tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52386958549602886552024-02-08T03:59:25.541-06:00[in the works]This blog is for my family–history writing and related topics, travel to cemeteries and historic sites, portraits of the people I have researched, documents gathered, woven together with handed–down stories. Even some stories from my childhood of traveling with my brothers and our parents. Part travelogue, part biography, part essay–writing–practice, which might be of interest to others.Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-83796938740251108752012-11-24T14:54:00.000-06:002012-11-24T14:54:27.490-06:00EUGENE DOBSON SR. - OBITUARY<div>
<i><span style="color: #999999;">This is a corrected version of the obituary of Eugene Dobson, Sr., originally written by his son, Eugene Dobson, Jr., and me, his granddaughter. An earlier version appeared in several newspapers (Dumas Clarion, McGehee-Dermott Times News, Pine Bluff Commercial, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and Tuscaloosa (AL) News). </span></i></div>
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Eugene Dobson was born August 24, 1904, at Arkansas Post, Arkansas, the youngest of five children of David Erastus Dobson and Minnie Laura Wood Dobson, originally of Mauckport, Indiana. He grew up in and around Arkansas Post and Watson, AR. As a young man, he ran his father's general merchandise store in Watson. He briefly attended business school in New Orleans with his brother Harry about 1924. On Nov. 20, 1925, he married Lois Elizabeth Peacock in her parent's home in Tillar. During the 1927 flood of the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers, they lived five weeks in a pitched tent on the rooftop of his father's store.<br /><br />Gene Dobson worked, among other occupations, as a beekeeper, mechanic, prison warden, and as an ice delivery man until electricity came to Watson in the 1940s. He also played the C melody saxophone. He moved with his wife and their son, Gene, Jr., to Pine Bluff, AR, in 1950 and became a master machinist.<br /><br />After the death of his wife in 1972, he moved back to Watson, and the house he had built of cypress decades earlier. He served a term as mayor, traveled the American southwest, and wrote articles for the Desha County Arkansas Historical Society. In the mid 1980s, he worked almost single-handedly to get the church bell restored to the Watson Methodist Church. He hunted and fished as often as he could with <a href="http://rachel-dobson.blogspot.com/2008/06/watson-journal-robert-h-willis-jr-world.html" target="_blank">his good friend Bobby Willis</a> and was well known for his excellent cooking. Gene Dobson lived an active and independent life until his death.<br /><br />He died Saturday, May 6, 2000, at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He is survived by his son, <a href="http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20030810/NEWS/308100341" target="_blank">Eugene Dobson, Jr.</a>, of Tuscaloosa, and his grandchildren, Rachel Dobson and William Tucker Dobson of Tuscaloosa, and David Eugene Dobson of San Francisco, California. He was buried May 11 in a graveside service at the Tillar Cemetery, Tillar, Arkansas. In lieu of flowers, the family requested donations be made to Hospice of West Alabama, 1800 McFarland Boulevard North, Tuscaloosa, AL 35406.<br /><div>
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Link to <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=98713497" target="_blank">memorial on Find-a-Grave</a>.</div>
Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-63261106679680752442012-10-08T13:15:00.000-05:002012-10-08T13:15:09.326-05:00
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">DAISY SNELLGROVE TUCKER - OBITUARY </span></div>
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COLUMBUS, GA. -- <span style="font-family: inherit;">Daisy Snellgrove Tucker, age 96, resident of Columbus, Ga., died on Tuesday, May 19, 2009, at her residence. Memorial services will be 11 a.m. today, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">May 22, 2009, at First Baptist Church with Reverend (Dr.) </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jimmy Elder officiating and Striffler-Hamby Mortuary of </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Columbus, Ga. directing. Private interment will be held at </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Parkhill Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the First </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Baptist Church Fellowship Hall after the funeral service.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mrs. Tucker was born December 11, 1912, in Pinckard, Alabama, daughter of the late Jessie Frances Bryant Snellgrove and LaFayette Snellgrove. She was the widow of William Clifford Tucker, Sr., editor of the Columbus <i>Enquirer</i>, who died in 1961. Mrs. Tucker graduated with honors from Columbus Industrial High School in 1931. Upon graduation, she entered the Columbus City Hospital School of Nursing, and later served as night supervisor of the Emergency Room. She was also a Red Cross Nurse working in the Blood Bank during World War II.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1952, she accepted a position as Chief Librarian and Head of Research for the <i>Ledger-</i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Enquirer</i> newspapers and attended special courses on library systems in newspapers </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">workshops in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Toronto. She became a member of the Special </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Libraries Association and made presentations in Pittsburgh on techniques of newspaper </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">research. Upon retirement in 1975, she acted as consultant for the Knight-Ridder newspapers </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">in Lexington, Kentucky; Pasadena, California; and Gary, Indiana. During the 1950s, Mrs. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tucker enrolled in the University of Georgia Off-campus System in Columbus and took </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">courses until the 1970s at what eventually became Columbus State University. In 1958 she </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">became a member of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce Education Committee. She, as </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">well as her husband, W.C. Tucker, Sr., for whom the university's Tucker Building was named, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">strongly supported the establishment of the university.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">At this time, Mrs. Tucker also wrote a series of articles on mental health published in<i> The </i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Enquirer </i>titled "Minds in Darkness." The series was distributed in booklet form to the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Muscogee County Schools and, as a result, Mrs. Tucker became the recipient of the Cup of </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hope Award in 1958, given each year by the Georgia Mental Health Association to one who </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">has worked to improve the condition of the emotionally disturbed and mentally ill. This series </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">along with the editorial support by the newspaper resulted in <i>The Enquirer's</i> winning the Bell </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Award given by the National Institute of Mental Health, the first time the award had ever been </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">won by a newspaper in the South. As a result of this pioneering research, Mrs. Tucker </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">was appointed by Governor George Vandiver in 1959 to a newly formed committee on mental </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">institutions. The purpose of the committee was to inspect state hospitals and to recommend </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">needed changes. She also served as president of the Muscogee Mental Health Association </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and Director of the Georgia State Mental Health Association and the Muscogee County Red </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cross.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">During her years as newspaper librarian, Mrs. Tucker edited a book review section, as well as </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">a Civil War page featuring stories from 1861-1865. Mrs. Tucker also wrote a weekly humor </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">column for <i>The Enquirer</i> and contributed stories to the <i>Ledger-Enquirer Sunday Magazine</i>. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mrs. Tucker was a member of the George Walton Chapter of the Daughters of the American </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Revolution and the First Baptist Church of Columbus where she taught Sunday School for </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">over 40 years. She was also a former member of the Wynnton Study Club. She was listed in </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Who's Who of American Women</i> in 1965 and in <i>Who's Who in the South and Southwest</i> in </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">1967.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Survivors include her daughter, Frances Tucker of Tuscaloosa, Alabama; her son, William </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Clifford Tucker, Jr., of Columbus, Ga.; granddaughter, Rachel Dobson of Tuscaloosa; and </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">grandsons, David Eugene Dobson of San Francisco, Calif. and William Tucker Dobson of </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fairhope, Alabama and his wife Terry; a great-granddaughter, Rachel Lee Dobson; and many </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">nieces, nephews, and cousins.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to First Baptist Church, Columbus </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">State University, Columbus Hospice, St. Luke Methodist Church Respite Care, and </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alzheimer's Association</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: inherit;">, Georgia Chapter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(Written by Daisy S. Tucker, Frances Tucker, and W. Cliff Tucker Jr.)</span></div>
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Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-46737826571465857572012-09-05T22:33:00.002-05:002012-10-08T13:20:32.218-05:00Campaign Season with Grandma<br />
It is during presidential campaign seasons, and especially around Democratic Conventions that some of my favorite memories of my maternal grandmother come up. After Richard Nixon so brazenly betrayed his office, she never voted for another Republican. She campaigned in the snow and ice for Jimmy Carter in New Hampshire during the 1979 primary. She was so proud when she discovered that Bill Clinton was her 3rd cousin (once removed). She liked to point out that his white shock of hair and ruddy complexion were just like their mutual ancestors the Snellgroves, as was his intelligence and charismatic personality.<br />
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Her political ideas grew more liberal and open-minded as she got older and I feel sure that some of that happened because of accumulating life experiences. The experience of having her ideals of the Presidential Office shattered was just one of many, small and large, private and public. She grew up in poor, rural Dale County, Alabama, in a family that welcomed Pentecostalism as well as Missionary Baptist beliefs. Later they moved to Columbus, GA, where her mother and older relatives worked in the textile mill. A favorite story she told was about visiting the mill town's library from an early age and discovering that she could bring home books every week to read. She was thrilled to widen her horizons from the beginning.<br />
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She went to nursing school and witnessed life as an emergency room nurse until she met my grandfather who was a newspaper reporter and then editor of one of the city papers. She experienced city, state, national and international events from the inside, like the murder of John Patterson and the Phenix City corruption clean-up; like several newspaper editors' attempts to get Eisenhower to pay attention to the growing strength of Cuban revolutionaries. When it was a much more taboo subject in the 1950s, she researched and wrote a series of newspaper articles about mental illness for which she won an award that led her to be President Truman's dinner partner. She was also the godmother of Bobbi Campbell, who became one of the earliest people to be diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma, and an early AIDS activist in San Francisco.<br />
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After my grandfather died suddenly at age 63, Grandma lived alone for 45 more years, later working as executive secretary to the newspaper's publisher in the 1970s. After she retired, she traveled all over the U.S. and Europe, alone and with friends and family. Sitting around her den and listening to her vivid stories, I have felt as personally connected as she did to presidents and public figures, as well as to her Irish ancestors and the farming country and mill town she grew up in. Her stories made me feel that the wide world was mine to experience, too, and hearing her tell them gave me the confidence to explore it myself. Her sense of self-worth rubbed off on me in ways I continue to discover. And at convention times, I miss sitting next to her in the bookshelf-lined den, watching political speeches on TV from all across the spectrum, from all over the world, commenting on tone, believability, and memories of other people and places. Thank you Grandma.<br />
Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-2344785060460540832012-03-25T11:09:00.001-05:002012-06-26T09:22:28.352-05:00"At Dye Rock crowds were exceedingly large and many at the altar"<span style="font-size: small;">Dye Rock Church is one of the early sites of the Pentecostal movement in south Alabama whose location and history I would like to find. I wrote about it in a post a few years ago <a href="http://rachel-dobson.blogspot.com/2008/08/wiregrass-journal-documenting-early.html" target="_blank">here</a>, which quoted a note in a 1915 issue of <i>Word and Witness</i> (a COGIC newspaper at that point). Recently, I realized that several Pentecostal archives have banded together to form the <a href="http://pentecostalarchives.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Consortium of Pentecostal Archives</a>, so I redid a search for "Dye Rock" and found another previously unknown newspaper article in a 1919 issue of the <i>Christian Evangel</i> (subsequently known as the <i>Pentecostal Evangel</i>, and that's how it is often referred to). (The link above to their site is to the 'About' page with a list of the participating archives.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">In a short article, "An Evangelistic Tour," S. C. Johnson tells about his travels via a very winding path from Missouri, through
Arkansas, down to the Gulf and then over into the Wiregrass region of
Alabama: "At Hartford [Ala.] I fell in with Bro. Dan Dubose [sic]. Was with him three weeks witnessing souls saved and baptized (Acts 2:4). At Dye Rock crowds were exceedingly large and many at the altar."
