Cypress Lawn

I have written several times about Captain William Hawkins Fulford, a distant cousin who settled what is now North Miami Beach, Florida just before the end of the 19th Century. I had researched him and his family for several years before proving the family connection. After Capt. Fulford died his wife moved to California to live with their son but she soon died herself.

Their only son was a glass salesman and as far as I know never had any children. He was married in 1888 to Mina Louise Norman in New York, NY but I don't know what happened to his wife. She disappeared after the 1910 census in California.

William Gilbert Fulford died on May 5, 1919 in San Francisco, CA just a couple years after his parents. I suspect he was interested in family history himself since he joined the Sons of the American Revolution.

I located the record of his death several years ago but only recently found a funeral home record that was put online as part of the collection at the Mormon Church web page Family Search.

According to the Halsted Funeral Home record he died of a heart attack in route to Harbor Hospital and was buried at Cypress Lawn Cemetery, in what is now San Mateo County CA. I wanted to close the loop on this family and also find out if his wife was buried next to him so I asked a Findagrave volunteer to take a photo of the grave marker. Unfortunately they couldn't find it.


The cemetery can't find a record of his burial and they say he was cremated and returned to the funeral home. The funeral home said he was buried in the cemetery. At that time, if his wife had already died and he had no children or relatives in the area then being cremated would make sense. If she was still alive then I would think he would have been buried. Of course, maybe he just wanted his ashes scattered in the Ocean. He grew up around the water and his family for several generations made their living on it.

John Green, where are you?

My great great grandfather was named John Green. He was born about 1820 in South Carolina or was it North Carolina? The only record I have found of him was the 1860 census in Taylor County Florida.

It said he was born in South Carolina but his children on occasion said he was born in North. He didn't appear on the 1870 census and his wife, Sarah Strickland Green was shown as a widow.

He lived for a while in Georgia as his two older children were born there, but since the births were between the 1850-60 census I don't know if he was there in 1850 or not. I haven't found any John Green on the 1850 census that matched him.

Since he died between 1860 and 70 you would suspect it was connected to that widow maker we call the War Between the States. I found several John Greens who enlisted in either the CSA or Union Army from Florida but have slowly ruled them out.

The latest was one John Green who enlisted in the 2nd Florida Calvary of the Union Army. Several Taylor County men enlisted in the 2nd, including one of my other ancestors.

The record showed this John Green enlisted on April 16, 1864 at Fort Myers, Florida but died of disease on June 6, 1865. There was a record of a pension being claimed by his children but none of the records I found listed their names.


I hate having to pay for genealogy research. Some of my family would say it is because I am cheap. I would say it is because I hate to pay to obtain my history. If it is ours, I think we should have access.

In any event, after wondering about this for several years I decided to pay the money for a copy of the pension file. The National Archives charges a flat $25 for the basic file, which is just the application. The fee is higher for the complete correspondence file.

I requested this one online several months ago and just received it. It shows that John Green died of "chronic diarrhea" at the Cedar Keys, Florida hospital on June 6th. That would have to be a terrible death but probably no more than most of the other diseases that took many of the casualties of this war.

The pension application listed the name of his daughter, Florida Green and her date of birth as January 1, 1860. Her mother's maiden name is shown as Jane Houston. This is not my family but at least it answered the question and I can look elsewhere.

I looked for Jane and Florida Green on subsequent census records but didn't find them. I've put copies of the pension application here in case it helps someone else.

Killed in his prime

My grandfather lost two brothers at a young age. His 25 year old brother Clyde Augustine Fulford died on October 26, 1918 after catching the flu during the infamous influenza epidemic of 1918. He was checking on his sister Dora's family in Tampa who were all sick when he caught it himself.

Their 21 year old brother Clayton Clarke Fulford died eleven moths later on September 29, 1919 in Cortez, Florida as a result of a gunshot wound. He and his wife Imogene were home alone and he was shot to death. Clayton had just made it through an overseas tour of duty in the Army during WWI.

The family story that has survived for 90 years is that his wife shot him. As far as I could find no charges were ever filed against her.

Imogene married another Cortez fisherman, Herman Sidney Guthrie ten years later. She and Sidney lived out their lives in Cortez for another 50 years.

A Mother's Wish

I had a chance to look at the family bible of my great aunt, Freida King Wilson's grandparents recently.

Benjamin Franklin Olliff and his wife Mary Frances Wills Olliff lived in central Florida most of their life. They were married September 27, 1886 in Montclair, Florida and had an Orange grove in Citrus County.

