Alright - I don't know how many of my family members are going to care about this, but the story of our family has become interesting to me of late... primarily because there are so many of us. So, if it is alright with you all, I'd like to share a small slice of the tree with you here - starting with William Solomon.
Yes, my great-grandfather - William Solomon. (A relative that we visited in Arkansas called him Uncle Solly... so we shall henceforth call him, "Papaw Solly".) Before Papaw Solly passed away he was married to my great-grandmother, Mary Lou (an amazing lady who outlived two husbands and had approximately seventeen children total - I've never known us to call her anything except Granny Valentine - so we shall call her "Granny Valentine" here).
Now to the thick of things:
Papaw Solly and Granny Valentine were married, and from that marriage came the first five of her seventeen children. From oldest to youngest are:
Ivy
Truman (my Pep-paw Truman)
William Solomon (whom we all know as "Dub")
Leonard
Lela
Now, as I'm sure you read in the post about Papaw Solly, he died under mysterious-ish circumstances... from a gunshot wound. After which his oldest son (and my grandfather, Pep-paw Truman) found his body. (I believe I've written out more of his story in the entry that I made about him specifically, if not - I'll update it as soon as I can.)
Now, these five children went on to marry and have children of their own (obviously - because my parents and aunts/uncles exist). So, going in birth order - here are snippets of their stories.
Great-Aunt Ivy married young and moved out. She and her husband (I do not know his name) had a set of twin girls (I don't know their names either, but I've got a photo of them somewhere - very cute, might post it later if I find it.) Before Ivy's twins could grow up, Ivy, her husband, and their baby girls all died in a house fire. One of my other great-uncles (you'll read more about him shortly) was living with them at the time and was the only one to make it out of the house alive, and the fire department had to hold him back to keep from going back into the house to try to get them all out. So, oldest child, tragedy.
Next, we move on to my grandpa (Pep-paw Truman) and the branch of the family that I probably will get the most accurate. Pep-paw Truman married Granny Marie (whose name is actually Ethel Marie. He used to call her Ethel when they were joking around... and that is a whole 'nother funny/adorable story that I'll have to save for later because I don't have time for it here. These two met, married, and had five children of their own. In order from oldest to youngest they are:
Mary Kay
Billy Ray
Nancy Ilene
Michael Truman
Carolyn Marie
[If you are in my family and are wondering, "is she actually going to go thru the whole tree slice, tiny bit by tiny bit?" You are absolutely correct. Please feel free to get annoyed at me right now... or scroll down to where you actually come in, or give up and save it for later... it's no skin off my nose. I just want to make sure it is here for those who might want to know and don't already.]
The next group we're moving on to will be Uncle Dub's family. Great-Uncle Dub married Great-Aunt Mary. They also had five children. (Don't worry I've got some great stories about them too - just in case you didn't know. For example, Aunt Mary could absolutely smoke you in a video game. She was aces.) Anyway - their five children, from oldest to youngest are:
Martha Lou (their only daughter)
Billy Charles (best man at mom & dad's wedding)
Douglas
Kenneth
Ray (who recently passed away after a decades long battle with cancer)
The next of Popaw Solly & Granny Valentine's children was Leonard. He married an amazing woman named Lois, and together they were "the" Halloween couple. They did it up. Scary movies, haunted houses, they loved it. For a long time they thought they couldn't have children - until they could. So, their children from oldest to youngest are:
Karen (who was their "we loved ya, so we gotcha" adopted baby)
Tiffany (who was their "we were super-surprised when we had you" miracle baby)
[At this time, I don't really know a whole lot about Karen's biological parents - but I do know that she is absolutely brilliant, with the kindest heart, and the sweetest smile, and we love her. So, she is ours. So there.]
The last baby of Popaw Solly and Granny Valentine is Great-Aunt Lela (who is the only one of Solly and Mary's children living and was born on Leap Year day). Now, Aunt Lela is the one to ask questions of if you've got them, because she is whip-smart and remembers way more than I'm likely to ever forget. She is the one with all the receipts and the names and the things. And, while it may have been my grandfather who found Popaw Solly, it was Great-Aunt Lela who was likely last on his mind. In his last letter to Granny Valentine he asked Granny to take care of Lela, and it was her baby photo that they had to pry from his hands after rigor mortis had set in. Great-Aunt Lela married (probably the coolest guy around) Great-Uncle Sidney, and they had three of their own. I'm not really sure on the birth order of these three, but I'll get as close as I can.
