Happy birthday Great Grandmother Probie

My mother reminded me today that it's Great Grandmother's birthday. Happy 121! I thought this would be a perfect excuse to blog again!

Since starting our family blog almost 3 years ago, I've posted about Great Grandmother numerous times.  Here's a few of my favorites:

1. How is the father?

Still unsure.  I guess you could call it my biggest brick wall.

2. Harrison & Probie

I love the pic collage I created for this post.  Check it out!

3.I found a relative who lived until she was 104! Lily B Collins

I was so excited to keep finding ancestors who live well after there 90's.

Out with 2014....In with 2015

Looking back at this blogging year has been so amazing.  I'm so excited at the things that I've accomplished this year, but I know I still have so far to go.

When I first started this blog, I had a totally different idea of what this blog would be.  
I cared more about who read it & how to  increase the traffic to my blog, than about sharing my research with my family.  In the end, it turned out to be the last thing I worry about.  Don't get me wrong, I care if my mom reads my post, or if my husband was interested enough to want to read it, but in the end, I care if I want to read it more than them.

Even if my mother hasn't seen it lately, I know that she had in the past.  Not only her, but several others too. Over 2,400 views to date.  250 just this month!  THAT'S AMAZING!

I've had some great post this year, but these were obviously the "fan favorites".

10. Connecting with family:  In September, I posted about my ability to connect with my extended family through this blog.  
(That is a gift that I get every time I connect with a new member of my family.  Which is happening more often recently)
9. Alfred & Bessie's boys: This is definitely one of my favorites & I can't believe that it's this low on my list. My uncles were so handsome & the pic over "old" Indianapolis is something any original Hoosier needs to see.
8.  Harrison & Probie:  This post was a cool collage I made of my great grandparents.  This post was special to me for many reasons, but the main reason was that it touched my heart to see these pics come alive in a collage.
7. My grandpa as a child: I wasn't super excited about this post because all I did was ask questions.  I know very little about my grandpa as a child & I was hoping that someone would comment & enlighten me, but unfortunately........
6. Wednesday's child: My uncle Charles: I hope my uncle had a chance to see the Thinklink I created with his childhood pics.  This post got a lot of my immediate family talking.  Everyone thought the pics looked like my son or my brother.  (Which is ironic because my son & both of my brothers look just like him.)
5. Monday mystery: Wickliffe family reunion: This post was important to me because I really want this reunion to happen.  We all know so very little about each other & we are related.  THAT HAS TO CHANGE.  I didn't get a chance to know my grandparents before they passed away.  I don't want to not know their families too.
4. Aunt Pal: My aunt Pal was such a beautiful person.  I'm glad so many people saw this pic of her.  She was an angel & one of the few Wickliffe family members I've ever met.
3. Blogging our history:  Ironically, this post was just like the one I'm doing right now, but it was done way back when the only thing I cared about was "increasing my blog traffic".  I decided to highlight my favorite blogs & for the first time in Wickliffe family blog history, someone actually commented on one of my post.  (Thanks again Jana Last.  She runs one of the blogs that inspire me every time I visit.)
2. It's my mom!:  I LOVE THIS POST.  It's my favorite post of all time.  Seeing my mom smile like my baby girl, is better than one thousand views.  (THANKS AGAIN cousin Wanda for all of the awesome pics.
Drum roll please.........
And the # 1 post of 2014 was...........
Blogs that help me: THANK YOU to all of the blogs that I read daily that inspire me to continue to blog, even if it is just for ME.  

What was your favorite post? 

Harrison & Probie

My great grandparents love story is one I'd love to see in a movie.

They met at his first wife's funeral & would spend the next 55 years happily married.  

Happy mother's day mom

The mother I strive to be isn't even half the mother that I have.  

My mother is awesome!

She raised 5 children by herself & never once complained.  I never heard my mother say she was too tired or sick.  She never complains. She doesn't even know how to be negative or confrontational.  

If you asked me to describe my mom in 3 words, I would have to say:

1. Love-my mother taught me what that really means. 
2. Motivation-anytime I want to give up I think of all my mom has been through & she still is able to smile & push on.  
3. Versatile-my mom can do anything & I do mean ANYTHING.  All the mom stuff that you read & hear about, she can do it with ease.  

My mother has 5 children, but if you ask around, everyone loves my mom.  She picks up a kid a year.  Every time I look around, someone else is calling her mom.  That's because she cares about everybody so much, it's contagious. 

