Tombstone Tuesday - Sarah's Chapel

On our recent trip east I was fortunate to finally get to Dade County, Georgia.  Since I first found my Bond family in that county in 1850 I've been curious about the place.  I  had very little information to go on, and not a lot of time.  We landed in Trenton, Georgia and headed up the highway hoping to run across a cemetery.  I quickly checked http://www.findagrave.com/ and noted that John P. Bond was buried at Sarah's Chapel on Sarah's Chapel Road.   As we drove slowly north we fortunately saw the road sign for Sarah's Chapel Road and had no problem locating the cemetery.  

I had several reasons to visit this cemetery in addition to knowing that John P. Bond, a brother of our Gr-Grandfather Charles Bond, was buried here.  His was the only grave listed on findagrave and I wondered why he was seemingly buried there alone when he spent a lot of time visiting Fannin County, Texas where his brother lived.  He also owned a lot of land in Fannin County, and was often selling land there.   He sold two 1/4 interest in a 244 acre piece of property to his two brothers, Charles and William Thomas Bond.  Why would he choose to be buried back in Georgia where there was no one, I wondered.

We found his grave right away.  And next to it, was his wife's headstone, Nannie (Hale) Bond.   There are a lot of Hales buried in this cemetery.  Also there was his son's grave, James D. Bond.   John P. Bond was, as far as I can tell, the oldest half-brother of Charles Bond.  Both were sons of William W. Bond, John by a first wife who is unknown, and Charles by the second wife Janetta Neighbors.  

 On the 1850 census, William W. and wife Janetta (spelled variously as Ganetta, Jennetter, and many other ways) were living in Dade County, with four children from his first wife: John P., Jane, Moses, and Martha.  Children from his marriage to Janetta were: William T., Benjamin, Charles H., George W., and Johnston.  I find it interesting that our grandfather, Benjamin Moses Bond, was named after two of his father's brothers.  I have never been able to find anything on the first family except John P. Bond and his family.  Of the second family, William T. Bond is buried in Hilger Cemetery, as well as his brother Charles and mother Janetta and other Bond and Neighbors/Nabors relatives. 

John B. Bond was a First Lieutenant in the Army for the Confederacy, Company F, 34th Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of Tennessee.  He was born 1838 and died 1894.

I was hoping I'd find the family of Charles Bond's mother, Janetta Neighbors, but I found no Neighbors graves.  Benjamin Neighbors, who Charles' brother Benjamin was probably named after, and who I believe to be Janetta's father, lived in Dade County at the same time as the Bonds.  There are a lot of old gravestones, and many of them are broken and in very poor condition.   Some are buried under a lot of brush, and I started wading through to the back of the cemetery, but the heavy undergrowth discouraged me.   Here's a photo of a gravestone that is buried under a tree in a lot of brush.  I couldn't get close enough to read the engraving.   Generally, the cemetery is very well cared for, but it's obvious this area gets a lot of rain and a lot of growth and it would probably be a full-time job keeping these old stones readable.   You can barely see the gravestone in the middle of this photo.

I'll be working to determine if there are other family members buried in Sarah's Chapel Cemetery.

Great Grandmother Susana J. Markham Bond

I’ve spent quite a lot of time working on identifying the family of Susana J. Markham. The 1860 census, the only instance where I find her with a birth family, shows her name as Sus. J. Markham, living with parents Carter Markham and wife Lucinda (Thompson). Both my mother and Aunt Jackie remember her name as Mary Markham, and were quite adamant about that. I don't know where the Mary came from, maybe a nickname. However, Susana Markham Bond died before either was born, so maybe they were remembering someone else.

Scott Markham, who lived either with or next to our Bond family, was a mystery person to me for quite a long time, but helped me pinpoint the family of Carter Markham. Scott is shown on the 1900 census in Fannin County, TX living with Charles Bond and wife Martha, and is listed as nephew, although technically he was neither person’s nephew.   Our Benjamin M. Bond family is there also, with daughter Grace.

It wasn’t until death certificates from Texas became available online that I pinpointed Scott's father as John T. Markham, brother of Susana, and son of Carter Markham and Lucinda Thompson. Interesting, both Scott and Charles Bond married ladies from the Nichols family, which is probably a large part of why they stayed in close contact. In 1910 they are next to each other in Johnston County, Oklahoma, along with other Bond, Timmons and Markham families. By 1920 they were back in Texas, living in Burkburnett County, Texas. His name is sometimes listed as G.S. Markham, and other times J. S. Markham, but his wife’s name, Fenette (?), stays nearly the same, though she gave information for his death certificate as Janette Nichols Markham.  Those census takers weren't exactly fussy about getting spellings, or even names, correct.

