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.
This I Leave 