Thanks Mommy!  

For everything that you do!

My aunts-my other mothers

I want to give tribute to the women who helped raise me who weren't my mother-my aunts.

Debbie, Lucille & Cecile all helped me to become who I am.  Each one have been instrumental in making me the mother I am.

My mom has told me multiple times how much I remind her of my aunt Debbie.  She taught me how to give.  She took me & my mother in when I was born & against my mother's wishes, called my father to tell him I was born. 

My aunt Cecile taught me how to laugh.  I love her sense of humor.  Just hearing her laugh cracks me up.  I've never seen her depressed or sad.  Even when I've seen her mad, she's still one of the happiest people I know.  She was & still is the life of the party.

My aunt Lucille taught me the most important lesson, she taught me about GOD.  She was the first person I can remember to take me to church & make me listen.  She took me to my grandparents church once & I remember feeling like I was home.  Like I'd been there a hundred times before, but I hadn't.  I remember watching her caught the holy ghost & it scared me to death, but I understood somehow.  

She was also the first of my family members to introduce me to the medical profession.  

I'm lucky to have grown up around such strong women.  They all taught me that I didn't need to depend on a man to survive & that even if GOD throws you a curve ball in life, that doesn't mean you have to grin & bear it.  They ALL taught me to never give in/up, fight & win.  (That's the reason I'm so awesome!)

Happy mother's day-to the best aunts in the world!

Happy Mother's Day/Week

It wouldn't be a mother's day tribute if I didn't give tribute to my mother's mother.....Mary Bessie Mae Harrison Wickliffe.

What it must have taken to give birth to 6 children & THEN a set a twins!

I couldn't even imagine!  Even in the 50's & 60's, this still must have been a big job.  

She was a stay at home mom, but she did work as a nurses aid after she & my grandfather divorced.  

My grandmother grew up on a farm, so she knew how to care for animals & make clothes & cook.  (This must have come in handy with 10 mouths to feed daily.)

I admire the mother she must have been & hope to be just like her. 

  

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY/WEEK

This week, I want to give thanks to the mothers in my tree.  

Although I may not have known all of them personally, each has played a part (in some way) in me being who I am today.  

The first mother I want to give thanks to (besides my own mother, of course) is my great grandmother Probie.

My mother once called her sweeter than sugar.

She definitely had saint's heart.

She raise George as her own.  

She also help raise my mother & her sisters after my grandmother passed away.

How awesome of a mom is that?

My grandpa in school

Class pictures sure have changed in the almost 80 years.

I recently stumbled upon The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archive's Electronic Records Archives & it prompted me to post this photo & read a little about education back then. 

3 grades worth on students & still only 13 in the class?? 

As an educator, It's still a mystery to me how someone can teach 3 graded in the same classroom.

Mr Richardson doesn't look like he had any problems keeping things under control.

I wonder who else is in the photo besides grandpa & Mr Richardson?

World TB DAY

Yesterday was World TB day & I found this picture online & had to add it to the blog.

More than just one name

This blog is dedicated to my Wickliffe family, but there are other names to explore.

My great grandfather Harrison Wickliffe

Harrison Wickliffe was my great grandfather.
He was born in South Carrollton, KY on August 20, 1892.
He married Mont VanMeter in 1909 & adopted & care for her son when she died in 1914.
I've heard that at Mont's funeral, he met my Great Grandmother Probia.  His brother Andy introduced them.  They were married that same year.
He worked as a coal miner for 20 years & for the Illinois central railroad another 11 years.
He lived in Kentucky most of his life, but would eventually move to Indianapolis.  He lived at 905 Eugene until he died in 1969. 

MY GRANDFATHER

This photo is of my Grandfather & his big sister, Aunt Pal.
I was told he is about 3 in this picture.  Which means it was taken around 1921.
A few details about 1921:

• A loaf of bread cost $0.12
• The 1st Tuberculosis vaccine was administered.
• Albert Einstein won the noble peace prize
• Hitler became chairman of the Nazi party 
•  The first Mrs America was crowned.
• Chanel no. 5 hit the shelves.

Is this the reason Joe Bodine joined the army?

Muhlenberg, KY

http://www.accessible-archives.com/2012/03/a-history-of-muhlenberg-county-kentuckys-namesake/

Coal Mining accident

Coal-Mine Fatalities in the United States, 1870-1914: with Statistics of Coal Production, Labor, and Mining Methods, by States and Calendar Years