Susana’s gravestone in the Bond family plot, Hilger Cemetery, Fannin County, Texas, where her husband and other family members are buried, shows her simply as S.J. Markham. On their son’s death certificate (Marvin Claude Bond) his mother’s name is listed as Susana Markham. She died on February 20, 1892. I’d still love to know what the J stands for. Maybe my mother’s name: Josephine? And maybe, just maybe, there's someone out there with a photograph of Susana Markham.  Wouldn't that be grand?

Cousins in Burkburnett, Texas

Long ago, at least for us, our Great Grandfather Charles Bond lived in Burkburnett with his first wife's nephew, Scott Markham.   In 1920, they lived at 506 6th Street in Burkburnett where they were renting a  house. Charles Bond's death certificate in 1922 lists his residence as Burkburnett, though he died and is buried in Fannin County, Texas.  Although oil was first discovered in 1912, it wasn't until the 1918 find that Burkburnett became a boom town.  The 1940 move "Boom Town" with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy was inspired by the Burkburnett story.  Below are some photos to give you an idea of what Burkburnett looked like in 1919.  Click on the images to enlarge.  Next post will go in to some more history about our Gr-Grandfather Bond and Gr-Grandmother Susana Markham families.

Both photos were taken c. 1919 and are from the Library of Congress site which indicates no known restrictions to their use.   Several things struck me about these images:  one was the location of oil rigs right next to the homes, and the second was the large number of rigs.   Couldn't get away with that today, could we? You can also see flares where the distillate is burned off.   Must have been fun keeping house.  Must have smelled lovely, too, or maybe they just thought of it as the fine "smell of money being made."
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The Farm

I thought I'd write a bit about the farm where I grew up. On the left is a photo of the old farmhouse, with my aunt and cousins. Regrettably I don't have a complete picture, but only parts of it supplied by a cousin (the farmhouse burned down when I was 10). The house, built by my grandfather, Joseph W. Hawk, had a gabled roof. You can just begin to see the beginnings of it on the left in the photo. The living room is at the front just off the porch at the left under the gabled portion. On the west wall (the house is facing south) there was a staircase behind a door which led you up to a landing, where you turned and went up to a long, narrow room. This room served as our playroom. As I remember, the sides of the walls went up before meeting the ceiling which went up to a point in the middle of the room. My sister and I spent many days up there, especially rainy ones--which happens pretty often in south Texas.

Grandmama Nora Timmons Bond with granddaughters at the farm.

On the opening wall from the staircase opening upstairs was a opening to the attic, showing an unfinished space with rafters. We weren't allowed to even crawl into this space as Mama and Daddy were certain we would fall tlhrough and land somewhere downstairs. Daddy would sometimes walk across the boards to get whatever was stored up there. I sure was tempted but kept picturing myself falling through the ceiling. Just inside the door (which was covered with a cloth curtain) were several very old trunks which had likely come with the family when they traveled from Kansas by covered wagon in 1908. I know these trunks held lots of old photos because I was able to lean over from the doorway and reach in far enough to lift the lids and peak in. Gosh, would I love to have those old photos now. Sadly, they were lost in the fire that destroyed our home on November 8, 1956.
Playing Paper Dolls
My sister and I were big on paper dolls. A Sears catalog was a great boon, and we looked forward to the new one coming so we could tear up the old one. We cut out people and made whole families, and then laid out homes with rooms furnished from the Sears pages. I always had big families, with lots of kids, and parents who looked handsome and very fashionable. The kids were of all ages, although none of the kids was old enough to be married. We did love those wedding gown-clad ladies though. Sis and I would each take a side of the bed for our families. Sometimes we would play on the floor. We had other games we played, but paper dolls was always my favorite.

Our parents would also buy us books of dolls, and we would cut or tear those out along with their clothes. Another favorite pastime was designing and coloring clothes and then adding little tabs so we could put them on our favorite paper ladies. Imagine my surprise when I found old paper doll books on amazon.com, as well as collectors of old paper dolls. There are even people who design paper dolls (see ). Another page I really enjoyed was one with Betsy McCall dolls from the pages of old McCall magazines. Click on Betsy McCall to see the pages. You can download a pdf file for any of the Betsy McCall pages they have, if you still want to play with paper dolls. Oh, I mean if you have children who might enjoy them, or grandchildren. :)

Mama's Family

After listing Daddy's father's family I thought I would go ahead and list Mama's immediate family. I'm trying to find stories about her family when they were children but it seems no one heard or remembers stories our parents, aunts or uncles told, except for my cousin Snooks who has an amazing memory.