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<span style="font-size: small;">It might be significant from an administrative standpoint that Johnson traveled to Dye Rock in 1919. In the 1919 article, Johnson mentions going on to Dothan, where he was appointed "State evangelist and assigned to visit all the assemblies." In the minutes for the A/G southeastern district meeting in Dec. 1919, S. C. Johnson was appointed to a committee to settle problems with the way churches were grouped together into districts (<i>The First Fifty Years - A Brief Review of the Assemblies of God in Alabama (1915-1965)</i> by Robert H. Spence, p. 29). </span><span style="font-size: small;">As I noted in the earlier post, "Die Rock" was one of “the original line-up
of churches that were part of the old Southeast District,” and put in the "Dothan Group" in 1915 with assemblies in Dothan, Madrid, Haleburg, and Wicksburg (Spence, 21). I'm just speculating, but, Johnson may have been visiting Dye Rock four years later in part to find out what, if any, problems this church might be having by being in the Dothan Group. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">In the 1915 <i>Word and Witness</i> note, Dye Rock is "near Midland City, Ala." Midland City falls in a bee line between Wicksburg to the southwest and Haleburg to the northeast. (However, Grimes, apparently within the geographical grouping of the Dothan Group, and just south of MC, is in the Clio Group, with churches much further north. That's a political mystery I'll save for another day.) Six years ago, I visited Midland City and asked the librarians there if they had ever heard of any place or church called Dye Rock, but they had not. For now, its location is still a mystery, but I know there is a source waiting to be discovered that tells us its location and possibly some of its place in the history of the early Pentecostal movement in Wiregrass Alabama. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Click <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/sets/72157605566040085/%20" target="_blank">here</a> for a few photos of Assemblies of God churches in south Alabama and early sites.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-3573781983774639942011-07-06T14:04:00.000-05:002011-07-06T14:04:28.766-05:00Approaching Launch DayEd's heading to Kennedy Space Center this week in hopes of watching Space Shuttle Atlantis on its last launch. Ed is Ed Reynolds, a writer for <i>Black and White</i> magazine, with whom I share earth space. He's been writing about outer space and NASA for several years now, long before I got to know him, so I had to go back into the <i>B&W</i> archives to see what he's written about shuttle flights and NASA before today (see below). <br />
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Spaceflight is a big deal to him -- for reasons that keep threatening, like the changeable weather in Florida, to become clear -- and he has been looking forward to this final big event at least since his last trip down in April ended in a disappointing delayed lift off that he had to miss.<br />
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Rain is predicted for launch day, Friday the 8th, and also for Saturday, an alternate day, but there is always a chance the weather will clear just enough for the launch. If it doesn't go off this week, NASA will postpone it until July 16. My main hope, beyond my wish for success - for everyone - for this last shuttle mission, is that Ed'll be able to catch a few winks while he's down there, even if this is a mind-blowing event during which no one in his or her right mind would sleep.<br />
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If you want to read about Ed's previous shuttle launch experiences, here are links to his articles in past <i>B&W</i> issues: <br />
<a href="http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2006-08-10-170164.112112-Rocket-Man.html">http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2006-08-10-170164.112112-Rocket-Man.html</a><br />
<a href="http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2005-07-28-133474.112112-Liftoff-Letdown.html">http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2005-07-28-133474.112112-Liftoff-Letdown.html</a><br />
And more articles on space here:<br />
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/edreynoldswriting">http://www.linkedin.com/in/edreynoldswriting</a>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-62722611423119054972011-04-13T16:34:00.001-05:002011-04-13T20:51:09.665-05:00PRATT CITY JOURNAL | Fraternal Cemetery photographs<object width="400" height="300"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fracheldobson%2Fsets%2F72157625312381900%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fracheldobson%2Fsets%2F72157625312381900%2F&set_id=72157625312381900&jump_to="></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fracheldobson%2Fsets%2F72157625312381900%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fracheldobson%2Fsets%2F72157625312381900%2F&set_id=72157625312381900&jump_to=" width="400" height="300"></embed></object>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-5671900907987488062011-03-15T13:26:00.001-05:002011-03-17T07:24:53.377-05:00PRATT CITY JOURNAL | Fraternal CemeteryThis post is a collection of links to information, and also <u>opinion,</u> on the area that is generally known as the Fraternal Cemetery in the Pratt City area of Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. It will be the first, I hope, of several posts about the Fraternal Cemetery and related cemeteries, their condition, history, and the part of my family who is buried there.<br />
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">DATA on location and contents</span></i></b><br />
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Birmingham Historical Society has designated the area part of their Historic Cemeteries, and does not use the name "Fraternal Cemetery." Here is their description and a link to their page:<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394;">"Crest of Sheridan Road, Irish Hill, Pratt City</span></i></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394;"> </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394;">Includes graves of English, Scottish and German immigrants who worked in the Pratt coal mines and other early 20th century industrial operations in this area" http://www.bhistorical.org/things_to_do/destinations.html#HC</span></i></span><br />
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Maps and <a href="http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=154:3:369554956107210::NO:3:P3_FID,P3_TITLE:118608%2CFraternal%20Cemetery">USGS survey info</a> found of the Fraternal Cemetery via the US Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System (USGS GNIS):<br />
GNIS in Google Maps: <a href="http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gazpublic/getgooglemap?p_lat=33.5426057&p_longi=-86.8861034&fid=118608">http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gazpublic/getgooglemap?p_lat=33.5426057&p_longi=-86.8861034&fid=118608</a><br />
Terra Fly: <a href="http://vn4.cs.fiu.edu/cgi-bin/gnis.cgi?referer=usgsgnis&latitude=33.5426057&longitude=-86.8861034&tfaction=fly">http://vn4.cs.fiu.edu/cgi-bin/gnis.cgi?referer=usgsgnis&latitude=33.5426057&longitude=-86.8861034&tfaction=fly</a><br />
and regular <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=fraternal+cemetery+pratt+city+al&fb=1&gl=us&hq=fraternal+cemetery&hnear=Pratt+City,+Birmingham,+AL&cid=0,0,6056843983936169016&sqi=2&ll=33.542843,-86.885118&spn=0.007869,0.018389&z=16&iwloc=A">Google Maps</a>.<br />
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A link on this <a href="http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/jefferson/cemetery.htm">USGenweb Archives Project page</a> for Jefferson County cemeteries will take you to a very incomplete survey of a few graves, and some photos.<br />
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There are 138 entries at <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=22882&CScntry=4&CSst=3&CScnty=62&CSsr=61&">Find-a-Grave.com's entry</a> for Fraternal Cemetery.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/sets/72157625312381900/">Photos on Flickr.com</a> of the cemetery grounds and some of my family's graves.<br />
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">EVIDENCE OF CLEANING AND CARE</span></i></b><br />
<a href="http://www.saintpatrickcc.com/Default.asp?PN=PhotoAlbum&L=2&DivisionID=500&DepartmentID=657&LMID=17976&ToggleSideNav=">Photos of a clean-up day</a> YEAR UNKNOWN by the Knights of Columbus Council 10567 of Saint Patrick's Catholic Church in Adamsville. The next year they <a href="http://www.saintpatrickcc.com/Default.asp?PN=News3&SubP='NewsStory'&DivisionID=500&DepartmentID=657&SubDepartmentID=&NewsID=3036&ShowNav=&StoryGroup=Archived&A=">cleaned up</a> some more.<br />
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2004 <a href="http://www.legislature.state.al.us/searchableInstruments/2004RS/Resolutions/HR738.htm">Resolution by the state legislature</a> commending Pratt City residents for cleaning up the Historic Fraternal Cemetery, including "long-term plans for the Fraternal Cemetery include installing an iron gate to limit after-hours access and re-roofing a storage shed."<br />
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">OPINION</span></i></b> <br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">A recent (Jan 9, 2011) <a href="http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-commentary/2011/01/your_view_unkempt_cemeteries_a.html">letter</a> to the editor at al.com from Virginia Whitlock of Pelham describes a little bit of the condition of much of the cemetery grounds.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">More discussions about the cemeteries' condition <a href="http://www.city-data.com/forum/birmingham-area/1177399-cemetery-preservation-endangered-historic-graveyards.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.city-data.com/forum/birmingham-area/888891-wheres-italian-pride-birmingham-2.html">here</a> beginning Jan. 16, 2011.</div><br />
More discussion on Ancestry's discussion boards: <a href="http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.alabama.counties.jefferson/4106/mb.ashx">Jefferson County</a><br />
And, of course, you can "like" <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pratt-City-Fraternal-Cemetery/131614523517044?v=info">Pratt City Fraternal Cemetery on Facebook</a>.Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-63295619978807982652010-01-31T14:08:00.012-06:002010-04-30T16:46:37.957-05:00More about the work of the Diocesan Commission on Race Relations<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', sans-serif;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">previous post this refers to: http://rachel-dobson.blogspot.com/2010/01/race-relations-and-episcopal-church-in.html</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alabama’s Episcopal history dates back to the first decades of the nineteenth century. The two oldest parishes in Alabama are Christ Church, Mobile (now in the Episcopal </span></span></span><a href="http://www.diocgc.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Diocese of the Central </span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.diocgc.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gulf Coast</span></span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) and </span></span></span><a href="http://www.christchurch1828.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Christ Church</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, Tuscaloosa</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, dating to about 1828. Most</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> early </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">large </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">landowners in Alabama owned slaves, and Episcopalians w</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ere no exception to this. As in other states and early territories, Episcopalians</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> were also often</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> well–educated</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> professionals and leaders in the state legisla</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ture, judicial system, and in local governments. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The labor of enslaved Africans supported the building of churches directly</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Indirectly (or directly), the slave system supported the church because a large landowner,</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> by having slaves do the work (who were </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">often also managed by an overseer)</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> was able to take his attention away from responsibilities on the plantation to focus on other responsibilities such as civic government, and/or developing the parish. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is just one example of how slaveowning supported the development of churches in the local society.</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This phenomenon did not just happen in Alabama, or only in the South. Other Episcopal dioceses in the United States have taken seriously </span></span></span><a href="http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=2006-A123"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Resolution A123</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and are researching and documenting their early connections to slavery and segregation. T</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">wo examples are t</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">he Dioceses of New York and Pennsylvania</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Some of this work has been inspired or spurred on by the research of Katrina Brown, whose ancestors the DeWolfs were the largest slave</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">owning family in US history, and were also Episcopalians, including local bishops and one Presiding Bishop. Her research came together in the award –winning film, </span></span></span><a href="http://www.tracesofthetrade.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Traces of the Trade</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and some of her </span></span></span><a href="http://inheritingthetrade.com/blog/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">cousins</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> who participated in her project have also gone on to do work on reparations and racial reconciliation</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Episcopalians have a history as old as this country tied up with slavery, with the oppression of a group of people. Now many Episcopalians throughout the United States, in the North and the South, are working to remedy the wrongs of their ancestors.