They died in 1936 and 1937 in Hogan, Florida, now part of Jacksonville after moving there to be near their daughter Bessie Pauline Olliff King.

One page of the family bible listed the religious affiliations of their children. It shows the three surviving daughters were baptized into the Methodist Episcopal Church at Red Level, Florida on November 24, 1908.

Their son, John Benjamin Olliff joined the Baptist Church at Red Level, Florida on September 2, 1910. He was older than his sisters and I guess he made his own choice of church at age 22. The bible page showed his parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The last sentence on the page really says it all. "May our names all appear in the Lamb's Book of Life is the wish and prayer of Mother. Red Level, Florida September 5, 1911."

FTM 2011

I've been using Family Tree Maker software for at least 10 years maybe more.

I installed the 2011 version about a month ago because I was having problems with my data file in the old version of FTM 16 I had used for several years. The data file was becoming corrupted every week or so which meant I was losing data and was constantly having to reinstall a backup file.

The new version has the ability to upload your data file to Ancestry and then download it direct from within the software. This is supposed to compact the file and fix errors. Well I can say the new version works and is worth the trouble to upgrade. My old data file was large, 142 mb but the new file is only 95 mb.

It makes everything run faster and I haven't had any data crashes since the first week.

The software also has a feature that automatically searches ancestry.com or the Internet via google for anyone in your file that you highlight. So you get a list of census records or whatever that list that person without having to search. This will definitely speed up entering data and finding documented sources.

The menu is more complicated than the old one but all in all it is a worthwhile update.

Della, Emma and Mary

I recently located information on three of the sisters of my wife's great grandfather. Della, Emma and Mary Glenn were all born in Clay County Alabama along with their brother John William Glenn.

They moved to Texas with their parents in 1888. I know the exact year because the records of the Mt. Moriah United Methodist Church in Bluff Springs, AL recorded when they were removed from the roll.

There was no one on this side of her family to ask about the three sisters. I wasn't sure what happened to them and only found them by accident, searching Texas death certificates. The online index had a feature to allow you to search by the parent's name. I knew their father was David Glenn and their mother was Mary Ann Wiley. I put both last names in the search box and all three daughters showed up under their married names.


Della Izola Glenn married John William Pike and lived in Dial, Hutchinson County Texas.




Emma Katherine Glenn married John York and lived in Jayton, Kent County Texas.



Mary Emma Glenn married William F. Watters and also lived in Jayton, Kent County Texas.

Under the Mistletoe

This is not about romance but a boat, more to the point a steamboat and what was under her deck.The steamboat Mistletoe was the first regular transport from Sarasota bay to Tampa, Florida. The Captain of the ship was Charles D. Jones, the brother in law of my great aunt, Sophronia Pigott Fulford Jones


Charles Jones moved from Cartetet County North Carolina to Palma Sola in Manatee County Florida in the the early 1890s and was fishing with several of his North Carolina cousins, my ancestors in Cortez, Florida when he first moved down. He must have decided against a career as a fisherman because he soon landed the job as Captain of the Mistletoe.


He had been on the water his whole life so this job although as far as I know was his first as a commercial Captain was not a stretch. His brother, David Reid Jones, the husband of Sophronia was a seaman also.


After Charles got the job on the Mistletoe all three of his sons followed his profession. Cleveland Edward Jones, James Gilbert Jones and Joseph W. Jones who were all born in Palma Sola, Florida were all Merchant Marines. I was looking at the Jones family because I was recently contacted by Tombo Jones from Alabama who is a descendant. One interesting fact is that both Tombo and his brother both followed the career path as mariners.


The Mistletoe started making runs from Tampa to Sarasota bay in October 1895. The ship had a cargo hold that could keep ice cold so this allowed the Cortez fishermen to ship their catches to Tampa without having to preserve them in salt. So even though Charles Jones wasn't working in the fishing business he helped his Cortez cousins create the commercial fishing village that became the largest on the Florida coast.

Ann A. Shank, former Sarasota County Historian wrote an article called "Mistletoe Steamship gave Sarasota a Connection to the World" with the following:

"The beginning of regular shipping to Tampa led to a shift in the fishing industry in Sarasota. Previously, fish for export were dried and salted. The Mistletoe carried ice, enabling it to take on fresh fish for northern markets via Tampa trains. A number of wholesale fish houses opened along the bay in the following years, including one by John Savarese, the Tampa wholesale fish dealer who owned the Mistletoe."

Charles Jones died on May 11, 1930 and was buried in Palm View Cemetery in Manatee County Florida.