Benjamin Moses Bond, son of Charles Bond and Susana J. Markham, married Nora Mellissie Timmons, daughter of William Robertus Monroe Timmons and Mahala Jane Roten, on November 29, 1898 at her parents' home in New Boston, Bowie County, Texas.

Their children were:


1. Grace Ada, born December 29, 1899 in Texas. She married Ivy L. Warren June 28, 1919 in Red River County, Texas. She died August 7, 1938 in Harris County, Texas.

2. Charles Monroe born August 9, 1902 in Texas. He died January 17, 1949 in Galveston County, Texas.


3. Jewell Sidney, born September 5, 1904 in Texas, died September 27, 1937 in Houston, Harris County, Texas.

4. Alma Josephine, born March 19,1906 in Johnston County, Oklahoma. She married Leonard George Showers in 1929 or 1930. After he died she married Joe Hesacar Hawk on September 2, 1936 in Ft. Bend County, Texas. She died June 16, 1980 in Galveston County, Texas.

5. Minnie Hazel, born July 30, 1908 in Johnston County, Oklahoma. She married John Robertson on September 28, 1927 in Wilbarger County, Texas. She died August 13, 1956 in Wilbarger County, Texas.


6. Clarence Benjamin, "Bennie", born September 22, 1910 in Johnston County, OK, died Oct 27, 1918 in Bagwell, Red River County, Texas.


7. Alcie Lewis, born April 8, 1912, Johnston County, Oklahoma. He married Anna Mary Shute in West Columbia, Brazoria County, Texas. They divorced and he then married Lenore Juanita Sherwood on November 23, 1936 in Galveston County, Texas. He died December 24, 1978 in Galveston County, Texas.

8. Bertha E. Bond, born April 29, 1914, died September 9, 1914 in Johnston County, Oklahoma.

9. Lavoy Oleta ("Jackie"), born October 16, 1915 in Texas. She married Harley Elvis Griesmer on June 27, 1936. She died August 13, 1993 in Bacliff, Galveston County, Texas.


10. Lena Murrel, born September 14, 1918 in Red River County, Texas. She married Herbert Warren on March 1, 1941 in Bacliff, Galveston County, Texas. She died June 12, 2000 in Fremont, Alameda County, California.

Bond family from Fannin County, Texas

This is some of what I have on the Bond family of Fannin County, which is my grandfather's parents and siblings.

Charles H. Bond, b. 6 July 1849, Tennessee, son of William W. Bond and Janetta (Ganetta, Jennetter) Neighbors; d. 19 April 1922, Fannin County, Texas, buried Hilger Cemetery; m. 1st. Susana J. Markham, 2nd. Martha J. Nichols.

Wife #1: Susana J. Markham, b. 29 Mar 1851, Arkansas; daughter of Carter Markham and Lucinda Thompson, d. 20 Feb 1892, Fannin County, Texas, buried Hilger Cemetery.

Children:

1. Benjamin Moses Bond, b. 30 Oct 1873, Arkansas; d. 11 June 1930, West Columbia, Brazoria County, Texas, buried ; m. Nora Mellissie Timmons.

2. William W. Bond, b. 1874 Arkansas (no further information)

3. Charles M. Bond, b. 1877 Texas (no further information)

4. John Dorris Bond, b. 31 Mar 1878, Texas; d. 11 Mar 1941, Fannin County, Texas, buried IOOF Cemetery, Fannin County; m. Dovie B. Nichols, 1903.

5. George Carter Bond, b. 16 Mar 1880, Wise County, Texas; wife's name Tempie, per World War I draft registration card from Johnston County, Oklahoma.

6. Lou Anne Bond, b. April 1882, Texas; d. 24 July 1935; m. Henry Evans Timmons, brother of Nora Mellissie Timmons, 22 Mar 1902, Fannin County, Texas. Marriage certificate lists her name as Luanna.

7. Marvin Claude Bond, b. 25 May 1885, Fannin County, Texas; d. 4 Dec 1941, Allen Memorial Hospital, Fannin County, Texas, buried IOOF Cemetery, Ravenna, Fannin County, Texas; m. Grace Bostie.