</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In Alabama, parishes' histories in race relations are varied. Although some parishes are young</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">er they often have just as interesting a history</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> as the older parishes</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. In Jefferson County, parishes such as Church of the Advent were founded and developed by the wealthy industrialists of the area. Part of the history Episcopalians must examine and deal with is that the industrial wealth of </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the relatively young city of </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Birmingham and surrounding settlements was built in part on the system of convict labor, which consi</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">sted of forcing convicts – who were always predominately African Americans – to work under</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> often horrific conditions.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> The system of convict leasing in the South an</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">d the industries who used it have</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> been recently documented by Doug Blackmon in his book, </span></span></span><a href="http://www.slaverybyanothername.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Slavery by Another Name</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">T</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">he parish historian at <a href="http://www.canterburychapelua.org/">Canterbury Chapel</a></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, Tuscaloosa, Kelley Hudlow, has another sort of</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> history to gather. Canterbury was only established in the 1940s, as a mission of Christ Church, Tuscaloosa. Canterbury’s history in relation to race has been mostly</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (but not entirely) in</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> our involvement in the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, most notably because the Reverend Emmet Gribbin helped Autherine Lucy</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> as she enrolled in the all–white University of Alabama in 1956. There were several parishioners at Canterbury who supported him, some who worked within the UA administration, like Jeff Bennett, President Carmichael’s assistant, and Sarah Healy, Dean of Women, who acted as a go–between in talks between Ms. Lucy’s representative and the administration. This period of history has been carefully detailed by E. Culpepper Clark in his fascinating history of the period, </span></span></span><i><a href="http://www.uapress.ua.edu/product/Schoolhouse-Door,1848.aspx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Schoolhouse Door</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333399; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"><i>To be continued.</i></span></div></span>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-26849060326544943892010-01-31T13:01:00.005-06:002010-01-31T14:02:02.949-06:00Race Relations and the Episcopal Church in Alabama<p class="MsoNormal">It's been about a year and a half since I posted here. I'm now working on a different church history project, but just as interesting in it's own way, and even more challenging because of it's ramifications for our present and future life on earth. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Saturday, I attended about my fourth joint meeting of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama’s <a href="http://dioala.org/ministries/race_relations.html">Commission on Race Relations</a> and parish historians, at St. Mark’s in Birmingham. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I have been attending as an assistant parish historian from Canterbury Chapel in Tuscaloosa.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I finally decided to “blog” a little bit about it partly because we need to spread information about our work, and this is one – but only one – way to do that. And, also because this area of Alabama church history is fascinating to me for several reasons. More about that later.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Our group is preparing for the Diocesan Convention in Florence in mid–February. Bishop Parsley has given us a few minutes in the midst of a tightly packed schedule of events that weekend to tell delegates and attendees about “the commission.” <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Along with our fifteen minutes of fame on Friday at noon, we will have an exhibition in the same conference space. It will consist of three large (36x48") panels making a timeline of the history of the Diocese of Alabama from 1828 through 2010. We also plan to have handouts for those interested in researching their parish’s history and someone there to answer questions about the group and the work. So if you are going to the Diocesan <a href="http://www.dioala.org/convention/general_information.html">Convention</a>, please look for us.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b>Who are we and what are we doing? </b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In 2008, at the 177<sup>th</sup> Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Church in Alabama, the convention passed two closely related resolutions in response to the <a href="http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=2006-A123">resolutions</a> adopted by the national church at the General Convention in 2006 concerning race relations and reconciliation (the primary resolution was A123, but there were four in all).</p> <p class="MsoNormal">One resolution (#3) urges parishes to include a prayer for peace in weekly prayers of the people, and affirms our Baptismal Covenant that calls each of us to ‘strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being.’”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The other <a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dfc_attachments/public/documents/272/Resolveslavery__5__2__amendedFinal.pdf">resolution</a> (#5) calls us, as the Church, to be “ ‘the repairer of the breach’ consistent with Isaiah 58:12,” calls for a Day of Repentance to be declared” within the diocese, and “that the Commission on Race Relations be directed to develop resources for both parish and diocesan use, to document the role of The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Alabama in condoning and supporting slavery, segregation, discrimination and the efforts undertaken by the Church to repair and rectify the same and pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit toward the responses that will lead us to peace, harmony and reconciliation.”</p><p class="MsoNormal">So, they did and we are. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Individual members of the group have been working on various projects, some working on documenting their parish’s history, taking oral histories of older parishioners who have long institutional memories, others are researching the early history of their town and/or county, gathering information about the larger land owners, who inevitably were also the larger slave owners, to see what these slave owners had their slaves build and what their money supported. More on the projects in a future posting. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Click <a href="http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_search.pl">here</a> and search for 'slavery' to see listed all Episcopal Church resolutions on slavery.</p>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-47150278807222385052008-08-14T16:48:00.022-05:002012-07-31T08:11:45.415-05:00WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Documenting the Early Days of Pentecost in Alabama<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Re-posted October 7, 2008 | This entry is directed particularly to members of Assemblies of God congregations in Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Houston, and surrounding Alabama counties. I want to share a sampling of what I have learned about the Pentecostal movement in southeast Alabama from about 1906 to about 1916, and to pose questions that I still have about the history. I hope it will reach Pentecostals, and others who are interested in their local history, and get them thinking about what they have heard and remember about the old days “when Pentecost came to Alabama.” I wou</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">ld very much like to hear/read your feedback. </span>Many thanks goes to the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (<a href="http://ifphc.org/">http://ifphc.org/</a>) for permission to quote from their archived documents and to post some of their historic photographs. See their posting about this project at http://ifphc.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/documenting-the-early-days-of-pentecost-in-alabama/<span style="font-size: 85%;"> -- Rachel Dobson<br /></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSpOtiHt5I/AAAAAAAAADs/h7Dnj6pvuNM/s1600-h/MDca1915.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234494737117329298" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSpOtiHt5I/AAAAAAAAADs/h7Dnj6pvuNM/s200/MDca1915.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a> </span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Tent meetings, such as this one in Maryland in 1915, were common in Alabama and other places.</span> Photo courtesy of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, Springfield, MO. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/72157594309577534/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/72157594309577534/</a><br /></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b><br /><br />The Names and the Places<o:p></o:p></b></span> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">We know the names of many of the founding pastors and members, like Mack Pinson, Dan and Jim Dubose, Wayne Tomlin, J. S. Wooten...<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br />An important part of Assemblies of God history that may slip away more easily than the names of the founders are the locations of the early Pentecostal tent revivals and camp meetings – the temporary places where the Holy Spirit changed people’s lives permanently.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSp7vFbyUI/AAAAAAAAAD0/bs-CoZ1jol0/s1600-h/HotSpgs1914Pinson.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234495510627993922" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSp7vFbyUI/AAAAAAAAAD0/bs-CoZ1jol0/s200/HotSpgs1914Pinson.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Organizational meeting of the Assemblies of God at Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1914.</span> Photo courtesy of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, Springfield, MO. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/72157594313001794/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/72157594313001794/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Documenting the Spirit-filled Places<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">This is part of a project to help locate and document some of the places in the history of the early Assemblies of God movement in southeast Alabama. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">We already know some of the story of the early organizing of congregations in the area. Early Pentecostal newspapers, Robert Spence's <i>The First Fifty Years</i>, and other sources, many available in the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center in Springfield, Missouri, and congregational histories like that of El Bethel's in Coffee County by Laurelle Dubose Weatherford, provide a good foundation to which more details may be added as they are uncovered. (See the bibliography at the end of this post.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSqeDfyCdI/AAAAAAAAAD8/uIvN3ltC8wI/s1600-h/100_1549.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234496100222765522" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSqeDfyCdI/AAAAAAAAAD8/uIvN3ltC8wI/s320/100_1549.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 134px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 201px;" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size: 85%;">Scene beside Wooten Chapel Assembly of God, about four miles south of <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 85%;">New Brockton, Alabama, May, 2008<span style="font-style: italic;">.</span> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/2571143678/in/set-72157605566040085/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2571143678/in/set-72157605566040085/</a></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b><br />EARLY REVIVAL LOCATIONS <o:p></o:p></b></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">El Bethel Assembly, Coffee County<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">For example, Mrs. Weatherford writes in her history that in August of 1906, Rev. M. M. Pinson came to Coffee County and “erected a tent at New Tabernacle Church,” which was attended by Dan and Jim Dubose. From this revival grew the congregation that became the El Bethel Assembly of God. (Weatherford, p. 1.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSrQjukM5I/AAAAAAAAAEE/PlJc_Uc7osE/s1600-h/NewT6.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234496967868167058" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSrQjukM5I/AAAAAAAAAEE/PlJc_Uc7osE/s200/NewT6.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">New Tabernacle Church, June, 2008.</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/2754877328/in/set-72157605566040085/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/2754877328/in/set-72157605566040085/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br /><br />El Bethel Assembly of God</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">, May, 2008.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/2570327971/in/set-72157605566040085/"><br />http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2570327971/in/set-72157605566040085/</a></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Enon Baptist Church, Coffee County</b></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Enon Baptist, at the junction of Coffee County roads 147 and 148, was the site of a Pentecostal revival in the summer of 1907 when a deacon invited Dan and Jim Dubose, brothers who had received the Gift of the Holy Spirit “to start a revival in his church.” --Robert H. Spence, <i>The First Fifty Years</i>, p. 10.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKStc7zZNBI/AAAAAAAAAEU/ELV54MOD6F0/s1600-h/100_1569.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234499379512554514" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKStc7zZNBI/AAAAAAAAAEU/ELV54MOD6F0/s200/100_1569.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Enon Baptist Church, May, 2008.</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> <o:p></o:p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/2571144366/in/set-72157605566040085/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2571144366/in/set-72157605566040085/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b><br /><br /><br />Highfalls Assembly, Geneva County<o:p></o:p></b></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">In June of 1907, Dan Dubose went to Rev. Pinson’s revival at Highfalls in Geneva County, “where he received the Gift.”