Five Score Years Ago

Lisa of 100 Years in America wants to know, "Where was your family in 1908?" After reading her post, I gotta admit I was pretty curious myself. So, I warmed up the ol' database, and took a look around. Turns out, between the two of us, my husband and I had 227 known relatives living in 1908. Wow!

I wonder if she wants me to list 'em all? Neh, probably not.

Of those 227, only 22*, give or take 1, were our direct ancestors.

My grandfather John Crisenbery Turner (pictured on left with wife Mattie Craddock, 1929) was 12 years old and living in Eldorado, North Carolina, with his maternal grandparents John and Susanna (Hamilton) Chandler. His father was killed in 1896, and his mother "Narie" remarried in 1902. She lived close by but it appears as though her parents raised John and his brother Eli.

About a hundred miles to the north of him, John's wife, and my grandmother, Mattie Helen Craddock was living in Stuart, Virginia, with her parents James William Christopher Columbus and Pandora Texas (Nunn) Craddock. She was only 4 years old.

Columbus' mother died when he was a child, and his father, Daniel Franklin Craddock, and stepmother later moved to Rockingham County, North Carolina, but in 1908, they were still living in the neighborhood. As a side note, Daniel and second wife Sally Stevens had a daughter born about the same time as Mattie, and they named their daughter Mattie too! Imagine that!

Pandora's mother Martha Jane (Pike) Nunn was living we know, and possibly with Pandora's brother Sam. That's where we found her in 1910. But, we don't yet know when Pandora's father William Nunn died. Either way, they would have been in Stuart. It was the only place they ever called home.

The other 12 belong to my husband. His people tend to live longer. :-P


*This number does not include my paternal line. I do not discuss my bio-father's ancestry.