Good memories of Thanksgiving with Aunt Barb in Temple City, California. This was probably in the early 1980s.
L-R: Peter Catterick, Harriet Claycomb, Tom Claycomb, Helen Claycomb, Donna Catterick, Barb Claycomb Davis, Doug Crews, Jeanie Claycomb Crews, Johanna Claycomb.
Here’s my sister’s class photo from 1945 – Mrs. Anderson’s class at Frances E. Willard School in Pasadena, California. Jeanie would have been about 6, so I’m thinking this is first grade.
And Mom labeled the photo – most of the kids anyway. Apologies to those that she didn’t know.
The surnames are Morris, Lambert, Curry, Alten, Osborne, Gardner, Grizzle, Hemphill, Sand, Fernandez, Russell, Shirley, Argetsinger, Rhone, Wilson, Claycomb, Hanson, Woods, and Gaston.
Here’s a guest blog from my cousin, Jim McDaniels. I appreciate having guest bloggers – thanks! And I also like having family mementos returned to the closer branch of the family.
Grandpa Thomas Leroy ‘Roy’ Duncan married Florence Huckins Duncan (1890-1960) in 1931, grandpa’s second marriage. Our grandmother, Albie Oakland (1888-1927) and Roy were married in 1911 as described in Donna’s blog. The McDaniels family, Jim, Barbara (daughter of Roy Duncan), Jamie and Jerry, visited Roy and Florence in 1953. They were living with Edith Huckins Norris, Florence’s sister, in Rockford. A cool, big old house filled with art (shrunken head, swords, first edition books, etc.).
L-R: Unknown, Unknown, Edith Huckins Norris, Unknown, Florence Huckins Duncan, Thomas Leroy Duncan. Early 1950s?
After Florence’s death grandpa married Marcella Rice and moved to Kings, Illinois to live in Marcella’s parents’ home (and maybe her grandparents’ home). In 1981 I visited them and Marcella showed me lots of stuff that grandpa had been saving for years. After grandpa died in 1983, Marcella sent me a box of cool stuff. Several items I could not identify. There was a box of WW1 letters was described earlier in Donna’s blog. There was a diary from around 1820 with Stephenson information. I did not recognize the name and I contacted our genealogy expert, Donna. Donna said there was a Stephenson somewhere in the Huckins tree.
I got the names and birth dates from the diary to give me a start. The Stacey Stephenson Roper tree (on Ancestry.com) identified the Stephenson’s beginning in 1579 in England and emigrating to Jamestown in 1640. I was able to contact Stacey. She was a big help and very interested in genealogy. The diary kept by Matthew James Stephenson (1778-1837) identified his children/dates. Tracing down from there Mary Delilah Stephenson (1851-1931) married Sewell Brainard Huckins (1852-1915) who were the parents of Florence, Edith and two brothers, Harold and Payson. Stacey now has the diary.
My cousin Jamie was able to supply the receipt for Grandpa Duncan’s car that was shown at the end of the video of Nettie.
I feel so fortunate to have home movies that include my great-grandmother, Nettie Patchen Duncan. She was born in 1858. This movie is from 1944 or 1945 so she is about 86 years old. She died in 1949.
Once again, the quality is poor, but I’m still thrilled to have this record. Nettie is the tall, white haired woman. She’s sitting in the yard in Rockford, Illinois, with her daughter-in-law, Florence Duncan (my grandfather’s second wife). The children are my older brother and sister, Tom and Jeanie. The woman in uniform is my Aunt Helen – Nettie’s granddaughter. Late in the clip is my grandfather, Thomas Leroy Duncan, Nettie’s son.
This I Leave 