<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><i>The meeting at High Falls was highly significant in that it provided a base of operations for the Pentecostal message and movement in southeastern Alabama. From this one revival, the nucleus for what is today the High Falls Assembly of God Church was formed and individuals, such as Dan Dubose, received personal experiences that would mean the formation of other Assemblies.</i></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> --Spence, <i>The First Fifty Years, </i>p. 9.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p>Was the revival at the same place where the church stands today, or somewhere nearby? Is it possible to discover where other early revivals and camp meetings took place--gatherings that started Assembly of God congregations, and where early members were touched by the Holy Spirit?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSuaGVSfaI/AAAAAAAAAEc/4H7vmH4WgZM/s1600-h/100_1588.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234500430311095714" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSuaGVSfaI/AAAAAAAAAEc/4H7vmH4WgZM/s200/100_1588.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Highfalls Assembly of God, May, 2008. <o:p></o:p>http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2571161630/in/set-72157605566040085/</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><b><br /><br /><br />Holloway Tabernacle, Geneva County<o:p></o:p></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">HEALED OF ASTHMA<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><i><o:p></o:p>I have been asked by some in these parts, who know the facts in the case, to write you of the healing of my two little boys, now five and seven years old respectively. The oldest one was born with asthma, and the youngest one took it after he was born. In November 1911, I had Bro. M. M. Pinson and Bro. Wayne Tomlin to pray for them, and the Lord healed them both, and they are still well, praise his name. -- G. W. Grimes, Coffee Springs, Ala.--Word and Witness</i></span><span style="font-size: 85%;">, March 20, 1914, p. 1, <a href="http://ifphc.org/">http://ifphc.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p>G. W. Grimes and Wayne Tomlin were both associated with Holloway Tabernacle. Was this church the site of this healing?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Holloway Tabernacle Church, June, 2008.</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/2711825290/in/set-72157605566040085/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2711825290/in/set-72157605566040085/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSvLwaLJ6I/AAAAAAAAAEs/ps1i5Dg90ZU/s1600-h/HollTab7.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234501283419465634" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSvLwaLJ6I/AAAAAAAAAEs/ps1i5Dg90ZU/s200/HollTab7.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Holloway Tabernacle Historical Marker, June, 2008.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/2711013657/in/set-72157605566040085/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2711013657/in/set-72157605566040085/</a> </span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><i>MORE GOOD NEWS...NEW BROCKTON, ALA.</i><i><br /></i><i>Wayne Tomlin has just closed a blessed meeting in town, and will open in a new church just completed 7 miles south of Enterprise on August 22. </i></span><span style="font-size: 85%;">--<i>Word and Witness,</i> August 20, 1912, p. 3, <a href="http://ifphc.org/">http://ifphc.org</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Where was this “new church...7 miles south of Enterprise”? Was it Holloway Tabernacle in Coffee Springs, or else in Central City or in another nearby community?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Wooten Chapel Assembly of God, Coffee County<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p>Newspaper notices give clues to the location of revivals or camp meetings. <o:p></o:p><br />Did Wooten Chapel grow out of the local camp meeting “held four miles below New Brockton” in 1915?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><i>LOCAL CAMP MEETING – NEW BROCKTON, ALA.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><i>Aug. 7th to 27th. Will be held four miles below New Brockton, Ala. Expecting W. P. Mims from Clanton, Ala. also Rev. W. B. Jessup from Meridian, Miss. For information write J. S. Wooten, Rt. 3 Elba, Ala. All invited.<o:p></o:p> --Word and Witness,</i></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> August, 1915, p. 8, <a href="http://ifphc.org/">http://ifphc.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSwDOwz3rI/AAAAAAAAAE0/7bFUNpJIsJs/s1600-h/100_1544.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234502236460277426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSwDOwz3rI/AAAAAAAAAE0/7bFUNpJIsJs/s200/100_1544.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Wooten Chapel Assembly of God, May, 2008.</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/2571143388/in/set-72157605566040085/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2571143388/in/set-72157605566040085/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b><br />Bethel Assembly, Ariton: original location, Barbour County<o:p></o:p></b></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Remembering and finding old locales bring back the Spirit-filled events that took place at these meetings, and honors the early Pentecostal organizers who made the spread of the Gospel their life’s work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSwjFQcc-I/AAAAAAAAAE8/hC4KbX2X8hM/s1600-h/Ariton1921h.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234502783664419810" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSwjFQcc-I/AAAAAAAAAE8/hC4KbX2X8hM/s200/Ariton1921h.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br />The original location of Bethel Assembly</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">, June, 2008.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/2690983270/in/set-72157605566040085/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/ 2690983270/in/set-72157605566040085/</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Bethel Assembly, now in Ariton, Dale County, was originally located further up Highway 51, just over the Barbour County line. “<i>The Bethel Assembly of God of Ariton was begun after Rev. Martha Joiner and Rev. Donnie Metcalf held two tent meetings in the summer of 1921. Those who were converted desired to become a part of the relatively new organization, The General Council of the Assemblies of God. The church was set in order and was affiliated with the General Council in Springfield, Missouri, September 28, 1921, with approximately thirty members. A building was erected two miles north of Ariton, just off Hwy. 51 during the winter of 1921-1922. Rev. Dan J. Dubose was the first pastor</i>.” <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Source: the history page of Bethel Assembly of God: <a href="http://www.meetmeatbethel.com/History.htm">www.meetmeatbethel.com/History.htm</a>. <o:p></o:p><br />Many thanks to Angela Downing for her help, and especially for calling members of Bethel Assembly to get directions for me to this location.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">QUESTIONS<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p>Here are a few other revivals and camp meetings that I hope to learn more about in this research...Do any of these names or places ring a bell with you? There are many more churches that grew out of revivals and camp meetings in the area. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Midland City, Dale County, Alabama<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p>Where was the annual camp meeting at Midland City held? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><i>MIDLAND CITY, ALA.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><i>Our first annual camp meeting closed Sunday night. Bro. Wayne Tomlin of Enterprise, was in charge, and did most of the preaching. Other preachers and workers were with us and were blessedly used by the Lord. People came from far and near to hear the word, and the attendance was by far the largest in the history of the work at this place. God was present at every service to save, heal, and fill with the Spirit.-- H. W. Bryant.<o:p></o:p></i></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br />--<i>Word and Witness, </i>October, 1913, p. 3, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5238695854960288655" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5238695854960288655" name="OLE_LINK1"></a><a href="http://ifphc.org/">http://ifphc.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Dye Rock Church (Dale County?)<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p>Another question is: Where was Dye Rock (or Die Rock) Church? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><i>MIDLAND CITY<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><i>We have just had a big revival at Dye Rock Church near Midland City, Ala. Sister Joyner held a three days meeting and the Lord wonderfully blessed. The power of God fell on all one evening and little children from five years up began to praise God and shout and dance. Eight received the baptism as in Acts 2:4 and several were saved. We are looking for greater things from the hand of God. The enemy is stirred but the work goes on just the same. -- J. A. Moss, R. 2. --Word and Witness</i></span><span style="font-size: 85%;">, August 1915, p. 8, <a href="http://ifphc.org/">http://ifphc.org</a>.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p>"Die Rock" was one of “the original line-up of churches that were part of the old Southeast District” noted by Robert H. Spence in <i>The First Fifty Years</i>, p. 21.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"A Holy Place"</span></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">The Azusa Street Mission in 1906. Photo courtesy of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, Springfield, MO.<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/260942939/in/set-72157594313088839/"> http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/260942939/in/<br />set-72157594313088839/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/260942939/in/set-72157594313088839/"> </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">These early Pentecostal organizers and participants met the Holy Spirit in revivals and meetings throughout the Wiregrass region and all over Alabama in the early part of the twentieth century. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p>Although temporary, these locations will always be filled with the Spirit because of the people and the events that took place there. The sites of early revivals and camp meetings, like the mission at Azusa Street and the site of the General Council Meeting at Hot Springs in 1914, are places where holy events took place, places to be identified, and in Darrin Rodgers’ words: “shared...with the next generation.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Internet Resources<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Part of the purpose of this research is to create resources that will be available to anyone who is interested in the early history of the Assemblies of God in south Alabama. Blogs and Flickr.com are just two ways to post information and images on the internet, so that others can view and post comments, even their own reminiscences. <o:p></o:p>At my Flickr set, “Early Pentecost in Alabama,” you can view more photos, and read text from primary and secondary sources on the history of Pentecostalism in Alabama: </span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/sets/72157605566040085/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/sets/72157605566040085/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSyle7qgzI/AAAAAAAAAFM/ONE0dOOe0ps/s1600-h/flickrpentecost.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234505023939576626" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSyle7qgzI/AAAAAAAAAFM/ONE0dOOe0ps/s200/flickrpentecost.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b><br />An Internet Community through Public Libraries<o:p></o:p></b></span><span style="font-size: 85%;">In addition, a <b>world map on Flickr</b> allows the photos to be "geo-tagged" or linked with their location on the map. <o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/map/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/map/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">And, a basic Flickr.com account is free, so that others who have historical photos are able to post their own, and contribute to a growing body of knowledge on the history of Pentecostalism. Even if you don't have a computer yourself, many public libraries have free computers that allow users to browse the web and view Flickr and other sites.</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSzMy-trII/AAAAAAAAAFU/OQxCoFWegSw/s1600-h/mappentecost.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234505699335974018" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSzMy-trII/AAAAAAAAAFU/OQxCoFWegSw/s200/mappentecost.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>The Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</b></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> - the official archives of the Assemblies of God, USA - also has a Flickr account with wonderful historical images of early revivals, camp meetings, posters, and the founding individuals of the organization: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/</a></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSze9PUwAI/AAAAAAAAAFc/C_Zcp4P9JE8/s1600-h/IFPHCflickr.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234506011327643650" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SKSze9PUwAI/AAAAAAAAAFc/C_Zcp4P9JE8/s200/IFPHCflickr.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></span></span>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-71869935176041607602008-08-11T17:30:00.000-05:002008-08-14T18:17:42.870-05:00WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Public libraries with internet access<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Public Libraries in the Wiregrass and surrounding areas in southeast Alabama that have computer/internet availability are listed below. If your library is not listed here, but it does have internet access, please contact me. <o:p></o:p> For more information on other libraries in Alabama, go to <a href="http://www.librarytechnology.org/publiclibraries.pl?State=AL">http://www.librarytechnology.org/publiclibraries.pl?State=AL</a> OR <a href="http://www.publiclibraries.com/alabama.htm">http://www.publiclibraries.com/alabama.htm</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style="">Coffee County<o:p></o:p></span></b><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.elbaalabama.net/LifeinElba/library.htm">Elba Public Library</a> 406 Simmons Street, 334-897-6921<o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.elbaalabama.net/life-in-elba/library">http://www.elbaalabama.net/life-in-elba/library</a><span style=""> </span>“Computers available with internet access.”