1916 and died 16 May 16 1948 in Seymour, Indiana. She married Woodrow R. Bush.








William H Alexander, born June 12, 1919 and died January 15, 1971 in Seymour, Indiana. He married Lois Lee Plumer.






Norma Alexander, born 05 October 5, 1922 and died May 16, 1993 in Seymour, Indiana. She married Eugene Wright.

Della's Quilts

My grandmother loved pink. She also loved sewing and gardening. She could get anything to grow.

I own a large bed quilt that she made. As a child I would stay with her and sleep under it. It has that very familiar feel. There were originally 2 of them. I think the other has probably been destroyed, but I am not sure.

Below are 2 items that she created and I proudly now keep safe.



This is the pink quilt. It is full size and has a thin batt. It is also in very good shape. It was made in the very late 1940's or the very early 1950's.

This is the quilt my grandmother made for me and my dolls. It is all handmade. I know it was given to me when I was about 3. I am 54. She taught me how to sew and crochet. I will always have that.

A Cemetery Visit

I've been so busy lately that I have not had much time to blog. Allergies are bad right now, too.
Yesterday my sister and I went to visit and clean up my dads grave. I am always in a 'mood' after that. We also ran by the gr-grandparents graves on the way home. I didn't have much time, but I got photos of all the old stones that had broken and fallen since last time. Each time I will fill my card/camera with photos until they are all photographed.
Both are small country cemeteries. My dad is atop a knob overlooking the 'holler' in Cummins Cemetery. He was born in Alabama in the mountains. He had spent his last years in the area and said it reminded him of home. I wish he was closer to town as we can't get out there as often as we'd like, but I know he loved the area. The gr-grandparents cemetery, Chestnut Ridge, is larger, and had lost a couple trees in the storm. It's not as isolated, but still quite a ways out of town.
I enjoy walking through cemeteries. Nice way to end a busy day.

Bizzie's Quilts

Bizzie Lee [Beard] Brock made all of these. When she made them is probably fuzzy but I am sure she made them all before the move to Indiana from Alabama. So that would be pre-1951. They are all in bad shape, some worse than others. But they were all used. A lot. My dad told me of the quilting bees and how they pulled out the cotton to make the batts. You can still find cotton seeds that they missed in some of the quilts.
This one is the fanciest one she made. I think she actually bought fabric to make this one. So it would have been for something special. I wish I knew the history!
This one almost matches. That one block throws it off. It's a small quilt and it is in very bad shape. I believe because of its size it is most likely one of the childrens quilts. Because of the color I would say one of the girls.
This thing weighs a ton! The fabric you see was added later when the original quilt was in really bad shape. She didn't throw it away, she simply recovered it. She also took the time to re-quilt it. She bulked it up with a flannel lining. The thing is heavy. A small child would not be able to move under this thing! It was obviously covered with scraps from other projects. I can't tell what the original design was without further damaging the quilt. This is the quilt I have the most questions about!
I am building my museum/artifact pages for my site, FamilyTwigs. When I have it up and running all the stats on the quilts will be listed; such as size, fabric types, more detailed photos and damage. I also try to date them all.

Regrets, I've Had a Few. . . . . . .

I'm still working on photos. I will probably be working on photos for the rest of my life!
When I first got a computer it had Windows 98. Good program. But, as often happens, you get a new computer, you get a new OS. I got Windows ME. Oh my. It was so awful. I crashed with nauseating regularity. The first time I lost a lot. I quickly learned a new term. Backup. That was such an awful OS. Crashed about every 4 months like clockwork and hung daily. Then along came XP. Breath of fresh air. Though, I don't agree that it was the greatest ever, I'm just sure it seemed to be the greatest ever after having ME. :0) At any rate, I had a scanner. It worked with 98, ME and XP. It had 3 settings, 100, 200 or 300 dpi. It scanned JPG. I was happy, even though I didn't know what JPG or 100, 200 or 300 dpi was. The how-to book consisted of pictures of how to plug it into the computer, and how to push the button. So, this is how most of my photos were scanned. One could say blindly.
But, as you know, nothing lasts forever. Get a new system, end up with a new OS. I got Vista. Now, I have no complaints about Vista at all. I personally feel it is better than XP. I really like it. But my scanner would no longer work. So, I went over to the site to update the drivers. Bad news! They hadn't been updated since 2002. It was discontinued, of course. So I was forced to go get a new scanner.
I bought a 3-in-one. It is a little more complicated than the one I had. It actually has a learning curve :o) My old Memorex scanner had a button. You said 100, 200 or 300 dpi and pushed it. Now I have choices of file types, and the dpi is endless. And it has all kinds of little fixes. Quite an improvement. Took some practice too. I still accidentally learn a new trick now and then. A large number of photos I have since rescanned. Many I will not be able to rescan.
Now I have all these photos to tag and change into a safe format (.tif). Gigs of them. But I will hack away at them until they are done. Big job though.
I bet everyone has something they did in the beginning that they wish they had done differently. I wish I'd kept more careful notes and learned to cite sources right in the beginning. Wish I'd took scanning 101.

I've Been Tagged!

Well, I just found out that there is something besides my cold going around :o)
Becky over at kinexxions has tagged me. I don't think I've been tagged before. I am honored.







The rules associated with this particular tagging thingy are that the tagged blogger

• can put the logo on his/her blog
• must link to the person who gave the award
• must nominate seven other blogs and link to them
• must leave a comment on each of the nominated blogs

I have seen this tag on several of the better known blogs so I have chosen the ones I haven't seen it on. I love and read all the better knowns, but I tune in at these as well [in alphabetical order]:

The Family Curator by Denise
FamilyMatters by Denise Olson
Generations Gone By’s Weblog by generationsgoneby
Genealogy - Diggin up Dirt by Cat
Granite in My Blood by Midge Frazel
Heritage Happens by Msteri
Taneya’s Genealogy Blog by Taneya

Glorious Hats! - Crowning Glory

I've decided to post hats. Not my family, I'm afraid. I have tons of photos of unknowns. Sad, but true. Here are some wonderful ladies that do not deserve to be forgotten.

Ladies, heads up, you're on!

Strange hats. . . . .

big hats. . . . .

pert hats. . . . .

Traveling hats. . . . . .

and now, for the finale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

a tin-type, prim hat. Doesn't she look interesting? I wonder who she is. Do you think it's just what they wore? Or is it Quaker? They were in this area. Anyway, I think she is beautiful.

Written for: 5th Edition of Smile For The Camera
Sep 13, 2008
Crowning Glory

Suddenly Busy

I don't know why, but things always heat up all at once. Lately it's been hot! I have had 3 new contacts about 3 different lines just in a week. My Morgan, Hovis and Hogg families. I love it!
I also don't know why, but I have either a monster cold or allergy outbreak of biblical proportions. :o( Ok. So it's not like a plague. Or is it? So I'm a little [lot] cranky and tired. Everytime I turn on the TV I want to throw stuff at it. How long before it's over? November??? [sigh] Weeeee.
Good news. There is a Storm Watch in the counties to the north and west of me. We may get rain. This is exciting news. I want thunder. I want pouring rain. It's been a long time since we got more than sprinkles. I am hoping!
I can't talk anymore...my throat hurts. [cough] [cough]
LOL