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.

The last one standing

They say if you dream that you see your name on a tombstone, you will soon die. Maybe that is why some folks don't engrave their family marker.

The problem is the last one standing is often the last one around. My wife's great great grandparents were William and Elizabeth Jones who lived near Chattanooga, TN.

Elizabeth died May 5, 1913 and a nice double marker was put on her grave at the Welsh Rogers Cemetery near Sale Creek, TN.

When William died on October 24, 1918 most of his children had moved away to Texas. He was buried in the same plot but his name was never engraved on the marker.

I discovered the omission recently when a volunteer from Findagrave.com went out to take photos for me.

The Mormon Hunter

It looks like we will have two Mormons running for President this year for the first time. That reminded me of a story about my wife's great great grandfather. In the middle of the 19th century most of the men who went into the western states looking for renegades were called Indian Hunters. His was a different mission.

William Smith Telford was born October 7, 1837 in Ray County Missouri. Like many folks in that area he didn't stay long and moved west. Before he ended up in Abilene, Texas though he did a tour of duty as a Mormon Hunter for the US Army.

He was part of the 1857 US Army expedition headed by General Albert Johnson, sent to Utah to hunt down the Mormons who had tried to set up their own government. There wasn't a lot of actual fighting between the US troops and the Mormon army over the next two years and the Mormons eventually accepted the Governor of the territory sent by the President.

The Mormons massacred 120 people on a California bound wagon train in September 1857 and that is what most people would know of the war, if anything at all. I don't recall it being taught in any of my history classes.

A newspaper article about William Telford, written in the 1930s when he was over 90 years old says:

"Mr. Telford when but 17 went with the Albert Sidney Johnston expedition in 1857 to quell the Mormon rebellion. Returning, he was in the winter of '58-59 in the Black Hills grazing Government oxen. This was the habitat of Sitting Bull and his braves, who frequently visited the camp. White Eagle, one of the principal chieftains, often hunted game with the white men."

Old Photos

The Texas History web page has scanned a bunch of old college yearbooks. They did it in a format that allows you to search the text, which is very convenient.

I found a picture of my mother in law, Gwendolyn Glenn from her junior year at Abilene Christian College. This was in the 1950 yearbook.

As you can see, she was pretty good looking. Her third daughter was fortunate to inherit those genes from her.