<o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.enterpriselibrary.org/">Enterprise Public Library</a> 101 East Grubbs Street 334-347-2636<o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.enterpriselibrary.org/">http://www.enterpriselibrary.org/</a><o:p></o:p><br />“Computer Access Four computers available to patrons for research and educational purposes (one hour time limit per day), one computer for e-mailing (fifteen minute limit), one word-processing computer.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style="">Covington County<o:p></o:p></span></b><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Andalusia Public Library, 212 South Three Notch Street, 334-222-6612, ONLY have online catalog <a href="http://www.andylibrary.com/default.htm">http://www.andylibrary.com/default.htm</a>. No description of services.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p>Opp Public Library (Cross Trails Regional Library), 1604 North Main Street, <o:p></o:p><br />334-493-6423 <a href="http://www.opplibrary.com/">http://www.opplibrary.com/</a> <o:p></o:p><br />Yes, they do have computers available for public use. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style="">Crenshaw County<o:p></o:p></span></b><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://library.luverne.org/">Luverne Public Library</a>, 148 East Third Avenue, 334-335-5326<o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://library.luverne.org/">http://library.luverne.org/</a> <o:p></o:p><br />Must have a library card to use computers – some limitations, but basically they are available for research: <a href="http://library.luverne.org/computer_usage.asp">http://library.luverne.org/computer_usage.asp</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style="">Dale County<o:p></o:p></span></b><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p><a href="http://www.odcpl.com/">Ozark-Dale County Public Library</a>, 416 James Street, 334-774-5480, <a href="http://www.odcpl.com/">http://www.odcpl.com/</a> <o:p></o:p><br />“Free Internet is offered to adults and children. Children under the age of fourteen must be accompanied by an adult seventeen years of age or older.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style="">Geneva County<o:p></o:p></span></b><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.genevapubliclibrary.org/">Geneva Public Library</a> 312 South Commerce Street 334-684-2459 (Emma Knox Keenan Public Library) <a href="http://www.genevapubliclibrary.org/">http://www.genevapubliclibrary.org/</a> . See an article about their computers here: <a href="http://genevapubliclibrary.org/content/blogcategory/44/50/">http://genevapubliclibrary.org/content/blogcategory/44/50/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style="">Houston County<o:p></o:p></span></b><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p>Houston-Love Memorial Library, 212 West Burdeshaw Street, Dothan, 36303; 334-793-9767.<o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.houstonlovelibrary.org/">http://www.houstonlovelibrary.org/</a> <o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.houstonlovelibrary.org/computerlab.htm">http://www.houstonlovelibrary.org/computerlab.htm</a><o:p></o:p><br />Computer classes listed on a calendar (which may determine when computers are available for general use by patrons?)<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-4838825399054415452008-08-11T17:17:00.000-05:002008-08-14T18:17:42.873-05:00WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Select Bibliography<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">These are sources used in the Wiregrass Journal posting: Documenting the Early Days of Pentecost in Alabama.<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style="">Newspapers:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i style=""><span style="">Word and Witness</span></i></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> (Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center: <a href="http://www.ifphc.org/">www.ifphc.org</a>).<o:p></o:p><br /><i style=""><span style="">Christian Evangel</span></i></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> (Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center: <a href="http://www.ifphc.org/">www.ifphc.org</a>).<o:p></o:p><br /><i style=""><span style="">Dothan Eagle</span></i></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> (Alabama Department of Archives and History, and <a href="http://www.ancestry.com/">www.Ancestry.com</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style="">Books and Internet Resources:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Robert H. Spence, <i style="">The First Fifty Years – A Brief Review of the Assemblies of God in Alabama (1915-1965)</i>, Assemblies of God, 1960s.<o:p></o:p><br />Laurelle DuBose Weatherford, “El Bethel Assembly of God History,” self-published, 1992.<o:p></o:p><br /><i style=""><span style="">Historical Atlas of Alabama</span></i></span><span style="font-size:85%;">, edited by W. Craig Remington and Thomas J. Kallsen, 1997. <o:p></o:p><br />USGS Geonames Database: <a href="http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic">http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style="">Photographs:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Historical photographs from the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center: <span style=""> </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/sets/</a>.<o:p></o:p><br />All other photographs by Rachel Dobson. These photos and more, including Shady Grove Assembly and Chancellor Assembly in Geneva County; Wicksburg Assembly, Houston County; Bethel Assembly, Dale County; Haw Hill Assembly and Wise Mill Assembly, Coffee County; and two churches in Brownville, Conecuh County, are posted at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/sets/72157605566040085/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheldobson/sets/72157605566040085/</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-8490006393790223182008-07-08T15:47:00.000-05:002008-07-08T16:01:21.519-05:00WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Flickr UpdateEarly this morning I did my usual Flickr check from my work computer, and there was no connection (see below, July 7, 2008). But later in the morning someone on our School of Library and Information Studies list-serve made the general announcement that Flickr was now accessible through University of Alabama computers. Great! Later in the day, I got official notice from the UA College of Arts & Sciences, but no explanation. Am curious to know more, but for now I did learn the lesson not to put all my photos in one basket, so to speak. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice. Below is what all the hullabaloo is about:<br />http://www.panoramio.com/user/1835188<br />http://www.flickr.com/photos/27582502@N06/sets/72157605566040085/Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-51397212353508671932008-07-07T08:09:00.000-05:002008-07-07T08:46:51.354-05:00WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Posting in PanoramioThe University of Alabama has blocked access to Flickr.com from all its computers, plus any off-campus computers signed in to on-campus servers. As a result, I can not access my Flickr site to upload, edit, or view photos that I'm using in University of Alabama graduate research. (But you may be able to: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27582502@N06/sets/72157605566040085/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/27582502@N06/sets/72157605566040085/</a>)<br /><br />Therefore, I am resorting to Panoramio to post many of the same photos (http://www.panoramio.com/user/1835188O). Panoramio has several of the capabilities Flickr had, with a few organizational weaknesses - but they aren't blocked by my educational institution! I will be recreating the same or similar notes for these photos over the next couple of weeks. AND, I hope to have new ones to add after another research trip soon.<br /><br />If I sound a little aggravated, it is because I feel that whoever planned this blocking of file-sharing didn't think about all of the ramifications for those of us doing legitimate UA work. Flickr is being used increasingly for educational purposes. Ironically, I just handed in a paper as part of this research on how to develop several Web 2.0 formats, including Flickr and blogs, to create local history research resources, aimed at library and archives users.<br /><br />These Flickr sites - including one created by the Library of Congress, the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, and others, which I and others might use, also can't be viewed from any UA computer: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/</a>; <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/260942907/in/set-72157594313088839/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifphc/260942907/in/set-72157594313088839/</a>; <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/textimagepoetry/sets/72157594560457004/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/textimagepoetry/sets/72157594560457004/</a>; <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxno/map/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxno/map/</a>.<br />I'm sure there are many others. <span style="font-size:12;"></span>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-34867080623816379302008-06-27T13:23:00.000-05:002008-12-13T01:05:32.029-06:00WATSON JOURNAL | Robert H. Willis, Jr., World War II Pilot, Watson Farmer & Teacher<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SGUztEwrNEI/AAAAAAAAADE/HsLqMLncIc0/s1600-h/RHWj.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 176px; height: 255px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SGUztEwrNEI/AAAAAAAAADE/HsLqMLncIc0/s320/RHWj.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216632592843617346" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">[</span></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 153, 153);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >Note: The following is a tribute to her father written </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 51);">by Delta Willis</span></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 153, 153);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >, posted here with her permission.</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">]</span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Chief pilot of a “Flying Fortress” group praised by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for bombing strategic sites in Germany during World War II, Robert Hamilton Willis, Jr. of Watson AR (Desha County) died June 17 after complications following surgery at Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Pine Bluff.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Willis was a 1942 graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Born December 26, 1920 in Snow Lake, "Bobby" Willis was an avid outdoorsman and sportsman. <span style="font-size:11;"><span> </span></span>In 1948, the Watson Baseball Team benefited from 14 innings of pitching by Mr. Willis.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Both Mr. Willis and wife Margaret Willis were Watson High School teachers fondly regarded by three generations of students. After his retirement from teaching agriculture and science, Willis continued to farm, freelanced as a tree spotter for timber companies, <span style="color:black;">and </span>served as an expert witness on the boundaries of the lower Arkansas River, hunting grounds since childhood.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">His father, Robert H. Willis, Sr., helped develop Watson</span>, home to a cotton gin partly owned by the senior Mr. Willis, who also built the local branch of the McGehee Bank, the local U.S. post office, apartment buildings and several stores on Watson’s main street. His mother, Mae R Willis, served as Watson postmistress, and was a world traveler. <span> </span>During the 1927 flood, young Willis helped rescue local people, livestock, and his mother's piano.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span><span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span><span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span><span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SGU2xb0hFZI/AAAAAAAAADM/PZVlBpR1pZE/s1600-h/WillisSr..JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 168px; height: 197px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SGU2xb0hFZI/AAAAAAAAADM/PZVlBpR1pZE/s320/WillisSr..JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216635966288106898" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p></span></span></span></span></span></span></p></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Enlisting in the Air Corps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor</span>, Willis learned to fly solo in Oklahoma, then trained at Muroc Air Force Base, located in California's Mojave Desert. <span> </span>Muroc became famous for test pilots profiled in Tom Wolfe’s “The Right Stuff,” including Chuck Yeager and early astronauts.<span> Now Edwards Air Force Base, t</span>he 6-by-12 mile expanse of dry lakebed and clear, un-congested skies were ideal for student pilots in B-24s.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span><span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span><span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span><span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SGU2xb0hFZI/AAAAAAAAADM/PZVlBpR1pZE/s1600-h/WillisSr..JPG"><br /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Willis was part of the Eighth Air Force</span> based in Eye, near Norwich, England.<span> </span>Flying with Captain Willis was co-pilot Jeff Burnett, formerly of Dumas, and a University friend who enlisted at the same time. Willis and Burnett were part of the 490th Bombardment Group sent to England in April of 1944. They traveled on the converted Queen Elizabeth Cunard liner out of New York harbor.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Their first mission was two days after the invasion of Normandy</span>.<span> Willis recalled “I went in very low over the tree tops,</span><span> right behind Ken Kavanaugh,” the LSU champion quarterback who flew 30 missions during </span><span>WWII. When Kavanaugh dropped his bomb, Willis’s plane picked up a piece of concrete. “We were too close,” he said, which had a double meaning. When the planes returned to the U.S. Air Force base in England, the air strip was dark. Mr. Willis believed the mission was so dangerous, they had not expected the planes to return. </span>The 490th Bombing Group continued to hit bridges, rail lines, vehicles, road junctions, and troop concentrations in France.<span> </span>Willis’ tenth mission in the B-24 was over Noball, France. Selected by his commander to deliver maps to General George S. Patton, Willis<span> </span>flew a C-54 “to a designated spot in France where the packaged maps were tossed out the plane door, and later collected by Patton’s men on the ground,” Willis recalled during an interview with his granddaughter, Jennifer Willis, a junior at Wellesley College, who recorded his remarks for a school report.