8. Thomas E. Bond, b. 2 Feb 1887, Fannin County, Texas; d. unknown; m. Minnie R. 1902.

9. Martha Ethyl Bond, b. Dec. 1889, Texas. (no other information available)

10. James P. Bond, b. 7 Jan 1892, Texas; d. 15 Feb 1892, Texas. Note: his mother died on 20 Feb, 1892.


Wife #2: Martha J. Nichols, b. 1849, Tennessee; d. 1941, Pontotoc, Johnston County, Oklahoma, buried Pontotoc Cemetery, Johnston County, Oklahoma next to her father, Moses Carroll Nichols. Family lore is that she and Susana (Wife #1) were close friends. Her younger sister married John D. Bond (see above).

Children:

1. Alton A. Bond, b. 11 Feb 1894, Fannin County, Texas; d. 25 Sept 1894, Fannin County, Texas, buried Hilger Cemetery, Fannin County.

2. Dovie E. Bond, b. 27 Nov 1894 Fannin County, Texas; d. 4 April 1896, Fannin County, Texas, buried Hilger Cemetery, Fannin County.

3. Henry C. Bond, b. 26 Oct 1895. No further information available.

4. Mary L. Bond, b. March 1897, Fannin County, Texas. I believe this is the Aunt Mary my mother, Josephine Bond Hawk, wrote to for many years. She was married to a doctor and lived in Oklahoma City, to the best of my recollection. On the 1920 Wichita County, Texas census her occupation is listed as "schoolteacher."

5. Dewey S. Bond, b. 1 June 1898, Fannin County, Texas. No other information available.

6. Oatis C. Bond, b. 21 Feb 1900, Fannin County, Texas; d. 25 May 1901, Fannin County, buried Hilger Cemetery.

John Hawk family and will

John Hawk was my great-great grandfather. I am descended through his son George Washington Hawk. Here is some of the information I have on him. Copy of his will is at the end of this posting.

John Hawk married Margaret (Peggy) Groves in Hardy County, Virginia, June 5, 1823. They moved first to Tippecanoe County, Indiana and then to Christian County, Illinois.

Children:

1. George Washington Hawk, b. 2 Aug 1824, Virginia; d. 18 June 1908, Matagorda County, Texas; m. Salana Hudson, Tippecanoe County, Indiana.

2. Solomon Hawk, b. 22 Nov 1826, Hardy County, VA; d. 26 May 1915, Nodaway County, Missouri; m. Cevilla Moler.

3. Peter Hawk, b. 8 Nov 1828, Hardy County, VA; d. 15 April 1898, Clinton County, Missouri; married Effie Stingley 20 Jan 1853.

4. Jesse J. Hawk, b. 24 Oct 1830, Hardy County, VA; d. 7 Sept 1902 Finney County, Kansas, m. (1) Rachel Catherine Stingley and (2) Hannah DeShazer.

5. Fanny G. Hawk, 5 Nov 1832, Hardy County, VA, d. 21 Oct 1857, Christian County, Illinois; m. Andrew Hudson, brother of Salana Hudson.

6. Jacob W. Hawk, b. 15 Nov 1834, d. 21 Oct 1922, Barry County, Missouri, married Charlotte ?.

7. Rachael Hawk, b. 15 March 1837, Hardy County, VA; d. 3 July 1920, Piatt County, Illinois; m. William J. Monroe 15 March 1856 in Christian County, Illinois.

8. Catherine Hawk, b. 2 Aug 1839, Tippecanoe County, Indiana; d. 11 Aug 1919 in Montgomery County, Illinois; m. Christian Balsley 22 Mar 1858 in Christian County, Illinois.

9. John H. Hawk, b. 17 Mar 1842, Tippecanoe County, Indiana. d. 18 Oct 1862, St. Louis, Missouri, Illinois "Normal Regiment of Teachers," Co. D., 33rd Regiment, Illinois Volunteers.

10. Henry Hawk, b. 22 Aug 1844, Tippecanoe County, Indiana; marriage unclear at this time.

11. Sarah Jane Hawk, b. 1 Mar 1847, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, d. 24 June 1927, Nokomis, Montgomery County, Illinois; married John Miller Sale 22 Dec 1865.

Margaret Groves Hawk died 30 Sept 1858 in Christian County, Illinois and is buried there on the farm. John Hawk then married a widow, Nancy Kinnerman, 25 May 1859, in Indiana. They had one child:

12. Dolly Ann Hawk, b. 1861, Christian County, Illinois, d. between 1905 (birth of last child) and 1910 in Christian County, Illinois; married Thomas J. Raney, 27 Oct 1881, in Christian County, Illinois.