Devon
Darrel (who, if I recall correctly was another one of Dad's groomsmen)
Cheryl
And that is the section of the family tree branch from Popaw Solly.
~*~
After Popaw Solly passed away, Granny Valentine remarried a farmer named Joe. It was also during this time that many of the children had been sent to the orphanage to live (because the Great Depression happened and they were probably still recovering) and she couldn't afford to care for them all. As far as I am aware, my Pep-paw Truman did get as many of them out of the orphanage as he could, as soon as he got out himself, but some of them were also adopted out (some out of state, if I recall correctly). I'll try to note these as I go thru.
Granny Valentine and Joe proceeded to have twelve more children after the original five. I might get these a bit out of age order, but I'm going to do the best I can with the information that I have. So from oldest to youngest (tentatively) are...
Tommy (who was adopted by a family in Louisiana, I believe)
Carroll (who ended up staying with Ivy and being the only one to survive her house fire)
Frankie (who I never knew - but I heard he passed away early in life)
The first of two sets of twins (who I likewise never knew, and have very limited knowledge of now)
Frankie Carl (who I've never met - though Mom says he is very tall, distinguished and wears a bolero)
The second of two sets of twins (second verse, same as the first - never knew, limited knowledge of)
Jimmy Mack (who passed around five-ish years ago?)
Brenda Sue (who has two terrific sons)
Carl (who no one calls "Carl" because we all call him "Buster")
Leroyce (who is for sure the youngest of all seventeen of Granny Valentine's babies)
Now, to go thru this line and their children - please forgive me a few mistakes here and there. I know I'm not likely to get these as accurate as I did Solly's line - but I am going to give it my best shot.
Great-Uncle Tommy married Aunt Jackie and had:
Tom ("Tom-Tom" to his mom)
Monica
Susan
Great-Uncle Carroll marred Aunt Peggy (and on top of a lifetime of incredible stories) had:
Sheila
Betty (who we've always called "Skeeter")
Ben
Again - never knew Great-Uncle Frankie, never knew if he lived long enough to marry or have children.
The first twin of the first set, who I never knew... and know precious little of now.
The second twin of the first set, who I also never knew... and know precious little of now.
Frankie Carl - who everyone else seems to know, but I've never seen - apparently he looks a great deal like Great-Uncle Tommy, but is taller and skinnier - you know, with is bolero tie and stuff. Sounds like the most dapper of fellows, I just wish I knew if he ever married or had children. These are things I don't know about him.
The first twin of the second set, who I never knew... and know precious little of now.
The second twin of the second set, who again, I never knew... and know precious little of now.
Jimmy Mack is interesting, I'm not sure who his first wife is/was, or why that relationship ended (death? divorce?), but I know they had two daughters, that his second wife, Brenda Kay... ended up falling in love with. These girls are (from oldest to youngest):
April
Jennifer
Great-Aunt Brenda Sue was previously married to (I believe his name was Charlie) and had two sons, then (for whatever reason - death or divorce?) ended up marrying a terrific gent, Great-Uncle Wayne. Her sons by Charlie are (likely not in age order at all):
Charles
James
Great-Uncle Buster (because no one calls him "Carl") did marry and have three sons. But, I am pitifully short on knowledge here because, while I know he did marry, I couldn't tell you her name. And, I know he definitely had three sons. But, I only know the nickname of the youngest - "Pud". So, while there are three sons to be mentioned here... I am positive that I have extremely limited knowledge of them. My apologies.
Son One
Son Two
"Pud"
And finally we come to Great-Aunt Leroyce... who has never married as far as I am aware... and has definitely never had any children... but she can make a mean potato salad.
This is just a slice of the paternal-paternal side of the tree (dad's dad). I'll do the paternal-maternal side (dad's mom) next time.
In the meantime, I hope this was helpful. I hope it was fun and fast to read thru. I hope you will reference it if you need to in the future. I'll be editing it here, in the event that new information is brought to my attention.
Thanks y'all! Love ya!
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