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fatality odds for bomber pilots were exceptionally high</span>, and the B-24s had few of the navigational advantages of modern aircraft. Cockpits were noisy and cold. After September 1944, and 10 successful missions in the B-24, Willis flew 25 missions in Boeing’s B-17.<span> </span>His bomber named “Shiloskilofras” was part of strategic missions during the Battle of the Bulge, and struck enemy oil plants, tank factories, and airfields in such cities as Berlin, Hamburg, Munster, Kassel, Hanover, Cologne, and Merseburg.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">It was during an attack on German oil supplies over Merseburg</span> in December of 1944 when his plane became the 57th American plane struck by anti-aircraft.<span> </span>According to news reports, 56 bombers and 30 fighter planes were downed that day in flak so heavy that surviving pilots could not see their formation. <span> </span>With holes all over the plane as well as in the Plexiglas nose and top turret, Captain Willis went into a steep dive to avoid hitting another crippled B-17. After that, “It was just impossible for us to get any altitude.” At 12,000 feet, they were losing 400 feet a minute. With his “Flying Fortress” so badly damaged it could scarcely reach the speed of a fast car, Willis and his co-pilot took turns nursing the aptly-dubbed Heavy plane home using only one engine.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“The trouble began when flak hit the left wing</span> between the Number 1 and Number 2 engines,” Willis told a reporter during the War; “Flak got the Number One engine over the target and we lost Number Two west of the Channel.”<span> </span>They were quickly joined by two Fighter planes, escorting the B-17 to protect her it in its vulnerable state. Willis told the Fighter pilots, “not to get below us or behind us, because we were going to throw stuff out.”</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“Then I said [to my crew] ‘Throw everything out, all your guns, the ammunition, anything that weighs a pound. Throw out everything but your parachute.’”</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">After ballast was tossed, they encountered more problems</span>. Because of damage to the rudder controls, it was impossible to turn the plane to the left.<span> </span>By the time they crossed the so-called Siegfreid line, (the German wall of defense, located on the German/French border;) the plane was making only 90 miles per hour.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The crippled bomber was the last of its group to return, to an airfield so littered with other damaged planes (“Many crash-landed;”) that bull-dozers were needed to clear the strip, illuminated only by flares. Down to 400 feet and still sinking, the bomber came in so low on approach that a high tension wire was sliced, sending up a flash the control tower misread as a fatal crash. Willis circled again and landed successfully. “I didn’t put my landing gear down until the last ten seconds,” Willis said. A Boeing official, told that a B-17 had returned from Germany on one engine, initially dismissed the feat, saying it was impossible.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">In addition to citation letters from FDR</span>, Willis was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and promoted to Captain. He finished his Air Force service as a flight instructor at Drew Field near Tampa, FL.</p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Teaching agriculture at Watson High School, Willis also served as a Vocational Agriculture instructor to many veterans of the Korean conflict. In that role he guided Sergeant Shriver<span lang="EN"> </span>on a muddy "buck shot" tour to a remote farmhouse off the levee near Yancopin, to show how young men were learning skills to improve their own homes and farms.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The birth of his first grandchild in Honolulu inspired Mr. Willis to board a plane in 1988 for the first time since his service in the Air Force. For four decades after the War he had refused to fly.<span> </span>Like many surviving pilots, Willis felt his luck aloft was overdrawn.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The longest surviving member of his 8-man flight crew</span>, Robert H. Willis is part of what Tom Brokaw deemed “The Greatest Generation,” because of their service, and sacrifice. “It is a generation of towering achievement,” Brokaw wrote, “... witness to sacrifices of the highest order. They know how many of the best of their generation didn't make it….”</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SGU3oGj1kyI/AAAAAAAAADU/v6gONPR3ljo/s1600-h/willisfamily.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 199px; height: 132px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/SGU3oGj1kyI/AAAAAAAAADU/v6gONPR3ljo/s320/willisfamily.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216636905473807138" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Robert H. Willis is survived by his wife, Margaret Lee Willis; two sons, Robert H. Willis III, of Napa CA and Mickey Willis of Watson; daughter Delta Willis of New York, NY; three grandchildren and one great grandchild. <span> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span>In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Ducks Unlimited <a href="http://www.ducks.org/" target="_blank">www.ducks.org</a><br /></span></p></span></span>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-61621495239424135652008-06-13T07:44:00.000-05:002008-08-14T18:17:42.876-05:00WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Flickr SlideshowAs part of this project, I have created a slide show of my first research trip to Coffee and surrounding counties, on Flickr:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27582502@N06/sets/72157605566040085/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/27582502@N06/sets/72157605566040085/</a><br /><br />After experimenting in both Panoramio and Flickr, I chose the latter to do this initial work in, because of the variety of other organizing and exhibition choices, NOT because of Flickr's lovely map. Unfortunately for me, Panoramio has the rich, beautiful Google Earth map as its foundation, but little in the way of organizing and exhibiting venues (like slideshows), except for tagging.<br /><br />Most of the newspaper sources quoted in the slideshow are stored at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (iFPHC.org).Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-82290098340498505042008-06-08T14:53:00.001-05:002008-10-08T07:48:44.562-05:00WIREGRASS JOURNAL | Introduction<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">This is the first of periodic entries on the more personal side of my research into the early history of the Assemblies of God movement in (mostly) southeast Alabama, for an independent study in the Masters’ program in the School of Library and Information Studies at The University of Alabama.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style="">WHAT, WHERE, and HOW </span></b></span><span style="font-size:100%;">: <span style=""> </span>For this research I will identify text references to tent revivals, camp meetings and brush arbor meetings of the Assemblies of God Church and its predecessors in southeast Alabama, focusing on Coffee, Dale, Houston, Geneva, Covington, and Conecuh counties, and into the bordering areas of the Florida Panhandle, from about 1906 to about 1916. Then I plan to travel around and attempt to discover where the actual locations of these early meetings were.<span style=""> </span>By accessing archival materials at the Flower Center and other Pentecostal archives, by reading local histories and genealogy work, by traveling to the areas, visiting present-day Assembly of God churches there, and by interviewing A/G members and old-timers, I hope to document actual locations, photograph them, find corresponding US Geological Survey locations, and map and record my findings, thus adding to the foundation of knowledge about this religious group that was and continues to be very influential in American culture. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style="">WHY </span></b></span><span style="font-size:100%;">: This project is a multi-layered one in which my personal and scholarly interests have converged in the field of Library and Information Studies. Exploring and mapping the woods and lake where I grew up, studying early Irish monastic culture and later medieval devotional practices in art history make up some of the back story for how I became interested in this topic and developed this project. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Underlying it all, however, is family history</span>.<span style=""> </span>My great grandfather, Lafayette Snellgrove, and my great-great uncle, Handy Washington Bryant and their families were born and raised in Coffee, Dale, and surrounding counties.<span style=""> </span>Lafayette and Handy were both ordained ministers in the newly organized Assemblies of God, and my great-great aunt, Daisy Snellgrove Bryant, was licensed to preach. <span style=""> </span>Early in this research I discovered that they also attended the earliest organizational meetings for the Southeastern District of the Assemblies of God. Lafayette Snellgrove in 1915, and the Bryants in 1916, and 1917 (Spence, 18-28).<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Maps may be the resource</span> that pulls this information together.<span style=""> </span>One of the most exciting aspects of this research is the web-based map I hope to create and develop over time.<span style=""> </span>Imbedded with much of the data and images I am collecting, I hope it will turn out to be a small treasure trove of south Alabama religious history.<span style=""> </span>A click on the location of an early 20<sup>th</sup>-century revival, for example, could bring up a window displaying a thumbnail image or explanatory text with URLs for further sources.<span style=""> </span>A prototype in Google Maps and the very beginnings of one in Google’s Panoramio is bringing mixed results.<span style=""> </span>More to come.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style="">ABOUT THE SOURCES : </span></b></span><span style="font-size:100%;">The early history of the Pentecostal movement and the organization of the Assemblies of God has been written about by a few able historians, usually focusing on the better-known pastors and leaders, and defining organizational events.<span style=""> </span>But there are many undiscovered details about the movement’s ordinary participants in places like south Alabama, where a culture of revivals and camp meetings already permeated the rural landscape.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span>, the Archives of the Assemblies of God (iFPHC.org), has a large collection of archived materials on the Pentecostal movement, including periodicals, photographs, oral histories, audio and video recordings, and ephemera concerning the movement’s early formation and history.<span style=""> </span>Many of these items have been digitized, including newspapers published by early Pentecostals.<span style=""> </span>There are other archives and sources for primary materials, which I will detail in later entries.<b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Secondary sources</span> focusing on the A/Gs in Alabama are few but concentrated.<span style=""> </span>In the 1960s, Robert H. Spence, now president of Evangel University, wrote <i style="">The First Fifty Years –</i> <i style="">A Brief Review of the Assemblies of God in Alabama (1915-1965)</i>. <span style=""> </span>A dissertation covering many details and some of the “on-the-ground” evangelizers of the movement in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida was written by Gary McElhany in 1996.<span style=""> </span><i style="">Assemblies of God Heritage</i> magazine constitutes a rich source of writing on the history of the Assemblies of God, including early Alabama.<span style=""> </span>Congregational histories by the children of early organizers, such as Laurelle DuBose Weatherford’s “El Bethel Assembly of God History,” ca. 1992, are also vital contributions.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style="font-size:100%;"><b style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="">MORE ON WHY :</span></b></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> All of these historians are members of the Assemblies of God, often going back a generation, sometimes more.<span style=""> </span>My situation is different.<span style=""> </span>Except for the ancestors I mentioned above and a few cousins, none of my family now is Pentecostal. <span style=""> </span>I was raised in the Episcopal Church, the other end of the Protestant spectrum from Pentecostalism.<span style=""> </span>Growing up, I also attended my grandmother’s big downtown Baptist church every time I visited her.<span style=""> </span>Maybe because one of her parents was Pentecostal while the other was Primitive Baptist, my grandmother has always been interested in other religious persuasions besides her own, particularly Roman Catholic.<span style=""> </span>And she has sometimes taken me along with her.<span style=""> </span>When I was about twelve, we went for a long weekend to a Christian camp (whose affiliation I do not know) at Rock Eagle, Georgia, where I witnessed for the first time healing with laying on of hands, speaking in tongues and interpretations.<span style=""> </span>When she brought back holy oil from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, she prayed over me as she dipped her finger into the tiny vial and made the sign of the cross on my forehead. <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>I imagine this exploration will be a continuation of my family’s somewhat eclectic religious genealogy and would be fascinating to her.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">SUPPORT: </span>Travel for this project was supported in part by the Jewel Sandoval Fund of the University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies, and in part by the UA Graduate Student Research and Travel Support Fund.<br /></span>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-24987442679560591272008-02-26T16:32:00.002-06:002010-11-23T13:07:07.414-06:00THE RISE AND FALL OF PUBLIC ART<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">TUSCALOOSA</span> -- Two sculptures stolen from the NorthRiver Yacht Club in December and the recent news of the demolition of Holy Spirit Catholic Church remind us that public art is not always permanent.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/R8SV3gzGI2I/AAAAAAAAACE/UQWzr_R0mc4/s1600-h/100_1304.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171423053057762146" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/R8SV3gzGI2I/AAAAAAAAACE/UQWzr_R0mc4/s320/100_1304.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></div><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: #339999;">[</span><i style="color: #339999;">This essay appears in a slightly different version on the back page of the Spring 2008 issue of The University of Alabama Department of Art's Image Resource Center newsletter titled “The Loupe.” I have made a few changes for clarity and included links (in the right column) to the newspaper stories and other sources cited.</i><span style="color: #339999;">]<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Above</span>: Craig Wedderspoon, </span><span style="color: #339999; font-style: italic;">untitled (Soft II)</span><span style="color: #339999;">, aluminum, 94 x 92 x 165", detail, Woods Quad installation, Jan. 2007; photo by Rachel Dobson.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Frank Engle</span> –- professor of ceramics and sculpture in the UA art department from 1949 until his retirement in 1981 –- was commissioned by Holy Spirit in the early '60s to create sculptures for the (then) new church building dedicated in 1965. A <i>Tuscaloosa News</i> article (Jan. 2, 2008) said that the current building would be destroyed soon to make way for a new one. In preparation, “volunteers began salvaging anything they could from the sanctuary.” According to church member Lucy Kubiszyn, the church commissioned Engle to create a crucifix, statues of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, a medallion at the altar, and panels depicting the fourteen stations of the cross and the apostles, along with a mosaic altarpiece. Bethany Windham Engle has said that the towering blood-red mosaic <i>reredos</i> behind the altar will probably be destroyed because of the difficulty in dismantling it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Robert Mellown, UA professor of art history and a colleague of the Engles, noted that in the early 1960s The University of Alabama commissioned Engle to create a sculptural fountain in front of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bryant Hall</span>. The work created controversy mostly because of its depiction of male genitalia. Mellown recalled that vandals would regularly add Tide detergent to the fountain before football games, which gunked up the plumbing. The sculpture was destroyed by the university in the 1980s.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Today you can find examples of public art around the UA campus. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Craig Wedderspoon</span> and his students have worked on several public art projects in Tuscaloosa. Besides the Workers’ Memorial on the Riverwalk, Wedderspoon’s students are designing a Peace Garden with UA’s Community Crossroads, for the north side of Woods Hall. And his own monumental aluminum work now in the center of Woods Quad will eventually become surrounded by a landscaped garden, and be the first of a series of periodically changing sculptures there.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">THE ALABAMA BIENNIAL</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Wedderspoon, who joined the department in 1999, said that before he ever thought of coming here, he had heard of the art department because of its Alabama Biennial, which occurred in the years 1991, 1993, and 1995. Five pieces remain on campus as part of what former A&S Dean James Yarbrough designated “The University of Alabama’s permanent outdoor collection.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">These venerable pieces have not been immune to vandalism. In late 2003 and early 2004, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Peter Flanary</span>’s <i>Walt Whitman Cult Wagon</i> was tumped over three times in two months. UA graduate Paul Outlaw’s 3-piece installation outside the Rec Center was regularly vandalized from 2004 until it was finally dismantled in 2007. The recent theft of Jack Warner’s [NorthRiver Yacht Club] sculptures, the defacing of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Confederate Memorial</span> in Montgomery, along with the demise of some of Engle’s works and the salvaging of others, illustrates the fragility of exposed art, no matter its size, weight, or meaning. When sculpture–-or any work of art–-leaves its maker’s hands, it becomes vulnerable. Artists have always had to deal with this fact of life, but the finality of destruction continues to amaze us.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/R8SWVQzGI3I/AAAAAAAAACM/Z6kW9jPTqyY/s1600-h/100_1307.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171423564158870386" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/R8SWVQzGI3I/AAAAAAAAACM/Z6kW9jPTqyY/s320/100_1307.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: #339999;">Above: Peter Flanary, </span><span style="color: #339999; font-style: italic;">Walt Whitman Cult Wagon</span><span style="color: #339999;">, 1995, cast iron, steel and stone, 42 x 27 x 134", located on the south lawn of Garland Hall, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. Photo by Rachel Dobson.<br />
Essay and photos reproduced courtesy of the Department of Art, College of Arts & Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. </span></span>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-77969630875270727662008-02-13T08:17:00.001-06:002008-12-13T01:05:32.667-06:00WATSON JOURNAL|ca.1918–19This photograph (a reproduction my father had made in 1968) shows his grandmother Minnie Laura Wood Dobson (1864–1946) with several other women from Watson, Arkansas. His handwriting on the back identifies the women and dates the photo ca. 1918-19.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/R7MAYAzGI1I/AAAAAAAAAB8/hr8sWxdzDRg/s1600-h/1919photo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/R7MAYAzGI1I/AAAAAAAAAB8/hr8sWxdzDRg/s400/1919photo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5166473610055263058" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Left to right: Edna Rice holds her daughter [but after research I think this is her son]; the young girl is Olive Griffith; behind Olive is Minnie Laura Dobson [with glasses]; then Mrs. Elva Rayder; little girl in front of her is Tootsie Rayder [this is actually Vivian Rayder]; older little girl is Audry Wilson; older lady is Mrs. Ezell."</span> <o:p></o:p></span><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">They are all dressed up and without coats, so my guess is that the occasion for the group photograph is Easter Sunday.<span style=""> </span>There seems to have been no shortage of cameras in either of my father’s parents’ families in rural southeast Arkansas, but it was still mostly special occasions that pictures were taken.<span style=""> </span>Another guess is that my great grandfather, David Erastus Dobson (1862–1949), Minnie Laura’s husband, took this. But Granddaddy (Eugene Dobson Sr.) was about 14 and my Uncle Harry was about 17, both living at home, so one of them could have. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">I found everybody in this picture on two pages of the 1920 Census of Watson, Redfork Township, Desha Co., taken on 10 Feb. 1920 by John Oakes, Enumerator. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">On page 1:<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Front Street:<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Line 22: <b style="">Edna Rice</b>, age 19, is with her husband T. J. Rice and their son <b style="">Thomas</b> <b style="">Rice</b>, age 13 months. The census lists Mr. Rice working as a merchant in a grocery store. Edna's parents were from Indiana; <b style="">Minnie Laura Dobson</b> and David Erastus Dobson had come almost thirty years before from Mauckport, Harrison County, Indiana. Did the Dobsons know Edna’s family in Indiana?<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Clay Street:<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Line 33: <b style="">Olive Griffith</b> is nine years old, living with her family. Her father, H. D. Griffith Sr., from Mississippi, worked as a carpenter. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Line 35: <b style="">Elva Rayder</b> and her husband B. W. Rayder live with their four children, Samuel 17, Fern 16, Raymond 9 and <b style="">Vivian</b> [the census taker wrote 'Virginia'], age 5. Mrs. Elva Rayder and Benjamin W. Rayder are buried in the Watson Cemetery, according to the book, <i style=""><span style="">Desha County, Arkansas Cemetery Records, </span></i><span style="">and posted online</span>.<span style=""> </span>Minnie Laura is buried next to her husband David Erastus Dobson there also. Thanks very much to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Raylene Rayder Taylor</span>, the granddaughter of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Elva A. Haynes Rayder</span>, for correcting the identification of her aunt Vivian.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">On page 3 of the same census... <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Front Street, living next door to D. E. and <b style="">Minnie L. Dobson</b> (and their sons Harry E., 18, and Eugene, 15, my grandfather) are (line 36) <b style="">Margarett A. Ezzell</b>, a widow, and her son Jerry [?] L. Ezzell, age 32, who works at a logging camp, and her granddaughter <b style="">Audy [?] Wilson</b>, age 12.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style="">Bit of background<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Watson, Arkansas, in Desha County, is a tiny little town out on the flat fertile lands by the Mississippi River where my grandfather grew up, the youngest of five children; his father owned a General Store.<span style=""> </span>Later, Granddaddy married Lois Elizabeth Peacock of Tillar, built a house on Front Street near the railroad tracks, and they had a son, Eugene Dobson, Jr., my father.<span style=""> </span>The family moved to Pine Bluff around the time Daddy was in high school.<span style=""> </span>After Granny died in 1972, Granddaddy moved back to Watson, and lived there until his death at age 96. He is buried in the Tillar Cemetery (Drew County), next to his wife and son. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style=""><span style="">Sources:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Ancestry.com or Heritage Quest sometimes you can access these through your public library.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><a href="http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Eardesha/watsoncem.htm">http://www.rootsweb.com/~ardesha/watsoncem.htm</a> <o:p></o:p><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Eardesha/newtncem.htm">http://www.rootsweb.com/~ardesha/newtncem.htm</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-83959507991669005962008-01-10T07:25:00.000-06:002008-01-30T06:49:14.949-06:00Two Graveyard Poems<span style=""><span style="font-style: italic;">In keeping with the omnipresent themes of death and graveyards here (and because I like them), I post these poems by a friend. They were written by Jennifer Horne and published in her collection, “Miss Betty’s School of Dance,” produced by Amy Stecher in a limited edition of 50 at the University of Alabama’s Book Arts program in 1997. “Est. 1846” first appeared in </span>Birmingham Poetry Review<span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br />---<br /></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;">EST. 1846</span><o:p><br /><br /></o:p>Rain last night,<o:p></o:p><br />cool and steady,<o:p></o:p><br />washed our headstones free of guile.<o:p></o:p><br />Wet dawn, first–graders stand,<o:p></o:p><br />mothers in tow, at the bus stop.<o:p></o:p><br />The stones expose our plainness<o:p></o:p><br />to each other, reveal our names:<o:p></o:p><br />Young, Stark, Fair, Hart.<o:p></o:p><br />The children are immune to plainness.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">If the crabapple trees drip<o:p></o:p><br />in awkward disarray,<o:p></o:p><br />only the mother in curlers<o:p></o:p><br />who observes these things<o:p></o:p><br />will mark it. <o:p></o:p><br />One pale child<o:p></o:p><br />watches the sun arrive,<o:p></o:p><br />yellow, expansive,<o:p></o:p><br />his memory of the beach.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">The bus pulls away<o:p></o:p><br />and the mothers let it go.<o:p></o:p><br />We scatter across the graveyard<o:p></o:p><br />and wait for 3 p.m.<o:p><br /></o:p><br />If a body is buried today,<o:p></o:p><br />and it is, machinery creaking, <o:p></o:p><br />the ground will be solid again<o:p></o:p><br />before the bus chuffs heavily<o:p></o:p><br />into view.<o:p></o:p><br />The line of cars,<o:p></o:p><br />a string of lights,<o:p></o:p><br />will break apart, like nothing.<o:p></o:p><br />No one will linger––they have work to do.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">The day puts on playclothes,<o:p></o:p><br />takes up its jumprope. <o:p></o:p><br />We want to tell the children<o:p></o:p><br />about centuries, and our favorite pets.<o:p></o:p><br />But they know so little.<o:p></o:p><br />We cannot tell them<o:p></o:p><br />what they face.<o:p></o:p><br />Though we are face to face<o:p></o:p><br />each morning, we cannot tell them.<o:p><br /><br /></o:p>---</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;">Running Laps Around the Cemetery</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p></o:p>The funny thing is,<o:p></o:p><br />death isn’t what you think about,<o:p></o:p><br />running your laps<o:p></o:p><br />around the graveyard’s perfect mile.<o:p></o:p><br />Instead, it’s a mockingbird,<o:p></o:p><br />rich smell of earth, <o:p></o:p><br />yellow flowers strewn<o:p></o:p><br />across the green expanse like stars. <o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">The dead are good sports.<o:p></o:p><br />You’ve beat them once again.<o:p></o:p><br />You haven’t tripped once<o:p></o:p><br />or caught your head in a branch.<o:p></o:p><br />You wonder: does a crowd<o:p></o:p><br />await you at the finish?<o:p></o:p><br />Is anybody cheering you on<o:p></o:p><br />in your solitary run?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">––––<o:p></o:p><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Jennifer Horne is the editor of </span>Working the Dirt: An Anthology of Southern Poets<span style="font-style: italic;"> (2003) and co-editor, with Wendy Reed, of </span>All Out of Faith: Southern Women on Spirituality<span style="font-style: italic;"> (2006).</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-89798071632308373472007-12-13T13:07:00.000-06:002022-07-31T13:22:25.771-05:00Mary Catherine Henry Rawles HerrenKnown as Grandma Herren to her great-great grandchildren, she has been a focal point of stories in my father’s family for as long as anyone can remember. My father and his first cousins never knew her personally; she died in 1936, and only my second cousin remembers her funeral. But her stories, told by her, then retold by her children and grandchildren, and still told today by her two- and three-greats grandchildren, with much humor and a little pride, live on. It has been left to her descendants to add a bit of official record to support and expand those stories, to remember for the rest of us. This is my first attempt to do that.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Early Life and First Marriage</span><br /><br />Mary Catherine Henry was born in 1843, either in Bell, Crocket Co., Tennessee, according to her obituary, or in Providence, Madison Co., according to family stories.[1] She was the oldest of six children; her parents were Martha Ross and John L. Henry (known to her Arkansas descendants as John Logan Henry). There is a bit of information about John L. Henry and his family in Goodspeed’s History, published in 1890.[2] Her family were Presbyterians and farmers in west Tennessee. In 1854 her grandfather and another close male Henry relative sold some of their land to the trustees of the Presbyterian Church and to the Masonic Lodge in Denmark, Madison County.[3] That same year, her father, John L. Henry and William Henry (either his brother or his father) divided their jointly owned land in Denmark.[4]<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/R2GJST6vTdI/AAAAAAAAABs/ecrJYTHCfBs/s1600-h/MCH.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143543197111111122" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h1XXeNB43js/R2GJST6vTdI/AAAAAAAAABs/ecrJYTHCfBs/s16000/MCH.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a>Her stories, and at least one photograph, reflect a fearlessness – maybe a bit of impetuousness - in Mary Catherine. By 1860, at age 16 (she claims to be 18 in that census), it is likely that Mary Catherine was living in Toones Station, Hardeman County, Tennessee, with her new husband, Hew Rawles, a 25 year-old school teacher, and new baby, John Logan Rawls. Her parents were living in Jackson, but by the next year they moved to Arkansas, probably to the area around Gaines Landing, Chicot County. For unknown reasons, Mary Catherine and John Logan moved also, and her daughter, Sarah Jane, known to her descendants as Sallie Rawls, was born in March of 1861, in Chicot County, Arkansas. A month after Sally’s birth the first shot of the Civil War was fired at Fort Sumter.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Civil War Mysteries</span><br /><br />According to family stories, Sally’s father, Mr. Rawles (or Rawls – none of her descendants knew his first name), disappeared, ostensibly after the Henrys moved south, and it is possible that he was killed in the Civil War. There was an H. B. Rawles who enlisted as a sergeant in the 20th Arkansas Infantry, Company H, organized in the spring of 1862, which fought in a battle at Toones Station, Hardeman County, Tennessee, in July of that year. Family history states that Mary Catherine’s father was a soldier in the Civil War. A couple of possible records could be him: in First (Stirman's) Battalion Sharpshooters, formerly Brooks' 1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion, there is a John L. Henry in Company C. In February of 1862, a J. L. Henry enlisted with Company K, 18th Arkansas Infantry. Also in this company was a James Ross. John L. Henry’s wife Martha was a Ross. This company was organized at Pine Bluff and at De Valls Bluff, both north of Chicot County.[5]<br /><br />Stories about Mary Catherine’s dealings with the Union soldiers are still a favorite to tell in my family. Her spunk must have been one of the things that helped her and her mother get through the war. It also did not hurt that she, or more likely her mother, was a member of the Eastern Star – the women’s auxiliary of the Masons. John L. Henry was probably a member of the lodge in Denmark, Tennessee, when he sold land to them in 1854. According to family legend, after Mary Catherine and her family were harrassed by Union soldiers camped at nearby Holly Grove, Desha County (they reportedly tore the strings out of her piano and put hay in it for their horses to feed on, among other things), she marched into the enemy camp to protest. When the officer in charge saw that she wore an Eastern Star ring, he told his men to leave her alone. The implication was that his loyalty to the Masonic order overshadowed his political leanings, but he could have just been a sensible man.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">After the War<br /><br /></span>John L. Henry died either in 1865 or in 1868 and is said to be buried in the Henry plot at Holly Grove Cemetery, although there is no stone now.[6] In 1870, Mary Catherine and her widowed mother were living at Gaines Landing, Bowie Township, with several children.[7] 1872 is a year of big changes for the Henrys. Mary Catherine’s brother, Thomas Ross Henry, moved to Drew County, and married Sue M. Duncan in June. Mary Catherine herself married Mr. James H. Herren in September, in Chicot County. Duncans and Henrys were intertwined in the early years. Along with Thomas Henry’s marriage, their sister Mattie married S. T. “Sam” Duncan in 1884. A “J. T. Duncan” was the security on Sam’s marriage license, and “J. T. Duncan” was a founding member of the Tillar Methodist Church, where the Mrs. Herren and her descendants (the Kings and Peacocks) were members at the end of the century. I believe J. T. is James T. Duncan, brother of Sue Duncan Henry and son of James G. Duncan.[8] The third Duncan is one I recently discovered through a forgotten marriage and have not yet been able to connect to these other Duncans: Mary Catherine’s daughter Sally Rawls married W. W. Duncan in 1877, although he died just a few years later, before 1880. In December of 1881, Sally married Daniel Henry King, my great–great grandfather. To put it in traditional patriarchal terms, if W. W. Duncan had lived, we would have all been Duncans instead of Kings.<br />----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />[1] McGehee Times, McGehee, Desha County, Arkansas, “Obituary [of Mary Catherine Henry Rawls Herren],” March 13, 1936.<br />[2] There are several versions and reprints of “Goodspeed’s”; one is: The Goodspeed biographical and historical memoirs of southern Arkansas, 1890 (Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1978). Thomas Ross Henry’s entry, which also mentions his parents and siblings, will be in Drew County. For “James T. Duncan,” a good online version transcribed by Terri Buster, accessed 12/10/2007: <a href="http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Eardrew/dcgood.html">http://www.rootsweb.com/~ardrew/dcgood.html</a>.<br />[3] Jonathan K. T. Smith, Genealogical Gleanings from the Deed Books 10-19, 1845-1857, Madison County, TN, 1995; accessed 12/13/2007: <a href="http://www.tngenweb.org/records/madison/smith/deed10-9.htm">http://www.tngenweb.org/records/madison/smith/deed10-9.htm</a>.<br />[4] Eternal thanks to Alan Alsup, Henry researcher, who contributed so much on the Henrys’ early ancestors.<br />5 Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (National Park Service): <a href="http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm">http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm</a><br />[6] Holly Grove Cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located on Highway 4 (Crooked Bayou Road), about 2 miles south of McGehee, headed toward Arkansas City.<br />[7] The 1870 census counts Bowie Township as Chicot County, but other records put it in Desha County. (To add to the confusion, some records in 1872 state that Arkansas City was in Chicot County.) Chicot, Desha, Drew and other surrounding counties had fairly flexible borders at different times. Here is a link to a great quasi–interactive map that shows changing county borders from 1813 to 1925 – however, the last time I checked it the page was not found: <a href="http://www.myarkansasgenealogy.com/ar_maps/ar_cf.htm">http://www.myarkansasgenealogy.com/ar_maps/ar_cf.htm</a> - a cached version is at: <a href="http://209.85.207.104/search?q=cache:I1_WB2GshroJ:www.myarkansasgenealogy.com/ar_maps/ar_cf.htm+myarkansasgenealogy+maps">http://209.85.207.104/search?q=cache:I1_WB2GshroJ:www.myarkansasgenealogy.com/ar_maps/ar_cf.htm+myarkansasgenealogy+maps<br />&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us</a><br />[8] See Goodspeed’s online: <a href="http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Eardrew/dcgood.html">http://www.rootsweb.com/~ardrew/dcgood.html</a>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-29582398726273883992007-12-12T08:28:00.000-06:002007-12-12T08:30:49.088-06:00Credit where it is due<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">As I begin to post essays to this blog, I do it with some trepidation. Thanks to Google, a few years ago I found excerpts from an essay I had posted on my website (written by my uncle and duly credited) on two or three other sites.<span style=""> </span>The references were copied and pasted – completely uncredited. Just edited into the text as if it were written by the authors of those sites.<span style=""> </span>I was furious, of course, as I get sometimes, and added a line to the page below the essay that I’ll quote here (I think I also emailed them with a complaint): <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">“This essay is copyrighted. If you quote or use information from this essay in your research or on your web page, please cite this web page as you would any source quoted.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Thankfully, the excerpts no longer come up when I search, although who knows how the information has become incorporated into other off–line documents.<span style=""> </span>So, I write this note here as a simple request to all of us surfing or posting to the web to respect others’ work – research and writing, still images and other media (don’t know enough about it to include music downloading here).<span style=""> </span>If you use any bit from this site or any other source (site, article, book, etc.), please use quotation marks around a direct quote and give ample information on where you got the quote or the information. (By the way, feel free to use my copyright statement above without citation.) <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p></o:p>Several sites offer information on how to cite electronic sources, but a simple citation like this will suffice:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">http://www.bestsource.edu/page; accessed Month/Day/Year. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Here’s one citation guide:<o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.h-net.org/about/citation/">http://www.h-net.org/about/citation/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p></o:p>Here’s Wikipedia’s take on Fair Use: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p>Some sites with information on citing sources in genealogy, which can be applied to other topics:<o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.genealogy.com/19_wylie.html">http://www.genealogy.com/19_wylie.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">A simple Google search with ["how to cite" genealogy]<o:p></o:p> brings up plenty of articles and examples. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">While we’re on the subject, here are several websites coming under the very broad heading of ethics that may be of interest to some:<o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/airgid/ethics">http://del.icio.us/airgid/ethics</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style=""><o:p></o:p>Here’s my original page that was not cited: <o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://bama.ua.edu/%7Erdobson/family/JamesBoykin.htm">http://bama.ua.edu/~rdobson/family/JamesBoykin.htm</a></span>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238695854960288655.post-41962097995888771712007-12-10T16:28:00.000-06:002007-12-10T16:31:57.413-06:00Thanksgiving<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">For the last several years – since I’ve been working on my father’s family history – I come home from Thanksgiving family reunion wishing I had taken more time to look around at courthouse and library records while there. So, this year I planned it better.<span style=""> </span>I took off work earlier than usual for Thanksgiving in order to get to some courthouses in southeast Arkansas before the holiday.<span style=""> </span>After a long drive through Mississippi, I hit Lake Village, Chicot County, Arkansas, about 3pm. <span style=""> </span>I picked up a new state map at the beautiful visitor’s information center – it is like someone’s wooden vacation house with a huge deck built partially over the lake – and then drove on to the courthouse to look for evidence from the past of my ancestors in this county. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style=""></span>But my move into the past had already happened out on the highway, along about the dip in the geography that happens when you come into Greenwood, just before you get to the Yazoo River. I haven’t looked at a geological map of Mississippi, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that is one of the borders of the Mississippi River Delta region.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style=""></span>Every November, for as many years as I can remember, that bleak, gray-green landscape spreads as flat as water out before us on the drive to see my grandparents. On either side of the car, converging perspective lines of cotton or soybean or rice stubble rattle past.<span style=""> </span>And above us, dominating our view on every side, was–-is--the umbrella of sky with whatever scape it was bathed in. In November, it is often dark rain clouds on the horizon. When you have that much unbroken sight, you can see the weather going on simultaneously at different ends of the land.<span style=""> </span>Threatening clouds over a curtain of rain soaks a couple of miles over there, and, as if watching time travel before you, rays of light break through clouds on this side, clearing and drying fields.<span style=""> </span>A very old memory comes up of riding in the car with my Granny, informing her with my characteristic dead certainty that those rays beaming through the clouds were “God’s light.”<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style=""></span>Also breaking the miles of flat fields is the wreckage of ancient agricultural equipment.<span style=""> </span>Once, in the 1980s, I was driving my grandfather around Desha County. He saw one of those wrecks ahead of us and asked me to stop, and then asked me to take a picture of him with it, which I thought was strange at the time. Later I came across a much older photo that he must have taken himself of the same kind of equipment on the side of the road. A friend of his told me that the machine was a diesel powered water pump for irrigating crops. <span style=""> </span>Granddaddy, who could fix any motor, and earned his living that way for a good part of his life, appreciated machines. I think by taking the photo, he was making a portrait of the old machinery, like a family photo, and a reminder of the old life. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style=""></span>Driving down from the hills into the delta lands is like a hypnotist’s cue for me to move into the past, mine and others. <span style=""></span>The long low land uncurls itself before me in an unending scroll of old stories, old memories, the memories of others, the memories of the dead that I and my family now must remember for them. </span>Rachel Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11324031844463375320noreply@blogger.com0